Father, we confess before you that sometimes we don't want to act like Christians
because we are a bit embarrassed about how the world would view us,
how average Canadians would view us or our friends.
And we confess to that temptation even now.
But Father, in the name of Jesus, not in our strength,
but definitely not in our strength, but only in the name of Jesus,
and washed by him and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
In the name of Jesus, Father, we ask that every demon or evil spirit that is present or arrayed against us,
whether it is in this place or those who are entering into our worship online,
that, Father, in the name of Jesus, every evil spirit will be bound,
that in the name of Jesus, every demon and evil spirit will be silenced,
that in the name of Jesus, these foul spirits will be taken away, not to return.
And Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask that you do not leave us empty,
but that the Holy Spirit would come with might and power and deep conviction into each of our hearts,
that you, Jesus, might rule in our hearts.
We invite, with no qualifications, with no conditions,
we invite, Lord Jesus, you to speak into our hearts and rule in our hearts,
today and always.
And we ask this in the precious name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So now that I've weirded some of you out by that prayer,
although some of you have heard me pray like this before,
Jesus and the Legion of Demons.
That's the sermon today.
Jesus and the Legion of Demons were evil spirits.
So let's turn and look at this text.
It's Mark chapter 5, beginning at verse 1.
It goes from 1 to 20.
And just before, as you're maybe turning to look at it in your Bibles,
just a couple of things.
First of all, I've written a blog about the fact that there are apparent significant contradictions
between Mark and Matthew and Luke.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are three ancient biographies of Jesus,
either written by eyewitnesses or dependent upon eyewitness testimony.
And all three of these ancient biographies were written when many eyewitnesses were still alive,
to contradict it.
And if you look at the three accounts, you'll see that there are some...
I say that there's, in particular, three often pointed out contradictions.
And I'm not going to talk about that in the sermon.
I've written a blog.
And as I've said before, if I get my blog written before 4.30 on Friday,
you get it on Saturday.
If I get it written after that, you get it on Monday.
So on Monday, I've written a blog,
and I'll talk about those apparent contradictions
and why there aren't, in fact, any contradictions and you can trust the Bible.
But what I'm going to do in this text...
And by the way, this is actually just any...
Those of you who do Bible studies yourselves,
there's sort of two fundamentally different ways
that you can do a Bible study on Matthew, Mark, or Luke.
And because there's quite a few times
when all three of these biographies will talk about the same event.
And so one way to do it is to try to look at all three of them at the same time.
The other way to do it is to sort of fundamentally just look at one of them
and, in a sense, ignore the other two.
Because in every case, they tell the story in such a way
to make points that are significant for the story,
the bigger story that they're telling, like in Matthew or Mark or Luke.
So other than one little time where I'm going to mention something,
fundamentally what I've been doing every week when we preach on Mark
is just looking at Mark
and not trying to bring in pieces of information from the other stories.
We just sort of look.
So I'm not prejudging how I answer the challenges in my blog.
I'm going to preach this.
We're going to look at the story as Mark has written it.
And so here, let's go.
What's just happened is Jesus has just calmed the storm.
He is now in this area, which we'll hear about in a moment,
which is a primarily pagan area.
And at the end of the story, those of you who remember it,
it mentions the Decapolis.
And 67 BC, the area was subdued by the Imperial Roman forces.
And when the area was subdued by the Imperial Roman forces,
they picked this area and had picked 10 cities to be showcases of pagan,
cultural, and religious life.
And so that's the area that Jesus is coming into,
where the 10 principal cities have been set aside by the Roman Empire
now for quite a few years, almost 100 years,
to be a showcase for pagan culture, power, understanding.
And that's the area, a majority pagan area that Jesus has come into.
And here's how it goes.
Verse 1.
They came to the other side.
That's Jesus and the disciples.
They've gotten out.
Jesus has calmed the storm.
They arrive on the other side.
Sorry.
So they came to the other side of the sea,
to the country of the Gerasenes.
And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat,
immediately there met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit.
And just those of you who are a bit familiar with the Bible,
but some of you aren't,
the Bible sometimes will say unclean spirit,
sometimes an evil spirit, and sometimes demon.
It's just three different ways of referring to the same type of entity.
They're not different types.
They're all the same thing.
So this man has come,
and he has an evil spirit or evil spirits.
