From Jesus teaching and performing many miracles, he then travels over the Sea of Galilee. During that travel, as we saw last week, he showed his power and authority by stilling the storm. In essence, he's going from a wild storm to a wild man, both untamable, but Jesus tamed them both. In Matthew, there was reference to two men who were possessed. Mark only deals with one. There's no contradiction here. There's no reason why Mark, or Luke for that matter, who does the same, has to concentrate on two of them and not one of them. So Mark simply concentrates on one of them. And as I'm preaching for Mark, I will follow that narrative and thus be only referring to one of them. Now, one thing we'll see here is that there was a great heartlessness in the way the demon-possessed man is dealt with by everybody except Jesus. Well, we don't know what the disciples thought of it, so maybe say Jesus and the disciples, but from those round about, they were totally heartless. They seemed to only care about a herd of pigs. No interest in the fact that the man had been cured, put on his right mind. And indeed, the area roundabout then becomes a safe place because you no longer have this wild man to terrify everyone. Like the Pharisees and the scribes who had no care for the healed people that the Lord healed, but only cared that it didn't happen on the Sabbath. because of their laws, and note I say their laws, not God's laws. Jesus Christ did not break any of the laws of God, but their man-made, invented laws did not allow any healing on the Sabbath. They cared not a whit for the suffering that our Lord was alleviating. They only cared for their made-up rules and regulations. They were heartless. And so were many of those in this piece of history. But Jesus shines out. He shines out from the healings before on the Sabbath. He shines out here to this demon-possessed man. He shines out as the compassionate Savior. So our text is Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 to 20. The theme is our compassionate Savior. And we have three points. desperation, restoration, and contrast. So, first of all, desperation, coming from verses 1 to 5. This man is in a desperate state indeed. We're told he was dwelling among the tombs, that is, dwelling in the graveyard. Now, as far as I know, we all live in houses. And I'm sure if you weren't living in the house, your first choice of place to live would probably not be the local graveyard. Well, I trust it wouldn't be the local graveyard. But that's where this man was living. He was living in amongst the tombs. He wasn't picking any place nice. And no one could bind him, not even with chains. There's an unnatural strength to pull apart chains, which surely, I would say, in this case, indicated that there was a demonic strength that was given that was not natural. Because I'm sure when they tried to bind him with chains, they were using something that was strong that you wouldn't normally be able to destroy. And yet, it says, he pulled them apart. He lived in the mountains and the tombs. Now, of course, there's no contradiction here. It's simply meaning that while he dwelt among the tombs, so he probably slept in amongst them, he obviously lived there and he moved round about. He didn't just go in the graveyards, he moved around about in the area round about. Roaming the hills, crying out and cutting himself with stones, what we would nowadays call self-harm. I've known people over the years, especially before as a Christian, as a teenager, who committed self-harm to themselves. And to put it mildly, it was manic, unsettling, and downright horrible to witness. Even as an atheist, alcoholic, cannabis dopehead, I still found it manic and unpleasant to witness and to see people committing self-harm. It is not healthy, to put it mildly, and this man was doing this. Most nowadays people do it because they, whether it be depression or something else, spiritual depression, more natural depression, mental illness, but this man is doing it because he is possessed of demons and a whole host of them. In all this we see the hatred of the devil, the hatred of the devils, or depending on our translation of demons, I use the two words interchangeably, it's talking about the same things, that is the fallen angels. It's the same thing, but we see here the hatred they have towards us all and it is shown in this man. This hatred to drive him into the tombs, this hatred to have him crying out in this despair, this hatred that he's cutting himself and hurting himself, this hatred that even when those around him try to chain him up, perhaps even to some extent for his own protection, but they still would break the bands asunder so that he could harm himself. And of course, he is isolated. There was obviously two of them, but I don't think there were two of them having happy, comforting fellowship together. They would have been as manic as each other. dangerous to interact with, isolated from normal society and harming themselves. There is a picture of what the devil thinks of us and what he wants to do, and when possible, the demons were seeking to do as they did here. It's a desperate state. This here is not an illness. This is possession by demons. For an illness, including severe mental illness, treatment is required, not exorcism. Maybe they need to be spiritually counseled as well, but they need the proper medical treatment. Some Christian groups cause enormous damage by