Mark 5:1-20

Introduction

-What do you do when you’re trying to procrastinate?

-I must admit, that there are times when I’m sitting at my desk at home and have schoolwork to do or other kinds of preparation or studying that I need to do, I sometimes end up on youtube trying to get my mind off of the work I need to get done

-And occasionally, a video on my feed will show up of someone doing clay sculpting

-And I’m always fascinated by these 8-10 minute videos of someone taking a lump of dull, gray clay and skillfully sculpting and painting it to look like the titanic or like Superman shooting his lazer beams from his eyes at some villain

-How on earth is someone able to take something that seems so useless, pointless, and lifeless, and change it into something that has beauty and purpose and displays incredible creative power

-Here in our text this afternoon, we have a story of Jesus’ power on full display in transforming the life of a man

-And that’s significant for us because each of us apart from Christ were completely and totally devoid of life and purpose

-And furthermore, my guess is that you’re surrounded, whether in your neighborhood, your workplace, or even your family, by people who’s lives are wrecked and ruined

-And sometimes we can’t help but wonder, “Should I even bother trying to share the Gospel with them? They seem so far gone.”

And we need this story that Mark gives us to remind us of the life-transforming power of Christ our Savior

Mark begins his gospel with

Mark 1:1 NKJV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

and he sets out to show that Jesus is both truly man, and yet truly God

-And in Mark 4-5, we get 4 stories that show Jesus power first over nature in what we looked at last week.

-And later in the chapter where Jesus heals of the bleeding woman and then raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead, we see his power of disease and death

-But here, Mark is going to demonstrate Jesus’ power to restore a life that has been taken captive by Satan and his forces

And this text breaks down nicely into three sections that we’ll look at together

**pray**

1. The Hopeless Condition of the Man (5:1-5)

-Just as you look over the structure of the text, notice that Mark spends the first five verses of this text describing the hopeless and horrible condition that this man is in

-That’s about a quarter of the text given over to describing this man’s completely ruined and piteous life

Mark 5:1 NKJV

Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.

The region of the Gadarenes was a Gentile region, so this was considered an unclean area all ready for a Jew

-Furthermore, as we’re going to find out later in the text, it’s also a place where large herds of unclean swine are feeding as well

Mark 5:2–4 NKJV

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.

So as Jesus disembarks from the boat onto unclean Gentile soil with unclean pigs feeding nearby, notice the descriptions of this man:

-we learn first that the man meets him out of the tombs, another unclean place for Jews, since any contact with a dead body would make you ritually unclean

-Furthermore, the man has an unclean spirit

-In the Gospel of Mark so far, Mark has already made a big deal of Jesus’ ability to cast out unclean spirits

-But we’re going to find out later in the passage that this man is actually possessed by a few thousand demons at once

-Mark tells us next that he actually lived among the tombs

-He goes on to explain why in the next few phrases, telling us that essentially that this man is so tormented and out of control, that people in the region had tried to bind him with chains and shackles to restrain him

-However, the chains and shackles do no good

-Because of the supernatural power of the demons that indwell him, he’s able to rip apart these chains and shackles to pieces, pointing to the immense power that these demons have!

**It’s hard to imagine that kind of strength and power

-As I was preparing for this sermon this past week, I was trying to think what is the greatest feat of strength I’ve seen in person

-And it would probably be going to a gym that used to be near Rey Azteca called the “Office Gym,” and it was basically the gym for all the body-builders and steroid users in town

-And there were some absolutely massive people there who could bench press 500 pounds, which is an incredible amount of weight

-And I remember how intimidating some of those people could be who could do stuff like that

But imagine a crazy, tormented, possessed man who could literally rip apart chains and shackles

-would you want to be anywhere near a person like that?

But the description gets even sadder

Mark 5:5 NKJV

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

This man is so tormented, so anguished in spirit, that he spends his days and nights, living alone in the mountains and in the town cemetery, crying out and shrieking, cuttings himself with sharp objects

-Brothers and sisters, take a minute, and take a look at this man

-His condition is so sad, and broken, and unclean

-As I was studying for this text, one writer pointed out that He’s an unclean Gentile, living near unclean pigs, sleeping in unclean tombs, filled with unclean spirits

-His life is so broken, so dysfunctional, so nightmarish

-How long had he been like this?

-How many days, months, or years had he spent alone and in isolation?

-How long had it been since he had been invited into a home?

-Since he had enjoyed the laughter of friendship?

-Since he had felt the affectionate touch of another human being?

-How had all this affected his parents, his siblings, his childhood friends? Watching their son or brother or friend become possessed and be driven out of society

-Hearing his distant shrieks outside the town?

-Did they think about him during rainy nights, out in the downpour alone?

-Did it hurt their heart to think of what had become of him?

Brothers and sisters, this man is so broken, so unclean, so ruined

And he’s the exact kind of person that Jesus would spend all night sailing through a storm to rescue

Brothers and sisters, don’t ever think that you’re too broken or too far gone to be rescued by the Savior

-Don’t ever think that your son, that your daughter, that your sibling, that your parent, that your neighbor or coworker is too messed up and dysfunctional to be rescued by the Savior!

