[0:00] Luke chapter 8, we've been walking through this gospel written by a doctor in the first century, one who had followed Paul and interviewed eyewitnesses and wrote his account very carefully so that those who read it might be certain about the faith of the gospel.
[0:26] And today we come in Luke 8 to the beginning of some miracle stories where Luke kind of goes back and forth between recording miracles that Jesus does and then recording messages that Jesus does.
[0:45] And so now he has just recorded for us the parable of the sower and its explanation. And now he's going to take us through some miracles. We're going to look at two of those today.
[0:56] So if you're able, please stand as I read from Luke chapter 8, beginning at verse 22.
[1:07] One day he got into a boat with his disciples and he said to them, let us go across to the other side of the lake.
[1:19] So they set out. And as they sailed, he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake and they were filling with water and were in danger.
[1:34] And they went and woke him saying, master, master, we are perishing. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves and they ceased.
[1:50] And there was a calm. He said to them, where is your faith? And they were afraid. And they were afraid. And they marveled, saying to one another, who then is this?
[2:08] That he commands even winds and water and they obey him? Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
[2:20] When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time, he had worn no clothes.
[2:34] And he had not lived in a house, but among the tombs. And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?
[2:50] I beg you, do not torment me. For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
[3:01] For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles. But he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
[3:16] Jesus then asked him, what is your name? And he said, legion, for many demons had entered him.
[3:28] And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside.
[3:41] And they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs.
[3:53] And the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.
[4:06] Then people went out to see what had happened. And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.
[4:25] And they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them.
[4:41] For they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him.
[4:59] But Jesus sent him away saying, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
[5:18] So it reads, let us pray. Father, guide us today as we look at your word. Help us to see what you want us to see. Help us to understand why the Holy Spirit caused these events to be recorded.
[5:33] to be preserved for us. Not just historical record, but why they're here for us today.
[5:44] We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. I forgot my water. Okay. Oh, I found an old one. That's okay. I will just pull it out.
[6:03] Well, I wanted to briefly honor mothers. This Bible story is not about mothers. Mothers are very...
[6:17] Mothers who study the word of God are very wise and godly. And so I came across this story that reminded me of that. Those moms.
[6:28] A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and inquired of his mother as to when they could discuss his use of the car. The mother offered her son the following deal.
[6:43] You bring your grades up from C to a B average, study your Bible, and get your hair cut. Then we'll talk about the car.
[6:56] The boy thought about that for a moment. He decided he'd settle on the offer, and they agreed to it. After about six weeks, his mother said, Son, you brought your grades up, and I've observed that you've been studying your Bible.
[7:11] But I'm disappointed you haven't cut your hair. The boy said, You know, Mom, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair.
[7:25] John the Baptist had long hair. Moses had long hair. And there's strong evidence that Jesus had long hair. Mom, who had also studied the Bible, and therefore was very wise, said, Did you also notice they walked everywhere they went?
[7:46] Laughter Oh, Mom. Mom's have a way, do they not? Laughter In 1965, a devastating tornado hit Palmer Lake.
[8:11] Any of you hear that? It was followed by what was called the Hundred Year Flood.
[8:21] Which flooded not just Palmer Lake, but all the surrounding area, up to Denver and south. Fourteen inches in four hours, the paper recorded.
[8:35] It left destruction in its path. It destroyed roads and bridges and homes and businesses and tragically lives. Here at Little Log Church in Palmer Lake, the devastation reached this Little Log Church.
[8:53] The flood submerged the basement with water and mud and silt. It was damaged, but not destroyed.
[9:07] It was damaged. Today we celebrate 100 years of God's faithfulness. faithfulness. Now we can read the history of this Little Log Church.
[9:20] There are many, many faithful people that held this little church together, poured their lives into this church and congregation. But as Rick pointed out, the bigger picture is, it's God's faithfulness.
[9:37] Why is Little Log Church still here? We have survived the Great Depression. We have survived wars.
