Good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to our preaching hour at Calvary Baptist Church of Trehearne. Take your hymn books and turn to number 141. Look ye saints, the sight is glorious. Number 141. Look, ye Saints, the sight is glorious, see the man of sorrows now. From the fight returned victorious, every knee to him shall bow. Crown Him, crown Him, crowns become the victor's brow. Crown the Savior, angels crown Him, rich the trophies Jesus brings. In the seat of power enthrone Him, While the vault of heaven rings, crown Him, crown Him, crown the Saviour King of Kings. Sinners in derision crowned him, mocking thus the Saviour's claim. Saints and angels crowd around him, on his title praise his name. Crown him! crowned him, spread abroad the victor's fame. Hark, those bursts of acclamation! Hark, those loud, triumphant chords! Jesus takes the highest station. Oh, what joy and sight affords Crown Him, crown Him, King of kings and Lord of lords. Our Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that we have that privilege, if we're saved, to look and to see Thy greatness, to see the greatness of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To see that we do have a king, we don't have to be like the nation of Israel and say we want a king like the nations around us. We can see the folly of our Prime Minister. We can see the folly of the President of the United States. We can see the folly of the Prime Minister of Israel. We know that human rulers are not infallible, and most of them are godless individuals who are puffed up with pride. we're thankful that we can know the God of heaven who is great and worthy and almighty and worthy of our worship and praise and we're thankful that we can know thee through the work of the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment and shows us the way to be saved. Thankful for thy word which declares how we get saved. Thankful for thy son who came into this world to provide the only means for salvation. And we're thankful that we can know thy peace and blessing today. So we do pray this morning for Dave and Sarah, pray that they might come to know He is their God and Savior, see the importance of truth in their lives. And we pray for many others who need to know the truth. We think of Ken and of Carl and of this other Sarah and for Danielle, pray that they might also see the importance of truth in their lives and want thy peace and blessing in these days of grace. We're thankful that we have opportunity to meet people in different places, thankful for our services in the seniors' homes, that we can be a help to the people there. And so we pray that those doors would remain open and pray for wisdom that we'd be able to help those people to know thy peace and blessing as well as others that we meet. Thank you again for providing us a place to meet here. May we exalt thee and all that is said and done and allow thee to direct us that we could be a help to others in this opportunity, this opportunistic time in which we're living. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Number 270. two seven zero. My soul in sad exile was out on life's sea, So burdened with sin and distress, Till I heard a sweet voice saying, Make me your choice, And I entered the haven of rest. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep, or the wild stormy deep, In Jesus I'm safe evermore. I yielded myself to his tender embrace, and faith, taking hold of the Word. My fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul. The haven of rest is my Lord. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep, In Jesus I'm safe evermore. The song of my soul since the Lord made me whole Has been the old story so blessed Of Jesus who'll save whosoever will have A home in the haven of rest I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep, or the wild stormy deep, In Jesus I'm safe evermore. O come to the Saviour, He patiently waits, to save by His power divine. Come, anchor your soul in the haven of rest, and say, My beloved is mine. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more. The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep, In Jesus I'm safe evermore. And then, I'm just trying to remember which one I had chosen here. I think it was number 410. Let me just see if that one is in here. Yeah, 410, the banner of the cross. There's a royal banner given for display to the soldiers of the King. As an ensign fair, we lift it up today while the ransomed ones we sing. Marching on, marching on, for Christ counted everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing beneath the banner of the cross. Though the foe may rage and gather as the flood, let the standard be displayed, and beneath its folds as soldiers of the Lord, for the truth be not dismayed. Marching on, marching on, for Christ count everything but loss, and to crown Him King, toil and sing, neath the banner of the cross. Over land and sea, wherever men may dwell, Make the glorious tidings known. Of the crimson banner now the story tell, While the Lord shall claim His own. Marching on, marching on, for Christ counted everything but loss, and to crown Him King toil and sing, neath the banner of the cross. When the glory dawns, destroying very near, It is hastening day by day. Then before our King the foe shall disappear, And the cross the world shall sway. Marching on, Take your Bibles and turn to Luke's gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're in chapter eight, looking at verses 26 to 39 this morning. Luke chapter 8, 26 to 39. We'll stand, please, for the reading of God's Word. Verse 26, And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time. and wear no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for oftentimes it had caught him, And he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and he break the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion, because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. And they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. And then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked. When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them, by which means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the country of the gatherings round about besought him to depart from them, for they were taken with great fear. And he went up into the ship and returned back again. Now the man out of whom the devils was departed besought him, that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful again for thy word, thankful again for giving us this passage, which once again demonstrates the fact that thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is in fact thy son, the