Now would you please take your copy of the Scripture and turn to the gospel according to Mark. We’ll be reading in just a moment from Mark chapter 5, from verse 1 down through verse 20. Let me express my appreciation to your pastors and elders for the opportunity to open the Word of God to you this morning. And how thankful I am to you – Sarah and our infant daughter in tow, rolled into Jackson almost twenty-two years ago and we visited First Pres our first Sunday and you have been our church family since. You have been a blessing to us. It’s a joy to be with you. Again, our Scripture this morning – Mark chapter 5, verses 1 through 20.
As you turn there, my father and I were in New Orleans; we had a free morning. I said, “What would you like to do?” He said, “I would like to go to the World War II museum,” so we went. We only had so much time so I asked, “What exhibit did you want to see?” He said, “I want to see the Pacific Theater.” So we did. We toured that exhibit. And two objects have stood out in my mind since then – a pocket watch and a rose colored vase. Now you may ask why these two objects, of all that I saw in that exhibit, stood out in my memory since then. Because they were retrieved from the rubble of Hiroshima in the wake of the blast of that great bomb. The watch presumably stopped by the shock of the blast; the vase was curved in by the heat of the blast. When you see displays of power that you don’t see every day, you pay attention.
That’s where we are this morning, only the display of power we are about to witness is demonic, but there is a greater display of power in our Scripture. It is the power of God in Christ and I want you to look for both as we read God’s Word. Before we read it, let’s ask His help in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we praise You for Your Word. We confess our need of Your Spirit to open our minds and hearts that we may behold wondrous things in Your Law. Would You do this, for Your Son’s sake. It’s in His name we pray, amen.
Mark chapter 5, beginning at verse 1:
“They,” Jesus and His disciples, “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 cutting 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 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.”
Thus far God’s holy Word. May He add His blessing to it.
Well if you allow your eye to scan over the previous chapter, you’ll see that Jesus and His disciples have crossed the sea, the Sea of Galilee. It was a harrowing trip. Take your worst experience of turbulence on an airplane, raise it to the power of ten, that will give you a sense of what that trip was like. The disciples, I am sure, were looking for nothing more than some rest and relief, which is what they did not get. And they land on the shore. They are in the territory of the Gerasenes, Mark tells us – the eastern shore of the sea. This is Gentile territory. One way we know this is that herdsmen are keeping herds of swine. Pigs are unclean in Old Testament law. Jews did not raise pigs. These are Gentiles. Gentiles have come to Jesus in His ministry thus far, but for the first time Jesus goes to Gentiles.
Now normally when you cross borders there is a certain protocol. You have to present your passport, you have to clear customs, and sometimes the locals greet you. That’s not what happened here. No sooner than when Jesus steps on shore, verse 2, “Immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.” And he is a terror to behold. We’re told in verse 6, when he saw Jesus from afar, “he ran and fell down before him.” And he’s shouting, verse 7, “crying out with a loud voice.” He is an unholy terror. He is possessed by a demon, in fact, by many demons. Verse 9, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” A roman legion had somewhere between five and six thousand troops. It gives you the sense of the demonic power in this man’s life. But you see, the man is still there. There is enough of the man left that he runs to Jesus and not away from Jesus. Is there any hope for this man?
Now this scene may seem strange and foreign. The New Testament does not tell us to look for demonic possession today. But the New Testament tells us to look for demonic activity today. Satan is “the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience,” and every man, woman and child who is dead in trespasses and sins is enslaved to him. He is very much at work and his foothold is sin. And what God has given us in these verses is a glimpse of what sin has done to our humanity, and it shows us what Jesus has done to meet that need, to deal with our sin.
And I want you to look with me at two things in our time remaining. In the first place, look with me at our ruin. We have a picture of ruin in this man. See what sin has done to us. In the first place, we learn that sin destroys. Sin destroys. Look at what the man is reduced to. He is without a shred of clothing. He is poor. He fends for himself in the tombs and the caves. He is exposed to the elements and the wild animals. Look at what he does. Verse 5, “He was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.” He is taking rocks and striking himself. He is harming himself, gashing himself, and he does it with extraordinary strength. These are hands that can wrench apart chains and shackles. Try as they may, no one can subdue this man and he does it, the Scripture says, “night and day.” There is no respite; there is no relief. And his body bears the wounds and the scars of the harm that he is doing to himself.
