Jesus Christ: The Hope For The Ruined | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

Is it a joy to sing among people who believe what they're

singing. Amen.

And you believe this word, do you not?

Amen. And so we come together to Mark

Mark 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 as we continue in our study of this book, Mark 5.

Let's begin together in verse 1. 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.

Lord, this is your word and we believe your word.

This is your voice. And in so many places in your

word, you've told us to to here. Help us here.

Would your Holy Spirit? Help us here.

And we do, Holy Spirit help the delivery of this word to be

faithful, pure the way you intended it to be delivered.

Free from confusion, free from man's interpretation.

Lord, would you be blessed this afternoon?

By what you see in here in this place.

And more importantly, what will come about this meeting in Jesus

name? Amen.

If you've been with us for a while, you know that it is our

custom Fridays and Sundays that when we teach the word, we tend

to take smaller portions of scripture and to expand on them,

rather than digesting larger portions of the word at one

time. But occasionally it is helpful.

It is beneficial to look at the entirety of a scene.

And to communicate a truth from the entirety of a scene without

interruption. And that is what we will seek to

accomplish today. The miracle that we are ready to

explore in. This chapter is when you compare

to the rest of the word of God, the most exhaustive and detailed

account of Jesus exorcising a demon from a man.

It is a total of twenty verses as you're going to see and this

account is so important to the Lord that the Holy Spirit had it

included by Matthew and by Luke as well.

And so we have three Witnesses. So to speak of this one event.

Matthew has a little different detail.

Matthew tells us that there wasn't just one man who was

possessed with a devil. There are two men who were

possessed with Devils take heart.

There's no contradiction here. And because the spirit obviously

LED Mark and Luke to focus on Jesus encounter with one of the

two men. And it seems as though that one

man was the dominant one out of the two in this confrontation in

this dramatic conflict between holy and evil.

Now before getting into the details, I think it's worth

asking what value what message does this miracle?

I provide us and if there is one thing, I can say, apart from the

fact that it just another Testament of the absolute power

of Jesus Christ, we see here that it is safe to say that the

Lord in coming to this moment with such dramatic rescue is to

demonstrate his great and strong love that he has for people.

Humanity is not just one category in creation on the same

level of different classes of the universe.

Jesus loves people personally. The creator of all things, your

creator loves you beyond comprehension and you see so

many signs of that throughout the Bible.

Ultimately climaxing at the cross.

Yes, but just even little instances of God's interaction

with us who are created in His image.

I mean, I look at the Old Testament and I see how the Lord

at times makes, great effort to ensure that certain certain

people were identified with a certain name.

And we see how many occasions of this awesome God, whom the

heavens cannot contain. The Earth Is His footstool.

And yet this God, Gives us direct access to his throne

through prayer. And there is this reception that

he has and we have this direct line with our maker.

It was Moses who said, in Deuteronomy 47, what other great

nation is there, who has a God as near to them as our God is

near to us whenever we call upon him.

Oh yeah, many religions expect their people to pray but our

faith we believe God hears us. And that he has answered as and

he will answer us when we pray. and this inexplainable affection

that almighty God has for us, is now presented in a unique

fashion here in this record before us in this chapter, We

see the Lord Jesus. Coming to this man's rescue.

And I want to remind you from last week that it was Jesus idea

to go to this side of the lake at the end of a very tiring day.

It was Jesus, who said to his own?

Let us go to the other side. Why?

Why did he propose this campaign?

Why did he Advocate this Voyage? It was because he knew that

there was a man waiting on the other side and oh, Jesus wanted

to meet him. Jesus wanted to meet him.

Jesus wanted to deliver him and think about it after teaching

after rebuking after absorbing the scorn and the slander of his

enemies after healing and delivering at the evening, what

was on the heart of the master? We must not wait.

Let us go to the other side. I have a Divine appointment with

someone and though he did not include that part, he was

walking according to the perfect steps of the will of the father.

And now he comes here. Eagerly making his way to this

tormented soul and ordered to bring relief once and for all,

that's a glorious truth. That's a glorious truth.

And with that, glorious truth is another message that this

miracle provides. And I here's my prayer.

My prayer is not just for us to study this from a distance and

to appreciate clever points there in.

