3 Responses to Jesus Luke 8:26-39
Gladstone Baptist Church – 13/11/05 pm
Last Sunday morning, I preached on Jesus calming the storm. He had told his disciples he wanted to go across to the other side of Lake Galilee – a journey of about 10km. In the middle of the lake a storm sprang up and it was so fierce that the whole boat was in danger of being swamped and its passengers drowned. The Disciples were panic struck and thought that God had deserted them and Jesus certainly didn’t care whether they lived or died because he was asleep in the front of the boat. They woke Jesus and asked “What are you sleeping for – don’t you care that we are about to go to a watery grave?” Jesus looked at them, stood up and commanded the wind and waves to be still. And they were.
The sea went from a churning caldron to a mirror like surface and the disciples were amazed. Before them was a man who could command even the wind and waves to be still and have them obey him. The asked “Who is this guy?”
When we have a real encounter with Jesus, we can not help but be amazed at him. He is - after all - God with all his awesome power and might. Is it surprising that Jesus could calm these storms? No – not when you understand who he is.
The disciples asked “Who is this?” Was this question rhetorical? I don’t know. I would have thought by now that they should have known the answer to this question, but maybe they didn’t. Maybe they really were thick as bricks.
So they continue to head across the lake in quietness and contemplation. And finally they reach the other side. The only noise as they approach the shore is the quiet lapping of the water on the beach – a stark contrast from the crashing waves and howling winds of just an hour or so ago.
As Jesus stepped ashore, all of a sudden out of nowhere it happened …
Out of nowhere there was a piercing scream. And from who knows where a wounded, naked man ran towards Jesus. His hair was matted, his eyes were wide and wild. He lived out in the cemetery and in the wilderness. On his wrists and ankles were the remains of broken chains and ropes that had been previously used unsuccessfully to restrain him. He was covered in scars as Mark tells us he used to go around cutting himself with stones.
He ran up to them and threw himself at Jesus feet. – Scary!!!!
The poor disciples, I think one scary experience is enough for one day – don’t you. The bible doesn’t tell where they were, but me thinks that some of them had at that point hopped back in the boat and were way up the back of the boat wondering what on earth was going on.
Still on the ground before Jesus was this wild man who we find from the biblical accounts was demonized. If you have your bibles, open them up please to Luke 8:26
8:26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
Let’s pray and enquire of God what it is that he wants to teach us tonight. …
Demons … Hollywood has a lot to answer for in terms of how we imagine demons. Many movies portray them as ghoulish monsters from the netherworld, imaginary ghosts, or pointy-tailed characters perched on your shoulder. But that is not what they are at all. Chuck Swindoll writes that “They are REAL but invisible creatures, powerful but NOT ALL-POWERFUL. Demons are the devious, insidious servants of SATAN, the ruler of this world. And just like him, they are limited in their authority.”
Unfortunately in our society, many people treat demons with 2 unhealthy ways which are polar opposites. CS Lewis has written in his Screwtape Letters … “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about demons (devils). One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Some people today disbelieve in the existence of demons completely. They try to explain everything away by science or by coincidence or fate. They only believe in things they can see – things made of physical material - and that is why they struggle to believe in God.
Other people have an obsession with Satan or demons.
The proper understanding of demons is that they exist and are very real. They are powerful and can take control of people physically as this account shows us. But as Christians we need to remember that unlike demons serve Satan who has limited power, we serve God who has ALL POWER. He has unlimited power. We don’t need to be scared or intimidated by demons as we will see tonight.
But tonight, I don’t want to spend all night talking about Demons and what they can and can’t do … Rather, I want to focus on the different responses we see to Jesus in this passage and learn as much as we can about Jesus and ourselves from them.
I can see 3 different responses in this passage from 3 different groups. Firstly there is the demons. Secondly we are going to look at the towns people and thirdly there is the man who was demonized. Each group acts in a different way and they have a different response.
