Jesus heals the demoniac by the name of Legion (Mark 5:1-20))
The disciples had just come through a life-threatening experience on the Sea of Galilee. A terrible storm had almost taken their lives, and in a moment of weakness, they thought that Jesus had forsaken them. Awakening Him in a panic, they cried out, “Save us or we perish!” The Lord spoke to the murderous winds, and said, “Be still,” and the winds were stilled. The Lord rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith in Him and all that He had taught them. They responded with humble hearts and were in awe of their Lord, as the boats drew close to the shore.. That day would not end without another miracle taking place in the fading light of day. Suddenly, the quiet lapping of the water on the shore was interrupted by a piercing scream. Seemingly, out of nowhere, a wounded, naked man - hair matted, eyes wild, broken chains rattling from wrist and ankles, ran up to them on the shore and threw himself down at the feet of Jesus. Nothing that they had experienced prepared them for this.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this story. Although Mark and Luke refer to one man, Matthew refers to two men. The natural explanation is that Mark and Luke chose to concentrate on the one who was the most outspoken and the most prominent of the two men.
This was pagan territory and these people were Gentiles who were not familiar with the miracles and power of Jesus. We know this because no self-respecting Jew would keep a herd of 2000 pigs. Pigs were considered unclean animals and Jews don’t eat pigs, keep pigs or have anything to do with pigs. In a largely Gentile area it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. What his disciples saw that day was that not only can Jesus calm the wild waves of the sea but also he can even calm a wild, out-of-control demon possessed person. At any rate, this story of “deviled ham” caused so much fear that Jesus was asked to leave the region. Verse 37 says, “then all the people of the region asked Jesus to leave them because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.”
Some people say, there are no demons, and others worship demons. C.S Lewis wrote about the confusion about demon possession when he wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about demons (devils). One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors …with the same delight.” [C.S. Lewis. The Screwtape Letters. (New York: MacMillan. 1971) p. 3 ]
According to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, before Satan was cast out of heaven following his rebellion against God he was called the "Morning Star." This spiritual being was created by God, and he was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was the highest of all angelic creatures, blameless in all his ways before God until unrighteousness was found in him. His sin was pride, resulting from his desire to become like God. Then God cast him out of heaven along with a host of angels who joined him in his rebellion. He is now called the "Prince of the demons" (Matt. 12:24). Some of these rebellious angelic beings are now confined, awaiting the final judgment, and some are free to do Satan's bidding on earth by seeking to control the minds and hearts of men so that they too will rebel against their Creator.
1 Demon of rebellion - Sin Leaves us with no discernment
(v. 27b) “… And he wore no clothes”
Adam and Eve realized that they were naked after disobeying God. We are naked in sin and in front of God. We try to wear clothes of our own righteousness, but they all will dry up in the sun. ? If we don’t have conviction of sin, there can be no repentance of sin either. Only a sleeping person can be woken up; not if you pretend to be sleeping.
2 Demon of Resistance - He could not be restrained.
Mark 5: 3b “…and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
We can see from this account that this demoniac exhibited supernatural strength, in that he broke the fetters and the chains numerous times. Again, let’s make a spiritual application here. Just as this demoniac, under the control of sin, any man cannot control us; neither can any man control his sin nature. Only when Jesus is allowed to enter one’s heart as Lord and Master can the sin nature be brought into subjection. Only Jesus can tame the “Old Man” within us.
3 Demon of lost identity - He didn’t know who he was
Jesus asked him what's your name?
He liked to be identified with a group. When Jesus asked him his name they answered for him and said, “LEGION,” which in scripture represented a unit of Roman Soldiers or 6000 indicating tremendous power.
We have a tendency to hide behind group identity – white, black, Indians, conservative, liberal, evangelical, Pentecost… What happened to you, the individual?
1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, [1] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Dont forget that we are all brothers and sisters. “ you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” 1 Cor 3:23
4 Demon of Restlessness - He was always restless.
Mark 5: 5a “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying…”
Can you imagine the fear that must have possessed the townspeople as they were awakened in the middle of the night by the blood curdling screams of the demoniac that echoed eerily through the mountains in the stillness of the night? According to the Greek translation of this verse, this man’s outcries went on continually. And throughout the night and the day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was continually screaming and shrieking…
5 Demon of Self pity - HE WAS CONTINUALLY CRYING (v. 5)
The text says, he was always night and day in the mountains and in the graveyard crying. Have you noticed how many people cry today.
6 THE DEMON OF INFLICTION – 5:5
You might not choose to be ALONE … but LONELINESS is a choice.
Loneliness is self-inflicted … Jesus said “Come unto Me.”
HE ABUSED HIMSELF - Drugs, tobacco, addictions, wasting time, games etc. are abuses
1. Notice he was cutting himself.
2. That’s self-abuse.
3. There he was filled with demons and cutting himself.
4. Wanting to destroy himself.
7 Demon of abandonment - He was living in tombs
Abandoned by all.