It's for you to realize that the same Jesus that we are

discussing today is the same Jesus, who can perform the same

work in your life. and the lives of others because what the Lord

here is going to do is demonstrate to his disciples and

to his disciples today, that he alone offers hope to the most

hopeless cases you can imagine there are many reasons why this

is the most exhaustive account of a demoniac being saved.

And I think for the purpose of the study, the reason that we

must consider is that as you realize that description of the

devastation of this, man, you would be impressed to sense,

what a mess. What a hopeless case.

And yet you would also see but Christ can solve it and Christ

can rescue and restore the most ruined situation.

You can possibly imagine. And that is what you and I will

do today. This message I pray will impart

a faith and a hope in. You not just for someone else

because it's possible that even today.

You are in bondage, someone listening to, this is an

absolute bondage. And I tell you, right from the

beginning of this message, as I preach it, that Christ brings

hope to the Hopeless. And so, we will look together at

the ruin of the man. We will also look at the rescue

of the man and finally we will look at the renewal of the man

and so we read the first five verses, which give us three main

characteristics of just how miserable this fellow was.

Let's look at it again. We see here that the first thing

Mark tells us that's worth noting.

In verse 2 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.

He did not live by the tombs. He did not live around the tombs

but among the tombs this man was led by unclean spirits to make

his Abiding Place among the dead now.

Personally you couldn't give me anything to just take a stroll

through a cemetery at night. Never mind, make your bed there.

And yet, this is what we see of this man.

The host of these vile Spirits, cause this poor soul to be

separated from his home. To be disconnected from his

friends. To be removed from any human

decency for shelter and comfort and is now resting among

Corpses. His neighbors were skeletons.

And there is no doubt that the location of this man's

residents, Is something of an indication of the condition of

his own life. This man is a walking dead, man.

He is a Walking Dead Man and we see here very clearly.

That he is living what perhaps you have heard others say.

Or maybe you've even said it that person is as good as dead

that situation is as good as dead implying.

That it is possible to be in a predicament in life with

irreversible consequences that will inevitably lead to

self-destruction at some point. And this man's poor condition

was so severe that it really did not make much of a difference

whether he was alive or if he had just dropped that at any

moment. His situation.

His future were so Bleak. So without hope and light that

he might as well have just died anyway.

He had nothing to look forward to.

He would never attend his kids graduations if he had kids, he

would never be invited to any dinners.

He would never have a job, they were just absolutely nothing for

this man to live for, and yes, we can say that.

This is what demons have done in them, but there are people who

are doing it to themselves. Who are walking in this life.

Absolutely. Hollow like a shell, they're

there but they're not there. There's no purpose.

There's no sense of meaning. They're just giving themselves

over to ruin day after day after day, in at any time.

Perhaps, you know, someone like this.

You feel like you're going to get that call and learn he's

gone. She's gone.

This is what we're dealing with with this man.

He lived among the tombs, but secondly, we read something here

also found in verse 3 and 4. We read here in verse 44, he had

often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the

chains apart and he broke the shackles and pieces.

When you look at this man's behavior, it is obvious that he

was a threat to others. Not only, was he tormented he

was a Terrorizer. He wreaked havoc, he was

dangerous. And we don't know exactly what

kind of danger he posed. But come with me quickly to

Matthews version in Matthew 8. And look at this important

insight about this man's erratic Behavior.

Matthew 8:28. Matthew says by the spirit and

Matthew 8:28

when he came to the other side, that being Jesus to the country

of the gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him

coming out of the tombs so Fierce that no one could pass

that way. So Fierce that, no one could

pass that way. this guy, he lived in a certain region where

you would take the longer route home in order to avoid any eye

contact with it's clear here that whatever he did he made

life harder to live for others. And so difficult, was this man

that there are great attempts to try to restrain him.

He was a menace to society. He made people very

uncomfortable, he made perhaps work and travel unnecessarily

difficult. And so these ideas, these

schemes these mechanics up to the point where they got so

desperate that they chained him like a wild animal.

But to no avail. Every time they strapped his

wrists and his ankles he would just Shake It Off.

Like, it was nothing. And so you get the impression

that these people just gave up and they just avoided them all

together. And though, this man was

inhabited by evil spirits, right?

It's obvious that he's able to do this because he has

superhuman strength energized by evil spirits.

And what I see here is though, the failed attempts is due to

that these changes are symbolic of something.

