Turn in your Bibles to Mark 5. We’re going to look and see a man that is seemingly beyond hope, today. We have a man whose conversion story we get to see and experience.

1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 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.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 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. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 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.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

It’s a joy to open up the Word with you. It’s a joy to talk about the transforming power of Jesus that can change anybody. We all love an amazing transformation, don’t we? I don’t know about you, but I have a soft spot for videos that show an amazing before and after. You might also, whether it’s before and after home renovation shows, whether it’s hair and makeover and a new wardrobe. Or maybe you’re on YouTube or Facebook and you see those videos that show this frightened animal, whether it’s a dog or cat, transformed with some love and care, into this house pet that can’t wait for more hugs and affection. I know I’m not the only one that enjoys those videos. At least, I hope I’m not. (Laughter!) I love a good transformation story that is for the better. It gives me hope. It gives me delight. It shows me that there is power in taking something that seems helpless and turning it into something hopeful, something new.

Today we’re going to see a transformation in the life of the demoniac that is so stunning that there is only one reason for the change that we see, and it’s an encounter with Jesus. This is another example in the life of Jesus of where someone comes into contact with Him and is truly transformed. So let me begin by asking you a question. Have you experienced the transforming power of Jesus? Have you been transformed to where you have seen Him and you’ve left changed from a life that was pursuing yourself to a life that is following God? If you have, are you a follower of Jesus where you’re living in the freedom and the confidence that He loves you? I pray that you will know and live in light of His transforming mercy and power towards you today.

So we come to our story and I think it would be a help to you for us to see what the author of Mark is trying to tell us and how he has formed this narrative. So Jesus has just calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He is sleeping in the boat. The disciples wake Him. They’re afraid for their lives. He gets up and He calms the wind and the waves and He says, “Peace, be still.” If you know your Old Testament, there is no one else who can control the wind and the waves and the sea other than God Himself. Jesus is proclaiming His divinity. So it prompts the disciples to ask, “Who then is this that the wind and the waves obey Him?” They should have known. But it’s the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us to take the blindness off of the god of this world and to help us see Christ for who He is. They know that He’s not an ordinary man, but they ask, “Who is this that the wind and the sea obey Him?” Mark is going to tell us this is the Holy One of God. He has power over the natural realm. He has power over the demonic. He has power over disease. He has power over death.

So this story we see today is the first of three of where Jesus, every time, confronts a powerful force of impurity. He confronts the demoniac. The woman with the discharge touches Him. Then He raises the dead by touching a dead girl and she comes to life. Jesus shows through these stories that He is the one that can overcome impurity and cleanse every form of defilement. He is the Holy One of God. Instead of what you would expect from a holy man drawing away from impurity, drawing away from those that are unclean, instead, He joins it. He enters into our sin, into our filth, our impurity, with the power to transform and restore us.

1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

Now, there are other parts of Scripture, Matthew and Luke, that mention a name that is a little bit different, but they’re all talking about a similar place. They’re talking about the side of the Sea of Galilee that is on the east of where Jesus has not been in His earthly ministry yet. He is going over there and this is into the Gentile region. Now, there would have been maybe a couple of Jews over here that would have traveled through, but it wouldn’t have been very likely. This was predominately Gentile, so this makes a change in Jesus’ ministry. He was in Capernaum. He was in Nazareth. He was in other places. So this is the time where Jesus begins to go over to the Gentiles. We’ll see later this is confirmed by the appearance of 2,000 pigs in the area. Jews had no dealings with pigs.

We see the setting. Now let’s look at the condition of this man. He is in the Gentile region. But not only is he just living impure as a Gentile, eating pigs and doing things that the Jews would consider unclean and impure and defiling, let’s look at what Mark tells us.

2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

That’s the first thing. We know it is many later, but an unclean spirit is the first. Look at what else.

3 He lived among the tombs.

Tombs were a defilement for the Jews.

And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,

So he has this supernatural spiritual strength. What does he do?

4 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.

The townspeople have tried again and again and again to subdue this man and they can’t.

5 Night and day among the tombs

It’s not as if he just goes there for a little bit. He is there constantly. He is continually defiled. He is continually unclean.

and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

So he’s adding injury as well. He is bleeding. He has sores. He has cuts and scars. You cannot get any more unclean than this man. Luke adds in his narrative that the man has no clothes. He is running around naked. So what we see is a man that is beyond hope. We see a man that is unclean. We see a man that has no idea that he is about to come face to face with the Holy One of God.