eternal son of God, who has power over the devils and power to set a captive free. We're thankful that we can know this same God, this same Savior today, who has the same power now as he had then. and how that when a person is truly born again, they are changed, they are set free from the power and bondage of the devil. And while Christians do sin, thy word is clear, that as many as received him, to them gave he power to be called sons of God. And we're thankful that that power is given to us for us to be able to say no to sin and yes to thee. We realize that our flesh is weak. We don't want to do what's right. But we also realize that if we're saved, thy Holy Spirit indwells us. And so with our spirit and with the inner man, we want to please thee, and we can please thee. So we pray as we look at these verses today that they might speak to our hearts. And we do pray that others would see the importance and the privilege of knowing thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their savior, and then serving thee with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives. Bless the reading of thy word to our hearts and guide us as we look in these verses that we would again set aside the distractions so that we can receive a blessing from the preaching of thy word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the message this morning is Being in the Right Mind. Being in the Right Mind. This man in our text had been living quite the life, if you think about it, but it tells us in verse 35, that it says there they then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid that's the power of God that is still available today we have all kinds of programs in our world that are supposed to try to address the problems that people have. And people go to these programs and sometimes they are helped, but most of the times they are brought to become dependent upon that program. And so they have changed from whatever problem they had before, whatever was binding them, now they have a new thing that's binding them and it's another man-made humanistic program. When a person is saved, they come under the authority of the true God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, we belong to the Holy Spirit. He indwells us. He directs us in the way that we need to walk. He gives us an understanding of the truth and is there to prompt us when we are choosing a wrong choice. He's there to show us that's not the way to go. And when we are choosing right, he gives us that confidence that it is the right choice and we can be blessed in going that way. In our country of Canada, One of the things that Mr. Trump has said is a problem with Canada is that we are allowing too much illegal drugs cross the border into the States. Mr. Trudeau is trying to defend himself and says only 1% of the fentanyl going into the States is coming from Canada. That's 1% too much. But our Prime Minister, during most of his term as Prime Minister, has tried to legalize these types of drugs. He has so-called safe injection sites in different cities, and he is looking at and talking about, along with his party, finding ways to legalize these drugs so that the police don't have to be so busy trying to arrest these people and so on. So he has created a problem in this country which the President of the United States says, we don't want in our country. Now, the United States really, if you look at what's going on there, the United States is in a massive economic problem right now. They have had four years of uncontrolled spending, wasteful spending, billions of dollars going to a worthless war in Ukraine. that would never have started if the United States had not encouraged NATO to try to get into Ukraine, that war would never have started. And so there have been billions of dollars wasted in the United States for four years, and they are in a money crunch. And so the president is looking for some way to try to lessen that burden upon them. And so he's going after his neighbors, Canada and Mexico and further away, China. And we are guilty. For years, as long as I've been alive, Canada has never had a military that is strong enough to defend our country. If we were to be invaded, we would not survive if it wasn't for the United States. And so we have been freeloading. We are not even covering the 2% of GDP that we're supposed to be giving to NATO. We're not doing that, haven't been doing that. Every Prime Minister promises, yeah, we're going to get there, but they never get there. And yet we are also blowing money out the window left, right, and center on worthless programs that have no value whatsoever. Mexico as well. The drug trade in Mexico is a massive problem there, and it is also flowing into the United States. So I don't blame the president for wanting to protect his own country. But it's not going to fix their problems in the United States. They're too far gone. And the Bible doesn't talk about a national revival happening in the United States or Canada or even in Israel. That revival in Israel is not going to happen until after they suffer through the tribulation time. But the big problem, which the President of the United States doesn't recognize, and our Prime Minister doesn't recognize, and the President of Mexico doesn't recognize, is the need to be born again. And unless that happens, there is no solution. So Canada says now that we're gonna do tit for tat, they're gonna put a 25% tariff on us, we're gonna put 25% tariff on them. Ontario, which just recently passed a law to allow corner stores to sell liquor, is now saying we're going to ban all American liquor from our liquor stores. So, Ontario and Canada are drunks. That's what drives us, and the bars prove that, the casinos and all that. People love their liquor. And that's going to continue. As long as you love your liquor, read the Book of Esther. See the mess that was there. So we have a problem and the reason for the problem is because we don't want to know the true God. So again, that's the purpose of a true local church. We have nothing to offer people if they don't want the true God. We're not a bank. We're not a credit company. We're not even a soup kitchen. Our purpose for existing is to proclaim the word of God and to show people the blessing that they could have in knowing God's peace and forgiveness. And that is a blessing that most people are longing for. They want peace, but they don't realize where to get it. And Jesus told his disciples, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. So the peace that God offers is something you won't find in a psychiatrist shop or a psychology place. You won't find it there. You'll only find it when you get to a good church