Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] So when my kids were little, when our kids were little, there was a movie, a documentary that we really enjoyed watching as a family.
[00:00:10] It was called Planet Earth. It was put out by the BBC.
[00:00:15] And watching that together as a family, we got to point out just God's power and his mighty handiwork that's evident in volcanoes and, and oceans and great white sharks and a duck bill platypus. Lots of interesting stuff in that movie.
[00:00:35] Scripture says that God's invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived in the things that he's made ever since the creation of the world.
[00:00:50] So if you want to see God's power, just look around you.
[00:00:54] Romans 1:20.
[00:00:57] But there is another pervasive power that's often concealed from our eyes.
[00:01:06] The BBC is never going to make a documentary about it.
[00:01:11] Even though this power affects all of creation, God's word teaches from beginning to end that there's an ancient conflict, a spiritual battle that's been raging since even before the Garden of Eden.
[00:01:27] The cosmic rebellion is led by Satan, the devil, the great deceiver.
[00:01:36] Jesus tells us that he's a murderer and he's been one from the beginning.
[00:01:42] He's the father of lies. John 8. 44.
[00:01:45] The apostle Paul tells us that he's the God of this age.
[00:01:52] 2nd Corinthians 4:4.
[00:01:54] The apostle John tells us the whole world lies in the power of the evil. 1:1 John 5:19.
[00:02:07] God's power is plain for all to see.
[00:02:11] But Satan's power is often hidden in plain sight. A wise man once said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.
[00:02:23] Our sermon passage this morning in Mark chapter five is enveloped in the power of Satan and his demonic forces.
[00:02:35] But beloved, shining out of the darkness bursts the greater glory and brightness of Jesus Christ, our conquering God, our champion God, Victor God, the one who fights for us.
[00:02:54] This is why he came.
[00:02:57] The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
[00:03:04] First John 3:8.
[00:03:06] So please open your Bible if you haven't already. Open your Bible to the Gospel according to Mark, chapter five. If you're using the Pew Bible, it's on page 840. If you're here and you don't have a Bible, take the Pew Bible as a gift. Do not take your neighbor's Bible. That's stealing. Take the Pew Bible.
[00:03:24] On the way out, make sure it's the Pew Bible. But let that be our gift to us. We would love for you to have a copy of God's word that you could read together.
[00:03:33] So this passage records one of the most frightening scenes in all the Bible.
[00:03:40] There's screaming demons and drowning pigs.
[00:03:44] This ancient conflict that was prophesied about in Genesis 3:15. This war between the serpent and the seed of Eve is on full display in this passage.
[00:03:59] The last Adam won the first skirmish, remember, in the temptation, in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
[00:04:07] But now this battle is going to happen again, but this time in a graveyard.
[00:04:15] The Gospel of Mark reveals the glory and grace of Jesus Christ by revealing his sovereign identity as the Son of God. We see him display his sovereign power and authority in these first eight chapters of Mark. We saw it last week. We're going to see it again this morning.
[00:04:33] Last week, the scared disciples were led through a megastorm on the Sea of Galilee.
[00:04:41] Jesus calmed the chaos of the sea.
[00:04:46] This morning he calms the chaos of hell itself.
[00:04:52] So let's look at Mark, chapter five, where our champion, God, our victor God Jesus Christ, steps out of the boat and he marches forth to war.
[00:05:05] He marches out to face our ancient foe and to fight for us against spiritual forces of wickedness.
[00:05:13] Who will win this battle?
[00:05:17] This is what scripture says.
[00:05:21] They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the garrisons.
[00:05:25] And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.
[00:05:33] He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he'd often been bound with shackles and chains. But he wrenched the chains apart, broke the shackles in pieces.
[00:05:51] No one had the strength to subdue him.
[00:05:55] Night after night, night and day, among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out, cutting himself with stones.
[00:06:06] 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.
[00:06:26] For he was saying to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
[00:06:32] And Jesus asked him, what is your name?
[00:06:36] And he replied, my name is Legion, for we are many.
[00:06:41] And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
[00:06:47] 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.
[00:06:57] So he gave them permission.
