Okay, okay. Wow, I think it's safer in here now they've all gone, isn't it? Turn with me, please, in God's Word to Luke's Gospel and chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. It'll be found on page 1606 in the Church Bibles. 1606. Luke chapter 8 and we'll begin reading at verse 26. Luke 8 verse 26. This is Jesus and his disciples after the occasion when he had stilled the storm on the lake of Galilee. They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me. But Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, what is your name? Legion, he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and the demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. And all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them. Would you believe it? because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, return home and tell how much God has done for you. So the man went away and told all over the town how much Jesus had done for him. This man was in a terrible state. It's described very vividly and very clearly, very plainly in the passage we've just read. Physically, he was a wreck. Socially, he was an outcast. Here he is living naked among the tombs. Morally, he was in a mess. Spiritually, he was lost and helpless. He was, in the words of the scriptures, demon possessed. He was in a terrible state. Everyone feared him and no one could help him. They gave him a nickname. They called him Legion. That wasn't his real name. He didn't get that one at his birth, but later as the forces of evil closed in, and he was dominated by the controlling powers, so he wasn't his own man, Legion. Because it seemed that countless demons were operating in his tragic life. He was imprisoned, but he broke the chains, and he ran away, and they chased him away. into a solitary place among the tombs. Mark 5 tells us when he reports exactly the same story, that he was self-harming, often cutting himself with stones. Now you and I know that nicknames are very common. I don't know what yours is. We've all suffered for them, haven't we, from time to time. Originally, most of our surnames were nicknames, especially if you come from a Saxon background, an English background. In fact, nicknames long predate our surnames. They were given to us often because of our job or our father's job. If you happen to be a Smith here this morning, or a Tanner, or a Reed, or a Thatcher, or a Baker, or a Butcher, and you could go on. That's because somewhere down the line in your ancestors, that's what they did as a job. So you were Fred the Baker, or the Butcher. Some, of course, are just odd. I knew someone called Penny who had a cousin called Schilling, but you actually have to be a certain generation to understand the meaning of that. And then, of course, there were the Welsh nicknames, aren't there, because they've only got half a dozen names to share around them all, so you have to have Jones the Post and Die the Coal and Gwyn the Plumber and so on. It's just the way they identify them. Some of you here, I know this for a fact, because I remember some years ago at least one of you telling me that you got used to the fact that when you left and went to high school, you were known simply as homeschool. That's where you came from. Sometimes, of course, we get our nicknames because of our physical characteristics, and they're very rarely a compliment. Among the disciples, there was one called James, but there were lots of Jameses then, so they called him James the Less, James the Little. At school, we would have known him as Titch, and then the big guy would be Lofty. Less complimentary, of course, we were calling some people Goofy or Curly or Ginger or Fatso, but nowadays you're not allowed to do that or you end up in court because we live in this super sensitive era. And then of course we sometimes give people nicknames because of their character, at least they used to. James and John, two of the disciples of Jesus, were nicknamed Boanerges, which comes from a Hebrew word that means wrath or thunder, because they had a pretty fiery temperament. And then there's of course others, there's alternatively some of them, those two brothers could have been called, as simply Ben Zebedee, which means the sons of Zebedee. You know James and John, two common words. Yeah, but this is Ben Zebedee. These are the sons of Zebedee. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, was nicknamed Barnabas because he had a beautiful character and was such an encouragement to everyone. And Barnabas simply means son of encouragement. And there's probably a Barnabas here, isn't there? And nowadays we give people nicknames sometimes even because of their nationality. We call them a Kiwi, or we call them a Brit, or less discriminatory, we call them a Pommy, that's an old word, or a Frog if they come from France. Now again, you're not allowed to use these words today, because that upsets people. Sometimes we even get a nickname because of our color, we're black, white, or colored. Lots of reasons. Some nicknames are playful, others are serious, some are kind, others are cruel. Some we're very glad to own, others we wish we could offload. Nicknames are a shorthand way of describing someone. Here was a name that in his few sane moments this man must have hated. and wished he could offload. They just knew him as Legion, and everyone feared him. Legion. At the very mention of that word, a shiver went around the towns around Galilee, on the other side of Galilee. Mothers called their children in from play. Fathers formed vigilante groups. The neighborhood watch was watching. Legion. Foolish parents used to frighten their children with punishment by it. If you don't behave yourself, Legion will come and get you. Go to sleep or I'll send Legion to you. Not very clever, but