A demon-affected man ran to Jesus. He was delivered for Jesus saw and loved him. He became a witness and soon many were looking for Jesus. (Mark 5:1-20)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller
Sermon 12182
11:00 AM on 10/17/2021

P. Schaller –

Okay. One introductory thought I’d like to share with you from 1 John. 1. I’m thinking of this when we are
worshiping a few minutes ago in song and coming very briefly but coming together and we all
have different places we come from. Maybe some of you are disappointed with yourself and you come to the church and you don’t have a lot of assurance. It might be like this poem: “love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew
back guilty of dust and sin but quick-eyed love observing me grow slack” – like love is watching
me back off “from my first entrance in. Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning if I lacked
anything. Aghast I answered worthy to be here.” This is old English, but it means I don’t feel that
I deserve to be here. “Love said you shall be he the unkind, ungrateful my dear. I cannot look on
thee. Love took my hand and smiling did reply, who made the eyes, but I. Truth Lord, but I have
marred them. I’ve looked at the wrong thing that my shame go where it doth deserve, and know
ye not, says Love, who bore the blame. My dear then I will serve. You must sit down, says Love,
and taste my meat. So I did sit and eat.”

I like that poem because it reminds me of Song of Solomon when love was there and I said in
my heart I am black but comely. I am common but comely. I am unworthy but you love me. So
how do we approach God but by faith. I remember being in Bible college and sometimes having
discouraging times where I felt indifferent, but I would come into the class and pastor would lead
us in prayer, worship. Sometimes he would say raise your hands, and I didn’t feel like raising my
hands, but I understood that I’m going to just do it by faith. By faith I am going to act in faith. I
come to the church by faith, sometimes just by faith. I make a decision. Then I sing by faith.
Then I believe that God is for me, not against me. Because we live by faith.

So much happens in your life when you learn to live by faith, because we do have these moods
where we back off and feel the dust and the guilt and the shame and the sin in my life. But I
come by faith through the blood of Christ. It says this in 1 John. 1 and I’ll finish with this very
important, vs. 7-9. Well, I don’t feel that but I live by faith in it. And it’s true. He cleanses us from
all unrighteousness. Unknown unrighteousness and known unrighteousness. Things I know
about and things I don’t know about. And I am cleansed. We are cleansed. vs. 10. Very simply,
when you and I and this is beautiful fellowship today. When we come, it’s a life of faith. None of
us are worthy of it. We come by faith and we act in faith. We decide in our heart to trust him and
we are cleansed. We are free. We worship him. We drink the same spirit, the Holy Spirit in 1
Corinthians 12. Amen.

Okay we have three parts to what I want to say today. First one is many of you know P. Dan
Cergione and remember the battle he’s had with covid. How about it? How many know about it?
We’ve been praying fervently for him. We love him. Do we love him? Love him. He got out of the
hospital after how many days? 50 days? 60 days? 55 days. So many times in this room we
talked about him and we asked for prayer and many – P. Butch, Nick and Debbie, Kevin, many
people have been involved to help and his sister Ann, who flew out from Denver. We thought, I
did, I thought we lost him. I thought we lost him. I couldn’t believe it. I was saying, no. That
cannot. Many of us. P. Scibelli. Many of us. No, that cannot happen. Remember? We were
fighting and he was fighting. He was fighting. I don’t know a tougher guy, but it was God. God
saved his life. God saved his life really. And he went into the hospital weighing 202 pounds. He
came out weighing 157, and a lot of you are jealous about that! You wish! In your dreams! But
he’s here this morning. There he is! Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Halleluiah! The Lord did it! The Lord
did it! Wow! Right, P. Dan? The Lord did it. And you’re a fighter. And the glory goes to God,
really. Thank you, Lord. Wow!

Covid is real. How many of you have had covid? Most of us. About a year ago it went through our church kind of and we survived and this was a close call but God answered prayer. He did. We’re sorry for those who have lost loved ones and our great hope regarding our future meeting them and being with them forever. Wow. Amazing.
Okay. Let’s see. I had three things. That was #1. #2 is I think we’ll go to Mark 5 in our text today.
Love. Love. Loving Jesus. The person. Loving Jesus. I said this morning that I took four hours yesterday and just sat and read the Gospel of Mark and this story touched my heart. My first
thought in reading the Gospel was the love, the love that God has for us, that he would come
and be a man and walk amongst us and be so kind and be so human and be so gracious and
so wise and to touch our lives. Not everybody’s life is touched. When Jesus comes, he may walk past you, but he loves you. He is after you. He will save you.

