Well, if you have your Bible with you, I want to invite you to turn with me, please, to Mark, Chapter 5. Mark, Chapter 5, and welcome again to those of you who are visiting. We've been going through the Gospel of Mark for several weeks now. And we're going to read verses 1 through 20, Mark chapter 5, verses 1 through 20. Let's pray together, ask for the Lord's blessing, then we'll read. Let's pray together. Our gracious God and our Father, we pray, O Lord, for your help in the reading, preaching, and hearing of the word. May, Lord, the Holy Spirit bless His word. We thank You that Your Word is inerrant and infallible. We thank You, O God, that You have inspired it and that You have preserved it through the ages, that we, O Lord, might feed upon it growing grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by Your grace bear much fruit. We pray, Lord, that Your Spirit would bless this Word and its preaching today. And we ask, O Lord, this in Jesus' name. Mark 5, beginning at verse 1. 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 2,000 of them. And they were drowned in the sea. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And 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 described 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. Amen. Well, last week, congregation, you'll remember that we were talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and His power and authority over the natural realm, over nature. You'll remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was in the boat on the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. A great storm came up upon them, so much so that many of the disciples became frightened. that they would be swamped. Jesus, of course, was asleep on the back of the boat, on the cushion, and they woke Him up, and He spoke to the wind and the waves, and He told them to be still and hush, and everything became calm. And the fear of the disciples increased as they observed that Jesus was Lord over nature. Mark is concerned about this very theme. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus? And Jesus, of course, is Lord. He is the Son of God, the eternal Son of God who became a man and died on the cross for us and was raised from the dead. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ should be saved from their sins and delivered. So today we're going to see the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, not over the natural realm, but over the supernatural realm. We're going today to look at how Jesus Christ has power and authority over the spiritual realm, over even demons, boys and girls. And I want to look at this with you in three parts. First of all, we're going to consider the man himself, Legion. We're going to consider the man. Secondly, we're going to consider the miracle of casting out all the demons in this man. And then finally, we're going to look at the responses to this miracle that Jesus has performed. So we're focused first on the man himself, the legion. the man who is possessed, then secondly, the miracle, then thirdly, we'll consider the responses to that all. The first section comes from verses 1 through 5, the second from verses 6 to 13, and the third from verses 14 to 20. So let's look at the first section now, verses 1 through 5, and let's look at our Bibles again. They came to the other side of the sea into the country of the Gerizim. Now, we don't know exactly where commentators aren't exactly sure where the Gerasenes or the Geradines are. But Jesus here is coming onto the other side after the storm, and he gets out of the boat. You see that in verse 2. And notice that immediately, a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. Now, this man, boys and girls, we're going to call him Legion, because when Jesus asked, what is his name, he says, legion for we are many. Legion refers to a section of the Roman army. Depending on the history of Rome, when a legion could be anywhere from 4,500 soldiers to around 6,000 soldiers. So this is a man who is possessed not with just one demon, but maybe even thousands of demons within him. And so interestingly here, as Jesus comes on the shore, we see that this demon-possessed man runs up to him. This demon-possessed man comes to him. And this is interesting, not to get ahead of myself, but if you look at, and in contrast that with the reaction of the people after Jesus heals this man, when they tell Jesus to go away. It shows the hardness of the heart of those people on the other side of the sea that Jesus is wanting to minister to. But here is a man who is demon-possessed, and I just want us to think a little bit about this man's condition. This man is in one of the saddest conditions of human existence. He is in one of the most unhappy, helpless, and hopeless conditions that man can be in. He is beyond the help of ordinary people. Notice that he dwells among the tombs, so he dwells in an unclean place. He dwells away from living human beings. We are told that they have tried as best they could to help this man by chaining him down, but his strength is supernatural because of the demon possession. He is able even to break the chains and the shackles that are on him. And this poor man living among the tombs and among the