Notes Mark 4 B-5 A

Last week we learned about the warning that Jesus gives; “Take heed what you hear”. We learned that not all preaching not all teaching is good to hear. Just because someone is talking about the Bible that does not mean it will produce faith in your life.

We also looked at the parable of the seed how when it is planted there is a natural process that takes place in the realm of the Spirit to cause it to bring forth fruit.

Finally we took a look at the mustard seed, why Jesus chose the mustard seed to represent not just the “Word” but the Message of the Gospel.

Now let us turn to Mark 4:35

And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

Verse 35 tells us that this is the same day that Jesus sat with the multitude and taught these parables. It had been a long day, Jesus is tired remember right before Jesus spent the day teaching the multitude his friends and family wanted to drag him away to get some rest because Jesus hardly took time to eat and sleep,  but He tells his disciples that they needed to take the boat and cross over the sea.

Verse 36

And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

We see the disciples are the ones who send the multitude away and then Mark tells us:

“They took him even as he was in the ship.” That means they left in the boat Jesus had been teaching in and they did not make an additional preparations for the 5 mile journey across the sea. The statement that Mark makes that it was the disciples that sent the multitude away and then they took Jesus just as He was indicates that He was most likely at the point of physical exhaustion.

Then Mark adds “And there were also with him other little ships.” Indicating that there were others that witnessed the miracle that is about to take place. It was not just Jesus and his disciples but others were again involved in this story.

Verse 37

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

Now the Bible tells us that there arose a great storm of wind… They would have been leaving from the northeast of the sea of Galilee, what today we call the Golan Heights. This area has a very broken, torn terrain which is easy for the winds to gather and suddenly to break out upon the sea. These fishermen would have known this and they also knew the kind of danger they were in. The waves are beating against the boat, flowing over the side and they are about to be swamped. In fact the word says “it was now full.”

I also want you to see that this storm arises in their life when they are in the prefect will of God. Jesus said,  Let us pass over unto the other side.

Verse 38

And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

From the indication of wording of this verse it appears that Jesus fell asleep after the storm had already started because they awoke Him and accused Him of not caring. If Jesus had been asleep the whole time they would not have accused him of not caring but would have told him he needed to awake to be aware of their plight.

Do you see the difference between Jesus and His disciples?  Jesus was aware of the storm but was at peace and even went to sleep while the disciples are panicking not knowing what to do. Jesus is always in a teaching mode. We will see in the next few chapters where Jesus tells His disciples you feed the multitude. Mark 6:37, but first Jesus must establish a firm foundation.

But here we see Jesus has told his disciples they need to go to the other side. A storm of conflict arises and Jesus falls asleep leaving his disciples to carry out his instructions. But they panic.

Matthew adds a little bit more to the story;

Matthew 8:24-26

And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?

This is such a picture of us most of the time. The Lord gives us a job to do he gives us specific instructions and we attempt to carry them out. However the enemy comes to buffet us and causes a tempest to arise and our life and we panic and even as the disciples did accuse our Lord of not caring.

But look at our Lord’s response.

Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?

We need to see that at this time in the disciple’s training they had not learned the authority that Jesus will delegate to them. But I believe Jesus is trying to teach them the first foundation and that is to TRUST HIM.

They did not come to the Lord and say;

Arise from your rest oh Lord and save us; a tempest has arisen against us; arise and shine on our behalf.

No they come and say; don’t you care that we are perishing here.

Before we can ever move in the authority that the Lord wants to impart to us we must first have that firm foundation of his love. When storms come our way we should never allow our self to feel that the Lord does not care for us. That is completely contrary to his nature.

When to the best of our ability we are attempting to carry out the Lord instructions and a storm arises in our life we cannot allow the accuser to plant seeds of doubt of the Lord love into our heart.

Listen to Revelations 12:10

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

That is the devils nature he is the accuser and he not only accuses us before God but he also accuses God before men.

Well, IF God loved you; you would not be going through this trial.

If God was with you, you would not be experiencing this situation.

We need to rebuke the devil and say.

Arise and shine Oh Lord, Roar out of Zion on my behalf, be my buckler and my shield, be my strong tower, my refuge in time of distress.