They point to figurative chains. They speak of man-made solutions

to try to subdue and solve that which only God can answer.

And whether it is demonic powers or the passions of the flesh,

ultimately, whatever ideas man comes up with, we are incapable

in our own strength to bring about true and Lasting

Deliverance. And this man here, who's being

encouraged to destroy others? Yes, it is because of demons but

I want to tell you that sin is so powerful that you have people

destroying themselves without the help of any demons.

They're doing a fine job themselves.

Doing a fine job themselves. How many are being pounded by

drugs? How many are choosing alcohol?

Is their Spirit of choice? How many who do not need the

assistance of? Vile fallen angels are driving

their marriages and their families to the ground because

of uncontrolled lusts and sexual immorality.

This is more than just unable to rescue a man who is being

controlled by demons. We're looking out into the world

and yes, demons are still working, but there are people

who are destroying others and themselves just because of their

submission to the flash. Now think about all the

solutions that secularism tries to provide to bring some kind of

relief To put some kind of a halt.

On the erosion and people's homes to themselves in our

schools and our politics. Think about all the counseling.

There's a great great, great need for counselors today, but

think about all the counseling without Christ.

Think about all the identity politics and all the messages of

being your true self, but divorce from the foundational

concept of being made in the image of God.

Think about all the harmony that we're trying to pursue without

the Holy Spirit, think about all the substances that we are

prescribing that have no true saving virtue.

And so we want peace without the Prince of Peace.

We want salvation without the Lord who alone can save.

And it will only continue to get worse and the chains will only

pile up more and more as long as Jesus is not in the picture. the

Apostle Paul highlights one of those figurative chains when he

speaks to the colossian church and he's trying to redirect what

true Holiness is in their belief system, and I want to show you

one of those things and Colossians 223, These Christians

were being intimidated by false teachers of what true

spirituality look like and what it means to truly be Victorious.

And truly mean, to be pleasing to God.

And Paul says something with the inside that he received about

these false teachers and he corrects this church and

Colossians 223, These have indeed an appearance of wisdom

and promoting self-made, religion and asceticism and

severity to the body. Now, look at this, but they are

of no value in stopping the Indulgence of the flesh.

What is Paul saying here? Even if you subject yourself.

Too intense and extensive fasting, even if you isolate

yourself, and bring about intentional discomfort to your

body, depriving yourself of social mental, emotional needs.

No matter what you do, that seems to be wise and effective.

Is in fact feudal. Legalism doesn't work,

disconnecting yourself from day-to-day living and parking

your home in some Mountain away from civilization.

Ain't gonna cut it. It does not have the power to

stop the Indulgence of the flesh.

Listen, true, freedom is not what you are, others imposing

on, you can do true. Freedom is submitting and

realizing that by faith, only Christ can set me free.

That's true. Freedom.

So Solutions, apart from the wisdom of the word of God

salvation, apart from the gospel piece apart from the Prince of

Peace. It's all a waste of time.

And just like these men who obviously didn't catch on to it

right away. We're running around here using

psychological and philosophical ideas to try to bring submission

and true transformation to others.

When all were really doing is medicating people who might have

demons and others who can overcome, what only Christ can

overcome and that is your flesh. There's still one more

characteristic to consider. About the misery of this

lunatic. If you thought that he was

messed up, thus far, there's still more to consider and this

Insight, we must underscore in. It is found in verse 5, Mark, 55

Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was

always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

This man was filthy, this man was unclothed.

I wonder what it was like to live in a nearby town or in a

country home in the middle of the night.

You would hear the shrieks. of this devil filled man, who Had

blood-stained rocks around him. And scars covering his body,

from top to bottom. You might look at somebody and

think okay there's something wrong with him if he was able to

drive out everybody from his life because of his selfishness

or his evil. But how much more hopeless can

you get when you harm yourself? What kind of future does someone

have when they voluntarily afflict pain to themselves?

When they are their own enemy. When their own hands is capable

of committing murder to themselves.

Mankind has an innate sense of nurturing and protecting their

own bodies. That's not just true for

Christians. That is true for Humanity as a

whole. Can I prove that to you go to

Ephesians 5 quickly in 29 and Ephesians 5?

We know that passage were Paul gives and a large portion of

that chapter instructions to husbands and wives and how they

ought to serve one another in christlikeness.

