Amen. Go ahead, grab a seat. The Scripture we come to today does not need an introduction. It just needs to be read. So, I invite everybody, open up with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 5, verses 1 to 20, and wait. Do you see what Jesus does in this text? And if you don't have a Bible, there is a handout there in your bulletin that has this text of Scripture printed up there. So, if you get that handout out, you can read along with us, Mark 5:1-20. And out of respect for God's word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture. I encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention. This may be something you've never really thought about before, but this is the Word of God. Please follow along as I read Mark 5:1-20.
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. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus[d] to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled..
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, grab your seat. And I just want to start going through this text with you, back from verse 1, where we go to the other side of the Sea, the country of the Gerasenes, where there's this area known as the Decapolis. And we'll throw a map up here on the screen so you can see that most of what we've talked about has been to the north and to the west part of the Sea of Galilee. But now we're going over to the east side. You can see the Decapolis. It's on the other side of the Jordan River from Israel. And so, this is known as the country of the Gerasenes, a big city there Gadara. So, what it means when we go to the other side of the sea is we're going into now Gentile territory. This is not the Jewish side of the sea, the side where Israel is. We're going now into the land of people from other nations. And for example, we know that right away, not just because of the map telling us, but because there's a herd of two thousand pigs. Well, if you know about the Jews, they don't do pigs. They don't do bacon, and that's unclean to them. And so, I remember every time I've been to Israel, we drive on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. When we go from Galilee down to Jerusalem, our guide, Shafiq, he says, “Hey, this is the spot right here. You see this hill. This is where they had the pigs.” Because now we're on the other side of the sea, which wasn't where the Jews were, it's where the Gentiles are. And so, these people maybe haven't heard as much about Jesus as the people the crowd that is crushing him before. And as soon as Jesus steps out of the boat onto this side of the sea, look at verse 2. And if you're taking notes there on your handout circle in verse two, that word “immediately”. We've seen that word is the key word in the Gospel of Mark. We get that all the way, going back to Mark 1:4, the Lord is coming. Make your paths immediate. Make your paths straight away. Make your paths at once. Jesus is coming with his kingdom. You need to get ready now immediately. So, it's not just a word of action; it means something's happening, because Jesus is coming.
And so, here you see Jesus. He steps out of the boat on this side of the sea, and bam, immediately, this man, who is possessed by a legion of demons, comes and bows down to Jesus. So, this is picking up right where we left off on our story from last week. If you were here, where there was this awesome moment in the lake, where there was a storm that rose up, and Jesus told the wind and the waves to cease, and then there was a great calm, and the disciples were afraid of Jesus. Well, then they get to the shore. He steps out, and immediately, he's now in this encounter with this man possessed by an unclean spirit, which is another way to say, demons. Okay, so this man's kind of a local legend. This guy, he's the guy you tell the kids to stay away from in this community. Like this guy, he's powerful. No one can bind him. He's breaking shackles and chains. He's crying out with a loud voice, like if you lived in this neighborhood, you don't hear the Disneyland fireworks at 9:49, you hear this guy crying out at night, right? What's that guy doing over there, Dad? Always cutting himself with stones. Son, you’d better stay away from the tombs. Stay away from the mountains. This guy's like a local legend. But then, Jesus shows up, and this guy, look what it says, go with me there to verse 6. “When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.” This is the idea of bowing down, usually in a posture of worship. And this is what the wise men do the Magi who come from afar, following a star to see Jesus after he's been born. And they bow down. And when they meet the King Jesus, well, that's what these demons do that are possessing this man. They bow down. And look at what the demons say here in 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, do not torment me.’”
So, this is what Mark wants us to see. This is the story that he's giving us. Here is a man is and Jesus sees he's clearly possessed. He's possessed by an unclean spirit. And this is something Mark has been including in his Gospel all the time that we've been studying. We've been going through Mark basically since Easter time now. And maybe you remember on Good Friday we saw Jesus, he received the Spirit, and then he went out into the wilderness. And who did he interact with for 40 days in the wilderness, everybody? Satan. And then he started teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. And what happened right away? When he's teaching with such authority, a man with an unclean spirit, all of a sudden is revealed, and Jesus, what does he do? He cast the spirit out of the man, and he tells the spirit to be quiet, because the demons always know who Jesus is. “We know who you are. You're the Son of God. You're the Son of the Most High. We know who you are. You're the Holy One.” The demons are the first people to recognize Jesus throughout the gospel of Mark. And so, Mark has included this, like you see Satan in chapter 1, Mark 1:23, there's the man possessed by an unclean spirit in the synagogue. You could write down Mark 3:11 where he's constantly casting out demons as a regular part of what he's doing, always telling the demons to leave those people alone and to be silent. And then when the Pharisees come to contest Jesus, well, they can't deny that he's casting out so many demons. There are clearly demons, and Jesus is clearly casting them out. So, what do they do? They accuse Jesus that the way he's able to cast out the demons is by the power of demons. So, he must be somewhere in Satan's team that he can then cast out demons. That's the accusation. So, Mark has been developing this theme throughout his gospel. And now we get to this climax where Jesus is going to cast demons out of this man, but he says, “’What's your name?’ And they say, ‘Legion, for we are many.” A legion, if you want to write this down, is a Roman military term that could be up to six thousand troops. And how many pigs were there on the hillside? It said it was a herd of two thousand pigs. So, this poor man is possessed by thousands of demons. They go by the name Legion, because this is a great horde of unclean spirits.
