We're going to read together
Mark chapter 5. And we'll read from verse 1. Mark
chapter 5, we'll read from verse 1. And they came over unto the other
side of the sea, that's Jesus and his disciples, into the country
of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the
ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an
unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could
bind him, no, not with chains, 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. And always night and day he was
in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with
stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped him, 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. For he said unto him, Come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit, And he asked him, what is thy
name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are
many. And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was
there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine,
that we may enter into them. 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. 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. 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. And
they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed
with the devil and also concerning the swine. And they began to
pray him to depart out of their coasts. And when he was come
into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. 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. And he departed, and began to
publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him,
and all men did marvel. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. The Lord Jesus Christ had travelled
all night across the Sea of Galilee through a storm to meet this
Gadarene demoniac. The psalmist tells us in Psalm
104 verse 3, The Lord maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh
upon the wings of the wind. The Lord hath come across the
sea in a storm, in tremendous wind, And what had he done? He had
made the very clouds of that storm his chariot, and he had
walked upon the wings of the wind in order to come and be
with this gadarine demoniac. Now I want to make an application
right now, right at the very start of our service here today,
because I know that some of you are very hard pressed at the
moment. I won't say any more, you know
who you are, and I know that you're feeling those darkening
clouds in your life, and I know that you are challenged with
some of the difficulties that you have to contend with. But
I want you to consider something. If indeed the clouds are the
Lord's chariot, and if indeed the wind is the wings that fly
him to your aid. Might we have grounds together
to look for the Lord Jesus Christ in the storm that seems to be
breaking over your head right now? I guarantee that if we look for
Christ in these troubles, he will come and we will find him. There is a man whose hymns and
indeed his poetry we sometimes read. I've mentioned him before,
indeed I think I did last week as well, a man called William
Cooper. And William Cooper knew personally
the depressions that can weigh upon a believer's heart and darken
a believer's mind. And yet, Mr. Cooper, was able
to write in faith of the relief that is to be discovered when
the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us in the clouds as his chariot
and upon the wings of the wind. He says this, ye fearful saints,
fresh courage take, the clouds ye so much dread, are big with
mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. I don't know whether
this Gadarene man sat out in the rain all that night, or stood
gazing out to sea, yelling wildly at the storm, maybe the wind
howling back at him. But I do know this, there was
a storm in his soul. And I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ was coming through a storm in order to give him the peace
that he required. I also know this, that the freewill
gospel that saturates so much religion today has nothing to
offer a Gadarene demoniac like this man, except to bind him
hand and foot. But the gospel of free and sovereign
grace, the gospel that we preach, the gospel that we believe, the
gospel that has touched our hearts and changed us, that is a message
of hope for the neediest of souls. and it is a message of hope for
you today. We have seen... as we have been
looking at some of these passages, that the Lord Jesus Christ has
been teaching and preparing his disciples for their own ministry. We've thought about the fact
that the Lord was here, he had come in order to preach the kingdom
of God, the fact that that is the establishment and the gathering
in of his church, a militant church upon earth, and the spiritual
church, which is the body of Christ, and he, when he died,
some three years from now was going back to heaven having been
buried and raised again, he would ascend into heaven and he would
leave these apostles, these disciples as apostles, as messengers to
carry that message of the kingdom of God and of life through Jesus
Christ to the ends of the earth. And this was a time of preparation
for the disciples, a time of learning, when the Lord was conveying
and communicating to them the kind of work that they would
have to do and what they might encounter in doing that work. So we read throughout chapter
four about how the parables taught the disciples they were but stories
to the people who had no ears to hear. but they had spiritual
meaning to those who were given ears to hear and hearts to understand. And I think that we can see something
also in this incident. The transformation of this man's
life was a case study for the disciples. They witnessed in
this Christ's power over the demons. and Christ's power over
this man's madness and his self-destructive urges. And so here is, as I've
said, a case study for the disciples as part of their training, as
it were, to look at this situation, to look at these circumstances,
and to learn from them at the hand of the master teacher. But
at the same time, this is not abstract. This is a personal
story. This is Jesus Christ dealing
with the needs of an individual. And it is a glorious example
of personal salvation and liberating mercy. You see, the Lord deals
with real people. He deals with real people with
real problems, like you and like me. And we must be ready to see
the hand of God at work in our lives and in the lives of those
around about us. Let us not be, as it were, wandering
around with our heads down. Let us be a people who lift our
gaze, who look beyond, who see that God is at work and the Lord
Jesus Christ is gathering his church. And let us have great
expectations of what the Lord is able to do with individuals
who need his help. Let us carry that gospel as the
Lord was teaching his disciples to do. But let us remember that
we carry it not to some abstract unknown person, but to the man
that lives next door, to the lady that we meet in the town,
to the children that play with our own children and the families
that we encounter day by day, because it is personal people
with personal needs that the Lord Jesus Christ deals with.