And now Mark is going to, in a sense,
take a bit of an aside.
I guess if they were doing a movie of this,
what you would see now is there'd be a bit of a flashback
where you get different images of what the man is,
sort of introducing the man
before it gets back to what's going to happen
between the man and Jesus.
So it sort of all of a sudden switches,
goes a little bit in time to make you familiar
with this particular man who's never named.
So that begins in verse 3.
The man with the evil spirit 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.
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 in the original language,
the language is quite harsh and brutal.
You sort of get a bit of a feel of it in the English, right?
Where, you know, with chain, bound,
shackles, chains, wrenched, chains,
broke the shackles, the calling out.
You get this sense of a very brutal type of a language.
Now, in this description,
it's very interesting if you think about it for a second.
And, you see,
the Bible provides to us a mirror
of who we are really in our heart.
And in a sense,
constantly the challenge of reading the Bible is,
will you see it as a mirror,
or will you stand and looking at the Bible
sort of as a critic and a judge?
And, obviously,
I'm not saying you shouldn't have questions and all of that.
And if you're,
wouldn't say that you're a Christian
and you're watching this,
it's completely valid to have, like, questions.
I'm going to raise some questions about this in a moment.
But, fundamentally,
it's an opportunity.
This is what Christians believe.
It's a bit of a mirror.
I mean, it's both a window
to see into what the world is really like,
but it's also a mirror to reveal to us
who we are,
what we really are like at the level of our heart.
Now, if you think about it for a second,
this description of what we've just read
is what the average Canadian longs for.
You go, what?
If you think about it,
what I've just read
is what the average Canadian longs for.
This man is very strong.
He can break chains and shackles.
I mean, that's what superheroes movies are about.
That's what gyms are about.
But he's very, very, very strong.
He's feared.
He takes no guff.
There was a little feature the other day
about Bruce Willis movies,
which are still quite remarkably possible.
And one of the things that characterizes Bruce Willis
and other movies like that
is he's a guy who takes no guff.
Now, why is it that we would like a movie like that?
Because in and of ourselves,
I'd like to be the type of person
who takes no guff.
I'd like to be able to go into a meeting
and I'm not going to take any of this type of stuff.
And on one level,
most of us would like to be a little bit feared.
Maybe even sometimes a lot feared.
This guy is independent.
He doesn't care what people think.
I mean, on one level,
it's not what we sort of value in our society,
that we wish that we were the sort of person
who doesn't really care what people think.
And he doesn't care for social conventions.
And on one level,
that speaks very powerfully of North American culture.
We'd like to be the type of person
who doesn't care for social conventions.
Why?
Well, because
we want to be true to our inner life.
And we want to be authentic and autonomous.
And this man is true to his inner life
and he is authentic and autonomous.
He doesn't care about social conventions.
He doesn't take any guff.
He's very, very strong.
And on one level,
to our great horror,
to meet a man who's autonomous
and authentic and self-actualized.
But to our horror,
when we see a character like this in the Bible,
we recoil from him in horror.
Now, this is where you see
the Bible starts to become a bit of a mirror.
What does it say about the way
that Canadians casually talk
about the ideal type of life
if we actually see an example of it
and we would recoil from it in horror?
I mean, most of us would.
In fact, actually,
if we came across somebody in a Bible study,
that said,
whoa, I'd like to be like that guy,
you'd all go like this.
You'd take a bit of a step back
and say,
what, you'd like to be like this?
If it's your boss,
you'd say to yourself,
well, that explains a lot
if your boss
or your boss's boss
thinks like that.
But we would automatically just say,
this person is not a model.
They're alone.
They're unloved.
They're in agony.
They are brutal individuals
who are brutal to others
and they brutalize themselves.
They brutalize themselves.
They brutalize others.
He is a brutal man.
You see,
one of the things
that the gospel constantly does
is it subverts
what we think we want.
But it subverts
what we think we really want
and what our culture tells us
we really want
to fulfill at a deeper level
what we truly want.
Because the fact of the matter is
is we do want to be free.
Don't we?
We want to be free.
But we also want to be loved
and we don't want to be alone
and we don't want to brutalize others
and be brutalized ourselves.
So the story now is setting up
how is Jesus going to handle this?
How is he going to deal with it?