mountains, what else is he doing? He is screaming day and night. Screaming day and night. Imagine if you had somebody in your community, as you're lying in bed at night, you could hear his crying out, his screaming in some kind of affliction. You know, many of you who Maybe live in the county, you know what it is to lie in bed and maybe you hear the coyotes at night. And you hear, and it's kind of an eerie sound, isn't it? To hear those coyotes howling here. But this is not an animal though. This is a man, a human being who is in this condition. Howling in the middle of the night. And not only is he uncontrollable, not only is he isolated, not only is he afflicted and screaming out into the night. But he is also engaging in a form of self-affliction, taking a rock or rocks, we are told, and hitting himself with the rocks uncontrollably, gashing himself, afflicting himself, beating his own head, his own body with these items here. This is a man who is in a state of self-mutilation, a state of self-destruction. His condition is such that there is no ordinary human help for this man. Now, the Bible says that our human condition by nature is a bad condition. Not all men may be demon-possessed, but there's more to that than I think we often are willing to admit. That is, in our natural condition apart from God, that state of nature into which we are born in, that fallen condition that our first parents plunged us into when they rebelled against God in the garden, it is a condition of natural helplessness and hopelessness. We may not be, by God's common grace, as pitiful as this demon-possessed man. But the Bible says that in our natural condition, we by nature are in a condition of sin. that we are in a condition and in a state of spiritual deadness to God. We are in a situation where there is no ordinary human help for us. that we, like the demon-possessed man, need help beyond ourselves, beyond what nature can provide. We need help from God Himself in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our condition is so bad that we speak of that condition as being lost. We speak of that condition as being dead in our sins and trespasses. We speak of that condition as being hopeless. We are in a condition by nature where we cannot see, where there is darkness. We are in a condition where we don't know morally right from wrong, except from common grace. We're in a condition where we know not God by nature. We're in a condition where we do not know our left hand from our right, says the Bible. We are in a condition where we go forth from the womb speaking lies, the Bible says. This is a picture of the state of man. Now it is emphasized and highlighted more in this man legion. But all of us need the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us need to learn from these opening verses about our true spiritual condition apart from Christ himself. You and I are in a poor state. Our only hope is in the Lord our God. Our only hope for salvation is in the mercy of God, the grace of God. We are in a condition where we deserve condemnation. We deserve damnation. We deserve the judgment of God. We are in a condition by nature where we have to look outside of ourselves for salvation. Salvation cannot come from within. Salvation cannot come from our own strength. Salvation cannot come from our own poor situation, our own poor condition. It has to come outside of man. It must come from God through Jesus Christ, the God-man. It must come by God's grace. It must come by God's mercy. And so here's the Lord Jesus Christ coming to the other side of the shore, and legion comes running up to him. Now, I'm not sure that legion came running up to him for help. I think more, if you look at the text, you'll see that Legion actually came up to Jesus because he was afraid of a worse consequence. Look at verse 6 and following, seeing Jesus from a distance, and I'm moving here to the second part now. We're moving on from the man, Legion to the miracle. And look at verse 6, seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before him. 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." And I think what we have here is the legion of demons are coming to the Lord Jesus Christ because they know that Christ has authority over them, and they are pleading with the Lord Jesus Christ that he would not send them into the abyss. Now, the demons know, says R.C. Sproul in his commentary, The demons, boys and girls, all know that their days are numbered. They all know that their day of doom is coming. Satan knows this. The demons know this. They know that the Lord Jesus Christ, in the final day, is going to judge all of humanity, but He will also judge the angels. He will also judge the demons. And the demons will be condemned, and they will be sent into the abyss. God will judge them there forever. And so what we have here is this, a legion of demons within this man coming to Jesus, bowing down, acknowledging His authority, and yet pleading with Him that they would not submit them to the eternal judgment yet. And indeed, they implore him instead to send them into the pigs. But before that comes, Jesus begins to call them to come out. You see that in verse 8. For he had been saying to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit. So, notice