doubtless they did. They still do things like that today. legion. His lifestyle, his strength, his loneliness, legion. Which means many, but he was alone. Verse 29 tells us he lived in solitary places. Matthew tells us there were two of them, but both of them were alone. They were in bad company. They were in a solitary place, as so many are today. Alone with their own bad company, their own grief, or their own addiction. Alone. As a hymn writer, Townsend put it in the hymn we just sung, lost and alone in the company of multitudes. Legion. He'd lost his real name, maybe he'd even forgotten it. It was a long time ago now when he was the pride of his parents, something went terribly wrong. Legion spelt hopeless, helpless, misery. Now, there are a few strange things in this particular story that we're reading, but there's only one thing I want to focus on this morning, so I'm going to leave those strange things aside. I'll be here for lunch, so if you want to understand the strange things, you can always go and ask Rosie. Now, I want to focus on just one thing, and it's the question that he was asked by Jesus. Here it is. What is your name? What is your name? No, no, not your natural birth name, though doubtless we'll be asking that of some of you because we've kind of forgotten since April the names of some of you, though we well remember your faces. But when it comes to spiritual issues, what is your name? You listen to people's response when they talk about religion, or God, or Christianity, or salvation, and they very quickly betray their real name to you. Let me run through a few of them, so you get an idea of what I mean. You see, there are some people that are bold today, and they tell you, I'm an atheist. That's their nickname. I'm an atheist. It means, I don't believe there's a God. Now, of course, they're faced with exactly the same clear evidence as the rest of us, that there is a God, but they come to an opposite conclusion. We see the hand of God in all the creation around us, and there's an inner voice within them that actually tells them there is a God. You know there is, but they don't want to believe it because, for whatever reason, they don't wish to believe it. They know there's a creator, but some of us choose not to recognize the obvious. Paul in Romans chapter 1 in the New Testament writes this. He tells us that it's very plain that there's a God. In fact, he puts it like this. He says, the eternal power and divine nature of God is clear for us all to see, so without excuse. Now, that's very plain in itself, isn't it? Paul says, just open your eyes, look around you. Wherever there's a design, there's a designer. Wherever there's beauty, somebody makes it. We know that. We work along that line. We've looked at all these huge Building, some of them are supposed to be nice. I was saying to Rosie, come in, why on earth they make the shard like that? I said, I can't see the point of it. And she said, was that meant to be a fun? I mean, it's just a waste of space. You get more space that way and then that way. But somebody designed it that way. I knew that. I didn't believe it just happened that way. Paul says, of course. It's obvious there's a God. How do you think this incredible universe came into existence? It cannot be by chance. Now, atheism, of course, is a bigger step of faith than believing in God. Some people say to me, why don't you believe in evolution like everybody else does? And I simply answer and say, because I don't have enough faith to believe in evolution. It's nonsense. It cannot be. It is an impossibility. Mathematically an impossibility. It can't happen. There has to be a designer behind such intricacy. And the design, the incredible evidence of the character, the beauty, the order of God is all there for us to see. And I repeat, there is a voice within us that says, you know there's a God. I was rather amused in watching the Brian Cox, Professor Brian Cox program about the universe and the origin of it and why we're all here. And at one time he came to the conclusion this is an incredible thing and even he admitted it seemed almost impossible to believe that this all became out of nothing by chance. And he actually said, these were his words, We might even say that God's made this, but he's an atheist, so he can't say that. And I'm sitting there saying, yeah, you're right, Brian, we might say this. We might say that Almighty God made it. But he doesn't want to believe the obvious, staring him in the face. And the evidence of Jesus Christ, the beautiful life that he lived, the wonderful death that he died on the cross for us, his powerful resurrection, his ascension back into heaven, all those things recorded for us in the word of God. The evidence is there. But I'm an atheist. I don't want to believe. And if your name is atheist this morning, which perhaps is unlikely, or you might not be here, it may be convenient, but it's neither secure nor wise, because God says only the fool has said there is no God. Ah, but there are those, you see, who prefer to kind of sit on the fence. And they call themselves agnostic. You know what that word means. It means I don't know. Actually, it means I'm ignorant, but we won't go down that line. It means I don't know. It was a word that was coined for the English language about 100 years ago by T.H. Huxley, a very renowned philosopher and evolutionist. But I ask the question, how long have you been like this? Isn't it time you found out? How long are you going to go on saying, I don't know? Here's a friend who's visiting you at home, and he suspects, because he knows about these things, he suspects that the electrical fuse box in your house is faulty and likely to start a fire. He can smell it, and he knows the smell of burning electricity. I think you should