Jesus Drives Out a Legion of Demons (Mark Sermon 22)

Turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 5. This morning we have the joy of resuming our study in this awesome gospel of Mark. We’re right in the middle of two spectacular miracles back-to-back, the stilling of the storm at the end of Mark chapter 4 and now the driving out of the legion of demons in Mark 5.  I said last time, a couple of months ago now, that the stilling of the storm is the most visually spectacular miracle Jesus ever did. How amazing is it then that immediately after that He does his most spectacular exorcism? That’s exactly what this account reveals. There is no other account of an exorcism that even comes close to this one, the driving out of demons from a human being. Nothing else even comes close, just for the magnitude of the power that it reveals and the stunning transformation in one man revealed in Mark’s gospel and the effect on the pigs, 2,000 of them perishing in one moment. There’s no other power encounter with a demonized human being that even comes close. In terms of preaching, oftentimes at the very beginning of a sermon, a preacher has to speak some words of introduction to ensnare or beguile his congregation into being interested in the text. I don’t have to do that this time. I would hope you’re interested in what you’ve heard. I would hope you’d realize that all I need to do as a preacher is get out of the way of the text and just point to the Jesus that it reveals.

Some time ago,  I was meditating on the juxtaposition of Mark 4 and Mark 5, the stealing of the storm and the driving out of the Legion demon in Mark’s gospel. The way it’s written here, it’s really astonishing because you could see Jesus at the end of Mark 4 standing on one side of the Sea of Galilee and perhaps in a visionary sense as a prophet, looking ahead to what’s about to happen. He has to go through a hurricane and drive out an army of demons in Mark’s Gospel to save one man. That’s it.  He saves that one man and comes back; He goes over and back for one man. And that’s encouraging.  Some of you are thinking, in Matthew’s Gospel, there’s two guys. I’m not talking about the two guys today. In Mark’s gospel, there’s a focus on that one individual.  I think we’re supposed to understand, in the Galatians 2:20 sense, that Christ loved me and gave himself for me. He did that for me. He was willing to go through a hurricane and drive out an army of demons to save me. So we need to just step aside and let the text do its work in us. And what is that work?

Remember that the theme of the gospel of Mark is stated right from the beginning, Mark 1:1, “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ”, the Son of God, that’s the theme, Jesus as the Son of God. In the spirit of the Gospel of John, as I’ve said many times, actually all four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all have this same purpose, though only John’s Gospel says it so openly and directly. “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.” That’s the purpose of the Gospel of John,  and it’s also the purpose of the Gospel of Mark:  to bring you to the point where you can confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed one, the Promised one. That He is more than just that, the Son of the living God, and that by confessing that from your heart, you might receive full forgiveness of sins and live forever in heaven and not die forever in hell. That’s the reason this Gospel of Mark was written, and that’s the purpose of all of the accounts in it. Not only that, not just that we would be able to make in a slogan sort of sense, “Who is Jesus?  the Son of God.” That phrase, that we would have expounded before us,  really means the infinite majesty of the second person of the Trinity, the infinite majesty of Jesus. It means that we’ll be spending eternity finding out how glorious and majestic Jesus is. We’ve only just begun the greatness of Jesus, the Son of God. That’s what we have before us. It’s not enough to just have the slogan, “Who’s Jesus? Son of God.” Remember how, when on the way to the villages around Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked, “Who do people say I am?” and Peter replied, “You are the Messiah,”  and then a few minutes later he’s taking Jesus aside and rebuking him. Now that’s a bad look, friends. Peter was underestimating Jesus, the Son of God, all of us do. The ministry of the word through the power of the Spirit is to get us not to underestimate Jesus and to see the infinite greatness of Christ. The infinite greatness of Jesus is what we’re seeing here. The effortless power that Jesus has, that He displays here, power that only almighty God could have, effortless stilling of a hurricane and the turbulent sea immediately after that, effortless, just a word and it’s done. And then effortless power over 6,000 demons, saying in Matthew’s gospel, a single word, “Go,” and they’re gone. No effort at all, they instantly obey.

“The ministry of the word through the power of the Spirit is to get us not to underestimate Jesus and to see the infinite greatness of Christ. “

Sadly in the account that we’re studying today, we also see mixed reaction. We see many who saw the effects, even the miracle with their own eyes, and responded in faithless fear, driving Jesus away because they didn’t want the implications of what it would mean to have Jesus in their region. The unreasoning unbelief was so strong they would rather have, it seems in the end, this demon-possessed, stark-raving homicidal maniac in their region, rather than Jesus, peaceful Jesus, loving Jesus staying in their region. The gospels all make it clear that many people will see the evidence for Jesus and reject. It ends up dividing people into two categories.

 I. A Demon-Possessed Maniac Terrorizes a Region

Let’s walk through the text now. It begins with a demon-possessed maniac who terrorizes a region. What is the context?  Jesus and his disciples had left the huge crowds to get away to the other  side of the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps the disciples thought a time of R&R was coming, a little bit of relaxation, getting away from all of that. Little did they know what was awaiting them as they got into the boat, this raging hurricane in which they thought they were going to die. Then once that’s done, as they land on the other side, they’re confronted by a demon-possessed maniac of terrifying power. Look at verse 1-2, “They went across the sea to the region of the Gerasenes” and verse 2, “when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.” The region of the Gerasenes or Gadarenes, a little village near there was called Gerasa from which we get Mark’s term, Gerasenes. There’s a larger city nearby called Gadara, which also gave its name to the region, Gadarene. That’s why you end up with two different names in the gospel. The demon-possessed maniac is described in verse 2 as “a man with an unclean spirit”. This is a demon, an unclean spirit is a demon. Demons are angels, spirit beings that rebelled long ago with Satan and were evicted from heaven as described in Revelation 12. They’re called unclean because their thoughts and their works were pure evil.

