Luke chapter 8, I'm going to
bring the message from verse 26 down to verse 39. I'm taking
the title for the message from the word that's found in verse
39. The Lord Jesus Christ told this
man whom He just saved and justified and made righteous in Christ,
return to thine own house and show how great things God hath
done for thee." Great things God hath done. How great? How great is it? and marvelous,
is it not? The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the declaration of what He has done for us. It's not about, and it's not
what we have done for the Lord. That's not the gospel. The gospel
is all about the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
and all that He has done for us. In Psalm 57, Verse 2, we
read this, "...he hath performed all things for us." Does that
include everything? Everything. Everything that God
requires of us is freely and fully provided in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only one who is able to satisfy the demands of His own
law. What God demands, that's what
He supplied for us. And we know from reading the
Scripture, it must be perfect to be accepted. We have in the
Lord Jesus Christ a perfect righteousness that's freely given unto us by
His obedience, not ours. The righteousness that we have
is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lord our righteousness. In the Lord Jesus Christ we have
not only perfect righteousness before God, so much so that God
said He's able to present us thoughtless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy, but we also have in the Lord
Jesus Christ a perfect atonement for our sin. How perfect is it? Absolutely perfect. God said,
their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. He said,
as far as the east is from the west, I've separated you from
their sin. Now, who did that? Did you have
any part in that? You see, the gospel is the declaration
of what He has done, how great He has done for us. Thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the Lord Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who will provide. And everything
the Lord our God has provided in Christ, He will accept. And only that which God provides
will God accept. And we read in Scripture that
we are accepted in the Beloved. In Christ we have all things
that God requires of us, freely given, fully given, eternally
given, and enjoyed by God-given faith. To you who believe, He
is precious. One of my favorite verses in
the book of Romans where it said that God spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Think about that. How great things
He has done for us. Everything that God requires,
we find provided in Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in the Lord Jesus Christ we stand
absolutely complete, perfected, whole in Him. Now, you remember
from our message last week how the Lord said, In Luke 8, 22
is recorded, look at verse 22 in Luke 8, how the Lord said,
we must go over to the other side, remember? Verse 22, Luke
8, it came to pass on a certain day that he went into the ship
with his disciples and he said to them, let us go over unto
the other side of the lake and they launched Now, as you read
on, when they got over to the other side of the lake, the Lord
immediately met this man. Was it a chance meeting? Did
He just bump into this guy by accident? No, my friend. God doesn't save sinners by accident,
but by purpose. We see the reason why the Lord
said he must cross over to the other side. There is a wild man
over there who needed taming. There was a demon-possessed man
over there that needed salvation. And the Lord is going to find
him and save him by his almighty power and make him a new creature
in Christ. And what we see here in this
story is a pattern how God saves sinners. And He saves sinners
by His purpose. He purposed to pass over to the
other side. And He saved this sinner by His
grace. Purpose and grace. That purpose
and grace is given to His people in the Lord Jesus Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now, we see several things. in
our story today. First of all, we see the woeful
and desperate condition of this poor sinner. In Luke chapter
8 verse 27, when he went forth to the land there met him out
of the city a man, a certain man. Now this certain man was
a man that God Almighty in eternity had elected unto salvation. And this man, by nature being
a fallen son of Adam, was overcome of demons, devils, and he had
these demons and devils a long time, it says here, and he didn't
wear any clothes, he was naked, and he abode not in any house
but among the tombs, dwelling among the dead. And when he saw
the Lord Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him with
a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou
Son of God, the Most High? I beseech thee, torment me not. For He commanded the unclean
spirit, verse 29, to come out of the man, for oftentimes it
caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and
he broke the band and was driven of the devil. into the wilderness. And the Lord asked him, what's
your name? And he said, my name is Legion,
because many devils had entered into the man. Now, this man's
in a mess. I mean, he's in desperate, desperate
condition. And he couldn't help himself.
No one else could tame him. They tried to chain him up, bind
him up, and he just broke loose. In Mark chapter 5, where the
parallel history is given, it says there that man had a spirit
that was unclean. A man with an unclean spirit.
And here in our text it said, were living within him a long
time, a legion of devils. He lived where no one else wanted
to live. He lived among the dead. He lived
among the tombs. He was kicked out of the house.
