Tombs And Chains

And they are impossible as for as man is concerned. For example, in Mark chapters 4 and 5, we read of situations that only the Lord Jesus could deal with.

• In Mark 4:38, Jesus and His disciples were sailing on the Sea of Galilee when a tremendous storm overwhelmed their boat. The storm was so severe it seemed like all of His disciples were going down to a watery grave. While that storm far exceeded their abilities, it posed no problem for the Master of the Sea. He calmed the storm and He calmed His men.

• Also in this chapter, Jesus encountered a man possessed by thousands of demons. This poor, demon possessed man was in a desperate situation. He was unable help himself; no one else could help him. NO ONE!

• After this incident, Jesus will deal with a diseased woman that no doctor could help.

• After this situation, the Lord dealt with a dead girl, and again no man could help her.

All four of these situations were hopeless from a human perspective. Yet, in each of these cases, Jesus proved that He was the Master of them all.

For example:

• If that demon possessed man were alive today, he would be sent to live in a mental institution.

• That diseased woman would be sent to terminal care ward.

• The dead girl would be sent to the cemetery.

This passage teaches us that whether He is faced with storms, demons, disease, or death, Jesus is able to handle whatever comes His way.

Sometimes we know someone that seems to be in such bad shape spiritually that no one can help them. I mean no one! (Husbands, this is not a good time to be looking at your wives.) We all know people that seem to be beyond help, so we just leave them alone to die and go to a Christ-less eternity.

As far as mankind is concerned, in all four situations they are hopeless. For example, we see how hopeless this man that was demon possessed was. Everyone around him had done everything they possibly could to help him, but no one could help him. He lived his life in:

• Isolation

• Desperation

• Devastation

We can all be thankful that God reveals the life of this man in the scriptures, because many times we find ourselves in the same situation.

Notice, his only companions were the dead bodies in the cemetery and the demons that dwelt within him. But when Jesus Christ walked into this hopeless situation, HE CHANGED EVERYTHING!

We see . . .

I. THE SAVAGE

Now, I know it is not nice to call someone a savage, but this is the only way this man can be described.

In Mark 5:1-5, we read, “And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 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. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.”

Illus: When Dr. Odell Belger was in Bible College, he worked at a local hospital on the afternoon shift. One day when he went to work they assigned him to go to the Psychiatric ward to sit in a patient’s room and watch this large man who some thought was demon possessed. They had his hands and his feet tied down to a bed. The only job that Dr. Belger had on that shift was to sit in that room and make sure he did not break out of those leather straps that had him tied to the bed. For eight hours this man looked at him and he looked back at the man. He was thrilled when it was quitting time and he could go home. The next night they put Dr. Belger on one of the regular floors to work at the hospital next door. During that that shift, they announced on the intercom for all the orderlies to rush to six West, because this man had broken the straps and he was now in the hospital. When Dr. Belger reached the man, he saw 10 or 12 had showed up already. Some were on the floor where this large fellow had put them and he had two more orderlies in his clutches. One was hanging on one arm and the other one was on the other arm and this big old man must have thought he was a helicopter, swinging them around and bouncing them off the walls. The supervisors told Dr. Belger to get in there and help them and Dr. Belger told her, “Listen, you do not pay me enough to get in that situation.”