How the mighty have fallen. You read Genesis chapter 1, you read Genesis chapter 2 – see what human beings were when God made them. God made man very good, soul and body. God made us to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. God made us to live to His glory. Look at what sin has done to this man. It is destroying him. He is destroying himself with his own hands, crying out with the voice that God gave him.
Now where did this all come from? Follow the stream to its source. Look with me at the pigs. This strange scene of the pigs. It seems on its face a gratuitous loss of life and money. These are 2,000 pigs that are just swept off a cliff into the sea to perish. What are we to make of this? Look closely. Jesus did not make these pigs run down the cliff to their doom. We are told in verse 12, “He gave the demons permission to enter the pigs.” It is the demons that destroy. Verse 13, the unclean spirits came out, they entered the pigs and the herd, numbering about 2,000, they rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea. Jesus, what are You doing here? Jesus is making it crystal clear to everyone who is looking what it is that drove this man to do the things that he was doing. It is not mental illness. It is demonic power. It is sin. It is a glimpse of what sin can do, of what the demons are capable of. Sin destroys.
But we also see that sin degrades. That’s another part of our ruin in Adam. Sin does not lift this man up; it brings him down. Three times we are told – verse 2, verse 8, verse 13 – he is an unclean man; he is possessed, that is, by unclean demons. And they drive him to live among the tombs. In Old Testament law, tombs are unclean. Fitting that an unclean man would reside in an unclean place. And he is clearly an outcast. He is a public nuisance. The townsmen don’t want anything to do with him. They are trying to bind him in the place where he is with shackles and chains. There is nothing lovely about the sight of this man. He is repulsive to see and he is all alone. If he has family, if he has friends, they want nothing to do with him. Sin destroys and sin degrades. That’s our ruin in Adam.
How does this apply to you and to me this morning? In the first place, I want you to think about the deceit of sin. Satan never comes when he tempts and tells you, “This is where sin will take you.” Sin always paints itself in fair colors. Sin always comes alongside and whispers in your ear, “I am here to help. I am going to make your life better.” What did Satan say to Eve in the garden? “You will not die. You will be like God.” And that’s all a lie. Look at this man and tell me – what of God do you see in this man? And God comes alongside us and He says, “I want you to understand what sin is; I want you to understand what sin does, where it will take you.” Some of you, your parents when you were growing up, they pulled you aside or maybe you’ve done this as parents to your own children and you’ve said to your son, to your daughter, “You know that person who is always around you? You think they are your friend; they are not your friend.” That’s what God tells us in His Word about sin. Left to itself, sin will only destroy. It will destroy your integrity. It will destroy your self respect, your body, your soul, your relationships. It will only bring misery and regret. Do you know that?
We see the deceit of sin; do you see the power of sin? You cannot control sin. Left to itself, it will master you. Why is that important to know? Because sin never comes without warning when it comes knocking. And you look at it and you say, “It’s so small. It’s unimportant.” “I”ll just stretch the numbers on this financial report like my boss asked. It’s no big deal. No one will know.” “I probably shouldn’t send that text to her. It’s a little flirty, but it’s a small thing. What does it matter?” “I lose my temper but I cool down. No harm; no foul.” Sin may begin small; it never ends there. You’ll never get the tiger by the tail. Unchecked, it will master and destroy. Do you know this? You can’t rescue yourself. Where do helpless sinners turn?
That brings us to our second and our last thing to see. We see our ruin, but we also see our rescue. You see, Jesus has come to this man. He has crossed a sea to come to this man and He has come to rescue him. This is not a chance meeting. What do we see? Look at the man’s recovery. In a word, it is “Jesus.” This man is helpless. He cannot save himself. Jesus must do the work of rescue. And you see, even the demons bow to Jesus. They plead with Him. Verse 7, “I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” They are absolutely subject to Jesus. And when Jesus says, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” they obey. Sin is no match to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And look at this restoration that Jesus does. Jesus has recovered this man. What does his life look like? In the first place, he is truly human. Jesus makes him truly human. Verse 15, he was sitting there, he was clothed, and “in his right mind.” That is a diameter apart from what this man had been. There is no more shrieking; there is no more ranting, flinging himself about. He is no longer unbearable, the scourge of his family and friends. That’s what Jesus does. He doesn’t make you less human; He makes you the person God created us to be.