The encounter begins with Jesus and his disciples getting out of the boat. The demon-possessed man sees them from a distance and comes from the tombs down to the shoreline. This man is an absolute monster. His human personality has been swallowed alive by the demons inside him. Look at verse 3 through 5, the description of his plight. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been chained hand in foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. I believe those words describe the most wretched human being on the surface of the earth in history. I can’t imagine a more wretched condition to be in than this, worse than Nebuchadnezzar turned into an animal for seven years eating grass, worse than any tortured individual in a prison, worse than anyone suffering from a malady. This is the most wretched human being ever described in the pages of history, I believe. Look at the text, it says he lived in the tombs. No one in their right mind would live out in the tombs of dead people. These are often caves blocked up with boulders or big stones. At best, they would offer rudimentary protection from the elements, they would be cold, they would be dark, they would be hard, no place in which to live. This man is absolutely severed from all human society. He  has a family as we see at the end of the account, but his condition has cut himself off from all interactions with them. It says no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.The account gives a sense of history with this man. He had originally been bound, or actually many times been bound with chains and even shackles, maybe fetters or manacles, large flat pieces of iron that would be heated up and then pounded by a blacksmith into curved pieces to fit around his wrists or his ankles. The chains would have large strong links in them, sizable links to restrain a powerful man, but this man had broken every chain ever put on him and shattered every shackle, verse 4, “for he had often been chained hand and foot,” but he tore the chains apart, he broke the irons on his feet.

Demons gave this man supernatural power. They are vastly more powerful than we people are, physically. They can do amazing physical things. Remember at the resurrection account after Jesus had risen from the dead and the tomb was empty, a single angel came down and rolled back the boulder that was in front of Jesus’s tomb and sat on it. So imagine the kind of supernatural power these evil angels give this man. It says no one could bind him anymore, in verse 4, “no one was strong enough to subdue him.” The Greek word here means “to tame” as if he’s a wild beast. This implies many efforts to take this man down, perhaps four or five grown men, or more trying to work with this guy. One grabbing an arm, another grabbing another arm, one grabbing a leg, the other maybe coming up behind him and hitting him on the head to knock him unconscious so they could put the chains on him.  It’s horrible the circumstance here. Then once he’s conscious again, if that’s indeed what they did, he then in a rage, tears them off and they’re all running for the hills. Finally, the people in that region had given up. He’s not chained now. There’s nothing they can do. They just stayed away from that area. His lifestyle is stunningly sad. It’s a human being created in the image of God, but he’s rendered to an almost animal-like existence. Luke tells us that he had, for a long time, gone without clothing. He didn’t wear any clothing. He was naked with no shame at all like an animal. But furthermore, he rarely slept and he was immersed in self-harm, verse 5, “night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones,” roaming restlessly as demons do, seeking rest but not finding it, yearning for rest, going from tomb to tomb, from hill to hill night and day, crying out as if for deliverance. But who could ever set this man free? The most wretched human being I think in history. He is terrorizing that region.

 II. The Son of God Terrorizes the Demons

Point two, then the Son of God comes to terrorize the demons. That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it? Now who’s afraid of who here? The encounter with Jesus is initiated, this demon-possessed monster sees people landing from a distance and comes down to the shoreline, and what he did is really astonishing. Look at verse 6, “when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.” Now here’s the fascinating thing. The more you study this, the more amazing this gets. These terrified demons, and they are terrified, we’re going to make that case plainly in the scripture, they are afraid of Jesus, but instead of running away from him of whom they are terrified, they run to him to get closer to him, that’s counterintuitive. Why are the demons running to Jesus? Do they want an encounter with Jesus? Oh no, not at all. They are pure darkness, he is pure light. They hate him with every fiber of their being. They do not want to be near pure light, they who are pure darkness. Why then are they coming closer? Furthermore, they make the man fall down on his knees in a display of humble submission, even of worship before Jesus.

Think about that text that says “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.” So that’s what these demons are doing, falling down in front of Jesus. Why do they draw near? It’s very obvious, they know exactly who Jesus is. Verse 7, “he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?’” They are terrified of him, and yet they run toward him. This is my theory on why. What else can they do? They understand Jesus’s power in ways we don’t. They understand omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence in ways we don’t. And the demons understood, Psalm 1:39, “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I go down to the depths, you are there.” Or again, as God says about his enemies in Amos 9:1-4, these are physical human enemies, but we can apply it here to demons as well, Amos 9, this is God speaking about his enemies, “Not one will get away. None will escape. Though they dig into the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves at the top of Carmel, there I’ll hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

Oh, it is a dreadful thing to have God as your enemy. Where can you go? There is nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide for these demons, and they know it in ways we don’t. So they come to Jesus and  in Mark 7, He drives out the demon of the Syrophoenician, the Canaanite woman from her daughter, and the daughter is not even there, and Jesus says to this Syrophoenician woman, “You may go home. The demon has left your daughter.” “When did that happen?” “Oh, a second ago.” “You didn’t even go, you didn’t lay hands on her.” “Not needed.” “You didn’t say anything.” “Not needed. I just thought it.” And the demon got its eviction notice. That’s the power of Jesus and the demons know it.

