Sermons

I grew up in a home with two other brothers, and three sisters. And each of us were about 18months. We were always close in age but we were also really close in general. When we were kids our favorite pastime was dressing up like knights or Jedi and fighting with whatever we could find. I remember one time we had broken almost all of our Light Sabers so we resorted to the next best thing. Bats and long sticks. As you can imagine this didn’t go very well.

The worst time I can remember my younger brother Jeffery and I were teaming up on my older brother Joshua. During the sword fight Jeffery started running away and seeing victory in his grasp Joshua ran after him. But we had a plan. Jeffery would lure Joshua around the house, meanwhile I would be waiting around the house on this ledge. The plan was when Joshua ran around the house I would leap off the ledge and attack him from the sky.

The plan worked perfectly. As I saw Jeffery coming around the corner I got ready to jump and as soon as I saw Joshua I attacked.

I came down from the sky aiming for his bat thinking that if I hit it hard enough it would disarm him. At the last moment Joshua moved his hand and instead of my bat making contact with his bat it came down full force on his wrist. It was successful in disarming him but in the process it broke his wrist.

Now that we are older we don’t fight with light sabers or bats but instead we do “verbal jousting” we argue about religion and politics. Last election all three of us voted for different people and we all have slightly different theology so as you can imagine it gets pretty intense.

Usually it is very heated and productive but we hit a wall when we disagree on the credibility of sources. One person might have an opinion based of some statistic they found or an article they read but if we don’t all agree that the source is credible the conversation ends because we don’t have a common belief about the authority of the source.

That is why we decided to start our sermon series on systematic theology with the Bible. Whenever we talk about God, sin, salvation, or anything else in theology we have to point at the Bible. But if we don’t all agree on what we believe about the Bible we aren’t going to be able to get anywhere. One person could bring up a Bible passage but if people don’t agree that the Bible is the word of God then the verse means nothing.

Today we are going to look at 2 Timothy 3 and discuss a little more what we believe about the Bible.

To begin with lets look at some context. Paul wrote 2 Timothy while he was imprisoned for the second time in Rome, shortly before he was executed. He wrote it to Timothy one of his close friends and disciples.

The reason Paul is writing to Timothy is to give him advice and instruction when it comes to ministry. It is a pretty short letter but is just packed to the rim with insight. Today we are going to be taking a look at chapter three. It begins with a warning in verses 1-9.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.” 

Clearly the future Paul is describing does not seem very pleasant. I think the verse that best describes the nature of humanity in this passage is verse 5 “Having a form of godliness but denying its power.” In our world today we continue to see people who are searching for an answer to the problems of life. We try to reduce suffering, expand fairness and morality. Many people attempt to mimic the moral truths of Christuanity without believing Jesus or the Bible. They want a form of godliness but deny the power of God. They are looking for truth, finding false truth, and then teaching those false truths to the people around them. After Paul warns Timothy about this future he addresses Timothy directly in verses 10-13.

“But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

When it says in verse 10 that Timothy has closely “followed” the word for followed means something like observed intently. Paul is telling Timothy that those who hold true to the truth of the gospel will face persecution. Timothy shouldn’t doubt this because Paul’s very life is evidence of this. Then in verse 13 Paul says that evil men and imposters will just get worse and worse. They will continue to be deceived and to deceive others. It is almost like this gap between those who want to live for Christ and those who are living for lies and evil will grow greater and greater.

Given Paul’s warning in the beginning of the chapter and his assurance that evil people will get worse and worse, and his assurance that those who live for Christ will be persecuted why doesn’t Paul just quit? Why doesn’t Timothy just close the letter and become a merchant?

Because they have a belief and love for Jesus Christ that makes those other things look so insignificant that they are not asking “How do I avoid this future?” they are asking “how can I bring the light of truth into this darkness of deception?”

Paul tells him exactly how to do this in verses 14-15,

“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Paul tells Timothy to continue in two things, the things that he has learned and been assured of and in the Holy Scriptures.

