“He Broke the Chains”
“He Broke the Chains”
Mark 5:1-20
A. The battle began in heaven. He was an angel, probably an arch-angel. He was God’s fair-
haired boy—he was beautiful. He became puffed up with himself and he led a rebellion
in heavenly places. Perhaps as many as 1/3 of the angels of heaven followed him in this
angelic rebellion against the Ancient of Days who sets on the throne. He was cast out of
heaven along with the other rebellious angels who exchanged God in heaven to serve
themselves and to receive the eternal destruction God has prepared for them.
1. Since the creation of mankind the evil one has been there to dog man’s steps, to tempt,
trick, trip, trap and torture the human race.
2. The Bible teaches that God has Satan on some kind of a “chain.” In other words, the devil
cannot do all the damage that he would like to do in the world. You say, “From the looks
of things, it looks like the chain has a lot of slack in it!”
B. In Mark 5, Jesus and His disciples made a sea voyage of about 10 miles down the Sea of
Galilee to the area known as the Gerasenes which was one city in a region of ten cities
known as Decapolis.
1. When you go on a cruise to some other country you might be greeted with a red carpet
welcome or a pretty girl who puts a Hawaiian lei around your neck and welcomes you to
their country. When Jesus and His disciples came ashore, they were greeted by a freak.
They were greeted by a man who could have been a star in a Horror Movie, a man who
would have made Freddy Krueger look tame; they were greeted by a demon possessed
man named Legion.
2. I want to examine this story from two directions.
I. SATAN STOLE FROM LEGION.
A. There are a lot of details about this man called “Legion” that we don’t know.
1. We don’t know how old he was.
2. We don’t know he how got in this condition.
3. We don’t know what had been done to try to help him.
4. We don’t know how he had come to make the cemetery his home.
5. We do know that he had made some wrong decisions and had got in such a position that
Satan had taken over his life. Let’s note four things that Satan stole from Legion.
B. His self-respect
1. Luke 8:27 “And when He came out onto land, He was met by a man from the city who
was possessed with demons; and had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not
living in a house, but in the tombs.”
a. This man was the town streaker! When people run around with little to no clothing on
you know who is influencing them. Legion lived in the cemetery.
2. You know that voice in your head that says, “You’re no good, you’re no good, you’re
no good, baby, you’re no good.” Or you are ugly, you don’t matter, you can’t do that so
why try, you don’t deserve that, you are worthless, God doesn’t care about you. That
voice is the devil trying to chain up your conscience.
a. Rev. 12:10 “for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses
them before our God day and night.”
b. If we have no self-respect, we are more apt to take unnecessary risks, do destructive
things, harm ourselves. Dr. James Dobson said the #1 cause of depression among
women is low self-esteem.
3. When the devil says your trash, God says you are treasure! Whose right?
C. His self-control.
1. Lack of self-respect leads to a lack of self-control and Legion’s life was totally out of
control. The local people didn’t know what to do with the mad man so all they knew to do
was tie him up yet Luke 8:29b “yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon
into the desert.”
2. The devil is the master of disaster, he is the captain of corruption and step by step he wants
to work your life into a place where it is out of control and you say, “how did I get here?”
Then he starts suggesting suicide to that out of control person.
a. Donnie has a beautiful singing voice. He started out singing gospel music. He said,
“I thought I could be the master of my own destiny and I got off into another kind of
music. I got off into the drug culture and for about 6 years I gave it my very best. I
was doing cocaine every day and other drugs and I had unsuccessfully tried twice to
take my life in overdoses of cocaine. One Saturday my world crumbled, my money
was gone, my friends didn’t want to be around me because my mind was messed up
all the time. That Saturday, I found myself 28 floors up on a hotel deck at the Las
Vegas Hilton. I was trying to get up enough nerve to end the problem I had created.
That morning God showed me this was no time to end it, but it would be a good time
to start it.”
D. His family and his friends.
1. Somewhere Legion had a mother and a father who changed his diaper when he was a
baby. He probably had brothers and sisters that were ashamed of him. Had he been
married? Did he have children? We don’t know but whatever family and friends he had
were gone.
a. Matt. 8:28 “[he was] so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.” He
was meaner than a junkyard dog! No wonder he was alone.
2. The devil will keep you from living a normal, peaceful life.
E. His health
1. His mental health was destroyed.
a. Mark 5:5a “Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the
mountains.”
2. His physical health was being destroyed.
a. Mark 5:5b “[he was] gashing himself with stones.”
