Lake Martin Presbyterian Church April 26, 2026 Podcast

Join Rev. William Skinner for this week’s message from Mark 5:1-20, "Jesus, Lord of the Spirit". Explore Scripture, hear thoughtful teaching, and be encouraged in your walk with Christ. For more information and resources, visit lakemartinpca.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Lake Martin Presbyterian Church Podcast. We're glad you're listening. Lake Martin Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, located near Lake Martin, Alabama. Each week we share the preaching ministry of our church and pray it encourages you in your walk with Christ. Here's this week's message.

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If you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to Mark's Gospel. This morning we're going to be looking at Mark chapter 5. Mark's Gospel, chapter 5, the first twenty verses. Last week we were in the last six verses of chapter 4, where Jesus and his disciples were assaulted on the Sea of Galilee by a raging windstorm. The disciples, in their fright, accused Jesus of not caring about them. And while they panicked about the raging waves, if you'll remember, Jesus slept at perfect peace. And then Jesus awoke and he rebuked the wind and the waves, and lo and behold, the wind and the waves obeyed him, demonstrating that Jesus is the Lord, God Himself, Lord over nature. And this week, in Mark chapter 5, verses 1 through 20, we're going to see the power of Jesus again displayed as Lord. But this time not over nature, but over the spiritual realm. Jesus and his disciples cross over the Sea of Galilee, and as soon as they get out of the boat, immediately, Jesus is confronted by a man possessed with a demon. And this narrative of the demon-possessed man follows much of the same structure that we saw last week. As the waves raged, so too the demon rages. As Jesus rebukes the sea, so too he rebukes the demon. And then at the end we look at the reactions. How do the people react to these events? And amid these events in this narrative this morning, I want you to see one main thing, which is essentially the exact same thing as last week. That Jesus is the Lord. He's the Son of God. Even the demons must obey him. Jesus is sovereign over all things. Last week we saw that he was sovereign over nature. This week, he's sovereign over the spiritual realm. And next week we'll see that he's sovereign even over death. Jesus is Lord, he's the Son of God, and He is sovereign. As we consider that, I want you to look at three things in this text. First, in verses one through five, the tyranny of the devils. The tyranny of devils in verses one through five. Secondly, in verses six through thirteen, the sovereignty of Christ. The sovereignty of Christ. And then thirdly, in verses fourteen through twenty, the greed of the Garrisenes. The greed of the Garrisons. The tyranny of devils, the sovereignty of Christ, and the greed of the Garosenes. Before we read the text and consider these things, won't you please pray with me? Abba Father, Holy God, we thank you for your word. Your word where we are seeing the sovereignty of our Lord over creation itself, over the spiritual realm, and even death. And we acknowledge that this word is powerful. And that it's your chosen means to redeem your people from their sin. So we come to it expectant, expectant on you to change our hearts, to convict us of sin, to show us the Lord Jesus Christ. But we come humble and needy, dependent upon you to pour out your spirit, to soften our hearts, to open our eyes, and to unstop our ears. That your word might do its work in us, that we might be the good soil prepared for the seed which we are about to receive. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Mark chapter 5, this is God's holy and inerrant and inspired word to you, his people, give careful attention to the reading of God's word. Then they, the disciples, and Jesus, came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Garacines. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat immediately, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me. For he was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And Jesus asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many. And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. And they begged him, saying, Send us to the pigs, let us enter them. And he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion sitting there, clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. This is God's word. Look with me first at verses one through five as we see the tyranny of devils. Jesus and his disciples sail across the Sea of Galilee through the storm and come to the Gentile region of the Garrisons. As soon as Jesus steps out of the boat onto the shore, he's met by a demon-possessed man. And that's the first thing that we're told about this man: that he is possessed by an unclean spirit. And that's what sets the stage for the whole narrative. As Jesus' power is going to be displayed over the spiritual realm. But we can't just jump straight there. We can't just go straight to Jesus' authority over demons. We need to wrestle with what the demons actually do. That's a main thrust of this text. What do the demons actually do? And what situation do they bring upon mankind? In fact, that's probably one of the hardest things we must do this morning. Because this is hard to grapple with for a 21st century audience. In our post-Enlightenment context, where we live in the digital world and