We return again this morning to Mark's gospel. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter five? We're going look at verses one through 20. This morning, under the heading “The Divine Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let me give you a little context here. So you know what has been happening. Jesus has just demonstrated His authority over the forces of the natural world by calming a storm. And now he will manifest His authority over the forces of the supernatural world by terrifying and exercising a number of demons from two men according to Matthew 8:28. Mark and John, I might add, only focus on the one man with whom Jesus spoke.

So let me read the text Mark five, beginning in verse one. "They came to the other side of the sea into the country of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat immediately, a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one was able to bind him anymore even with a chain, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces. And no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs, and in the mountains and gashing himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him, and shouting with a loud voice. He said, 'What business do we have with each other Jesus Son of the Most High God? I implore you, by God do not torment me.' For He had been saying to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' And He was asking him, 'What is your name?' And he said to Him, 'My name is Legion, for we are many.' And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him saying, 'Send us into the swine, so that we may enter them.' Jesus gave them permission, and coming out the unclean spirits entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about 2000 of them, and they were drowned in the sea. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus, and observed the man who had been demon possessed, sitting down, clothed in his right mind, the very man who had had the 'legion,' and they became frightened. Those who had seen it, describe to them how it had happened to the demon possessed man and all about the swine. And they began to implore Him to leave their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed was imploring Him, that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him but He said to him, 'Go home to your people, and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.' And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis, what great things Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.'

The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ created a firestorm of activity among the demonic hosts on the earth. Suddenly, they knew that the Son of God was in their midst, and they were terrified of him. Now, prior to this, you recall that Jesus was tempted by the devil, in the wilderness and he assertively routed him, we read that, for example, in Luke four. This was the ultimate purpose of the Incarnation. We read about this in first John three, eight, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." And we see this illustrated in a magnificent way here in this historical narrative. Here in this passage, Jesus once again demonstrates his is invincible power and sovereign authority to his disciples, and to all of us who have been given ears to hear.

Now, just by way of reminder, Satan is very, very real, and a very powerful foe. That's why I abhor these shows like The Walking Dead or horror shows or whatever, I don't want to do anything to in any way glamorize Satan and his demons, these things are very real. And for those of us who have to deal with these things in the lives of families, believe me, you do not want to see anything that even smacks of that on television. Satan is called in Scripture, our adversary, the father of lies, a murderer prince of the power of the air, ruler of the darkness of this world, ruler of the demons ruler of this world, the Spirit who works in the sons of disobedience. He's called the tempter, the god of this age, the wicked one, and on it goes. He is the covert ruler of this world, according to John 12:31. He's a brilliant general that leads a highly organized demonic horde, as we read in Ephesians 6:12. And he, along with his demonic host, suppose the purposes as well as the people of God, and although Christ's death on the cross, according to Hebrews 2:14, "render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil." Currently, we know that he is allowed to continue to rule in a reign of terror. In fact, as First John 5:19 says, "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And this will continue to occur until Christ returns, and judges Satan and the evil angels. As a master deceiver, he is capable of disguising himself as an angel of light. Read about that, for example, in Second Corinthians 11. He is skilled in spiritual espionage. He not only overpowers unbelievers, blinding them to the truths of the gospel, and holding them captive to do His will, but he also attacks believers, especially those in leadership.

You will recall, in Second Corinthians 12, beginning of verse seven, Paul said, "to keep me from exalting myself there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me to keep me from exalting myself!" that we believe was a wicked, false teacher that had infiltrated the church and was attacking Paul along with others like him. Paul described demons as "deceitful spirits" that propagate doctrines of demons, according to First Timothy four one, and through their influence with leaders within the church, Satan gains access into the church and destroys it. That's why we are to wear the armor that Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter six. And we see this all the time, do we not, in ostensibly evangelical churches that embrace all of the demonstrably false and divisive deceptions of, for example, critical race theory, that fuels the whole woke cult invading our schools and our workplaces and in our churches, that fuels the false gospel of social justice, that fuels the gross immoralities and insane ideologies of the LGBTQ I plus whatever, revolutionaries that seek to indoctrinate and seduce our children. In fact, the Senate's recent passage of the, quote, "Respect for Marriage Act," perhaps you've read about that. This legislation is designed particularly to protect same sex unions, and this will undoubtedly be used to, to discriminate against and punish those who do not agree with them. By the way, just so you know, this pulpit and this church will not bow to those gods. We will not bow and we will not celebrate those who do.