What's going to be revealed about the man
and what's going to be revealed about Jesus?
So look what happens in verse 6.
And here,
the original language
gives a bit of a stronger sense
because you have this man
who lives where death,
where there is just death
and lives alone.
And the one thing that they will bring in,
if you look at the other accounts,
he's also naked.
That's what I meant by
I didn't care about social conventions
and stuff like that.
That's the one thing
I'm going to bring in
from the other accounts.
This fearsome, brutal, yelling, cut man
who's very, he's cut both in the sense
he's very strong and he's cut
because he cuts himself with stones.
And he sees Jesus.
And in verse 6,
when he saw Jesus from afar,
he ran and fell down before him.
In the original language,
there's this sense
that he's hurling himself at Jesus.
Hurling himself across the distance
to hurling himself at Jesus.
But rather than falling on Jesus,
he falls down.
Jesus doesn't have to defend himself.
The guy just falls down.
Almost like an early example
of being slain in the spirit
for my charismatic friends.
He just falls down.
Before Jesus.
And not only does he fall down
in the original language,
he's prostrate before him.
You know, if you've seen
Roman Catholic ordinations,
the priest through the deacon
getting prostrate on the floor.
That's the guy's prostrate.
He hurls himself at the Jesus.
But before that happens,
he's now prostrate.
Verse 7,
Now, one of the things which is interesting here,
and actually there's two cases in this text
where, to our Muslim friends
who might be watching this,
there's two cases in Mark's gospel
where the text very clearly says
that Jesus is God.
This is one of them.
And it's very interesting
because it says that Jesus is a God
in the context,
in the strongest possible sense
that a pagan would understand it
because it's a primarily pagan expression
that for the pagans who believed
that there were many gods,
you know, that there was, you know,
Hercules and Zeus
and all these different gods,
but they had this sense
that higher than all of the gods
and goddesses that they were aware of,
that higher than all of those
and however high you go,
there is eventually
an ultimately most high God.
And the demon-possessed man
is saying,
Jesus, you are the son
of the most high God.
And what that is meaning is,
of course, it means that Jesus
is of the same nature
as the most high God
because that's, you know,
I have, God has blessed me
with nine children
and all of the babies
have human nature.
Right?
That's just how it is.
Cats have kittens.
They share the same nature.
So this is a very high claim of God.
Remember, they're in a primarily pagan area.
He uses pagan categories,
but he says that Jesus
is fundamentally God.
He says,
what do you have to do with me,
Jesus, son of the most high God?
In the original language as well,
it's even a stronger thing.
What do you have to do with me?
In the original language,
it's expressing,
the demon-possessed man
is expressing that normally
somebody like Jesus
doesn't have anything to do
with somebody like him.
It would be a little bit
as if on the drive home
or when I get home today,
I get a call
and it's Justin Trudeau.
And I would say,
now maybe you guys get,
some of you guys get called
by Justin Trudeau all the time,
right?
But for me,
I would view it as a prank.
And after I did a couple of tests,
et cetera,
eventually became clear
and Justin Trudeau called me,
in a sense,
I'm thinking,
what does Justin Trudeau want with me?
Like,
we inhabit
completely different spheres
that have nothing to do
with each other.
So what on earth
would somebody like him,
like Justin Trudeau,
want to have
to talk with somebody like me?
And that's the same type
of idea here.
The demon-possessed man
is saying,
son of the most high God,
Jesus,
you and I are in completely,
and it's completely true,
right?
They are in completely
and utterly
different spheres.
And now,
demons lie.
Of course,
in a sense,
he would know
that ultimately
God is sovereign,
but he tries to talk
as if it's not something
that generally speaking
the most high God
would want.
But that's what's happening.
And the other thing about it
is it's both a type
of bravido,
you know,
I tell you,
you have to swear by God,
you're not going to hurt me.
It's a type of bravido
and whining,
all interspersed
at the same time.
Like a type of groveling,
whining with bravido
intermingled,
all in this short
type of thing
as if they're big and tough
and you can tell Jesus
what to do
at the same time
you're cringing
and saying,
don't hurt me
and acknowledging
that you're about
to get your butt kicked,
so to speak,
and there's nothing
you can do to stop it.
That's the Greek,
getting your butt kicked.
Sorry,
never mind,
that's not what
the Greek says.