So clearly, Mark's been talking to us about this, but now this ramps up the stakes of Jesus interacting with these demons. And here's what Jesus said about his ability to cast out demons. This is Luke, chapter 11, verse 20, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” The fact that I can silence the demons and send the demons away should prove to you that I'm bringing in the kingdom of God. And if the kingdom of God is at hand, then you should repent and believe in the gospel. I'm not doing this by the power of demons, Jesus says, I'm doing this by the power of God. Now here's what Mark wants you to see. These demons are terrified of Jesus. If demons are what's causing the local kids to have nightmares? Well, the nightmares of demons is Jesus. Did you see that in verse 7, where they say, “I adjure you,” I beg you, I plead with you “by God.” Here are demons appealing to God, please, “by God, do not torment me.” The demons are afraid that Jesus will torment them.
Wow, did you know that? Have you really spent some time thinking about that? What exactly are the demons afraid of? Well, this account of Jesus, going up to the man who's possessed by a legion of demons and casting them out, it's also in Matthew 8, and it's also in Luke 8. Now we get more about it in Mark than either one of those other gospels. But in Matthew 8, the demons say, “Are you going to torment us before the time?” Like they know there's a time coming where they're going to be tormented. But we didn't think it would be today, Jesus, we didn't expect to see you here. Jesus, have you come to torment us now? We thought the torment would be later. Is it now? And then, in Luke 8:31, the demons “begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss,” it says, or into the pit. Have you ever heard about this pit? There is a bottomless, waterless pit. Usually when something's very deep, you expect there to be water at the bottom. But this pit, it's a little bit different. It's like jail for demons. Demons can get cast into a pit, and when Jesus shows up, they're like, don't torment us. What does that mean? Please, don't command us to go into the abyss, into the pit. Wait. We thought we had more time. Jesus, are you sending us to the pit right now? Now?
Is anyone here interested in demonology? I know you are. Let's go to Revelation, chapter 9. Let's go to Revelation, chapter 9, and let's find out what is this pit that the demons don't want to be commanded to go into. They're going to beg for the pigs rather than the pit. And so, do we even know what this pit is? Well, if you go to Revelation 9, you will find out terrible things that about this pit. And it says here in Revelation, chapter 9 that “the fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star fallen from heaven.” So, this is not good. This has kind of fallen from heaven. This sounds like a demon, a fallen angel, and fallen from heaven to earth. “And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.” And immediately, all of us should be thinking, please don't open the shaft to the bottomless pit. But of course, like any good horror story, “He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened, and with the smoke from the shaft, and then from the smoke came locust on the earth,” and you can keep reading, but it is a terrible time on planet Earth, because the smoke comes out, then these locusts come out, and then guess what? The locusts actually have the ability to sting people like scorpions, so the pit produces locust scorpion demons who come and attack the people on the earth at this time. Does this sound terrible to anybody. And here's the thing, when these locust scorpion demons sting you, well, you don't die because they don't have the power to kill you. They haven't been given permission to do that. But when they sting you, it's like you just got stung by a scorpion. And so, people are going to want to die because they're tired of running away from the locust scorpion being demons, but they're not going to be able to die. It sounds like a horror movie, a nightmare you cannot wake up from. But the thing about the pit that I really want to bring to your attention is… go down to verse 11. Okay? Because after it describes the locust scorpion demons, it says they have, look at this, verse 11, Revelation 9, “They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit.” So, he's a king of the demons here in this pit. In Hebrew, his name is Abaddon, and in Greek, he is called Apollyon. Have you ever heard of the name of this demon? Did you know there was a king of the bottomless pit? Well, first of all, did you know there was a pit that demons don't want to be thrown into? And then, did you know there's a king of the pit who, when these demons are released during this terrible time in the middle of the tribulation, that the king of the demons will be leading them? Abaddon, Apollyon.
Now there's more about the pit. Jump ahead to Revelation 20, and you'll see we get a follow up. There's even more about the pit in Revelation that you can go study. But I want to take you to Revelation 20, where there is something very significant with this pit. And I need to make it clear, this pit is not the lake of fire. This is its own thing. Okay, the lake of fire comes later on in the book of Revelation. But here in Revelation 20, it says, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven,” not a fallen angel, this time, one of the angels on the Lord's side, “holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit.” Yay. We've recovered the key. How about we shut that thing right? “And a great chain, and he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,” so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, “until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.”
So, that's what I think these demons are referring to. They know there's going to be a time that they're thrown into torment in the pit, maybe the time that Satan gets thrown in here in Revelation 20 and they're knowing, wait, Jesus, we know that you're going to command us to go into the pit later. I didn't think it was right now, you're not sending us to the pit now, “by God, we beg you, please don't torment us.” Don't send us into the pit. You need to see that demons are begging Jesus for mercy. That's who Jesus is. Okay.