the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ here. This man who cannot be saved by any ordinary human effort, who has no hope in this world ordinarily, is coming to Jesus and Jesus begins to cast the demon or the demons out of the man. Jesus is full of mercy and of grace and of compassion. And it is this Lord Jesus Christ, friends, that is willing to help you and your family and your loved ones and your neighbors and all who will come to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ loves sinners and loves to show mercy to poor, afflicted, downtrodden people. The Lord Jesus Christ loves to heal. Jesus Christ loves to save. Jesus Christ loves to show His grace. And the first thing that Jesus does with this man is to help this man with his most fundamental need. This man needs deliverance from the dominion of these demons. Man's chief need, even in the 21st century with all our technology, is what? Man's chief need is to be delivered from the dominion of Satan and our own sin. that by nature we live under that dominion of sin and under the dominion of Satan. But by the grace and the power and the love and the mercy of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ sets people free. He breaks chains and shackles. He breaks the power and the dominion that this man cannot. break himself. This man has demonic strength to break man's chains and shackles. But this man does not have the strength and the power to break the dominion of the demons in his life. And friends, you and I don't have that kind of strength either. You and I don't have the strength to save ourselves. You see, Christianity, friends, is not about cleaning up this habit or that habit. It's not just about trying to improve a few habits. It is about a complete transformation of who we are. It is about being brought from the dominion of darkness into the dominion of light, from being children of this world to being children of the light, to being children of the evil one, to being children of the most high God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ can set you free. If you are under that dominion of sin, if you are under that bondage and cannot find any help or hope or relief, then there's good news for you. Jesus Christ is ready to save. Jesus Christ has all power and all authority in heaven and on earth. And the Bible says that in the day of trouble, call upon me and I will rescue you. The Bible gives you a promise. The Bible says that if you will call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and look to Him by faith, the Bible says that you will be saved. That if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe on Him, that God has raised Him from the dead, that the Bible says that you will have eternal life. Your dominion to sin, sin's dominion over you will be broken. You will be set free. You will be a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. Old things will pass away. Behold, all things will be new unto you. You will be, as we say, born truly again. not of a natural birth, but a supernatural birth. Jesus is dealing with supernatural realities in our text this morning. He's dealing with the spiritual world. He's dealing with evil. He's dealing with demons. He is dealing with Satan and the legion that belongs and is committed to Satan. And Jesus has power over the devil and Satan. Jesus has power over the evil forces in this world. We need but only look to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ can set us free. The Lord Jesus Christ has the power to save to the utmost. You know, we need to remember this because I think that even as believers, we sometimes can think that there are people who cannot be helped. Now maybe we won't say that formally, but don't we catch ourselves thinking, hey, that person would make a good Christian, as though there was something in that person that made them a better candidate than somebody else. You see what we're saying there? What we're saying is this person isn't as good a candidate. We shouldn't say that, should we? Jesus Christ is able to save. to the utmost. Jesus Christ can take those who are in the worst of conditions and bring life into their soul, give them a new life. Give them forgiveness of sins. Give them pardon. Give them acceptance with God. He can give you a new name, a name that is written in heaven, a name that is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He can give that to you today. If you will repent of your sins and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says that your name will be written in heaven. that you will be a Christian, you will be in union with Jesus Christ. The Bible says that anyone who will turn from sin and trust in the lordship and salvation of Jesus Christ will be not just a morally improved person, but a transformed person. inward and outward. God's grace to raise Jesus Christ from the dead, His power, His resurrection power is the power that is at work in breaking this demonic stronghold in this man's life. You know, this is the amazing thing about the gospel, that Jesus Christ has all this power, He has all this authority, and yet He surrenders it to go to the cross for you. He has all this power and authority. And isn't that