Transforming Power

Matt Horine

Mark • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Transcript

Introduction

Over the last few years several studies have been conducted on the effect of the 24-hour news cycle. Researchers and doctors have studied this because over the past 20 years or so there has been a steady increase in anxiety, fear, and hopelessness in peoples’ lives.

As one news outlet said, “Breaking news is breaking us.”

One journalist said, “In the old days, [before the 24-hour news cycle] on the first day we would report what happened. On the second day, we would tell what the reaction was. On the third day, we would analyze what it means. Now CNN [and Fox News] tells you what happened and five minutes later some professor from Fordham University is telling you what it means.”

And this constant tuning in to seemingly endless amounts of information is causing hopelessness in us because it appears that every headline that comes across our screens is negative.

As I wrote this sermon here were some of the top headlines of the day:

Russia & Ukraine on the brink of war

Middle-school children fall prey to fatal fentanyl overdoses

Racism continuing to divide our country

Inflation continues to rise

Winter storm causes 100-car pileup in Illinois

Now, I think we’re all aware that I could go on and on here. We’re aware of this.

Now, this isn’t some pragmatic sermon on how to deal with stress or anxiety or how we should unplug more from our phones…however, there’s wisdom in doing that. No, what I want to draw our attention to this morning is the evil that is in the world. It’s an evil that seems unstoppable and overwhelming at times. We now come face to face 24 hours a day with the brokenness of this world and many of us get notifications on our phone when the next horrific event takes place in our world.

And if we’re really honest and brave enough to dive deep, we recognize that the brokenness in the world today and the evil that is out there is just as real and active in our own lives as well.

The question is, what do we do with this and where do we actually turn for hope and deliverance?

As much information as the 24-hour news cycle gives us, what it’s not giving us are answers to how to deal with it. No, we’re left to figure that out on our own.

Problem

Evil exists. Satan exists. The demonic realm is real. What we just heard read from Mark 5 this morning is not a symbolic story but a real event that happened between Jesus and the demonic realm. I don’t think anyone in this room today is thrown totally off balance by that statement. Now, maybe some in here would struggle with the idea that Satan exists and that the demonic realm is real. But we believe it is because Scripture clearly speaks of it.

However, we want to make sure that we rightly understand it as we look at it through the lens of Scripture. Not through our culture, not through tradition, but through Scripture. When we drift from Scripture we get off balance.

In C.S. Lewis’ classic fable, The Screwtape Letters, Lewis provides this glimpse into the strategies of Satan’s demons. If you’ve never read the book, it’s fascinating. The book is written as these letters from an older and wiser demon named Screwtape to a younger demon named Wormwood.

Screwtape is mentoring Wormwood on how best to ruin the lives of God’s children. How best to undermine God himself and His Word.

As Lewis opens up his book and the reason for why he wrote it he says,

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight.”

Here’s what Lewis is saying. The two errors that human beings fall into regarding Satan and the demonic realm is that we either:

1) Say they don’t exist and completely ignore their influence on the world.

Or,

2) Believe they exist but enter into an unhealthy obsession with it.

There is an unhealthy obsession within our culture of the demonic realm. I’ll give you one example. How many “Ghost Hunting” shows are there on TV? I mean, “The Travel Channel” is nothing but Ghost Hunting shows 24/7. “The Travel Channel.” The channel where you want to click on to see different areas of the world and it’s nothing but, “Let’s find the ghosts living in Ireland.” It’s not quite what I was thinking when I clicked on that channel.

That’s one of the errors in our culture today surrounding the demonic realm. Anything Satan can do to stir up division and confusion is a win in his book. Anything he can do to make it look like he is omnipotent and uncontrollable is seen as a victory before him.

Main Aim

What we’re after here from our text is a Biblical understanding of Satan’s existence. And so, Jesus believed demons were real. He encountered them and engaged them. So, that answers error number one of their existence but what we see from our text today is Jesus’ complete and dominating authority over them all and his transforming power over their influence with just a word.

We really see in this text today, two missions at play. You have the mission of Satan which is to destroy and corrupt God’s good world and you have the mission of Jesus which is to restore, deliver and save.

It’s in John’s gospel where you see Jesus define these two missions.

John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

And so, our goal this morning is not to excuse or to ignore Satan’s influence in the world today. It is very real and something we should be aware of. But at the same time we are not to become overwhelmed by it, consumed with it, or fearful of it because Jesus is the one who reigns supreme even over the demonic realm and has the power to deliver us from evil’s grip and dominion.

If there was ever a text to go to that could show that there’s nothing in your life, there’s nothing in your past, there’s no power in this world that can keep you from the love of God it’s this one.

Big Idea

What we see from this text today is that just as Jesus is King over all creation, as we saw when he calmed the storm in chapter 4, here we see,

Jesus is the Servant King who reigns over the demonic realm and liberates those enslaved in a fallen and broken world.