[00:06:59] The unclean spirits came out and entered. The pigs and the herd, numbering about 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
[00:07:14] The Herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country.
[00:07:21] The 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 in his right mind.
[00:07:33] They were afraid.
[00:07:36] And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon possessed man and to the pigs.
[00:07:42] And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
[00:07:49] As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.
[00:07:59] 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.
[00:08:11] And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
[00:08:19] And everyone marveled.
[00:08:24] So my prayer for us this morning, all of us, is that we would all be so astonished by the mercy and might of Jesus that we would go and tell others all that he has done for us. That's my prayer.
[00:08:40] So, main takeaway. If you're a note taker, you can write this down. If not, doesn't matter. It's going to be. It's a takeaway either way, whether you take it away or not. All right.
[00:08:49] Christ our champion. God breaks Satan's defiling grip.
[00:08:57] Christ our champion, God breaks Satan's defiling grip. That's verses one to 13.
[00:09:06] And the second half is, so go tell of his mercy and might.
[00:09:12] So go tell of his mercy and might. Christ our champion. God breaks Satan's defiling grip. Verses 1 to 13. So go tell of his mercy and might. Verses 14 to 20.
[00:09:26] And kids, look for the word beg. If you just look through the passage and circle the word beg, you can figure out the outline. Okay, look for beg.
[00:09:36] We're going to walk through the passage, and then we're going to draw out implication. And then we're going to go to the supper together. Okay, first. First kind of heading as we go through this passage. The first heading is number one. The raging demons beg.
[00:09:51] The raging demons beg. Verses one to thirteen. The raging demons beg. Look at verse one. We're told that Jesus arrives with his followers on the other side of the sea. That is, they're on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. They're in this region called the Gerasenes. Your Bible may say the Gadarenes. The Gadarenes refers to the larger region.
[00:10:18] The Gerasa is a smaller little village. It's kind of like the difference between saying you're from Fayetteville or saying from northwest Arkansas. So the garrisons, it's in this southeastern part of near the Sea of Galilee. Now this was gentile country, that is non Jews, Jews were on the western side of the sea. Gentiles were on the eastern side, eastern shore.
[00:10:42] You know in verse 20 that they're near an area called the Decapolis. It was a group of 10 cities mainly filled with Gentiles. The other telltale sign that this is gentile country is there's pig farmers.
[00:10:57] There's a clue, right? Jews don't normally, don't hang out on pig farms. Just a tip, okay? Jesus has barely gotten out of the boat and Mark says immediately. His favorite word, immediately. A man with an unclean spirit, a demon possessed man, meets him. And verse two, you see that in verse two, if you don't know what a demon is, a demon, demon, unclean spirit. These are fallen angels that are aligned with Satan, their master.
[00:11:28] So where did this guy come from? Don't look at me, look at your Bibles. Look at verse two. Mark tells us this man came out of the tombs. You see that tombs were burial chambers that you would just carve into the side of a hill or rock. You'd bury people there and Jewish people avoided those because you don't want to become ceremonially unclean by being around dead people.
[00:11:54] So again, another telltale sign that you wouldn't expect Jesus and the disciples to be going there for a little pastoral retreat or something, right?
[00:12:04] And so this demon filled man, he's coming out of the tombs. Why?
[00:12:09] Why is he coming out of the tombs? Look at verse three. That's where he lived.
[00:12:14] He lived there.
[00:12:16] Verse three. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he'd often been bound with shackles and chains. But he would wrench the chains apart and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Verse 5. Night and day, all day long, among the tombs and on the mountains. He was, notice this word, always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
[00:12:46] Beloved. Imagine living in a graveyard.
[00:12:51] This is one of the most pitiful descriptions of any human being in all the Bible.
[00:12:57] He spends his nights and days crying, screaming, screaming among the tombs, harming himself, cutting himself. Verse 5. Dr. Luke in his account tells us the demons would often drive him out of the tombs into the wilderness, into solitary, desolate places.
[00:13:23] What an utterly wretched existence.
[00:13:26] According to Matthew's account of this event, this man was extremely violent and extremely Strong. That's why they're binding him with chains. They're trying to bind him with chains because he's so violent.