Now biblically Satan and his minions primarily thwart the purposes of God, through the propagation of false teaching and, and deceptive ideologies. We see this, for example, in theological as well as political liberalism. Down through the ages, we've seen this, and they are powerful to blind men to the truth of the gospel and prevent them from seeing the glory of Christ. Paul made this clear in Second Corinthians four beginning in verse three says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world, small g, referring to Satan, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." I might add, however, that we are not without resources. Second Corinthians 10, for example, beginning in verse four, we read that the "weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh." In other words, it's not something that we have humanly that can defeat these deceptive forces. But he goes on to say, "divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses, we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." And of course, we do this through the power of the gospel, that's what why we are not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation and so forth.

Now, I might add, however, that, that certainly the Lord will not bless a church that is committed to redeeming the culture or, or social justice. But please hear this, nor will He bless a church that maybe is morally and doctrinally pure but has a diminishing love for Christ. Paul expressed his concern in this regard, when he said to the saints in Corinth and Second Corinthians 11, beginning in verse two, "For I am jealous for you, with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ, I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." So we must guard our hearts, dear friends to that end. So although Satan and his vile cohorts work primarily in the realm of false teaching, propagating lies and all of those types of things there are occasions where demons actually inhabit human beings as well as animals as we see here.

I might also add very quickly that, although this is true, we are never instructed in Scripture to initiate attacks on demons or on Satan, as some people do, there's no command to rebuke Satan or bind demons or exercise them as some erroneously teach and practice. By the way, that's not only unbiblical, it is dangerous. You will recall in Acts 19, the seven sons of Sceva tried to cast an evil spirit out of a man by the power of quote "Jesus whom Paul preaches." We read about this in Acts 19. He went on to say that, "the evil spirit answered and said to them, 'I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you?' And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." That's all I need to know. I'll let the Spirit of God do what only He can do, right? Beloved, we do not exercise, we evangelize. Just unleash the gospel and let the Spirit do what he will. We cry out to God in prayers. We read, for example, in Jude nine, and we let the Spirit intervene, and He alone can drive away the evil spirits and establish His rule in the heart of man.

Now, with that as a little bit of background, let's examine this text and I'd like to do so under four categories of observation that I hope will provide some insight as well as some encouragement. We're going to see in this passage number one demonic domination. Secondly, divine deliverance, thirdly, depraved denial and finally, divine directive. I know I got carried away on the d's there, but it seemed to flow together alright?

So first of all, let's look at the democracy into the country of the Gerasenes. Now, this would be on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, near a little village called Khersa, which is about six miles from Capernaum, just north of a little bit larger town called Gadara. That's why it's also called the country of the Gadarenes. And now obviously, this was a Gentile region. And the reason we know that is because they're raising a whole bunch of pigs. All right, Jewish people do not do that. Verse two, "When he got out of the boat, immediately, a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him." So much, by the way, for a quiet getaway, remember, that's why they were going over there, to get away from all of the crowds. Now, the geography of this area, and those of you who have been there, understand this, will reveal some very steep cliffs and large hills that that go up from the coast of the Sea of Galilee. And so these, these lunatics, these demonically possessed men could see the boat coming. And obviously, they recognize that it was Jesus, Matthew 8:28, by the way, he says "two men were who were demon possessed met him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way."

Now, it's interesting Mark and Luke only speak of one maybe they're rolling two exorcisms into one, or maybe they're just dealing with the one that was the most prominent that was interacting with Jesus, we don't know. But certainly we do know that this was a very dangerous place to be. I mean, these characters were a public menace. No one could pass by that way, that tells you a lot. And I'm sure they were the subject of lots of spooky stories in that region. I have had several terrifying encounters with people like this in various places around the world. In fact, the other night, we were going to East Nashville. If you know anything about East Nashville and Nashville in particular, it's like Sodom and Gomorrah, we pulled up to this place, my son was in front of us and there was a guy sitting there and he basically fit this description and he's started screaming and cussing in our vehicles and walking up and down, back and forth. I thought, oh, no, hurry up light and change. So there are these people, even to this day.

