"And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him any more, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. And constantly night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones. And seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!’ For He had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ And He was asking him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said to Him, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ And he began to entreat Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a big herd of swine feeding there on the mountain side. And they entreated Him, saying. ‘Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.’ And He gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. And those who tended them ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the ‘legion;’ and they became frightened. And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. And they began to entreat Him to depart from their region. And as He was getting into the boat; the man who had been demon-possessed was entreating Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, ‘Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.’ And he went off and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone marveled." (Mark 5:1-20)
Whenever I was a child, we used to play a little game called "let’s pretend." It was a great game. I suppose what made it so great was that anything was possible. You could play the game in groups or all by yourself and you could become anything you wanted to be. You could be on a pirate ship, somewhere on the seven seas; or an astronaut, exploring the farthest reaches of space. You could be an aquanaut aboard Jules Verne’s Nautilus, encountering strange creatures on a sunken continent known as Atlantis. The possibilities were endless.
I suppose there’s still a little child in all of us. And to a certain degree, we still like to pretend. But that’s not necessarily bad. It’s great to dream and to have a dream. And to a certain degree, we all need to explore in our imagination, what can be. The Bible says that without a vision, the people perish. We all need to "see" in our mind’s eye what we would like to be and what we would like to become.
But there is another sense in which we all play the game "let’s pretend." Often we play that game when we are with others, especially at church. We pretend that we are happy when, in fact, we are miserable. We pretend that we have no needs when, in fact, we are in desperate need. It’s so easy to pretend to be someone we want to be when the reality is that it is only a dream.
How do we face the struggle within? How do we acknowledge our limitations and bondages in a way that is healthy and wholesome? How can we be honest with ourselves and with others without becoming a burden or a discouragement to someone else? Can we really afford to continue to pretend? But can we really afford not to?
The situation we encounter in our text today may not, at first, seem to apply to many of us. After all, we encounter a man who is obviously fully demon-possessed. He lives in the hill country in tombs. He is a raving lunatic who cannot be bound with shackles and chains. He cries out in shrieks and wails all night long, as he cuts on his body with stones. Certainly there are these people in our society today. Most of them are probably incarcerated in some insane asylum. Surely, we have none present with us this morning. How could this then apply to us? We are all clothed and in our right minds, aren’t we?
The truth is, this account has much to say to us. For what we see here, in an extreme degree in this man, can be found, to a lesser degree, in many of us. While we may not be possessed with a legion of demons, sometimes the struggles we face can be rather intense. And in some cases these struggles may be demonic in origin. This man is a picture of the struggle within, which we all face to a greater or a lesser degree. Perhaps as we look at this account, we can discover how we can be set free from our inward bondages, and the oppression of the demonic hosts of hell.
Jesus had come to the other side of the sea into the country of the Gerasenes. As He and his disciples stepped from the boat onto the shore, they met a man who was demon-possessed. Perhaps he had been one of the respectable men in society; but now he had opened his life to a host of foul spirits who had taken possession of him. His life was now literally controlled by them, and he was in torment.
We have a picture here of an individual in total bondage. He was so tormented that he couldn’t even live around people. He was out of his mind. Now he lived by himself in the tombs. Confused and full of suffering, he would cry out, night and day as he gashed himself with stones, seeking to find some relief for his pain.
Can this be real? Do demons really exist, and can they have an impact on our lives? Well, for years those who consider themselves the intelligentsia of our society, those who believe everything can be explained in anti-supernatural terms, have told us it is not rational or scientific to believe in demons. But times are changing. Reports of Satanic practices and demonic activity are increasing in our Western culture. Ritualistic killings are being liked to Satanism — from the Night Stalker slayings of Richard Ramirez to the drug-cult murders in Matamoros, Mexico. Tom Fennell, writing in Macleans magazine says that " . . . across North America, a growing number of respected mental-health therapists have come to the chilling conclusion that the tormented ravings of patients who claim to have been sexually abused as children by members of satanic cults are true reflections of their experience."
On December 6th, 1987, in Missouri, Pete Roland, a student at Carl Junction High School, confessed to the brutal murder of Steve Newberry, another student. He and two other Carl Junction boys had bludgeoned Steve to death, beating him with baseball bats. Their motive - a desire to please Satan. They said they had heard voices inside their heads urging them to kill. They attributed these voices to Satan. It should also be noted that they all listened to heavy-metal music, much of which contains satanic themes and they also used drugs, alcohol, and like to watch horror movies. But they did it for Satan, who, as Jim Hardy, one of the boys said, had promised him a surge of power for taking a human life.
