My prayer is this, just as we
concluded that song, make the message clear and plain. Salvation for sinners. That's
a good song, is it? Good song. Good song. Mark chapter
5. Mark chapter 5. glorious story
of how God Almighty crossed the path of this wild madman and
conquered him. His story is my story. The title of this message is
Conquering Grace. Conquering Grace. Mark chapter
5. Now remember in our study last
week The Lord said to those men as they got in that ship, He
said, let us pass over to the other side. He put all those
men in that ship and that wind blew them across to that designated
area where God was to meet, God our Savior was to meet one sinner. One sinner for whom He chose
in that covenant of grace. One sinner for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ would die for his sins in due time. One sinner
whom he would redeem from the curse of the law being made a
curse for him. One sinner. The Lord was on the
path of this one wild madman and he crossed his path and did
a marvelous work of grace in his heart. He made him a new
creature in Christ Jesus. And I'm confident of this. Just
as God crossed His path on purpose, conquered Him by His grace, made
Him a new creature in Christ Jesus, that's exactly what God
does for sinners today. He does not change. His salvation
does not change. His method of grace does not
change. Just as God crossed the path
of this wild man, He crossed my path. And He is still today
crossing the path of His people with the gospel. And they hear
the gospel not just in word only, but they hear the gospel in power.
and He convicts them, and He conquers them, and He breaks
them, and He gives them a love in their heart for the Lord Jesus
Christ by His grace. That which the Lord Jesus did
to this madman is what He has done for me, and
He still does for sinners today. saved by his almighty grace now
here's the first point in my message today and I pray that
the Lord will give us ability to preach and to hear the gospel
number one the Lord crossed the path of this enraged lunatic
this man was wild and crazy The Lord crossed the path of this
man, this sinner, on purpose. Now that is just as plain and
clear as you can read anything. The Lord on purpose. And His
purpose here is just not a new purpose. This purpose here is
an eternal purpose. Now you think about this. God
from all eternity Purpose to cross the path of this man that
day. Those whom He wisely saves, He
saves on purpose. God never saved a sinner by accident. Always by grace and purpose. And this is a pattern of salvation.
How Almighty God conquers all His sheep. by His almighty power,
by His free sovereign grace and His eternal purpose. God saves
all whom He wisely saves, not by chance, but by purpose. Did God save you? Well, if you
say yes, God saved me. Did He do it by accident or did
He save you on purpose? God saves all whom He saves Purpose. Purpose. Purpose. Purpose. Remember the earlier reading
from 1 Timothy 1? This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came to save sinners. Sinners. Now here's a question
for you. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Paul said,
I obtained mercy. I obtained mercy. Even though
I was a blasphemer, even though I was guilty, even though I was
injurious, even though I did all these obnoxious things, I
obtained mercy by the free favor of God Almighty. Just as the
Lord Jesus crossed the path of Saul of Tarsus and conquered
him, even so the Lord will cross the path of all His covenant
people and call them and justify them by His grace. We read Galatians 4, when the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because
you are sons, sons of God, by covenant adoption, He sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your heart, making you to cry, He's
my God, He's my Father. And God be merciful to me, the
sinner. The sinner. He works all things
after the counsel of His own will. Find Ephesians chapter
1. Let's read this for just a moment. Look at it for just a moment.
Ephesians chapter 1. Called according to His purpose. Saved by God's purpose. Ephesians
1 verse 10. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on the earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to
the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, to the
praise of His glory. God crossed the path of this
sinner on purpose, just as He saved you by purpose. It's no accident that you heard
the gospel of God's grace, and that He gave you love for the
Lord of glory. and made you a new creature in
Christ Jesus he passed over the other side look at verse 2 Mark
5 verse 2 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 in the tombs and no man could bind him no not
with chains Because he had often been bound
with fetters and chains and the chains had been plucked and sundered
and the fetters broken and no man could tame him. Night and
day always he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting
himself with stones. This man was miserable. He was
miserable. Here we see this man's dreadful,
dreadful condition. I mean it's just dreadful, is
it not? No rest. He's so miserable, he finds sharp
rocks to try to relieve the misery in his body. He's just so tormented. You can just see the agony. Well,
several things we see. He had an unclean spirit. He
was full of demons. He was demon-possessed. In Luke
8.27 it says that he had devils a long time. This man had been
demon possessed a long time. He was not only unclean in himself,
being a sinful man and born unclean, but these unclean devil spirits
found a dwelling place in him. They found much in common with
him because he was unclean. And they resided in him somehow
legions of demons. And this man was in misery. He
had an unclean spirit and he was full of unclean spirits. All of our, we're all, Isaiah
said, we're all as an unclean thing. And all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Second thing we see about this
man, he lived among the dead. He lived among the dead. He was
homeless. He was kicked out of his home.
