Breaking Free: When Jesus Breaks Every Chain

1. 0:01 Good morning. Can we please rise for the word? They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.
2. 0:21 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, 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.
3. 0:38 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, Jesus, would have you do with me?
4. 0:55 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, Do not send them out of the country.
5. 1:14 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. He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. And the herd, numbering about 2,000, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
6. 1:35 The herd's men fled and told in the city and in the country, and people came to see what it was that had happened. 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.
7. 1:56 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 said he did not permit him, but he said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.
8. 2:15 And all 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 was marveled. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Family, thank you.
9. 2:33 Great job. You know, public speaking is scary enough, let alone trying to read from a screen in the back. Thank you for this beautiful family putting God's word in front of us today and let us wrestle with the truth. Well, we're in a series called Made for More.
10. 2:51 And for the past few weeks, we've been looking at the fact that each one of us is made for something more. Because if nothing in this life truly satisfies us, could it be that we were made for more than just this life? And so two weeks ago, we looked at Zacchaeus who climbed all sorts of trees.
11. 3:11 And those trees just didn't represent an opportunity for him to get a better view. But he had sent everything in his life to climb as high as he could on the success ladder and the possession ladder and the influence ladder. Only to find that he hadn't found what he was looking for.
12. 3:28 And for us, we do the same. We look to power, possession, positions, pleasure. Thinking that maybe if I just achieve whatever it is, then I'll be satisfied. But Zacchaeus thinks he's looking for Christ, but Christ already knows his name and he calls him to himself.
13. 3:48 And he gives the man, who was always an outsider, an opportunity to come in and become a part of his family. And it changed everything. And then, last week, we looked at the woman at the well. And there, she had drunk so deeply of the world.
14. 4:07 And it had left her mouth parched and dry. You see, she had gone through five marriages. And the current relationship she was in, well, let's just say it was complicated. She thought that she would find her life through relationships.
15. 4:22 And then she encounters Christ. Not because she was looking for him, but because he was looking for her. And there he meets her by the well. And he alone quenched her thirst as the living water. And then she, like Zacchaeus, went and told everyone about all that God had done for them.
16. 4:42 And the reason we're going through this series is because this is what it means to be a faith family on mission. Living for someone more and something more. And today, we're turning our attention to a man who was possessed.
17. 4:59 In other words, he was bound with chains. And for some of us, these chains aren't just what's going on outside. But they're what's going on inside. Some of us have made some mistakes in our life.
18. 5:15 And as a result, we just see ourselves by our mistakes. And we'll never live up to be more than that because, well, we blew it. And now that's our label. That's who I am. And it's what I've done. And we can't change the past.
19. 5:31 And so, we just embrace the reality that this is who I am. There's chains in our life. And then some of us, it's not so much what we've said about ourselves, but it's what others have said about us. You're beautiful.
20. 5:47 You're ugly. You're smart. You're not smart. You're in. You're out. You're successful. You're not successful. And before we know it, yet again, there are chains that are holding us back from the more that's in our heart. And it's not so much what we've said about ourselves, but what others have said about us.
21. 6:07 But if we're really honest, maybe we're starting to believe it. And the result is that we're chained. And our story today, what's interesting is that we find a man who wasn't just chained by himself and what he said about himself, but he probably was.
22. 6:26 He wasn't just chained by those who looked down on him because the whole community thought he was crazy and out of his mind because he was. So, he had those chains as well from society. But he had something else going on, didn't he?
23. 6:43 He had a spiritual attack that was affecting every aspect of his life, and it was putting him in literal chains. Until he met the only one who could break those chains.
24. 6:58 Will you pray with me? Lord, we pray first and foremost that you'll get this sound system working today. And we also pray for those of us that are in chains, that you would break them today.
25. 7:13 What we say about ourselves, what other people have said about us, or even worse, Lord, what the enemy is whispering in our ear. Lord, break the chains, set us free. We need you, Lord. You're the only one who can, and our hope is in you.
26. 7:28 And we pray this in your name. Amen. Now, I know some of you are in different places in your faith journey. And so, before I go any further, I just want to address the fact that I believe spiritual attack is real.
27. 7:45 I know some of you are thinking, well, this could have just been a mental health issue. Maybe, but maybe there was something more. You see, in Jesus' ministry, he was about the business of casting out demons everywhere he went. He said, the scripture actually says, in addition to what Jesus did, is that our battle is not just flesh and blood, but it's against principalities of darkness and spiritual powers that are all around us.