claiming to cast out demons when they're not. In fact, I remember well in the early 90s, one person who I am convinced had mental illness. But where we were, he was having demons so-called cast out of him. And of course, he was getting worse and worse, and no surprise at that. However, here that is not the case. Here we're talking about a clear case of demon possession. And we see the desperation that this man had. But while we look at the desperate case of this man here, let's not forget that this is also a picture of the desperate case we're all in if we're not born again and if we're not trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. We're in effect in no better state. Though we might not be in His specific state and in that particular desperate way, we may have a much more civilized way of behaving in what we call our right mind. But if we only half understood our desperate sinfulness, then we would see our desperate situation. And for all of us who trust in Christ, we of course see our desperate condition if we're not in Christ. Sometimes we look upon others, and we make the comparison to say that we're not as bad as other people, and we're not as bad as this possessed man. But of course, the comparison we need to make is between us and the laws of God, us and what God calls what is right and what is wrong. That is the correct comparison, which is why we all need Christ. We all need to trust in Him. We all need that sacrifice on the cross to pay the price for our sins so that we will be saved. Repent and believe the gospel. I know we know that here, looking out, I know everybody here knows that. But let us be reminded the desperate state that we've been taken out of by trusting in Christ and brought in to that newness of life. As we mentioned this morning with the two testimonies, one from a crisis moment and the other, that gradual knowledge being brought up in the admonition and fear of the Lord. It's not a matter of the timing and how long it takes. It's a matter of trusting in that compassionate Savior who restores us from our natural state of sin and death and under the judgment of God to the power of sin being broken and being restored through having life in Christ and being able to go to heaven. Which leads us to our second point, restoration, which comes from verses 6 to 13. But just ask the question, first of all, why was there such a surge of possessed people at the time of Christ? Why did the cases of possession reduce so quickly after Christ's death and resurrection? Why did the cases and acts become rare and then they disappear altogether? And there's no instructions regarding such things in the epistles, in the letters. Because like all of the miracles that were being performed by Jesus, They were there to show forth the power of God through Jesus Christ. To show that despite all the devil's attempts to thwart the gospel, and naturally, he made a huge surge in attempt to thwart the gospel of Christ. He failed, of course. He thought he succeeded, no doubt, when he put Christ on the cross. Of course, it wasn't him who put them there. That was under the hand of the providence of God. But that, of course, was his place of his final defeat. So all these miracles, all these times when people were healed, all showed forth the power of Jesus Christ. It showed that He came as the Messiah, proved that He was the Messiah, and that He is God and with all authority. And remember, all of these miracles, like the stilling of the storm was performed by Him as God. Yes, He is God-man, but it was as God that he performed these miracles. It wasn't as man, it was as God. In the same way as God, he didn't have to go to sleep. He wasn't tired as God, he was tired as man. It is one person with two natures working in perfect harmony. And here, Well, and in Acts, just to finish that bit of the point, in Acts, that authority that he had was designated to the apostles for the setting up of the New Testament church. Therefore, they cast out demons. Therefore, they healed. And then, of course, as that power was set up to be able to start the church in that way, as you go through the book of Acts, there was less and less miracles. because the establishment of the authority of the apostles so that they could write all these letters as the Word of God for us to read was therefore given and settled. Just why today there are no more apostles. We do not need them. Now, why do I say all that? I say all this because here again we see the authority of Christ over the kingdom of the devil. Not just in relation to one demon and after another, which of course he did thousands because he cast out thousands of demons one after the other, but here we see it happening over many at one time. Now a Roman legion consisted of about 4,000 men, depending on your exact point of history, that varies from about 3 to 7,000. Round about the time of Christ it was about 4,000. But I don't think it's to do with the exact number, because as It was said, when Legion answered, for we are many. And that is the point. And in the reference to the Legion, and being called Legion, we can take it to be thousands, for we are many. So let's note a few things. First of all, the demons could not deny that Jesus is God. Now they, when they worshiped, it's not a faithful worship, but there's nothing else they could do. The fact that the demons could do nothing outside of the sovereignty of God, and like Satan, when Satan came before