I was on the Eastern Shore on Friday and I talked to a man outside a restaurant at a picnic table
and wanted to just spend some time with him. I didn’t know him. He was listening and he said
he had just gotten out of rehab and his older brother had died last March. It touched him very
much. He lost his brother who used to get him ready in the morning, dress him for school while
he was still asleep as a kid. He said my big brother was like my dad and I lost him. So I shared
with him, gave him my phone number. I texted him. I’m encouraging him. I don’t know what will
touch him. I do not know what will change his life. I’ll probably never see him again but this is
the way we live. Jesus is here. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he is love. God is love. God
loves people. So do I. So do you. We love people. To be honest, sometimes I don’t. I don’t love
people. I don’t care about them. I read a story about a building that had collapsed on some
people and there was a guy on the outside and he was indifferent to it. People hurried to dig
people out of the rubble and he didn’t care.

Then a woman came to him and said, Bill, your brother is in there and it totally changed. He took his coat off and he went digging and digging and digging. My brother is in there. Should we care about people that are around us? I don’t
care. Yes, you do care. God cares. A drug addict, a homeless person, a university student, an
arrogant person you work with, somebody at the hospital, somebody at the police station,
somebody you don’t know. Oh no, no. Jesus is here. You see, Jesus is here. That’s the key. Not
you and me but Jesus is here. Jesus changes people. Jesus does the work. Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. God cares. God saves. God changes people. Jesus is here. Here is the first point: God loves
you and you love God. What’s the first commandment? Turn to your neighbor and tell them the
first commandment. Talk to your neighbor for a second. What’s the key word? Love. Love. Love.
Love. Love. Love of many will wax cold. Love of many will wax cold. We will be selfish, but not
you, not me – well, yes, but no because God is love. Love. Love God with all your heart, mind –
the mind? The mind. What’s my mind feeding on? What am I thinking about? What am I
reading? What am I watching?

Learn to shut it down. Learn to turn it off. Learn not to follow the advertisement. Learn to stay away from it. Learn to deny yourself. Learn to live in the Spirit, walk by faith. I’m not doing that because I live by faith. I’m not doing that because I’m living by faith. This is a new way of life. This is life with Jesus.
It’s good to have P. Dan Lightsey here and Sandy. P. Dan, we love you. We love you. And
Sandy. Very much. Okay. Go to the text now. Mark 5:1, who came out of the ship? Jesus. Oh,
they came across. It’s about 4 miles from this side to that side. They come across to that area
over there and he gets out of the ship. I can see it. Vs. 2. You never know what you might meet
in a day. You never know what you and I might meet a man with an unclean spirit. You and I
standing in line. You and I at a coffee shop. You and I on the street. There might be somebody
with an unclean spirit. Jesus came there and there’s the man is living in the tombs and of course cemetery is an
unclean place for a Jew. Jesus could go anywhere he wanted because he is God. He made the
cemetery. He made the earth. He made the world and he’s over it.

The wind and the sea obey him. He’s able to make a difference. He is Jesus Christ. God in the flesh. On the scene at a
place with a man who identified him. Vs. 3-4. This man is out of his mind. He’s insane. He’s
powerful. He’s demon possessed. Nobody can control him and the chains had been plucked,
the fetters broken. No man could tame him. I wonder if that is happening in the world today? Wonder if there is some unsolved problem, something beyond our powers, something way beyond our ability, something beyond
psychology and prison internment and beyond money and beyond people and beyond family. I
wonder if there is something in this world that is totally beyond us, but it’s not beyond Jesus.
You know in history there have been terrible times in the history of our country where evil things
have happened but then after there was revival. There’s been many times in history when there
is an evil thing, an evil king or war or something evil that happens and then there is a revival.
Don’t be afraid of the day you live in. We are above it. We are empowered by God. We are
anointed of God. We have the mind of God. We have the Spirit of God.