how the people who were watching Jesus, weren't they mocking him on that very point? He had the ability to save others, yet he can't save himself. No, my friend, it's not that he can't save himself. It's that he didn't save himself. He chose to stay on that cross. He chose to use that authority and that power that he could have to call down legions of heavenly angels to rescue him from that cross. But he tells those heavenly angels what? To stay where they are. It is for this purpose that I have come, says Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus set his face like a flint stone toward Jerusalem, was that he was going to this cross. This was his purpose, this was his mission, to deal a death blow to the dominion of Satan. It was to break the power of evil at its very core, at its very root. The Lord Jesus Christ would go as the sinless Son of God with all the power and authority over demons, over angels, and yet he would surrender himself on that cross. Jesus is not crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because somehow Jesus is disillusioned. He is crying out to God because he knows that he is drinking the wrath and the judgment of God for our sins because this is the fundamental problem that we have as human beings. We are born into a helpless and hopeless condition, but only God can save us from. And God has done so through Jesus Christ. Maybe you're here this morning and you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Maybe you're watching on TV today and maybe watching on the computer today and you realize, I need Jesus Christ in my life. I need Jesus Christ in my life. I haven't been going in the right direction. I haven't been doing the things that I know that my conscience tell me I should be doing. I need Jesus Christ. What do you do? You call out on the name of the Lord, and you look to this Jesus Christ, this Savior, this Lord, this Son of God, this holy man who is without any sin. who is without any fault, who is without any defect in his humanity, who has this power, who has this strength, who has this authority, but speaks the word, and the demons come out. This is the man, if you will look to him and believe on him as your only hope, as the only way that you can be rescued. The Bible says you will be rescued. Bible says that we have to be like those people, like the woman with the hemorrhage that we'll look at here in a week or two, where she says, I can't get any help from any of these earthly physicians. I've gone to doctor, after doctor, after doctor, and nurses, and clinics, and all the rest, and I'm still in my same condition. But if I can just touch the hem of this man's garment, this man Jesus, I've heard of him and I've heard of his power and I've heard of his authority. I hear that he has the ability to do what no one else can do. If I can just touch the edge of his garment, I know that I can get better. And she reaches out as the mob, the throng of people are all trying to touch Jesus Christ and to say hello and high five him and all that. And she goes and she secretly underneath touches the edge of his garment. And Jesus says, who touched me? Somebody touched me in faith. Peter's like, Lord, who touched you? Everybody. No, somebody. Somebody who knew their condition, knew their helplessness, knew their hopelessness, knew that they had exhausted all human resources and touched Him as their last desperate hope. Now, I'm not saying you must find yourself in order to come to Jesus in such a situation. God brings many people to Jesus in many different ways. But I do want you to see the point. The point is that you go to Jesus and Jesus Christ has the ability to save you, to give you eternal life, to deliver you from your sins. You may be thinking, God can't save me. God can't forgive me. God can't help me. And the answer is no. God can help you. God can save you. God is willing to save you. If you will go to Him, how do I go to Jesus? I've said this before. Boys and girls, you've heard me say this. You go to Jesus like Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus can't see Jesus. He's a short man. The crowd is in his way. Zacchaeus puts himself in a place where he can see Jesus Christ. You say, well, what is that for me? You see Jesus Christ in the Word of God. You see Jesus Christ. This is why going to church is so important. is because it's in the worship of God and in the preaching of the word where we see Jesus Christ put before us every day, every Sunday. Jesus Christ is preached and proclaimed to us, and that is where we see Jesus. That's where my faith grows and is strengthened. That's why, young people, when you go away from home, you want to find a church in that community. When you're looking for a school, you know, you want to find a place that you ask yourself, you know, where can I find Jesus Christ on a regular basis? So Jesus says to Legion, come out. And then Jesus says to the man, what is your name? To the demon, what is your name? He says, Legion, because there are many of us. We are many, maybe even thousands. Maybe seems incredible, hopeless, outnumbered thousands of demons and one Jesus. This is not too difficult for Jesus, is it? Jesus can take on thousands of demons at a time. Jesus has the power and