And here, in this glorious account, we see the Lord dealing with
this man. The Lord Jesus Christ, as it
were, using the troubles of our time, the clouds as his chariot, and
the wind as his wings, to bring us to bow before him. And we
may be sure that if we see the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst
of our trials, and if others do also, that there is a wonderful
work of grace about to take place. May the Lord Jesus Christ thus
act in all of our lives today who hear these words. What I'm
going to do now is I'm going to ask and hopefully I'm going
to answer five simple questions in the remainder of the time
that I have available. Five simple questions from this
passage that may have puzzled you and may have made you wonder
what it is that's happening in this story. And I hope that we
shall be able to see the Lord again, guiding the learning of
his disciples to understand their role as gospel preachers under
Christ, but also to guide our thoughts as well, to see the
transforming effect of God's spirit in the life of individual
sinners. And as these lessons build one
upon another, we will see Christ's power displayed, and we'll see
the blessings of personal love and mercy and grace in a sinner's
life. So five questions, and here are
the five questions that I'm going to ask, and as I say, hopefully
give you a short answer to. Number one, why did this man
run to Jesus and worship him? Number two, why did the Lord
ask the man to tell him his name? Number three, why did the demons
ask to be sent into the swine? Number four, why did the people
of the country ask the Lord to leave? And number five, why in
the end did the Lord send this man back to his family? So let
us take these questions one by one and see if we can bring a
little bit of illumination to this passage and a little bit
of help to our souls today. First question then, why did
the man run to Jesus and worship him? We read together in verse
six, but when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. And I always found that puzzling.
I always found that part of the narrative very interesting and
wondered why, if these demons knew who Christ was, why did
they not turn that man around and cause him to run in the opposite
direction? Why did they go to Jesus? and
what was the significance of them worshipping Christ when
they got to Him? Well, I think the answer to that
is simply this, that they had no choice. The devils that possessed
this man were compelled to bring this poor sinner to the feet
of the Lord Jesus. As surely as they themselves
were subject to God, You see, our God orders and commands
the demons of hell, just as he does the wind and the waves of
nature. This is the same God, and he
is the omnipotent God. Let us never imagine that this
world is a battleground between the forces of good and evil,
between good angels and bad angels, or God and the devil. Our God is King. Our God is Sovereign. Let me use the word again. Our
God is Omnipotent. That means He is All-Powerful. That means that all power is
His. Satan and his demons are created
beings. That's all just created beings
and they are subject to the word of God and the will of God. God
speaks, God wills, God desires something and the demons themselves
have to comply. They were compelled to bring
this man to Christ because Christ had made an appointment with
this man. In the eternal dispensation of
his purpose, God would meet this man at the time of love and open
his heart to grace. And the devils themselves conveyed
that man to the very feet of Christ. They do nothing. Devils and demons
do nothing without God's permission. That doesn't make God responsible
for what they do, but it does mean that they require His permission
to perpetrate their wickedness. And they can only do it to the
extent that God allows it. and he only allows it for the
greater good of his church and people. It is so hard for us
to get our heads around that, but that is the testimony of
the Word of God. The Saviour had travelled far. He had passed through storms
to make this appointment with this man. He was meeting one
of his elect, one of his lost sheep, And the demons could not
stop this meeting taking place. And actually, they hastened it
happening because they ran towards the Lord Jesus Christ. And furthermore,
these demons showed themselves to be helpless and weak by acknowledging
Jesus Christ and worshipping Him. Do you see what they said
to the Lord Jesus Christ? They spoke to the Lord Jesus
Christ using words and terms that the vast majority of men
and women could not have understood at that time. They called the
Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus, thou son of the most high God. They knew who he was, the God-man,
Christ with us. Now when it says that the demons
worshipped him, let us not think of that as spiritual worship,
the spiritual worship that flows from the renewed heart inspired
by the Holy Spirit, but rather this was a subjection to the
divine majesty that they recognised in this one Jesus of Nazareth. In Philippians chapter 2 verse
10 and verse 11, the apostle Paul writes there that, at the
name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth. and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. These demons had to acknowledge. They had to bow the knee. They had to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. So that's the first question.
Here's a second question. Why did the Lord ask this man
his name? Well, it wasn't for himself.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not need to know this man's name.
Not only do we call the Lord Omnipotent because he is all-powerful,
we call him Omniscient because he knows everything as well.
