"Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and shew 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," Luke 8:38-39.

(Preached in Tyndale Memorial FPC, Belfast, on the Harvest Thanksgiving Sabbath evening)

As is so often the case with those whose marvellous encounters with Christ are recorded in the Scriptures, we are not given a name for this man. Generations have since known him as the "Demoniac of Gadara".

His name is not important but the details of his miraculous deliverance and his subsequent activities are.

The Lord Jesus undertook a journey to seek him out. That must be noted first of all.

There was no interest in the Saviour or in things eternal manifested by this man prior to the Saviour's arrival at Gadara.

This was a work of grace!