"28 When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. 29 And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” 32 And He said to them, “Go!”
And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed
down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. 33 The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region."
Also, please
join us in faithful praying for our brothers and sisters who are facing
devastating persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ and their
endurance to stand firm to the testimony which they have received.
Let us pray
Heaven Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word, for taking such great care in teaching us these many lessons of trust and of faith. Lord, teach us even more lessons You would have us learn so that we may share them with others. Help us to know and trust You even in the midst of the chaos and storms of our lives, that we can be at peace, knowing You are there and how much You care for us. And that no matter how big or dark our circumstances may appear, that we can know without question or doubt, that You are the living God Who is able handle them all.
Father, we pray that no one with us today would leave not knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That they would put their faith and trust in Him as the only one who can redeem them, saving them from an eternity of torture and torment in hell. May they be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the one Who died and rose again and they too can enter into His glorious eternal kingdom, where there will be no more sickness, sorrow, tears, crying, pain, and no more death. May they see the power and majesty of Jesus Christ beyond question.
In Christ’s name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Power of Jesus
If you been following along with us in our study of Matthew's gospel, you have undoubtedly noticed that the Holy Spirit has taken great care in Matthew's record for you to see that Jesus is the promised Messiah, God in human flesh and the supernatural power of Christ. And I believe that we can see that is Matthew’s concern, as he writes this magnificent Gospel account.
We know in studying the synoptic Gospels, that Matthew, Mark and Luke, often record the same events but slightly differently detail. Both Mark and Luke's accounts are frequently longer than Matthew’s account. This has often caused much speculation as to whether or not Matthew simply got it wrong.
Therefore, I believe it is important for the purposes of Bible study, to compare these parallel passages when studying God's Word. It is my belief that Matthew, who was there, has full and separate knowledge of these events.
Jesus’ ability to authoritatively and instantaneously cast out demons, and He does it with a word. That reality is revealed repeatedly, throughout the Gospel record. In Matthew chapter 4, we saw the perfection of Christ in His temptation. But His power over Satan is far greater than His ability not to give in, He causes Satan and his demonic hosts to give in to Him. Jesus is demonstrating His ability to deal with the kingdom of darkness. Today, He is going to raise the bar as far as the demonstration of His power and authority
I John 3 says "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." Jesus came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew wants us to see that Christ has the power to do that. That’s what we're going to see here in Matthew chapter 8.
I have heard of a number of people today who claim that they have the power to do that, they’re delusional. They're self-deceived, they have no such apostolic gift. In fact, the disciples were well aware that this was no easy task, they failed in Matthew chapter 17, even though they had been commissioned by the Lord. Jesus did it with ease by the power of absolute authority. And the Jews concluded that He must be in collusion with the demons.
As look at our text there are the three things I want you to notice, the possession by the demons, the power of Christ, and the perspective of the people. Possession, power, and perspective. Open your Bibles with me if you would to the eighth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. As we continue in our
I invite you to follow along with me as I read to you verses twenty-eight through thirty-four. Matthew chapter 8, verses 28-34. Let us prepare our hearts for the Spirit of God has to say to each of us. Matthew chapter 8:28-34
"When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region."
Let’s begin by looking at verse 28. "When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way." Here we see the reception by the demons. The modern skeptics of the Bible, claim that demon possession was merely a primitive way people to describe people who had psychic or social disorders.But Scripture clearly affirms that there is a spirit world all around us that cannot be ignored. When Lucifer was cast out of heaven after he rebelled against God, he took a number of the angels with him. These fallen angels are then referred to as demons.
It is interesting to note that the demons instantly recognize Jesus and are aware that His presence could mean judgment on them. They remember Him from glory; they knew His mission on earth; and they know that all judgment has been given over to Him. These demonic spirits can become aggressively active in dark areas of disobedience and corruption. Needless to say, sinful people, those who live in open disobedience to God make it easy for them to function in a fallen world. Because where righteousness and purity exist, these demonic spirits have absolutely no desire to remain. My point here is, that why they occupied the region of the Gadarenes, and did not want to leave.
By the way, I have been asked a number of times over the years, "Can Christians be demon possessed?" The Bible teaches that they might be attacked, but because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they cannot be possessed. In fact, in James chapter 4, James tells us " Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Quite frankly, there are far easier places for these demons to dwell than a Holy Spirit controlled Christian. Through His death, burial and resurrection Christ won the victory over Sin, Death, Hell, the Grave and Satan, authentic Christians need not live in fear.
This passage has caused a bit of confusion with some people, Matthew says here Gadarenes. Mark says Gerasenes, and in Luke's account, he says Girgesenes. On the northeastern shore of the Lake of Galilee, there’s a small village about six miles from Capernaum named Gergesa.The confusion comes because the area in which Matthew appears to be referring to is much further south and inland, away from the sea. And the city of Gadara is a different place. So Matthew must be wrong. And Mark saying Gerasa and Luke saying Gergesa, are both likely referring to Gergesa, and because the topography of the land and the geographical setting there fits, they're right. However, both Mark and Luke are noting the village, while Matthew is noting the entire area. It was in this part of the land that the Decapolis was established. Decapolis means "ten cities." They were largely Gentile cities, which may explain the pigs. In the Law of Moses, pigs were considered an unclean animal by the Jews. And Jesus’ use of the pigs in this exorcism would certainly attest to that point.
