Lord Over Demons

[0:00] Well, this summer, the Eldership Advisory Board and I are taking some extended time to evaluate church life here at Kingdom Life Church.

[0:13] ! And we're using a book titled What is a Healthy Church to help us to work through our thinking about what a healthy church is and is church life here at Kingdom Life healthy.

[0:28] And this book that we're using was written by Mark Dever. And what he has done is he's identified nine marks of healthy churches. And one of those marks is what is called expositional preaching.

[0:46] And expositional preaching simply is preaching that exposes God's word to the congregation. It is preaching that explains and then applies God's word to our lives.

[1:02] The opposite of expositional preaching is topical preaching where somebody takes the topic and they come to the Bible and find scriptures to support that topic and to support what they want to say about that topic.

[1:13] Well, if you've been around Kingdom Life for any reasonable period of time, you would know that our approach is not topical, but it is expositional.

[1:25] And so we would take whole books of the Bible or lengthy sections of the Bible. Lengthy sections would have been like last week when Shambi preached from Romans 1 and he preached on the wrath of God from Romans 1.

[1:42] And we would work through the book of the Bible as we're doing right now in the book of Mark. And we would explain it. We would try to apply it. One of the benefits of preaching expositionally, preaching through whole books of the Bible and explaining it and applying it, is that you don't get to avoid passages like the one we have come to this morning.

[2:13] When you do topical preaching, you can jump around a whole lot of texts. And there's some texts you'll never get to, but expositional preaching prevents that.

[2:27] You don't get around texts because those texts that we can easily avoid doing topical preaching are the word of God as well. And God has something to say to his people through those texts because he has included them in his word.

[2:41] So this morning we come to this passage on demon possession. We come to this passage about a man who was severely possessed by demons.

[2:52] And I think you all know that this is not a topic somebody will just go and say, I'm going to just preach on demon possession this morning. But we are addressing it because it is what we have come to in our sermon series in Mark.

[3:06] So if you have not yet done so, please turn in your Bible to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 5. And we are going to be reading verses 1 through 20.

[3:21] The Gospel of Mark, chapter 5. We begin in verse 1. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. So if you have another translation, yours will read slightly differently.

[3:39] They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. When Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him, out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.

[3:54] He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces.

[4:15] No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.

[4:33] And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.

[4:44] For he, meaning Jesus, was saying to him, the man with the unclean spirit, Come out of him.

[4:56] Actually, he was saying to the demon, Come out of him, you unclean spirit. And Jesus asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many.

[5:08] And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. And they begged him, saying, Send us to the pigs.

[5:22] Let us enter them. So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirit came out and entered the pigs and the herd.

[5:33] Numbering about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country.

[5:49] And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion, sitting there, closed and in his right mind.

[6:08] And they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

[6:23] As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.

[6:40] And how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.

[6:52] And everyone marveled. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you, Lord, that the entrance of your word brings light.

[7:06] And Father, we pray that as we attend to your word this morning, as we tune our hearts to hear your word.

[7:19] Father, we ask that you would prepare them and enable us to hear what you would say to us through this passage. Lord, would you protect us from distraction?

[7:30] Protect us from speculation? Would you protect us even from fear? And Lord, may we hear your word and your divine intent for this word being in our Bibles this morning.

[7:48] Lord, I pray that you would grant me much grace as I preach this morning. Help me to be faithful. Would you protect me from error?

[7:58] Would you protect me from excess? Would you help me to stay within the four corners of your word? Lord, and I pray that your Holy Spirit will grant illumination to us all, that we may comprehend the truth of your word.

[8:12] Father, we pray that you do these things and others that we are able to even articulate in this moment. All for your glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[8:23] Amen. I'm going to allow for questions and answers after the sermon. So if there are any questions that come to mind, please make a note of them. And you'll have an opportunity to ask them at the end.

[8:37] Demon possession. What comes to your mind when you hear those two words? What comes to mind? Imagine for some of us, what comes to mind is the fact that demon possession is fascinating.

[8:58] It's fascinating because it's about the supernatural. It's about the power of darkness and evil. Perhaps what comes to mind is the fact that demon possession is intriguing.

[9:09] It's intriguing because there's so much about it that we don't understand. Or maybe what comes to mind is the fact that demon possession is frightening.

[9:25] And if you've ever seen a person who was possessed by demons and seen demons manifest, or even heard someone give an eyewitness account of demonic activity in the life of a person, it can actually be quite frightening.

[9:45] But whatever comes to mind, whether you find the idea of demon possession to be fascinating or intriguing or frightening, when we consider this account of demon possession in Mark chapter 5, what is very evident is demon possession is heartbreaking.

[10:05] It's heartbreaking because it is about a person like me and you who is tormented and harassed by demons whose only goal is to destroy that person's life.

[10:22] And this account that we come to this morning in Mark's gospel is a vivid reminder of how heartbreaking demon possession can be.

[10:37] This man in Mark 5 is somebody's child. Perhaps he had brothers and sisters. Perhaps he was married and he had children.

[10:50] And he had friends. But here he is. He is separated from them. And from the text, it seems gradually so, because it seems that his demon possession increased over time.

[11:03] And he lives this life of isolation. He lives among the tombs. He lives among the dead. He's among decaying bodies. And it appears that he was this way for quite some time.

[11:22] And so why does Mark include this account of this man's demon possession in his gospel? Is it that Mark is just interested in telling us a fascinating or an intriguing or a frightening story?

[11:37] Why does he go into all the detail about this man's demon possession? And how Jesus delivered him? I think the answer to this question becomes easier if we remember that Mark is not just telling us the story.

[11:59] Mark is making an argument. Mark, like all the other gospel writers, is making an argument about Jesus Christ, his person and his work.

[12:11] And all the gospels end with, they end in the same way with Jesus hanging on a cross. Jesus being crucified. And it's important for the gospel writers to help us to see that this one who is crucified is no ordinary person.

[12:29] And so they labor at the beginning of their gospels to help us to see who this person is who eventually will be crucified.

[12:40] And Mark wants us to see that Jesus is indeed the Christ, that Jesus is indeed God in the flesh. And the reason is that if he was not God in the flesh, if he was not the Christ, then the one dying on the cross makes no difference to us.