[00:13:40] These demons have filled him and have given him this satanic, inspired strength.
[00:13:47] This man, beloved, is a monster.
[00:13:49] It's a monster.
[00:13:51] This is like a horror movie you might see around Halloween.
[00:13:55] Luke tells us in his account he had worn no clothes for a long time. We're told he'd not been in a house.
[00:14:04] So think about this. He had no shelter, no clothes. He's exposed to the elements, to the wind, to the rain, to the heat, all the time.
[00:14:16] He's a maniac.
[00:14:18] Incredibly strong, violent, dangerous, self destructive. Jesus steps out of the boat and this man's coming for him.
[00:14:29] Verse 4. Mark says no one had strength to subdue him.
[00:14:35] No one could bind him, not even with a chain.
[00:14:40] Verse 3.
[00:14:42] This man whom no one could bind was indeed bound, wasn't he?
[00:14:50] He was in the clutches of a strong man.
[00:14:54] He was in the clutches of Satan. He was in the clutches of forces of darkness.
[00:15:01] But he's about to meet someone infinitely mightier than Satan. Look at verse six.
[00:15:08] And when he saw Jesus, notice from afar he ran and fell down before him. He prostrated himself before Jesus. Verse 7. 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.
[00:15:27] Don't torment me.
[00:15:32] For he was sent, as Jesus was saying to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
[00:15:37] And Jesus asked him, what is your name? And he replied, my name is legion, for we are many.
[00:15:43] So picture in your minds, beloved.
[00:15:46] This demon possessed man runs to Jesus, falls down before Jesus, before him, prostrates. He bows down before the champion God and this unclean spirit, screaming through the vocal cords of this man, what have you to do with me? And notice what he calls him. Look what he calls him. Jesus. What? Son of the Most High God.
[00:16:13] Just as an aside, you notice how accurate demon theology is.
[00:16:20] Accurate theology with no love for Christ is demonic.
[00:16:28] Remember the disciples, end of chapter four.
[00:16:31] The whole chapter ends with a question. Remember what they ask in the boat after Jesus calms the sea?
[00:16:37] Who is this demons? Answer it, disciples. Who is this that even the winds and waves obey him?
[00:16:47] Next, next chapter.
[00:16:49] Jesus, son of the Most High God. Demons know who he is.
[00:16:53] They've known him for a long, long time. Their doctrine of Christ is better than the disciples at this point.
[00:17:01] Demons always recognize Jesus in the Gospels.
[00:17:06] They believe, James says, and they what?
[00:17:09] Shudder.
[00:17:11] They have no love For Christ. They hate him, but they know who he is.
[00:17:15] Their Christology is on point also. Did you notice their eschatology, their end times doctrine is on point. Did you notice that in Luke's account, Jesus or Luke adds this phrase.
[00:17:27] They begged him not to command them. Listen. To depart into the abyss, into the pit. That's Luke 8:31. And adds this other little phrase. They cried out when they see Jesus. They cried out and they said to Jesus, have you come here to torment us before the time Demons, like this demoniac, these demons, they know who Christ is.
[00:17:58] And they know that Christ is coming again.
[00:18:02] And when he comes, there's a day coming when he will throw them all into the abyss, into the bottomless pit.
[00:18:13] Has that time come yet? They're asking.
[00:18:16] Seems early. According to their time. They know it's coming.
[00:18:22] No, it's not yet.
[00:18:24] What's the takeaway? Well, these demons are premillennial. Amen. Amen.
[00:18:28] Amen. I said it. They're on point.
[00:18:32] Here's the thing. Did you see what their name is? What did they say? What's your name? Jesus says. And they said, my name is legion.
[00:18:43] A legion was the largest unit of the Roman military, up to 6,000 soldiers.
[00:18:51] 6,000.
[00:18:53] So this man is filled with many demons, maybe thousands of demons.
[00:19:03] And this mighty host of hell bows down before Jesus Christ, the victor God, the champion God. And begins. Notice. What? To beg. Do you see that verb? Beg?
[00:19:15] The raging demons beg.
