Hey, you know, about two weeks ago the Pew Research Center released the results of a new nationwide survey and the survey focused on Americans who had switched religions from the religion of their birth to something else. In other words, Catholics who had become Protestants and Protestants who had become Catholics and Jewish people who had become Christians.
But as far as I was concerned, the most interesting thing that this survey discovered was this. It discovered that 16% of those surveyed, that's one out of every six Americans, have switched from either Catholicism or Protestantism to no religion at all. And when the pollsters asked these no religion at all people why they quit going to church, almost all of them gave one of three answers according to the survey. Number one, religious people are too hypocritical and judgmental of others. Number two, churches focus too much on rules and number three, church leaders focus too much on accumulating power and money.
Now when I thought about this survey it occurred to me that really, you know, all three of these answers are really trying to say the very same thing, namely that religious people and churches and church leaders really don't value people. That we value dogma and rules and power and money but we really don't care about people. Now whether or not this is really true is not the point. The point is that at least one out of six Americans and maybe more think it's true.
That's the point. And friends, this is a serious problem because if we've given the impression to one out of six Americans or more that God's value system is all about power and money and rules and legalistic dogma instead of being about people, our chances of reaching these folks for Jesus Christ is very slim indeed. And this is what we want to talk about today as we continue in our series entitled People Jesus Met. And today we're going to watch as Jesus meets a fellow named Legion. We want to talk about the value, the importance that God places on people and how that should affect our lives today as individual followers of Christ and how it should affect our life today as a church family here at McLean Bible Church.
So here we go. Mark chapter 5 verse 1. Then Jesus and his disciples went across the lake to the land of the Gerasenes. And when the Jesus got out of the boat, a demon possessed man came from the tombs to meet him. Now the lake that the Bible is referring to here is the Sea of Galilee and what the Bible tells us is that Jesus and his disciples got in a boat and they went from the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum, their headquarters, and sailed to the east side of the Sea of Galilee to a place today that is called Cursi. In fact, there's a church here at Cursi today, the ruins of a 4th century AD church that commemorate the events that we're about to read about. And if you look up in the hills above this church, you can actually see to this day some of the natural caves that were used as tombs at the time of Christ. And from one of these caves, from one of these tombs comes this man that we're about to meet.
Now you say, well, Lon, wait a minute, wait a minute. The Bible says this is a demon possessed man. You don't really believe that, do you?
I mean, this is like the 21st century. You really believe that there's a devil and there are demons and that this man was full of real demons? Well, absolutely I do.
Absolutely. You say, well, I always thought that the devil and demons in the Bible were just symbolic. They were just like allegorical for all the evil in the world.
No, no. No, the Bible teaches very clearly that the devil, Satan, is a real angelic being who led a revolt against God before the world was created. And that there were some angels who cooperated in this revolt who became demons in our world today. And as a result of this revolt, the Bible says the devil and his demons were cast out of heaven. And even though they're loose here on the earth today, the Bible tells us they are still subject to God's authority.
And at the end of this age, their final destination is going to be the bottom of hell, the abyss at the bottom of the pit according to Revelation chapter 20. Now, that's the fastest course in demonology you are ever going to get. But the point is that I totally believe that this man had demons inside of him because the Bible says it.
And if you believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, then you need to believe it too. Now, as Jesus meets this man, we need to remember the power that he's already demonstrated to his disciples and the people around him. He's already demonstrated, first of all, power over sickness and disease. Mark chapter 1, he heals Peter's mother-in-law. Mark chapter 2, he heals the man on the pallet, the man on the stretcher who couldn't walk. Second, Jesus has already demonstrated his power over death. In Luke chapter 7, he's already raised back to life the son of the widow of Nain.
We looked at that a few weeks ago. Third, Jesus has already demonstrated his power over the forces of nature. In Mark chapter 4, just before this as they're sailing over to Cursi, you'll remember there was a huge storm on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus quieted the storm by simply saying, hush up. So much so that his disciples said, Mark chapter 4 verse 41, what kind of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him? And now, here in Mark chapter 5, Jesus is about to demonstrate his power over the devil and over his kingdom of demons.
Watch, here we go, verse 3. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he would tear the chains apart and break the irons on his feet, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs, he would cry out and he would cut himself with stones.
How sad is this? And when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before him and shouted at the top of his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me. For Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you evil spirit. Now, would you please notice the great contrast here? That no human power, no human authority could tame these demons, and yet they fell down powerless at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's very interesting what the demons actually say. The church father from the 11th century, Theophilax, said, and I quote, while the men in the boat were wondering what kind of man this is, the demons came to give them the answer.
