THE EXISTENCE OF DEMONS

This text covers Mark 5:1-18, but for your hearing we will read

Mark 5:1-6

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains. Because that he had been often bound with fetters (chains or shackle for the feet) and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

The Bible is quite clear that there are in fact fallen angels in the world, evil personalities that are bent on destroying what God loves. Jesus said of the devil and, by implication all the fallen angels that he could be summed up as having two priorities or passions: murder and lies. (John 8:44) "[The devil]...was a murderer from the beginning...he is a liar and the father of lies" Demons are large in number, but God has placed limits on their capacity for destruction.

Can this be real? Do demons really exist, and can they have an impact on our lives? Well, for years those who believe everything can be explained in anti-supernatural terms, have told us it is not rational or scientific to believe in demons. But times are changing. Reports of Satanic practices and demonic activity are increasing in our Western culture. Ritualistic killings are being liked to Satanism — just to name a few, from the Night Stalker slayings of Richard Ramirez to the drug-cult murders in Matamoros, Mexico, serial killers like Ted Bundy in Milwaukee, and Bob Burdella right here in Kansas City.

On December 6th, 1987, in Missouri, Pete Roland, a student at Carl Junction High School, confessed to the brutal murder of Steve Newberry, another student. He and two other Carl Junction boys had beat Steve to death, beating him with baseball bats. Their motive - a desire to please Satan. They said they had heard voices inside their heads urging them to kill. They attributed these voices to Satan. It should also be noted that they all used drugs, and or alcohol, and like to watch horror movies. But they did it for Satan, who, as Jim Hardy, one of the boys said, Satan had promised him a surge of power for taking a human life.

You might have turned on your television on April 5th, 1991 to hear ABC’s 20/20 co-host Barbara Walters ask, "Is the Devil real?" It was the first-ever-televised exorcism. We watched a 16-year-old girl named Gina, writhe and scream as a priest pressed a silver cross against her head and charged, "In the name of Jesus, I command the spirit of evil to leave now!" At one point she shouted, in words she claimed came from a demon called Minga, "Get away from me! Get away! I don’t want to burn!"

Let me bring it closer to home, in November, I think it was in 1992, a very good, personal friend of mine, and of the Metropolitan Spiritual Church Family, Rev. Dr. P. C. Campbell, and his house keeper, Annie, were killed and stuffed in the back of his car trunk. The man that killed them had to be demon possessed, because he stated in his trail that chucky made him do it. Remember Chucky was a posse doll in a movie called "Childs Play".

You might look somewhat skeptically at this, but whatever you think about a particular account, many godly people are encountering demonic activity.

THE EFFECT OF AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT

With that in mind, let's look at the passage. < >Jesus and the disciples landed their boat on the Western shore of the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Gerasenes. Here there were caves and tombs, and in the moonlight there may have been evidence of the recent storm-branches and other debris. There were also a herd of two thousand pigs moving around restlessly on the adjacent hillside.

Suddenly, the quiet lapping of the water on the shore is interrupted by a piercing scream! It sounds human and yet, unearthly. Seemingly, out of nowhere, a wounded, naked man - hair matted, eyes wild, broken chains rattling from wrists and ankles, runs up to Jesus on the shore and throws himselfdown at His feet.

The incident about to be described took place right after Jesus had calmed the storm that had so frightened the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples must have been confused and scared; "What in the world is going on now? What have we gotten ourselves into?

Let's consider what Mark tells us about the demonized man. What was his life like before this night? We're told that he had an unclean spirit, or a demon, a crazy man. He was unfit for company and approval of others, and not only that, but association with him was contaminating by his unclean status. He was isolated. There was at least one other demonized soul who lived there, but the very horror that made up their lives forbade them of any kind of meaningful contact with each other. The people of the town had last approached this man with chains, which he tore apart.

He could not stop himself from being violent to others and to himself. He hated who he was and what he was. He was tormented and self-destructive, slashing himself with stones and going about unclothed.

THE PATH TO FREEDOM

The heart of this passage is the conversation that began when this man saw from a distance, a boat, was occupied by no ordinary captain. He began to rush toward the boat and its terrified occupants.

The bible says the man saw Jesus from a distance, ran and fell on his knees in front of him, and shouted at the top of his voice, " ...saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us...?

< > The first thing Jesus said was, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Jesus was not unfamiliar with addressing demonized people. In Mark 1 He rebuked an unclean spirit and the spirit departed. I think the Lord assumed here that he had spoken a command and that the command had been obeyed.

