Authority Over Evil
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
Do you enjoy a good transformation?
Examples:
House renovation
Car restoration
Body transformation
or my favorite… haircut transformation or even better a man getting a toupee
TENSION
TENSION
The reality is that all of us love a crazy transformation because it always leaves us in awe
that mind blowing, jaw dropping, awe that we talked about last week
But it’s not just physical transformations that can leave us in awe, spiritual transformations often also do too
Know someone personally, saw someone on social media or youtube, or you are the someone who’s lives has radically transformed after salvation or following Jesus
and every time you think about it it leaves you in awe
Well, tonight as we continue our series, Authority, through a section of Mark we are going to witness a man who’s life is totally transformed after meeting Jesus
and his transformation leaves everyone around him in awe
TRUTH
TRUTH
Recap from last week:
Jesus had gotten on a boat to cross the lake after a long day of preaching
A horrible storm began and the disciples freaked out yet Jesus was sleeping
They woke Jesus up and he calms the wind and the waves
leaving the disciples in awe
They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him. He lived in the tombs, and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain—because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Jesus and the disciples arrive to the other side of the sea and are immediately meet by a man
but this man isn’t just some normal guy walking on the beach
This man is possessed by a demon and Mark describes what this means for him
lives in a graveyard because he’s been outcasted by society
after they realized no one is strong enough to restrain him form doing harm
even if they used chains he would break them
so now he spends his days and nights roaming the mountains crying out and cutting himself
This is a man who has been suffering for a long time and it seems as if there is no hope for him yet when Jesus arrives on the shore everything changes
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don’t torment me!” For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
The demon causes the man to run and kneel before Jesus
“What do you have to do with me” = “mind your own business”
“Jesus, Son of the Most Hight” = acknowledges Jesus divinity aka he knows exactly who Jesus truly is
“Begs him not to torment him” = Knows Jesus isn’t here to friendly to him but actually hostile (he’s not a friendly, he’s an enemy)
Then Jesus does something interesting
“What is your name?” he asked him.
“My name is Legion,” he answered him, “because we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.
Jesus ask the demon his name
name = nature
so Jesus was really asking what evil nature or power has taken over this man
The demon says his name is “Legion”
Legion is an army of 5,000-6,000 soldiers
We are not told how many evil spirits are possessing this man but this name let’s us know it’s a great number
And yet they are scared of Jesus…
still begging to not send them out of the region
in fact, they ask for a weird favor
A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.” So he gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.
There’s a large herd of pigs, about 2,000 of them, and the evil spirits beg Jesus to cast them out of the man and into the pigs
and he does…
and when he does the pigs run off a cliff into the sea and drown themselves
And this moment raises so many questions…
why did they want to be casted into pigs?
why did Jesus allow them to do that?
did Jesus make the pigs jump into the sea and drown or was it the evil spirits?
such a crazy moment
Yet this moment teaches us two important things:
While we may not know why they wanted to be casted into pigs, we do know that they couldn’t possess the pigs without Jesus’ authority
these are evil spirits, demons, their sole job is to possess things or people and yet in the presence of Jesus they knew they could do nothing without His authority
While we may not know why Jesus allowed to go into the pigs, it does give us, and most definitely the bystanders that day proof that the man had truly been freed from them
there was no doubting what the had saw
And imagine that for a second, watching this take place, you would be in shock
you know who was defintly in shock… the herdsmen who had just watched 2,000 of their bosses pigs get possessed by demons and drown themselves in the sea
so what do they do?
The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
They run back into tell to tell people what they just witnessed and of course a multitude of people came to see it with their own eyes
Of course they came to see Jesus but when they arrived they didn’t just see Jesus, they saw a transformed man
the man they knew for years as possessed by demons, that they couldn’t restrain even with chain, who spent his days roaming the wilderness screaming and harming himself is completely transformed
he’s sitting; not roaming nor screaming
he’s dressed; not naked and tortured from cutting himself
he’s of right mind; not under compulsion of evil spirits
What is their reaction to Jesus?
What is their reaction to this transformed man?
they were afraid… just like the disciples on the boat last week
they are in complete awe
Why?
becasue they are seeing for the first time who this Jesus guy really is
the power and authority he really has
and their reaction?
Those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs. Then they began to beg him to leave their region.
They begin to beg Jesus to leave their town
we are not told specifically why…
is it because they are afraid of the financially loss that might ensue if he stays around because of the pigs?
is it because they are afraid of what a man with such power might do if he stays?
I think it’s a mix of both
How does Jesus respond to their request?
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.”
Jesus grants their request and begins to get back in the boat but the healed man stops him
begins to beg him to let him come along with him
The contrast in reactions between the crowd and the healed mad couldn’t be any clearer
Everyone else sees the power of Jesus and it terrifies them
They’ve just watched demons obey Him, pigs rush into the sea, and a man they couldn’t control be completely changed
So they do what fearful people often do with power they don’t understand… They ask Jesus to leave
But the healed man responds completely differently
He begs Jesus to stay not because Jesus is less powerful to him, but because he understands something the others don’t
He doesn’t just see that Jesus is powerful
He sees how Jesus uses His power…
Jesus didn’t come to destroy him
Jesus didn’t come to shame him
Jesus used His authority to free him, restore him, and give him his life back
And that’s the difference
At this point, the healed man’s response reminds me of a moment from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Lucy has just heard about Aslan for the first time
She knows he’s a lion
not a cartoon lion
not a friendly house pet
but a real lion
And immediately she asks the question any of us would ask:
“Is he safe?”
