Real Jesus - *Missing Audio*

[0:00] through to chapter 5 verse 20. Two amazing, extraordinary things happen in these events. Thanks Jeff. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side.

[0:20] Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious school came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

[0:33] Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher, don't you care if you drown? He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, quiet, be still. And then the wind died down, and it was completely calm.

[0:49] He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified, and asked each other, who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.

[1:03] They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.

[1:19] For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons off his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

[1:36] When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

[1:47] Swear to God that you won't torture me. For Jesus had said to him, Come out of this man, you evil spirit. And then Jesus asked him, What is your name?

[1:59] My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.

[2:11] The demons begged Jesus, Send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

[2:27] Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and the countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

[2:44] Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.

[3:00] Jesus did not let him, but said, Go home to your family. And tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. So the man went away, and began to tell in the Decapolis, how much Jesus had done for him.

[3:13] And all the people were amazed. Thanks very much, Jez. Well, please keep your Bibles open. And there's sheets there if anybody likes to take notes.

[3:43] There's a pen. Kirstie's there, handing them out at the front. Just put your hand up if you'd like one. Keep your Bibles open at Mark. Chapter 4, these two amazing stories.

[3:54] And we're going to look at them together. One of the reasons why we're looking at Mark's Gospel together is to prepare us as, in the new year in January, we're going to be looking at Christianity Explored.

[4:14] It's a study to help people understand who Jesus is. So we'll just be looking at that in the new year. So let's pray and ask for God's help as we look at this together.

[4:35] Our Father, we thank you for your word for the Bible. We thank you for these amazing events that are recorded for us, to teach us and to show us who Jesus is.

[4:48] We pray that we will see clearly who he is and what he has come to do. That we would welcome him and accept him. And we ask, above all, that you would change us by your power to be more like himself, more like the Lord Jesus.

[5:10] We pray for your spirit to be at work amongst us all. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Mark begins his Gospel, if you remember, like this in chapter 1, verse 1.

[5:25] The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's what we call Jesus Christ.

[5:37] So as we read through the book of God, it's a little bit like a sub-temporary, or a biologist, who Jesus is, and what things are going to be.

[5:48] He sees that we've come across. As Jesus meets people, as he begins to talk to people, and he interacts with people, he sees another piece of the picture, which gives us a glimpse into the heart, and the blood of Jesus.

[6:06] And the picture that we've been doing so far is that Jesus is God's face, which is in three power and power to be. He is coming to the world and he comes to the border of the cross, and he comes to the world, and through his words, in his spoken voice, he is coming to the storm in me what has been broken.

[6:32] And in the next few incredible things, he comes to the world. It's all subject to the creation. And he sees, he was expected by the same people of the world, and he tells us, he is the spirit.

[6:49] He is the spirit, and he tells us what Jesus does. And of course, the whole purpose of this is not just to give you information for money, but it can help us to engage in the real universe that we have come to, confront us as we are, to our human beings.

[7:11] So let's look at the same in the first place. First, we see, we see something of the same one. I don't know if we've ever seen in the school.

[7:25] It's a very unique, terrified experience. We've all our hundred and many, not going to be the same. But we all are hundred and many, and we have probably from the right place, from the right place, in Central America, to a mutual island of the trust.

[7:45] And we all are thankful to the next few hours, because there's eight hours, which is four million, and we have to meet. Because we get it, like we've seen the breakfast store, and we've seen the civil war show, we explain our lives to the time, and we are hanging on to the real life under the territory.

[8:04] We saw this in the way to God, in the midst of it. the real life and the things of the land of the fear, of noogi, of no Flint and the tenths, of an instant.

[8:21] And we have seen the future before the future and in life and the little thing in life that we are watching that. I've seen the earthly When the לא� commencer, Thank you.

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[14:38] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[14:50] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[15:04] Thank you. Why are you so afraid? Do you still have your faith?

[15:16] Because the disciples have really found the reality that God is in the boat. Because if we know the true identity of Jesus, then here is the spell from all of us.

[15:36] If Jesus is in control of the universe, if he is with it all into his history, if he controls the sun, if he controls the moon, the light, the light, the light, and the light, if he is here, if he controls every detail that happens in our universe, why do we hear?

[15:55] Why are we afraid? Why are we afraid? Why are we afraid? What happens when we face our face? We are afraid.

[16:07] We worry, don't we? When we don't have faith in this awesome God, we worry. We get stressed, and we get anxious.

[16:20] We get overwhelmed. We get concerned about, am I going to have a job? Am I not going to have a job? What about my children? Am I going to get sick? Am I going to get well? What's going to happen in two weeks' time?

