Today we look at a real story. It is a great night time story that is full of frightening sounds and sights. It is vivid, and very weird and eerie. Read Mark 5:1-20

Earlier this same night, Jesus and His disciples have survived a violent, potentially deadly storm at sea. They survived because Jesus performed another miracle by calming the wind and making the sea be still. They finally reach the other side, the eastern shore. The eastern shore or the other side of the Sea of Galilee was known as the country of the Gerasenes. This was pagan territory or Gentile land. To the Jews this in and of itself was unclean territory. Jesus and His disciples land their boat at a part of this lakeside territory where there are many caves in the limestone rock. Many of those caves are used as tombs. Dead bodies are laid inside! At the best of times this is an eerie place. At night it is grim indeed.

Right off the bat, or right out of the boat, we learn of the unclean spirits. And specifically we learn of a man with unclean spirits who is banished to the tombs. The tombs and anything connected with death was considered unclean to the Jews of that day. Contact with the dead meant defilement or uncleanness for seven days. To top it all off, the region is known as swine land. Herds of pigs are raised in the area. The Old Testament thinking that swine are “unclean animals” is still prevalent in Jewish thinking at that time. It would have been Gentiles who are the herdsmen of the pigs.

Right here I need to put forward a Pig Disclaimer for those of you who collect pig things. Sorry Michelle! And perhaps a Double Pig Disclaimer goes to Keri and Dan Crane and their daughters Caroline and Margaret. They raise pigs. I encourage you to go the Ventura County Fair. Visit the 4-H animal barns and look for the Crane Resort Pigs. Pigs really are cute and some have sweet personalities. Some swine are taken as household pets. I have even read a story about a Pig that saved its owner’s life. And by the way, Dave doesn’t think I have the nerve to say: that this passage of scripture finally settles the matter on the true origins of deviled ham.

We know there are several stories in the Bible of demon-possessed people where Jesus healed them. However, it has been said that this particular story is one of the “most lamentable stories of human wretchedness in the Bible.” This man is a terror to himself and others. Other people have tried to keep this man in chains. Not just for the safety of those near him, but for his own safety.

We are told in brutal words that even "bindings" "chains" and "shackles" are unsuccessful "to subdue" the demoniac. So he has been relegated to the land of the dead. This is where, he wreaks havoc on himself day and night. He is further down than even the bottom of life - where else can he go?

This demon-filled man comes running to Jesus. He bows down in front of Jesus. But it is the demon - the unclean spirits that recognize Jesus. They know who Jesus is and what His great power can do to them. They recognize Jesus’ authority over them.

Demons, Satan's messengers, are powerful and destructive in their own right. They attempt to distort and destroy our relationship with God. Just as then, today demons and demon possession are real. Chuck Swindoll cites a story about demonic activity. He states: “The upsurge in astrological interest is unmistakable evidence of moral and social decay. Occultism rises ominously in times of world turmoil, religious apostasy, and moral decline. Carroll Righter is perhaps the best known and most successful of United States astrologers. Dubbed “the dean of American’s public astrologers,” he is one of about 10,000 full-time and 175,000 part-time practitioners in the U.S. alone. Astrology is booming and like almost everything else it is being computerized. A company called Time Pattern Research Institute, Incorporated, has programmed a computer to turn out a 10,000-word horoscope reading in two minutes. It set an early goal of 10,000 capacity in a month, with plans for continued expansion.” Swindoll takes this from Merrill Unger, Demons in the World Today.

With that startling bit of news, it should not be surprising that because of the rise of occultism and Satanism in recent years, it has been accompanied by increasing drug abuse, pornography, and obscenity. I don't want us to go off the deep end here, however, we should never let curiosity lead us to get involved with demonic forces, either.

You see, any little hold that Satan is permitted - even reading seemingly innocent astrology columns in newspapers and magazines - allows Satan eventually get a strangle hold. It is important that we believers recognize the power of Satan and his demons. Demons are powerless against those who trust in Jesus. We are told in the book of James (4:7) that we are to submit ourselves to God. And that if we resist the Devil, he/the Devil will leave us alone. It is like when the school bully incessantly picks on certain kids. You know the type: large, dark rimmed eye glasses, braces on the teeth, plastic pen holder in his shirt pocket, her skirt and blouse don’t match. Then one day these kids are seen walking with the campus football champion or the most popular and nicest gal on campus. The kids are the same. But look at the company they’re keeping now! We are still sinners. But now we submit ourselves to God. So Satan has to leave us alone. He has to because of the company we now keep!

And here we see the demons not only recognizing with whom this man is keeping company, they also recognize Jesus and know His authority and power. We also see them begging Jesus to spare them from the Abyss. The Abyss is the bottomless pit mentioned in Revelation 9:1 and 20:1-3. We know from the verses in Revelation that the demons know all about this place of confinement. They also expect their destruction on Judgement Day...but not yet. Jesus' appearance at this point prematurely anticipates the last judgment.

