Maniac To A Missionary

This is the outline for the message I preached on the Lord's Day. The lord used it and I thought some of you might want to have it. I know how much I like to get good outlines. May God bless His Word as we preach it.

"How Great Things The Lord Hath Done For Thee”
Mark 5:1-20
Mark 5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

Here we find one of the most wonderful portions of Scripture in the New Testament. How the Lord saved a wretched, devil possessed social outcast. What a beautiful picture of what our Lord did for us when we were saved. Many people have been saved as a child and do not have a drastic change in a sin filled life. They need to remember that the Lord did the same thing for them as He did for the devil possessed man in this chapter. Many people have lived a perverted, sinful lifestyle and these portions of Scripture gives to them hope. No matter how bad you are, His grace is sufficient for salvation. Our great salvation is so taken for granted in these days by most. We get caught up in our daily “ruts” and seldom reflect upon where God has brought us from and what He still is doing for us. Many today have not experienced a true, life changing salvation experience with God. Their mouth confessed, but their lives still reflect the darkness of sin. Salvation works! This portion of Scripture tells of just such a life changing salvation of a man who lived in Gadara.

A. A Pitiful Condition
1. His Place Of Residence – “tombs” He dwelt in the land of the dead –
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
2. His Spiritual Condition – “with an unclean spirit”
3. His Social Standing – “no man could bind him, no, not with chains” He was an outcast; a social misfit.
4. His Fierce Countenance – “neither could any man tame him”
5. His Restlessness – “always, night and day…crying”
6. His Self-destruction – “cutting himself”
7. His Desire For Change – “when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him”

B. A Providential Confrontation
1. Jesus Came To Where He Was – The Tombs
2. Jesus Came To Him In Spite Of What He Was – Helpless, Hopeless,
3. Jesus Availed Himself To Him As He Was – He Changed Him After Salvation
4. Jesus Came For Him And Then Left Without Doing Anything Else – vs. 18

C. A Personal Conversion
1. He Saw Jesus – He Knew Who He Was
2. He Came To Jesus – Ran, He Greatly Desired Him
3. He Worshipped Jesus – He Knew What Was To Be Required Of Him

D. A Prolific Change – vs. 7-18
1. The Change Was Immediate – 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2. The Change Was Drastic -
3. The Change Was Evident To Others -
a. He Caused The Unclean Spirit To Depart
b. He Caused Him To Sit At The Master’s Feet
c. He Caused Him To Put On His Clothes
d. He Caused Him To Be In His Right Mind
e. He Caused Him To Have A Desire To Follow

E. A Purposed Commission – vs. 19-20
1. He Was Told To Go To Those He Knew
2. He Was Told To Tell Of His Conversion
3. He Was Obedient To The Command