Deviled ham Mark 5:1-20
Every night for years this lady thought she heard a burglar downstairs and she would get her husband out of bed at least once a week to go down stairs and make sure everything was alright. Sure enough, one day she thought she heard something and she told her husband to get up and go check it out. He got up and went down like he had done a thousand times before but this time he was shocked; because when he got there he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.
The burglar said, “Don’t make a sound, just give me your wallet and no one gets hurt. He gave him his wallet and as the burglar turned to leave the man said, “Hey, wait a minute. You can’t leave yet,” he said, “You’ve gotta come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been expecting you for 30 years.”
“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7 and cried with a loud voice, and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For He said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9 And He asked him, what is thy name? And he answered, saying, my name is Legion: for we are many. 10 And he besought Him much that He would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18 And when He was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him.
19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, “go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” 20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”
A while back I spoke about Jesus encounter with the man who was known as the rich young ruler and even though we refer to him as rich most of us tend to think of him as being rather well-to-do but I think he was much more than that.
Did you know that in the United States, 4.6% of the population are millionaires and that means they own at least a million dollars and we’re also told that the average millionaire drives a Ford 150 pick-up truck.
These people might have made their money through investing or running a small business or even inherited their money but even though they’re worth a million dollars they’re still not considered rich. After all, the average house in the city of Toronto according to the Globe and Mail is worth one million and forty dollars. So, being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be.
When we talk about rich people today, we’re referring to the super-rich and these are people who own several homes and multiple vehicles and probably even yachts and planes. According to Forbes Financial Magazine there are 1826 billionaires in the world today. 1,191 of these people are self-made, while just 230 of them have inherited their wealth.
In the New Testament we’ve seen people like the Pharisee who invited Jesus over for dinner and this man had a large crowd for the meal and probably many others serving the food but he wasn’t referred to as rich. And there’s the Centurion whose servant Jesus had healed. He was said to have built a synagogue for the local Jews but he wasn’t referred to as rich. And then there’s Joseph of Arimathea who provided a roll of cloth, a hundred pounds of spices and a tomb for Jesus when he died but he wasn’t referred to as rich.
So, this rich young ruler wasn’t just some well-to-do member of the congregation but he probably employed several of the members, contributed much of the operations cost of the synagogue and as I said he was a leader in the local congregation. And this was the man Jesus called to give it all away and come follow Him and he said, “No thank you” and walked away. Listen, he was the Bill Gates of Israel.
As Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Today, we’re going to the opposite end of the economic scale to see a man who was totally different in every way. The scripture says he was demon possessed and his possession expressed itself with many spiritual, psychological and even in physical ways because it says he was violent and roamed around naked crying and cutting himself with stones.
Luke tells us he hadn't put on any clothes for a long time, which tells us he was not only exposed to the elements of hot days and cold nights but I think we can also assume that he was morally perverted. After all, these demons would do anything and everything to torment both him and those who were around him.
And then it says he was living among the graves which means, he was not only living in the graveyard but he living with the dead bodies that occupied these graves. And since they didn’t use caskets back then and many of these bodies would have been the bodies of the wealthy; they would be simply be wrapped in linen and put in caves with huge stones covering the entrance. So, this demon-possessed man probably just shoved one of these huge stones aside and moved in.
One evening a pastor went to tuck his little girl in and tell her a bedtime story and he told her such an exciting story that she sat up and said, “Daddy, is that story true or are you just preaching?”
Well, I am preaching but listen, this is an exciting passage of scripture because in these verses we have a man who the Bible says was controlled and manipulated by several thousand evil spirits. He was so dominated and influenced by these demons that they were the ones who actually carried on the conversation with Jesus.
I So, we’ll begin with this man and his problem
In the previous chapter Jesus had spent some time teaching the people about the kingdom of heaven and how it grows and then it says He left the crowd behind and said to His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side” and as they got into the boat it says He lay down and went to sleep; but while He was sleeping a furious storm came up and the storm was so bad that many of His disciples who were fishermen woke Him up and said, “Don’t you care if we drown?” Then Jesus calmed the storm and asked them why they were so afraid; and why they had no faith?”