You might have turned on your television on April 5th, 1991 to hear ABC’s 20/20 co-host Barbara Walters portentously ask, "Is the Devil real?" It was the first-ever televised exorcism. We watched a 16 year old girl named Gina writhe and scream as a priest pressed a silver cross against her head and charged, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command the spirit of evil to leave now!" At one point she shouted, in words she claimed came from a demon called Minga, "Get away from me! Get away! I don’t want to burn!"
You might look somewhat skeptically at this, but whatever you think about a particular account, many godly people are encountering demonic activity. Samuel Olson, pastor of the Las Acacias Church in Caracas, Venezuela, recounts praying for a 15-year-old drug addict, while he was working at a drug rehabilitation center. The boy curled up in a ball and began to crawl around the floor, all the while talking to Satan. He said the boy claimed that he had given his life to the Devil a couple of years before and could not give up his allegiance. At that time Olson was frightened. Today, in his counseling ministry, he averages three deliverances a week.
Missiologist Timothy Warner, of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, comments on what he sees as a need, especially on the mission field, to deal with the demonic. He says, "It’s tragic that on the mission field, particularly, we haven’t had this dramatization of turning from Satan and giving ourselves to the Lord. We have them squeak by on some minimal act of affirmation of Jesus, and it’s no wonder they go on having problems." He goes on to conclude that part of the problem is that "our world view says that spirits are not real." Peter Wagner, from Fuller Seminary School of World Mission agrees. He says, "Many Southern Baptist missionaries are seeing tremendous acts of God out on the mission field, but say that they can’t talk about it here (in North America)." The power of the Devil is still real in our world, and we are seeing increased evidence of it today.
This narrative in Mark’s gospel illustrates how a man can be so inwardly bound that he suffers an intense inner pain and confusion. While he throws off all outward restraint, he is unable to control what is going on within. The pain is so severe that he does himself harm to try to find relief, all to no avail.
But while this man represents one extreme, all of us, to some degree, suffer in our own inward bondage. Sometimes that bondage is caused by our human frailty. Other times it is caused by the direct oppression of demonic activity. It may very well vary in degree. Certainly none of us are quite like this demon-possessed man, but behind the outward facade of apparent wholeness, there is nonetheless a brokenness inside. There is a struggle. There is the confusion. There is the doubt. There is the pain. There is the bondage. While this man may have been totally possessed, we find ourselves oppressed in many areas.
Our inward bondage not only may vary in degree, but it may also differ in appearance. You don’t have to be a raving lunatic, running half-naked through the streets to suffer inwardly. You can be a respectable member of the community. You can have a fine job, a nice home; you can drive a fine car and have money in the bank to spare. You can appear, to all who behold you, as someone who has it all together. You can even be a faithful church member. You can be a Sunday School teacher. You can be a deacon; yes, even a pastor, and struggle within. I have found that behind the doors of these fine houses setting on beautiful and manicured lawns are people whose worlds are falling apart. While everything appears so tidy on the outside, inside their lives are shattered. Like Humpty Dumpty, they have had a great fall, and they don’t know how to put the pieces back together again.
We meet people like this every day. Sometimes we just don’t realize it. As a matter of fact, that person sitting beside you or in front of you right now may be struggling with intense personal problems. You may be saying, "Pastor, I don’t have to look around me to find someone like that. I am that person. How can I be set free?"
We not only see here a man who is demonized, but also a man who is desperate. You see, inward bondage causes great pain. This man cried out in shrieks and wails and gashed himself with stones. It is hard to understand how anyone would want to cut on his own body with sharp stones. That, in itself, causes great physical pain. No one in his right mind would do that, that’s true. But the point is that there can be such great inward suffering that outward physical pain can be itself a relief. Inward pain is far greater than physical pain. It drives you to the brink.
When you suffer long enough and greatly enough, you become desperate. While this man sought to relieve the inward pain with outward pain, we may seek to pursue other means. But our desire to find relief may lead us to do something equally as foolish.
