#64 Lu. 8:26-37  THE LORD'S POWER OVER EVIL SPIRITS

Introduction:

    Our previous text demonstrates that Jesus has power over nature.  He
calmed the mighty storm.  Out text today demonstrates that He has power over
evil spirits.  He cast the evil spirits out of a wild man.

I.  The encounter with the demon possessed man

    Jesus and His disciples had just gone through a storm on the water.
After the storm they apparently bedded down in the boats and spent the night
in the boats.  When they land on the eastern shore they arrive in Gadara.
V. 26, "And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over
against Galilee."
    Gadara was on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee.  It was located in
the foothills of the mountain chain that ran on up into the Golan Heights
that you hear a lot about in the news today.  Gadara was populated with
about as many Gentiles as Jews.
    When Jesus and His disciples went ashore they were met by demon
possessed man.  V. 27, "And when he went forth to land, there met him out of
the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes,
neither abode in any house, but in the tombs."  Luke said that this man had
been possessed by demons for a long time.  Luke does not say how long, but
presumably it had been for several years.
    Luke said also that the man was naked.  He ware no clothes.  I presume
that this meant summer and winter.  He was not only naked when he came out
to meet Jesus and the disciples, but he was naked all the time.
    Luke tells us that this demon possessed man lived in the tombs.  These
tombs were caves that had been dug in the side of a cliff for the purpose of
burying the dead.  The people brought their dead and laid them in one of the
caves that had been dug.  Numerous bodies might be laid in one of the caves
and there were many caves.
    This man was a dangerous man.  He was dangerous to himself and to
others.  He would take sharp rocks and cut his body causing it to bleed.
His naked body showed many scars from old cuts and some fresh sores from
newly inflicted wounds.  He was dangerous to people in that he would attack
those who came out to the tombs to bury their dead.  He would attack even
those who traveled along the roadway that passed near the tombs.
    V. 28, "When he saw Jesus, he cried out..."   When this man saw Jesus
and the disciples, he cried out as if to attack.  He must have seen them at
a distance and he headed toward them at full speed.  I can only imagine how
the disciples must have felt.  I can imagine that they all stepped back
behind Jesus as the man came running toward them.  It must have felt pretty
good to have somebody along who had the power to calm the mighty storm.
    However, when the man arrived at their group he must have surprised them
all.  That is, he surprised everybody except Jesus who, of course, knew what
he would do.  When the man got to the group, he did not attack at all, but
rather fell down at the feet of Jesus.  (V. 28), "...and fell down before
him..."

II.  The encounter with the demon spirits

    (V. 28), "...and with a loud voice..."  The voice was the voice of the
man.  The words were the words of the demon or demons within the man.  They
had control of the man and could speak their thoughts through the mouth of
the man.  Apparently one demon was the spokesman for all of the many demons
which were within the man.
    (V. 28), "...said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God
most high?"  The demons recognized Jesus.  They knew exactly who He is.  The
They knew that He is the Son of God.  A man could not look upon Jesus and
merely by looking know that the spirit of Deity God dwelt within that body,
but the demons could.  They had long ago broken off their relations with the
Son of God and had devoted themselves to following Lucifer instead.  The
demon who was the spokesman begged Jesus that He would not torment him.  (V.
28), "...I beseech thee, torment me not."
    Specifically what the demon feared was that Jesus would send them back
into the place where they would be imprisoned and tormented.  You will note
that he ever even asked not to be cast out of the man.  Jesus had already
commanded the demons to come out of the man and he knew that such a request
would do no good.  V.  29, "(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come
out of the man..." However, being commanded to come out of the man was not
the same thing as being commanded to go back into the pit, into the abyss
where he once had been and so he begged Jesus not to send him back where he
would be tormented.
    This man was so dangerous that back when he was still in town he had
been chained by the townspeople.  But the chains were to no avail.  He was
so strong that he broke the chains and got free.  (V. 29), "...For
oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in
fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the
wilderness.)"
    V. 30, "And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said,
Legion: because many devils were entered into him."  This, of course, was
not the man's real name.  It was a name which he had taken on because of the
many spirits which dwelt within him.  A Roman legion was between 3,000 and
6,000 soldiers.  This would mean then that there were somewhere between
3,000 and 6,000 demons within this man.
    Let me deviate from the passage long enough to sound out a warning to
you.  Some people in our day practice transcendental meditation.  They seek
to give their mind and body over to unseen spirits.  They ask unseen spirits
from the spirit world to come in and to take charge of their minds and their
bodies.  Let me say to you that this is dangerous business.  Such an
invitation as that gives the demons out of hell a chance to come in and take
over their minds, their bodies and their lives.