“It is a dreadful thing to have God as your enemy. Where can you go? There is nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide for these demons, and they know it in ways we don’t. “

They come toward Jesus because they have a request to make of him. The demons come to Jesus, making the man shout at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?” The demons are utterly unruly, they frequently make their human hosts scream or shriek or foam at the mouth. This one’s shouting at the top of his voice, clearly they are terrified of Jesus. The reason for the terror is they did not understand Jesus, the Son of God, the incarnate Son of God invading their dark realm. They literally say, “What business have we with each other, son of the most high God? What business do we have? What are you here to do?” The reason for their terror is the power of almighty God and of his perfect and holy son, Jesus. Now you have to understand, demons have very accurate theology. They got the theological stuff right, better than us. James 2:19 says, “You believe that there’s one God, good, even the demons believe that, and they shudder.” They get all the facts right, but they’re just in an absolute wrong relationship with the God behind the facts. They hate him, but they know the truth about him. And furthermore, demons know their future.  Matthew 25:41, “Jesus, the judge of all the earth, the judge of heaven and earth will say to the goats, ‘Depart from me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” The lake of fire was made for Satan and demons, and that’s where they’re going, and there’s no salvation plan for them. Also,  in Revelation 12:12, the devil is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short. We must imagine the demons know this, but now Jesus, in his incarnation and now in his public ministries which have been going on a year or two, this assault of the son of God on their earthly territory is unprecedented. For all redemptive history, demons have been operating in secret, in the darkness, in the shadows of the spiritual realm, doing absolutely whatever they wanted to make life utterly miserable for human beings and to fight against God at every point. That’s what demons do and they’re still doing it today.

But now Jesus has invaded, the Son of God, the Son of Light, pure light, into this realm of darkness and they’re terrified. They want to know, what is the purpose? They want to know about timing. In Matthew 8:29, the demon says, “What do you want with us, son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” They are well aware that there’s a pit of torture ready now, before they even get to the lake of fire, there is a place of demon incarceration, short of the lake of fire. As far as I read scripture, there are no demons now in the lake of fires, a not-yet situation. Most of the demons are roaming and causing trouble in a hidden way on earth, but there are some that are incarcerated. They’ve been arrested by the power of God. It says in Luke 8:31, in the same account, they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the “abyss.” It’s a Greek word, meaning “bottomless.” It’s a pit. But the demons in Matthew 8:29 speak of torture, of torture in the pit, as does our text. Look at verse 7, “Swear to God that you won’t torture me.” Do you see now the fear that demons have of him? They are afraid of incarceration and torture now, right now, and they don’t want it. They’re afraid of it, so they come to Jesus to make this request of him. This torture implies demonic agony of which they’re clearly terrified. Peter speaks in his epistle of a temporary place of restraint and torture for demons, [2 Peter 2:4]. God didn’t spare angels who sin but threw them down into “Tartarus” that’s the Greek word there for “the pit” and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment.  Those chains cannot break, they’re restrained and held. They’re very aware that Jesus can instantly do this to them at any moment. He has overwhelming power over all demons. The demons are also afraid of losing their jurisdiction. Look at verse 10, “He begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.” Not only do they not want to lose their freedom, but they want to stay right there in their area. They’ve got a geographical area that they’re working. The Greek says that they’re begging him earnestly, or again and again, they’re pleading with Jesus because they want to stay there. This demon-possessed man is the greatest nightmare of that entire region, a murderous, powerful maniac who threatens them all. But it is also clear that the Son of the most high God is the demon’s greatest nightmare, if we could use that language. They are terrified. They are as terrified of Jesus as that region would’ve been terrified of that man.

III. The Son of God Drives Out the Legion

Third point, the Son of God drives out the Legion. Jesus commands him to leave and he will soon. He doesn’t leave immediately, but in verse 8 it says, “Jesus had said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you evil spirit.’”  I think He stated his intention, “I’m going to drive you out,” but they’re going to have this conversation first, and Jesus wants to have that conversation with him. He demands the demon’s name [verse 9]. “Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘My name is Legion,’ he replied, ‘For we are many.’” The demons have no desire to reveal anything about themselves, they want to stay hidden. They want to stay in the darkness just like these days.  They don’t want to reveal anything, but they have no choice. When Jesus says, “What is your name?” They must give it, they must answer his questions, so He demands their name. Angels have names, we know two of them in the Bible, Michael and Gabriel. Demons must have names as well, but here they use a human term, “legion”. And the reason they gave is, “We are many.”  Legion was a division of the Roman Empire’s world-conquering army, a little bit larger than a modern day brigade, which would be about 3,000 soldiers. A legion is about 5,000 to 6,000 Roman soldiers. They had conquered that part of the world. So first of all, it shows theologically multiple demons can inhabit one person. We get that from this, but it also shows something of the demon’s personality and mind. Though the demons might ordinarily have been boastful about their cumulative might, they would never have dreamed of boasting in front of Jesus. We are mighty and we are powerful, they’re saying, but they’re not doing that in front of Jesus, no way.

