#65 Lu. 8:38-39 A DESIRE TO FOLLOW JESUS Introduction: Jesus cast a legion of demons out of a wild man. The demons entered into a herd of hogs and they went wild, too. The hogs ran into the sea and drowned and the people of that are asked Jesus to leave. I. The gratitude of the man from whom the demons were cast out Thee was a sharp contrast between the attitude of this man toward Jesus and the people who asked Jesus to leave. He was most grateful that Jesus had set him free from all those demons. In the beginning, he had been enticed by the occult and that was how he had become possessed. He had lost his job, his family, his home, his friends, his sense of reason and had been forced to live in the tombs. He had become a menace to himself and to all who came near him. Now he was gentle. He was clothes. He was in his right mind. He had sat briefly at the feet of Jesus and he liked it. He was therefore most grateful. It is almost certain that he was now saved. The Scripture does not tell us what Jesus said to him as he sat at the feet of Jesus, but it does tell us that Jesus had come to seek and to save that which was lost. It is almost certain that Jesus told him how to be saved and his new attitude toward Jesus indicates that he is now saved. For that, too, he is most grateful. II. The man's desire to follow Jesus He must have had a desire to go back home to his family and his friends. He had been forced to leave them because of his demon possession. Now that he was free from the demons he was also free to return home. Surely there must have been a great desire to do so. But this man had a greater desire. V. 38, "Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him..." He knew that Jesus was leaving and he asked Jesus if he could go with Him. He wanted to hear Jesus teach and preach. He wanted to learn more by sitting at the feet of Jesus. He wanted to serve the Lord who had done so much for him. He wanted to repay the Lord in some small way for what Jesus had done for him. He had come to love Jesus and he wanted to be near Him at all times. It is natural for anyone who is saved to want to follow Jesus. It is natural for one who is saved to want to follow Jesus in baptism. I speak from experience in my own life. I would have never dreamed of being baptized, but after I was saved I wanted to follow Jesus in baptism. I could not even wait for the invitation hymn to be sung at the close of the service. When the piano started playing here I came down the isle to present myself to that church as a candidate for baptism. It is natural for one who is saved to want to follow Jesus in righteous living. He will want to quit doing those things which he knows to be wrong and to start doing the things that he knows to be right. It is natural for one who is saved to want to follow Jesus in service to God the Heavenly Father. Jesus has most certainly set us a worthy example to follow. One who gets saved then has this strong desire to follow Jesus in serving the God who loved him and sent Jesus to this world to save him. This desire to follow Jesus is in the heart of every one who is saved. III. His request denied This man really wanted to follow Jesus and asked Jesus for permission to go with Him. One would think that Jesus would be pleased to have him along. He would have been a big attraction as one who had once been possessed with a legion of demons. If this had all taken place in modern times, I can almost see the full page advertisement in the newspaper: "COME SEE AND HEAR THE MAN WHO WAS ONCE POSSESSED BY A LEGION OF DEMONS." He had a good testimony. He could truthfully tell all comers what great things the Lord had done for him. No man would be more loyal to Jesus than this man would be. He would make a good disciple. But Jesus did not let him go. (V. 38.), "...but Jesus sent him away, saying..." The Lord does want some men to leave their homes and go to other lands, but He also wants some to stay were they are and serve the Lord right there. Jesus told this man to return to his own house and to witness for Him. V. 39, "Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee..." He was to go to his father, his mother, his brothers and sisters and to tell them all about Jesus and what Jesus had done for him. He was to go to his wife and children, assuming that he had a wife and children, and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him. He was to go to his grand-parents, his aunts, uncles and cousins and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him. He was to go to his former friends and neighbors and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him. These are the very people that it is most difficult to witness to, but these are the people that the Lord wanted him to witness to. (V. 39), "...And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him." This man was a very powerful witness for Jesus. He went not only to the people of his own household, but to all the people in the whole area and witnessed to them about Jesus. I imagine that he went to many of the very people who had asked Jesus to leave and he witnessed to them about Jesus. Let me tell you that this man was a lot more useful to the Lord by staying where he was than he would have been following Jesus wherever Jesus would go. IV. A challenge to witness to the unsaved I want to challenge you to witness to your unsaved relatives and friends. Let me also challenge you to witness to anybody else that you get an opportunity to witness to. This man in our text was not called to preach so far as I can find record of, but he was called to witness. The same is true with all who are saved. You may not be called to preach, but you are called upon to witness for the Lord. Jesus even told the man what message to give to the people. He was to tell them what great things Jesus had done for him. That is what we are called upon to do today. We are called upon to tell the people what great things the Lord has done for us. Let me tell you what the Lord has done for me. Jesus saw me through the troublesome years of a broken home. They were not easy. I was not even saved, but I can look back on it now and say that it was the grace of God through Jesus Christ that saw me through those years. Jesus gave me bread to eat and clothes to wear. Sometimes the food was scarce and we ate the same thing meal after meal. The clothes were usually hand-me-downs. But we had food and we had clothes. Thank God for His providential care. He led me to attend services at a little Missionary Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. It was there that I heard the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It was there that I called on the Lord and He saved my soul. I can tell you that the Lord has done a mighty great thing for me. When I die I will go to heaven and I will not go to hell where I deserve to go. I have sinned and deserve to go to hell, but the Lord has saved my soul and I have a home in heaven waiting for me. I was sixteen years old when I was saved and I have gone through many a storm of life since that time. It was the Lord who has seen me safely through those storms. Thank God for what Jesus has done for me. Conclusion: If you are lost, let me appeal to you to turn to Jesus right now. Call upon Him and ask Him to save your soul. Trust Him to save you and Jesus will save your soul. If you are saved and in need of baptism, let me appeal to you to come in this invitation and submit yourself to this church as a candidate for baptism. Come and follow the Lord in baptism. If you are saved and in need of a church home, let me appeal to you to come and unite with this church. If you are saved and you can talk at all and tell others what Jesus has done for you then let me appeal to you to go to your family members. Go to your friends and neighbors. Go to everybody in the whole area and tell them what great things Jesus has done for you.