Jesus and the Demoniac-Luke 8

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and today I'd like to talk to you about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

So today we are going to look at Jesus in Luke, the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke.

By the way, I don't like it when I say the gospel of Matthew because it's not the good news of Matthew, it's the good news of Jesus reported by Matthew, right?

So anyway, there's just a little bit of no compromise talk for you.

Luke chapter 8. Now we are in a section in Luke chapter 8 that just screams,

Jesus is great. Jesus is the son of man. Jesus, the eternal

God, cloaked himself with humanity and lived a life that should cause you to say,

Lord, please forgive me, and should cause you to say, there's no one like him, that should cause you to say,

I would worship such a man. Now that's kind of an interesting thought because if I meet somebody today, oh

I don't know, Tom Brady or Mick Jagger or somebody like that,

I think people do in a sense worship them. But for those who are mature or wiser or anything else,

I can't imagine running up to one of those people, a real person, and bowing down and singing songs to them and praising them and kissing their feet and all that kind of stuff.

I guess people do, probably guys do, maybe more figuratively than ladies do. Ladies probably physically do that, you know, in terms of this kind of Beatlemania type of rock and roll worship.

But worthy of worship, worthy of dedicating your whole life to serve, worthy of singing, praying to, praising, writing about, preaching about, there's only one person who deserves that and his name is

Jesus. All other worship is false worship because false worship is not focused on Christ and therefore is blasphemous.

So of course people don't like this exclusivity of Christ Jesus that he is the only way.

But friends, if you look at Luke chapter 8 today with me, you'll see there's no one like him.

There has to be an exclusivity because by superiority, by majesty, by greatness, no one is like Jesus.

No not one. And Jesus' lordship is pervasive in the

Gospel of Luke. In Luke chapter 8, for instance, his lordship extends over the storm in Luke 8, 22 -25, over a demon -possessed man in chapter 8 verses 26 -39, and then over disease and death when

Jesus heals a woman and Jairus' daughter. You show me someone who has authority over nature, storms, the ocean, lakes, demons, disease and death, and I'll show you a one -of -a -kind person, a preeminent one.

Show me someone who is like this and I'll show you someone that I would want to worship.

Now, we're going to focus on the demon -possessed man in Luke chapter 8 verses 26 -39.

And while the earlier passage with the storm on the sea talked about a storm externally, in a lake called the

Sea of Galilee, here we're going to see a storm that's raging and brewing inside of a human.

A wild storm we've seen and now we're going to see a wild man. I think here in No Compromise Radio Ministry, occasionally, maybe it'll be

Jesus Christ Focus Thursdays or something, we're just going to look at the person of Christ for several

Thursdays, maybe for the rest of the show. How long the show will last, I have no idea, but I think we've got a two -year commitment.

So anyway, we're a year and a half in. Focusing on Christ Jesus on Thursdays and seeing here in Luke 8 just how powerful

He is. Powerful enough to calm a storm on the sea and now powerful enough to cast these demons out of this possessed man, the eternal

I Am. I marvel at this whole exorcism because when

I grew up, I think it was 1973 or 1974, William Blatty's novel came out and then the movie

The Exorcist and the newspaper review of the movie

The Exorcist, and I don't recommend anyone seeing that. I asked my Lutheran pastor in 1970 -something,

I like Creature Feature, you know, I like Dracula and Frankenstein and these kind of shows.

The Day of the Triffids. Do you remember that show? The Day of the Triffids? You got to watch that. I think it's probably on YouTube, The Day of the

Triffids, you know, kind of like The Hand, those scary ones, some western,

The Silver Bullet, where the gunslinger could never be defeated because it wasn't very fast, but couldn't be shot because he was a vampire.

So here we have the newspaper review for The Exorcist movie. Oh, I asked my

Lutheran pastor, should I go see it, and he said no. So actually my Lutheran pastor did me right, even though he's liberal.

Strong stomachs and weak minds. If you want to go see this movie, it's for strong stomachs and weak minds.

Kind of like, you know, if you were going to believe in some supernatural thing, some spiritual thing, something like that, you've got a weak mind.

