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When All Hope is Gone

Scripture Passage: 
Mark 5:1-20

Introduction:  Sometimes life will hand us trials and troubles that seem impossible.  We sense defeat before we’ve even begun to fight.  The men of Gadara, were very much a hopeless situation.  If there was ever a case which the Lord could not have handled this might have been one of them.  Yet if the Lord could handle this case, then we can have hope that we will never cross into a case which the Lord is not fully capable of bringing a miraculous victory.

  1. THE HOPELESS CASES OF MARK 5
    1. A Man Without Hope Because of Devils (Mark 5:1-20)
    2. A Woman Without Hope Because of Disease (Mark 5:25-34)
    3. A Family Without Hope Because of Death (Mark 5:22-24; 35-43)
  2. THE MAN OR MEN FROM GADARA (Mark 5:1-5; See Matthew 8:28; Luke 8:26-27)
    1. The Root of His Problem (Mark 5:2)
      1. The man had an unclean spirit (Mark 5:2)
      2. The unclean spirit’s name was Legion for there were many (Mark 5:9)
      3. He had had devils a long time (Luke 8:27)
    2. The Effects of His Problem (Mark 5:3-5)
      1. He had his dwelling among the tombs (Mark 5:3)
      2. No man could bind him (Mark 5:3-4)
      3. No man could tame him (Mark 5:4)
      4. He was always crying (Mark 5:5)
      5. He kept cutting himself with stones (Mark 5:6)
      6. He wore no clothes (Luke 8:27)
  3. THE SON OF GOD (Mark 5:6-13)
    1. His Arrival (Mark 5:6)
      1. The man from Gadara saw Him from afar off (see Matthew 8:28)
      2. The man ran and worshipped Him
    2. His Authority (Mark 5:7-10)
      1. Recognized by the devils (Mark 5:7)
      2. The devils begged Him not to torment them (Mark 5:7)
      3. They besought Him not to send them out of the country (Mark 5:10)
      4. They besought Him not to send them into the deep (Luke 8:31)
    3. His Action (Mark 5:11-13)
      1. The herd of swine (Mark 5:11)
      2. The request of the devils (Mark 5:12)
      3. The deliverance by Christ (Mark 5:13)
  4. THE RENEWAL OF HOPE (Mark 5:14-20)
    1. The Change in the Man From Gadara (Mark 5:15)
      1. He is sitting (Mark 5:15) at the feet of Jesus (Luke 8:35)
      2. He is clothed (Mark 5:15)
      3. He is in his right mind (Mark 5:15)
    2. The People of Gadara (Mark 5:14-17)
      1. Those feeding the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country (Mark 5:14)
      2. They saw the men and were afraid (Mark 5:15)
        1. They were not afraid because of the men.
        2. They were afraid because they knew that no man could bind or tame these men (Mark 5:3-4).  This meant they were not dealing with a man in the Lord Jesus Christ.
      3. They asked the Lord to depart (Mark 5:17)
    3. The Departure of the Lord (Mark 5:17-18)
      1. Sent away by the multitudes (Mark 5:17)
      2. Received by the few (Mark 5:18)
    4. The Commission Given to the Man From Gadara (Mark 5:19-20)
      1. Go home to thy friends (Mark 5:19)
      2. Tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee (Mark 5:19)
      3. The man / men published the news in Decapolis, a ten city region (Mark 5:20)
      4. There was great success (Luke 8:40)

Conclusion:  Are you in the midst of a hopeless situation?  Perhaps it is your need for deliverance from some sin, or your need for salvation.  The Lord’s hand is not short so that He cannot reach where you are.  If the Lord can deliver the men from Gadara, then your circumstances are not a problem for Him.

Andrew Ray

Daily Proverb

Proverbs 27:7

The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.