I want you to picture the spectacle in the spiritual realm, the spectacle of Jesus against an army of demons. In 1960, there was a movie called Spartacus, which was about a slave revolt in the Roman era, and the climactic scene is a battle between the slave army and multiple, multiple Roman Legions. It’s really quite a spectacular scene over a wide field. You get a sense of the machine-like efficiency of the Roman legions as they come down in formation and then quickly spread out into battle line and come relentlessly toward the slave army. You know as you’re looking, you’re going to lose. There’s no way you can defeat the legions, they’re just that powerful. But picture that, all that’s unfolding and one man goes out across the field by himself with no weapons in his hand, and that man is Jesus. As he takes a stand and raises his hand and says, “Begone,” they turn and drop their weapons and flee and He’s left alone on the battlefield. That’s the picture I get. If you didn’t see that movie,” don’t worry about it, just know that it’s a massive army, one man goes forward, and who’s afraid of whom.

Again, just like the storm, do you not see effortless power? Effortless, that’s what we’ve got. The demons come, they throw themselves in front of Jesus and they make this request, a demonic request. [Verses 11-12], “A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside, the demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them.’”  So I would say this clearly shows this is a gentile dominated region. No Jews would be raising pigs, because it was unclean for them to eat. These pig herders are there looking at this and this huge herd of pigs is there, 2,000 in number. The demons continue their begging, their pleading, their groveling to Jesus. In Matthew’s Gospel, as I mentioned, it’s a single word. Go to Matthew’s account, in Matthew 8, you’re going to see in the middle of a bunch of black letters, if you have a red letter edition, you’re going to see one red 2 letter word. It’s all Jesus says in Matthew’s account, “Go,” and they go.”Go,” and they’re gone. One word.  It reminds me of Luther’s A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth.” That’s the power of Jesus’s word. When He says go, they’ve got to go. Awesome. That’s the supreme power of Jesus Christ. He draws out the name Legion so that we can be amazed, because we can’t see it. You can’t see the demons, but you have a sense of what Legion means.

What happens next is a display of the power as well—the death of the pigs [verse 13]. He gave them permission and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2,000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned. This is to show visibly the scope of the demonic defeat, to make it obvious in the physical realm what Jesus was dealing with here, the death of the pigs, the sheer destructiveness of these demons. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” That’s what these demons do. Some of you have sympathy for the animal owners there, the pig farmers who look like they lost all of that, they didn’t lose anything. The harvest came early. They went pig fishing. That’s kind of an interesting thing when you think about it. I know the text doesn’t say they went pig fishing, but if you’re the owner of the pigs, the market price is going to be a little low because there’s a big influx of pig meat, but they’ll be fine. So don’t think that way economically, et cetera. But again, it wasn’t Jesus that destroyed the pigs, it was the demons.

Now here’s the question, a very significant question. Why does he give permission to the demons to do what they want to do? Why doesn’t he send them into the pit? Why doesn’t he incarcerate them? We bumped into the same question in the Book of Job, if you remember, why does he allow the demons to roam? Why does he allow them to do damage? It’s vital for us to understand what Satan reveals in the Book of Job, that hedge of protection.  I look on it as a whole matrix, like a maze of walls of protection that they can’t go through.  God is controlling the demonic activities, and they’re running rough shot where they’re permitted to run, and then mysteriously, some gate opens and they flood in like a plague of locusts and do the damage, and then suddenly the gate comes down and they’re stopped and that’s it. That’s what’s going on every day by the mysterious purpose of God. They are God’s lackeys, though they are not trying to serve God, they are doing his will in some very complex way. When we get to heaven, we’ll understand why God let the demons do what they do, et cetera, but that’s it. Don’t think for a moment it’s because he couldn’t have stopped them. He could have collected all of the demons in an instant, they’d be in the lake of fire now, but He’s using them for his own mysterious purposes. When the time is right, He will send out his angels and they will collect all the demons and they will be in the lake of fire, and there’ll be no escape.

IV. Two Opposite Human Responses

Fourth point, two opposite human responses. The report spreads in the Gadarenes, and the people rejected Jesus. Look at verses 14-17, “Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of demons sitting there dressed and in his right mind and they were afraid. They were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.” This is tragic. Instead of, as they should have done, falling in front of Jesus in wonder and worship, and say as the Philippian jailer said in Act 16, “What must I do to be saved?”,  instead they beg him to leave. I suppose it’s the same terror that comes on people who really don’t understand Jesus’s goodness, they’re afraid of what he’s going to do in their lives, they’re afraid of becoming Christians because they don’t know what is going to happen. They’re afraid, and  they drive him out, they don’t want him. They’re just afraid because they don’t understand his goodness. You see how meek and mild Jesus is, He just accedes to their wishes. “Okay, I’ll leave.” He walks away and gets back in the boat. We need to understand the infinite power of Jesus, but also the incredible gentleness, as we sang earlier, “Come into me, come into me.” That’s him. He’s so gentle. I don’t think you ever get a better text juxtaposing the infinite power of Jesus and his gentleness as in Isaiah 40, which talks about how He has all of the stars in the palm of his hand, this kind of thing, the infinite majesty, the nations are a drop in the bucket and dust on the scales and all that. But right in the middle of that, Isaiah 40:11, “He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young.” That’s who Jesus is. Why do they want him to leave?