[16:30] What's going to happen in three years' time? Am I going to have a tension? Am I worried, worried, worried? And we panic, and we make ourselves sick, and we make ourselves unwell. That's what worry does. We have no faith, so we worry.

[16:45] We get anxious. Maybe the other response is this. We control. We try and change our circumstances. We try to control situations.

[16:59] We begin to manipulate people. We try to get them to do things the way we want them to do it. We try to change people to bring some kind of order into our lives.

[17:11] And we're getting frustrated and annoyed and angry. We're getting frustrated. We're getting frustrated. We're getting frustrated. You see, if you are a warrior, if we are controllers, perhaps it's because we're living in fear instead of living in faith in Jesus, who is God, who controls the universe and controls your life.

[17:40] And those who do have faith in Jesus are not immune to sickness or tragedy or disaster. The storms will come, and he promised us they will come.

[17:51] We're not immune to suffering. But what we do know from this story is that Jesus is present with us in every storm of life that we go through.

[18:03] And he is the God who's in control of the universe. You might otherwise understand why, but he is there and he's in control. So why? We still have no fear.

[18:17] Why do we get so afraid? Suffer the God who is in control of the universe. That's scene one.

[18:30] Scene two. What Jesus does. We leave one storm and we enter into another storm. The violence that was present out on the lake is now present inside a man.

[18:47] Look at verse two. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tomb to meet him. This man lived in the tomb.

[18:58] This was at a graveyard out on the hill and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been changed hands and foot, but he tore the chains apart and he broke irons on his feet.

[19:12] No one was strong enough to subdue him. The word there to subdue is one that describes trying to tame a wild animal. That's what he was like, a madman, out of control and nobody could tame him.

[19:28] Not only is he a problem to the local community and to his family, he's actually a danger to himself. Look at first time. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and get stones and cut himself with the stones.

[19:47] In his anguish he begins to self-harm. It's a way of communicating emotional distress. I just read up a little bit about self-harm and this is what it says.

[20:04] It's a way of communicating. It says, the body becomes like a public notice board where the scars and the wounds on the body reflect the pain or the distress the person is feeling that they can't verbally communicate.

[20:22] And this is what this man is doing. His life is a living hell and the only comfort that he's got are these roaming pigs. He's lonely and he's tortured and he's been shut out of society.

[20:37] His home is a graveyard. That's where he lives. Left to die a miserable death. It's a desperate picture of mankind at his worst.

[20:49] Broken and ruined with chaos and disorder ruling his life. And yet he is powerful. He's powerful to break chains and ropes that people try to bind him with.

[21:02] but he's powerless to change his own life. And no matter what people try to do they can do nothing for him.

[21:16] It's not hard for us to imagine people's lives in such a mess. Demon possession is not so common in our culture.

[21:26] It's common in many cultures. but within our culture people still live with terrible darkness and disorder in their life. Lives are broken and shattered by the choices that they have made and because of the actions done to other people.

[21:45] And as a result of it addictive patterns form and abusive relationships begin and lonely and tortured people begin to respond with things like self-harm or worse suicide and it reflects the deep pain and the distress that people are in and you'll find stories like this all over Cork and all over Ireland.

[22:12] Ireland has one of the highest rates of suicide in Europe amongst young people. And self-harm is becoming more and more regular with young people who are in distress and don't know how to say how they're feeling and what they're thinking in their lives.

[22:33] People's lives are in darkness and disorder. And like the disciples in the storm and this man with an inner storm inside his life were powerless powerless to change what's going on.

[22:52] That is until he meets Jesus. Verse 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance he ran and he fell on his knees in front of him and he shouted at the top of his voice what do you want with me Jesus son of the most high God?

[23:09] ironically the disciples who spent all their time with Jesus and seen him cast out many demons seen him healing the sick they're still asking the question who is this?

[23:29] But Jesus comes to this man and with the demons in him they recognise who he is and he cries out Jesus son of the most high God this is the supreme power and authority the one who controls the entire universe and he comes and he falls down on his knees before Jesus in complete submission and he cries out in mercy to him look at the rest of verse 7 swear to God or by God because you are God don't torture me don't ruin me in Jesus he knows that he holds this power power to break his life or power to perhaps change his life and as the story unfolds we get to see what Jesus does Jesus is God who transforms broken lives the same power that

[24:37] Jesus shows over nature he now shows over an individual's life because he's come to transform people where we are powerless and helpless the good news of Jesus breaks through and we have the most extraordinary scene here as Jesus commands the demons out of the man look at verse 11 a large herd of pigs were feeding on the nearby hillside and the demons begged Jesus send us among the pigs let us go into them he gives them permission and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs the herd about 2000 in number rushed down the steep bank and into the lake and were drowned and now most of us get troubled with this section of the story don't we the poor pigs the animal rights activists are up in arms those cute little pink animals with their curly tails and floppy ears