Now, go back with me to Mark 5, and let me show you the hermeneutical key that will unlock the shaft of this text for us. Okay? Because here in Mark, chapter 5, there's a key word that he uses multiple times, because he wants to give you how this story plays out here on the hillside, on the other side of the sea. And look at verse 10, because after we get that, the name of the demon horde here is Legion, for we are many. Circle verse 10, where it says the word “begged”. That's our key word, “begged”. The legion of demons begs Jesus not to send them out of the country. And then they see the pigs over there. And so, look at verse 12, “They begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs. Let us enter them. And he gives them permission.” So, the demons are begging Jesus now.
Just jumping ahead with me in the text, look at what the crowd does, “And they see the man who is demon possessed, clothed, and in his right mind, and they see that all the pigs ran into the sea and drowned.” The crowd is so afraid of Jesus. Verse 17, “They began to beg Jesus to depart from them. They're afraid of Jesus. You need to leave. They beg him to leave. But the guy, verse 18, the guy who was demon possessed as Jesus is getting into the boat, “the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.” So, three different groups, or three different parties here, they're all going to beg Jesus for something, and that's going to become our three points. First of all, the demons are going to beg Jesus. Then the crowd is going to beg Jesus, and then the man that Jesus freed from the demons, he's going to beg Jesus to go with him, and we're going to see how Jesus responds to each one. But the point of the story is, everybody ends up begging from Jesus.
Okay, so I know there's a lot to think about with the demons in the pit, and there's also a lot to think about those poor precious pigs. Is anybody else bothered about the pigs. US, Orange County residents were very uncomfortable with two thousand pigs going and drowning into the sea. Okay. Well, I just want to enlighten my fellow grocery store shoppers, along with myself, that these pigs were not long for the world anyways. Okay? The point of these pigs was going to be bacon, and all this did was speed up the timeline. And if you're concerned about the local economy collapsing at the death of two thousand pigs, I'm pretty sure you can still get bacon from wet pigs, everybody. All right, and I'm pretty sure that they went out there and they got all two thousand of those pigs. You've heard of pigs in a blanket. This was pigs in a boat. They were picking them up. They were bringing them back to the shore. Okay, so the pigs were going to die. I'm sorry to break it to you that was already going to happen, and I'm sure they recovered their economical loss by going and getting those pigs out of the sea. Okay? So, if you are leaving here today and you're wondering what happened to the pigs, I am a terrible preacher, okay? Because this is what I see about studying the Bible, people have many questions. I want to learn more about the demons in the pit. I want to learn what happened to the pigs, and when the pigs drowned, did that free the demons? Or did the demons drown with the pigs? And is there something about water and the demons? Did they get in the water and then they could go wherever they wanted? And what exactly happened with the pigs, the farmer and his family, what happened to them? I really want to know. Can I do they have a GoFundMe? Can I help them out? Right? These are the kind of questions that come to your mind. And then, they bring those questions to me, like, hey, I've got all these questions about the demons and the pigs, and the Bible doesn't answer them. Yes, if the Bible doesn't answer your questions, you're probably asking the wrong questions. Okay, the Bible is written to answer the most important questions. The Bible is written to make a point. So, sometimes, when my questions aren't answered in the Scripture, that should be a cue to me, hmm, maybe I should be thinking different questions about this, because the point is not wow, there are thousands of demons. And the point is not wow, there are thousands of pigs. The point is there's only one who could do something like this, and he's the name above all names.
This is a story about Jesus, and this is a story that's meant to make people like us think, wow, a man possessed by thousands of demons. That sounds terrifying, and those demons are terrified of Jesus. Wow. I don't know if I've really thought about that before, that demons are trembling in the presence of Jesus. As soon as he gets off the boat and onto the shore, the demons are begging Jesus, please don't send us to the pit. Wow. Have I really seen Jesus. Not just that he is in control of the world that I can see, but in the spiritual realm. Jesus has all power and authority, and the demons live in fear of him. This is what it means that Jesus is the name above all names.
Let's get that down for point number one: “Jesus is the name above all names,” and that means that he has power or dominion over the demons. And what we have learned today, starting in Mark and then going to Revelation, is, we've learned some of the names that Jesus has been exalted above. So, if you know the story of Jesus, he's the Son of God. He came down here, humbled himself and died on the cross for our sins, and on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, and God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, and God exalted Jesus to the name that is above every name that someday every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ, he is the Lord. He is the boss. He reigns supreme. He calls the shots. He's in control of every living thing. And what are the other names that Jesus has now been named above? Well, now you know some of them, Legion, Abaddon, Satan. These are names of spiritual beings that have some level of power or authority in the spiritual realm. And what we're learning is, Jesus, his name is way above all these other names. Jesus will send them to the pit. Jesus will decide what happens with them, because Jesus, he's the Lord, even of the angels and the demons in the spiritual realm.