He wasn't welcomed at his home. It says in Luke 8, 27 that he
was not only homeless and no one wanted to be with him, but
this man was naked. He was running wild and naked,
crazy man. This too is a picture of our
condition. Kicked out of the paradise. Kicked out of the garden. Out
of man's original home. You see, we're homeless. We're
pilgrims and strangers. Without God, without hope, without
Christ. That's us by nature. Kicked out
of the garden. Kicked out of man's original
home. And Adam all sinned. Death by sin. And death passed
upon all men. For all have sinned. Living, walking among those dead
in sin. Not only that, But we're like
this man, as he was naked before men, that's a good description
of what we are before God. Naked. We're naked before Him
with whom we have to do. He sees our nakedness. We have nowhere to hide. We can't
hide behind fig leaves. We can't hide behind religion.
We can't hide behind tradition. God sees us as we are naked. No righteousness, no covering. Someone has rightly said, Adam
was the only man that became a sinner by sinning. We're born in sin. We're born
naked. We're born unclean. There is
none righteous. No, not one. Is that you? Now listen to me. If we say we
have no sin, if we say we have no sin nature in us, if we say
that we're not sin, there's no truth in us. We've called God
a liar. Now be careful. We are full of
sin and all we do is sin constantly. Now his condition, thirdly, in
verse 3 and 4, his condition was beyond human help. Totally
out of control. The good folk of the community,
I'm sure there were some upstanding people that had good intentions.
They tried to arrest this man. They tried to bind this man.
They tried all they could to help him. And he would just pluck
those fetters and those chains. He'd throw them aside. Beyond
human control. Beyond human help. Now here's the point. All the
chains of religion and all the fetters of ceremony cannot help
those dead in sin. The old sin nature simply plucks
off and cast aside the rules of religion and returns back
to the way of rebellion against God. It takes something more than
that. The religion of men will not save an ungodly man. They might try some chains and
fetters. to try to control the old nature
but eventually it's going to break him apart and return back
to that dwelling of the dead. His condition beyond human help.
Fourthly, his condition was one of misery. He had no comfort. He had no rest. He had no satisfaction. He had no peace with God. Cutting himself with stone It's
interesting, sometime you jot this reference down, 1 Kings
18.28, 1 Kings 18.28, when those prophets of Baal, when they had
that contest on Mount Carmel with Elijah, God's prophet, and
those false prophets, you know what they did is they cried unto
Baal to answer by fire. They cut themselves with stones,
lances, and the blood gushed out. Were they sincere? Oh yeah! But they were in misery. And
that's this man's condition. We're reading Isaiah 57. The
wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked. You can see this man's turmoil
in his heart, in his soul. He's miserable. Miserable, totally
miserable. There's no peace. There's no
peace, saith my God to the wicked. Well, where's peace found? In
Christ. The Lord said, come unto me,
I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Well, here's
the second point. The miserable man, third point,
the miserable man meets the Savior. The miserable man meets the Savior. Verse 6 and 7. Happy meeting. The sinner meets the Savior. Look at verse 6 and 7. But when
he saw Him afar off, he ran and worshipped Him, and cried with
a loud voice, saying, What have I to do with you? You are the
Savior. You are the Son of God, the Most
High God. I adjure thee by God. that ye
torment me not." The miserable man meets the master. Our Lord said this, He said,
I came for this purpose. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the broken
hearted. He sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
them at liberty that are bruised. This is the reason he came. Now
look at verse 6. When he saw the master from a
distance he ran to him and bowed before him. Now usually this
man would attack anybody that approached him. But here he comes
in a different way. He worshipped him. What a difference. Now he bows in reverence. His
state? Far off. Sin has separated us
from God. His actions? He ran and he worshipped. You know why? No man can come
to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto him. Here we see the fetching grace
of God drawing this man. to Him. And His sight, what did
He see? The Son of the Most High God. And He is Most High. He is the
Almighty God. His sight, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Verse 7, here is His true
confession. He cried with a loud voice, What
have I to do with you? Savior I'm a sinner. What do
I have in common with you? You're the mighty Savior the
most high God you have all power to heal and then he says Torment me not Have mercy on me. That's what
he's saying. Is it not have mercy on me. I
Have mercy on I ask you by God Have mercy on me Now here's the next point. The sovereign power of our blessed
Savior is demonstrated in verse 8 down to verse 13. When he confronted those demon
spirits, verse 8, he said to them, come out of the man. In
Luke 8 it says, he commanded them to come out of the man.