Along with that, we get the previously possessed man, and he has the exact opposite response. He doesn’t ever want to leave Jesus again. He wants to be by Jesus’s side forever, forever. Look at verse 18-20, “But as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him but said, ‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.’” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed. This formerly demon-possessed man’s a different story altogether, isn’t he? I believe more things happened than is recorded here. I think once the demons were out, Jesus preached the gospel to him, explained to him about the kingdom of God, the need for repentance so that his sins could be forgiven, and the man listened and believed. The text says in verse 15 that, “they saw him there dressed in  his right mind.” Isn’t that beautiful? It’s kind of like the prodigal son coming to himself. It’s like, “What am I doing here? Slopping pigs when I could be in my father’s house.” This man comes to his right mind, and again, supports that therapeutic view of salvation. He saves you by healing you, healing your mind so that you can see Jesus properly, you can see his beauty and his power and his love and you want him. He’s dressed in his right mind, his sins are covered, that’s a metaphor, the “dressing”. I think it’s just an account, he’s dressed now, he’s not naked, but also the covering. His sins are forgiven and he’s in his right mind and wants to be with Jesus forever. He sees Jesus properly, he loves him, he cherishes him. All he wants is to know him and be with him. He pleads with Jesus to stay with him.

“He saves you by … healing mind so that you can see Jesus properly, you can see his beauty and his power and his love.”

Now, three entities plead with Jesus for something. The demons begged to not be driven out of the area and stay in the area and go in the pigs.  The unbelieving people asked Jesus to leave their area, and He does it. This man says, “I want to go with you.” He says no. Isn’t it true that God’s ways are not our ways? But instead he has a mission for this man. He sends him out with a mission to do, verse 19, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” “Go win your family. You kind of put them through a hard time. Now go home and show them that you’ve been healed and win them. Tell your family how God has had mercy on you, how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” I wonder what that was like when he walked through the threshold the first time, it’s like, “Uh-oh, here comes trouble.” “No, no, I’m different now.” His job is to tell them the mercy of Jesus in his life and to win them. So it says in verse 20, “The man went away and began to tell the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him and all the people were amazed.” The Decapolis just literally means 10 cities, it’s just a region there of 10 cities together. Apparently this man was effective because Jesus is going to return to the Decapolis in Mark 7:31 and there’ll be many people waiting there for him to do healings. It’s the fruit of this man’s ministry. What a testimony this man must have had. I don’t know how it began. How would you begin? “I used to be a demon-possessed raving maniac. And now I’m not. Now I’m healed.” Imagine the joy of talking about Jesus that he must have had.

V. Lessons

What are some lessons and applications? First of all, I just want to ask you a question: Do you think demons are less active in our world than they were in Jesus’ world? I hope you’re saying no, because if you’re saying no, you don’t understand how much they have deceived you. They’re every bit as active now as they ever were then. We Americans are naturalists, materialists, and I don’t mean by that shopaholics, I mean we tend to think of things in a scientific material way. We tend to think of stories about demons and angels as a little weird, almost medieval. We definitely believe in the most high God, and then we believe in science, and we don’t tend to do much in that middle realm with angels and demons, but they are every bit as active in 21st century America as they were in first century Palestine. They are deceptive and they’re powerful, and they are around us at every moment. We need to be aware of them and  understand the destructive power of demons. They are there to steal and kill and destroy.  I wonder how many of the convicted serial killers or individuals that are incarcerated in psychiatric hospitals or asylums or prisons, I wonder if anyone is diagnosing them based on this. Or are they trying to get the chemical balances right and talk about their childhood or do other things? I’m not minimizing those sciences, but I’m just saying, is there a whole realm of possibility that’s unthinkable in 21st-century treatment of individuals like this? For us Christians, let it not be so. We need to be aware that they’re around and they’re trying to make our lives miserable. We need to say then that demons are every bit as active. They’re still here. They’re still powerful. They still hate us, et cetera, but they’re still terrified of Jesus. They are terrified of him. His power is infinite. He is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion. They are controlled by him, channeled by him. Hedges of protection and walls of protection everywhere, or else they’d run amok on the surface of the earth.

We need to be thankful. We need to be aware of how demons could be assaulting you, annoying you, irritating you, making you susceptible to sin, alluring you, feeding you with depression, feeding you with hopelessness, feeding you with ideas of ways of acting out on the flesh. Put on your spiritual armor. Put it on every day, every moment. Be mindful, be not unaware of his schemes. Beyond that,  see that the real issue here is worship Christ. Worship of Jesus. The name that is above every name, worship him, have a sense of his infinite power. Just fall down before him, not like this demon-possessed man did an abject terror, but fall down before him because you love him and  want to tell him how much you love him for dying for you and rising again.

Finally, what reaction do you have to the Jesus in this account? Like this healed man, do you want to spend the rest of your life with him? Do you want to spend eternity learning him? I do. Friends, it is the greatest honor of my life to stand up in front of you week after week and exalt Jesus. There’s nothing in my life with more honor than that. I hope that your esteem of Jesus has gone up because we studied Mark 5:1-20 today. So I’m asking you, is that you? Do you love him? Do you know you’re a sinner? His bloodshed for you is sufficient for your sins, are you trusting in that? Or like these townspeople, do you want him to go away? Just leave you alone? That’s the question you have to ask. Use your testimony with your family. I want to tell my family how much Jesus has done for me and how He has been kind to me.  Can I tell you what the Lord has done for me and how He has had mercy? I mean what a great phrase, “what He has done for me and how He has had mercy. I mean He could have mercy on you too.”

Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for the time we’ve had to study in Mark 5:1-20. Thank you for what the text shows us about your infinite power and thank you for your kindness to us, weak sinners. I thank you for your gentleness and meekness and  humbly acceding to the wishes of unbelieving townspeople who want you to leave. But I thank you for your wisdom in sending this single man out in Mark’s gospel, this single man to go win his family. Lord, give us opportunities to share the gospel this week, help us to be bold, perhaps even tell this story and see what people think. But Lord give us opportunities to win the lost in Jesus name. Amen.

