Would you turn with me in the Word of God this evening to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 5. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 5. Let us hear the Word of the Lord. 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 anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke 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 had 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 2,000 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 see 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. So far the reading of God's holy and infallible word. Well, it's an interesting story. What does it teach us? Oftentimes, we approach the Gospels and we look at these miracles that Jesus has done as sort of nice testimonies of Jesus' mercy and of His power. And sometimes we look at the Gospels in general as sort of just this biography of Jesus before it gets to the important part, His crucifixion and resurrection. You know, you have the birth story, which is nice, and then you have sort of this lifelong biography of him, of him going different places and teaching and performing miracles, and then you have the crucifixion, the important part, and the resurrection. But there's more to these miracles, perhaps, than meets the eye, if we're looking at it in that way. What this text has to teach us is that Christ's kingdom has come with power to free us from the tyranny of the devil. And really, this is the unfolding theme that we have in the Gospels. And particularly, I believe in the Gospel of Mark because it moves at such a rapid pace. It's almost like a video camera showing this kingdom that's yet to come breaking in with the coming of Jesus even before He goes to the cross. What Jesus does in His miracles is give to His contemporary world glimpses of what He will finally do when He ultimately establishes His kingdom at the end of time. And so in all these miracles, we have something greater than just individual healings. Something even greater than demonstrations of God's power and mercy. We have glimpses of the restoring transformation which the kingdom of God will ultimately bring. In many ways, every single miracle that Christ performs is as if, as Sinclair Ferguson once put it, it's as if He's switching on a light momentarily and showing the world what it's going to be like when He finally and ultimately establishes His kingdom at the end of the age. You have people being transformed, healed, risen from the dead. Things like this happening. Jesus is giving a glimpse showing us that there's more that's yet to come. And this presence of the kingdom restores things to the way they ought to be and thus transforms life from what sin has made it. And so in our text this evening, in this story from Mark chapter 5, we see in this miracle that the presence of the kingdom has freed us from the tyranny of the devil. And so I'd like to ask you to think with me in three things this evening. First, in the king's confrontation with evil. Secondly, the king's liberation of the demon-possessed man. And finally, the king's commission of the liberated man. So in the first place, the king's confrontation with evil. We see as Jesus is getting out of the boat, there immediately meets him this uncontrollable demon-possessed man. Now notice the way that Mark depicts this demoniac. He describes this tormented man in verse 3 as dwelling among the tombs and that no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with chains. In verse 4, he says that the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces and that no one was able to tame him. And in verse 5, we're told that always night and day he was in the tombs and in the mountains crying out and cutting himself with stones. And most striking of all is the unclean spirit's identification of itself in verse 9. He says, My name is Legion, for we are many. Now, as a Roman legion at that time consisted of some 4,000 to 6,000 troops, what the Holy Spirit is communicating to the reader is that this is a powerful force tyrannizing this man. And it's also a formidable enemy confronting Jesus. 4,000 to 6,000 troops. This is what we're to think of when he says Legion. Well, what does Jesus do? How does He confront this man? How does He deal with him? Obviously, Jesus does not bind the man as the locals had tried to do. He doesn't try to tame the man by using some kind of external means the way that others had done in that area. Rather, He deals with the force oppressing the man. He says to the demons, come out of the man, unclean spirit. And this army of what is probably thousands of demons immediately recognizes Jesus' divine power and His authority. And it frantically invokes God's name as an attempt to protect themselves. They react to Jesus with horror and the knowledge of who He is. Verse 7 says that the man cried out with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? That phrase could actually be rendered, Leave me alone, Jesus. The grammar there is very interesting because it shows that this demoniac's response is filled with emotion, filled with terror. Clearly, this demoniac horde understands who this Jesus is and what His presence means. It means that the Most High God has sent His Son and the consummation, the end of all things, that time when His kingdom will come, is near. And so they're freaked out. The promised king who would come for his people would crush the serpent's head has arrived. You see, these demons, they've understood the prophecies. Their theology is actually very clear. They knew that there was a time coming when the king would arrive and his mercy would be shown and deliverance would be shown on his people and judgment would be shown on the wicked. And we find, of course, in the Old Testament as we read through the Old Testament, prophecy after prophecy of this coming time. Just a couple of them are from the prophet Jeremiah. He had foretold, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. They know who this Jesus is. It's that one Jeremiah spoke of. Also Isaiah. He said, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. This is that Jesus. This is why the demons begged Jesus not to torment them. They recognized Jesus' authority as the one anointed by the Spirit who will bring in the prophesied kingdom that will destroy the wicked and set up an eternal reign of righteousness that will never