What does that look like? Jesus has come to restore this man. What does it look like? Very simply, it means to follow Jesus. Look at verse 18. “As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged Him that he might be with Him.” Now he had a choice. There are his countrymen and they beg Jesus to depart from their region – verse 17. We are told why – they were afraid. They had lost a lot of money. Two thousand pigs is a lot of money. And they size up the situation and they say, “You know, Jesus is loss and liability. He is bad for the bottom line. Better that He be away from us than He be near us.” Not this man. He begged Jesus. He’s not asking Jesus to leave; he wants to be with Jesus. He says, “Jesus, take me with You.” He will go to another country where they don’t speak his language, where a lot of people don’t look well on people like him, and he will do it for Jesus. He sees Jesus and all he sees is gain. There is no loss in Jesus Christ. He will part with everything to be with his Savior. And it’s not hard to figure out why. He has tasted the wormwood and the gall and he loves the Savior who came such a distance and delivered him. One thing consumes his life – it is to be with Jesus. It is to follow Jesus.
And Jesus says, “No, you may not come with Me. You will stay here.” That had to have smarted the one thing he wanted. That’s a difficult command. Do you see he obeyed? He listened to the voice of Jesus. What’s Jesus doing? There is a double mercy here. The Gerasenes cannot be rid of Jesus quickly enough and so Jesus appoints this man an evangelist. “You go and you tell your countrymen, all the people around here, who I am and what I have done.” That’s a mercy to this man. Every time he opens his mouth he will remember, “I am a sinner, saved by the grace of Christ. Let me tell you about what He has done to save sinners like you and like me.” And that’s what he does.
Now as we close, how does this apply to you and to me? Jesus saves sinners and only Jesus can save sinners. You know, this is one stop on the way. Where is Jesus going? He is going to Jerusalem and He is going to hang on a cross and He is going to rise from the dead. That’s how He saves sinners like you and me. We come into this world, we are under the guilt of sin, justly condemned by a holy and righteous God for our sin, in bondage to sin, and Jesus comes to save sinners. The moment a sinner believes, that guilt is gone. He has taken away; He has paid for the sins of that sinner by His shed blood on the cross. His obedience and His death brings every sinner who trusts in Him righteous before the presence of God and delivered from bondage to sin. Sin remains but it no longer reigns in the life of one of His children. You need Jesus. I need Jesus. He has come such a distance. He has done all the work. He offers Himself to you. He bids you come. Have you come? Would you come? Exchange what we see in the life of this man for life and glory and blessedness and peace. If you belong to Jesus, what now? Well, you do what this man does. Wherever you are at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, you treasure Jesus Christ. You love Him more than anything and you follow His voice in the holy Scripture. You follow His Word.
And there’s something about following Jesus. There are three beggings in this Scripture. The demons beg, the Gerasenes beg, and this man begs. The demons beg and Jesus says, “As you wish.” The Gerasenes beg and Jesus says, “As you wish.” And this man begs and Jesus says, “No.” Maybe that’s you this morning. You have pled with your God. There is something in your life that you want or you want gone. It may have to do with your health. It may have to do with your family. It may have to do with your job. And for the moment, God’s answer is, “No.” What do you do? Well, in the first place, you know this – you know the heart of your God. He is good. This man could not doubt the goodness of Jesus Christ. “He is not giving me what I want, but I know His heart. He is good. He loves me.” And then he says, “I’ve got work to do. I get to tell others about this great Savior and what He has done for me.” That’s not a burden; that’s a joy because he never forgot his sin and he never forgot this powerful grace.
How is it with you? Believer, you look to your Savior. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. He is no less good now than when He was then. He is no less good to you than when you first met Him. So you trust Him and you tell out what a great God you have and what a great Savior you have in Jesus.
Let’s pray.Heavenly Father, how we rejoice in all that You have done. Everything that we need has been done by the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. We pray that we would look to Him and see Him and in trusting Him, may we follow Him and tell out His glory as long as You give us days. For we ask this in Christ’s name, amen.