Now, I also want to add that not all demon possessed people act this way. In fact, more often than not, they are winsome, they're beautiful. They're kind. Many of them hold public office. Many of them will teach our children in colleges and universities even in our grade schools, many teaching Bible schools and seminaries and an increasing number of them stand in pulpits. In fact, most false teachers are unwitting pawns of satan. They may not be possessed by a demon, but they are certainly heavily influenced and they're just deceived, they're ignorant. And yet there are others who are willing. They know exactly what they're doing. For example, in Jude four, as well as verse 10, verses 12 through 13, we read about them. They are the ones that have "crept in unnoticed," talking about coming into the church. Those who were "long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ." He went on to say, verse 10, "these men revile the things which they do not understand and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things, they are destroyed." Then verse 12, "These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves, clouds without water carried along by winds, autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like phone, wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.” Frightening description of much of what we see especially on television these days, under the heading of Christian churches and Christian teachers.

Back to verse two, when Jesus got out of the boat, "immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him." Now throughout the New Testament, an unclean spirit denotes demon possession, a person that is subjugated or controlled, and tormented by an indwelling demon. And it's important also to remember that true believers cannot be indwelt by anyone other than the Holy Spirit. All right, Second Corinthians six, verses 14 through 18 makes this abundantly clear, as well as other passions. Yes, the Spirit of God will not spatially co-habit, a Christian with an unclean spirit. Remember, as believers, we have been delivered from Satan's domain of darkness, right. And we have been "transferred to the kingdom of Christ," Colossians 1:13. And the Holy Spirit of promise has, quote, "sealed us for the day of redemption," Ephesians, 4:30 and other passages like that. So don't worry that somehow some demons gonna get in you and possess you, okay? Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world, right?

Verse three, "and he had his dwelling among the tombs." Now, this doesn't mean that that he literally dwelt inside of a tomb, probably among the caves that held the tombs in this area, there's lots of little caves, that's where they would bury people, often, there would be small chambers adjacent to the tomb where the actual body would have been placed, that would be a place where an individual could live, or it could possibly refer to abandon tombs, given the fact that nobody could pass by that way, I doubt if there were too many funeral services held over there, right. So this is a fitting abode for these vile creatures. Burial caves are the epitome of that which is unclean, that which is defiled that which is rancid, that which is dead, and Satan and his minions love those kinds of places and those kinds of persons that are the most profane. It's interesting, Luke adds, in Luke 8:27 that "he had not put on any clothing for a long time." So he was naked, they were probably both naked. And of course, public nudity is always a demonstration of shameless depravity, and sexual deviancy. So these men were filthy on the inside, as well as morally filthy, or morally filthy on the inside and physically filthy on the outside, and they were naked. And he goes on to say, "And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces." Boy, that is powerful, right? It's not like it just got snapped open. I mean, they're broken in pieces, that's supernatural stuff. And no one was strong enough to subdue him. So this denotes the supernatural power, of demonic activity, the demonic incarceration of an individual. And I've seen this and experienced it myself with some of these people, and they do have superhuman strength. Verse five, "Constantly night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains and gashing himself with stones." So there we see the demonic domination.

Now let's look at the divine deliverance. Verse six, "Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him." It's obvious that he recognized who Jesus was from a distance, right? And what does he do? He bows down before him. The term in the original language "proskuneo", is one that means to worship and that's what's happening here. They knew their Creator, and they're terrified in his presence, the very sight of the Most High God instantly restrained him. Something that human shackles and chains could not do. Verse seven, "and shouting with a loud voice, he said, 'What business do we have with each other Jesus Son of the Most High God? I implore you, by God do not torment me!'" Matthew adds this in verse 29 of chapter eight. "Have you come here to torment us before the time?" You see Satan, and his demonic hosts are brilliant theologians. They know that many of their fellow demons have already been incarcerated in the bottomless pit, which is also called the abyss, the underworld. Luke 8:31 speaks of this. Jude addressed this and this is where they were afraid they were going to have to go to join their compadres. Jude six says, "And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode."

By the way, this is referring to the apostasy of the fallen angels described in Genesis six one through three that possessed men who then cohabited with women. These "angels did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality, and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire." It's interesting, by the way, that in Second Peter two, four, Peter uses this very reality along with the incineration of the homosexuals in Sodom and Gomorrah and the worldwide flood in the days of Noah, he uses this as an illustration of divine judgment on false teachers and those who follow them, which is a terrifying precedent for their future judgment. He says this, and Second Peter, two beginning of verse four, "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment." And like he says, in verse nine, "then the Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority."