[13:03] He's just an ordinary man. And his death is just another death. So Mark labors to help us to see this point.

[13:21] In Mark chapter 4, starting at verse 35, we see Mark telling us about Jesus calming a ferocious storm.

[13:33] A storm that was so ferocious that seasoned fishermen like Peter and James and John thought they were going to perish.

[13:45] Jesus calms the storm. And the Bible says in verse 41 that they were more afraid after he calmed the storm than he was, than they were during the storm. And then in Mark chapter 5, we see this account of Jairus' daughter who was sick.

[14:07] And how Jesus, she eventually died. And then we also have the account of the woman with the issue of blood. For 12 years, this woman had a hemorrhaging. And she had gone to doctors, spent everything she had, and nobody could help her.

[14:23] And then Jairus' daughter, she not only was sick, but she eventually died. And we see all these accounts together. We see, together with that, is this situation with this man who was demon-possessed.

[14:40] And we're able to see that Jesus was lord over the storm. We're able to see that Jesus was lord over the sickness of this woman who had been sick for 12 years.

[14:50] We're able to see that Jesus was lord over death because he raised Jairus' daughter from the dead. And now, what Mark wants us to see in this account of this demon-possessed man, is Jesus is lord over demons.

[15:06] That's the point that Mark wants us to see. He wants us to see that Jesus is lord over demons. If this account that Mark gives us in Mark 5, 1 through 20, were a drama, it would have three scenes.

[15:24] The first scene would be the demon-possessed man and the life that he lived among the tombs, isolated from everyone and unable to be restrained. The second scene would show the man being delivered by Jesus and the demons going into the pigs.

[15:40] And then the third scene would show the reaction of the people in the town and in the country when they saw what happened and when they heard what had happened.

[15:50] And so what I've done this morning is I've organized my thoughts around those three scenes. So first let's consider the demon-possessed man and the enslaving power of demons.

[16:06] The enslaving power of demons. Mark tells us in verse 2 that this man, sorry, that Jesus entered into a Gentile region, the region of the Gerasenes. And we know this right away because of the presence of pigs.

[16:19] Pigs would not have been animals that Jews would rare. But in this region, this Gentile region, there would be the rearing and the eating of pigs.

[16:34] And so Jesus is met by this man who comes out of the tombs and we're told in verse 2 that he has an unclean spirit. And again, right away we're able to see the enslaving power of demons based on how this man lived.

[16:48] Isolated in the graveyard, living in tombs among dead bodies. Instead of living with his family. And we see in verse 3 that we see this statement that no one could tame him anymore.

[17:02] So it seems like at some point, or at some point, they were able to restrain him. We're told that they put chains on him. But eventually he would break the chains off.

[17:15] And now we read in verse 3, And no one could bind him anymore. So they got to a point where they just gave up on this man. They stopped trying to chain him because he was breaking the chains.

[17:26] And I think it points to the fact that his demon possession was increasing. They were not able to chain him anymore.

[17:39] He would just break the shackles and the chains that they would place on him. And Mark wants us to see this point. So he tells us in verse 4, No one had the strength to subdue him.

[17:53] No one. No one had the strength to subdue him. And I want you to see that Mark is pretty much painting a desperate situation.

[18:06] Just like the woman with the issue of blood. For 12 years she had gone to doctors, spent everything that she had. And you know that if doctors could have healed her in 12 years, they would have. She was a hopeless case.

[18:16] Jairus' daughter was dead. When you're dead, you're beyond human ability to help. And here it is, this man, this town has given upon him.

[18:30] And the verdict is, no one had the strength to subdue him. And so we're told in verse 5, That night and day this man would be among the tombs on the mountains.

[18:42] And he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. Now, when we encounter this man for the first time in verse 2, We're told that he has an unclean spirit.

[19:00] But it becomes very clear that this man does not just have an unclean spirit. This man had many more. In verse 9, when Jesus asked him his name, he says, My name is Legion, for we are many.

[19:17] And a legion, a Roman legion of soldiers, was 6,000 soldiers. And it's hard to tell whether this man was literally possessed by 6,000 demons.

[19:31] It would certainly appear that he was possessed by thousands of demons. Because, again, if you look at verse 15, it says, And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, The one who had the legion, in the legion of demons.

[19:47] And then, obviously, he goes into a herd of about 2,000. These demons go into a herd of about 2,000 pigs. And it doesn't mean one demon for one pig any more than it meant that this one man could have all these demons.

[20:00] And so, the pigs, obviously, some of them could have gotten more demons than others, Or equal amounts of demons. But it was a lot of demons. And I don't think that the point is so much that we know literally exactly how many demons this was.

[20:18] The point, really, is to see the degree of bondage that this man was in. To see the enslaving power of demons in this man's life. When you read the gospel accounts, and you see people with one demon, just a single demon, Is able to do such destruction in the life of a person, That we can only imagine what it must have been like for this man to be possessed by all of these demons.

[20:49] And we see the destructive nature of the demons, Because when they go into the herd of pigs, These pigs rush down the seabank into the sea, And they all drown.

[21:04] Now, I'm told that pigs are pretty independent, And they don't operate like sheep. Like, you can herd sheep, and you can move sheep along, But pigs are pretty independent.

[21:14] They don't do anything together. But here we see in Unison, these pigs go off the cliff, And they drown.

[21:28] Now, perhaps there are many questions that are running through your mind. You know, like, how did this man get like this? Or even, can something like this happen to me? We're not told how this man got like this.

[21:43] We're not told how he came to have so many demons. And the reason we're not told, Is it's not important. And the reason it's not important, Is this story is not about the man.

[21:59] Mark is not giving us an account, About this man. Mark is giving us an account, About Jesus. This is the gospel of Jesus. He is giving us an account about Jesus, The one who delivers this man.

[22:13] And the point is that Jesus has power, Over demons. He is Lord over demons. But while we don't know how this man, Came to be possessed by demons, What we do know, Is that demon possession, Can happen, When people expose themselves, To demons by getting involved, In things that scripture forbids.

