Well, brothers and sisters, if you'll turn once more in your Bibles to Mark's gospel, chapter five. That's where we'll find our text for this evening. You'll recall from the end of chapter four that. That Jesus and the disciples were crossing the sea, the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had said that it was time for them now to go across to the other side and that there was work to do there as well. And after passing through the storm at a time when it looked like, uh, that might not happen, they make it to the other side. And so that's where we find them. When we come to the beginning of chapter one, we find them on the Eastern shore of the sea of Galilee in the region of, uh, Gadara and perhaps the location that's named here in verse 1 is that is named after the the town of Gerasa or something along those lines and so we find those names cited there. And so our text is before us and so let's turn once again to the Lord and ask him to prepare us to hear from his word. Father in heaven, do give us hearts that are ready to hear from your word and in hearing Lord to be instructed and to be built up in faith and in holiness. Grant us, we pray, oh Lord, in Christ's name. Amen. There's a 19th century novel, perhaps you've heard of it, maybe even read it yourself. It's called The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray was a young, Attractive, comfortably wealthy young man, well-connected in society. He was the kind of person who circulated in the upper reaches of British society in Victorian England. Dorian had a friend who was an artist and he was a very good artist and his friend decided to paint a picture of Dorian. And he really poured himself into this work to capture the essence of who Dorian was. All of his magnetic good looks and his power and just his charm that exuded from him. And so he labored over this painting and at last it was completed and he presented it to Dorian as a gift. And at about that time, another friend enters the scene. This is a man that Dorian had not met before, but he comes to make his acquaintance. And this friend is a very worldly, wise person, witty, really a man about town, a very cultured person, older than Dorian. And so automatically, he has this influence over Dorian. And he says this, and he makes this one statement that determines the direction of Dorian's life. And it comes just at this time when Dorian has received this gift of this exquisite portrait of himself. And so as this older man says to him, he warns him and not in so many words, you know, Dorian, it's a perfect picture of you and you are a handsome young man. You're going to go places in this world, but you know something? You're going to lose all of what you have right now. And because this beauty that you have will not last, your youth will fade away. You better live in such a way as to get everything you can out of life right now. And so he gave him his philosophy. Go out and get it. Take it if you have to. Don't let anything escape your grasp. Go and live a life pursuing luxury and decadence because you won't get another chance when these years are gone. So Dorian looks at this picture of himself and he says, boy, that is me. And you know, my new friend is right. The years will go by and that's not going to be me anymore. And year after year will go by and I'll have to look at this picture of what I once was. The beauty that I once had. And so Dorian falls into despair. And so he makes a bargain for his soul. He says, oh, I would give my soul if I could trade places with this painting. If this painting would take upon itself all of the havoc that the years will wreak, that it would take the aging, that it would take all of the the stain of my decadence, and that I'll remain perfect. And that's exactly what happens. And so Dorian goes and lives his life the way that he wants to, following after this new friend's philosophy. And as the years go by, that picture begins to take on all of the ugliness of the reality of who Dorian is, even though he, in his flesh, stays young and attractive and all those other charming and appealing things about him. Well, there's, well, let me say this. The portrait, you get the, you understand the analogy now. The portrait is showing who the real Dorian Gray is, even while he stands out here in this appearance of young and healthy and attractive. The portrait shows him as he truly is. The only flaw with that analogy is that it wouldn't take years for the ugliness to appear on a portrait like this. It would appear as soon as it happened. Because if you're going to show, if there's going to be a way to show how we truly are, that ugliness is there already. It doesn't take years to accumulate. And you see, that's the sort of situation that we find put before us in this text here. We read it earlier, but briefly we understand that what we're dealing with in this text is a man who's lost, a man who's consumed by the power of evil. He's no longer even living as a man. And so Yet we see him being delivered by the greater power of God's grace. And so this is what we want to come away with from this text. We want to see how much the Lord has done for us in rescuing us from the bondage of sin. That's what this text is putting before us tonight. that you should see how much the Lord has done for you in rescuing you from the bondage of sin. We'll consider two things. First, we want to see what we look like in the bondage of sin. We see a portrait here of what we look like in the bondage of sin, but then we get to see how much the Lord has done for us in Christ. So our first point takes the first 13 verses, first half of this text. And as we come to this portrait of what we look like in the bondage of sin, we see two things. We see how sin oppresses and how sin degrades. We see how sin oppresses. Verse two tells us right away that as soon as they arrived