I invite your attention to the
gospel according to Mark chapter 4. My text will be found in chapter
5, verses 1 through 20, but I'm going to begin reading
from the end of chapter 4. Locate Mark's Gospel, chapter
4, verse 35. And while you locate the passage,
let me recite something that I learned many, many years ago. "'Twas battered and scarred and
the auctioneer thought "'it's scarcely worth his while to spend
much time "'on the old violin, but held it up with a smile.
"'What am I bidding, good folks?' he cried. "'Who'll start the
bidding for me?' "'A dollar, a dollar, then two. "'Only two,
two dollars, and who'll make it three?' three dollars once
and three dollars twice and going for three but no from the room
far back a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow
and wiping the dust from the old violin and tightening the
loosened strings he played a melody pure and sweet like a caroling
angel sings The music stopped, and the auctioneer with a voice
now quiet and low said, what am I bid for the old violin,
holding it up with the bow? A thousand dollars, and who'll
make it two? Two thousand, and who'll make
it three? Three thousand once, and three thousand twice, and
going and gone, said he, and the people cheered. But some
of them cried. we do not quite understand. What
changed its worth?" Quick came the reply, the touch of the master's
hand. And many a man with life out
of tune, weary and worn in sin, is auctioned off to the thoughtless
crowd, much like the old violin, a mess of potage, a glass of
wine, a game, and he travels on. He is going once and going
twice, going and almost gone, till the Master comes and this
foolish crowd never will quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that is wrought by the touch of the Master's
hand. Mark's Gospel, chapter 4. Jesus is in the region of Galilee. As you probably remember, the
land of the Jews was divided into three sections. In the south
was Judea, primarily the tribal holding of the tribe Judah. Up
to the north, around the Sea of Galilee, was Galilee of the
Gentiles. Most of the other tribes lived
there. Between the two, Galilee to the north, Judah to the south, was Samaria. Jesus has been ministering in
Galilee and he wants to go to the other side. He's going to
go to the eastern shore of Galilee and that would have been mostly
Gentile area known as Gadara And in Gadara was Decapolis,
meaning ten cities. There were ten cities of the
Romans in Decapolis on the east shore of the Jordan River. And Jesus is going to go over
to that side of the Sea of Galilee. He says in verse 35, And the
same day when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass
over unto the other side.' And when they had sent away the multitude,
they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also
with them other little ships. And there arose a great storm
of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now
full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose,
and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.
And the wind ceased, and there was a great call. And he said
unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What
manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Chapter 5. And they came over
unto the other side of the sea, 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 at 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, Jesus, said unto him,
Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.' And he asked him, What
is thy name? And he, the man, answered, said,
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, or demons,
besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter
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 2,000 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 legions sitting
and clothed and in his right mind 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 coming
to 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 great things Jesus had done for him, and all
men did marvel. I want us to look at that subject
of Jesus saves the gathering demoniac. There was a reason
why I read the last part of chapter 4 before reading the account
of this gathering. We'll come to that in a moment.
But I want us to consider these points regarding the salvation
of this gathering demoniac. First, consider this Gadarene
was a pathetic man. Second, Jesus went to this pathetic
man. Third, this pathetic man saw
Jesus from afar. Fourth, this man came to Jesus
out of the tombs. Fifth, he ran to Jesus. Sixth, he worshiped Jesus. Seventh, He was afterward found
to be sitting and clothed than in his right mind. Eighth, he
who had been demon-possessed begged Jesus that he might be
with him. Ninth, but Jesus had a greater
purpose for this saved man. Tenth and last, the saved man
witnessed of his Lord and Savior. Now, this account is in three
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is not found in John. You
will observe when reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke that they generally
record the same events. John does not. John records much of what happened
with Jesus down around Jerusalem. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record
much of what happened with this ministry up in Galilee. And they
often record the same events, not the exact same words, for
which reason these three are known as the Synoptic Gospels. Synoptic means same eye. It is
though the same eye has looked. Three men have used the same
eye and wrote what they saw. They write the same things, the
details are usually the same, the words are not exactly the
same, but you will notice that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record
this event, John does not. Mark and Luke speak of one demoniac,
Matthew speaks of two, there's no contradiction. Mark and Luke probably spoke
of the more prominent of the two demoniacs, but neither of
them says there was only one. There evidently were two, but
we're reading about the more prominent of the two. Consider
that Jesus is here gone to the place of the Gadarenes. That name Gadarenes is generally
thought to mean reward at the end. That was true on this occasion
At the end of this trip to Gadara, there was a great reward given
mercifully and graciously, but the worst citizen in the entire
place, the most pathetic man in the entire place, he's been
graciously rewarded with the greatest salvation and deliverance
from Satan and his hellish fans. Consider, first of all, that
this Gadarene was a pathetic man. We read in verse 2 that
he had an unclean spirit. More than that, he had demons. More than that, he was demon-possessed. 2,000 of them, or so they said. 2,000 of them, a legion, many,
many in one man. Now you can imagine, one demon
is bad enough, but this man has 2,000 inside of him. His demons
possessed, they control him. They control not only his actions,
but even his words. Did you notice that when Jesus
would ask him questions, the demons answered with his mouth? The man's mouth was moving and
the demons were speaking through it. He's possessed of them. He's controlled of them. Now
let me say this. Thankfully, demon possession
is not nearly as prevalent today, if it is prevalent at all in
this day and age. There's reason for that. Jesus said that he had cast out
Satan and his demons. Angels and authorities and powers
have been made subject to him. Satan does not have nearly the
control over people that he once had. Satan is now Jesus' devil. Got him on his chain and lets
him go on as far as he will. I say that because Some of us
may remember, and I can remember quite vividly, when I was associated
with the Jesus people and we used to do some exorcising and
casting out of demons. The people doing the casting
out probably were worse off than the people we claimed to be healing.