Job, they had no option other than to acknowledge God as God. They couldn't do anything else, because they know that he is God. It says in James, the devils know that he's God, and yet they tremble. So why did Jesus ask the question? First of all, they didn't ask a question to give some precedent in dealing with devils or demons. In other words, so that those who claim to cast out demons will say, well, they tried to have a conversation to find out the name of the demons, so that they think, no, that's not why this happened at all. I would say there's a combination of two reasons. One, so that the man can see his troubles and understand the full extent of his deliverance. Remember, as we'll see shortly, he then was going into Decapolis and to that area and telling people what Jesus did for him. And he was then able to say, I was possessed by a legion of demons, and this one saved me from it. But he could only say that if he knew that. This meant it was known. And also, secondly, to show the disciples and us the power that Jesus Christ had over the devil and his demons. It didn't matter whether the devil, whether it was one demon that came, or whether it was thousands of demons that came. Our Lord could cast them out with a word. And when the devil himself came to try to tempt Jesus three times, he failed. So neither the devil himself, individual demons, or thousands of demons, none of them could thwart Jesus Christ. Because He is the Savior, He is God, and indeed He's also, of course, the perfect man. Now, of course, the time had not come for the end of the world and that final punishment for the devil and his followers. Hell, remember, we're told, is made for the devil and his angels. And then, of course, all those who do not believe. So their request, being unable to stay in the man for the Lord had ordered them out, they sought to cause more trouble for their Lord by entering the pigs or the swine. Our Lord granted them permission. Some people think, ah, you see, the Lord gave them permission, therefore the demons were able to make requests of the Lord and get His own way. No, you see, what this shows is the opposite. It shows they could do nothing without the permission of Jesus. They couldn't leave the demons and just go straight into the swine. They had to ask permission. Like when the devil came before God in regard to Job, he had to ask permission, in effect, to get what he said. Well, we didn't quite ask permission, but it's the same principle. So as it were, he's saying, well, you know, Job's only worshipping you because, you know, you'll stave his own skin. And God says, well, you can now harm a skin, you just can't kill him. He couldn't do anything without the permission of God. In other words, this is showing the sovereignty of God. And when the Apostles cast out demons. It was doing the same thing because they were doing it by delegated authority and they were showing out the authority of God. So when you hear these so-called demon slayers and stuff today claiming about, I have the authority. No, the authority is always God's authority, which is one of the many reasons we can discount these people because they are seeking and claiming to do these things themselves. But don't lose track of this wonderful restoration. Our compassionate Savior has restored our tormented man back to normal. Indeed, beyond normal, because now he becomes a follower of Jesus, as we'll see in a moment. From such desperation to hope and gladness, not even a multitude of devils could stand before our God. Remember what I said about the desperation of the first point? The desperation that we have, of course, outside of Christ? Well, we too can find restoration to be made new, to be born again, when we repent and believe the gospel. And after Allah is showing Himself to be the compassionate Savior, He then is rejected. And what a contrast we now find, which is our third and final point, contrast, verses 14 to 20. And here we have some real stark contrast. We have a compassionate Savior radically changing somebody's life for the better, and we have the money-orientated people who care nothing for the man, just care for the pigs. We have the man who's clearly now going to follow Jesus, and we have that in comparison to those who have been rejected by Jesus and want him to leave the region. We have a set of contrasts. So, first of all, These people had experienced just how terrible this man was. They tried to bind him and failed. So they knew just how bad he was. They understood there was a drastic change in him. There he was, sitting, clothed, in his right mind. And their fear was more to do with the terror of being in the presence of one with such power. It wasn't a fear and reverential fear of the Lord. It was that fear of they recognized there was power before them. coupled with the fact that they were more concerned with financial loss. However, all that is nothing to compare. to the complete lack of care for the poor man. Like the Pharisees and the scribes, they didn't give two hits. They were just flotsam and jetsam floating down out the way. There were nothing to them. All they cared about was the pigs. All the Pharisees and the Sadducees cared about was, well, we made these rules and you're breaking these rules. Who cares if you've healed these people? It's a danger that many fall into. They can see what God does in people's lives when they turn to Christ for salvation. I've had that said to me