Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
Lenten Midweek 4
Text: Mark 5:1-13
Sermon Audio
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!” This deep love of God that goes beyond all thought and fantasy took on flesh in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. This inexplicable love of God continues to marvel the spirit world even today. How can God, the Creator of all things, humble Himself to become even lower than the angels? How can He love man so much that He would take on their flesh so they could be brought into His divine dwelling? 3 weeks ago, Pastor talked about how the angels are jealous and marvel at this, but God’s holy angels’ marveling results in proclaiming God’s love to mankind so all might see the deep and broad love of God. We can’t talk about angels though without talking about demons. Angels marvel and react by praising and serving God, proclaiming Christ, and ministering to His people. Demons marvel and react out of hatred, despising God’s love, wanting to be in control, and tormenting the object of God’s love, His beloved creation. They can’t stand that God took the time to form man with His hands and breath into him the very breath of God. They can’t stand, “that God, the Son of God, should take our mortal form for mortals sake!” They declare war against mankind.
Demons aren’t some cartoonish little devils with pointy red horns and pitchforks. They aren’t something to be toyed with or made light of. In fact, they love that they are minimized to the point that in most people’s minds they aren’t even real, or at least not much of a threat. If people think evil spirits are no big deal, demons don’t even need to worry about men fighting back. They can go around deceiving mankind without them even realizing that they exist. Demons are quite real and they aren’t innocent cartoons. We get a depiction of what they are really like in Mark 5 this evening.
The unclean spirit has possessed a man and was at home amongst death. He was an agent of death who got his kicks by tormenting this poor man. The demon was causing the man to cut himself and cry out in agony. The people in the area had tried to restrain him to no avail. This evil spirit was stronger than any chain of human design could contain. No one had the strength to subdue the man possessed by the unclean spirit. The man was helpless, entrapped by his tormentor. The demons were winning this battle. Man was powerless, that is until no ordinary man came on the scene.
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” The demon knew that the jig was up. He knew exactly who was coming for him. Yet he doesn’t address the Son of the Most High God as one who trusts, but one who fears His wrath. He doesn’t want forgiveness, he just doesn’t want to be tortured. He wants to evoke God’s name to try and control Jesus. He knows he is powerless against Jesus but that doesn’t stop him from trying to control a situation where he knows he is already defeated. Jesus does respond with mercy, but not mercy for the unclean spirit, mercy for the man that he has been tormenting. “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Jesus permitted Legion to leave and go into unclean animals, to be cast into the sea. Unclean spirits have no place in what God has made clean. Jesus casts demons into the sea freeing this man from torment, cleansing him. Jesus gives no quarter to demons, He removes them from His people. He drives them out for us.
Exorcisms are all over the place in the gospel of Mark. Driving evil spirits away from His people is one of the main reasons Christ took on human flesh. He came to destroy Satan and his demons and cast them away from our presence. They continued to work in this world. They continue to fight against God and His people. The unclean spirits even thought for a moment that they were about to win the war when the crowds cried out, “Crucify Him!” Satan was smiling as his lies had led the people to put Christ on the cross. He thought he won. Jesus even cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!” Yet at the moment that was supposed to be his victory he was defeated. Christ was forsaken so that we never would be. Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His Spirit into the world, tearing the temple curtain that separated man from God and destroying the devil and his minions, binding them in the process. The death of God in human flesh freed man from the tyranny of demons. When Christ was laid in the tomb so was sin, death, and the devil. There they remained, bound in the tomb by chains that God prepared for them in the blood of Christ. When Jesus was raised He brought us new life in His resurrection, free from our former tyrannical rulers. Sin, death, and the devil have had the stone rolled over them eternally. Christ has won the war for us.
The war is over, yet battles still rage in this world. The devil and his hordes know that they are defeated, but Jesus hasn’t yet returned to sound the final victory trumpet. Demons know their time is short and there is nothing they can do about it and they are going to try and drag as many humans to hell with them as they can. That place of torment was meant for them, but misery loves company. We are in a battle, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. This is no earthly battle. This a battle with eternal consequences. As St Paul writes in Ephesians 6, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” St Peter adds in the fifth chapter of his first epistle, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” Dear Christians, we are called to battle. We have an active faith. We fight. We fight as those who know that the war has already been won through Christ Jesus. We equip ourselves for battle in this world in faith. We fight against the powers of darkness with the tools that God has given us to slay the demons and our sinful flesh.
