And we're going to begin the
message, as I always do these messages, back a few verses. We're going to read beginning
in Mark 4. Our lesson is Mark 5, but we've
learned to read what's before and what's following the text. And it says here, beginning with
verse 35, Mark 4, And the same day, when evening was come, he
said unto his disciples, Let us pass over unto the other side,
across the sea of Galilee. He'd been preaching, been talking
to the people. There was a great multitude there.
And he said to his disciples, let's get into the ship and go
to the other side. So verse 36 says, And when they
sent the multitude away, they took him. Now this is interesting,
even as he was. Even as he was. Talking about
the Lord Jesus. How was he? Weary and tired. Because it tells us later, he
took a pillow and lay down in the back of the ship and went
to sleep. They took him, weary, tired, having spoken to the multitude,
having ministered to them for a good while that day, they took
him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him
other little ships. Now don't forget that. There
were some more little ships when they cast off from the bank and
started to cross the Sea of Galilee. There were other ships out there.
Some of them might have been doing business, fishing, and
some of them may have been following him. Because everywhere he went,
a multitude generally followed him. So there were other little
ships. Verse 37 says, And there arose a great storm of wind. And the waves beat into the ship
so that it was now full. There arose a sudden storm, wind
and rain, and the waves were high, and they beat upon the
ship and came over the sides into the ship, and the water
began to fill the little ship. And these disciples were afraid
it was going to sink. They couldn't bail it out fast
enough. And the Lord Jesus, verse 38, said the Lord Jesus was in
the hander, the stern, the back part of the ship. He was asleep
on a pillar, so tired, so weary. Our Lord was a man. He hungered,
he thirsted, he was weary, he wept. He took upon himself, I
read a little while ago from Philippians, a form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He didn't partake
of our sin, but he partook of the consequences of it, the weariness,
the loneliness, and the sorrow. So these disciples, they came,
it said, and awakened him. And they said, Master, don't you care that we perish? Master, we're in danger of sinking. The water's filling up the little
ship, and we're going to die. Now, I can tell you three things
that I know from this reading. Number one, this was a real storm. It was a real storm. You see,
these men were experienced seamen, experienced fishermen. They'd
been on this sea many, Peter, James, John, these men were fishermen.
And a little wind wouldn't have upset them, a little rain and
a few waves. Some of you fellows here in the
Navy, I was in the Navy, and some storms don't bother you,
you're just used to it. Get used to it. But this was
a bad storm. This was a bad one. Second thing
I know is this, they were genuinely afraid. They really were afraid. They really were. They came back
to him and said, Master, don't you care? Well, now, the third
thing, they shouldn't have said that. They knew better than that. They
had no cause to doubt their Lord's love. He'd never given them any
reason to doubt His love or to doubt His care or to doubt His
provisions. Has He ever given us any? Now, our storms are real. They're
real. And sometimes we feel like we're
going to, we're just going to perish. We're going to collapse
under them. But now we know better than that.
There's no cause. There's no cause for us to make
statements like that. There was no cause for them to
accuse him of neglect. He's never failed us yet, has
he? Never has. All right, it says
in verse 39, and he arose, and he will. In his own time, he
stood up and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, you
be still. One writer said he rebuked that
wind and that sea as a Lord would unruly servants. Unruly servants
who had acted impulsively, sit down. Peace, be still. Peace. And you know, it says,
and the wind ceased. The wind stopped and there was
a great calm. Now, I've been in some dandy
storms. And there was one I remember
off the coast of Okinawa back in 1945. And it was a terrible, terrible
storm. And after a while, the wind stopped.
But the waves didn't calm down for hours and hours and hours.
The wind stopped, but the waves don't stop. They keep on, the
sea keeps surging after the wind stops. But here it says, the
wind stopped, and the waves calmed down. The waves stopped immediately. They calmed and the sea was like
glass at his command. And I tell you this, what he
did was for his disciples. They're the ones for whom he
did this. They're the ones for whom he spoke this way. It was
because of them that he told the wind to stop and the waves
to lie down at his feet like a shepherd dog and be still. And they did immediately. It
was for his disciples. But you remember a while ago
I read there were other little ships out there in that storm
too. This wasn't the only ship. But
it was the only ship that had his people in it. His only ship
full of believers. And what he did, he did for them.
