Let's turn to the Word of God now and return again to the Gospel according to Mark as we continue our studies in Mark's Gospel. We're going to read together from Mark 4 and verse 35 and on then into chapter 5. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, don't you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet, be still. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him. They went across the lake to the region of the Gerizim. 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 any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart, 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. They heard about 2,000 and a 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 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 the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Please go away. We don't want you here. We'd rather not have you in our land. Could we imagine people saying that to the Lord Jesus Christ? Please go away. And yet we read in Mark 5 of people who said precisely that. Who very deliberately and very consciously wanted Him to go and not disturb them, not upset their way of life. not make any demands on them, not frighten them by doing strange and spectacular things. They'd seen a man whose life was in ruins, set back on a path of normality, of righteousness even, and yet they say to the one who changed that man, please go away. And yet there are so many all around us today who would say exactly that to Christ. We don't want you. We'd rather not have you here. And as we turn to Mark 5 today, we'll see something of what was driving these people. Those who would have set themselves so far above the man who was changed. And yet in reality, their plight was just the same. Now as we move into chapter 5 and we'll be ending our series at the conclusion of chapter 5, we return to that warfare we've already noted between the kingdom of God, the kingdom of evil, the powers of darkness and the light that has come in Christ. We want to look at Mark 5 and verses 1 to 20, a life transformed. That's what lies at the heart of what happens in this chapter. There are things in it difficult for us to fathom, strange things. But primarily we see a life transformed by the power of God present in King Jesus. And here we see the warfare in a particularly dramatic way. Here is the power of Satan at work in a very raw and open form. We might mention in Matthew's account he speaks of two demon-possessed men who were cured. The other gospel writers under the direction of the Spirit focus on the one man, but there was another who shared in that same grace and transformation. But the Spirit has led Mark to write simply of one of them. As we think of a life transformed, we consider first of all the demon's oppression. That's what is first evident in the account that Mark gives us. We see the evil nature of the power of Satan and the demons so clearly laid out before us. Think of the victim of this possession, this oppression of the evil one and his hosts. Here's a man who's living in the depths of degradation. We don't know what his previous life was like. But look at him now. And he is in the depths of the description there in verses 2 to 5. Almost anything human has been stripped from him by the influence of these demonic powers. He's dominated by them. He's living among the tombs. He's an outcast from respectable society. Everybody would look down on him. They might pity him. They'll certainly despise him, most of them. Here's a man for whom society has no place. He's living in the most depressing of surroundings, among the tombs. There's nothing there that in any sense will lift his spirits. No doubt many times he may well have wished to join the dead among whom he was living. Maybe he attempted it on occasion. He's a supernatural strength. You can see Satan's power in the way the man responded. Nobody can tie or chain him. They tried it. There's almost a satanic parody of someone like Samson breaking the chains that tried to restrain him. And his wailing and his crying must have increased the terror that people felt when they heard him, when they saw him. Even self-harming, cutting himself with stones. Was it his loathing of himself? Perhaps it was. Is there even something of what we see in the worship of Baal back in the Old Testament? You remember them up on the Mount? Mount Carmel with Elijah. In their frenzy, cutting themselves as they worshipped their satanic idol. Is there something of that even in this man's demeanour? Despair, self-loathing, Self-destructive infinations. I'm sure it's even made worse by people's inability to help. Chaining was no solution. That solved nothing, but it's all people could think of doing. And maybe there was some good motivation in what they were trying to do. At least hold him down and he might come to himself. Maybe that was their thinking. What the man needed, of course, was a message of transformation, of salvation. These people couldn't give him. The one thing that he needed was the one thing they weren't able to give him. They couldn't bring about any transformation and their efforts to help him were cruel rather than kind. And yet even you look at the history of medicine and psychiatry and we see so many things that were done with the view to help people that we now see were cruel. And here people confronted with the supernatural, with evil, not just disease. And their efforts to help do more harm than good. They can't solve the root problem of this man, his alienation from God, his domination by the powers of evil. And again, we see yet again, Satan's basic aim. It is to distort to destroy the work of God. Here he is, twisting at the last twisted remnants of the image of God in this poor man. He's a sinner by nature as it is. And here is Satan, even distorting what shreds of God's image are left in him, that we can see little or nothing there. So great is their dominion, they're even speaking through his mouth. As Jesus addresses the man, the demons speak. His personality is being torn from him. He's reduced almost to the animal level. They can't entirely destroy his humanity. Even in this degraded condition, he's still human. And he's not beyond the hope of the grace of God. For all that Satan has done to twist and destroy, he's not beyond the reach of Christ. But we're reminded that Satan's aim is always destructive. He'll portray it as attractive, as liberating. Isn't that what he did in the Garden of Eden? You'll be like, God, how wonderful, how attractive, how self-fulfilling. And we are in a society that looks for self-fulfillment. Realising your potential. And that's what Satan comes and offers to people. Freedom from