the authority to fight Satan's hordes. Even if they come at him in great numbers, Jesus is able to save this man. Look at verse 10. He began to implore him, that is, Legion. Legion began to implore Jesus earnestly not to send them out of the country. Don't send us into the abyss. Don't bring the final judgment on us, cried the demons. And then they describe that nearby, there was this nearby mountain. Right by the water, there is this hillside, this mountain. And there are all these pigs, 2,000 pigs that are feeding on that hillside. And the demons, boys and girls, they ask Jesus to allow them. Notice what the demons are acknowledging there. They're acknowledging that Jesus is Lord over them. allow us to go into the pigs. And so Jesus permits it, and the demons come out of the man, and they go into the pigs, and the pigs go down into the water, and they are drowned. Now, I've often wondered, well, what did the demons do after they drowned their host? And I don't know for sure. I'm assuming they went out. and then went to find maybe even other victims. I want us now, though, to think about the response to this miracle, because there are actually a few different responses. First of all, look at verse 14. Let's look at the response of the herdsmen. Then I want to look at the response of the crowd, and then I want to look at the response of the man who was possessed. Look at, first of all, the herdsmen. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And 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 described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man and all about the swine." So we see that the herdsmen, they go and maybe just so that the people will understand this was not their fault. I don't know. I'm somewhat speculating here. The herdsmen may not have been the owners of the pigs. They may have had people to answer to and they want them to come and look for themselves. This was not on us. I don't know. But they run and they go get others and they bring them. And I want you to see here, notice this, that the Lord Jesus Christ's compassion You know, strangely enough, there have been commentators and skeptics of Christianity who actually criticize Jesus for destroying all these pigs, which is strange when you consider that Jesus has saved a man. It shows you the value that Jesus places even on one human being. Isn't that what we learn about heaven? that even over one sinner who repents, heaven rejoices? The value of one's soul turning away from darkness to light in Jesus Christ causes heaven to rejoice and to praise God for His grace? Are you not more valuable, says Jesus, than the sparrow? And the answer, boys and girls, is of course you are. You are made in the image of God. God has a great love for you. And He has given His Son for you, that you would have life with Him. So they go and they report what's happened. And so, of course, the crowd comes and they see the Lord Jesus Christ, they see the man who formerly was demon-possessed, and they see the pigs. And the herdsmen take the opportunity to explain what had happened, that Jesus had cast out the legion of demons out of the man that they had gone into the pigs and the pigs had drowned. And so the crowd is observing the man, and what do they notice about this man? They notice, one, that now he's clothed. They notice he's sitting down. You know, he was so possessed of a demon, you get the sense that this man was completely restless all the time, walking about everywhere, never at rest. Finally, here is a man sitting down. He's clothed, tells you what his state must have looked like previously, and in his right mind. There's no sign any longer of being possessed by an evil spirit. No screaming, no gashing of himself, no need to be chained, bound, sitting on his own. And they behold him and they behold the swine. And what does the Scripture say in verse 15? and they became frightened." This is kind of interesting, and I think it really parallels with what we saw last week. Do you all remember how when Jesus, after He told the wind and the waves to hush and be still, the disciples said, glad that's over? That's not what they said, remember? The Bible said their fear went up. Their fear rose. And they said to themselves, who is this man? And you get the sense in this story as Jesus is doing His Lordship not over the natural realm but over the supernatural, the response is the same, isn't it? The response is not, I am so glad that this poor man who has been afflicted all these years that we have had to listen to screaming in the night is now sitting and clothed in his right mind. What a relief. Now their fear goes up. They were once afraid of this man, but now their fear has increased. And they want to know not who is this man named Legion, but who is this man named Jesus. But the saddest words in this account are found at the end, isn't it? Aren't they? When they implored Him, verse 17, they began to implore Him to leave their region. The Almighty, the omnipotent Son of God, who just performed a miracle to save this poor man from his wretchedness. is actually being implored, pleaded with, strongly urging him to go away. Doesn't that tell you something about us? Isn't that what John's point in this prologue was? That the