If I could add one other footnote, according to Revelation nine verses one through 12, these bile creatures that are currently in the abyss, the place where Legion and these other demons don't want Jesus to put them, these creatures will be released during the pre-kingdomjudgments,  the fifth trumpet of the revelation of the Tribulation. And we read about this in the book of Revelation, chapter nine. This will be when the fifth angel will open, quote, "the bottomless pit." This is where these characters are currently, we see that in verse two of revelation nine and verse five goes on to say, "and they were not permitted to kill anyone but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days, men will seek death and will not find it, they will long to die and death flees from them." Then verse 11, we read, "they have as king over them, the angel of the Abyss, his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek is, has the name Apollyon. The first one was passed behold, two wolves are still coming after these things." So it gives you a sense of the underworld and why these particular demons do not want to be put there and what will happen with those demons in the abyss right now. So they plead with Jesus not to send them there. But isn't it interesting, they know that judgments coming? Right? They know that torment is coming. Matthew 8:29 says, "Have you come here to torment us before the time?" So they knew their theology, they understood biblical eschatology. In fact, Craig Bloomberg, one excellent commentator said this, quote, "The end times were breaking into human history with Jesus' exorcisms, demonstrating the inauguration of God's kingdom, even if he still granted the demons limited freedom for a time." That is so true. Matthew 12:28 says, Jesus put it this way, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."

Now, I want to pause for a moment because I know many people will ask, okay, Pastor, I don't understand if Satan and the fallen angels know their ultimate faith. Why do they keep fighting against God? Well, Scripture doesn't say specifically, but certainly part of it is the wickedness of pride. Pride blinds you to all manner of things and we know that's what drove or continues to drive Satan. But I think the primary reason why they continue to do this is because ultimately, they are God's servants. We know that he works all things after the counsel of his will, right. And we know biblically that God has ordained evil to exist in his created order as an ethical part of his plan and purpose to glorify himself. And I might add that even in his permissive Providence, he retained sovereign control and inherent goodness.

But none of this is surprising God. Somehow he is using all of this, in his plan to bring glory to himself. And Satan's relentless opposition is just part of God's sovereign plan to do just that. Remember what the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 46, beginning in verse nine, "I am God and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure." I find it fascinating, and I mentioned this text earlier first, John three, eight, John tells us that quote, "The devil has sinned from the beginning," referring to the first time when Satan rebelled against God. But then he goes on to add that, quote, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." Now this indicates that even the devil's diabolical works had to have been divinely ordained. And here's why. Because according to Acts 2:23, Christ was "delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God."

As I have written elsewhere, Satan's original rebellion against God, his temptation of Eve in the garden, his temptation of Christ, his future empowerment of the Antichrist, his notorious opposition to the work of God, all had to have been known by an omniscient God, who also ordained them by his uninfluenced will. We could therefore reason that God's elective eternal purposes were decreed and set into motion before creation. This would include the Lord's incarnation, and atoning work that defeated Satan and sin. Here again, we see that he ordained to allow evil to enter his perfect universe through the voluntary choices of moral creatures in order to dramatically display his glory through his holiness, wrath, mercy, grace, love and power. Indeed, all of his elective purposes were ordained quote, "from all eternity," Second Timothy, one, nine and Titus one, two, which literally means before time began, which would, by implication, include his divine decree for Satan to rebel, for Adam and Eve to sin, and by imputation, all men to sin and Adam, thus requiring, quote, "The lamb to be slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13:8. Now, bear in mind that Satan's most vile attacks upon God, and those who belong to him, ultimately serve God's purposes in redemption to ultimately bring glory to himself. Romans 8:28 We know that God causes "most" things to work together for good; causes "all" things to work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose. That's why he's working all these things. He has a purpose that cannot be thwarted. I love what verse 31 says, of Romans eight, "If God is for us, who is against us?" What a wonderful truth.