John MacArthur said, “It’s a dark day when experienced fishermen call on a carpenter to get them out of a storm.”
And listen; they were absolutely astonished at this miracle because this was very early in the book of Mark and they had only seen Jesus heal a few people and cast out some demons but now He was exercising control over both the sea and the weather; and they realized that this was something that only God could do.
So, they arrive at the other side and Matthew calls this place Gadarenes but when Mark and Luke tell this story they refer to this place as Gerasenes. It’s the same place but it’s referred to by different names by different people.
I grew up in a place called Glace Bay, Nova Scotia but someone who lived in Sydney which was twelve miles away would say that I was from the Bay. (Right beside Sydney was Whitby Pier and if someone from the Pier said, “Are you from the Bay bye, we’d say, “Yeah, are you from the Pier dear?”)
If you lived in downtown Glace Bay you would say I was from Bridgeport, which was the name of a community about two miles from the Bay but it was still considered to be part of the municipality. And yet, someone who lived in upper Bridgeport would say I was from the Rows which described two rows of coal company houses which overlooked the ocean; and those of us who lived in the Rows; considered the area to be the equivalent of the Twilight Zone.
So, there was no contradiction, but both Gadarenes and Gerasenes were the same place but they were called a different name by different people.
And in Matthew, it says there were two demon possessed men but Mark and Luke only mention one but there’s still no contradiction because Mark and Luke didn’t say there was only one, they just focused on the conversation with the one.
Several years ago I went to a pastor’s conference where Dr. Fred Craddock had been the keynote speaker. There were six or seven other speakers at this conference but Dr. Craddock was the most memorable one. So, the man they referred to was obviously the spokesman for the two.
And this man was referred to as being demon possessed and if we had the time we could go all the way back to Genesis where we’d find that demons had originally been angels like Satan who had joined in rebellion against God.
Throughout the Bible and especially in Ephesians 6 we see where angels are highly organized and have various roles and abilities and it stands to reason that the demons who had been angels still have the gifts and abilitites God gave them at creation but now they use them to oppose Him rather than to serve Him.
So, demon possession is when a demon not only inhabits an individual’s body but then it dominates their personality and controls their will and in this case the demons manipulated this man so much that they took control of both his mind and his ability to speak and answer. So, these demons were in absolute control of this individual.
C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which we can fall about demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence, and the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
So, they’re real and I want you to see four important facts the scripture teaches us about demons.
First, it says, when the man saw Jesus from a distance, it says he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. These were the actions of the demons who were controlling the man and not the man himself; because he didn’t know who Jesus was but these demons not only recognized Him but it says they fell down in an act of total submission.
And then notice how it says the demons not only recognized Jesus but it actually says they worshipped Him and they called Him the Son of God. Someone said, even the demons of hell recognize Jesus for who He is, and yet many human beings don’t seem to have a clue?
I believe this was an automatic response on their part; because as I said; these demons were fallen angels and they had seen Jesus in heaven prior to His incarnation and when they saw Him on earth their worship was an automatic response. As James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well. The demons also believe and tremble.”
Every once in a while an unbeliever will say almost defensively, “Well, I believe in Jesus” and they might believe in Him but their belief is similar to demonic belief, they believe He existed and they believe He is who He claimed to be but they certainly don’t believe in Him in the sense that they belong to Him.
Second, the demon shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" This demon recognized Jesus' deity and every time we hear demons speak in the New Testament, they always address Jesus as God.
There are many educated people who don’t have a clue as to who Jesus is but there’s not a demon on earth or even in hell that doesn’t know that Jesus is God.
And not only did they worship Him but it also says they feared Him. They said, “Art thou come here to torment us before the time?” They recognized that Jesus has a plan and a timetable but they were also aware that He was early.
Our pastor had been speaking at prayer meeting about a while ago about the coming tribulation which will be followed by the millennial kingdom after which the devil and all his demons will be thrown into hell and these demons knew that these things hadn’t happened yet and so, as far as they were concerned they knew it was too early for judgement day.
