Scripture: Mark 5:1-20; Ephesians 6:12
Title: From Mad to Missionary
Theme: Dealing with Demons
This sermon looks at the 1. The Reality of the Devil and Demons 2. All of Creation Acknowledges the Lordship of Jesus Christ Jesus 3. Jesus Loves to brings Salvation/Freedom
INTRO:
Grace and peace this morning from the God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
As you read the Gospels one thing becomes perfectly clear. Peter, James, John and the rest of the boys had no idea what it would mean to follow Jesus when He first invited them. I don’t think they had any idea how exciting it would be to travel and live with Jesus. They couldn’t have because Jesus was unlike any other rabbi that they had seen or heard about.
When they left their fishing boats, their tax collector’s table and all that other stuff, I am sure that they thought that most of their time would be sharing the truths about God and faith. I am not so sure that they understood that it would mean having some exciting boat rides, healing hundreds of people and facing what they faced here at the beginning of Mark chapter five.
I am not sure that they thought that they would be in the middle of an intense spiritual battle between their rabbi and a legion of demons. The question has been raised recently by a lot of focus groups on whether or not most people who attend church, read the Bible and do their best to live a good life ever think about going toe to toe with a bunch of demons? Do Church people still believe in spiritual warfare?
A recent You Gov Survey tells us that the majority of people in our country still believe that evil exists in our world. (http://cdn.yougov.com)
Other surveys tell us that most people who regularly attend church believe that there is a sentient being called Satan, Lucifer or the Devil. Barely a majority of those outside of the church share that belief. However, most church people do not believe that they will ever have to face a demon or an evil spirit at any point in their life time.
They believe that evil forces are for the most active in other parts of the world. Places thousands of miles away from the safety of their local churches. They don’t believe that in their neighborhoods, their schools, their work places and the like, that any truly sinister evil forces are actively at work.
Well, maybe, just maybe down in the inner city or in a ghetto area or even in a red light district but for the most part demonic activity happens very rarely if at all.
What do you think?
Let’s see what the Bible says about all of this stuff.
The Bible tells us that:
I. Evil Spirits, Demons and the Devil Exist
The Bible is very clear on the fact that Evil spirits, demons and most assuredly the Devil does exist. From the beginning of the Book of Genesis to the final words of the book of Revelation is this – Forces of Darkness, evil spirits, demonic beings are at work in our world – in our neighborhoods, schools, places of work and sadly to say in many of our houses of worship.
The Bible calls them by many names – principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness, evil spirits, demons and devils to name a few. The names vary, but the reality is that the Bible which God gave us gives us example after example of the reality of demonic existence.
As we shall see in our passage this morning an individual person can be possessed by a demon. That is to say that a person can invite or become a false temple where an unclean spirit is allowed to take up residence.
And if you would read Daniel chapter 10 the Prophet Daniel speaks about an entire nation can come under the power and presence of demonic spirits. Not just an individual person but a whole group of people even a whole nation.
We may balk at those thoughts but how else can we explain some of the more wicked chapters in human history. How else can we explain the wicked nature of the practice of traditional slavery in the Western World; in particular in the United States and in Britain? How else can we make sense of the idea that human beings were bought and sold as commodities? How else can we make sense that people were seen as being less than being a person made in the image of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY? How else can we see how people were able to beat and treat people far worse than they would an animal?
How else can we explain what happened in the Soviet gulags, the Japanese prison camps and the horrors that went on at the Nazi death camps?
How do we explain the presence of serial molesters, rapists and killers?
How else do we explain the rise of violence, immorality, human trafficking and perversions that are going on around our world?
There has to be something more than human frailties and human sin.
There is more than human sin. There is in the past and there is in the present people who have allowed and are allowing today for demons to possess them and rule their lives. There are people who are allowing demons to use them as tools to bring about a culture of chaos, addiction, enslavement, bondage, depression, destruction and death.
We may try our best to explain it away but any explanation we might want to give in the end does not bring the remedy we need. We have tried all kinds of manmade ways – locking people up, performing all kinds of surgeries and filling their bodies with all kinds of medicines and for some people it is not enough. For some, like this man in our story no medicine, no rehab center or behavior modification technique was successful.