we're taught by reason and science, demons don't have a place in our worldview. Perhaps the most we hear about demons in the modern context is if you're a movie lover of the horror genre. If you love horror movies, then you probably know more about demons than anyone else in this room. But they certainly have no place in our view of the world, current events and everyday life. When you read the news, you're not wondering, I wonder what role the demons played in that story. But for starters, you and I cannot, we cannot be naive about demons and the spiritual forces of evil. It's not an option for you, Christian. God's word tells us about the presence of spiritual forces of evil. And Jesus teaches us to pray against them. And we do pray. Whether you pray the Lord's Prayer at home or not, every Sunday when you come to worship, we pray, keep us from temptation and deliver us from the evil one. So every single Lord's Day, we're praying against the spiritual forces of evil. It's a part and parcel of the Christian life to be on guard against spiritual forces of evil and to pray against them. So you and I don't have the ability to think like the rest of the secular West about demons. We can't just pretend like they're not there. Instead, we must be sober-minded. We need to be sober-minded about the tyranny of devils, the heinousness of their mission, and the sorrow that they bring upon mankind. Look with me at verse 3, where we get a snapshot of this man's life who was possessed by a demon. We get a picture of what it looks like to be oppressed or possessed by a demon. First, this man lived among the tombs. So this demonic possession had withdrawn him from polite society. Because of his possession, he was exiled from human civilization. He was forced out of society to live in an ancient cemetery. And then, secondly, we're told he couldn't be bound. He refused to submit to authorities. Authority structure didn't work on him. And the demon possession gave him supernatural strength, so that chains and shackles, ordinary things that would bind a normal human, didn't work on him. He had the ability to rebel from all attempts at authority, all attempts to hold him captive. No amount of effort from his neighbors and friends could restrain him, could restore him, could restructure his life. He was untrainable, undisciplined. He was a rogue. And then we're told he went day and night in verse 5, up and down the mountains, shrieking, crying out uncontrollably. He was disruptive, unruly, unkept. He was a menace to his society, a menace to his neighbors, out of his mind. And next we're told that he was cutting himself with sharp stones. As he went about, he was cutting himself, inflicting harm to his own body. He was self-destructive, self-hating. He was wasting his life. And then in verse 15, skipping ahead just a little bit, we're told after this exorcism has taken place, Mark points out that he was clothed, implying formerly that he was unclothed. So he was going about naked in complete shame and destitution. And this account of this possessed man is sad enough as it is. It's sad. But I want you to think about this man as a man. Think about him as a man that you knew, or someone that you might know. A man who had a father and a mother. Could you imagine this happening to one of your children? He had grandparents. He possibly had a wife and children at home. Think about them. He had friends at some point, presumably, uncles, aunts, and cousins. And all of these had to watch his life spiral out of control until this miserable existence where he lived amongst the tombs, shrieking out day and night, cutting himself, running around naked, walking around in complete shame and destitution. This man was not just a demon-possessed man. This is a man made in God's image, created with dignity, stamped with the image of God eternally. A creature who is made to glorify and enjoy God forever. A creature just like you and me, who's made to know truth, to reflect beauty, and to enjoy and perform goodness in the world. And look at what this demonic influence has brought to him. Look at what his life is now: shame, alienation, insubordination, self-hatred, self-harm, and destruction. What is the tyranny of devils? This is it. This is what demons seek to do to mankind. They seek to erase, to stamp out the image of God in men, to bring shame, separation, alienation, and destruction. And that's the fruit of demonic activity, isn't it? The fruit of our temptations, of demonic temptations that we face. What do our sins bring us? Don't they bring us shame, alienation, self-loathing, and eventually destruction? And we may not live in an age which acknowledges demonic oppression, demonic possession. But don't we experience the effects? Don't we experience these same effects today in our own culture? Just to point out a few, we live in an age that's intolerably addicted to drugs. Millions of young men and women have gotten hooked at a young age on fetanyl or heroin or any other drug that completely controls the mind. And as a result, what do they experience? Shame. Alienation, and in many cases, their own destruction. We live in an age that's tormented by ubiquity of pornography. It's everywhere. It's on everyone's phone, it's on the internet, it's on computers. And what's the fruit of that? Shame. Alienation and destruction of marriages and families. We live in an age that's tormented by this inexplicable anxiety. Anxiety's been rising continually. Over 25% of the American population is dependent on antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication. And that's a sad fact, but it shouldn't be the case. But what's the fruit of this anxiety? What's the fruit of this dependence? And for many people, it's shame, alienation, and self-destructive thoughts and habits. We may not live in an age which is ready to acknowledge the presence and oppression of demons, but we sure do experience the fruit, don't we? And this is worth mourning. It's sad. The tyranny of devils is awful. It ought to bring us to tears that men and women who are made in God's image experience this sort of miserable existence. And that's the tyranny of devils. And if you want to know what hell is like, if you want to know what eternal punishment is like, just look at the existence of this poor man in verses 1 through 5. And know that hell will only be worse than this. Take those same things that you're seeing here: the shame and alienation, the insubordination, the self-hatred, self-harm and destruction, and those things will only be worse. And that ought to bring us all to our knees in prayer. Prayer that God would deliver us from temptation and keep us from the evil one. It ought to keep you on your knees in prayer for your family members and your friends, that they would be kept from temptation. That they would be kept from the evil one. And it ought to keep us aware that evil forces, demons, really are at work in our world. But it ought never to keep your eyes fixed on demons. The answer is not to focus on the devils. No matter how tyrannical the devils may be, Christ is sovereign over each one of them. And that's our next point, the sovereignty of Christ. Look with me now at verses 6 through 13. In verse 6, the first thing we see is the demon-possessed man running to Jesus and falling down on his knees before him, addressing him according to his spiritual identity. Now that's rather peculiar, isn't it? That anytime that Jesus encounters a demon, the demons run up to him, fall down before him, and they say precisely who he is according to his spiritual identity. Remember back in Mark 1, when Jesus encountered this demon-possessed man as Jesus was preaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, all of a sudden a demon-possessed man starts shouting out in the middle of his sermon. And what he's shouting out is Jesus' spiritual identity. What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? And he was really asking, is this the end for all of us demons? Is this the end for all of these spiritual forces of evil? Has the time come for judgment? And this demon here in Mark chapter 5 is doing a similar thing. He falls down before Jesus and says, Have you come? Please don't torment me. Don't torment me. And it's evident from these accounts already that the demons can do nothing. They cannot so much as tempt a person outside of the sovereign control of God. They can do nothing outside of God's control. Their very existence hangs in the hands of God. And apparently, according to the text, the time for their judgment has not yet come. But I want you to notice something interesting about what this demon says. This demon calls Jesus by his spiritual identity the Son of the Most High. And then he adjures him by God not to be tormented. I adjure you by God, do not torment me. You might call this the demonic name game. The demons keep playing it with Jesus, this demonic name game. And here in the South, we have our own name game. I don't know if you've noticed this. It's particularly prevalent in Mississippi. I think it's also prevalent in Alberta. Alabama. When you meet someone, you ask them their name, but really you're asking them their family name. Who is your family? Where did you come from? Who are you descended from? Sometimes multiple generations back. Who are your ancestors? It's as if in the South, if you know someone's ancestry, if you know who they are in their name, then you know them. You can understand them if you simply know who their ancestors were and where they came from. You can sum them up, you can understand them. Maybe you even have connections that can actually help you understand the type of people they are. But the demons play their own name game. And it appears from this text and other texts in Mark's gospel that the demons really believe that if they understand someone's spiritual identity, that if they can name someone's spiritual identity, that they have mastery over that person. That's why when Jesus encounters these demons, they're always declaring his spiritual identity. And what does Jesus do every time? He silences them. Be silent. But this demon in particular takes it one step further, adjuring Jesus by the name of God not to torment him. It's as if this demon is trying really hard to say the magic words. He's asserting Jesus' spiritual identity and the power that Jesus possesses, thinking that this will give him mastery over Jesus. That it will bind Jesus in submission to the demon. But the occult superstition and formula doesn't work, does it? In reply, Jesus demands from the demon in verse 9, what is your name? It's as if Jesus is saying, okay, you want to play this game, this name game. Let's start with you. What's your name? Fess up. Who are you? And to this, the demon reveals that he's not merely one demon, but his name is Legion. There are many demons inhabiting this one man. And what's the identity of the demon has been revealed? The demon begs Jesus not to send him out, not to send them, I should say, not to send them out of the region, but