If you remember back in Mark 3, there were scribes that came up from Jerusalem. They are evaluating Jesus’ ministry and they’re seeing His miracles. They’re seeing Him cast out demons. They’re seeing Him do all of these things like heal the paralyzed and heal the sick. What do they say? They say He casts out demons by the prince of demons. What they’re saying is that Jesus, even though He is doing all these miracles, He is doing it by the powers of darkness. They’re saying that Jesus is not the holy one of God. They’re saying Jesus is unclean. He is impure. He is possessed. What the scribes fail to see about our Lord, we can see clearly by the grace of God.

Matthew, in his narrative, also adds that there were two men, not just one. So some will say the narratives are in conflict with each other and that there are errors within them. This isn’t the case because you see that Matthew and Luke and Mark, within their gospels they choose to emphasize different points. So when you look at this narrative, what Mark and what Luke are doing is they’re showing you the one that is the greatest in need. They’re showing you the one that is in the most need of deliverance, and thereby, showing the mighty power of God.

If you notice in verses 3 and 4, you have Mark give you similar phrasing. He says “no one, not even.” Then at the end of verse 4 he says, “no one had the strength to subdue him.” Mark could have said it once, but he says it many times so that we would see the fact that this guy is out of any kind of help. He is beyond it. He has no hope. His only hope is Jesus. According to the Jewish Talmud, there were four characteristics of madness. Do you want to hear them? They are walking abroad at night, spending the night on a grave, tearing one’s clothes, and destroying something that had been given to you. This man showed them all. He is beyond hope, with madness on top of madness.

When I was reading through this earlier and going through the study of it, I began to ask these kinds of questions. I began to ask questions like, why pigs? I began to ask, why drowning? I began to ask, why demonic possession? Why would Satan choose to use demonic possession as his means to show that this man was beyond hope? He could use his power many different ways, and he does. He uses it through appealing to our flesh. He uses it through appealing to our pride. He uses it through appealing to the world and its temptations. But why bodily possession? I think that it has to do with the fact of why we have originally been created.

We were created to show God’s likeness. We were created to show His image. We were created to reflect His glory. Satan wants to have none of it because every time he sees someone reflecting the glory of God, he is reminded that his days are short. He is reminded of why man is created. So I believe that through demonic possession what Satan is doing is to distort and destroy the image of God as best he can and to limit us from God’s redemptive plan. Satan wants to do everything that he can to hinder the redemptive plan of God. But praise God that he cannot! So this man, all of his personality, all of his volition, all his will, all of his independent faculties, all of it is impaired by these foreign powers. So he seeks to ruin the man and drive him to self-destruction.

What I might add here is that you might not see this happen that often now. There are parts of the world where it is visible, even as it is here, to some extent. Demonic possession may not be as visible in our church and in our community like this man, but don’t be deceived. The influence of the evil one is still alive and well. It’s alive in our community. It’s alive within our church. It’s alive maybe in our families. Though you may not be cutting yourself with stones or unable to be bound with supernatural strength or you might not be among tombs, you might still be living in accordance with whatever passion or desire you feel is right. Because that’s what living ungodly lives is like. Living an ungodly life is living in a way that distorts the image of God in you and leads you to self-destruction. There are bonds even here that the evil one wants to keep a hold of you. Apart from the mercy of God, you would have already been consumed. Whatever sinful desire you may have, whatever passion of the flesh, it might seem to you that you are without hope, that you are without reach, that you are like this man. But take heart. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. There is not a reason to fully despair. This man’s story is not over and neither is yours. There is always hope with the Lord Jesus.

So now the stage is set for a battle, a spiritual battle that we can see, in which the Lord Jesus hasn’t encountered anything like this in His ministry, yet. Sure, He has cast out demons. Sure, He has healed the sick and the lame. But He hasn’t encountered five to six thousand demons. He has cast them out before, but not like this. Will the kingdom of God be enough to overcome the strongest bonds that darkness has? We know that it is. So, if you’re taking notes today, that was the first point.

1. Jesus Confronts the Unclean (5:1-5)

The second point is

2. Jesus Conquers the Demonic (5:6-13)

6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.

Instead of running to fight, the man runs to Jesus and prostrates himself. He worships. He falls down because he knows he has no other option. When the Son of God gives a command, the demons know they are encountering a presence that they cannot fully resist. Sure, they might be able to resist for a moment, but there is no other option. They will be subdued.

8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

They know their time is up, but they still linger for a moment, wondering what kind of fate is going to befall them. So they run. They submit. They fall down, and then they say

7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

In other words, “Mind your own business, Jesus. What are you doing here? Why have you come to the Gentile region? This isn’t where you’re supposed to work. If you’re going to do any liberation, it’s going to be among the Jews. Why do you come over to this side? What do you have to do with us?” This is a threat. Anytime this phrase is used in the Old Testament, whether it’s David in 2 Samuel or Jephthah in Judges or a few other places, it’s always in the context of a battle or a major conflict.
What does the demon call Jesus? He calls Him “Son of the Most High God.” This is a divine title of the Old Testament. The title “Most High God” was used mainly by Gentiles to describe the true and living God of Israel. But this wasn’t an attempt by the demons to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of the Most High. Rather, it was their effort to say the name of Jesus, the very identity of Jesus, and by invoking Jesus’ identity, maybe they could get mastery over Him. Maybe by saying His name, the common belief was at the time that this gave you an advantage over your spiritual opponent. Knowing someone’s name gave you some sort of leverage over them by identifying who they really were. So they try it. Maybe this will work. Then look at what the demons say.

I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

The demons know their time is up, so they invoke the very name of God to appeal to Him so that Jesus would not continue to cry out and say, “Come out of the man.” How ironic! They know who has the ultimate power and authority. They don’t appeal to an archangel. They don’t appeal to an angel. They don’t appeal to a demon. They don’t even appeal to Satan. They appeal to God. Demons know who has ultimate power and authority. They say, “Do not torment me.” Ironically, they appeal to God’s mercy even though to the man, they showed none. They cried for mercy, but they ignored the man’s cries for the very same.

In Matthew’s account, he adds, “Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Demons know their ultimate end. They know that when Christ returns again it will be for judgment. So they know their destiny. They know their end. Also, this is the end of everyone who does not submit himself and trust in Christ as Lord and Savior. They reject the Son of God. They don’t submit to Him. Everyone who does not will live separated from Him in torment, in agony, because they have not believed in the true Son of God. To those who don’t give their lives to Him, He will judge also. But God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. So the heart of God is one that desires salvation. The heart of God is to save.

9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

The demon tried to know the name of Jesus. The demon tried to implore the name of Jesus. Now Jesus asks the demon his name and the demon has to give it.

He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

Surely Jesus, one holy man against 6,000 demons doesn’t stand a chance. We’ve already seen the condition of the man earlier. Now we get a picture, we get a window into the kind of the full forces that held him captive. He’s not just had one demon. That’s bad enough. He’s not just had seven demons, like Mary Magdalene had. The gospel writers say she had seven demons that Jesus cast out. No, this is five to six thousand or more.

Matthew 12:43-45 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.

This man has not just one, not just seven, but seven thousand demons. But with Christ, he has hope.

10 And he (the man) begged him (Jesus) earnestly not to send them (the demons) out of the country.

Look at the self-deception that is happening, here. This man is pleading with Jesus. “The demons that are causing all kinds of havoc and heartache and destruction, don’t send them away. I want to keep them.” That’s what self-deception does. By warping our eyes, it takes what we would call evil and turns it into good. It deceives us. That is what sin does. That is what the demonic does. It takes what is truly evil and it paints it as good. It takes what is good and paints it as evil. It warps our hearts and it warps our minds so much that we can’t even see clearly. We even recognize that Jesus might be the Holy One of God, but even when Jesus is saying, “Come out,” and it would be for our deliverance, we say, “No.” We want to keep them. Do you see that in verse 10? The man himself is begging earnestly to Jesus, don’t send them away.

The demons are specifically not wanting to be sent away out of the country. There is a belief and I believe it has some merit to it, that there are certain spirits, certain demons over different territories. That’s what Mark Strauss says in his commentary. He says that evil spirits are territorial beings who seek to gain control over certain regions. We see this even in Daniel 10, where the prince of Persia was struggling with the archangel and hindered him from coming to Daniel.

11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,

There is this herd of pigs that are just minding their business. They’re eating, maybe grazing, maybe just basking out in the sun. Who knows?

12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”

Charles Spurgeon says this about this passage. “The devil cannot enter even a pig without our Lord’s permission. So he cannot tempt us either without our Lord’s permission also. We may rest assured that even this great monster of evil is under Christ’s control.” You may ask, why pigs? Well, they were an appropriate host, were they not? You have these unclean demons and then there are some pigs. So there are unclean hosts for unclean guests. If you had any doubts before about the kind of region this is, here is the proof.

Another question that I have is, why not destroy the demons completely, here? Why does Jesus actually enter into a discussion with the demons? Why does He not cast them out immediately? Why does He grant their request? Why didn’t He just vanquish the demons then and there? Why the loss of animal life? Why add destruction where it wasn’t necessary? Why not send them to where they couldn’t harm anyone anymore? Those are questions that I have and I believe that the answer lies in the mission of Jesus in His first coming.

Luke 19 says Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 12 says Jesus did not come to judge the world in His first coming, but to save the world. Jesus knew that the time of the full destruction of Satan and the demonic was future. His encounter with the demons and His triumph don’t put a full end to their power. So what this miracle does is it shows us in part. It shows us a window. It gives us a pledge or a symbol to say the defeat that I have of the demonic here is going to happen, but it’s going to happen at the time decided by the Father.

13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

You also may ask, and this is my last question within this section, why drowning? Why do the pigs freak out? Why do they run and rush off of a cliff? Why do they just tumble into the sea? What a sight that must have been! But, why drowning? William Lane, in his commentary on this passage says this, and I think he’s right. “The fate of the pigs demonstrates the ultimate intention of the demons with respect to the man they had possessed. It is their purpose to destroy the creation of God, and halted in their destruction of a man, they fulfilled their purpose in the pigs.” Jesus shows that demons, no matter how powerful their grip, shudder at the commands of the Holy Son of God. Jesus fully conquers. Jesus wins and a miracle like this can’t be kept hidden. But the responses to this miracle might be different than you would expect.

3. Jesus Consents to the Fearful (5:14-17)

14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.

So the herdsmen go everywhere. They go to the city. They go in the country. They tell anybody and everyone. It almost reminds me of the shepherds when they go around telling about the birth of Jesus. But they go and they tell about this wonderful miracle and it makes sense why a crowd would come and gather. There is a line of cars that is backed up just to see a little fender bender on the side of the road. What about this? Jesus has just done an amazing miracle. It makes sense why a crowd would gather. What do they find when they get there?

15 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,

The way that Mark writes this down shows us that it isn’t just a temporary sitting. It’s not like he sits for a minute and then the demons start to try to come back and it continues. It’s not that he’s in his right mind and all of a sudden he has some relapses and then has to come back to Jesus. No, this is perpetual. This is a new reality that Jesus has given this man, and so he is continuing to sit. He is continuing to be clothed and in his right mind. So the townspeople and the crowd come and they are watching this man and they’re saying, “Wait a second. He might have done this before. Wait Jesus. He’s going to come and he might try to take you over again.” No, this is full cleansing. This is full restoration. They look at the one who could not be bound and is now sitting. This one who went around naked is now clothed. This one whose mind was held so captive that the demons were speaking on behalf of him now is in his right mind and thinking and seeing clearly. This is amazing! This is total transformation. This is full cleansing. This is the mighty power of Jesus. What a liberating God we serve! What a merciful God we serve! What a glorious God we serve!

So they see this man, but this doesn’t mean this man isn’t going to struggle with what happened to him. Sure, he’s sitting. Sure, he’s in his right mind. Sure, he is cleansed. But it doesn’t mean that every time he passed out of town, that he didn’t look over and see those tombs. It doesn’t mean that he wasn’t walking through town and mothers were holding their kids just a little bit closer. When he looked down every time that he was at the table eating food, when he reached to get that food, he saw the scars that were left on his earthly body. He would have continued to carry all of these things, but he was free. He was cleansed. He was healed.

Augustine, a church father of the 4th century, the way that he lived was similar to this man. Now, he may not have been demon-possessed, but he certainly lived according to his passions. He stole. He lied. He had all kinds of immorality that he was pursuing. He went to Rome and he went to Milan. Through the preaching of a man named Ambrose, he came to saving faith. He tells this story. Before his conversion, he had been in the habit of associating in a place with a particular immoral woman. He was walking down the street after his conversion and she passes by him. She calls out to him and says, “Augustine, it is I.” He couldn’t go by her without giving an answer. He turned and he replied, “Yes, but it is not I.” Such is the person that God transforms.

This is what He does when He changes us. He makes us new. He changes our heart. He changes our wills. He gives us spiritual eyes to see Him and to love Him. Has He done that in you? Has He given you these new affections? If you hesitate to answer, are you afraid of what you might need to give up in order to follow Him? He is worth it. Does the fear of God cause you to draw near and to find mercy and grace at His throne? Or does it cause you to shrink back and be afraid of His judgment? Well, we know what it did for the people in the Decapolis.

15 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. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

So radical was this transforming power of God that this moved the people not to bow down to God, not to bow down to Christ, not to come to Him, but to ask Him to leave. So dark were the spiritual eyes of the people of this region that they see the Light of the world come in and they ask Him to leave. Some would say that it’s the loss of the pigs. Some would say that they want their security as the primary motive. But I would push back on that. I would disagree. Sure, that might be it for some, but I think that we see this answer in the text. They’re afraid not when they see the drowning of the pigs. They’re afraid when they see the man. They may have thought, “If the demons that were in this man wrecked so much havoc on us and on our town and in our families, if they were sent out and they were sent into the pigs by this man, Jesus, what is Jesus going to do to us?” So they ask Him to leave. They begged Him to leave. There is a lot of begging going on in this passage. There was begging from the man. There was begging from the demons. There was begging from the people. Then we’ll see there is begging from the man after he is changed. But this is so incredibly sad. They have the Holy One of God in their midst and they want Him to go away. Jesus does what they ask. He leaves.

If you have not already given your life to Christ, be warned that Jesus may give you over to living a life for yourself. You may think and sit here today and say, “I can always come back. I can always believe in Him. I can always come back to church and do x, y and z.” Don’t suppose that Jesus is going to continue to extend His grace to you if your heart is being hardened. He doesn’t owe that to you. Today is the day of salvation. Do not harden your heart towards Him. I beg that of you. The Bible says He doesn’t desire that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. So would you trust in Him today? Like this man, you can become a disciple. You can be cleansed. You can be restored.

4. Jesus Commissions a New Disciple (5:18-20)

18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.

It seems like a reasonable request. Jesus, let me go with you. But Jesus says, no. We’re not told exactly why, yet, but an uncircumcised Gentile probably would have caused some complications in the temple and around Judah and Jerusalem. No, Jesus had a better mission for this man.

19 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.”

Jesus told the disciples and He told those who He healed to not tell anyone about this while He is in the Jewish region. He tells this man who is in the Gentile region to go and tell. Anytime you see something like this to go proclaim and go and tell, it always has undertones of the mission of the Gospel to the Gentiles. So instead of keeping it a secret, Jesus tells him, go and tell your friends the mercy that God has to you. Here is where we learn that it is through the Lord Jesus and it’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that the mercy of God comes. The saving mercy of God cannot and does not and will not come through any other means except by Christ and by the Spirit. You cannot receive the mercy of God unless you receive Jesus as well.

20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

He proclaims Jesus’ deity to the nations. He proclaims Jesus’ Gospel to the nations. I want you to notice something in verse 20. Jesus tells him to go tell his friends, and what does he do? He goes throughout the entire region. He goes to all the different cities. He goes to all the different towns and talks about what Jesus has done for him and everyone marvels. You could be amazed at the way Jesus is transforming people, but not be transformed by Him yourself.

Christ worked a great miracle for this man and He has worked a miracle in the heart of every single one who believes in Him. You may not see the bonds of darkness in your own conversion story like they were in this man. You may not have had the supernatural strength. You may not have been possessed. You may not have had the kinds of the depth of bonds that this man had. But apart from Christ, you were in the domain of darkness. You were following the prince of the power of the air, yet you were delivered by Christ. So when we gather together and we sing praises to Him, we get to proclaim to the principalities and the powers and the angels in the heavenly places, we declare that Jesus has changed us. That’s why we gather.

Then through the miracle of conversion, we have a powerful means that we can actually be sanctified. The power to say no to sin, the power to resist the devil, the power to say no to the passions of our flesh comes because we have already been forgiven. We have already been cleansed. We’re not doing it in order to earn the favor of God. We’re doing it because we have already been those things. That’s where the power and the mercy of God are seen. Don’t insult His grace by not believing what He said about you. Don’t be so nearsighted, as Peter says, that you fail to remember that you were cleansed from your former sins.

What a great Gospel we have believed in! What a great God we serve! What this does then is if we realize that we have been shown God’s mercy, we can show mercy. When we look at unbelievers and we see them held captive by the bonds of darkness, we see them held captive from the very forces that kept us, we can look on them with compassion and with kindness and with prayer and with a zeal and a desire to say we want you and desire you to be saved. Come and experience the mercy of God. We can show mercy because we’ve been shown mercy. So we look at this man and we look at him who was unclean and who had no hope. He was without God in the world. God has brought him near and He has brought us near.

1 John 3:8 …The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

So when we look at a passage like this, we see the mighty power of God. We see the mighty power of God in our own hearts and we see the mighty power of God on display in our church by us continuing to walk in faithfulness and in trust in Him. If you have not trusted in Him today, you can come without any sort of prerequisites. This man had none. There is no excuse to not come to Christ. There is no one too far off that He cannot convert.