Now let's open our Bibles this
evening to the Book of Mark. The Book of Mark. I find it hard
to improve on the old songs, don't you? I guess we've been singing, Jesus
keep me near the cross for, some of us, 50, 55, 60 years. And it was as beautiful tonight
as it was the first time we heard it. I like the old hymns. Now back in chapter 4, it says
in verse 36, Mark 4, 36. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him
other little ships, and there arose a great storm of wind. The master was in the ship with
his disciple, crossing the Sea of Galilee, and the waves beat
into the ship so that it was now full of water began to come
over the side and to fill up the little boat, the little ship. And he was in the back part of
the ship asleep on a pillar. The master was weary and he was
sleeping through the storm. And the disciples came back and
they awoke him and they said unto him, Master, carest thou
not that we perish? I wonder how they thought they
were going to perish without him perishing with them. Where Christ is, we are. Like
John prayed a moment ago, what I know, what I have, what I shall
be, where I am, is all because of him and in him, by living
relationship with him. But that's us in our trials and
troubles. Master, don't you care, don't
you care that we perish and he arose and he rebuked the And
he said unto the sea, think of this, peace be still. Here was this little ship being
tossed for the water. The waves were high, so high
that they were coming up over the sides of the little vessel,
filling it with water. The disciples, these were men
of the sea. These were men of the sea and
it must have been a cruel storm to have alarmed them as it did.
They'd been in storms before. And they thought this was it,
that they were going to perish. And the Master stood and stretched
forth his hands and said to the sea, Peace, they said. And upon a word from our Lord,
the wind ceased. And there was a great calm. I've
been on the Pacific Ocean when it seemed like it was just You
were floating on a mirror, on a glass. It was so calm, so smooth. The ship didn't even roll from
side to side or forward or aft. Just totally smooth. And that's
the way this little sea was when our Lord spoke. It went from
a raging storm to a great calm. And then he turned to his disciples
and he said, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and
one said to another, they said one to another, what matter of
man is this? They still didn't understand,
did they? Someone asked me not long ago if I thought the disciples
prior to the cross understood the redemptive work of Christ.
Did they understand? what he came to do, how he would
do it, how he would fulfill the Father's will. I said, no, I
really don't think they understood much after the cross. Or even
after he arose, it said they didn't believe. Thomas said,
I won't believe unless I stick my finger in the hole in his
side. And this is why they said, what
manner of man, if they had had a full understanding of his deity,
they wouldn't even have asked this question. They wouldn't
have gone back to him and asked him if he cared either. Or if
he thought they were going to perish. What manner of man is
this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Would that men
obeyed him like the sea and the wind. But he said the ox knows
his owner and the ash knows his master's crib. But my people
do not even consider. They do not know. Well, they
finished their journey, chapter 5, and they came over to the
other side of the Sea of Galilee into the country of the Gadarenes. They landed on the shore here,
a little country called the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the
ship, I judge that the master stepped out of the ship. I don't
know how big this ship was, but I don't think very large. But
anyway, the ship pulled into the land and the master stepped
off. And immediately they met him out of the tomb, the graveyard,
a man with an unclean spirit. Now, how close this graveyard
was to the seashore where the little ship pulled up on the
land, I do not know, but this is what I imagine. You see, this
man had his dwelling in the tomb. Let's read a little bit about
him. It says in verse 3, he had his dwelling among the tombs.
