Mark 5:1-20

Let’s get started this morning by jumping right into our text and reading Mark 5:1-20. It’s a bit long, so try to follow along:

”1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. 14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.” (Mar 5:1-20 KJV)

We just got back from vacation. It was a good vacation. We went to see my brother Jay get married down in Knoxville. She went through with it. It was a great wedding. Then we spent almost a week in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We did the aquarium. We did Dollywood. We drove around the Smokies. We slept in. It was a great vacation.

I’m a big believer in vacation. I think you should try to get away with your family at least once a year. In the Old Testament, there were several feasts and periods where the Jews would travel as a family to Jerusalem, and I’ve always thought that one of the reasons God included those feasts was because people need to get away. People need that down time.

For the last couple of weeks in the book of Mark, Jesus has been absolutely overrun with work. There are thousands of people literally pressing for His attention. It’s gotten so bad that He can’t preach on land anymore. He has to preach from a boat so people can’t get to Him. He can’t publish His itinerary anymore because people will overrun Him. He’s not even had time to eat. From a human perspective, Jesus needed a vacation.

And so He told the disciples to pass over to the other side of the sea of Galilee. Two weeks ago, we looked at what happened on that journey. Remember that Jesus was sleeping through the crazy storm and told the winds and waves, “Peace, be still.” But I didn’t talk much about where they were going.

Jesus left Capernaum, in the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee, and traveled all the way across the lake, about fifteen miles, to the country of the Gadarenes. Now the only thing that is significant about this is that Capernaum is firmly in the Jewish part of Galilee, but this area is very much a Gentile area. It was completely controlled by the Romans. Even though it’s just on the other side of a lake, it’s really another country and another culture altogether.

A couple of years ago, we traveled to Canada for my other brother’s wedding, and we stayed the first night in the city of Windsor, Ontario. Here is the thing about Windsor, Ontario: It’s literally right across the river from Detroit. In fact, from our hotel room, we see clear as day into the GM Building. It was maybe a quarter of a mile away across the river, but the culture, the restaurants, the accent, and the television were all completely different. It’s a weird feeling.

Maybe the human plan was for Jesus to get some rest in a place where people wouldn’t know Him. At least that’s probably what the disciples were thinking, but that’s not what happened.

Jesus gets off the boat, and they are immediately met by this madman. The Bible says he lived in the tombs. This guy literally lives in a crypt full of corpses. He’s a danger to society. People are trying to chain him up, but because he possesses some superhuman strength, he can’t be bound. He just breaks the chains like Superman. The people in the area hear him from time to time crying out loudly like some kind of wild animal. He’s cutting himself and trying to hurt himself.

He’s a crazy, scary, wild, untamable dude.

Whenever I read this story, I think of a guy down in Dalton I met while I was visiting in the jail down there. This guy had long, grisly, stringy hair and was just nuts. He was so nuts that he was always in solitary. He’d write on the walls using his own waste. He’d run around naked. He’d scream, holler, and say crazy stuff. He was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and it was scary.

One time at the hospital, they had me visit in the psych ward. Behavioral health, they call it. I went in there, and it was just creepy. I really believe I was talking to demon-possessed people in there. It was very, very creepy.

This is what Jesus is dealing with here, but it’s much, much worse. The man runs to Jesus and immediately screams out:

”What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.”

Jesus has a conversation with Him, and we learn that the man is possessed by devils. In fact, he’s possessed by a legion of devils. A Roman legion had 6,000 foot soldiers, plus calvary and support staff. This guy likely has thousands of demons possessing him.

And Jesus commands them to go out and allows them to enter into some pigs, and they immediately cause the pigs to run off of a cliff to their death.

But this crazy man isn’t crazy anymore. He’s met Jesus, and he is sitting, clothed, and in His right mind. Jesus changed Him. Jesus healed Him.

Now, there are three things I think this story teaches us about: It teaches us about Satan, it teaches us about the Savior, and it teaches us about Salvation. Those are going to be my three main points this morning.