Well, if you think that, then you're going to miss in Luke chapter 8 the superiority and lordship of Jesus Christ over the supernatural, the

Savior and Lord. This is the Jesus of whom John the Apostle speaks in 1

John 3 .8. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

And now listen to this. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

And that's what we get to see. It's like a painting before our very eyes, a portrait, a movie,

Luke painting this picture to show us Jesus Christ has power and authority over demons.

And liberals, of course, hate the passage. And of course, the Jesus Seminar, I'm sure they said this was not the original words of Jesus.

We've got to throw those things out. They pretty much throw everything out. And they said, you know,

Jesus really didn't believe in demons, but the theory of accommodation was that he kind of stooped to the level of the current thinking.

And the hoi polloi, the people of the day, the commoners, they all thought about it. And so he kind of stooped to their level too.

I don't think so. This is not some kind of made up Bob Larson demon story. This is the real demon story.

What happened to Bob Larson, by the way? I first became a Christian in 89 and was listening to Bob Larson and I thought he was the real deal.

I have no idea where he is now, but that we don't know where he is in the evangelical scene, that's better.

Look at the passage. Look at Luke chapter 8. My name is Mike Gabendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Today we're talking about Jesus Christ and I want you to see how great he is.

I want you to devote your life to him, whether you're a lay leader or a lay person or a full -time staff.

I want you to say, this is the kind of man, I know he's more than a man, but he is fully man.

This is the kind of man that I will follow. After all, people follow men into battle.

The Band of Brothers captain, what is that guy's name? I can't believe I forgot his name.

He just recently died a couple days ago. Anyway, you follow a man into battle, I want you to follow this man into eternity.

Luke 8, 26. Then they sailed to the country of the Gerizim, which is opposite the

Galilee. And I won't get into all the details. You can pull up the sermon on bbcchurch .org to hear me preach this sermon.

But basically what we're doing is we're entering into Gentile territory and we're going to the eastern shore of the

Sea of Galilee. And what we'll do is we'll now have the focus on Jesus.

The spotlight is moving off the disciples and it's going to be on Jesus alone. This is the only reference to the disciples.

Jesus is the focus and he is going to, I don't even think there's a reference to the disciples here.

They, that's it. It's going to all be about Jesus Christ. Verse 27 of Luke 8, 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 and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.

And so if God has made men in his likeness and image, demons will do anti -God stuff, ungodly stuff, agodly stuff, things.

And so they're going to try to destroy that image -bearing nature that man has.

And so this is the dehumanization of a person and all the cutting and all the nakedness and all that stuff.

And you will watch Jesus reclaim this man, the demon -possessed man, a man having demons, plural.

And this is a man who is ceremonially unclean and unclean in every other way. And he is deranged, yes, but more than deranged, he is demon -possessed.

And of course this unclean spirit, as Mark calls him, you can read the Mark 5 account if you like, is very interesting because it's probably dark by now.

They get out of the boat and immediately upon them there is this demon -possessed man.

Mark 4 said the evening had come. So it's dark. There's a demon -possessed man.

Actually, there's more than one, although we just have the focus upon the one. Maybe he's the leader, maybe he's the spokesperson, maybe he's got more demons.

We don't know. Mark didn't say he's the only one, but here's this man from the tombs. They lived in these tombs.

And by the way, Mark said nobody could bind him anymore, even with a chain. So they had tried to chain this guy up.

Can you imagine how smelly and how dirty this person would have been? I've met homeless people and they smell like they're homeless.

And here this person, no clothes, living not in a house but in tombs, super strong, nobody's able to bind him.

He'd just snap off these chains like some little rubber band. I mean, really snap them off.

No Houdini kind of slide -of -hand thing. And nobody would even pass by that road,

Matthew says. The Matthew 8 account says it's like Billy Goat Gruff type of thing. Wide berth.

Don't go close to this guy. This is his territory and he is strong and he cannot be tamed and he is trouble.

By the way, Mark says he was crying out and gnashing himself with stones.

So can you imagine these sharp stones, this fierce, frenzied, night and day, loud screaming off the top of his head, unearthly screams.

Vincent's word study book calls this inarticulate crying. Just the yelling, just the screaming, cutting himself with these sharp flint rocks.