But anyway, demon possession was very prevalent then, not
now. thanks to what our Lord has done,
demons having been made subject to him. But this man had an unclean
spirit. These demons possessed, they
controlled him. Second, he possessed this unclean
spirit for a long time, a long time. We're not told how long,
but his reputation was far and wide. Third, he wore no clothes. He's unashamed of his shame.
When Adam and Eve realized they were naked, they at least tried
to make some clothes. They were ashamed of their shame,
but not this man. He's unashamed of his shame. Fourth, he had his dwelling among
the tombs, lived among the dead. Well, that's about where all
of us live by nature. We are spiritually dead. This
world is a spiritual graveyard. We're kind of like this man.
We dwell among the dead by nature. Number five, he dwelt away from
the city, nor did he live in a house. Well, he was very far
from the city of God and very far from the house of God. Number six, he was exceedingly
fierce, Matthew 8, 28, so that no one could pass that way. He
was a peril to everyone who came down the road. People stayed
away from where he was because he was a terror and a peril. Number six, he was exceedingly
fierce so that no one could pass that way. Number seven, no one could bind
him, not even with chains because he had often been bound with
shackles and chains and the chains had been pulled apart from him
and the shackles broken in pieces. Now I want you to understand
something about the power of the devil. I can remember again
back in my Pentecostal days, I was a song leader in a charismatic
church. It was my job to get things worked
up for the preacher. And when I could get the congregation
worked up enough, he'd just let me know. I could step aside.
So we used to do these little physical exercises, all right? I'm leading them. Give the devil
a black eye. We'd all pull our fists back
and give the devil a black eye. Now stomp on the devil. We'd
all stomp on the devil. We'd do a little victory dance
around him. And all the time, the devil's
over in the corner just laughing his fool head off at these people
who think they can do what they want to do to him. Folks, don't
mess with him. Resist the devil and he will
flee. But these people talking about
going up and giving the devil a black eye and stomping him
in the ground. Yeah, right. The devil's going
to get the last laugh in this instance. Number eight, nor could
anyone tame him. Moral persuasion from men to
him was as useless as their physical force. They tried to rehabilitate
him, tried to make him good, tried to teach him good manners. No. He'll break your chains and
he'll break your resolve to do everything else you can. Number
nine, he was miserable and self-destructive. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out in misery,
not joy, and cutting himself with stones. Folks, this was
a miserable and pathetic man. Number ten, he was helpless to
remedy his plight. He was under Satan's control,
and his diabolical master would not release him. His will was
subject to Satan's will, and his own will could not go contrary
to his diabolical master's will. He had no free will. His will
is in bondage, and Satan's got him, and the demons are in control. Second main point, Jesus went
to this pathetic man. Verse 1, then they, Jesus with
his disciples, came to the other side of the sea, to the country
of the Gadarenes. Notice he did not stay there
long. He landed. He did what he went to do. Then
the people said, you may leave. So he left. He just passed through. He must needs go through Samaria
because there's a woman waiting on him at a well. He must needs
go into Gadara because there's a man in a cemetery waiting for
him to show up. Our Lord went to him. The demoniac
is not going to come to Jesus. Jesus must go to him. He crossed
the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a great storm just to be there. Jesus went to the pathetic man. Oh, we will not go to him. Oh, that he might come to us.
