Master of the demons

Mark 5:01-20

 

          As master of the seas, last week we observed how Jesus brought calm to the storm.  Today we will notice that as master over the spirit world, Jesus brought calm to two demon-possessed men.  Matthew mentions that there were actually two of them, but Mark focuses on only one, probably the leader of the two.  I’m going to generalize this story into four sort of “principles.”

 

I.  Darkness recognizes the approach of Light – Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

 

          A.  The man had an “unclean” spirit.  What does it mean for this man, or men to have an “unclean” spirit?  “Spirit” is the word for “breath.”  It is the life principle in a person, what gives that person energy and motivation, and attitude.  It’s that part of you that thinks, feels and wills.  It can be described by terms such as “poor in spirit, spirit of gentleness, spirit of bondage, spirit of jealousy.  We are called on to “rule over our spirit” in Prov 16:32 because other spirits can come in and take over our lives.  There is the “spirit of error” which can enter our minds and hearts.  Jesus said to His disciples, “you know not what manner of spirit you are of” when they suggested calling down fire to burn a city.  A spirit enters you when you listen to what it says, yield to it and obey it.

          This man had been taken over by a filthy spirit.  He had paid attention to dirty stuff, listened to it, participated in it enough so that his life became controlled by dirt.  Spirits don’t take over our lives unless we let them.  This man had lived in moral dirt for years, and could do nothing else, because he was under its complete control.  When Jesus inquired about the name of the spirit, He was given the name “legion” because of the size of the force which was in control of this man’s body.  The man had hundreds of unclean spirits in him.  He probably had the spirit of lying, the spirit of lust, the spirit of ease, the spirit of anger and bitterness, the spirit of pornography, the spirit of destruction, and so on.  You name it and he had yielded to it.  A Roman “legion” was a trained force of 6 or 7000 men that represented the organized, disciplined, irresistible power of Rome.  In this man, the name “legion” probably meant the height of evil.  This is evil at its “finest power,” evil at its strongest, evil at its completeness.  And what does this evil bring?  What wonderful things does it offer?

 

          B.  Satan’s “best” totally ruined the man’s life.  Here is what Satan does to a person.  John 10:10 says this, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  This poor man had met the “thief.”  Satan is the master thief.  He has absolutely no interest in helping or improving.  The Bud and Busch commercials have such beautiful people having such an enjoyable time in life, but they don’t show you what happens to those people after their drinking gets out of control.  They may say, “drink responsibly,” but do they care about the percentage of people who actually can drink responsibly?  it might be a better thing to say, “don’t drink,” but that wouldn’t sell much beer. 

          What did Satan “accomplish” for these men?  The description of these men is absolutely awful.  He made them dirty, robbed them of sanity and self control, so that they sought to injure themselves, they lost their decency and ran around naked, he made them fearful, separated them from their community, isolated them from friends and family.  They were like wild animals, screaming (the word in verse 5 is shreik), cutting themselves, scaring all who came near, at the same time powerful so that no one could keep them chained.  Luke says that this had gone on for a long time.  They had lost their jobs, their peace, their purpose for living and were doing nothing but self-destructing.

          The city psychiatrists had “often” bound these guys with chains.  That’s what society often does, restrain someone, isolate someone, threaten and drug them, but often unable to help them.  In desperation the city had set up detours around their road so that people would know not to go by them.

          If we really knew what evil was like, it would never tempt us at all.  Evil gets its power from its disguise.  Eve would have never eaten that apple if Satan had admitted that it was going to make her a sinner, it was going to break her fellowship with God, boot her out of the Garden, it was going to ruin all her descendants with moral corruption, and was going to kill her.  If Satan had said, “that’s what’s really in this apple,” she would have run.  Instead he said, “this apple is going to give you sensual satisfaction (good for food) and aesthetic satisfaction (pleasant to the eyes) and intellectual satisfaction (desirable to make one wise), and you are going to become more like God Himself!”  Do you see the monster here?  His one goal is to kill and destroy.

          What an incredible deceiver!  He entered the Garden of Eden for one purpose – to ruin the garden and the people in it.  In order to do that, he came in as one with a huge offer of the good life.  That’s how he gets in – disguising himself as the bringer of joy and happiness and the good life – an angel of light; a good angel of light; the greatest messenger of life!!  And every other demon imitates his methods.

          That’s how he gets into your life – by offering you the “best,” by making you an offer that no one else is “offering,” that you “can’t refuse.”  But it results in uncontrollable bondage and total darkness.

          And then Jesus walks in, gets off the boat to enter your life.  As John says, the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness fights it and tries to overcome it. The more bondage and sin a person is in, the more your light shines as a contrast.