Two spectacular miracles, back to back.

I said last time… a few months ago… that the stilling of the storm is the most visually spectacular miracle Jesus ever did.

How amazing is it that, immediately after that, he does his most spectacular exorcism?! For that is exactly what this account reveals. There is no other account of an exorcism that even comes close to this one. For the magnitude of power it reveals, and the stunning transformation in one man, and the effect on the pigs—2000 of them perishing in one moment; and the effect on the population… there is no other power encounter with a demonized human being that even comes close.

Oftentimes a preacher, as he is beginning a sermon, has to do something to capture the attention of his congregation. My task this time is to get out of the way and let the text do its work.

And what is that work? Well, remember that the whole theme of the Gospel of Mark is declared at the beginning, in the first verse:

Mark 1:1  The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This is also consummated at the end of the gospel by the centurion, who says right after Jesus’ death on the cross:

Mark 15:39  “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

And in the spirit of the Gospel of John:

John 20:31  these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

All four Gospels work together to give us all the evidence we need to make that confession… that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Son of God. To prove that, the Gospel writers give us stories of Jesus’ amazing works. And these two accounts, back to back in Mark’s Gospel, work together to stun us as readers

They show us the effortless power Jesus had—power that only Almighty God could have had; effortless power over a raging storm, making it perfectly peaceful with the words “Peace, be still.” And then, effortless power over a demon-possessed maniac who was the most wretched human being in history—effortless power over the perhaps 6000 demons that inhabited him, saying in the end simply “Go!” and they instantly obeyed him.

This is something only the power of God could do… and he can do it effortlessly. Although demons are vastly more powerful than humans, God is infinitely more powerful than they are. This is the second greatest eviction of demons in history… the greatest was before human history began, when God defeated the Devil and his angels—1/3rd of all the angels in heaven—and evicted them instantly from their heavenly dwelling places, casting them down to earth. And God will once again conquer all the demons at the end of the world, gathering them and hurling them in the Lake of Fire. But this one exorcism in Mark 5 is the most powerful and most spectacular exorcism in the pages of the Bible. And it is done effortlessly by the simple word of Jesus.

Coupled with all the other evidence—the healing of paralyzed people and blind people and deaf people and even dead people—the feeding of huge crowds of people… all of this works together to put us in awe of Jesus and to bring us to faith in his for the salvation of our souls.

Sadly, however, we also will see in this account many who saw with their own eyes the direct results of this mighty miracle and responded in faithless fear, driving Jesus away. It seems that unreasoning unbelief is so strong, these people would rather have had the demon-possessed stark-raving homicidal maniac living in those tombs than have Jesus, peaceful Jesus, loving Jesus staying in their region.

The Gospels all make it clear that many people will see the evidence for Jesus and reject it… remaining lost in their transgressions and sins.

I. A Demon-Possessed Maniac Terrorizes a Region
A. Context

1. Jesus and his disciples had left the huge crowds to get away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee

2. Perhaps the disciples thought a time of restful retreat was in store for them… after all, the pace has been relentless, the needs of the crowds overpowering

3. Little did they know when they got into the boat what kind of drama awaited them… first the hurricane-level storm that came up on the sea of Galilee and threatened them with imminent destruction; and the astonishing stilling of the storm by Jesus’ mere words

4. But now, landing in the region of the Gadarenes, they are confronted immediately by a demon-possessed maniac of terrifying power

Mark 5:1-2  They went across the sea to the region of the Gerasenes.        2When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

B. The Region of the Gerasenes (or Gadarenes)

1. The little village near there was called “Gerasa”, from which we get the term “Gerasenes”; but a larger city called “Gadara” was further away and also gave its name to that region

2. So Mark calls it the “region of the Gerasenes, after the little nearby village, as does Luke; but Matthew calls it the Gadarenes

C. The Demon-Possessed Maniac Described

1. Verse 2 calls him a man with an evil spirit; Matthew says there were two men, but one of them is the dominant character and Mark and Luke just focus on him alone

2. The Greek says “unclean” spirit… a demon; demons are angels that rebelled along with Satan and were evicted from heaven in Revelation 12, as we’ve said; they are “unclean” because all their thoughts and works are pure evil

3. The encounter begins with Jesus and his disciples getting out of the boat after the stilling of the storm; the demon-possessed man sees them from a distance and comes from the tombs to the shoreline

4. The man is an absolute monster… his human personality has been swallowed alive by the demons inside him; this results in some stunning descriptions of his behavior and appearance

Mark 5:3-5  This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain.  4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.  5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

5. “Lived in the tombs”

a. No one in their right mind would live out in the tombs of dead people

b. They were often caves blocked up with large boulders; at best they offered rudimentary protection from the elements, but they were cold, dark, and hard

c. He is absolutely severed from all human society; he has a family as we will see at the end of the account, but his condition has cut him off from all interaction with them or with anyone else

6. “No one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain”

a. The account gives us a sense of history with this man

b. He had originally been bound with chains and even shackles… maybe fetters or manacles… large flat pieces of iron heated up and then pounded by a blacksmith into curved pieces to fit around the wrists and the ankles

c. Iron chains would have been made of sizeable links to restrain a powerful man

d. BUT this man had broken every chain put on him and shattered every shackle

Mark 5:4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.

e. Demons gave this man his supernatural power… remember this about a single angel:

Matthew 28:2  an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

So also demons have the same kind of physical strength

f. Furthermore, the text says “No one could bind him anymore” and in verse 4

Mark 5:4 No one was strong enough to subdue him.

