Fall on Your Knees and Be Saved

Mark 5:1-20
Gregory Broderick | Sunday, March 22, 2020
Copyright © 2020, Gregory Broderick

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 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 and 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. The herd, about two thousand in 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 in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:1–20).

While it is unusual to preach to a mostly empty sanctuary this morning, I can see you all as I preach today. So in my mind, you are all here with me today as I preach.

Introduction

The title is “Fall on Your Knees and Be Saved.” We have heard in previous weeks how Jesus went throughout Judea and Galilee preaching the good news of the gospel and fulfilling various prophecies and demonstrating his divine power through healings and similar things. Last week, Rev. Buddingh’ preached from Mark 4, showing how Jesus demonstrated his sovereign power and authority over nature by calming a fierce storm with his command, “Quiet!”

Having reached the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus is immediately confronted by a demoniac, a crazy, a demon-possessed man fully given over to sin and beyond any human help and social program. Having previously demonstrated his authority over the natural world by rebuking the storm and the sea, Jesus now demonstrates his sovereign power over the supernatural. He drives out the demons who controlled this man and bound him and bound everyone else in misery. As we shall see, this demonized man is representative of every sinner. He is beyond hope, beyond cure, and completely shackled by sin with no way out. No way out until Jesus sought him out and set him free.

This demonized man is also a picture of every redeemed person. Having been set free of the control of the devil, he was completely different; completely changed. He used to be crazy and wild, but now he is dressed and in his right mind. He used to be uncontrollable; now he is controlled by the Holy Spirit. He used to be disobedient and opposed to God, but now he obediently follows the commands of Master Jesus. He used to terrorize the countryside, scaring everyone away, but now he goes and tells everyone he meets about Jesus. He is, in other words, a new creation. He used to be demon-controlled, but now he is Spirit-controlled. He used to be a child of the devil, but now he is an obedient child of the King, the Lord Jesus. His new outward behavior is a reflection of his new inward reality.

We must learn important lessons from this demoniac. All unsaved persons are like this man—chained and slaves to sin. There is only one way out—to fall before Jesus and be saved. And for those of us who have done so, for those of us who have bowed the knee and confessed Christ as Savior, confessed him as Lord, this demoniac shows us how we must live. We must live a new life. We must live a Spirit-led, disciplined, and holy life. We must live a life of obedience to God. We must live a life dedicated to telling others about Jesus.

The Demoniac Represents Every Unsaved Person

First, this demoniac is a picture of every unsaved person. As he meets Jesus coming off the boat, this man is a mess. He is full of sin. He is completely given over to sin. Verse 2 says that he is a man with an evil or unclean spirit, as he comes out to meet Jesus. The parallel passage in Luke 8:27 says he was demon-possessed. Matthew 8:28 says that there was another man there with him who was also demon-possessed. Verse 9 says that there were so many demons within him that it was Legion, a great number.

It may not be popular to speak about demons in our time, but we are not governed by modern sentiment; we are governed by the Bible. The Bible speaks to us about this supernatural reality. There are two kingdoms—the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil and his demons. And you are either in one or you are in the other. There is no third way and there is no in-between.

Now, this demoniac is clearly in the kingdom of the devil. The evidence is clear. He lived in the tombs (v. 3). He would cry out night and day (v. 5). He would cut himself with stones (v. 5). The parallel passages add further details. Luke 8:27 says that he had been this way for a long, long time. Luke 8 further tells us that he ran around naked with no clothes. Matthew 8:28 says that he and his companions were violent. This is a bad guy who is controlled by evil spirit. His sorry condition is undeniable, as he comes down to meet Jesus from the tombs.

Now, you might be thinking at this point that not all unbelievers are as bad off as this man and his fellow demoniac. After all, most unbelievers we know have jobs. They wear clothes, and they live in houses rather than in tombs. If that is what you are thinking, you are right. Not all of look as obviously destroyed as this man. But don’t be fooled by the packaging. Any difference between this unbeliever and every other unbeliever is superficial. Any differences are only skin-deep. They are differences of degree, not differences of kind.

The truth is that every sinner is dead in his transgressions and sins. Every sinner is a slave to sin. All his purported righteous acts are as filthy rags in God’s sight, whatever he does. Every sinner is utterly corrupted (Gen. 6:5). Every sinner is demon-controlled, fully obeying the devil.

Now, perhaps this man was more outwardly extreme than most. He was more advanced in the manifestation of his depravity. But the root is the same for all unbelievers. Their nature is no different than this man’s.