Listen, these demons were both pre-tribulational and pre-millennial in their theology. They believe more scripture than a lot of Christians.
And then it says they did what they were told to do; but you have to understand that their obedience was based on who they knew Jesus to be; rather than because they loved Him.
It’s like it says in Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given Him a name which is above every name: 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So, there’s coming a day when everyone everywhere will bow the knee before Jesus because when they see Him in His glorified state that will be the only reaction.
I get a kick out of these weird books that were supposedly written by believers about their encounters with Jesus. One guy said Jesus showed up in his bedroom for several nights and they just sat and talked about anything and everything. It was all very casual and yet; every time someone in the Bible encounters Jesus in His glorified state they fall on their knees.
Third, the demon also said, "Swear to God you won't torture me" because Jesus had said, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit" and the demon was afraid that his time had come to be sent to hell for the rest of eternity. Listen, he knew where he was going and he knew his judgement was inevitable but he was obviously confused because he also knew it was too early.
And then fourth, we see how many demons were in this man in verse 9 because when Jesus asked, "What is your name?" The demon replied, "My name is Legion" which could mean; there are a lot of us and we are unified, organized and ready to fight. Commentaries tell us that a legion was a Roman army regiment and it consisted of about 6,000 men and 1,200 horsemen and a number of technical specialists who went along with the regiment. So, if this number is correct then we’re talking in excess of 7200 demons inhabiting and controlling this one man.
And there are fourth characteristics of demons.
And the first one is uncleanness. Demons are evil and filthy, both physically and morally. And it's no accident that wherever we see demonic activity whether it’s in the far off jungles or even in the homes of drunks and drug addicts we see filth, squalor, trash and dirt. Not only have these spirits gone from being holy but they feel at home with filth and disorder.
And then the second characteristic is isolation. The scripture says this man lived in the tombs and we get the impression that he was living in a graveyard but as I said he was literally living among dead bodies. He had been driven there by the demons who controlled him and these demons would have been excited to see the dead bodies of those they had influenced who were already in hell. They would see them as trophies of their success. And there’s also the fact that they cut him off both physically and emotionally from anyone who was considered normal.
And then third, there’s superhuman strength. It says; no one could bind him, not even with chains. We have one angel in the book of Genesis who killed 185,000 people in one night. So, if these demons have the same kind of strength then we can understand why he couldn’t be bound with ropes or anything else.
And then the fourth characteristic is emotional distress and verse 5 says, "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.” Listen, this guy was sleepless, restless and wandering around being tormented by these evil spirits and Matthew 8:28 says, "No one would pass that way because he was so violent."
So, he was possessed and that tells us his problems weren’t simply emotional or psychological but he had these supernatural beings dwelling within him and they had so messed with his heart and mind that these demons were actually controlling every word he said. He was so totally dominated by these evil spirits that his own personality was virtually out of existence.
So, as I said, this man had a problem but second we see that Jesus has a solution.
It begins in verse 6, “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7 and cried with a loud voice, and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For He said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9 And He asked him, what is thy name? And he answered, saying, my name is Legion: for we are many. 10 And he besought Him much that He would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him saying, send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.”
The first thing I want you to notice is; these demons believed who Jesus was but as I said; they weren’t obedient.
Did you know that you can have the same kind of faith because anyone can have the right theology but the wrong lifestyle and if we do; then we’re no better off than a demon? Listen, James says, “Faith without works is dead.” It’s not just what you believe but what you do because of what you believe.
So, these demons recognized Jesus from heaven and they spoke to Him as one who had the authority to make them do whatever He wanted them to do. They plead with Him like war captives would plead with a conqueror not to be brutal with them.
In response Jesus commanded them to come out of the man and then He asked their name and since we know He knows all things; we have to conclude that He had asked this for our benefit and then it says the demon answered by saying, ‘Legion’ for we are many. And there are some who think these demons may have each had names but were reluctant to reveal them and so, they used a group name instead.