The Greek word means to “tame” as of a wild beast

This implies MANY EFFORTS to take this man down! Perhaps four or five grown men wrestling with him, one each grabbing an arm or a leg; someone trying to hold his head down; maybe even smashing him on the head with a club to knock him unconscious in order to put the chains and manacles on his hands and feet

But then, once the man was conscious again, he would roar and rip the chains apart

Finally the people in that region would have given up and run away from him… everyone there lived in terror of him

He was a raging bull, clearly aggressive, murderous, with power to match

7. Lifestyle

a. Luke said that for a long time he had gone without clothes… he was naked, with no sense of shame, like an animal

b. Furthermore, he rarely slept… and was immersed in self-harm

Mark 5:5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Roaming restlessly like demons do, looking for rest, yearning for rest, and never finding it

Going about from tomb to tomb, from hill to hill, night and day

Crying out, as if for help, as if for deliverance… but who could ever set this poor man free??

Living like an animal… a ravenous murderous beast, a terrifying maniac

One commentator: “This man was the most wretched human being in the Bible.”

II. The Son of God Terrorizes the Demons
A. The Encounter with Jesus Initiated

1. This demon-possessed monster sees people from a distance and comes to the shoreline

2. Then as he draws near, he sees that it is Jesus

3. I don’t know how he knows who Jesus is or what Jesus has been doing to demons, driving them out everywhere he went, but he clearly DID know! He clearly DID see that it was Jesus, the Son of God

4. And what he did is simply astonishing:

Mark 5:6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.

a. Instead of running AWAY from Jesus, the demons run TO him!

b. Why? Is it because they want an encounter with Jesus?

c. They who are pure darkness, wanting to come into the radiant light of his holy presence? Wanting to COME TOWARD the LIGHT? WHY????

d. Furthermore, they make the man fall on his knees before Jesus… a clear sign of submission; often even a sign of worship

e. They know exactly who Jesus is, as we see in their statement:

Mark 5:7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

f. This is my theory… the demons want nothing to do with Jesus, but they know his infinite and effortless power over them

g. They also know this truth:

Psalm 139:7-10  Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,  10 even there…

Amos 9:1-4  Not one will get away, none will escape.  2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.  3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.  4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.

5. There is NOWHERE to run to, NOWHERE to hide!

6. In Mark 7, Jesus will drive the demon out instantly from the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter without ever seeing the daughter… and without even a word; just in his mind, from a distance

7. Such is the power of Jesus over all demons

8. So, they run TOWARD Jesus, fall on their knees before him and beg a request

Mark 5:7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

a. Demons are utterly unruly… they frequently make their human hosts scream or shriek

b. This one is SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF HIS VOICE!!!

c. It is clear that they are utterly terrified of Jesus

B. The Reason for the Terror

The demons literally say, “What business have we with each other?”

Also the demons call Jesus, “Son of the Most High God”

The central reason for the terror is the power of Almighty God and of his perfect and holy Son, Jesus

1. The demons have very accurate theology… and a total revulsion against what they know is true about God

James 2:19  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that– and shudder.

2. Furthermore, the demons know their future

Matthew 25:41  Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Revelation 12:12  woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.

3. BUT this assault on the earthly kingdom of Satan is unprecedented; for all of redemptive history, the demons operated in secret, in the darkness, in the shadows of the spiritual realms, doing absolutely whatever they wanted in the world of human beings

4. Now Jesus is coming and invading their world, driving out demons, defeating Satan… and they want to know about TIMING

Matthew 8:29  “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

5. Furthermore, they are well aware that there is a pit of torture for demons into which demons can be thrown IMMEDIATELY…

Luke 8:31  And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

“Abyss” = literally “bottomless”… but the demons in Matthew 8:29 speaks of TORTURE… as does Mark 5:7

Mark 5:7  “Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”

That implies demonic AGONY… of which they are clearly terrified!!

And Peter speaks of this temporary place of restraint and torture for demons:

2 Peter 2:4 For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned, but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment

They are very aware that Jesus can instantly do this to them at any moment. This speaks to his overwhelming power over all demons

C. They Are Also Afraid of Losing Their Jurisdiction

Mark 5:10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

Not only do they not want to lose their freedom, they want to stay right there in that area!

The Greek says they were “BEGGING HIM EARNESTLY” or “again and again”… pleading with Jesus

So, this demon-possessed man is the greatest nightmare of that entire region… a murderous, powerful maniac who threatens them all

But it is also clear that the Son of the Most High God is the demon’s greatest nightmare… they are as terrified of Jesus as the region is terrified of this man

III. The Son of God Drives Out the Legion
A. Jesus Commands Him to Leave… and He Will Soon

Mark 5:8 Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”

B. Jesus Demands the Demons’ Name

Mark 5:9  Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”  

1. The demons have no desire to reveal anything about themselves

2. But Jesus gives them no choice… they must answer his questions and obey all his commands

3. He demands their name… just as angels have names, like Michael or Gabriel, so demons must have names as well

4. But here, they use a human term—LEGION, and the reason is “We are many”

C. Legion

1. A Legion was a division of the Roman Empire’s world-conquering army, a little bit larger than the size of a modern-day brigade… about 5000 to 6000 Roman soldiers

2. It shows that multiple demons can inhabit one human being

3. It also shows something of the demons’ personality and mind

4. Thought the demons might ordinarily have been BOASTFUL about their cumulative might, they would never have dreamed about boasting in front of Jesus

5. Picture the power of Jesus…

Spartacus: the climactic scene of the 1960 movie shows the slave army that has been rebelling against Rome taking the battle field against the Roman Legions… they stand in silent awe and terror as the well-trained Legions span out in high and perfect discipline to march toward them and slaughter them

I can picture Jesus walking alone toward them, no sword or any weapon in his hand… walking with confident stride right toward the Legion as they come toward him… then Jesus stops, and speaks and they all flee in abject terror!