Anyway,
so,
now one of the things
which is really interesting
about this text
and it's a,
it's a real challenge
to those who go to the church
and those who might
call themselves Christians
is that this demon-possessed man,
he knows Jesus,
he passed the theology test
way better than any of the disciples,
but it doesn't have
any type of a carryover
into repentance
or openness to Jesus.
So there's two types of things
that are going on here.
Just because you can have
very,
very clear knowledge
about certain types of things
doesn't mean that it necessarily
has affected your heart.
Now,
by heart,
I don't just mean emotions,
I mean the very center
of who you are
where your emotions,
your imagination,
your aesthetic sense,
your intellect,
your will,
that sort of central place
in the human being
where all of these things
flow out of
that is so involved
in a personal relationship
with like a friend
or if it's love,
romantic love,
where there's a sense
of a turning
of that whole self
towards the other person
and openness of that self
to the other person.
And so what you see here
is you see both
very,
very accurate knowledge
of Jesus
but at the same time
absolutely no desire
for a relationship
and no interest whatsoever
in anything like repentance.
And there's going to be
an asking for mercy
but it's not really
the type of mercy
that's connected
to knowing
and being known.
So how does Jesus respond
to this request
don't torment me?
you know,
you're the son
of the most high God
and the fact
that this demon-possessed man
clearly knows Jesus
but shows no,
the demons show no
hesitation.
They're in a sense
convicted,
convinced demons.
You don't want to change terms.
How's Jesus going to respond to it?
Well, let's see
what happens in verse 9.
And Jesus asked him
so there's a bit of a pause
from the casting out.
Jesus asked him
what is your name?
The man replied
my name is Legion
for we
are many.
And he
begged him earnestly
not to send them
out of the country.
I'm going to read that text again.
It's a very, very
interesting text.
Now,
yeah,
I'm going to say it.
All week I sort of
batted my mind
back and forth
whether I'm going to say
anything about this.
I understand
that we live in a time
when many, many people
are,
they wouldn't say
that they're confused
at all about their identity
but that it's a very common thing
for people to want to
change their pronouns
to reflect the fact
that they believe
that their internal identity
is significantly different
than their biology.
And I understand
that that's very
prevalent.
I understand
that for some people
it's a welcome thing
and for others
it's not a welcome thing.
and I understand
that for some
to move towards
their chosen identity
is a,
for them
that's how they understand
liberation.
And I understand
that many, many people
want to be able
to try to say
that there's no such thing
of,
all this dualism
and all is a bad thing
and I understand
all of that.
I really do
and I think
I understand
a tiny little bit
about the emotional
and imaginative
longing for these types
of things
and to see it increase
that they see it
as a bit of a sense
of liberation.
And I'm definitely
not saying
that people who think
this are demon-possessed,
I'm not saying
this at all.
But for those here
or those who might
be online
watching this,
the very, very first time,
this is quite a few years ago,
the very first time
I met somebody
who wanted me
to call them they
as their pronoun,
I have to confess
the first thing
that came to my mind
was this story.
It's the very first thing
that came to my mind.
And I think,
amongst others,
if those of you
who are watching
and you sense
that your Christian friend
might not want
to use a word
like they
as your pronoun,
I mean,
I guess it just really
depends on whether
you'd like to have
a relationship with them
or whether you think
Christians just have
to automatically agree
with you,
but I don't think
my reaction
is completely,
like I think
for Christians
who are well-instructed,
this story
and the pronoun,
there's just something
that doesn't fit
with it very well.
Now,
whether we can have
a conversation about that,
I don't know
if anybody will contact me
about it or whatever,
that's a whole other thing.
Part of the thing
we need to pray about
in our society
is that we can start
to have civil conversations
again,
because that's being lost.
We can't have
civil conversations.
People yell,
and sometimes
we Christians yell,
and when we Christians yell,
we need to repent of it.
We should not be
the best yellers.
We should be yellers
in repentance
and recovery
from yelling.
So,
that's just a bit
of an aside note.
I struggle
but that's really true.
The very first time
I heard that pronoun,
the very first time
I ever heard of it,
that's the first thing
that popped into my mind.
Do you realize
if I was to say that,
the background for that?
Anyway,
it's very,
look again at the pronouns.
It's very interesting,
right?
And Jesus asked him,
what is your name?