So what has Timothy learned and been assured of?

The Gospel of Christ. Paul also says that he knows who he learned them from. Timothy had been blessed to have many people teach him about the Gospel of Jesus. Two women, his mother and grandmother, taught Timothy from an early childhood about the Gospel. They lived out strong faith lives and wanted to pass that on to Timothy. Paul in his first letter to Timothy calls him his son in the faith, because he came along side Timothy and mentored him. He shared with him the love of Christ.

We talk a lot about the River being the kid’s church as well. Every Sunday we pray that God will bless these kids and reveal Himself to them. How amazing would it be if my children and your children could grow up and say, “I know and love Jesus because my family, because the people at the River cared about me enough to tell show me the love of Jesus every time they saw me.”

Paul tells Timothy to continue in the Gospel of Christ and the Holy Scriptures. But what is Paul referring to when he says Holy Scriptures? He means the entirety of the Old Testament. This term the Holy Scriptures at this time meant the Old Testament. Keep this in mind when we go to the next verses. Both the Old Testament and what Timothy had learned severed the same purpose to make Timothy wise for salvation in Christ Jesus.

So Paul tells Timothy that despite the nature of the future despite the persecution that is to come he should continue in what he has been taught and assured of and in the Holy Scriptures because the relationship he has with Jesus Christ brings salvation and that salvation is much greater then any evil or persecution.

Than Paul talks specifically about Scripture in verses 16-17.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

When Paul talks about Scripture in this passage he outlines where Scripture comes from and what it is profitable for.

Rob talked about the inspiration of scripture last week from 2 Peter. It means that Scripture as it was originally given did not come from human logic or reason but rather it came from God. The best way I can describe this is, “God gave His message to human authors who perfectly conveyed it in their own words.”

Paul says Scripture is profitable for doctrine, meaning it informs us about who God is and how as creations of God should operate. It is profitable for reproof, meaning t provides proof or reasons for what we believe. Scripture is profitable for correction, meaning it tells us to turn away from sin and turn towards God. Scripture informs us on how to live lives that are right before God and honor Him.

The ultimate purpose of Scripture is that it points us to Jesus Christ so that we can grow to be in a more intimate with Him and become more like Him. And it equips us to glorify God with our actions.

We have to ask again what does Paul have in mind when he says Scripture? Paul is talking about the Old Testament.

So how did we get to place we are now where by Scripture we mean the Old and New Testament?

Two weeks ago Rob talked about 2 Peter 1:20-21 which says,

“knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

We believe that the New Testament is Scripture because we believe that the process of God speaking through people by the power of the Holy Spirit which we see in the Old Testament was continued in the New Testament.

The early church had some criteria when confirming the books of the New Testament.

1. Could the writing be link to an apostle/eyewitness?
2. Were the books widely accepted by the church?
3. Did the books contradict the Old Testament the teachings of Jesus or the writing of His apostles?

All the books in the New Testament had to meet all these and more criteria but these were the three main criteria.

So why do we not accept some of the Gnostic gospels like the Gospel of Thomas or Philip? The answer is pretty simple, they do not meet the criteria. They were not widely accepted by the church, they were not written based of eyewitness accounts, and they state something that is contrary to the beliefs of Christianity.

Some people make the claim that the early church just didn’t want any books in the Bible that disagreed with what they believed. And to this I say “well duh” They early church was made up of leaders who knew Jesus, heard His teachings and followed His ministry. So if they believed Jesus why would they accept any writings that contradicted Him?

So we believe the New Testament is Scripture because we believe that God took care of this process. God guided and directed the writing and preservation of the New Testament.

We believe the Old Testament because Jesus and the founders of the Church all believed the Old Testament. Two weeks ago Rob and I had several people ask us about the Apocryphal books. Some of the additional books in the Catholic Bible. Whether these were considered the word of God, or why don’t we have them in our Bible.