And no man could bind him. No man could bind him, no, not
with chains. Because that 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. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones. But when he saw Jesus, now what's
this word? A far off. afar off. He ran and worshipped him. Now,
this story is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's recorded
quite fully. Here we have 20 verses set aside
for this story in the book of Mark, but it's recorded in Matthew
and Luke also. It tells about this man being
filled with demons, unclean spirits. He was a raging, insane madman. And running around naked, the
scripture says, I believe in Luke 8, it says he wore no clothes. And they tried to tame him, they
tried to bind him, they tried to put him somewhere where he
wouldn't do himself any harm, but he'd escape, he'd break the
fetters, and he lived in the tombs. And evidently this graveyard,
a place of the dead, was within sight of this place where the
little ship pulled in. And the ship pulled in, and I
can just imagine he was up there among the gravestones, among
the tombs. And everything that happened
down there, he watched it and saw it. Some of my commentary
says that they usually had their graves or burial grounds on higher
ground. So he was looking down at this
little ship coming in. He didn't know who was in that
ship, he didn't know much about it. There were some demons in
him, unclean spirits, he was possessed with the devil. And
when that little ship landed, and the Lord Jesus Christ stepped
out, the demons in him, even against
their will, they knew who he was, they recognized And he literally ran, when he
saw Jesus afar, he literally ran down there where he was and
fell down at his feet and had some things to say. Now why is
this in the Word? Here it is in Matthew 8 and Mark
5 and Luke 8 and it's told in all of these verses and so
much of the scriptures given to it. Well, let me say just
a few things. First of all, this story is not just a demonstration
of the Lord's power over devils. We see right back here in that
other chapter, in chapter 4, just two or three verses are
given to the Lord's power over the sea. He stepped up here in
front of this little ship. The wind was blowing and the
waves were raging and coming over the ship. He just rebuked
the wind said to the waves, peace be still, and it was calm, and
he lay back down. But here, verse after verse after
verse after verse, and then in two other places, is given to
this miraculous, miraculous deliverance of a man who was demon possessed. I believe, number one, that this
miraculous deliverance is not just involving one man, but it
teaches the grace of God toward all whom the Lord saves. We have
a picture here of my deliverance and of your deliverance and of
the deliverance of all whom he will deliver. Because, first
of all, sin is uncleanness. He's described as being a man
possessed with an unclean spirit, and sin is unclean. We're all
possessed with an unclean spirit, an unholy spirit. a depraved,
degrading spirit. We're unclean, just like this
man. And we're madmen. Sin is madness. That's why sin
is insanity. It's insanity. And this man right
here, naked, unclothed before God. Because our filthy, rotten
rags of righteousness are no covering. We're unclean, like
he was. We're naked before God. And we're
possessed with devils too. That's right. If you'll hold
the scripture there, I ask you to turn to Ephesians chapter
2. All men out of Christ are demon possessed to some extent
because we follow the leadership of Satan. It says in Ephesians
2, listen to it, verse 1, you have to be quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. Ephesians 2.1, wherein in time
fact you walk according to the course of this world, according
to whose leadership? The prince of the power of the
air. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience
among whom we all had our behavior. We all had our behavior. In other
words, our Lord said to the Pharisees, now here, these were religious
men, students of the Scripture, teachers of the Scripture. moral
men, Sabbath keepers, tithers. They weren't adulterers or extortioners
or unjust men. They gave alms to the poor, all
of these things, and yet our Lord said, you're of your father,
the devil. The devil. Now, and here's what
I'm saying. I'm saying that this, all of
this scripture devoted to this This man possessed of unclean
spirits is not just to show the power of Christ in delivering
one man, it's to show the power of Christ and the grace of Christ
in delivering all whom he delivers. We are unclean. Unclean, like
the lepers of old. Unclean, unholy, depraved, and
even possessed of the devil. Under his direction, under his
government, He said in Romans 6, whoever, if you are the servant
of sin, or you obey sin, you are the servant of sin. The slave
of sin. Not only that, but this man had
his dwelling among the dead. Among the dead. And that's where
all unsaved people are. They're dead. Dead in trespasses
and sin. So, it's a very fitting thing
that he was living in the tomb. He's a good picture of us in
his uncleanness, in following the dictation of devils, in his
nakedness, in his madness, and in his dwelling among the dead. And here's another thing about
him. Back here in verse 6 it says twice, verse 3 rather, verse
3 it says, no man could bind him. No man could bind him, no
man could subdue him. And it said down here in verse
4, the last line, no man could tame him. Now they tried, but
they couldn't tame him. Here was an unclean, naked, red,
raging, strong man. Filled with devils
and demons, possessed with demons. And these fellas tried to tame
him. They tried to calm him down, they tried to subdue him, they
tried to bind him, but they couldn't do anything. Oh, they put some
fetters on him for a while, and I imagine they helped a little
while, but after a while he, with the strength from within,
he broke them. You say, how does that picture up? Well, the religious
crowd always tries to tame a sinner. Always try to tame him. Not make
him a new creature, but tame him. And they, the legalists,
and the moralists, and the socialists, and the religionists, and all
of these fellas, they bind him. They bind him with a change of
profession. Get him to make a profession.