The Demons – Those who oppose Jesus
First the Demons. When Jesus came ashore, the demonized man came running up and fell on his knees before Jesus’ feet. The Demons that were controlling this man were SCARED of Jesus. They weren’t kneeling as a sign of worship, but in a state of powerlessness and fear. It reminds me of what Phil 2:9-11 says …
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Every knee will bow before Jesus one day – even the demons. Why? Because firstly, they KNOW WHO JESUS IS. This was their enemy. They called out … “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” No Jesus hadn’t met this demonized man before, but the Devil and his demons, know their enemy well. I think it is really interesting that the demons were more certain of who Jesus was than his disciples. Remember, the disciples asked after the storm in vs 25 “Who is this?” The Demons told them – “It’s Jesus, the Son of the Most High God” – the one who has all power, might and strength. No wonder they were bowing before him.
But why were they scared? Jas 2:19 says …
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
The demons know more than you think about God. They KNOW THEIR DESTINY and that makes them scared. They also know what God has in store for them and that makes them scared. You see, Satan’s side is the losing side. God has already made that plain for everyone to see. The demons know that and they are scared of what awaits them. Read it with me …
Vs 28 - When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” … 31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
Matthew’s account of this in Matt 8 says – “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Satan and his demons know that at a time appointed by God, they will be locked away in a place referred to as the Abyss. Turn over to Rev 20:1
20 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
We don’t know too much about this place, but from the limited information we have, the abyss will be a place where God locks up Satan and some of his demons during the thousand year millennium spoken about in Revelation 20. It is a prison for those that oppose God and highlights God’s ultimate power over all who would oppose him.
So the demons in this man are scared of Jesus because he has the power to lock them up for good. Jesus’ presence, could only mean that their JUDGMENT WAS CLOSE and they were petrified and so they begged and pleaded and begged and pleaded with Jesus to let them go. It turns out that there wasn’t just one demon in this man, but there were many. They referred to themselves as Legion which was a word to describe a group of Roman Soldiers which typically numbered between 3000 and 6000. So there was potentially many, many demons and they had a fairly good grasp of this man – but despite their combined power, when they faced off against Jesus, they were petrified.
So this was the first response of people to Jesus - FEAR. People who oppose God and really have an understanding who it is they are opposing naturally will be fearful, because they are facing off against the creator of this universe. It doesn’t get any bigger than this. Unfortunately, not many people find themselves in this situation. Those that do understand who they are opposing, usually end up switching sides. For the others who oppose God, most of them have no idea of who God really is. Are you opposing Jesus today? Thinking you don’t need God and can live life your own way and somehow get away with it. If this is you, I’d encourage you to find out ho it is you are up against. Because if you do that, you’ll be scared, real scared. That leads us to the next group of people whose response I want to look at.
The Townsfolk – Those ignorant of Jesus
The legion of demons begs Jesus not to banish them to the abyss, but to let them leave this man and go into a herd of pigs grazing on a nearby hillside. Mark says that there were about 2000 pigs in this herd, so this is a lot of bacon we are talking about. Jesus gives them permission and they enter the pigs. Their destructive influence continues, but this time on the pigs instead of on a single man. The entire herd, just goes crazy and races down the hill and into the lake and drowns. The pigs go from nice little pigs to crazy psycho pigs. The men who were looking after these pigs would have been fairly taken aback by this and they take off into town to tell everyone and before long, the people of the town come out and confront Jesus.
When they arrive, they find this demonized man transformed. He is no longer naked, but is clothed. He is no longer running around madly, but he is sitting calmly at Jesus’ feet. He is no crazy, but he is in his right mind.
And they are SCARED. What are they scared of? Well not the same things as the Demons, because they have no idea of the true identity of Jesus. But they are scared at the reported display of power that has obviously transformed this demonized man.
These people are probably like most people in this world.
They are scared firstly because they DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS POWER that can transform lives. What we don’t understand we often are scared of. That was the lesson we learnt last Sunday morning when the disciples were called to have faith rather than fear.