[9:48] We have survived, we, I say, a tornado, a flood. Changes, culture changes.
[9:59] Congregations come and go. Even COVID, which has devastated many churches. And yet we're still here.
[10:14] Our job's not done. Our job's not done. The Lord has been faithful. The Lord has been faithful. And He's faithful through faithful people as well. It's been God's steadfast love.
[10:27] And so that has been our theme today for worship. It's also our theme that I see in Luke chapter 8. It is God's faithfulness.
[10:39] Through all the years. It holds us together. So in Luke chapter 8, we see God's faithfulness displayed through Jesus Christ and His unmatched authority.
[10:55] Everything obeys Jesus. Everything. Wind, waves, demons, doesn't matter. Everything obeys Jesus.
[11:06] He's not just a prophet. I want you to notice a couple of things generally in this text.
[11:17] We notice two stories. There's a story of a storm and then a story of this demonized man who's released from the torment of the demons.
[11:29] It's the command of Christ. This word command appears in our text. We see these parallels in both stories. Both describe Jesus' power, His authority, His command.
[11:40] Verse 25, the disciples remark, Who is this who commands the wind and the seas and they obey Him? And then we see in verse 29 and 31 in the encounter with the demons, they're begging Him permission.
[12:01] They're terrified of Him that He will send them to torment. They're terrified. He's outnumbered. It's not even a battle.
[12:16] It's over as soon as He arrives. This is the unmatched power of Jesus we see in these stories. He has power over things that are uncontrollable.
[12:32] We can't control storms when they come and how long they last, how devastating they are. We can't control the storms. Physical storms. We can't control the storms in our lives that happen when things fall apart and things get out of control.
[12:45] We can't control those things. And then we have a story of a man who is under the control of the devil by a legion of unclean spirits that are driving him places and devastating him, shattering his life.
[13:08] things that are out of control. Jesus has the power to overpower the uncontrollable in our lives. We also see two types of fear in this story.
[13:21] Verse 25, after Jesus calms the storm, then the disciples are afraid. Interesting. They're afraid of Jesus.
[13:33] Storm is no match for Jesus. And then we see the people who respond to the healing of the demonized man when they come and see the evidence of this man that they knew who lived in the tombs and ran around naked and was screaming and out of control.
[13:51] And when they saw him sitting in his right mind, they were afraid. Terrified. And then they asked him to leave because they were seized by great fear of him.
[14:07] So, two types of fear. Both fear of Jesus. One fear that causes some to say, whoa, who is he? And causes others to say, I don't want any of that.
[14:23] I don't want any of that. I'd rather live in a land with unclean spirits than live with Jesus. So, here's the story then.
[14:35] We see his command, but we see his control of two situations that strike fear in people. Fear in his disciples, fear in the townspeople who witness this unmatched power.
[14:52] So, I want to look at these two stories. Both have an impact. Jesus has an impact. One on his disciples through the storm and then one on the man who had demons and was healed.
[15:07] His shattered life was now brought to calmness. We see a calming in both stories. There's a calming of the sea and then a calming of this man who was possessed.
[15:19] So, first impact we see in the first story of the storm Let me put it this way. However great the storm, however out of control our life, Jesus is faithful and able to deliver.
[15:37] He can overpower the uncontrollable. The storm in our life that's raging. He may not say hush be still to the storm, but he may give us strength to endure the storm.
[15:52] Now notice these are disciples following Jesus. They're not exempt from storms. They encounter storms. Right? So, we see a storm, an uncontrollable storm.
[16:04] Verse 23, it's a windstorm, a violent wind. Luke describes it as this windstorm that came down on the lake and that's very accurately describing the geography of Galilee at the time.
[16:16] On the east side of the lake, you have Galilee on the west side and on the east side they're going from Galilee on the west side to over to the east side. Why is Jesus going over there?
[16:27] It's not, it's Gentile territory. The pigs give it away. He's going over there across the lake. But there's steep cliffs on the east side and the wind, the cold air would come rushing down those steep cliffs and meet the warm air down below.