He is the son of the Most High God, end of quote. Well, verse nine, then Jesus asked the demon, what is your name? And the demon said, my name is Legion, for we are many inside this man.
Well, remember, a Roman legion had 6000 soldiers in it. So this man must have had a bunch of demons inside of him. Verse 10, and the demons begged again, Jesus, not to send them out of the area. But there was a large herd of pigs feeding on a nearby hillside, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission, and the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs. Now these pigs that were over there were being tended, they were being kept, they were being raised as a money producing industry for the town that was there. And you say, Lon, pigs, what in the world are the Jewish people over there doing raising pigs?
Well, we know from archaeology, that's a great question, we know from archaeology that at the time of Jesus, the east side of the Jordan was not populated by Jewish people. It was populated by Gentiles, and that for these Gentiles, raising pigs was a major industry. Verse 13, then the herd of pigs, about 2000 in number, rushed down the steep bank and into the lake and were drowned. And we need to understand that this represented a gigantic financial loss for the people of that town. I mean, I don't know how much a pig was worth in that day, but 2000 of them certainly was a financial catastrophe for the people in this town.
And it explains what happens next. Verse 14, then those who were tending the pigs, see, they were not wild pigs, people were out there watching them. They ran off and reported this in the town and the countryside. So all the townspeople went out to see for themselves, and when they got there, they found the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind. Meanwhile, of course, all their pigs were floating in the Sea of Galilee like little corks.
You understand what I'm saying here. And the herdsmen who went and got the townspeople, they all pointed at Jesus and they said, him, that guy right there, he's the one who did all of this, everything you see, he did it right over there. Now, stop for a moment and think what we have here. We have on the one hand this human being, Legion, whose pathetic life has been redeemed and restored and reclaimed by the Lord Jesus Christ, sitting, clothed in his right mind. And on the other hand, you got 2,000 dead pigs, representing a huge financial loss.
So watch what happens next. Verse 17, then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. Now, why would they do this? Why did they beg Jesus, hey, we don't know where you're from or how you got here, but we want you to go right back wherever you came from. Why did they do this? Well, friends, think about it, they did it because they didn't want to lose any more pigs.
Just simple as that. I mean, think, there must have been lots of sick people back in their towns, don't you think? Lots of people that had every kind of illness and infirmity you could think of. And wouldn't it be logical to say to yourself, my gosh, if Jesus could heal this guy out here, think what he could do for all the people back in our town. Why don't we take him back there and let him heal everybody in town?
But instead, no, all these townsfolk cared about is how many more pigs they might lose if he stuck around. Verse 18, and as Jesus was getting back into the boat, the man who'd been demon-possessed begged to go with him, but Jesus would not allow him to go. Instead, Jesus told him, return home and tell everyone how much God has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. I mean, Jesus could have said, hey, they just rejected me, and you know, Legion, they've been rejecting you for years, come on, get in the boat.
Forget these people, we're going somewhere else, let them do whatever they want to do. But no, no, no, Jesus, in spite of their rejection, still loved these people. Jesus still valued these people. And so he left Legion over there to be a traveling evangelist and to go around telling people everywhere on the east side of the Jordan, on the east side of the Sea of Galilee about Christ and what Christ had done for him. This was the first Billy Graham in the world, the first open air preacher in the world commissioned to bring the gospel to the east side of the Sea of Galilee.
And so the man went away and began to tell the whole town how much Jesus had done for him. Now that's as far as we want to go in the passage right now, because we want to stop and we want to ask our most important question. So, we're ready, yes? All you people are loud and all you people on the internet, I want to hear you yell too, so here we go, nice and loud, one, two, three. So what?
Yeah, whew, that's good. You say, all right, Lon, so what? Say, this is a great story, but what difference does any of this make to me? I don't own any pigs, what difference does any of this make to me?
Let's talk about that. You know, the most tragic part of this whole story is the value system that the people of this town display, namely that they valued their pigs more than they valued people. And yet, you know, the rabbis in Jesus' time had the very same problem. Now, it wasn't pigs, obviously, that they valued more than people, but it was their rules and their traditions and all of their positions of power.
But either way, folks, it's the very same disease. Watch Matthew chapter 12, verse 9. Now, we need to remember that the rabbis had compiled 12 books full of rules about what you couldn't do on the Sabbath. And these rules were unbelievably oppressive, and the worst part of all is that none of them were in the Bible. For example, a person was not allowed to walk more than 3,000 feet from their home on the Sabbath to do more than that would be work. A person was not allowed to swat an insect on the Sabbath because that would be doing the work of an exterminator, and you're not allowed to work on the Sabbath. Women were not allowed to look in the mirror at themselves on the Sabbath because the rabbis said they might see a gray hair and be tempted to pull it out, which would be doing the work of a beautician, which is not allowed on the Sabbath. People were not allowed to climb a tree, to ride a horse, to swim, to clap their hands, to dance or even spit on the ground on the Sabbath. And certainly, people were not allowed to do the work of a doctor and heal people on the Sabbath, verse 11. So Jesus said to them, Hey, fellas, if any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
You don't let it drown. How much more, look at this, how much more valuable, Jesus says, is a man than a sheep. And then Jesus said to the man, Stretch out your hand.
