Let's ask for the Lord's help as we come to hear his word. Heavenly Father, we come before you knowing that we need your help to understand the depths and the glories of your word, and so we ask that you would grant us eyes to see and ears to hear wonderful things in your law. We ask that you would grant us the ability to not leave this place in the same way that we came, that we would be continually encouraged to walk in the good works that were set beforehand for us to walk in, and that you would be honored through this time, that your name would be magnified above all names. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. If you have your copy of the scriptures, I'd invite you to turn with me. to Luke chapter 8. We're going to look, Lord willing, briefly this evening in Luke chapter 8 verses 26 and following. And first and foremost, I want to say thank you. It is a joy and a privilege to be able to say thank you in person. We are not able to do church planting in Honduras without your prayers and support. We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to plant churches in Honduras. The Lord has been very kind. The last year has been very interesting for us, to say the least. Honduras went into a deep lockdown right after COVID started in March. We were only allowed to circulate by ID number once every two weeks. And so over the last six months to a year, we've had to adjust. But even in that, Lord willing, as I preach tonight, The Lord saves souls, and the beauty of the fact that the Lord is at work worldwide. He hasn't changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so we can take hope in that, and we will see that in this text this evening. Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demons into the desert. Jesus then asked him, what is your name? And he said, Legion. For many demons had entered him, and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these, so he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Remember a few years back, my bride and I had a date night and we went out to see the movie Saving Mr. Banks. And in that movie, it's about the fact that Disney wanted to make the movie about Mary Poppins. And in that movie, he is very desirous of making the movie Mary Poppins and continues to ask to be able to have the rights to the movie. He was so impacted by the story. And the lady who owned the rights to the movie or the story did not want to let him make the movie. And so he decided that he was going to fly to see this woman to ask if he could write and make and produce this movie for Disney and the lady told him that she was nervous about letting him make the movie because She was worried that he would destroy mr. Banks that he would destroy this figure who was her father figure in the movie and He said as he met with the girl. He said I won't destroy mr. Banks because you see that's what stories tip storytellers do and We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again. As we come to this text tonight, we are reminded that our Savior instills hope again and again and again. He continues to call us unto himself. And so as we begin this text, I want to invite you Like Luke 18 tells us, to have childlike faith. Maybe you've heard this text many a times from much better preachers than the ones standing before you. But I invite you to be surprised over again by our Savior's grace and mercy to the needy. So I want to see this under four brief points. The first point would be where Jesus goes. The second point, who Jesus meets. The third, what Jesus does. And the fourth, how people responds to the first point where Jesus goes. In verse 26, we see that Jesus got in a boat and he sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. He goes across the lake, and we know from the text that he's going to Gerasene, or to this land, the Gerasene land, across Galilee, from Galilee, and what we're seeing is that he's going to Gentile country. Christ is crossing this land, or this lake, and he is going to this place to take the gospel to a new place. You see, he's expanding. It's not just for the Jews. The focus is where he is actually going to go and preach the gospel to save this man. He's going to have a divine appointment with this demoniac. He's crossing the sea to go and meet with this man. And Christ is taking the Gospel to a new place. And it's interesting where He comes. ground. He comes aground as we see in the text it says in verse 27 when Jesus had stepped out of the land there met him a man from the city who had demons and this man was a man who didn't have any clothes on and walked in the tomb. So we see in the text that Jesus shows up to a land where a man who has been an outcast is thrown out would not want no one would want anything to do with him for Firstly, second of all, there's pigs that we know that are on the side of the mountain that we will get to in a moment. So it's a Jewish, not a Jewish area, obviously, not the normal place where someone would go. It's a Roman ruled area and it's unclean. You look at where Christ is going. He's going to a very place that we would never expect. This morning as I was preaching chapter five of Micah, The reality that the unexpected ruler comes through Bethlehem, Ephrathah. The Lord uses very unexpected things. He doesn't work in the ways that we work. He doesn't think how we think in the normal way. And so he goes across to meet with this man. And it's unexpected. And Jesus walks into this place where there's death. There's uncleanness, and there's no word of God, and nobody expects him to do what he does. And he comes into contact with this man on the other side. After having a great multitude of people following him, he goes to one man across the sea. And as he steps out of the boat, we see who Jesus meets. This man, in verse 27, it says, when Jesus had stepped out on the