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[0:00] We begin chapter 5 of Mark's Gospel tonight. However, the passage we looked at last time, Mark 35-41, actually belongs with the verses in chapter 5.

[0:21] ! Mark 4.35 started a broader section where Jesus demonstrated his deity using a series of four miracles. Those miracles are the ruling of nature, that's what we saw last week, the removing of demons, we'll see that tonight, the restoring of health, and the raising of the dead, and we'll see both of those next week.

[0:42] Last time we saw Jesus demonstrate his deity and expose the disciples' incomplete faith. He did that by intentionally leading the disciples into a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee.

[0:53] Then Jesus demonstrated that he rules over nature by calming that storm. The disciples had been terrified by the storm. However, they became even more terrified that they were in the presence of someone who was and is more powerful than the storm.

[1:10] Here's Mark 4.41 again to remind ourselves of the disciples' reaction. Speaking of the disciples, Mark wrote in Mark 4.41, And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

[1:27] In tonight's passage, Jesus will continue to show his true identity by demonstrating his power over demons. So let's read tonight's passage. That's Mark chapter 5, verses 1 through 20.

[1:39] Starting with Mark chapter 5, verse 1, it says, They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerizines. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

[1:55] 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 rinsed the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces.

[2:07] 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.

[2:21] 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.

[2:35] 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.

[2:47] 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 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

[3:08] 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.

[3:27] 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 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.

[3:42] 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.

[3:53] And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. Here's the main idea for tonight's passage.

[4:06] Jesus demonstrates his deity by changing the life of a demon-possessed man. Once again, Jesus demonstrates his deity by changing the life of a demon-possessed man.

[4:18] The other gospel accounts fill in a few more details about our passage tonight. Listen to Luke chapter 8, verses 26 and 27. Here are Luke 8, 26 and 27.

[4:32] Matthew 8, verse 28 tells us that the demon-possessed man in Mark's account was one of two men.

[4:57] So here is Matthew 8, 28. And when he, that's Jesus, came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.

[5:15] Picture the scene. Jesus' disciples are relieved that they have survived the horrible storm, but they still are trying to process who Jesus really is. Before they can ponder that question for too long, they are met by this crazy naked maniac and his sidekick.

[5:32] None of the gospel accounts give us the disciples' reactions, but from what we know about them already, at least some of them probably are thinking that they would have preferred to have drowned in the sea rather than to be torn apart by a madman and his buddy.

[5:45] Before we look at the Mark verses in detail, let's familiarize ourselves with the geographical setting. Mark and Luke say that this incident took place in the country of the Gerasenes.

[5:59] Matthew says it happened in the country of the Gadarenes. The Gerasenes comprised the broader region. Gadara was a major city in that region.

[6:10] And south of the town called Gerasenes was a steep slope only 40 yards from the shore. Two miles from there were cavernous tombs. And this area was a Gentile region.

[6:23] The geography is important because it supports the authenticity of the Bible. The account we're studying tonight is unusual. However, the Gospels document this real-life event that corresponded to the geography around the Sea of the Galilee.

[6:40] With that background out of the way, let's start digging into Mark's account. We'll break tonight's passage into three sections, starting with verses 1 to 6.

[6:50] And in verses 1 to 6, we see the unwelcoming committee. The unwelcoming committee is your first set of blanks. Some towns have a welcome wagon where the town wants to make visitors and new residents feel at home.

[7:07] This area had the opposite. The man, his sidekick, and the demons that possessed them wanted to drive people away, or perhaps even worse. Look at verses 1 to 6 again.

[7:21] Those verses say, 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.

[7:36] 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.

[7:51] 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.

[8:05] We already have covered verse 1 by explaining the geography. Moving into verse 2, we see that Jesus had just stepped out of the boat when the unwelcoming committee arrived.

[8:20] The lead man in this committee came charging out of the tombs toward Jesus. And the man is described as having an unclean spirit. The phrase unclean spirit is simply another way to say demons.

