When Salvation Is Impossible - part 2

Mar 8, 2026 • Rory Mosley

025 When Salvation Is Impossible – part 2

INNUMERABLE DEMONS

Mark 5:1-20

March 8, 2026

Tonight we return to this segment about the Amazing Jesus!

It is about how He saves when salvation is impossible!

If you learn nothing else over the course of these next few weeks

Learn that you can trust Christ and you should trust Christ.

· He is more useful in a storm than a seasoned fisherman.

· He is more powerful in a battle than an army from hell.

· He is more capable to heal than all the doctors of Israel.

· He is more comforting when facing death than a house full of mourners.

JESUS SAVES WHEN SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE.

That’s the segment we are studying now.

We didn’t really get to introduce the segment more this morning

Because I wanted to get all the way through that first impossible scenario.

BUT TONIGHT I do want to make sure you are seeing the bigger picture,

Not only of this section,

But also how this section fits the overall flow of Mark.

Mark spent the first 3 ½ chapters establishing the greatness of Jesus.

We saw how amazing He is.

First we saw Him on CONQUEST,

· Taking the land and setting Satan’s captives free.

· He was casting out demons and preaching the gospel everywhere.

Then Mark made sure we focused on HIS GREATNESS in every aspect.

· We saw His Amazing Claim – that He could forgive sin.

· We saw His Amazing Company – He ate with sinners who needed salvation.

· We saw His Amazing Commitment – He didn’t yield to legalism

· We saw His Amazing Character – He was Lord of the Sabbath and came to save lives not condemn them.

We learned that Jesus is in fact an Amazing Savior.

He forgives Sinners

He delivers captives

He saves lives

And then, as Mark showed us, SOME FOLLOWED HIM as a result.

· Mark introduced us to the 12.

· We saw how Jesus sent them out to preach and cast out demons.

And that was the proper response.

This Jesus said that the kingdom was here.

And we had to decide whether or not we believed Him.

Remember:

Mark 3:7-12 “Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.”

By Mark 3 we had to admit

· That Jesus had in fact done what He said He would do.

· And the expectation was that we believe Him and follow Him.

But then Mark showed us that despite His obvious record as a Savior, NOT EVERYONE BELIEVED.

Remember His immediate family thought He was crazy.

· They thought He had “lost His senses.”

Remember the scribes from Jerusalem accused Him of being demon-possessed.

· They thought He was a servant of Satan.

And we were forced into our first dilemma of the book.

We were forced to determine if we were going to be

Among those who believed Him, or among those who didn’t.

We had to choose between

The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.

We spent 4 weeks seeing the DEVASTATING RESULT for not believing.

· There were those who denied His claims.

· There were those who denied the source of His power.

· There were those who refused to believe or follow.

Jesus equated this to blaspheming the Holy Spirit

And said that those in that sin could not be forgiven.

Jesus actually hid the truth from them.

But for those who did believe, Jesus explained His sermons.

And His sermons were all about the kingdom.

He wouldn’t give the secrets of the kingdom to those who were outside,

But those in the kingdom received it all.

· We learned about why some reject the kingdom.

· We learned about the duty and labor of the kingdom.

· We learned about the growth of the kingdom.

· We learned about the glory of the kingdom.

AND NOW MARK HAS MOVED INTO YET ANOTHER SECTION

Which highlights not only the importance of faith,

But the sensibleness of faith.

Not only does Jesus require faith, but He clearly deserves it.

He can do what no one else can do.

And at the same time we are granted an opportunity

To see what real faith looks like, and what it doesn’t.

THIS MORNING WE SAW the disciples express a moment of shallow-hearted faith as they faced imminent danger and nearly denied the Lord.

So Mark’s point is becoming clearer and clearer to us.

BELIEVING IN JESUS IS NOT OPTIONAL.

REAL FAITH IS REQUIRED

Mark will continue to drive that point home.

Look to the hemorrhaging woman:

Mark 5:34 “And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

Then look at the synagoague official after everyone told him his daughter was dead and Jesus should be left alone:

Mark 5:36 “But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”

And then look at His hometown after Jesus did not miracle:

Mark 6:6 “And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.”

It’s not hard to pick up on the theme is it?

I WOULD ALSO POINT OUT THAT

The miracles Jesus does here

Are meant to reveal His great power and thus justify your faith.

Each of those stories chronicle how a person is moved from fear to astonishment in the power of Jesus.

You saw it this morning with the disciples.

First afraid of the storm but by the end filled with a PHOBEO of Jesus.

But you’ll see that in the second story as well.