The man.
And in a sense,
whether it's the man,
but it's not really
the man who replies.
He replied,
that's singular,
but then says,
my name is Legion,
for we are many.
And he begged him earnestly.
That is,
the demons
beg Jesus earnestly
not to send them
out of the country.
whether the Legion,
the demons
are telling the truth
and there really are
close to 6,000 demons
inside of the man or not,
it doesn't really matter.
It's obviously
to speak to a Jewish person
who's been conquered
by the Roman legions,
a militaristic,
imperialistic,
and threatening name.
And it is revelatory
in this text
that Christians,
the Bible teaches
that it is possible
to be so demonized
that you can be possessed
by an evil spirit
and you can be so demonized
that in fact
you can have more than
one evil spirit
dwell within you.
Now some of you
are going to say,
oh,
George,
time out,
time out.
George,
what are you?
Some medieval monk
craves because
you haven't had enough sex?
Reading stupid,
fanciful things
and being scared
of people in the dark?
Like George,
this guy is just
mentally ill.
There's a few other things
maybe some people
are thinking.
And all I'll say
about the mentally ill
claim is this.
If you,
I think it was
the last sermon
I did just before
in December,
but it's in Mark
chapter 3
and what you see
in Mark chapter 3
is very interesting
is that the Bible
understands the distinction
between mental illness
and demon possession.
The Bible itself
makes that distinction
and it's a distinction
that's been lost
and so what's being claimed here
is not that the man
is mentally ill
but the man is demon possessed
and we're going to see
that very clearly
in a few verses
as the Bible
brings it home
that it's talking
about demonization
to the point of possession
not mental illness.
And then the other thing
you might say
Jojojojojo
well I didn't know
they understood
the difference
between those things
but George
what this text
is talking about
is just completely impossible.
It's just completely impossible.
And often in my sermons
I try to have a bit
of an apologetics element
to it
but at this time
I'm not.
Amongst other things
there's the time reason
but all I'm going to say
is this
this text
as I said
is an ancient biography
story of Jesus.
It was written
by a man
who might have
been a direct eyewitness
but it's very clearly
based on eyewitness testimony
and that's what it's claiming
and it's written
while many eyewitnesses
were alive
and if you read
the whole thing
the language
as I've said before
is never like
once upon a time
or anything like that
it's always talking
of the language
of history
that's the way it is
at the level
of the original language
and the book
understands the difference
between like parables
and metaphors
and stories like that
because we've just seen
a whole pile of them
and we'll see more
in a moment.
We just saw
a little while ago
two sermons ago
there were a combination
of parables
slash aphorisms
slash metaphors
slash and then
some parables
so that Mark
understands the distinction
between these things
just because
he didn't know
never heard of
TikTok or Instagram
doesn't mean he's stupid
and he understands
these things
and this is written
and the claim is
that this actually happened
that's the claim
like you might say
well it was just a lie
or something like that
you know
and then we can have
a discussion about it
but you have to understand
the claim is
that this actually happened
and in a sense
what I'm going to show you
in a moment
is that Mark
doubles down
on the historical nature
of this
that it actually happened
he's going to double down
on it
in a couple of moments
and so the claim
of the text
is that this is actually
what happened
and obviously
if it happened
then you and I
live in a world
that is very different
than is described
by CBC
and Instagram
and Ottawa U
and the Supreme Court
of Canada
and the Parliament
of Canada
we live in a very
very different world
and it's talked about
by the elites
in this country
and I don't want
to ever encourage
you to live
in a fantasy world
I would like you
as a Christian
to live in the true world
the real world
as it really is
and Mark
is claiming
that this is
what the real world
is like
that there are
in fact beings
like evil spirits
and they can
affect
human beings
and they can
in a sense
demonize human beings
even to the point
of possession
and
there's another thing
to pause about here
before we see
what Jesus
is going to do
remember I said
at the beginning
or close to the beginning
some of you haven't
maybe you've already
fallen asleep
but in some ways
if you think about it
what this man
is described as
is what most Canadians
would like to be like
except
that's not what
they'd like to be like
but he embodies
what they like
it's just frightening
potentially for Canadians
to realize
that's what I
sort of like
I'd like to be strong
take no guff
not be controlled
by social conventions
be true to my inner self