As a matter of fact, he was the outcast that the outcast cast
out. I mean, this man was in desperate
trouble. He was naked, didn't care. He was vile. It didn't bother
him. No one could tame him. No one
could help him. He could not help himself. He
had no peace. The devil drove him in the wilderness. He had no comfort. He had no
rest. He rests not day and night. He
was in constant misery. It says in Mark 5, 5, day and
night, crying and cutting himself with stones, trying to relieve
the pain of the demon possession, he afflicted his flesh. He was a man without Christ,
without God, and without hope. Desperate, vile. Many tried to
bind him with chains and he would simply break them off. Now, what
does all that have to do with you and with me? I just described
you by nature. I just described myself by nature. This is a good description of
our true sinful nature and condition before God, what we were before
we met the Lord in saving mercy. Without God, without hope, and
without Christ. Hold your place there and find
Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 describes us. As verse 10, we're all under
sin. Verse 9, there is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
verse 11, Romans 3. There is none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open grave.
Their tongues are full of deceit, poisons under their lips and
in their lips and in their heart, whose mouth is full of cursing,
bitterness, feet swift to shed blood, destruction and misery,
the way of peace they have not known, no fear of God before
their eyes. That is all of us, what we are
in fallen Adam, what we are by nature and by birth. Have you ever been there? Do
you know anything about that? Can you identify with this man?
I hope so, because salvation is for sinners. Second point
I want to make is this, the Lord's absolute power to save. Look at verse 30, down through
verse 36. The Lord asked him, what's your name? Now the Lord
is not asking this for information. The Lord knows who this man is.
He's had his eye on this man from eternal ages. What is thy name? And the demons
cry out, legion, because we're many. And they besought him that
he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there
was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. And
they besought him that he would suffer them or permit them to
enter in to the swine, and he gave them leave, it says in Mark
5. Then when 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, and when they that
fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in
the city and in the country, verse 35. Then they went out
to see what was done, and came to Jesus, the Lord Jesus, and
found the man out of whom the devils were departed, sitting
at the feet of the Lord Jesus, clothed and in his right mind,
and they were terrified." Now, we see the absolute power of
the Lord Jesus Christ to save. There is no case too desperate,
no man too vile that our great Savior is not able to save. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Savior of sinners. He is the Savior of guilty, vile,
wretched men. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. Turn back a few pages in the
book of Luke. You remember in Luke chapter
5, the Pharisees complained about the Lord Jesus Christ hanging
out with those who were notorious sinners. In Luke chapter 5 verse
30, But the scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples,
saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Verse
31, The Lord said unto them, They that are whole need not
a physician, but they who are sick. I am not come. I come not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Are you a sinner? Are you born
in sin and shaped in iniquity? It says over in Luke chapter
19, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is
lost. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. Isaiah 63, verse 1 says, the
Lord speaks in righteousness and He is mighty to save. Look
at Luke chapter 4. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
didn't come to save good people. He came to save sinners. Look
at Luke chapter 4, verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captive, recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord." That's the year of jubilee when
sinners who were in debt were set free. You remember in Luke
chapter 7, turn over there. Verse 22, when those disciples
of John came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you the Messiah? Are you the one sent of God?
Do you remember the answer? Verse 22, Luke 7, Go your way
and tell John what things you have seen and heard, how that
the blind see, how that lame, the lame walk, the lepers are
clean, The dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came to set sinners free from the bondage and condemnation
of sin. In the Lord Jesus Christ there
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Him. The
Lord of glory demonstrates His absolute power over all things. He commands, remember we saw
last week, He commanded the sea and the winds to stop and there
was a great calm. He commanded the wind to stop,
now He commands the demon spirit to depart from this poor man
and likewise they obey." Salvation is by the command of God. He has power over all flesh that
He should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given
to Him. You see, the salvation of sinners
comes by the command of God. Let me show you that in Scripture.
If you find the book of Ephesians, You see, we believe, it's not
by our free will, it's not by our free way. We believe the
gospel by the command of the Lord. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 19. What is exceeding greatness of
His power to us who are to believe according to the working of His
mighty power. How great things He has done.