Faith is our defense against the darkness. It is how we resist the devil. In your baptism, you were given this sure defense. God cleansed you through Christ in those waters and by His Word and gave you the Holy Spirit. He cast your sins away from you, removing you from the realm of the devil and the world, and equipped you for the fight with His Holy Spirit. In your baptism, the LORD removed you from the grip of the devil and claimed you as His, giving you faith. This gift of faith painted a huge target on your back. The demons are going to come for you. Satan is the father of lies and to walk in sin is to walk in demonic ways. They want you to suffer with them. Yet faith also marks you as one in Christ. This is key. You are united to His defeat of darkness and the devil can’t touch you as long as you remain in Christ. Jesus has claimed you and nothing can remove you from that love. In your baptism, you fight as one who can’t be defeated.
This fighting looks like living your baptismal life. He has made you clean, but Jesus warns us in Luke 11, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.” Jesus has removed any unclean spirit from you and swept your room. We don’t leave the room empty though, darkness and our sinful flesh want to come back with friends. After Baptism comes teaching. We must remain firm in the Word. Jesus, when tempted by the devil, strikes him down with Scripture. We battle by filling our cleaned rooms with God’s Word. We grow in our faith and feed the faith given to us by remaining in Scripture, strengthening our defense and filling our hearts with Scripture. Christ fills your room with His Word, helping keep the devil out.
The devil knows your weaknesses and how to sneak into your clean room. You still have your sinful flesh stuck to you and were once part of his kingdom. He wants you to keep it in the closet of the heart that you were watching pornography last night. Sweep under the rug the fact that you gossiped about the person three pews in front of you on Facebook last week. If you hide under the stairs no one will know that you spend more time at work shopping on Amazon than doing your actual job. Demons don’t want us bringing to light the deeds of our sinful flesh. Living a baptismal life is a repentant life. When we come to our pastor and speak out loud and bring to light the wickedness that we have done in the darkness of sin; we are welcoming Christ to verbalize our forgiveness of sins. When we go to private Confession and Absolution we hear God’s forgiveness from the mouth of His called spokesman for your actual sins. You now have His appointed servant of the Word helping you fight the demons in the light of Christ. Together you fight the sinful flesh and the demonic world with the forgiveness of the sins that haunt you.
Jesus even gives us a glimpse in Mark 9 that some demons do not go out except with prayer and fasting. We lean on God in prayer to strengthen us with the Holy Spirit for the battle. Fasting trains our bodies for the battle. If we refrain from snacking or skip a meal we are fighting against a hunger that isn’t sinful. This equips us to say no to our sinful desires. Now when our lustful heart aches to turn back to porn, we are assured that if Christ can strengthen me to say no to something my body needs I can also say no to my sinful desire. If I can train myself to fast from phone dependency, I can train my sinful heart to speak well of my neighbor. Fasting doesn’t boast in our strength, but discovers weakness and turns us to Christ for strength and forgiveness.
We turn to Him and He still places His forgiveness on our lips. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus continues to clean the rooms of our house with His forgiveness, life, and salvation. When we go to battle against the dark forces of the devil and our sinful flesh in this world, we often take a beating. We sin and fail. We need healing. In His body and blood Christ continues to give you the medicine of immortality. Here He bandages your wounds from battle and assures you that his flesh and blood has already won the victory. In this blessed meal, Jesus strengthens His saints for battle. You rest assured that even though you get wounded, Christ will never leave you or forsake you. Christ has made sure your battle is not in vain because you are in Him.
God will always send His angels and messengers to minister to you and fight alongside you in this spiritual warfare. You have been made clean in baptism. The devils around you can bark at you and nip at you, but you have safety in God’s Word and His Holy Absolution. He feeds you and strengthens you for the battle in His body and blood. The unclean spirits have been defeated on the cross. Jesus has chained them up and thrown away the key in His resurrection. Victory over darkness has been won and is eternally yours through Christ. Thanks be to God!
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.