Trinity Church of Tri-Cities

June 1, 2008

Scripture: Matthew 8:28-34

Jesus Dispossesses the Demons

This sermon continues our series on the miracles of Jesus. In the three miracles we are considering from Matthew 8, the Holy Spirit shows us a progression in the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, come to redeem us from our woes.

First, Jesus demonstrates that He has power over sicknesses, and not just any sickness, but the most incurable and loathsome disease current at that time, leprosy, the disease that ate you up, and at the same time destroyed your relations and fellowship with man and God.

Second, Jesus reveals that as the Son of God He has power over all creation, over the great storms that rose on the Sea of Galilee. During that episode Jesus gave His disciples a preview and a lesson. A preview of the storms of opposition that the world would whip up against the church, and a lesson, that just as Christ the Master of creation was in the boat, so Christ the Master of the raging nations would be with the church at all times. She but needed faith in this Jesus.

Third, Jesus’ mastery over the demons, and this is the event that has our attention this morning. My theme is Jesus Dispossesses the Demons. I use the word “dispossess” because our text says that these two men coming out of the tombs were demon possessed. I also use it because in the temptations Matthew records in chapter 4, Satan attempts to have Jesus bow down to him, promising Him all the kingdoms of the earth as a prize.

In some sense this was indeed true. Satan was the prince of the powers of darkness, the ruler of the darkness of that age. He held all nations in the thralldom of superstition and lies. He possessed the nations, although they were, we may say, eagerly waiting for the promised Seed of Abraham, for He would bring them the blessing of Abraham, that is, the covenant promise that they now, through Christ, could be freed from the slavery of the devil, and belong in glorious liberty to the Triune God.

Jesus, says our text, came to the other side. That is, He went from the west coast to the east coast of the Sea of Galilee. “There met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.”

Two demon-possessed men. Throughout the gospel we meet people who were demon possessed. There seemed to be three areas of affliction by demons. First, their possession of a person would bring physical disabilities, for example: dumbness. . .Matthew 9; blindness. . .Matthew 12; deformity. . .Luke 13. Demon possession sometimes brought mental derangement, for example insanity in Luke 8, suicidal mania in Mark 9, masochism in Mark 5. Or demon possession might bring spiritual diseases; a corruption of the truth as Peter indicates in his epistle, or as Ahab experienced through the lying spirit God sent in the mouth of the 400 prophets, occult practices, as we see in Deuteronomy 18, or just plain immorality and treachery, as we see Satan possessing the heart of Judas and the will of the chief priests who crucified the Christ.

Demon possession seems to have been common where one of the two things were true. Where people lived in the darkness of rank heathendom, and where people, although they had received the light of the truth, nevertheless, so rejected it, that God sent them a spirit of delusion, as Paul refers to it in Thessalonians, that they might believe the lie.

What shall we say of the present age? First, I think many missionaries will testify that in the dark places of the earth where tribes have lived for centuries in total ignorance of the truth, there are people who are demon possessed. Second, in what we call Western Civilization, as we more and more break covenant with God, as people regress into the darkness of loving the lie rather than the truth, because , as Paul says in Thessalonians, they took pleasure in unrighteousness, we begin to see and will see more demon possession.

There is a terrible power in demons. However, we will be wise to follow the advice of C.S. Lewis, who said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall in our thinking about devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe in their existence but to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

Demons, devils, are real. The Scriptures testify to their existence and to their great power. However, what the divine Word also testifies is what John said in his epistle, that Jesus came in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus Himself said that when a strong man keeps his goods they are in safety, but when a stronger than him comes and binds the strong man, he plunders his goods. The devil is the strong man, who held so many of the Jews, and so much of the world in bondage, but Jesus is the stronger man, who came to bind Satan, and then to plunder his goods, to free those who were kept in bondage.

So, by all means, have a healthy respect for the reality and power of demons, for we are not, as the Scripture tells us, ignorant of their devices. But fear them not, rather fear God, who through Christ has placed His foot on the head of Satan, and promises that we too, will shortly have Satan under our feet. The two men of our text came out of the tombs, out of the cemetery, the caves in the hillsides outside of the city where the dead were buried. We remember that every contact with the dead made a person unclean, so this is the proper place for devils, the place of the dead, the place of uncleanness.