But those other fellows were blessed also. And God will bless a whole city
for the sake of his people. That's right. He'll bless a whole
community. He'll bless a whole nation for
the sake of his people. You see, when the Lord Jesus
acts in power and grace to bless his people, it spills over into
other lives. I imagine some of those fellows
out there in those ships were cursing God. I remember when
we'd get in those storms, some of those sailors could really.
You ever heard of cursing like a sailor? They'd curse the wind,
they'd curse the waves. You remember, they'd curse everything
and everybody and curse God. They weren't seeking His help.
The disciples were seeking His help, Master. But they were blessed when these
disciples were. I'll tell you another thing,
when the sea, when the wind stopped and the waves calmed, the disciples
said, what manner of man is this? And worshiped him. Those fellows
out there said, boy, we sure were lucky. They attributed the calming of
the sea and the stopping of the wind to some kind of chance or
luck or good fortune. You can be sure none of them
out there said, well, praise the Lord. But his people did. Listen to what they said in verse
41. And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, what
manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
But he had some words for them in verse 40. And he said to them, why are
you so fearful? Why indeed? Why are we? Why are we? It's that sin which
does so easily beset us, unbelief, isn't it? Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
Have you no faith? My Lord, not much. I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. What manner of man is this? I'll
tell you what manner of man. He's the God-man. He's the God-man,
and the Heavenly Father has given him authority, absolute authority
over all things, over the wind and the waves, over all flesh. He has all power in heaven and
on earth. All things are put under his
feet. Now then, let's look at the next
verse, chapter 5, verse 1. over, the sea was calm. And they
came to the other side of the sea by his choice into the country
of the Gadarenes. My, what a blessing when our
Lord is pleased to visit where we are. What a blessing. He came to the country of the
Gadarenes. This is where he was going. He
got a sheep over there, one of his own over there. I know the
Lord is omnipresent. Listen to what David said over
here. If you'd like, you may turn to
Psalm 139 with me, but I know the Lord is omnipresent. I know
that. The Lord is everywhere. Everywhere. Listen to what David said in
Psalm 139, verse 7. Psalm 139, 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in," this word
hell is unfortunate here because we associate it with something
else, but the word is, if I make my bed in the lowest parts of
the universe, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shalt
thou hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. But I say,
surely the darkness will cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as a day, and the darkness and
the light are both alike." So God is everywhere. Our Lord is
everywhere. But, listen, there are times
And there are places when the Lord is pleased, when and where
the Lord is pleased to visit in a special way and to minister
in a special way. His mercy and His grace, He's
everywhere. Beholding the good and the evil,
He's everywhere. But there are certain times and
certain places when and where our Lord is pleased to come and
to minister. For example, Samaria. When our
Lord went from a certain place to another place, said he must
need to go through Samaria. And there he stopped, and there
he blessed some people. The woman at the well, and all
those other people. Samaria. Philippi. You remember when he was going
to Bithynia, and he was going to Asia, and he was going here,
Paul was going to preach in different places, and God said no. And
that night a vision appeared to the apostle Paul, and God
said to him through a man in Macedonia, Come over here and
help us. And Paul went to Philippi. And where Paul went, where God's
messenger went, the Lord went. And God saved Lydia and the Philippian
jailer and all these people in Philippi. And then Paul had prepared
to leave Corinth, do you remember, in Acts 18? He was going to leave,
and God said, No. The Lord said, No, stay here.
Stay here! I have much people in this city. So I'm saying that the Lord Jesus,
our God, is everywhere, but He chose to come to this place. He chose to come to this place, and God is everywhere, but He
chose to come to this place. right here, and blessed. There's not a church in this
nation more blessed than this congregation. I mean not a one,
more blessed. There's plenty blessed, I know
that. But he's where he is. He goes
where he will. He blesses whom he will. And
he's blessed you. Oh, what a joy. Well, look at
verse 2. And when he came out of the ship,
immediately there met him out of the tombs a man. A man met
him. You know, listen to me, and you
know this, you're familiar with this. When our Lord heals the
sick here in these Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when He
gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, straight to the
lame, raises the dead. These are but pictures of His
mercy to us who are spiritually dead, spiritually blind, spiritually
lame, spiritually powerless, hopeless, helpless without Him.