[00:19:19] Look at verse 10. And he. Notice, begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
[00:19:29] Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, there it is again.
[00:19:36] Saying, send us to the pigs. Let us enter them.
[00:19:42] So he gave them permission. Now that's a sovereign word.
[00:19:47] They're asking permission to be sent into the pigs.
[00:19:52] Verse 13. And the unclean spirits came out. They entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
[00:20:11] Horrifying.
[00:20:13] Can you imagine watching this?
[00:20:17] Jesus rescues this poor man and then he sent all those demons into the pigs. And then the pigs go and do a swine dive into the sea.
[00:20:34] In the Greek it says they said woo pixui on the way in.
[00:20:38] It's not. It's not there.
[00:20:42] Okay, focus. Why did. Why did the demon infested pigs do this? Well, we're not told.
[00:20:49] Mark doesn't tell us. He didn't tell us why they immediately do this.
[00:20:54] But 2,000 pigs rushing to their death.
[00:20:58] It displays what the demons, what they wanted to do with that man, right? They wanted to destroy that man. Remember?
[00:21:08] That's why he was cutting himself. They want the destruction of you.
[00:21:13] If they could do it, they would destroy you.
[00:21:16] They want to destroy your witness.
[00:21:19] They want to destroy your marriage.
[00:21:21] They want to destroy this church.
[00:21:24] Their aim is destruction.
[00:21:27] Their leader, right, Abaddon, the captain of all the demons. In Revelation 9, Abaddon means destruction.
[00:21:38] What did Satan come to do? To steal, kill, and what?
[00:21:41] Destroy? Y' all know this.
[00:21:43] He's a murderer. John 8:44. He's been one from the beginning. He's a roaring lion seeking those to whom he can what? Devour.
[00:21:53] And so these demons, they can't destroy this poor man. They tried, but they couldn't.
[00:21:58] And so they say, okay, we're going to destroy these pigs.
[00:22:02] Some of you all I know are just lamenting about the bacon, but here's the lost bacon. But here's the point. What is the point? Like, just zoom out. Why did this happen?
[00:22:12] Jesus says in another place, if it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
[00:22:24] Jesus is displaying his sovereign authority.
[00:22:29] He just did it over nature and now he's doing it again over the supernatural world.
[00:22:35] Jesus casting out demons with the Word is evidence, beloved, that God's king and God's rule is here.
[00:22:46] It's a neon flashing sign that Jesus is mightier than the demons of hell.
[00:22:54] And also, don't miss it.
[00:22:56] This is a preview of coming attractions.
[00:23:00] There's a day coming when almighty Jesus is going to cast all the demons into another lake, a lake of fire.
[00:23:09] Before we move on, just this is the longest point. The other ones are faster.
[00:23:14] Do you hear echoes of the Exodus in this passage?
[00:23:18] Do you hear echoes of the Exodus?
[00:23:21] I can only think of one other time in scripture where the Lord commands the sea and it obeys.
[00:23:27] And his people pass safely through to the other side. And then immediately God drowns a mighty hostile force in the sea.
[00:23:37] Behold, beloved, there is one greater than Moses here.
[00:23:41] Everyone in Israel in Jesus day wanted freedom from the Romans. But Jesus is reminding Israel and these Gentiles that there is a far greater occupying force in Israel. And it's not the Romans, it's Satan and all of his mighty host brothers and sisters.
[00:24:02] Only Christ, our champion God can break Satan's defiling grip.
[00:24:09] So that's the first heading. Raging demons beg. And that leads us to number two.
[00:24:16] Number two. The residents of the district beg.
[00:24:20] The residents of the district beg. Verses 14 to 17.
[00:24:27] This passage concludes with a contrasting response to Jesus. We're going to think about the residents of the district, the townspeople, and then we're going to consider, in the third point, the response of this demon possessed man. So first look at the response of the people. Look at verse 14 again.
[00:24:45] The herdsmen fled. That makes sense, right? They've never seen anything like this before. They flee and notice what it says. They told it in the city, in the country, and people came to see what it was that had happened. Verse 15.