[8:33] And we know that demons are fallen angels. When scripture speaks of the power of fallen angels, it does so to demonstrate the infinitely greater power of God.

[8:46] This is especially true in the ministry of Jesus, where the emphasis is on Christ's power over the spirits of darkness. Those who belong to Jesus Christ are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

[9:00] They need not fear demon possession because they are the temple of the Spirit of God. And as the Apostle John told his readers in 1 John 4.4, greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world.

[9:17] Daniel Aiken noted that in the Screwtape letters, C.S. Lewis provides a glimpse into the strategies of Satan's demons. An older and whiter demon named Screwtape is mentoring the younger Wormwood.

[9:31] In his preface to the imaginary correspondence, Lewis writes, Aiken continued by saying, Aiken continued by saying, Lewis is right, and the human race has fallen into both errors.

[10:07] The materialists of the Age of Reason or Enlightenment were fooled into disbelieving in the existence of demons or any spirit beings. New Ageism and postmodern mysticism have become enamored with angels, demons, and spirits beyond this world.

[10:27] When we first saw Jesus casting out a demon in Mark chapter 1, we talked then about how demons seem to have been especially active during the time of Jesus' earthly ministry.

[10:38] The events in tonight's passage give us another example of that. Verse 2 says that the man came from the tombs. Verse 3 tells us that the man did more than just come from the tombs.

[10:52] He lived among the tombs. The area's geography matches the Bible's account. In ancient times, burial chambers were often carved out of the hillside, and a number of such tombs have been discovered near this area.

[11:07] The Jews generally avoided lingering near tombs for fear of becoming ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body. But here in the Gentile region was a demon-possessed man who was more comfortable among the dead than among the living.

[11:25] Verses 3 and 4 give us a graphic picture of how the residents of the area had tried but failed to subdue the man. The demoniac was able to break shackles and chains.

[11:38] This demon-possessed man was like a real-life Incredible Hulk, except that he had the decency to wear pants, did the Incredible Hulk. This man did not even have the decency to wear pants.

[11:49] So are you getting the picture of just how scary this demon-possessed man was? In their translation of Mark 5, verse 4, the King James and New King James say that nobody had been able to tame the man.

[12:05] That's a good rendering of what Mark is saying here. The demons had so degraded the man that he was more like a wild animal who needed to be tamed than he was like a human.

[12:17] Verse 5 tells us more about the man's behavior. It says that he was crying out night and day and cutting himself with stones. And Mark emphasizes again in this verse that this man was among the tombs.

[12:32] Let's consider why he may have been harming himself. Jesus said in the first part of John 10.10, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

[12:45] Peter said in 1 Peter 5.8, Here's another quote from Daniel Aiken.

[13:02] He said, I believe the man's behavior is a failed attempt to end his pain and suffering by suicide. Running about wild, naked, and unkempt, he was by now a mere shell of cuts, bruises, lacerations, scabs, and infected tissues.

[13:20] He tried again and again to end his unbearable existence in death. This was the agenda of the demons inside him. Perhaps the only thing that prevented his death was the last vestiges of the image of God in him and the common grace of God around him.

[13:39] Defiled and defaced, he was daily staring death in the face. A more miserable existence could hardly be imagined. Jason Meyer added, Demons hate God, but they cannot destroy or deface God, and so they try to destroy and disfigure the image of God wherever they can.

[14:00] Knowing how much the demons hate God, verse 6 seems a little odd at first. Look again at verse 6. It says, And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.

[14:14] You might be wondering why the demons drove the man to run toward Jesus instead of forcing the man to run away from Jesus. Well, the demons forced the man to run toward Jesus because those demons had a question that they wanted Jesus to answer.

[14:30] We'll see their question as we move into the second section of the passage. We've met the unwelcoming committee. In verses 7 through 13, we will see the unclean carnage.

[14:44] So the unclean carnage is your second set of blanks. Let's look at this section in chunks starting with verses 7 and 8. The spokesman for the demons wastes no time in asking the question that caused them to make the man run toward Jesus.