Go with me to Ephesians, chapter 1, where Paul teaches this to this church. Maybe you're familiar with the book of Ephesians. It says, “We need to put our armor on, because we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with the evil spiritual forces in the heavenly places.” So, maybe, you've been aware that there is a spiritual realm, and there are angels on the Lord's side, and there are demons led by Satan. And now we're finding out there's this guy, Abaddon, there's Legion like this horde of demons that go around together. And so, wow, okay, that's all real, that's all happening, but Jesus, he's been exalted and given authority over all of those other spiritual beings. And here in Ephesians 1, Paul is praying that the eyes of their hearts would be opened. And look, pick up the prayer with me in Ephesians 1:19. He prays here, “And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe?” He wants us to know the hope we have and the riches we have and the power we have. Because look at what happened with Jesus, verse 20, “that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” In fact, the Father put all things under Jesus’ feet and gave Jesus as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
So, if you're taking notes, write down Ephesians 1:21, when it talks about rule, authority, power and dominion. That's a way that the Scripture refers to demons, fallen angels, spiritual beings. Now we don't fully understand it. We can't see it, but there's a hierarchy of ranking out there among the angels and the demons. They have rule and authority and dominion and power. Here's the thing you need to know, though, Jesus, he's got authority over all of them, and that that they actually live in fear of Jesus. Don't ever in your mind put Satan on the same level of Jesus. That's exactly what Satan wants you to think. Satan's just a fallen angel. Satan's not on the level of Jesus. Jesus is the name above every name. Let me give you some other scriptures that clearly say this. Colossians 2:15. We'll put it up here on the screen. It says, “Jesus, when he died on the cross and he broke the power of the curse of sin, he defeated death by dying in our place. He defeated the hold of Satan.” It says, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.” So, there it is. The rulers and authorities that are referring to unclean spirits, to demons, and Jesus has disarmed them by the power of the gospel. He's died for our sins. He's taken death in our place. Everyone who believes in Jesus, we are forgiven for our sins, and when we die, we will live, because Jesus has defeated Satan and the rest of the demons. He has disarmed the rulers and authorities.
How about 1 Peter 3:22, Jesus has gone into heaven. He's at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him. The authorities and powers in the demonic realm, they are subject, they are under the rule and authority of Jesus. I think of in Acts 19, where there were some demons, and these sons of Sceva went to cast out the demons, and the demons said, “Jesus, I know, and Paul, I recognize. But who are you?” And then the demons chased the sons of Sceva out of there. And everybody was like, wow, demons are real, and the demons know Jesus, and they know his messenger, Paul. And there was a great revival there in Ephesus, and the name of Jesus was made mega, was made great in that city, because through these demons, people realize the demons are afraid of Jesus.
So, I don't know what you think about demons. I don't know what you've heard about demons. There's a wide spectrum. There are some people, they find demons everywhere, in everything, and they're always binding and always thinking they need to deliver from demons. And then maybe there are other people that just don't even think about demons and act like they're not real. Well, there are many spiritual beings in the heavenly places, many authorities, many powers. And here's the thing you need to know, if you ever have an encounter and you're like, what's going on is this some evil spiritual force here? Here's what you need to know. “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world?” Whatever that demon is, you don't need to worry about that demon, because that demon is more afraid of Jesus than you are of that demon. Jesus is the name above all names, and so I want you to imagine in your mind that Jesus just steps on the shore and thousands of demons bow down at his feet. Have you ever thought about that the demons tremble at the name of Jesus? This is meant to really get you thinking. Wow. Who is Jesus? In fact, this is back-to-back with a story if you were here last week that was also meant to get you thinking, “Who is Jesus?”
Go back to Mark, chapter 5. And I really think there's an unfortunate chapter break here, because it's clear to me that the story at the end of chapter 4 and the story at the beginning of chapter 5 are meant to go back-to-back. In fact, they're the same way in Matthew 8 and the same way in Luke 8. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they all tell you the story of how Jesus was in a boat on the sea with his disciples, and the wind came in violently, and the waves are rocking the boat and coming over the side of the boat. And Jesus, just by a word, he can calm the wind, he can still the sea. And after the great storm, if you were here last week, you know what happened after the great storm. After the great storm, there was a great what, everybody? Calm. And then, after the great calm, the disciples had a great fear, because they're like, who is this that can tell the wind and the sea what to do? And they listen to him, and we talked last week how Jesus is the Lord over the physical world that he has created, that you and I live in. Well clearly now, we're meant to go on the other side of the sea into the spiritual realm, the realm of angels and demons and spiritual beings, where thousands of demons are now bowing down, afraid of Jesus, and Jesus, he can cast them wherever he wants. And then the crowd comes. And when the crowd comes, let's read about this here in in Mark, chapter 5, the crowd now shows up, the herdsmen of these pigs, they flee. They go tell the city. They go tell the country. People start coming. And people, when they see, look at verse 15, “They came to Jesus and saw the demon possessed man,” the one who had had the Legion. And they see this guy sitting there. He's clothed, and he's in his right mind. And they were what, everybody? So both of these stories, back-to-back accounts that Mark gives us, oh, the storm, seems like you're going to die in the storm. That seems scary. No, Jesus can tell the storm to stop. Then the disciples are afraid of Jesus. Oh, well, thousands of demons possessing a man. That's scary. No, Jesus sends the demons away. Now the man's clothed, in his right mind, and what do people end up afraid of Jesus, because not only is Jesus the Lord of the physical world that you and I live in, Jesus is Lord of the spiritual realm that we can't see. I want you to imagine right now with me that there was some person, and you knew who this person was, and they had all authority. They can do whatever they want with the planet. They can do any kind of weather, any kind of thing in geology. And then they also have all authority. They can tell all the angels and demons what they can do.