be autonomous
be authentic
all of those things
but when you see this
you say
no no no no
okay
obviously something's
missing
in my list
of desires
and fulfillments
the other thing
that this text
is showing
is that this man
perfectly expresses
the average Canadian
sphere of Christianity
I mean
how is it
that the average Canadian
or many Canadians
think of Christianity
they think of things
like the handmaid's tale
that if you come
close to Jesus
you're going to
lose your individuality
you're going to
be brutalized
you're going to
turn into a person
who brutalizes others
in fact
I don't know
if anybody
who's involved
deeply in the
trans movement
has watched this
but they might think
that what I said
earlier was brutalizing
to trans people
and so in some ways
what you see
in this man
is how the average
Canadian
thinks
like that
the Christianity
that there's actually
something
many many Canadians
think there's something
evil about it
that it will destroy
your individuality
that it will
flatten you
it will hollow you out
it will brutalize you
it will make you
the type of person
who brutalizes others
but one of the things
that this text
is doing
is saying
you were right
to not want to
go like that
and if you come across
an ideology
or a religion
or a spirituality
that leads you
in the direction
run as fast
as you can
from it
but what
is going to be shown
in this text
is this is not
what Christianity is
Christianity
is the antidote
to this
and it's going to be
shown
throughout the entire
rest of the gospel
Jesus is going to
deal with this guy
and as the story
goes on
what you actually
see is that
Jesus is going to
be everything
the complete opposite
of everything
that a demon does
and that when you
respond to Christianity
and you respond
not respond to Christianity
when you respond
to the gospel
when you ask Jesus
to be your savior
and your lord
you see that there is
a this is a man
who is the perfect
penitent
that is the perfect
sacrifice
that embodies
perfect love
and he does
an act of
perfect love
setting aside
his power
and prerogatives
and all of those
things
the opposite
of what religion
does
and the opposite
of
he does all
of that
so by the end
of the story
you're in your
right mind
that you're
self-possessed
that your uniqueness
can finally start
to come out
and to flower
and to flourish
that you can have
a re-establishment
of community
and all
in the context
of being rightly
related to the true
and living God
the triune God
so see what happens
so they've asked
that Jesus
the demons
have revealed
that whether there's
just five
pretending to be a legion
or whether there really is
close to six thousand
whatever it is
we never know
that this man
is controlled
by many demons
so what happens
verse 11
now a great herd
of pigs
was feeding there
on the hillside
and they
that's the demons
begged Jesus
saying send us
to the pigs
notice this
let us
enter them
let us
enter them
they sort of
acknowledge
they don't actually
have power
so Jesus
gave them
permission
and the unclean
spirits
came out
and entered
the pigs
and the herd
numbering about
two thousand
rushed down
the steep bank
into the sea
and drowned
in the sea
you have a very
very powerful
graphic image
of the tremendous
chaotic
evil
life
denying
power
that was inside
this one man
inside this
one man
was such
rage
and hatred
of creation
and hatred
of life
and hatred
of God
that whether
it was two
or six thousand
it flows
into the pigs
and it
hurls them
to their death
and destruction
and doom
mental illness
isn't contagious
this is the part
of the story
that shows
that it's not
mental illness
if you didn't
know that
you can sit
beside a man
or a woman
who has mental
illness
and it's not
contagious
you won't
get it
and we should
minister to
people
and love
people
who are
mentally ill
and our
congregation
has people
who suffer
from mental
illness
and there
are my
brother and
sister in
Christ
now
how do the
people respond
and how did
the man
what's the man
like afterwards
well that's what
goes on in the
story next
the herdsmen
have seen all
of this
it wasn't just
that there was
this man
and Jesus
and his
twelve
disciples
but there's
herdsmen
there with
the pigs
in verse 14
all of a sudden
we realize
that this
encounter
between Jesus
and the
demoniac
has been
witnessed
by the
locals
and in
verse 14
the herdsmen
flee
they flee
pigs go
this way
to their
death
herdsmen
go this
way
the herdsmen
fled and
told it in
the city
and in the
country
and people
came to
see what
it was
that had
happened
in other
words
they didn't
just believe
these herdsmen
because the
herdsmen
said it
these people
you know
once again
just because
they don't
have
instagram
doesn't
mean
they're
stupid
doesn't
mean
they're
gullible
they go
probably
nah
that didn't
happen
come on
really
that's
impossible
like what
let's
go check
it out
you know
these guys
have been
drinking
too much
cheap
wine
or whatever
they all
got drunk
they don't
know what