That calmed him down for a little while, but he'll bust out of
that pretty soon. They'll get him to do some duties.
They'll give him the duty of passing the plate, or teaching
Sunday school, or doing something like that, get them in the church
and get them busy doing something and that'll subdue the evil spirits
for a little while. For a little while. But he'll
bust out of that too. Or they'll get him baptized and
they'll get him to tithing and they'll get him doing all these
things. But no man can tame him. Why? His rebellion's from within. His evil is from within. That strength of sin and madness
is from within. That's where our trouble is.
You see, Adam was the only man who became a sinner because he
sinned. The rest of us sin because we're already sinners. It's within
us. It wasn't. It came within Adam. He was born within us. And here
is this man, unclean. Oh, unclean. And the uncleanness
was, I'm not just talking about dirt on him, I'm talking about
dirt in him. Dirt is madness. Evil. And that's us. Insane. Naked. Naked. Living among the dead. That's
where he wanted to be. Those were his companions, the
dead. The dead. And no man could tame
him. They tried to. They tried everything,
but his rage was from within. His rebellion was from within.
His evil was from within. And our Lord said it's impossible
with men. And I'm telling you, this is
a job for God. It's not a job for the evangelist.
You can get the best priest you can preach in America and bring
him in here, and he can't save one sinner. He can't tame one
madman. He can't tame one insane son
of ass. Oh, he can bind him for a while.
He can put some fetters on him. He can put some fetters and bind
him with some duties and some ordinances and some responsibilities
and some promises and some rewards and kind of get him to the straight
and narrow a little while, but he'll do like this man. He'll
bust them loose. He can't stand them. And that
real person will come out again and dominate. And actually, the
Lord said he'll be two-fold more the child of hell than you are.
Impossible. They said, well, who can be saved?
He said, with men it's impossible. It's impossible. It's a divine
work. It's an inward work. It's a mysterious
work. It's a life-giving work. It's
a resurrection. It's a giving of new life. It
comes from God, not from me. We got ourselves in this mess,
but we can't get ourselves out. God has to. And that's what I
see in part 1 here. It says in verse 5, verse 5,
it's a permanent condition. Always, always, always, night
and day. Evil never sleeps. Evil never
lets up. He was in the mountain. And in
the tombs, crying. And what was he doing? He was
mistreating himself. You tell sinners with their hatred. Sure, they hurt the people they
hate, but they hurt themselves more. Folks that are drunkards, they
hurt the folks, but they hurt themselves more. The druggals. All these things. Sure, they
wound everybody they touch or influence, but he cut himself.
That's who he's hurting. Destroying himself. destroying
himself with unbelief and hatred and evil and malice and bigotry
and all the jealousy and envy and strife and all these things
are destroyed. He was destroying himself. So
that's the first picture. Every son of Adam is an unclean
spirit, a madman. Nothing he can do or anyone else
can do can free him from the slavery and bondage of that evil
nature. He's a dead man dwelling among
dead men, living in a graveyard. Night and day there's no relief
from the bondage, no peace, no rest. The bondage which causes
him to destroy himself and separate himself from God. Boy, here's
part two, though. Look at verse six. We get into
some deep water here, but now let's see what we can do with
it. When he saw Jesus afar off, now you're dealing with something
here that's too big for me, you and all of us put together. But when he saw Jesus afar, now
here's the first thing that impresses me, and I can get in here pretty
good. The first thing that impresses me here is the fact that Christ
came to that place. the land of the Gadarenes, the
place of that madman. Christ came after him though.
Just like he went to Samaria for the woman. Just like he went
to Jericho for Zacchaeus. Just like he went to Jericho
for blind Bartimaeus. Just like he went to Simon's
house for the woman, the harlot. Just like he went to the cross
for the thief. He came here for this man. He must, needs go through
Samaria. And oh, I thank God for his good
providence that brought the Lord there. It was no accident. It
was no accident. Here is the sinner in his uncleanness. Here is the sinner in his madness.