Body

So, let’s get to work. We’re going to look at the two missions I mentioned before. The mission of Satan and the mission of Jesus. And then we’ll look at a third mission that Jesus now gives those who have been set free from sin’s dominion.

Follow along with me as I read through verses 1-5.

Mark 5:1-5, “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.”

Here we read of,

Satan’s Mission

Jesus said in John 10:10 that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. This has been the work and mission of Satan from Genesis 3 onward. You have in Genesis 1 and 2 God’s good world created with order and purpose all pointing to the glory and majesty of God. God himself dwells with man in perfect harmony. Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with one another and with the rest of creation. There was no death, sickness, disease. There was no lying, no secrets, no pain, no emotional hurt. There wasn’t abuse and dominance over one another. It was life as it was intended to be. It was good.

Satan’s mission was disrupt all of that. His mission was to bring it all crashing down.

And so, now, in Genesis 3 and man’s rebellion against God, humanity now knows the feeling of shame and guilt. Death now exists. Secrecy now exists. Hiding from God now exists. All that was good was broken by sin.

What do we see in these first five verses? We see the devastating consequences of sin and the ultimate purpose and mission of Satan: to steal, kill, and destroy. Now again, like I said, this story is not a symbolic story. This event happened, but I do want us to see in this possessed and oppressed man a picture of what sin does in our lives.

Where was this man living? Verse 3 tells us. “He lived in the tombs.”

There’s a couple things to note here.

Satan’s mission is to defile the image of God in man.

You see, the Jewish people viewed the touching of a dead body as a great act of defilement. And here’s a man, possessed by demons living among the dead. Satan’s mission is to defile anything that resembles the likeness of God and humanity is made in God’s image. We’re created to reflect the goodness, beauty, and wonder of God and because of Satan’s contempt and hatred for God he sets his sights then on God’s image bearers.

But this is also a picture that apart from Christ,

We are dead in our sins.

The apostle Paul makes this abundantly clear in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:1-2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

Apart from the intervening work of Christ on our behalf we are dead in our sins unable to come to life on our own. This man, living among the tombs had no way of being set free apart from the work of Jesus. He was a dead man. This is what Satan does. This is the work of sin in our lives.

Notice as well though in verse 3 Satan’s mission and sin’s effect in our lives.

It says that “no one was able to restrain him ANYMORE.”

I find that word really interesting. It would appear that there was a time when he could be restrained. Yes, he was still possessed, yes he was still someone that was cast away from the community but at least it was somewhat controlled or out of sight. Now, there’s no control whatsoever.

Sin is a gradual decent toward destruction.

As just a casual observer of the human race we can see this to be true.

Nobody just wakes up in the morning and says to themselves, “You know what I am going to do today? I’m going to commit adultery. I’m going to embezzle from my company. I’m going to commit murder or grand larceny.”

No, in all these things and the sins that consume us, we can trace back a decent towards destruction. The initial temptation of sin is pleasant to the eyes. It looks good and then it gets its hooks in you and takes you further down the rabbit hole than you ever even thought. At first you think to yourself that you’re in control. I can still manage this. It feels as though you have the power when in fact, you’re enslaved and over time sin will take more and more from you.

Now for most of us this decent won’t end in adultery, or embezzlement, or murder. But the pattern of sin and evil in our lives is the same and its final destination is the same no matter the temptation. Anything in your life that you say gives you more happiness, more meaning, more hope than Jesus is a temptation and evil that will lead you toward destruction.

So, for example if career is uppermost to you in your heart then in time it won’t matter to you who you betray, who you grind into the ground to climb the corporate ladder. It won’t matter that you’ve neglected your family and other meaningful relationships because you’re after something that you think when you attain it will give your life meaning, happiness and hope. Only when you get there you find that it doesn’t give you those things and you now have left a wake of destruction behind you.

In the beginning you may think, “No, I’ve got this, I’m in control” but over time sin and evil, controls and enslaves you.

We see in these first five verses, specifically verse 4, that,

We, [in our flesh, apart from the power of the Spirit] are unable to overpower Satan and evil.

We see in verse 5,

Sin isolates us from God and one another.

Verse 5 gives the awful picture of the misery sin ultimately brings upon us. It separates and isolates us from God. It ruins relationships with one another.

This is Satan’s mission. Anything he can do to defile, deface, defame, and destroy God he will do and Satan’s main target are those who bear God’s image.

This man in Mark 5 was on the brink of destruction. Satan had taken him as low as he could get. He was seemingly one without hope but something happened in this man’s life that transformed him. He came into the presence of a superior power. A transforming power.

Pick it up in verse 6.

Mark 5:6-15, “And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.”