If a person had that much authority, you would be afraid of that person. We should take a moment right now to thank God that person is Jesus. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be afraid of him, because he has all that authority. So, I don't know what you've heard about Jesus. I don't know where you've gotten your idea of Jesus, but this is the gospel of Mark, written by a guy named Mark who saw Jesus, who was friends with a lot of the disciples, who continues to go on in the book of Acts. And this guy, he put back-to-back stories in his Gospel that were meant to make you afraid of Jesus. So, you think, well, we don't have to be afraid of Jesus. Well, then why is Mark putting in two stories where they weren't, in the end, afraid of the storm or afraid of the demons. In the end, they were afraid of the one who has power over the storm and over the demons. The crowd of people, when they come, they don't celebrate that this guy got released from all the demons. What they are so afraid of is Jesus. They beg Jesus to leave. They don't want to process what just happened. They don't want to figure out who Jesus is. They don't want to acknowledge his authority. Hey, will you just please leave us? This is terrifying to them, this guy's here. Now, this guy, they talked about him, I'm sure. Oh yeah, the guy that's on the mountains, the guy that's among the tombs. But now, when Jesus is there, they're like, oh, we need you to go. We beg you to leave.
See, a lot of people, they don't want to deal with who Jesus really is. They don't want to think about the power and authority. If Jesus controls everything about the physical world, then he controls your body. And if Jesus controls everything about the spiritual realm, then Jesus controls your soul. Jesus decides how long you're going to live, and Jesus decides where your soul goes when you die. Jesus isn't just the boss. Jesus is your boss, and that is a fearful thing. And people don't want to think about it. Jesus, we're going to beg you to leave. Yeah. And so, the crowd, they're asking him, will you please depart from our region? Will you please go back to your side of the sea? We don't want you here. What an interesting response to an overwhelming, amazing miracle that Jesus just did, clearly having power over many demons. Yeah, we don't want to deal with you. Please leave.
Let's get this down for point number two: “You need to face the fear of Jesus.” You need to face the fear of Jesus. Jesus is someone that inspires fear. When you see his raw, unlimited power over the physical world, the disciples are afraid. When you see his raw, unlimited power over the spiritual realm, the crowd is afraid. Nobody's like, yay, this guy's clothed, and in his right mind, they're like, who are you? And we need you to leave. And they beg him to go. So just like the demons begged him for the pigs instead of the pit. Now the crowd begs Jesus to leave, and he gives them permission, he decides to get on his boat and to go back on his way. But see, this crowd doesn't want to face the reality that there is someone in authority over the world, over the spiritual realm, someone is in authority over us, and when I die. I will have to stand before the one who is in authority over my life. A lot of people, they don't want to face that, they don't want to think about that, they don't want to be afraid like that. Be gone Jesus. We're begging you. Go back somewhere else. I don't want to think about death and judgment and what God is going to say, on a day I meet my maker. A lot of people are living in denial, and they're not facing the fear of Jesus. I'm asking you, have you ever considered that Jesus is someone worthy of being afraid? See, the fear of God in the Bible is a good thing. “The fear of God,” it says in the Bible, “is the beginning of” what, everybody? “Fear of God is a fountain of” what, everybody? Life. The fear of God is when you realize, after death comes judgment, and God's going to hold me accountable for the life that he gave me. And so, I don't want to keep living in sin. I don't want to keep doing things I know are wrong. I want to turn from the evil and I want to turn to God, because I don't want to be judged by God. That's a healthy fear that turns you towards God. And guess what? You find out when you start to really face your fear of God and you start to really learn about him. Guess what? You find out God loved you so much he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, and Jesus already paid for your sin by dying in your place on the cross. And if you trust in Jesus, you will not be judged for your sin, and even after you die, you will live with Jesus forever.
And I'm so thankful that I became afraid of Jesus, because that's what helped me see how much Jesus loved me, and that Jesus didn't want to judge me. He was judged in my place. But it started with fear. Just put any person that you know, any political figure, any celebrity, somebody you know and respect, now give that person unlimited power over the physical world and over demons, you would become afraid of that person. There's only one person we want to have that much power, and it's our Lord Jesus. He's the only one that could be trusted like that. But just because we can trust him and he's good, does not mean that we should not fear him.
And so, I want to really encourage you to think about this. There's a bad idea out there that God, the Father, in the Old Testament, he's mean, and we need to be afraid of him, but Jesus, in the New Testament, he's nice. We don't have to be afraid of him. That's not true. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus came to show us who the Father is. Jesus, he is the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth. And if we're supposed to fear God, then guess what, everybody? We should fear Jesus. Because Jesus is the Son of God. He's the Son of the Most High. Jesus is the holy one, and the demons tremble at his name because they know the name of Jesus is above their name. And so, that's what we're supposed to learn. Wow. Mark is back-to-back, showing you that people are when if you saw the power of Jesus, if you saw Jesus in all of his glory, guess how you would feel? You would be what afraid? That's why, when Jesus shows up and people fall on their face, what does Jesus say? Usually, right away, “Do not” what? Fear. Why? Because they're afraid when they see Jesus, and when this raw power. When you see him for who he is, fear is the appropriate response. Let me show you a couple of examples of this.
