The Power of Possession

Good Morning Church!

Great to be back with you! (vacation…sun…relaxation…rejuvenated and ready)

Lets jump right in this morning…

BIBLES OUT MARK 5.

I want to start out by giving you a good bible study rule…

When something is repeated in the bible its important…(talk about this) (you should highlight repeated things)

In the first 4 chapters in Mark we have seen one action repeated over and over by Jesus…

THE WORKING OF MIRACLES…

The bible tells us to the Jews are given miracles (Even in the OT Exodus)…so that they will believe

So the Lord comes down from His throne…to show the Jews miracles so that they will believe and hear truth from the Lord…

Thats what the 4 gospels in the bible are all about!!! The Deity of Jesus!!! WHO HE IS!!! (The good news from JTB…The messiah is here!! Jesus is the Christ!)

And Jesus proves that through these miracles we have been seeing…

ONE MIRACLE THAT WE HAVE SEEN REPEATED 3 times now is the casting out of unclean spirits…demons that are possessing people…

If you were here with us in Chapter 1…

Jesus has been casting out unclean spirits left and right…all over the region of Galilee

If its repeated…its important…WE HAVE SEEN IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

SO WHAT IS THIS REPEATED MIRACLE SHOWING US?????

We are going to dive into that and see the truth that the Lord is showing us here in Mark 5:1-20.

YALL READY TO GET INTO THE WORD THIS MORNING?!?!?!

READ V1-20

Ok we are seeing another miracle of deliverance…

In order to work through this text easily…we will break it dow into 2 parts…

We are going to look at the 2 parties involved in this miracle…

THE POSSESSED MAN…

AND THE LORD…

And as we look at the characteristics of these 2 men…

We will see the truth that the Lord wants us to write on our hearts this morning…

THE POSSESSED MAN (V1-7)

Jesus is in the City of Gadara 2 miles south east of the sea of Galilee

The people who live here are called the “Gadarenes” pronounced “Geh-dar-ey-nos” in the Greek…

Translated “geh-dar-ey-nos” means “Reward at the end”

And man does this local man get a reward at the end of this scripture….AMEN!

Jesus meets a local man who is possessed with an unclean spirit…a demon…

Now again…we have already seen Jesus cast out demons…

We are seeing another first hand account today…

Mark is giving us a play by play of this interaction Jesus had with a possessed man in this region…

Characteristics of the possessed man:

-Living amongst the dead (YOU ARE WHO YOU HANG WITH)

-Behaving erratic and unruly (breaking chains…naked…screaming)

-Self destructive (cutting himself with stones)

-Possessed by many demons (Legion-an army of unclean spirits)

-Wanted to stay in this state (v10)

As we observe this man…here is what you need to see…

THIS MAN HAS NO POWER HERE…Not even over his own body…THE LEGION HAS THE POWER OVER HIM…

Thats what possession means…when you possess something you own it…

Thats what we have to see here…

The identity of this man is gone…his name doesn't even remain

He becomes the identity of who owns him…

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

When you belong to someone…you do as they command….

Your actions show who you belong to…

What do we see here…

Possession is powerful…right

Devils have sunk their teeth into this man…

They have shown their dominance over human flesh…

They are reigning…

BUT NOT FOR LONG…

THE LORD (V8-13)

Characteristics of Christ:

READ 6-13 AGAIN

-One to be worshipped (Notice these demons know Christs identity…”Son of the Most High God”…) (bowed to Him…)

-One who has authority (what is your name?…He questions they answer)

-One who is in command (begs of Him not to torment them…begged not to be sent away) (commanded them to come out) (begged to be allowed to move into pigs)

-ONE WHO HAS POWER (allowed the unclean spirits to go into the pigs)

Pigs where an unclean animal to Jews…

Therefore…Jesus sent these unclean spirits into an unclean animal…he sent them where they belonged…

There they met their demise…

NOW…the man who had no power over the evil that inhabited him…is free…

Through his own efforts??? NO!! the man was powerless…

BUT CHRIST SET HIM FREE…THROUGH THE WORK OF JESUS HE HAS BEEN DELIVERED!!!!