And this is an important question. Some of the Apocryphal writings are very valuable; some of them are even mentioned or quoted in other parts of Scripture.

One of the main reasons we do not include them in our Bible is because the early church and even the Jews did not consider them Scripture.

They read them and studied them but they were not considered Scripture. You see in the first century and throughout Jewish history there is the idea of a hierarchy of religious writing. A Jewish theologian named David Stern described it as Heresy, Sacred Text and Canon. Heresy would be something that directly contradicts the rest of the Bible. Heretical books would be like the Gnostic Gospels or the so-called “Lost Bible” these books are written by unreliable sources and make claims that are contradictory to our belief. Sacred texts would be things like the books of Maccabees where it has some really good historical and religious value but if you disagreed with it you wouldn’t be committing heresy. This would be like if a church had everyone read a Francis Chan or John Piper book. These books could be valuable to for us to read but God does not inspire them. The books that are considered Canon would be books we believe that are inspired by God and describe perfectly the Christian life.

Both the writings of the New Testament and the Old Testament have the same common story. All of Scripture points to salvation through Jesus Christ. The entire Bible describes the Human condition as being enslaved to sin and separated from God. And points to the only way that we can be reunited with God which is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

So that is what we believe about the Bible but how do we apply this?

I think it goes back to the warning Paul gave at the beginning of chapter 3. We are living in a world that is chasing after lies. People everywhere are being deceived and then deceiving others. So how do we survive in a world taken over by evil and deception? We follow the truth. We know that humans were created to glorify God and live in relationship with Him but that we are separated by our sin. Our own sinful nature and selfishness stops us from having the relationship with God that we were meant to have. The only way that we can be in a right relationship with God is if we are freed from our sin and in order for us to be free from our sin we need a perfect sacrifice to take the punishment of sin upon Himself. And that sacrifice was Jesus Christ. He was perfect and although He didn’t deserve the punishment He willingly took the punishment of our sin upon Himself. Then He defeated the power of sin and death by rising from the dead three days later.

The way we know this truth is because God revealed it to us through the Bible. The church can change in many ways. We can change the cloths our pastors wear, the buildings we meet in or the style of songs we sing. But if we do not hold fast to the Word of God we will loose the truth and we will be taken over by deception.

The word of God is what holds us all accountable. Rob and I are accountable to you to the district and to the elders. But more then that all of us are accountable to the word of God.

Not because the paper or binding or the ink is magic. We all are accountable to the Bible because through it God convicts us of our nature and reveals to us the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

Some times it can be hard to define theology. Theology is literally the study of God. Although on a broader scale when we delve into Theology we don’t just study God himself, but the things of God like the church and salvation and the end times. There are specific fancy words for separate studies like ecclesiology and soteriology and eschatology, but for the most part they all come under the larger umbrella of Theology.

I believe theology is very important for us. Growing up in the church I believed in Jesus and knew the basics of the Bible and belief, but I had not really thought much about theology. And basically I just took in whatever the church talked about and never really took the time to consider what I really believed overall about God and the things of God. It wasn’t until much later in life that I started to consider what I believe at a deeper level. And I don’t think that I am alone in that.

So we are embarking on a new sermon series. In order to provide a framework for this series, we will be using the Statement of Faith of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. If you are interested you can find a link to this statement on our website. The statement is made up of the different aspects of theology that our denomination decided were important enough to use in outlining what we believe. So we will be focusing in on those areas as well as maybe a few other areas that they didn’t cover, to provide the framework for our theological discussion.

So I think it will be really good for us to go through this sermon series and along the way consider what we personally believe. Actually, I think a really good assignment for this series would be for each of us to begin to formulate our own personal statement of faith. So as we talk about these things, you might want to consider jotting down your thoughts on these areas and consider if you were to write your own statement of faith what would it look like? What would you include? What would you not include? And why? Maybe at the end of this series we will take the time and ask about those things. And along the way, if questions come up, please email or text me or Nathan so that we can address those in sermons or one on one.