So when this man ran to meet our Lord, I see myself in this
man, I see you. by nature in Adam, in this man. Let's see what it says about
him. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there
met him out of the tombs, a man. Where'd this man come from? The
graveyard. He came out of the tombs. Look
at verse 4. It says he had his dwelling among
the tombs among the dead. It says in verse 5, And always,
night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs. He
came out of them, from among them, and in them. And that's where we are by nature,
dead. By one man's sin entered this
world, and death by sin, so death, spiritual death, passed upon
all men. And our dwelling and habitation
is among the dead. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he
said, I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. When I see the Lord, I say, am
I in Adam a dead man? I dwell among dead people. Dead. Dead. And look at verse 2. And
met him a man out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. I thought when I read that, I
cannot think of a better way. I cannot think of a better way
to describe this sinful nature with which every one of us are
born. Unclean. Can you think of a better word?
I know it's rebellious. I know it's sinful. I know it's
boastful. But it's unclean. Unclean. That's right. Not any of us would want our
thoughts exposed to the general public. Why? Because they're
unclean. That's right. This man had an
unclean spirit. And that's what we are in Adam.
We have an unclean spirit. There are places in our cells
that we wouldn't want any eye to look. Isn't that right? There
are thoughts and imaginations and words and all these things
in us. You know, it's like when a woman
invites company to her house. There's some rooms off-limits.
Just don't take them in there. You know, we've cleaned this
part up. It's all right for inspection, but don't take them in there.
And that's the way it is with this nature of ours. We pray,
I look pretty good this morning. No, don't feel too hot, but I
look pretty good. I worked on it. But there are parts I wouldn't
want you to say unclean. And that's the reason. If it's
cleaned up, I wouldn't mind. But it's unclean. That's the
spirit. That's the spirit. That's the reason we blush. That's
the reason we're embarrassed. That's the reason we mourn, because
we've got an unclean spirit. Oh, wretched man that I am, Paul
said. I'll tell you another thing about
this man. Verse 3. Nobody could tame him. He had
his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him, not
even with chains. They couldn't. They couldn't
harness him. They couldn't control him. They
tried. They tried. They tried to bind
him. It says here in verse 4, he'd
been often bound. They are bound with fetters and
chains. Some people tried some, they
tried psychology on him, they tried chains, they tried all
these different things to control this unclean spirit, this rebellious
spirit. They tried all these methods
and means and ways and fetters. For a while they might have him.
We got him now. We got him. Reminds me of religious
people trying to tame and trying to reform men and women. They
try so many ways. And it lasts for a while. Boy,
they bound him one day and they thought, we got him bound now.
We don't have any more trouble with him. He's subdued, he's
bound, and two or three days later went out, he's wild again,
you know. He busted all of the fetters. We try all these things. We try the law. We try professions
of faith. We try baptism, church membership. We try reformation. We give them
cards to sign. All these things. Trying to subdue
that unclean spirit. Check it! That bad attitude and
bad spirit and bad temper. Just try all these different
things. Power, positive thinking and
all these things. Positive mental attitude. It
will work. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, who can deliver me from this body of death? Who can deliver me? And here
is verse 5. And he hurt himself, and he hurt
everybody around him. That's the bad part. Day and
night, he was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying, cutting
himself. Why? Why are you doing this to
yourself? It's that unclean spirit. It's
that wicked nature. Why are you doing this to yourself?
Don't you know what you're doing to yourself? Why are you doing
this to your family? Why are you doing this to your
children? Why are you doing this to your loved ones? Why are you
hurting everybody? Nobody can tame him. Nobody can
tame him. Never found anybody that could
tame him, conquer him. But, verse 6, but... I know somebody can. I know somebody
can. But, when he saw Jesus, when
he saw Jesus, he ran and worshipped Him. He saw Him. What a vision! What a sight!
That little old boat came up to shore and he was there behind
a tombstone, wherever, among the dead, wild, hair long, dirty,
crusty, filthy. And he saw someone, never seen
anybody like him. He saw him. He saw the Lord because
the Lord was there. Because the Lord was there. And
let me tell you something. Men and women in our congregations
will see Christ only if He's there in His gospel and in His
Word. Do you know why all over this
country, men and women, boys and girls, are not seeing the
Lord? Because He's not being preached in His true character. This Jesus, this man saw wasn't
an imposter. He wasn't an impotent Jesus. He wasn't a make-believe Jesus.