[16:49] Galilee was almost 700 feet below sea level so it was pretty low and then it would come and meet the cold air and just stir things up. And you'd have a very quick storm, squall, that would happen there.
[17:04] And so the waves quickly are filling the boat. The disciples say we're being swamped and they were in danger. And by the way, these are professional fishermen.
[17:18] They've been on this lake a lot, all their lives. Now they probably didn't cross. They probably stayed closer to shore usually but they are professionals so they knew they were in trouble.
[17:32] They were powerless. And they panicked. Verse 24. They went and woke him. And by the way, a little side note, Jesus is asleep through the storm.
[17:44] I'm like, what? And Mark tells us that there was more than one boat. There's a whole bunch of disciples going on this trip. There's another boat along with them. And you can imagine the storm, you know, they're raging in the storm and they're calling across the other boat and they're saying, you know, get Jesus.
[18:00] And they say, well, where is he? And then the other boat saying, you know, he's doing what? He's asleep. Wake him up.
[18:15] So they panic, they rush in, they wake him up, right? And he gets up and rebukes the wind. Look at the power here. I call this a sign.
[18:26] In the Gospel of John, every miracle is called a sign. It signifies something. It is a picture. It is a real physical miracle that occurs, but Jesus performs these miracles to point to something beyond.
[18:44] He heals a blind man. It shows us that he doesn't just heal a physical blind man, but that he can make people who are spiritually blind able to see. People who are spiritually lame able to walk.
[18:56] People who are unclean lepers, clean. People who are dead to God alive. That's what he's a picture.
[19:07] So he calms the storm. What's the picture here? He awakes. He rebukes. That's weird. He speaks.
[19:18] He rebukes the wind and the waves. The other Gospel says that what he said was, Hush! Still! Still! Maybe he didn't even shout.
[19:39] And suddenly they're calm and still. He commands creation. He speaks to the uncontrollable.
[19:52] Who does that? He's able to overpower the uncontrollable. So what's the impact? Well, Luke tells us in verse 25.
[20:05] Here's the significance. This is what the sign is about. This is where it's leading. Two ways. One, Jesus says to them, Where's your faith? Where's your faith?
[20:17] Well, there's a little storm going on, Jesus. I don't know where my faith is. I was dealing with the storm. Where's your faith? You mean storms are about faith?
[20:34] You mean the stuff we go through is about faith? I mean, Jesus is able to sleep. Storms are about faith.
[20:50] What is faith? So when many of us think of faith, we think of something that's simply passive. We have faith in something. We believe Jesus is the Son of God.
[21:02] We believe in idea. You know, we have a doctrinal statement. Yeah, we believe all those things are true. We believe, you know, what this is.
[21:13] We believe who Jesus is. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We believe how we're saved is not from our works, but God's work. We believe all those statements. But what are those, what do those ideas, those beliefs, do for you in a storm?
[21:31] When you are overwhelmed, when you, when life falls apart, when your plans are radically changed, when your health takes a turn, when one hour, you know, when future is so uncertain, how's your faith doing then?
[21:49] How do you engage your faith then? See, that's what Jesus is asking. Where's your faith? Faith isn't about a passive thing. It's about, it's an active thing. Faith is something we engage.
[22:00] Faith is something that we initiate. We already have it, but we engage it. We walk by faith.
[22:12] We trust something, don't we? Faith is not just believing an idea, but it's trusting something. I apply it in the trial.
[22:27] I rely on what God has said. What has God said that I can trust? In the midst of a storm, I will not put you through anything beyond what you are able.
[22:43] Really? I don't think I'm able on this one. I will never leave you or forsake you. That for those who love God, all things work together for good.
[23:03] to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose, not my purpose. And it's something, Paul wrote in Romans 8, that we know.
[23:19] Something we know, and so we bank on it. It's something that we know, and it guides our life. When bad things happen, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
[23:34] I might not see the good for 20 years, like Joseph. I might not see the good for 40 years, like Moses.