to send them into a herd of pigs nearby on the hill. And Jesus grants them their request. And immediately the pigs break out into hysteria and drown themselves in the sea. And this prompts the question why would Jesus grant them their request? Why would he permit them to stay in the region and to enter the pigs? And for starters, Jesus didn't come to earth this time to judge the world. This wasn't the time for judgment. Jesus came on a mission to redeem his elect people from their sins. He was bringing light into the darkness, pushing back the effects of the fall, and saving his chosen people from their sins. This was not the time for judging evil spirits and evil men. That will come when Jesus returns, but here, that's not the mission that Jesus is on. In liberating this man, the man possessed by legion, in liberating this man, he's showing precisely what his mission was: to free men from the oppression of sin and Satan. But why the pigs? What did the pigs do to anyone? What about those poor pigs? The answer is nothing. The pigs didn't do anything. This is not some secret, you know, pigs are unclean in the Jewish culture, therefore Jesus judged the pigs. The answer is nothing. Jesus is aiming to show this man, his disciples, and you and me how severe the effects of demons really are. I mean, just think about this. The demons inhabit these pigs, and in less than 30 seconds they're all dead. They're all dead in the water. Shouldn't that be a lesson to us all of the effects of the demonic? Destruction, self-harm, self-abasement. In allowing this event to happen, Jesus demonstrated how much greater of a value is the soul of one man than a herd of 2,000 pigs. Let this herd of 2,000 pigs serve as a lesson to all of us of how destructive the demonics are. And then most importantly, you can see in this event that demons, the spiritual realm of evil, can't make a single move apart from the will of our Lord. The devils are tyrannical. They're awful. But Jesus is sovereign over all of them. And Jesus wants you to be kept free. Jesus mourns the oppression of his image-bearers by demons. So that's the tyranny of the devils, the sovereignty of Christ over all of them. No name games can twist his arm. He has complete authority over every demon and devil. But now let's consider the reactions to these events, particularly the greed of the Garrisons, the greed of the Garrisons. That's our third point this morning. Now, for the rest of this text to make sense, we have to remind ourselves of one important fact. This narrative, this event did not occur in Jewish territory. This is in Gentile territory. So this takes place amongst Gentiles. Now, why is that important? Because Gentiles ate pork. The Garrisons ate pork, and apparently lots of it. They must have loved their barbecue places. And apparently this was an important stream of income in their economy. And while Jesus was eager to demonstrate to this man and to his disciples and to you and to me how much more valuable one soul of a human is than 2,000 pigs, perhaps the Garrisones didn't see eye to eye with Jesus. As soon as the pigs had drowned, the herdsmen quickly raced back to the city to report what had happened. And most likely they're going back to the owners of the herds to tell them the loss that they had just incurred, and this is in the day before agricultural insurance. Now, just to give you a realistic figure as to how much these pigs were worth, during my preparation in a rabbit trail, I did some estimates. And that's assuming modern tax rates and processing fees. Now, if these pork operations, if these pig farmers processed their own pigs and sold them direct to consumers, and if they fetched a decent market price, the value of this herd could be well above four million dollars worth of pork. Which would be probably the best figure to represent the total economic impact to this town. Not to mention the impact that a loss of 2,000 pigs would have on the price of pork bellies in this community. But enough of all that. You get the point. This was a costly event. This was a costly event in the life of the garrison community. The townspeople raced down to the coast, and they found the man who had been such a terror, who had been such a menace to their community, and there he sits, dressed, maybe he had had enough time to shave, in his right mind, peaceably sitting next to Jesus. But their concern was their loss. Once the story was out, once all the explaining had been done of what had happened, they were afraid, we're told, afraid of what further harm Jesus might bring if he continued among them. And they beg him to move on, to depart from their region. And he did so. He got back into the boats with the disciples and departed. And that's the greed of the garrisons. They show up on the coast and they witness the wonderful sovereignty of God liberating this man who had been under such oppression, shame, alienation, insubordination, destruction, and self-harm. They witnessed all the awful tyranny that this man was under. They'd seen the pain that it had brought his family and his friends. They had known this man before his demonic possession. They saw all the havoc that it wreaked upon his life. And now they witness him restored, dignified, clothed. But their concern was the pigs. The loss of such economic opportunity had blinded the Garacines completely. But not this man, not the man who had been possessed by legion. He had tasted firsthand the heinousness, the awfulness, the destruction, the tyranny of the