Ever since the fall, everything in the universe has been turned on its head! Nothing is as it was supposed to be. Relationships that once were perfect in intimacy became complicated by selfishness and pride. Instead of living forever, our physical bodies began to deteriorate, and our relationship with God was severed as soon as sin entered the world. In essence, everything we see and experience is not as it is supposed to be – and as much as we accept the present reality as truth – we are deceived.
As we start this series we have to keep this in mind. Whether we’re looking at parenting, how we handle our finances, or whether we’re looking at the dynamics of grief or depression – everything was affected by the Fall. Maybe most significantly impacted was our relationship with God. Even our perceptions of who He is have been adversely affected.
Before the Fall God was the source of life, the sustainer of life, the giver of purpose - and after the fall we began to view Him as nothing more than the judge and jury – the One who desired not to bless us but to condemn us! Throughout this series we hope to reverse some of your perceptions of God and the problems that you cope with. I want you to hear what God wants to say to you where you are and not what your fallen perception tells you God is saying. We want to turn things back on their feet again – back where they were intended to be so that we can hear the truth!
Today we’re going to look at a story from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 5 that captures this what has happened to us since the fall, but also it pictures where we should turn to restore the proper order of things.
This story is included in 3 of the 4 Gospels, so it’s obviously a story that God wants us to understand. I would invite all of you to turn there in your Bibles – feel free to use the one in the chair in front of you. In fact, if you don’t have a Bible that is easy to read, I would invite you to take the Bible that is in the chair in front of you as a gift from us. It is the New Living Translation, which is as accurate as it is easy to read.
In the opening verses meet the main character of our story. “So they (that is Jesus and his disciples) arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him.” (Mark 5:2)
This was a pretty unusual greeting party here. Jesus and the disciples pull up to the shore in their boats and they are greeted by someone coming out of the graveyard. Already we know that this is probably going to be interesting. In the first place as they step to shore the disciples have to be a little leery. They were Jewish and a graveyard was no place for a good Jewish person to be!
In the Jewish culture, graveyards aren’t what they are today. Bonnie and I used to live near City Park – and I never really thought of it as odd until I read this passage and starting thinking about the culture of their day. When Derek was young we used to go to City Park 3 or 4 times a week so Derek could play on the playground, or to ride the Pokey Smokey or to have a picnic lunch and feed the ducks or whatever. It’s such a beautiful park – but you have to drive through the cemetery to get there! Have you ever thought about that? Kind of strange!
That never would have happened in the Jewish culture. I mean, a cemetery was off limits! If you touched even the tombstone of a dead person you were considered ceremonially unclean for a full day. It was off limits. So that no one could accidentally get “unclean” they would place the cemeteries on the extreme edges of town. They probably weren’t the well groomed well presented places that we think of when we think of graveyards!
This man that greeted them wasn’t just passing through the cemetery though – he was a resident! Look at verses 3-5 with me: “This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.”
So, you can see that this man – he was separated from the community as much as the cemetery in which he lived. He had been isolated, probably labeled – and he was unclean – just like the tombs he was surrounded with. It was the perfect place for a guy like this really – he belonged there because he didn’t belong any where else!
Now, I want to pause in this story to talk to you – the observer. There are a lot of people here today – and while I didn’t get to see everyone – I’m pretty sure that no one here even comes close to matching the description of the guy we read in this story. I mean, with this guy – it was obvious from the moment that they first laid eyes on him that there was something terribly wrong! You could see the scars and the cuts and the blood from his self-inflicted wounds, you probably could see the shackles that were still on his arms with some chain links hanging off where he had broken the shackles that they had used to try to control him. He obviously had problems!
As I looked around this morning I didn’t see any of that. Everyone looked pretty clean and decent – there were a few exceptions – but for the most part everyone looked clean.
But I know that every single person in this room – no matter how together you might look on the outside, no matter how polished and right you look – everyone here has some junk in their lives that makes you unclean in some way or another. See, it doesn’t really matter if I can see it or not – Jesus looks at us and he can see what is going on in our lives. In fact, let me just read the next few verses to you…(6-8)
“When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
See, before Jesus ever saw this guy he saw something that no one else had seen in him! Did you catch that, before Jesus had ever encountered this guy he had already told the evil spirit within him to leave? I find that very interesting! Now, I’m not saying that you necessarily have an evil spirit in you but I am saying that what I can’t see, and what others in this room can’t see – Jesus sees. He sees it. He knows what is going on. He knows what is defeating you, he knows what is discouraging you and he knows something else about you that no one else can know just by looking at you. He knows where you are at spiritually!
