Jesus Is Better #3

 

Mark 5:1-9

1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

4 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.

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

6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

7 And 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.

8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

 

There are according to scripture, spirit beings. There are Angelic beings that serve the purposes of God and there are Demonic spirits or evil spirits as Mark mentions in our reading.

 

Jesus here asks the question of the man who is possessed of an evil spirit what its name was, because Jesus wanted to identify the problem. When you have a problem in your life, you can’t fix the problem until you identify the problem.

 

Some times we want to keep some things hidden in their lives. Things that are working to destroy our relationships and our spiritual walk with God.

Some of us have secrets that no one knows about. We would never tell a soul. And in some cases, that’s ok. Some things are better off not told to some people.

Especially people who don’t know how to keep confidentiality and understand God’s grace.

 

But we need to face reality and be able to identify the things that are working to destroy us. Sometimes these things are put into a person’s life at a very early age. Many times we have no control over how they got there.

 

But they are there nonetheless, and we cannot be delivered from the hold they have on our lives until we identify them and even name them.

 

Child abuse

Divorce

Abandonment

Molestation

Alcoholism

Drug addiction

Pornography

Depression

Fear

Anxiety

 

See these things all have a name. I don’t even want to name some of the things, because these names have incredible power. All you have to do is say the name of one of these things and immediately someone else freezes up. “Oh, please don’t talk about that. Don’t bring that up”

 

And we won’t talk about these things this morning except to say that some of these things have a hold on some of our lives in some way…

And are controlling the happiness and the peace that Jesus would want us to have in our lives.

 

And I understand that God would not want you to live with these things having power over your joy. The things that have control over your peace.

That every time some good thing comes along in your life, that the stuff that works to destroy your joy pops it’s head up and steals that joy and leaves you with so much anxiety and trouble.

And Jesus wanted to know who it was that was causing so much trouble in this man’s life. And the spirit says, “My name is Legion: for we are many.”

 

In other words, he tells Jesus, “Not only does this man have an evil sprit that has possessed his life, but there is a stronghold of evil spirits here.”

 

So this man didn’t have just one problem spiritually, he had many problems.

 

But it’s interesting to me that this does not deter Jesus from casting them all out; even at once.

 

In fact, apparently, it was no problem for Jesus at all. And the reason was because Jesus Is Better than every single one of them.

 

The man could have stood there all day long and rattled off all the stuff in his life. He could have named the name of every evil thing in his life and it wouldn’t have made a difference. He could have thrown names out there that would have scared some people. That would have insulted some people. That would have made some people run away in fear.

 

But the spirits knew that no matter how big or how strong or how scary they were; once Jesus came into the man’s life, they were going to have to go.

 

That their power over the man was going to be ceased.

 

Exodus 3:13-14

13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.

 

In other words, Moses wants to know what authority his God had.

When he went back to Egypt, the people were going to ask, what kind of power does this God have? Is he the son god? Is he the moon god? Or maybe the river God?

 

But God tells Moses here, “Tell them that I Am.”

 

In other words; all encompassing. No other names need be mentioned. Everything else bows under the authority of me.

 

And for thousands of years of man’s recorded history we find them over and over again trying to find out the name of God.

 

And it’s not until Matthew 1:21 that we hear that name mentioned for the first time.

 

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

 

Somebody say that name with me right now. “Jesus.”

 

See, we could name off all kinds of stuff but when we call on this name of Jesus; all of these other things begin to lose their power in our lives.

 

Why?

 

Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

 

What does He mean “above every name?”

 

Ephesians 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

 

See the name of Jesus has Power.

 

Far above all principality. (Domain, territory)

That’s what the man in Mark 5 had going on in his life.

 

And Power.  (Control, Authority, Influence, Rule)

 

And Might. (Force, Capacity)

 

And Dominion (Place of Stronghold)

 

Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

 

See this name of Jesus has authority over everything in this world. There is nothing that can be named that the name of Jesus is does not have authority over.

 

This is why when we baptize someone, Peter told us in Acts chapter 2, to baptize them in the name of Jesus.

 

Why?

 

Because that name has authority over every sin that can be named.

 

That’s why the angel of the Lord said in…

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

 

Understand something with me this morning. We need to know the name of our God. We need to understand the power of His name. Because there is going to come an attack against our walk with God and when it does, it needs to be called into subjection. It need’s to be put into its place of servitude to God’s authority.

 

I like it that the Christian world is beginning to use the name of Jesus more and more. I like to hear that more and more church’s and pastors are beginning to use that name of Jesus when they are baptizing people. I like to hear the younger generation write songs about the name of Jesus. Some people have been ashamed of that name for too long.

 

People will say Christ. They will say God. They will say Father. They will say savior. But they won’t say Jesus…

 

Why is that?

 

Understand; Christ, God, Savior, Father are what He is, but Jesus is who He is.

 

When you say Jesus; you’ve said Christ, you’ve said God, you’ve said Savior, and you’ve said Father. It’s that name that is above all names.

 

See, there’s this stuff in our lives and we need to be able to call that name that is above all names over it.

 

Why?

 

Because it needs to lose it’s authority in our lives.