I want you to do something with me… I want you to pretend with me for a moment…

ILLUSTRATION:

I WANT YOU TO PLACE YOURSELF IN THIS MANS SHOES…

PRETEND WITH ME THAT YOU ARE HIM…IMMERSE YOURSELF INTO THIS STORY FOR A MOMENT…

IMAGINE…

THAT YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU…YOUR GOING TO SEnD THIS DOCUMENT OUT FOR ALL TO HEAR…

A LOOK THROUGH YOUR EYES…AS ONE WHO USED TO BE POSSESSED…

Here is what you would write…YOU WOULD SAY…

“I was held captive…a son of Satan…doing the will of my father Satan…powerless to him…he ruled my body…my mind…my voice…

He was powerfully reigning in me….

I made my bed amongst rotting corpses…I dwelt with the dead…

I wept and cried out…but was alone…

I was chained…

It was making me cut myself…my wounds ached…

I WAS GONE…

BUT THEN JESUS SHOWED UP…

And HE made that which ruled over me bow down before Him…

And He commanded it…and it was destroyed….

AND I AM DELIVERED!!!!

AND NOW I AM… CLEAN…CLOTHED…CALMED…AND COMMUNED with Jesus and by Jesus!!!

HE HAS POWER OVER that which had power over me!!!

I begged Him to let me walk with Him…but He didnt allow it…

Instead He told me to GO…Go to those who I knew and tell them how GREAT AND MIGHTY AND COMPASSIONATE THE LORD IS…

AND I WENT AND DID AS HE COMMANDED…AND ALL MEN ARE MARVELING AT THE WORKS OF THE LORD EHO DELIVERED ME!!!

PRAISE JESUS FOR HE IS ALL POWERFUL…KING OF ALL!!!!”

Thats the message you would write…

Thats the message this man spread around Decapolis…

THAT JESUS IS THE GREATEST!!! HIS WORKS ARE THE GREATEST!!!

BIG IDEA: All things are powerless in the presence of Jesus Christ

Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth.”

ALL POWER IS HIS!!!

Thats what this man who was possessed by unclean spirits is proclaiming!!!

NOTICE…Jesus doesnt let this man go with Him…

But instead…SENDS HIM!!!

Sends him out to testify about His great works…and what happens?????

THE GLORIFICATION (V14-20)

There are witnesses to this miracle…

They that took care of the pigs went and told people in the city what they had seen…

When

Notice the 3 responses…

They feared…(V15)

Some rejected…(v17)

Some marveled…(V20)

BUT IN EVERY RESPONSE…NOTICE THE LORDS WORK IS GLORIFIED!!!!

HIS POWER IS GLORIFIED!!!!

Its feared…its marveled at…and whether or not its rejected or accepted…ITS LIFTED UP FOR ALL TO SEE!!!

CHURCH…we have seen Jesus do so many miracles here in Mark…over and over…healing, casting out, calming storms…

And many of us have seen Christ great work in our own lives!!!!

HIS POWERFUL WORK!!!

And today…we are going to continue to not only acknowledge…but to glorify the work of Jesus…

WE ARE GOING TO GLORIFY AND REMEMBER THE GREATEST OF WORKS…

The ultimate work…

The work that saved us…

The work that cleaned us white as snow from our sin…clothed us in the righteousness of God…calmed us with peace everlasting…and communed us as undeserving sinners with holy and righteous Lord almighty…

TODAY WE ARE GOING TO REMEMBER AND GLORIFY JESUS FOR THAT WORK…

WE ARE GOING TO DO THAT TODAY THROUGH COMMUNION…

COMMUNION

We need the constant reminder of what He did for us out of His love for us!!

And so as we end our time in worship and move into our text this morning…

Lets first take time to remember exactly how we became blessed…

Together as a body of believers, we are going to take communion…

Not just as a ritual, but because we need this constant reminder of Christ’s love for us!

THAT HE SHOWED ON THE CROSS!

We are going to take a little bit more intentional quiet time as a church body to pray and remember Jesus’s death on the cross, the blood spilled that gave us eternal life!

AS WE CONTINUE IN WORSHIP THROUGH COMMUNION…

Now, Communion is a time for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone.

If you have not trusted Jesus with your eternal salvation, I ask that you not partake, but instead take this time to reflect on the truth that Jesus died for your sins on the cross, and through His resurrection you can live eternally with Him!

SO, TAKE THIS TIME IN SILENCE …

CONTINUING IN PRAY AND WORSHIP AND REMEMBER THE LOVE JESUS SHOWED US ON THE CROSS AND WE WILL TAKE THE BREAD AND THE CUP TOGETHER…

QUIET PRAYER!! 3-5 MIN

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11,

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”[g]

TAKE THE BREAD AND EAT

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

TAKE THE CUP AND DRINK