land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. This man comes running towards Jesus. This is a man who has been demon-possessed for years and years and years. Oftentimes I think what would have been like for the disciples standing there, Jesus says, let's get in the boat and let's cross and they get across and as soon as they step out, this demon possessed man is running towards them. They just come through storms that Jesus calmed. You're thinking, maybe if I'm a disciple, this guy who has many demons in him, as we learn in the text, let's get back in the boat. Let's go back to the other side. This is a bad idea, Jesus. This is not the place that we need to be, and yet this is the place that Christ has come to save this man. that he's come for this very purpose and he comes up and this man is trying to show dominance towards Christ. We notice that as he comes up to him in verse 28, when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, what have you to do with me? Jesus, son of the most high God, I beg you, do not kill me. torment me. So he comes out running, trying to show dominance, running and coming to the face of Jesus, but at the same time recognizing who Jesus is. Did you notice that in the text? He uses his name to show dominance because in that cultural context to use the name would have been a way to show that you know who this is, but you notice that he's bowing down and he's falling down at the same time. I don't know if you've ever watched The Lord of the Rings, but it has a Gollum-type feel to it. Gollum running up so aggressively, but at the same time really scared that somebody will do something to him. So this demon showing power comes up. And it's got to be a scene that is very, very unexpected. We read that he's naked, that he's alone, that he's a man that has been by himself and cast out by friends and family. If we were to look at Mark chapter 5 and verse 5, we would see that he had been cutting himself with stones and crying out day and night. This is not somebody that we would normally spend a lot of time around. Actually, this would be the person that we would cross the street for while we're walking around Savannah, or while we're walking around a different city. This is a man that has superhuman strength, as we read in the text. He's a man who is breaking chains. They try to hold him in, but he can't be held. He's enslaved by his wickedness, and he would have been known around the city. It might be slightly inappropriate, but Alsterbeg named him Naked Norman in the fact that he's the guy that just everybody knew in the city. Oh, tell your kids, don't go near Naked Norman. He's over there and everybody knows he's there. Keep your distance. Don't go to this man at all. He's dangerous. And now we have Jesus face to face with him. face-to-face, our Savior, the one who came to redeem us, standing face-to-face, and Jesus calmly looks at him, and Jesus' response is not disgust, is not to pull back. The first thing he says is, what's your name? Tell me your name. We see it in verse 30. Jesus then asked him, what is your name? And he says, legion. As we know, legion, what it actually means is most likely a Roman legion which would have been about 6,000 demons. So as Jesus is face to face, we read that this man has some mass of demons in him to the point that Sinclair Ferguson says, that name also tells us that what this man was, was an outpost of demonic activity in this world. Perhaps in this military language, we're meant to catch the fact that Satan's opposition to the kingdom of God is not haphazard, but ruthlessly well organized. So this man comes forward, he uses this Roman name, Legion, and we see that he is overcome by these demons. He is in essence what we see in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. He's dead in his trespasses and sins in which we once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath. And as you look at this man, you may say, Aaron, I don't look much like this demoniac. But this man is enslaved by demons. And as we think of our sins that enslave us, things as we choose the bondage of our sin, when we willingly go after it, we act as if we are still this old man. We act as if we are still this old man. And so as Jesus comes face to face with him, as Jesus stands in front of him and there is this moment of Jesus calling His name so that He can save him, we see that the Lord is being gracious to him in what He does. In what He does for this man. Oftentimes I think, since the angels long to look into salvation, I've often wondered if this was a text that they were looking over saying, Jesus, this one? This one? He's full of demons. Nobody wants to be around Him. Why would you save Him? Trying to understand the grace of our Savior in His great mercy towards this man. And we see what He does. He shows us His power. And that's the third point, what Jesus does. He shows the power that He has. And you have to note in this text, if you were to look back, what we see in the whole of chapter 8 is Jesus showing His power, showing His authority over all things. At the beginning of the chapter, He calms the storms. We see Him heal a woman with the flow of blood. We see him raise Jairus's daughter from the dead. Now we see him casting out demons. What Christ is showing us in this text is he has all power, all authority, and nothing does not answer to him. Brethren, as we face COVID in Honduras, there were difficult moments. There was a lot of lost jobs. There was a lot of sickness. There continues to be a lot of sickness. And there continues to be a lot of fear. And what this text, why I preached this text in Honduras a little over a month ago was to remind our people that yes, this thing exists, but what we find hope in is this Christ who has all authority. That nothing, nothing can hold back His authority. Nothing can restrain it. That He with the