[22:48] Things like witchcraft, And fortune telling, And consulting the dead. Seemingly innocent activities, Like Ouija boards, And palm reading.

[23:00] All those fall in this category, Of forbidden things. Kind of fortune telling, Horoscopes. Those might seem like, Little innocent things, But brothers and sisters, When we do that, We are moving in the territory, Of darkness.

[23:16] And we are exposing ourselves, To things that scripture warns us, To avoid. Scripture says, That we are to shun, The very appearance of evil. And that's what we must do.

[23:28] There's some people, Who get involved in demonic, Activity. Exposing themselves to it, Out of curiosity. They get involved in, Being curious about the occult. But this man's demon possession, Should really sober us, About the destructive, Enslaving nature, Of darkness.

[23:49] And we should heed, Scripture's prohibition, To get involved in it. And so I think, One of the things, We should immediately, Be thinking about this morning, Rather than, Occupying ourselves, About how this man, Got like this, And all the details, That the story doesn't give us, We should be, Considering this morning, Am I exposing myself, In any way, To the darkness, Of Satan's kingdom, And through, Demonic activity.

[24:19] Every now and then, They bring out these movies, Like they had the movie out, Poltergeist, Years ago, And exorcism. Why would someone, Who is taking the, Commands of Scripture, Seriously, To shun the very appearance, Of evil, Want to watch such a movie?

[24:36] Why would we want, To cozy up to darkness, That Scripture says, That we are to, We're to shun. Some time ago, There was some game, I called Charlie Charlie, And people were, Getting involved in that.

[24:53] We are called, To shun, The very appearance, Of evil. And we should avoid, Anything that has to do, With the occult, Or anything that has to do, With darkness.

[25:05] And Scripture, Brothers and sisters, Gives us these warnings, For our good, And we ignore them, To our peril. We should be sobered, This morning, By the reality, Of the destructive nature, Of demonic, Activity, And the darkness, That comes with it.

[25:29] But no doubt, One of the big questions, In the minds of some of us, This morning, Is rather, A born again Christian, And I, Say born again Christian, But really to say, Born again, And Christian, Is to say the same thing twice, Because a true Christian, Is born again, But in our world today, There are all kinds of people, Who would say they are Christians, So I, Add that, And say born again Christian, Can a born again Christian, Be demon possessed, You may be wondering about that, And the answer is no, A truly born again Christian, Cannot be, Demon possessed, Because when we are born again, The Holy Spirit comes up, And takes residence, In our lives, And therefore, Satan, And demons, Cannot reside, In the same temple, In which the Holy Spirit lives, But, We who are born again, Live in a fallen world, And as such, We, Though we cannot be, Possessed by demons, We can certainly face, The reality of spiritual warfare,

[26:31] That the Bible, Is very clear, And, Teaches about, And sometimes, We may face that, To, More severe degrees, And, For reasons, We don't, Fully understand, And it may be more, Real in the lives of others, Than in our own lives, But though we cannot be, Possessed by them, We may be, Harassed by them, To different, Degrees, So what we see, First is the enslaving power, Demons in this man's life, Now let's consider, Second, The liberating power, Of Jesus, The liberating power, Of Jesus, Mark tells us, In verse 6, That when this man, Saw Jesus from afar, He ran, And fell down, Before him, He ran, And fell down, Before, Jesus, Now it's easy, To have missed this, But this is remarkable,

[27:31] If you were present, In that town, And you saw this, This would have, Caught you, Attention, Because here's this man, Who no one could tame, Who is day and night, In the tombs, And in the mountains, Screaming out, And cutting himself, He sees Jesus, And he comes, And he falls down, Before him, And they're able to recognize, He hasn't done this, To anybody else, It also shows, That Jesus was not afraid, Of him, Jesus didn't take off, Running, Like many others, Were prone, To do, This is the man, Whom nobody, Could subdue, This is the man, Who even chains, Could not restrain, And he comes, And he falls down, Before Jesus, What does that tell us, Jesus is different, Mark, Is helping us to see, He is different,

[28:32] He is not like, The rest of, Us, He is not like, The rest of the people, This act, On the part of the demons, Who were controlling, This man, Shows, That Jesus, Had superior power, Over them, And that's why, They would run to him, And throw themselves, On the ground, At his feet, Now to understand, What's happening, In this part, Of the narrative, We have to read, Verses, Seven and eight, Together, Look at verses, Seven and eight again, And crying out, With a loud voice, He said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God, I adjure you by God, Do not torment me, For he was saying to him, Come out of the man, You unclaimed spirit, So what Mark records for us, In verse eight, Actually happened, Before what he records for us, In verse seven, The man was crying out,

[29:35] With a loud voice, What do you have to do with me, Jesus, But Mark tells us, In verse eight, He was saying this, Because Jesus was saying to him, The unclean spirit, Come out of him, You unclean spirit, So Jesus was the first one, To speak, He was the first one, When he saw the man, And evidently, This man, We see later on, That he is clothed, So this man was also naked, He was running around, In this hideous condition, Possessed by all these demons, Seeking to harm himself, No doubt with chains, Just dangling on his, Arms and on his feet, And Jesus commands, The unclean spirit, Come out of him, And in response to that, This is the demon, Obviously speaking, What have you to do with me, Jesus?

[30:29] Because again, Jesus addresses the unclean spirit, So this is the unclean spirit speaking, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God, I adjure you by God, Do not torment me.