And then third, the demons asked Jesus for permission to enter the pigs and Jesus allowed them. We might wonder why He did but I think the first reason was that when they entered the pigs it proved they had left the man. Second, this also demonstrated both His authority and ability to tell them what to do. And, then third, it shows how destructive these demons were because given a free hand they destroyed the entire herd.
Now, as I said before these demons were highly organized and they knew if they were sent out of the area to which they were assigned they might end up being confined with the fallen angels that are mentioned in Jude verse 6 which means they’d not only lose their freedom but they’d no longer be able to afflict men or to resist God.
So, as an alternative to confinement, the demons posed the option of being permitted to enter this huge herd of pigs that were feeding nearby. They didn’t want to drift around as disembodied spirits or be confined for punishment for the rest of time but they wanted to possess some kind of body and failing to have a human body they were willing to possess these pigs.
And then Jesus demonstrates His power by telling them what to do and they did it and it seems so simple because it was. In Luke 11:20 Jesus said, "If I cast out demons, it is by the finger of God, you know the Kingdom of God has come."
What did He mean by the finger of God? Well, if we were to go back to Exodus chapter 8 and read the account where the magicians of Egypt tried to copy the miracles of Moses we’d see that they came to the conclusion that Moses was doing things by the power of God and when they couldn't do the same they said, "This is the finger of God." In other words, God is able to do miraculous acts with His little finger that man couldn’t even attempt.
And then it says, “but when they entered these pigs the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” And this was the first case of deviled ham in history. And you know, maybe we’re supposed to see some humour here because these were unclean spirits who were destroying these unclean animals.
It’s actually hard to tell what happened; because either these demons killed the pigs with the hope that the people would turn on Jesus or the pigs were so repulsed by the presence of the demons that they decided they’d rather drown than be possessed by them.
In either case, Jesus got rid of the pigs that shouldn’t have been there in the first place and the demons helped Him do it even though I’m sure that wasn’t their intention. And what happened to the demons is a mystery.
And then third, we see the people’s reaction
Verse 14 says, “And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.”
Imagine the scene: the man who everyone had been afraid of had been delivered and was sitting peacefully at Jesus feet while the whole herd of pigs were floating dead on the sea. And these people did what most would do when they were confronted by something that not only costs them money but also revealed their hypocrisy because these people were raising pigs to sell to the Romans who were considered to be the enemies of the Jews. And instead of expressing their appreciation for Jesus getting rid of a major problem they wanted Him to leave their town.
Warren Wiersbe said, “The destruction of the pigs revealed the spiritual condition of these people because they would rather have their swine than the Savior!”
The man who had been possessed and had lived alone in torment and unspeakable misery and had given them so much grief was sane, sensible and in control but they hardly even noticed. I think they were more afraid of Jesus because they realized He had more power than anything they had ever seen before and verse 17 says, "And they began to implore Him to leave their region.”
So, Jesus delivered this man from the power of Satan who had been a nuisance to this town for who knows how long. He probably stole food and destroyed things that were put up for public decoration and I’m sure everyone was wondering when they’d finally be rid of him and now he was healed delivered and completely sane.
If Jesus did that today He might find Himself in deep trouble. First of all, the Envoirmental Protection Agency would be investigating the pollution of the Sea of Galilee with decaying pigs. Then the SPCA would be up in arms over cruelty to animals and then the Livestock Association and consumer groups would be greatly distressed over the sudden decrease in the pig population and the resulting impact on pork prices.
There was a pretzel stand out front of an office building in New York. One day, a man came out of the building, plunked down a quarter, and then went on his way without taking a pretzel. This happened every day for three weeks. Finally, the old lady running the stand spoke up: “Sir, excuse me. May I have a word with you? The fellow said: “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to ask me why I give you a quarter every day and don’t take a pretzel.” And the woman said, “No, I just wanted to let you know that the price has gone up to 35 cents.”
So, these people were saying, you’ve done a great job getting rid of our problem but that’s all we need. So, thank you and have a good trip back to wherever you came from. They were concerned about Jesus causing problems with their lifestyle and the last thing they wanted was God showing up and messing with their way of life.