III.  The request of the demons

    V. 31, "And they besought him that he would not command them to go out
into the deep..."  The deep place that they were talking about is deep
within the earth.  It is the abyss out of which they had come.  It is a
place where the majority of demons are confined and are tormented.  They did
not want to be forced to go back there and be tormented.
    The demons requested instead to be allowed to enter into a nearby herd
of swine.  V. 32, "And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the
mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into
them.  And he suffered them."  For whatever reason, Jesus granted their
request.  They were not cast back into the abyss---at least not at this
time.  Rather they were permitted to enter into the swine.  Now if there was
one hog per demon this would mean that there were somewhere between 3,000
and 6,000 hogs.

IV.  The drowning of the hogs

    V. 33, "Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine:
and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were
choked."  Luke says that the hogs were choked.  That is, they were drowned.
When those spirits entered into those hogs, the whole heard of hogs ran
violently down the steep embankment to the lake and drowned.
    Now those who teach transcendental meditation clam that the spirits
which take over their minds and bodies help them greatly.  This is not so.
The Devil never helps.  He always hurts.  Likewise the demons which belong
to the Devil never help.  They always seek to harm.  And they do harm.  They
harm in more ways than one.  Ask the man out of whom these demons were cast.
Look at the hogs as they run down the embankment into the sea.  See them
struggle in the waters of the sea until they drown.  Demons never help.
They always hinder.

V.  Jesus requested to leave

    V. 34, "When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went
and told it in the city and in the country."  The hogs broke and ran into
the sea and the men who tended them broke and ran into the cities and
country around about.  They told the owners of the hogs, along with all the
other citizens) what had happened.
    The hog owners, along with many other citizens who were dependent on the
hog industry, went out to investigate.  V. 35, "Then they went out to see
what was done..."  When they got there they found the man who had been
possessed with the demons sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his
right mind.  (V. 35), "...and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom
the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his
right mind: and they were afraid."
    There was no question but that a mighty miracle had been done.  There
was also no question but that Jesus was responsible for the miracle.  V. 36,
They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the
devils was healed."  They could see for themselves that this was so and they
were afraid of the man who had that much power.  They, no doubt, blamed
Jesus for killing their hogs and they may have also been afraid that He
would kill off the rest of the hogs that they owned.
    V. 37, "Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round
about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great
fear..."  They all asked Jesus to leave their country.  They cared not for
the man who had been healed.  They cared not for their own sick and
afflicted that Jesus might heal them.  They cared not for their own souls
that they might be saved.  All they cared about was money.  They cared bout
the money that they might have gained if they had sold those hogs.
    What did Jesus do?  Jesus and His disciples went right back to the boats
and they left.  (V. 37), "...and he went up into the ship, and returned back
again."  That is, He returned to Capernaum from which He had come.  Jesus
wants to save every man, woman, boy and girl.  But if one does not want
Jesus to save him, Jesus will leave him alone.  What a tragedy!  They though
more about their money than they did their souls.

Conclusion:
    I counsel you to think more of your soul than your hogs, your money,
your pleasure or anything else in this world.
    If it came right down to a choice of whether or not to ask Jesus to save
you or to leave you alone, which would you choose?;  The decision you reach
right now just might be your final choice.  What will it be?