that will show you from the word of God what the Bible says. And if you'll accept that, you can know God's peace. So we see in this passage again, three things. The first one is an important meeting. And we noted last week, as we looked at verses 19 to 25, we noted there that Jesus took his disciples, or sorry, 22 to 25, Jesus took his disciples into a ship with him and said, let's go over to the other side of the lake. During that trip, Jesus went to sleep, And a storm came up and the ship was filled with water and the disciples were in a panic state and they came to Jesus and said, we perish, do something about this. Now they didn't know what he was going to do. They certainly didn't expect him to calm the storm because we know that from the text. But Jesus rebuked the winds and the storms stopped and they got to their side. Now, Jesus knew why he was going across the sea at that time. The storm came up to try to be a hindrance, but there was no hindrance. You see, that's the thing that we need to understand, as we noted last week. If we go with Jesus where he tells us to go, Whatever opposition we face on the way, God is there to face that opposition with us. It's been interesting to me, I don't want to keep bringing it up, but it's been interesting to me about the court case that we had, the fine that we got, and the court case that we had, and how it turned out. I've been reading big organizations that are still fighting against the COVID restrictions, the Wuhan virus restrictions. Just read of another one this week, a big organization in Canada, they're always asking for money and they were fighting against restrictions and they lost. And here's little us going before the courts. And I spoke the truth. I told them why we exist as a church, how that we are under God's authority, not under man's authority. And the government was wrong in trying to interfere with us and try to shut us down. And I told them too, I said, you can try to shut us down if you want to, but you need to understand you're going to answer to God for shutting down his house. And the result of that time that we had there was that the case was dismissed. No money involved, didn't have to pay no lawyer. God protected us. Now, he didn't have to. I didn't demand him to drop the charges on us. I just asked him for wisdom and for boldness to speak the truth in the time that I had there. And God gave me that. And so if we are doing, and I believe that we did what God wanted us to do. We were meeting here. We let people come in. We did not social distance because it's against God's order. We did not wear masks. And we came here to honor God, not to protest, not to try to let the world know, look at us, we're better than you are. We just came here to honor God. And the same thing here, Jesus had an appointment on the other side of the sea and he chose to get there the short way, which was by taking a ship across the water instead of walking all the way around the sea. And we noted last week that if we're in the ship with Jesus, we'll get to where he wants us to go. We'll be able to do what he wants us to do. But if we decide we're going to figure out our own way, which is what New Evangelicalism is all about, it's not going to work. There's a lot of noise in New Evangelicalism, a lot of activity, but it's not helping the people. It's not providing what their souls need. And that's the problem. But here we see a man in verse 26, it says, they arrived in the country of the Gadarenes, which was over against Galilee. Now the country of the Gadarenes, as we see in the text, was mostly Gentile people. We see that because what are they raising? Not sheep, they're raising pigs. Jews don't raise pigs. So this is the country that Jesus went to because he had an appointment here with a man who needed help, and the people of that region also needed help, but as we see in the passage, they didn't appreciate the help that was offered them. The man did, but not the rest of the people. So it tells us here, and when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and wear no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. Interesting description of this man. Sounds a lot like what's going on in Canada and in many other parts of the world today where people walk around naked. They strip down because they say it's too hot, I have to strip down, I can't stand it, it's too hot. And as I was thinking about that and studying this, I went back to Genesis chapter three. And in Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve sinned, what did they do? They made themselves aprons of fig leaves, right? What's an apron cover? If you have a long enough one, it'll cover your chest area and your waist area. Usually open in the back. It's not very, very modest. That's an apron. Was God pleased with that? No. What did God make them? Did you look for some light knit material that would be nice for them? Because keep in mind, they were living in a tropical climate. It never rained at that time. It was like a greenhouse effect. We don't know what the temperature was, but it was a tropical climate. Keep in mind that before they sinned, they were naked and they were not ashamed and they weren't cold either. So what did God make for them? Coats of skins. Now, when do we put on leather coats? When it's cold outside, right? And a leather coat does not allow the wind to go through, so it keeps you warmer. You can wear a light leather coat, will keep you warm, rather than a big bulky parka, which will also keep you warm. But a leather coat is not so bulky. So is that going to be something that's going to keep you cool in the summertime? In a tropical climate? No. but that's what God made them, coats of skins. So God was not concerned after man sinned, God was not concerned about man's comforts. As we today, if the temperature gets above 70 degrees outside, we have to turn the air conditioner on. If it gets down below 68, we have to turn the heat up because we are comfort creatures. And everybody is a little bit different, but we have our place where we like to have the temperature. And so then we do whatever we think is necessary to adjust so that we can keep that temperature. And so, what happens when the weather warms up? Off comes the coat, off comes the jacket, off comes the shirt, and off comes even the undershirt and the pants, and we're dressed down to next to nothing. And we say, oh, it's too hot, I've got to strip down, it's too hot. Well, here was a man that was possessed of devils, and he's naked, not wearing clothes. So, if we look at the Bible, not just at Genesis, not just here, but if we look at the Bible, nakedness is not a blessing from God since we've sinned. And