And in Ephesians 5 29, he says something that I thought was

interesting in light of what we're discovering with this man.

Ephesians 529 reads for No One. Ever hated his own flesh.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and

cherishes it just as Christ does the church.

You see his logic here when he says, no one has ever hated his

own flesh? He's not implying that.

No one ever has. What he's saying?

Is that naturally speaking, when a man does, have some soundness

left in his mind, He takes care of himself.

Even your own body, the fact that you blink, and the fact

that you feel adrenaline when you're approaching danger, there

is a wiring in you that seeks to protect you when you are in the

presence of danger. And what Paul is saying is in

the same way that it is natural for you to take care of yourself

because you are in Christ, there is a new conviction that you

should grow into as a natural principle.

And that is take care of your wife, she's part of your flesh.

Now. You guys are one flesh.

And so you now should protect her and nourish her and shelter

her and supervise her. But besides the point, we're not

speaking about marriage here. Notice here that he says, it's

natural. No one has ever hated his own

flesh. Now if that is natural, then

what do we say of someone who again, intentionally afflicts

themselves, They've crossed some kind of a line.

They've crossed some kind of a line. they've gone beyond what

is natural and normal to something that is abnormal and

very questionable concerning what is going on internally And

I want to say something and I hope you hear in compassion.

My personality type is when I'm compassion, I'm very passionate.

There's strength in my voice and I flare my arms around.

But let me say this to anybody who is finding delusional

Solace, some kind of reprieve, some kind of rest.

In harming yourself. You'd be amazed to know.

Not just Christians who contemplate suicide but

Christians who actively in secret hurt themselves.

To try with that pain. Erase a greater pain.

I say this to you in love, that's demonic.

That's not normal. That's not natural.

And the reason why I present that to you is because your

source is Supernatural if the reason for such behavior and

thinking is also Supernatural than you can only combat it with

that which is Supernatural. And I present you the only

solution Christ Christ. To come in and to deliver you

because Christ doesn't afflict greater pain to erase what you

feel to be greater pain. That's not how that's not how he

delivers, he washes you with peace.

He assures, you of love. He gets in here and he does

surgery to you and in you. And finally, you were able to

come off of that table of Truth and realized I'm Healed.

I'm saved, I'm rescued. And so I want you to just step

back as we consider the ruin of the man and just just

contemplate it for a moment. The Holy Spirit presents us.

This person who is demented. He's disfigured physically He

lacks any ounce of human decency.

And virtually everyone who knows him or who knows about him has

written him off has given up on him.

And by the design of that description, we are to feel the

utter Darkness. That this man is living in.

Until something happens. Christ appears.

And that's what we see in verse 6. 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 adjourn You by God.

Do not torment me for. He was saying to him, come out

of the man, you unclean spirit. Here's Jesus with his disciples

and they Park their boat on the dock and Christ.

Places his holy feet on the same terrain that this man occupied

and dominated. And here's this man filled with

evil spirits, charging towards Jesus.

And I'm under the persuasion that from a distance.

He thinks now that he can shoo away this man, whoever he is,

like he did so many who try to pass that way.

And yet, whether he knew it before or not, as he comes

closer, He realizes that this man is different.

More importantly, more specifically the beings inside

of him. They've seen this man before.

And we were told here that the man ran and fell down before

him. You realize how significant that

is? That what chains and ropes and

cuffs? Could not do.

The appearance of the Son of God did. when the Son of God just

appeared, it made every single one of those Critters crumble

His presence, even without a command, without a word, without

a touch, his presence alone. Exudes power.

Oh, how we need his presence? Oh, how we need the Manifest

presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is Paul said, could even cause the sinner appearing to

their local church in their neighborhood and fall to their

face and say, surely God is among you New Testament.

That's not Old Testament. The presence of Christ brought

this man to his face more importantly than the things

inside of him. And Jesus begins to exercise

these demons and a dialogue breaks out.

Now, we have a confrontation. There's so many things to learn

from this engagement. Well, let me just draw some

thoughts first. Look at verse 7.

Crying out with a loud voice. He said, what have you to do

with me, Jesus? Son of the most high God That's

theologically right? I mean, look, I know, I know

it's a demon but that's beautifully said that's

eloquent. You have some Believers that

talk about Jesus like he's just there neighborhood friend.