do something. And what's your reply? Oh, I don't know. doctor diagnoses. A serious condition that's curable now, but if you leave it, it'll be terminal. Can he operate now? Oh, I need to think about that. I don't know. And the mechanic tells you that the brakes on your car are far worn. There's a leak in its hydraulic system and the tires are balled. What do you want me to do about it? Oh, I don't know. And you better take action. And I tell you about the God to whom one day you will have to give an account and stand before him on the day of judgment as every man, woman, and young person will. And of Jesus Christ who really lived and died on the cross to save sinners and rose again to be your friend and to give you peace and reconciliation with God if you will only trust him. And I stress this is urgent because life is short in its duration and uncertain when it will end for all of us. And you say, well, I don't know. I'm agnostic. Most agnosticism, you know, is pure laziness. What we really mean is I can't be bothered. But one day you'll have to be bothered. And then it's too late. Ah, but there are some people who have a different nickname. They're not atheists. They're not agnostic. They're fair-minded. Open-minded is the other way they sometimes put it. Some people's brains are so open-minded that their brains have leaked away, but they are fair-minded people. Everyone is right, they say. Have you heard the argument? Well, you hear it often at school, don't you? It happened in my maths lesson when I got all the sums wrong, as I invariably did. I'd go to my maths teacher and say, when you put crosses by them, that's your opinion, sir. As a matter of fact, I consider that that, that, and that equals that, and so that's all right, because we're all right, aren't we? Is that how it works? I wish it had. Have you ever heard that argument in your trade, your profession? Do it whichever way you like. Are you an electrician? Doesn't matter how you wire it, we're all right. We'll get it right eventually. You know, the lights will come on. They will, you're right. Do it how you like, there's no right way. Do we use that argument? Do we hear the politicians saying, well I've got an opinion, the other people might be just as right, and the economists, you know, these people who know how to put everything right. Do they say everybody's right? Or, says the open mind, let people believe what they want to. We all go the same way. There's truth in all religion. Now let me just tell you this. Jesus once said, and if you don't believe it, it's on the board outside. Jesus once said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Right or wrong? And Peter stood up in the streets of Jerusalem just after the day of Pentecost. You can find it in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 4. And he said, there is no other name given under heaven among men, that sounds pretty inclusive, under heaven among men, no other name under heaven among men by which we must be saved. Now if there's truth in all religions, are those two statements true or false? And if they're false, then there is not truth in all religions, is there? Because this one's got it wrong. It's a fundamental lie of the Christian faith. Either it's true or it's false. And if it's true, then the other religions must be wrong. You choose. You either abandon Christianity or you abandon all the others. That's what those two verses mean. There cannot be truth in all religions because Jesus said there is no other way. And for very good reason. Because put very simply, what Jesus did for us on the cross at Golgotha was so that instead of us trying to earn our salvation, we could receive it as a free gift and there's no other religion in the whole world that offers that. Believe me. You work for every religion in the world, one way or another. You see, every religion, every philosophy of man is man climbing his way up to heaven. And God says you can't do it. When you recognize, as the pastor mentioned earlier, when you recognize you are poor and you have nothing to offer God, then I will show you that I came down in the person of my Son, and I will lift you up and make you fit for heaven. There's no other way. Do you have an open mind about what's right and wrong? If you're so fair-minded and open-minded, Do you have an open mind about what is good and bad? Do you have an open mind about drug addiction, child abuse, theft, murder, rape? Do you have an open mind about what's going on with Islamic State at the present time in those terrible atrocities in the name of their God, Allah, the God of Islam? I don't think you do actually, do you? You say, of course not. Everybody agrees those things are bad. That's the problem. Everybody doesn't agree they're bad or they wouldn't be around. How do we know what is right and wrong? From God himself here in his word. You can't sit on the fence. You can't say there's truth everywhere. There's only truth here in God's revelation. With God and eternity, you cannot have an open mind. You must allow God to be your guide. Although perhaps, and this is getting closer to the case, maybe your name is religion. You have your religion. Oh, I've met this so many times, and so have you. People tell me, I know what I believe, But I don't want to talk about these things, thank you. It only leads to arguments, heard that? So I keep it to myself. Isn't that utterly selfish? You mean you know the answers to life and death and eternity and you refuse to talk about it or share it with anybody else? I don't know how to describe you. Here's a great scientist who discovers the answers to a terrible disease, but he refuses to disclose it. He could eradicate Ebola overnight, but he prefers to keep it to himself because he doesn't want to enter any arguments. Are you