"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, who had his dwelling among the tombs; 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. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." (Mark 5:1-5)

This remarkable account of Jesus healing a man possessed is a factual account of Jesus' power over evil spirits. This man was truly possessed with devils, and Jesus drove those devils from the man.

This account gives us assurance of Jesus' power over all things but also shows us how Jesus works in our salvation of regeneration. As we look at this account, we will see the helplessness of the man and the omnipotent power of Jesus.

This man was full of unclean spirits. His home was in a graveyard. He ran around naked. His behavior could not be stopped or altered by any human means. He wandered around all the time with no focus and his behavior was only hurtful to himself and those around him.

Man's condition without the grace of God in his life is much like that of the Wild Gadarene.

Without grace all men are:

• Totally depraved and full of sin (Romans 3:9-18)
• Man is in bondage to sin (Romans 6:18a)
• Alienated from God (Colossians 1:21)
• No one can change natural man by natural means (1st Corinthians 1:18; 2:14)
• The mind of natural man is the enemy of God (Romans 8:7)
• He has no righteousness he can claim for covering his sin (Isaiah 64:6)

There was nothing short of the almighty power of God that could help the wild Gadarene, and it takes nothing less than the sovereignty of God to change the nature of a man dead in sin.