When Jesus Comes!

Mark 5:1-20

In 1813, Napoleon was defeated at the Battle at Leipzig.
This looked like the end of his military empire, but he held on.
Then in 1814, the troops of the Allied nations entered France and Napoleon
was forced to abdicate his throne.
He was given sovereignty over the little island of Elba.

However, in February of 1815, Napoleon eluded the English fleet and landed again in France.
He marched to Paris and was given a tumultuous welcome.
There he raised another army, and made plans to invade England.
He got as far as the little Belgian town of Waterloo.

At Waterloo he was met with forces, mainly English, under the command of Wellington,
and was decisively beaten.
He was then carried by the English fleet to the little island of Saint Helena
where his life ended six years later.

Napoleon's return to power had lasted one hundred days,
and then he was decisively and finally beaten.
He was so thoroughly beaten that there was no hope of his rising to power again.
I remember that historical expression, "And here he met his Waterloo."

The experience of Jesus that we see in Mark 5 shows evil meeting its Waterloo.
Mark 4 through 5 tells of an event-filled day in the life of Jesus.
The people had crowded around to hear Jesus teach.
He gone to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and entered a boat which then was cast off
a little way from the shore.

It was from that boat that Jesus taught the people.
He taught them in parables all day long.
Then Jesus and His disciples began to cross to the other side of the lake.
It was a distance of about 8 miles.
A storm blew up quickly.
Jesus stilled the storm, demonstrating His power over nature.
Then they landed on the other side.

The boat landed at a wild and rugged spot.
The shore contained many limestone caves.
Many of these caves were used as burial places.
This spot was grim and ghastly enough during the day, but they landed at evening.

They were met by a madman.
He was called a demoniac.
He lived among the tombs.
He was so uncontrollable that he could not be bound by chains or fetters.
He screamed in terror both day and night.
He could not be clothed.
He cut himself with rocks and stones.

No picture could be painted that portrays such a stark and frank terms
of the hold that evil has over the life of this man.
He was almost inhuman.

Yet, when he saw Jesus approaching, the man ran to Jesus, fell before Him, and cried,
"What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God?
In God's name do not torment me." (Mark 5:7, NEB)

It seems that the unclean spirits were always able to recognize Jesus.
Jesus was about to cleanse the man of his demon possession.

The demons asked that they not be sent into the wilderness.
So Jesus sent the demons into a herd of pigs, who ran headlong over the cliff, and were killed.
Here we see evil in its harshness and its ugliness.
Yet, Jesus was able to defeat it.
Jesus has the same power today.

The decisive defeat of evil that day demonstrates so dynamically the power of God.
In this event, we can clearly see the power of Jesus Christ over the forces of evil.
The force of evil was so strong in this demoniac's life.

First, Jesus spoke authoritatively to the demons,
"Come out of the man; thou unclean spirit." (Verse 8)

This was the usual method of Jesus.
Then, Jesus asked the man his name.
It was thought that if one knew the name of a demon that he would have control over him.
In the Bible, name stand for nature.
So he was asking the man to confess the nature of the powers of evil by which he was enslaved.

He answered, "My name is Legion: for we are many." (Verse 9)
A legion was a Roman force of 6,000 men.
The man was suggesting that he felt as though he were filled with 6,000 demons,
well-disciplined and strong, and each of them able to wreck a man who could not resist their power.
Inside this man was a veritable army, plotting his destruction.

Some biblical commentators have suggested that this man may have been driven
to this state of insanity by the Roman legions.
The Roman Legions could be cruel and heartless.
They suggest that a legion could had come into his town, and killed, destroyed,
robbed and maimed many people.
And the results drove driven this man to his wretched condition.
Whatever the cause, this man identified the power of evil as legion.

At the request of the demons themselves, Jesus sent them into the herd of swine,
and then to their destruction.
This was an unanswerable demonstration that the demons had gone out of the man.
It was an unanswerable, dynamic distraction of evil demonstrating the power of God over evil.