[00:25:02] They came to Jesus. They saw the demon possessed man, the one who had had the legion sitting there clothed in his right mind.
[00:25:15] So just think about this for a minute.
[00:25:17] This man was their neighbor, okay?
[00:25:21] Any of y' all have a really weird neighbor?
[00:25:25] If you don't, you're probably the weird neighbor. I'm just saying this formerly demon possessed man had to have been the worst neighbor imaginable. Could you come up with a worse neighbor than this guy?
[00:25:40] Before Jesus shows up, the residents of this district would have been scared out of their minds. They would have told their children, never, ever, ever go up there to the tombs.
[00:25:51] Don't ever go. Don't even, don't play up there. Stay away.
[00:25:56] So you're this guy's neighbor and you hear and you see with your own eyes that a formerly dangerous, violent, demon infested lunatic has been healed.
[00:26:09] He's put on clothes, praise God, he's calm, he's in his right mind.
[00:26:15] And he's just sitting there.
[00:26:20] Sitting there at Jesus feet, like a disciple should.
[00:26:26] You would expect the neighbors to be thrilled, celebrating their property value just went up, right?
[00:26:34] But notice how they respond is shocking. Look at verse 15.
[00:26:39] And they were afraid.
[00:26:44] They were afraid.
[00:26:48] Remember when the disciples were in the boat and they were scared and then the threat of the storm went away.
[00:26:54] And you're expecting them to celebrate what happened.
[00:26:59] They had great fear.
[00:27:01] Same happens here after Jesus calms the demonic storm in this man. The fear of these residents of the district, it doesn't go down.
[00:27:15] It goes up.
[00:27:17] It increased.
[00:27:19] Why? We're not told.
[00:27:22] Maybe it had to do with them losing all those pigs. Maybe they're more upset about the financial loss of that than kids caring for this man's deliverance, his rescue, his freedom. We're not told, but notice what they do. Verse 17.
[00:27:40] And they began. Here's the word again.
[00:27:43] See it? They began to what? Say it?
[00:27:46] Beg.
[00:27:48] They began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
[00:27:54] The residents of the district begin begging Jesus to leave. They beg Jesus to go away.
[00:28:02] And as best I can tell from my reading of the Gospel of Mark.
[00:28:07] Jesus will return in Mark 7 to the Decapolis, but he never comes back here.
[00:28:15] Judgment in Scripture is often in the form of the Lord giving us what we want.
[00:28:23] They asked Jesus to leave. They begged him to leave.
[00:28:28] And so we have raging demons begging.
[00:28:32] We have residents of this district beg. And that brings us to the final point. Number three.
[00:28:38] Number three. The rescued disciple begs.
[00:28:42] The rescued disciple begs verses 18 to 20.
[00:28:48] Look at verses 18 to 20. We find the response of the formerly demon possessed man. Look at verse 18. And he, that is Jesus, was getting into the boat.
[00:28:59] The man who had been possessed with demons. There's the word. Begged him that he might be with him.
[00:29:09] It's beautiful, isn't it?
[00:29:11] Brand new disciple.
[00:29:14] He's been rescued.
[00:29:16] And more than anything in all the world, he wants to be with Jesus.
[00:29:21] He wants to go with Jesus.
[00:29:25] It's amazing.
[00:29:27] What a contrast.
[00:29:29] The townspeople want Jesus to go away, but he just wants to go with Jesus.
[00:29:34] Wherever you go, I want to go with you.
[00:29:37] Good question for us.
[00:29:40] What do you want with your life, with your goals, with your aims in life? Do you want. Do you want to go with Jesus, or do you want Jesus to go away?
[00:29:52] This rescue disciple wants to be with Jesus. You think about. He's been. We don't know how long he's been there, but he's been under forced quarantine, right? Isolation.
[00:30:02] We're told later he used to have friends, but I'm sure they haven't been visiting.
[00:30:07] When's the last time someone was kind to this man?
[00:30:11] When's the last time someone looked at him like something other than a monster?
[00:30:17] When's the last time someone gave him a hug?
[00:30:21] When's the last time he ever felt any hope at all?
[00:30:26] And he's rescued by Jesus.
