Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: Welcome to Truth for Life Weekend, where we're beginning a series called A Light in the Darkness. We'll be looking at the dramatic transformations of individuals who encountered Jesus, and we begin with a demon-possessed man. Alistair Begg points out how before we trusted in Jesus, we had more in common with this man than we might think.

Alistair Begg: Father, we come to You as those who are tempted and tried and sometimes failing, to ask for Your help as we study the Bible now. Meet with us, we pray, beyond the voice of a mere man. May we hear from You, the living God, by Your Spirit through Your Word, the Bible. For we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Well, can I invite you to turn to Mark and the fifth chapter? And as you're turning there, let me say what an important and special day this is for our church family. Each time we send out export models, as we do tonight in a formal and purposeful way, we are reminded of the importance of obeying the command of Jesus to go out into all the world and to make disciples and to teach them everything that He has commanded, to baptize them, and to see them established in the truth.

And when, as we gather tonight and lay our hands upon this young couple, we will be confronted by the question: What about us? In our own streets, in our own offices, within our own sphere of influence and among our friends? If it is of value and if it is significant to take a young couple, uproot them from the security of their lives—financial, relational, church-wide security—and dispatch them into the heart of a very, very alien environment, then if it is significant enough to do that with them, I find myself saying, "And what is it that you're doing, Begg, as it relates to the cause and the cost of telling others about Jesus?"

In 1936, Archbishop William Temple wrote as follows: "It is clear that the church only fulfills its function as the body of Christ if it is constantly thinking how those who are outside can be inside." The preoccupation of the church should be with those outside. Now, we think immediately incorrectly if we think in terms of a building. Temple was not suggesting that the issue was to get people who are outside of the building inside of the building. He was talking about the distinction between being in Christ or outside of Christ.

Men and women, by our very natures, do not know Christ, do not love Him, or bow to His dictates. And the preoccupation of those who do is to be with those who don't, so that those who are presently outside may actually be placed inside of Christ and within the invisible church. Now, I say to you again, if it is worth taking these people, sending them into the Andes Mountains to translate the Bible, then it demands of us to face up to the question in our own lives.

Jesus, remember, had to settle the issue for the religion-preoccupied Pharisees when they bemoaned the fact—it's actually in Luke as well, just in chapter four—when they bemoaned the fact that He was attending this event at the home of Levi. And Jesus says to them, "I did not come to call the righteous people, but I came to call sinners to repentance." It's not people who are healthy that go to the doctor, He said, it is people who are sick.

Now, with this as our focus, we're looking at these first 20 verses of Mark chapter five. And as I say to you, you will be helped by having your Bible open. Here we have a living, walking, vivid, unanswerable demonstration of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. And I want simply to take the line and follow along with you as we work our way through these 20 verses within the time that we have.

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes, and when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. Now, Mark gives us immediately in these first five or six verses a sort of identikit picture of this individual. It's important that the readers understand the condition of this man. He tells us where he lived. He lived in the tombs. He did not live in a normal community. He did not live amongst his family or his friends. He lived isolated from all those relationships.

And people who had never seen him may well, according to verse five, have heard him because night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. He lived in the tombs, and he was unrestrainable. That's what verse three is all about. No one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. They tried that in the past. They'd used the usual methodologies to deal with an individual that was as messed up as this man was. He'd often been chained hand and foot. But with his demonic power, he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.

There was no one who was prepared to go into the graveyard, no one who was prepared to go in among the tombs with any attempt to try and restrain this individual because he was clearly unrestrainable. What lay behind this was something very significant. That's the significance of verse two when Jesus got out of the boat: a man with an evil spirit. This man was held in the grip of demonic powers. And these demonic powers had turned in upon this man.

And that's the significance of his self-mutilation at the end of verse five. What kind of individual lives in the tombs, screams in the night, runs around naked, and cuts himself with stones? And what possibility is there for any help to be given to such a man when the normal issues of society and all of the attempts, the isolation plans and the restraining plans, have all come to a grinding halt as a result of their inability to contain him? He's utterly alone. He is alienated from his community and in a realistic sense alienated from himself.

He breaks the bounds in every way of Paul Simon's most peculiar man. Remember him? The most peculiar man. That's what Mrs. Reardon said; she lived upstairs from him. She said he was a most peculiar man. Well, however peculiar that man was in Paul Simon's song, this man has got him beat. This man defines peculiarity. This man defines isolation. This man defines an individual greatly in need of help.

Now, just when we're sitting here saying to ourselves, "Well, that's quite a picture. I'm glad that I'm not remotely like this man. I have my clothes on, I'm able to reason with things, and no one's had me tied up or need to have me tied up in the last little while. I am not demon-possessed." Well, I would imagine that that would be true of virtually everybody here, although we never know. The Bible does not say that the human condition of men and women is that we are by nature demon-possessed.