At first the crowd is afraid of the demon-possessed man as evidenced by the fact that they have often tried to shackle and bind him.

But by the end of the story:

Mark 5:15 “They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; and they became frightened.”

And then:

Mark 5:20 “And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”

Or the woman who had spent her life afraid she would never be well, only to be healed and to immediately fear the One who did it.

Mark 5:33 “But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.”

Or even after the synagogue official’s daughter was raised:

Mark 5:42 “Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.”

All of these remind us that

Jesus not only expects faith, but He deserves it.

With that, tonight we turn to our second story of an impossible salvation.

You know him as the Gadarene Demoniac.

· A man possessed with a legion of demons.

· A man overcome by the arm from hell.

· It’s as impossible as one can imagine and here we come against the Savior.

So tonight’s impossible scenario is:

INNUMERABLE DEMONS

Let’s work through our text.

We’ll look at this story in 5 points.

#1 A SCARY MONSTER

Mark 5:1-5

So after the showdown on the sea,

Jesus and His disciples make it to the other side.

One has to wonder what kind of condition the disciples are in at this moment.

· I’m sure they are still quite blown away by what has happened.

· I would imagine they are still watching Jesus with great amazement as they contemplate what He has just done.

I would further imagine that they never expected

To see anything even close to that again in their entire lives.

In reality, it would only take a few hours for their minds to be blown again.

For when Jesus hits the shore, yet another monster emerges!

(1-2) “They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,”

You can read about this demon-possessed man in the other gospel accounts as well.

· You can find out that there were actually two of them.

· You can also find out that this man was actually naked.

· You can also find out that no one had been able to pass by that way without

a beating from this man.

Perhaps that is what this demoniac was coming to do here.

Maybe he was going to come

Beat the tar out of whoever got out of this boat.

It would be seriously shocking to see a naked crazy man come running down the hillside to confront you as soon as you hit land.

But those aren’t the details about the man that Mark shares.

Mark’s focus is on how impossible it was to control this man.

· Mark is the only one who gives the details included in verses 3-5,

· No doubt they learned this from the crowd who would come after the man was delivered.

What Mark shares here about the man indicates that

This was yet again one of those impossible salvation situations.

(3-5) “and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.”

First, “he had his dwelling among the tombs”

This is a man who felt most at home among the dead.

We will soon see that he was absolutely uncontrollable

· So the only thing that kept him from living in the finest house in town was that

he wanted to be here.

HE LIVED AMONG THE TOMBS BECAUSE HE WANTED TO.

It was certainly an analogy for the spiritual condition of his life.

This man was dead while he lived.

And we also find that he was absolutely beyond help.

“And no one was able to find him anymore, even with a chain;”

Perhaps there was a time when they were able to restrain him,

But not anymore, and not “even with a chain;”

He couldn’t be held.

Mark writes “because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces…”

“broken in pieces” comes from a word

That means “to break down or crush”.

It would appear this man would just grind these shackles on the rocks

Until he could tear out of them.

But even that didn’t matter anymore

Because no “no one was strong enough to subdue him.”

That means that even if they wanted to chain him again,

No one was able to hold him down long enough to get a chain on him.

We certainly don’t want to overlook

The torment this man has received at the hand of Satan,

BUT MARK’S FOCUS IS ON THE WAY HE TORMENTED THE REGION.

· Can you imagine having to go bind him over and over?

· Can you imagine what it would have been like?

This man had become absolutely uncontrollable.

He is as wild and dangerous and scary as a giant wave of the sea.

He is beyond human control.

And he was tormenting the village.

(5) “Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.”

“screaming” is KRADZO

It is an onomatopoetic word that is defined like it sounds.

It means “to squawk like a raven”

Others have said that it is a sound which mimics a wild boar.

This man constantly screamed throughout the night.

· What a bedtime joy it must have been to hear him throughout the region.

· This man and this region are imprisoned here by this monster.

Obviously Mark is here again

Painting us a unique picture of AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION.

This is right up there with giant waves of the sea.

· How are you going to stop this?

· How are you going to fix this?

· There is nothing that can be done.

And here, this monster has seen a boat land

And has come running from the tombs to meet Him.

But the demon is about to get a surprise.

#2 A SOVEREIGN MEETING

Mark 5:6-13

“Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him…”

“bowed down” is (pros-koo-NAY-o)

You’ve seen it before:

Matthew 2:2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

· There it is “worship”.

Incidentally, it’s the exact thing Satan wanted from Jesus:

Matthew 4:9 “and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

We certainly DON’T see this as

Some sort of repentant demon seeking redemption.