28. 8:13 In other words, spiritual attack is real, and it's real today. Now, I was thinking I might not do this, but I'm going to try and do it as tastefully as I can. But I want you to see what I believe is demonically influenced today in our age. A few weeks ago, there was a shooter that went to a school that he went to.
29. 8:34 And as he struggled with his own sexual orientation, he felt like an outsider, and there was deep wrestlings and anger from within. His own parents worked at that school, and he goes back with no criminal record whatsoever. And he opens fire on children during their first chapel service of the year.
30. 8:54 Seventeen kids are injured. Two were killed. An eight and a ten-year-old. They did nothing against this man. What's interesting is that this cowardly act was then finished with the most cowardly act of him killing himself.
31. 9:10 So there will never be justice or answers. But his authorities began to look and to wrestle with, why did he do this? What led a man with no record from the very school that loved and invested in his life for his own parents' work and sacrificed for him to go? Why would he go back there and do such a horrific act to the most innocent amongst us?
32. 9:29 And here's what they found. I'm going to put it on the screen for you. This is an image of his journal. And there he has a drawing of him looking in the mirror at himself. He's got the gun strapped on his back, and he's looking in the mirror.
33. 9:45 And do you see what's in that mirror? It doesn't look like a man, does it? It looks like a demon. And there is some unknown script that the authorities tried to translate as best they could. What they deciphered was it was him crying out. I don't want to do this.
34. 10:01 There's something inside of me telling me I must. I don't want to do this. I just want to die. And then the response is, kill and be killed. Then, when the authorities found his gun, there were basically the cartridges for the bullets, and he had inscribed this on it.
35. 10:22 Where is your God? And this is for the children. And then on the gun itself, it said, Israel must die. I'm not here to get into a political argument with you today. I'm just asking, where in the world did this come from?
36. 10:37 This sort of evil that I believe possessed this man to do a horrific act. It was though he had voices inside of his head controlling him. Was it just mental health, or could it have been something more?
37. 10:53 And then last week, we saw that horrific act on the public transport of a man just killing a woman he's never even met, and doing it in cold blood and just leaving. A man who had had a criminal history. There's a record of him calling the police just earlier that week from a mental health institution.
38. 11:13 And here it is. It's the black image with a red circle around it. This is his words. Help. Help. Someone is controlling me from the inside. There are voices telling me what to do, and they are not mine. This is the very transcript that we have from the police call that he made about himself before he did this horrific act.
39. 11:35 I don't know. Maybe it's just mental health. Or maybe there are principalities at work to bring about death and destruction and chaos and isolation. Because the scripture says, again, our battle is not just against flesh and blood, but against principalities of darkness and evil.
40. 11:58 And this is where we find our man today. He's in a Gentile land. It's considered unclean. He's there living amongst the dead. That is also considered unclean.
41. 12:15 He's surrounded by pigs. In the Old Testament, for whatever reason, they were considered unclean. I thank God that on this side of the Testament, pigs are edible. Can I get an amen from any bacon lovers out there? In his context, though, these pigs were bad.
42. 12:32 They were dirty and unclean. Furthermore, he is possessed by demons. He's unclean. On every count, this man is unclean, isolated, separated, pulled apart. And this is the very place that Jesus meets him.
43. 12:48 Just like he met Zacchaeus. Just like he met the woman at the well. It's not on his way. It's not convenient. It's not comfortable. But that's what love looks like. And that's where he goes. Because that's where he's called. And he sets an example for us.
44. 13:04 And there he meets a man. And let me give you a little back story. You see, in just the chapter before, in chapter 4, there's a terrible squall. These fishermen, who had spent their whole life on the water, think they are going to die. And they wake Jesus up, who's peacefully sleeping during the storm.
45. 13:24 And they say to him, are you not concerned that we're all going to die out here? And Jesus looks to the winds and the waves, and he says, peace, be still. And the waters and the waves and the rains obeyed him. And the men looked at him in awe.
46. 13:40 Mark's gospel accounts are short, but they're to the point. In chapter 1, he tells us that he's writing all these things that we might know that this is God's true son, God himself. And so, in chapter 4, we see the one who can calm the weather.
47. 13:59 Here in chapter 5, we're reading about the one who even the demons obey. And in chapter 6, we're going to read about the one who can not only heal, but raise the dead. And so, in this context, Christ our Lord enters because he's not scared.