That’s what this would have looked like if we could have seen it with our eyes

D. The Demonic Request

Mark 5:11-12  A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.  12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.”

This clearly shows this was a Gentile region… no Jews would have been tending a herd of pigs

The demons continue their begging, their pleading, their groveling to Jesus

E. A Single Word

Mark says “he gave them permission”

But my “red-letter edition” of the Gospel of Matthew has just one two-letter word in red in this whole account:

Matthew 8:32  He said to them, “Go!”

Just one word! And they instantly obey him!

Reminds me of Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress”

The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! His doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.

So, Jesus gives that “one little word” in the Gospel of Matthew… “Go!” and they GO!!!

That is the supreme power of Jesus Christ

And he draws out the name “Legion” so that we can see the magnitude of the powerful demonic army he defeated all by himself with that little word

So also what happened next

F. The Death of the Pigs

Mark 5:13  He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned.

This is to show the scope of their defeat at the hands of Jesus… to make it visible in the physical realm; but also the sheer destructiveness of the demons…

“The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy…”

Lest you have too much sympathy for the owners of the pigs, all it means it that they had to harvest the pigs a little earlier than they may have intended… we are sure they fished all the dead pigs out of the Sea of Galilee and sold the meat

Question:

WHY give permission to the demons? Why not send them to the pit? Or to the Lake of Fire?

Answer, as in the Book of Job… God allows Satan and the demons to wreak havoc on earth that he, God, perfectly controls, with is “hedge of protection” so that Satan and the demons end up doing exactly what God permits them to do for his wise and loving purposes… they are all on a leash; they are all channeled by many “hedges of protection” and can only do what God wills for them to do.

When the time is right, he will collect them all in an instant and throw them in the Lake of Fire forever.

IV. Two Opposite Human Responses
A. The Report Spread in the Gadarenes… and the people reject Jesus

Mark 5:14-17  Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.  15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.  16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man– and told about the pigs as well.  17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

This is tragic.

Instead of falling before Jesus in wonder and awe and worship, and trusting in him for their salvation… they beg him to leave

I suppose it’s the same terror that always comes on people when they understand the deity of Christ and don’t yet understand his gentleness and love for them

Like when the disciples in the boat after the stilling of the storm are more afraid of Jesus than they had been of the storm

But we must understand how trust in the gentle saving purposes of Christ drives away faithless fear:

Matthew 11:28-30  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Isaiah 40:11  He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

B. The Report Speak in the Decapolis, and the people marveled at Jesus

Mark 5:18-20  As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.  19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”  20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

1. The formerly demon-possessed man is a different story altogether

2. I truly believe he is saved from his sins by faith in Christ

3. I think Jesus must have proclaimed the full gospel to him and he must have believed

4. Now here is this man, radically transformed

a. Sitting dressed and in his RIGHT MIND

b. And part of that is to see Jesus properly and love him and cherish him

c. And to see himself properly too… a vile sinner who needs a Savior

C. “I Never Want to Leave Your Side”

1. The man pleaded with Jesus to be with him

2. Jesus refused, but not out of any rejection

3. He had a plan for this man…

Mark 5:19  “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

4. Family evangelism… winning them over

5. They must have been the first ones who had tried to restrain him when the demons began entering him years ago

6. Now, they get to see the effect of God’s mercy on him in Christ

7. And that account spread throughout that region

Mark 5:20  So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

The Decapolis was a region of Ten Cities (that’s what Decapolis means) made up of cities all around that area… in effect this man was sent to be a missionary to that whole region, beginning with his own family

Jesus would later go to the Decapolis to do some ministry there, and huge crowds were ready for him to heal them… quite likely the effect of this man’s ministry

D. What a Testimony This Man Must Have Had!!

1. Imagine it beginning with the words “I used to be a demon-possessed naked maniac…”

2. And then “But I am no longer the man I used to be!!”

3. Telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him and how he had had mercy on him!!

V. Lessons
A. The Destructive Power of Satan and Demons

1. How demons have the power to destroy human personality

2. How many of the incarcerated serial killers and homicidal maniacs in our day around the world are almost certainly the effect of demonic power’

3. How demons come to steal and kill and destroy

B. More Importantly… How Terrified the Demons Are of Jesus… STILL; and How God Controls Them STILL

1. How Christ rules over them, since “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given” to him; how Ephesians 1 tells us that Jesus is “far above all rule and authority power and dominion”

2. How Christ rules them with a word and how terrified they are of him and how they are channeled by his wise plan… or they would do far more damage than they do

C. How Infinitely Great is the Power of Jesus!! How We Should Marvel At Him!!

D. Which Reaction Do You Have

1. The town, which asked Jesus to leave their region

2. Or the man, who begged Jesus that he might NEVER leave his side?

E. Imitate the Man in His Evangelism…

1. To his family

2. To his region