Oh no. What do we see here?

Look at this. Jesus.

Son of the most high God. Yeah.

But they're still devils. They're still destined for

wrath, they're still headed toward the abyss and you know

this we've talked about this before that it is no indication

of one being and belonging to the Lord if they can just

Express the illogical descriptions and doctrines.

Such a person does not have any more hope than the person.

Like this devil. Who knew that he was headed

towards Eternal judgment and I could Define the characteristics

and the Holiness and the Majesty of God still.

True salvation is not what you know about him, it's knowing

him. It's not just agreeing with what

is true, it's submitting to the truth, and ultimately

surrendering to the lordship that he demands.

Secondly and interestingly Jesus asked the name of the demon

verse 9, and Jesus asked them, what is your name?

The Jesus not know his name. He knew his name and he replied.

My name is Legion for we are many.

Why did Jesus ask the name? It's not because Jesus didn't

know because he wanted the disciples to know.

In other words, it went something like this.

I'm going to ask this demons name, so that my man and those

who are around this whole event, would realize the extent of

this. The souls torment, the severity

of his suffering. The things that he had to

undergo night after night, and morning after morning and

everything in between, there isn't just one double in here,

by asking the name. It exposed that there is a

legion, which is a military term that the Romans used to identify

a group of soldiers, that numbered anything in between

3,000 to 6,000 soldiers. And it is also an indication by

the fact that so many pigs would be inhabited by these.

Same demons to convince us that these demons were actually

telling the truth. You had a minimum of a few

thousand Spirits living in this one man's life.

Imagine the inward chaos and just imagine the the confusion

and the inability to shake yourself off of such control and

that is precisely what the Lord wants to convey.

This isn't some trick, this isn't some like others who

proposed having conversations with demons four hours before,

delivering them. This is Christ preparing the

audience to see the extent of his power and the power of His

word. You may be a legion but I'm

about to tell you to leave. And they are all going to

listen. and so when he says, just that you can imagine the

gasp of the disciples if there was You can imagine how some

might have peddled a little bit towards the boat.

And there is Christ strong. What a champion.

Fearless. The Lord of all even the Lord

over these Legions. He says.

Come out of him. Come out of the man, you unclean

spirit. But look at this, last point in

verse 10. And he Legion 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.

And I love this phrase in verse 13, so he gave them permission.

You have my permission, this is not Christ operating with

compassion for these Devils. You see elsewhere in Luke where

they asked, and They begged the Lord to not be sent to the

abyss. They did not want premature

judgment. They knew that they were headed

towards eternal torment. But they did not want to meet

their fate this early and so they asked the Lord, send us

into the pigs. Now, why would the Lord agree

with that? Why wouldn't he bring immediate

judgment? And I give you the answer, the

way I would give it for the same question.

You might ask about evil today. Why doesn't the Lord deal with

the devil? Now, why are we in during all of

this? And here's the same answer for

both because there is a Time Coming There is a day coming.

There is justice that will be served that time is just not yet

and it wasn't for these evil spirits either.

And at the same time, the Lord is also going to compound the

truth that he tried to convey earlier by identifying this

demon. And now, they would visually

see. The disciples would visually

see, just how horrific and vicious these Spirits were

because now they're going to enter these herds of pigs.

And these pigs are going to commit mass suicide.

And so here is a very strong illustration.

You Disciples of just how much this one person was undergoing

day after day. And so he tells them and he

gives them permission. And I am also under the

persuasion that it wasn't just the fact that they don't want to

be judged early. These minions of Satan.

Could not fathom also being in a state of inactivity.

They could not think and they could not accept.

Being placed. In a position where they could

not fulfill their destructive desires on the Earth.

And they knew that they couldn't ask Jesus to live in someone

else's life Christ would never permit that.

And so they try to find the next best thing.

And so they asked for the pigs. Isn't it convicting that demons

don't want to be idle? Shouldn't do something in US.

That these Servants of the kingdom of darkness.

Attempted to make a negotiation so that they would not be in a

state of paralysis. They wanted to continue to

advance their purposes in one way or another.

And here we are. We have been called to a holy

calling a pure calling, a Heavenly calling.

May we never ever be found in different.

How much more should we? How much more should I beg?