Here is the sinner in his bondage. And boy, I'm telling you, what
a sight to behold. There's the Master. There's the
Master. The Master. This man had all
the religious, social, and civil agencies in town, but they couldn't
help him. Couldn't help him. We got all
those, too. But John just steps from the ship, the only one in
all the universe that can do the center good. There, stepping
from that ship, is the great physician. There's the conqueror
of Satan. There's the healer of every disease.
What you read tonight, John, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
and healeth all thy diseases, and satisfyeth thy mouth with
good things, there is the fountain of life. All that he might give us tonight
and in days to come, his presence. All is vain unless the spirit
of the Holy One come down. He said without me you can do
nothing. Unless Christ lands on our shore,
we might as well close the book and shut the doors and lock it
and turn out the lights and go home. And go to hell. That's right. Because we're destined
to remain in the graveyard, we're destined to remain in our uncleanness
and nakedness, and we're destined to remain in our madness unless
He lands on our shores, John. Unless He comes to your shore.
May He come. May He come. Not by might, nor
by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." Yeah, but preacher, this man ran down there to him.
I know he did. And he was motivated by the spirits
and the power within him to do it, too. That's exactly right. He ran and cried with a loud
voice. Listen, he ran and fell at his
feet and worshipped him and cried with a loud voice. Who did the
cry? The demons within him. I tell you, this man was possessed. He was possessed of demons. What
he said, they said. What he did, they did. But that's
us. We're possessed of the devil.
Why, you say, why do people do what they do? I tell you why,
they're motivated by the evil of this world. That preacher's
preached last night on the Antichrist is coming. He's already here.
He's already here. He that denieth that Jesus Christ
is coming to flesh is Antichrist. The Antichrist doth already work.
Paul said that 2,000 years ago. If you're not pardoning, he said,
you're against me. That's anti. That's Antichrist. And they ran and fell down. Can
I explain this? I don't know, but I'll tell you
what you see here. They cried in verse 7, What have
I to do with thee, or what do you have to do with me? Jesus,
thou Son of the Most High God, I adjure thee by God to torment
me. This is the spirit of Satan coming
in contact with the very God of Glory, the Living God, the
Creator of all things, the Designer of all things, the Omnipotent,
Omniscient, Omnipresent, Almighty, Eternal God in human flesh. And this man is a dwelling place
of that spirit of evil, that anti-Christ. And I'll tell you
this, I see here that Christ lands on that shore. You see,
he's the king. He has the keys of hell and death.
Some people preach Christ as if he's over here and the devil
over here and there's a war going on. There's a war going on and
I'll tell you who the king is. still to conquer it. I tell you,
he has the authority. And you're going to see that
in a minute. The devil is still in subjection to my Lord. He's
under his reign and rule and power and authority. And you
see here, you don't see a little peanut Jesus here now, a little
ten-cent store Jesus they're preaching in 1985. You see here
the great glory of the Christ. You see the true person and power
of the Christ. You see the reign and authority
of Christ. When he stepped off that ship,
even these devils took this carcass they inhabited and ran down there
and fell down and worshiped him. The devils know who he is. Preachers
today may not know, but the devils know. to show you a verse of
scripture in Mark 1. Just turn back to Mark 1. I know
this is something that's not preached today. I know it's something
that's not even known today. But I want you to listen to what
the devil says. You know, James says the devil
believes there's one God. And what? Tremble. And tremble. Yes, he does. You say what you
want to about Satan's hell. It's not his hell, it's God's
hell. He said what you want to about
Satan's power and all, he still trembles, trembles at the Word
and at the presence and before the power of the King. In verse
24 of Mark 1, these demons say, leave us alone! Leave us alone! What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us? We
know who you are, the Holy One of God. We know who you are. And one of them said this, and
the devils not only know who he is, but the devils know their
condemnation is sure and certain, and they know the time has been
set. Look at Matthew 8. That's right, they know the time
has been set, because listen to what they said in Matthew
8. This is another account of this same story. In Matthew 8,
listen to this, verse 29. And behold, they cried out, saying,
What have we to do with thee at this time, Jesus thy Son of
God? Are you come hither to torment
us before the time?" What's this? What's this? Let me tell you
something. Devils know what men do not know.