What kind of power are we talking about? How much power did it
take to raise the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ? It took
almighty power, didn't it? Exactly the same in raising a
dead sinner to life. You have the quickened who were
dead. Look at verse 20. Which He wrought in Christ, when
He raised Him from the dead, and set in Him His own right
hand in heavenly places, far above all principality, and power,
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but that which is also to come, and has
put all things under His feet, even though demons. He gave Him
to be head over all things to the church which is His body,
the fullness of Him that filleth all and in all. The Lord Jesus
Christ has all power to save sinners, and He does so by His
command. Now notice carefully verse 35,
the wonderful change in this man. Luke 8 verse 35, Then they
went out to see what was done, and who had done it, how it was
done, and they came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they found
this man out of whom the devils were departed. Now they departed
by the command of God, and this man was given salvation by the
command of God. Now this man is sitting at the
feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is clothed, no longer naked,
and he's in his right mind, and they were terrified. What a conversion story. What
a transforming miracle by the sovereign grace of God. You see, when God saves a sinner,
He translates them out of the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of God's dear Son, and He does it by His command, by
His will, by His purpose, and by His grace. Now notice three
things. No longer running wild, but sitting. sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The demon had been commanded
to leave him, now he sits at the Savior's feet in submission
and worship." How do you account for such a change in this man? Such a radical change. How do you account for such a
change? It's only by God's purpose, only by His grace. Who then can
be saved? Remember the apostles asked that
question. The Lord said with men it is impossible, but not
with God. With God all things are possible. We read in 2 Corinthians 4 that
He commands the light to shine out of darkness. Just as He commanded
these demons to depart from this man, just as He commanded the
Spirit of God to raise Him from the dead, God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sitting at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly is this. It says here
that He's clothed. Where did these clothes come
from? How did he get these clothes? God provided the clothes. I don't know how, but I'm not
going to question how or where he got these clothes. I believe
God. It says here he was clothed.
But more importantly, what we need to understand here is this
is a picture of how God, by His grace, clothes us with salvation. The very righteousness of Christ. There is a spiritual clothing
when God saves a sinner. Isaiah 61 10, He has clothed
us with the robe of righteousness and with the garments of His
salvation. The righteousness we enjoy in
the gospel is Christ the Lord, our righteousness. That's our
clothing. and Adam fallen were naked and
exposed before God. Now in Christ we are made whole
and complete." How complete? In Him was all the fullness of
a Godhead bodily and we stand complete in Christ. Sitting at
His feet, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and then it says here,
in His right mind. He's right minded now. He had
right thoughts about God, right thoughts about himself, right
thoughts about salvation. This man knew he had nothing
to do with his salvation. The Lord sought him out. The
Lord chose him. The Lord redeemed him. No longer
a crazy man, but a humbled man. No longer a crazy man, but a
believer. Now listen to me carefully. Those
who disregard the gospel of God's grace are those that are crazy. Right? It's crazy to believe
that salvation depends upon what you do. Is it not? That's insanity. To believe that
salvation depends upon you? Well, that's crazy. Because it's
contrary to the Word of the Lord. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Not of him that runneth, nor
of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy." Romans 9,
15, and 16. You see, salvation is by his
free grace, not our free will. Our will is not free. Did you
know that? You knew that, didn't you? Our will is in bondage to our
nature. Our nature is sinful, dead, and
vile. Here's the fourth thing I want
us to see. Instead of the Gadarenes in verse
36 and verse 37, they also which saw it told them of what means
he that was possessed of the devil was healed, And the whole
multitude of the country begat Arenes round about, but sought
him to depart from them, for they were taken with great fear. And he went up into the ship
and returned back again." Instead of these, Gadarenes, being thankful
that a wild man was healed, This man must have been a menace to
the society, a menace to the city. Instead of these gatherings
being thankful, this man was healed. And instead of begging
mercy of the Lord or asking for salvation, they told him to leave
us alone. Just get out of here. Depart.
Do not come back. What a sad commentary on our
sinful, guilty race. of men fallen in Adam, so religious,
but yet without Christ and no salvation. They wanted nothing
to do with the absolute God who controls all things, the God
who was sovereign. Now, we've seen that before,
remember? Turn back to Luke chapter 4. Remember when the Lord was
in His own synagogue there in Nazareth? And he read to them
what we read just a moment ago from Isaiah 61. And then when he declared the
sovereignty of God in salvation, in Luke 4, verse 25, I tell you
the truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, when
great famine was throughout all the land, but none of them was
Elijah's sin, save unto Sarepta, city of Zion, unto a woman that
was a widow. She was a Gentile dog. God saved
her. Secondly, he says, there's another
example, many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet,
and none of them was cleansed save Naaman the Syrian. But what's he saying? He's saying
that he will save whom he will. So what's the response? It was
the same response. Look at verse 28, Luke 4, And
all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, This
whole Sabbath-day crowd, they were filled with wrath, rose
up and thrust him out of the city, led him under the brow
of the hill whereon the city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. and came down to Capernaum, the
city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they
were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power."