My Lord? Lord, you send me where you want

me to go. If these demons are going to beg

Jesus to bring destruction and Lord, I beg you to use me with

my little short life, to seek and save, whom you would have me

seek and save the Lord gives them permission.

And through the the identification of the man and

through the illustration of the destruction that they brought to

these creatures, we have an idea more of the ruin, but we also

see the rescue of this man. It says here, the unclean

spirits and verse 13 came out and entered the Pigs and The

Herd numbering about 2000. Rushed down the Steep Bank, into

the sea, and drowned in the sea. I mean, just think about what

that look like. And so we looked at the ruin of

the man, we looked at the rescue of the men.

Now we look at the renewal of the man and in verse 14 we read

the herdsmen fled. So it wasn't just the disciples

You had the managers of this one Pig business that were all

there. Let me talk about a shift to be

at talk about calling in sick. The herdsmen fled and told it in

the city and in the country they witnessed it.

They saw something, they could never unsee.

They saw some that was worth telling everybody else about and

here's here's what you would think, what happened, right.

Here's what you would think would happen after seeing

someone that, you know, Who is as hopeless as hopeless can be.

And after seeing Christ authority of relocating demons,

you would think. Hey, let's punch out early.

Let's go back and let's bring back.

So, and so they need a touch from this man.

Let's bring back. So and so they need Deliverance

as well. Let's grab so.

And so perhaps the Messiah, perhaps, this is the Messiah.

Let's let's inquire further. You would think that this would

break out into Revival and instead it inspired rejection,

For those who are persuaded that Miracles is what is needed to

see. People get saved.

How do you how do you deal with this?

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 the legion, look at this Serene scene sitting there.

Clothed and in his right mind sitting there clothed and in his

right mind and they were afraid. We should be afraid to some

extent of what Christ is capable of.

There should be this. Holy reverence that arises in us

to believe that we can bring someone.

Who might not even be sound in mind.

And introduce them to Christ and believe with all of our hearts

Lord, you can do something with this person.

You are able to do something with this person and there

should be an expectation and holy anticipation.

Yes, we should have some kind of a fear of what Christ can do,

not just in his judgment, but in his goodness, but unfortunately,

that's not the quality of fear that these people had.

They were afraid of Jesus. The authority of Christ,

astounded them to the point of trembling.

But not in a way that would have them worship Him.

But the drive him away. Do you think?

Again, that this wood. Cause a move of the spirit in

this region, but no, we instead reading verse 16 and those who

had seen it, describe it to them.

What had happened to the demon-possessed men?

Let's get this and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to

depart from their region. There's a lot of begging in this

text, a lot of begging. You have begging from the demons

and you have begging from, the people who witnessed this man

delivered from demons. I can't register it in my

imagination. How they began to beg.

Not ask not politely persuade beg.

Get out of here. Please leave.

We want nothing to do with you. I mean, I don't know what's more

stunning. The pigs being possessing

jumping off a cliff or seeing that.

I don't know. What's more jaw-dropping if I

was one of the disciples like are you serious?

He began to beg and you might think.

Why would they beg? Well, look back here at verse

15. 16 rather. It says that they were beginning

to describe to them. What had happened to the

demon-possessed man, but it doesn't stop there and to the

pigs and to the pigs. When Christ delivered, this man,

there was some loss to their financial Enterprise.

Now, we have more reason to believe that this is a gentile

region, because Jewish law will not accept.

The raising and the herding of pigs.

It was an unclean animal. So, either their Gentiles or

they are Jews who are disobeying the law, but more likely it is

Gentiles in this region of gallery.

What do you think would be a more important and more

considerable concern for these people.

The fact that this Terrorizer of their city is now a brand new

man, or the fact that they lost some profit.

And their business got hurt. How are you?

Not. Look at this and we have to be

careful not to lift up our nose too high.

Because the attitude of these herdsmen and these citizens is

still alive today, isn't it? Isn't it alive today?

Do you not have people today who want nothing to do with Jesus

because they understand enough about the lordship that he calls

for that might meddle with their affairs.

Isn't there enough understanding in the Simplicity of the

presentation of the Gospel that would cause people to

understand? So you're telling me that this

Jesus can enter into my life and there's something of my

property, my projects, my Pursuits, that could be

affected. No, thank you.