Now back to verse seven, "and shouting with a loud voice, he said, 'What business do we have with each other Jesus, the Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!' For he had been saying to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' And Jesus was asking him, 'What is your name?'" He's speaking to the demonic forces within the man, not the man. And the demons said to him, "'My name is Legion, for we are many.'" Now how many were there? We don't know. We know a Roman legion is 6000 soldiers. Luke 8:30 says "for many demons had entered him." We don't know how many. But let's just be real accurate here a whole bunch, right? There's a whole bunch of demons in this guy, in both of them.  Verse 10, "And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send him out of the country." Luke 8:31 parallels this by saying they were imploring him not to command them to go away into the abyss. Don't put us there with the rest of those guys. Now, please understand demons do not merely possess a person just to have a place to live, or just to torment them or to control them. But they use that host to terrorize as well as deceive other people. Again, especially through false religion, false ideologies. I mean, you look at, you look at some of the great rulers of the world that are so vile and wretched like a Hitler. I mean, he was clearly a guy that was demon possessed. That is probably why they wanted to stay in that region; that was probably their base of operation where they had been stationed by their diabolical commander in chief Satan himself. This is where they were working, they probably wanted to stay in that region. Verse 11, "Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him saying, 'Send us into the swine, so that we may enter them.'" I know you're going to ask as I do, why the pigs? Well, I don't know. We're just not told. Other than I know that God is working all things after the counsel of his will. And he probably moved upon them to say, put us into pigs. All right.

Now, one thing we know is that Jesus needed a visible confirmation of the exorcism, right? To demonstrate His power and authority, that's the whole purpose of the passage. And thus, an undeniable demonstration of His deity, again, His power, His authority. So verse 13, says "Jesus gave them permission." Now, he's not giving them permission out of compassion. But because again, he has a plan to bring glory to himself. And then we read, "And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about 2000 of them; and they were drowned in the sea." Now, I know PETA hates passages like this, right? But I'm sure that the guys with all the swine, immediately gathered them up. And all that was going on here is Jesus just kind of hastened the butchering that was going to occur anyway. So now, no doubt the owners quickly recovered them and prepared them for market.

So we've seen the demonic domination and the divine deliverance. Thirdly, and this is really amazing. Notice the depraved denial. Verse 14, "Their herdsman ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what was it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus, and observed the man who had been demon possessed, sitting down, clothed in his right mind. The very man who had the legion." Might want a magnificent demonstration of regeneration, right? To see a person absolutely delivered from the penalty and the power of sin to make person a new creature in Christ reminds me of Colossians 1:13, "For, he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom with His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Now, the darkness here speaks of spiritual death; the domain of darkness, we've been delivered from spiritual death. Darkness biblically, also speaks of those who are alienated from God, those who are ignorant of the things of God, those who are indifferent, and they sleep comfortably in their sin and the darkness of their sin. It speaks of spiritual deception by which a person is darkened in their understanding because they're following false teachers, and blasphemous ideologies. A lot of these guys just make stuff up. And people are too undiscerning to even know it. It speaks of the darkness of debilitating depression that often leads to drug use and, and suicide and so forth. So what happens here? They come. They're hearing what went on.

So they come and they see what happened. They see Jesus and they see this guy, probably both of them now, sitting there quietly, rationally closed in. It says "his right mind," and then notice this and they became frightened. Folks, Hebrews 10:31 really gives us some insight here. It says it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Why were they frightened of Jesus? Because they're frightened of judgment. They were in the presence of the Most High, and the unredeemed are terrified of that. Like the disciples, who were more frightened of the presence of God in their boat than the storm, that Jesus had just calmed outside the boat, these people are more terrified by the presence of God, then the demoniacs. You see, they knew Jesus had the power to judge them as well. So they want to get away from that. The unredeemed don't want anything to do with judgment, they don't even want to think about it. And they may be afraid that they might offend some of their gods, the pantheon of gods that these Gentile people worship, these idols. And again, what a testimony of the power of human depravity and man's fear of divine judgment.