We have prayers that move mountains, that change people. We have Christ.
Christ is teaching us something here. Notice, I want you to look up on the screen. There’s four
groups. There’s Jesus. There’s the disciples. There’s the demoniac. And then there’s the
general population, the people there watching the pigs. This is before the miracle and this is
after the miracle. Keep your eye on this. What’s going to happen before and after. Look at
chapter 5:5. Can you feel it? Do you see it? A man wasted. A man’s life destroyed. A man’s life
no relations with people. Suffering, tormented day and night. Doing the abnormal with
supernatural strength. Cutting himself and suffering. Crying with loud voices.
vs. 6. How come? Demons know us. Demons know us. Did you hear that? Demons know us. If
we have the Holy Spirit, we belong to God. If we are anointed of God, there’s a spiritual
authority, spiritual reality that they discern it. They recognize it. Who is that? Who is that? Who
is that? Isn’t that amazing.

The demons said in Acts 19, Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are
you? You’re nothing. I know Jesus and I know Paul and this means that your life with God is a
gift. It’s from God. You have the Spirit of God. You have the mind of God. You have Christ in
you. And the demons know the church. They know the church. That’s why they are against it.
They know the Gospel. They know what it is when we are preaching with an anointing. They
know when we have a different kind of assembly. It’s not a rock and roll concert. That’s their
assembly. This is ours. This is where we get fed. This is where we understand things more
clearly. This is where our heavenly Father speaks to us. This is where we have authority over
demonic power. This is where somebody could be healed. Somebody’s life can be changed.
This is different.

So in the story, the man sees Jesus, runs to him, falls down, and worships him. Do the demons
worship God? No, they don’t worship God. But they know. This is something to show us. They
cannot help but recognize it and the reality of it. This man went down before Christ and
recognized who he was. Read it with me. vs. 7. #1. What do I have to do with you Jesus, Son of
the Most High God? Another text, another encounter, the demonized man said in Mark 1, leave
me alone. What do I have to do with you? Did you come to torment me before my time? This is
real. This is spiritual. By the way, you see the advertisements at the holiday season. There’s Halloween and all those
crazy movies and everything. I would not sit one second. I have no interest in demonic activity.
You are to be wise concerning good and simple concerning evil. You are never to go to a
séance. Never go to a palm reader. Never go to a psychic person. Have nothing to do with any
demonic activity. It is forbidden. You might bring a demon home with you. You might heap upon
yourself trouble. You have nothing to do with it.

And this man is saying I don’t have anything to do with you Jesus. I have nothing to do with you.
And we say amen. You don’t have anything to do with him. You are of another kingdom. You
have another mind. You are evil. You are destructive. You have nothing to do with us and we
got nothing to do with you. There’s a big chasm between us and you are not to entertain any of
that stuff. Okay. So, what happens here? vs. 8. Come out of him. Why did Jesus say come out
of the man? Because Jesus loves that man. That’s why. Why did he say that? Because Jesus
came to seek and to save, to give liberty to those that are bound. Because Jesus wants that
man free. Because Jesus has more power than Satan. That’s why.

Do you remember that funny story P. Jagea told up in Maine? He was in a prison cell with a
murderer. The man was a Satan worshipper. The man was arrogant and a Satan worshipper.
He said my God is stronger than your God. P. Jagea said, oh really? Repeat that please. My
God is God and he’s stronger than your God. P. Jagea said no he isn’t. He said, yes he is. My
god is Satan and Satan is stronger than your God. P. Jagea said, alright. Let’s put it to the test.
The guy said, okay. So P. Jagea called the guard and said open the door. The guard opened
the door. He stepped out. The guard shut the door. P. Jagea said, now it’s your turn! My God
got me out of your jail cell. Your god can’t do that.

Seriously, it’s a real thing. We are built up in God. We are worshipers of God and know the
treasures that are in him. Colossians 2:3, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings
in Christ Jesus. Don’t worry about the material things and stay away from covetousness and
sensuality and sexual lust. Don’t feed that. You have a sin nature, but your sin nature is not a
blessing for me. Your sin nature takes you down and narrows your world with guilt and shame
and fear. Your sin nature reduces your life to you. But by faith, we come by faith. We live by
faith. Repent of those demonic things and sinful things that are the rudiments of our flesh and
the world. Live by faith and the devil will know your name.