Devils know his power. Devils know his glory. Devils
know his sovereignty. And even against their will,
he didn't speak a word. He stepped out of the ship. And the man in the tomb, the
demon-possessed man, trembling, came down drawn by his awesome
power and authority. He's going to deal with them.
They knew it. They knew he didn't land there to have a picnic.
Our Lord declared war on the devil, he wins every time. He
landed not to have a picnic, he didn't land there to see what
he could do, he came there to get this man. He came there to
cast out some devil. And when he landed, they just
put their swords up and fell at his feet. And I hear preachers telling
people, won't you let Jesus have his way? He'll have it. he'll
have it. And when you ever find out who
you're dealing with, you'll let him have it. Right to him. He'll have it. We'll quit this
bagging and pulling and drawing and all this sort of foolishness
in the name of God when we realize when Christ lands, he lands as
a conqueror. When he steps ashore, he steps
ashore with the authority of God to possess the land and all
who there belong to him. That's right. And that's when
they thought the time had come. Old MacArthur landed on the Philippines
and strutted up there and said, I have returned. And nobody much
cared. But I tell you, when King Jesus,
General Jesus Christ lands, he lands on purpose. He's come to
do something. That's right. And he stepped
on the shore and had men up there watching him. And he just ran
down there. Demons and all in fairly deceit,
they know, they know without a word spoken, without a glance
his way, this man runs and prostrates himself before the Lord. He is
the great superiority and preeminence of my master. I'll tell you if we could ever
get hold of that, if we could ever learn to fear him, we wouldn't
fear anybody else. We wouldn't fear anything else.
If we marched with the conqueror, if we marched with the king, we know who you are. We know
who you are. These other folks may not, but
we know who you are. We know who you are. You're the
son of the most high God. Have you come? Is this your mission
to torment us, to cast us into hell before our time? And for
he had said, he had already said, come out of the man, thou unclean
spirit. And he asked him, said, what's
your name? And they said, our name is Legion. Legion means
many. A Roman legion was about 12,500
men. Well, it didn't mean he had 12,500
devils, but it's a definite number for an indefinite. And watch
verse 10. And they besought Christ that
he would not send them away out of the country. I read so many
different interpretations of that I finally quit. But I think
one man hit it pretty close. Don't cast us into hell yet. Don't send us to our torment,
to our place of punishment. Not yet. And the devils besought
him, saying, Send us into the swine, send us into the swine,
that we may enter into this. Now watch this, verse 13. And
the Lord gave him leave. My soul, if you've ever seen
a verse of scripture that shows the power of Christ over even
the demons, there it is right there. He gave them permission. He gave them permission. Just
like he gave Satan permission to visit Job. Just like he gave
Satan permission to try Peter. Just like Satan cannot touch
one of his own without his permission. That's the reason we were taught
to pray, deliver us from the evil one. And Jesus Christ gave
them permission. And the unclean spirits went
out, entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the sea, about 2,000 of them. And they fell
off the precipice and were choked in the sea. And the fellows that
fed the swine fled and ran to town. And they told it in the
city, in the country, everybody went out to see what was going
on. Now watch this, here's part three. And they came to Jesus, and the
first thing they saw was this madman, this fellow, now watch
this, he came to Jesus and to see him that was possessed with
the devil. You know something? Every time
this man's referred to, he's referred to not by name, Not
even referred to by the new child of God. Every time he's referred
to, they refer to him as the man that was possessed with the
devil. Look down at verse 18. When they were come to the ship,
he that had been possessed with the devil. And I find in the
other accounts too, every time it refers to him, it says, and
this is the fellow that was possessed with the devil. History records him this way.
History remembers him this way. And no other. The name published
just with him everywhere he went. That was the guy that was mad.
