The Master On A Mission Series

Series – Miracles in Mark

Pt. 1 - “The Master on a Mission”

Mark 5:1-20

Scripture Reading (18-20)

Good morning! It’s great to have you with us today and we trust that you have come expecting God to do something in our hearts and minds.

Today we are looking at a passage from the Gospel of Mark. Each of the Gospels has a theme. For instance in John we see Jesus as the Son of God and in Luke he is The Son of Man. In Mark he is unquestionably the Miracle Worker. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some of the miracles in Mark’s gospel. I want us to be reminded again that Jesus possessed supernatural power and that He had power over disease, demons, and even death! He still has this power today and He can help you and I no matter what our problem is or how insurmountable it might seem. I also want to emphasis that He is our friend. What is a friend? A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the following:

"One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable."

"One who understands our silence."

"A volume of sympathy bound in cloth."

"A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down."

The winning definition read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." Bits & Pieces,

This morning we see the Lord befriending a man that everyone had given up on. He had been written off by those around him. There had been many efforts made on this man’s behalf, usually in the form of bonds and imprisonment all to no avail, but thank God Almighty that Jesus shows up by crossing over to the other side.

I. The Maniac of Gadara.

a. See him chained – v. 3-4

b. See him crying – v. 5a

c. See him cutting – v. 5b

A. His hair was matted together.

B. His face was unshaven.

C. He was foaming and frothing at the mouth.

D. Blood was flowing from self-inflicted wounds, there are scabs and scars from old wounds

E. The clanging of chains could be heard as he dragged the remnants.

F. He doesn’t wear any clothes or live in a house but dwelled among the tombs. He is comfortable with the bones of the dead

G The stench of dried pus and soured vomit was unbearable. His body odor is repellant.

H. He would charge you screaming and crying like a wild animal.

A) (v. 2) Unclean- Mark is not reporting only on the man’s "external" but his "internal situation“.

B) (v3.) Unsettled - Look at where he lives.

C) (v, 4) Uncontrollable- No one could calm him or reason with him.

D) (v, 5} Unhappy- He’s depressed, in despair and demoralized.

F.) (v.6) Unstable- He does not jump up and down rejoicing but falls at the sight of Jesus.

f.) (v. 15) Unclothed- Uncovered, The body was out of control because his head was out of control. Don’t look for things to be right with the body if all hell

has broken into the mind!

II. The Miracle at Gadara.

C.H. Spurgeon defines faith this way, "Faith is believing that Christ is what He is said to be, and that he will do what He has promised to do, and then to expect this of Him."

a. The confrontation –

Jesus left one storm that He calmed that was external in chapter 4 to deal with a human storm that was internal in chapter 5. The grace of God has a way of showing up even in the madness of our situations.

b. The cleansing – 6,000 demons (legion)

Jesus performs an exorcism. "Come out of him.” What sociology couldn’t do Jesus did. What psychology couldn’t do, Jesus did. What philosophy couldn’t do, Jesus did. I’ll tell you that Jesus can do it! Salvation is a supernatural action. Only the Spirit of God can break through into a mind that is soaked in sin.

c. The change

"Was sitting” he was at rest

"Was clothed" he was clothed

"And in his right mind” he was composed

The Real Miracle

Meaning no disrespect to the religious convictions of others, I still can’t help wondering how we can explain away what to me is the greatest miracle of all and which is recorded in history. No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where...is the miracle I spoke of? Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- possibly to your own home town. A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who...left no written word has, for 2000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that?...unless he really was who he said he was." (Ronald Reagan. http://www.christianglobe.com)