And if he comes to us, something good is going to happen. Main
point number three, this pathetic man saw Jesus from afar. Now watch this, verse six. He
saw Jesus from afar. That is in verse 6. But in verse
number 1, we read these words. When they came over into the
other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, when
he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out
of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Now consider. We read
he saw Jesus from a long way off, but as soon as Jesus touched
the shore, he's there. He's there. How did he see Jesus from afar
when he was at the shore as soon as Jesus landed? It appears that when he first
saw Jesus, it's during that storm on the Sea of Galilee. From afar,
from afar, up on the mountain, he sees that storm. It is a horrendous
storm on the Sea of Galilee. He's watching that storm. It
appears he's watching that storm and all of a sudden, it stopped! And you have to wonder what's
going through his mind when he sees that there's a storm on
the sea and it's stopped. What can that mean? And then
in the stillness of the water, no wind blowing, he sees a boat coming to shore. Did he wonder? If there was someone
in that boat who had caused the sea to be steeled, did he wonder? He had seen something miraculous
happen. Did the man who caused that storm
to start, is he in that boat? If he can bring such peace to
a sea of Galilee, he can bring peace into my being. Saw Jesus from afar off, and
as soon as Jesus lands, there he is. There he is, waiting on
Jesus. We can only imagine what all
was involved in that. There evidently is a reason why
that we're told Jesus was on the Sea of Galilee in a storm
and then we read of that storm there in the country of Gadara. But I will tell you this much,
the first time you ever see Jesus, it will be from afar. It will
be from afar. We have by nature wandered as
far from Jesus as we can in our depravity. We are estranged from
the womb and going further and further from him every day. But if we ever see Jesus, it
will be from afar. And we will make our way to him
by faith. Now let me tell you something
about making this step by faith. When you come to Jesus, it will
be the longest trip you ever made, because you are as far
from Him as you can be. When you take the first step
to Jesus, you're there. The longest trip you'll ever
take, and you'll take it in one step. We're told this man saw
Jesus from afar, and when Jesus lands on the shore, there he
is waiting for him. We will see Jesus from afar, and when he lands, we'll be waiting
for him. We complete this journey in one
step immediately. Number four, this man came to
Jesus out of the tombs. Coming out of the tombs, we read
in Matthew 8, 28. That was his place of residence. He lived in a cemetery. He had
more in common with the dead than he did with the living.
That's you and me. If we ever come to Jesus, we'll
come out of the tombs. We are by nature dead in trespasses
and sins. This world is a cemetery, folks. It's a cemetery full of dead people. That's where
we live. If we ever come to Jesus, it'll
be out of the tombs. Number five, he ran to Jesus. Now, some have surmised he ran
to Jesus to inflict physical harm upon him, but That does
not appear to be the case. His physical actions had been
controlled by the demons. The demons knew who was stepping
out of that boat. They knew! They did not want
this man anywhere near Jesus. And yet, the man ran to Jesus. It appears here was one action
that even the demons could not control. He ran to Jesus, not to inflict
physical harm upon him. The demons wanted this man as
far from Jesus as he could be, but there he is. How can this
be? They would want him to run away
from Jesus. How is it that he could run to
Jesus? I'll tell you. Jesus says, no
man can come to me unless the Father draws him. The demons
are trying to drive him away, and the Father is drawing him.
If the Father draws you to Jesus, the devil and all his demons
cannot keep you away. The Father is drawing, and here
he comes. He's running to Jesus. When God
draws us to Jesus, we run to him. The Shulamite says, draw
me, we will run after you. Well, here he is, he's running
to Jesus. Jesus' boat is approaching the
shore and look, out of the mountains and out of the tombs, here comes
this man, he's running to where the boat is going to hit the
shore. Number six, he worshiped Jesus. Verse 6, now that Greek
word translated worship means to make obeisance to, do reverence
to. It denotes falling prostrate,
falling prostrate. Jesus steps out of the boat and
here is a man who has fallen prostrate before him. His acknowledging Jesus as his
Lord and rendering to him the homage Jesus deserves. And if you ever are drawn to
Jesus, you'll stop worshiping the God of this age and fall
down and worship Jesus. I've heard some say you may have
Jesus for your Savior, but not your Lord. Not true. Jesus will not save you until
you fall to his Lordship. He is Lord and Savior. This man has come for salvation
to Jesus, and what does he do? Prostrate before him, acknowledging
the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Number seven, He was afterward
found to be sitting and clothed and in his right mind. That is one of the sweetest expressions
you'll find in this entire chapter. Sitting, clothed, and in his
right mind. That is rarely found to be among
normal people. This man was a demoniac! And here he is, sitting, clothed,
and in his right mind. Jesus had done what Satan and
his demons refused to do, what men had failed in their attempts
to do, What cannot be done by man-made religion or ethical
morality and what this man could not do for himself. He is sitting,
clothed, and in his right mind. All right. All three expressions
are worthy of our consideration. Sitting. Sitting. What was his posture before?
Running. Running. He was running here,
he was running there, running up and down the mountains, running
after this traveler, whirling up and down that road, running
everywhere he went. And here he's sitting. Oh, what
a change has been wrought when Jesus comes. He's sitting. Not only that, he's sitting at
the feet of Jesus. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. like a pupil before his teacher,
like a congregant in the worship service, like those who reign
with Jesus. This man is sitting at the feet
of Jesus. Is there a better place to sit?