light came into the world and the darkness didn't comprehend him. Jesus came unto his own and his own rejected him. The natural condition of men is to turn Jesus away. You know, if you love Jesus Christ, even imperfectly as we all do, if you love Jesus Christ and you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, when you read this passage, you realize you do so by grace. For if it weren't for the grace of God, I'd be asking Jesus to go away. It's not natural for people to want to go to Jesus. But Jesus Christ is coming to you. Jesus Christ wants to come to you because of his love, because of his mercy, because he's gracious, because he's long-suffering, because he's compassionate, because he knows the value of a human soul over even the animals that he's made. Jesus Christ was willing as the eternal Son of God to become a man for you. He was willing to come into your world, your town, your city, your home. And to help you and to heal you and to save you. What you need to do is to ask yourself, what will I do with Jesus Christ? Will I take him? Will I receive him? Will I look to him? Will I believe in him? Will I love him? Will I trust him? Will I obey him? Will I follow him? Or will I ask him to leave my house? Will I ask him to please go elsewhere? The cost is too much. Too many of my pigs died. The cross is too heavy. I can't go and sell all that I have. We all have to make that decision, don't we? Jesus Christ, maybe even this morning, through His Spirit, through His Word, is, in a sense, standing before you. Not physically, but spiritually, truly, through His Word. And He's putting Himself in front of you. And He said, you know, the people among the Gerasenes told me to go. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to save you? You want me to help you? I'm ready to love you. I've died for you. I've taken your sins for you on myself. I've died on the cross for you. I've taken the judgment, the wrath, the condemnation, the malice of men and of demons for you. Are you gonna tell me to go away too? I pray not. I pray that all of us, myself included, will say, Lord Jesus Christ, where would you go? Where could I go? You alone have the words of eternal life, Lord. Lord, have mercy on me. Oh, Lord, I pray, save me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Give me your grace. Give me your love. Give me your strength. Give me your power. Give me, Lord, your resurrection strength and power and might, Lord, to save my soul to the utmost. Give me, Lord, that grace that I need to love you and persevere with you and follow you wherever you are going, Lord. You know, there was also the man, Legion himself, you see there, And Jesus is getting back in the boat. The people said, can you please leave? Notice Jesus did. Can you imagine the grace that they have just rejected? So Jesus gets back in the boat, but there is one guy who's saying, wait, no, don't do that. And it was the man formerly named Legion. And he's earnestly pleading, Jesus, let me come with you. I want to be with you. And Jesus doesn't reject him, but he does give him a mission instead. He says, I know you want to come with me, but I've got something else for you to do. I want you to go to your hometown and the people who knew you and who knew you in your former condition. And I want you to go And I want you to go and glorify me. I want you to speak of what the great things the Lord has done for you and how he had what? Mercy on you. And this man, we are told by Mark, he went away and he began to proclaim in Decapolis, where he was from, what great things Jesus had done for him. Go and tell what great things the Lord has done for you. And what does he say? He goes and he tells what great things Jesus has done for him. What does that say about what this man believed about Jesus? It says that he believed Jesus was Lord, doesn't it? Go and tell what great things the Lord has done for you. And he goes and he says, Jesus has done great things for me. He goes and he tells other people about the grace of Jesus Christ. The mercy that was shown to him, he tells other people so that they could find grace and mercy as well. Friends, what's our mission? Our mission is similar, isn't it? Jesus hasn't said, come with me into heaven yet. I go to the cross, I'm going to be raised from the dead, and then I'm going to go to the right hand of the Father, but I've got a mission for you. I want you to go and tell other people what great things the Lord has done for you. I want you to go and tell people what Jesus Christ has meant to you and what He's done in your life. I want you to go and tell about the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ. I want you to go and tell people not how I rehabilitated myself, not how I found a few new habits and developed the power of habits. No, go and tell. about who Jesus Christ is, the Son of God who has power over demons, who has power over the natural realm of the wind and the waves, who has power, amazingly enough, to save someone like me, that Jesus Christ can save even me. And if Jesus Christ can save me, you say, Jesus Christ can save anyone. You know, you don't have to be a great apologist. You don't have to be a great evangelist. You just simply tell people. How great Jesus is.