I know that this sermon comes in a month when we all try to wink at the idea of witches, zombies, ghosts, vampires and the like. I know it comes at a time when we think we have a handle on being able to be scared this month but the reality is I am afraid we in the Church have at times played with fire.
The Word of God is clear about the existence of evil and demonic possessions. It is clear on the existence of witches, enchanters, wizards, mediums, fortune tellers and the like. It is clear on the fact that people will worship false gods, involve themselves is all kinds of forbidden practices like tarot cards, fortune telling, Ouija boards and crystals.
The Bible is clear on all of those things and it is very clear on the fact as God’s Chosen People we are to have nothing to do with those things – Period, End of Question – Amen.
If you don’t get anything else out of what is shared this morning please understand this – nothing that has to do with the occult no matter how innocent it seems is either acceptable or innocent in the eyes of our God. They are forbidden.
None of those things pass the 1 John 4 test. If you don’t remember that test – listen to John’s words:
1 John 4:1-3 (ESV)
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
If you really want to see where the Devil and his demons want all of us to end up then look again at this story. For this man, demons are not harmless nor are they funny. He is possessed by them. He has been overtaken by them. He no longer rules his own body, mind or even his own spirit. He has been taken captive.
+He is pacing back and forth throughout the grave yard like some animal.
+He wears no clothes and exposes himself to whoever comes out to pay honor to their loved ones.
+He is not sane – He is barely human.
I believe all of this happened because at some point he opened up a door for a demon to come into his life.
At some point he allowed things like pride, lust, pornography, greed, drugs and such to take up residence in his life. He opened the door for sin to take over much the same way that Cain opened the door back in Genesis 4:7. As you remember, Cain not only opened the door he allowed evil to tempt him to murder his brother Abel. Evil did not force Cain to kill Abel but evil did bring the temptation.
We must be careful to guard the emotional, mental and spiritual doors of our lives. We must be careful not to allow any evil to come through the door or slip under the threshold. Once inside evil wants to take over your mind, body and spirit.
This man may even for a time been able to resist evil and it is even possible that he got rid of evil all together in his life. And if that was true then he may have been one of those Jesus was referring to in Luke 11:24-25:
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he roams through waterless places in search of rest; and finding none, he says, “I will return to my house which I left.” And when he has come to it, he finds the place swept and clean. Then he goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse that the first (Luke 11:24-25).
It could be that the man had come clean but was drawn back into all these evil things to the point where it was no longer a demon but a legion of demons. A legion of demons that the Bible tells us ended up causing the death of 2,000 innocent pigs.
This man is the ultimate example of what Satan’s great design is – to possess a human being to the point where they are both praising God while at the same time blaming and cursing God for their current state. That is what this man does – He gives Jesus the praise by acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God while at the same time cursing Jesus as the reason for his torment.
This leads us to a second reality
II. All Creation – Good and Bad Must Worship Jesus Christ
All of creation both good and bad must acknowledge the Sovereignty of Jesus.
Last week we looked at how the wind, the waves and the rain acknowledge the Sovereignty of Jesus.
There was no debate on whether or not the rain, the sea of the wind would obey Jesus. There were no white papers written, no climate conference convened or creation vote taken. There was no debate. Creation simply confessed that Jesus is Sovereign and when Jesus says “Put a muzzle on it”, then, it is time to Be Still and Be Quiet.
The same is true when it comes to demons as well. This legion of demons that were living inside this man didn’t ask for a time out. They didn’t convene a convention for all 2,000 of them to decide whether or not they were going to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. They didn’t have a debate either.
As soon as they began to feel Jesus’ Presence get near the shore line they sprang into action. And as soon as they got near Jesus they cried out and acknowledge that He is the Son of God.
This mad man may have been possessed and he may have been under the Devil’s control but that did not shut up his mouth with saying the truth. Jesus – You are God’s Only Son. Jesus you are the Holy One.
Jesus – we know you. We once worshipped you as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We once knew what it meant to love you, obey you and live a life of freedom, joy, peace, kindness and gentleness. We once knew what it meant to bow down with the 24 elders, what it meant to sing to you like the stars in the sky and what it meant to eat with you in Heaven but we rejected all of that. We listened to the lies of Satan and we fought against Michael and You and of course – We lost.