          What kind of contrast?  Your spirit, clean, free, happy, loving, helpful, hopeful.  Tom Fox went to his office on Thursday, and received a “riff” notice.  He was “let go;” he was “promotionally removed;” he was a “casualty of the drop in house building.”  Whatever you call it, he no longer has a job.  Friday he went in to work and was just as happy as normal and one of the girls wanted to know why, since everyone else who had been riffed was angry or depressed.  There’s the light, right there – a response that is totally different than the world’s which doesn’t know the privilege of having a God who directs your life.

          What God wants to use is your SPIRIT.  People see light when they see a spirit that is completely different than theirs.  The testimony of Daniel back in the middle of the dirt of Babylon was, “Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm” (Dan. 6:3).  An “excellent spirit.” 

          What do people say about you behind your back?  Do they know when you walk in that light is coming?  Or do you display the same spirit of darkness that they possess?  God wants to use us as lights so that people in the misery of darkness will find hope.

 

II.  Darkness gets nervous in the presence of Light.

6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." 8 For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9 Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them."

 

          A.  They knew they didn’t belong in His presence.  “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”  This is a loud cry saying, “what is there to me and you?”  “What do we have in common?”  We are polar opposites.  I think there is fear in this cry, sort of like, “what are YOU doing coming here?”

          Verse 8 suggests the reason for the demons fear, “He was saying to him, ‘come out of the man, unclean spirit!’” The tense implies that Jesus was commanding the demon to come out and the demon was stalling, not wanting to obey.  As soon as Christ said, “go,” there was this tizzy of demonic activity.  They all knew that the Boss was here!

 

          B.  They knew exactly Who He was.  Have you ever thought about what demons know and believe?  James 2:19 states that demons “believe.”  What do they believe?  You would think that demons would be atheists and claim that there is no God.  Not so.  Look at some of the important features of their doctrinal statement:

          "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? (vs. 7).  Do you see what they believe?  They claim that they believe there is a Most High God and that Jesus Christ, the One who just landed on the shore in Galilee, is His Son.   No one introduced Him.  There were no signs, no halo.  They saw Him get off the boat and they instantly knew who He was.

          "What have I to do with You” (vs.7).  The Son of the Most High God is absolutely HOLY, so holy that He has nothing to do with unclean demons.  They recognize the huge moral separation between their lives and motives, and His.

          I implore You . . that You do not torment me” (vs. 7).  Here’s what they are stating doctrinally: “I believe that Jesus is the final judge, and He possesses the authority to one day send me to hell.  I’m just hoping and praying that He didn’t step off the boat to begin that judgment today.”  Matthew records that they say to Him, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?"   They know that there is a judge and final judgment.

          he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country (vs 10).  Here they reveal their understanding of Jesus’ absolute authority over them.  They believed that He had power to send them anywhere He wanted to – even out of the country.  And if He sent them, they would have to go!  Notice they are not saying, “we’re not going to obey You.”  They know they have no choice. 

          So all the demons begged Him (vs. 12).  ALL the demons, the legion of demons begged Jesus for permission.  Why?  Because they believe that God answers prayer.  And they “prayed” earnestly.  Isn’t that an incredible picture?  Scads of demons crying out to Jesus, pleading with Him to let them change houses.

          Send us into the swine (vs. 12).  These demons understand clearly that they cannot switch locations without God’s permission.  Notice that they’re not saying, “we are going to go into the pigs; we got some big boys here; we can put up a fight!”  They are like scared five year olds, asking permission.  Have you ever seen demons in that light? 

          What an amazing doctrinal statement these demons reveal.  They believe more about God and His glory than some churches do!  Maybe some of these liberal churches would help themselves if they would at least adopt the doctrinal statement that demons hold! 

          And what were these demons doing with their doctrinal statement?  Nothing. The fact that they “believed” it did not prevent them from living for hell.  They were beating up on these poor men, demanding from them, slapping them around, ruining their lives, having a “great (demonic) time” for years.  Then suddenly they see a boat coming to shore and they recognize one of the occupants – as their ENEMY and their JUDGE – the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe!  Immediately the entire legion is in a tizzy and they run out to negotiate some deal with Him before He sends them to hell.  Amazing!

 

          C.  What they knew had not changed their lives.  If they believe so “well” that their doctrinal statement would embarrass churches today, why are they not the better for it?  Because they also believed the LIE.  It’s not always how close you get to the truth, it’s how much of the lie you swallow, that controls your life.  They believed He was the Son of the Most High God, but they weren’t about to submit to Him.  Why not?  Because they believed with their leader, Satan, that they could overcome Him!  It’s the lie they believe that makes the truth they “believe” unbelief.  James 2:19 says,  “You believe that there is one God.  Congratulations! Even the demons believe – and tremble.”  They get nervous over what they know and believe, but they don’t let it affect what they are going to do.

          Neil Anderson, in his book, The Bondage Breaker, says that deception is the most subtle of all satanic strongholds.  He points to the fact that all people with addictive behavior lie to themselves and others continuously.  Addictive behavior depends on a lie.  The drug addict lies about his habit, the alcoholic lies about his drinking, the anorexic lies about her eating, the sex offender lies about his behavior.  Lying is the root defense prompted by the father of lies (191). 