He wasn't some Jesus the Baptists conjured up. He was the Lord
Himself. That's who He saw. And Paul said,
we preach not ourselves, we preach Christ, Jesus the Lord. How they going to call on Him
whom they haven't seen? in whom they have not believed.
And how are they going to believe in Him of whom they have not
heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? And how are they going to preach
except they listen? You see it, because every time
these men get up here in this pulpit and preach, they preach
Christ. The Sovereign Christ, the Eternal Christ, the Conquering
Christ, the Incarnate Christ, the Righteous Christ, the Crucified
Christ, the Risen Christ, the Enthroned Christ, the Immaculate
Christ, the Sovereign Christ, the Christ of God, as He is. I see Him. I see Him. And I'll tell you what He did.
Listen. When He saw Him, He ran and worshiped Him, fell at His
feet. Now watch it. He didn't run to the disciples.
They were there, but He didn't run to them. And watch it, He
didn't wait till He cleaned up. He didn't run down to somebody's
house and wash up before He went to the Lord. He went just like
He was. Just like He was. Just as I am without one plea,
but that Thy blood was shed for me. that you bid me come to thee,
Lamb of God, I come, just as I am waiting not to rid my soul
of one dark blot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot. Lamb of God, I come." He ran,
and he fell down at his feet and worshipped him. He didn't
wait on an invitation. He didn't wait on anybody to
go with him. He didn't wait to see if anybody else was going.
In fact, nobody did. but Him. I like what old Joshua
said, I don't know about the rest of you, but I tell you what
me and my house gonna do, we gonna worship God. I tell you what we gonna do. Everybody
ought to worship Him, but they didn't. Everybody ought to run
to Him, but they don't. Everybody ought to fall at His
feet, but they won't. But He did when He saw him. when he saw Him. When God lets us see Him, we
will too. We'll run. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me drawing. But when God shows you Him, you'll
run, and you'll worship Him. Worship Him. All right. But that
evil spirit in Him, now watch this, that evil spirit in him
cried out against Christ. That evil spirit in him cried
out against Christ. Now listen to me. Religion appeals
to demons. Demons are comfortable in religion,
but they're uncomfortable around Christ. Demons love the flesh. The wilder
it is, the more they love it. Demons. Religion appeals to demons. Religion appeals to this unclean
spirit. But the gospel of Christ is offensive. And when this man ran to Christ,
this demon, this unclean spirit in him, no, no, go anywhere but
to this Christ. Don't go to Him. Christ is offensive. And our Lord said, He said to
him, verse 8, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit! Come
out! And this unclean spirit said, our Lord said, What's your
name? He said, Legion. Legion is many. Remember when
the Lord said to His disciples that He called on the Father
and He sent legions of angels? The Roman legion was 3,000 footmen
and 3,000 horsemen. And this demon said, we're many,
we're many. And the Lord told him to come
out. And they said, well, don't send
us out of the country, verse 10. I don't know a great deal
about this. I'm going to tell you something in a minute. They said, don't send us out
of the country. We like this pagan country. Don't send us
out of the country. There was a herd of swine feeding
there, about 2,000 of them. The devil said to him, Send us
into the swine that we may enter them. And they went into the
swine, and the swine went into the sea. Now let me tell you
something. Christ is the only one who can
cast out evil spirits. Christ is the only one who can
talk to and be talked to by demons and devils. Don't you try it.
Don't ever try it. And don't be associated with
anybody that does. I'm telling you. Don't do it. Turn to Luke chapter 11. Luke
chapter 11. Like I said, now, I don't know
a great deal about this, of what took place here. And I don't
want your mind to dwell on these demons. I want your mind to dwell
on the power of Christ to deliver His people, set the prisoner
free, the captive free. But look at Luke chapter 11.
Verse 21, when a strong man, armed, keeps his palace, his
goods are at peace. That's when Satan and his demons,
armed, armed with what? Armed with lies, armed with deception,
armed with craftiness, armed with those things that appeals
to our flesh. And when he dwells in his castle,
in the people in whom he dwells, He dwells there. Satan can't
come back. He can't come back. But Satan
wasn't driven out. The Lord didn't put him out here.