[23:45] I don't. But it is good. It's His purpose, not my purpose. That's huge. That's about faith. And so He says, and then secondly, Jesus challenges them.
[24:01] Where's your faith? And they were afraid. Now they fear, and they marvel, saying to one another, who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him.
[24:16] Suddenly, they're terrified of the storm. They're panicking in the storm. They're in danger. They're in fear for their lives. And after Jesus calms the storm, then they're afraid again.
[24:28] They should be calm. Shouldn't they? Woo! We're okay! But instead, they're afraid again.
[24:40] Because suddenly, they're in the presence of someone more terrifying than a storm. They have seen Jesus do amazing things already.
[24:57] But they haven't seen this. Speaking to wind and waves, and they just... They're fishermen.
[25:07] They've been on that lake. They know the storm doesn't just do that. It takes a while for it to... So they're caused to rethink who He is.
[25:21] See, storms in our lives can do that. When we're faced with things we can't control. When we're faced with things that make us think, that make us step back and go, okay, those plans aren't going to work.
[25:32] What do I do now? And they cause us to look to Him, don't they? And say, what do I do? And getting through that storm, He now gives us a new view of Himself.
[25:48] How do I get through that storm? Oh, it's not the way I thought. Not the way I thought. He's not taking the storm away. The storm's still there. He's going to take me through it. Right through it.
[26:01] And He's going to provide the whole way. I don't know how He's going to do it, but He does. How many of us can look back on the storms and we say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there, been there, been there.
[26:13] What did I learn? He's faithful. He's faithful. He's really creative because He doesn't do it the same. You know, it's like, well, last time He did this.
[26:23] Well, He's not doing that now. When I was a babe in Christ, they were easier storms, weren't they? They were, you know, He's really gentle to us when we're young Christians. And then after we go for a while, He's like, I always picture Jesus sitting next to Peter going, watch this.
[26:40] Watch Bill. Watch. It'd be like you, Peter. It'd be like falling on His face. Give myself too much credit to be like Peter. So storms cause us to re-examine.
[26:56] We see however great the storm, however out of control our lives get. Jesus is faithful. He's right there. He is faithful and He's able to deliver. He's able to calm that storm in our soul.
[27:11] We ask the question like they did, who is this? How can a man command creation? Creation is not a person.
[27:23] Creation, it's inanimate. How does a man speak to creation and command it and then obeys? Wind and the waves. Well, who's the man?
[27:34] This is no mere prophet. This is not like Moses at the sea who's standing there, right? And God goes, what are you doing?
[27:46] Get to it. You know, Moses is like, I don't know what to do. Stuck between these mad people and waves. What do I do? Remember, God says, lift up your arm.
[27:58] Separate the sea. Oh, I didn't even think of that. Jesus is not Moses. Moses was great, but he ain't holding the candle to Jesus. Jesus knew exactly the way they woke him up.
[28:12] Hey, stop. Who is this? Who is this? It reminds us of Psalm 107. It says, Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters.
[28:22] They saw the deeds of the Lord, His wondrous works in the deep. For He commanded and raised the stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea.
[28:35] They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths. Their courage melted away in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like drunken men were all at their wits in.
[28:46] You can imagine them in a storm trying to hold your balance. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress. He made the storm still.
[29:00] And the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet and He brought them to their desired haven.
[29:14] Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of men.
[29:26] You've been through the storm? Do you thank Him? Do you thank Him? Can you thank Him in the middle of the storm when you don't know where it's going? That's the key, right, that brings peace.
[29:39] If you have enough faith to thank Him in the middle of the anxiety, Paul tells us in Philippians 4, that's what brings the peace that passes understanding. We all pray in the middle of the storm, but do we say thank you?
[29:54] We're not talking about reasonable things here. We're talking about faith. Be still, my soul.
[30:08] Thy God is... Thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Thy help, thy confidence, let nothing shake. All now mysterious will be bright at last.
[30:23] Be still, my soul. The wind and waves still know the voice that ruled them when He dwelt below.