I read of a little boy whose arm was severed by a train.
Doctors were able to replace the arm, and it worked; and he again had a healthy arm.
We can save that was an unanswerable demonstration of the power of medical science.

American astronauts orbited the earth in a space capsule, and also walked on the moon.
We can say that it was an unanswerable demonstration of the power of modern knowledge
and technology.

But in the realm of evil, there is no demonstration that is as unanswerable
as the power of God in dealing with the hearts of men.
The demoniac was completely beyond human help.
Many people had tried to help him.
He had been bound with chains and with fetters, but they couldn't contain him.

This man was completely beyond the aid any human effort.
Then Jesus came!
Then Jesus came with His power to defeat the evil decisively and completely.
This was an unanswerable demonstration of the power of God over evil in the human life.

We must not look at this event in the third person.
We must not say, "Well, this happened to the demoniac, but it couldn't happen to me."
Don't count on that!
That is a false assumption!

If we believe at all in the continuing presence and power of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit,
such experiences and deliverances can and do happen.

The Lord can defeat the hate in our hearts.
The Lord can defeat the pettiness in our lives.
The Lord can defeat the malicious spirit that sometimes reveals itself.
The Lord can defeat the urge to gossip and to malign others.
The Lord can remove the lust from our hearts.
The Lord can remove from us the temptation to lie, cheat, and steal.
Just add any problem or any sin to this list, and the Lord can overcome it.

God is still in the business of defeating evil.
It may not be in such an acute terms as sending demons into pigs and pigs going over cliffs,
but it is just as real and just as meaningful. and just as helpful to the person benefiting from it.

When the pigs tumbled over the cliff, the keepers of the swine immediately ran into town
to tell the people what happened.
Then the townspeople ran out to the place where it happened.
When they arrived, they found the demented man -- this madman -- this demoniac
-- clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

What a transformation!
The demoniac had been unclothed, and raging, and unable to sit still.
He had been throwing rocks and insults at any who came by.
He had been bashing himself and cutting himself with stones.

Now here he was, sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus.
Their neighbor was now in his right mind.
This man had been restored to usefulness.
So, you would think that those people would have been thrilled?
Well, they weren't!

These people were mad.
These people were unhappy.
Their business had been disrupted.
All they can see were the 2,000 dead pigs.

What are 2,000 pigs in relation to a man who had been restored?
But this had disturbed their business.
The presence of Christ was a disturbing factor.
So they asked Jesus to leave.

This was the second request that was made of Jesus.
The demons had requested to go into the swine.
Now the local people are requesting Jesus to leave their shores.
And He did!

The presence of Jesus is always disturbing.
No one can face Jesus and not be affected.
Whenever we see Jesus, and whenever we honestly face Him and His demands,
we are disturbed.
It is absolutely impossible for our life to go on as usual.

When Jesus comes, our comfort might be disturbed.
When we have met Christ, and He has worked His transforming grace in our hearts,
we cannot possibly be as comfortable as we were before.
This is what happened at Gerasa in the land of the Gadarenes.
These people were not comfortable with Jesus around.
His presence was an ever-present reminder that they thought more of pigs
than they did of people.

We cannot be comfortable about the plight of other people.
Christianity ought to give us a social consciousness for them.

We cannot be comfortable about the spiritual condition of other people.
Christianity ought to give us a concern for their souls.

We cannot be comfortable about the bad treatment of other people.
Christianity ought to give us a compassion for them.

We cannot be comfortable with our own preconceived notions and ideals and prejudices.
Christianity ought to get us thinking and examining ourselves.

When Jesus comes, He might disturbed our possessions.
This was the main reason the townspeople wanted Jesus to leave.
He had disturbed their possessions.

We see the same thing in the experience of Paul.
A young girl who had soothsaying powers was being used by unscrupulous men in Philippi.
Paul healed her, and her owners were so incensed that they demanded
that Paul and Barnabas be put in jail.