[25:40] Jesus has just killed these poor little pigs the local economist is joining in as well because each of those pigs represented a few months wages and now they've all gone like lemmings over the edge of the cliff clearly pigs don't what's going on well if we try to figure out what happened to the poor pigs it's to completely lose the focus of the story because to Jesus the rescue and restoration of one single person is far more valuable than the lost of huge wealth the story is not interested in the pigs the story is about Jesus who is interested in people in his mercy and in his grace Jesus has gone out of his way to go where everybody else runs away from this man is living he's a gentile he's unclean nobody wants to be near him he's living in an unclean area the graveyard he's with unclean animals the pigs everybody runs away from him he's mad he's crazy but

[26:55] Jesus in his mercy and his grace goes out of his way deliberately to meet this man he has come to redeem us and to welcome us back into his family and to restore us verse 14 stars in those tending ones those tending the pigs ran off and reported this to the town and the countryside and the people went out to see what had happened and when they came to Jesus they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there dressed and in his right mind for me this is one of the most beautiful pictures of the whole of Mark's gospel picture that man in verses 2 and 3 broken cutting himself with stones and now restored sitting with Jesus and in his right mind once naked going mad now closed because being clothed by another was a sign of adoption and Jesus is doing that for this man he's making him clean he's adopting him he's welcoming into Jesus' family because he's come to transform broken lives and fix them up we've got to ask ourselves the question do we accept or do we reject this Jesus?

[28:45] knowing what Jesus does in people's lives demands a response from each one of us verse 15 let's read that again when they came to Jesus they saw this man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there dressed and in his right mind and they were afraid they're not unlike the disciples it seems they're more afraid of Jesus now than they were afraid of the demon possessed man why are they afraid of Jesus?

[29:23] how do they deal with this Jesus? well look at verse 17 then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave the region go away Jesus we don't want you here we would think that they would want him to stay and to transform other people and to bring his miracles into the lives of other people but the reality is they're more interested in property than people they don't know what Jesus is going to do or how he's going to upset their lives their own material wealth is of more value than the rescue and restoration of their own lives and we need to ask are we people who accept this Jesus are we with him in the kind of ministry that he's doing or do I just put my hand out to him and say no thanks stay away and the sign of those who have accepted Jesus are people who are going to be willing to release their finances and all of their resources to see the gospel spread to go and see it transform lives despite the impact it's going to have on your own life unlike the men here they didn't want Jesus because it was going to cost them too much if we reject Jesus we will be tight-fisted we will be caring more for our own livelihood today than the eternal destiny of others these two scenes the raging storm a violent graveyard they give us a picture a wonderful picture of who Jesus is and what Jesus does but you know what they also point forward to the greatest scene the big picture of Mark's gospel where it will all end

[31:27] Jesus' death on the cross both of these scenes are a little picture of what the cross talks about because at the cross Jesus would enter into the ultimate storm he would go into the storm but this time he would go alone and on our behalf he was going to face the storm of God's wrath and God's judgment for our sin and he would satisfy that wrath on our behalf and he would bring for all those who would trust him a calmness into our lives he would still that storm in our lives and he would take away the fear of death so that we can live our life calm and at peace because Jesus took on the storm that we could never take on but not only that Jesus would enter a more violent grave than the graveyard we read about in chapter 5 and he would go to that grave alone and he would experience not only death but he would experience hell itself so that we don't have to he would experience evil in its worst sense but three days later he would rise from the grave he would defeat death he would defeat the powers of evil and for all those who would accept him he would close with his righteousness and he would adopt and bring us into his family the power and the grace of Jesus is so extraordinary that if we would just come to him helpless and powerless and that's what we get with every person that Jesus meets who he heals and restores they all come saying helpless powerless and he will change and he will forgive and he will renew we might come to him like the rude disciples in the boat who shout who shout at Jesus don't you care if we drown but Jesus responds in grace and mercy or we might come like the man with the evil spirit who fell on his knees and in submission cries out don't harm me in these stories we meet a Jesus who goes out of his way and he has gone out of his way from heaven to earth to meet us to meet this world to speak his word of salvation into our lives and so we are called as his people to go out of our way to go and show people who Jesus is to go and show people what Jesus does to show the amazing transformation he can bring our hope is in Christ and in him alone let's pray when they came to Jesus they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there dressed and in his right mind our father we long that by your power you would reach into the lives of those who are broken who do not yet know you and we pray that you would transform them that people would come before you and submit to you and cry out helpless and powerless wanting you to change them please do your work in their lives and in our lives in Jesus name

[35:50] Amen what you like or to say like holding me perhaps the that procedures