The Demoniac of Gadara
Text: mark 5:1-20Introduction: We turn in our Bibles now to the fifth chapter of Mark’s gospel, and what a chapter it is. Few chapters so comprehensively contain the record of Christ’s power to save. In this chapeter Jesus faces the three great enemies of man, the devil, disease and death, and herer he delivers a man a woman and a child, no wonder we can sing, “A Wonderful Saviour is Jesus My Lord.”
Now as the chapter opens we find the Lord and His disciples making land at Gadara, where there was a graveyard. Now when we say graveyard, try not to think cemetery. This was not Carmountside or Bradwell or some modern cemetery with headstones, instead it was a hillside with pockets of caves which were used as tombs. In fact we know that hillside well for it is often referred to on the news. This area is known today as part of the Golan Heights. Until the Israelis occupied this area, many of the caves were used for hiding places for Arab troops and their long range artillery which they used against Israel. But in Jesus’ time it was a burial place.
As we place this incident in the chronology of Mark’s gospel we find it happens immediately after the stilling of the storm. Life with Jesus was anything but unexciting. We can imagine the disciples are still a little dazed by their near death experience on Galilee, and in awe of the Saviour as they set foot ashore at Gadara. Remember too they had made that journey during the night, so as they landed on the other side it was dark, or at least dawn, and now they found themselves in this place, among the tombs. For those who were not so brave, or for any that were a mite superstitious, this was in itself an unsettling experience. We can imagine the silence of the night, the waves gently lapping the shore, the disciples wide eyed and wondering what comes next when out of the darkness comes this mad man, screaming and howling in the night!!
I. Here Was A Man in Satan’s GRIP – vss 1-5
A. The Bible tells us he was a man with an unclean spirit – in fact he was possessed by a great many demons, thousands in all.
1. He would testify that he was possessed by Legion, but the demons would reveal that the name spoke of many – vs 9
2. A legion in the Roman army could number as many as six thousand men, so this man was truly in Satan’s hold, his heart was a stronghold for the Wicked one.
3. You know there are many in that condition today, sold out to Satan, sold out to sin and unable to help themselves, and beyond the help of others..
4. We don’t know how this man got into such a bad way, but mark this down demon possession is a very real condition, and any missionary working in pagan lands could testify to its reality – even in our own land I believe there is now a new fixation with things occultic and I think we shall see and probably are already seeing a rise in the demonic.
5. You don’t have to go very far to see our shops displaying ornamental Buddha’s and Hindu gods on their shelves – idolatry and demonism go hand in hand.
6. We do not have to go far to find many in the grip of drug addiction – that which the Bible calls sorcery.
7. And you do not have to watch much TV or listen to much modern music to find the presence of darkness looming.
8. And I open newspaper and magazines and am invited by colourful ads to consult with psychics and mediums
9. There are many in our land just as hopelessly lost as this poor man, and just as much in Satan’s grip and bound for Satan’s hell.
10. Now notice the characteristics of the demonic…
B. Mark graphically describes the poor man who was possessed by “an unclean spirit” and whose life was a misery.
1. He lived, or existed among the tombs (verse 3), and “no man could bind him” (verse 3).
a. Here was a man possessed of super human strength. We are in the realms of the supernatural now.
2. He was a desperate character (verse 4),
a. Here is a man so wild that no man can tame him.
3. He was uncontrollable and was a public danger;
4. He was his own enemy (verse 5), and Luke 8: 27 tells us that he was naked.
a. Here are two indication of demonic activity.
(i) Nudity – loss of inhibition: I think this is very evident in our society – there to be seen in the immodesty of our clothing, the emphasis on the sensual and the sexual, so that our young people are dressing in the flimsiest clothes from the earlies ages, and believe in so doing that they are all the more attractive for it
(ii) Self mutilation – tattoos, piercings, and cutting (self harming) – even such conditions as anorexia and bulimia.
(iii) These behaviours are rooted in the idea that a person is worthless, that they are unlovable.
(iv) They are the result of personal disrespect and loss of personal dignity.
(v) Satan wants you to feel that way: he wants you to feel worthless, devalued, and hopeless.
5. You see God affords man dignity, but Satan drags him into degradation.
C. This is the man Jesus saw - dangerous, disorderly, undressed, destructive, desperate and degraded- but can He do anything for a man like this?
1. George Whitefield, the 18th century preacher, used to say, “Jesus will take in the Devil’s castaways.”
2. Thank God, no case is too hard for the Lord!
II. Here Was A Man in Need of God’s GRACE – vss 6-13
A. One of the most powerful statements of Scripture comes from the pen of the apostle Paul when he wrote, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Romans 5:20).
1. Now we see why, knowing that a storm lay ahead, Jesus launched his boat into Gaililee and faced the storm.
2. Just as he “needs must go through Samaria” to meet a woman by the well, so too he “must needs go through Gadara” to meet a man among the tombs.
3. This man had only one hope and one source of help and that was the Lord Jesus.
B. As soon as the man saw Jesus moved by the demons within he cried out a curious confession.
C. Notice too, three indications that the demons possessing the man were fully aware of Jesus’ person, power and position, they recognised His Divine origin and his superior power.
1. “He ran and worshipped Him”
a. The word “worshipped” does not mean worship in the sense of adoration.
b. Rather it simply means to kneel or prostrate oneself, it is to exercise reverence.
c. The demons controlling his person feared the Lord
2. He acknowledged Him to be the “Son of the most high God”
a. The demoniac acknowledges that Jesus was the Son of the true God of Israel, it was a admission of Deity.
3. He confessed that He was the One who alone had power to “torment” him.
a. In that regard they made a twofold request, the first of which is seen in verse 10 – “And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.”
(i) Why was that?