When Christianity truly works in our hearts, we can no longer be selfish and self-centered.
Zacchaeus gave one half of his goods to the poor.
The rich young ruler, was unwilling to part with his possessions, and he rejected Christ.
When Jesus comes, He might disturb your possessions.

Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior should remind us that we need to share,
and to give, and to tithe.
But all this must not be done in a legal spirit,
but must be done out of a heart of love and gratitude.

When Christ comes, He might disturb your beliefs.
If you are real frank with the Holy Spirit, you will probably see that some
of your beliefs need disturbing.
There are some parts of the gospel message that we have not begun to implement in our lives.
Christ will come to us to show us that believing in Him is more than
just attending church once a week.
To be a Christian means to make Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives,
and let Him rule in all areas of our life: social, business, home, and religious.

It is sad to say that Christ honored the people's request to leave them alone.
It is a serious and dangerous thing to request the Spirit of God to leave us alone
-- He might just do it.

Sometimes, the worst possible thing for us might be for the Lord to grant us our prayer request.
In Psalm 106:15, the palmist had something like this in mind when he wrote:
"And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul."

Peter Marshall once said, "Praying is a dangerous business.
The Lord might just decide to answer your prayer as you prayed it."

Now this demoniac asked to be allowed to accompany Jesus.
This was the third request made of Jesus.
This man wanted to be one of the disciples of Jesus.

Whereas the other two requests made of Jesus were allowed, this one was turned down.
But the man was not denied altogether.
Jesus told him, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done
for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." (Mark 5:19)

Sometimes our hardest assignment is to witness of the power and the love of God
to our friends and close loved ones.
But it is our most important assignment.

These are the people who know you.
They know what you were,
They can see what God has done with you.
They can, or ought to be able to, judge that the power of God is active to change
the lives and hearts of simple people.

I am convinced that the most effective evangelistic testimony is the simple statement
to another person of what God has done for you.
Remember what Jesus said to the demoniac,
"Go back to the people who know you best, and be a Christian there."

What a witness this restored man had!
He had recognized the person of Jesus Christ.
He had experienced the saving and cleansing work of Jesus.
He knew that he was a recipient of the grace and divine mercy of God.
What a witness this man had!

That is exactly the witness we have.
What this healed man was to do, we are to do.
Jesus demanded no more of him than Jesus demands of each one of us.

But there is one difference.
This man did as Jesus said.
The man immediately set out for the task that Jesus had given him. (Mark 5:20)

Doesn't that shame us?
Can we see how negligent we have been?
The grace of God has come into our lives. and we have been forgiven our sins,
and we have been given us eternal life and a home in heaven.
The very least we can do is to spread this good word of telling others
of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the secret of Christianity.
This is the pattern with which Christianity began.
For it to be dynamic, and real, and living, and vibrant,
we must make it our mission ........also our pattern of life.
It is our responsibility.

What are you going to do with it?

When Jesus Comes!

"One sat alone beside the highway begging,
His eyes were blind, the light he could not see.
He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows
Then Jesus came and bade his darkness flee.

From home and friends the evil spirits drove him,
Among the tombs he dwelt in misery;
He cut himself as demon powers possessed him,
Then Jesus came and set the captive free.

"Unclean, unclean!" the leper cried in torment,
The deaf, the dumb, in helplessness stood near;
The fever raged, disease had gripped its' victim,
Then Jesus came and cast out every fear.

Their hearts were sad as in the tomb they laid him,
For death had come and taken him away;
Their night was dark and bitter tears were falling,
Then Jesus came and night was turned to day.

So men today have found the Savior able,
They could not conquer passion, lust and sin;
Their broken hearts had left them sad and lonely,
Then Jesus came and dwelt, Himself, within.

Chorus:
When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken;
When Jesus comes, the tears are wiped away,
He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory,
For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay."

Words by Oswald Smith,
Music by Homer Rodeheaver
© 1940

Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White