It’s here we see,

Jesus’ Mission

It was the end of chapter 4 where the disciples asked a question regarding the identity of Jesus after they saw his power over the storm. They asked each other, “Who is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?”

What’s interesting is that the answer to that question is given from the lips of a man possessed.

The demons see Jesus from a distance and come running toward him. Not to attack but to kneel but not to kneel as an act of worship but rather an acknowledgement of supreme authority.

It was the apostle Paul who wrote in Philippians 2 that God the Father has highly exalted the Son and given him a name that is above every name. Why?

Philippians 2:10-11, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

All creatures will one day bow at the name of Jesus. Not all will bow in worship but they will bow because Jesus is King and ruler over all.

The demons here rightly acknowledge the identity of Jesus. He is the Son of the Most High God. These demons rightly understand their end destruction. They know their time is running out.

But there’s some cultural things at play here which makes this interaction remarkable. Notice how in verse 6 that names are used. The demons call Jesus out by name.

Now you may think that the demons are just rightly professing the identity of Jesus. They are, but culturally during this time there was an assumption that the use of the precise name of an adversary gave one mastery over him. And so, the demons here are desperately seeking to gain control and mastery over Jesus. It’s almost like this last-ditch effort to save themselves.

But it’s quickly squashed when they invoke the name of God in the very next verse to save them. I mean, this interaction here is so one-sided.

There’s a you-tuber by the name of Charlie Zelenoff. He’s a Russian-American boxer who claims to be undefeated but what he does is go to gyms and asks random people to spar with him. As soon as they agree to light sparing he goes all out swinging and punching until the people back off and get away from him. He records it and posts it online claiming he’s undefeated.

Just this past year, Deontay Wilder, who’s ranked number 3 in heavyweight boxing caught wind that Zelenoff was talking trash about him and about his disabled daughter. So, Deontay got on a plane and travelled across the country to where Charlie trained and challenged him to a boxing match. It’s all recorded and hilarious to watch. Charlie is on his knees for most of the match begging Wilder to stop swinging. In the end, Charlie runs for the door but of course stops to talk trash at which Deontay slightly flinches which causes Zelenoff to move quicker than ever out that door. The video ends with Deontay Wilder just laughing it off.

This interaction with Jesus and these demons is one-sided. There’s no back and forth going on here. In fact, these demons are so desperate that they actually ask God to help them against Jesus.

But it’s in verses 9-10 that we really get a picture of the control that these demons had over this man. When asked their name they say Legion. A Roman legion of was anywhere from 6000 to 10,000 soldiers. This man was not controlled by one demon but by thousands who were trampling this man’s mind and soul to death.

His only hope was a deliverer and redeemer who was stronger than the ones who controlled and possessed him.

In this picture of Jesus’ interaction with these demons we get a preview to Satan’s final destruction. The ones who at one point were tormenting this man are now being tormented themselves. The demons beg Jesus not to banish them to the abyss as Luke’s account references. The abyss was a place of spiritual confinement before their eternal and final judgment.

They beg him to send them to the pigs. And what happens? They immediately run down the hill and into the sea where they drown. Why?

The mission of Satan is to steal, kill, and destroy. These demon’s objective with this man was his physical and spiritual death. It was actually only God’s grace for why this man was still alive when it seems that night and day he was cutting himself with stones. They were attempting to get this man to end his life.

We actually see in this herd of pigs what it looks like when God’s grace is removed. It’s immediate destruction.

What we’re left with then is the mission of Jesus on full display. “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Isn’t that what we see in verse 15? The man now sitting there with Jesus clothed, calm, and in his right mind. He’s been set free and he’s been restored.

Application

What do we take from this? Well, we see that when Jesus changes us he gives us a new purpose.

We see,

Our Mission

Verse 18,

Mark 5:18-20, “As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”

Your most powerful witness is simply telling others how Jesus changed you.

That’s the mission that Jesus gave this man. “Go home to your own people and tell them what God has done for you.”

We carry the same mission. Tell others what Jesus has done for you.

A couple weeks ago we hosted our Discipleship Conversations evening. And the conversation that night really flowed around this question of “how do I evangelize?” It was a great conversation but as I sat and listened it seems so often we want a program, give me a method, give me weeks of training.

And those things can be good, don’t get me wrong but here Jesus just says”Go home and tell them what’s happened in your life.” He didn’t need to enroll in evangelism training for 8 weeks or memorize a gospel presentation verbatim. Jesus was saying to him, you have a story to tell, go tell it.

It was simply, “Go and tell.”

And so, here’s what we take from this today.

If you are a Christian then Jesus has liberated you from the power and control of evil.

You have a story to tell.

Go and tell that story.

Conclusion

This is the transforming power of Jesus. You cannot encounter Jesus and not be forever changed by him. And so, have you been changed by him and if so, who are you telling?

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