But the Bible does say—and that's why this man is an illustration in part of the human condition—the Bible does say that men and women by their very nature are ruled by dark and sinister forces. In Ephesians chapter two, when Paul describes the life of these Ephesian believers in relationship to what they once were, listen to how he describes them. He's describing now what they were outside of Christ before they had come to know Jesus and to trust in Him and to discover His life and His forgiveness and His mercy.

And they were not unique because they lived in Ephesus. This description is a description of every man and every woman outside of Christ. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world." You just went down the same roads as everyone else, just doing the same thing as everyone else, just with the same worldview as everyone else. When you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time. This is the description of being outside of Christ as opposed to being inside of Christ. Now, I don't want to camp on this beyond saying this: If our notion of genuine Christian experience is untaught by the Bible, ungrounded in biblical truth, then it may come out as something like this. "I've been a fairly decent fellow for most of my life and my wife and I have been living here in the Shagrin Valley area for some time. We had some kind of church background in the past and we've never really done much about it ever since we've been married."

"Our children have come along and we've decided now would be a good time to add a little religion in our lives. We've shopped around, we've found a number of places, and although we don't particularly like your preaching, we've found that the children's ministry here is very, very accessible to us and so we come along. In short, we've been fairly purposeless in relationship to religion and we've decided that now is the time to get serious about it."

Okay. But do you think it would be worth taking that package that you've just described? How do you think it'll sound out in Prague with the residual impact of atheism ruling a country? And how interested do you think people will be in this story of having discovered purpose and adding a little religion? Well, of course there would be no reason to go anywhere with that because it's just something that's an add-on, isn't it? It's not something that's life-changing or absolutely essential. It's just a decision that has been made along the journey.

In the same way that somebody could say, "I've been very, very lax when it comes to exercise and I've decided to join a club and do a little running around because I think it would be good for me and it's a good example for my children." All of that is fine. But that's not what the Bible is describing in terms of becoming a Christian. Do you see what it says? Outside of Christ, you are a dead man. Outside of Christ, you are a dead woman. You're an alive, dead person. That's the drama of it.

"And that you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live." What? I thought it said you were dead in which you used to live. Yeah. You were the living dead. You are the walking dead outside of Jesus. And you may not be held in the grip of dark demonic forces, but by your very nature, you are in the control of that which is dark and sinister and completely counter to the life and the freedom and the joy that is provided in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the only question is the extent to which that rule and reign of sin has placed its manacles, has dropped the dust of its death down upon our hearts and minds and lives. So I say to you that this man is not actually as far removed from us here as we think. Oh, it's a very distasteful picture, is it not? After all, we have nice places to go home to. We have nice couches on which to sit. We're not running around the graveyard naked at all. No, we're not.

But the fact of the matter is, we are outside of Christ, dead in our trespasses. So the message of the gospel is not "Why don't you turn over a new leaf and why don't you get a little purpose in your life and why don't you shake your leg and get a little religion?" The message of the gospel is: You're a dead man, and furthermore, you can't make yourself alive. The message of the gospel is: You're a blind woman, and you can't make yourself see.

And that ought to alarm you because some of you sit here Sunday after Sunday and this is how your mind works. "When I'm good and ready, I'll get this thing sorted out. But that'll be my decision and that'll be my time and that'll be my place." You don't even know what a day will bring. You don't even know if you'll make it to your bed this evening. That's why the Bible always says if you hear the voice of God, if you feel the prompting of the Spirit of God, you respond to it right there and then because now is the accepted time and behold, now is the day of salvation.

Now, I say to you again, this man's condition may be vastly different from ours in the sense of his demon possession, but it is not so dramatically different from ours in terms of our nature outside of Christ. It's not very nice, is it? I don't find it particularly nice to say, to look out on my neighbors and my friends and tell them, "Hey, I don't know where you are, but if you're not in Christ, you're a dead man." That's not the way to gain friends and influence people and build a congregation.

So why would you ever say it? Well, the only reason you would say it is if you have to say it. Now look at this encounter then that takes place with Jesus. If you've read that wonderful book on the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Professor and the Madman, then that phrase may come to your mind as you look at what takes place here. Only this is the Savior and the madman. And it's quite a drama that unfolds.

Verse six: "When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of Him." And then he said to Him, verse 7b, "Swear to God that You won't torture me." Contradictory forces at work in this man's life: on the one hand compelling him and on the other hand repelling him. Jesus, verse eight tells us, has already called out to the evil spirit to come out of this man. And this has set up this great dialectic in his mind and in the very core of his being.

Shouting, verse seven, at the top of his voice, "What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" You've got this dramatic, phenomenal encounter between the light and life and power of Christ and the darkness and the deadness of the power of evil. Jesus, at the end of chapter four, has established Himself as the Lord of nature, hence the calming of the storm. If your Bible is open, you will see that in verse 39 of chapter four: "He said unto the winds and the waves, be quiet and be still, and the wind died down and it was completely calm."