devils. And then he saw what had happened to the herd of pigs and said, That could have been me. That could have been me. He knew the purposes that the demons had in mind to destroy God's image in humanity, to distort truth, beauty, and goodness in the world, to wreak havoc and destruction in the lives of men. When this man was restored, what did he want to do? He wanted to stay close to Jesus. He wanted to be near Christ. He wanted to be close to the one who was sovereign over every evil spirit. And he wanted to be close to the one who, frankly, cared more for the soul of a man than 2,000 pigs. Now Jesus didn't permit this man to join him, but instead told him to go home. Go back to his family, go to his friends, and tell them of what had happened. And he did so. And the message that this man was going to bring was awfully similar to the same message as last week. And it's the message that I want to press into your hearts this morning. The tyranny of devils is awful. Only imagine the stories this man was bringing back to his friends and family of how terrible it was to be possessed by this demon. The tyranny of devils is awful. It's destructive, it's shameful, it's alienating, and it leads to destruction. But there's one who's sovereign. He's sovereign over nature, he's sovereign over demons, and he's sovereign over death itself. And his name is Jesus. And he's the Messiah. He is the Christ. And he's not only sovereign, but he's good. And he values your soul more than a herd of 2,000 pigs. He values your soul more than all the pigs on this earth. More than any dollar amount of livestock, more than any amount of property. So what's the message? When the winds and the waves rise, when the storms assault you, when demons assault you, when temptations rise, where shall you flee? You must go to Jesus. He's sovereign over all of it. Not only is he sovereign, but he loves you. He cares for your soul more than any amount of money or livestock or whatever the obstacle appears to be. The greed of the Gazarenes can never overcome the love of Jesus. So let me tie all this together. We've seen the tyranny of the devils. The demons wreak havoc on human lives. They bring shame, alienation, and destruction. We've seen the sovereignty of Christ. No matter what tactics the demons employ, they must fall before Jesus and they must submit to Him. And we've seen the love of Christ. He's not motivated by greed, he's not motivated by financial gain. He's motivated by love for your soul to keep you free from temptation, to keep you free from sin, to deliver you from the evil one. So what does that mean for you? What does that mean for me? We live in a world where demons abound, whether we admit it or not. They wreak havoc on many lives. They wreak havoc on the lives of many poor souls who are made in the image of God. And the answer amid this demon-filled world is not to ignore the demons and try to rationalize everything, to be able to explain everything away according to the laws of nature. God's word tells us far too much about demons for that. The answer is also not to become hyper-focused on demons. I don't want to catch any of you out in your backyard chopping up your grandmother's dresser thinking that it has a demon inside of it. Don't become hyper-focused on spiritual warfare. That's not the answer either. The answer is to look to the one who is sovereign over every single demon. And to believe in your very bones, in the pit of your soul, that not the strongest demon can so much as tempt you apart from Jesus' permission. And that Jesus is not only powerful enough to deliver you from demons, but he actually loves you. And he wants to do that. He cares more about your soul and won't forsake you. He won't forsake you amid the temptation of devils. The answer is to look to Jesus, just like this man. When restored from the awful tyranny of sin and devils, he looked to Jesus as a Savior who was mighty and powerful to save him, and loved him when everyone else had forsaken him, had rejected him. You must look to Jesus. Don't focus on the demons. Don't focus on yourself. Look to Jesus and trust him and pray to him. Pray to him like we pray every week to deliver you from temptation, from the evil one. He's the Lord, he's the Son of God, He's sovereign, and He loves you. He will do it. In just a moment, we're going to sing the famous hymn, which is actually a translation of Psalm 46 from Martin Luther. And we're going to sing the third verse. These words. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him. As we sing those words, I do want you to remember that yes, this world is with devils filled. But we have a Savior who is sovereign over them all, and he's on your side and he loves you. Let's pray. Abba Father, holy God, we confess that there's a world among us which we can't see. And we confess that we are sometimes blind to the pain and sorrow and suffering that it brings to creatures made in your image. But as your word has declared to us, we confess that you are sovereign over them all. Not one of them moves apart from your decree. And we trust you. Help us to trust you. Help us not to fear, but to find grace and help in time of need in you and you alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Thank you for listening to the Lake Martin Presbyterian Church Podcast. If this message encouraged you, please consider sharing it with someone else. To learn more about our church, including worship times and upcoming events, visit LakemartinPCA.com. We'd love to have you join us.