So the man stretched out his hand and it was completely restored. You say, Well, Lon, didn't Jesus sin by breaking the Sabbath? Folks, Jesus did not break the Sabbath. There is nothing in the Bible that prohibits healing people on the Sabbath. What Jesus was breaking were the petty legalistic rules of these rabbis, which, listen now, which had become more important to the rabbis than people.
But the rabbis went out, verse 14, and plotted from that point on how they might kill Jesus. Now, in both of these stories, my friends, Jesus is trying to teach us the very same lesson. In the story of Legion and in the story of the man with the withered hand, the point is the same, and that is, above everything else, God cares about people.
Above everything else, God values people. And I really believe today, as the evangelical church in America, this is a message that we desperately need to hear and be reminded of. You know, years ago, I used to go to lots of pastors' conferences. And when you go to pastors' conferences, there are certain questions that pastors ask each other. Now, I'm sure if you went to a plumber's conference, if you're a plumber, that there must be certain questions plumbers ask each other.
Or if you're an electrician, there must be certain electrician questions you all ask each other. Well, there are certain pastor questions. And over the years, I kind of kept a running total in my head of what the five most popular questions pastors ask other pastors are.
And here they are. Number one, what is your weekly attendance? Number two, how big is your church building and your parking lot? Question number three, how many people do you have on your church staff? Question number four, how big is your church budget? And finally, question number five, how many copies did your last book sell?
I'm not kidding you. In fact, one of the reasons I stopped going to pastors' conferences is because I got sick of trying to answer, or not answer really, these questions. I got sick of saying, well, the church is big enough and the budget is big enough, and I don't know exactly how many people we have on staff. And for many years, I didn't even have a book. So they say, how many copies did your last book sell? I said, well, I don't have one. Nobody wanted to talk to me after that. But you know, the really sad part of this whole thing is that not once ever was I ever asked, hey, last year at your church, how many people's lives got transformed for Jesus Christ?
Never once was I asked that question. Hey, at your church last year, how many teenagers gave their life to Christ and got reconciled with their parents? Hey, at your church last year, how many sexually active couples gave their life to Christ and got married? Hey, at your church last year, how many people addicted to drugs or to pornography or to alcohol gave their life to Christ and got free and got liberated? How many marriages were reconciled at your church last year? And how many kids from the inner city, did your church help change their life and help them go to college last year, huh?
Never once I get asked any of those questions. Let me repeat what I said, we as the evangelical church desperately need to be reminded that Jesus did not die on the cross for buildings and parking lots and offering plates and attendance figures and staffing numbers or for power hungry pastors. Jesus died on the cross for people.
Jesus gave his life on the cross for people. And the big so what for us today here at McLean Bible Church, the difference that this makes and what this means for us at this church and what it means for us as individual followers of Christ is that we have a decision to make. And the decision we have to make is simply this, are we going to exhibit the value system of the people in mercy? Are we going to exhibit the value system of the rabbis of Jesus's day? Or are we going to exhibit the value system of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we going to define our success by buildings and parking lots and offering plates and attendance figures and numbers of book sales? Or are we going to define our success by how many people's lives we change for Jesus Christ for all of eternity, folks?
All right, there you go. I mean, the question is, are we going to open our arms to people of every race, every creed, every economic situation, every background who are committing every sin known to man, even though it gets a little messy? Or are we going to insulate ourselves from all of this? And that's just not a question for us as a church. It's a question for us as individuals as well if we're followers of Christ. I mean, the bottom line is, guys, are we going to be a hospital for sinners or are we going to be a museum for saints?
Are we going to be a mass unit or are we going to be a country club? This is the question because the rabbis wanted to be a country club. And the people in mercy, well, they didn't want to be a country club, but they just didn't want to get their hands dirty with legion and people like that. They just were very comfortable making their money selling pigs and letting his life completely be whatever it was.
They didn't want to get involved with that. You know, a number of years ago, we had a young man who started showing up here at McLean Bible Church. And he would come in, I'll never forget him, with torn jeans and long hair. And he had multiple earrings. He had tattoos everywhere. He was unshaven.