48. 14:17 And what's fascinating to me is that the men with him are not scared. I would have been a little concerned if I saw a naked man running down the hill who is known for breaking chains. This dude's strong. And he's cutting himself. And he's crying out all night.
49. 14:33 People can hear him howling like a wolf in the evening. He's tormented. And he's running straight at them. And these guys, instead of running off, because later in Mark's gospel, he knows that they did run off. After crucifixion, they ran off when little girls accused them of being with Jesus, and they ran for their very lives.
50. 14:49 But in this moment, they stand. Could it be because just moments before, they saw that Christ controlled even the weather and the storms. And in that moment, they knew that they were with the only one who could protect them from this man.
51. 15:04 And so, they stood not in their strength, but in his. And there, Jesus encounters a man. And did you catch what happens? He falls down on his knees. And he cries out, most powerful, most high God, have mercy on me.
52. 15:24 Now, this is, I believe, the demons speaking through him. Demons, scary enough, have good theology. They know that there is a God. They know that he is a sovereign God.
53. 15:40 They recognize that Jesus is God. And they know that one day, they are going to be thrown into the lake of fire. And they're not ready for that day just yet. And so, they beg Jesus, please, do not throw us into the lake of fire.
54. 15:55 It is not yet our time. And they beg him for mercy. Those demons weren't merciful to that man, were they? In fact, it says, and I believe right in verse 5 through 7, that Jesus had been telling the demons to come out, but they hadn't.
55. 16:10 And so, Jesus asked them, what is your name? And here's something about spiritual warfare. It's always going to lead to isolation. That's where the man finds himself. It's always going to lead to dark places, like the graveyard. It's always going to put you against yourself, uncomfortable in your own skin or your own sex or whatever it is.
56. 16:29 And you just want to cut and slash and rid yourself, because this is what Satan and his enemies are always going to do. And here we find Christ meeting him empathetically. But just because the demons recognized who God was and what he was doing and what he was going to do, it didn't mean they surrendered their lives to him or obeyed him.
57. 16:50 In fact, they were resistant to Christ's initial commands to come out of him. And as a result, Jesus asked, what is your name? And they say, our name, my pronoun, it's plural, it's legion.
58. 17:08 And there in that moment, Jesus is confronted with the reality that he already knew, but now everybody else knows legion in that day would have been about 6,000 soldiers, maybe 6,800 some soldiers. Now, demons are liars, so we don't know how many demons there were.
59. 17:25 But we know that when they were cast out into 2,000 pigs, the entire herd ran off the cliff. And so what's interesting is that these demons beg Jesus to not cast him into the lake of fire, which they know is coming, but instead to cast him into pigs.
60. 17:45 And I'm left to ask myself, why? Like, why wouldn't he just float or go somewhere else? You know, you're a spirit. In Matthew chapter 12, we get a little glimpse of how this works in terms of Jesus, again, liberating people demonically. And he says the spirit will then be cast out, and it will go in lonely places and drift.
61. 18:04 And then it'll come back. And if there's something not in that person's life, Christ, then he'll bring seven other demons with it. In other words, demons were more comfortable possessing something than just floating out there and doing nothing. And so they asked to go into these pigs.
62. 18:19 And in these pigs, I mean, there's thousands of them. It's crazy to think about that. They go into these animals, and they infest them, and they kill themselves. And then I'm left asking, why didn't you just cast them into the lake of fire?
63. 18:36 That's where they're headed. That's where they belong. We know there's at least 2,000 here. 2,000 less demons seems like a good idea to me. Hey, here's what I'm beginning to realize in my own faith journey. Scripture never calls us to fear Satan or his demons.
64. 18:55 It calls us to fear God and God alone. And the demons fear God, and they bow down before him. And Jesus is not threatened by those demons at all. Full stop. In fact, do you remember the story of Job in the Old Testament?
65. 19:12 Job's a man that's blessed by God and flourishing in every aspect of his life. And Satan's like, yeah, because he has a hedge of protection around him. If he doesn't, then he'll curse you and die like everyone else. And so God grants him permission, underscore, to test Job.
66. 19:29 You see, there is nothing happening outside of the control of our mighty God. There are many things that break his heart in a broken and fallen world. But ultimately, he is the one who reigns supreme. And one day, he will make all things right.
67. 19:47 And so we can trust him, no matter what may come or what demon may come. Jesus isn't worried about them. He casts them out. He knows their day's coming and their time's coming. But right now, maybe, just maybe. he can use their evil for good, just like he did at the cross.
