prayers. Continue to remember
the others. How's Idaeus feeling? Pretty good? She seems to be
doing a little bit better. Okay. All right. Continue to
remember her in your prayers also. Let's begin our worship service.
Oh, by the way, as far as announcements, next week's the last Sunday of
the month, so we'll be having the Lord's Table next Sunday, and there'll
be dinner and no afternoon service. That's next Sunday, 27th of March. Man, and soon it will be April. is the second day of spring,
right? First day of spring. Time do fly when you're having
a good time. Hymn number 268, How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints
of the Lord. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, He's laid for your faith in His
excellent Word. One more can He say than to you
He has said to you, whom for refuge to Jesus have fled. Fear not, I am with you. be not dismayed. For I am thy God, I will still
give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my gracious omnipotence. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee flow. For I will be with thee, thy
troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. ? When through thy retrials I pathway
shall lie ? ? My grace of submission shall be thy supply ? ? The flame
shall not hurt thee I only desire ? ? Thy draws to consume and
thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul No, never, no, never forsake. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 63, Take the Name of Jesus with You. If
you have your Bibles, turn with me to Mark chapter 5, a familiar
portion of scripture. And they, that is Jesus and his
disciples, came over into the other side of the sea, into the
country of the Gadarenes. When he was come out of the ship,
immediately there was met him out of the tombs, a man with
an unclean spirit. For he had his dwelling among
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 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 and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones. And when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped him. And cried with a loud voice,
Whatever hath to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High,
I adjure thee, by God, that thou tormentest me not. For Christ had said unto him,
Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What
is thy name? And he answered, My name is Legion,
for we are many. And he besought him much that
he would not send him out of the way, out of the country.
And another rendering of this is into the pit. where there
was now nine to the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
And all the devils besought him saying, send us into the swine
that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them
leave and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the
swine and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea.
There were about 2,000 that were choked in the sea. They that
fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country.
they went out to see what it was that was done and they came
to Jesus and see him and see him that was possessed of the
devil and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right
mind and they were afraid and they that saw it told them how
it befell to him that was possessed of the devil and also concerning
the swine They began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. Let us pray. Our Father, we are
thankful for your word, for the clarity, the beauty of it, for
the honesty and integrity of it. We know, Father, that in
this world of chaos, there's one place we can turn that'll
always be right and true, that'll always tell us the truth about
ourselves and about humanity. and always tell us the truth
about you and your son and your spirit and what they have done
for your people. We thank you that we have that
sound and fine foundation for our faith to rest upon. Help
us, Lord, to believe and to trust. Father, we pray for those who
are sick and those who are going through trials and tribulations
for our shut-ins Pray for those who've lost loved ones. Pray,
Father, for those who are awaiting treatments. We ask, Lord, your
blessing upon them. Help them, Lord. Strengthen them
in Jesus Christ and turn their face to him, for though our bodies
do weaken and turn more frail each day, and it seems that eternity
is much closer than ever before. We know that to be absent from
the body is to be present with the Lord. To die from this world is gain
for the child of God. We ask your help to trust you
and to live as you have given us life until the day of our
calling. Help us, Lord, to look to Christ
in all things and trust Him. Help us to love one another and
love you perfectly. Oh, even the sound of that is
impossible for the child of God. But give us grace to love you
more each day. Help us now as we enter into
worship and the singing and the giving and the hearing of the
word of God and the fellowship today. We ask, Lord, your blessing
upon it. In Christ's name, amen. Hymn
number 63. Take the name of Jesus with you. Take the name of Jesus with you. Child of sorrow and woe. It will joy and comfort give
you. Take it, then, where'er you go. Precious name, oh, as we ? Hope
of earth and joy of heaven ? Precious name, oh how sweet ? Hope of
earth and joy of heaven ? Take the name of Jesus ever ? As a
shield from every snare Temptations round you gather. Breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name. Oh, how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh, how sweet
the hope of earth and joy of heaven. Oh, the precious name
of Jesus, how it thrills our souls with joy when His loving
arm receives us. ? Precious name, oh how sweet ?
Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Precious name, oh how sweet
? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? At the name of Jesus bowing
? Calling prostrate at his feet ? ? King of kings in heaven crown
him ? ? When our journey is complete ? ? Precious name, oh how sweet
? ? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? ? Oh, how sweet hope of earth and
joy of heaven ? Let's stand and pray to receive the offering
this morning, please. Let us pray, Father, again, we
come in the name of Jesus Christ, name of which we just sung, that
precious wondrous name that you have given as the only name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We ask in that
name that you would cause us in our hearts to render unto
you that which you have given us with joy, with hilarity, with
mirth and thanksgiving and praise for we know that what we have,
we have received. Help us now, we pray in Christ's
name. Amen. you. invite your attention back to
Mark Chapter 5. The miracle of grace which here
is accomplished by our Lord is as all miracles a picture of
some aspect of the salvation of the elect by the sovereign
power of Almighty God. We see clearly in this text that
the demons the legion of demons are overruled
and ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ where they have to ask permission to leave and go into the swine
and beg the Lord not to send them down into the pit. Now if
they have to do that, that means they belong to him as his creature
and must do his bidding. But this is a miraculous thing
we see here, a great story, great characters, and every miraculous
act performed by our Lord reveals the absolute incapability of
man to do anything about his own condition, and the impotency
of any man to affect the deliverance of another man. All those things
are contained in this simple passage of Scripture. If a miracle
occurs, it occurs when men are at their wits' end and can do
nothing. If man could help himself or
be helped by some other, then a miracle would fall into the
category of a cheap sideshow trick. The salvation of a man's
soul is a miracle of sovereign, unstoppable grace. It is, according
to the Word of God, a casting out of Satan by one who is stronger
than he. But religion is uncomfortable
with the salvation in which they cannot participate. So religion has opted for the
will of man rather than the power of God as the determining force
of salvation. and has turned salvation into
a sideshow with all the visible trappings that attend the entertainment
of the flesh. This passage, these 17 verses,
is a testament to the power of Christ and is likewise a declaration
in no uncertain terms of the inability of man to do anything
about his own condition or about the condition of anyone else. This man is said to be demon-possessed. Now modern sensitivities prefer
to call him insane or mad because his behavior certainly suggests
that he's not in his right mind, which is also suggested in the
fact that after the Lord dealt with him, he was in his right
mind. So he's not in his right mind. He's not right in the head.
Demon possession sounds so medieval that much is spoken of today
outside the realm of, very little is spoken of outside the realm
of some Hollywood production. However, this is the Word of
God. And the Word of God has much to say about being possessed
of the devil. Forget for a moment any preconceived
notions of what that means because I know what it conjures up in
your mind and I know what it conjures up in my mind. Our minds
generally wander to visions of the occult or dark themes of
witchcraft and pentagrams and hooded people in dark robes doing
strange rituals and ceremonies like exorcisms. But in the scripture we find
none of that here. Even when some boys in Acts tried
to exorcise a demon They got the Lord whooped out of them
by the demon. They went and said, the sons
of Sceva, they was going to cast out a demon. They said, in the
name of Paul, in the name of Jesus, come out. And the demon
said, I know Paul, and I know Jesus, but I don't know you. And then proceeded to give them
the whooping of their lifetime. There's none of that mess in
here, no pitchforks, no horns suck you by, yet our Lord declares
that this man was possessed not of one, but a legion. That's
three to six thousand is a military term, a Roman military term. The Roman legions were three
to six thousand strong. The acts and behaviors of this
man and the results of his encounter with Christ are real and they
are true, but as all miracles are symbolic and even metaphorical
and always teach a spiritual truth that is specific to the
salvation of the elect. Since this is so, the malady
and the behavior of this man as well as the ineffective efforts
of others to contain him are not unique but typical of what
happens when God saves a sinner this demonic possession is not
peculiar to this man it is common to all of the elect this insanity is unbelief that's being demon possessed.
I know you're going back to pitchforks and they don't do that. Demon possession began at the
Garden of Eden when Satan said you do this and God will do this
making God reactive to what you do. That's demon possession. It was a demon who said that.
It was a demon who said that. Unbelief is insanity. Unbelief
is not a simple difference of opinion. It is spiritual insanity,
evil demon possession that is always against God. If you are
in a unbelief today, make no doubt about it. You're demon
possessed. You say, well, that's getting
a little strong, preacher. You're saying all these people
go out here in unbelief or demon possessed. The truth is born
out in Scripture. Our Lord describes the delivery of the elect as
defeating Satan. He says, If I, by the finger
of God, cast out demons, the kingdom of God is coming to you,
the sovereign rule of God is coming to you. Then He goes on
to say, And how that takes place is that Satan had you in his
palace, and you were at peace. You were one of his spoils and
goods. He said, But I came in as a stronger
than he and bound him up and delivered you out from him. Well,
who were you possessed by before he delivered you? You were possessed
by Satan, that's what he says. Those who deny Christ, and opt
rather for justification by the works of the law of Moses, our
Lord called them SONS OF THE DEVIL, and said the devil was
their father. John chapter 8. Paul warned Timothy of the religious
influence of Satan in the last days, which is the gospel age.