And he asked him, what's your name? And he answered, These
demon spirits answered, we're a legion, we're an army of demons.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, you can see His sovereignty here, you
can see His power to control all things. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the King of kings, King of the universe, even the demons
obey Him. He has control over all things
in heaven and earth. These demons, a legion of them,
were compelled to Christ's feet like a whipped dog bows at his
master's feet. And they had to ask him for permission
to leave, to go, to enter into these hogs. They had to have
the permission of the king of kings. They could not do anything.
All the demons of hell are subject to his power. He has all power
in heaven and in earth. Our Lord allowed these demons
to enter into these, it says there are two thousand hogs. Our Lord allowed the demons to
enter into these hogs and slaughter them. I think for two good reasons. One, He wanted this poor Gadarene
to know and remember what these demon spirits would have done
to him had he not met the Master. Had it not been for divine sovereign
grace, that would have been this man's end, just like those hogs
drowned dead in sin. Secondly, he wanted to get the
attention of those people in the city and he certainly did. Now here's the fifth thing. Verse 14 and verse 15, the report
of almighty grace. And they that fed the swine,
well, they lost their livelihood. The whole season's work. Our 2,000 hogs, they're gone.
They're drowned. And they told it in the city
and in the country, and I'm sure they put the blame. I said, this
man caused this to happen. They told it in the city and
they went out to see. The city was curious, was aroused
at what happened when the wild Gadarene met the master and how
the hogs were slaughtered. And they went out to see what
was done, what happened. And look what they see. They come to Jesus. They came
to the master. By God's providence, by this
happening, by this event, God grabbed their attention. And
they see this man with the Lord. They see him that was possessed
with the devil and had the legion of demons. They see him now sitting. They marvel. What's going on here? Clothed? No longer naked? No longer a
crazy man? He's in his right mind? And they
were terrified. They were frightened,
afraid. Now let's look at this miracle
closely. Don't you see a transformation? Isn't this a marvel of God's
grace? This man's state by nature? What He is, what we are, and
what He is after He meets the Master? What a contrast! Sitting at the feet of the Savior,
desiring to be with Him, to learn of Him, no longer running wild,
before uncontrollably wild and wicked, now He sits at the Lord's
feet as a little child to hear of Him. He who had been possessed of
the devil was now possessed by the Son of God. Believers in
Christ are taken up with Him. He wanted and He desired to be
with Him. Notice what it says, they're
not only sitting, but now clothed. Clothed. No longer naked. In Adam, we are naked. No clothing. open and exposed
to God. All things are naked and open
with Him whom we have to do. Now in the Lord Jesus Christ,
believers are like this man marvelously dressed in His beauty, His glorious
righteousness alone. No more filthy rags. No more nakedness, but clothed
in the blessed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Sitting, no longer running from
God, sitting, no longer naked, clothed. Thirdly, it says, no
longer out of his mind, but in his right mind. Someone said,
every man is out of his mind until he has the mind of Christ,
the right mind. Now the believer, having met
the Savior, has right thoughts about self, right thoughts about
God, right thoughts about salvation, right thoughts about the Lord
Jesus Christ. We've been taught of God. We have the right mind. We have
a believing mind, a mind that submits to God's Word, God's
will, and God's purpose. That's a good description of
every believer. We have a right mind. We think right thoughts of Him,
high thoughts of Him, and low thoughts of self. I am a sinner
saved by almighty grace and grace alone. Now notice what happens
here. In the last part of verse 15,
they were afraid. They were afraid. Those who saw what happened,
but did not experience what this man experienced, they were afraid. These poor souls were terrified
at the presence of almighty mercy, almighty love, and almighty saving
grace. Why? They knew nothing of Him. They knew nothing of His grace.
They were still in bondage. Lastly is this. What a great contrast in verse
16 and verse 17. What a great contrast. When they
saw it, and they that saw it told them how it befell him that
was possessed with the devil, and also concerning this life,
and they began to pray him to depart out of the country. Look
at verse 18. But when he was coming to the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, begged him, Lord,
let me be with you. You see the contrast? Seeing
the power of Christ demonstrated among them, they asked the Lord
Jesus Christ, now you think about this, leave our town. Sad commentary on sinful man. They want nothing to do with
Almighty God. Sounds like religion today, does
it not? They want nothing to do with God who is the absolute
sovereign God. Who is Lord in creation. Who
is Lord in providence. Who is Lord in salvation. Leave
me alone. That's what religious folks say.