68. 20:03 Who knows? But the reality is, for all of us here, is that this is Christ the King, commanding the demons what to do. And they leave, and they do what they always do, which is bring about death and destruction.
69. 20:19 And we see that immediately. Now, what I didn't see coming, and what I don't think would be my natural response, I don't know. I don't know what yours would be. But I would hope that I'm more comfortable with the cross than a crazy man. That I care more about a person than pigs.
70. 20:39 But that's not what happens, is it? The ones who are looking over those pigs, they run into the community, and they tell, and everybody comes out to see this magic man, the miracle worker. And they hear the stories of what he's done.
71. 20:54 And instead of bending their knee like the demons did, they ask him to leave. They ask him to go. In fact, the word is they begged him. Three times we read about the word begged here. The first one is the demons begged him to not send him to the lake of fire, but into the pigs.
72. 21:15 Now we're reading about the community begging Jesus to leave. Leave. Here's the only one that can heal them and set them free. It says the man who was tormented is now in his right mind, clothed, and alert, and controlled.
73. 21:30 He's no longer out of control or possessed. He's in his right mind, and he has—his life is coming back together. And the crazy thing is that people were more comfortable with him out of control than him now in control, changed by the power of God.
74. 21:48 And I don't know. That might be your story too. God's done a great work in your heart and life, and you want to tell everybody about it, but they're like, I don't know. I don't like this. I don't want to hear any more about this. Because this is what the community did.
75. 22:03 In the moment that they had to meet the only one who could truly set all of them free from all of the chains that were bound around all of them, they send them away. And then the man cries out to Jesus, and this is the third time, he begs Jesus that he might stay with him.
76. 22:24 Here's the one who's healed him. Please don't go anywhere, Lord. You have the power of life and death. You've saved me. I want to be with you. And Jesus doesn't let him stay there, does he? He doesn't let him come with him. It's interesting. The demons beg him.
77. 22:39 The city begs him. And he honors their requests. But the one who begs to be with him, he basically says, not yet, but soon. I have a mission for you. And so I think the implication for us is we wrestle with what does it mean to be a faith family on mission?
78. 22:58 And so then Christ comes into our hearts and lives and our midst. He changes us from the inside out. But he saves us for a purpose. Not only for himself, but for his mission. And so in this series, we're looking at made for more.
79. 23:14 And the answer is yes. We were made for more than possessions, popularity, position, pleasure. All these things eventually just, they entangle us up until Christ comes in.
80. 23:31 And he says, I can set you free because you weren't created for these things. You were created for me. And your heart will never find rest, as St. Augustine said, until it finds rest in thee.
81. 23:47 You were made for more. You were made for more. I was made for more. We were made for Christ. And he has a mission for us. And it's not just building our kingdom. It's building his kingdom. And until he returns, may we boldly proclaim the only one who can set us free.
82. 24:08 Will you pray with me? Holy Father, we come to you today as the one who can set us free. We are so often labeling ourselves and enslaving ourselves with chains that no one else can see, but we do.
83. 24:30 And we know that you have more for us. And we just confess that we need you to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, that you would save us and sustain us. People have labeled us, Lord. But ultimately, there's only one voice that matters, and it's yours.
84. 24:46 Not ours and not others. It's yours, Lord. So, help us to hear your voice and what you have to say about us. You call us chosen and loved, and you've set us free. You've said that there's darkness in this world, but you've overcome the darkness.
85. 25:03 And whoever walks with you has the light of life in them. So, God, we do not fear darkness or evil. We expose it, and we stand in your light, and we want to shine your light to a world that desperately needs it. And God, there's maybe someone in here today that you have drawn here at such a time as this.
86. 25:21 They hear the attacks of the enemy over and over, whispering in their ear, you're nothing more. End it now. Your life is a shame. And sometimes they just feel out of control. Maybe they're not possessed, but maybe they're influenced by the enemy.
87. 25:37 God, today, set them free. Hear this prayer as they cry out to you now. Lord Jesus, I need you. I need you more than the breath of air in my lungs. There's so much in my heart that leads me astray.
88. 25:53 I don't even understand it, and I don't fully understand what's influencing it. But I know that you're the God who is able. You're the God who is willing, and you are the God who could set me free. And so, I'm crying out to you, God. I need you to forgive me.
89. 26:09 I need you to come inside and change me from the inside out and make me right with you, myself, and others. Only you can do that, Lord. And so, as best I know how, I surrender. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of our great God, Savior, Jesus Christ.
90. 26:26 Amen and amen. Thank you.

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