end. In fact, what's very interesting is you know how the Gospels have parallel accounts. If you read Matthew's parallel account of this story, the demons are recorded asking Jesus, have you come to torment us before the time? They knew a specific time was coming when they would be annihilated, when they would be tormented. It's almost as if they're saying, wait a minute. It's not the great day of judgment yet. What are you doing here? But Jesus' actions show that the kingdom, which belongs to the future, has broken in on this present age. It has come with Jesus. This day, when all wickedness will forever be stamped out, has broken into the present age in power. The arrival of the king, Jesus, meant the arrival of his kingdom, at least in part. And so we see things happening before Jesus even goes to the cross. We see his kingdom coming in in power. Children, maybe you've read the book, the Chronicles of Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If you have, you remember that there was a particular curse that was upon all of Narnia, right? It was perpetual winter, constant winter. It was always snow, but what never came? Christmas. What a nightmare. Snow after snow after snow, but no Christmas. No presents, nothing. And Aslan, the ruler and the maker of all Narnia, he was going to come and end this curse of this white witch who had put this curse on all of Narnia that had laid the snow and no Christmas had come. This lion Aslan was going to come to Narnia to end this curse by his special work, right? But do you remember what happened in that book? Before he even accomplished his work, before the end even came, there were certain signs that Aslan was near and that Aslan's kingdom was going to come. Do you remember what it was? The snow began to melt. Little by little, signs were being shown that Aslan's kingdom was near. Well, in a sort of a similar way, that's what we have in the Gospels. Before Jesus even goes to the cross, we see these things happening. And this is what these demons are aware of. Jesus shows that He has indeed come to torment these demons by displaying His power and casting them out of the afflicted man. But the torment that the king brings to the wicked at this time isn't final. You see, it's only partial. That time hasn't yet come. Notice that he grants them permission to enter the swine, some 2,000 swine, showing us what a massive force this was, tormenting this man and confronting Jesus. Now, we shouldn't think that Jesus is compromising or negotiating with the demons and sort of, you know, playing games with them by granting them their permission. No, Jesus is showing us that the judgment that he brings has a two-age nature to it. An already not yet design. He has come and He has brought real judgment, but it's delayed judgment awaiting that final consummation, awaiting the end. It's a sign of what is yet to come at the end of the age. And it is indeed a sign that the kingdom has come upon them. Earlier in Mark's account, Jesus is recorded explaining to the scribes from Jerusalem that His authority over demons testified that Satan had been bound and the kingdom of God launched. Matthew's Gospel, again, brings this out with a little bit fuller clarity. Jesus says in Matthew 12, verses 28 and 29, If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how could one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house? So Jesus has come to bind the strong man. And he says, if you see me casting demons out, then you know the kingdom has come. This is the same thing that John saw a vision of and wrote for us in the book of Revelation in chapter 20 when he saw Satan bound with a great chain for a thousand years. That is this whole age that we live in from the time that Christ came until the time that he comes again. the strong man is indeed bound. The king has given him limited freedom. But there will finally come a time when he will be ultimately destroyed at the end of the age. And that brings us great comfort, loved ones, doesn't it? To know that if Jesus came into this world, Jesus actually came into this world and brought his kingdom some 2,000 years ago. Well, that day that's coming when all wickedness will be put out forever and His people will ultimately and finally be delivered from Satan, from this present evil age, from the flesh, from sin, that day will inevitably come. It has to come. Because Jesus came the first time. You see, He already inaugurated His kingdom. But His kingdom is coming in fullness at the end of the age. And that brings us great comfort. To know that a time is coming when all wickedness will be put away. When there will be no more evil, no more sin, no more violence, no more murder, no more hatred, no more fear and sorrow. That's the time when we have closure, right? We hear that word tossed around a lot in our day and age. Well, we need closure from horrific events and acts of violence and terrible things that happen to us. The loved ones will ultimately, there is no closure until the consummation, until the king returns and brings in the fullness of his kingdom. And so we see in this passage the king plundering the strong man's house and mercifully rescuing the soul to be gathered into his kingdom. Which brings me to my next point. The king's liberation of the demon-possessed man. We've seen the king's confrontation with evil. Now let us look at the king's liberation of this demon-possessed man. By confronting the demons and casting them into the pigs, Jesus frees this man from the grip of evil and essentially makes him normal. He turns this man right side up, as it were. The force that's been oppressing him, the forces of darkness, of evil, and the sin that he is in bondage to has put him upside down from the way that God had originally made creation and the way that God had intended it. Well, Christ comes and He fixes this man, so to speak. Think of the dramatic transformation of this man that Mark paints for us in our text here. This man was a slave to darkness. He was dominated by evil. He was a living wretch due to his torment. He was uncontrollable. He was dangerous. At night, he would scream and howl. He would gnash himself with jagged rocks, probably in some desperate attempt to drive out those demons that were inhabiting him. This poor, naked man was a mass of bleeding lacerations and scabs and infections and scar tissue. He was