Many of us are enjoying a certain level of comfort and we resist anyone telling us we need to do more; especially when we’ve been faithful in attendance, faithful in our giving and faithful in our lifestyle. We feel as though we’ve done our share and we want to be left alone but listen, Jesus saved us to serve Him both now and forever.
And then finally, we see the man who had been saved and delivered.
This man who had been a slave of the demons was now free. He had been wild, uncontrollable and naked and now he sat quietly at Jesus feet. He had been an instrument of Satan but now he was a testimony to Jesus power. He had been a menace to society, but now he’d be a messenger with a testimony of both the deliverance and healing power of Jesus Christ.
It’s hard to believe that people actually lived like him but just a couple of weeks ago I read the testimony of a man by the name of Mel Trotter who had been born into a home where his father had owned a tavern and when he was nineteen he became the bartender but he ended up drinking as much as he served.
Slowly but surely he became a drunk but then he slowed down for a while and got married and he and his wife had a son. Soon, he started drinking again and one night he came home looking for money and when he couldn’t find any he took the boots off his little babies feet and went out and sold them for a bottle.
When he sobered up he came home and found his son had died. He felt so bad he went to the funeral where he vowed he’d never to drink again, but within two hours he was drunk again.
One night he got so drunk he had lost his shoes in the snow while he was heading for Lake Michigan where he intended to drown himself; but on the way he passed a mission where he heard someone’s testimony of how they got saved and he was soundly converted to Christ. He began a rescue mission work where he continued until the day he died. Listen, he was just like this guy and the alcohol controlled him as much as these demons controlled this man.
The scripture says this man wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus said in verse 19, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how He had mercy on you." He sent him home where he became a living, walking, breathing demonstration of what Jesus can do with the worst of men. But someone might say, he had no training. But, listen, how much training do you have to have to tell others how you got saved? I can imagine this guy giving his testimony; "I don't how to tell you this but I used to be a violent naked maniac who lived in a graveyard and everyone was scared of me but one day I met Jesus and He changed my life.”
What does it take for any of us to be a witness for Jesus? All we are saying is that He worked in our lives and He can do the same for those we’re talking to and listen, if we can’t say that then maybe we need to ask Him to start all over again.
We who know the Lord need to do the one thing God has told us to do and that’s to be His witnesses. Howard Hendricks once said, “In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering.”
So, if you’ve been saved, you need to tell someone what God has done in your life and the best place to begin is where Jesus sent this man and that’s to your own family; which can also be the hardest place, because then we have to live the things we claim to believe.
Listen, a disciple is someone who is willing to go and do whatever God wants him or her to be. So this former demon-possessed man became a witness to the ten Gentile cities that were known as Decapolis and if we were to take the time and read Mark chapter 7 we’d see that when Jesus came back to this region and visited Decapolis there were four thousand people waiting to hear the gospel.
This man teaches us the power of witnessing. Now listen, I didn’t say the power of evangelism. We are all called to be witnesses and one of our problems is; we confuse evangelism with witnessing and we say, “Well, I don’t have that gift.” Evangelism is a gift that’s been given to a select few but witnessing is the responsibility of every one who Jesus ever called.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, "You will be my witnesses." Do you know what witnessing is all about? Just what you have here because Jesus said to this man, "Go home and tell them what God has done for you and how great is His mercy."
And what a story he had to tell! As he’d share his testimony of how God had poured out His love and grace on someone who was rejected by everyone; these people would understand that every life has value to Jesus. And listen, this man was the only reason Jesus and His disciples took a trip that night across the Sea of Galilee where they endured the storm and faced the rejection of those who were on the other side.
And this man demonstrates that with Jesus, no one is beyond hope, because if he could be changed than anyone could. Listen, you don't think you are any worse than he is, do you?
So, everywhere this man went, he told everyone about the great things that Jesus had done for him. And all the people who heard were astonished because they knew how he had deserted his family and ended up a violent decrepit man living naked in a graveyard but now that he met Jesus, he was born again and back home where he belonged. It’s like the Bible says “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, all things become as new.”