I don't know why he was doing that, defacing the image of God. Who knows? Maybe he was cutting himself to somehow let the demons out.

Maybe his mind is so affected, thought, you know what, if I cut myself and mutilate myself and slice myself and somehow brand myself, maybe here the demons can come out through my skin, through the epidurus, epidurus, epidermis, epidermis, epidurus.

Reminds me of first kings. They cried out loud voices and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out of them.

Oh yes, but you don't understand pastor. This man was bipolar. This man was a manic depressive person and he's got a depressive psychosis and he's not a maniac, he's a manic.

I don't know what psychological world you live in, but you cannot get that from the text. That is imposed into the text.

That is placed upon the text. This is not a person who has a psychotropic drug overdose.

This is a demon possessed person, just like the text says. And here Jesus is approached by a crazy, smelly, loud, naked man running straight up to him, who knows with flints, sharp flints in his hands.

And what does Jesus do? I love it. I love it. Luke 8, verse 28, when he saw

Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, what have

I to do? What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I beg you, do not torment me.

Jesus, totally calm, in charge, God of the universe, I am who I am, the eternal son.

He doesn't cower. He doesn't bend down. He didn't hide behind Peter. His knees aren't hitting.

His teeth aren't, you know, clacking. Do teeth clack? He's calm.

He is in charge. I like men in charge. I like men who are in charge. I like Jesus, the eternal

Lord. Mark says this guy was bowing down to Jesus. He's getting down low.

He's on his face. He says, you know what? That man, Jesus, is my superior. Therefore, I will be low in his presence.

The yelling, naked, maniac, demon -possessed person, and now he's on the ground.

And so, Luke 8, 28, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high?

I beg you, do not torment me. And here are all the demons. I don't know how many demons were in him. Depends on how you count legion, but all these demons are acting as one demon.

Singular pronouns used here. Do you see it? Do you see them? And they asked Jesus the question, and they begged

Jesus, don't torture me before the time. Mark 5 says, what have

I to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God? I implore you by God, do not torment me.

Screaming out this scream before even speaking, and maybe it's a vow.

Maybe it's a protest. What do you and I have in common? Sometimes people think that's the idiom.

What are you doing? Are you threatening me? Maybe the demon's threatening Jesus, son of the most high

God. Demons have pretty good theology. They know Jesus is the son of God. They know he is the superior, one true

God. They recognize what many people don't. JWs don't recognize it, Mormons don't recognize it, that Jesus is the eternal

God. And they know their ultimate future. Don't torment us before the time.

The final doom is there for the accursed ones to be put into eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels,

Matthew 25, 41. Don't send us in there yet. We don't want to do that.

Luke 8, 29. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. 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.

And so Luke, in his account, it's interesting, which is different than Mark's account, Luke gives a little flashback and he shows us how great this demon -possessed man was.

And what does Jesus do? Jesus gets his scepter out and he gets his incense out and he gets his prayer book out and he gets his rosary out and he gets his formula out.

He gets his papal decree out. He gets his vestments out. He gets his backward collar out.

He gets his Latin words out. He doesn't do any of that. Can you imagine?

How does Jesus cast out demons? There's not one formula. I smell no incense.

I hear no Latin words. Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.

That's Mark chapter five, verse eight. Luke's account, Jesus then asked him, what is your name?

He said, legion, for many demons had entered him. He said legion, comma, and now this is

Luke's account, for many demons had entered him. That is amazing. We are many.

My name is legion. Now a legion could have 6 ,000 infantrymen, remember

Mary had just seven demons, but we have 6 ,000, maybe 3 ,000 on the lower end, but this is a one man

Jesus against many. And legions were known for being highly organized, highly proficient, highly efficient, relentless in terms of what they could do, and they would carry out war against all those who were against them.

A .T. Robertson said a full Roman legion had 6 ,826 men.

Just imagine the oppression, the possession, how these demons controlled this man.

Luke 8, 31, and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. We know we're going there, we just don't want to go yet.

Our final destiny, not quite ready to go there. They don't know what

Jesus is thinking. They can't read minds. Demons aren't omniscient, they're not omnipresent.

They're trying to figure out what's happening. Satan doesn't know everything, and they're begging and they're begging and they're begging.