[30:40] However great the storm, Jesus is faithful and able to deliver us. We see a second story now in verses 26-39.
[30:51] Remarkable, remarkable story. Luke has told us before that He's casted out demons. He told us of Mary Magdalene, right, this woman who had seven demons that Jesus had cast out.
[31:07] This is a whole other level. This man. He has legion. How many is legion? Huh? A hundred?
[31:18] A hundred? Six thousand. Try a thousand. Legionnaires. Legionnaires. The Roman legion was six thousand plus.
[31:30] Now that doesn't mean there were six thousand demons here. I mean, demons don't necessarily tell truth. And the demon here was probably trying to be evasive with Jesus.
[31:41] He's trying to escape, right? Jesus is going to throw him in the abyss. He's just trying to, anything, get me out of here. So here's the second story that I want to capture in a sentence.
[31:57] However shattered the life. Here's a man's life that was absolutely shattered. Damaged. Ravaged. However shattered the life, Jesus is able to transform to peace.
[32:15] Just like the storm He takes from raging to calm. He takes this man whose life is ravaged to sitting at Jesus' feet in His right mind.
[32:28] So let's look at it. We see the man. Verse 27. He comes up to Jesus. As soon as Jesus steps out of the boat, there was a man from the city who had demons.
[32:40] And we're told that we're told several things about him. Verse 27. We're told he's full of demons. demons. That for a long time he wore no clothes and he had not lived in a house and he was among the tombs. I want you to notice the things that demons do to people.
[32:55] Those that, there are characteristics in this man that are true of those who are demon-possessed. not just this, but if you take them all together, okay, not just single out.
[33:09] There's crazy people that run around with no clothes doesn't mean they're demon-possessed. But if you put all these together, this is what a demonized life looks like. Right?
[33:19] One, indignity. No clothes. Two, isolation. isolation. Not living in a home.
[33:33] And then, where does he live? In the tombs. Who lives? No. No, he's shattered. He's screaming.
[33:46] And the demon has control of his voice. He's talking to the man, but he's actually talking to the demon, which is not just one demon, but a whole bunch of demons. Apparently, there's a speaker of the house.
[33:56] So, you have indignity, you have isolation, you have driven away from people, you have screaming, you have this kind of violent behavior, you have, interestingly, an immediate recognition of Jesus.
[34:16] They recognize him. What have you, and they're terrified, what have you to do with us? Yes. Literally, in Greek, it's what to you to me?
[34:28] Maybe it's a Jewish demon. What to you to me? Not. Not Jewish demon. And then, and then we see in verse 29, it talks about, you know, they tried to control him.
[34:41] They tried to bind him. They tried, they used chains and shackles, and he would just break them. So, we see this extraordinary strain. All right, he's uncontrollable. just, just absolutely, but he's driven to this by these demons, because demons are what?
[35:01] They're, they're angels of Satan, right? They are originally created angels, they're angelic beings, created to serve God, who rebelled against God.
[35:15] They had the freedom of choice. They rebelled against God. And we don't know, the Bible does not tell us all the history about when that, we just know they did. And we know that some, immediately, are put into the abyss.
[35:30] They are, the revelation talks about these demons, these horde down there, that are held off until the end time. They will be released to do, to do God's will, to do judgment.
[35:42] But one of the things we, we know about demons, as we see throughout, that they seek, well, remember what Peter says, watch out for the devil, what he's like a roaring lion, seeking to, encourage you.
[35:56] No, he wants to rip you apart. That's what demons want, they want to, they just want to devastate. They want to ravage you. They want to torment, they want to make you, look horrible.
[36:08] Okay? Let me make a statement here. If you have the Holy Spirit, you cannot be possessed by a devil, by a demon.
[36:24] Okay? Greater is he who is in us. And John's quoting that in the context, talking about a demon, than he who is in the world. But if you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you can be controlled by the demonic.
[36:36] Right? We're all influenced by that. Even Christians who have the Holy Spirit, right? We still, the devil can still try to do stuff.