That is faith and that is what the Lord was looking for from the disciples. They did not yet know the authority they would receive but by this time they should have known His character; that He loved them and was with them and would not allow them to perish!

Verse 39

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

So Jesus arises and first he rebukes the wind. It is the wind that is causing the waves to arise. Jesus rebuked the wind. But do you think it was the wind Jesus was rebuking or could there be something or someone else Jesus is actually rebuking when he speaks to the wind.

Listen to Ephesians 2:1-2 You has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins: Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

I do not believe that Jesus was speaking to the wind; I believe he was speaking to the “prince of the power of the air” the devil.

Once Jesus has addressed the cause of the problem then he addresses the problem and tells it to be at peace, to be still.

This same principle holds true in many different situations. If you are sick your body is not the problem it is the one who has come to steal, kill and destroy. First you must rebuke the cause of the problem and then you tell the body to be a peace. Stop wrestling and allow it to line up with the Word of God.

Remember the farmer sows the seed and then sleeps and the seed bring forth fruit of itself.

Verse 40

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Jesus asks us the same question today. When the wind of the enemy gathers in our life, why do we fear?

Well in Jesus’ next statement He puts His finger right on the problem. How is it that you have no faith?

This is the reason we fear! When we have no faith fear enters in, in fact fear is the opposite of faith.

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

We need to ask our self the same question.

Why am I afraid? David asked himself that question but he goes on to answer himself as well. That is exactly what we need to do; when we feel fear arising in our heart we need to ask our self, why am I afraid or why am I disquieted.

Psalms 42:5

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

Verse 41

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Look where their fear shifted to. They were no longer fearful of the storm they had a reverent fear of the power of God. Proverbs 1:7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And on this knowledge you can build faith.  When you know the power of God you will no longer fear the power of the lesser one, the enemy of your soul.

It is because we do not realize the mighty, mighty power of God; it is because our hearts do not reverently fear Him that we do not have faith. 

We too need to recognize that we have God with us. When the storms of life come our way we are not to go to him in a panic, accusing him of not caring but we are to go in faith, ask and then receive.

Verse 5:1-2

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

I believe that the scene we just witnessed was a direct result of their destination, believe me those demons knew Jesus was coming. Notice verse 2 says immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

Now I want to look at some of the characteristics of these unclean spirits or one under control of the enemy.

First— Verse 2B-3A

immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs;

1.Unclean – You will find in the lives of those who are under the influence of demons an element of uncleanness. This man lived in the tombs with dead bodies. Those under the influence of demons with associate with the dead, if not the physically dead, they will associate with the spiritually dead, because this is where they will feel comfortable.

This uncleanness will also be evident either physically as in living in rubble or spiritually in that their character will be unclean. When you are around them their speech or actions leave you feeling dirty. 

Verse 3A

2.Isolation Also I want you to see the isolation in this mans life. The enemy always wants to isolate those under their control. Again we see this man living in the tombs. This man did not have to live here because he had friends and a family. Look at what Jesus told him in verse 19. Go home to thy friends

Isolation is a key tool of the enemy because he has your mind, you hear only him.

Verse 3 b- 4.

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.

3.Supernatural strength. This is common among those influenced by the enemy. This is evidence that possession is more than mental but it affects the physical body as well.

Verse 5

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

4.Torment Now no one wants to be tormented. They do not fall under the control of the enemy because they want to be tormented. No this comes later. At first sin is fun, demonic influence can seem to be very alluring and seductive, very attractive and fascinating. If sin were not fun in the beginning no one would get involved in it.

Proverbs 20:17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

Tom has a saying that I think is very appropriate.

Sin always takes you further then you want to go

Keeps you longer then you want to stay

And cost you more then you want to pay

Sin and torment go hand and hand.

Verse 6 – 7A

But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?

I find this very interesting and that we see over and over again the demon possessed immediate recognition of the authority of Jesus. Now the religious leaders of His day did not recognize him but the demon possessed did. What you are seeing here is a partial fulfillment of Romans 14:11 which was quoted from Isaiah 45:23 As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

This man under the influence did not worship Jesus as “Lord” but as “Son of the most high God “and there is a vast difference. It is not enough to just recognize who Jesus is, as you can see by this passage even the demons do that but you must make Him Lord, Master of your life.