(ii) Understand that Satan has allocated to his host principalities.
(iii) The book of Daniel reveals a prince (a demon) who had charge over ancient Persia and another that ruled over Greece.
(iv) By the same token God had charged Michael, the archangel, to stand guard over Israel.
(v) Remember, “the whole world lieth in wickedness,” presently this world is Satan’s domain, but when Jesus comes the spiritual “strongman” must surrender his goods.
(vi) When the Lord moves in, the devil moves out
b. But then in Luke 8:31 we read, “And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.” (Luke 8:31).
(i) That is, “into the abyss”, the same term that is trans. the “bottomless pit.”
(ii) Rev 20:1 tells us that at the end of time Satan shall be cast into a bottomless pit where he would be imprisoned and rendered helpless.
c. It is amazing the things the demons admit that man denies – The devil is not an atheist or agnostic; he believes that Jesus is God’s Son, he believes in judgment, he believes in hell, he fears God, and if it were possible for him to be saved (which it is not) he would be closer to salvation than most men, for he trembles at God’s Word where most men do not.
D. Ignoring their request the Lord calls the demons out and casts them into the swine feeding on the hillside, which then rush headlong into the sea.
1. By the way, have you ever wondered why there is “no more sea” in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
2. The sea is associated with two things: sin and judgment.
a. The seas came to be after the flood a judgment upon sin.
b. The sea is said to picture the restlessness of sinful human hearts – Isa 57:17.
c. The sea here is the vehicle of judgment for Legion
d. In rev 13 the antichrist comes up out of the sea.
e. But by Rev 21 sin is finished, judgment is complete and there is no more sea.
III. Here We See A Man Enjoying God’s GIFT - vss 14-17
A. What a start Jesus gave this man – he was undoubtedly a new creature, and the talk of Him and what He had done was everywhere.
b. See the “Before and After” of Salvation
It was a miracle, of course - and in this incident we have a picture of the man “before” and “after”.
BEFORE AFTER
Possessed by Demons Liberated by Christ
“Had devils” (Luke 8: 27) ”Devils were departed” (Luke 8: 35).
“Among the tombs” (Mark 5: 3). “At the feet of Jesus” (Luke 8: 35).
“No man could tame him” (Mk 5: 4) “In his right mind” (Luke 8: 35).
“Crying” (Mark 5: 5) “Prayed Him” (Mark 5: 18).
“Cutting himself” (Mark 5: 5). “Go home to thy friends” (Mk 5: 19).
“No clothes” (Luke 8: 27) “Clothed” (Luke 8: 35).
C. Now you would think those who witnessed all of this would be pleased, but not a bit of it! They were annoyed, they were angry, and they aggravated.
1. You see when Jesus comes Satan’s power is broken and sinner’s lives are changed, but society’s plans are disrupted.
2. People don’t like that.
3. These people were more concerned about their loss of business than the love of God.
4. Someone has said that they cared more for the swine than they did for the Saviour.
a. Those pigs were their livelihood.
b. Christ was a financial liability to them.
c. That is how many folk see Jesus - if He enters in their whole lifestyle will change, maybe they will have to honest in their business, honest with their customers and honest in their taxes.
d. Christ is bad business for the bookmaker and the publican, He is a financial liability to the tobacconist and the drug dealer. He hurts the pornographer and the rock industry.
f. Therefore they bid Him leave.
3. It is often true that people think far more of their sin, their pleasures, their ambitions and a great many other things than they do of the Lord Jesus.
IV. Here We See A Man Growing in GRACE – vss 18-20
A. Salvation really changes a man – in this account we read of a man who was a terror to all, but now he is to become a testimony to all.
1. His desire is to join the apostolic band, to be one of the Lord’s chosen disciples.
2. That is how it ought to be, growth in grace causes me to want to walk with the Lord Jesus and to be a witness for Him.
B. It was appropriate for this man to want to be with the Lord, but the plan was that he should go back and demonstrate to his loved ones the wonderful work of grace that had been accomplished in him.
1. This is interesting, because this man not only obeyed the commission by going to his family, the Scripture says He departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him.
2. Decapolis was a league of ten Roman cities, packed with Gentiles.
a. This man had no part in Jesus’ mission to the Jews because, and this is my guess, he was a Gentile.
(i) You see Gadara was a Gentile region, (hence the pig farming)
(ii) It is interesting that Matthew, as apostle to the Jews, conspicuously removes this commission from his record, as though his Jewish readers would be stumbled by its entry.
b. And so the Lord it seems sent him into the Gentile cities of Decapolis, preparing the way for another missionary, Paul who would enter that region many years later with the Gospel.
Conclusion: What a marvellous account this is not only of a lost sinner being saved, but even more so of a caring Saviour seeking the lost. This man was the reason Jesus looked across Galilee and said to His disciples, “Let us pass over unto the other side.” Thank God for a Saviour who is interested in the souls of men, who went searching among the tombstones to find one that all others had castaway. One who was destitute, desperate, self-destructive and demon possessed and who stood in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. And you know what? There are many more just like him, lonely people trapped in sin, feeling no sense of worth, purpose or hope for their lives.
Ernest Hemingway tells the story of a Spanish father who wanted to be reconciled with his son who ran away from home to the city of Madrid. The father misses the son and puts an advertisement in the local newspaper. The advertisement read, "Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven! Love, Papa." Paco is such a common name in Spain that when the father went to the Hotel Montana the next day at noon there were 800 young men named Paco waiting for their fathers! Every one of them was looking for forgiveness from their father.
Someone out there needs to have the forgiveness of the Father, but to reach them maybe we have to go over to the other side, maybe we have to brace the storms, maybe we have to trust the Lord, or maybe we need to go home to our friends and family to find them and to tell them, “how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.”
