From Ruin To Redemption
Text: Mark 5: 1-6, 15
Intro: Today’s text vividly portrays the depths to which a person under Satan’s control can sink. But that’s not all that is in view here. We also see in sharp contrast to this former destructive condition the power of God to deliver one who will trust Christ by faith.
Prior to this incident recorded by Mark, Jesus had been teaching in parables on the seashore of Capernaum. The crowds so pressed in upon Him that Jesus had to enter into a nearby ship to teach the people. After Jesus had finished His teaching and dismissed the multitudes, He set sail with His disciples for the other side of the Sea of Galilee. During this one-hour trip, Jesus decided to get some rest. So He lay down at the back of the ship and went to sleep.
At some point during the voyage, a great storm came upon the tiny ship and its occupants. The disciples feared for their lives, since the ship was now filled with water. Frantically they awakened Jesus, who simply stood on the deck of that little ship, raised His voice in rebuke to the wind and the sea, and all became calm at His command. The disciples had witnessed the magnificent power of Christ over the elements.
But as though the raging storm wasn’t enough excitement for one day, the disciples were about to witness yet another shocking demonstration of their Master’s power. No sooner had their vessel landed on the shore of Gadara, a wild-eyed, demon-possessed man came running toward them. To the amazement of the disciples, when the demoniac came close to Jesus, he fell at His feet. Jesus was totally in control of the situation. Christ’s disciples learned that not only did Christ have power over the elements; He also had power over evil.
This account recorded by Mark, is a wonderful demonstration of the power of God to cleanse and forgive men and women, who have sunken to the murkiest and filthiest depths of sin. My, what a great Savior we serve! Let’s take a closer look at this account, and learn how a raging demon-controlled man came “From Ruin To Redemption,” by the power of Christ.
Theme: Christ’s power over evil is seen in:
I. THE DEPTHS OF SATAN’S CONTROL
A. This Can Be Seen In The Demoniac’s Dwelling.
Mark 5: 1 “And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3a Who had his dwelling among the tombs…”
NOTE: [1] Simply put, this man lived in the graveyard. There are two possibilities with reference to this condition:
1a. He may have taken up residence here after having been driven out of town, due to his deranged state of mind.
1b. Tombs were usually cut out of the side of a mountain, creating a cave. He may have used the cave for shelter.
[2] Whatever the reason was for this man living among the tombs, and as unusual as that might seem to us, it isn’t too out of character, spiritually speaking. This man was lost—without Christ. His dwelling place was in character with his spiritual condition, for he was “…dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph.2: 1). Every person without Christ is spiritually in the same condition as this demoniac.
B. This Can Be Seen In The Demoniac’s Disposition.
1. He could not be restrained.
Mark 5: 3b “…and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.”
NOTE: [1] The word “chains” refers to “manacles,” or what we would call handcuffs.
[2] The word “fetters” refers to a “shackle for the feet” (Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies From The Greek New Testament, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Mark In The Greek New Testament, pg. 101).
[3] We can see from this account that this demoniac exhibited supernatural strength, in that he broke the fetters and the chains numerous times. Again, let’s make a spiritual application here. Just as this demoniac, under the control of Satan, could not be controlled by any man, neither can any man control his sin nature. Only when Jesus is allowed to enter one’s heart as Lord and Master can the sin nature be brought into subjection. Only Jesus can tame the “Old Man” within us.
2. He was always restless.
Mark 5: 5a “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying…”
NOTE: [1] According to one commentator, the word “crying” makes reference to “a loud scream or shriek” (Ibid, pg. 101). Can you imagine the fear that must have possessed the townspeople as they were awakened in the middle of the night by the blood curdling screams of the demoniac that echoed eerily through the mountains in the stillness of the night?
[2] According to the Greek translation of this verse, this man’s outcries went on continually.
And throughout the night and the day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was continually screaming and shrieking…
Ibid, pg. 101 & 102.
3. He was not rational.
Mark 5: 5b “…crying, and cutting himself with stones.”
Matt.8: 28c “…exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.”
NOTE: [1] If a rational person would not live among the tombs, neither would he purposely and continually cut himself. The Greek word translated “cutting himself” shows us the irrationality of this man. It means, “’to cut one’s self up,’ in the sense of gashing, hacking, or cutting one’s whole body so as to leave it covered with scars” (Ibid, pg. 101).