[30:40] One of the things, That should jump at us right away, Is that demons, Is that demons are very religious, And it should help us, To not be impressed with religion, Because we know, As people say, Mouse could say anything, And so, We see the demon, Recognizing Jesus, As the son of the most high God, And he actually says, I adjure you, That's equivalent to saying, In the name of Jesus, Leave me alone, That's the demon, Saying, In other words, In the name of God, I adjure you, In God's name, Do not torment me, Leave me, Alone, Now this account, Is pretty intriguing, It's intriguing, Because it's difficult, To tell at which point, Who was speaking, Is it the man speaking, Is it the man speaking, Or is it the principal demon, Who is speaking on behalf of, All the other demons, And then sometimes,

[31:42] You see it's singular, And then other times, It's actually plural, So in verse 9, Well, Jesus says, Come out of the man, You unclaimed spirit, And then in verse 9, Jesus asks him his name, And he replies, My name is legion, For we are many, My name, Singular, We, Many, Plural, For we are many, And then in verse 10, We read, And he, Meaning either the, Man, Or the principal demon, Begged him, Meaning Jesus, Not to send them, Plural, Meaning the demons, Out of the country, And you wonder, Who's speaking, And what about all this, And there are a lot of commentators, Who spend a lot of time, Trying to figure all that out, Is not important, It's not important,

[32:46] Because it has really, Nothing to do, About what, Mark, Is trying to communicate, It has nothing to do, About this man, Who was demon possessed, Ultimately it has to do, With Jesus, And his lordship, And his power, Over demons, Over demons, And so if you, If you have questions, This morning, I want to say to you, Don't, Fall in the trap, Of, Trying to boggle your mind, With those questions, Because they're not irrelevant, To that, What is irrelevant is this, What is relevant is this, Jesus, Is lord, Over demons, Now evidently, It seems like when, I mean, These demons, Did not want to come out, When Jesus, Would command them to come out, They didn't come out right away, And, They, More like negotiating,

[33:46] They begged Jesus, In verse 12, They begged him, To let them go into the herd, Of pigs, And, Mark tells us that Jesus did, And as, They, Entered the herd of pigs, The pigs rushed down, To sea bank, And they, They were drowned, Now, We who live in the Bahamas, And we know that we have, Swimming pigs in Exuma, We know, Pigs could swim, Right, So the pigs didn't drown, Because they couldn't swim, They drowned, Because, This is the destructive power, Of demons, One of the small mercies, That we could see in this story, Is that, Somehow, In the midst of, All the torment, That this man was going through, What seems pretty evident, Is sovereignly, God was still above, All that had worked, And preventing, Those demons, From destroying, This man, Absolutely, There is no human reason,

[34:47] Why, They did not, Fully destroy, That man's life, We see them destroying, The, These, Two thousand pigs, But it's the small mercy, That, That man's life was, In the midst of all, That he went through, Still spared, And ultimately, He was delivered, By Jesus, Now again, You're probably, Asking questions, You're wondering, Well why did Jesus, Let the demons, Go into the pigs, I don't know, And what I would say again, Is it's not important, And that's why, We don't know it, What is important is, Jesus is Lord, Over demons, So why does Mark, Give us this kind of detail, About this particular, Demon possession, It's the first time, He does it, It's not the first time, He talks about demons, If you follow, The,

[35:48] Gospel of Mark, From the beginning, Several times, Mark tells us, That Jesus casted, A great many, Evil spirits, Out of, Out of people, And then in Mark chapter 3, Jesus had cast, Out of so many demons, Out of people, That the scribe said, That Jesus, Was doing it, By Beelzebul, That he was casting out demons, By the prince of demons, And Jesus, Answered them, In a, In a very interesting way, Mark doesn't say this part, But Matthew says, That Jesus says, To the scribes, He says, If I cast out demons, By Beelzebul, By whom do your sons, Cast them out?

[36:33] And the point, That Jesus was making, Or the point, That we can see, In what Jesus said, Is that Jesus, Was not the only person, In his day, Who was casting out demons, So, Forget for a moment, This account, In Matthew, Sorry, In Mark chapter 5, Forget that for a moment, If we just look, At all the other accounts, Of Jesus casting out demons, Here's what we would see, We would see, That really, It's no different, From the others, Who were casting out demons, In Jesus' day, Because Jesus said, I cast out demons, You say I do it, By Beelzebul, He said, But your sons, Cast out demons, What do they do it by?

[37:11] So Jesus was not the only one, Casting out demons, But this one is different, This one is different, And that's why, Mark highlights it for us, This was no ordinary person, Who was possessed by demons, I think we can rest assured, That if, You had people, And we know that there were people, Who would cast out demons, You're going to tell me, That these people, Didn't consult them, Didn't bring them, It is unreasonable to think, That others did not try, To cast demons out of this man, I don't think, In an environment, Where it was so, Well known, That others cast out demons, That Jesus could say to them, Look, Your sons cast out demons, It was a common place, They did exorcism, They cast out demons, And so, Although the text, Does not tell us, I believe that, We can conclude, That, They brought,

[38:12] Others, To try to help this man, To exorcise, These demons out of him, But without success, And so, Humanly speaking, This man, Was helpless, This man was like, The disciples in the boat, Who thought their day had come, When the storm came, He was like the woman, With the issue of blood, Who, Had just given up, On doctors, And she touches, Just the hem of the garment of Jesus, And she is, Healed, This man was like, Jairus, Whose daughter was dead, And he thought, It's over, It's done, You came too late, She's now dead, And this man, Possessed by, These demons, Was beyond human help, No one, Could help him, Mark wants us to see that, Mark wants us to see that, In an environment, Where people were casting out demons, No one could help this man, He wants us to see,

[39:13] That Jesus, Is Lord, Over demons, If you ever want to see, An icon of demon possession, It is this man, If you ever want to see, The trophy of a person, Who is possessed, By Satan, And all the power, That Satan could, Could wield, It is, This man, That we read about here, In, Mark chapter 5, This was Satan's best, And Mark wants us, To see something, That is happening, You may remember this, We looked at it, In chapter 3, But in Mark, 3, 23 through 27, The scribes, Were accusing Jesus, Of casting out demons, By Beelzebul, In this way, Jesus answered them, He said to them, He says, And he called them to him, And said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

[40:11] If a kingdom is divided, Against itself, That kingdom cannot stand, And if a house, Is divided against itself, That house, Will not be able to stand, If Satan has risen up, Against Satan, And is divided, He cannot stand, But is coming, To an end, But no one, Can enter a strong man's house, And plunder his goods, Unless he first finds a strong man, Then indeed, He may plunder his house, So let's not miss what's happening, The liberation of this, Demon possessed man, And all other acts, Of casting out demons, In the ministry of Jesus, Were evidence, That Jesus, The stronger man, Had come and bound, The strong man Satan, And now he was plundering, What he possessed, And this man, Seemed to be, The iconic example, Of the power of Satan,

