Message preached Sunday, May 3, 2015 from Mark 5:1-20
Theme: This passage shows how to trust in Jesus in such a way as to be free from fearfulness.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We come this morning to Mark 5—and to a story of Jesus’ encounter with a truly pathetic human being. In fact, I don’t think it would be going too far to say that the man in this morning’s passage may be the most pathetic human being in all the Bible. As you probably know, there are a lot of very tragic stories in the Bible; and so that’s really saying something! But I believe it’s true.
And yet, the good news is that, because the man in this story is so tragic and piteous, this is also the story of how wonderfully and completely Jesus is able to transform the life of anyone who comes to Him—no matter how hopeless their situation may be.
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This story—found at the beginning Chapter 5—actually has its starting-point at the end of Chapter 4. In Mark 4:35, we’re told that after Jesus had engaged in a very busy day of teaching along the shore of the Sea of Galilee;
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side” (Mark 4:35).
His disciples took Him into a boat, and they made their way to the other side of the sea as the Lord Jesus slept. And along the way, they encountered a terrible storm. That’s when we read the story of how they woke Jesus up from His sleep; and of how He commanded the wind and the waves to be quiet. In that story, He demonstrated His sovereign authority as the Son of God. He was able to calm a violent storm at sea with but a word. That’s an amazing story all on its own.
And yet, at the beginning of Chapter 5, we find another amazing story of what happened when they reached the other side of the sea. Once again, we find that it’s a story that demonstrates the greatness our Savior’s power—but this time, showing Him forth as the Savior of mankind. In the last story He tamed a wild storm, and in this story He tamed a wild man.
Mark tells us this remarkable story in vivid detail. As I read it to you, try to follow along and imagine it all. Mark tells us;
Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled (Mark 5:1-20).
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It’s a great story, isn’t it? As I read it, I suspect that—like me—you found yourself feeling heartbroken for the poor man; unspeakably tormented as he was by a host of wicked spiritual forces. I’ll bet that you heaved an inward sigh of relief when those demonic spirits were gone from him, and that you rejoiced over how he sat at Jesus’ feet—made fully well. I’ll bet you even cheered for him as he was sent off by Jesus to tell everyone in his hometown about all that the Lord had done for him. From a madman to a missionary in a matter of minutes! What a story of grace! Only Jesus can change a life like that!
But here’s the personal thing we need to consider about this story. You and I would not be seeing it rightly unless we see that man as a representation of our own selves. His story is meant to illustrate to us our own, desperate spiritual condition before a holy God, and the absolute necessity for each one of us to be born again—utterly transformed by God’s grace through a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. And unless you can honestly say that, to some degree, you have personally experienced the transformation that this poor needy man experienced through Jesus Christ, I don’t believe you can say for certain that you are a Christian.
Now; some church folks might take offense at that. They might think, “How dare you! Me?—like that man? I may not be perfect; but I’m certainly not some wild, demon-infested maniac who runs around among the tombs and howls at the moon!” And maybe not. But the fact is that you and I do share in that man’s deplorable condition—perhaps in ways that seem outwardly-respectable and culturally acceptable to the view of other people; but before God, we share it with him nevertheless. The apostle Paul described our true condition apart from Christ in this way:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Think of it! That’s what we are before a holy God—apart from His saving grace. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. We may “walk” in this world in a culturally refined manner; but if we—like him—were to have had literally made our home among the tombs as that man had, then we would have been doing so appropriately, because we’re the “walking dead” before God. On our own—apart from Him first giving us life—we don’t obey Him. We don’t heed Him. We won’t do so. We operate instead on the principle of our own sinful lusts and passions, and according to the imaginations and speculations of our own fallen mind. Walking around in that condition, we are just much an object of God’s wrath as a demon-possessed maniac would be.
And our condition is really even worse than just that! We would be the walking dead who are the captive slaves of the devil—the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience”. The apostle Paul said elsewhere that, apart from Christ, we are held under “the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). Apart from God’s grace, we are the devil’s prisoner; his plaything; his puppet—doing his bidding as he pulls our strings. We hate as he wants us to hate. We lust as he wants us to lust. We lie as he wants us to lie. We rebel against our Maker has he wants us to rebel.
When you see yourself in that way—when you see yourself as the Bible says we are apart from God’s saving grace—you see how much you need to be utterly converted and transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ, just like that poor demon-possessed man needed to be. So; please don’t push this story away as if it didn’t have anything to do with you. Embrace it as telling your story; and let the Spirit of God show you where you are in it! See yourself as that poor man—just as much in need of Jesus coming to save you, just as desperate and helpless and in need of deliverance as he was, just as—I pray—transformed by Jesus’ saving power, and just as forever indebted to Jesus as he saw himself to be.
You cannot experience genuine joy and excitement in your Christian life unless you—to some degree—have the life-transforming encounter with Jesus that this man did. In fact, I do not believe you can truly say for certain that you are saved unless you have done so.