walking around naked in the Bible, when it uses the word nakedness, now it says here, this man wore no clothes, but when the Bible talks about nakedness, it talks about people that are stripped down, but not necessarily have nothing on. But God still calls that naked. And then notice also it says, neither abode in any house. You go into any major city in Canada today, and what do you find? You find homeless people, and more and more of them. Why are they homeless? Well, many times they're homeless because they're rebels. They chose to leave home. They didn't want the rules in the home, and they wanted to be on their own, doing what they want. They don't want to work, most of them. Some of them are homeless because They've fallen on hard times and the cost of everything is going up so much and they just couldn't afford the house anymore. So they end up homeless. They can't find rent because our country has allowed too many illegal immigrants into our country that are taking up the housing. So there's a massive shortage in Canada of housing. brought about by a government that wants to cause chaos. It's much easier to control people when they're in a chaotic state, just like they tried to do with the Wuhan virus. You can control people much easier when they are frantic about certain things, and then you can say, well, here, we'll give you this if you'll do this. So what is the government saying? We are going to provide housing for the people. When has the government ever built a house? First of all, and secondly, any government building that they build, they tell you this is going to cost so many millions of dollars and when it's done, is it ever on budget? No. It's always way over budget and way over time. So our governments have a purpose. It's not a good purpose. And it's time we wake up and understand that. But this man, he doesn't have a home. He doesn't abide in a house, but he lives in tombs. Who lives in tombs? Who's in tombs? They don't live there, but who's there? Dead people. So this man, He likes to hang around where dead people are. So he's a mess. Why is he a mess? Because the devils are directing him. Now it's interesting to note in the Gospels how many times Jesus encountered, and even in the book of Acts, we find that the Apostle Paul also dealt with devils. We still have it today. We don't acknowledge it, we can't identify it, most people don't, but we still have devils today that are controlling people. We just don't want to address it properly, and so what do we do? We pump pills. We turn people into a zombie state where we knock them down so that they cannot respond according to the way that they would want to respond. Now, we don't want violent people beating up other people, breaking windows, and so on. But again, if we want to help people, we need to address the real problem, not cover it up with drugs. And so it's not that we don't have the problem today, it's just that we're not addressing it, we're not identifying it, and we're not addressing it. People that get involved in rock music, rock musicians, they admit that. They've said that for years. They claim, they admit when they get up on that stage and start to play and do their noise, they admit something takes over. They've admitted that. What takes over? Well, the devil, whose music is that? It's the devil's music. We look at the native population in Canada, look at their spiritism that they want to bring back and our governments are saying, yes, we need to encourage that, we need to get that back into their system, their powwows, what is that doing? That's not of God, that's from Satan. And what do they do when they're involved in that stuff? So, you know, we still have that going on today and the drug world opens people up to that. Yoga opens people up to that. Many of the martial arts things opens people up to that. So we still have that today. We're just not willing to identify it. And born again Christians, claiming to be born again Christians, are playing around in that stuff and saying, well, there are aspects of it that are very helpful. I'm sorry, it's never helpful to open yourself up to the devil. And so this man, he's in a mess. and nobody can help him. He's wandering around very destructive to himself and also very destructive to others. The second thing that we see here is that Jesus will bring a reaction. Jesus will bring a reaction. In verse 28, it says, and when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. So this man, we're not told what it was about Jesus that he identified him as Jesus. Could well be that the devils in him are doing that. Verse 29 helps us to understand what's actually going on in verse 28. But he cried out and fell down before him. So we see that even Satan knows that he cannot defeat God. Satan is controlling this man, and this man fell down before Jesus. So again, Christians, born-again Christians, we don't play around in the devil's territory. We're not looking for devils behind every tree, and we're looking, I'm the exorcist, I'm gonna come and chase out devils. That's not what we're called to do. But we understand as well that if we are saved, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So if you're a Christian, you don't have to be afraid of becoming possessed by the devil. But you also don't go out and run in front of a freight train. So it tells us here, they fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not." So these devils, they know who Jesus is. The Pharisees and Sadducees, they said, he's not God. They wanted to stone him when he said he was God. They hated him. They said, this is not the Messiah. The Messiah, when he comes, he's going to overthrow the Roman government. He's going to give us back the glory days of David. That was in their mind. But the devils here, they know this is the son of God most high. Now, Jesus didn't allow that to stand on its own because he doesn't need the devil being his evangelist. but they were speaking the truth. And so it's important today for us to remind ourselves as well, if we're saved, who is your Jesus? And here it says that he's the son of God most high. There's nobody greater than Jesus. That's something that we need to understand. There's nobody greater than Jesus. And so when Jesus, came anywhere, there was a response to Jesus. Not always a good response, but there was a response because that's the way it is. And I believe that it's the same way when we as Christians go somewhere. If we're doing what God tells us to do, it's going to bring a response. Not always a good response, but it's going to bring a response. And the sad thing that is, too often, we don't want that response, and so we hide. We zip our lips, and we don't