[41:13] In a person's life, And Jesus, Liberated this man, As evidence, That he defeated, Satan, And he would ultimately, Defeat him on the cross, But this was even now, Which you may want to say, Round one, Or round two, This was the preliminary fight, And we see that Jesus, Is victorious, We read in Hebrews 2, 14 through 15, Since therefore, The children, Share in flesh and blood, He himself likewise, Partook of the same things, That through death, Meaning Jesus, Through death, He might destroy, The one, Who has the power of death, That is the devil, And over, And deliver all those, Who through fear of death, Were subject, To lifelong, Slavery, And the deliverance, Of this helpless man, Who was, Wholly possessed by demons, We see the liberating power, Of Jesus, This was Satan's best,

[42:15] This account, Of demon possession, Is the most graphic, And entrenched, Example of the work, Of Satan, That we find, In all of scripture, I don't think you can find, Or point to, Another account in scripture, That is more graphic, Than this, That shows evil, At its height, Evil to its extreme, And the Lord Jesus, Liberates, This man, And here's what I know, This morning, I know that, All of us, To different degrees, And in different ways, We all face, Spiritual warfare, Especially those of us, Who belong to Jesus Christ, I know that, But I also know, None of us, Is in, As a desperate, And a helpless situation, As this, Demon possessed man,

[43:16] That we encounter, In Mark 5, But guess what, Even if we were, Even if we were like this man, The good news, Is that Jesus, Has the same liberating power, That liberated this man, And set him free, And he can set us free, As well, And so whatever the attacks, Whatever the harassment, Of Satan are, That may come against us, We can take heart, And we can remember, And look to Jesus, And his power, To liberate us, And sometimes, When we are being harassed, By the enemy, We need to reach out, To others, We need to get, The support of others, We need to get, The prayer of others, And even when the deliverance, Comes, Through the help of others, Or even directly, Through others, Through casting out demons, Ultimately, That is the authority, Of Jesus, No one has the power, To cast out demons, In and of him, Or herself,

[44:17] Because all authority, Belongs to Jesus, And that includes, The power to cast out, Demons, Well third, Finally, And briefly, In this account, Of the demon possessed man, After he was liberated, By Jesus, We see, The surprising response, Of the people, The surprising response, Of the people, Look at verse 14, Mark tells us, For the herdsmen fled, And they, Shared what happened, In the city, In the country, And people came to see, What had happened, And they came to Jesus, And when they saw, The demon possessed man, Sitting, Closed, Again, Which implies, That he was formerly naked, And in his right mind, Mark tells us, They were afraid, That's interesting, They were afraid, Why would they be afraid, You would think, They'd be happy,

[45:18] But this man, Who was, A menace, In their community, Who was destructive, To himself, Is now, Restored, And in his right mind, Mark says, They were afraid, And you know what we see, Here's what we see, We see that they had, The same reaction, That the disciples had, In verse 41, Of chapter 4, After Jesus calmed the storm, Again, The disciples were more afraid, After Jesus calmed the storm, Than they were during the storm, These people, Are really, Now more afraid, Of Jesus, Than they were afraid, Of this man, They'd grown accustomed to him, You know, They knew he was going to be, On the mountain, In the tombs, Doing what he did, And they kept that distance, And he stayed there, And they were okay with him, They, Life went on, But now, That he has been delivered, They are afraid, They clearly recognized,

[46:19] Jesus to be supernatural, And they recognized, Jesus to be more powerful, Than the power, The demonic power, That possessed, That man, In verse 16, Luke tells us that, Those who had seen, What happened, Described it, And look at the great surprise, In verse 17, They began to beg Jesus, To depart from their region, I think if we were to, Recount this story, And say to people, Well guess what happened next, I don't think anyone would guess, They begged Jesus to leave, You'd almost think, That they'd be escorting Jesus around, Say could you help this one, Could you, Could you do this, Could you do the other thing, No day, They told him, We want you to leave, And here's what we see,

[47:20] In that picture, We see, Another picture of bondage, We see another picture, Of the bondage of Satan, In the form of spiritual blindness, And unbelief, Because these people, Had come face to face, With God in the flesh, The liberating power, Of the Lord Jesus Christ, And they say to him, Please, We beg you, Leave, You know there are people, Who believe that, If we see more miracles, If we see more signs, More wonders, It'll cause people to believe, And they say, Oh that's why, That's why the church isn't this, And the church isn't that, We need more miracles, If we get more miracles, More people will believe, The iconic miracle, Brings none of these people, To believe, Instead, They beg Jesus, Not politely, They beg him, Please, Leave, And we're reminded, That people believe,

[48:21] For one reason, People believe, Because God has mercy on them, Because God opens their eyes, To the beauty, And the wonder, Of Jesus Christ, In the gospel, In verse 18, We see that Jesus complies, As he is leaving, He leaves, And the man begs him, The man says to him, Please, Can I go with you, I want to be with you, And we see the contrast, They are begging Jesus to leave, And this man is begging Jesus, To be with him, And the implication is, He is begging Jesus, These words, That he might be with him, It's the same words, That are used, When Jesus called his disciples, That they might be with him, This man wanted to follow Jesus, He wanted to be a disciple for Jesus, When Jesus transformed his life, He wanted to live for the one, Who set him free, And he begs Jesus, That he may be with him,

[49:22] And he may be one of his disciples, We see in verses 19 and 20, Jesus does not permit him to do that, But instead he tells them, I want you to go tell your friends, Tell your neighbors, What the Lord has done for you, And notice what he says, Tell them how he has had mercy on you, How he has had mercy on you, And a lot of us would think, That the mercy of God, Is setting this man free, From his demonic possession, Setting him free, From the destructive life, And the degrading life, That he lived, That's certainly a wonderful thing, It's certainly a merciful thing, But the ultimate mercy, That this man received, Was that he was transformed, And transformed so much, That he wanted to be with Jesus, As with a disciple, God had mercy on this man, And he now tells them, I want you to go proclaim, What mercy God has had on you,

