Saved and Sent (or, “Go and Tell!")
Mark 5:1-20
Introduction: As I walk for exercise outside, I have noticed a growing number of my neighbors decorating for Halloween. Some of the decorations are light-hearted, pumpkins, corn stalks, and the like… others, are just plain gruesome! Why would you want a twelve-foot tall, blood dripping skeleton with glowing eyes in your front yard? We don’t enjoy that aspect of the season because the decorations and movies either make light of the spiritual warfare that believers encounter in this fallen world, or they present an unbiblical picture of evil. There is nothing funny about demons and the havoc they would wreak in the lives of humans. The good news for believers is that “greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!” In our context in Mark, Jesus had just demonstrated His power over nature when he stilled the storm on the lake. He has been teaching with authority and healing the sick. He will now powerfully show His authority in the spiritual realm. Yes, the enemy would bring people into bondage and seek to destroy us, but…
The BIG Idea: In Jesus our chains are gone, and
we are free! We are free to serve and to share the Good News. Simply, 1) A
Sinner; is 2) Saved; and then 3) Sent.
I. A Sinner. And we are all sinners. Every human
is in bondage, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (1-5). We see
the desperate need of fallen humans in the demonized man.
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the
Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus
had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man
with an unclean spirit. 3 He
lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a
chain, 4 for he had often
been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he
broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs
and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Just a
word about the context. Notice in v.1, “They
came to the other side of the sea…” They had just passed through as storm
as Jesus directed them to get in the boat and cross over. Jesus does this
miracle, setting free this man possessed by demons, and then in 1:21 were told
that they cross back over the lake. As far as we know, Jesus did no other
miracles or no other teaching on this side of the lake at this time. He came
over because He had a divine appointment, a meeting that He determined needed
to happen to set this man free, and then to send him out as a witness to his
own people. This one miserable soul, but God had a plan for his life, and he
met with Jesus and his life was transformed!
We see other cases where it seems God goes out of
his way to reach one particular person. Remember when Philip was busy in
ministry in Samaria in Acts 8, and then God sends him away from all that
excitement to go out to the desert. That didn’t seem like a good plan! Leave a
responsive ministry and go to the desert? But Philip met the Ethiopian Eunuch,
who was returning home, and reading aloud from Isaiah 53. He tells him about
Jesus, and he is saved (and baptized!) and sent on his way back home. God had a
plan. We need to be sensitive and available as we go about our lives. Who are
the people you will meet this afternoon? Or tomorrow? God knows, and He saved
you on purpose for a purpose.
Since the book the Exorcist was published in
1971 movies and books (and video games?) have sensationalized the occult and
the demonic. Demons have been around for
a lot longer! There is no doubt that
demon possession still happens, and in some cultures, as in Haiti and in some
of the spiritist groups in Brazil, some people invite “spirits” to come into
them. In our modern scientific society, most
of this is probably explained away as mental illness and the like. But aside
from those extreme cases, we know that “…the
whole world lies in the power of the evil one…” (I John 5:19). Paul
describes the spiritual repression of unregenerate humanity in Ephesians 2:1-3…
And you were dead
in the trespasses and sins 2
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience- 3 among
whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires
of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest
of mankind.
That sounds like a bleak
position to be in; dead in sin, following Satan, living to please our fallen
sinful nature, and children of wrath—destined for judgment! And it would be
bleak, but for the gracious intervention of our great God and Savior! In the
next two verses of that same letter Paul puts it this way,
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with
which he loved us, 5 even
when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by
grace you have been saved… (Eph 2:4,5).
God has rescued us
from bondage, and set us free in Jesus! That is truly amazing grace. This man was an extreme case
to be sure, demonized, alienated, and out of control. But at a lesser level, we
were all in the same boat, and just as surely headed to hell. This demoniac was not only spiritually dead
and blind to the things of God… he was infested with demons! He had
supernatural strength and could not be restrained… even with chains! He was violent and self-destructive… cutting
himself with stones. Not only was this man a terror to people who saw
or heard him, he was isolated out among the tombs or in the mountains, crying
out day and night. He was in bondage,
enslaved, helpless to free himself from his tormentors.
