I am Convinced that Freedom is Possible

I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are in our third week of our series “Convinced” and we’ve already established that God’s love overcomes all obstacles that Satan throws in our way and that unity in the Holy Spirit always leads to victory. Today we continue in Mark 5:1-20. Today as you read the scripture, I want you to sit back and imagine you are in the scene. Picture yourself there. See the sights, the lake, the shore. Smell the lake, the boat, the disciples. Feel the breeze on your face. 

Listen for the sounds of water, of the disciples pulling the boat up on the shore.

Now read, not just with your eyes, but with all of your senses.

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke through the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night 

and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me.” For Jesus has said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man – and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Where were you in this scene? For years, I have been in the same place. I was one of the disciples, mostly an observer to the proceedings. I watched, somewhat fearfully, as the man came from the tombs, bleeding and screaming.

But as I was reflecting on this scripture this week, I realized something. I have never been just an observer. There have been many times in my life when I have better related to the man coming from the tombs than to the disciples.

It’s one thing to see this guy as an observer might. He’s a bad dude. He is trouble. There is nothing anyone can do with him; they’ve even tried chaining him up, but he snaps the chains and breaks irons off his feet. Do you remember the scripture we read last week? Jesus said that no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. (Mark 3:27) This guy is living in the power of the strong man, and nobody has proved strong enough to bind him. They’ve tried everything to no avail.

But what is it like to be this man? When we meet him, we find out that he’s been living in the tombs, alone, tortured, crying out, and self-injuring. Can any of you relate? I can. We live in a culture full of people like this. 

Our world is full of lonely, hurting people. Is anyone here brave enough to admit that you can relate?

People often extol the virtues of a small town; family is near, friends are life-long. But there are downsides as well. If you don’t belong or if you don’t have family nearby, it can be extremely lonely. And there is gossip in large towns, but it just doesn’t move as quickly or have the staying power that gossip has in a small town. In a small town, there are automatic barriers to authentic, open, intimate community that people rarely talk about; there are things you just don’t share in church because you know that you’ll immediately be rejected.

Anyone here brave enough to admit that you’ve felt rejected? Or that there are things you won’t share because of that?

If you slow down long enough to look around you, you will find people all over who look more like the demon-possessed man than Jesus or his disciples. In pain. Suffering. Sad. Lonely. But what’s worse is that often the people who are most in the dark don’t even realize it. This man’s daily and nightly routine was wandering among the tombs, crying out and cutting himself.

Some of you are wandering among the tombs. You feel like you’re going about normal day-to-day routine, but the truth is, unless your daily routine is bringing God glory, then all you are doing is wandering among the tombs. There are some who have been in churches for years doing a lot of things that don’t matter a bit. I think I told you about my uncle’s funeral; he was an active church member for years and even held important positions in the church. Yet in his funeral nobody talked about him making any impact for Jesus. In fact, they didn’t talk about Jesus at all. They went so far as to sing “My Way” as the special music. “I did it my way.” 

Friends “my way” was wandering around the tombs at night. That’s all it is. Darkness and death. Unless your life is lived to bring God glory, you, too, are walking in darkness, hanging out in the tombs. As Proverbs 4:19 says, “But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to this guy. I’ve felt lonely to the depths of my soul. I have surrounded myself, unintentionally, by death. So it’s awesome to see that immediately when Jesus arrives on shore, this guy seeks him out. He comes running and falls to his knees. The demons know Jesus. They know exactly who he is; there’s no “some people say you’re…” they cut to the chase, identifying him as Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. And they beg him not to torture them.

Some of you think that if you show up in the immediate presence of Jesus, that he will torture you. If you don’t believe this, why then do people joke about lightning striking them if they go into a church?

I have to include this: the Christian life is not a cakewalk. It’s not easy. It’s a rough road of self-denial, of cross-carrying. It is forty days in the desert, surrounded by wild animals, being tempted by Satan. But there is a freedom in Christ that cannot be achieved by any other means. The Bible says that God can turn darkness into light. Psalm 18:28 – You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. Or look at Psalm 107:13-14 – Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

I want you to notice that the demon begs Jesus not to banish it to Hell. Ancient thought held that spirits were territorial; gods or demons were attached to physical locations. In the Old Testament, you’d see a certain people worshiping a certain god but when they moved somewhere else, they would begin to worship the gods of the people there. It was a radical thought that Yahweh is no mere territorial god, but that He is the God of Heaven and Earth. He isn’t just one of many, but is The One True God. At the same time, Satan has laid claim to the earth and has given his demons dominion over places. So we have a both/and situation. Yes, there are some places where I have walked into a building or driven into a town and I’ve felt a heaviness that can only be described as a black cloud. But the power of Jesus is clear in today’s scripture; he casts the demons out of this man.