She’s not being silly.
She’s being honest.
Because if Aslan is powerful like everyone says… and if he’s the King… then being close to him could be dangerous
And that’s when Mr. Beaver answers her:
“Safe? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
That’s exactly what’s happening here
Jesus isn’t safe
He commands storms
Demons tremble at His voice
Nothing stands against His authority
But He is good
And in this moment you have two reactions
The crowd sees a dangerous power so they want distance
The healed man sees a good King so he wants closeness
But Jesus denies the man’s request and instead tells him to go back home to his family, friends, and community and tell them two things
how much the Lord has done for him = giving him total freedom
how the Lord has had mercy on him = that the Lord did it even though he had done nothing to deserve it
And that is exactly what the man did…
So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.
And his family, his friends, and his community were amazing
they were in awe
Main Point: Jesus’ authority over evil reveals his divinity and points us toward the greater rescue He would accomplish at the cross
Main Point: Jesus’ authority over evil reveals his divinity and points us toward the greater rescue He would accomplish at the cross
Jesus’ divinity is revealed over and over again in this text
whether literally by the demon knowing Jesus as the Son of God
whether submissively by the demon begging for mercy or asking for permission
whether physically by Jesus casting the demon out
or even just the reaction form the crowd
over and over again Jesus’ divinity is revealed
But just like last week…
This moment does more than amaze
it points forward
Because if we’re honest, the demon-possessed man isn’t just a shocking story from history
He’s a picture.
Before Jesus arrives on the scene, this man is completely hopeless
He’s isolated
He’s enslaved
He’s harming himself
He’s naked, broken, and out of control
And there is nothing he can do to fix it
No chains work
No human strength works
No treatment works
No effort works
And in the same way, before Jesus, we were hopeless too
Not living in tombs…but separated from God, our Creator, because of sin
The Bible tells us that sin enslaves us
That it controls us
That left to ourselves, we don’t move toward freedom
we move deeper into destruction
We go back to the same sins over and over again
We harm ourselves spiritually, relationally, emotionally
We try to cover ourselves, fix ourselves, clean ourselves up and it never lasts
Like the man in Mark 5, there was nothing we could do to rescue ourselves
And just like in this story…Jesus arrives
He enters the man’s story
Not because the man figured it out
Not because he cleaned himself up
Not because he deserved it
Jesus steps onto the shore while the man is still broken
And that’s exactly what Jesus does for us
He didn’t wait for us to fix our sin problem
He didn’t wait for us to deserve rescue
Instead, Jesus lived the life we couldn’t live
He died the death we deserved to die
And He rose again in victory.
At the cross, Jesus didn’t just confront demons
He confronted sin, death, and Satan himself.
The same authority that silenced the storm and cast out a legion of demons was poured out fully at the cross
And when we place our faith in Him, He does the same kind of transformation in us.
He frees us from the sin that once enslaved us
He clothes us, not with shame, but with His righteousness
He gives us a new mind, a new heart, and a new identity
We go from broken… to restored
From enslaved… to free
From hopeless… to rescued
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
The application to this truth is so simply…
I mean when Jesus frees this man, He doesn’t give him a complicated assignment
He doesn’t hand him a theology book
He doesn’t send him to seminary
He doesn’t say, “Figure it all out first.”
He gives him one simple command:
“Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.”
In other words:
Tell your story
Tell them what your life was like before Jesus
Tell them what Jesus did
Tell them how He showed you mercy
And notice something important…
the man doesn’t argue.
He doesn’t hesitate.
He doesn’t need convincing
Why?
Because when you truly understand the gospel, you can’t help but talk about it
Evangelism isn’t complicated
It’s not a personality trait
It’s not a spiritual gift reserved for a few
It’s the natural overflow of a transformed life
You talk about what changes you
You talk about what rescues you
You talk about what gives you hope
The man doesn’t share because he’s commanded
he shares because he’s been changed
And that leads us to two questions tonight…
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Unbeliever
Unbeliever
Have you been transformed?
Not: Do you know about Jesus?
Not: Do you go to church?
Not: Are you a good person?
But have you personally experienced the freedom, mercy, and new life that only Jesus gives?
You can be around Jesus and still ask Him to leave
You can be amazed by His power and still miss His goodness
But tonight, Jesus may be stepping into your story
not to shame you,
not to destroy you,
but to rescue you.
Have you been transformed?
Believer
Believer
Who are you telling?
If Jesus has freed you…
if He’s shown you mercy…
if He’s changed your life…
Then who knows your story?
Not everyone is called to go far but everyone is called to go home
Your friends
Your family
Your teammates
Your classmates
You don’t need all the answers
You just need a story of grace
Because when the gospel truly takes hold of us, we don’t have to be pressured to share it we’re compelled to
And right now, before we do anything else, let’s let the gospel compel us to respond in the simplest way we can…
by singing out of gratitude to the One who has shown us mercy
Let’s pray