[36:47] He cannot control us, but he can tempt us. He can seek to deceive us. That's why we wear the armor, right? But, but, but someone who doesn't have the Lord, and in the gospels, we see it all the time.
[37:02] How come we don't see it today? Does it mean that happened today? We don't believe in demons anymore, right? I've seen it twice. I haven't seen it a bunch, but I've seen it twice.
[37:17] Scared the living chicken out of me. First time, drove me to conversion. I believe. Young, 10-year-old boy, speaking in a deep man's voice.
[37:31] Yeah, I don't think that was, that was not his voice. So, we see the sign then in verse 28.
[37:47] So, Jesus, it talks about how they, they were, let's see, verse 28, they're, they're saying, what have you come to do? Don't torment us.
[37:58] It's interesting. Demons who, that's their job one, is torment people, right? When Jesus comes, what are they afraid of? Torment, don't do it to us.
[38:10] Don't torment us. Yeah, we want to torment, we'll go torment the pigs, but, so, he had commanded them, verse 20, he had commanded them to come out, and that's what caused their response.
[38:24] What, what are you doing? So, he commands them, then to leave, verse 29. He has commanded them to leave. We find out, verse 30, interesting, Jesus, this is the only time Jesus ever speaks to a demon other than to say, out.
[38:43] Right? He doesn't dialogue with demons, but this is the one time he asks a question. So, it must, it's not for, so that he can have more power over them. He already had that.
[38:55] It must be for the benefit of the disciples to realize how many demons were here to hear this answer of legion. Undoubtedly, Jesus already knew this.
[39:09] But, interesting, so, so he's outnumbered, but that doesn't matter. And then we see their fear, verse 31. They beg him, to, to not command them to depart into the abyss.
[39:27] They are absolutely terrified of containment. Demons want to be free. They want to be free to terrorize as long as they can. And their absolute worst nightmare is to be thrown into the abyss.
[39:40] The bottomless pit, Revelation talks about, right, this place where God has reserved them. Aligned with, the abyss is aligned with the concept of hell that Jesus said God created for the devil and his angels.
[40:00] They're terrified of that. So, verse 32, they must beg. They have to beg him for permission. Remember the story of Job?
[40:11] Remember the devil torments Job? Remember? Did he do that? Whatever he wanted? Did he get to do whatever he wanted to do? Not until God said, you can go to this point and that's it.
[40:26] Right? They don't have, it's not equal sides. It's not good versus, it's not like, you know, the force, the good force and the bad. It's not like that.
[40:37] It's God and then the other. Unfortunately, we seem to see a lot of this. Right? Where's God doing? Remember, our king is on his throne.
[40:49] He's on his throne. So, verse 33, the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and they heard rush down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
[41:06] It's what you call a bad case of double hand. You knew it was coming. You've heard it before. I was holding out. That's my brother's title when I was, when he was a youth pastor and I was in the, so it's, the only thing I remember from his whole ministry is just, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[41:27] But I thought that was pretty good. They instantly act according to, as soon as they're in the, excuse me, in the pigs, they instantly do what they love to do, destroy.
[41:41] By the way, my sister-in-law had, had pigs, right? She had, and when the barn or whatever was flooded, they, they were floating. Pigs can't drown.
[41:53] So how'd they drown? Well, the word also means suffocate, choke. They were just killed, slaughtered by demons.
[42:07] You see them all floating on the sea, you know, bobbing around. But it wasn't a peaceful scene. They can't fly but they can float. They can't fly but they can float.
[42:18] Yeah. So what does it all mean? So we see the end of the story. Verse 34. So how does everyone respond to this? So to, again, two responses here.
[42:31] Verse 34, the herdsmen saw what happened. They fled and told in the city and in the country. Now, bad news for the herdsmen, right? They're supposed to be taking care of the pigs.
[42:41] All of a sudden, their charge is in the sea, dead. What are they going to tell the owners? What are they going to do? So they fly back to the city. They say, wasn't our fault? Wasn't our fault? Right?