Now, if you think modern man is less depraved, I urge you to take a look around sometime. We have hordes of homeless lining the streets of our major cities—filthy, crazed, drug-addled, out-of-control. They are no different than this man. We teach our kindergarteners about transgenderism, and the society and the state promotes perversion and sexual immorality from an early age. We proudly murder our own unborn children on a scale that makes the coronavirus or any other disease look like a blip. We have about 200 deaths from coronavirus in this country so far. There will be about 650,000 abortions in the United States this year. There is no comparison.

Unbelievers in our time may have more money than this demoniac. Some may be cleaner and smell nicer. But at the root, we are all totally depraved and totally lost. We are in the kingdom of the devil until we are saved by Jesus.

Notice, his miserable condition is not merely a physical problem. He is excluded from society, it says in verse 3. He lived in the graveyard among the tombs. And whether by personal choice or whether he was ostracized and kicked out of there, either way, he was barred from society, barred from fellowship. He was alone except perhaps for the comfort of one other demoniac like him. Not much comfort.

If this man was a Jew—the text does not tell us—but if he was a Jew, this means he was also shut out of religious life. There was no temple, no synagogue, no nothing for this man. No word of God. No communion with God’s people. He lived fully in Satan’s kingdom all the time among the other disobedient, damned, and dead.

Just like this demoniac, every unsaved person is shut out of God’s kingdom. He is excluded from fellowship with God and from true fellowship with God’s people. He cannot experience the blessing of God’s benevolent presence. He can only experience frustration and misery until God puts him out fully and finally into eternal hell. There he will experience only God’s full wrath forever.

Now if this sounds unfair, I remind you of two things. First, this man brought this on himself just like any other sinner by his infinite sin against infinite God. He rejected God’s commands and decrees and went his own way of rebellion. He rejected God’s benevolent rule and chose the hard yoke and heavy burden of following the devil. The only proportionate penalty for this infinite sin is infinite hell. So it is as fair as can be.

The second thing I would remind you of is that he chose to stay in this miserable condition. Every sinner knows that there is a God. Psalm 19:1–6 tells us about it. Every sinner knows that, but rebelliously suppresses the truth about God (Rom. 1:18). Every sinner is, of course, morally incapable of accepting God’s gracious invitation to leave Satan’s kingdom and to come into the kingdom of God. Every sinner is morally incapable, but he loves his sin and hates God. And so he cannot and will not accept God’s free offer of grace. But the offer is there, nevertheless. It is available. And every sinner remains morally responsible for refusing it. By his own choice and due to his own wickedness, every sinner remains excluded from God’s kingdom and God’s blessings.

So the first thing you notice about this sinner is that he is excluded from society. The second thing you notice about his condition is that he was uncontrollable and miserable. He is fully given over to sin. He is full of demons. He defies all social norms. He lives in the spooky and miserable graveyard. He is unclean. He refuses to wear any clothing. No one could bind him even with chains, even with irons (vv. 3–4). He was unrestrained and unrestrainable. He was unrestrained and unrestrainable, but he was not free. He was not happy.

He was a slave—a slave to sin, a slave to the devil, under the total control of demons. So you might not have been able to bind him with outward chains and irons, but he was bound more securely by the devil and his demons.

Now, this reminds us that the devil is a liar, and his biggest lie is that we can be autonomous. We can be like God, deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong. We can be free from any restraint, the devil says. The devil tells us to cast off God, to cast off God’s restraints, to overthrow God’s rule in our lives. He tells us that doing so will make us happy and free. I will tell you that this demoniac was not happy. He was miserable. Verse 5 says that he would roam the hills day and night, crying out, wailing, moaning, groaning. He had inescapable anguish and suffering. This verse says that he would cut himself with stones. That’s how miserable he was. That is how much he was suffering. He would cut himself. What a deplorable condition this man was in. You see, he believed Satan’s lie that it would make him happy to be unrestrained, to throw off God. He was probably lured away by the temporary pleasures of sin, although we are not told exactly how, but either way he ended up in torment and agony. Just like this man, supposed autonomy will never make you happy.

Not only was he unhappy, but he was not even free. Now, he surely believed the devil’s lie – the mantra of our time: No one can tell me what to do. This man was so unrestrainable he wouldn’t even wear clothes. Now, he may have started out feeling free – free to sin. But soon he discovered the ruthless control and possession of the devil and his demons. The demons are the devil’s agents. The devil and his demons drove this man crazy. They made him cut himself and cry out. They tortured him. You see, the devil will lie to you and say to you, “You can be free.” He will say to you, “You can do whatever you want. You can be free.” There is no freedom with the devil. He can only make you a slave under brutal conditions.