But we do know what this is:

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

· This demon is shuddering.

· This demon is scared.

He came running to terrorize whoever got out of the boat,

But nothing prepared him for who he saw when he got closer.

· Certainly this demon knew Him.

· He had been created by Jesus.

· He had been in heaven with Jesus.

· He had been part of the revolt in which Jesus cast him out.

But this time he doesn’t want any more of a fight.

ALL HE WANTS IS TO GET AWAY.

(7) “and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”

The phrase the demon uses here is actually a Hebrew idiom.

It translates “What to me and to you?”

It was a common way of asking for the other person’s perspective on a common situation.

This demon wants to know what Jesus thought of the situation

And what He planned to do.

See from the second Jesus saw Him the command was immediate:

(8) “for He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

Jesus told him to come out,

But the demon is afraid of what Jesus might do to him.

“I implore You by God, do not torment me!”

That is the first of 5 times that you see that word “implore” in this story.

However, this one is different.

The next 4 are all the word (PARAKALEO) – which simply means “to beg, entreat, or beseech”

In verse 7 the demon is certainly begging, but it is a different word.

There it is (har-KEED-zo)

It means “to take a solemn oath.”

THAT IS WHAT THE DEMON WANTS.

He doesn’t know why Jesus is there, but he immediately asks

Jesus to swear that He is not there to torment him.

That’s actually quite rich coming from this demon who has done nothing but torment this man and this region for quite some time.

But the demon is terrified.

He wants assurances that Jesus will not torture him.

· This demon knows its eternal fate.

· This demon knows what awaits it.

· This demon knows its doom is sure.

It merely wants to push it back to the future.

Jesus then says something strange.

(9) “And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

Are we really to assume Jesus didn’t know who He was dealing with?

I am confident He did.

Then why ask His name?

It was in order to expose that this man did not have one demon,

But an entire army of demons indwelling him.

It is all part of the objective to reveal exactly what He is up against.

Jesus is revealing to His disciples and to every on looker

That He is not facing one demon, but an entire army of them.

But here, on this battlefield, it is the army of demons that seeks mercy.

(10-13) “And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.”

If you’re an animal rights activist

· You probably hate this story.

If you live in West Texas

· You think you’ve found the origin of the herd that now roams our landscape.

BUT THE QUESTION REMAINS

Why did Jesus permit that army of demons to enter those pigs?

It is certainly NOT that Jesus was merciful to the demons.

It is certainly NOT that Jesus refuses to judge them.

THEN WHY?

· To verify the lopsided scene of the battle.

· To verify it really was an army of demons who indwelled him.

Early the book of Acts there was a unique sign

Which accompanied the coming of the Holy Spirit.

That sign was speaking in tongues.

· It is what the Jews did at Pentecost, and we have talked about how that was

a sign of judgment for unbelieving Israel.

· It is why Cornelius and his household spoke in tongues in Acts 10.

· It is why the Samaritans most likely did it in Acts 8.

· It is why the Ephesians did it in Acts 19.

It was to verify that the Holy Spirit had actually entered these men

And to prove that they all, Jew, Gentile, and Samaritan,

Had received the same Holy Spirit.

THIS WAS VERIFICATION.

It was to prove that Jesus was really dealing with an army from hell.

· Jesus did not reason with a belligerent person.

· Jesus did not calm a crazy person.

· Jesus cast an army of demons out of this man.

How big was the army?

· If you listen to Mark it was 2,000 strong.

· Because that’s how many pigs went crazy and crashed to a watery death.

This was Jesus in yet another impossible situation.

Hours before He had taken on the sea and won.

Now He takes on an army from hell and wins.

JESUS IS NO ORDINARY SAVIOR.

He is the most powerful and effective Savior

The world has ever encountered.

HE SAVES WHEN SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE.

It doesn’t matter how the odds are stacked against Him, He wins.

This was a sovereign meeting

Where Jesus showed who was truly sovereign over all things.

#3 A SITTING MAN

Mark 5:14-15

This still bears testimony to the saving power of Jesus.

Do you remember this morning how when Jesus muzzled the sea we found that it responded?

Mark 4:39 “And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”

· We talked about how the wind “died down”.

· We talked about how Jesus redeemed that storm from the curse.

It’s almost like that sea came to its senses

And was able to rest from its rebellion.

WELL WHAT DO YOU SEE HERE IN THIS STORY?

(14-15) “Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; and they became frightened.”

· The sea “died down”

· This man is “sitting down”

He is also “clothed and in his right mind”

Jesus redeemed this man just as He had redeemed the sea.