the petty restrictions of religion. The do's and don'ts that a God lays down. And all it is, is destructive. And we see it graphically in the case of this man. Here Satan throwing off any cloak of respectability, any pretense as to what he is doing. But this is His work in every fallen, sinful person. We do here see Satan working in a very raw, open way. Evil is blatant and dramatic here. And still such open activity of Satan will be seen in pioneer missionary situations. The book that the late Professor Leakey wrote about demonology, Satan cast out arose out of requests from our missionaries in Ethiopia who were encountering the work of Satan in raw, open, blatant ways. But it's not confined to what we might regard as the primitive fringes of the world. We see increasingly in Europe a growing interest in paganism and the occult and the work of Satan. It's coming back more openly. France is a land where there are more following the occult than following Christianity. The power of Satan is becoming more and more open as we slide into paganism and darkness. But we must not be fooled by the respectable veneer that Satan often puts on. Every fallen, sinful man or woman is under the dominion of the power of evil. and belongs to the kingdom of darkness. By nature, all of us were held fast in bondage to Satan. He may not have so worked in us as he does in this man, but we were in bondage, and we must never forget that. And all that he ever brings to any human being is misery and degradation, and maybe in respectable forms, even in forms that society regards highly, And yet it's still the darkness of evil. Whilst many would look down on such a man, all outside of Christ are in the same bondage. And until the Lord touched you in grace and in mercy, you were in that bondage. We must always remember that from which the Lord has taken us and be humbled and filled with thanksgiving. the demon's oppression. So it is for every man and woman outside of Christ, we are under the dominion of darkness. Then thankfully we see here too very clearly the Lord's power. What a contrast with this destructive, degrading activity of Satan. We see the Lord himself bringing deliverance and transformation. Again, we see the royal power and authority of King Jesus demonstrated. And the demons recognize that at once. They know the one who's confronting them. And the man is brought by the demons and kneels down before Jesus in verse 6. Now, the Authorized Version says he worshipped Jesus, but he certainly didn't worship Him. It's an unwilling acknowledgement of the Lord's authority. He bows. He doesn't want to, but he bows. And the demons cry out in defiance and fear. Verse 7, shouting at the top of his voice, what do you want with me? What have we in common? The demons shaking their pathetic little fists at the King of Kings. And they recognize the absolute antithesis between the holiness of Jesus and their own filth and evil. And the two cannot coexist peacefully. It is impossible. Inevitably, there is war that can't be otherwise. They cry out His name, Son of the Most High God. And that is who Jesus is. Is there perhaps a vain attempt to gain some sort of power over Jesus? In the occult and in magic, the use of names is very important. To know the name of another power is to have some influence over it. Are the demons trying to gain some influence over Jesus? How utterly foolish! Here is their nemesis confronting them. The power of the Lord is overwhelming. Look at the irony even of what they say. Swear to God or I adjure you by God, don't torture me. The demons have the effrontery to adjure Jesus in the name of God to do anything. And it is God who stands before them and will command them and they must obey. So clearly we see Jesus' authority. The demons have to answer Him. What is your name? Now, their inclination would be not to give their name. They have no option. They have to answer. The Lord commands them, My name is Legion. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them away. Begged Him again and again. There is Satan where he belongs. quivering and crawling at the feet of King Jesus, begging for a few drops of mercy. The King has come. And the demons who were unchallenged in this man's life, who dominated him, who ruled him, who walked over him, are trembling at the feet of Jesus. They have to answer his questions. They have to obey his orders. They're in miserable subjection. and total subordination. And the Lord can do exactly what He wills with them. And they cannot resist. Why does the Lord allow the demons to go into the pigs? It's a strange episode. What exactly is happening there? He could have refused them permission. He could have sent them straight back to the pit. Why does He allow them to go into the pigs? And I think there are dimensions of this we can't fathom. There are things happening here in the spiritual realm that are beyond our grasp. But perhaps one of the reasons is it is a visible proof to this man of the reality of his deliverance. Have the demons really gone? Have they really left me? Yes. There they went. and he's assured of the reality of his salvation. Is it perhaps again showing the destructive power of the demons even in the pigs? They rush headlong into the water and they're destroyed as well. The time of their final punishment hasn't come, but even now Jesus is exercising judgment upon them. We may not be certain of all the details, But we can so clearly see the power and the authority of the Lord. Sovereign authority. Even Satan must bow before Christ. And this man is set free. Here are demons that were his masters reduced now to nothing. They are helpless. And King Jesus gives the commands that must be obeyed. The Lord's power. Again, the kingdom has come. You can see it. You can see it in this man sitting, delivered. You can see it in the pigs rushing into the water. Satan is defeated. The kingdom of God has come. The demon's oppression. The Lord's power. Then we see the man's transformation, so encouraging, so moving. A remarkable change by the power of God's grace. There in verse 15, he's sitting dressed in his right mind. What a contrast with that figure cutting himself, wailing, living away from society. Now here's a man who's been changed. life remade completely. He is a new man. He is being restored by the grace of God as life was turned from serving Satan to serving the Lord. He is under the control of another spirit now, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, rather than these unclean spirits. That is the word that is used in the Gospels that operate as evil spirits, as unclean spirits. Now it is the Holy Spirit who rules in this man's heart. Oh, he