Stark Raving Mad!

We saw last week the reason that king Nebuchadnezzar went crazy…To prove that God is in control, that He rules, that He is sovereign and that His kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting!

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John there main purpose, there many goaled is to describe in detail that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah.

They penned that He spoke with authority, that He made the lame walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, He raised the dead, He could feed thousands with a few fish and little bit of bread, He had power over the earth, He could calm the seas, He could walk on water, He could curse a tree and it would die and He had the power to cast out a demon in somebody, and now He is going to cast out a whole legion of demons from a person.

The Messiah that is promised in the Old Testament, that the Jews have been told about will have unlimited power, He will be able to establish His kingdom and have the power to defeat Satan.

That is why Jesus had reminded the Jews if He had the power to cast out demons, then He was the promised Messiah

Luke 11:20-But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Exodus 8:18-19-Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast.

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”

Jesus is identifying Himself with that power!!

Mark 5:1-5-Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.

And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because 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.

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

I wonder if when that man came running at them, did the disciples have one foot on shore and one foot back in the boat!

In Luke 8:27-And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.

He is away from friends, his family, his home, he don’t even have clothes on him to keep him covered from the elements.

At the end of chapter 4 Jesus had dealt with one storm that He calmed…That Was External!

Now Jesus is going to deal with a human storm…That Is Internal!

Verse 3-4-and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because 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.

A man often walked through a cemetery on his way home. One night, though,

unaware that a new grave had been dug in his path, he tumbled in. For some time

he struggled to get out of the 7 foot deep grave, but finally gave up and

settled down for the night.

An hour later, a farmer out possum hunting came walking through the cemetery and

he too fell into the grave. He began a desperate attempt to get out, unaware

that there was anyone else in the grave. The first man listened to him for a few A

minutes, then reached over in the pitch darkness and laid a hand on his ’

shoulder. "You can't get out of here," the man said to the farmer. But the

farmer did.

Some people are in a deep dark pit and it is by their own actions (Like we saw last week!) that they wind up there.

But some people end up in a deep dark pit, no fault of their own, in Matthew 8 it tells us there were two men, did they both get delivered from the demons?

Did only one? Did one live a lifestyle that welcome demons, worshipped satanic powers?

Verse 5-And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

There was no getting away from the torment, he had no rest, he had no peace…Ever had something hurting on you and when you laid down no matter what position you were in, you couldn’t get comfortable, you couldn’t get any rest…Just think about this poor man day in and day out tormented!!!