Our text says that these men were exceedingly fierce so that no one could pass that way. The other gospels say that men tried to bind them with chains, but they broke all the chains. We must realize that the demons hate men. They hate men because they hate God, and God made man in His own image. It is because man is in the image of God, that through defacing and destroying men, by filling them with fierce hatred towards one another, by urging them to treasure up malice, to slander, to revile each other, the demons achieve their objective of fighting against God.

“And suddenly,” says our text, “they cried out, saying, ‘What have we to do with you, Jesus. You Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’ “ Strange words. . .”What have we to do with you, Jesus. You, Son of God?” These demons knew with complete certainty what the people of God didn’t seem to know yet, that this man before them was the very Son of God, and that all judgment was given into His hand. Isn’t that a sobering thought? What? That someone. . .for these demons were persons. . .that a human person too, can have no doubt but that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and yet be damned.

I want you to listen to what Matthew Henry says about these words, and about those who have the knowledge of Christ, but yet do not have real faith. He said, “It is not the knowledge but the love that distinguishes man from demons.” And then he went on to say, “He is the first-born of hell that knows Christ and yet rejects Him and will not be subject to Him and to His law.”

And we remember the words of the apostle James, who said, “You believe in God? You do well. The demons also believe and tremble.” “What have we to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God?” Ah yes, they wanted nothing to do with Jesus, but He had everything to do with them. For in the temptations in the wilderness, Jesus resisted the devil who came to Him, here He comes to the demons, not merely to resist them, but to overpower them. And, as we see from our text, and throughout His ministry, He did overpower them.

There will be a time, beloved, whether that is sooner or later, whether that is in the next hundred years, and whether it will wait for 20,000 years, there will be a time when Satan is loosed again for a little season. And what we need to remember, and what the Holy Spirit through the gospels is telling us, is that Jesus, even in His state of humiliation, was totally sovereign over the demons, over the forces of evil. How much more so now, when all rulers, and principalities, all the powers of darkness in heavenly places, are made subject to Him. How much more so now, as He is presently reigning until all rule and authority, all powers and persons, are made subject to Him, and every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus is Lord?

We just sang it, didn’t we? And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us. One little Word shall fell him. And that Word is Christ. “What have we to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

Here again we see the knowledge of the reprobate, of the demons, who knew that the Son of God would come twice into this world. The first time He would come to bring the judgment of God upon all the chosen race upon Himself, the second time, to bring judgment upon all unbelievers and demons. They knew this, and yet were terribly fearful, that Jesus had come now to cast them into the lake of fire that burns forever and ever.

So even the demons knew what so many ignorant, unbelieving, and wicked of the world deny, that there will come a day of judgment, a day of reckoning, a day when God will exact the full penalty for their wicked lives. Yet they begged, “Please, don’t say that the day has already come? Not now, please?” And so, says Calvin, “the reprobate never reckon that the time for punishing is fully come: for they would willingly delay it from day to day.” This too, is an essential element of the gospel when we bring it to others. “Do not delay. Do not say with the Roman governor, ‘Go away, when I have a more convenient time I’ll call you to come again.’ “

Now is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of the Lord’s grace and mercy. Now it is day, for the night comes soon enough when it is all over. It is given to men once to die, but after that the judgment. We perhaps should mix a little urgency into the gospel recipe we present to the world. But Jesus did not come this first time to bring final judgment on the demons nor on the wicked world. He did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. He came to usher in the great day of grace, the great age of the gospel proclamation, that through faith in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ, all men might be saved from the wrath to come.

Let’s continue with the text: “Now a good way off from them were a herd of many swine feeding. So the demons begged Him, saying, ‘If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.’ And He said to them, ‘Go.’ “

Although it is not certain from the text, we may believe that there certainly were Jews involved in the raising of these swine. It was the preferred meat of the Romans, and the Jews were not adverse to making money on the Romans, even if it meant, as it did here, making it through the raising and sale of unclean animals. For pigs were unclean. Pigs ate anything.

Pigs wallowed in the mud. Even today, if someone is really messy and dirty, we call him a pig. Swine, hogs, were an abomination to the Jews, even more so since the terrible episode that sparked the rebellion of the Maccabees some 160 years before. Yet here was this great herd of swine, feeding on the hillside. “Permit us to go away into the herd of swine.” And Jesus said, “Go.”