No, the only true freedom is in Christ—to be free to love God, to be free to live for God, to be free to fulfill our God-given purpose in life: to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Again, we see the parallels to our time. (GTB) The devil has successfully convinced most of the world that they can be autonomous, that they can cast off every restraint, that they can live in debauchery, that they can live in drunkenness and drugs, and it will make them happy; that they can live for money or power or earthly pleasures; that they can murder their unborn children because he is inconvenient for our career ambitions or our goals in life or because she is simply the wrong sex. You can color your hair blue. You can go about half-naked. You can declare your own gender. You can divorce your wife and get a newer model. The world has bought all of these lies. But this is not freedom. This is slavery to the devil.

Outside of God, we cannot have true or lasting happiness. We have only a downward spiral of meaninglessness and misery, interrupted by distractions or by the temporary pleasures of sin. Like the sheep that wants to wander off and thinks he will be happy, he finds only wolves to devour him when he is outside of the shepherd’s protection.

Amazingly, this man’s misery—we see in him living in the tombs and cutting himself and crying out—this man’s misery is only a foretaste of the unadulterated and lasting misery of eternal hell. Living among the tombs, crying out at night, cutting yourself with stones is nothing compared to the pure suffering that is hell. Hell is torment and agony every day, all day, without relief, without interruption, and without end. And there is no way out. Luke 16:23 and 26 speak about it. So if you reject Christ and go to hell, you will long for a leper to dip his finger in the water and touch it to your tongue, but you will not even get that. I counsel you to consider this demoniac and his misery, and to consider the misery of eternal hell. Consider the eternal hell waiting for all who refuse Christ and who rebel. Consider all of this and reject the devil’s lie. Come to Christ, fall on your knees, cry out to him as Lord and Savior, and be saved today—saved right now, saved forever, blessed forever.

Jesus Saves Sinners

So that was this man’s miserable condition. My next point is that Jesus saves sinners. Now, every unsaved person may be lost and damned and miserable to one degree or another, but you do not have to stay that way. There is a way out. There is one way out. Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus comes to rescue his chosen people, his elect. That is why he came. The main thing that stands out in this passage when you read it, of course, is that this man comes and dramatically runs to Jesus, falls on his knees, and he is transformed and saved by grace and radically changed immediately and forever. That is what stands out about this story.

But lost sometimes in the dramatic event is a critical truth. This man did not come to Jesus at all. Jesus came to him. Jesus sought him out. Jesus had been traveling all over Israel and preaching the good news, calling on people to repent and be saved. Then, for no apparent reason, Jesus crosses the lake. As soon as he gets out of the boat, he is seen by this demoniac (v. 2). It happens right away. He saves the man and he drives out the demons, and then he gets back into the boat and he leaves (vv. 18, 21). Jesus does not appear to have spent much time in this region at all. And it appears that the whole affair took place in an hour or a couple of hours, tops.

Why, then, did Jesus go there and cross the lake in a storm just to stay there for a short period of time and then leave? He went only to save this man, this demoniac, this miserable sinner. He was a chosen person of God, and so God came to him. He was elect. He was loved by God from before all time. So Jesus went out to this lost sheep and saved him. Hallelujah!

This is amazing love. The eternal God-man made special arrangements to take his time just to go and save this man. He sailed across the lake in a terrible storm that swamped the boat (Mark 4:23). He did this all just to save this man. He arranged to land within sight of this man so the man could see him as soon as he got out of the boat. He organized all the events so that he could go and personally call this despicable outcast and demonized man to be saved. This is amazing love. All glory to God!

And this amazing love continues today. It continues right now. For just as God ordained all things so that Jesus could personally call this demoniac to salvation by faith in Christ, he has arranged all things to make a personal appeal to you—a personal appeal to you through me today. The offer is still available. He is still saying, “Fall on your knees, confess Christ as Lord, repent and be saved.”

Think of all the arrangements God had to make in your life to invite you into his kingdom even today. He caused you to be born. He caused you to live. He upheld you and sustained you. He arranged things so that you would hear this word today. Perhaps he arranged it through the coronavirus so that you would stay home and pay attention to this word and be present to hear it. He called me from doing other things to work for him. He equipped me to preach the word and he gave me this word for you today. He became a man. He lived a sinless life. He died on the cross. He suffered the full wrath of God and he rose from the dead for you, so you could hear the gospel, so you could be saved, so you could repent and be baptized. This is amazing love. Glory to God. Hallelujah.