That was the fellow that was possessed of the devil. That
was the fellow we used to change. That was the fellow that ran
around naked through the tombs. You know some men resent the
term, a sinner saved by grace. They'd rather be known for what
the good things that they're doing. The good things. They'd
rather be Known for the good deeds that they have done, but
every time the Lord refers to one of his children, it's like
this. Mary, out of whom he cast seven devils. Remember? Or, that
was the man that was born blind. He's not blind now, but he was
born blind. And except for the power of God, he'd still be blind.
That's Rahab, what they call her. Even the New Testament Even
a thousand years after she did the harlot. Huh? Well she so happened that she
was the mother of one of the greatest men in the scriptures.
But they still called her the harlot. What about the woman who was
a sinner? Every time we talk about her, one that bathed his
feet with the tears and the woman that was a sinner. What about
the fellow on the cross? What do they call him? What do
you call him? The thief. Well, he's the son of God. But
we still call him the thief. Because that's what he is by
nature. And that's what he is except for the grace of God.
And that's what he'd be right now if Christ had made him whole,
a thief, a hire. Paul never forgot what he was.
Listen to him over here. I believe it's in 1 Timothy 1.
I'll just read it to you. Listen to it. He said in verse
14, I thank Jesus Christ my Lord. He put me in the ministry. Watch
verse 13. I was before a blasphemer. I was before a persecutor. I
was before injurious. That's what I am by nature. But
here he is, now how did they find him? Well, they found him,
first of all, sitting. That was not a posture or position
he was seen in too much before. He'd run around crazy, yelling
and screaming, like one of these rock singers. That's right. I hear a lot of young people
say, I love that stuff. I don't see how you can. That's
madness. Those mad people do it just like
this fellow here. They found him sitting at peace. He had a quietness of spirit
and a quietness of heart and peace. They found him sitting
there. Resting in Christ. Resting in Christ. They found
him sitting. They found him clothed. Oh, you can do a lot with that,
David Atkins. He clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, wasn't he? Clothed in the beauty of Christ.
It wouldn't surprise me if my Lord didn't put his robe around
him. Because that's what he did for
you and me. Put his robe around us. And what's this? And they
found him in his right mind. What does that mean? Preacher
had right thoughts about himself. Had right thoughts about God.
Had right thoughts about the mercy of God. Had right thoughts
about the authority of God. Had right thoughts about the
kingship of God. He's in his right mind. Right
mind. Men who kick against the word
of God are not in their right mind. Men who fight the truth
of scripture are not in their right mind. They're crazy. Men
who talk about their wills being pitted against the will of God
are crazy. They're not in their right mind.
But the man who is sitting and clothed in the righteousness
of Christ and at peace with God because of the blood and obedience
of Christ, he's in his right mind. He says, let God be God
and everybody else liars. He's in his right mind, John.
I see some things now. I see him in his glory. I see
him in his majesty. I see him. He is to me the wisdom
and power of God. To the madman, it's foolishness.
The cross is foolishness, sheer nonsense. But to the believer
who's in his right mind, he sees the wisdom of God in Calvary's
cross. Oh yeah, in his right mind. In his right mind. And verse 16 says, they were
afraid, and when they saw it, And they that saw it told him
how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil. They
told these people exactly what Christ had done. They saw this
man sitting there. He had never been sitting or
clothed in his right mind for years and years. They couldn't
do it. They couldn't do it. They couldn't tame him. They
couldn't bind him. They couldn't subdue him. But
Christ had with a word done all of it. With a word. The word
of God is the power of God unto salvation. He could hear it by
word. And with a word he'd done that.
And when it was told to him, do you know what they did? The
same thing that religious men do today. Verse 17, and they
began to praise him to leave their city. We will not give up our traditions,
we will not give up our hog raisin. We are not going to give up these
things. We just want you to don't confuse us and don't bother us
and don't disturb our traditions and don't upset our shores and
don't upset our people now. Just leave quietly and don't
come back. Don't come back. You say, well, if the religious
folks of this world could just, if they could just visit here
and see what God's done, how the Lord has taken madmen, how
the Lord has taken all these no count sons of Adam, these
naked, unclean, vile, filthy people that could not be tamed,
and he with his gospel, not a program, not a social endeavor, or a ball
team, or all these different methods and means and messes
that can't do anything permanently, but he, with the gospel, has
transformed them and gave them peace, joy, and reason to live,
and hope for eternity, and a robe of righteousness, and a right
mind toward God. They just see that, they quit
trying to do what they're doing and just rest in God. They'd
say, you're not going to bring that in our church. We're not
going to have that. We can't get the job done, but
we like trying. We can't save anybody, but we
like to still take credit for it. We watch them come and go,
hair up the piers and disappear. Have a turnover, have a couple
of years. But we're not going to quit.