[15:01] And here are verses 7 and 8 again. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

[15:12] I adjure you by God, do not torment me. For he was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. If we only had verse 7, we might have a hard time deciding who asked Jesus the question.

[15:29] Was it the possessed man? Or was it one of the demons inside of that possessed man? Well, verses 8 and 9 clearly show that the demon is speaking with Jesus.

[15:41] Matthew's account also supports that view. Matthew's account adds three words to the question that the demon asks. Those three words show that the demon is the one doing the talking.

[15:53] Here is Matthew 8, 29. Matthew 8, 29 says, And behold, they cried out, What have you to do with us, O Son of God?

[16:04] Have you come here to torment us before the time? The phrase before the time is key. We know the demons have solid theology.

[16:15] We see that again in this question. The comments made by this man of the tombs show us that the demons of hell understand that in his plan of redemption, God has appointed a day when Satan will be bound and all the forces of hell will be crushed once and for all.

[16:33] Every last demon knows what Satan knows. Their days are numbered. When the Lord comes to draw history to a close, the demonic world will not be able to match the Lord's power.

[16:46] It will be no contest. The demons live in mortal fear of that moment in history when all of their diabolical activity will be over once and for all.

[16:59] Based upon what the demon knows about God and God's plan, the demon is certain that the end of time still is somewhere in the future. The demon essentially asks Jesus, Why are you here now?

[17:12] You're early. Let's spend a little more time analyzing what the demon said. Going back to the Mark version, look at what he said in Mark 5, 7.

[17:25] What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me. This evil spirit knew exactly who Jesus was.

[17:38] His scorn for Jesus is mixed with terrified dread. The demon called Jesus son of the most high God because he was fully aware of Jesus' divine authority.

[17:50] This demon, characterized by ultimate depravity and incurable wickedness, cringed in the presence of perfect virtue and holiness. The use of Jesus' name and his title is believed to be an attempt by the demons to gain control over Jesus.

[18:07] In that day, people believed that by uttering someone's name, an individual could gain power or control over that person. The demon seemed to hope to do this with Jesus.

[18:20] We saw a demon use the same approach back in Mark 1, 24. That approach failed then and it will fail again with this time. Notice what the demon says after asking his question.

[18:34] He says, I adjure you by God, do not torment me. We rarely hear the word adjure used anymore. It means to command solemnly under oath or as if under oath or penalty of a curse.

[18:51] The demon wants Jesus to swear by God that Jesus will do no harm to the demon. Do you see some irony in that statement? We have the obvious irony of a fallen angel issuing a command to God in the flesh, but we have an even bigger irony.

[19:10] The fallen angel, one of the very demons who has been tormenting a man nonstop, is afraid of being tormented himself. As a side note, we see humans exhibit that same behavior today.

[19:25] Humans engaging in sinful behavior want protection from punishment for their sins. Abortionists complain when an abortionist gets arrested. People engaging in sexual behaviors condemned by God want those behaviors to be legalized.

[19:41] Here in our text tonight, the demon, like a classic bully who torments others, is afraid of being tormented himself. Verse 8 tells us why the demon was afraid of being tormented.

[19:54] Jesus was telling him to come out of the man. Here is verse 8 again. It says, For he, that's Jesus, was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.

[20:05] Jesus has total control of the situation. He ignores the demon's question. Instead, Jesus asked the demon a question.

[20:16] Look at Mark 5, 9. And Jesus asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many. The demon knows who is in control.

[20:31] Jesus could ignore the demon's question, but Jesus' question must be answered. The demon's answer indicates that the demon doing the speaking is just one of several demons inside this poor man.

[20:46] In the Roman armies, a legion was composed of up to 6,000 men. That does not mean that there were exactly 6,000 demons inside this man. In the terminology of that day, the term legion was used for any large number.

