The Grace of God

October 11, 2009

Lesson: Mark 5:1–20

Key Verse: Mark 5:19

Introduction

It is not the healing that is most wonderful, but the grace that precedes the healing that most glorifies our Lord. We pray to our Father in heaven, “Thy will be done,” acknowledging that all blessings proceed from the heart of God. Here, we are not asking that the will of God be done, but stating the truth that the will of God is being done, that we live by the grace of God, not by the acts of man. To tack on “if it be your will” to a prayer, say for the healing of a friend, makes the request one of weakness rather than strength. We should pray knowing, by faith, that God is working all things together for our good. We place prayers for healing in the hand of Christ who gave this encouragement to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). God’s will is being done. When we pray, repenting of our sins, asking for the Father’s forgiveness, we pray in the knowledge that the grace of God is operating within us: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom.6:14).

A man by the name of Stapher, a citizen of the province of Schwitz, Switzerland, during the time of the Reformation, a friend of the Swiss Reformer Zwingli, asked him, “I know not how to satisfy my own hunger and the hunger of my poor children.” A Franciscan Monk by the name of Samson had just left Schwitz after selling indulgences, which granted men the promise of salvation by the drop of a coin. Zwingli practiced the grace of Christ in the doing of good works, not for the obtaining of salvation; he continued to give liberally to Stapher. Zwingli said, “It is God who begets charity in the believer, and gives him at once the thought, the resolution, and the work itself. Whatever good a righteous man does, it is by His own power.” D’ (History of the Reformation) wrote, “Stapher remained attached to him through life; and, four years after, when he had become secretary of state, and felt wants of a higher kind, he turned towards Zwingli, and said to him with noble candour; ‘Since you provided for my temporal wants, how much more may I now expect from you wherewith to appease the hunger of my soul!’”

It is the grace of God that produces fruit in our lives, as well as producing the fruit which comes from the faithful preaching of the Word of God.

Bound Without Chains—Mark 5:1–5

Jesus and his disciples, having crossed over the Sea of Galilee (Jesus calming the sea’s storm by his word), “came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.” The disciples were to learn more about their Master, whom they had heard saying to the wind and sea, “Peace, be still”; they then “feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:39–41). Another incident of the wonder of this man Jesus would quickly present itself: “And when (Jesus) was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.” Though chains could not hold him for very long, his soul was chained by the worse of chains; his spirit was that of the worse of wickedness. From The Family Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we learn that  the “miserable condition that this poor creature was in; he was under the power of an unclean spirit, the devil got possession of him, and the effect of it was not, as in many, a silent melancholy, but a raging frenzy; he was raving mad; his condition seems to have been worse than any of the possessed, that were Christ’s patients.”

Mark further records the nature of his soul: “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.” We may not see the wicked crying from tombs of stone, cutting themselves in a effort to rid themselves of the horror of their actions; but the wicked have their own darkness, and their stones are the words and actions they use to rid themselves of the light that shines from the righteousness that surrounds them; as it is recorded, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:5); and as Jesus said, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds be reproved” (John 3:20).

Discuss the nature of evil in light of the Gospel.

Torment Me Not—Mark 5:6–13

The wicked will do anything that will relieve the torment, from going to church to condemning others as those who are really depraved. When the man with an unclean spirit saw Jesus “he ran and worshipped him”; his position was “like a dog licking his master’s hand” (Strong’s dictionary). The man “cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.” These words came in response to Christ’s command: “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.” The tyrannical rule of the unclean spirit was brought to naught before the command of their Creator; as will be all wicked men who must face their Creator and Lord, both in this world and the judgment to come. Calvin understood that Christ alone acts and speaks with divine authority: “The worship, therefore, did not precede Christ’s words: nor did they complain that Christ gave them uneasiness, till he urged them to go out. We ought to be aware that they did not come of their own accord into the presence of Christ, but were drawn by a secret exercise of his authority. As they had formerly been accustomed to carry men off, in furious violence, to the tombs, so now a superior power compels them to appear reluctantly at the tribunal of their judge.”

Christ reveals the nature of the unclean spirit, asking, “What is thy name?” He answered, “My name is legion: for we are many.” His declaration that “he is many” reveals his belief that he is powerful; but at the same time must acknowledge his weakness: “And he besought (Christ) much that he would not send them away out of the country.” When the Gospel is preached faithfully, the wicked will claim that they are treated wrongly, but will have to retreat before the majesty of the Prince of kings. The reality of these devils is revealed in the truth that the unclean spirit “entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea.”

“Let us learn also, that unclean spirits (as they are devoted to destruction) are the enemies of mankind; so that they plunge all whom they can into the same destruction with themselves” (Calvin, Commentary).

Discussion: Why is it important to recognize that it is by Christ alone that the wicked are judged?

The Lord’s Compassion—Mark 5:14–20

Two thousand swine had been drowned in the sea. Those who fed the swine “fled, and told it in the city, and in the country,” who came “to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.” Those of the world seek healing and hope; but when it comes, there is fear in their hearts. Are they afraid that they themselves will have to change their way of life? Having seen the glory of God in Christ Jesus, they rebel quickly, asking Jesus to “depart out of their coasts.” They saw a miracle and denied that it happened. They “were afraid, because the majesty of God shone brightly in Christ. So far they did right but now that they send him out of their territories, what could have been done worse than this? They too were scattered, and here is a shepherd to collect them or rather, it is God who stretches out his arms, through his Son, to embrace and carry to heaven those who were overwhelmed by the darkness of death. They choose rather to be deprived of the salvation which is offered to them, than to endure any longer the presence of Christ” (Calvin).

The man who had been possessed with the devil, now being possessed by the grace of God, asked Christ that he might sail with him. However, Christ commissioned him: “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” The Lord does not give us a commission to preach the Gospel, to disciple all nations, without giving to us the understanding and gifts to do so. The transformation of this man brought about knowledge that this was the Lord, and the great healing that he was given was brought about by a great compassion. This unconditional mercy and love of the Lord has been recorded in both the Old and New Testaments: “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom. 9:15). This is the Gospel message, that God has so loved the world that he gave to us his Son, and that believing in him we have life everlasting (John 3:16–17). As with this man, we have a work to be done, right where we are. Christ “had other work for him to do; he must go home to his friends, and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him, the Lord Jesus had done; that Christ might be honoured, and his neighbours and friends might be edified, and invited to believe in Christ. He must take particular notice rather of Christ’s pity than of his power, for that is it which especially he glories in; he must tell them what compassion the Lord had had on him in his misery” (M. Henry).

Discussion: How can we encourage one another in telling others of the compassion of Christ?