You just go on and leave us alone. But I'll tell you that other
fella, when he was coming to the ship, the fella that had
been possessed with the devil, they always referred to him that
way. You know who we're talking about? We're talking about that
no-count varmint from Huntington named Dan Culver. That's who
we're talking about. That no-count character from
Dan Workman, Mike Bartlett. Remember him? That's right, he
said, that one that was possessed from Kettlesburg, that mean,
I mean mean dude named Adkins. That's what he said. But boy,
he didn't tell him to leave. He said, I'm going with you.
I want to be with you. See, the issue is Christ. And
they knew that was the issue. These religious folks might make
the issue. Anything they want to do. I'll tell you what the
issue is. One man wanted Christ with him all the time. The rest
of them wanted him gone. That's exactly, that's what the
issue, the issue is Christ, Christ, Christ, that's what you pray,
brother, that's the whole issue. The mighty Christ, the conquering
Christ, the incarnate Christ, the election Christ, the effectual
Christ, the risen Christ, the ascended Christ, the seated Christ,
leave! But those who've seen him say,
Lord, I want to be with you. I want to be with you. Paul said, I want to be with
Christ, which is far better. I want to be with you. Oh, he
prayed that he might be with him. Let me be with you. Oh,
that I might win Christ and be found with him, in him. That
I might know him in the fire of his resurrection. I want to
be with him. Take the world, but give me Jesus.
David said, if the mother and father give up on me, Christ
will take me up. I'd rather be with him. Oh, but
here's part three. few important lessons here, but
the Lord suffered him not. He said, you can't go, you can't
go, he's not going to do it. Verse 19, he said to him, go
home to your friends, go home to your friends, go home to your
friends. Now let me show you something
here. True faith and true salvation does not separate the believer
from other people. True faith and true salvation
does not make a man a hermit or somewhere in a cage sitting
cross-legged reading his books. It doesn't make a man an ascetic
or an oddball. That's right. Go home to your
friends. You're the light of the world. You don't take a light
and put it under a bush. By itself, you put it out here
on the candlestick. Salt You don't put salt in the
cupboard, you put it on the meat. And we're prone to look at those
men and women in monasteries and say, oh, I wish I could be
holy like that. They're not holy, they're hypocrites. That's right. We're prone to look at some lady
in a nunnery, you know, running around all dressed up reading
a book and wish we could be so holy. Nonsense. The love of a
solitary ascetic life is not true faith, it's love of self. And fear of self. Go home to
your friends, Christ said. Don't go build your cave up there
and hide out somewhere reading the old Puritans. Go home to
your friends. Get amongst them. That's what
he said. You go home to your friends.
Don't go off somewhere and shut yourself off in a monastery or
a nunnery or somewhere like that. Go home to your friends. Why? Well, you don't. And tell them
that you've accepted Jesus. No, and you tell them that you
used to be on drugs and now you're high on Jesus. No. Go home and tell them you thought
this thing over and decided to turn over a new leaf and get
religion and become a preacher. No, sir. Why don't you go home
and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you. I've heard a lot of testimonies
in my life and most of them are just reeking with self. Oh, how I enjoy hearing somebody
tell how great things, great things, I'm telling you this
is, these are great things. You talk about a man crazy in
his right mind, that's pretty great, isn't it? You talk about
a naked man clothed forever, you talk about a man insane,
mad, and couldn't be tamed, now he's conquered by Christ, and
he's a servant of the Lord. Those are great things. But he
didn't do it, Christ did it. I hear preachers say, it's all
up to you. That's not what this says. It says, you go tell them,
your friend, you tell them what the Lord's done for you. Now, you can't tell them that
he'll do the same for them, but you can tell them he did it for
you. And it may be one of them will catch on. That if he could
do it for you, he could do it for me. But we don't have any
authority to go down here and tell the world that Jesus Christ
is just dying to do something for them. Or that he's not going
to be successful unless they let him do something for them.