Go to Matthew 27. I want to show you two examples of how people feared Jesus when He died on the cross for our sins. And I want to encourage you to consider fearing Jesus. And maybe some of you already have feared Jesus. You know what I'm talking about. If you haven't thought about this, I'm really asking you to think about this. In fact, I'm hoping that some of you will realize that you should be afraid of Jesus, because he would be the one who would judge you. And if you haven't turned from your sins to trust in Jesus, then you would be judged, and that's something to be afraid of. But look at what happens here in Matthew 27:51 “Behold”. Okay, so this is right after Jesus cries out with a loud voice. He gives up his spirit. He dies on the cross for our sins. And look at what happens when he dies. “The curtain of the temple was torn.” This massive tapestry in the building of the temple tears from top to bottom, “and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints, who had fallen asleep, were raised and coming out of the tombs. After his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. And when the centurion,” this is the Roman soldier in charge of the crucifixion, “when the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘What truly, this was the Son of God.’” Okay, so let's think about that. When Jesus dies, there's this massive effect in the physical realm where the earth is shaking and the rocks are splitting. There's even this effect in the spiritual realm, where dead people, now souls are rising up in their bodies and coming out of the tombs. And the guy who's watching all of this go down, the guy who's there, he's not a Jew. He hasn't heard all the teaching of the Messiah. He just sees what happens, and “He is,” notice what it says, “filled with awe.”
Now, I don't know why we do this in English, okay? But we often take the word fear and we make it awe and reverence. I think it's Hebrews 12:28 that talks about how we should all have an awe and reverence for God. But in Hebrews 12:28, it doesn't use the word fear. So, I don't know why. Regularly when the word fear is used, we change it to something else. We have an aversion of being afraid of Jesus. But let me ask you, when I think of awe or reverence, I think of this like profound respect. Is the Roman Centurion when he sees the earthquaking and the rock splitting, is he like I have a profound respect for the geological significance of this man? Is that what he's saying? The guy's afraid because he's maybe overseen many crucifixions, and he's never seen anything like this. See, fear, if you really start to think about it, fear is not always a bad thing. And, in fact, who here has arachnophobia, because that's the word phobos, phobeo. Who here has arachnophobia, who here believes that there are spiders that live in our community, that if they bite you, you will go to the hospital. Does anybody believe that? Is anybody afraid of that? Guess what? You're not in the hospital right now. I'm glad you're afraid. Is anybody here afraid of sharks? Let's all stay on dry land. Let's all live a long life. You know what I'm saying. Do you want your kids to be afraid of going in the middle of the road? Do you want your kids to be afraid of stranger danger? See, if I have a healthy fear of Jesus, I don't want to go on the wrong side of Jesus. I don't want to go back to the sin that he called me to repent of. I don't want to doubt him when he's telling me to believe.
See, a healthy fear of Jesus actually draws someone toward Jesus. And when you see the power that Jesus has, fear is the appropriate response. Go with me over to Luke 23. Now let's look at what the criminals on the cross are thinking. They're dying there next to Jesus, two criminals, one was crucified to the right, one to the left. So, Jesus is surrounded by these criminals who are being executed there next to him, and we know that these criminals, they're mocking him like everybody else, people are heaping so much shame on Jesus. Oh, why don't you save yourself? If you're really who you say you are, why don't you save yourself? Oh, if you're really the King of the Jews, why don't you come down, we'll believe in you. Mockery, shame just being heaped on Jesus, and these guys, these two criminals who are dying next to Jesus, are also mocking him. Look at what one of them says in Luke 23:39, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ?’” And I love this. Save yourself and us! by the way. Hey, if you're really the Christ, why don't you come down and bring me with you? It's probably not a good strategy to mock the guy you're asking to save you, but look at what the other one, it's like, the other criminal, he has a change of mind while he's there on the cross next to Jesus, and it says in verse 40, “The other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we, we indeed justly, we deserve to be here. We are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.’” Do you notice what this guy does? He says, Do you not fear God? And then he talks to Jesus like Jesus has the power and authority to decide what will happen to him, Jesus, bring me in your kingdom. And what does Jesus say to that man? “Today, you will be with me in Paradise,” because Jesus affirms that he does have the authority over every single one of us; Jesus will decide where you go when you die. Jesus has authority in the spiritual realm, and when your soul leaves your body, you will go exactly where Jesus says. That's who he is. How could you not respond like the guy's saying to the other guy, don’t you fear God?