1) Self-flagellation is a tool of the devil. (See 1 Kings 18:28). Cutting is a problem
among troubled youth.
b. In his book, “Seeing the Unseen” Joe Beam said, “While studying clinical psychology
in graduate school several years ago, I ran across a photo in one of my textbooks of a
young heroin addict that perfectly illustrated sin’s addictive power. To satisfy his
need, he had collapsed every vein in his arms, then his legs, and finally, though the
course of depleting all other available spots, he had found the last. He lay in a
doorway, dead, the hypodermic needle still in his tongue. It was an unpleasant yet
graphic picture, showing the end of every addictive sin.” (p. 17).
3. Obviously, Legion’s spiritual health was only of the evil spirit world.
4. No wonder John 10:10a “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
II. JESUS GAVE LEGION:
A. When Jesus saw Legion the first thing he said to him was, “What is your name?”
1. Jesus cast those demons out of that man and they entered a herd of 2,000 hogs and the
hogs ran down a steep bank and into the sea and drowned. Someone said that is the first
case of deviled hamJ Jesus gets criticized for those 4,000 floating hams, but Jesus didn’t
destroy the pigs the demons did. Perhaps Jesus allowed the demons to enter the swine to
show the destructive power of the devil or the number of demons living in the man? They
knew he would not permit them to go into another human being. “Perhaps the demons
caused the pigs to drown so they could flee the area…Or maybe the demons were unable
to control the pigs” (Seeing the Unseen, p. 80). Let’s note what Jesus gave Legion.
B. A sense of self worth
1. When Legion got the devil out of him perhaps the first thing he did was put on some
clothes. Mark 5:15 says he was clothed.
a. You don’t have to tell Godly people how to dress—they know it in their conscious.
b. Maybe someone saw Legion wearing his polo shirt and dress slacks and they said,
“Legion, is that you?!”
c. For the first time in how long could Legion feel good about Himself? He could walk
around town with other people and not have people running from him. He didn’t have
to be ashamed of how he looked or what he was doing.
d. Maybe you are here today and you don’t feel very good about yourself. I have a
message for you from the Lord. He said to tell you that you are fearfully and
wonderfully made—Ps. 139:14; He said to tell you He knows the plans He has for
you—Jer. 29:11, He said He loves You and he wants to save you from your sins—
heaven—John 3:16.
C. A peace unequalled
1. Mark 5:15 says Legion was in his right mind. No more hollering at the top of his lungs.
No more running out in the desert screaming like a mad man. He was able to set down
and not be tormented in his mind every second!
a. Isaiah 26:3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts
in You.”
b. Every time I drive through Belpre, Ohio I think of Ron Laughery. Ron is a preacher
and he went to talk to a man named Elmer who was 69 years old because Elmer called
Ron on the phone and asked him to come over. When Ron got there Elmer said, “I
have been praying all night. He said, I have been an alcoholic for 54 years. I started
drinking at age 15 and my wife Ruth has lived in literal hell with me for all the years
we have been married.” He said, “I told God last night, if you let me live I will
become a Christian.” Ron said I thought to myself, “Yeah, I’ve heard this before.”
Ron said, “Elmer, have you ever considered Alcoholics Anonymous? Elmer looked
across the kitchen table and said to the preacher, “I don’t need Alcoholics Anonymous,
I need Jesus.”
c. Eph. 2:14 “For He Himself is our peace.”
D. A purpose for living
1. What daily purpose for living did Legion have when he was possessed by those demons?
2. The people of Gadara or the Gerasenes were so frightened by what Jesus had done to the
man they begged Jesus to leave. Isn’t that something? Jesus gets rid of the town streaker
and gets the man out of the cemetery and becoming a productive human being and yet
they want Jesus to leave. You know what Jesus did? He left.
3. Legion wanted to be Jesus 13th disciple. He was ready to leave and go anywhere with
Jesus. The local people begged Jesus to leave and He begged Jesus to leave with him.
a. Luke 8:38a “But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging that he
might accompany Him.”
b. When Jesus cleans you up like he did Legion you will go anywhere with Jesus! Jesus
had given him a reason to live and he was excited.
E. A testimony
1. Jesus wouldn’t let Legion be his 13th disciple. Instead he said, in Luke 8:39 “Return to
your house and describe what great things God has done for you. So he went away,
proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”
2. You know what a testimony is? It is your story about what Jesus has done for you. Do
you have one? You may not know your way around the Bible as well as you like, but you
can tell people what Jesus has done for you.