on the other side of the lake, that they encountered this man with an unclean spirit. And this reminds us right away, doesn't it? Of the reality of this unseen spirit world. That there is in fact, as the Bible teaches consistently, an unseen reality of spirits. And that these spirits, that many of them are evil. That they're unclean. That there are demons that exist. And that they seek to wage war against God and against his people. whom he loves. We encountered this in Ephesians six last week. And so as we encounter this man here coming out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, we need to recognize that this is a man who is possessed by a real demon, but that this incident is serving a very important purpose here. The man with the unclean spirit and the unclean spirit itself, just like the diseases and the death that we encountered in the early chapters of Mark's gospel, These are parallels that serve to illustrate more vividly and powerfully the effects of sin. And so, although this demon is real, it's standing for something as well. It's meant to illustrate for us so that we get the picture of what sin looks like. Verse 15 tells us that this, that this man or describes him, I could say, and describes this man as being demon-possessed. So it's another way of saying that this man has an unclean spirit. Now that's a very familiar expression to us, to be demon-possessed. We hear this in Scripture, but also in our popular culture. But let me take that one step further, and maybe we could express it this way. Not just demon-possessed, but demon-oppressed. demon oppressed, that's really what we see in this text. We see that in a number of ways that this man is really oppressed by this demon. It's not merely that he has this demon, but we, we see so much the damaging effects, the oppressive effects of the, the being inhabited by this unclean spirit. We see, first of all, that it, that this demon has taken over his personality. It oppresses him by taking over his personality. In the description. of the man, there appears to be this side-by-side nature of the man and his personality, and the demons existing side-by-side. And yet they seem to be at war with each other, don't they? They seem to be clashing. We see that they're both present, although they're distinct at times. So it's not as though one has completely taken over the other one, or that one is missing. We see the demons speak, but then when the man, later on, we see him healed, the demons have left, but the man's personality remains. It was always there. It didn't come back to him. It's just now that we see only his personality. At times, it's hard to tell in this description who's doing what, who's in control. And so again, we see that way in which the unclean spirit has taken over his personality. In the opening verses, we see that the man rushes to Jesus and he falls before him. He rushes to Jesus. Does he come to confront him? Does the unclean spirit somehow know that this is the son of God and comes out to, uh, to face him in battle? Or is it the man who's, who's come rushing to Jesus? hoping that maybe this is a kind man who might be able to do some good for me. He falls on his knees. Is this worship? Oddly enough, it seems that the unclean spirits are constrained to worship in the presence of God. We've encountered this before in the synagogue where we hear the unclean spirit confessing who Christ is. And we see that in our own text here. He calls him Jesus, son of the most high God. Well, is he falling before him in worship or is it merely the man who comes before Jesus seeking help and imploring him, pleading with him? The man cuts himself with stones. He goes around beating himself with stones. Is the man trying to get at the demons or is it the other way around? So we see this oppression in the way that the unclean spirit takes over his personality. This oppression in the way that it's not just one spirit, but many. In verse 9, Jesus asks him his name. What is your name? And he replied, my name is Legion, for we are many. A legion was about 6,000 soldiers in the Roman army. It's not exactly clear whether this is just merely some kind of a boast on the part of the unclean spirit. Well, We're thousands, you're no match for us, Jesus. Or if it's just a way of avoiding the question. Yeah. Who are you talking to Jesus? You know, there's more than one of us here. Who's name did you want to know? But we see that once the unclean spirit is cast out, there's this large herd of pigs, 2000 in number, Mark says, and the unclean spirit goes out. and destroys all of them. So there's, there certainly seems to be an indication that there's not just one, but many. And so this man is oppressed by not just one unclean spirit, but by many. And in the same way that a legion of Roman forces would occupy land in the Roman empire, this, so this man is oppressed in the same way. This man is occupied territory. And then see also how this man is oppressed in verse four. It's so ironic, this picture that's put before us. This man is unchained, but he's not free. No one, the text says, could hold him. Nothing could hold him. There are three negatives in this text. No one could hold him. Nothing could hold him. He no longer could be held by anything. And people had tried, they tried numerous times to bind him with chains and with fetters and shackles. And he'd break them every time. And so here's this man can't be held by chains, but he isn't free. And think of the exact opposite situation. The apostle Paul in prison, in chains, how often he refers to his chains in his letters. But he takes joy in his chains. He was chained and yet he was free. This man could not be bound by chains and yet he's living a nightmare and he's a prisoner in his own body. And so we see very clearly then, don't we, how sin oppresses as we see it illustrated for us in the way that this unclean spirit oppresses the man. But then we see further the way that sin degrades and not only oppresses, but it degrades. This man is debased. He's defiled. He's depraved. He's probably also depressed. You hear in all those words, don't you? That prefix D D E means to remove, to reduce, to do the opposite of. And so it tells us, doesn't it, that whatever it is, the effect that this unclean spirit, and by extension, that sin has upon this man is to reduce, it's to remove, it's to do the opposite. It's to take away all that is good in man. You see, that's the effect of sin. That's how sin degrades. In a word, we would say that this man is dehumanized. Yes, he's still a man, but he lives like a beast. And you see, sin degrades in another way because it distorts and it defaces the image of God in man. And that's exactly what we see in this poor character in this story. Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4 describe for us what the image of God in man is. It's knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And that's what we've lost. That's what all people have lost when Adam fell in sin. That was lost. And so now then in this condition of sin, it's this condition of sin that leads to all actual transgressions. It's the condition of sin that leads to the individual sins. And it's a condition of sin that causes a sin to love and to value the opposite of true good. Do you see what happens? We lose our knowledge, our righteousness, and our holiness. And now we're attracted to the vile and to the wicked and to the repulsive. We turn away from everything that is good and pure and right because we don't know what it looks like anymore. Now we can give thanks to God that this does not take place to the full extent that it could. That we're not as bad as we can possibly be. That God restrains us in his common grace and in his mercy from being as wicked and as evil as we can be. And yet we understand then how sin degrades and brings us into this condition in which our loves are opposite of what they should be. What we see especially in this character, don't we, the way that sin degrades by driving him apart from community. That's one of the ways that this man is degraded in his condition of sin and in his unclean spirit. He's driven apart from community. He lives alone. Now Matthew's gospel tells us actually that there were two men here at this time. Mark and Luke both focus on only one of them. So there were two, but one of them was It was the character that was particularly in focus. So we don't know much about the second guy, but in any case, even when we look at Matthew's gospel, there's no indication that there was any kind of companionship between the two men who lived among the tombs. So sure they lived, there were two of them and yet they lived alone, still driven apart from community. And what does God's word tell us that it's not good for man to be alone. Now there can be exceptions of course, but as a general rule, we understand that it's not good for man to be alone. It's for that reason then that God ordained the means for companionship. He ordained marriage and he so ordered and structured society so that man would live in the fellowship and the community of his fellow man. It's simply, it's abnormal. It's not good to be alone with those exceptions that the apostle Paul describes. But not only that, he's driven apart from community in that he lives among the graves. You see how degrading that is. Now it's partly because he was shunned and put out of the community. He had nowhere else to live. And graves were sort of like shallow caves dug into the wall. And so that would have provided handy shelter. for him, but it really illustrates, doesn't it, the degradation of sin. Here's a man, the text tells us, who has settled down among the dead. That's what that word means. A man who lived among the tombs. He had settled down, taken up residence. He'd set up home among the dead. And we look at this and we ask, how can he be comfortable among the dead? Most of us don't like to walk into a cemetery by daytime. We'd never walked through one at night. And yet here's this man comfortable among the dead. How can he find companionship with the dead? And yet doesn't this in itself illustrate for us the reality of the way that we are and our sinful condition apart from Christ, that we live as dead. If you can pardon that expression, we live as dead among the dead and we love it. That's the way we are apart from Christ. This man is not only driven apart from community, but he's driven apart from himself. There's not a commentator commentating on this passage who doesn't find it necessary at some point or another to refer to this man as a maniac or madman. And it's for obvious reasons. It's clear, isn't it, that this man is not in his right mind. He's driven apart from himself. All of his actions are divorced from reason. You see, this demonstrates the loss of knowledge and of righteousness and of holiness that this man is suffering from. The text tells us that night and day he went around among the tombs. On the mountains, crying out and bruising himself with stones night and day. He's living a disordered life. His life is in total disarray. He has no peace. Night and day blend together. Instead of night being a time of rest, he spends his nights wandering around his macabre home. And he goes around moaning and wailing, revealing the profound psychic pain that this man is suffering. And moreover, we see that he's driven apart from himself in the way that he turns on himself. He attacks himself, beating himself with these stones. Nothing is more unnatural than this. Jesus sums up the entire moral law with the words of Deuteronomy, that the whole law is to love the Lord your God with all of who you are. and to love your neighbor as yourself. But do you notice that God never explains how to love yourself? And why is that? Because he doesn't have to, because we know how. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 5, 29, that no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it. And so nothing is more unnatural than to turn on yourself and to attack yourself. And you see that helps us to understand the seriousness of the phenomenon of suicide. And if the, if I understand the news reports correctly, suicide seems to be on the rise, particularly among the young. And you see this is not just bad news and it's not even just sad news. But this reveals for us, see this opens up for us. the desperate heart of man apart from Christ. It's the despair of an anguished soul that would seek to turn against itself. It's a despair of having listened too long to the message that a person is nothing more than a blob of slime that's at the end of millions and billions of years of a random, mindless, pointless process. And so believing that lie, people have no reason not to turn against themselves and to end it all in their despair. And even more than that, as we see it portrayed in this man, it's even more than that. It's this deep seated self-loathing that's born of the condition of sin. And so that condition of sin, just like this unclean spirit, causes man to turn against himself. And so we see this in degrades, not only in driving this man apart from community, but even driving him apart from himself. And of course, it's very clear, isn't it? That this man has been driven apart from God. Now you and I don't deal with ceremonial uncleanness. We don't have to. It was for Jews only, and then only under the law. And now that Christ has come and fulfilled all of those types and shadows of the law, it's no longer a necessity to be unclean, ceremonially clean or unclean. And in any case, this man, in all likelihood, was probably a Gentile. But imagine what the disciples with Jesus are thinking as they see this man. Imagine what the Jewish world would think about this man. Everything in the description of this man's life is telling us, unclean, unclean, unclean. He's in a graveyard, unclean. He's running around naked. He's in pig farming country. And there's no way that this man was keeping kosher in the food that he was eating. And so we see everything about this man's life is telling us that he was driven apart from God, that he's out of touch with God. And some would even say out of reach of God. That's how sin degrades. It's a wretched, dismal picture, isn't it? Imagine if somebody that was close to you, somebody you loved, if you ever found them looking like this, how sad that would be. And you would stop at nothing to rescue them and to relieve them of being in this condition. But we don't see this often, do we? At some times or another, perhaps we come close, we get maybe a glimpse of this in some people. But isn't it the case, more often than not, that we conceal this, that we have this deceptive outward appearance. And so we all seem so normal because we're so good and we work so hard at hiding this. But see, what would, what would this man's or what would, What would your Dorian Gray portrait look like if somebody could see it? The portrait that showed you what you would really, what you were really like. See, we can maintain the outward appearance, but what would that portrait look like? So we see that as hideous and repulsive as this madman is to us, This is what we appear to be to God apart from Christ. This is the way we look to God apart from Christ. It's very sobering, isn't it? But this is exactly the kind of thing that we've seen before in Mark's gospel. This is what we've seen in the account of Jesus cleansing the leper. It shows us what we're like. before God, apart from Christ. But this is also what God's people have heard before. Isaiah 64, the prophet says, we have all become like one who is unclean. And our righteous deeds, you can put righteous in quotes. Our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, like filthy rags. And the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 24 of his, of his prophecy. records these words from the Lord. On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you. I am the Lord. I have spoken. It shall come to pass. I will do it. I will not go back. I will not spare. I will not relent. According to your ways and your deeds, you will be judged, declares the Lord God. This is the way we appear to God apart from Christ. But as unpleasant as those words are to hear from Ezekiel 24, to hear the condemnation that comes upon uncleanness, how wonderful it is to hear in that same prophecy in Ezekiel 36, These same words as God determines that he will yet set his love upon many. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and careful to obey my rules, he will sprinkle clean water on the unclean and cleanse them from all their uncleanness. And so, although this is what we are like apart from Christ, yet in Christ, he has sprinkled the clean water and washed away our uncleanness. And so it's for this reason then that this text draws us to see that second half. Just as there was a second half to Ezekiel's prophecy, Ezekiel's prophecy contains the condemnation for unrighteousness and for uncleanness. And yet it also contains the message of hope and of redemption, that there is a bright side, that there is good news. And so this text in Mark brings to our attention the same thing. And so as we have seen what we look like in the bondage of sin, we yet get to see how much the Lord has done for us in Christ. That's what we see in this account. And as we begin to look for that now in this text, we can't help but notice that although this is the case, that even so, some seem never to see it. We see that beginning in verse 14, don't we? Some never see what the Lord has done in Christ. The herdsmen, we read in verse 14, after the demons were permitted to enter the pigs and they immediately caused the pigs to rush down and drown themselves into the sea, going down a steep bank, immediately the herdsmen flee away. And they run into the city and into the country and they begin telling everybody about what has just happened. And it's on the basis of the report then that the herd owners and the townsfolk come to see what's going on. But it's very clear as we read the account that they've come primarily out of concern for what they've lost. What about our pigs? Do you have any idea how much that cost me? Somehow they have missed the wonder that God has worked in their midst. And we see evidence of this. When we, when we look at verse 15, they came to Jesus and they saw the demon possessed man, the one who had had the Legion sitting there clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And then we go on and read. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. They saw the man. And I want to draw attention to that word there because they didn't just see him in passing, just a glance. This word tells us they looked at him carefully. They studied him. They looked at him and they said, I recognize you. They knew that it was the same man who had had the legion of demons. And after all, they had the evidence of what had taken place. So they were aware that something out of the ordinary had happened there. They had the evidence because of the pigs that they had just lost. This didn't happen by accident. And yet somehow they missed the wonder of what God had done in their midst. And then we read that they were Afraid. They responded with that fear, that same fear that the disciples had after Jesus calmed the storm and they stood there in amazement. And in fear saying, who then is this? And so these people, they see the man, they've heard what happened. They know that they've lost their pigs and they have this fear. In response to Jesus and what he has done. But you see, even so that response is superficial. They knew enough to know that this was supernatural, that this was extraordinary, that this was something remarkable that had taken place. And yet it brought no faith. So we see that somehow some. Never see it. And so what do they do? They beg Jesus to leave. Look, we don't know who you are, but we really don't need any more of this trouble here. So why don't you just go? They've missed it. But even as we see that, and right now we're dying to hear the good news, where's the good news in this story? Even as we see that, we see that some can't miss it. Some never see it. But some can't miss it. You see, when you know what you once were, you can't miss what you've become in Christ. This man knows his own story. As he sits there at Jesus' feet, he knows his own story. And he knows what a transformation it has been. Look at verse 15, And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind. That says it all, doesn't it? Clothed and in his right mind. It means he's been restored to humanity and to sanity. This man has been restored. As I read this description, I like to think of it in my own mind as the way that kids look when they get out of the bath and their faces are freshly scrubbed and their hair is perfectly combed and they've put on fresh clothes or maybe their pajamas. That's the picture I have in my mind of this man. I think I'm idealizing it a little bit because this man, you see, probably would have still been in need of a good scrubbing and he would have still had the scars and he would have still had the evidence of this damaging episode in his life of having this unclean spirit. And you see, that's the way it is with us. Christ restores, but it takes time often to reverse the damage. And so we'll have scars for a while, possibly even for the rest of our life. But you see, that doesn't change the reality of the transformation, the transformation that this man knows, that he knows that the entire reason For His change and for His new life is Jesus. Some never see it, but some can't miss it. And so do you know, is this what you see? That in Christ you are then clothed and in your right mind. That though you too were like this madman, that you have now been clothed and restored to your right mind in Christ restored from the oppression and from the degradation of sin. The fact that the text says that he's clothed here is very significant. It's no accident that this little detail is included because you see at one level, it communicates very clearly to us, doesn't it? Of his return to normalcy. That in being clothed he's returned to normalcy because since the fall of man it is normal to be dressed to cover one's shame of nakedness. And so in all likelihood one of the disciples had perhaps an extra robe or cloak or tunic or something with him that he could have easily given to the man to cover him up. It's possible that even the Lord gave an extra one of his own pieces of clothing. So at one level, the man being clothed shows us his return to normalcy. But at a deeper level, we want to think of this in the context of the, of the first record of dressing and of clothes in Genesis three, after man had sinned and was banished from the garden, God graciously made coverings for him of animal skin. You see, they had tried to cover themselves with a fig leaf and it was not enough. God gave them coverings of his own making. And that's what he does for this man. And that's what he does for you and me. Because you see, in Christ, we are clothed with Christ's righteousness. That in Christ, he takes the shame of our exposed sin. and covers us with His perfect holiness. That's why in Christ we are clothed and in our right mind. And we see then also we are restored to our right mind in Christ because we are made new creatures. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5.17, we are new creatures in Christ. We're no longer the old man under the oppression and under the degradation of sin. Paul tells us so clearly in Romans chapter 6 that we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So that we would no longer be oppressed and degraded by sin. And he goes on and tells us that instead of being dead in sin, we are now dead to sin. That we are no longer dead to God, but we're now alive to God in Christ Jesus. That sin no longer reigns in us. That sin no longer has dominion. That we are no longer instruments for unrighteousness, but for righteousness. Brothers and sisters, we have been restored, clothed, and in our right minds in Christ. Isn't that the bright side of this story? That it shows us not only the vileness of sin, the violence of our condition of being in sin, but then the wonderful condition of being restored. Do you see how much the Lord has done for you in Christ? We need to close, but go back just one moment to something with the townspeople when they came. And we saw that they didn't get it, that something wonderful had happened right there in their midst. And yet all they could think about was the money that they had lost in the 2000 pigs. Now think about that. That was easily hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of livestock. It's not small. And they beg Jesus to leave. You see, God had not opened their eyes. And so they continue in the darkness of their sin. That's the way it works. But what do we see in this text? This is why we want to go back and look at this. Because three times in this text, somebody begs Jesus to do something for them. In verses 10 and 12, the demons actually begged twice. They begged Jesus not to torment them. They begged Jesus to allow them to go and enter the herd of swine. Then as we read, the people who had come out to Talk with Jesus about what had happened. They begged Jesus to leave them. And then finally look at verse 18 as he, that is Jesus was getting into the boat. The man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. The man was begging that he might be with him. That's the same phrase that's used when the disciples went with the call of the disciples that they might be with him. we're told. It means that he wants to go and be Jesus' disciple. And yet, Jesus grants the first two requests to the demons and to the townspeople, he leaves. But he denies the madman's request, the demoniac's request. Why? Well, look at verse 19. He did not permit him but said to him, go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how much he has had mercy on you. And I think this answers our question. God had not opened the eyes of the people and so some never saw it. But here, I think we begin to understand what's going on. Jesus tells this man, To go to all of yours, to your friends, to your family, to your loved ones, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you. I don't know about you, but I was really hoping to see this man get to go with Jesus. To enjoy that peace and that hope that he had surely never felt before, or at least not in a very long time. This man has never felt more alive and he wants nothing more than to go and be with the one who has restored him and redeemed him. But our wise and loving and merciful Savior knows better. And he knows that it's better that this man stay among his people and that he testify to how much the Lord had done for him. It was better for that man that he do that. And it was better, more importantly, and this is what I want you to catch, is better for the people of that region and of that town. Because see, Jesus was leaving. Who's going to tell them? That man is going to tell them. And so here's where we'll wrap up. There've been many indirect points of application. I've called on you to come to understand better your condition apart from Christ and to appreciate how great of a salvation we have in Christ. But I think there's some direct application that we can draw from this text. Two things. The first one is how we see others. Underneath all of the outward health and attractiveness and success of those around us, those that we encounter in our everyday lives, we need to recognize something and take this very seriously, that apart from Christ, they're madmen. They're like this man. They're dead men dwelling among the tombs. They're oppressed and degraded in sin. If you could see their Dorian Gray portrait, you'd forget all about what they look like right now. You would know how lost and hideous and pathetic that they truly are. And so what is the application then? Is to move us to sympathy and compassion. And so often when we see things, even if the outward appearance is not that attractive, we know that for some strange reason that fashion leads people to do things that are not attractive. And so they'll wear certain hardware in their face and on parts of their body and get markings and all these other sorts of things that make them not attractive, but repulsive. But can we look upon that and remember this man and look upon them with sympathy and compassion and realize What an, what that is an expression of, that that's an expression of the oppression and the degradation of sin and how blessed it would be to lead these people along, whoever they might be, to help them to see what great redemption there is so that they too might sit at the feet of Jesus clothed and in their right mind. But they need more than our sympathy and our compassion. They need Christ. And so too, we must go to them with this message to tell them how much the Lord has done for us and the great mercy that he has shown to us. Amen. Father in heaven. Oh, Lord, we pray that you would change our thinking in light of this truth. Lord, we pray that you would show us what we look like in our sin apart from Christ. And yet, Lord, to rejoice and to praise you all the more, knowing what we have become by your mercy in Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.