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First, to put yourself into the experience of that man, consider how much we need for Jesus to come to us in mercy—just as He graciously did for him.
Now; think carefully. Do you remember how the story began? It was when Jesus turned to His disciples along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” This wasn’t a mere whim. He had a reason for giving this order. So, they made their way across to the country of the Gadarenes—or as it’s called in other Gospel accounts, the Gergesenes. It’s a region on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And if you were to look at verse 21, you’d see that the next story begins with these words, “Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side . . .” In other words, after His dealings with the man of the tombs, Jesus left and went back to Capernaum—back to where He was before. He did nothing else in this trip but save that man.
And so, this means that this whole trip to the other side of the lake—through the storm and wind and waves and all—was just so that Jesus, the sovereign Son of God, could go to this poor man and save Him. And how did that happen? Did the man send a note to Jesus and request His help? Not at all. He couldn’t have done so. Did Jesus hear about what a fine, outstanding demon-possessed maniac he was, and go to Him as someone worthy of a visit? No. The only way to explain it all is that Jesus took the initiative of love and went to him.
And I suggest that you and I cannot truly have a saving experience in Christ unless it’s on those terms. There is nothing about you and me that would make us worthy of being saved. We were not particularly attractive in our deadness in trespasses and sins. It could only be that the love of Jesus Christ reached out to us first. As the apostle Paul went on to say in that Ephesians passage that we quoted from earlier;
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) . . . (Ephesians 2:4-5.
Or as he writes in Romans 5:6-8;
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).
It was God’s love through Jesus Christ that initiated that man’s salvation. If you or I ever think of ourselves as having done something—anything at all—that makes us worthy of salvation, then we don’t really have anything but mere ‘religion’. We can only have true salvation in Christ if we receive it as helpless recipients of God’s merciful love and undeserved grace—just like that poor demon-possessed man.
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Jesus came—traveling across the sea to him in love and mercy. And what great mercy he needed! Look at what we’re told about him.
First, we’re told that he had his dwelling among the tombs. The Jewish teachers used to describe that as one of the signs of madness. But more—the Old Testament law taught that to come into contact with the dead would cause a man to be ceremonially defiled before God. That would mean that his poor man was defiled before God all the time! He was the very picture of a constant, continual state of defilement before God.
Second, we’re told that no one could tame him. No one could bind him “not even with chains”. They had tried often; which indicates that people—perhaps family and friends—tried to help him or to restrain him. He was apparently a dangerous hazard to everyone. But in the original language, we’re told that no one was ‘strong enough’ to bind him. He had an overwhelming, superhuman strength that came from the diabolical forces at work in him. Matthew’s Gospel says that he was “exceedingly fierce”—literally breaking his chains and pulling his shackles to bits; “neither could anyone tame him”. He couldn’t become reformed or educated out of his condition. He was completely beyond human help.
And third, we’re told of his deep and frightening agony—that he was continually in the mountains and among the tombs, crying out in nightmarish, horrifying shrieks. Could you imagine living in that region, or trolling your boat across the shore, or trying to sleep at night—only to hear the sound of this poor man’s monstrous cry echoing out across the land? Luke, in his Gospel, tells us that the man dwelt a long time without clothing; and we read that he was also continually cutting himself with stones. Physically, spiritually, emotionally—in every way you can imagine—this man was in unspeakable agony and torment. Is it any wonder that I suggested to you that he’s one of the most pathetic human beings in the Bible?—if not the most pathetic?
And here again is where we must see ourselves in him. You might think, “I’m not that bad!”; and in comparison to others, you may not be. But do you remember what Jesus once said in the Book of Revelation—to the lukewarm church at Laodicea? He told them;
Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see (Revelation 3:17-18).
Unless we see that, apart from Jesus, we’re just as pathetic as that demon-possessed man, we cannot be saved by Him. May God open our eyes to see how great our need is.
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So; this is the man that Jesus came to. And did you notice in the story what happened when Jesus came? The man saw him from a far, and ran to Him and worshiped Him! Why would a demon-possessed man do that? Could it be that the human part of this man knew that only Jesus could save him? I believe so. So many of us, when we get a glimpse of how much like this poor man we are, we see that Jesus has come for us and we run to Him! We long for Him to save us. We many not know much more about Jesus than that He is the Savior. But we know that only He can help us; and so we run to Him.
But that’s when a terrible conflict begins in us. It began for that poor man too. The devils within him fought against his act of running to the Savior. Look at what they called Jesus. The man’s mouth formed the words; but it was they who were saying, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” What a picture that must have been—the man falling before Jesus and worshiping him; and, at the same time, the demons within him crying out against the Savior.
And here, again, is where we need to see ourselves in that man. When you encounter Jesus in the midst of your need and your sin, you feel the pull of the Holy Spirit and are drawn to Him. You want to be made clean by Him. And yet, at the same time, every impulse that the devil can work in you makes you want to run from Him and hide from Him. You long for Him to free you from your sin; and you fear to give up the sin you love. You want to give yourself to Him; and you’re afraid to give yourself to Him. You want to obey Him, and you want to rebel against Him. That’s been the devil’s way of working in us ever since the Garden of Eden.