want to be noticed. We don't want anybody to think that we're different. And it's not like, again, we're not out there trying to make a scene. But the fact is that if you're saved, you're different. God changes the true born-again child of God. And so that's important for us to understand that. As we look at this passage. Further, we see in verse 29, it tells us, therefore, he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for oftentimes it had caused him, or caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and he break the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. Now think about that. This man is bound in chains and fetters because the people don't know what to do with him. And they think, well, we've got to stop him from destroying other people. So we're going to lock him up and tie him up with chains and fetters. But he broke the bands. Now, in today's world, there are people that try to impress other people by being able to take their hand and to break a cement block with their hand. And other people get all excited about that. Oh, wow, look at the power that person has. Think about that. Think about your hand. And when you take that hand and you take and you smash a block, what are you doing to the bones in your hand? I don't care if you're successful in breaking the block. What are you doing to those bones? What are you doing to your hand? And this man here is strong enough because of the devils in him, he's tearing apart bands, steel bands. Think of what he's doing to his body, destroying his body because he's possessed with devils. I've seen people when they are talking to me and they don't have a long sleeve shirt on and they've got scars all over their arms from cigarette burns. because they've been smoking and they either do it to themselves or somebody else does it to them. But there are people that love to cause pain for themselves. Why would you do that? But that's how the devil works. He's not your friend. He's destructive. He wants to destroy you as a person. He's already got your soul. He wants to destroy you as a person. He'd love to have you in hell sooner rather than later. And people need to understand that. And as we look at our world today and we see how that our world is entertaining that kind of stuff. And so there needs to be, and again, if we're saved, the love of God dwells in us just as Jesus. left the other side of the Sea of Galilee, traveled by ship to the other side because he had an appointment with this man, because he is God, and the love of God, of course, is in him, but we that are saved, the love of God is in us as well. And so we should be motivated by that love to help people around us that are struggling in sin. And again, we are facing a government, we are facing a system that tells us that if you're not careful, we're going to charge you with hate crimes. And then you have to go before a tribunal and you could end up in prison. That's where we're living. But the Apostle Paul was living in the same kind of world. They didn't have hate crimes laws, but they certainly went after him for preaching the gospel. He spent time in prison along with Silas. And he was stoned, he was shipwrecked, he was left hungry at times, he faced a lot of trouble because the love of God motivated him to tell people the truth. And he wasn't going to be stopped just because somebody said, I don't like what you're saying. And we need to, we always need to have discernment, but we need to understand that God wants us to speak up and to speak the truth. My wife said to me that when I was talking to the Crown Attorney at my, before the trial even started, she wanted to interview me on what the case was all about. And my wife said later on that as I was talking to her, she thought, well, the way you're talking, this may get you into further trouble. Well, it could have, but again, I was not intimidated. God gave me a piece talking to her and gave me that ability to say what I believe I needed to say so that she could understand that there is someone higher than her, higher than her bosses that she's going to answer to. And she was a very woke person. She said her pronouns were she and her. So that tells you a lot about her. So, but that doesn't matter. She needs to know the truth. And those of us that know the truth, if we're gonna zip our lips and be quiet, how can we help those people? So in verse 30, it says, and Jesus asked him saying, what is thy name? And he said, legion, because many devils were entered into him. So this man, whatever his background was, we're not told that. But this man had definitely opened himself up to the devils. And Jesus here is giving this man the opportunity and the devil's inside of him to identify who they were. And again, keep in mind, the disciples are with Jesus. The disciples, as we noted last time, we go back to verse 25, and it says there in verse 25, and he said unto them, where is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this? For he commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him." The disciples needed to understand who their master was. In the book of Acts, after Acts chapter 2, we find that those same disciples, they had a much different understanding of Jesus than they did in the Gospels. they began to see who he really was. And today, we too, those of us that are saved, we need to understand who Jesus is, what he can do. And again, the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4, I can do what? All things through him, that's Christ that strengthens me, through Christ that strengthens me. All things. Whatever, that's not, I've heard people talk about, well, yeah, I can do all things through Christ, so therefore, if I'm in danger in anything, God's gonna protect me. No. Are you doing what God wants you to do? Are you walking according to his will? In the context of that verse in Philippians 4, the Apostle Paul is talking about preaching the gospel. And we know that he went everywhere and everywhere he went, he was protected because God had a purpose for him. God sent him to different places, not to go on a picnic, not to for a vacation, but to preach the gospel. And if God sends you somewhere, he's going to provide the means for you to do what he wants you to do there. And we need to understand that. And that's why I said in Sunday School Hour that you'll never get me to go to Mexico unless I'm convinced that God wants me to go there. If he wants me to go there, I'll go, but not unless. And that's really the same with anywhere. Why would I want to go somewhere if God's not taking me there? It's foolishness. This man identifies who's in him, it's not just one, he's got many devils. Verse 31, and