See, that's the whole point. Like God has power and authority over me, therefore I fear him. And that leads me to turn to him, to want to learn about him. That's the idea of the fear of God. It's the beginning of realizing how life really works and who's really in charge. And even right before he dies, this criminal realizes, Jesus, you can decide what happens to me. Remember me, Jesus in your kingdom. You know, one of the things that's happened here as a pastor in Huntington Beach over the last eleven years is I've seen people who've been told they're going to die, people who get a terminal diagnosis, people who have some kind of accident and they barely survive, but they don't have much longer to live. I have seen God be so kind to people by giving them a heads up, a warning that they are in the eleventh Hour and the end is coming soon. And you know what? Some of those people got afraid, and that fear of dying and that fear of judgment caused them to want to come talk to me to want to come to church and to start learning about the things of God, to start learning about Jesus Christ. I've met people over the last eleven years they were afraid of dying. And here's the thing, when they died, they weren't afraid anymore. When they died, they actually believed they were going to live. Because they weren't afraid of dying. They were afraid of Jesus, and they believed that Jesus could save them, and they trusted in his death and resurrection, and they knew they were told they were going to die, but when they died, they knew they were going to live. See, I think we should all really take to heart a fear of Jesus. I don't want you to be like the crowd. That's like Jesus, we beg you to leave. We can't process this. We don't want to think about this and what just happened here. No, I would encourage everybody. This was written down for you to think about the demons. Already know they're going to go wherever Jesus commands them. Do you know that? Have you responded to that?
Now go back to Mark 5, because this other guy, the demon-possessed man, now clothed and in his right mind, he has something to beg of Jesus. “The demons begged Jesus, and he permitted them to go into the pigs. The crowd begged Jesus to leave, and he got in the boat and permitted them.” Yeah, I'll leave. But then this guy comes in verse 18, as Jesus is getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him. So, the third begging now here comes from the man who's been freed from all the legion of demons, “and he begged him that he might be with him.” Doesn't that seem like such a great response from this man? Jesus, take me with you, Jesus, I want to be with you. Jesus, let me get in the boat with you, become one of your disciples. Thank you so much for what you've done for me, Jesus, I want to be with you. Now, to me, this is really interesting. Jesus permits the demons to go into the pigs, and he permits the crowd that he would leave. But when the man says, Jesus, I want to be with you, he doesn't permit that man to come with him. In fact, look what he says to the man in verse 19. “He did not permit him, but said to him, ‘Go home to your friends.’” And when I read that, I'm just like who is friends with this guy? You know what I mean? Like, imagine going to your high school reunion and this guy shows up. Hey, great to see you. What have you been up to? I've been crying out and cutting myself with stones in the tombs, right? Go back to your hometown, to your friends, I guess, to the people you grew up with before the legion of demons, right? “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. Look at this verse, 20. So the guy went away, and he began to proclaim. It's the word for preach, to speak it. He went through the Decapolis. Decapolis means ten cities. He went through the 10 cities preaching how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. So, this guy doesn't get on the boat with Jesus. He doesn't go hear more teaching. He doesn't see more miracles. Jesus doesn't disciple him. All this guy has is one encounter with Jesus, where Jesus saved his life from the demons, and just based on that testimony, he goes and spreads the word Jesus. Doesn't think this guy needs more than his testimony of what Jesus has done. And he goes around and people Marvel. In fact, later on, in Mark, chapter 7, verse 31, Jesus is going to come back to the Decapolis. And instead of them begging him to leave, when he comes back later in Mark, they're going to bring him people to heal, and a great crowd is going to come and see who Jesus is. And I wonder if the difference in the crowd is some of the testimony of this man who was possessed by demons, now telling other people what the Lord has done, telling them Jesus gave me great mercy.
So, this is really interesting, because mostly in Mark, on the Jewish side of the sea, Jesus has been telling people, don't tell anybody what I did. Stay silent. Don't add to this Messiah hype and these crazy crowds and all the controversy. Let's keep it between us. But on the other side of the sea, among the Gentiles, Jesus doesn't say that to this guy. He says, “Go tell everyone.” And it seems like the guy does, and people are amazed. And then when Jesus comes back later, they want to come and see. We're going to see there's not just one miraculous feeding of thousands of people in Mark. There are two, because Jesus has to feed a massive crowd on this side of the Sea as well. The crowd who rejects Jesus now wants to come and hear from him, perhaps because of the testimony of this man. And so, wow, this guy went out there and he told people, and they were amazed at what Jesus had done, and it made them think differently about Jesus. Now, I've heard this preached in a way that I really disagree with. I've heard people preach well, see this guy, he represents those sketchy people way out there that might be possessed by demons or have addictions or all kinds of life altering behaviors, and so, see, Jesus can even reach the sketchy people out there. I don't think that's the point of this story at all. Now, I think Jesus can save the sketchy people right in here. See, now I understand this, that some people, things happen in their lives that make for fantastic testimonies. And you might think, well, I don't have one of those great testimonies. Let me just make this very clear for everybody here today, there's no such thing as a testimony that's not awesome. Can we make that clear? Okay, yeah, if you were possessed by thousands of demons, you might be a best seller after that. Okay, they might make a movie about you. I get it, but here's what I'm really concerned about. Well, I didn't have to be rescued from Satan. I didn't have to be delivered from demons. I didn't have to be set free because I was captive to the darkness.
Well, yeah, maybe you were never possessed by demons. But let me just ask everybody here this question. When you were born, whose side were you on? Satan's side or Jesus’ side? Have you thought about this before? You don't start out on Jesus' side. No, once you were not God's people, and now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy, because when you were lost in the darkness, God called you into his marvelous light. So, the truth is, we all come from the domain of darkness, and we all need Jesus to save us out. Look at Colossians 1:13. This is how it describes us here. Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.” In Acts 26:18, it says that Paul's supposed to go give the gospel message to open people's eyes, to turn them from the power of Satan to the power of God. All of us are blinded by Satan, led astray by the deception, deceptive teaching of demons, and we're under the course of this evil world until Jesus saves us. We are all the sketchy people that need Jesus. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? And therefore, we all have an amazing spiritual story to share with anybody? Yeah, I used to be blinded in the dark until my eyes were opened to see Jesus, and he brought me to the light. If you're saved, you have that story to share.