So Jesus continues and he asks the man his name. Hear the response. "MY name is Legion. For WE are Many!" A Legion was the largest unit in the Roman army. It would have consisted of between 3000 to 6000 soldiers. This man did not have a split personality. He was possessed by not one, but MANY demons.

These demons finally get permission from Jesus and go into the local pigs. There are no long convoluted formulas, spells, incantations or conjurations and catchwords like the ancient exorcists (and some current television characters) use in their attempt to deal with the demons. The unclean spirit is expelled from the demon-possessed man solely by the authoritative word and permission of Jesus. The power to prevail over the demonic is within Jesus Himself. He speaks and the demons are expelled. His word is deed. This assures you and me that Jesus is more powerful than any bad thing in our lives...both now and in the future.

For the record, it seems that the demons' own yelling and screeching may have been what scared the pigs to run down the steep bank and into the Lake to drown. Because the time for Jesus’ Judgment work had not yet come, is thought to be why Jesus did not just destroy the demons or send them to the Bottomless Pit right then and there. As I said, we know from other scripture passages that Jesus has healed many people of the destructive effects of demon possession. But He did not yet destroy demons. The same answer goes for the question of "Why does Jesus not put a stop to all the evil in the world?" His time for that has not yet come. But it will come.

What about until that time does come? We are reminded that Jesus helps us. He helps independently of how well we approach Him. What is needed is that we do approach Him. To approach Jesus, however inadequately, is to get help. This is called grace in Christian theological terms. Grace means unconditional favor, undeserved help. Jesus helps anyone who approaches Him, whether with personal openness, vicarious concern, fearful need, or even hostile confusion. To get near Jesus, however well or badly we do it, is to get help. Jesus helps unconditionally.

Now the townspeople have heard just how Jesus has helped this man who had been demon-possessed. After hearing this news of Jesus healing the man, "Behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus.” But it is not just to meet Jesus, is it? Because the demons destroy the pigs, the economy of the entire region will soon suffer. They blame Jesus. Listen to what comes next. “... and when they saw Him they began to entreat Him - they begged Jesus - that He would depart out of their coasts.” And so Jesus and His disciples get into the boat to go to other side.

The sad point we need to know and understand is that Jesus did not up and leave, spontaneously, of His intended will. The fact is He was driven out. After Jesus told the demons to leave then the people told Jesus to leave. Why do I make a point of this? Jesus never leaves the human heart of His own will. He never says to any one of us, "I have been here long enough. I must now leave you to yourself." Jesus never leaves of His own will.

Even when we feel we are just like the man when he was possessed - literally at the bottom and can go no further - Jesus is still with us. When we feel life’s chains holding us, Jesus’ hold is stronger. Perhaps you think that Jesus Christ is no longer with you. You are sure that you've had happier days. When you recall when Jesus was the honored and only guest of your heart, you know that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer. Let me ask: How did you treat Jesus? Did His presence become a shadow in your life? Was Jesus interfering? Was His interference burdensome to you? Did Jesus dash some thoughts of pleasure from your hands? Did He call you to sacrifices which were too painful for your life and love? Who moved?

Search yourselves. Jesus has never left a human heart because He grew tired of it. Rather He has been whipped out, scourged away, begged to depart, banished. When your heart is empty of His presence and you wonder where He has gone....think back. Be honest with yourself about the candid facts. In your honesty of confession and repentance you will experience Jesus’ love, grace and mercy.

The exciting and wondrous thing is that we see this healed man has a very different reaction than the townspeople and keeper of pigs. They have overlooked Jesus’s grace and mercy. But, this man knows first hand the grace and mercy he has just received. He wants to follow Jesus. He wants to go with Jesus. But Jesus will not let him come along. Jesus tells the man to go home. This means right back to all the people who, until a short time ago, were terribly frightened of him. Jesus sends him back to people, to family, who know of his previous condition.

Isn’t that just like Jesus? Jesus knows that He, Himself, must leave. However, this man will now carry Jesus’ message of wholeness, grace and mercy to the entire region. Jesus leaves this man behind just as you and I are put here for the same reason. What is our message to be? Above all, I believe Jesus wants us tell about His love and His grace and mercy. He wants us tell is working in our lives. People need to hear our personal and honest story how Jesus is dealing with us, and changing our lives.

Just like this man’s honest story of wholeness, grace and mercy must have had an impact on his friends and family, so will ours. Jesus wants you and me to tell those people near us, right where we are, “what great things the Lord has done, and how He had mercy on us.” Indeed, how can we receive such great things from Him and keep it quiet? Just like this man we can begin telling our story with: I am not what I once was. We know this because Jesus does not leave us. He does not leave us as we once were. And Jesus wants us to share the good news of His love, grace and mercy and actions with others.