So, what did Jesus say to the man? The demons called Legion which is the word for the military
group, the battalion or the group of men that was 6,000 in number. That’s why many Bible
teachers say that this man had 6,000 demons in him. That’s incredible. He was absolutely
blinded and under the influence of these powers. There we have one spirit mentioned, unclean
spirit. vs. 8-11. I wonder how demons think. They are spirits, so they don’t have bodies. And to
be in our world, you need to have a body. Of course, you can do your activity in a spiritual
realm, would be a blessing demonically speaking. I have a human being I can use. I can use his
hands. I can have him make a phone call. I can use his hands to make a weapon. I can kill
somebody. I have a body. If I had an animal body, I could live in an animal body and cause
trouble by being in an animal, a demon. A demon would love to express itself, of course, and the
higher ranking the human being is, the more devastating the demon can have its effect, its
influence.

To be in Adolf Hitler was a huge, big game changer. The demonic world did so much evil work
destroying the lives of millions of people. Literally a whole generation of German people. A
whole generation of European people. Huge devastating power done by evil in a man, in a man.
Now they are living in this man who is not of that status, but he is living there causing havoc in
the countryside there. I want to get going and say a few things. vs. 12. Would we go to hell?
Would we go to hell? Apparently not. If we were to be God’s advisor, we would say, Lord, the
world is better without them. Send them to hell. But he didn’t. It’s not their time.
The demons are allowed to be in this world. They are used to train us. They do evil in the world
but God has allowed for the evil to be here. It’s part of our training. It’s part of his purpose. To
fulfill his purpose he uses evil as a tool. He allows it. You are not to be part of the evil. You are
not to be submitted to it. You are not to be a part of it. You and I are to resist the devil and he
will flee from us. We are to have authority over and put him under our feet for he is under
Christ’s feet.

But Jesus accommodated their request. Send us into the swine. Maybe there wasn’t any human
being around in the area that would qualify in God’s mind, but the pigs which were unclean
animals anyway to a Jew. Pigs. They could go into the pigs, so they did. They ran down the
slope into the sea. Pig suicide. It does sound funny but it’s sad. It’s sad that a demon could drive
a man to suicide. A man to the abnoral, to the absurd, to the wicked. Cross dressing.
Homosexuality. This transgender stuff is demonic. It’s demons doing that which is not normal. A
man killing his mother or a child. This is not correct. This is contrary to natural law that is in the
heart of man. Demons are active in this world and doing many evil things, and even taking
whole groups of people into error, into deception, into that which is wrong. This is happening in
this picture.vs. 13. Fat does float. Fat does float.

When these pigs drowned, did they float. You can imagine. Did they sink right away. Where did they go? They were gone. vs. 14-17. Before the miracle and after, who was Jesus after the miracle? I’m sure Jesus was thankful to his Father, obedient, calm, understood it, dealt with the evil. It’s finished. Jesus, what about the pigs and the loss that
way? Nothing to me. It means nothing to me. It’s not the point. The man’s soul, the man’s life.
A man is more valuable than 2,000 pigs. A man’s life he can go back home to his wife and
children. A man’s life transformed. He can become a minister, a messenger. Like Jesus, what
would they say after? When they said, leave us, Jesus. Depart from us. It may be like the worse
prayer in the Bible. Leave us, Jesus. Go away from us. You are nothing but trouble. Everywhere
you go, it means trouble. Do you understand how that could happen? I do. Jesus humbly,
quietly leaves. Learn of me. I am meek and lowly. I didn’t come to bring – I didn’t come to – you
don’t understand how I operate. I could call 10,000 angels. Didn’t he say that to Pilate? I am the
king of the Jews but I am not using that authority now. I am coming as a servant. I delivered this
man and this is my mission.

But Lord, isn’t there like fall out? What’s the word for that? Consequences? Collateral damage.
That’s it. Collateral damage of your miracle. Yeah, there is, but you got to figure that out. I’m not
going to explain myself. Will there be collateral damage if you are a disciple. Yeah. My family
might get upset. I might lose some money. I could lose a house or a job or my career. It could
be. There’s collateral damage if I follow Jesus and walk with Jesus and trust Jesus. There could
be. Jesus, what do you have to say to that? I could give you much more. I could give you a
hundred fold. There is no man that has left house and family that did not receive from me a
hundred fold. I got it covered. I got you covered. You have high priority for me and I’m going to
take care of you.