perhaps afraid that you may not have the answers after all? In our account in the Bible, when Jesus healed this man, we're told in verse 37, all the people asked Jesus to believe. I couldn't help myself when I was reading it. Can you imagine? He's just done this incredible miracle. They were more interested in the loss of their herd of pigs than the healing of this poor man. He was upset in the economy. Never mind the fact that he'd put this poor man, who was almost demented, who was outside, naked, cutting himself with stones, wild man, out there among the tombs, wonderfully healed, sitting at Jesus' feet, in his right mind and clothed, ready to go back into society again, and they say, we prefer the pigs, thank you. Isn't that tragic? Isn't that sad? Look, of course discussing Christianity and Christ often leads to people's arguments. I know that. But let me tell you, if that's a reason never to discuss it, then let's ban all discussion about politics and economics and ecology, and especially football. There are more fights on a Saturday afternoon over goals scored than there are on a Sunday morning over the hymn numbers that we put up on the board. I think I'm right in saying that. So the fact that people argue over religion has nothing to do with it at all. It might possibly be because it's so serious and important. Some find religion uncomfortable subject to talk about. I understand that. Of course it is. It's intended to shake us out of our indifference and make us think. Although maybe, maybe your name, your nickname is fearful this morning. I'd love to be like so many others I know who are true Christians. but I'm afraid of the cost. Oh, I can answer that one very quickly and very easily for you. It's true that you may lose some of your popularity or your friends, but Christ will give you new life here and eternal life forever. You'll have peace with God and the assurance of sins forgiven and a conscience that no longer accuses you but is clean, and isn't that better than the popularity of the world? Jim Elliott, who some of you will know the name. He was a young missionary pilot who went to Ecuador back in the 1950s, a long time ago now, and he died on the wrong end of an Alca spear. The tribesmen killed him and his colleagues as they tried to bring the gospel to them. And he wrote in his diary not long before he took off on that fatal final mission. He wrote in his diary these words, he is no fool, he said, no fool. who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Think of that. You're not a fool if you give what you cannot keep, your life, your popularity, your friends, if that's all they mean, to gain which you cannot lose. Eternity, peace with God, friendship with Jesus Christ. You can't lose it when you have it. Atheist, agnostic, fair-minded, religious, fearful. There are many other names amongst us here, maybe this morning even, excuses for leaving Christ out of our life and avoiding the cross. their legion. Jesus once said, wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads, where? To destruction. And many enter through it. You don't want to be like them, do you? My friends, this morning I only want one nickname. They can call me whatever they like, but there's only one I really want. You'll find it in Acts chapter 11 and verse 26 in your Bible. The disciples at Antioch, we were told, were first called, here it is, it's very simple, Christians. That's the nickname I want. I want to be known as a Christian, do you? First, notice who were called Christians. They were those who were disciples of Christ. You'll find the first disciples, of course, in the Gospels. They were chosen by Christ, they left everything to follow him, and they were utterly convinced of the reality of God and of Christ. And that is true of all who are called Christians. It's just very simply three things. They trusted his death for forgiveness, they believed in his resurrection as true and real and historical, and they obeyed his words. That's what a Christian is. Someone who trusts, believes, and obeys. It's not difficult, is it? Have you come that way? Have you come that way? Have you been to the cross and you've asked Christ to be your friend and your savior? You've asked him there to take your guilt, your sin, your punishment upon himself so that you can be reconciled to God and go free. And then you believe him. You believe in his resurrection, which means he's no longer dead. He is alive and a friend of those who trust him with you every day, keeping his promises to you that he'll never leave you and never forsake you. And you obey his word. You want simply to follow and be obedient to him, enjoying the Bible, because it leads you to understand more about your God and your faith. See who were called Christians, those who followed Jesus, who trusted him, believed him, and obeyed him. And see what they were called. You see, the word Christian means belonging to Christ. It's quite simple. someone who belongs to Christ. When he gave his name to Jesus, the poor man in our narrative added, my name is Legion, for there are many of us. He referred to the many demons within him. But are you the many, among the many, who do not believe in Christ and who reject him? There's only one nickname worth having in this world, Christian. There's only one nickname that lasts. Christian. There's only one nickname that matters. Christian. There's only one nickname that will stand on the day of judgment. Christian. Now there are many who claim to have that nickname, but they're not real Christians. They think they are, and I'll tell you why they think they are, and just check it out as I go through. In case it's possible that you're one of them, they were born in England. Well, that's not true of you all anyway, so that rules you out, but I was