they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. So these devils, they knew what their end was going to be. They knew that their end was not good. But we see the fallen nature of the devils. They can't be saved. They're bound. Satan chose to rebel against God. He took a third of the angels with him. They followed him. He didn't force them to go with him. They followed him. They wanted to follow him. And in so doing, they bound themselves. They cannot be released. And their end, they know where their end is. And that's, again, as we look at our world today and we look at the lost and we see what the lost are doing, and they know, they can look around them and they can see what is the result of drunkenness. You can see it all around, and yet people still go out and buy liquor. What is the end of doing drugs? They can see it all around, but they still go out and do it. And more and more people are always getting into it. What happens when you start to smoke? you become addicted to it, and eventually you get so strong that you just cannot stop on your own. And you can try as hard as you want, but you cannot stop on your own. It's a drug. It's addictive. And people know that, and yet young people are still smoking. You see, people are so blinded by sin, They can see the results of it, but they still dive into it and say, well, that won't happen to me. Blinded by sin. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul writes that if our gospel be hit, it's hit to them that are lost because the, well, let me get the wording right there. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Verse three, but if our gospel be his, hit to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. That's the problem. The devil has the power to blind the minds of those who do not believe. They scoff, doesn't matter what you tell them, their mindset is, I'm not going to believe, I'm going to scoff at whatever you tell me. And if that's your position, there's no help. I remember years ago talking to a school principal, and talking to him, and he claimed that his background was Baptist. His mother had been a Baptist, he came from Jamaica. And my purpose in talking to him was I wanted to be able to get into the school to teach creation. They were teaching evolution in their science course and I wanted to be able to go in there and teach creation. And so I started up a conversation with him. And so I witnessed to him as I was talking with him, and he said to me, well, I'm an agnostic. I don't know what to believe, and I don't know what it will take to make me a believer. And as long as he was in that position, there was no hope, because it didn't matter what I would answer him from the Bible, there was always some other question. And that's the way he was as long as I knew him. As far as I know, he never got saved. because he would not allow the power of God to break him. And that's a problem for many people. It's not that the word of God is not, we don't need to find some other way. We need to understand that not everybody, in fact, very few, the Bible tells us that very few people are going to respond to the truth the way that they should. It's not because the gospel is not powerful, it's because people don't want to respond. They have hardened themselves. So that's the problem. The third thing that we see in this passage is counting the cost. Counting the cost. In verse 34, it tells us there, when they that fed, well, I guess we didn't finish up, let's go back to verse 32, and it says, and there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them, and he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. So you see here that these devils, they didn't have a choice as to whether they were gonna stay in that man. That was already determined by Jesus. Again, we go back to verse 29. It says, therefore, he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. So when Jesus commands something, when God commands something, it's gonna happen. So these devils, they couldn't stay in that man. But they didn't wanna go into the deep either. So here's this herd of swine, which in Old Testament times, the Jews were not to eat swine. So the devil say, well, let us go into the swine. And so Jesus said, go. You notice there, it doesn't say he commanded them to go into the swine, he suffered them. He commanded them to leave the man, but he suffered them to go into the swine. And so they did. And the entire herd ran down that steep cliff, that steep place, and into the lake, and they were choked, they drowned. That's the end of them. So in verse 34 then, our third point counting the cost, when they that fed them saw that what was done, they fled and went and told it in the city and in the country. Interesting, isn't it? Here's Jesus. Here's this man who's a terror to himself and to everyone else. Chains can't hold him down. Now he's been set free. The swine have gone. They can see the power of the devils in taking this whole herd of swine into the sea and they're choked. And the people, instead of coming to Jesus and wanting to know more about him, they run. They fled. And they went into the city, not excited and saying, come and see this man. Look what he can do for us. That wasn't their attitude. We see that in the text. But they went into the city and they told everyone, verse 35, then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Same response that the disciples had when Jesus had calmed the storm. They were afraid. The difference, the disciples allowed Jesus to continue to teach them that there was no need for them to be fearful in that way. These people, as we see here, they can see the benefit of meeting Jesus. They see a man, they knew this man well. They knew all about him. Now he's clothed. Now he's in his right mind. He's sitting at the feet of Jesus. He's not fidgety. Having been possessed of devils, whatever that would have all done to him, he's not fidgety. He's not nervous or anything. He can sit there now quietly before Jesus, and he's in his right mind. An amazing thing when a person gets saved. completely different than when the world tries to help someone that's addicted to alcohol or something, when they're involved in anger issues, and so on. When the world deals with it, they prescribe a pill. If you wanna get off smoking, they'll give you a nicotine patch and that's supposed to help you. Or they try to hypnotize you in certain things. Or they get you into some kind of a self-help program where you are reliant on that program to help you instead of trusting in God. And it doesn't work. Oh yes, there are people, they get off the bottle, but they're stuck on something else. There are people that stop smoking, but they're