Keep them away, listen to this. And people are willing to do

that. Even if bondage in them or

around, them still continues. They have such an esteem and

such a value and the temporal that they're willing to let go

of the Eternal. even if it means torment with the little toys

that you want to enjoy in this life, Here's the thing, this is

the scariest part of this. We thought the demons was the

scariest part. You thought the shrieking and

The Cutting was disturbing? It is.

Here's what I personally believe is the most hard dropping part

when they begged Jesus to leave. He agreed. what happens here and

those who began to beg Jesus to depart from the region, Verse

18, and as he was getting into the boat, you want me to go?

I'll honor it. Turns his back makes his way

towards the same boat that he came in.

And we see another kind of begging.

We saw a begging with the demons.

We saw begging with these people who needed just as much

Deliverance as this man did. But look at this kind of begging

and verse 18. And as he was getting into the

boat, the men who had been possessed with demons begged

him, Begged him that he might be with him.

I mean, talk about talk about a site, begging demons begging

unregenerate, man, and now a begging freshly saved soul.

Pectin. He begged him that he might be

with him. Do you want to know one of the

strongest? If not the strongest sign that

someone has truly undergone a work of God in their hearts?

They want to from that moment on be with Jesus.

They don't just want to be delivered from something, they

don't want to be just saved for something.

They want to be with the Savior himself.

That's how you know someone met this man.

That's how you know, the gospel had its full work in a man.

Lord you saved me, you change me but don't keep me here.

I want to be with you. I want to go.

Where you go. I want to hear you speak.

I want to obey what you say take me with you.

Lord grab my hand and allow me to walk with you throughout this

life. I will follow you.

I'll let you leave me. I want you, there's this new

birth. This newly desired, implanted

Pursuit that you never known before and it's I want to be

with him. I want to follow him wherever he

tells me to go and with that. With that desire being so

strong. So truly moved and impregnated.

If I can use that word by the spirit, that you could care

less. What the crowd says, remember,

this man is the minority in the popular vote.

Everybody else said, get out of here and yet you have this one

man. It says I'm coming with you.

Please take me with you. So everybody else is headed

towards back their homes. And you have this one man on his

knees, perhaps grabbing a hold of the Lord saying, please don't

get in that boat without me. Christ can become so real, that

the crowd disappears and their opinions, and their ideas and

their intimidations. And what's popular means nothing

We have to, we have to reclaim and restore that kind of

Christianity. We have to how the gospel leads

to True, saving power, and opens the way for True intimate

relationship with the master. So, the crowd doesn't mean

anything. And here's his men, begging and

surely Jesus. Jesus will not reject such a

request. Surely.

Jesus will make space in that boat.

What does he? Because look at the response of

Christ verse 19. And he did not permit 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. Isn't it amazing that when the

people begged Jesus to leave, he gave them what they wanted.

But when this meant begged to be with him, Jesus denied it He

would think that Jesus will put up a protest and try to convince

the crowd for him to stay. Doesn't do anything of the sort.

And you would think with this man beg to be with Jesus.

That Jesus would praise him for his faith, pick him up, and

Brace him. And Adam to a very close

proximity to his ministry. I'm not allowing you to come

with me. I believe he said that with

gentleness And I believe that, as he said those words, the men

felt the perfect wisdom of the all-knowing Messiah.

You're not coming with me, but in fact, I need you to go and

tell first your home and your friends, what has happened to

you? And I think what you see here is

just one example of the great mystery of God's ways.

He knows things that we do not know and his guidance sometimes

seems strange to us at the moment, but all we have to do is

trust that he knows exactly how to answer and direct the cries

of men. But I want to be with you know,

it's like but Lord what how do I reconcile with the fact that you

want followers and you want us to be close to you trust in him

trust and how he takes your prayers and answers them, no

matter how pure and promised fill they are with the Bible

just trust that he knows something that you don't know.

And this man did just that he obeyed.

And he makes his way in verse 20.

He went away began to Proclaim in the decapolis how much Jesus

had done for him and everyone marveled.

You would think you know what? You have a very powerful

testimony, but you need. You know what?

Come to my Seminary. You need three years with these

guys, get some theological training and then maybe I'll

send you out. All right away.