[50:23] What the Lord has done for you, Notice something very interesting, In verse 19, Jesus says, Go home to your friends, And tell them, How much the Lord has done for you, Lord, The Lord, And then, In verse 20, It says, The man ran away, And he began, To proclaim, In the Decapolis, How much, Jesus, Had done for him, Jesus is both, Lord and Christ, He is the one, The man recognized, This was not, Someone may say, Oh, Well, God did that for me, Jesus, Jesus, God in the flesh, The Lord, He is the one, Who did mighty things, For, This man, This man goes, And he, Proclaims, What God has done for him, I don't think, Any of us, This morning, Would naturally,

[51:24] Identify, With this human, Possessed man, But if you're born again, If you belong, To the Lord, Jesus Christ, In this man, Is a picture, Of every, Single, One of us, The Bible says, That when we, Were converted, That we were translated, Out of the kingdom, Of darkness, Into the kingdom, Of his dear son, And Satan had, Reign in our lives, The Bible tells us again, In Ephesians chapter 2, That we were, That the prince, Of the power of the air, Was controlling us, We lived, Subject to him, Subject to his rule, And his dominion, In our lives, To different degrees, No, Not as severely, As this man, Not as severely, As him, But nonetheless, We were, In Satan's territory, And Satan ruled, In our lives, And Jesus came, In the gospel, And we were rescued, From darkness,

[52:24] Into light, From Satan's kingdom, Into God's kingdom, And so in this man, Is the picture, Of all of us, The Lord has been, Merciful to us, The Lord has done, Great things for us, And we have something, To talk about, See, A lot of times, We think, Well boy, Before I could talk, To anyone about the Lord, I need to do, An evangelism class, I need someone, To teach me about, How to share my faith, No, That's not what it is about, It starts right here, Jesus didn't give this man, A crash course on evangelism, He said, Here's what I want you to do, Go to your friends, Go to your friends, And tell them, How much the Lord, Has done for you, Brothers and sisters, That's all we need to do, Talk to our friends, Let them know, My life has changed, Jesus has changed my life, I used to be this way, I'm no longer that way, He had mercy on me, I was helpless, I couldn't, I couldn't change, I couldn't do anything,

[53:25] For myself, I couldn't help myself, Any more than the man, Who was chained, In Satan's bondage, Could set himself free, Nobody would, Willingly live like that, We needed someone, To deliver us, And Jesus, Is the one, Who did that, And this, Not only applies, When we first come to Christ, If we remember, The mercy that God, Has given to us, In an ongoing way, We will share, The good news, With others, The Lord has been merciful to me, Look at what he has done, In my life, That's all it is, Simply sharing, With those in our, Relationships, What the Lord, Has done, For us, Let's not forget it, Let's continue to share it, Jesus, Is Lord, Over demons, And he is the one, Who sets people free,

[54:25] Whether, The bondage, Is like this, Demon possessed man, Whether, The bondage, Is like, Lydia, Who we read about, In the scripture, A godly, Woman, A pious woman, And the Bible says, When, Paul was preaching, God opened her heart, To believe the gospel, She was delivered, From the kingdom of darkness, As well, All of us, And so, May we, Be people, Like this demon possessed man, To go to our friends, Go to our families, And say to them, Look, At how God, Has had mercy, On me, Let's pray, Father, Thank you this morning, For the great mercy, That you have shown to us, In the Lord Jesus Christ, We thank you Lord, That you, Have set us free, From sin,

[55:27] And the bondage of Satan, And you have, Made us sons and daughters, And for that, We are grateful, And Lord, I pray that you help us all, To live in the light, Of that great, Mercy, And share it, Every opportunity we get, About how, You have been, Merciful to us, I pray this morning, For those, Under the sound of my voice, Who, Do not know, The Lord Jesus, Who are still, In the kingdom of darkness, Father, Would you, Have mercy on them, Would you open their eyes, And their hearts, Would you grant them repentance, Would you save them, We pray these things, In Jesus name, Amen, Amen, Are there any questions, Questions, Questions,

[56:28] Questions, Questions, So you were talking, About the things, That we do, As people that, Kind of opens us up, To the demonic world, And you brought up, Like fortune telling, And stuff like that, I have two questions, One, Yesterday I had like, I bought a fortune cookie, That's small, But it kind of, Popped out in my mind, And then, Me and my sisters, We play kind of, Quizzes online, And they come across, Really, You know, Fun, Doesn't seem bad, And they just tell you, Things, They kind of, Predict things about you, But there's not like, I'm going, Like signing up online, For a psychic ending, That's kind of, Smaller, But does that still, Count?

[57:25] That's a good question, The first one, When you talk, About fortune cookies, You mean the things, That you buy in the Chinese, That's right, Yeah, I don't know, I mean, Here's what I would say, About those, I, It's one thing, To go and buy them, To say, I'm going to buy, Some fortune cookies, And read them, To see what my fortune, Might be, There's another thing, To have it, As a part of, Just like giving you napkins, Or something, In the, In the restaurant, And, I think, It isn't so much, Receiving that, It is, It has more to do with, What you're doing, With that, So, Here's what some people do, They, Get the fortune, And they say, Let me see, What this has to say, If it's enticing, And wonderful, Or you're going to get wealthy, Or you're going to get married, Or you're going to, It's easy to, Want to embrace that, And that's where, I believe the danger lies, That you've just,

[58:26] Given credibility to that, Whereas, If it's something they don't like, They just say, These foolish things, And they throw them aside, And so I think, That's where you really want to be careful, I know, Sometimes we would go out, We would make jokes about it, But, Only the Lord knows, What's going on in your heart, When you read that little piece of paper, Whether you're reading that, Looking for some, Fortune telling, Something about your future, And if that's what you're doing, I would say, Shun that, Don't open them, Don't read it, If that, If that is a temptation, That you're going to, Try to believe that, I would just throw it away, And I wouldn't, I wouldn't read it, The second question, I don't know the kind of games, That you're talking about, But, I think you recognize, The subtlety in it, That you're not going, And signing up, For a psychic reading, But if you're getting that, In maybe some free form, In some kind of way, I think it's a gateway, That could really be very deceptive, And could pull you in, In that, So the Bible says,

[59:28] This is important to see, What the command is, The Bible doesn't say, Shun evil, Although we know, We're supposed to shun evil, The Bible says, Shun the very appearance of evil, The very appearance of it, So there may be some things, That aren't evil, But they appear to be evil, Shun it, We're better off, Shunning something, That appears to be evil, That is not evil, Than, Going headlong into something, That appears not evil, But it is evil, So that would be, I would say, If you're going to make the mistake, Make the mistake, Of shunning, It all together, Even though, It may be innocent, And there's nothing wrong with it, That helpful?