stuck on something else. But when a person gets saved, it's an amazing thing what happens when a person gets saved. How God can change that person in a moment. I think I've used the illustration before, but we knew a man years ago who ended up being an evangelist, but in his, not just younger years, but as a married man, he was 40 years old and he was a square dance caller, him and his wife, square dance callers. And he was a chain smoker. And he got saved. I don't remember the details of how he got saved, but he got saved. And we met the man. In fact, he preached in our church. And he got saved, and he got saved. And when he got saved, of course, he quit his square dance calling, and he also quit smoking that day. But the craving for the cigarettes was still there. And back in that time, you were still allowed to smoke in restaurants. And so he would go into a restaurant, he would smell the smoke, the smell of cigarette smoke from other people, and because of the addiction, it had been the drug effect of that in his life, he craved that cigarette. But he didn't take one, because he's saved. Nobody's standing there with a whip, telling him, don't you dare. He knew it was wrong, because he was saved. but it was always a struggle. And he says in his testimony, he talked about how that one time that craving came over him again as he was in that restaurant and he went into the washroom and he went into the cubicle where the toilet is and got on his knees and he cried out to God and says, God, when? When is this craving gonna stop? And he says, God took it away right there. But you see, that man, he understood that he was a child of God and he was not going to allow the devil to take him back into bondage. God gave him the power to say no to the cigarette and he eventually took away the craving even for the cigarette. But it was because the man was convinced in his heart and mind that it was wrong. And so he could and he did have victory over that. That's the power of God to save. Same power today. We don't see it very often because I believe there's too many frauds out there. But it's the same power today. Doesn't matter what the sin is. And so here's this man sitting at Jesus' feet clothed in his right mind and the people are afraid. And that's okay, they don't know what's going on. But the next thing, that's the problem. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. So they knew it was Jesus that had done it. So now in verse 37, then the whole multitude of the country of the gatherings round about besought him to depart from them. There's the problem. Here's this man in their minds, this man, God the Son, who has just done this great miracle that all the people are aware of now, because the people that saw it, they ran to the city and told them. Now it says the whole multitude of the country, they come out and they wanted him to leave. What a response. Instead of saying, we're going to build a house for you here, we want you to stay here, we need you in our area. They say, leave, we don't want you here. And that's exactly what our country is doing. They say, we don't want churches. Get out of here. If we can use your church and have political rallies there, if you can run a bingo in there and do some gambling and that, that's okay. But we don't want a true church in Canada. We don't want it. And so what did Jesus do? He didn't fight them. He could have said, no, I'm staying. But he knew their hearts. And it says, and he went up into the ship and returned back again. They didn't want him, and he's not going to force himself upon anyone. In verse 38, it says, Now, as I looked at that and I was thinking about the number of people, more and more all the time, who are trying to defend their disobedience against the local church and saying, well, there's no good churches around, I'm just gonna stay home, I'll surf the net, this week I'll listen to this guy, because I liked what he said last week, and if he doesn't say what I want to hear this week, I can always click to somebody else. That's becoming an increasing problem, it's not a blessing. And they use passages like this and they say, well, look, Jesus didn't tell the man to stay with him, he sent him back home. Yes, this is before. Jesus Christ, while he was on this earth, he lived under the Old Testament law. And this is during that time. When we come to the book of Acts, we see in Acts chapter two that a large number of people were saved, and it says they were added unto them. Well, Jesus started the first church in Jerusalem, and then in Acts chapter two, there were 3,000 souls added to that number. Chapter five, there was another 5,000 people added. So the local church was established, was propagated in the Book of Acts. Started under Jesus, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And propagated, beginning to grow in the Book of Acts. And since that time, God's design, God's plan, God's command is for Christians, born again Christians, to be a part of a true local church. Not drifters. Not a part of some invisible thing that's not there, but a part of a true local church. And yes, if you're going to be a part of a true local church, it's not going to be perfect. Even if it's a true church, it's not going to be perfect. There are going to be problems. However, a true local church is going to be led under the leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ as the head, and of a pastor who's going to be submissive to the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The pastor's not going to be perfect, but that's his mandate. And too often in the local church, the people think the pastor is under them. And so if they don't like something he's preaching or some direction he's going in, they think they have the right to stop him, even though he's not going against biblical doctrine. But they don't want to go that route, and so they want to stop him. I remember when I was still in Bible school. And in my last year, wondering where the Lord wants us to go, and there was a church not that far from the Bible school that they were looking for a pastor. And I think it was the president of the school that gave them my name. So they called me and wanted me to come to their church and preach and to meet with the men. And so I went there and I preached and I met with the men afterwards. And so they asked me in my position on schooling. Our children were young and we were homeschooling at that time. They asked me about my position on schooling and they wanted me to be supportive of the public school system and they wanted our children in the public school. And so I explained to them why we were homeschooling and what I saw as the problems with the