words of His mouth can cause healing in seconds. That even the most outcast can be called home. The family member that you have been praying for for years, day after day after day for their salvation, the Lord in a moment can change them. What we see in this text is the power of our Savior, and He's showing us that is who He is, because what He does is He casts out the demons. We see in verse 31 that they begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss, and now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these, so He gave them permission. They recognized His power. They recognized what He could do to them. Jesus versus a whole host of demons and there's no fight back. Jesus with His measly 12 disciples that are scared in all these situations against demons and there's no fight back. Because His power is shown. It's interesting that a lot of people actually get upset about the pigs. How could Jesus kill all those pigs? There's actually people who say that this is the reason they don't believe in the gospel, because Christ would kill the pigs. But what this text is showing us is that the salvation of a soul is more important than any financial gain, than any pig or anything else, because we are image bearers of God. That the salvation of a soul is more important than everything that these people own, that He has come for this very purpose. The most amazing part of this text is not that Jesus cast demons into the pigs, it's that Jesus saved this man and brought him to life. That's the beauty of the text. That's the good news tonight, that he hasn't stopped doing it. That he hasn't stopped bringing life about through his power. You see in verse 35 we read, that then the people went away to see what had happened and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Nothing could hold this man. And Jesus, by casting demons out, by sending them out, has clothed the man, given him a new heart. He was dead in his sins. He's brought life and he has clothed him and he is in his right mind. That is every one of our stories. I was brought from death to life. That's every one of our stories. The beauty of what Christ has done in giving us a new heart, calling us and saving us. But He also shows us that He continues to do it. I was reminded of that actually about three months ago as a young lady who's a single mother came to our church. She started watching us online in September. We were doing everything online for about six months and as she came in to meet with me and talk to me about her desire to join the church, She sat down and I was asking her what had happened and how she'd come to know the church. And she found us online through a friend or through a family member. And then she started watching us. And it's very humbling when she says, you know, I think I was saved while I was watching your service. I mean, it wasn't your preaching. So that's a really, well, thanks. I appreciate that. She goes, actually, it was during your pastoral prayer. You started praying for the lost. You started praying that Christ would save those who are far off. And all of a sudden the Lord convinced me that I was one of the far off. And he brought me home. Brethren, the Lord is doing that worldwide today. He might be doing it right now in our presence. That's the beauty of what our Savior does. He doesn't stop saving people. And that is what Jesus came to do. He came to save the lost, to save friends and family, to save the people that we pray for on a regular basis. And so I would encourage you, brethren, don't stop praying. Don't stop asking the Lord to save the lost. Pray for your missionaries. Pray for your pastors. Pray for your congregation that you would testify of this life-giving Savior who takes men who are lost and confused when we think of unbelievers. Oftentimes we can't make sense of why they think certain ways. It's because they're living for sin and it is Christ that sets it straight. It is Christ that puts them in their right mind. It is Christ that calls them home. And so we should pray to that end and not stop. But fourthly and briefly, we see how the people respond. If you look at verses 35, it says, then the people, 35 and following said, then the people went out to see what had happened. And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting and in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. It's so interesting how the people respond to the Word of God, to the very presence of Jesus. They see him do this amazing miracle and we have a tendency to think, if I saw that, I would bow in worship. But these people who have just seen these demons cast out and the pigs go running down the hill into the ocean or into the sea and are dead are now gripped with fear. Gripped by who this Jesus is, thinking this Jesus is more scary than naked Norman was. And they want him away. And they want to get him out. You see their hard hearts, you see how wickedness can creep in. I remember looking through Instagram, probably shouldn't be looking through Instagram. I was looking through Instagram and a friend of mine had posted a picture of his son when they took him to his first movie. And this little four-year-old boy is just sitting there with mouth wide open, just blown away by the size of the screen, just in awe of how big this is. And you think about that kid looking at that, and I think about when I used to take youth kids to movies, and they, instead of looking at the screen, would look at their cell phones. This massive screen, and yet I would rather my goods and my simplicity of this small screen. The same thing with these people. They're seeing the glory of God. And they're concerned. They're concerned about their earthly goods. They're scared to death what this guy could get from them or cause in them or he just killed our pigs. You see, they're so captivated by their worldliness and