Sermon Tone Analysis

*“DO NOT FEAR, ONLY BELIEVE”*

*Mark 5*

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INTRODUCTION:

 

Many times when we read the Bible, when we read a chapter of the Bible we pay attention to the parts (as we should) but we fail to take the parts and see how each individual part relates to the whole.

When we read the Bible we need to remind ourselves that the average chapter in the Bible is not simply a group of unrelated thoughts,  we need to realize that the various parts of a chapter are like the individual strands of a tapestry that once they are all woven together they make something beautiful.

Many times when it comes to the Bible we focus so much on the individual strands that we fail to grasp the beauty of the whole, we fail to grasp the big picture.

A case in point is the chapter that we have before us this morning.

It would be easy to look at the individual parts of the chapter but if we stopped there we would miss the gig picture.

We could look individually at a demented man, a desperate father and a diseased woman and we could certainly learn something from each one of their stories but we would run the danger of missing the beauty of the tapestry, we would run the danger of missing the big picture.

There is a progression in this chapter; all the events build to a grand finale, to a grand climax.

There are common themes that all point to a single truth.

For instance there is the theme of fear that is woven throughout each one of these accounts.

There is also the theme of desperateness that runs through each of story.

Finally there is the common theme of a single solution for each situation.

With those introductory thoughts in mind, lets read Mark 5.

 

*/“They/** came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

**And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

**He lived among the tombs.

And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, **for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces.

No one had the strength to subdue him.

**Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.

**And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.

**And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” **For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” **And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

**And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

**Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, **and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”

**So he gave them permission.

And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.

**The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country.

And people came to see what it was that had happened.

**And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

**And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.

**And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

**As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.

**And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

**And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

**And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.

**Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet **and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”

**And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

**And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, **and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.

**She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

**For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

**And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

**And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”

**And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” **And he looked around to see who had done it.

**But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

**And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

**While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

**But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

**And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

**They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

**And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

The child is not dead but sleeping.”

**And they laughed at him.

But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

**Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

**And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

**And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat./" (Mark 5ESV) \\ \\ /*

Just so you know where we are headed this morning all three accounts laid out before us in Mark five if we are paying attention bring us to the same destination point.

Let’s start with…

 

*I.

A DEMENTED MAN*

 

Our story begins this morning by reading like a script from a modern day horror film.

As soon as Jesus had steeped out of the boat he comes face to face with a naked demented man.

The Bible gives us the reason for his dementia; he is filled with a great number of evils spirits.

Today we would describe this man as being demon possessed.

How demented was he?

The Bible says that he lived in the tombs; he inhabited the caves where the local townspeople buried their dead.

There weren’t really buried they were laid into shelves carved out of the rock a living man dwelling literally among the dead.

Mark goes on to give us more information about this demented man.

The evils spirits, the demons were in control of this man and as a consequence this man possessed superhuman strength.

Apparently several attempts had been made in the past to subdue this man, to tame this man yet to no avail.

He must have been literally a raving maniac, the word translated for us as subdue was used in conjunction with the taming of a wild animal.

He was untamable.

Ropes couldn’t hold him, chains couldn’t hold him, and shackles couldn’t hold him.

Mark says he “wrenched the chains apart” and he “broke the shackles in pieces”.

Let me try and illustrate how strong this man must have been, let me try and give an example of the power that was controlling this man.

Matt had a little mishap on the ice Thursday night while driving to work and his car spun out and ended in the ditch along side 75.

The back tires had sunk down into the mud and with all of the horsepower the car possessed it was helpless to extract itself from the mud and the ice.

A two truck comes to his aid and hooks a chain to the front of the car and pulls the 2,000 pound car out of the mud and the ice.

One single chain was strong enough to pull a 2,000 pound car without breaking.

Could you break a chain that pulled a 2,000 pound car?  No?

Could you break a chain that pulled a 1,000 pound car?  No?

Could you break a chain that pulled a 500 pound car?  Probably not!

But this demented man was so strong because of the evil spirits that were tormenting him he could and he easily broke whatever restraints that tried to bind him with.

Please make note of this, others couldn’t control him and he couldn’t control himself.

Day after day, night after night he would wander through the tombs and through the countryside crying out literally shrieking like a raven.

Think about this poor man, screaming like a wild animal.

Why was he shrieking so and screaming so?

I believed it was because of the torment he was experiencing every hour of every day.

He would scream and he would cut himself with the rocks.

Why?

Because not only was he a demented man, he was also a tormented man.

But once he encountered Christ, once he came face to face with Christ he would no longer be a demented man, no longer would he be a tormented man.

He would be a completely different man.

Look at verse 14 – 15