[60:15] Okay, Anyone else? Any other questions? I thought, We'd be getting questions, Off the chain, This morning, On this one, As I had mentioned, When we started the series, In Mark chapter 3, My question is, Or comment is, Is it due to the language, Of the times, That what is being said here, Is this man, Was mentally ill, Extremely?

[60:47] Okay, That's a very good question, David, And here's, Here's what I would say, You talk to psychiatrists, And what you will see, Is you will see different, Outcomes, I mentioned that, Demon possession, Is intriguing, Because especially, When it comes down to, Issues with, Mental illnesses, It's difficult to tell, Whether it is a, Mental illness, And the same way, We get ill in our bodies, Physically, We can get ill in our minds, I think we should all, Recognize that, We can be sick in body, We can be sick in our minds, And, The same way, In some cases, There are some medicines, That help us, With our bodies, There are medicines, That can help with, Our minds as well, But I believe that, Since it's not an exact science,

[61:48] We have to observe it, And so, What we find, In some cases, For example, I don't know if you followed the news, But just, This past week, And the week before, There's a case, That's before the courts right now, Of a woman, Who, Burnt her, Young child, I don't think the child, Was one years old yet, One year old yet, And she did it, Because she said, Demons told her to do it, She, Burnt the child, Child, Live for, Sometime afterwards, Maybe a month or so, That the child died, And the doctors talk about, The medication, That they've given this woman, The way they've tried to help her, And all the different things, They've done, And so David, What I would say is, I think we would be, There are two extremes, That we want to avoid, You want to avoid saying, That every single, Mental illness, Is demon possession, And you want to avoid,

[62:50] The other extreme, Of saying, No mental illness, Is demon possession, I think, We need discernment, I think we need to recognize, The reality, Of, Of demonic possession, Because again, With this man, Jesus identified his problem, As being, Demon possession, He had many, Many demons, And Jesus cast those demons, Out of the man, So, What I would say, Is one of the telltale signs, That we should observe, Is I would say, If medicine, Is proving, Unhelpful, Over time, And we're seeing, What we would consider, Supernatural, Activities, In a person's life, I believe, That it is demon possession, As I was studying, I read this, Article by a man, A psychiatrist, Who was making, The very same point, That, A lot of his colleagues, Were relegating, Every single, Case, That came before them,

[63:51] To just, Mental, Illness, And he talked about, I mean, He gave some, Amazing accounts, He gave us one account, Of a boy, Who was in a hospital, And that, This boy, Walked up a wall, Just, Feet up a wall, Onto a ceiling, We can't do that, We, Mental illness, I don't see that mental illness, Will enable a person, To do that, That, Clearly, Is a supernatural, Event, And, And, Clearly an indication, Of, Demonic possession, So, This is not an exact science, And, I think we, We need to, Just recognize that, It, It does take, Some time, Of, Trying to, Sort through, And work through these things, But, We want to avoid, Both of those extremes, Saying that, Every mental illness, Is demon possession, Or, That, No mental illness, Involves, The,

[64:52] The demonic, I know, That doesn't land anywhere, But, Hopefully that, That helps, In terms of answering the question, Or, Maybe to answer it more directly, I don't think that, It was the limitation of language, Where they were calling, Something other than it really was, These were, These were acts of demon possession, When Jesus cast the demons, Other people, These were demons, I mean, In this particular case, What we see, That's interesting from the others, Is, These demons, Were asking to go into, The pigs, So, This was not just some idea, This was not just some, Fiction of people's imagination, These were real demons, In this man, That ran into the pigs, They were destroyed, And now this man, Is restored, And here is sound mind, And he is seated before Jesus, So, That's my best response, On that one, Anyone else?

[65:45] Alright, So, When, When, Let's say a demon, Was in someone, Mm-hmm, Um, And it drove them, To kill someone, Like, It actually drove them, To kill, Would it be, The person's fault, Like, Would we still be able, To convict them of murder, Because, They weren't, You know, They, They may not have been, In control, Like, With that man, If he had killed someone, The demons were clearly, In control, They even spoke to Jesus, Right?

[66:12] So, Would it have been, The man, Who would have been punished? So, Now, That's exactly, The question that came to my mind, As I read this case, With this woman, Um, And, The, The jury, I, I don't know, All the ins and outs, From the law on it, But, The jury, Rules, That this woman was, The judge allowed, The woman, The jury, To determine, Whether this woman, Was fit for trial, Um, And, And they said yes, And so, This woman is, Actually being held, Accountable, For, The death of a child, First it was a manslaughter charge, Then they opted to murder, Um, So, In this case she is, I do think though, In, Other places, And probably in the final analysis, They would say she lacked mental capacity, Or something like that, Um, But, Uh, In, In some cases, I think, Though they would not hold the person accountable, They wouldn't give the reason, Because she was demon possessed, Because in the secular world,

[67:13] They just wouldn't even recognize, That kind of terminology, They would, They would, They would be inclined to say, Every single, Situation, Is an issue of mental illness, When, Clearly what we see in scripture, Is that that's not the case, That there are real demons, That do torment, And do harass people, And possess them, And cause them to do, Things that they ordinarily would not do, That's a good question, Anyone else, Faye, Faye has one, Um, I have a question, That I'm not quite sure, I know how to frame, But, Um, Yeah, That's why I hesitated, But, I have observed, Um, A lot of persons, Who present with,

[68:14] Quote, Quote, Mental issues, Have this, Spiritual thing about them, When they get in that state, And it has often lurked in my mind, Like, Could it be that this person, Is demon possessed, What's going on here, Like they would be switching between, Maybe cursing, But at the same time, A lot of scripture, A lot of talk about God, And the gospel, Lots of people, For example, Here, Who, Are walking around on the streets, And I know at least two of them, And when you approach them, Or talk to them, Everything is about God, You know, And they're talking about, They're quoting scripture, Et cetera, Et cetera, Et cetera, How do you handle that?