His eyes were always bloodshot. And with him, every week, began to come this young lady whose dress could not be considered modest no matter who was doing the defining, believe me. And they would walk right down the middle aisle all the way and sit in the front row of the church. We had a few heads turn when they'd walk down the aisle.
But they were here because they were looking for some answers. You see, they looked terrible. I remember looking at them and thinking, wow, you guys look awful.
What's wrong with you? Well, what I didn't know right away but I learned later is they both had advanced cases of AIDS that they had caught from dirty needles. And they would sit right in the front row for a couple of weeks.
They came three, four, five weeks in a row. And then to make a long story short, one Sunday while they were here, I gave a salvation appeal like we often do here. And I remember looking down and seeing the two of them holding hands, sitting in the front row, and I could see their mouths. They were praying the sinner's prayer right along with me in the front row.
And they meant business too, folks. They never missed church a week after that. They were always in the front row soaking up the Word of God. You say, yeah, but did they change how they dressed and did he get a haircut and did they get married? Well, honestly, they didn't have much time. I buried that young man less than three months after he sat in the front row and asked Christ in his life. And the young lady did not live six months after that.
She was gone. But my question to you and my question to myself is does McLean Bible Church have open arms for people like this? Does McLean Bible Church have room for people like this? Well, I say yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.
Do you agree with me? And do we have open arms for these people so we can condone their sinful behavior? No, absolutely not. But we do have open arms for them so we can tell them about Jesus Christ and see them give their lives to Christ and see Christ make them into new creatures in Christ and see them get eternal life. Yes, we have room for people for that purpose. And this is why our core value number one here at McLean Bible Church is people matter to God and they matter to us. We have got to project to Washington, D.C. the true heart of God. We have got to project to the people of Washington, D.C. the true value system of God, not like the people of Kersey projected, not like the rabbis of Jesus' day projected it. We've got to project to the people of this city that God's value system is not about money or power or offering figures or attendance numbers. It's about people and helping people and redeeming people. That's our job. And you know what?
If we can communicate that to the people of this city, if we can communicate that to the people of this city and they really believe that that's what we care about, we'll get the opportunity to share Christ with a whole bunch of them. You know, let me say in closing, one of my favorite movies is Driving Miss Daisy. Seen that movie?
And maybe the reason I like it so much is having grown up as a Jewish person in the South, I mean, watching that movie is like déjà vu of my life growing up, really. And you remember the end of the movie? You remember the chauffeur named Hoke, you remember? And he drives for her and drives for her and tries to reach out for her and tries to care for her and he meets with nothing but rejection after rejection after rejection.
You remember that? And finally, at the end of the movie, Miss Daisy is in a nursing home and Hoke comes to see her and sits there and feeds her pumpkin pie. And she says to him, she says, Hoke, she says, you're the only friend I have left. Well, by then, I'm bawling like a baby. I mean, I'm just a complete disaster zone, you know.
I'm just a wreck. But here's the point, folks, Hoke had reached out to this woman and reached out to her and tried to value her and tried to care about her and tried to love her and she wanted none of it. And then all of a sudden, all of that came home and all of that took root in her life, huh? And it occurred to me watching this movie once that McLean Bible Church and we as followers of Christ here, we're like Hoke for Washington, D.C., huh? Our job is to reach out to this town with the true value system and the love of God. And does everybody in this town want to hear what we're telling them? No. Is everybody in this town interested in what we're trying to share with them? No.
Miss Daisy wasn't either at first. But our job is to keep on reaching out and keep on reaching out and keep on reaching out in the hopes that eventually some of those people will really believe that we're here for them. And when they do, we'll get a chance to share Christ with them like we did those two people in the front row. Folks, this is our calling. This is our mission.
This is our mandate. God left us just like He left Legion to go around and tell people what God has done and who He is. And at least as long as I'm the pastor of this church and I hope long after that, this is how we're going to run this church for the glory of God until Jesus comes back.
And I'm glad you agree. So let's go out there and tell people who Jesus really is and what He really cares about, which is them. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank You for the reminder today that we as Christians and we as the Evangelical Church desperately need to be reminded that You didn't leave us here to pursue money and power and influence in this world system, but You left us here to pursue people and love on them and help them and care for them with the value system and the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, keep us as a church focused on what You really left us here to do. Lord Jesus, help us keep the main thing the main thing at this church and not be drawn away by the siren call of power and money and influence. But Lord Jesus, keep us focused on people and reaching out to them with Your love. May that be true in our individual lives as well. Make us legions whom we understand our goal is to go around and tell people what the Lord Jesus has done for us and how He's had mercy on us. So change our lives because we were here, Lord, and keep the life of this church focused where it needs to be because we were here, Lord. And thanks for speaking to us today from Your Word. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said, Amen. Amen.