[42:51] And they tell what happened but then the whole city comes out. Not the whole city but a whole bunch of people says went out to see what had happened. So we had herdsmen saw their eyewitnesses to what had happened.
[43:03] They tell others, verse 35, the people come to see for themselves and they came and they find Jesus and this man that they knew had this reputation is now absolutely transformed.
[43:17] sitting at the feet of Jesus. Good place to be. They find this man transformed and we see the first record of fear in verse 35.
[43:31] They see the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. You'd think they'd be glad. You'd think they'd be, thank God, oh wonderful.
[43:45] this man, we're afraid, we don't want our kids anywhere near this guy. Well, you know, this guy's a terror. They're afraid because they couldn't control him.
[43:59] Now today, how do they control him? Drugs. Drugs. Right? Lock them up in drugs. Now, not everybody locked up in asylums and such are demonized but I believe a lot are.
[44:16] They're in our prisons. They're just drugged to control him. But back then, they didn't have that.
[44:29] They just had chains and fetters and that didn't, even that didn't work sometimes. So they're afraid. They couldn't control him. Here's a guy who did. So, then we see in verse 37 the great tragedy that all the people right of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them.
[44:53] They asked Jesus to leave. They asked Jesus probably not kindly leave. Why?
[45:03] For they were seized with great fear. It wasn't because their finances were hurt. It wasn't because you know, their meals and probably we're talking about these are Gentile people.
[45:16] Pigs were often used not just for eating but for sacrifices to other gods which is probably why Legion when he met Jesus called him son of the God most high because they're associated with the gods not high.
[45:37] the fake gods the super human stuff that don't anyway. No, they don't ask him to leave because they've been impacted financially.
[45:54] They ask him to leave because they're terrified of him. they don't want that kind of power in their region. They don't want that kind of person around.
[46:06] Higher than their gods? Nope. We can control our gods we can't control this person. So please leave. We're happy with how we are. Amazing, isn't it?
[46:22] But we all used to be like that. Is there not a time in our life if you're a believer now? Is there not a time in your life where you really didn't want Jesus to do anything in your life?
[46:33] No, no, no. Even if I knew it was right, I didn't want it. I was having too much fun. Then we see the reaction of the man in verse 38.
[46:47] The man from whom the demons had gone out was begging again. Here's that command authority issue coming up again. He's begging Jesus that he might be with him. He wants to follow Jesus.
[46:59] What a good thing. He wants to get in the boat with Jesus. He wants to go follow. He wants to be a disciple. He wants to learn more. Who wouldn't from a man that changed your life? Brought you peace.
[47:12] But Jesus sent him away. What? Verse 39. Return to your home. Oh, he can finally go back home.
[47:22] I wonder how long he hadn't been home. He hadn't lived in a home. What happened to his family? Go back home. Go back home. Not just that, but go back home and declare how much God has done for you.
[47:40] Give your testimony. This is your witness. By the way, that's all of our witness. How do I witness? Some Christians are asked to witness and they don't know what to say. Here, tell how much God has done for you.
[47:52] That's it. That's the definition of witnessing. That's the definition of your testimony. Tell how much. Tell what God has done for you. And Jesus adds, how much God has done for you.
[48:04] So here's this man's got a wonderful testimony. He said, well, here was my life. It was a living hell. It was just so, so bad.
[48:17] This man, this man set me free. Can you imagine his testimony?
[48:29] And it tells us, he didn't just declare, he went preaching. He became a preacher. The first commission was to the Gentiles. Did you know that? At the end of the gospel, we have the commission of the twelve to go to the Jews.
[48:42] This is the first commission. Go to the Gentiles. go to your home. Go tell everybody. And he does. He goes preaching.
[48:52] He's proclaiming. Not just talking. He's proclaiming. He can't hold it back. Throughout the whole city, Jesus said, tell how much God has done for you. He went and preached how much Jesus had done for him.