Whatever the demons’ plans for this
man, it is clear that they wanted to keep him isolated, and seemingly, they were
bent on destroying him. That pattern has persisted from the time of the
fall, has it not? Satan led Adam and Eve into sin, and so brought isolation
into their lives. Isolation from each other, and also isolation from God. God
had warned that sin would bring death, Satan said no, you will be like God! He
was bent on destroying the unique pinnacle of God’s creation, the creatures who
alone bore the image of the Creator. That hasn’t changed. We live in a fallen
world, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
If we belong to Jesus, Satan is our
enemy. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He’s an
ancient foe, he has been watching humans since the beginning. He knows our
weakness! We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual
forces of wickedness! But if God is for us, who can stand against us?
Jesus is building His church! We were shackled by our sin. Jesus came to rescue
us. The Big Idea: In Him our chains are gone and we are free to serve and to
share the Good News!
II. Saved! Set free by the Savior! Jesus has power to save the lost. He came to rescue
us and set us free, and He
is able to do it. This man meets Jesus, and he is set free (6-13)!
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud
voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High
God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." 8 For he was saying to him,
"Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 9 And Jesus asked him, "What
is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion, for we are
many." 10 And he begged
him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was
feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying,
"Send us to the pigs; let us enter them." 13 So he gave them permission. And
the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering
about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in
the sea.
Jesus came to rescue us from sin, and
He is able to do it (6-10). It seems
that the demons immediately recognized who Jesus is. He ran to him and “fell down” before Him. The
word used here [proskuneo]
is usually translated “worship.” It has the idea of bowing down,
acknowledging the superiority of the one to whom you are bowing. It could be
that the man had enough self-consciousness that he came to Jesus, resisting the
enemy, looking for help. More likely it’s what we’ve seen in other encounters
between Jesus and demons: they recognize Him, and cannot help but acknowledge
Him. It makes me think of the Scripture that says the day will come when “every knee will bow and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:10,11; Rom 14:11). He is Lord! And He
came to set us free from sin and from Satan. And He is able to do it. Here, Jesus engages the demon, and we find
out this is not one, but “many” unclean spirits that were oppressing this man.
There are a few other cases were multiple demons were cast from a person, but
this is the most extreme example in Scripture!
The fate of the pigs demonstrates
the destructive purposes of the demons (11-13). For whatever reason, the legion ask Jesus to
send them into the pigs, and He allows it. Could it be that they were hoping
for the reaction they got from the locals: “Please leave our country!”? We’ll
see that that is the result! But the destruction of the pigs, and the fate of
the demons is not the primary point Mark is making. He wants us to see how
Jesus rescued a man, and set him free from bondage. As far as we are told, the entire trip across
the lake had two main goals: 1) to lead the disciples into the storm, and to so
lead them deeper in their faith; and 2) to set this man free and then send him
out. Mark wants us to understand who Jesus is, and to see that this is why He
came. He crossed the lake with the disciples to grow their faith and to deliver
this man.
As always, He did what He came to do. And know this: He left
heaven and came into this sin cursed world, to suffer and die for us, to
deliver you and me, and to set free all who will turn to Him in faith. And, as
always, He accomplished what He came to do. That is Good News and we are called
to share it! Yes, there is an enemy who would bring us into bondage and seek to
destroy us, but Jesus came to rescue us, and in Him are chains are gone, and we
are set free to serve, and to share the Good News! A sinner is saved, and…
III. SENT to his own people. We too are saved
and sent. We who believe are called to
be His witnesses. Our
Testimony is to be shared, beginning with our own people (14-20).
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people
came to see what it was that had happened.
15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man,
the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind,
and they were afraid. 16
And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the
demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17
And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the
boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be
with him. 19 And he did not
permit him but said to him, "Go home to your friends and tell them how
much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20 And he went away and began to
proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone
marveled.
When God is working, people will take
notice: Here, with fear and unbelief (14-17). It must have been a shocking
and terrifying experience for the pig-herders. They had just seen the
disturbing scene of the naked and wild demoniac who could not be restrained and
was constantly crying out from among the tombs, fall down before Jesus. Whether
or not they heard the conversation between Jesus and Legion, they certainly saw
the sudden charge of the herd of pigs down the embankment and into the water!