The townspeople in the past had subdued this man but he had broken his bonds and escaped taken up residence in the cemetery, the townspeople now have decided that the safest thing to do is to leave this man alone. The man who resides in the tombs had gotten so bad that he was abandoned by all.
Note found in a dead body
<<<<The police in Berlin found a piece of paper in the pocket of the shirt of a dead body. This was a young man in his twenties and said, “He was committing suicide due to frustration and meaninglessness of his life and nobody cared for me”. Police gave this story to the local newspaper so any relatives can come and identify. There were over 100 parents came looking for the body. This tells us that there are a lot of lost youngsters in the world.>>>
We were once dead. Not any more. Eph 2:1 - “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions”
Many of our churches and worships are dead. We worship a living God.
In the old Testament, they offered dead animals. In the New Testament we offer living sacrifices. Romans 12 :1 Living Sacrifices -Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
7. Demon of inconsistency
- He was alive … but living in the tombs … inconsistency.
- Are you “alive in Christ” … but … your faith seems “dead”?
- Paul had the problem of INCONSISTENCY – Romans 7:15-25
- Paul also had the SOLUTION … Jesus!
Who we really are and what we look we are
There’s a story about a college student who applied at the zoo for a job. the zoo keeper said, "I’ll tell you what. Our gorilla just died, we won’t get another one for a month. Until then you dress up like a gorilla and just walk around in the cage and act like a gorilla would act. So he said okay. First day on the job. He’s in suit and he’s jumping about, really gets into it. he begins shaking the bars, and suddenly he shook too hard and the gate separating the gorilla and the lion cage opened up. he sat there horrified as the lion begin walking towards him, and he shouted help, help, I’m not a gorilla, I’m just a man in a monkey suit. And a voice came from the lion, be quiet or we’ll both get fired."
Paul writes (Romans 7:14), “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate…I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” He says that our old self, as believers has been crucified with Christ, “so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.”
Present, but cannot vote - Dead Religion, Dead worship?
We can become a lot like Jeremy Bentham, founder of London’s University College. Before he died in 1832, he left instructions that when he died, his body was to be preserved and placed on display in the meeting room of the board of governors for the college. So, when he died, his skeleton was reconstructed, given a wax head, dressed in his best suit, and placed in a glass case in the meeting room of the college’s board of governors. For several years after his death, Jeremy Bentham faithfully attended every meeting of the board and was described in the minutes as “present, but not voting.”
A lot of us are living in tombs. Tombs are for the dead. They don’t enjoy the happiness, the joy of life, always with a sad face. They think that they are up to no good and they are not worth anything. Are we dead or alive?
8. THE DEMON OF INGRATITUDE in the People – 5:14-17
- The townspeople only saw their monetary loss.
- Are you grateful for what Jesus did for you? Their reaction was one of amazement, to be sure, but not one of faith. A maniac, a total nutcase, a wild man, had been totally delivered—and all they could think about was dead pigs!
Nobody wants the disabled or the weak
A group of friends went deer hunting and paired off in two’s for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of a 200 pound deer. The other hunters asked, “Where’s Bob?” The lone man said, “Oh, he had a stroke of some kind, he’s a couple of miles back up the trail.” The other hunters were shocked and asked why he left Bob laying there to carry the deer instead. “It was a tough call,” the hunter said, “but I figured no one was going to steal Bob.” No one wants disabled and the elderly and the weak.
Here was a town with an opportunity to encounter Jesus, to receive great things from God…but when Jesus did something great, they worried about dead pigs. Were they afraid that Jesus would disturb their lifestyles? Were they afraid he’d tip the apple carts of their lives? Some of us are like that, we don’t want Jesus in out town or life, because he might throw away some movies that are there, or he might find beer bottles in our closets, or he may want to give more to Church and to the poor. We ask him to leave for a later time. We will call you when we need you. Sometimes, the modern churches lose track of their priorities in mission.
HE BECAME A CHANGED PERSON
One of the greatest novels written, as well as my favorite Broadway musical, is Les Miserables, the story of Jean Valjean’s transformation from an uncaring and unfeeling man into a kind, noble, generous, sacrificial, and selfless man late in his life. He provided jobs to the poor, gave aid to the needy, and rescued kids off the streets in famine-stricken 19th century France, but unknown to the grateful town folks, their benefactor used to be a hardened criminal. As a 25-year-old young man he stole bread to feed his sister’s seven children and was immediately sentenced to five years of imprisonment for the crime. He considered the punishment extreme for the crime he committed, so he attempted to escape, as many as six times. The law was merciless. His sentence was eventually lengthened to 19 years, and by the time he was released, he was cold, vengeful, and hateful. He hated God, society, and the authorities for the injustices he bored.