Go. Not everybody's training and

Ministry is alike. God doesn't have a cookie cutter

way of raising up servants. Some need some training, some

have a particular purpose, and their testimony is very powerful

in the Lord can make use of them.

Very, very soon. This man gets up and he goes to

the capitalist was just a name to identify 10, Gentile,

saturated cities. and he goes, and he proclaims and he shares,

I wonder if he showed some scarves.

I wonder what the reaction of his family was when he knocked

on that door and that afternoon. I wonder what his friends said.

I wonder what the people who try to chain them.

Try to reconcile in their reasoning when they saw this

man, completely sane through the word of another man.

And this man went out. And the next time that we see

mention of the capitalists, would you like to see it?

Mark chapter 7, Verse 31. Then he returned from the region

Mark 7:31

of tyre went through side on a to the Sea of Galilee and the

region of the decapolis and they brought to him a man who was

deaf and had a speech impediment and They begged him to lay his

hand on him and taking him aside from the crowd privately.

But his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his

tongue, could be very well that this eager crowd of people were

stimulated inspired and prepared at the capitalists to meet with

this Christ, because of this testimony that this man shared

who was hopeless, but found Hope in Jesus.

I close with an invitation. People get nervous with

invitations. Here's my invitation to you.

And your heart. To believe God afresh.

To stand in the gap. To not give up for that person.

That seems hopeless. Not the one that's like, They

have a chance, you know. There are those kind of people

like, respectable citizens of society, they work hard, they

have a nice family like everything, everything seems

very christianese, but they just need Jesus.

You know, those kind of people not talking about those kind of

people. I'm talking about the most

unlikely, the most stubborn destructive, terrorizing

difficult. help lunging rebellious person, you can think

of and believe that Christ can change them.

And reignite your prayer life for them.

And give up on the change that you tried to apply to them, and

come back to the Simplicity of the power of the Gospel.

And just believe until God calls you home.

As long as you are here, you have the ability with your

faith. Yes, Christ.

Can honor your faith on behalf of, someone else's lack of

faith. That the Lord can do something

in them. And so as we close, I'm going to

invite you to bring that person back to mind.

And to bring that person before Jesus Christ even now and

believe that even now as you pray for that person Christ, can

he can't appear and do something in them.

And rescue them. And give them a testimony that

can touch others as well. Lord, we thank you.

That is story like this is more than just to give us a

historical account of what you've done.

And do your time on Earth was unique.

You were the same Christ. Who is assured us?

That there is power in the name. Of Jesus.

And Lord, we think about those who are ruined.

Who maybe even right now are sitting in their rooms with

bottles or needles. Or making decisions to hurt

themselves, to disfigure themselves.

To challenge the author of Life by taking their own life into

their own hands. Lord, we confess only you can do

something. The sessions didn't work, the

substances didn't go very far. The family interventions only

infuriated things. And so Lord, we just stand in

the gap on behalf of someone that we love, and we think about

them in this moment as we receive truth.

And we look back to you now, and we responded.

We say Lord. Would you do something?

Would you do something? We can't, we give up.

We're done Lord, but you are able.

And so set that, son free set, that daughter, free set, that

father, free set, that mother free, that Uncle, that cousin

that best friend. Even now Lord, as they are

preparing to sin. In this very moment, we pray

that you would intervene you would show right up and that you

would extend undeserved mercy. And with that Mercy would come a

power, a power that would make your love and your freeing power

undeniable. And so Lord, we sing to you.

And we also think of those perhaps were listening that now

who are in bondage in one way or another.

They are subject to slavery. And that could be an evil

spirit. Could very likely Simply Be sin.

Lord with him, with a Mustard Seed, Faith, arise in their

hearts to believe that you Lord, Jesus, the resurrected Messiah

can bring liberation. Salvation soundness of Mind.

Peace and heart Assurance of divine love.

Lord, have your way. And we sing to you with

Thanksgiving that you are this Christ.

Who, when we beg to you you answer.

But even when we beg to you and you don't answer, we trust in

your wisdom. and we believe that, you know, best and

oftentimes your nose is because you have a plan in mind like

this man who did not understand what his testimony would do in

preparation for a future Ministry for Christ.

Help us trust you in the nose. No matter how good and holy that

request has helped us trust you in the nose.

Receive more Glory. Now as we sing in Jesus name,

amen would you stand with me as we sing?