Go and Tell!
Mark
5:1-20
Introduction: Last week we were in a store in Augusta and were
surprised to see that Halloween decorations were already in the aisles! More
than two months in advance! We don’t enjoy that aspect of the coming season
because the decorations and movies either make light of the spiritual warfare
that believers encounter in this fallen world, or they present an unbiblical
picture of evil. There is nothing funny about demons and the havoc they would
wreak in the lives of humans. The good news for believers is that Jesus came to
deliver us, and “greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!” Jesus
had just demonstrated His power over nature on the stormy sea. He has been teaching with authority and
healing the sick. He would now powerfully show, once again, His authority in
the spiritual realm.
The Maine* Idea: Share the Good News: Jesus came to free us from the
enemy who would bring us into bondage and seek to destroy us. In Jesus we are
free!
I. Humans are in bondage: We see the desperate need of fallen humans in the
demonized man (1-5).
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the
Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus
had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man
with an unclean spirit. 3 He
lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a
chain, 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs
and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Just a word about the
context. Notice in v.1, “They came to the
other side of the sea…” They had just passed through a storm as Jesus directed
them to get in the boat and cross over. Jesus does this miracle, setting free
this man possessed by demons, and then in 1:21 we are told that they cross back
over the lake. As far as we know, Jesus did no other miracles or no other
teaching on this side of the lake at this time. He came over because He had a
divine appointment, a meeting that He determined needed to happen to set this
man free, and then to send him out as a witness to his own people. This one
miserable soul, but God had a plan for his life, and he met with Jesus and his
life was transformed! We see other cases where it seems God goes out of his way
to reach one particular person. Remember when Philip was busy in ministry in
Samaria in Acts 8, and then God sends him away from all that excitement to go
out to the desert. That didn’t seem like a good plan! But Philip met the
Ethiopian Eunuch, who was returning home, and reading aloud from Isaiah 53. He
tells him about Jesus, and he is saved (and baptized!) and sent on his way back
home. God had a plan. We need to be sensitive and available as we go about our
lives. Who are the people you will meet this afternoon? Or tomorrow? We need to
be alert for the opportunities God gives.
Since the book the Exorcist was published in
1971, movies and books (and now video games) have sensationalized the occult
and the demonic. Demons have been around
for a lot longer than that! There is no
doubt that “demon possession” still happens, and in some cultures, as in Haiti
and in parts of Brazil, there are people who invite “spirits” to come into
their bodies! In our modern scientific society,
most of it is explained away as mental illness and the like. It gets worse. Aside
from those extreme cases, we know that “…the
whole world lies in the power of the evil one…” (I John 5:19). Paul
describes the spiritual repression of unregenerate humanity in Ephesians 2:1-3…
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- 3 among whom we all once
lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and
the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
That
sounds like a bleak position to be in: dead in sin, following Satan, living to
please our fallen sinful nature, and destined for judgment! And it would be
bleak, but for the gracious intervention of our great God and Savior! In the
next two verses of that same letter Paul puts it this way,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the
great love with which he loved us, 5
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-
by grace you have been saved… (Eph
2:4,5).
God
has rescued us from bondage, and set us free in Jesus! That is truly amazing
grace. This man was an extreme case to be sure, demonized, alienated, and out
of control. But at a lesser level, we were all in the same boat, and just as
surely headed to hell. This demoniac was
not only spiritually dead and blind to the things of God… he was infested
with demons! He had supernatural strength and could not be restrained… even
with chains! He was violent and
self-destructive… cutting himself with stones. Not only was this man a terror
to people who saw or heard him, he was isolated out among the tombs or in the
mountains, crying out day and night. He
was in bondage, enslaved, helpless to free himself from his tormentors.
Whatever
the demons’ plans for this man, it is clear that they wanted to keep him
isolated, and seemingly, they were bent on destroying him. That pattern has
persisted from the time of the fall, has it not? Satan led Adam and Eve into
sin, and so brought isolation into their lives. Isolation from each other, and
also isolation from God. God had warned that sin would bring death, Satan said
no, you will be like God! He was bent on destroying the unique pinnacle of
God’s creation, the creatures who alone bore the image of the Creator. That
hasn’t changed. We live in a fallen world, and the whole world lies in the
power of the evil one. If we belong to Jesus, Satan is our enemy, and he
goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He’s an ancient foe,
he has been watching humans from the beginning. He knows our weaknesses! We
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of
wickedness! But if God is for us, who can stand against us? We have Good News
to share! Jesus came to free us from the enemy who would bring us into bondage
and seek to destroy us. In Jesus, we are free indeed!
II. Jesus came to rescue us and to set
us free: He alone is able to meet our
deepest need: The man encounters Jesus and is set free (6-13)!
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down
before him. 7 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." 8 For he was saying to him,
"Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 9 And Jesus asked him, "What
is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion, for we are
many." 10 And he begged
him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was
feeding there on the hillside, 12
and they begged him, saying, "Send us to the pigs; let us enter
them." 13 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.
Jesus
came to rescue us from sin and from Satan (6-10). It seems that the demons immediately
recognized who Jesus is. He ran to him
and “fell down” before Him. The word here is proskuneo which is usually translated “worship.” It is “…falling down, acknowledging the superiority
of the one to whom you are bowing.” It could be that the man had enough
self-consciousness that he came to Jesus, resisting the enemy, looking for
help. More likely it’s what we’ve seen in other encounters between Jesus and
demons: they recognize Him, and cannot help but acknowledge Him. It makes me
think of the scripture that says the day will come when “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”
(Phil 2:10,11; cf. Rom 14:11). He is Lord! And He came to set us free
from sin and from Satan. Here, Jesus
engages the demon and we find out this is not one, but “many” unclean spirits
that were oppressing this man. There are a few other cases were multiple demons
were cast from a person, but this is the most extreme example in Scripture!