Let's get that down for number three: Share the story of what Jesus has done for you, because Jesus has done something amazing for every person, he's saved all of us, Jesus did it, and we received mercy. And we can all share this with other people. You can say that once, Satan was my father. I was under the power of Satan, and now I'm under the power of God, and now I've been adopted into a new family, and now I have a new Father. This is true of any of us who have been delivered by Jesus. We were in the domain of darkness. We're now in the kingdom of Jesus, Christ, and so you need to see you have a story that is worth sharing. Sure, other people may have more fascinating moments about their life before Christ. But all of us have had a miraculous, regenerative work in our soul to be born again, something that only God could do in us. And we should tell people what the Lord has done. We should tell them about his mercy.
Go to Ephesians 2. Let me end with this passage that describes who we all were before Jesus and who we are now. Ephesians 2:1-7. And let me just say that this is something we've intentionally tried to do at our church this year. Maybe you are aware of it. If you're not aware of it, I want to make sure that you understand that as we've been studying the gospel of Mark and going through Mark, one of my goals teaching here at the church is I want to teach like Mark is teaching us. And Mark, in chapter 1, he just drops Satan like Satan is real, and he just talks about demons like demons are real. And he makes it very clear that if you're not on Team Jesus, then what's the other team in the spiritual realm that you could possibly be on? And so, we've been now trying to make that message more clear than ever before. Who was here on Good Friday at our church? Was anybody here? Because we realize when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan for forty days, that if you haven't trusted that Jesus paid for your sin, then you're still in your sin, and you're still out there in the wilderness with who? Satan. In fact, Jesus prays in John 17, and we taught this to our high schoolers at camp. We taught it to the kids right here at our church. The junior highers studied this this week at camp that Jesus prays to the Father to keep his people. And what is he supposed to keep his people from, from the evil one, from Satan. And so, if God's not keeping you, then where are you? Oh, you're with the evil one. And I'll just tell you, the more we're trying to help people be aware of the spiritual reality that we live in, we've seen more people profess faith at our church this year, I think, than any other year we've ever seen. And so, you can tell people. You don't need their permission to tell them that Satan is real. They don't need to believe that demons are real? Demons are real. Everybody knew it. What could happen to those pigs? There are demons. They're scary. There's Legion, there's Abaddon, there's Satan, yeah, and then there's one who's got a name above all those names, that's something you could share, because here's what God did for you. Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 1, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air.” Who is the prince of the power of the air, everybody? It's Satan. Satan, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Look, you were dead in sin. You were following the world. You were following Satan, the spirit now is at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. We were, by nature, children of wrath, love. Like the rest of mankind, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved, and he raised us up with him, and he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ. Jesus, I guarantee you, when we're in the kingdom, when we're in heaven with God, we're going to think my testimony is so amazing. I can't believe somebody like me, a sinner like me, someone who was dead in my sins, someone who was just like everybody else in the world, someone who was under the reign of Satan. And now here I am in the kingdom of God. Look at the riches of his kindness. Look at how much mercy he has. Look at what God has done. If we're going to be talking about it for all of eternity, maybe we should be talking about it right now, too. Maybe some of us need to go share our story of what the Lord has done and the mercy he's given us, and maybe some people will be amazed if we tell them about the name above all names, the one who makes the demons tremble. So, I hope this inspires you. Let me pray for us right now.
Father in heaven, we just thank you for these back-to-back studies in the Gospel of Mark. The wind and the sea obey Jesus. The demons know that Jesus can command them. God, I pray that we would be afraid of Jesus like they were, the disciples in the boat, like the crowd of people that came upon the scene where the demons had been cast out. I pray that we would see Jesus has authority over the physical world. Jesus has authority in the spiritual realm. Jesus has authority over us. I pray that we would all see it, and that we would worship Jesus as the name that is above every name, and that we would respond to Jesus in a way that is worthy of him, including Godly fear. And so, God, please teach us. Let us go to the other side of the sea. Let us go to the Decapolis, and let us hear this guy shouting, let me tell you what the Lord has done for me, because I was in the dark, and he delivered me into the light. And God, I pray that when we hear this man going through the cities sharing his testimony that, yes, we may not have been possessed by demons, maybe some have, but we may not have, but we were delivered out of the domain of darkness, and we are now a part of your kingdom. And we too can share what the Lord has done. We too can share the mercy that has been given to us. We can share in Christ alone, my hope is found and so God, I pray that our view of Jesus would be lifted up. I pray that we would have to look way up into the heavens to see him seated at your right hand, see him exalted as Lord, to see him given the name that is above every name. It's not Legion we need to fear or Abaddon or Satan. The name is Jesus, the one who reigns with all authority and power. I pray that we could see Jesus and that we would worship him. Now we pray this in his name. Amen. Amen.