With all of that in mind, Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 2 Peter, chapter 1. Now it probably makes sense for a study on theology to begin with talking about God, but as Nathan and I were discussing where to go with this series, we decided to start with Scripture. We decided to do this because the Bible is going to be our resource for this sermon series. We are going to figure out what we believe about God, the church, salvation and all of those other things, by digging into Scripture. So it makes sense for us to consider what we believe about the Bible if we are going to use this as a source for the rest of our discussions.

So that is why we are beginning with 2 Peter. The book begins by saying that it was written by Peter. Now I want to point out that some Scholars doubt that authorship. There are a variety of reasons for their concerns. Some point to how closely it resembles the book of Jude, others point to how different it is from I Peter. But the arguments they make, while reasonable, also have reasonable explanations. If you would like to talk more about that or look it up on your own, there are some great commentaries that dig into it. After the research that I did, I would put myself in the camp that accepts the authorship of Peter.

So that leads to my next question. Who was Peter? He was probably the most well-known of all the disciples. There are lots of stories in the Gospels and in the book of Acts that include Peter as a character.

Next, who is Peter writing to in this book? The opening of this chapter tells us that he is writing to other people who have this faith in Jesus Christ. In the verses leading up to our passage for today Peter talks with them about their faith and how they should be growing in their walk with the Lord, adding knowledge and virtue and self-control.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at our passage, beginning with verse 16,

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

When Peter says “we” he is referring too himself and the other apostles who knew Jesus and are now spreading the Gospel.

He says they did not follow cleverly devised myths, which are fables or stories that are not true. Stories like these are made up.

Instead of simply believing made up stories, they trusted their eyewitness accounts. Peter and the other disciples were literally there with Christ. They saw his life and ministry. They were not spreading urban legends that they had heard second hand. They were literally testifying about what they had personally witnessed.

Think about this, Peter had a front row seat to all the miracles like the feeding of the 5,000, the walking on water, the raising of Lazarus, and all of the other amazing things that Jesus did. He also had a front row seat to listen to Jesus’ teachings, his parables, the times in the synagogues, or in front of crowds or even arguing with the Pharisees. And then Peter was also there after the crowds had left when Jesus took the time to break things down and make sure they understood what he was saying. Peter also got a first row seat for the triumphal entry and Holy week and Jesus’ arrest, trial and death. And then he was there on Easter morning at the empty tomb, seeing the linens where Jesus was laid, but the body gone. And he was there in the locked room when Jesus popped in. And he was there when Jesus ascended to Heaven after giving them the Great Commission.

So when he told people about Jesus, he was literally telling them what he saw and heard and experienced. He was making known to them the power and majesty of Jesus that he saw firsthand. He was truly an eyewitness to all of it.

We also know that Peter suffered for telling people about Jesus. If it was a lie or something he had made up, it would have been silly to keep up that façade. But apparently he was so adamant about sharing these words that he eventually faced the same death as Jesus, with one exception. Peter was crucified upside down, because he did not believe he was worthy of dying in the exact same way as Jesus.

It is important for us to understand who these people are who were testifying about Jesus? It helps us understand the reliability of Scripture. When we read the Bible we are reading the accounts of eyewitnesses like Peter who are telling us literally about what they saw, heard, and experienced and we know that they are trustworthy authors because they were willing to die for what they were sharing. Peter was telling the truth. He was not spreading myths.

Let’s keep going. Take a look at verses 17 and 18

“For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”

He is referring to an event from the life of Christ called the transfiguration. That event is recorded for us in Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9. On this day, Jesus took his inner circle, Peter, James and John and went up to the top of a mountain to pray. And when they got up there Jesus was transfigured. His appearance changed right before their very eyes. His face shown like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And then Moses and Elijah joined him and they just hung out and talked with Jesus. It must have been quite a sight. But why does Peter mention this here? Why did they get to witness it?