Let's just go tell them what he's done for us. That's the
limit of your testimony. I hear, I know a lot of people
are kind of afraid to witness because they kind of think it's
up to them to get some kind of commitment. It's not up to you.
They think it's up to them to kind of carry the thing on until
they sell Jesus on these people. No, just tell them what he did
for you. Those are direct orders from
the King. You're going to hold on to your
friends and tell them. And do you know what he said
to his disciples? If they won't listen to him, shake the dust
off your feet. And go out the door and shut
it. Isn't that what he said? And it will be a witness against
them in the judgment. He'll be a witness against them
in the judgment. Tell them what great things he
had done. Now watch this. How he had compassion
on you. How he loved you. Loved you and
had compassion on you. And you know he just went and
did that. Look at verse 20. And so he departed.
And he began to publish in Decapolis A great thing Jesus had done
for him. He did what the Lord told him
to do. He told him what the Lord... Now, if he hadn't done anything
for you, you can't tell it. He said, I've got a doctor up
in Cleveland. I had some back trouble a few
years ago, three years ago. Very severe back trouble. Couldn't
get any satisfaction where I was going. On the advice of Lloyd
and Carolee Bush, I went to Cleveland. And I found there a physician.
He's a good one. He's a specialist. I had a lot
of confidence in him. He helped me. I haven't had any
problems in three years to mountain-climbing. And you know what I've done?
I've sent several folks up there. But you know what? I just told
them what he did for me. And they went on their own. Now
I didn't grab them by the hand and say, you're going. Or sign
this right here. No, I just said, I told you,
Ken, that you took your boy up there. And he's good and he knows
it. Ken said, what's that doctor's name up there? I said, Dr. Collis. He said, what'd he do for you?
I went and got the papers. I said, this is what he did for
me. He said, I'm going too. I'm going too. I'm going too. And I just believe that that's
the way we ought to witness, like our Lord said here. And
he just went out there and told them what great things the Lord
had done for him. And I'll tell you this, if you're
hurting enough, you'll go to Him, too. That's what it boils
down to. Now, a fella ain't got no back
trouble. You can't waste your time telling me about that specialist
up there. He said, well, I'll put his name
down in case I ever need him. I'll take him as a fire escape.
I'll take him as an insurance pot, but oh, the fellow is down.
Can't wiggle a move. He'll go. He'll go. Tell him
what he's done for you. Tell him about his compassion
on you. That's the way to tell him. And
if they need him, they'll run to him. Listen to this old hymn
by Augustus Hymn Top Lady. a debtor to mercy alone, of covenant
mercy I sing. Nor fear with thy righteousness
on my person praises before thee to bring. The terrors of law
and of God with me have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience
and blood hide all my sins from view. The work which his goodness
began, the arm of his strength, will complete. His promise is
yes and amen, and never was forfeited yet. Things future, nor things
that are now, nor things below or above, can make him his purpose
forego, or sever me from his love. My name from the palm of
his hands eternity will not erase. impressed upon his heart my name
remains in marks of sovereign grace. Yes, I to the end shall
endure as sure as his promise is given. More happy but not
more secure are the glorified saints in heaven. I'm the Lord,
I've changed nothing. What's he done? Well, this is
a story of me right here. And I'm trying to tell others
what he did, what he did for me. Our Father, we bless you
for your word. We bless you for the beauty of
this story, a revelation of earth and our madness and uncleanness
of religion. attempting its impossible task,
and yet the power and glory and greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the conquering King who has landed on the shores of our souls and
cast out all evil, demons, and powers, and principalities, and
brought us to Himself, sitting, resting at peace, clothed in
His righteousness, And knowing the living God in truth, fully
by his grace, create an interest in somebody's heart who listens
to this message here or somewhere else, and bring them to his feet. For Christ's sake we pray, amen.