Let’s pray and we’ll jump right into that outline.

The first thing this story teaches us about is…

About Satan:

This is probably the best known story about demonic and satanic activity in the whole Bible, and it can teach us a thing or two about Satan.

First, it teaches us that…

• Satan has help.

This man was possessed by demons—thousands of demons.

I know we modern people don’t talk about this spiritual stuff very often. I know there are a lot of preachers who want to skip over this stuff because it sounds very hocus pocus, very Dark Ages. Believing in demons is about like believing that the world is flat. It’s about like being in on the Salem Witch Trials. We are far too modern and sophisticated for that.

But then you have the Bible, and if you believe the Bible is true, you cannot deny the existence of demons. I believe that the Bible teaches us that Satan was an angel in heaven. He led a revolt there and took a third of the angels from heaven with him. Now they have free reign for the most part on the earth.

Ephesians 6:12 says:

”For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

There is real spiritual wickedness out there. There is a host of demons out there. We talk about a real Satan—and that is scary enough—but he has lots and lots of help.

A second thing we learn about Satan in this story is that…

• Satan doesn’t keep his promises.

Sin and Satan always promise fun, prestige, and stuff. The world is telling us over and over that it can make us happy and it can make us satisfied; thousands and thousands of empty promises.

Every billboard is a promise. Every magazine ad or TV commercial is a promise. Do this, drink this, buy this, and you will be happy. Most of our pop songs are a promise. They swear this lifestyle is where it’s at. Red Solo Cups or Cheeseburgers in Paradise: Pick your poison.

But the world and Satan never show you the other side. They show the well-dressed guy drinking Bacardi at the roulette table with beautiful women on both sides, but they never show you the homeless guy on skid row. The world will show you the happy-go-lucky party people, but they’ll never show you the addiction, the STDs, or the pain it leaves in its wake.

I don’t think this man woke up one day and thought, “I’m going to be that crazy, homeless, demon-possessed guy that scares everyone and cuts himself.” I think the devil put out bait, and he bit it again and again.

Another thing this story teaches is…

• Satan doesn’t care at all about you.

Do you think this man was happy? Do you think this man was fulfilled? He was enslaved. He wasn’t crying out for joy; he was crying out from agony. He was cutting himself.

Again, it’s expectation versus reality. Satan promises you’ll be like a god, and you’ll know and be free. He doesn’t show the pain; the loneliness; the struggle. Eat the apple, and everything will be alright. He doesn’t show the kids killing each other.

Satan is extremely powerful and extremely wise, and he doesn’t care at all about you. He will eat you up and spit you out in a heartbeat.

Which brings me to the last thing this story teaches about Satan…

• Satan and all his forces are terrified by the power and presence of Jesus.

This man had a legion of demons—thousands and thousands of them—and those demons couldn’t withstand one word from Jesus. They came to Jesus on their knees begging because the demons know where the power is.

Listen, folks: Demons are scary. You should be scared of the devil. He walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That’s scary stuff. You should be scared of demons.

But you also need to realize this: If you are under Jesus’ control, the demons can’t touch you. The devil himself can’t touch you. I believe people can be demon—possessed, but I don’t think Christians can be demon-possessed.

”Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

So this story teaches us a lot about Satan, but I think it teaches us more…

About the Savior:

Specifically, there are two things I see about Jesus in this story that are very, very encouraging.

The first thing I learn about Jesus in this story is…

• The Savior shows compassion when others show revulsion and terror.

I think most people saw this man and ran away. Most people saw him and were disgusted. I think Jesus saw him and had compassion. Jesus didn’t see him as an object of ridicule; He saw him as a soul to be saved.

Our call to war, to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole,
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on every side,
We know the outcome is secure.
And Christ will have the prize for which He died:
An inheritance of nations. 

• No one is too far gone for the Savior.

”9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Co 6:9-11 KJV)

About Salvation:

• Salvation is for everybody who will receive it.
• Salvation changes people.
• Saved people should show and tell.