I urge you, do not reject this personal invitation. Accept it. Cry out to him. Be saved and live a God-glorifying life of thanksgiving to God.

So we notice that Jesus sought him out. We also notice that he responded to Jesus’ call. As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, it says this man ran to Jesus (v. 6). He fell on his knees before Jesus (v. 6). He cried out in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus?” (v. 7). This response to the gospel call can only happen through the internal work of the Holy Spirit. While we were all still sinners, God calls us through the preaching of his word. The Holy Spirit then applies that word to our hearts, redeems us, and gives us a new mind able to understand this word, and he gives us a new heart able to love this word and submit to this word. This is regeneration. This is being born again, born from above.

We see this man’s regeneration as he confesses Christ as Lord and Savior totally submitting to him. He acknowledges Jesus as the Son of the Most High God (v. 7). Now, this is likely also the demons talking, acknowledging him as Most High God. They know who he is. They are not confused as to who Jesus is. But we see from this man’s later behavior, especially his obedience in verses 18 through 20, that this man recognized Jesus as Lord and Savior. He also fell on his knees, showing his view that Jesus is far superior to him. This external proof is the external evidence of the internal work of God in this man.

Now this was the only way of salvation for this man, and it is the only way of salvation for us. This man had tried everything else. He lived apart. That did not help him. He lived in the tombs. He was bound with chains and irons. That did not help him. He cut himself with stones. That did not help him. He cried out day and night. That did not help him either. He tried all these things, but the demons remained. The torment remained.

Verse 4 says that no one was strong enough to subdue him. So he could not help himself, and no one else could help him either. No one else could help him overcome these demons—no one else, that is, until Jesus. Until God came.

God is strong enough. Only God is strong enough to save us from our sins, to save us from our terrible condition, to save us from our terrible slavery to sin. Only God can say to the demons, “Come out of him,” and make them obey. They must obey him. He is the sovereign Son of God. He is very God and very man. He is the Lord. Even the demons need his permission to go into the pigs, we noticed. So he is sovereign, and he is powerful. And notice, this Jesus does not need any chains or any irons to bind the man. He does not need anything. He does not need to enlist the disciples to hold this man down and make him obey. His powerful word is more than enough.

“Come out of this man,” Jesus commands, and they come. The word of God is powerful and effective. He spoke, and the whole world came into being. He decrees that his elect shall be saved, and they are saved. No one can snatch us from his hand. Instead, the devil slinks away at the word of Almighty Jesus and goes into the pigs and goes away.

This was true in his day, and, praise God, it is still true for us too. God decreed in eternity past that we, his people, should be saved and that we, his people, will be saved—saved forever and saved for sure. Mighty King Jesus has spoken, and it happens.

Now, we also noticed that there is an immediate change in this saved man. Before, he hid in tombs, but now he comes out to Jesus. He sits with the disciples (v. 15). He stays with them while others go into town to report this astonishing miracle (v. 14). He is there with the disciples, with Jesus, and with the large crowd made up of the whole town and the whole countryside. So he used to go off and be all by himself. But now he is with Jesus; now he is with other people.

We noticed that before he was naked and crazy. But now he is dressed and in his right mind (v. 15). Before, he obeyed no one; now, he obeys Master Jesus (vv. 18–20). Before, he did whatever he wanted. But now, before acting, he goes and seeks out the will of his Lord (v. 18). He is a new man. He is a new creation. He now loves God. He loves God’s authority, and he loves God’s rule.

His new life is a testimony to all the people around him. It doesn’t mean that all who saw him were saved. It doesn’t mean that all those people confessed Christ as Lord. No, the townspeople were afraid, and they asked Jesus to leave (vv. 16–17). They were not saved, but they saw this man’s change. They saw his testimony. They saw his new life in Christ.

As born-again people, as sinners saved by grace, we must live this new life in Christ (2 Tim. 1:9). That verse says we are saved to a new and a holy life in Christ. We are saved to a life of obedience to God and his word. We are saved to a life of holiness. We are saved to a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We used to steal; now, we stop it. We steal no longer. We work with our hands, doing something productive. We support ourselves and we give to others in need (Eph. 4:28). It is a totally different life, and this is part of our testimony to others around us. We stop sinning and we start living a holy and obedient life for the glory of God.