You know, people spend their whole life avoiding thoughts of their own mortality. But it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment. And down deep every single person alive knows that that is true. And of course, Satan provides a myriad of anesthetizers, to help people escape from even thinking about the inevitable; drugs, alcohol entertainment. People that are sports fanatics, people that are addicted to watching their own team, they know every player, they know all of this statistic, they even wear their jersey with their name on it. But they know nothing of the Creator. The one in whose presence they must one day stand. I just read this week an article about him, this massively built fitness guru, his name was liver King, maybe you've heard of him I hadn't. And he addressed the matter of why he takes steroids. He's admitting that he's been taking steroids. And he says this, "when I talk about the 85% of the population that suffers from self-esteem issues, that's me, I'm part of that statistic. This is why I work myself to death in the gym." The reason I give that example is there are all kinds of things that people do to somehow give them a sense of fulfillment, a sense of joy, a sense of purpose, they find their identity and everything except the very one thing that can truly satisfy their heart's desire. And that is to be in union with the living Christ through saving faith. The unsaved live for themselves, they're ruled by their by the loss of their flesh, they don't want anything to do with divine judgment.

I've been in the situation a number of times where I've talked with, with homosexuals, and others who are dealing with certain life dominating sins and as soon as you try to, to talk with them about how God sees what's going on in them and his plan of redemption, and the judgment that will be theirs unless they repent, they just get enraged. They just don't want to hear it. Why do you think they LGBTQI perverts are so passionate about making everyone not just accept them, not just tolerate them, you have to celebrate them. Because down deep, they feel that gnawing sense of guilt and shame, the impending judgment upon them, again, you ask a habitual fornicator or an adulterer or a sodomizer or any other person living with some life dominating sin, you ask them about, what do you think God thinks about your lifestyle where you're going to spend eternity? And it's an instant rage, because they are spending their whole life trying to suppress the truth and unrighteousness. We read about this in Romans 1:18, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." And that's what's going on here. These people don't want to be around him. They're they're afraid of judgment. They're trying to keep a lid on even thinking about those things. So we read in verse 16, "Those who had seen it, describe to them how it had happened to the demon possessed man and all about the swine." And they referring to the people who are hearing all of this that had come, "They began to implore Jesus to leave their region." Can you imagine that? These people who witnessed the power of God wanted nothing to do with him.

You know, Jesus warned of this very thing in a number of passages. I think of John three beginning in verse 19. Jesus said this, "This is the judgment." Are you listening? "This is the judgment, that the Light," referring to Christ, "has come into the world. And men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." I'm just thankful that by God's grace alone, I saw the light right? And hopefully, you have too dear friends, do not be deceived. Jesus came into the world to save sinners and unless you repent and believe in Him, you will perish in your sins. And you will spend an eternity in the solitary confinement and torment of an eternal hell. The outer darkness that you currently love.

Well from here, we finally see the divine directive, verse 18, "As he was getting into the boat," referring to Jesus, "the man who had been demon-possessed, was imploring Him that He might accompany Him." Isn't that interesting the other folks want him to leave? The guy that gets saved, wants to go with him. I mean, beloved, this is so precious, the redeemed want to be with Jesus. That's all there is to it. We want to be with Jesus, I've got a little sign that I had put up here, some 25 years ago, it says "we would see Jesus." But the unredeemed don't want anything to do with Jesus. You see this all the time, people have no desire to know about Christ. They have no appetite for the Word, a lot of love these people fill churches. They have no real appetite for the Word, they love the world. They love the culture. Their life is completely defined by the culture. They will look for any excuse to avoid coming to church. Of course, there are some churches, I don't blame them, I wouldn't go either. But sometimes I've seen people here that even while we're singing hymns, you look like you're having a gallbladder attack. It's like, you know, don't you love Christ? People that will do anything they can to avoid listening to the exposition of the Word of God, but not so the redeemed.

So this guy wants to get in the boat with Jesus. I love it. Verse 19, Jesus "did not let him but He said to him, 'Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." See, there's the divine directive, right? Verse 20, "And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed." Don't you know that many came to saving faith in Christ, after hearing this testimony. That's how it always works. The Word of God, when it goes forth will do one of two things. It will either harden or soften hearts. That's up to the Spirit of God, our job is to present it. And I would challenge each of you to do the same. We have been given a great commission, right? To go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus said, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. It's not just evangelizing it's discipleship. And then he says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And let's celebrate this in our hearts. And let's act upon it as we should, because of our love for Christ and our burden for the last amen. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the eternal truths of your word. And as always, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will cause them to bear much fruit in each of our hearts. That we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ, that many will be saved, that they will be sanctified, and that Christ will be glorified. For its his name that I pray, Amen.