Because it shows Jesus’ connection with God and his honor and glory. They literally hear from God in that moment that this Jesus is the Son of God. And so when Peter talks about Jesus’ power and majesty, he knows what he is talking about because not only did he see all of Jesus’ life and miracles and everything, but he was also there on that mountain for that transfiguration moment when God Himself testified about who Jesus is.

So let’s move on to verse 19,

“And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,”

What is the prophetic word a reference to? The Scriptures. While prophecy does mean talking about future events, it also refers to communicating revealed truth. The Scriptures are reliable and true. Like the Psalmist writes, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” The Scripture is like a lamp shining in the dark. I love how Peter warns them to pay attention to the light.

In this letter Peter references Christ’s second coming. The day dawning is probably a reference to that second coming, while the morning star is probably a reference to Christ. One day we will see Christ face to face for all eternity but For now, we rely on the prophecies of Scripture.

Okay with all of that in mind then let’s look at verses 20-21,

“knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Notice that Peter uses the words “first of all”. It is like a little pause for effect. What he is about to talk about is foundational for believers. He then goes on to speak to us of the divine nature of Scripture.

What makes the prophecy of Scripture different than just something that someone says? It does not come from someone’s own interpretation. What this means is that the prophecies of Scripture are not just made up from a person. The prophecies of Scripture come from God.

And this follows a process which is, “Men were carried along by the Holy Spirit” who told them what to say or what to write. What we have recorded for us is not just the words of people, but God chose men and then carried those men along by the Holy Spirit, revealing to them what they were to say or write and helping them throughout the process.

The word translated here as carried is actually a Greek word from which we get our word ferry. So the Holy Spirit ferried them along, bringing them to a particular place.

Not that they were just robots or dictation machines. He used their own unique personalities and writing styles, but make no mistake about it, He carried them along through His Holy Spirit.

That means that this book is different than other books. Not just different than fiction or even regular non-fiction books. But different also than commentaries about the Bible or books or sermons written by good Christian men and women. Those things are still their words. Hopefully the Holy Spirit is leading them and they are writing things that are good and helpful to our lives, but the Bible is on a different level than those kinds of writings.

When people talk about the “Inspiration of Scripture” that is what these verses are addressing. God inspired men to write this book. He worked through them in an unusual way to give us His Word. There is an authority and reliability in this book that is different than every other book in this world.

Now along those lines, there were other books and letters written around the same time as some as these.

The word canon refers to a rule or measuring stick. In the early church the decision was made for a list of criteria to decide on which books would be included in the Bible. They were trying to figure out which books should be considered inspired, and which ones should not. In order for a book to be included in the canon of Scripture it had to measure up to those criteria that had been decided upon.

Those criteria were things like: the book had to conform to orthodoxy of what the church already believed. It was still early in Christianity, not long since Christ had ascended to Heaven, and so they knew what they believed and were not going to water it down with things that took them away from those foundational beliefs. Another rule was that the book had to be from either a prophet or an apostle or someone closely connected to them. They didn’t want books written by others who were farther removed.

There were other rules, but you can get the gist of the process. Over the years different councils of church leaders discussed which books to include and eventually in 397 A.D. the canon was closed.

There are some other good books that can help us in understanding God. For instance the Roman Catholic Church includes the apocrypha, which is made up of some books that are not included in the Protestant Bible. There are reasons they were not included. For instance, the Jews do not consider those books inspired. There are even many catholic scholars that reject the books. There are other reasons you can get into if you are interested. There are also other letters from great leaders in the early church that are not included. These can be helpful, but we should not treat them the same as the books that have been canonized.

Ultimately, God superintended the process of the writing of Scripture, carrying the men along through his Holy Spirit, why would he then stop once it was written? I believe that he continued to carry along the process through the early church as they decided on which books to include and which ones not to include and then in the translation work along the way and everything that has transpired to bring us this book. The same God who took care of the process early on, I believe continued to provide the way to bring us what we have.