That's Luke 8. Here they're begging so much, please, please, please don't send us there.

Don't send us there. Don't send us to the abyssos, the abyss. Now Luke 8, 32, a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside and they begged him,

Jesus, to let them, the demons, enter these, the pigs. So he gave them permission.

He gave them permission. Why do they want to get into those pigs, by the way?

Maybe because they wanted to not go to their ultimate abyss for punishment.

Maybe they knew, well, these are unclean pigs and so we'd like to inhabit something that's unclean.

Maybe it was devilish. Hey, I think maybe Jesus, if he casts us into those pigs and we kill the pigs, then

Jesus is going to get in trouble. Maybe they'll arrest Jesus or kill Jesus. Maybe they just don't like to have themselves floating around in space.

They want to inhabit some kind of body. I don't know what they were thinking, but I'm positive of this. Their motives weren't good.

And so there are these demons. They didn't say, please forgive us, Jesus. We repent, Jesus. We accept you in our heart,

Jesus. We walk the aisle. We've prayed the sinner's prayer, the demon prayer.

We want to be better. Please change our natures. We'd like to be good again. We're sorry. Redeem us.

No, they were demonic and they were demons to the core and they acted like demoniacs would act.

Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned super fast.

You feel the pace of the language. And one pig after another, after another.

That's what some think the Greek is showing. One then another, then another, then another.

And I've been told that pigs don't like to follow each other like sheep. They are individualist and they don't have herd mentality, yet these do.

And they were drowned in the sea, choked literally, in perfect tense. One pig after the next.

Imagine the squealing sounds. Imagine the piggish sounds. Imagine the choking, drowning pig sounds.

One after another, rushing headlong to their destruction.

Now the liberal scholars, you know what they say? Wild man was so freaked out he chased the pigs into the water.

I mean, who can make that up? This bipolar man chased the pigs right down in the water, probably jumped in with them, took a bath and everybody was okay.

Was it okay for Jesus to destroy those pigs? If you ask that question and you really wonder,

I wonder if it's okay. Listen, Jesus is God. He does whatever he pleases. He makes things and he can do whatever he wants with those pigs.

He owns them all. He can dispose of them as he sees fit. I don't care what the people for ethical treatment of animals think.

I don't care what Bernard Bertrand Russell said in his book,

Why I'm Not a Christian. By the way, that's one of the reasons why he's not a Christian. That Jesus would destroy all those pigs.

Why would Jesus do it? Now one man said to send those pigs to hog heaven.

But I never joke like that, so I'm not really sure. Obviously he did it because he wanted to, because he could, because he wanted to show his lordship.

You see his lordship over the storm and the sea earlier in the chapter? Now you see it here. And he wants to show this man, this man you are forgiven, you are cleansed, you are redeemed, you are,

I'm going to rid you of these demons and I'll show you once and for all where these demons are going to.

They are, as MacArthur said, dealt with. Don't weep for the pigs, especially if you're going to have bacon in the morning.

Don't weep for the pigs. People kill animals to eat them. And so Jesus kills pigs for the sake of one human being.

How about that? How many pigs does it take to equal one human? Well, you'd have to kill every pig on the entire planet and more because of the value of one human soul, the value of one image bearer.

Don't be kind of caught up in some sentimentalized feelings for the pigs.

Think about this man. Pigs are going to die anyway, right? Pigs are going to be eaten.

Pigs are going to die of starvation. Pigs are going to be attacked by some wolf. Pigs are going to be eaten in some way, shape or form.

So sooner or later they're going to be eaten. But this man's soul would live forever. Don't put animals above image bearers just like people do today.

Don't do that. So when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it to the city and the country.

You can imagine them talking about Jesus. The word is spreading and so are the bloated pigs that are floating around and they're just floating around.

Can you imagine how tight they are with their bloatedness and how they smell? And then the 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 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 and the garrisons asked him to depart from them and they were seized with great fear.

So he got on the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might stay with them.

But Jesus said, what? Return to your home. Declare how much God has done for you. And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much

Jesus had done for him. Jesus Lord over the storm. Jesus Lord over the demons. Jesus lives a life worthy for you to follow him and worship him.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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