**Story about Mike Montefusco (Raw Fitness, Cornelius NC)

-Became homeless

-Drug addict

-living under a tree near LA

-Visited John MacArthur’s church

-Got saved

-God turned his life around

Brothers and sisters, before Christ, you were just as broken and unclean as this man Jesus rescues

-Maybe you grew up in a Christian family

-Maybe you never were into drugs or partying and don’t feel like you have that cool of a testimony

-But please understand: the Bible describes you as dead in your trespasses and sins, living in malice and envy, a God-hater, justly deserving the punishment of God . . .

Until Jesus came to rescue you

We’ve seen the hopeless condition of the man

That brings us to . . .

2. The Life-Changing Power of the Savior (5:6-15)

Mark 5:6 NKJV

When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him.

The idea here is not so much that of worship, but of falling down before Jesus or kneeling before him

-And even though this demon-possessed man is incredibly powerful, he knows that he’s no match for the Savior

-He shrieks out: “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God, don’t torment me!”

-There may be millions of Americans who are perfectly unfazed to swear and take the name of Jesus in vain, but a group of thousands of powerful demons throw themselves on the group trembling, begging the Son of the Most High not to harm them

-Brothers and sisters, I think we often fail to be in awe of the supreme Savior to whom has been given all power and all authority

And these demons beg Christ not to torment them

Mark 5:8 NKJV

For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”

Jesus here after commanding the trembling demons to come out of this man, commands the demon to tell his name

-The demon says, “My name is Legion, because we are many”

-A Legion in the Roman military was a unit containing around 6,000 soldiers

-The amount of demons in this man sets this exorcism apart from all others in the Gospels, as Jesus shows not just the power to exercise one demon, but the power to take on a whole host the of demonic forces who are left only to fall down before the feet of the Son of God and tremble

Mark 5:10–13 NKJV

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.

Notice how this powerful host of demons must beg Jesus for their lives

-twice here the text tells us that they begged Jesus

**have you ever been in a situation where you were entirely at the mercy of someone else and you essentially had to beg them for help?

-I can remember flying up to Philadelphia to visit Ash when we were dating or engaged

-I got the Philly airport to return home a little late, but when I get there, the line was backed up so incredibly far, that I knew that I had no shot to make my flight if I got in that line

-And the line was such that I could walk up to near the ropes to the front of the line

-And I was embarrassed and hated to do it, but I didn’t feel like I had any other option, so I just began to beg people at the front of the line to let me cut up to the front so I wouldn’t miss my flight

-And it’s such a helpless feeling, because there’s no reasons that any of them should have to let you cut in front of them

-You’re completely at their mercy

-And one lady was kind enough to let me step in front of her, and I ended up barely making my flight

-And these demons have no power

-They have no leverage

-There’s no chance of winning

-They simply must fall down before Jesus and beg for their life

-And so the beg Jesus to allow them to enter into a large herd of pigs, about 2,000 of them

-And notice the wording that Mark uses here: Jesus PERMITS them

-Do you know that Satan and his forces are completely powerless to do anything apart from the permission of God?

-This reminds me of the first two chapter in Job and God’s interaction with Satan in those two chapters

-Both times God interacts with Satan, God speaks first and initiates that conversation

-And each time Satan wants to harm Job, God sets the parameters and tells him, “You can only do this and no more.”

-Brothers and sisters, you can rest in the complete sovereignty and might of Christ

-There is no person who lies in the clutches of sin and Satan who is cannot be wrenched free by our powerful Savior

-There was a time when as Charles Wesley put it, your imprisoned spirit lay bound in the dungeon of sin

-Then Christ came, and He lit up the dungeon and brought you to life so that you could arise and follow Him

This man, though he made a regular habit of breaking the physical chains and shackles that were placed on him, was entirely powerless to break that chains of Satan and sin that bound him

-Until the Savior came, and rescued him from his bondage

Brothers and sisters, do you thank God for the rescue operation that Christ has performed in your life, setting you free?

-Worship him for that

-But let me ask you this: are there people in your life (in your family, among your coworkers, or among your friends) that you’ve given up on because you believe that they’re too far gone?

-You believe that they’ll never get saved?

-What does that say about your view of Jesus?

-Do you believe that Jesus is incapable of freeing that person from their bondage?

-That He somehow is incapable of breaking them out of the prisonhouse of sin?

-That He isn’t strong enough to overcome Satan’s hold on his or her life?

Don’t we sometimes get that way?

-As I was writing this sermon, I was convicted that there are some people in my life that I’ve maybe witnessed to before, and their response to the gospel was so hard, or their lifestyle is so wicked, that I’m tempted to think, “Why bother? They’re not going to get saved.”

-Brothers and sisters, we need to repent of that

-We need be reminded of the incredible power of our Savior to rescue people from their helpless condition

So Jesus grants the demons their wish

Mark 5:13–14 NKJV

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.