We will continue this next week to talk about the Word of God from 2 Timothy 3. But for now I want to end with the realization that this is the Bible that God wanted us to have and so we should embrace the Scriptures and let God use them in our lives to help us know him. And that is what we are going to do as we continue through this series.

When I was a kid I remember being a part of this kid’s production, or concert at our church. It was really enjoyable but I remember a story they told us that I have never forgotten. As part of the preparation for the concert we would have practices and these would always start with some sort of devotional. One day they told us the story of how you can boil a frog alive. Supposedly frogs will adapt to the environment around them, so if you put a frog in room temperature water and slowly raise the temperature the frog will sit in the water until it is boiled alive.

As a kid I remember being horrified because I thought, “Wait how did they find this out unless they actually boiled a frog?”

Now if that frog story doesn’t haunt you at night maybe the passage we are looking at today will. We are going to be taking a look at the time Jesus freed a demon-possessed man in Luke chapter 8 verses 26-39.

Luke 8:26 says, “Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.”

The verse starts out with “Then they” which indicates that the passage we are looking at is a continuation of the passage before it. For the setting we are going to have to turn back to verses 22-25

^“Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.’ And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!’”

So now looking at the context we can identify the setting of verse 26. We have the who: Jesus and His disciples. We have the where: Gadarenes. Gadarenes is not really a town but rather it is a term used to refer to the small villiages surrounding the larger town Gadara. From historical context we know that this region was populated by both Jews and non-Jews. Although we don’t know the exact town Jesus comes too, most scholars would agree that Jesus has come to a Jewish settlement some where in the area surrounding Gadara. We also sort of have the when: the day after “a certain day”.

Now that we have the setting lets look at what happens.

Luke 8:27 says, “And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.”

Once Jesus and His disciples land in Gadarenes a man comes up to Him who has been demon possessed for a very long time, and we are given a few details about the man.

Clearly, he is not doing the greatest spiritually, I mean he is demon possessed. His spiritual health has had a negative effect on other parts of his life as well. Physically he is running around naked, and socially he has been separated from his family and community and is living in the tombs. His entire life is in shambles, and he has lost everything that makes him human.

Then it continues in Luke 8:28-29

“When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, ‘What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!’ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.”

Immediately when the man sees Jesus he runs up to Him and begs Jesus not to torment him. I am not sure if this is a demon speaking through the man or if he has been possessed for so long that he identifies with the demon but either way he is completely filled with terror and recognizes the authority Jesus has over him.

This is pretty amazing considering what verse 29 tells us. The people of the town had made attempts to control him before, even using chains and placing a guard to watch over him. But they were powerless to control the demon. But he simply sees Jesus and He commands them to come out and the demon is filled with terror and literally grovels before Him asking for mercy.

Looking at the description of the man doesn’t it seem like something out of a horror movie?

Our society seems to be obsessed with the supernatural if you look at all the movies that are made about demon possession, but what many of them get wrong is that they present the possession like a battle between the demon and whatever source of good is in the movie. It always seems like the good guys are barely able to defeat the demon, when in reality Jesus has complete authority over them and they are fully aware of it. It is not a battle between two equally powerful enemies. The forces of evil are no match for Jesus.

It continues in Luke 8:30-33

³⁰ Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?”

“And he said, ‘Legion,’ because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.”

Jesus asks the demon what his name is and the demon responds “Legion”

A legion is unit of Roman soldiers. And a full legion is 6,000 soldiers. The situation was terrible enough before but as we can see its even worse.

Can you imagen the torment this man must have been going through, constantly night and day filled with thousands of demons? We have seen in other accounts of how terrible one demon can be, now imagen thousands.

The demons then ask Jesus to not send them into the abyss, which seems to be a place of torment even for demons, and instead be sent into a herd of pigs nearby. And Jesus does it.