[21:02] Clearly, there were very many demons in this man, and that was a further indication of his wretchedness. Consider why Jesus demanded that the demon give a name.

[21:16] Jesus demanded the name of these demons for one simple reason, to demonstrate the extent of his power over the realm of Satan. Jesus had more than the authority to cast out a solitary demon.

[21:28] Jesus could cast out an entire horde. Fallen angels, whether they numbered a few or many, were under the control of Jesus' will and incomparable power.

[21:40] Look at verses 10-12 next. Here are Mark 5, 10-12. And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

[21:52] 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. In verse 10, the spokesperson demon continues begging Jesus.

[22:08] He asked Jesus to let the demons stay in the country. Then in verse 12, the other demons join in the begging. Verse 12 changes to the plural.

[22:20] It says, They begged Jesus to enter the pigs feeding nearby. Jesus responds to that request in verse 13. Mark 5, 13 says, So he, that's Jesus, gave them permission.

[22:37] And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

[22:50] Verse 13 has a spectacular ending, but notice the first sentence. The first sentence is important. That sentence says that Jesus gave the demons permission.

[23:02] The demons who easily controlled the man could do nothing without first obtaining Jesus' permission. An ordinary man was no match for a legion of demons. However, that same legion of demons was no match for God in the flesh.

[23:19] Now let's consider the end of verse 13, perhaps the best-known part of tonight's passage. So Jesus gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

[23:41] Occasionally, we can find some cliff diving on TV. However, this last part of verse 13 documents the only case of cliff diving found in the Bible.

[23:52] Instead of a swan dive, Mark tells us about a swine dive as the demons force the pigs to commit suicide. You can blame Copious Matthias for that one.

[24:07] He requested that second one to be in the lesson. Commentaries spend a surprising amount of time speculating about why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the pigs.

[24:19] Some liberal commentaries go so far as to speculate that perhaps Jesus sinned by letting the demons destroy the pigs, but we know that is wrong. The Bible repeatedly affirms that Jesus was and is sinless.

[24:34] None of the gospel accounts tell us why Jesus let the demons enter the pigs. The pigs, despite being actual hams, are secondary to this story. However, conservative commentaries do provide some possible reasons that are worth noting.

[24:50] Daniel Aiken quoted William Lane for a plausible explanation. First, Jesus recognized the time of the ultimate vanquishment of the demons had not yet come.

[25:02] Jesus' encounter and triumph over the demonic in this event does not yet put an end to Satan's power. It's the pledge and the symbol of that definitive triumph, but the time will come when that triumph will be fully realized, and that time is in the future.

[25:20] The total triumph will come according to God's timing. Therefore, Jesus allows the demons to continue their destructive work, but not upon a man. The second element is related to this.

[25:33] Jesus allowed the demons to enter the pigs to indicate beyond question that their real purpose was the total destruction of their host. Achan then offered two additional observations.

[25:45] He said, Remember that the demons, not Jesus, destroyed the pigs. And two, the event demonstrates that God cares more for man whom he created in his image and recreates in salvation than he does for animals that do not bear his image.

[26:03] John MacArthur had perhaps the best suggestion for why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the pigs. He said, The dramatic scene provided stunning, undeniable proof that the evil spirits had left the man.

[26:16] It similarly demonstrated their damaging power on a massive scale. The fact that roughly 2,000 pigs were affected suggests that an equivalent number of demons were cast out of the man.

[26:31] MacArthur continued, More importantly, this episode demonstrated the extent of Jesus' authority over the demons. The demons had no choice but to comply with his sovereign command.

[26:44] Though fallen angels are exceptionally powerful beings, they instantly submitted to the omnipotent authority of the Divine Son. Also, remember this, those pigs were being raised for food for the Gentiles.

[27:01] Almost certainly, the herd's owners retrieved as many pigs as possible from the water, and those pigs would have been butchered and the meat still would have been sold.

[27:13] Here's a good comment by R.C. Sproul. He said, before we charge Jesus with a lack of compassion, we need to see that it was his compassion that drove him to let the pigs be destroyed for the sake of one human life.