The fate
of the Pigs demonstrates the destructive purposes of the demons (11-13). For whatever reason, the legion asks Jesus to
send them into the pigs, and He allows it. Could it be that they were hoping
for the reaction they got from the locals: “Please leave our country!”? We’ll
see in a minute that that is the result! But the destruction of the pigs, and
the fate of the demons is not the point Mark is making. He wants us to see
how Jesus rescued a man, and set him free from bondage. As far as we are told, the entire trip across
the lake had two main goals: 1) to lead the disciples into the storm, and to
lead them deeper in their faith; and 2) to set this man free and then send him
out. Mark wants us to understand who Jesus is, and to see that this is why He
came. He crossed the lake with the disciples to grow their faith and to deliver
this man. As always, He accomplished what He came to do. And know this: He left
heaven and came into this sin cursed world, to suffer and die for us, to
deliver you and me, and to set free all who will turn to Him in faith. And, as
always, He accomplished what He came to do. That is Good News and we are called
to share it! Yes, there is an enemy who would bring us into bondage and seek to
destroy us, but Jesus came to rescue us, and in Him we can truly be set free!
III. We are called to be His witnesses: Our Testimony is to be shared, beginning with our
own people (14-20).
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the
country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 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. 16 And those who had seen it
described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the
pigs. 17 And they began to
beg Jesus to depart from their region.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been
possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 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." 20 And he went away and began to
proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone
marveled.
Others
will take notice: Here, with fear and unbelief (14-17). It must have been a
shocking and terrifying experience for the pig-herders. They had just seen the
disturbing scene of the naked and wild demoniac who could not be restrained and
was constantly crying out from among the tombs, fall down before Jesus. Some
heard the conversation between Jesus and Legion (16). They saw the sudden
charge of the herd of pigs down the embankment and into the water! They “fled”
the area and went to report what had happened. So, the people came to see. How
would they react? Would they see the man, clothed, in his right mind, and give
glory to God? No, they were afraid, and began pleading with Jesus to depart
from the region! They were afraid (v.15)!
There is
an interesting play on words in this story. The demons “begged” Jesus not to send them out of the country (10); and
the inhabitants of the country “begged”
Jesus to leave (17)! The demons “begged” to be sent into the pigs (12)
and the healed man “begged” to be
with Jesus (18)! Jesus had another plan for this new disciple. The contrast between light and darkness!
Jesus
directed the liberated man to “Go and
Tell!” (18-20). Instead of
“following” Jesus, the man is told to go home, to go to his oikos, to his own people, and to tell them how much the Lord had done for
him, and to speak about the mercy that God had shown him. And so, he went, and he began testifying
about what the Lord had done. And the people “marveled”! It had to be astounding to see this man, who had been in
such bondage, speaking, in his right mind, and giving the Lord glory for His
mercy and grace in delivering him. Notice something here. It was not necessary
to first take a class on evangelism or witnessing. Notice this: He did not need
a Bible College or seminary degree. He didn’t need to follow the Lord for three
years before he was qualified to serve. He needed to simply say, “I once was lost, but now I am found, I was
blind, but now I see!” D. James Kennedy used to say that Satan’s
greatest victory was convincing believers that ministry, including witnessing
and evangelism, is the work of “professionals,” pastors, evangelists, and
missionaries. We are all gifted to serve. And we are all called to be His
witnesses. Friends, remember that Mark wants us to know who Jesus is and why he
came. He also wants us to consider what it means to follow Him.
We have
one aspect of God’s will for every Christ follower in this story. When the Son
sets you free, you are free indeed. You are free to serve, to be the Spirit
empowered witness He wants you to be. I think the Lord would say to each of
us, “Go home, go to your own people, your family, friends, co-workers, your neighbors,
and tell them the truth: your life is different because God has rescued you!”
He has set you free. Let them know that He would do the same for them if they will
admit their need and turn to Him in faith.
What is God
saying to me in this passage? Share the Good News: Jesus came to free us
from the enemy who would bring us into bondage and seek to destroy us. If the
Son therefore shall make you free you will be free indeed!
What would God have me
to do in response to this passage? Do you understand that in your life “B.C.” (before Christ!)
you were dead in your trespasses, following the course of the world, living to
please your flesh, and under the deception of the devil? So was I. Most of us were not wild, naked
demoniacs living among the tombs, we might have looked like pretty good,
respectable people! But we were still in bondage to his subtle lies, and blind
to the truth that Jesus came to reveal. That is, until Jesus touched you, and
opened your eyes and your heart to the truth.
It could be that
you are here this morning (or reading this) and have not yet received the gift
of forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus. Has something been tugging at
your heart as you consider this story? Do you long to be free, and to know Him?
It may be that God, by His kindness, is leading you to turn from your sin and
turn to Jesus. Acknowledge your need, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Believe
the truth about Jesus: He is God the Son, and He died on the cross for your
sins and rose the third day. He purchased a place for you in heaven which He is
offering as a free gift. Put your trust in Him, Confess Him as your
personal Lord and Savior. The Bible promises that “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved!”
For those who
have done that we need to know He set us free for a purpose. We are called
to be His witnesses where He has placed us. The man Jesus set free wanted to
follow Him. Jesus said no, I’ve got a mission for you. Go home. Go to your own
people and tell them what the Lord has done for you! And, brothers and sisters, we are sent in the
same way. To go to our “oikos,” to testify to the people we know, the
people we live life with, the small group that is our first mission field. We are
called to point them to Jesus… and as He opens hearts and sets some free, to
make disciples! AMEN.
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