The demons don’t want to leave the region, so if they can’t possess the man, they’ll take the pigs

-Jesus allows them, and they run the 2,000 pigs off the cliff and into the sea

-This part of the text often brings up a lot of questions that people have:

-Why did Jesus let them?

-Why do demons want to possess animals?

-Does that explain why my cat is so bad?

-Why did the demons want to kill the pigs?

And while those are the questions that we might have, they’re not the questions Mark is interested in answering

-Instead, his focus is on the man:

Mark 5:15 (NKJV)

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.

-This sad, abandoned, tormented, unclean man, is not sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, in his right mind, completely transformed by the One who came to seek and save the lost

-We’ve seen the hopeless condition of the man

-We’ve seen the life-changing power of the Savior

Which leads us finally to . . .

3. The Mixed Response of the People (5:16-20)

-What is the response to this visceral miracle, this violent display of power by the Savior?

Mark 5:15–17 (NKJV)

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.

-These people don’t focus on the tormented man who’s just had his life restored to him

-They aren’t awed into worship by the power of the Savior over the forces of evil

No, they want Jesus to leave. Notice that word “beg” again. Exact same word we’ve seen earlier

-Now they’re the ones who are begging Jesus, and they’re begging him to leave

Why? As D.A. Carson puts it, “They preferred pigs to persons, swine to the Savior.”

Brothers and sisters, there are many who react to Christ similarly today

-Jesus is not a comfortable commodity that you add to your life to upgrade it a little bit

-He’s not something that you get to tack on to what you already have going on, like a tasty dessert at the end of a satisfying meal: not essential, but it sure makes everything a little better!

-Christ isn’t here to make your good life better

-He’s not a hitchhiker to whom you say, “I’ll pick you up because I’m already heading this direction! And you’re welcome to tag along as long as I don’t have to make any big detours for you!”

-No! Christ is the Savior, the Lord of all, and He doesn’t just get added to your life, He radically changes and reshapes everything about it!

-His power is so immense, that He changes people in life-altering, inconvenient, and upending ways!

-And that’s scary to people

-They don’t want their life upended

-They don’t want their desires reoriented

-They don’t want to give up their sin

-They don’t want to give sacrificially

-They don’t want to go to church regularly

-They would rather live in the shackles and chains of Satan and sin, living in the dark tombs of worldly desire

But thankfully, there’s one other response to Jesus:

Mark 5:18–20 NKJV

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.

This man doesn’t want to ever be without Jesus again

-He knows who he was before Jesus

-He knows the torment of bondage

-He knows that there was nothing he could ever do to free himself

-And he knows that Jesus loved him enough to come rescue him and break his bondage

-And now, all he wants to do for the rest of his life is be with Jesus

-He doesn’t want to spend one more day without him

-And Jesus denies his request . . . at least temporarily

-One write point out that the irony is rich: the townspeople ask Jesus to leave, and he grants their request. The former demoniac requests to be with Jesus, and he denies his request

-But there’s a purpose to it:

-Jesus wants him to go back to his home and to his people, and he wants him to tell everyone what great things God has done for him

-This is a surprising command in Mark, since often in this Gospel Jesus is commanding people not to talk about the miracle that Jesus just performed

-but here, Jesus wants him to tell everyone!

-Another writer pointed out that though the people wanted to get of Jesus, they weren’t going to be able to

-Because although Jesus physically left the region, he ensured that the gospel about Jesus would not be leaving anytime soon

-That gospel would be proclaimed over and over again as the man went home and told them! “Let me tell you what Jesus did for me and how He showed mercy on my wretched soul!”

-And as he went into the town and talked with the store owners and merchants and said, “Let me tell you about Jesus and how he tore me away from the clutches of hell!”

-And as he went into the next village over, and then the next village, and the next: “Let me tell you about Jesus! And He’s done for me in rescuing my soul!”

And one day, that man passed away, and he got his greatest desire fulfilled: to be with Jesus forever and ever.

Brothers and sisters, if you’re saved, then you’ve had your life radically and supernaturally transformed by Jesus Christ. He has changed you entirely and brought you to faith in Himself

-There’s coming a time when you’ll never have to spend another day apart from the physical presence your precious Savior

-But for now, although He’s still with us through the presence of His Spirit, He’s not physically here with us

-And He’s given us a job to do: go and tell what great things that Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you

-There are family members of your’s who need to hear that

-There are friends of your’s who need to hear that

-There are coworkers of your’s who need to hear that

-And they are not beyond the power and reach of Christ

-And they need to hear of His mercy and experience His freeing power

We’ve seen from our text today of the hopeless condition of the man

-We’ve seen the life-changing power of the Savior

-And we’ve seen the two responses to Jesus:

-You can want Him gone, not desiring your life to be upended

-Or you can bow before Him and tell others what great things He has done for you

**Story about Joshua on the prayer line last night

asked me how long I’ve been a Christian

“is it worth it to follow Jesus?”

-Christ rescued rescued me and saved me from my ruined life

-There are people out there who God wants us to tell about the mercy that He’s shown us