Catastrophe-Christ-Catastrophe by John.

CATASTROPHE-CHRIST-CATASTROPHE
Mark 5:1-20

1. Almost 60 years ago, my second sermon as a pastor was on Mark 5:1-20. I called it Living Among the Tombs. The central thought was, a man was alive among the physically dead: All of us are alive among spiritually dead people, and we have the only message that can make dead people live!
2. What I said was true, but not to this text.
3. A preacher doesn't need to be slavish about the text, but he does need to speak out when God speaks, and be silent when God is silent.
(1) For instance, God does not tell us how this man became demon-possessed in this Scripture, so we leave that alone.
(2) He does tell us demons are real powers that must be dealt with, and Jesus is far greater than they are.
(3) From that, we need to be aware demons do not show themselves, but the evidence is still there. They exist, and they do great damage!
4. We are going to be as true to this Scripture as we can be as we discuss Catastrophe-Christ-Catastrophe, today.

I. INDWELLING DEMONS ARE CATASTROPHIC TO HUMAN BEINGS.

1. Demons are bad news to society, the people of Gadara would have been glad to tell us that.
2. We do not know how a demon can indwell a human being, but they did then, and they still do today.
(1) I've never seen a demon, have you?
(2) Perhaps through the ages they have learned how to conceal themselves better.
3. Demons apparently are not content without indwelling a body.
(1) Some theologians think they once had a body, but that is certainly conjecture on their part.
(2) These particular demons first had a single spokesman, but then all begged Jesus to send them into the swine.
a. At first, they sought to control Jesus by calling Him "Jesus, Son of the Most High God!"
b. That didn't work, and they switched to pleading with Him.
c. It is interesting to note that these who had tortured this man now were begging Jesus not to torture them!
4. What had they done? They robbed this man of all he had.
(1) Possessions.
(2) Family.
(3) Friends.
(4) Personality.
(5) Mind.
5. They robbed others, too.
(1) Remember the girl in Acts 16:16ff.?
(2) Her demons robbed her family of a daughter.
(3) They robbed the community of a citizen.
(4) These robbed some of their health. (The maniac attacked people. BTW, can you imagine holding a funeral in that cemetery.)?
(5)They caused great faith-destroying fear!!!
(6) They robbed the owners of the pigs of their property.

II. THE CATASTROPHE CALLED FORTH A CURE FROM JESUS.

1. He always has compassion when we need help. Ill. Paul on the road to Damascus needed help even if he did not know it.
(1) You may be seeking God like Paul was.
(2) You may be on the wrong track!
(3) Jesus cares! And He will help you!
(4) Ask Him! This demon-possessed man did!
2. Jesus removed the cause of the man’s problem.
(1) He identified the problem first.
(2) Then He called for the demons to come out.
(3) They resisted and cried out (5:7) “Swear to God that you won’t torture me.”
(4) Luke 8:31 says, “not to send us out into the deep.” While Mark says, (v. 10) “out of the area.” The word in Luke is abusson which means the bottom, or depth. The word used in Mark is choras which can mean country, but actually means the limit between two places. It could mean outer limits! Matthew 8:24 says, “before the time.” Which I see to mean the demons know judgment is coming! And they probably thought Jesus was about to send them into hellfire!
3. Jesus’ cure of the man was complete.
(1) 5:15, “dressed” (Some people have said that people who love the world take their clothes off and when they come to Jesus, they put them back on!)
(2) “in his right mind” in Greek is sophroneo which means “docile, quiet, self-possessed and habitually self-governing.”
(3) 5:18 says he desired and prayed that he might be with Jesus! Doesn't that make you wonder about people who stay away from church, away from the Bible, and away from prayer. Can their salvation experience be real???
(4) It interests me to note that Jesus gave this man the same instructions He gave the apostles and to us. Mark 5:19, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
4. This man was different to many people today. He did what Jesus told him to do!

III. THE CURE CAUSED ANOTHER CATASTROPHE, 5:13.

1. The swine were lost.
(1) So often we look at what a Christians are doing. We see mistakes being made, and we wonder if they are straying away from the Lord!
(2) The Jews according to Lev 11:7,8 were not to eat or touch a hog! What were those hogs even doing there? The cure still causes catastrophe in some ways. Ill. Rev Archie Stephens and the whisky store operator across from the church. When he became a Christian, he took a sledgehammer and destroyed his entire stock! Another man in Missouri had a similar experience, but he discounted all his stock and sold it! (Captain Lovell told me about him.
2. Many Gergasenes rejected Jesus for two reasons:
(1) Fear.
(2) Lost property.
3. Many reject Jesus today for the same reasons.
(1) “I could be better, but I am already better than…”
(2) “I could be better, but I don’t want to give up my pet sin.”
(3) “I want to be saved, but how would I make a living?”
(4) I wonder what Peter, or Zacheus, or Peter would say?
4. I think they would say, "It's worth it all! I'd give up the whole world for Jesus!"

Conclusion:

1. God is telling us, when you get in trouble, the world will try to bind you, and put you out of sight. You may want somebody to stop the world and let you off, and that’s what the world will want for you, too.
(1) Roy Hollomon was watching the front door of a bar in Wichita. It was a warm night and he had the window open. A woman stopped and spoke to him. About that time the bartender threw a drunk out. He shook his fist at him and told him to go home! The woman said, “Isn’t that awful!” Hollomon agreed with her, and she said, “That’s the third time tonight my husband has had to throw him out!”
(2) The world will help you start down hill, but when you get to the bottom, they will dodge you!
2. God is the answer to all satanic problems. Jesus wants to give you a life demons cannot control.
3. When God works in you several things happen:
(1) Your life will bear good fruit.
(2) You will be filled with Joy.
(3) All fear will disappear.
(4) Rejection and hatred will be things of the past.
4. Sin always bears harvest, too.
(1) That man lost himself.
(2) Those men lost their pigs.
(3) Both rejected their one hope, but the maniac repented and was saved!
(4) The people of Gadara lost the opportunity to hear the Words of Jesus and to be saved eternally!
5. What will you do? Will you accept of reject Jesus?

ECC 2/25/2007