And the Lord Jesus Christ did not need to ask this man his
name in order to find out information or get details about the man
himself. Rather, the Lord Jesus Christ
asked this man's name in order to inform the disciples who were
watching what was happening. Remember what we've said about
the lessons that the disciples were being taught? The Lord asked
this man to give his name so that the disciples knew what
was happening here. Remember, we've been saying that
the Lord is teaching and preparing these disciples for their own
ministry. Well now, because of this incident,
this interaction, this detail, the disciples know that the demons
of hell must confess Christ's divinity and that they are in
their legions subject to him, not just one or one or two, but
in their legions, the very legions of the demons. The armies of hell are subject
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that name, legion, would
not be lost on Jews that were under Roman control. I looked
it up, because I just, didn't know off the top of my head.
But a legion comprised probably different times, different numbers.
But in the main, and at this time, the time of Christ, would
have comprised of between 5,000 and 6,000 men. So when this man calls himself
legion because we are many, there's a lot of demons in this man. And remember that Those demons
went out into 2,000 pigs that were on the side of the hill.
the disciples were being given a grasp, an insight. They were being informed as to
the true nature of this miracle and this work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that was the reason why the
Lord asked this man his name. The disciples were to be engaged
in building the Lord's church and gathering the elect into
the kingdom of God. And that was to be a spiritual
battle, not between God and Satan, as we've already said, but it
describes the attacks on the fortresses of the devil's possession
in this world, the inroads that would be made by gospel preaching
and gospel preachers who carry the fight to the very gates of
hell and beyond. Meaning that hell itself cannot
prevent the gathering in of the Lord's church, the gathering
in of the Lord's elect. That will take place. Matthew 16, verse 18 says, upon
this rock, we know who the rock is because we thought about that,
didn't we, a little bit earlier in the psalm that we read. Upon
this rock, I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. The disciples were learning about
their enemy, and the disciples were learning that they were
not to worry. about this enemy that they had
that possessed the souls of men and women because the Lord Jesus
Christ had control and power over that enemy and that enemy
was subject to him. If they went forth in the name
of Christ, that enemy would be subject to them also. Here's the third question. Why
did the demons ask to be sent into the herd of swine? Well,
I think that the answer to that question is simply this. In order
to cause as much loss and as much trouble and to do as much
damage as they could, particularly to do as much damage to the reputation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, as they could. That aim proved to be very successful
because we discover that the people of the city and the country
came and asked the Lord to leave when they saw what had happened
to those pigs, the swine. But let us not think that that
purpose or intention by the demons to go into the swine and then
kill the swine was lost on the Saviour. He wasn't taken by surprise
when that happened. Indeed, we may well deduce that
the Lord permitted it knowing precisely what they would do. with a view once more of again
teaching the disciples a lesson concerning the true destructive
nature of these demonic creatures. These demons had brought this
man to the feet of Christ and caused him to kneel down there. answered the Lord's question
when He demanded of them who they were. They had acknowledged
Him as Jesus the Lord, the Son of the Most High God. Was there anything to worry about
with these demons? Well, the Lord showed his disciples
that there was, that they would nevertheless cause as much damage
and destruction and difficulty for the gospel of Jesus Christ
as they were able to do. The nature of the devil and the
nature of the devil's angels is to hurt and to humble and
to destroy the handiwork of God. Satan doesn't love mankind, but
being himself consigned to hell and knowing that he's going there,
he seeks to take with him as many as possible, wreaking as
much havoc as possible in the process. And that's what the
disciples had to learn. There is a lesson here for the
disciples and there's a lesson for the church of all ages too. There's a lesson in this for
you and me. We've not to deal with the devil. Now that might
sound silly, right? There's a little phrase, isn't
there, about dancing with the devil. We're not to deal with
the devil. We don't strike bargains. with something that is a lie.
We don't make a deal with something that is false. We don't engage
with false doctrine, for example. We do not compromise the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ and the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to stand for what is right
and what is true and what is holy. We are built on the foundation
of Christ and we're built on the gospel of free and sovereign
grace. Now it might appear that for
short term convenience and to gain influence that we might
become a little bit less dogmatic, a little bit more compliant. a little bit more compromised
with the ideas and attitudes that are in the world. Make the
church more like the world in order to win the world into the
church. But such a process will always
prove vain because it is built on a deceit. If we compromise
our doctrine, If we entertain sinners in order to enlarge a
congregation, it won't end well. Remember this, there is not one
more nor one less of God's people going to be in heaven. There
will not be one more who will be saved as a result of all the
compromises in the world. And there will not be one less
if we stay true to the Gospel as the Lord Jesus Christ has
delivered it to us. We preach the whole counsel of
God. We preach Jesus Christ crucified. We preach the efficacy of the
blood. We use the language of Zion to
describe the work of grace and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And
God will honour that because by that means He is gathering
His people. The Lord knows them that are
his, and he gathers his church upon the ground of truth. Why did the people of the country
ask the Lord to leave? Well, what can I say but that
they would rather have pigs than God. They would rather have swine
than the presence of Jesus Christ. That is a fearsome situation
to be in. When that demoniac roamed on
the mountainside and amongst the tombs, when he roamed the
land and the countryside and the cities of these people and
attacked them as they travelled, they tied him up and they held
him down. They failed to control him, but
they felt that they could control him in part. They felt that if
they could manage to bind him, then at least they were in some
way able to protect and preserve themselves and control the situation. But Jesus was different. Here,
in the person of Jesus, was raw, transforming power, and it made
them afraid. If Jesus being in their company,
in their presence, in their midst, meant that they didn't have their
pigs, it was a price too high for them to pay. You think that's
mad? You think that's mad that somebody
would rather trade pork belly for eternal life? Is that not exactly what the
natural man says constantly when he's faced with God's claims?