I am not exactly sure why Jesus allows the demons’ request, in one of the commentaries I read it suggested that it was so that the man could see the true nature of the spirits that were inside him. That any seductive nature that might have appealed to him when he originally opened himself up to their influence would be gone when he saw that even in something as insignificant as a pig their only desire was to destroy.

This shows us the true nature of demons and evil spirits. No matter how innocent or interesting messing with the spirits may appear in media it is nothing to mess around with.

People will play with Ouija boards, mediums, psychics, and other stuff like that and think that it is innocent, but it is not. The only spirit we should be reaching out to is the Holy Spirit. Any spirit not of God is of the devil and we who have been saved from the power of sin have no business diving back into it.

So after all this, the next verses give us two different responses to what Jesus did.

Luke 8:34-39 says,

“When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,  ‘Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.’ And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”

After Jesus frees the demon possessed man and sends the demons into the pigs, the people who were looking after the pigs run back and tell everyone what they saw. The people of the town come and see the man who had formally been naked and controlled by demons fully clothed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of Jesus. But instead of praising Jesus or welcoming the man they ask Jesus to leave. Why did they ask Jesus to leave? What were they afraid of?

Hang with me here because I am going to ask you to dig a little deeper. From best we know the people in the town Jesus went to were Jewish. Jesus sent the demons into a herd of pigs near by. We know from historical documents that in this area there were Jewish pig farmers.

Now according to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 Jews are not permitted to eat or touch the dead body of pigs and other unclean animals.

Some Jews still farmed pigs because the Roman soldiers and other non-Jews still ate them and they could make a lot of money. But these people were not looked on very highly. In many cases they were seen as almost a lower class. Other Jews wouldn’t marry them and sometimes wouldn’t even get close enough to touch them.

In order to farm pigs they were almost always unclean, and often times they were selling the pigs to people who were actively oppressing the Jewish people, such as Roman soldiers. Not only this but often times Jewish communities who farmed pigs were involved in other unlawful practices, and had forsaken many of God’s commandments.

They were afraid because they saw the power that Jesus had over the demons that were controlling this man, they saw the way He had changed his life, and they thought, “What is He going to do when He comes to our village and sees our lives?”

“What is He going to do when the sins in our lives and they ways we have been forsaking God’s law are revealed?” Jesus has power over the demons, but even more importantly He has the power to change lives, and that terrified them.

It terrified them because sometimes the Hell that we are accustomed to is more comfortable then the Heaven we don’t know.

Most people are terrified of change and no matter how terrible, wicked, or miserable our lives our, many of us will choose to stay the way we are because we know it. We have learned how to live with our sins and with our faults and although its not easy its familiar.

Jesus didn’t come across the demon possessed man and make it a little more convenient for him to continue to live the way he was. Jesus came and destroyed his way of life and changed it completely, because Jesus didn’t want him to continue living this way. He wanted the man to have an abundant life and that required a dramatic change.

These people came face to face with Jesus recognized His power and instead of asking Him to change their lives they sent Him away for the sake of the familiar.

By contrast the man who Jesus healed asked to come with Jesus and Jesus told him to go back to the town and tell people what God had done in his life.

When Jesus sent the man back he went and told people about what Jesus had done in His life. He told people about the power of God and because of that God was glorified. It is amazing the see the power that Jesus had to change his life. He took a man who was running around in the tombs naked, and after a brief encounter Jesus turned him into a man who is running through the town and country side telling others about the glory and power of God.

That’s what Jesus wants for us. He wants to come into our lives and change us from the inside out. He wants to deal with all the sin and filth in our lives and send us off so we can glorify Him.

He wants to make us evidence of His power and glory. What a great privilege it is to have a God who not only can change us and bring us into a relationship with Him but who also wants to use us to bring others too Him. He wants to use us to glorify His name.

God’s challenge for us today is to allow Him to come in and change our lives. Surrender all of the sins and filth in our lives and submit to His power to change us. Then we need to go out and glorify Him. We need to live lives that are evidence of His work in our life, and to give a testimony of His goodness and love to the people around us.