Jesus gave rest to this man just as He done to the sea.

JESUS TAMED THE MONSTER YET AGAIN.

And the RESULT in this story is the same as the result in the first story.

“and they became frightened”.

There’s that PHOBEO again.

It’s the same thing we saw with the disciples.

So in many ways

We have the exact SAME OUTLINE here as in the previous scene.

1. A monster emerges,

2. Jesus muzzles the monster,

3. Those who witness it are so blown away that they are overcome with the fear of

God.

Those are the consistent facts between the two.

BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE TOO.

IN THE FIRST STORY the focus was on the disciples

· On their shallow hearts that were shaken by fear and nearly denied the Lord.

Mark made sure you saw how the presence of the storm

Caused them to temporarily turn on Jesus

And how Jesus rebuked them as cowards and warned them not to fall away.

We said they were almost an example of rocky soil.

BUT IN THIS STORY the disciples are not even mentioned.

The focus of the story ISN’T REALLY EVEN on the delivered man.

· Yes Jesus saved him, and he is going to have a request,

· But in this story he was more of the monster than the focus.

While Jesus did save this man much like He saved the sea,

The people Jesus really rescued in Mark’s story

Was the people of the region.

THEY ARE THE FOCUS HERE.

· They are the ones who had tried everything to bind this man.

· They had chained him many times and it did not work.

· They were tormented by this man and his army of demons.

They are the ones in view here

They are the ones who are frightened like the disciples.

They, like the disciples, have no doubt that God has come near to them.

THAT’S THE POINT.

But here is where the story goes haywire and a new point is made.

#4 A SINFUL MOB

Mark 5:16-17

Isn’t that strange!

· You’d think they would have held a banquet in Jesus’ honor.

· You’d think they would have declared it a local holiday.

Jesus just saved them from the monster in their midst.

Jesus just delivered that region from an occupying army of 2,000 demons.

If we had a foreign army of 2,000 men in Spur holding us captive and making us afraid to walk in the streets and someone came and removed that army and set us free you’d think we would be rejoicing.

But this crowd did not.

(17) “And they began to implore Him to leave their region.”

These people didn’t want to be terrorized by demons, that is true.

But they also didn’t want to dwell in the presence of God.

If you want a great example of the weedy soil that Jesus just warned about here it is.

John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Could that be any better illustrated than here?

They just met the most powerful Savior they will ever encounter

But they don’t want Him interfering with their lives.

That army of demons in that man was not the only demonic influence in that region.

· These people did not want their own sin dealt with.

· These people did not want their own sin removed.

They would rather send Jesus away and keep their sin

Than see His conquest of liberty move on foot further inland.

And, just as we learned regarding truth: they’ll get what they want.

(18) “As He was getting into the boat…”

We said truth is a privilege.

· If you don’t want it, you run the risk of losing it.

Jesus is leaving.

· The light of the world is departing.

· The bread of life is about to sail away.

· The Savior of the world is going to the other side.

· The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world will leave their company.

How tragic it is to experience the kingdom

And choose to keep your weeds.

THIS CROWD IS THE FOCUS HERE.

Now, there is one more point that is totally consistent with what Jesus has taught.

#5 A SENT MISSIONARY

Mark 5:18-20

So this man desperately wants to go with Jesus.

· He is the real deal.

· He is redeemed.

· He wants to follow.

But Jesus has another job for him.

It is very interesting that this is the first time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus has issued this command.

· Every other time Jesus has done something miraculous for someone He warns them to tell no one,

· But that is not what He does with this man.

To this man He said, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

And that’s exactly what the man did.

(20) “And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”

So why did Jesus tell everyone in Galilee to keep quiet?

· Because the testimony of the miraculous hindered His preaching ministry.

So why did Jesus tell this man to tell everyone?

· Because Jesus was leaving and this man needed verification.

Do you remember the last chapter

How Jesus purposely hid truth from the crowd that would not listen?

But at the same time what did He say to His followers?

Mark 4:21-23 “And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

· He certainly punished the crowd by hiding the truth,

· But that did not mean He would never send it again.

· He specifically told His followers to go reveal what was hidden even to those who would not listen.

· He told them to keep sowing seed even though they were hardened soil.

Here He tells this delivered demoniac to keep telling the people of his region even though they are weedy soil.

And just to show the effect that he will have.

Jesus will show back up in this region in Mark 7

Mark 7:31 “Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis.”

But this time crowds will flock to Him.

· They’ll bring Him a deaf man in 7:32

· He would feed the 4,000 in that region

Clearly this man had been effective in his testimony.