that he wants to have his own way? He wants to satisfy his
own desires? He wants to pursue his own lusts? Does he not look at the claims
of God and say the price is too high? The cost is too great. I would rather have my passions.
I would rather have my ignorance. I would rather have my own way,
my own life. I will not have this man to rule
over me. And if that's the situation with
the men and women of this world, was it not also the case with
you? This clearly shows the necessity
of divine grace and divine intervention. The Apostle Paul says in Romans
chapter eight, verse five, for they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. Literally, literally. And in verse 7 of the same chapter,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. These people in the land
of the Gadarenes exemplified these verses from Romans 8 precisely. And we return to the Lord's words
in John chapter 3, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. And what is this whole episode
except a case study for the disciples on the deceitful nature of the
heart of the natural man and the necessity of sovereign grace
when they took that message out into the world? Here's the fifth question and
our final one today. Why did the Lord send this man
back to his family? Well, In a sense, this is the
easiest question of all because the Lord himself gives us the
answer. He was sent back to tell his
friends about Christ's sovereign love and salvation by grace. And that was it. In Acts chapter
14, we're told that God has not left himself without a witness. Now, in the context of Acts chapter
14, it's the Apostle Paul that's speaking. And the context is
that merely the provision of good providences, the fact that
it rained, the fact that the sun shone, was enough to prove
the existence of God. But this isn't just simply good
providences. The witness that the Lord Jesus
Christ left there amongst the Gadarenes. was a fully-fledged gospel witness
to his grace and mercy. A man so transformed and converted
that the very presence of that individual amongst them spoke
of the power of Jesus Christ to change lives. And the man
was told Tell them about my compassion. Tell them about my love for you.
Tell them that it was my love that brought me here to save
your soul. This man was sent back to the
land of the Gadarenes and into the ten cities of Decapolis,
because that's what Decapolis means, ten cities. That's a region up to the north
of Galilee and Judea, right up as far as modern day Syria and
the city of Damascus. That was one of the 10 cities
of Decapolis. And you might say, well, this
man wasn't an apostle. He wasn't a disciple. He wasn't
even a preacher. He hadn't did any training. No,
no, but he was a child of God. He was a citizen of the kingdom
of God. He was a possessor of God's spirit. And he was a vessel of mercy. And he was able to tell what
he had seen and what he had heard. And after all, Is that not simply
what the apostles did? And is that not simply how grace
comes to a sinner? That a believer testifies of
what he has seen and heard of the Lord Jesus Christ? The apostle
John tells us in 1 John 1 verse 3, that which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you. that ye also may have fellowship
with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. What does Mark tell us here in
this passage? Mark chapter five, verse 20.
What does he tell us about the Gadarene demoniac as was? He said he's seated, he's in
his right mind, he's clothed. And he departed from the Lord
and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him. And all men did marvel. The great things that Jesus had
done for him. all the great things that the
Lord Jesus Christ has done for his people, the great things
that he has done for his church, the great things that he did
on the cross, the great things that he did for our deliverance,
for our liberty from the bondage of sin and Satan, and for setting
us free, and for rising again and bringing us into that liberty
of new life, and of setting forth for us that great eternal kingdom
where we shall be with Him for eternity. The great things that Jesus had
done for him. This man once wore the badge
of Satan and now he bore testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was an ornament a trophy of grace. And I dare say that all men did
indeed marvel, not least the Lord's disciples who had seen
the transformation of Legion there that day. And did not the Lord here explain
something about the nature of particular sovereign love when
he speaks about his compassion? Did he not speak here about a
love that goes and gets? A love that saves? Not a love
that offers salvation and pleads for man to accept salvation,
but a love that changes and a love that converts. Let us today marvel
with the men and women of Decapolis and the disciples of Jesus Christ
at such a God as this, who is able to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Here endeth the lesson. Amen.