The second group were the disciples who saw it all happen and they’re like looking at each
other and when they leave the shore and climb into the boat, they get into the boat and they are
probably looking at each other. They listen to the man. That’s this man here, the third one. This
man is in his right man and wants to follow Jesus. I can see them standing at ankle deep water
at the shore line and the man is there too who has been healed. He wants to get in the boat and
go with them. Maybe. Or the shore, whatever it was. The man is making the intention and he’s
saying to Jesus, I go with you. I follow you. Jesus is saying, no. Go back and tell them what I’ve
done for you.

This man, this is the point of the story. This is our target. This is what we are looking for. The
rest is, you know. The general population goes this way. vs. 17-18. Jesus is in the ship, you
know, like ten inches of water. Something like that. Two feet of water and he wants to come. vs.
19. Go home to your friends. Does he have any friends? He has friends. I’m sure when he goes
home, the kids and the friends, and the chatter, they see him coming. The first reaction is hide.
Get away from him. He’s out of his mind. Hide from him. No, no. He’s changed. It takes an
afternoon, a while, an hour. It takes a while to be with him to realize he has changed. Maybe a
minute. His eye is clear. His words are clear. His heart is seen. His quietness is there. His
satisfaction is there. His general state of being is healthy.

The man has changed. How could he become that person but by Jesus Christ coming into the world to do this and to change people. To save us. To forgive us. To give us the Spirit. To renew our heart and mind. To give us a
direction and to have wisdom and love in our life We never had it before but he gives it to us.
Last part here, vs. 19-20. I’ve been there in the Decapolis. The ruins of the Decapolis, right
there south of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan valley the Romans built. There were ten
different suburbs and they knitted them altogether. Though it’s a city of ten, there’s the Roman
pillars along the ruins. You can see the granite stone tables where they would sell things and I
could see this man when we were there in Israel. I thought of him coming from the Sea of
Galilee and coming down and coming to that highly populated area and telling everybody what
had happened to him. I could see Jesus going on the boat back on the Sea of Galilee and how
the people saying go away from us. Go away from us.

And that’s how it is today, too. The world is saying, we don’t need you. United States of America, we don’t need you. We don’t need God. We don’t need the church. We don’t need the
Bible. We don’t need preachers. Get out of here. We don’t need you. Go away. That’s okay
because we understand this. That’s how it is. But God did his work. God has a testimony. We
may not be on CNN but I can be in Rosedale. I might not be on Fox News, but I can be in Glen
Burnie. I can be in a pool hall in Glen Burnie talking to some kid and saying Jesus is the answer.
The world will say, leave us alone but there will be somebody sitting in their rightful mind saying
I am so glad that Jesus came into my life. I’m so thankful for the guys that get on the
motorcycles like P. Butch and the group and they go out and they share all day. They share the
message.

I’m so glad for us that are learning how to talk, learning how to live by faith, learning how to
share our faith. I’m so glad that God does things. He brings somebody to the church and their
lives are changed. I love it. It’s awesome. It’s what we are here for. The general population didn’t
know what was going on before and it seems like after, but eventually, eventually, they caught
on. It says in the Gospel of Luke I believe that Jesus came back later and it said that they were
waiting for him. They were waiting for him. They wanted him to come back. They were waiting
for him. I remember going to a door in a neighborhood, knocking on doors. Go away. Leave us
alone. Get off my porch. I don’t want what you are talking about. Some months later, go back to
the same door. I’ve been waiting for you. I was hoping you would come back. It happened to
me. I remember. Lana Bridges, is Lana here?

Her sister Aino, I knocked on her door in Helsinki, Finland and we had a short talk. And three weeks later, I went back and Aino said where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve been waiting for you. Her sister. Beautiful.
Don’t underestimate the value of your words, of your faith, of your prayers and of your life. The
world we live in needs us. They don’t know it but they need us. They need our love, our
motivation. They need our care. They need the Sunday School. The children need instruction.
By the way, if you are a parent, make sure your kids get training and education, not just when
they are 8 years old but when they are 18 years old. They need to be sitting in here and they
need to be instructed and guided and lead because God speaks to their hearts. Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.