has just begun on the path to glory. He has a long, long way to go. But this is a transformation that only the Lord could effect. This man could never deliver himself. This man could never change his own heart. Here is the power of the grace of God. And yet as we marvel at what the Lord did for this man, We must remember that everyone who is brought to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ experiences a similar transformation. When you were saved, you were brought from darkness to light. You were brought from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The visible change may not have been anything as dramatic as this. I'm sure it wasn't. And yet it is the same gracious transformation that we are new men and new women in Christ. And of every Christian, Peter writes in 1 Peter 2 verse 9, God's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now, if you were brought up in a Christian home, godly parents, grandparents, godly influences, Perhaps you don't realize the extent of the transformation that happened when you were saved. Perhaps we take it for granted. Well, I had a godly upbringing. I was brought to church and Sabbath school. It was only a little step for me into the kingdom. No, it wasn't. For you, as for this man, it was from darkness to light. It was from death to life. Never forget that salvation is of grace from start to finish, and only the power of God could save you. However respectable your sins might have been, whatever the home from which you came, it took the power of God to save you. It is a transformation. Its effects will be seen. They will be seen in the way we live, in our motivations, our thinking, everything about us. But it is all of grace. This man has been changed. Now he wants to be a disciple. He wants to go with Jesus, we read in verse 18. Begged to go with Him. No wonder. We can understand that. We would have wanted to do it ourselves. He wants to go with Jesus. To be with Him. This is the man who has transformed Him. Who has given Him a new life. He wants to be with Him. The Lord has another mission for this man. to be a witness, to be an evangelist in his own Gentile district. This isn't Jewish territory. This is pig-raising Gentile territory. People who don't have their own testament, go and be a missionary. Go and be an evangelist. In the hardest mission field, go to your own family, your relatives, your friends, the people who know you, and tell them. It is a great responsibility. It is a tremendous task this man is given. But yet, hasn't he such a testimony to give? Go, Jesus says. Go home to your family. Tell them. Tell them what? How much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you. There's that man's testimony. And his life bore it out. People would look at him and think, I remember him. Think of what he was like. Look how different he is. And the man will say, the Lord did it. The Lord had mercy. But isn't that the testimony we all have? It may be dramatic. The Lord may not have lifted us out of the gutter, but he saved us. He brought us from death to life. We have the same testimony. We can tell others how the Lord has had mercy on us. We can tell others how much the Lord has done for us. Not in a way that glorifies us and presents us as impressive people. That's not our testimony. It's what the Lord has done for us. How He has had mercy on us. And that's the testimony you and I have to give to a world that needs to hear what God has done. What God has done in Christ to provide salvation. What God has done in our experience to save us and bring us into the kingdom of King Jesus. We have that testimony. And we must give that testimony. The world needs to hear. The world needs to hear of a transformation that only God can work. And we have the responsibility and the privilege of going to our community, our family circles, where we live, where we witness and speak of Christ and how the Lord has had mercy on us. Transformation. A new man. And how evident that would be. And under the blessing of God, others would come to experience that salvation. One more word we need to say in conclusion. But think for a moment of the people's opposition. The people's opposition. You might expect people would be delighted at what had happened to this man. They'd be leaping with joy. Here was a man who was being destroyed by demons. And now he's clothed, he's in his right mind. And what is their response? They want to get Jesus to leave. The one man they need is the one man they want to leave. Go away. You're upsetting us. We don't want any more of this. Go away. Not perhaps chiefly the loss of the pigs, though I'm sure that counted. But they're afraid of Jesus' power. What will they do next? Who can tell? What might happen? Life was alright before He came. Please leave. Jesus often comes and upsets and changes and makes people uncomfortable. And they don't want it. And they don't want to face His demands. They don't want to listen to the Gospel that He brings. The wonderful transformation of this demon-possessed man should have had people flocking to Jesus to receive the same blessing, the same transformation. But they've no sense of need. No consciousness of sin. There is no thought in their minds, I'm a sinner too. They'd look down on this man. They'd despise him. They did not for one moment think they had the same need that he had. The need of grace. and salvation. And all that Jesus represents to them is a threat to their comfort, to their ease, to living life the way they want to live it. A threat to self. They don't want King Jesus because they're satisfied with king self, as all sinners are until God opens their eyes and they miss the blessing they could have had. We pray that those around us who hear our testimony of what the Lord has done for us and eyes have mercy on us will respond differently. That there will be those whose eyes will be opened by the Lord and see they have the same heart made that only the Lord Jesus Christ can meet. How sad when people see Jesus only as a threat. Somebody to be got rid of. Somebody who makes them uncomfortable. And there are many, many people like that. They don't want the Gospel. And they've no sense of need. May God open the eyes of many who hear our testimony, our witness, our preaching. That God will be pleased to transform them. Bring them in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. And give them that same testimony to God's mercy and God's grace in Christ. And may we rejoice at every sinner who is saved. And praise God and delight in it. And long for more and more. May we be faithful to the Lord's commission to all of us. Tell others how he has had mercy on you.