And now here in chapter five, he walks into this environment and he establishes himself as the Lord of man and the one who overcomes the power of darkness. Only Jesus can set such a person free. Only Jesus can set such a person free. And when you look at verse seven, it's almost as though this man knew that Christ could set him free, but he was at the same time afraid of what that change would mean. Running and falling on his knees in front of Him.

And then at the same time saying, "What is it that You want with me? Please, I can't stand any more torture." If an encounter with You is to be torturous in any way, I can't stand that, Jesus. Here I am on my knees before You, but at the same time recoiling from You. That's not so far removed from experience that I've encountered in 30 years of pastoral ministry. Because we fail to understand the grip that sin has on people, that Satan has on people.

When we suggest to them or to ourselves that once confronted with their predicament, it will just be obvious for them, it'll just be natural for them to surrender to Christ's rule. But experience tells us that it isn't so obvious and it apparently isn't so natural. If you have dealt with people who have become increasingly enslaved to sexual sin, increasingly trapped in the choices that they've made in relationship to the substances that they put into their bodies, you will have noticed, as have I, the royal battle that takes place in the psyche, in the soul of that man or that woman.

On the one hand they're saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," but I cannot face the torturous implications of what it will mean for me to be torn away from that upon which I have developed such a dependence for all these years of my life. Somebody feels the call, the touch of God upon their lives to come on now, you're a messed-up sinner and you need to trust in Christ, but they're living with a woman. And she's attractive to him, and he likes her, and he has grown to depend upon her. He shouldn't be with her.

And he comes, as it were, to the knees of Jesus and he knows that Jesus has something to say to him, but he knows that if he says yes to Jesus, it's going to be no to her. We better not be superficial in the way we deal with our friends and neighbors concerning these things, as if somehow or another, "Oh, come along now, give yourself a shake. After all, look at this. Therefore, come on, let's get this dealt with." No, it's not as easy as that. Jesus is the one who breaks the power of canceled sin. He's the one who sets the prisoner free.

But as Sinclair Ferguson, our good friend, says, "No man yields to Jesus easily by nature." Tragically like Legion, men often hold on to their bondage in evil rather than yield to the pain of transformation by Christ's power and grace. That's a very important phrase: the pain of transformation by Christ's power and grace. You don't want to say to people, "Oh, this is easy. There's nothing in this." We make light of where people are coming from. We devalue the very work of Jesus when we seek to represent the gospel in such a superficial way.

I have in my mind a man now, successful man, actually fairly well known. And we went to lunch years and years ago now, after a very significant Sunday at the high school, in the auditorium in the high school. And when we talked over lunch, this man said to me, "I understand exactly what you're saying about Jesus and the claims of Jesus. And I understand at the same time that if I were to respond to the claims of Jesus, it would mean giving up this and this and this. This means far more to me than ever coming to Christ."

"Therefore, thanks for sharing with me. And I will put it in my portfolio for further consideration." But to the best of my knowledge, he remains in the exact same position today as he was on that day. Why? Because he recognizes that there is pain involved in the transformation brought about by the grace and power of Jesus. Why else would Jesus say if anybody wants to be my disciple, they should take up their cross every day and say no to themselves and follow me?

Why would He say to the rich young ruler who comes and falls on his knees and says, "Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?" and Jesus says keep the commandments. He said, "I kept all the commandments ever since I was small." And so Jesus says, "Well, why don't you just sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then come and follow me?" and the guy goes, "I'm not prepared to do that." The issue wasn't the money. The issue was that he wanted both Jesus and his other little god.

And Jesus will allow no other gods before Him. The man was unprepared for the painful transformation brought about by the grace and power of Jesus. And some of us remain unconverted because you're clever enough to recognize what is involved in bowing your knee to Jesus.

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend with Alistair Begg. We'll hear more about how Jesus changes lives next weekend. It's never too early to start talking to your children about the power and grace of Jesus. And so when we come across a book that will help parents or even teachers explain the foundational truths of Christianity, these are books we love putting in people's hands. And right now we're making available a book called How to Teach Kids Theology: Deep Truths for Growing Faith.

This book lays out a framework to help parents and teachers explain core biblical truths that children need not only to understand but that they can embrace and trust to shape the way they live. How to Teach Kids Theology offers specific approaches and even provides a template for a lesson plan to guide you in sharing scripture and engaging in discussion that facilitates children grasping the deeper meaning of what they're learning.

Whether you're a parent or a grandparent, a teacher, a ministry leader, this book presents a framework that is adaptable for teaching preschool-age children all the way up to college students. Find out more about the book How to Teach Kids Theology when you visit our website at truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to study the Bible with us. Next weekend, we'll consider the fate of the pigs in today's message and find out what that tells us about Jesus. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the learning is for living.