By the way, in pagan religion all the gods have evil elements to their nature, they manifest themselves in evil ways. They always produce evil, vile consequences. So, here we have Jesus meeting the violent demon possessed at the shore of the lake. Notice where they were coming from, they were "coming out of the tombs." Tombs were hewn out of the rocks, whether naturally or man-made. So there they were living in the tombs. And it says "They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way." If you study the other accounts, they tell you more about them. For example, in Mark chapter 5, he says they tried to bind them with chains, and no matter how strong the chains were, they broke the chains. They had tremendous strength.
So with all of that information now behind us, we can focus more about the details of Matthew’s account, rather than any supposed discrepancies. Back to our text. Verse 29, "And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" They know exactly who Jesus is, they knew their Christology. And, they knew He was their judge. In other words, "Why are you here? It's not time yet." In Mark chapter 5, he adds "When they saw Jesus, they worshipped Him." They are forced to due to His power, they were once holy angels. They knew that this was the Son of God.
In Philippians 2, Paul tells us " For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." They couldn't resist it.
It's fascinating that these demons knew they will someday be judged, and they were in a panic, afraid of Christ, worried their days are coming to an end. Yet people are convinced they can just continue in their wickedness and give no thought that they too will be judged. These so called highly educated, intelligent people don’t even know what the demons know. Demonic spirits exert power over these people, to whom Jesus will say, "Depart, I never knew you" to be damned forever. These demons are aware of the divine plan and anticipate what’s going to happen. And so they said, "What are You doing here? The timing is wrong!" By the way, the book of Revelation hadn’t even been written, yet they intuitively knew what is going to happen.
It amazes me just how Christians today attempt to bring Christ down to their level, failing to recognize He is the Holy God, and is to be reverenced, worshiped and honored. James tells us in chapter 2, "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." Many modern Christians do not shudder, they live in rebellious disobedience, deceiving themselves with sugar coated heresy, that their conduct is good enough to enter in to His kingdom. That's not the message of the Gospel! That's the doctrine of demons.
Verses 30 and 31, "Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, "If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine." Here we see their requisition. It's a rather bizarre request. "If you’re going to cast us out, at least let us go into the pigs. Just don’t send us to the pit." We don’t really know why they made that request, perhaps they need to occupy something. Because Scripture doesn't tell us, we can only speculate. Either way, Jesus allowed it to happen. By the way, in Mark's account, he tells us there were two thousand pigs in the herd.
Here in verse 32, we see the power of Christ. And He said to them, "Go!"
And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed
down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters."
With just one word, two thousand pigs went right off the cliff, down into the sea and drowned. Due to he sudden shock to their systems, they could bear up under their presence, and the evil spirits drove them into the sea. How that must have shocked everybody. Men cannot deal with these supernatural beings, they are very powerful.
In Daniel chapter 10, we read that a holy angel came with a dispatched message from God to Daniel, but
a demon held him up for three weeks, and God had to send Michael to let
him go. In spite of the many false claims by these false prophets today to cast out demons, the only way we can handle them, is by putting on the full armor of God. These holy being have lived before the creation of man and they possess superior power. Keep in mind, they were the angels of heaven, they’re not bound by any form.
It's interesting that these unclean animals could not tolerate what these humans had lived with. Many animal rights activists get upset with this passage, they say that Jesus actions were cruel to animals. I believe that Jesus cared more about these two demon possessed men than He did about the pigs. Besides, most animals were basically created for consumption. The important lesson to be learned here is that Christ can cast out demons with ease. I believe that Jesus wanted to prove that those demons came out of these men. A deliverance that would never be forgotten.
Look at verse 33, "The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs." Keep in mind they were just the swineherds, they weren't the owners of the pigs. So when they saw what happened, they fled as fast as possible to report everything, and no doubt to the owners of the pigs that these two men were delivered from the demons. And the pigs were the proof. Given the history of these men, it would have been impossible to imagine.
That brings us to verse 34, "And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region."
Notice it doesn't say anything about the owners of the pigs, this was the whole entire city! When they realized that Jesus could take the demon possessed soul of a man and give it back to him as clean and pure as the driven snow, they panicked. In Luke chapter 8, he says "They were overcome with panic." So they pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. They knew that Jesus had absolute authority and power over these demons. These unholy men saw God and they were afraid. Mark says in chapter 5 "They *came to Jesus and *observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened.
In Closing...
Many people come away with the idea that the message of these passages is Jesus can calm the storms of our life, He can rid us of our demons. I submit to you, while this is certainly true, the message here isn't about us, it's that Jesus has power over everything! There is no greater power in our world or out of our world than Jesus Christ. These passages, in fact the the Bible, is all about Jesus. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
If you don't have a personal saving relationship Him, I implore you to do it today, while there's still time. When He returns, there's going to be no excuse good enough to escape eternal damnation. How amazing is it that the grace of Christ is extended to those who don’t even want it.
May it be so..
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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