But if this passage teaches us anything about the devil, it teaches us that he is a defeated enemy. He completely defeated the devil at the cross; and in this story, we’re shown that the victory He brought about was already sure. When Jesus asked for a name, the demons within the man said, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” A legion is a unit of Roman military troops that may have numbered as high as 6,000. Think of that! Multiple thousands of demons in this man; and yet, they all had to leave when Jesus said that they must go! That shows us that no matter how much the wickedness in us wants to run and hide from Jesus, no matter how much the devil seems to have us in his grip, if we stay before the Lord Jesus, He will set us free. If we cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness—and not flee, but stay before Him—He will deliver and save us. As someone once said, when you feel tempted to run and hide from Jesus, the best place to go is right into His arms. As James put it;
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
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Now; some people have suggested that this man’s condition was something other than what the Bible tells us it was. They suggest that there was some kind of natural explanation for what was happening to him—some terrible psychosis or disease of the mind. But it’s not really possible to believe that. There were, after all, all those pigs.
The demons asked the permission of the Lord to enter a herd of about 2,000 pigs that were being tended on a hillside nearby a mountain. Jesus gave them permission; and away they flew into the pigs. And suddenly, the whole herd ran violently down the hill, over the cliff, and into the sea to be drowned. And instantly, the man was quiet and still. We’re told that the keepers of the pigs ran into the town and the country to tell everyone what had happened; and when they all came back, they found that the man no longer violently thrashing and shrieking, but was sitting at the feet of Jesus—perhaps praising Him and thanking Him. They found him no longer naked, but clothed—perhaps with some extra garments that the disciples had brought in the boat. And they found him no longer mad, but of a sound mind—perhaps explaining to those who came what had happened to him.
It’s interesting that when the people of that region saw what had happened, they were even more afraid—but now, of Jesus! Perhaps they thought that a demon-possessed madman was somewhat tolerable; but that Someone who could command the demons in the way that Jesus did was intolerably terrifying. They were afraid of Jesus and asked Him to leave. There’s nothing really unusual about that, though. When people really see for themselves the power of Jesus to transform lives, they are sometimes drawn to Him; but just as often—in the hardness of their hearts—they become afraid of what that might mean for them, and reject Him.
But let’s notice carefully the response of the demon-possessed man. As the Lord Jesus got into the boat, he wanted to come along. He wanted to become one of Jesus’ followers. And I believe he would have been a very devoted disciple, don’t you? But Jesus told him no. He sent him instead back to his hometown—back to his old family and friends, to those who would have marveled to have seen the transformation in him. Jesus sent him to tell them about all that the Lord had done for him, and how He had had compassion on him.
May I share with you personally? That happened to me too. I had a heart that was in terrible rebellion against God; and I lived with horrifying guilt because of my sin. The enemy had me in his clutches! But one August evening in 1973, I heard the gospel; and of how Jesus paid the debt for my sin and rebellion on the cross. I came running to Jesus for forgiveness. I prayed to receive Him as my Savior, and immediately felt the guilt of my sin washed away. And the very next day, I called my best friend and told him what had happened to me. I wasn’t in a church, and I didn’t have a strong Christian upbringing. I didn’t know at all that you were supposed to do this. I just did it! It’s the natural impulse of a heart truly transformed by Christ. And that’s what happened to this man too. Out of gratitude, he wanted to serve Jesus and join in the work of declaring Him.
Well; Jesus did take this man into His service. But not as the newest member of the twelve. Instead, He sent him back home to his friends and family. And do you realize that this man was the first sinner to ever have been transformed by Jesus, and then sent back to his own hometown by Jesus as a missionary? What a missionary he was! He went not only to his hometown, but on an entire preaching circuit—preaching throughout all of the Decapolis—the ten Roman cities that were on the eastern side of the Jordan River. All marveled at his story.
And here again, I believe we need to put ourselves into the experience of this man. His response to Jesus’ saving grace was to give himself to Him in service. He became a witness for Jesus—telling his family and friends the wonderful difference that Jesus has made in his life.
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And so; I truly believe that, unless we see this man’s story as our own, we cannot say for sure that we have received Jesus as we should—that is, in a truly saving way.
Do you see yourself as deplorable and needy in your sin apart from God’s grace—a dweller of the tombs, just like that demon-possessed man was? Do you recognize that Jesus came to you to save you, not because of anything worthy in you, but strictly because of His love? Do you recognize that the enemy of our souls has been completely defeated by Jesus at the cross; and do you now run to Him and cling to Him for full cleansing—never letting Him go; even if the devil does all that he can to tempt you away from Him? And having been washed clean by Him, do you now prove to the world what a wonderful Savior He is by the testimony of a truly transformed life?
I believe that if we are truly saved, we will one day see this man in heaven. But I don’t believe we can be sure that we really have been saved, unless—to some degree—we can say that we have been saved like him!