In last week’s scripture, Jesus told a parable about binding the strong man and taking his possessions from him. Today we see a strong man. These demons are so strong they break chains and shackles. Nobody can bind the man. And when Jesus asks its name, it tries to intimidate. After all, in ancient thought, knowledge of someone or something’s name was commonly thought to give power over that entity. So the demons dodge the question, telling Jesus how powerful they are. “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

Have your problems ever seemed “legion?” Overwhelming and overpowering. That’s a tactic Satan uses frequently. Here’s a quote you can throw back at him: Don’t tell God how big your problem is; tell your problem how big your God is! Sometimes we are overwhelmed. I can remember crying over the checkbook, wondering where the money would possibly come from to pay our bills. Do you honestly think that God, the Creator of the Universe, gets worked up about money? Do you think he ever looks at us and says, “Oh well, there’s not enough money for that.”?

So Jesus allows the demons to leave and to go into the nearby pigs. A lot has been made of this. But remember that Jews were forbidden to eat or even touch pork. The pig was an unclean animal. They shouldn’t have had pigs to begin with! But they were still mad. It’s like if the city of Columbus wouldn’t let Penn National build their precious casino in the arena district, they’d be mad. It’s their sinful means of getting money for themselves. Of course the owners of the pigs were mad. It also demonstrates that the demoniac wasn’t the only one living in utter darkness, and that’s true today, too. If money (or anything else) is keeping you from following God’s calling in your life, then you’re in the same position as the pig owners, and you’re living in darkness.

The other piece of this is that Jesus didn’t send the demons into the pigs; he allowed them to go in. This is a good time to remind you that God has given Satan permission in this world. Satan tested Job, having received permission to do so. And Satan tests us daily. These aren’t simple, easy tests. I don’t want to make light of those who lost their livelihood as their pigs ran over the cliff. But I pose this: if they gave God total control of their lives, he would take care of them.

This is simply God’s character; it’s who he is. Listen to God’s words from Isaiah 65:1-5, “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations - a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; who say, ‘Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.”

What a beautiful picture of God, who reveals himself to those who hadn’t asked for him or sought him, who holds out his hands to those far from him, to “those who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs…”. Is it a coincidence that Jesus went directly through a stormy night at sea to meet up with this particular person? I am convinced that God is still doing that… and not just to the troubled and tortured, but to the comfortable and complacent. Going to individuals like you and me, giving Himself.

And we can see the result of accepting God’s call in the next scene. We find the man, formerly tormented by demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind. What an awesome picture of wholeness! Could someone see the fulfillment of prophecy here? Isaiah wrote: This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’” (Isaiah 49:8-9a)

This is the time of God’s favor! This is the day of salvation! But instead of celebrating, the people got all riled up. Jesus healed this guy – they all knew him, and I’ll bet some of them had been the very ones who had seen his horrible, destructive power, and they had the broken chains to prove it. But they weren’t celebrating. They were terrified. Everyone was talking, and they settled on their response. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. (Mark 5:17). Until I was a pastor, I never understood this. Why would any of them, maybe aside from the pig owners, want Jesus to leave? But I’ve found out that speaking truth, Holy Spirit truth, isn’t popular. It offends. People have left this very church because they are uncomfortable with the truth.  In Jeremiah 6:20, God asks, “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.”

If you’re walking through the graves in darkness, all the while calling it light, then you’re not going to find pleasure in God’s word. Best case scenario is you’re going to feel threatened and vulnerable. I have a friend who was in the middle of sin and he withdrew from another friend, because that second friend was very spiritually discerning and the first friend “just knew” that the second friend would call him out. I have talked to non-Christians who think that if they meet Jesus, he will take away all their fun. When I was in seminary, a family member asked me in an incredulous voice, “What do you do for fun? Sit around and read your Bible?”

I believe the townspeople plead with Jesus to leave because they were afraid of being exposed. Their fear of exposure was greater than their desire for freedom.

Here’s the thing: I am convinced that freedom is possible. Not just “possible” like “it’s possible that I could win the lottery” but freely available. Remember that prophecy from Isaiah? God is reaching out today, even to those who have never acknowledged him. Memorize this verse: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.(2 Corinthians 3:17b). Today can be the first day of your freedom. You don’t have to wait.