I Wish I'd Been There - C.J. Mahaney

Saturday, June 26, 2010 ended with a call to be in wonder and awe of our Lord Jesus Christ from the preacher C.J. Mahaney. To be honest, I would have to say that my favourite speaker was C.J. Mahaney. If you have never listened to him, I encourage you to look him up and I guarantee that you will be encouraged. C.J. Mahaney is a man who longs for others to know just how great our God is. I was truly blessed by his preaching of Mark 5:1-20 and if you listen to the sermon at Resolved.org, I know you will be blessed too.
Mark 5:1-20 is the Biblical account of the demon-possessed man who Jesus saved and then sent out to proclaim to his people the great things Jesus had done for him. I have never looked at this story with such amazement until after listening to C.J. Mahaney preach on it.
This passage is intended to draw our attention to the sovereign authority of Jesus Christ over the demonic.
This passage shows us the unique identity of Jesus as the Saviour and our condition before conversion.
Here is a man who is demon-possessed, he lives in among the tombs, he can't be bound by chains because they are torn apart, he screams in the mountains and gashes himself with stones. Chapter 5:2b says "a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit". This is a wild man, a man who is cast out from the people and no one dares to go near him. Then Jesus comes. This man who is demon-possessed cries out to Jesus and says,(vs.7) "and shouting with a loud voice, he said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?..."
I wish I had been there! Wow, this is so amazing! This man who would be called crazy, out of his mind, a man with no hope, recognizes Jesus as the Son of the Most High God and "bowed down before Him" (vs.6). Jesus casts the demons into a herd of swine and they rush over a steep bank to their death. The people find this man sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind. This is a miracle! The Lord Jesus saved a demon-possessed man and gave him a new life. And the most grieving part of this story is that mass opposition comes from the people after Jesus has performed this miracle. They ask Him to leave! Can you imagine that when the Lord Jesus Christ had saved you and brought you into His glorious light, there were people who asked Him to leave them! And yet, this is no new story. We were the same. We, before conversion, were controlled by our sins as this man was controlled by demons. We denied the Lord Jesus Christ and ignored His plea to come to Him. We were running the hell-bound race.
C.J. Mahaney spoke the very words of Mark 5:19 to the people at Resolved. "..but He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." I didn't want to leave Resolved. Being saturated in the preaching of God's Word for three whole days was like heaven on earth. But I knew that I needed to come back and tell others about it and all the Lord has done for me. The Lord has done so so much for us and we need to fall on our faces and praise His Holy Name! Be awestruck at the power and glory and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ!