ADVENT: The POWER of HOPE

The Coming of Christ

Our hope in Jesus will work in and through our lives.

The Christmas story began in the Old Testament. God’s nature didn’t change, nor did ours, and He had our redemption in mind all the time. The prophets Jeremiah, Malachi, Zephaniah, and Micah all proclaim the Christ that was to come. We will be using these themes to lead up to Christmas, and hopefully, to make the holiday more meaningful for you.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; He will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.’

The Days are coming!

Every day we use that small, magical word-“hope.” It’s tough to live without hope. What is hope? It’s a vision for better days that changes us now in the present. There’s something up ahead, around the corner, in sight, and it’s good. HOPE. But that good future isn’t just abstract. It is real because it reaches in and transforms us in the present. At Advent, we are invited to a journey of better days, a journey of real and lasting hope.

As a child, gifts and toys were given—I sure hoped, that my brother and I would get it all! Hoped for a train, a bike, a sled. Later, computer parts were hoped for. Electric books. No more ties! I had a vision of better things than last year. Looking through catalogs and mags, making list, dropping hints. Hoping for the nice dark blue sport’s coat or car.

In our Advent Candle section this morning, we see the promise given to us by the Prophets of the Old Testament. It was a promise given and not realized by many. Some trusted in the Goodness and Holiness of God; they had hope. Do you?

Hope for Them:

Let me introduce you to a man who had real hope. He was the Prophet of Hope, named Jeremiah. Real person. Around 627BC, he was a Jr High age youth, God spoke to him and told him he’d be set apart to serve God. Jer 1:4 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Go ahead 40 years, he is a leader in his country and the main city of Jerusalem is surrounded by Nebuchanessar. (2 Kings 25:2-3) City was hurting real bad. No food. He tells the king Zedekiah to give up. Either do it the easy way or the hard way—you are going to loose! You can trust God or not. King chooses the hard way. (2 Kings 25:5-7)

The king listened to the wrong men. “You Da’ Man! No one is going mess with you or Jerusalem. Don’t believe Jerry.”

Jerry said to look deeper. Not a military thing but a spiritual thing. The people had rejected God’s Promises, killed the prophets and now—judgment day!

The people forgot to look to the Lord. They set aside their hope in Him. They lost the vision of what the Lord wanted to do in their lives-in their country. They forgot how to really hope in God.

The promise given to them gave them hope for things yet to come. (See Hebrews 11 … by Faith.) A family effort. Hope in line of King David/ not in God Himself! A Branch of Jesse (Jeremiah’s verse). Something was up ahead…not a whim but a fact! Sign post that show us the way; i.e. Pilgrims’ Progress. Personal markers along the way. They had pain and Hardship. Slavery in Egypt. Struggle to get the Promise Land. Blessings of the Land becoming theirs. Joy-Nation of Israel established under King David. And there was a call to remember, as in the Passover, of how His Hand was ever there.

Guiding them. Supporting them.

Hope for them was sometimes realized but NOT the MAIN HOPE! The hope of sins being removed would happen later. Yes, they had the sacrifices on the altar with the shedding of blood. But it was all a shadow of the REAL sacrifice of the Lamb of God. They needed to put their hope in this promise. It was real for them. It was HOPE for them.

The Days are coming!

Hope for us:

As we look at the past and the people of the past, (the good promise is lived out), we might be encouraged. If they could do it WITHOUT the printed Bible in front of them, I can move on in my Hope as I put my trust in His Word.

He will run the city (our lives) as the head of operation. “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.’” This promise given to them is now HIS promise to us~! He will fulfill the good promise. Based on His Character of Holiness and Righteousness.

We who believe this promise, are placed into, grafted into, the Branch of Jesse. There’s something up ahead, around the corner, in sight, and it’s good.

The Days are coming!

Hope in our Lives:

The Here and Now as well as the time in Heaven. Not a pie-in-the-sky but things will be set right for us for His Glory. This good future isn’t just abstract, because it reaches in and transforms us now, in the present. A motto, a saying. Something repeated in our hearing.

"God Has Set Things Right for Us." ~ “The LORD Our Righteous Savior!”

What we are talking about is a transformed life. Can’t really disregard that someone life has changed. We might inspect it while it is way to young and we see faults and imperfect responses. We jump to conclusion that it does not really work, but we need to wait and see. That Good Thing that is repeated for the last 2,000 years is this: Jesus is Lord of All. He is our Hope. He will direct our hearts and change us. It is the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus… The new heart is given to a Believer and there will be changes in the heart. And sometimes, the change is fast-other times it is slow. Healed of a drug addition over night or vision is still spotted because of the acid used in that person’s youth. But both people are changed from within. No mistake about that!

The Days are coming!

That ultimate Hope for us is that our Creator God gave to us His only Son as our only Hope to escape the sin-filled lives we find ourselves in. His Birth would give Mankind Hope of Eternal Life. The real hope of Mankind. Expect, trust, anticipate, wish, look forward to…but the dictionary has a somewhat different twist to that word. hope: “to have a wish to get or do something or for something to happen or be true, especially something that seems possible or likely.” Is that Biblical hope?

As a noun: 1. a feeling/ chance that something desirable is likely to happen. … 5. a feeling of trust (archaic) 1. belonging or relating to a much earlier period. 2. used to describe a word or phrase that is no longer in general use but is still encountered in older literature and still sometimes used for special effect. 3. no longer useful or efficient. That maybe why Mr. Webster is not alive today!

But is that how you feel about Hope? Is hope outdated? Is that why so many people kill themselves because they don’t want this archaic experience in their lives? I think not. People have lost HOPE and they wish for it! That is why the Suicide Forrest near Mt Fuji is filled with dead people because they had no hope and they gave up.

The Days are coming!

Ecclesiastes 9:4 “Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!” Don’t give up!

伝道の書 / 9章 4節/ 希望　すべて生ける者に連なる者には望みがある。生ける犬は、死せるししにまさるからである。

(Side note: Ecclesiastes means what? It is from the Greek word ECCLESIA or congregation or church. The Preacher is writing to the Church!)

Let’s take some time now with the WORD of God. God certainly has a great deal to do with the Believers Hope;

Hebrews 6:19.

19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

1 Peter 1:3.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Colossians 1:5.

the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the Gospel.

Romans 8:24.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

1 Thessalonians 1:3.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:13.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

An overflowing confidence!


Titus 2:13.

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

The Days are coming!

This Blessed Hope is what the early Church longed for. “Even so come Lord Jesus” was their motto. The Blessed Hope kept them alive with their desire to keep on keeping on when the hard times came along. It was the Blessed Hope that drove them to take this Message of God’s Hope to the corners of the world and to your hearing. Someone believed that message of the Blessed Hope and shared it with you. That all started back in Biblical times and that chain has not been broken. The Evil One would like you to GIVE UP ON HOPE. To cause others to loose Hope. To be despondent. To be negative. To give up. To be one who spreads lies and gossip around. One who spreads discord in the family. Not you? Then the shoe does not fit you but it could fit the person next to you…

Jeremiah prophesies the Movement of God. And it came to be. God has done something in Christ that changes everything. This idea God shared via Jerry is that God’s Promises are of better days, promises that all eventually find their fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ!

The Days are coming! And those days are here right now!!

Next Week The Refining Love of God God allows suffering for our holiness and happiness. Malachi 2:17-3:5

(A major part of this sermon came from a sermon given by Matt Woodley. Much thanks to Matt.)

Coming up THIS SUNDAY!

First week of Advent.

Come and find out what this is all about!

PLUS!

エレミヤ書 / 33章 14節16節

主は言われる、見よ、わたしがイスラエルの家とユダの家に約束したことをなし遂げる日が来る。その日、その時になるならば、わたしはダビデのために一つの正しい枝を生じさせよう。彼は公平と正義を地に行う。その日、ユダは救を得、エルサレムは安らかにおる。その名は『主はわれわれの正義』ととなえられる。

10:30 AM Worship Time.
Come and Worship the King!

The LIVING DEAD

Please read: Mark 5:21-22, 35-43

After calming the storm at sea, after setting the demon filled man free, Jesus returned BACK to the other side of the sea to find many there waiting for Him. And in the crowd came a man who was well known in that area. He was the head of the Synagogue named Jairus. He came with a problem. His little girl was sick…very sick. To the point to death. Not dead yet, but he reasoned that IF Jesus could touch her, she’d live. The illness would leave her IF Jesus would come and touch his little girl.

Would that not move your heart? A man, on his knees in front of you, pleading for the life of his child? Who would not be moved? Jesus was so moved. He went with him.

Guess how Jairus felt? Would he not be the happiest man in Israel? Would not his heart be pounding fast and hard? Would he not be so excited that 1.) He found Jesus and 2.) That Jesus would come to his house and touch his little girl and have her live.

Why was he not with his little girl? He was not at home. He was out on the town—he was looking for Jesus.

Are you looking for Jesus? Are you looking for Him to touch a situation in your life? You would consider it a success if you’d find Him, is that not so? And that once you found Him, that He would go with you to touch whatever it is that concerns you. I would imagine that Jairus would be pushing people out of the way to move Jesus along faster!

But then, something happens that stops Jesus. We will look at the interruption another time. (Plain and simple, a woman with a bleeding problem touches Jesus.) But there has been an interruption. Do you like interruptions? Do you feel good when someone interrupts you in a conversation—never mind in a life and death situation like this? It must have really shaken the father up! Consider how you would feel? Put yourself in his sandals. Nothing stands in the way when it comes to the safety of Family. And here we have Jesus, dealing with two situations without missing a beat.

And as Jesus deals with this second matter, the interruption, word comes back to the father that his little girl had indeed died. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

Bother? These people really did not know Whom they were standing with in that crowd. He caused the sea to be calm. The winds to be still. A man filled with demons to be set free and now this… bothersome event? Not so for Jesus.

We know from the Word of God that He cares for us. Even when we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us. Even when 500 high priest of Baal have a contest to see who’s god is bigger. Even when persecution comes, He is still with us. He will never leave us. His promise to His Children holds.

Are you His child? Are you in this promised relationship with Him? This Covenant of Promise! Sealed with the Blood from His own Body!

We are living in a world with dead people walking. There are many movies out today that take this theme. Call them zombies. Call them the Living Dead! Few of these movies are based on real truth but on fear of dead people. There is a phobia of the dead. It is called NECROPHOBIA. Some people really get freaked out when this topic comes up. But yet it is all around us and sometimes, it touches us. Fear really could drive a person to deep anxiety: BIBLIOPHOBIA=fear of books. DENTOPHOBIA= fear of dentist. ECOPHOBIA=fear of home. LEUKOPHOBIA=fear of the color white. OCTOPHOBIA=fear of the figure 8.

My friend, Yu Shibuya, Ami’s brother, spoke at CAJ’s chapel this past week. He spoke about how dead people look on trains. And it is true. When you sit there on the train next time, look around and you will see the living dead. People who have given up on really living. Doing things they don’t really like. Being involved with work that they dislike. In broken relationships that they want to end but can’t. Living dead people. Kind a strange when you think about it but it is Biblical.

With out the Spirit of God in the person, he or she is spiritually dead. Separated from God. Much like this little girl. No life in her. Jesus called it sleep, but the people realized that she was indeed dead to them. Parents were destroyed. Mom had already hired mourners to cry and weep loudly to show how sad the situation was.

I have been to funerals here in Japan and in the US. I have been to non-believer’s funerals and I have been to believer’s funerals. One had no hope. No life. No promise. The other had Hope. Had life. Had promise. Why? Because Jesus showed up. He came into the dead person—while he/she was still the living dead and gave real life to them. For the first time in their existence in this good earth, they really breathed the life giving air of eternal salvation. Given to them when they believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He had died for them—taking their sins away.

And Jesus overheard or ignored what they said and told the father, “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. Now the father is going on a most exciting ride of his life! He is going to see the Power of God in his own house…in his own little daughter.

Jesus takes His small band of followers AND the parents into the room where the little girl was laid out. There would be a soft white cloth over her body. Basins of water and towels are near by for the ladies to wash her ever-cooling body—preparing her for the tomb.

He asked “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at Him.

His response was this: “Get out of My way. Everyone, out of the room! Except for the parents and the disciples who were with Me.” He took the little girls cold hand and said to her… “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” The response was immediate. She stood up and began to walk around the room. This 12-year-old girl was now living. No longer a living Dead but alive in the presence of the One who is Life, Jesus, the Christ.

He told them to keep this secret and to give her something to eat. After such an experience, she’d be hungry and they could feed her again and love her again and enjoy their little girl AGAIN. The could be Family, once again!

The Living Dead lives—in Jesus. When I go into a train station like Shinjuku, I HAVE to stand still for a few seconds—on the side—to see the many people rushing this way and that. (Sheep without a Shepard, really.) I think to myself, “It is possible that I am the ONLY one in this crowd that has eternal life! I may be the only one—who is really alive here!” Not arrogant. I know the Truth.

What to do with this Living Dead?

• We could just cover it up. That is one response.
• We could cover our eyes and not look at them. We would then walk into walls and hurt ourselves.
• We could tell ourselves that they do not exist.
• We could tell ourselves that it was their choice and not our problem.
• We could tell ourselves that we need to tell them about the One who can touch the living dead and give living life.

We could tell them about Jesus. We could go after Him ourselves and seek Him with all our hearts. We could go to Him in the privacy of our hearts RIGHT now and ask Him to touch our living dead hearts. Did you know that He promised to replace the dead cold stone-like heart with one that reflects His Joy and meaning?

All because a father wanted Jesus to come and touch his little girl-the one who is very sick—and look what happened? A living dead girl became part of the living again when Jesus came into the picture—came into her life.

He can come into your picture as well. During this time of Thanksgiving, we can be thankful that He did come to earth to walk among us and teach us how to believe in Him. How to put our trust in Him. How to live. In Him. Like Jairus’ little girl.

What is Jesus saying to you? “I say to you, get up!”

Next week marks the first week of Advent. The topic will be HOPE! Stay turned!

Chains That Hold THEM: The Persecuted Church in 2010.

How Their Chains Need To Affect Us.

Prominent among the French Enlightenment philosophers was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Ironically he was born to a very strong Believing father. (His father was a very conservative Christian.) His mother died when he was an infant. He apparently rejected Christianity from an early age.

In his autobiography, “Confessions” the Frenchman gave details of his extramarital affairs where he had five children with one of his mistresses. He abandoned all five into a Paris orphanage. At that time in French society, conditions in orphanages were such that 80% of the children did not live to adulthood.

His writings greatly influenced Europe in a big way. He died 11 years before the French Revolution but the radicals followed his teaching in their attempt to remove Christianity from France. The revolutionaries took over Notre Dame Cathedral and displayed a French prostitute there as "the goddess of reason." (They also abolished the seven-day week and instituted a ten-day week with every tenth day as a day off.) Their Reign of Terror in the early 1790s was a loathsome picture of human nature that had rejected Christian morals. In was in this climate, my relatives left France.

Rousseau wrote “Man is born free yet every where he is in chains.” There may be some truth in that. During that same time in history, slavery was a hurtful institution that was outlawed by England through the long-standing efforts of William Wilberforce.

Man is in chains and no matter where Man is—there is bondage of some sort. We are in need of a key to unlock such bonds that hold us from our freedom. While I do not agree with the life style of the French teacher/ philosopher, I am in some agreement with his famous line. We are all bond up by something in our past, dreamed of in our future or in some faction, very real to us right now.

What holds us down? Not mere chains but emotion, fear, past experiences, personal dislikes, sin, pain, rejection, family history. In truth, so many things.

In our world today, there are 10s of 1,000s who are bond into human slavery. In fact, more today than in History’s past combined! Estimates for the prevalence of slavery in the Roman Empire vary. Some historian’s estimate that approximately 25% to 30% of the population of the Empire in the 1st century was enslaved.

The number of slaves today remains as high as 12 million to 27 million. Many are ‘debt slaves’, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes, even for generations. Human trafficking is primarily for prostituting womenchildren into sex industries. It is the fastest growing criminal industry and is predicted to eventually outgrow drug trafficking. (internet sources)

A U.S. Government report published in 2005, estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally. Here in Japan, the Shin-Tokorozawa’s gang-lords control the flow of Asian women according to a police spokesperson I had spoken to.

When we look at the numbers world wide, it sickens us. And within that number, many are held in bonds because they believe in Jesus.

It is their story we will be sharing later this morning. But before we look at the story of the Persecuted Church we will be looking at a very famous slave. At a very early age, this young man saw the huge changes in his life because of a dysfunctional family. He was the number one son of over ten kids in the family. He was very open about his father’s love for him and that got him into real trouble with his older brothers. When no one was looking, they stripped him of his cloths and threw him into a dry well. Some wanted to kill him outright but cool heads prevailed and his life was spared—except when the cool headed brother was not there, the rest sold the younger brother into slavery.

I am talking about the Biblical figure Joseph. It is very interesting that with so much written about this young man, it is very hard to find anything bad written about him. Sure he was kind of proud. Maybe a little self-centered but when things got hard, his heart did not get harder. It stayed warm toward the Lord. His life is a great lesson of how to handle hard times. Even when he was wronged by his own brothers, and lied about by Mrs. Potiphar, his heart was steadily toward his God.

Joseph did not fall in to the trap of the “Silent Killers.” The Silent Killers was around all the time in his life yet he held fast. I believe the Persecuted Church today understands how Joseph did it but I don’t believe we believe it can happen in our lives. Let’s see if I am right.

The “Silent Killers.” comes in a company of three.

The first is RESENTMENT. The second is SELF PITY and the third is BITTERNESS.

I believe that if any of these factors are in seed form in our lives, we are headed for disaster. Let me explain. When Joseph was in the dry well naked, he did not give into to Self-Pity. “Oh, this is terrible! I am so misunderstood by my brothers. I am sure they will come to their senses as I am in need—such deep need. Oh Me, I am undone! What will become of me? My future is looking dimmer and dimmer. I am lost! All is lost! What am I going to do?”

No, Joseph kept his eyes on his Lord. Evidently, his childhood years in the presence of his Mother and Dad, he heard of this Loving God and he believed in Him. His faith held him. His Faith empowered him.

From Gen 37:12, when he was sold into slavery to the group of Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver to be a slave in Egypt, to verse 36 being sold to Potiphar’s service, to Chapter 39:7 when his bosses wife lies and has him thrown into the darkest jail, Joe’s heart seems so NON self-pitied. He is always helping others.

He did not give into resentment either. “My brothers, how I hate them! How I loathe and detest them more and more!” He never looks back and plots an evil plan to do the brothers in. He is creative but it comes to no hurt. He remains pure in heart. Even at the end, he said: “You did this for hurt but God did it for good.”

He also is not overwhelmed in Bitterness. Got to hand it to him. Of all the BAD things that he went through, he never got bitter. Maybe this is just a story and not a real person! Can anyone be like Joseph? Yes, even when they are being persecuted. Even when they are being jailed and beaten and starved and when all manner of evil is said against them. That sounds like something out of Matthew.

Let’s go there: Matthew 5: 10-12:

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Are there any Silent Killers hanging around your heart? Get rid of them. Don’t let them have a foothold. Go to the Lord and have Him deal with them. Confess and be set free and fill yourself with His Spirit instead. The days of the Silent Killers in you life should be short lived. The Resentment, the Self-Pity and the Bitterness must go!

And Matthew 5:43-45:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

It is in this light that, we will look at the rest of the Power Point. Different slides are hard to look upon but these are people who are counted worthy to suffer for the Lord’s Name and for His Sake.

Please read from Hebrews 11:37-42 (NIV)

They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

In truth, we as a Church People, live in an unreal world. Few of us are neither affected by persecution nor have we been made uncomfortable in our walk of Faith. Few of us have had to pay the price for being part of the Family of Jesus. Few of us have been hit, broken, stolen from—because of our faith in the King of Glory.

But what would it mean to be effected by all this? How has and how can it effect our lives? Should we not care for them? Should we not pray for them? Should we not work at the task of bringing some comfort to those who are in pain and despair? Not all of them would want the burdens to be lifted. Not all of them are sad or angry toward those who hunt them down or hurt them. They pray for them. They pray that their jailers would come to the Saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And they are praying for us. Praying that we will not fall down on the job of holding them up. That we would not take for granted our Faith. That we would grow more in love with Jesus today than we were yesterday. I have met some of them. They really care for your spiritual well being. They, in their pain, pray for us. Can we do the same for them?

We need to pray for these Brothers and Sisters. Don’t forget their faces. Don’t forget they are Family. It could be you who needs their prayers. Don’t let them down.

Coming up THIS WEEKEND!

Chains That Hold Them.

A look at the world and the Bible as we see how chains hold us here at home and in the persecuted Church around the world. Come and fellowship with us on Sunday, Nov 14 at 10:30 AM.

Come and taste what the Lord has for your heart!
It is so good!

Chains That Hold Us 縛り付ける鎖]

There are two large stories here. One, we will cover today and the other, next week. Next Sunday is the Pray for the Persecuted Church. Today, we will be looking at another form of bondage. Both the bondage of the body and the bondage of the soul.

Some chains are visible. As for a two-year-old Lao Lu, he is regularly padlocked to a tree while his rickshaw driver father touts for customers in Beijing. Chen insists chaining up son Lao Lu is for his own good.

They reported his father to the authorities, who yesterday ordered him to remove the chain although it was not clear what arrangements he would make in future. There is no nursery place for Lao Lu because his 42-year-old father is a migrant worker from another province, Szechuan, and therefore does not qualify for state help. The family lives in a one room, 9ft by 8ft apartment.

Chen said he could not afford to pay for childcare on his earnings of £4.50 ($7.25 or ¥586) a day and had refused offers of ‘a lot of money’ to give his son up for adoption.

‘My wife cannot take care of him (for she was sickly) and I have to work to support my family. So I chain him to a pole when I have a fare.'

His older daughter was stolen from them and was never seen of again.

‘I don’t even have a picture of my daughter to use for a missing-person poster. I cannot lose my son as well.’

A short time later, some one donated money enough to send the little boy to day care.

Here we have Jesus on the move again after that great experience on the Sea with the Storms of Life (as we looked at last week). You will remember that He has the AUTHORITY to calm the storms we are going through and He has the AUTHORITY to walk us through those same Storms of Life.

Here is the story as is found in Mark 5:1~20.

Jesus gets off the boat and WHAM!; He is introduced to a man with an interesting past. He is way too strong for any chains or ropes as he had broken them and made life difficult for those around the area. So much so, they have left him alone in the graveyard.

The man comes FROM the tombs to meet Jesus. That was his home. He lived there among the dead. Today, in that region, there is evidence of tombs cut into the hillside. Real estate agents would say that the best place is Location, Location, Location. This was not a very nice location.

In reading verse six, we can see that this man could see Jesus from a distance and ran to Him and fell on his knees in front of Him. He knew who Jesus was. He KNEW what kind of Power He had.

Verse 8. For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Listen to his plea! He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”

Jesus asks him his name. “Identify yourself.”

“My name is legion, for WE are many.”

What is a legion? During that time in history, Rome had an army. In that army, the Emperor had many soldiers at his command: about 153,600 total in his fighting force. One unity of that army was a legion. This is what it looked like.

The legions were broken into three groups. The main fighting force of men were the light infantry made up of poor men who had to buy their own equipment. They were poorly trained and lived and died a very hard life. Light infantry was made up of men who were used as scouts and were, in terms of need, expendable.

The second group was Cavalry made up of 300 horsemen who were from richer homes. They were given spears, a short sword, helmet and shield. They were broken up into groups of 30 men.

The third group was the heavy infantry, which were the principle fighting force. They carried heavy long javelins with a killing range of 30 meters, a short sword for close combat, a shield and a metal helmet.

During this time of the Republic, the legion was about 4,500 to 5,200 men. At a battle in 9AD, at The Battle of Teutoburg Forest (now a forest but not then), three legions, three cavalry units and six auxiliary regiments—some 25,000 men—were wiped out…in one battle!

So, here we have a man whose name is Legion, “for we are many.” It is possible he could have as many as eight to ten demons in him OR he could have 4 to 5,000 in him. No wonder he could break any chains that held him down. He was more than a multi-personality individual. He was possessed by MANY demons that controlled him.

He had cut himself with stones. It is common for people who were abused to cut themselves. It helps them cope with their inner emotional pain and gain some feeling of control over their own life. This man was not only a person who inflicted pain on others, he, himself had inflicted pain on his own person. And he was in Bondage. And it terrified him. He had lived with this bondage for such a long time, yet he did not want to be freed from it. He liked the surroundings. He wanted to stay in that area. It pleased him. Why? Good question. I have no idea at all, except that he was in darkness and in dread and he shared that with the graves.

This bondage held him from life. These chains of the evil one kept him from experiencing anything good in his walk. He lost his family. The city people feared him. Verse 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

What are things that hold us? What are our chains? If we can identify them, as Jesus did, we too can be set free.

In verse 9, this man told us his name and his chains. “I am legion. I am many.” What holds us? Tradition; heritage; biases; pride; past experiences that have hurt us; past experiences when we hurt others; our memory; things that were blamed on us that in truth we were innocent of; fear; doubt; real and imagined guilt; so many things that can both hurt us more and things that prevent us from growing in our freedom in Jesus Christ.

We had done something that was wrong in our past. This memory has kept us from being free. It is a bondage. It holds us and hurts our feelings of being clean. We need to identify these ‘things’, these hurts, and name them. Once they are identified, they can be honestly looked at as for what they really are. All of them are ‘things’ that Jesus died for. He wants to set us free from them.

So here we have this man “Legion” who is begging Jesus not to be sent out of that area. Why again? This was not a kosher area. There were pigs in vast numbers here. In fact, a large herd of pigs was feeding in a nearby hillside. Read again what happened.

12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

That was quite a sight to behold! WILD PIGS running down the steep hillside toward the bank and screaming! Falling into the lake and drowning! Have you ever heard pigs going crazy? SUUIE!

This caused quite a stir. Those who were tending the pigs freaked out. They ran into the town and reported what had just happened to the city and told everyone! Imagine this! Not much ever happened in that town so ALL the people went out to see what was going on. There was no instant reply, but they came anyway. They came to Jesus. And they saw next to Jesus THE man in question but in his right mind. And their response? They were afraid!

They could deal with a Demonic person but a Holy Man, no way! They pleaded with Him to leave. Get out of town! Leave, not only the town but also our region! We don’t want Your kind here! They saw His Power and Authority and they wanted nothing of this Man. Leave us alone! We are going to live our lives—pork-less—in our darkness. They too had chains that bonded them as well. Unbelief.

And here is the former wild man, sitting, clean, dressed and in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus. And why not? Such a man has been claimed from the grip of Satan and is now a new creation. All his sins were gone and everything had become new!

In verse 18, Jesus does leave the region. He gets into the boat and the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with Him. Jesus said no to him. It was a very honest request. A most natural request but Jesus says no. Listen to the tender instructions He gives the man: verse 19

“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”

THAT is the Gospel after all. Telling others what the Lord has done in your life. Tell of His Grace on your life. Sharing that with your own people! The Gospel!

So the man does what the Lord suggested him do. He told what the Lord had done in his life. He went to the ten cities of the Decapolis and began to tell how much Jesus had done for him. In this area, later Jesus meets and heals a deaf man. He also heals the daughter of a Gentile woman from this very region. Jesus’ teaching and fame went before him! This resulted in people being amazed.

Men today marveled at the teachings of Jesus, but few followed Him. Many who cannot but wonder at what Christ can and does do in the lives of so many. Yet these same people do not, as they ought, wonder after Him. Few believe. They are caught in the chains of unbelief.

They knew this man. They knew he had had a problem. A man with a past. A man with a burden who had been touched by the Authority of Jesus and was set free. He was the reason why Jesus came over the sea in the storm.

ISN’T THIS MAN MUCH LIKE YOU? I mean it. Aren’t there likenesses in our lives with his? What has you tied up in chains that will not let you be free? What holds you back from following the One who came for your soul? To give you life? Who among you would deny that you have such a condition? We all need to come to Him. Sit at His feet. Hear His message of Saving Faith and take that message to our own people. To tell them how much the Lord has done for us and how He has had mercy on us. To the Glory of the Lord, Amen.