[27:27] That is how valuable human life is. Only in a culture of death where human life is denigrated do people value animals more than people.

[27:37] So far, we've seen the unwelcoming committee and the unclean carnage. In verses 14 through 20, we will learn about the unusual change.

[27:51] So the unusual change is your last set of blanks. Check out verses 14 through 17 again. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country.

[28:04] 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.

[28:20] 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 to depart from their region.

[28:32] Immediately after the pigs go into the water, the pig herders run away to tell people what had happened. In response to the herders' account, the people come to survey the scene for themselves.

[28:46] Verse 15 describes the unusual change that happened to the now formerly demon-possessed man. Look at verse 15 again. It says, 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.

[29:07] The people knew the man as the naked, screaming, impossible-to-tame madman that they all tried to avoid. Yet here was that same guy wearing clothes and sitting calmly.

[29:19] The people could not tame him, but Jesus has transformed him. Notice that the crowd responds the same way as the disciples in the previous story.

[29:31] They respond with fear. What happens next is the real tragedy here. When they hear about the transformation of the man and the destruction of the pigs, they beg Jesus to leave.

[29:44] The demons beg to go into the pigs, but the crowd begs Jesus to go away. The crowd would rather have an army of evil spirits in their region than the savior of the world.

[29:56] They conclude that being without Jesus would be better than being with him. Their reaction revealed the callous depravity of their lost condition.

[30:08] They preferred the company of dangerous demons to that of the divine deliverer. In their reaction to the Lord Jesus and their rejection of him, the people illustrate the power of unbelief.

[30:21] The astonishing miracle Jesus performed did not lead them to faith in the Lord and Messiah. In fact, it had the opposite effect. No one could deny that Jesus had displayed divine power, nor did anyone doubt that his companion and the man were also delivered.

[30:40] They saw the transformation of the former demoniac and his friend. Yet in the face of such undeniable evidence, the townspeople's hearts remained cold and impenetrable.

[30:52] Confronted with the presence of God the Son and gripped with fear, they begged Jesus to leave and they begged him to leave immediately. Earlier, Jesus had conceded the request of the terrified demons, allowing them to go into the pigs.

[31:07] Here, Jesus yielded to the wishes of the terrified residents, granting their wish for him to depart. The now former demoniac's reaction was different.

[31:19] His reaction provides even more evidence of the unusual change that had happened to him. Look at verses 18 through 20 again. As he, Jesus, was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.

[31:36] 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.

[31:47] And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. The formerly demon-possessed man gives more evidence of his conversion.

[32:02] Unlike the townspeople, the delivered man wants to be with Jesus. Wanting to spend time with Jesus is a telltale sign of a true believer.

[32:13] In addition to delivering the man from demons, Jesus must have shared the gospel with him too. This time, Jesus denies a request that we would have expected him to honor.

[32:25] Instead of allowing the man to come with him, Jesus tells the man to go home and tell his friends what the Lord has done for him and how the Lord has had mercy on him.

[32:36] With this command, Jesus commissioned the missionary to the Gentiles. Verse 20 tells us that the man obeyed. And obedience to God is another telltale trait of a true believer.

[32:52] That obedience gives even more evidence of the unusual change that came over the man. Traveling throughout the Gentile region east of Galilee, the former demoniac spread the news about Jesus far and wide.

[33:08] It's important to recognize his impact. When Jesus again visited the region around Decapolis, and we'll see that in Mark 7, 31 through 8, 9, all the way through that passage, a massive crowd came to hear Jesus teach, motivated no doubt by reports from this man.

[33:26] The response to his testimony was that everyone marveled. Remember the main idea, Jesus demonstrates his deity by changing the life of a demon possessed man.

[33:39] We've talked a lot about the townspeople's reaction because that reaction is recorded in scripture. Mark and the other accounts omit how the disciples reacted.