Verse 7B

I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

I think it is interesting that this demon who had tormented this man day and night now asked Jesus not to torment him. This demon knows what he deserved but he is asking “in the name of God or by God” swear (adjourn) that you will not torment me. The spirit realm knows the laws of sowing and reaping.

Verse 8-9

For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

Jesus commanded the demon to come out and even asked his name. I believe that Jesus already knew there was more than one demon in this man and maybe He asked this question for the sake of those around him or even us today. At any rate we learn the both the depth of sin and the depth or the human spirit.

Verse 10

And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

This is a very important verse. There are two things I want to discuss.

1.Demon spirits are very territorial. Notice they besought Jesus not to send them out of the country, literally “a space of territory”. Demons authority is very territorial. Say if a spirit of “lust for worldly thing” were sent to a region of Mennonites it would have a hard time finding a place to dwell, it would have very limited authority. This is why you find different strongholds in different places, but if you allowed that spirit to dwell in Las Vegas or Las Angeles it would not have a hard time at all finding a place to dwell and great authority. 

This knowledge is very important to anyone who has a call into Intercession it has even recently been given a name, spiritual mapping. It is when a study of an area has been done to discover the strongholds. When a group of intercessors come together and begin to tare down these strong holds the gospel is increased dramatically.

The American church as a whole has gotten very weak in the realm of spiritual warfare and it needs to wake up and take back the authority the Lord has given to the church.

2.These spirits were afraid of being sent out of the country not to hell. Why is that? It is because they knew that it is not their appointed time to be consigned to hell. God himself has not laid that charge to them yet. He will but that time is not now. If you will look at Revelation chapter 19-20 you will see that it is not until after “the great tribulation” that the devil is bound and cast into the bottomless pit.

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

So when you tell a demon to go to hell, it will just laugh at you because it knows you do not have the authority to send him there, therefore he does not have to obey.

So what does this verse teach us? Know your enemy and know your authority. 

Verses 11-12

Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

These verses show us that these spirits do not want to be disembodied. They will take a pig over nothing.

Luke 11:24 gives a good picture of what it is like for the spirit without a body.

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none…

Verse 13

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Now this is the reaction of the pigs. The demons did not force these pigs down the hill and into the water to drown. We just saw where they wanted a body. But this was the reaction of the pigs. The torment that these pigs experienced when these demons entered them caused them to loose all rational thinking. They drown themselves trying to escape these demons.

Now I am not trying to make too much of this but it is true that some people would rather kill themselves then be tormented any more. Now I do not believe that all suicide is a result of trying to escape the torment of demons but some is.

Verse 14-15

And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come 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.

Now here we see the difference between the control of demons and a relationship with our Lord.

This man that had been crying out night and day, cutting himself was not sitting calmly at Jesus’ feet.

This man who naked was not clothed.

This man who was out of his mind was now at peace. What a great God we have.

Verse 16-17

And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

I read a quote by John Oxenham based on a poem this incident in Scripture.

Rabbi, be gone! And take this fool of thine!

You love his soul; we prefer swine.

We read in our new and see programs on TV all the time where if it is a choice between the welfare of and individual or the wealth of a region society as a whole will always pick the wealth of a city, town or company that supports the town.

Verse 18-19

And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

I believe all along that Jesus knew that this region would not receive him and Jesus with his great love for all mankind needed a witness so he took a man who was so violently possessed and radically changed his life and then sent him to touch the hearts that He Jesus could not touch.

Verse 20

And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

This man was from Decapolis which means 10 cities. These 10 cities were Greek or Gentile cities and became rich sowing ground for the Apostle Paul. Philadelphia the city of brotherly love was one of these cities along with Damascus.

So we see that years before the disciples evanglized this area Jesus had already planted a seed.

Some plant others water but it is God that gives the increase.

Jesus planted a wittiness and He is asking today "Can I get a wittiness". We all may not be preachers or teachers or evangelist but we can all be a wittiness.