          To believe on one hand that Jesus Christ is Lord and on the other hand, to believe at the same time that you can run your own life and go your own way, is a lie.  You are lying to yourself.  The truth of the matter lies in one of two categories: (a) You are really an unbeliever who doesn’t believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord, you just think you’ve submitted, or say that you have; or (2) you a deceived Christian under the influence of an unclean spirit.  It’s either one or the other.  You are either an unbeliever or you are a Christian under the influence of a demon.  In reality you have swallowed the lie of Satan and are following him.  That’s how you follow him, by simply accepting his lies, living on his lies, doing what he would do, doing what you want to do, what your body desires.  That’s how Satan gets in and controls our minds and hearts.

          And that’s where these demons were living.  They knew He was the Most High God, but would they submit?  They even pray to Him, knowing that they have to have His permission before they can move!  But will they submit their lives to Him?  Their responses were absolutely ridiculous.  And that’s what their kind of life is, absolutely ridiculous; tragically ridiculous.  Have you ever been there – recently? Are you talking lies to yourself – and listening to them?  Have you ever said, “I can do this and get away with it?”  That’s a lie!  “This is a very small lie to my parents that won’t affect anything.”  Oh no?  That’s the path everyone has tromped down in order to come under Satan’s power and control.

 

III.  Light possesses authority over darkness.

13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. 14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened.

 

          A.  Permission!  Jesus gave them permission to change addresses.  They had to seek His permission.  How long do you think after He gave permission for the entire legion to move their household furniture, it took for them to get into the pigs?  It looked like a fast move.  Probably demons travel light.

 

          B.  Energy!  Once Jesus gave them permission to enter the pigs the entire group of pigs “rushed violently” down the steep hill into the sea.  These pigs went absolutely bananas – an indication of the effect of demons.  What do they do?  Make animals as well as people violent.  They ran down this steep hill which probably ended with a short level place before the sea began, and when they got to the bottom, they couldn’t stop and went on out into the water and drowned.  All of them.  They didn’t go over a cliff; they ran down a hill and couldn’t stop.

 

          C.  Loss!  2000 pigs gone!  Why send the demons into pigs?  Let me give you four suggestions here: (1) to demonstrate the power that was in these men; and (2) to show and assure the men that the evil powers had actually left them; (3) to demonstrate to the people of the countryside the importance of people over pigs; and (4) to bring judgment on Jewish businessmen disobeying the Law by raising pigs.  If this town was Jewish, and Jesus was targeting His ministry toward Jewish people, and its economic base was established in disobedience to the Law, maybe God was interrupting their cash flow briefly to get them to think about what they were doing.

          Jesus brought peace to the lives of these two men as well as to the whole community where they had been causing trouble for so long a time.  The fact that He destroyed 2000 pigs in the process is nothing compared with the incredible fact that He rescued two men from the control of Satan.  A testimony to the fact that Jesus was willing to sacrifice the less important for the more important, the physical for the spiritual.

 

IV.  Darkness doesn’t enjoy the presence of Light.

          Let me review what we have said up to now: (1) Darkness can see light coming; (2) it gets nervous; (3) it realizes that light pulls rank over darkness every time; and (4) it doesn’t like it.  In these verses we view the reactions not just of the demons, but of the city folk who harbored or tolerated the demons.  They don’t seem to like Jesus any more than the demons did.

15 Then 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. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.

 

          A.  The city people saw the man.  A large crowd, probably led by the officials of the city, came out and “saw” the man.  The word “saw” is a strong word and means more than just a glance.  It means that they looked for quite a while, steadfastly, as one who had an interest in the object, as one who really wanted to know what happened.  They probably talked to the man, asking questions, checking him out.

 

          B.  They PRAY.  Everybody prays!  The demons pray, now the city prays! Jesus finds more prayer here in this demon-infested area than He finds in the rest of Israel!  But its not the kind of prayer He enjoys.  They are not praying because they are impressed with the sudden change in the man.  They are not praying for Him to heal them.  They are not bringing out their sick to Him.  They are not praying to humble themselves before the awesome display of power and grace.  They are actually praying, the word is “pleading” with Him, to get out of town.  Dodge City is not big enough for them – and Him.  Why?  Why would they passionately want the Blessed Son of God, Who has just improved life in their city, to depart?

 

          C.  People are not as important as PIGS!  They saw the healed man; they considered the implications of his healing, and they concluded that Jesus’ healing business was too expensive.  Their primary interest – business – money – was being threatened by the presence of Jesus.  And they were not going to tolerate that threat.  His presence could ruin the local economy!  As R. V. G. Tasker says, “they preferred the pigs” (Matthew, 94).