Legion
Luke 8: 26 - 39
Intro: There was a lady who would come out every morning to her front porch, raise her arms and shout, “Praise the Lord!” --- An atheist moved in next door. Over time he became irritated with the lady’s routine and he began to step out on his front porch and yell after her, “There is no Lord!” --- Time passed with the two neighbors and their morning ritual. One morning the lady shouted, “Praise the Lord! Lord I have no good and I am hungry. Please provide for me!” The next morning when she stepped onto her porch there were 2 huge bags of groceries. She shouted, “Praise the Lord who has provided groceries for me!” The atheist jumped out of the bushes and shouted, “There is no Lord, I bought those groceries!” The lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, “Praise the Lord! The Lord has provided for me and made the devil pay for it!”(Taken from “Jesus, The Demon-Slayer” sermon contributed to SemonCentral.com by Craig Condon)
I Our society does not want to acknowledge demons or the devil. We prefer to believe the do not exist.
A VS. 27 introduces us to a naked man, possessed by demons living in the cemetery.
B. Imagine you are in the city cemetery taking a walk for your health and suddenly there is a naked man running toward you, what would you do? Point and laugh / turn and run / hide behind a tombstone / use your cell phone to call 911 / never walk in the cemetery again.
C. Do we recognize demonic possess today. Demonic possess drives a person away from God and alienates them from others.
II If we use that sentence as our definition of demonic possession we must admit that demonic possession exists today.
A Demonic possession manifests itself in our world. ADDICTION IS THE GREATEST DEMON THAT POSSESSES MANY TODAY.
B Addiction takes many forms: materialism, abusive relationships, prejudice, hoarding, self-centeredness, homophobia. The list is practically endless.
C Three things to get rid of our demons: 1) we must name them, 2) we confess and apologize for any harm we may have caused, 3) embrace the love of Jesus.
III We can get lost in the details of this story and miss its powerful message.
A The point of the story is not to prove the existence of demons. Neither is it meant to allow us to talk about animal cruelty. The theological symbolism of water isn’t the main point either.
B Jesus and his disciples leave the relative safety of Israel and travel to a foreign country to confront “demons.”
C The point of the story is that there is nothing too power for God to overcome.
Concl. Perhaps you feel lie you are being torn apart by many “demons” thinking to yourself, “Lord, I can’t handle another burden / I can’t stand this anymore / Why me, Lord?
People saying, “God never gives you more than you can handle” just isn’t helpful.
As you struggle with your “LEGION OF DEMONS” remember this, THERE IS NOTHING. NOTHING TOO POWERFUL FOR GOD TO OVERCOME!
This story demonstrates for us that no one is beyond the reach of redeeming, healing love of Christ Jesus.