We are condemned to spend forever away from you – away from love, away from holiness, away from purity, away from praise and worship. We are condemned to spend forever in a place called Hell – because wherever You are Not – that is Hell.
The disciples had to be beside themselves. From teaching one day, to spending the night fighting the mother of all storms to meeting this madman on the shore line of the Sea of Galilee.
And while they had no clue – remember their question in Mark 4:4 –
“What kind of Man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
This madman not only had a clue he had the answer – “You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God.”
We humans are a little silly. We debate, we have conferences, we write papers and have these discussions on the Bible, on the truthfulness of Jesus – and they are rather silly. We try to prove that God exists when God doesn’t need us to prove that He exists. God exists. I believe that everyone down deep knows that. They may try to act like they don’t, they may try to debate that He doesn’t exist but deep down in our DNA we know that God exists.
And I understand why we have all these theological discussions and opinions, but if a person will pray one simple prayer then they will never need another conference, paper or discussion. If they will just open themselves up to the light of Jesus then all their questions will be answered. They will acknowledge exactly what the sea, the wind and the rain acknowledged. They will acknowledge exactly what this man acknowledged – Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ is Sovereign. Jesus Christ is LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS!
But our story doesn’t end there does it? It leads us to the Good News. The News that:
III. Jesus Is The One Who Brings Us Freedom/Salvation
One of the things I love about this story is the fact it ends with this former madman enjoying a life of freedom. It ends with him being rescued and redeemed. It ends with him beginning the process of being transformed - heart, mind and soul into a reflection of the image of God.
Notice verse 15:
“And they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind.”
Focus on what Jesus can do in a person’s life this morning:
+Sitting, instead of pacing around like a crazed animal full of the Devil.
+At peace instead of being the center of chaos, destruction and death.
+Clothed instead of running around exposing himself to men, women and children.
+Clothed in God’s righteousness and holiness.
+In his right mind – being under the control of the LORD; the Holy Spirit.
All of this happened because the man chose to be what Paul would call In Christos. In Christos is a phrase that the Apostle Paul used at least 31 times in his writings to the different churches.
What does it mean?
Simply this: Rather than being under the power and control of a demonic being or in this case beings – this man came under the freedom of Jesus – under God’s love, power and presence. He became In Christos – Having His New Life in Christ.
And In Christos – he is at peace, he is clothed in robes of righteousness and he is experiencing a life of grace, love and mercy. He enjoys a clear mind and a pure heart. He is enjoying the Kingdom of Heaven right here on this earth. He is enjoying a life of freedom and salvation and he is ready to do mission work to tell others the way of salvation and freedom.
In closing, there are three quick sidelines I think are important for us to look at:
+The first is the image that we see of this man – being isolated, being naked, his flesh ripped open and living in a graveyard – this horrible image is what evil will do to us if we allow it – but it is also similar to the image that our LORD endured to rescue all of us from sin, death and the grave.
-When Jesus went to the cross it was on an isolated and desolated hill called Golgotha.
-Jesus had his perfect robe taken from him as they nailed his body on the cross.
-His flesh was ripped open from the beatings, the crown of thorns and the nails.
-Golgotha was unclean – dead bones were strewn around
- By nightfall Jesus’ body was in a tomb with everyone thinking that He was forever gone – cursed by God and man.
In many ways Jesus became the very image of this madman – isolated, tormented and condemn not because Jesus was possessed with demons but because Jesus allowed all of Hell to come against Him and do their very best to stop His Love, His Grace and His Mercy. Jesus stepped into the pit of Hell itself and paid the price for all of us here this morning.
Our LORD took upon Himself all of our sin – all of our pride, idolatry, lust, immorality, greed and addictions and He nailed them to the cross. The Devil and all the demons of Hell thought that they nailed Jesus to the cross but in reality Jesus nailed sin, death and the grave to the Cross. Jesus was not defeated that day. The exact opposite happened. Jesus triumphed that day over sin, death and the grave.