“Permit us.” Here again is great comfort for the believer, great comfort to know that even the greatest powers conspiring for our downfall, even the demons themselves, can do nothing except with the permission of Jesus Christ. Here again is another proof that Jesus is the Son of God, is God Himself. For throughout the Old Testament it is only to God that Satan shows himself subject. You remember Satan appearing before God about Job. Satan could only deal with Job as far as God allowed him and no farther. The same permission we find in the episode of Ahab and Micaiah the prophet. Micaiah tells Ahab that he saw the Lord sitting on His throne all the host of heaven on His right hand and on His left. Then God asked the question, “Who will go up to persuade Ahab that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?” And one said this, and one said that. But at last a spirit said, “I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of His prophets.” And God said, “Go, and you will prevail.”

So when the news of the world and the news of this country, and your own personal struggles persuade you that the devil himself is in control, and there is simply no way out, go and read the book of Revelation again, a book full of demons and dragons, of fearsome beasts, of evil spirits like frogs, and know again, that the Lamb shall make war with them, and the Lamb shall overcome, for He is King of kings and Lord of lords.

“So the demons begged Him, saying, ‘If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the her of swine.’ And He said to them, ‘Go,’ So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine, and suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violent down the steep lace into the sea, perished in the water.”

We have two questions here. First, why did the demons want to go into the swine? Second, why did Jesus let them do this wanton destruction of all these pigs? Why did the demons want to go into the swine? Perhaps we can give several reasons. Swine were unclean, and demons, by their very nature are unclean, filthy, and abhorrent to God and man. Demons are agents of destruction, and if they cannot destroy man, they will, as they did to Job, destroy his possessions. But perhaps the main reason for wanting to enter into and destroy these swine, was that in doing so they would create animosity against Jesus in the citizens of that country. I say that because if this indeed was their goal, they seemed to be successful.

Why then did Jesus say, “Go?” First, we must understand that this word “Go,” is not a word of command, but a word of permission. In giving them permission, Jesus Himself was not the author of the evil done, but the demons had full responsibility.

Second, Jesus would use this destruction of their property to test the citizens of the land. What did they value more? Their pigs. . .or the restoration of two men, their release from the graveyard and demon possession, into sanity and health again. What did they love more. . .their property or the presence of Jesus?

We continue with verse 33, “Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.” And the next words in Scripture, Matthew 9:1, tells us, “So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.”

The people of that city evidently thought Christ was responsible for the destruction of their swine. Yet, the swineherds told them everything, and that meant that they knew that Jesus had freed these two men from demon-possession. These two men were no longer fierce, they were no longer uncontrollable, they no longer lived among the dead. They were clothed and in their right mind, filled with thankfulness for the grace given to them, for the liberty that now was theirs.

What should have been here? They should have come rejoicing in the freedom of these men. They should have come to praise Christ, to praise God. They should have brought their sick and demon possessed to Christ. But these people evidently preferred swine to liberty from the demons. They chose pigs before people, swine before the Savior. They loved swineherds before the good Shepherd. And in doing so they condemned themselves as swine instead of sheep.

Oh, how the pleasures of sin grip people. How hard it is to let go of the satisfaction of wallowing in the mud of sin, of malice, of self-satisfaction, of forbidden pleasures. Swine before Christ. It is so, is it not? There are so many who so much prefer earthly satisfaction, fulfillment, and success that they willingly part with Christ. “You ask too much of me, O Christ, I cannot give these things up. Go away.”

What a contrast the Hebrew believers formed, as we read in the Epistle that they joyfully endured the plundering of their goods, knowing that in heaven they had a more enduring substance. And what was that more enduring substance? They had Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, their Mediator and Priest, their sacrifice and their life.

But, if God in Christ is no longer at the center of our existence, then He gets in our way. He keeps us from friends we may like. He won’t let us cheat. He makes us love people we don’t feel like loving. He makes us do things we don’t feel like doing. He forbids us things we do feel like doing. This is the presence of Jesus among us.

But those who say to the Almighty, “Depart from us,” will soon enough hear the Almighty say to them, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” So the question is, isn’t it: Will we love the sovereign Christ more than anything in the world, or will we die hanging on to our iPod?

Jesus dispossesses the demons: Demons are real. Satan is real. His rage against God and against the saints of the Lord is real. Is demon possession increasing in this age? Will any Reformation of the church today be accompanied by an influx of devils? Is this why in the 16^th century Reformation Martin Luther wrote, “And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us?”

Yet, we will also sing with Luther, will we not, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.” Let me conclude with these verses from Revelation 12: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17 NKJV) “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Rev. 12:11 NKJV)