[68:58] As a matter of fact, How do you handle, When you're presented with somebody, Who, May appear to you to be, As a Christian, To be demon possessed, How do you, How do you handle that?

[69:10] Yeah, Again, I think, Very similar to what I said to David, It, It takes, Um, Discernment, And, One scripture that comes to mind, Is, First Corinthians, Chapter, 12, And, Where Paul talks about, Spiritual gifts, You would notice that he, We, We would often say, Oh, It's, It's a gift of discernment, The Bible doesn't use that term, What the Bible uses, Is, The gift of, The ability to distinguish between spirits, Good spirits, Or, Or, Or, Or evil spirits, And, So, I do think, There is some, We certainly need to, Be patient, To have some measure of that, And, And, The reason I think we need to be patient is this, We don't want to, Approach someone, Who, Is, Facing a mental, A genuine mental illness, Um,

[70:12] Or, Being harassed, By, Demonic forces, For reasons that we don't fully comprehend, Who may be a believer, And, And treat that person, As if they are possessed by demons, Because we can actually deepen, The crisis that they may actually face, By saying, Oh, You have a demon, So, I think that there is a measure of, Of patience, And discernment that is needed, For that, And then, If we come to the place where there is conviction, About that, I would be very, Careful in how I share that with that person, And say, You know, It could be any one of these things, But, Have you thought about the possibility, That maybe this is the case, And maybe this is happening, And then that takes, Um, Prayer, It takes, Depending on the, Spirit of God, To do that, Powerful work, Of setting that person free, From, Uh, From that, From that demonic possession, And again, We read, We read in scripture, There is another scripture that comes to mind,

[71:13] In Luke chapter 10, Um, And verse 19, Where Jesus, Sent out, The, Disciples, And he gave them authority, Over, Um, Demonic, Forces, And also to heal, And, And so, If you think about it this way, The ministry of Jesus, Jesus says, I want you to, Go and make disciples, Of all people, And you to teach them, All that I've commanded you, If we embrace the great commission, If we embrace the command of Jesus, Then, It has to, To also include, To include, Not just the preaching ministry of Jesus, But the liberating ministry of Jesus as well, And so, Jesus wouldn't send us just to, Do half of what he did, He would send us to do all of what he did, But we also remember that we are not Jesus, And we also remember that, In many ways, We are no different from the disciples of Jesus, You may remember this one occasion,

[72:13] Where, On the, At the Mount of Transfiguration, And Jesus had come down, He met this man, Whose son had, This, Spirit that would throw him in the fire, And throw him in the water, And he said to Jesus, He said, I brought him to your disciples, And they couldn't, They couldn't help him, They could not help him, But Jesus could, And so, We should remember that, As well, Here's something that's interesting, That, Jesus said, After the, 72 came back, This is Luke chapter 10, And, Verse 17, It says, The 72 returned with joy, Saying, Lord, Even the demons are subject to us, In your name, And that's another thing, That's important to remember, That any, Any, Encounter that we have with the demonic, Any attempt to, Cast out demons, Is never in our own name, Or in our own power, It is in the name of Jesus,

[73:14] And, What he says is, I saw Satan fall from, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, Behold, I've given you authority, To tread on serpents and scorpions, And over all the power of the enemy, And nothing shall hurt you, Nevertheless, Nevertheless, Do not rejoice in this, That spirits, Are subject to you, But rejoice, That your names, Are written in heaven, And I think we need to remember this, Emphasis that Jesus gives us here, There are people, Who are more excited, About demons, And evil spirits, And the supernatural, Than they are, About the truth, That, Those who have come to Christ, That their names, Are written, In heaven, So, Again, Not an exact science, It's an intriguing area, We don't understand a lot of it,

[74:14] And let me say this as well, Be careful of anyone, Who has all the answers, About demons, And the demonic, Be very careful about them, Because, There are clear, Gaps, I would say, Clear gaps, That we would find, In scripture, Where we don't have, All the answers, To every single thing, And I think what that does, Is it makes us dependent, More on the Lord, So the person who comes, And they have every answer, For every demon, And let me say this as well, You want to be, This is an area, Where a lot of people think, That they are helping themselves, And they are doing something, That's not bad, When they go to people, Who they say, Well you know, This is my specialty, I specialize, In casting out demons, And all this stuff, Many times they are dabbling, In darkness, I remember, A couple of months ago, This lady came here, Not this lady, Somebody I know, For many, many years, She and her brother came by, And, They had had a car problem, So they came by, To help get that sorted out,

[75:16] And she began to talk to me, With this one book, Some book written, By someone from Africa, And, Tell me about all these, Different maritime spirits, And, Spirits of this, Where, Where you get this stuff from, I mean, This is a, This is a, Sober, Sensible person, Who's, I can show it to you, I said I don't want to see it, And she was more, Into that book, Than she is into a bible, And so it's just really, There's so much nonsense, But I do believe, That some people actually, Get themselves involved, In darkness, Through some of these people, Who say, That they're, Casting out demons, And they're doing all the other kinds of things, So, I think we just need to be sober minded, We need to, Be wise, And, I trust this does not, Create fear in anyone, I was mindful of the sermon, That the children will be with us this morning,

[76:17] And I tried to be circumspect, In what I said, But, Jesus tells us, That we need not, Be fearful, He tells us right here, In Luke chapter 10, In verse 19, Behold, I have given you authority, To tread on serpents and scorpions, Over all the power of the enemy, And nothing shall hurt you, So we need not, We need not be fearful, Again, Remember this man, Filled with all these demons, Why didn't they destroy him, Why didn't they kill him, Because they couldn't, Because there's a sovereign God over it all, Who was clearly protecting him, There's time for one more, If you have, Oh my goodness, It's 1225, Any, Any, I'll do one more, If you have a question, No?

[77:14] Okay, Thanks for your indulgence, This one of you went way over time, And, If you need to follow up, With anything, On this, Please reach out to me, And I'll be happy to talk with you, Let's stand,