The Apostle Paul puts it like this:
“Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.” – Colossians 2:15
+The second little side line is that the world will never understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The world fears Jesus – yesterday, today and tomorrow. The world likes its graveyards, its mad men and the fear and sin they bring. It likes its lust, its pornography, its immorality, pride, idolatry and greed. It feeds on fear, on sin and on evil.
It would rather have demon possessed people than lose its pigs so to speak. If the Gospel of Jesus is going to change the world’s power, its economy or its own taste for greed, lust and position then it would rather that Jesus just leave it alone.
That is what the people of the town here in our passage wanted. They would rather keep the mad man than lose their pigs. They began to image what else would happen if Jesus freed other people in their town? The thought of more happening caused them to tell Jesus to leave.
When Jesus comes into our lives radical changes happen not just with our coming to faith but with our living out a life of being in Christ.
Our whole lives shift from being flesh (carnal) centered to being spirit (Kingdom of God) centered.
Our whole lives shift from that of being a taker to becoming a giver of life – of being a generous person ready to do everything to help someone else find the Kingdom of Heaven.
Our whole lives shift from that of judging, blaming and criticizing to becoming a person of forgiveness, grace and mercy.
Our whole lives shift from being focused on this world to focusing on enjoying rhe fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Our whole lives shift to being God’s light to the World around us.
Our whole lives shift to being surrendered to the One we call King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Our whole lives shift to being who God is – Holy Love – becoming the image of God in this life and in the life to come.
+The third little sideline is this passage shows us No One is Outside of God’s Grace
If a man who allowed a legion of demons to possess his soul is not outside of God’s Grace then no man, woman, boy or girl is outside of God’s Grace.
That needs to be shouting ground. For we all know of some hard case – some person that other people say is outside of God’s ability to be transformed and the fact is as long as they are breathing on this side of eternity then no one – no one is beyond God’s grace, mercy and love.
We are seeing that today in country after country – countries that are being dominated by pagan beliefs, by false gods and goddess, by false witnesses and demonic activities. We are seeing the Gospel of Jesus come in and bring about a Revival.
Why is this happening?
+Like this freed man who went back to his home town to share his witness, people are going into their neighborhoods and sharing the message of Jesus.
+Like Jesus, who took the time to come to this man to bring freedom, people are taking time out to pray, to share and to tell others about Jesus.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way:
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone sharing the Gospel with them?” – Romans 10:14
It is our privilege to help other people find freedom. It is our joy to help other people enjoy a life of peace, of being clothed in righteousness and in enjoying a life of mercy, grace and love.
The question we have to ask ourselves is - Are we hiding the message of Jesus or sharing the message of Jesus? Are we doing our best to tell others or are we making sure that we stay safe? Are we sharing Jesus at work, at home, in our neighborhood or on our social media pages?
For the truth is this morning we do not fight for victory. Instead, with the cross at our back we fight from victory. We demons face us and they do we do not hide but in Christ we have victory – today, tomorrow and forever more. When we feel like we are being overwhelmed by the powers of Satan – wanting to shut us down, close us and defeat us we do remember that the greatest powers of evil are behind us. For our God has seen darkness, death and demons. And His bruised heel is proof that they don’t stand a chance.
Yes, this is the month that many people focus on fear and on evil. It is not by accident that such movies as the Joker, Maleficent and Zombie land 2 are coming out this month. It is not by accident that House of the Witch and Scream 2 are coming out on Netflix. It is not by accident that more and more movies are being made that focus on witches, mediums and wizards.
But we know the truth. We know that there is no one more powerful than Jesus. We know that demons can be exorcised, cast out and told to leave. We know that a life in Christ overpowers a life in evil. We know that in Christ our family members, our friends and our neighborhoods can experience the transformation that only comes through the Holy Spirit.
Today, be a light to this world. Be a light of Jesus. Don’t let fear or any demon take over your family, your work place or your neighborhood. Do all you can to pray, to invite and to be a walking advertisement for Jesus!
Don't allow the powers of evil to steal your joy and peace.
Come to Jesus today - allow Him to bring you freedom and joy. Allow Jesus to defeat the powers of darkness that are coming against you. Pray for those around you that are being attacked by the forces of evil. We serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let us allow Our King to bring us freedom, salvation and peace!
Closing Song - Be A Light for Jesus
Prayer/Open Altar/Benediction