just living in a delirium of pain and unkempt misery. He had tormented his family and the local townspeople by his wild behavior. And consequently, everybody had rejected him. He was out living all alone. Well, this is the picture that we have of this man as he approached Jesus while Jesus is getting out of the boat. But Mark describes a different man altogether. that approaches Jesus when Jesus is getting back into the boat. It's now a man who wants to be with Jesus. It's now a man who's clothed and in his right mind. A man whose heart is filled with love and gratitude toward the King. A man who's been transformed. A man who's been liberated from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God. And this, again, this is a picture of what happens at the end of time. the kingdom of God not only brings judgment to evil, we have Jesus casting out the pigs, a sign of what's going to happen at the end of the age, all wickedness put away, but His kingdom brings restoration to a fallen world. When the kingdom comes in its fullness at the end of this present age, there will be an awesome display of God's recreative power. God's people will forever be liberated from the effects of death and sickness and decay. As we live in resurrected bodies on a resurrected earth fit for the glory of the age to come, all things will no longer be turned upside down. They will no longer be under the effects of sin, but will essentially be turned right side up. And because this kingdom has broken in on this present evil age, we see that this liberated man, He ultimately illustrates the renewed life that comes with the kingdom. Just as the king who is anointed with the Spirit freed this man from the power of darkness and renews him, well, so too are all people who have been brought into the king's kingdom. All men may not be demon-possessed, but by nature all men are ruled by darkness. Children, you might look at this picture of this demoniac and say, yuck, what an awful, rotten picture. What an awful, rotten place to be in. But the truth is, is that for anybody who's apart from Jesus Christ, is just like this demoniac. Just like Him. He's enslaved. He's in chains, the Bible says. Maybe not physical chains that you can see, but actual, real, spiritual chains that hold Him down and suppress Him. He's ruled by darkness. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, We once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. Like this demonized man, we are all slaves to evil. We're not free. Our hearts and our wills are just as chained and in bondage as this man. We're held captive by our sin. We're ultimately bent on self-destruction. Unless we are freed by the king, then it's different. And like this demonized man, we're helpless and unable to break the powers that have bound us. Like this man, we need salvation that comes from outside of us. From the only one who is able to offer it. the only man who has never experienced bondage to sin. The last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the true liberator who comes from outside of this person who needs salvation. This man couldn't save himself. The other people couldn't save this man. It took the king to save this man. The last Adam, unlike the first Adam who plunged all of us into captivity. But in order to liberate any of us from the bondage of sin, it took more than just a display of God's power. It took more than just a display of His mercy. It cost the life of the King Himself. His sinless, obedient life. Going to the cross to face the wrath of God for everyone who would believe in order that they might be made free and right with God. As the writer to the Hebrew says in chapter 2, And as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same. that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. It doesn't take a legion of demons to keep a man from salvation. It takes only a man's sin and guilt to keep him from salvation. But praise be to God, not even a legion of demons could keep Christ from going to the cross in order that we might be delivered from the power of darkness. As Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter 1, he said He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. And the response to the King's grace and liberation is what? What's the response to grace? It's gratitude. It's a life of gratitude. We want to serve our king. We love him because he first loved us. Which brings me to my final point. The king's commission of the liberated man. We've seen the king's confrontation with evil. The king's liberation of the demon-possessed man. Now finally, let us look at the king's commission of the liberated man. The thing that we know about this liberated man is that he wants to be with Jesus. Look in verse 18. And when he got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged him that he might be with him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marvel. It's interesting, Jesus denies this man's request, but he grants him something to do. The king had a far greater purpose for him. Now, it's hard for us to understand exactly why he granted this man his request, because when you read the Gospels, Jesus is always telling people after he performs one of these awesome miracles that helps this person, but ultimately points to the kingdom that's yet to come, right afterwards, what does he usually do? He tells them not to breathe a word of it. Not until the time. Not until he goes to the cross and rises again from the dead. So that he doesn't get passed over as some type of cheap miracle worker. But this is the only case we have where he commissions this man to go out. Now why? Well, maybe he was a Gentile. We don't know that for sure. Maybe he was a Jew. Well, wasn't this a Gentile region and he wanted to be seen there as what he really was in the Gentile region? Well, we can't say that either, because in chapter 7, Jesus is back in the area. He does another miracle, and He tells everybody to be quiet. We don't know why He tells this man to go out into all the world, unlike everybody else that He heals before He goes to the cross and rises from the dead. All we know is that Jesus grants this man something to do. He's told by Jesus to go home to your friends and tell them, to give an account of or to announce the great things that the Lord has done for him and how he has had compassion on him. And then we're