Untitled Sermon

Introduction:

As we talked about last time that we gathered together in Mark chapter 4, as we come to the Word of the Lord and continue our Worship, I want us to pause for a few moments and prepare our hearts to receive the Word.

To do that, what I want to do as we start off here is give you a moment to pray silently before the Lord, and then we will pray together.

(Pause for a few moments to let people pray silently before God.)

Let us pray together!

I want to invite you to open up your Bibles to Mark 5:1-20 as we continue our journey through this Gospel together.

Mark 5 is an interesting Chapter to say the least. There are really only three stories that make up this chapter, but they all revolve around one main thought. All of the stories show Jesus doing the impossible.

For example, in the text we are going to read this morning Jesus brings healing to a demon possessed man who has been kicked out of town because no one was able to restrain him. Also, in this chapter Jesus heals a lady who has been bleeding for 12 years. She has spent all she had trying to get better. She had been to doctor after doctor and nothing was helping. In fact the Bible says that she was only getting worse! How awful would that be. She too is outside of Human help. Then the third story is about a 12 year girl who has become deathly ill. Jairus, that is the girls father, he comes to Jesus for Him to heal her. Jairus was a ruler of a synagogue, which basically was a Jewish Church, so he knew what Jesus could do because he had heard the stories. What we gather is that she is beyond human help as well! In fact, in the text the little girl DIES as Jesus is making His was to the house. People are weeping a wailing! Jesus shows up and is like, what you all doing? She’s not dead. She is just sleeping. Everyone laughs at Him, and then He kicks them all out of the house. Jesus goes in and picks the little girl up by the hand and she COMES BACK TO LIFE! How Awesome is that!

All three of these stories revolve around that one idea. Jesus is able to do the IMPOSSIBLE. All three of these people are beyond human help, but yet JESUS is able to step in and heal all three of them. How amazing is that!

But yet, there is something beyond that that we have to see. Mark 5 really is answering a question that was asked in Mark 4. After Jesus’ parables and everything the chapter ends with the disciples and Jesus making a trip to go to the other side of the sea. As they are making their way, the Bible tells us that a great storm comes upon them. This storm is so great that the disciples are fearing for their lives. The waves are just breaking over the boat and the disciples are freaking out about it, and where is Jesus at this point? HE IS SLEEPING ON A CUSHION! That is just like Jesus isn’t it? He is not worried one bit about what is going on. He is calm even in the middle of the storm. That is a whole different sermon for another time.

The disciple run to Him and wake Him up saying, “JESUS DON’T YOU EVEN CARE THAT WE’RE GOING TO DIE?” And Jesus get’s up, probably yawns, you know, and then rebukes the winds and the sea. Everything is then calm. He then asks the disciples if they have no faith.

In response, the disciple ask this question, and this is the question that is driving chapter 5, look up at Mark 4:41 with me before we read our passage this morning.

41 And they were terrified, and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” (Mark 4:41 CSB)

Body:

Who is this? That is the driving question that is one the minds of the disciples. They have been with him. They have seen his miracles, but they do not fully understand who this Jesus guy is at this point.

This is where our text picks up this morning. Let’s read it together.

5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him. 3 He lived in the tombs, and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain— 4 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.

5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. 7 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!” 8 For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

9 “What is your name?” he asked him. “My name is Legion,” he answered him, “because we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

11 A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. 12 The demons begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.”

13 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.

14 The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened.

15 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. 16 Those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs. 17 Then they began to beg him to leave their region.

18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. 19 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.” 20 So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed. (Mark 5:1-20)

There is so much going on in this passage that it can be quite overwhelming for us! What are we to focus on? Really, what does this passage even mean for our lives? How does this text apply to me and my walk with Christ?

That is a question that we all should be asking when we come to the Word of the Lord no matter what text we are reading. It is so easy to read a section of Scripture and then to walk away from it without thinking about how it should shape our lives. I don’t want us to do that with this text, or with any text for that matter. There are several implications that this passage has for us that we need to be reminded today.

Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.

I would argue that this is the main point of the passage, and even the main point of Chapter 5. This is the answer to the question that the Disciples has asked in Chapter 4. Who is this…..well this is Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. What is so interesting about that is who knows the identity of Jesus in this text? Who are the ones who see Jesus for Who He is?

In this passage, IT’S THE DEMONS. This guy who is possessed by many demons we are told, comes out to Jesus and the falls down before Him. This is in fact the same word that we use for Worship, not that they were worshipping Jesus or anything, but they do know HIM and the fall before Him and they acknowledge Him for who He is. They even know this….that Jesus has the authority over them to destroy them! Look at the text, look there in verse 7. They KNOW that their time is SHORT! They know that one Day Jesus is going to cast them into Hell!!! They get that. They get it more than most people do. Isn’t that crazy.

In the book of James, when he is talking about what true faith is here is what we read….

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder. (James 2:18-19)

Here’s the point. Even though they knew who Jesus was. Even though they knew Him to be the Son of The Most High God….Even though they knew that One day they were going to meet their end because of Him….Even though they were afraid of Jesus to the point of Shuddering……it did absolutely nothing for them!