public school system. And I remember the board chairman, that was a board-run church, which is unbiblical, but it was a board-run church and the chairman of the board says, we don't want to stir up a hornet's nest. We want to try to get along. So obviously, based on my answers and so on, they didn't want me and I didn't want them. I didn't want to go there because I knew if I went there, I would be stirring up a hornet's nest and I wouldn't last long because they didn't want the truth. But you see, the fact of the matter is that Christians are different. They are a light. They are designed to be a light. And this man, he wanted to be with Jesus, but Jesus said, no, I want you to be an evangelist in your own town. Go back home and show how great things God has done for thee. Don't go home and hide under a tree. And what did he do? He went his way and published throughout the whole city. how great things Jesus had done unto him. This is a new believer. Remember, the whole multitude came out and told Jesus to leave. So they're not Jesus' friends. But this man, because he is saved, now he goes back to that same place and he tells the people throughout the whole city how great things Jesus has done for him. That again is the power of God when a person is saved. And oftentimes you find that a new Christian, someone that's truly been saved, you'll find a new Christian is far more excited about Christianity than someone that's been saved for a while. Because that new Christian has discovered the peace that comes from knowing the forgiveness of sin. And he wants others to know that. But after a while, because he doesn't find support in the local church and he gets beat down and he gets discouraged and he begins to do just like most other professing Christians, he zips his lips and says next to nothing. And that's a shame. And that's one of the reasons why the Bible tells us there'll be a big falling away in the last days, and we're seeing that in our time. And that's why the churches have so little effect and so little impact today. The government doesn't look for churches to help anymore when there's a tragedy. They look for social workers. Because churches have not been effective in helping people. They've not been telling people the truth. And most people don't want to hear the truth. And so what happens in most churches now? Well, they have a counseling program now, which is raised up and the counselors are trained by people who love psychology, but they don't love God. And so they might be able to help a few people, but they can't help them with things that they really need. They can't point them to the God of the Bible because they don't know him. They're trained in a secular manner. I was at that place in my first church. I wasn't sure what the Lord wanted me all to do in that church because I was a greenhorn. And there was a conference in BC and I was in Alberta. There was a conference on counseling. And so I talked to the church and that church was board run too. And so I talked to them and they said, yeah, it'd be good for you to go. And so I went there, flew there, sat in those meetings and the Lord opened my eyes and helped me to see that that's not the direction that he wanted me to go in. And I don't believe he wants any church to go in that direction. It takes and it changes, it twists the word of God and uses it in a way that causes the people to become dependent upon the counselor, not upon God. And that doesn't help. Doesn't matter how good the person might be, we need to help people to see that their hope is in God. And again, sure, a lot of people are going to say, but that's not what I want. That's not going to work for me. You got to have something else you can give me. And so, yeah, there are all kinds of programs out there. And as long as a person is faithful in following that program, they have some measure of success. And then, of course, when the next conference is up on that same kind of a topic, what do they do? They run to that conference and they run to another one and to another one. But they're always dependent upon the teachings of some man rather than on the word of God. They're never set free from the bondage of sin. And so that's why you find a lot of them, while they may have success for a little while, they eventually fall back because They don't have the power of God in them. This man was different. This man was set free. And he demonstrated that. In his actions immediately, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, then he goes and he tells the people what Jesus had done for him. Not what he had done, what Jesus had done for him. That's what our world needs to see today. What has Jesus done in your life? What has he done in my life? What can he do in their life if they will let him? It's an important message, powerful message, and a message that we need to be convinced of, and then we can help others for eternal benefit, not just on a temporary basis, for eternal benefit. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we have thy word. We're thankful that we can know the truth. We don't have to be running around and banging into this wall and that wall. We can know the truth. We can be saved, delivered from the bondage of sin. whatever that bondage, whatever form it has taken, and we can be a help to other people, just as Jesus is and was then. And we're thankful that we have the same Savior today. We have the same God today. The same Holy Spirit indwells every true born-again Christian. And we can stand up for the truth. we can give a clear message to those that we meet. And we wish that more people would want that message. We would like to see many more people be saved and serving thee. But we see in this account here, the blessing that it was for Jesus to change one individual and the multitude told him to leave. Father, I pray that thou would help us not to look at numbers and think, well, people are not coming, so it must be we're doing something wrong. Help us to take thy word as our authority, to build our lives upon the truth, and to seek to help others to know the truth regardless of the results, just because we know it's the truth. So we pray for anyone listening that's not saved that they might come to see the importance of true faith in thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The peace that they could have if they would turn to the in repentance and trust in thy son for their salvation. The blessing that they would have in joining a true local church where they can find real help, real peace, real fellowship. So we pray that thy will be accomplished in our lives and through our lives to others. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.