He voluntarily went out on his own. Are you with me? He says,
I'll go back to my house. And when he came, when he comes,
he found it swept, not washed, not cleansed in the blood, but
swept. When you sweep, you just move
dust from one place to another. You don't get rid of it. You
got to wash to get dust out. He found it swept, and he found
it garnished, decorated. Had a cross, had a pin that says,
God is love. Had all these decorations, you
know, had a cross around the neck. Decorated. Garnished. That's what decorated
is, adorned. Then goeth he and taketh to him
seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter
in and dwell there in the last state of the man, worse than
the first. That's voluntary religion. that a fella gets, and Satan
goes out, and for a while he or she gets along pretty good,
and then he comes back. And the last stage, you've seen
it so many times. You've seen it so many times.
That person who used to be so religious is just the opposite,
seven times worse than he was. More blasphemous, more doubtful,
more caustic, more evil, more wicked. He gave up his religion. It was his. But let me tell you
something. When Christ, that man, was full of an unclean spirit,
then our Lord said, You come out. And he departed for good. Gone. That's right. That's right. I want you to turn
to Acts 19. I want to show you something. That's what I said
while ago. I don't know a great deal about this, and I don't
want to. And I don't want you to. Don't
you ever try this. Only Christ can do this. Only
Christ can deal with demons and devils. Now, he gave his apostles
that power. They came back and said, Lord,
the devil's a subject unto us. You remember? He said, don't
you rejoice the devil's a subject unto you. You rejoice that your
name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's not your
forte, the devil's. It's just temporary anyway. Now,
he gave his disciples special power and credentials. Now, I
want you to watch this in Acts 19, verse 13. Then certain of
the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them
which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus. Oh, here's
some fellas that are going to give this a shot. There's some
people. possessed with demons. They're
going to use the name Jesus. You see these people on television
get that frown, that pious look, and say, Jesus, come out in Jesus'
name. These fellows tried that. Read
on. In Jesus' name, saying, we adjure
thee by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. There were seven sons, seven
of them, seven sons of one Siva, a Jew, chief of the priests that
did this. And the evil spirits answered
and said, Now Jesus we know. Boy, they do. What did that devil say over
here in Mark? When the Lord Jesus, verse 7
of Mark 5, he cried with a loud voice, What have I to do with
thee, Jesus, Son of God? We know Him. We know Him. Read on, Acts 19. And Paul we
know. He's the apostle of Christ. But
who are you? Who are you fellas? Where did
you get your authority over devils? Who are you? And the man in whom
the evil spirit was leaped on them, overcame them, prevailed
against them. They fled out of the house naked
and wounded. And all they did was try to call
out the demons in the name of Jesus. But this was real. This wasn't play pretty, you
know. This wasn't a meeting where everybody's jumping around acting
like fools and passing offering plates. I think Satan cooperates
with folks like that. But this is real. Now, I want
to show you one other scripture in Jude 9. In Jude, verse 9. You remember when God took Moses
up to Mount Pisgah? and killed him, took him home,
buried him. It says in verse 9 of Jude, in
verse 8 it says, Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile
the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he
disputed about the body of Moses, did not bring against the devil
a railing accusation, but he said, The Lord rebuke thee."
There, my friend, is what you and I will do. If we have any
dealings with any type of devil or demons or whatever, our appeal
and plea, Lord, you deal with this. The Lord rebuke thee, not
me. Not me. And so our Lord dealt
with him. Now here's what I want you to
see. So they, verse 14, And they that fed the swine fled, and
told in the city and in the country what had happened. And they went
out to see what it was that was done. Here's the people came
out now. In verse 15, And they come to Jesus. Now here's something
very significant for us. And they come to Jesus, and they
see Him. that was possessed with the devil.