They “fled” the area and went into the city to report what had happened (14).
So, the people came to see. Would they
see the man, clothed, in his right mind, and give glory to God? No, they were
afraid, and began pleading with Jesus to depart from the region! That seems
unexpected, but they were afraid (v.15)!
There is an interesting play on words in this story. The demons “begged”
Jesus not to send them out of the country (10); and the inhabitants of
the country “begged” Jesus to leave (17)! The demons “begged” to be sent into
the pigs (12) and the healed man “begged” to be with Jesus (18)! Mark
uses the same word, to show the different reactions. The healed man wanted to
go with Jesus. The Lord had another plan for this new disciple.
Jesus directed the liberated man to “Go and Tell!” (18-20). Instead of “following” Jesus the man is told
to go home, to go to his oikos, to his own people, and to tell them how
much the Lord had done for him, and to speak about the mercy that God had shown
him. Saved and sent, he began
testifying about what the Lord had done. And the people marveled! It had to be
astounding to see this man, who had been in such bondage, speaking, in his
right mind, and giving the Lord glory for His mercy and grace in delivering
him. Notice something here. It was not necessary to first take a class on
evangelism or witnessing. He did not need a Bible College or seminary degree. He
didn’t even need to follow the Lord for three years before he was qualified to
serve. He needed to simply say, “I once
was lost, but now I am found, I was blind, but now I see!”
D. James Kennedy used to say that
Satan’s greatest victory was convincing believers that ministry, including
witnessing and evangelism, was the work of “professionals,” pastors,
evangelists, and missionaries. We are all gifted to serve. And we are all
called to be His witnesses. Friends, remember that Mark wants us to know who
Jesus is and why he came. He also wants us to consider what it means to follow Him.
We have one aspect of God’s will for
every Christ follower at the heart of this story. When the Son sets you free,
you are free indeed! You are free to serve, to be the Spirit empowered
witness He wants you to be. I believe the Lord would say to each of us, “Go
home, go to your own people, your family, friends, co-workers, your neighbors,
and tell them the truth: your life is different because God has rescued you!”
He has set you free. Let them know that He would rescue them as well if they will
admit their need and turn to Him in faith.
What is God saying to me in this passage?
In Jesus, our chains are gone, we’ve been set free! We are free to
serve, and free to share the good news with people around us.
What would God have me to do in response to this
passage? Do you
understand that in your life “B.C.” (before Christ!) you were dead in your
trespasses, following the course of the world, living to please your flesh, and
under the deception of the devil? So was
I. Most of us were not wild, naked demoniacs living among the tombs, we might
have looked like pretty good, respectable people! But we were still in bondage
to his subtle lies, and blind to the truth that Jesus came to reveal. That is,
until Jesus touched you, and opened your eyes and your heart to the truth.
1) Have you been set free? It
could be that you are reading this and have not yet received the gift of
forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus. Has something been tugging at your
heart as you consider this story of deliverance? Do you long to be free, and to
know Him? It may be that God, by His kindness, is leading you to turn from your
sin and turn to Jesus. Acknowledge your need, because all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. Believe the truth about Jesus, He is God
the Son, and He died on the cross for your sins and rose the third day.
He purchased a place for you in heaven which He is offering as a free gift. Put
your trust in Him, Confess Him as your personal Lord and Savior. The
Bible promises that “If you confess with
your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved!”
2) For those who have believed, know
that He set us free for a two-fold purpose:
One, we are a part of the body. We
have a gift or gifts to use in the church, to encourage each other and build
each other up. The “one anothers” in the NT remind us we are interdependent.
Two, we are called to be His witnesses
where He has placed us. The man Jesus set free wanted to follow Jesus.
Jesus said no, I’ve got a mission for you. Go home. Go to your own people and
tell them what the Lord has done for you!
And, brothers and sisters, we are sent in the same way: To go to our “oikos,” to testify to the people we know, the people we live life with, our
neighbors and the people we work with, the small group that is our first
mission field. We are called to point them to Jesus… and as He opens hearts and
sets some free, we are to embrace the call to make disciples, disciples making
disciples, that is his plan for growing His church! AMEN.
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