There is something about us, when we are suffering, that drives us to try to escape. Much of the behavior of our contemporary culture is escapist in nature. It seems we are always seeking a diversion. We try to occupy each moment of our time with something that is entertaining. We see escapist behavior in those who are addicted to alcohol and drugs. And while that might not be our means of escape, we have plenty of other ways to get away from it all. Even television can be escapist in nature. It is as if we can’t seem to be alone with ourselves. We have to keep our minds occupied in some other direction. When we are alone with ourselves, we have to face the struggle, and it is difficult to do that.
But when the other avenues of escape are exhausted and we are forced to face reality, we become desperate. Hopefully, that desperation will lead us to the same place it led the demon-possessed man. Hopefully, it will lead us to Jesus. This demon-possessed man came and fell at the feet of Jesus. Even in his crazed state, he recognized that Jesus was his only hope. When you are desperate, you are willing to do whatever it takes. Being desperate has a way of showing you that pride doesn’t really matter. It focuses your attention on what is really important. It makes you willing to pay whatever price it takes to find freedom.
The demonization of inner bondage leads to desperation, which can lead to deliverance. This demon-possessed man became so desperate that he came and fell at the feet of Jesus. We see that at last, he had come to the right place. Jesus delivered him from his inward bondage. He spoke to the demons who possessed him. He cast them out and set this man free. The man came to his senses and was a new person. The inner struggle was gone. His need to engage in destructive behavior was no longer there. He sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to every word, soaking it up like a sponge.
Jesus Christ can deliver us from our inward bondage as well. When our situation becomes desperate enough to reach out for help, if we reach out to Jesus, we will find the help we need.
In fact, many of us have been freed from many an inward bondage. We may all be sitting here, dressed nicely, apparently without ever having any problems. But that is not the case. God has brought many of us a great distance. We have all had our struggles. So if you’re sitting here struggling today, thinking how out of place you feel because you can’t believe any of us have ever struggled, think again.
Ray Stedman tells the story of a man in his community who was in need of Jesus. I believe his wife was a member of Ray’s church, but he was a man who drank a lot and gambled a lot. He never came to church. People would go and visit him, but he simply wouldn’t come. One Sunday morning, there he was, sitting there with all the well-dressed, seemingly problem-free people. He said he felt so uncomfortable, so unlike those around him, that he almost left. But while he was thinking of leaving, in came the pastors and the service began, and he was trapped. The pastor stepped to the pulpit and read the Scripture for the day. It was found in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." The man thought to himself, "Well, I guess that lets me out." But then the pastor felt led to read the verse following that, verse 11, "And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." And then he did an unusual thing: He looked over his congregation and said, "As I read this list of sins, I wonder if you would stand as a testimony of God’s deliverance in your life. When I read the sin God has delivered you from, would you just stand?" And he began, "Fornicators." Not much movement. "Idolaters," here and there, one and then another, and then another would stand. "Adulterers," a long pause, then a brave soul, then another. And on he went through the list until at the end, almost the whole house was standing. The man looked around and said to himself, "Well, maybe I do belong here after all." You see, the message that man heard that day was that although we are full of failure and frailty, because of Christ we can be full of forgiveness and deliverance. Christ can set you free.
That freedom then affects every one around you. The text says that the demons went into a herd of hogs who rushed over a cliff and perished. The herdsmen ran back into the town and reported what they had seen: "The man out in the tombs, who has been possessed for these many years is now free. He is no longer out of his mind. We have seen it with our own eyes." Perhaps this man’s wife is among the crowd, hearing for the first time, news too good to be true. Can it really be? Perhaps she makes her way out with the others from the city to see for herself, almost too afraid to believe it is true. But then she sees him, and one look tells her all she needs to know. Perhaps their eyes meet, and the man she cares so deeply about, for the first time, in many months, looks back at her. She sees it in his eyes: he is whole again. What a scene.
Jesus then instructed the man to tell his people what the Lord had done for him. After we have been set free we are to tell others that what has happened to us can happen to them. That is the plain implication. If Christ can set others free then He can set me free. If Christ can set us free then He can set others free. The Scripture says, "Whom the Son sets free; he shall be free indeed." That is the message of encouragement we need to share with others in bondage. And then we need to pray with them that God would set them free.
What is God saying to you today? If you are bound, He is saying that you can be free. If you have been delivered, He is saying that you need to become an encourager to others who need deliverance.
Copyright © 1997 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
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