These men and women of Gadara, or the Gadarenes, when they saw
the Lord Jesus Christ exercise His power as Almighty God, they
said, we want nothing to do with you. Leave us alone. How sad,
how sinful we are. The Lord saved one sinner out
of this one town and passed the rest of them by, left them to
justly perish in their sin. Now, these men wanted the Lord
Jesus Christ to depart, but the wild Gadarene who was saved by
the Lord's grace, look at verse 38, this man wanted to be with
the Lord. Now the man out of whom the devils
were departed, besought him that he might be with him." That's
who I want to be, don't you? With him. But the Lord Jesus
Christ had another mission for him, saying, return to your own
house, Back to your family, back to your friends, and you show
how great things God had done for thee." And he went his way,
published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus,
the Lord Jesus, who is God, had done unto him. He wanted to be with the Lord
Jesus Christ. He wanted to follow Him. He tasted
that the Lord is gracious, and He wanted more. To you who believe,
He is precious. Even those sinners saved by His
grace, they desire to be with the Lord, with His people, and
to hear the Word of the Lord, and to follow Him. Remember our
Lord said, They hear my voice, I know them, and they follow
me." Now, the Lord, the last point is this, verse 39, "...Go
and tell how great things the Lord hath done unto thee." And
again, the gospel is not about what we've done for the Lord,
it's about what the Lord has done for us. We read a moment
ago in Psalm 98, O singing to the Lord a new song, for He hath
done marvelous things, His right hand, who is that? Christ. And His holy arm. His holy power
hath gotten Him the victory, and He has given it to us. Thanks
be unto God who has given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. This man went and did what the
Lord told him to do. He demonstrated that he believed
the Lord. Look what it says there in verse
39. And he went his way and published. Published. He made it known. Throughout the whole city, how
great things the Lord Jesus Christ has done unto him. This man went and did what he
was told. He demonstrated that he believed
the gospel by publishing the gospel. The gospel is not to
be hid, it's to be held forth like a bright shining light.
Christ must be lifted up. Paul said, I'm determined to
know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
we lift Him up by the way of preaching, don't we? This is
our Gospel message, the Gospel of God. It's all about the redemptive
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. His person, who He is, God Almighty,
manifest in the flesh, and what He has done for us. Now, in closing,
let me give you this. What has the Lord done for us?
Now we could spend the whole time and the rest of the day
talking about what the Lord has done for us. But I've got six
things here, and I was hoping I would have more time to deal
with each of these six things, but let me go over them real
quick. What has the Lord done for His covenant people? Number
one is this, He elected a people unto salvation. He chose us unto
salvation. He said, you didn't choose me,
I've chosen you. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Had He not chosen
me, had He not loved me, I never would have believed the Gospel.
You see, this is what He has done for us. He chose us, loved
us. before the foundation of the
world. He loved His own with an everlasting love. Secondly,
in time, the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested in the flesh to
come and to save His people by His obedience unto the law. Galatians
chapter 4 tells us, in the fullness of time, He was sent forth, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. And Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. He honored the
law of God on our behalf. That law must be honored. The
Lord Jesus Christ did that. He magnified the law. He made
it honorable. And that is our righteousness
before God through His obedience and through His faithfulness.
Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ, as a God-man mediator and surety
of His people, died to put away their sin. God made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He died, He put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. The just for the unjust, that
He might bring us unto God. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
came for us, honored the law of God, died under the penalty
of that law, but the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected from the
dead because he put away our sin and justified us by his blood. We read this morning in our Bible
study, Romans 4, 25, He was delivered from our offenses and raised
again because He justified us by His blood. Fifthly, the Lord
Jesus Christ, this is what He has done for us. Everything of our salvation is
about what He has done for us. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
resurrected from the dead, but 40 days later, He ascended to
glory bodily and is seated at the right hand of God. What does
that mean to me? That means I have salvation in
the One that is enthroned. Turn to Ephesians 2. You see, He ascends as a representative
man. He came as a representative man.
He died as a representative man. He was raised again as a representative
man. And Adam all died, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. And He ascended to glory. The
forerunner has entered in for us. Ephesians chapter 2, look
at verse 4. But God who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were
dead in sin and had quickened us together with Christ, by grace
are you saved, raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenlies
in Christ, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through the Lord Jesus
Christ." You see, when He ascended, we ascended in Him. We are seated
in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He occupies
the throne, so do we in Him. He's our representative head.
Lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back for His church.
those He redeemed. He will have them and take them
home forever. He said, I'm going away, and
when I go away, I'm coming back to receive you unto Myself that
where I am, there you may be also. And this man, he went his
way, published throughout the whole
city. It says over in the book of Mark chapter 5, in all Decapolis,
all that area, region of Decapolis, how great things the Lord Jesus
Christ has done unto him and in him, Christ in you, is a hope
of glory. Now, may God give us much grace
and wisdom that we too may go home to our friends, our family,
and our neighbors with the same story. How great things the Lord
Jesus Christ has done for us. That's our story. That's my story
and I'm sticking to it. I'm not changing the story. And
that's the story of every sinner saved by His grace. We tell how great things Christ
has done for us and in us by His power, by His command, by
His grace.