[2] The demoniac’s habit of cutting himself was self-destructive, to say the least. But such is the nature of sin. It is always self-destructive to the one held captive by it, and always leaves its scars.
Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst;
He promises honor and pays with disgrace;
He promises pleasure and pays with pain;
He promises profit and pays with loss;
He promises life and pays with death.
Thomas Brooks.
[3] Matthew tells us that this man attacked anyone who ventured to take the road by the tombs. His actions were more like an animal than a human being.
C. This Can Be Seen In The Demoniac’s Demonization.
Mark 5: 9 “And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.”
NOTE: [1] This man was not his own. Satan often tempts people into sin with the idea of being their own person and doing their own thing. But the truth of the matter is that when man gives into sin, he ceases to be in control, for sin becomes his master.
[2] There was one demonic spokesman who spoke through the possessed man. It is amazing to learn just how possessed this man was. The term “legion” was normally used “…for a company of Roman soldiers numbering 6,826 men…”(Ibid, pg. 103).
[3] The following writer well sums up what Satan had accomplished in the demoniac’s life before he met Jesus.
The devil is not impersonal like stones or bureaucracies; he is a non-person. The Devil has become all that God is not; he is not beyond personality—he is without it. His purpose in creation is not to destroy God; he knows that he cannot do that. He wants to draw us into the vortex of non-personhood that he has become, and the nothingness of non-being that he is becoming. Satan, in short, aims to take as many of us with him as he can.
Nigel Wright, The Satan Syndrome, Zondervan, 1990, p. 163.
II. THE DELIVERANCE WROUGHT BY CHRIST
A. The Demons Recognized Christ’s Position.
Mark 5: 6 “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7a And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?”
NOTE: Isn’t it strange that even the demons of Hell recognize Jesus for who He is, and yet many human beings don’t seem to have a clue?
In a 1983 Gallup poll Americans were asked, “Who do you think Jesus is.” 70% of those interviewed said Jesus was not just another man. 42% stated Jesus was God among men. 27% felt Jesus was only human but divinely called. 9% states Jesus was divine because he embodied the best of humanity. Also, 81% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians.
Gallup Poll.
B. The Demons Realized Christ’s Power.
1. They realized that Jesus possessed judgmental power.
Mark 5: 7b “…I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.”
NOTE: The idea behind the word “adjure” is that of placing someone under oath. The demons were basically asking Jesus to give his solemn word that He would not send them into torment before their time (Matt.8: 29).
2. They realized they could do nothing without Jesus’ permission.
Mark 5: 10 “And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great heard of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.”
III. THE DIFFERENCE IN THIS MAN’S CONDUCT
A. The Former Demoniac Was Completely Changed.
Mark 5: 14 “And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
NOTE: This man had been converted, and it was obvious by the change that had taken place. I’ve said it before, but it bears saying again: If there’s been no change in your life, then neither have you been converted. George Whitefield once said:
There are so many stony ground hearers who receive the Word with joy that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by its fruits ...Do you think any farmer would have a crop of corn next year unless he plowed now? You may as well expect a crop of corn on unplowed ground as a crop of grace until the soul is convinced of its being undone without a Savior. That is the reason we have so many mushroom converts, so many persons that are always happy! happy! happy! and never were miserable. Why? Because their stony ground is not plowed up; they have not got a conviction of the law . . . they fall away . . . That makes me so cautious now, which I was not thirty years ago, of dubbing converts too soon. Now I wait a little, and see if people bring forth fruit; for there are so many blossoms which March winds blow away that I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought forth.
George Whitefield (1714-1770).
B. The Former Demoniac Witnessed For Christ.
Mark 5: 18 “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”
NOTE: It is worthy of note here that Jesus did not command the former demoniac to go home and become a great orator, but simply to give testimony to what Jesus had done in his personal life. Being a witness is as simply as that.
Theme: Christ’s power over evil is seen in:
I. THE DEPTHS OF SATAN’S CONTROL
II. THE DELIVERANCE WROUGHT BY CHRIST
III. THE DIFFERENCE IN THIS MAN’S CONDUCT