[33:51] Those disciples should have reacted favorably for at least two reasons. One reason is that in just a few hours, the disciples had witnessed two amazing demonstrations of Jesus' deity.

[34:05] Immediately after Jesus calmed the storm, Jesus single-handedly removed thousands of demons from one man. The second reason why the disciples should have reacted favorably is that this event fulfills Old Testament prophecy.

[34:21] Turn over to Isaiah chapter 65. We'll read the first four verses of Isaiah 65. Being Jews, the disciples would have been familiar with this prophecy of Isaiah.

[34:37] Here are Isaiah 65 1-4. God is speaking in these verses and he says, I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me.

[34:49] I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name.

[35:00] I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices. A people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks, who sit in tombs and spend the night in secret places, who eat pigs' flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels.

[35:28] Do you see the instances where Jesus' actions in our passage tonight fulfill the Isaiah prophecy? Jesus went to people who did not ask for him. Those people, Gentiles, were a nation that was not called by his name.

[35:44] Jesus welcomed the people, but the people rebelled against him, following their own devices instead. Now look at Isaiah 65.4 again.

[35:56] God through Isaiah mentions people who sit in tombs and spend the night in secret places, who eat pigs' flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels.

[36:08] Almost certainly, some of the people who rejected Jesus that day later ate the broth of tainted meat from those very pigs. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he told the disciples that they were going across the Sea of Galilee.

[36:24] The disciples had some lessons to learn. Jesus had an appointment to keep. Jesus knew that he would deliver the demoniac and the demoniac's companion. And Jesus knew that he would fulfill prophecy.

[36:38] Jesus purposely did everything recorded about him in scripture. Tonight's passage is a true story, but it also is a picture of us.

[36:50] Everyone was once like that demoniac. None of us may have been living in a cemetery naked and screaming. However, each one of us was just as hopeless before we encountered Jesus.

[37:04] Everyone was facing eternal death. And if you have yet to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus alone for your salvation, you still are facing eternal death.

[37:15] But the Bible has good news for those who repent of their sins and trust Jesus for their salvation. Listen to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 5.

[37:27] Ephesians 2 1 through 5 say, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now 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, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

[37:58] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

[38:10] By grace you have been saved. Just as God and Jesus delivered the demoniac, God and Jesus delivered us. Remember what Jesus told the now former demoniac in Mark 5, verse 19.

[38:25] Jesus told 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. Jesus' use of the word Lord there is speaking about the role of God the Father in the man's redemption.

[38:44] Jesus still tells all believers the same thing. Here's a quote from J.C. Ryle. He said, Let us pray that God will guide us in all our ways after conversion and not allow us to go wrong in our choices or to make hasty decisions.

[39:01] The place and position which is most healthy for us is the one in which we are kept most humble. Most taught our own sinfulness, drawn most to the Bible and prayer, led most to live by faith and not by sight.

[39:16] It may not be quite what we like, but if Christ by his providence has placed us in it, let us not be in a hurry to leave it. Let us stay there with God.

[39:28] The great thing is to have no will of our own and to be where Jesus would have us be. Then he continued, If we have anything to tell others about Christ, let us resolve to tell it.

[39:42] Let us not be silent. If we have found rest in the gospel, let us speak to our relations and friends and families and neighbors according as we have the opportunity and tell them what the Lord has done for our souls.

[39:59] All are not called to be ministers. All are not intended to preach, but all can walk in the steps of the man of whom we have been reading and in the steps of Andrew and Philip and the Samaritan woman.

[40:14] The best way to close tonight's passage is to encourage each other to follow Jesus' instructions, and that is, go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how much he has had mercy on you.

[40:29] Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for another reminder of the power that you have. You not only have power over nature, as we saw last time, you have power over demons.

[40:45] Let us always remember that believers are watched over by that power, and even if we may not be in the position we would like, you are still there with us, and you're providentially watching over us.

[41:00] Help us be more willing to tell our friends and family and others about what you have done for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[41:10] Thank you.