That influence was not outward evil, but is manifest in works
of religion and self-denial. That's in 1 Timothy, and also
in Revelation 16. The final congregation of demons
will be the religion of Babylon according to Revelation 18. False
religion claims to have power over devils, but it doesn't.
It doesn't. Men possess no such power at
all. The Lord said that. That power belongs to me. Do
you remember what it said in Ephesians chapter 2 when it talked
about those who are spiritually made alive? who were brought
back from the dead, he hath quickened you who were dead in trespasses
and sin. How are they described? One of
the things described to them is they walked according to the
Prince of the power of the air. Now who's he talking about? He's talking about Satan ruling
over who? Those who are quickened from
the dead. the elect of God, those who he
goes on to say were quickened together with Christ and saved
by grace and through faith and that not of yourselves, it was
a gift of God. He said that they were demon
possessed. This is what the scriptures say.
I know what people think, you know, they can't get out of their
head that red-horned creature with a forked tail and a trident
in his hand. This is demon possession. What
all of us were by NATURE before God delivered us by His grace. The behavior of this demoniac
in our text in verses 3 and 4 says that he dwelt among the tombs,
no man could bind him, No, not with chains, because he had been
often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been
plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither
could any man tame him. This behavior, especially the
fetters and chains employed to restrain and constrain him, is
surely a picture of the pressure applied by religion to convert
him. Religion binds with the law.
Paul makes that clear in Galatians and Colossians. It binds with
guilt and fear of censure. It also seeks to tame the wild
man with threats of punishment or promises of reward. Those
of you who've been in useless religion know what I'm talking
about. However, removing this from the physical and viewing
it in the spiritual, these behaviors, these responses against any restraint
are pictured throughout the Word of God as the rebellion of unbelief. especially in reference to the
person and work of Christ concerning the sovereign reign He exercised
over His creatures. What did they say in Psalm 2
that was quoted in Acts chapter 4? Why do the heathen rage? And the kings of this earth shall
not imagine a vain thing. What are they saying? Let us
break His cords from us. Let us cast them down. Let us
cast them down. That psalm makes it clear that
the nature of unbelief is the desire to cast asunder any effort
to bind or tame. Any effort. Saul of Tarsus is
a prime example of demonic possession of unbelief. He was working for
God. He was in religion big time.
He was a Sanhedrin, studied at the feet of Gamaliel, a great
lawyer, and understood the Bible as good as you can understand
it with a natural mind. He didn't know it. He was going
out trying to destroy the name of Christ and wipe the name of
Christ from the face of the earth and destroy the church. But he
didn't realize he was under a yoke. He didn't even know it. And he
had the lines that were attached to the oxen back to the plow
that had goads in them or pricks, sticks with points in them. And
when an ox would get out of line, his foot would hit one of those
pricks and he'd pull him back in line again. And our Lord said,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Isn't it hard for thee to
kick against the pricks? He's trying to get out too. Saul
of Tarsus was kicking against the pricks. He and his hatred
for the church in the name of Christ was acting in rebellious
unbelief against the cords of restraining sovereign government,
and his actions were specifically against Christ and his gospel.
That's what he hated, and that's what he wanted to get rid of.
Religious unbelief is ultimately a place of darkness and despair.
That's how it's described in verse 5, and always night and
day. He was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting
himself with stones. Crying. This is a revelation
of a man who is utterly lost and realizes it and can't do
anything about it. Hiding in the tombs. Why? Wants to separate himself
from anything living. Wants to go out and be by himself.
miserable and sad and broken, cutting himself, self-harm, self-harm,
cutting himself. I've talked to cutters, known
a few in my life, asked them why they did it, and they said
two reasons. And I figured they knew what they was talking about.