[49:09] Because Jesus is God. So what difference does all this make?
[49:20] So you might sit there and think, oh, I don't relate to this. This story doesn't relate to me. My life, you know, I don't have demons. Or you might think, I don't even believe in demons.
[49:31] I've never seen them. I don't know. Maybe those were just old Bible times. I don't know. Maybe only in foreign mission fields. You do hear about a lot of demon activity in foreign mission fields. So how does it relate to me?
[49:47] What is it? Well, let's think about this. Is Jesus still able to transform shattered lives? Lives that are just ravaged.
[49:58] Lives that have been damaged so badly by just where we end up. Who knows what causes it? Our fault.
[50:08] Someone else's fault. Well, listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1 about all believers. This is what he says about all of us. You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you want walk.
[50:25] You weren't physically dead, but you were spiritually. You were dead to God. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air.
[50:35] Who's that? Who's the prince of the power of the air? That's Satan. That's one of his titles. you all were following him.
[50:49] Whether that was a choice or not, you were. Whether you were deceived into it or not, you were. Because in this world, he is in control. He is the God of this world.
[51:02] Our king is on his throne, but for this time, he is allowing Satan to rule this world. and we've noticed in Colorado how things have changed, have we not?
[51:24] Following the prince of the power of the air, you were following the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all, all of us, once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
[51:42] Because you're saved doesn't make you any different previously from anybody else. You weren't better than anybody else. You didn't get saved because you measured up to some standard.
[51:54] You were like everyone else, shattered, demonized, children of wrath. Okay? That's where we all are.
[52:06] But God, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive.
[52:17] See, we didn't even have anything to do with that. Even when we're dead, he woke us up like that demonized man. He changed us. He did it.
[52:31] By grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You've already been given heavenly status so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ.
[52:49] For by grace you have been saved through faith. Yes, there's part. We have part. We receive it by faith. But even that's not of ourselves.
[53:01] That, even faith is a gift of God. It's not a result of our works, of our figuring it out, our coming to our senses, any of that, so that no one may boast. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared long ago that we should walk in them.
[53:20] So what difference does it make? It makes absolute difference. This applies to everyone. We're all affected by the devil, period. We may not be controlled.
[53:32] We're affected. And before Christ, we may not have been controlled, possessed, but we were affected. We were following.
[53:45] Okay? So today, how you doing today? Is your life shattered? Feeling some damage?
[53:56] I'm not just talking about before Christ. I'm talking about your believers. Are you in the middle of a storm? Has God taken you? He said, I want you to cross over the lake and go into this boat over here. I've got a little surprise for you.
[54:10] Has He brought you into a storm? He does that, doesn't He? Things are going great. Is your life in pieces? Is it out of control?
[54:24] Well, I know somebody that can who has power over the uncontrollable. Most of you here know somebody who has power over the uncontrollable.
[54:37] He may not take the storm away, but He will give you the enablement to get through the storm. For some, He may kindly just remove the storm.
[54:48] That'd be great. I'm all for this. I like storms to settle away. I'm done. I'm really done shoveling this stuff. But that's not a storm. That's just snow.
[55:03] Has Jesus saved you? Has He brought your out-of-control life, shattered life to one of peace and calm?
[55:16] Inside. Yeah, I know. We still get anxious. Yeah. Yeah. Has He made you whole? Then do as Jesus told this man, go tell everyone.
[55:29] Tell everyone how much God has done for you. Tell people how much God has done for you. When you have the opportunity, tell people how much God has done for you. They may not like it, but tell them.
[55:44] That's our job. That's our job. It's just who we are. I've made you witnesses, right? Today we celebrate God's faithfulness.
[55:57] Let's give thanks for His steadfast love. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for these stories that show us Jesus.
[56:08] I love these stories that show us Jesus. Help us to see Him anew. Help us, like the disciples, to imagine this amazing power and authority that He had.
[56:29] And that caused us to once again rethink, who is He? Really? To me? This we ask in Christ's name.
[56:42] Amen