born in England. I was. And if you're born in England, you must be a Christian, because we're a so-called Christian country. We're not, and you're not, because you were born in England. Forget it. I don't care where you were born. It's nothing to do with whether you're a Christian or not. Jesus said, you have to be born again. Billy Graham didn't make up that phrase. Jesus used it first. You'll find it in John 3. You have to be born again to be a Christian. No, no, it's not where you're born. Well, I was born in a Christian family. Well, I wasn't, but some of you were. That doesn't make you a Christian either. You can be born in a garage, but it doesn't make you a motor car. You can be born in a cow shed, but you're not going to go move for the rest of your life. If you're born in a Christian family, it's a great blessing and privilege, but it doesn't make you a Christian. Well, I was christened as a baby, or dedicated as a baby, whatever they did in the church that you're at. Well, I was christened as it happened. But it didn't make me a Christian. Never knew anything about the gospel until I was in my teens. Never heard it. I wasn't a Christian. And nor are you. It's not what people do to you. It's when you come to Christ. Oh, you say, I've been going to church for a long time. That's good. That's good. You could go to a lot worse places than that, like the football stadium and so on. But going to church does not make you a Christian. You know that, don't you? But I've been through all the ceremonies of the churches that I went to, and I did all the things they did. Okay, that's fine, but that doesn't make you a Christian either. I have a Bible, and I read it. That's good. No better book to read. That doesn't make you a Christian. But I live a fairly honest and good life, not like a lot of, wait a moment, don't start comparing yourself with anybody else. I'll tell you who to compare yourself with. Jesus Christ. See, if I can go around London and pick up some people and think like them, I'm a model citizen. Put yourself by Jesus Christ. Put a 10 meter rule beside you and you're not very big, are you? put a five centimeter wall beside you and you're a giant. And against Jesus Christ, my life falls so far short. Word, in actions, thoughts. No, no, no, there's nothing I can do to make myself a Christian. No, no, no. A Christian is someone who believes that when Christ died on the cross he took their guilt, their sin, and their punishment upon himself in their place. They accept him as their savior to forgive them and reconcile them to God. They accept his lordship over their life to keep them to the very end. They have abandoned anything they can do for God Nothing in my hand I bring, as our hymn writer put it, nothing in my hand I bring simply to your cross, I cling. They've come to the cross in sorrow for their rebellion. It's a personal faith, a daily walk with Christ, and unless all this is true of you, don't ever use the nickname Christian again until it fits. Now you see what Christ did for this man in Luke 8. He was no longer legion. You see, Christ came to turn legions into Christians. He was no longer a fool. Verse 35 says he was in his right mind. Do you want to get in your right mind? It's becoming a Christian, knowing God, allowing God's word to fill your mind with good things, the right way, the right path. He came to his senses. That's what we need, isn't it? He was no longer alone. Verse 35 says he was sitting at Jesus' feet, worshiping and learning from the Master. You know, somebody else in the New Testament that we read about sitting at Jesus' feet, she was very different from him. It's Mary. She was the sister of Martha and of Lazarus, and there's a beautiful story there. I haven't got time to tell you now, and it doesn't matter. But she was an altogether different person. She was a very lovely person, it's quite clear. She had a kind of religious thinking about her. She was a sweet natured person. Mary was. Everything's nice about Mary. Everything's horrible about him. Where are they both? At the feet of Jesus. You may be the loveliest person in the whole of this area of London. You need to come to the feet of Jesus. You may have problems and addictions and hang-ups and black things in your life that you wish you could offload, you need to come to the feet of Jesus. It's as simple as that. And look, he was no longer a threat in society. Jesus said, go home and tell. He went back to his family a changed man. He was no longer useless. Like him, we have a story to tell of what Jesus had done. My friend this morning, If you admit as you sit there this morning that you're not yet a Christian, I say come, take the name of Christian to you by taking his life, his forgiveness, and his cross. Reach out in faith. Call on him now. He's here and waiting, only a word away, waiting for us to answer his command to repent and turn to him in faith. then you too, like this man, will have a story to tell of, to use the Bible words in front of us, how much Jesus has done for you. Remember, Christ came to turn legions into Christians. Let's pray together. I want us all to be quiet just for a moment, and as we bow our heads before God, let's ask him to tell us really where we stand, so we'll all know whether we're really a Christian or not. And if you know you're not, in the quietness of these few moments, reach out that hand of faith. by speaking a word quietly in your heart to Jesus now, seeing what he did for you on the cross and through his resurrection and his promises in the Bible to be with you always and to forgive you, accept his promise and tell him you will trust him from here on. Let's be quiet. Some of you who know you are Christians, pray for those who are not. Those of you who are not, pray for yourself. I've chosen