But also, people are scared because this power to transform lives threatens to AFFECT THEIR LIVES and they are scared to let that happen. Jesus’ confrontation with the demons resulted in 2000 pigs being killed. That was going to cost someone a lot of money. I would have affected them too. I’m sure the rest of the people from town were wondering, what is going to happen to me if we let this guy stay. Is my life going to be impacted in any way. Now the impact from Jesus wasn’t necessarily going to be negative. The impact on the demonized man was a hugely positive impact. But the people were still fearful of the potential negative implications. They had their priorities wrong.
In their situation what would you have been looking at – the healed man, or the drowned pigs??? Do your priorities in life (your pigs) make you fear God’s transforming power. I think for many of us, we would be looking at the pigs and resenting their loss. Let me put it in modern day language for you … When Jesus transforms a life, things around them change. Sometimes their activities have to change and they no longer go to the nightclubs or go fishing every Sunday. Sometimes their lifestyle has to change and they no longer put a priority on working obscene hours or trying to earn enough money to buy that bigger boat. Sometimes their ambitions have to change. Sometimes their attitudes towards others has to change and they need to become servants in humility of those around them. Would you be willing to give up your activities, your lifestyle, your ambitions, your attitudes to allow God to transform your life? Would you be willing to give up your pigs to allow God to transform your life? Or do want to hold onto your pigs – your activities, lifestyle, ambitions, attitudes, etc.
These people were focused on the negatives rather than the positives. They had wrong priorities. For them, their comfort, security and the status quo, was more important than a life being transformed. And so they asked Jesus to leave. They REJECTED him, because they were scared through ignorance.
Does this reflect your reaction to God this evening – You are ignorant of who Jesus really is and what he is able to do in your life? You are too scared of change to see how much you really need him? So you reject him. If this is you. Don’t be scared of change. Turn your focus to the positive rather than the negative. Allow God to give you His priorities. God has the power to make your life so much better.
The Demonised man – Those transformed by Jesus.
The last response shown in this story is that of the Demonised man. Though he couldn’t be tied down with ropes or chained up, he was a prisoner – controlled by a legion of demons. But what a transformation … From a man who terrorized a whole community and wrecked a trail of destruction on all around him including himself to a man who was as normal as you or me.
This man knew himself the transformation that had occurred and in vs 38 we read … 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
This man was GRATEFUL and wanted to become a DISCIPLE of Jesus, the one who had changed his life, but Jesus said no. He had a far greater witness to God’s amazing power among those who knew what he was like before. So Jesus commissioned him as an evangelist to TELL OTHERS and this is what he did.
The third response we see is the response of a transformed life. Jesus calls people to himself to be changed. To be born again to be transformed. And then he sends them out as his witnesses to share the hope they have with those around them. The townsfolk had rejected Jesus out of ignorance. The transformed man could inform them of who Jesus was and help change that ignorance to repentance. What a wonderful opportunity. Have you been transformed by Jesus? If you have, the next question has to be – are you telling others about Jesus? If he has transformed you, you’ve got an amazing story to tell and so tell it!!!
Which character do you most closely resemble as you sit here today.
Do you openly oppose God. You know who he is, but you are opposing his work. If that is you, you need to be SCARED because you are facing off against a big GOD. Unlike the demons, you have a chance to repent and to switch sides and I implore you to do that tonight. Allow God to become your saviour take up your place in God’s army which will be the victorious army in the end.
Are you ignorant about God and more concerned with your pigs. You don’t understand God and you are scared that he will demand you to change your lifestyle in a way which you won’t like. You are ignorant to who Jesus really is and what that he wants the best for you and so instead of welcoming him, you hold him at arms length or even tell him to go away. If that is you, you need to find out the facts about who this Jesus is and what he can do for you. He wants to transform your life and make it wonderful.
Lastly, are you open to being transformed or have you been transformed. If you have accepted God as your Saviour, you are transformed and you need to be witnessing to that fact. You need to be telling others about Jesus and what he has done for you. You need to be that light in the darkness that we talked about 2 weeks ago that draws others to God. Start tomorrow – Tell your friends or work mates about God’s power and goodness.