Jean Valjean’s transformation began when he sought refuge at a church from the cold, harsh night after released from prison. Instead of thanking the priest who took him in, he repaid his host by stealing the silver plates and ladle in the church. Unfortunately, law enforcers arrested the suspiciously behaving man out on the street, found the expensive silverware on him, and brought him before the old priest for questioning.
However, the old priest did not turn Jean Valjean in; instead the priest surprised the police, dismayed the church caretakers, and changed Jean’s life forever by saying that the silverware was given Jean Valjean, not stolen, and even chided Jean Valjean for forgetting to take with him the silver candlesticks, which were worth two hundred francs – a lot of money at that time. After thanking the departing policemen, the priest sent Jean Valjean on his way with the precious candlesticks and these loving words: “My friend, before you go away, here are your candlesticks; take them. Now go in peace. By the way, my friend, when you come again, you need not come through the garden. You can always come in and go out by the front door. It is closed only with a latch, day or night. Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use the silver to become an honest man. Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying from you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!”
Jean Valjean cried for the first time in 19 years and disappeared into the night into an illustrious legacy of good works.
HE BECAME A CHARGED PERSON
He is charged to go to his people as a witness. He didn’t undergo high-level witness training; he attended no seminars or workshops. He read no books on how to share his faith. He had been insane just a few minutes before he began to be an evangelist. All that he knew was that Jesus could handle a problem that nothing or no one else could, that Jesus’ power trumped a legion of demons. And Jesus sent him back to the people who had rejected Jesus; instead of Jesus saying, “forget about them”, he instead sent the wild man as a missionary. And He still uses unworthy messengers, and He still sends them to unworthy people. That’s His plan. Are you cooperating with Him in the outworking of that plan?
"For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his well-beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col.1: 13-14).
His encounter with Christ has changed him completely in both his look and his outlook. In verse thirty-five we find that when the townspeople arrived they “… found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, that when we really commit our selves to Christ we are changed, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.”
In verse thirty-eight we see that he also has a New Heart, for he “… begged Him that he might be with Him.” The healed man wanted to join Jesus’ band of disciples, but Jesus had a different calling in mind. Someone must be left behind to be a light in a dark world. Not everyone is called into full time ministry.
Transformed Life of Russ
A few years ago, singer Russ Lee came out with a song titled "I Smile." When you discover how his life was changed by Jesus Christ, you'll know why he sings a song that says, "I smile when I think about the way You turned my life around. I smile when I think about the happiness in You I've found."
When Russ was 17, his days were wasted on drugs, alcohol, boredom, and pain. His life was full of self-inflicted trouble and hopelessness. One day, while listening to an old rock song called "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," he realized that this described his life. Two days later, a friend invited him to church. There Russ heard that real satisfaction comes from knowing Jesus Christ, so he reached out in faith to Him. So, what was the first thing Russ did after trusting Christ? According to the book Touched By The Savior by Mike Yorkey, Russ said, "I walked back out to my car. In the trunk was a garbage bag filled with drugs I had been selling. I won't be needing these again, I thought, and I was right. I threw the bag away. From that day forward, God transformed my life from the inside out. I became a new creation."
SONG “AMAZING GRACE”
What it means to live under grace is illustrated by the life of John Newton. Newton was born in London, half a century before the American Revolution, to a mother of superb spiritual qualities and a nondescript father. His mother died when he was six. Five years later he went to sea with his father who was a ship’s captain. He became a midshipman and for a time led a wild existence, living in utter disgrace. He rejected the God of his mother, he renounced any need of religion and he lived an irresponsible and sinful life. Eventually he became a slave trader, crossing the ocean several times as captain of slave ship, responsible for terrible human degradation among the captives he had crowded on board. But grace was always a factor in his life. He survived a deadly fever in Africa, which almost killed him. One time while he was steering his ship on the open sea, and he was caught up in the perfect storm. He thought for sure that his ship was going down and that he was going to die. In desperation, he prayed to this God he had been mocking all his life, and he barely survived the storm – amazingly his ship stayed afloat. That moment jolted him into learning more about whom Jesus Christ was – this person he had been mocking all his life.
Finally, dissatisfied with his life, he began reading the writings of Thomas A Kempis. Somehow, the Holy Spirit began stirring inside his soul, awakening him from sin, urging him toward salvation until he finally gave his heart to Christ. He was so thoroughly converted, in fact, that he felt a call from God to enter the ministry. He was eventually ordained in 1781 and accepted a pastorate and served for 43 years at the Church of England at Olney in England.
But Newton’s disgraceful past never left his memory and he was completely dumbfounded over the privilege of living joyously free under the divine grace of God. In an intense moment of inspiration, when he was thinking of the wonder of the grace of God, which had saved even a wretch like him, he wrote the hymn, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound." He was one of the influencers in England that caused the Prime Minister at that time to abolish slavery. . Right before he died, he said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great savior
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