myself. Some of you saw, back in the day, they saw the change in my life from my old drunken and cannabis-filled days. And they say, it's a wonderful thing. And to quote them, the church has done for you. And I say, yes, it's a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ has done for me. They don't always quite get the subtle difference there. They see the difference, but they still reject Christ. Don't let that describe you. Don't let that see the good of the gospel, but still reject the one who does that good. And then we have another contrast. The cured man desires to go with Jesus, for he wanted to be with his Savior, our Lord who does our plans. He wanted that man to be a witness with Jesus in his own community. It's funny, isn't it? I mean, funny, ironic, funny. You have these times when Jesus tells the people who are healed, don't go and tell anybody. And then they go and tell everybody. But they have this man, and he says to this man, no, no, no, stay here and go and tell everybody. And this man's obedient, the man who has the least privileges. The man is not around and in amongst Jesus all the time. He meets him this once, and then off he goes to be obedient. This wasn't a rebuke by our Lord to say, go and tell them. I firmly believe that this man's desire to be with Jesus was something that the Lord would have been pleased with. This wasn't a rebuke here. This was, no, no, I have another work for you to do. That's what this is here. And he did. He obeyed. He obeyed Jesus. And all of these people marveled when he told them. And of course, this is what all Christians are to do. Tell them what the Lord has done for them. It may be that there's a stark, obvious, spectacular difference like you've seen in this man. It might not be a stark difference that people see, but still tell the gospel. I heard there was an old lady who was converted in the 80s, and she spoke about her salvation. and she'd been brought up in church all of her life, and she just came to the Lord in a later age, just gradually, and the contrast and the difference outwardly was almost nothing, but it still was a moving testimony. Why? Because, you see, when we come from life to death, it's a miracle, because we've gone from spiritually dead, deserving of the wrath of God, to spiritual life where we no longer deserve the wrath of God. Because in that sense, however we've come to the Lord, we all have the exact same spectacular deliverance from life to death. But these people wanted Jesus to go away. They wanted none of them. You know, it's strange that they had this great miracle. There are many people today who root around for miracles, like pigs root around for truffles in the ground. But they missed the greatest miracle that anybody can have, and that is trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. That's the greatest miracle. Not even the raising of the dead was the greatest miracle. Somebody may have been raised from the dead and yet not trust in Jesus. The greatest miracle is we are held deserving sinners and when we trust in Jesus, we're then justified by Him. And then we tell others of our salvation. You know Christ, do you desire to do that? Remember the perspective from Luke chapter 10 verse 20, do not rejoice in this, that is, that spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. That's the first key to life, having our names written in heaven to be saved from our sins saved from hell, saved from the wrath of God, to be eternally saved to go to heaven, restored by our compassionate Savior. Make sure that you make this the key to your life. And when you ask the question, which side of the contrast do you fall on, let it be in the contrast of the life of trusting in Jesus. In conclusion then, this surely is one of the standout parts of the gospel. It's recorded in Matthew and Luke, and unlike most of the time, Mark actually is far more detailed than the other two gospels that have it. And it's remarkable to follow the chain of events in Mark, for you have a Lord being accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, that is by Satan. And not long after that, we have a Lord showing his authority of the multitude of demons, and that multitude of demons don't see Jesus being in league with Satan, rather they see in verse seven that he is the son of the Most High, and they're afraid of what Jesus is going to do. the one with the authority to send them to hell, because he's not in the league with Beelzebub. He is, of course, God and judge. So keep that in mind. God is our judge. Jesus will be our judge when we come again. So, do you see, first of all, your desperation that you need to see the compassionate Savior, and you need the compassionate Savior to cleanse you by His blood, by His sacrifice, to repent and believe the gospel? To see His restoration, when we repent and believe the gospel, when we will be saved from not only the power of sin, but God's just wrath upon us because of our sins. Believers will go to heaven, not to hell. That's what it means to have our compassionate Savior. And which side of the contrast are you on? Matthew 12.30 says, He who is not with me is against me. There is no in between. Which side of the contrast are you on? Remember, our compassionate Savior also said in John 6.37, All that the Father gave me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. So if we're trusting in Jesus, he will never cast you out when we're trusting in him.