they're
talking about
they go
to look
in verse
15
and they
came to
Jesus
and saw
the demon
possessed
man
and the
one who
had had
the legion
sitting there
clothed and in his right mind
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
now remember I said that
Jesus
Mark has written this gospel
to emphasize that this in fact
really happened
and here's how we can see part of that
that's what he's doing
you see he's written this gospel
this biography at a time
when there were so many eyewitnesses around
and what he's saying here is
listen if you don't believe me
the early readers of this
obviously we can't go back in time
like if you just picture what it was like
you go there
and what they're going to see
is they're going to see
2,000 dead pigs floating in the water
or maybe washed up on the beach
2,000
and they would have been there
rotting
for weeks
the birds of prey
I mean the birds
the vultures and others
that would have come there
this would have been something
that was there for weeks
and people came
and so this is the part of the story here
you see that
Mark is in a sense saying
this did happen
this happened
like you don't believe me
go travel to this area
I've given you enough descriptions
that you can figure out where it is
and go talk to the locals
and they'll say
I don't know what it was
I don't think it's
I would have said it was impossible
but there's no question
the guy was in his right mind
this guy that was like a main
like a evil guy
he's in his right mind
and there's the whole
the water
just all these pigs
it's like
just
I don't know
100 meters
300 meters
400 meters
into the water
these dead pigs
they ended up floating around
they
it's a very very public miracle
and the man
look again at how the man is described
it's in verse 15
they came to Jesus
and saw the demon possessed man
the one who had had the legion
sitting there clothed
and in his right mind
he was sitting there
he's calm
he had his clothes on
he was in his right mind
you see deeper
than wanting to be true
to your inner self
you want to be in your right mind
and you want to be unique
and you want to be an individual
and that's the way God designed you and me
but we want to be unique
and an individual
in such a way
that it doesn't brutalize other people
where love is possible
and community is possible
and that's what we see here
this man
it's a very powerful image
just drawn in a couple of short words
and it's very very interesting
that the people wanted Jesus to flee
you see
the pagan gods of those days
they raped
they lied
they murdered
and people were to be their slaves
and you would try to navigate
the distance
and the issues
of the different gods
and the different demands
to try to sort of get out
from under their notice
or to
somehow or another trick
or coerce them
into doing something for you
that you wanted
and it's a very fundamental principle
of religion
and spirituality
that the god
or the goddesses
or the all
wants you
to lose your identity
and to die
for its glory
but here we see
that Jesus
with all the power
in the world
uses his power
to die
he in a sense
goes the exact opposite
of what the demons
and what religious wants
and what our self
and our society wants
which is to accrue power
and it's as if
you know
we're pulling back
and pulling back
and pulling like that
and he knows
that the only way
that we can be free
is in a sense
that he does
what we cannot do
which is to take this power
and go all the way back
and go even deeper
to the full extent
of the problem
that the power causes
and he goes
and empties himself
even to the point
of dying on the cross
you can't be more
powerless than dead
you can't be poorer
than dead
and the mystery
of the bible
tells us
that Jesus goes
and takes within death
all of the things
all of the punishments
all of the horrors
of death
with nothing left out
whatever that means
because we don't know
what that means
but whatever it means
he experiences
all of that
out of love
for you and me
that when we put
our faith and trust
in him
we begin a journey
of becoming
in our right mind
and being properly clothed
and being loved
by almighty God
and being able
to sit in peace
with almighty God
and with others
in peace
and freedom
and uniqueness
and love
and safety
and security
and affection
and delight
and that is why
he died for you
the complete opposite
of a demon
now some of you
might say
George
that's a very wonderful story
but I think I'm like
that guy
because you see
that guy
he didn't
I remember what you said
when you read it earlier
he doesn't get to
he doesn't get to stay
with Jesus
and I think that's my worry
you know
I've tried different religions
I've tried different
spiritualities
and you know
they just don't stick
and at the end of the day
I just think there's something
maybe broken or wrong
about me
that this could never be
possibly true about me
and that's sort of George
what the story shows
but that's not what