[00:30:29] And now Jesus is saying, I'm leaving. I'm going away.
[00:30:34] Hated, estranged, maligned, isolated, afflicted, oppressed, alone. And now he's free. Now he's been made clean. Now he's rescued. Now he's saved. And his rescuer is getting in the boat and leaving.
[00:30:49] And so you can understand, he's begging Jesus, please, please, Lord, let me be with you. Let me go with you.
[00:31:00] And so what does Jesus say is surprising.
[00:31:04] The only request in the whole passage that Jesus doesn't say yes to verse 19.
[00:31:10] And he did not permit him.
[00:31:14] Wow.
[00:31:16] Why?
[00:31:18] Why would Jesus refuse such a godly request?
[00:31:22] Well, look again at verse 19.
[00:31:24] And he said to him, go home to your friends and tell them how Much the Lord has done for you and how he's had mercy on you, beloved. Do you see the holy wisdom of Jesus here? Think about it.
[00:31:43] If he gets in the boat with Jesus and he goes to the other side of the sea on the, on the western side where all the Jews live, no one will know who he is.
[00:31:54] They don't know that guy.
[00:31:56] But where he is on the eastern side, everyone knows about him.
[00:32:01] And so what is Jesus doing? Jesus didn't just come to destroy the works of the devil. He also came to seek and to save the lost.
[00:32:09] And so he wants this man to go out. This is the first missionary Jesus ever sent. It's the first preacher he ever sent out is this dude.
[00:32:19] He sends him out into the Decapolis, into the part of the country that they know of him. They've heard of him.
[00:32:26] He's a walking, talking billboard about the mercy and might of Jesus because he loves that man and he loves souls.
[00:32:38] And so he says in verse 20, and look at the obedience of this guy. And he went away. I love this.
[00:32:45] And began to proclaim, to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
[00:32:54] And everyone marveled.
[00:32:58] If you've ever been on like a short term mission trip, most of the time you have to fill out an application.
[00:33:06] So this is the first short term mission trip. This is even before Jesus sends out the disciples, right? So this is the first guy.
[00:33:13] So imagine this guy fills out his application. All right? Just imagine.
[00:33:17] Here's how it would read.
[00:33:20] I was in the most desperate of situations.
[00:33:24] I used to be a crazy, demon filled, naked maniac who lived in a graveyard.
[00:33:30] I was bound in the grip of the devil.
[00:33:34] I was hopeless and I was helpless.
[00:33:38] But then the Lord Jesus sought me.
[00:33:43] He came to me in my distress and he had mercy on me and compassion on me. And by the word of his power, he rescued me, he saved me, and now I belong to Him.
[00:33:57] I have a new master.
[00:33:59] And Jesus sent me out to go tell the world how much he's done for me.
[00:34:08] Christ our champion. God breaks Satan's defiling grip. So go tell of his mercy and might.
[00:34:19] Brothers and sisters, before we go to the table together, I just want to draw out one implication for us from this passage. It's pretty obvious. It's right there at the end of the passage. The implication for us as followers of Jesus is, is to go and tell. Do you see that? Verse 20? Go and tell. Go and proclaim what the Lord Jesus has done for us. That's the implication.
[00:34:43] So let's double click on that just for a minute and ask what specifically does this text tell us we should go and tell what? What does this passage do to form the content of our message?
[00:34:59] And then we'll go to the table together. So the first thing that this passage teaches us that we should go and tell is number one, just two of them. Number one.
[00:35:07] By his mercy and might we should tell others that Jesus can make you free.
[00:35:14] By his mercy and might Jesus can make you free.
[00:35:21] Christian, maybe you're here thinking this morning, hey, I don't have a testimony like this.
[00:35:27] My testimony is not very exciting.
[00:35:30] You know, I, I, I grew up in a Christian home. I don't really have a kind of a Paul on the road to Damascus kind of moment.
[00:35:40] But listen to what God's word says about all of us who are trusting in Jesus. This morning we were all in captive of Satan's defiling grip. Listen to this.
[00:35:52] And you were what? Dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world.