See, spiritually there are two different kinds of people in this room. There are those who have humbled themselves before God and embraced what Jesus did for them on the cross of Calvary – and there are those who haven’t done that yet. Some in this room are followers of Jesus and some of us are not yet followers of Jesus. And while I can’t look at you and tell which of those you are – God looks at you and He sees that very clearly.
See, the Bible describes those who have not yet come into a relationship with Jesus as spiritually dead! That sounds pretty harsh – but that is the spiritual reality. That’s what Paul was referring to in Ephesians 2 when he says:
“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin…All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)
So, if we had the ability to look around this room with spiritual eyes we would see those who are spiritually alive and we would see those who are spiritually dead! You’re like the guy in the graveyard!
Even though that is true, I want to bring your attention to one other detail at the beginning of the story that we hadn’t looked at yet. Look if you will at the end of Mark chapter 4:35. Listen to what is said and keep in mind that Jesus is fully God and fully man. Okay? So, as God he could see the hearts of man, he could perform miracles – and he could see into the future – he was omniscient! So keep that in mind as we read this verse:
“As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”
Did you see that? Did you catch what was going on? Remember, this happened just before the story that we are reading now in Mark chapter 5. Jesus was in the midst of doing some ministry on the other side of the lake but then he makes plans to cross over KNOWING that he would run into this madman in the tombs! Do you see where I’m going with this? Jesus not only sees our spiritual condition, but he makes plans to intersect with us despite that condition! He doesn’t avoid us – he runs to us!
I don’t know what you are carrying around with you, I don’t know where you have turned for help with whatever your issue is – but I do know that God has taken notice and he left where He was to come to where you are so that you would have a chance to come in contact with Him! Maybe this is your first time in church in 10 years, I don’t know – and I want to tell you that the reason you are here this morning is because Jesus wants to meet you where you are. And you don’t have to pretend to be something that you aren’t – you can just be who you are! He sees you and He has run to you!
Back to the narrative. Look again at verses 3-5. This man couldn’t be restrained – by himself or by others. It wasn’t that no one had tried to help this man. They had tried. In fact, we don’t know how long they tried to help this man, but my guess is it was a long time. They probably didn’t start with chains to help him out. They probably started by talking to him and trying to reason with him. Maybe they told him that his behavior was unacceptable. I’m pretty sure that this guy was frustrated with himself too. He had probably given himself pep talks and watched Oprah and read books on how the freedom that he longed for could be found within himself. He likely tried very hard to get better – but none of this worked. It was a helpless situation.
You may be here this morning and you are facing some kind of problem in your life. Maybe it is some kind of addiction. Whether it’s an addiction to pornography, or some kind of drug like alcohol or something else. No matter how hard you try you can’t seem to beat this thing. No matter how many times you tell yourself that you are done with this bad habit, or this sinful pattern or this addiction you still find yourself going back there. You still have the chains on your wrists – reminders of the things that you have tried in the past to be free but that haven’t worked. The chains mock you and serve only to make you feel more guilty and worthless for not being able to escape from whatever it is that is beating you up.
Maybe your cemetery is your marriage. It’s dead and dying and you can’t seem to turn it around. You’ve tried everything – but each new argument is a fresh reminder that you’ve been stuck in the tombs and you aren’t sure how much longer you can hang in there.
Closely related to that you may feel trapped by the stresses that come with parenting. Maybe you aren’t sure what to do and you are feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand and every time your child demands his or her own way or your teen rebels you feel like a failure and you wonder if there is any way out of the grave yard that you find yourself in.
There are more than a few in this room who feel trapped in the tombs of either grief or depression. You don’t remember the last time you felt good or happy. You don’t remember the last time that you were filled with hope or optimism. Maybe you, like the man in this story, have tried to help yourself and you’ve had others try to offer you a helping hand but the result is a greater sense of isolation and shame because of where you are.
Maybe you are among the millions of Americans who feel oppressed by the financial mess you find yourself in. At this point it doesn’t much matter if it was a situation of your own doing or just a series of unfortunate circumstances – you are trapped by it and you don’t see any way out. No matter what you try – your situation isn’t improving!