the story shows at all
let me show how it finishes
and I'll tell you about
something that's going to happen
in two chapters
look at verse 18
as Jesus was getting
into the boat
the man
who had been possessed
with demons
begged Jesus
that he might be with him
and here's our fear
and Jesus did not permit him
and I've run out of time
but this doesn't mean
that the man is rejected
by Jesus
this man becomes
the first evangelist
he becomes the first evangelist
he is given a mission
and a purpose
and a commission
and with great affection
Jesus says to him
go home to your friends
and tell them
how much the Lord
has done for you
and how he has had mercy on you
and since that's
every one of us
probably nobody here
has been delivered
from demons
but maybe one of you have
I don't know
somebody watching
maybe you have been
had an exorcism
performed on you
and have been delivered
from demonic oppression
at a very deep level
but all of us
can bear witness
about how much
the Lord has done for us
and even if we can't think
of how much he's done for us
we can tell
how he has had mercy on us
how he has had mercy on me
verse 20
and he went away
and began to proclaim
in the Decapolis
how much Jesus
had done for him
and everyone marveled
now it's very very interesting
because in the Bible
one of the things
that the Bible
wants to make clear
is that there's only one hero
and that is Jesus
one of the things
I regularly pray
with the people up front
I didn't do it today
but it's a very regular thing
I pray that at the end
of the service
people won't want
to know more about me
but know about
more
but want to know
more about Jesus
and I obviously
have an ego
and a flesh
and obviously
I like being admired
and obviously
I like all of those things
but really
my deepest desire
is that nobody
wants to talk to me
afterwards
they want to spend
time with Jesus
and I confess
in my flesh
because I'm a fallen
human being
that people
I might sort of
be bothered
if somebody says
about this wonderful
thing they heard
a couple of months ago
and it's what I said
and they don't remember
that it came from me
but at the end of the day
what I really
really really really
do want
and I want to grow
in wanting even more
is that they just
they just love Jesus more
and they haven't realized
that I had anything
to do with their love
and that would be
a good thing
that would be
a good thing
and so one of the ways
that the gospel models this
is this story ends
this is so cool
this story ends
that Jesus
in the Decapolis
he does the miracle
he the people
all say
get away from us
Jesus
and and they
and Jesus leaves
and there's only one guy
left who likes Jesus
and in chapter 7
Jesus comes to the region
again
and he speaks
and there's 4,000 people
there to hear him
and Jesus performs
the miracle
of feeding 4,000
right where this guy
had gone
Jesus did not
reject the guy
there are no little
people in Jesus' life
if you come to know
Jesus as your Savior
and Lord
you are special
you are unique
you are deeply loved
and you will be
deeply loved
for all eternity
and part of
sanctification
is beginning to know
and experience that
now on this side
of the grave
Jesus took this one guy
and he started
to tell people
about what Jesus
had done for him
and how mercy
had been shown to him
and whether it was
months or a year later
the Bible doesn't give
chronology
4,000 people came
more than 4,000 people
came to hear Jesus
the next time
let's stand
bow our heads
in prayer
Father we give you
thanks and praise
for Jesus
we thank and praise you
that
he did what we could not
he disentangled himself
from power
and prestige
he did those things
not have a hold of him
those things
that we wish
that we could do
but can't
he did for us
and that he did
the complete
he used all of his power
to do the opposite
of what we expect
power to be used for
he used his power
to resist temptation
to live a sinless life
and to die upon the cross
as a sacrifice for sin
so that I can be made right
with God
that anyone who puts
their trust and faith
in Jesus
can be made right with you
and we give you
thanks and praise
Father
that when we receive
the Jesus
into our lives
that he will begin
to work within us
to put us
in our right mind
to put us
in our right mind
to heal us
that we might be free
as you intended us to be
and so Father
we ask that you
deliver us
from whatever
fear we have
of drawing close
to Christ
or surrendering
to him
that you would
deliver us
Father
from these fears
we confess
that we're not
really fearing you
we're fearing demons
and help us
to have a great love
for Jesus
and trust
and know
that as he
becomes more precious
and real
and as his work
and his promises
become more precious
and real
and deep to our hearts
that you will help us
to be in our right mind
and in community
with others
and in community
with you
so Father
please do this wonderful
work of grace
in our lives
and we ask this
in the name of Jesus
your son
and our savior
amen