They said, first of all, so I'd actually feel something. I'd
actually feel something. Secondly, there seems to be a
release when I see the blood flowing. Seems to be like something's
coming out of me. Cutting themselves. This is a
picture. It's a place of darkness. Religion
puts on a happy face and those who practice it have consciences
seared with a hot iron of personal merit according to Titus. And
those are led to yet reside in the clutches of false demonic
religion live in existence of dark terror Alone and dark residing
among the tombs and marked graves of presumed righteousness. The
dark spirits of doubt and the pains of conscience are constant
companions. Tears fill the eyes that long
to see an end to it all. Shame and disgrace grip the soul
in realization that life is fake and false and there's nothing
that you can do to change it. And the false notions of meritorious
suffering and self-denial are but the cutting of the flesh
and self-harm, afflicting your own soul to get the attention
of God, and He ain't listening. The appearance of Christ causes
you to worship Him. You fly to Him. To worship Him,
it says. At the same time, your unbelief,
your demonic possession begs Him not to torment you, because
He's perfect and pure. and you're so unclean and unworthy
to be in his presence and you beseech him to depart from you
because you're an unworthy soul. That's what happened to this
man. It says in verse six, when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran
and worshipped him and cried with a loud voice and said, what
have I to do with thee, Jesus? Our son of the most high, I adjure
thee, don't torment me. Don't torment me. Know well the
fact that there is no excuse that pours from this man who
does not say the devil made me do it. I am a victim of circumstance
or blame somebody else. There's no division of the man
and his demons until our Lord sets this man free. They're one
and the same. Our Lord speaks to this man,
not to the demons after he has commanded the unclean spirit
to depart. In verse 8 he says, For he said
unto him, this is why he cries unto the Lord and worships him
and says, Depart from me. For he said unto them, Come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit. The reason for this is clear.
The man who is filled with a legion of unbelief when confronted with
Christ does not blame an outside influence. He owns his demons.
He owns his own belief. And that's what this man did.
He asked him, What is thy name? And he said, My name is Legion.
We are many and we sought him much that he would not send him
away out of the country. Much can be made of the fact
that these demons, this unbelief, desired to enter into swine and
wanted to go into pigs and what resulted from their
poor sign occupation. Certainly it is suggested that
the depravity of man makes him worse than a pig. Think about
it. The pigs could not live with
demons in them, but this man had been living with demons in
them a long time. Also, there is suggestion that
because the hogs plunged themselves to their death when possessed
of the demons, that unbelief in man is a drawn-out form of
spiritual suicide. Often the result of a thing gives
us some insight to the reason for it. The result of the demons
desire to enter the swine and their corresponding suicides
served to make the citizens of that country to openly display
their hatred and rebellion against Christ. When God really saves
somebody, it upsets the uppercars. Everybody's upset. I'll never
forget a story I heard many years ago when I was on a meat cutting
block. whittling up some cow. We had the radio on and this
woman was giving, or this preacher was giving some kind of testimony.
He said his wife came, a wife came to him in church. Said,
I want you to save my husband. I want the Lord to save my husband.
Would you please pray for my husband? He said, bad drink,
bad to drink. Bad husband. He said, well sister,
let's pray for him. Maybe the Lord will save him.
We don't know. So they prayed. Sometime later the man got saved.
well about a year later the woman had divorced the man and the
preacher says, how come you divorced him? The Lord saved him. He said,
well the Lord really saved him. He said, I can't live with him.
All he talks about is Christ. Note well this thing. These swine could not live with
the demons in them. The demons of unbelief, whether
in men or swine, are always manifesting rebellion against Christ. It
will always be that way. It will always be that way. What
did they do? They said to Christ, Why don't
you leave? After this man had been delivered,
they saw. They knew. They were the ones that tried
to tame him and put him in fetters and change and bind him and hold
him back and straighten him out, you know. They were the ones
that had done that. And now they see him sitting, not running
out among the tombs screaming like a madman, not crying with
tears, not cutting himself, sitting in his right mind. And he even
put on some new clothes. and he's sitting at the feet
of Jesus Christ, and what is his response? Hallelujah, thank
God this man's been saved. Mr. Jesus, we'd appreciate it
if you'd leave us our coast and not come back ever again. This
is what happens when God really saves somebody. You see, when
God saves somebody, it's by sovereign grace. Now, not this religious
salvation that goes on. Anybody can get it. All they've
got to do is will it into existence. All they've got to do is walk
down an aisle and make some kind of decision and everything's
okay. And it doesn't really change anything. Lives aren't changed.
People aren't changed. This man was changed by the grace
of God. He was a different individual.
He was a new creature. And religion had nothing to do
with it. and they could not abide it.
