Bunbury
Sun am
7/08/2011
“Moving out of the graveyard”
Intro: *** Ernie in the Parramatta Church has a very unusual job. I mean there aren’t too many people that can claim to have done for a job what Ernie does. And to add to this he loves his job even though it brings home the reality every day of the life, death & eternity & the God that he has committed his life to. What does Ernie do for a job?
Ernie is a grave digger! Seriously! He digs people’s graves for them – the last thing they’ll ever need in this world Ernie prepares for them.
But in reality – people dig their own graves long b/4 Ernie starts shovelling dirt to create a hole in the ground!
At least that’s what the Bible teaches us …… but more specifically it gives us the idea that we can shift into the cemetery long b/4 we stop breathing.
It gives us the idea that by our choices we end up in the graveyard long b/4 we actually stop breathing.
Here’s the really sad thing – some of God’s people, people He never intended to live life amongst the tombs find th/s there when God has provided mansions of grace & blessing for them.
If you wake up one day & find yourself in a graveyard …… but you’re not dead – u/s that this is not God’s will for your life.
T/m we are going to read about a man who was able to move out of the cemetery & get a new life.
I want to preach t/m about “Moving out of the graveyard”.
Text: Mark 5:1 – 8 & 15 – 20 (NKJV) 1Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” 8For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”
15Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
# 1. Living in a graveyard.
A. Life is full of graveyards!
a. If you open your eyes you’ll see them everywhere you look.
i. Unfortunately they are a necessary part of the curse of sin – sin causes things to die & dead things have to be buried.
ii. Things that have to be buried are usually buried in one place – graveyards.
iii. And b/c death is so prominent in this world we see graveyards everywhere.
iv. Practically every small town in this nation has a graveyard.
*** Years ago we went to Kanowna while we were living in Kalgoorlie. It was once a thriving gold mining town. In 1905 there were 12 000 people living in this town 18 km north east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. There were 16 hotels, two breweries and an hourly train service to Kalgoorlie. But when we visited it many years ago the only thing that remained were a few tourist street signs, the abandoned roads of the town & a graveyard!
Think about that! The only thing that really survived in tact was the graveyard w/ a few remains of it’s rusty fence & entrance. All the grave sites themselves were still there. Long abandoned, long neglected & ignored but still there in their entirety!
b. You can’t really get rid of cemetery & I guess that’s b/c death is so much a part of life & it’s permanent.
i. And the unavoidable truth is that we all have to either die one day or be raptured …… that means that we need to take life seriously.
Hebrews 9:27 ( TMNT ) 27Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences.
ii. Not only do we die but eventually so does everything we create …. Think about it!
*** Probably among the most ancient man made things in the world would be the Pyramids of the Pharaohs. They contain the remains of the embalmed bodies of the pharaohs of Egypt. As these corpses are slowly rotting away to dust ….. b/c to dust they will return …. We notice that so are the tombs that they have been encrypted in for centuries.
iii. Not only are we living in a dying world – (by the way it is all in the Bible, global warming is not the problem, sin is!) – but everything that resides in this world is also dying.
iv. Ever driven past a wrecker’s yard w/ the car bodies piled up? It’s a graveyard for cars!
v. Now we even have graveyards for pets! As if we need yet more graveyards!!!
B. It’s not strange that we have graveyards – what is strange is that people would choose to live in them.
a. That’s what the man in our text had done – he had made a choice to live amongst the tombstones of a burial plot.
i. Think about it! The design of God for this man’s life was good but he had as T.B.S. ….
Vs 3. …..had his dwelling among the tombs;
ii. What is it that went so badly wrong w/ this man that bought him to this place in life ….. a premature graveyard, a plot in the cemetery b/4 he was dead?
Vs 2. Tells us that he was …. a man with an unclean spirit,
** Adam Clarke in his commentary on unclean spirits says it is “one who filled the heart of him he possessed with Lascivious thoughts, images, desires, and propensities.”
iii. That’s a sobering thought to contemplate ….. a spirit comes into a man’s life fills him w/ lascivious thoughts & images & causes him to be so consumed that he moves into a graveyard!
iv. That’s a scary thought that simply failing to take control of what takes a hold of our minds – we could find ourselves among the tombstones while we’re still alive!
b. Now you don’t have to be a theologian to u/s that the main outcome of salvation is avoiding hell.
i. But the thought we discover in our text is that through a sloppy thought life you can find y/s in a living hell.
ii. That’s what the poor man in our text was going through – a living hell!!! Listen to how our text describes his life ….
Vs 3-5. 3who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.
iii. It doesn’t sound like this guy is having a good time to me! That sounds like living hell if you ask my opinion – a life full of hopelessness & despair.
iv. Not only that but b/c he lived amongst the tombstones – in every direction he looked there was no encouragement to be found – only more death.
# 2. The nature of a graveyard.
A. What we need to u/s is that there are different kinds of graveyards we find our/s in.
*** When I was a boy my parents took me to Karrakatta cemetery in Perth to visit the grave of an infant sister of mine that died only hours after birth. I imagine that this must have caused great heart ache for my parents & b/c of the pain of it I only recall visiting the grave the one time. What I remember is that it must have been some years since they had been there b/ when we arrived at the cemetery they had to look at the various signs. The graveyard had been divided into section / divisions – the Baptist / C of E, Catholic & finally we found the Presbyterian section where the grave site was.
a. Think about that! In life there are all kinds of divisions & its no different in death.
i. A divided graveyard made it easy to find people….. of at leas those who used to be people living amongst us.
ii. But this is not only true of graveyards where death seems to have had total dominion.
iii. It seems as though long b/4 a coffin is lowered into the ground the graveyard has been making its claim on men.
iv. That’s a powerful thought – to think that the grave could already be making a claim on living / breathing men / women.
*** We all know about the horror movies where gremlins / trolls / imps creep out of a crevice in the ground to arrest some unfortunate victim who happens to be in the wrong place.
The only difference is that this isn’t a horror movie – its reality!
b. What makes matters even worse is the fact that some people seem to settle in among the tombstones long b/4 they are dead.
i. Remember what Jesus said about the Pharisees & what was happening their hearts?
Matthew 23:27 ( NKJV ) 27“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
ii. What a terrible thing when you consider the thought – the power of the grave reaches out to men & begins to claim them while they are still alive.
iii. While still living & breathing they have surrendered to the grave!
B. Our concern here is when the living move in amongst the dead.
a. It s a tragedy when those that have everything to live for allow death to take a hold of their lives.
i. What we are talking about here is what the Bible actually refers to as ‘dead works’.
Heb 6:1 actually speaks about ….. repentance from dead works.
Heb 9:14 talks about ………..cleansing the conscience from dead works.
ii. And we need to realise that dead works are actually the fruit of a spiritually dead life.
iii. So let’s think about some of the tombs we can find our/s living amongst.
b. First of all there is a graveyard of carnality – this is where many of God’s people begin the slippery way down to the tombs.
i. Carnality always kills spirituality!
T.B.S. Romans 8:6-7 ( NKJV ) 6For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
ii. Many Christians find th/s living in a graveyard of carnality where there is no spiritual life to sustain them.
iii. God’s people can’t survive when they live carnal lives.
c. Then there is a cemetery of bitterness – bitterness kills spiritual / godly / saved men / women.
i. Just like the man in our text bitter people are tormented spiritually.
ii. They continue to replay the events of their pain / hurts / wounds / blows that have been delivered to them.
iii. And b/c of this its not long b/4 they find th/s in the graveyard of bitter memories / experiences.
d. We can also find our/s among the tombstones of inactivity.
i. If you don’t pay attention to this truth – you will wake up one day to discover a wasted life!
ii. Apparently this man in our story wasn’t making much progress – his life was full of torment / anger / wicked & lustful thoughts.
iii. While all of this was going on nothing much else was being accomplished!
*** I was reading some information about the sloth which is a three fingered & three toed edentate. It is a tree dwelling mammal that moves so slowly that moss & algae sometimes grow on them. This guy is so slow that he is practically b/co one w/ the earth.
We know that one day this is unavoidable for us all but we ought to plan on accomplishing things first.
iv. Don’t let a life of inactivity bring you to or b/co your graveyard.
# 3. Moving out of the graveyard.
A. Being able to see Jesus is the first step towards moving out of the graveyard.
Vs 6. 6When he saw Jesus from afar, …..
a. The Bible tells us that the very reason that Jesus came was to destroy him who had the power of the grave.
i. Listen to the promise that God makes to His own people …..
Hosea 13:14 ( NKJV ) 14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. ……
ii. We also read in ……
1 John 3:8 ( NKJV ) 8He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
iii. Now notice something that takes place here ……. He is cutting himself w/ stones / is tormented but as soon as he sees Jesus his behaviour begins to change.
Vs 6. …… he ran and worshiped Him.
iv. Why? b/c he began to have a revelation of how far removed he had been from God & his loving goodness.
v. You know when you begin to give in to sin it will shock you how quickly & how far you are removed from His love & goodness…. Listen to what he says here.
Vs 7. …..“What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
vi. What you need to realise, even if you are a Christian & even though you find y/s a long way from Jesus – He’s always accessible!
vii. And even though life may be full of graveyards, you don’t have to settle down into one.
B. But b/4 you can move out of the graveyard – there have to be some things that are moved out of you.
Vs 8. 8For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”
a. Take note of this – there are some things in you that are keeping you in the graveyard.
i. W/o deliverance the demon powers in this man would have taken him straight back among the tombs.
ii. This is not only something that was true for him, it is something that is true for you too.
iii. You can see Jesus, be comforted by His Word ….. But some things have to be cast out of your life if you’re going to move out of the cemetery.
iv. You see a change of spiritual address is the result of a change of heart!
v. There are some things that have to be broken in you otherwise you’ll always be living amongst the dead ruins of this life, never experiencing victory.
b. Once things move out of you something will flow out of you – testimony!
i. Your move out of the tombstones is going to affect other people’s lives.
ii. What happened to this man is what happens also to us when the power of the grave is broken over our lives – people noticed it.
Vs 15. 15Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind.
iii. People can’t help but notice genuine change in a man’s life….. b/c that genuine change is what ushers him out of the cemetery & into a new life.
Vs 18. 18And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.
c. But moving out of the graveyard is not only something that others will notice, it is something we’ll want to make known.
Vs 19. 19However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, …..
i. A life that has been delivered from the graveyard can’t help talking about what God has done.
Vs 20. 20And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him;
ii. Decapolis – was a region of 10 cities – here was a man who had b/co widely known for his sin, now he was b/co widely known for his deliverance!
Vs 20. ……. and all marveled.
iii. Once he was known as a man whose life was doomed to the graveyard, now he was known as a man who found new life in the graveyard & had moved out.