their love of this world that they can't see who is standing before them and they ask him to leave. And the scariest part of this text It's at the end of verse 37 it says, so he got in the boat and left. He got in the boat and left. There comes a time, there will come a time when you will not hear the gospel any longer. It will not be freely offered. If you're an unbeliever here, come to this Savior. He freely welcomes you. Come to Him. Recognize that He can set all things right. That He is your hope. That if He can do this, He can save you. Repent and believe in this Savior. It's interesting though that The demoniac is a renewed man, but we see a couple different things in Jesus's response and in how they respond. There are three requests made, and the response from Jesus is yes, yes, no. The demons asked to be cast into the pigs, and what did Jesus say? Yes. The people asked Jesus to leave, and Jesus says yes. The renewed man asked to go with Jesus, which we would think is yes, and he says, no. Wait, Jesus, this guy is prime evangelistic material to go and he can tell everybody what you've done. And he says, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go back to your cities and tell, go back to your city and tell them what I have done for you. Tonight as we finish the Lord's Day and we walk out these doors or we go down and have fellowship meal and then go home, what we go home to do, what we should be doing week in and week out is testifying to what God has done. But so often, myself included, I keep my mouth shut because I've lost the amazement of what has truly happened to me. I've lost the amazement of what God has done in causing this wretch to know Him, to be saved, to be brought into salvation through Christ. And it's amazing that Jesus tells this man, no, no, go back to your city, and instead of you being an outpost of demonic activity in this world, I'm gonna make you an outpost of evangelism in this town. about what I have done and who I am. That's the beauty of this text. We long, long that the Lord would continue to do that. So we should be those who share this good news with others. If we don't know what we have been saved from, we're never going to share the good news of what Christ has done for us. We are co-heirs with Christ. We are inheritors of the kingdom. We are those who have a hope beyond this life as so many Hondurans have been gripped by fear with a situation where we don't have a medical situation. If you get a medical base there. So most people if they get sick they're going to public hospitals that are not very good or they don't have the money to go to private hospitals. So they're very nervous that they might die. And one of the things that we've spent so much time talking about as elders at the church is the fact that We are a pilgrim people. This is not home. As much as we want to make it home, this is not our end home. We are headed to a far better country. We are headed to a place. We are to set our eyes above and recognize that our hope is in a risen Lord Jesus Christ, that we will spend eternity with Him, and it is not in this life. And that's the best news your neighbors can hear as they sit and watch Fox News or CNN or whatever they're watching and they're nervous and getting anxious. The best news they can hear is that there is one who has come, who has died, who has given hope to us. This is the one who continues to offer hope day in and day out. It's what our watching world needs. Maybe tonight, It's what you need to be reminded of. As you do turn on the news and you see all the Hondurans making their way to the border and you get nervous about what's going on at the border, or you see our presidential situation, or you see all the things that the news is telling you to believe, and you need to be reminded that Christ has all authority. that there is nothing that is not under His power. That it is Him that is at work. He is in control of all things and He never changes. Again, Micah chapter 5, that the unexpected ruler is the ancient of days. He hasn't changed since the beginning. This Christ who is saving is the one through whom, by whom, and for whom all things were created. And so the beauty of this text is to remind us to be amazed by our Savior once again. Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, this is the best news the world has ever heard. We need to hear it again and again and again. As I told the people this morning, oftentimes as a missionary or a visiting pastor, you stand up and people want to hear something new or different or good. Really, I hope you just tell people from the missionary tonight, we just heard an old, old story of a Savior who saves unbelievers who need saving and gives them. That is our hope tonight. That will be our hope tomorrow. And that's our comfort. Look to this Savior. I invite you to do so. Let us pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it does not return void. We thank you for the beauty of this text. We thank you that you are a Savior who saves sinners. that if there are unbelievers here tonight, there is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask that You would cause them to believe, that You would turn them unto Yourself. Lord, I pray for believers who are backslidden and struggling. I pray that they would be reminded of who you are, your character and your goodness, the God that we serve, that you might be glorified in our lives, Lord, cause us to be outposts of evangelism in our communities, in this town or wherever the Lord has set our bounds of habitation, that your name might be magnified, that your church might be edified and grown in number and in depth, for the glory of your name. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen. I would now invite you to take your hymnals and we will close by singing hymn 407, The Day You Gave Us, Lord Is Ended. Hymn 407.