Listen, you might say, well, I’m certainly not as bad as him but I want to explain something to you; you are so bad that it took the Son of God dying on the cross of Calvary to save you for eternity.
Doctors used to test the sanity of a mental patient in the following way: they’d place the patient in a room with a sink. The faucet was turned on and a stopper was put in the drain until the sink overflowed. The patient was then handed a mop and the door was closed.
If the patient had enough sense to turn off the water, pull the plug, and then mop up the mess, he was considered capable of going home. But on the other hand, if the patient mopped like crazy but never bothered to shut off the water or pull the plug, he was considered to be insane and he needed to be detained a little longer in the mental institution.
There are a lot of people in this world who are mopping like crazy…but they’re not in mental institutions. They’re hoping to clean up their sin but they just keep adding to it more and more every day. The only answer to the problem of sin is Jesus and if you hope you can stop it, forget it or ignore it; you’re wrong. We all need to come to Him admitting our need and receiving His forgiveness.
Soren Kierkegaard told a story about a wild duck that was flying in the springtime northward across Europe. During the flight he came down in a Danish barnyard where there were tame ducks and enjoyed some of their corn. He decided to stay for an hour, then for a day, then for a week, then for a month, and finally, because he enjoyed their food and the safety of the barnyard, he decided to stay all summer.
And then one autumn day when the flock of wild ducks were winging their way southward again, they passed over the barnyard, and their mate heard their cries. He was stirred with a strange thrill of joy and delight, and with a great flapping of wings he rose in the air to join his old friends in their flight.
The problem was, he found that all the good food had made him so soft and heavy that he could rise no higher than the eaves of the barn. So he dropped back again to the barnyard and said to himself, "Oh, well, my life is safe here, and the food is food."
Every spring and autumn when he heard the wild ducks honking, his eyes would gleam for a moment and he would begin to flap his wings. But finally the day came when the wild ducks flew over and uttered their cry, and he paid not the slightest attention to them. . .
It’s easy to ignore the problem of sin as long as we’re comfortable.
Well, in this account we see that the demons realized Jesus wasn’t going to allow them to torment this man but they really wanted was an easy place to spend their days before they’d end up being confined to hell for the rest of eternity. And then the men who either owned or cared for the pigs just wanted Jesus to go away and leave everything the way it always was.But, the man who had been possessed wanted the same change he had experienced to happen to everyone he met and when Jesus came back he had a crowd waiting to meet Him.
And now, you have to decide, is your goal to be comfortable or do you want everything to remain the same or do you intend to come to Jesus and allow the God who created you to save you and use you?
Conclusion - let me finish with a story.
There was a wealthy man and his son who loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire these great works of art but when the Viet Nam conflict broke out, the son decided it was his duty to go to war. He was very courageous and ended up dying in battle while trying to rescue another soldier. His father was notified and he grieved deeply for his only son.
About three months later, there was a knock at his door. A young man stood there with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many that day and was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.”
The young man held out his package and said. "I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this."
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture but he said, "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift."
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
A few months later, the man died and there was a great auction held for his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited to see the great paintings and even to have the opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son.
The auctioneer pounded his gavel and said, "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?" There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted. "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one." But the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?"
Another voice shouted angrily. "We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh’s and the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!"
But still the auctioneer continued. "The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?" Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the long-time gardener of the man and his son and he said, "I’ll give $10 for the painting."
Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. The auctioneer said, "We have $10, who will bid 20?" And someone yelled, "Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters." The auctioneer said, "$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid 20?"
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!"
A man sitting on the second row shouted. "Now let’s get on with the collection!" The auctioneer laid down his gavel and said, "I’m sorry, the auction is over."
"What about the paintings?" he yelled. The auctioner said, "When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned and whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!"
God gave His Son 2,000 years ago to die on a cruel rugged cross and much like the auctioneer, the message today is, "The son, the son, who’ll take the son?" - Because, whoever has the Son has everything.")