[00:36:00] Following who? The prince of the power of the air, the spirit of disobedience that's at work in this age. And what does Paul tell us among whom all of us we once walked in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind. And we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
[00:36:23] But God.
[00:36:24] But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we're dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ by grace. You've been saved.
[00:36:35] Every single one of us in this room who's trusting in Jesus this morning was saved by almighty grace from the bondage and the defiling grip of Satan. That's your story, Christian friend. Listen, you may not be a Christian, whatever you're in bondage to this morning, what you brought into this room that you're in bondage to listen to me. Jesus can make you free just like he freed this man. He can free you.
[00:37:08] So let's go brothers and sisters. Let's go to friends, let's follow this man's example. Let's go to friends, friends and family and co workers and neighbors and let's tell what Jesus has done for us.
[00:37:24] At lunch today you're going to be thinking about a lot of stuff, but just try to talk about this one question.
[00:37:31] Who is someone I can tell this week about what Jesus has done for my soul?
[00:37:37] Who's someone this week? Just one person that you can Tell about what Jesus has done for your soul. What has he done for you? He set you free.
[00:37:48] You've been made alive. You've been forgiven. You've been set free by Jesus. He's your champion God. He's your mighty God. He's your warrior God. He has won the victory.
[00:37:59] What does the Gospel of Jesus Grace sound like this morning, beloved? It sounds like prison doors opening and and shackles falling off because Jesus sets us free.
[00:38:12] So, brothers and sisters, what has he done for us? He's commissioned us, just like this man. And where is Jesus going in this gospel? He's going to the cross. He's gonna die for our sins. Rise again from the dead, ascend to heaven, Pour out his spirit. And by his spirit, where is Jesus going? To the ends of the earth.
[00:38:32] He's going to all nations.
[00:38:34] So are you begging, ubc? Are you begging for Jesus to go away?
[00:38:40] No. Are you begging to go with Jesus? Where is Jesus going? He wants us to be witnesses in this community, in this country and to all nations. And we should pray and give and go and care, just as Aaron said earlier, to pray for those in our own flock who have gone out among us, who are laboring in dark parts of the world.
[00:39:07] I love what one hymn writer put it. We don't sing this one anymore, but it's a great one. He said this. The Son of God goes forth to war. A kingly crown to gain his blood. Red banner streams afar who follows in his train?
[00:39:23] Will you follow?
[00:39:25] Will you follow?
[00:39:27] Will we tell others that by his mercy and might, Jesus can make you free?
[00:39:32] Secondly, and then we're done.
[00:39:34] By his mercy and might, Jesus can make you clean.
[00:39:40] By his mercy and might, Jesus can make you clean. There has never been anyone more unclean than this man.
[00:39:50] He was engulfed by unclean spirits. He lived among unclean tombs, surrounded by people employed in an unclean occupation. And he was in an unclean gentile area. And Jesus made him clean.
[00:40:04] Jesus can make you clean.
[00:40:07] We must be made clean.
[00:40:09] The law can't cleanse us.
[00:40:12] Our best efforts can't cleanse us.
[00:40:15] But by his mercy and might, Jesus can make us clean.
[00:40:20] Friend, if you're not a follower of Jesus, you may be wondering if you're beyond his reach.
[00:40:28] You have done things, or things have been done to you. And you feel dirty.
[00:40:34] You feel defiled.
[00:40:36] You feel like you could never ever be made clean.
[00:40:43] Friend, isolating yourself from relationships can't make you clean.
[00:40:49] Harming yourself can't make you clean.
[00:40:53] But Jesus can make you clean.
[00:40:56] On the cross. The sinless Son of God shed his precious blood to make unclean sinners clean.
[00:41:04] His precious blood can make the foulest clean. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
[00:41:13] So what is Jesus saying to you this morning? Bring your sins, bring your uncleanness to him. The risen Christ holds himself out to you. And he says, come to me, receive me, trust me, and I will make you clean.
[00:41:32] Will you trust Him?
[00:41:34] Will you trust him?
[00:41:37] By his mercy and might, Jesus can make you clean. And Jesus can make you free.
[00:41:44] And if the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed.
[00:41:49] Let's pray.
