Sunday Sermon

"Pigs"
[Mark 5:1-20]
March 12, 2006 Second Reformed Church

God has been merciful to us.

The Psalmist writes in Psalm 66:

"Shout for joy to God, all the earth, sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praise to you; they sing praise to your name.'

"Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds towards the children of man. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we did rejoice in him, who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations -- let not the rebellious exalt themselves.

"Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

"I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you, that which my lips have uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatted animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

"Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me"

God has been merciful to us.

Why?

Jesus has mercy on us, and we have joy, so that He will be glorified.

After the hurricane was stilled, the disciples brought the boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, to the region of Gerasenon. And immediately, when Jesus stepped off the boat, a man possessed by demons, it turned out, ran up to Him.

And we're told that the demoniac lived in the tombs -- in the cemetery. Why? Well, why are horror movies shown to be in cemeteries? Have you ever been to a cemetery at night? When we are in a cemetery, we tend to be on edge, disturbed, fragile -- because a cemetery represents the culmination of our sin and the return to dust of the body; it is a place that reminds us of the Fall of Humanity and the desperation of our condition. So, the demoniac lived in the cemetery to better terrify those who came into it.

And Mark tells us that he was not only terrifying, but superhumanly strong: different times they had tried to restrain him, but he was able, by the power of the demons, to tear through the chains and break off the shackles -- making him all the more terrifying. And all day long and all through the night he howled and cried out, and hit himself with stones, causing bruising and bleeding -- so he looked all the more terrifying.

And the demoniac ran right up to Jesus and dropped to his knees and kissed his feet, and he made a confession with a plea, "What do you and I, Jesus, son of the most high God? I beg you by God, don't torment me." The demons confessed that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God and He has the power and authority to cast out and even torment the demons. And that's true -- they made a true confession, but it was forced and hypocritical. They did not bow before Him in true worship, in love and adoration. No, they wanted Jesus to let them go on tormenting the man. They even had the audacity to blaspheme the Name of God, requesting, in God’s Name, that Jesus not harm them.

And we need to realize that he comes to us in the same way. The devil and his demons come to us and say, "Oh, yes, Jesus is God the Son, the Savior, of course. And surely He would not want to deny you this.... Jesus wants you to be able to do this and enjoy this in Him. I know Christians have said it is wrong, but how can it be wrong if you get the Name of Jesus out there?" The devil was confessing and pleading with Jesus, saying that if He sinned, good would come of it. We cannot do evil that good will come; we cannot sin to bring about more grace.

It is reported that Christian colleges have a great deal of theft in their bookstores. And the thieves openly confess their thievery, relying the on lies of the devil: they say that it is more important to spread the Name of Jesus, by handing out Bibles and other Christian items that they can't afford, that for them to obey the command not to steal. That is a lie of the devil. Beware, the devil will urge us to do good things by evil means. This is not the work of the Lord.

So Jesus asked for the demon's name, and the demon responded that his name was Legion, because there were so many of them. There were, in fact, thousands of demons possessing and oppressing this man. And Legion begged Jesus not to send them away from the region, but to send them into the herd of pigs on the mountain. Why? Jesus had cast out demons before, but He didn't cast them into another being. Why did Legion want to be cast into the pigs? Because the devil and his demons hate all of God's creation. Humans were told in the Garden to have dominion over the creation – and that meant that they were to be stewards and caretakers of the creation. The devil and his demons are glorified as we attack and destroy and misuse the creation. Remember, the devil did not just appear to Adam and Eve as the beautiful angel he was, but he possessed a serpent, he attacked part of the creation even as he attacked humanity. So, they wanted to be cast into the pigs. And Jesus did cast them into the pigs -- why? As a witness to the miracle. Seeing over two thousand pigs rush into the sea and commit suicide caused word to be spread of the event: the herdsmen ran and spread the news throughout the country and the city --"Jesus cast out a legion of demons, and possessed our pigs and caused them to commit suicide, right before our eyes."

The news traveled quickly and people rushed to the cemetery to see the demoniac, but they found Jesus with a perfectly, sane, calm, clothed man. There was no denying that something miraculous had happened. Jesus had freed the man from his demon possession. And the people were afraid of Jesus and begged Him to leave. They were terrified of a Man Who had power and authority over the demons, and the people said, "We'd rather be demon possessed than have You here." Isn't that true of us? "I would believe in Jesus, if only -- if only He didn't command this -- if only He allowed that." But Jesus doesn't give us a choice, we either come to Him wholly, completely, totally sacrificing ourselves to Him, or He tells us not to come. If anything is of greater value to us than Jesus, then we don't know Him; He hasn't saved us. If there is anything that we would not let go to be destroyed, then we do not have Him. That's a lifelong struggle, but the struggle shows that we belong to Him. So let us fight the good fight.

But what was the response of the formerly possessed man? Jesus head back to the boat to leave, and he ran after Him again, only this time, he was filled with real joy, and he begged Jesus to let him go with Him. The man knew that his joy was made full in the company of and the service to Jesus. But Jesus said, "No. Go back to your house with yours and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and had mercy upon you." Jesus did not call him to be an apostle, but a believer like you and me. Jesus told him that if he wanted to remain in the joy of Christ, to truly follow Him, (though he would not be physically with Him), Jesus said to go home and tell his family the mercy that He had had on him. Jesus said, "If your joy and thankfulness are real, if you truly believe, go home, tell your family and friends and acquaintances -- tell everyone that the Lord has done great things for you; the Son of God has shown mercy to you." Does your family know? Do your relatives know? Do your colleagues know? If want to have joy and to be spiritually near to Jesus, we have to tell somebody No, we're not all called to be missionaries, but there is someone -- at least one person in our lives -- that God has given us to tell.

Let us open our mouths and tell those, right where Jesus has put us, "Jesus has done great things for me; He has shown mercy to me. And I can have joy in any situation because He has be merciful and He has done such great things. My greatest joy is found in studying and knowing and telling others about my Savior."

That doesn't make sense to the world, "Your joy comes in obedience and witnessing to Jesus?" Yes, it does. And God is glorified, Jesus is glorified, the Holy Spirit is glorified, as we obey and witness to our God.

Rev. Dr. John Piper wrote this: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." In other words, God received the most glory, the formerly possessed man received the most joy and satisfaction, as he obeyed and witnessed to Jesus. That doesn't mean that nothing ever went wrong for him. It means that his joy and satisfaction were found in Jesus Alone, so nothing else that he encountered could take that joy and satisfaction from him. That is why Jesus had mercy on him, and that is why Jesus has mercy on us: Jesus has mercy on us, and we have joy, so that He will be glorified. Jesus is glorified as He give us mercy and joy and we live in right response to those gifts.

Paul put it this way: "But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (I Timothy 1:16-17).
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for being merciful to us, for sending Your Son to be our Savior. We thank You that You have done great things in taking on our sin and crediting us with Your Righteousness. We ask that we would understand that our joy is to be found in You. Have us seek our satisfaction in being faithful and obedient witnesses to You. And may You be glorified. In Jesus' Name, Amen.