I don't want to hear anything about God who is God. God who
is sovereign in salvation. Just leave us alone. He will. My prayer is God don't leave
me alone. I want to hear more about your
sovereignty, more about your power, more about your grace.
How he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. How he will
save sinners by his grace. Now here's the flip side of that.
Verse 18, this man who was made a new creature in Christ, his
desire has been changed. His heart has been changed. Now
he wanted nothing to do with anybody. Now he wants everything
to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, don't leave me alone. I want to go with you. I want
to follow you. I want to be a disciple of yours.
Where you go, I go. What you teach, that's what I
want to hear. Oh, that we might be with Him.
This man having experienced His saving power wanted to follow
Him fully, commune with Him and be instructed by Him. This is
our prayer, is it not? Lord, let me hear from You. Lord,
meet with us. Lord, bless us with Your presence. Well, watch this in verse 19
and verse 20. The Lord had a parting word for
him. In verse 19 and verse 20, how be it? The Lord said, I've
got something for you to do. I've done so much for you that
I want you to do something here. The Lord suffered him not, permitted
it not, but said, you do this. You go home. Go home. Go back to your family. Go back
to your friends. Go home to your friends, your
family, and you tell them how great things the Lord had done
for you, and how the Lord has had mercy, love, compassion on
you. Now this man had a story. This
man had something to tell. This man had something to tell.
How great things God had done for him. Isn't that our story? The gospel is a plain declaration
of our great Savior and all that He has done for us. How He has loved His own with
an everlasting love. How He has had compassion on
us. How He has had sovereign, discriminating
mercy upon us. how God made Him to be sin for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God committed His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. The Gospel
is telling what great and how great things He has done for
us. That's our story. That's the Gospel we love to
preach. Because that's the only message there is to preach. How
great things He has done for us and how He has loved us. And given Himself for us. And died in our room and in our
stead for us. How He shed His blood for us.
How He gives us, imputes freely to us, His righteous obedience
before God. It's all that He has done for
us. Well, what are you going to do?
What's going to happen? Is he going to say no? Look at
verse 20. And he departed. You see, saving
faith is obedient faith. He departed, just as the Lord
told him to do, just as he was instructed to do. He departed. He did go home to his family.
He did go home to his friends and began to publish in his city,
Decapolis, how great things The Lord Jesus Christ had done for
him and all men did marvel. This man demonstrated saving
faith. How do we know that? He did what God told him to do. He was told to publish what great
things the Lord had done and that's what he did. He knew that
Jesus is Lord and he learned it by the experience that he
is Lord. And you know what he did? He didn't go home and try
to be a theologian. He simply went home and told
what he knew and what he experienced. How God had arrested him and
made him a new creature in Christ Jesus. And it says in verse 20, All that heard him Marvel. All that heard his story marveled.
They knew this man's deplorable circumstances before he met the
Savior and now they see a totally different man. I tell you what
my friend, the grace of God that does it work not only for us
but does it work in us. I tell you what, there is a Manifestation
of that grace worked in the heart. There is a manifestation of that
in our lives. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness,
temperance, faith, these things. The manifestation of what God
has worked in us. As old Barnard used to say, it
will leak out on you. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will do it. He will perfect it. He will perform
it. Indeed, a marvel of grace. No
wonder Newton said, amazing grace. You know the story of John Newton
before God raised him up and made him a preacher of the gospel?
He was a notorious, wretched sinner who ran a slave ship who
picked up slaves in Africa, sailed them to different places, and
one day God arrested him and broke him and made him a preacher
of the gospel. You see, that's a story of God's
people saved by grace. That was this wild Gadarene story,
and that was Newton's story. Amazing grace, how sweet to sound,
that saved a wretch like me. And my friend, that's my story.
As the old fella said, that's my story and I'm sticking to
it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. How great things God had
done for me. For me. We sing with the psalmist. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His
holy arm had gotten Him the victory. And you know what? He's given
that to me. He's given that to His people.
We say with the Apostle, Thanks be to God who giveth us a victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we read this in Romans
8. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Declare how great things He has
done for us. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
those words. help us to understand how God
saves sinners. And this is the reason that he
gives these stories of grace and miracles of grace all through
the Gospels. He's showing us how God saves
sinners on purpose. Purpose and grace in Christ Jesus.