told that this man began to proclaim or actually to make public declarations in the Decapolis, telling people of the great things Jesus had done for him. And all who heard this message marveled as they were undoubtedly impressed by this one who had once been in such a deep grip of evil, was now released, was now clothed in His right mind, was now liberated from those things that had once tyrannized Him. But what's interesting is that we see here that Jesus would leave the area of the Gerasenes or Gadarenes. He would leave this area. But He leaves for Himself a witness. And this is much like what Jesus does with us as the church. He has left earth, but he has left for himself a witness. He has commissioned his church to make himself known in this world. And this world lives in antagonism to Christ and his kingdom. This is how the kingdom is built. It's in the midst of an antagonistic world that the church is to go forth and bear witness of her king. Notice the reaction of the local townspeople in verses 14 through 17. It says, And so those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country, and they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion sitting in clothing in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed and about the swine. Then they began to plead with him to depart from their region. These people of the Gadarenes wanted Christ to depart. They were afraid. They were uncomfortable with Jesus. They were opposed to Jesus remaining with them. They had just seen this awesome display of His power. They recognized that there was something absolutely terrifying about this Jesus. But again, loved ones, this is the context in which the King's kingdom is built on earth. It's through the faithful witness of His church in the midst of a world that opposes the King. How is the kingdom built here? Well, we're much like that free demoniac. We were just like that demoniac apart from Christ, but we've been liberated by the King, by Christ, and now we are told to proclaim the good things that God has done for us and how He has had compassion on us. This is what the church's mission is here in the world. And it's how the kingdom is built. The kingdom's not built by the church taking up the sword and going and slaughtering Islam and taking over the world. The kingdom's not built by us getting the right political leaders in the land so that we'll have moral laws and everything will be nice and tidy. That's not how the kingdom is built. The kingdom is built. It's made visible through the church's witness of proclaiming the gospel and living lives of gratitude. And it's amidst a world much like these gatherings. It's much opposed to her. This is how Christ goes about gathering His wheat into His barn until that day when He will visibly return and usher in the fullness of His glorious kingdom. But what's ironic and what's interesting is that these swine herders show by their rejection of Christ that it's actually they who remain ensnared and in the bondage of the strong man, the evil one. And loved ones, ultimately all of mankind is in one of these two groups. It's never three, never four. It's one or the other. A group that either wants Christ to depart. A person who is uncomfortable with Jesus. Who doesn't want to submit to his lordship, to his kingliness. Or, it's that group that just wants to be with Jesus. That knows that it doesn't deserve to be with the king. The king has come from outside of it and saved it. That's the group that wants to be with Jesus. It's one of these two groups. And ultimately, both of these groups await the consummation, that end that comes. when Jesus comes back and there will be no more second chances, no more anything. It'll be judgment and mercy, nothing else. Judgment on the wicked and mercy on his own. And both of these groups, the group that wants Jesus to depart and the group that wants to be with Jesus, is awaiting that consummation. And so I would ask you, which group are you in? Are you in that group that wants Jesus to depart? Are you uncomfortable with Christ? Do you acknowledge who He is, but you don't want Him to be near? If so, I say to you, flee to Him while there is time. Know the mercy of the King. His sword is not out today. His hands are out today. He will not reject you if you flee to Him. You will find grace and you will find mercy. Or are you in the other group? Do you simply want to be with Jesus? even in the struggle of your worst sin, do you find that you just simply want to be with your Lord because you look upon Him who was perfect and who was good? If you are in that group, well, then I say to you, rejoice. You've been liberated by the King. You belong to Him. You can be comforted. In life and in death, you are His. As you struggle on in this life against the world, the flesh, and the devil, You await that time for Him to come back and make all things right. And so now we can confess for those of us that just simply want to be with Jesus that that is where we find our comfort. That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul and life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood and has what? Set me free from the tyranny of the devil. What a remarkable thing. And as we go forth in this life, living lives of gratitude, we're comforted to know that not a hair can fall from my head, but by the will of the Father in heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. It's just gratitude. Because I belong to Him, Christ by His Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live unto Him. That is the life of one who wants to be with Jesus, one who's been liberated from the powers of darkness and who awaits the fullness and the coming of His King. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for the Gospel. We thank You, O Lord, for the testimony that You have laid down for us in Your Word, that You've preserved for us throughout all of these centuries. Lord, we would pray that You would attend to these things this evening, even as we've looked at these truths. Lord, that You would bless Your Word to our hearts, that You would continue Your magnificent and mysterious work of sanctification in our lives by the power of Your Spirit. Be with us, we pray, O Lord, as we would depart from this place and seek to serve You, our King, throughout this week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.