Now, some may call this legalism or an attempt to deny that God saves us by grace. Such false preachers say that we don’t have to obey God, we don’t have to repent, we can keep on sinning. This is a damnable lie, and damned is the man who says it. Such a false preacher does violence to the clear scriptural command to live a new life. It is the clear scriptural command that we cannot go on sinning (see Romans 6:1–4). This demonic teaching that we don’t need to repent and that we can go on sinning—this is not only designed to destroy the individual believer by getting him to sin, but it is also meant to destroy his testimony to others, the testimony of his new life.

Look at it this way. Imagine the demons had gone out of this man. Imagine the pigs had rushed into the sea and drowned by themselves. Imagine all the town and country people came out to see what had happened. So everything that we know in this story – imagine it all happened, with one change: they found this man still naked, still crazy, still howling and cutting himself with the stones, still living among the tombs. If they had seen all of that, but no change in this man, what would they have concluded? Certainly, they would not have asked, “Who is this Jesus?” They would not have asked, “What happened here?” Certainly, the demoniac would not have gone around testifying about Jesus and all the work that Jesus had done in him.

And even if he had gone around testifying about all the work that Jesus had done in him, who would care? Who would listen? What, Jesus saved me, and now I am the same as before? I am in the same deplorable, crazy, and miserable condition? That is nothing. That is not good news for all people. That is no kind of gospel. Jesus does not save us and leave us the same. He changes us and makes us a new creation.

So reject the lie of the devil and his demonic preachers masquerading as angels of light in the synagogues of Satan. You cannot go on sinning if you have been saved by grace. By no means! If you do, you will prove your conversion false. You will prove your salvation untrue, and you will be only a negative testimony, only a stumbling block. And on the last day, when you come, when you face Jesus Christ, when you say, “Lord, Lord,” you will hear him say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” You will go to hell!

No, instead we must follow Jesus, as this man did. We must put aside the old life. We must be dressed and in our right minds. We must stop sinning and do what is right. Stop sinning, but go farther. Not just stop sinning but do what is right – right according to God and right according to God’s word. We must live for God. We must live according to his word. We must live a holy life.

This is not an attempt to earn our way into heaven. We understand salvation is by grace alone. Instead, our new life is a testimony to Christ’s work in us, and an expression of thankful obedience to our Lord and Savior, who saved us.

Tell All about Jesus

Finally, we are to tell all about Jesus. This man wanted to go. He wanted to be with Jesus. I personally think he tried to get into the boat with the disciples and go to the other side. He wanted to go with them, it tells us in verse 18, but Jesus said no. He said, “Go home to your family and tell how much God has done for you, and how he had mercy on you” (v. 19). That is what Jesus tells him to do, and he did it (v. 20). He told everyone in the Decapolis – the ten-city region around there – about Jesus. He became an evangelist, speaking the good news from his personal experience, from his personal transformation.

He became an evangelist, and it was effective. People were amazed, it says in verse 20. And I believe that many were saved through the ministry of this man, although we are not expressly told that. The application for us is simple. We must go and tell others about Jesus, about how he saved us. About how we were miserable sinners destined for hell, but God moved in mercy. God translated us from the devil’s kingdom into God’s own kingdom, God’s own family. This is amazing love.

God gives to us the same explicit command that he gave to this demoniac. In Matthew 28:19–20 it says, “Go into all the world” – more than the Decapolis – all the world – “making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

So we have the same charge as this demoniac: Go and tell how much Jesus has done for us, how God has had mercy on us. As this man was told, start with your own family. Start with yourself. Make sure you have trusted in Jesus. Make sure you have called upon the name of the Lord and been saved. And then go to your wife or your husband, your sons and your daughters, and then out to your extended family and then to friends and colleagues and neighbors and acquaintances and strangers. Tell everyone about Jesus. It is the one thing needful. He is the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through him. He said so in John 14:6, and it is true today. There is no other way to be saved.

And be careful that you do not react like the crowd. They saw something amazing, or they heard about something amazing. You have heard about something amazing. They knew something had happened. They knew that it was Jesus who did it. It was undeniable. They saw all this. They knew all this. But they did not react in faith. They reacted in fear. They reacted in discomfort. They suppressed the truth (v. 17). They told Jesus, “Please leave here. Please go away from here.” They tried to suppress the truth.

They told Jesus to leave them alone. They pleaded with him to go. And he did.

He invites you. He offers you salvation. But he will not force you. You can reject him, and you will reject him unless, in his mercy, he calls you by his irresistible grace. So do not take the chance. Do not obey the devil. Fall on your knees, confess Jesus Christ, and be saved. And live a new life for God. Testify about Jesus and then, after your work is done, then he will grant your request to go with him to be with him forever in heaven in glory forever. Hallelujah. Amen.