That’s how it was for the guy in this story. You’ll also notice in this story in verses 4 and 5 that his situation didn’t just affect him. It did affect him; you see there that he cut himself. But a lot of us don’t realize that whatever it is that is hurting us is affecting our friends and families as well. No one is an island. You see that in verse 4 where it says no one was strong enough to subdue him. How do you think they found that out? People had tried. You see, everything you do touches someone else – even your most secret sins impact others.
So you can see by the story so far that this guy didn’t know where to turn. He had tried looking within himself for help but the problem with looking within ourselves for help is, of course, inside of us is the source of our problems, not the solution! He had hoped that he had the intestinal fortitude to change his fortunes, but he didn’t. Turning in doesn’t work!
So, Jesus comes along in verse 6, and he instructs this evil spirit to leave this poor guy and then this conversation takes place in verses 9-13: “Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
Now what happens next is kind of amazing and I’m not going to spend a lot of time here but I do want to make a couple of observations on the verses that follow. Look with me at verse 11 and following:
“There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.”
I want you to see this because this is pretty significant. Our second tendency is to turn out. We hear a lot about turning to a “higher power as we understand him/her or it.” Now, I know a lot of people that were put on the right path to sobriety and health by looking to a higher power – but if you get to define what that higher power is you may find yourself physically and emotionally well but still spiritually dead. Does that make sense? I think turning to the higher power is a great first step – but it isn’t enough.
You see, higher powers come in degrees. In this story the guy is being controlled by a pretty strong spiritual power – a higher power – and it’s stronger than he is because it controls him, right? That’s true in your life as well. Whatever you are battling, and I’m talking to followers of Jesus as well as those who are not yet followers of Jesus – the thing that you are battling is stronger than you because it is controlling you…your behavior. But we also see in these verses that this so called “higher power” is subject to the highest power! That’s what I want you to see. You can go higher or you can go straight to the top!
When I was in the Army reserves I went through a period of about six months where I wasn’t getting paid. To solve my problem I had tried following my chain of command, because that’s what they taught me to do. I had gone to Sgt. Philips who handled pay stuff, I had gone to First Sgt. Whitaker, because he was my superior, I had gone to my company commander – but still I was getting nowhere! So, finally I called my congressman, I went to the top, the REAL higher power. And do you know that within 5 days of contacting my congressman I had all of my pay in my bank account! Sometimes it’s best to go to the top!
Some of you are settling for something that you think is a higher power to get you out of your trouble but like the guy in our story – the so called higher power that you’ve turned to – whether it is your horoscope, or some kind of psychic, or some new idea of religious thought – it doesn’t have the power to change your life – you’ve settled for a substitute! What is the highest power I’m talking about?
Read this passage with me from Philippians 2:9-11: “God elevated him (Jesus) to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Now I don’t understand completely the whole pig thing in this story – none of that seems very kosher to me – but I will say this – the evil had to seek permission from Jesus. Did you catch that in verse 13? You want to get your act cleaned up – you want to get some junk out of your life – then you better turn to Jesus – because only He has the power to bring order to your life! Where do you turn? You turn to Jesus for the power and strength that you need.
Some of you might say, well that sounds kind of trite. I need more than just “turn to Jesus.” Well, in the coming weeks we will go into more detail about what that looks like in each area but for this morning I’ll just repeat the words of Paul to the church at Corinth which says, “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
Almost every week during this series we will have someone share a personal story of how the power of turning to Jesus changed their lives! That’s also what happened in the story that we are reading this morning. Look at the closing verses from Mark 5 starting with verse 15:
“A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
Let me pause here for one second. Some of you are like the main character in this story. Your past has been haunting you, you have turned in for help, you have turned out for help and this morning you are going to turn up. You are going to turn to Jesus and he will come into your life and help you clean house! You are ready to acknowledge Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. (go over card.)
You might already be a follower of Jesus – but for whatever reason you have not allowed him to have control over this area of your life that you are struggling with right now, but this morning you are going to turn to Him. He will listen to you – he will hear you. (go over card, have a place that they can write whatever their struggle is).
Back to the passage: As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.”
After Jesus cleaned this guy up – he was ready to leave – he thought his mission in life was to get cleaned up – to encounter Jesus. Listen to what Jesus told him. He said, now your job is to tell others! He doesn’t just want you to check out now and wait to go to heaven. He wants you to be a part of sharing your story and telling others. Who can you invite to come with you to the rest of this series? Write their name down.
There is one last category of people in this room and that is those who wanted Jesus to leave. If you are brave enough to check that block and say you simply don’t want God in your life – then will you be honest with me and check that block? I will pray for you this week!
Close in prayer.