IF we are not careful…..this same thing could happen to us. There are some who know all about Jesus…who have been to church all of their lives….who have read through the Bible over and over again….but they have not placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They have not surrendered to Him. IS that you!? Do you know Jesus to be the Son of The Most High God, and have you given your life to Him? It is one thing to know Him…..it is quite another for you to surrender to Him. One can know without surrender. Don’t let that be you. Don’t come to Him, bow down to Him, but not give your heart to Him. Don’t let that be you. If that is you, I beg you to give your heart to Him today.

But, beyond that, just think of the huge implication that this one point has for our lives! Jesus is the Son of The Most High God. What does that mean for us? That means Jesus has ALL authority in EARTH. HE Can do as He pleases. If we are walking with Him, we are safe and secure from all alarms, as the hymn would say. We don’t have to fear. We don’t have to worry. Jesus is the Son of the Most High God and if we have haven given our lives to Him, we get to REST IN HIM!.

Jesus has come to set the captives Free.

None of us in this room would link ourselves to the demon possessed man….at least I don’t think that we would identify with him. None of us sees ourselves as being under that kind of control. None of us would have ever seen ourselves as been influenced in the way that this guy was. I mean come on, this guy was breaking chains and shattering shackles for crying out loud. None of us have done that…..and I am going to guess that no one we know is doing that either.

But that doesn’t mean that we, or those are around us, have not or are not held captive by Satan. We looked at this a little last time, but let me show you again how Scripture speaks to our condition outside of Christ.

3 But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:3-4)

15 “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16 But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:15-18)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. (Eph 2:1-3)

Scripture is very clear on this point. Before coming to Jesus we ALL were held captive by Satan. All of us were enslaved by Him! Isn’t that crazy to think about? And there is nothing, and I do mean absolutely nothing we, or anyone around us, can do about it! We were dead in our sins and trespasses. Those we are praying for to come to know Christ are dead in their trespasses. They are held captive by Satan.

BUT THANKS BE TO GOD…….Jesus came to set the captives free!!! He came to set us free so that we no longer have to live in bondage.

The only reason that you and I were set free was because Jesus did a work in our lives. He set us free because He wanted to. By HIS GRACE.

I love the rest of that Ephesians passage. Here is what we read.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. ( Eph 2:4-10)

Jesus demands a response.

I like how John Piper explained this section of Scripture. Listen to his words:

Now, it seems to me that’s more or less what’s going on here: Jesus comes into this Gentile world. He conquers the devil. He sets the prisoner free. He presents himself as a great deliverer, able to restore life and hope. But he also takes away a herd of pigs — the livelihood, the wealth, from some in the community. He forces a choice: prosperity over love, money over Jesus, human resources over divine power — that is, the power and grace of Jesus to give life and hope, or the love of possessions and wealth to be had from these pigs. And to our utter amazement, they beg Jesus — the life-giver, the devil-defeater, the hope-maker and hope-giver — to leave their region.

Isn’t that so interesting? Jesus comes and heals the guy whom they have kicked out of town, sets him in his right mind…..sets him free from his bondage….and their response is that they DON’T want HIM there. That might cost them too much money to have him there. They cant have him killing off all of their revenue! SO they beg Him to get OUT!

The guy who was healed on the other hand…he begs Jesus to STAY WITH HIM. He wants to give His life to Jesus and follow after Him. He responds positively to Jesus.

There were some who rejected him and some who received him.

The question you need to ask is…..what is your response to Jesus and His work in your life? Do you receive God and His grace in your life, or do you prefer to do things your own way? Do you reject Jesus and want Him out, or do you want to go with Him?

We should share how much Jesus has done for us.

The last thing I want us to see from this text is found down in verse 19-20. Look at that text again with me real quick.

19 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.” 20 So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed. (Mark 5:19-20).

This is so interesting here. This is the only request that Jesus does not grant in this passage. Jesus allows the demons to enter the pigs. Jesus leaves the region as He was asked to. This guy asks Jesus to go with Him and He says….NO. Why is that?

Jesus leaves this guy here to bear witness to what He has done for him. Jesus is leaving. He is not welcome here….so Jesus leaves someone who can tell the Goodnews in that region.

The same things goes for us. Jesus has left us here so that we can bear witness to what Jesus has done for us in our lives.

I want you to think about it for a moment, how much has Jesus done in your life? Where would you be right now if Jesus had not stepped in and saved you?

We don’t think about this often enough! Jesus has done a wonder in our lives, and part of our witness to others is telling them what Christ has done for us. We should be sharing that with others.

Conclusion:

As we consider this passage this morning. I want to reword the Main point here. I think if we could summarize this in one sentence it would be Jesus is the Son of the Most High God Who Does The Impossible.

I want you to think about that for a moment here in closing. Jesus is able to do the impossible….and I do mean that He is able to do the impossible in your life and in the lives around you.

So often we get caught up in trying to fix everything ourselves that we neglect just simply coming before Jesus and falling at His Feet.

As we started today with a few moments of silence, I want to give you a few moments here at the end just to spend time with Jesus and come before Him. Maybe you need to ask Him to do something in impossible in your life. Maybe you need to spend time praying about those who don’t know Christ. Maybe you need to pray for boldness to share your testimony with others. Maybe you have not given your heart to Jesus and you want to repent and place your faith and trust in Jesus today. Whatever the case maybe this morning for you. I want you to run to Him in prayer and seek Him.

(Few Moments in prayer)

Let’s prayer together.