The fear that they exhibited was threefold in verse 15. It
says, And when they come to Jesus, see him that was possessed of
the devil, that had a legion sitting, clothed in his right
mind, and they were afraid. First they feared because they
were in the presence of sovereignty. Something had happened that was
ultimately and completely beyond their control. They couldn't
do it. What's happened here? We tried this for a long time.
They were in the presence of sovereignty. This Jesus had accomplished
with just words. Christ didn't touch him. He spoke
to him with just words what they could not accomplish with chains
and fetters. Secondly, they feared because
this man was delivered from the inside and not by outward behavior
modification. They had tried that behavior
modification, but it didn't work. Thirdly, they feared because
the salvation they witnessed centered in their minds, not
what this demoniac had gained, but what they were about to lose.
Is ever the notion of unbelief that to know Christ means you're
going to lose something? You're going to lose something,
but you're not. You gain everything. Every believer
knows by experience that he is plagued with unbelief. Our demons
have not been drowned in the sea. His passage is metaphorical
and deals with the truth that though we still have much unbelief
in it, it is no longer ruling us. We have been freed from it and
freed from its right to rule over us. Its power has been diminished
and is subdued by the Spirit of Christ in us. Sin shall no
longer have dominion over you because you are not under the
law but under grace, saith the Scriptures. The result of meeting
Christ, being touched by His sovereign grace, is a complete
change. Whereas this man before was never
quiet, always living in unrest, out of his mind, uncontrollable
and in constant despair, now he's just sitting. Why is he doing it? Because he's
resting. He's resting. He's clothed. What Isaiah said,
robed in the garments of salvation. in his right mind, the renewed
mind of the new man, according to Colossians chapter 3 and verse
10. The desire of such an one graced
by Christ is singular. Verse 18 said, when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed of the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. Oh, that I might be with him. that I might be with him. I sat
with Wayne yesterday. We talked for a little while.
You can't sit with Wayne five minutes till he tells you to
be absent with the body, to be present with the Lord. How you
looking going to go and see him face to face? That's what it
is for the child of God. He just wants to be with Christ.
I hear people talking a lot today about church attendance falling
off after COVID because people got used to not going to church
again, so they didn't show up. Churches are closing down, pastors
are weeping and crying and moaning. I'll tell you this about the
child of God. His little one hour visits twice a week are
the most important thing in his life. He can't think of a world where
he can't be with God's people and worship his Lord. There's
nothing like that. He said, Lord, I just want to
be with you. Will you take me with you? Finally, before us in this passage
is a wonder. This is a declaration of how
God views his sinful elect. He views their unbelief not as
rebellion, not even as demon possession, but compassion as one who's sick. We might get mad at somebody
who was demon possessed. We don't get mad about people
who are sick. We pity them. We have compassion upon them.
And our Lord says, how be it Jesus suffered him not. He says,
you can't go with me where I'm going. You can't go with me. Go home to thy friends. He still
had friends. Bless his heart. There's some
people still loved him, couldn't do anything for him. You ever
had somebody like that in your family? Somebody was broken. You couldn't
do anything for them. Did you stop loving them? No,
you just kept on loving them and kept on loving them. He had friends. Go home to your
friends and tell them how great things
the Lord has done for thee and has had compassion on thee. Tell
your friends. And this is what it is. This
is what I used to do. We have a lot of smart people
in this world, and I'm glad we do, because I'm not one of them,
so I'm glad there's a lot of smart people in the world. A
lot of my friends are theologians. I mean, they're just, you know,
they study the scriptures, and they have a lot of answers that
I've never seen until they tell me about them, and then I see
them. And I'm thankful for people like that. But if you was talking
to your friends, Don't try to teach them theology. Tell them what the Lord has done
for you and that he's had compassion on you. That was what our Lord
said, you go tell your friends. He didn't say give them a theological
discourse and give them a lesson in soteriology and eschatology
and ecclesiology. No, he said go tell them what
I've done for you. Go tell them what I've done for you, and that
I've had compassion on you, because that's what's actually happened
to you. Remember that unbelief is nothing less than demon possession.
It's what the Scripture declares it to be, and it's no small thing
to be in rebellion against God. Know, too, that neither you or
any other man can undo your malady. If you are to be delivered, Christ
must cast out your demons, take away your heart of unbelief,
and give you a heart of faith. And if He does this for you,
do not expect the accolades and applause of the world and its
religion, but if He delivers you, you'll rest in holy raiment
and sanity, and you'll have some friends to tell about what God's
done for you. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.