I think not. He's sitting at the feet of Jesus. He's clothed. He's clothed. Before time, he wore no clothes. exposed his shame to all, but
now he's wearing clothes. Where'd they come from? I don't
know. We're not told, but they're there. Well, if Jesus can steal
the storm and cure the demoniac, I'm sure he can find some clothes. This man is clothed. He is sitting
and he is clothed. But more important than his physical
clothes were his spiritual clothes. He could now say, I will greatly
rejoice in Jehovah. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
has covered me with his righteousness. This man is clothed in Christ,
for Jesus is our salvation and he is our righteousness. He's
got on the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness.
Not only is he clothed physically, but he's More importantly, clothed
spiritually. Alright. He's sitting. He's clothed and in his right
mind. He is no longer out of his mind. Pardon me. He is no longer in
his wrong mind as he was when the demons were in control. He's
now in his right mind. What is it being in your right
mind? It is to have the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in
you. This man now was Christ-minded,
having the dispositions and the thoughts of Jesus Christ. You are in your right mind if
you think the way he does, if you have the mind of Christ.
He was now sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed in Jesus, and
possessing the mind of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is before him,
upon him, and within him. That's the most glorious change
you can imagine, folks. What a difference. Number eight,
he who had been demon-possessed begged Jesus that he might be
with him. Here's a great token of his gratitude
to his Savior. He acknowledges he has been saved
and delivered. He says, I want to be with you.
I want to stay with you. We have no confidence in the
professional faith of those who claim they've been saved by Jesus,
but they don't care to be with him. Do not care to attend the
worship services where he's worshipped. Do not care to fellowship with
his people. Do not care to be with him. This
man wanted to be with Jesus. Let me be with you. Jesus is
getting ready to go. The man wants to get on the ship
and go with Jesus. Jesus said no. Jesus had a greater
purpose for this saved man, verse 19. However, Jesus did not permit
him but said to him, go home to your friends and tell them
what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had
compassion on you. Now consider, he wants to go
with Jesus and Jesus says, no, you go back home. You tell them
what great things the Lord has done for you. This is the duty
of every sinner saved by Jesus. Be a witness of God's compassion
upon you. What did he do? Now watch very
carefully. Watch very carefully. Jesus said,
you go home and tell people what the Lord, what God has done for
you. You just go back into Decapolis,
go to your hometown, go around and you tell people what God
has done for you. What did he do? Last point, he departed and began
to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. I think this man knew something.
I think he knew quite a bit. Jesus said, you go tell them
what God has done for you. So he went and told them what
Jesus did. There's no contradiction. If you tell what Jesus has done
for you, you have told what God has done for you. Now, can you
imagine what happened when he did so? He goes home. He probably had a family. He had not seen them for a long
time. And here he comes walking down
the street toward the house from which he had departed so many,
such a long time ago. Children playing in the yard.
And the wife sees her husband coming. She knows
what a mad man he is, even if he's wearing clothes. She tells
the children, come, come, come, get into the house, get into
the house. Daddy, the mad man is coming. And he says, no wifey. Let me
tell you what Jesus did for me. He went home, told his family
what Jesus had done. Look, I'm clothed. I'm no longer
a madman. I am in my right mind. I wanted
to tell you what Jesus has done for me. He walked down the street and
the neighbors see him coming and they get their chains out,
thinking they may have to lash him and see if they can bind
him. And he said, no, no, no. Things are different. Let me
tell you what Jesus has done for me. Folks, that's all he
requires of us. I can do that much. You can do
that much. Let me tell you what Jesus did
for me. It may be that after the Lord
has saved you, you go back to work and People say, you know,
there's something different about you. Oh, there is. Let me tell
you what Jesus did for me. You may meet folk you've not
seen for many years and you're just kind of different. Let me
tell you what Jesus has done for me. That's all witnessing
is, folks. The Lord does not call you to
go knocking on people's houses and say, let me preach a message
to you. No. But when the opportunity arises,
Let me tell you what Jesus has done for me. And that's what he did. Come
and hear and I will declare what he has done for my soul. My soul
shall make its boast in Jehovah, the humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Lawless men, Jesus says, like
to tell you what they have done for the Lord. saved people wanted
to tell you what He has done for them. And oh God our Father,
we've got so much to tell. Bunch of mad people we were.
Madly driven in our sins until you came to where we were and
drew us to you. And we saw you from afar and
came running to you in faith and you delivered us and you
healed us and now here we are sitting and clothed and in our
right mind desiring to be with you knowing that one day when
this life is over we shall be but until that day we can tell
others what you've done for us hear our prayer Save us, save
our children. To your glory in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.