They see him that was possessed with the devil. They see this
man who was out of the tombs, who could not be tamed, and he
was the man who was possessed with the devil. You know, some
people resent the word sinner. Sinner saved by grace. But the
people in the Bible, I want you to watch this now, the people
in the Bible who were saved by the grace of God and to whom
our Lord ministered His mercy, they were always known by what
they were. Listen, Rahab the harlot. Every time you mention Rahab,
what do you say? Rahab the harlot. I'm going to preach now, Rahab
the harlot. Might have been a harlot, but she's not now. She was the
mother of Boaz. But she was always known as Rahab
the harlot. God had mercy on a harlot. What
about the thief on the cross? He's not a thief now. What do
we call him? Thief on the cross. You believe
the thief on the cross is in heaven? Why are you calling him
a thief? He's the Son of God. But when the Lord found him,
he was a thief on a cross. What about the Mary out of whom
he cast seven devils? That's the way she's known. The
Bible mentions Mary. That's the one out of whom he
cast seven devils. What about this woman of Samaria? Samaritan
woman. That's where people... What about
Simon the leper? God cleansed him, but he was
still Simon the leper. The man who was born blind. the
man possessed of the devil. And let me tell you something,
you and I are sinners saved by grace. We'll always be known. Remember the pit from which you
were digged. And this man, they're not going
to let him forget where the Lord found him. And don't you ever
forget it either, where he found you, the thief. Paul never forgot where God found
him. He said, I'm the chief of sinners, not worthy to be called
an apostle. All right, let's see about this
man. They come to Jesus. They see this man that was possessed
with the devil, and the fellow that had the legion, they saw
him sitting. You know, when he had those devils,
he wasn't sitting. He was wild as a buck. Wild as a buck. I tell you, a
lot of religion today, now, I don't want to be harsh, but Christ
said, My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Romans 5, 1, Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. There's peace through the blood
of His cross. There's peace and rest. Come unto me, I'll give
you rest. Come before the Lord with thanksgiving. This man was wild when the demons
were in him. And when the Lord saved him,
they came and found him sitting. Secondly, they found him clothed.
He didn't clothe himself. I'll tell you who clothed him.
The one who conquered him clothed him. The Lord covered him. I know that. And that's how you
find... We were possessed of demons,
and he conquered us, and we're sitting at his feet like Mary
of old, and we're covered with his righteousness. And look at the next line, in
his right mind. In his right mind. He didn't
belong where he was. He's in his right mind now. You
wouldn't find him where he was. He's in his right mind now. See,
Christ is his wisdom. Christ is the wisdom of God in
his right mind. Now watch this. Here's what shocks
you. And they were afraid. Now let me see if I can help
you with that. They weren't afraid of the man for the first time.
They weren't afraid of him. He's peaceful. Sitting. Clothed. Got a different expression
on his face. He's looking in love and gratitude
to his Lord. So thankful. In his right mind. Not wild anymore. They're not
afraid of him. Who are they afraid of? Christ.
Christ. Now listen. They saw his power
over the man. They saw His power over the legion
of demons. They saw His power over the herd
of swine. He could send those demons wherever
He pleased, into whomever He pleased. They
went where He told them to go, where He permitted them to go.
They asked to go there and He let them go there. They saw that.
They saw the destruction of the swine when the demons entered
them. They knew their own sins. They
knew their own corruption. They were associated with evil
men and evil designs and evil doings. And they knew this man
somehow was associated with the judgment of God and the presence
of God. And they were afraid of the consequences.
So they said nothing about the loss of the pigs. They were willing
to absorb 2,000 pigs. Didn't ask him to pay for them. 2,000 pigs, all they asked him
to do is leave our shores. Don't disturb our religion. Don't disturb our way of life.
Don't disturb the status quo. Leave us like we are. Just go
away. And I'll tell you this. I'll
tell you this. You go into the average church
today and try to preach the free and sovereign grace of God, and
I'll tell you what they'll say. Leave us. We're happy like we
are, we're content like we are, we don't want you. You see, Christ
disturbs. When our Lord comes, there's
a disturbance. New life, resurrection, change,
dedication, commitment, surrender. Christ reigns, rules. And they
said, just go away. Just go away. don't want to study
this message, don't want to look into it, because we're all right
like we are. Well, this fellow, let me show
you something about him and I'll quit. This fellow, this fellow here in verse 18,
he didn't want him to leave. He wanted to go with him. He
prayed that he might go with him. He wanted to be one of the
apostles, I think, that's what he wanted. He wanted to go with
the Lord. And the Lord told him, said, now, you go home to your
friends. And don't you go home and try
to be a theologian and straighten all of them out now, because
you're not able to straighten anybody out yet. But I tell you
what you do. You just go home and tell them
what God's done for you. That's a good idea. Go home and
just tell them what God's done. Tell them what you were. They
know. Tell them who did it. Tell them what you are now. and
give him all the glory. Tell him what great things the
Lord has done for you.