TWO LEVELS OF IDENTITY

When Jesus heard the man still expressing demonic thinking, he realized that his initial command banishing the demon had not finished the job. Mark 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying my name is Legion: [6,000] for we are many. This is a provocative question on many levels "What is your name?" An old Hebrew tradition, when you give a person your name, you give them power over you. Remember when Jacob and the angel wrestle all night long, the angel looked at Jacob and ask him what is his name, and he said Jacob. The angel said your name will no longer be Jacob but it will be Israel. Jacob asks the angel what was his name and the angel would not tell him because he would not give him the power over him. Thats why when a woman gets married she gives up her name, that the man will have power and control over her. When Jesus asked this question, these evil personalities who had resided in this man and had terrorized the community were forced to speak for themselves. The reason they hadn't been banished the first time is that there were too many of them. Jesus hadn't understood the level of ruin that this man was living with, but now he would address them all.

The demons begged him not to make them leave the area. Because it was a place of death, with caves where dead people were buried, otherwise a cemetery. It was a place of unclean animals. It was a place of fearful circumstances. It was a place where violence was accomplished and lives were ruined. It was a stronghold of evil by the Sea of Galilee. That's why they said, "Don't make us leave." In Matthew 8:30 , they are said to have been "a good way off." A great herd of swine feeding-- And all the devils besought him, saying--"if thou cast us out" Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. You have to understand this request. <THE PIG IS AN UNGRATEFUL ANIMAL, HE WILL EAT ANYTHING, GRUNTS WHILE HE IS EATING, EAT OLD CORN COBS, OLD WATERMELLONS RINES, DRINK OLD SOUR DISHWATER, YOU CAN CLEAN HIM UP, MANICURE HIS NAILS, PUT A DIAMOND COLLAR ON HIS NECK, PUT A TUX ON HIM AND LET HIM GO, THE FIRST MUD PUDDLE HE FINDS HE WILL JUMP IN IT. Had they spoken out all their mind, perhaps this would have been it: "If we must quit our hold of this man, suffer us to continue our work of mischief in another form, that by entering these swine, and thus destroying the people's property, we may steel their hearts against Thee!" < The Devil NO LEGS, NO HANDS, NO FEET, NO MOUTH > And forthwith Jesus gave them leave "Go!" And the unclean spirits went out--of the man, entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently, down a steep place--down the hanging cliff, into the sea (they were about two thousand and were choked in the sea--"perished in the waters". They would rather be dead, than to have the devil inside of them.

The herdsman ran into town, they didn't tell the townspeople about the man being healed, but of the pigs being killed. <THEY ARE GOING TO RAISE THE PRICE OF PORK, BECAUSE THERE IS GOING TO BE A HAM SHORTGAGE> The townspeople reacted with ungodly motives. But when they saw the man sitting a Jesus feet, clothed in his right mind, they were afraid. <Folks are not> You can understand why. I think the disciples were terrified, it started with a threatening storm on a lake. It proceeded directly to tombs and pigs and death and violence in a region of the lake that had become a stronghold for evil. The disciples went from the frying pan to the fire to a bonfire. Every time they turned around, conditions grew more frightful. Jesus stilled the storm, calmed the waves, banished the demons, and healed the man from the tombs, now the townspeople were very angry and was ready to kill on them. The townspeople told Jesus to go back from whence he came. They did not want his kind there. When they got to the boat, <Peter, James, John, Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Judas, Jude, and Simon the Cananite. >The man that was healed tried to follow Jesus. But Jesus had to leave them with a witness. He told the man to go back to the people in the area and tell them what had happened.

THE ONE WHO IS IN COMMAND

He is no different today. He is still healing sin sick souls, He understands who we are and cares enough about us to want to make us whole. The question Jesus yet asked today remains crucial. "What is your name? With what identity will you make your way in the world?" A lot of people will tell us who they think we are. Voices from our past will try to lay claim to us in the present. We must insist that Jesus' put a claim on us, and nothing else, answers the question of our identity. What things in your life need to be renamed? What are you hiding from yourself? The Lord calls for the legion to name itself. It is the work of a loving Savior. He calmly does the surgery and banishes the all things, just as he did for the man who had screamed, "Have you come to torture me?" and who was sitting calmly at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind. And what a message this man had to tell! But, it wasn't that much different than many of the message people tell today who have come to know Christ. People today are still delivered from the bondage of sin. They are still brought from places where they are their own worst enemies to places where they are "clothed and in their right minds." There are still people who live among the tombs of the excesses of this life who come to know the Lord and see their lives change.

Conclusion

The Bible teaches that until you know and accept Christ, you are "dead in your transgressions." You are, according to the Bible, among the walking dead. You live in the tombs.

But you don't have to stay there. Today the Savior has come near. And He is calling out to you. Over two thousands years ago, this man call Jesus, on a steep hill on Calvary, died for my sins and your sins, buried in a borrowed tomb, was raised on the third day with all power in His hand. Will you answer Him, or will you send Him away? Don’t stay bound with chains. Jesus is tenderly calling to you,

"What is your name?