The Mighty Power of Jesus — Brian Brodersen

Jesus’ Teaching on Hearing and Doing the Word

Let's open up our Bibles to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 and as we pick up the story here Jesus had Luke is recorded some of the teaching of Jesus again, and and we looked last time at the the parable of the sower and then you remember as Jesus concluded the parable He he really exhorted them to to take heed how you hear and We talked about that a bit in our closing moments last time take heed how you hear in other words make sure you're Not just a hearer of the word, but make sure you're a doer of the word make sure you're applying What you hear is what Jesus is saying and and the promise is to the one who hears in the sense of applies it.

Then more is going to be given. But to the one who doesn't hear it in the sense of doesn't really apply it to their life then even what they seem to have will ultimately be taken from them and so with Those Words as Jesus was finishing up the teaching there It says in verse 19 then his mother and brothers came to him and could not approach him Because of the crowd and it was told him by some who said your mother and your brothers are standing outside Desiring to see you, but he answered and said to them my mother and my brother or Brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it now there have been attempts Even from the earliest days obviously to take the the natural family of Jesus and Particularly the mother of Jesus and to sort of elevate her to a position that's Beyond What would be right or appropriate and Jesus was very good at Making sure that people understood that His mother in in one sense What was no different than anybody else?

Was You know not to ever be Elevated to a place of worship or anything like that. Even in this ministry like we see here when people were attempting to do that to some degree or another Jesus always would take the attention off of his family, and he would bring it back To the Lord so my mother and my brothers now obviously the idea here Is that your mother and your brothers of course?

You know they they should have precedence. But Jesus says my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it so basically putting his Natural family on the same level as everybody else and bringing everybody else in on the basis of Hearing the Word of God Receiving the Word of God.

Matthew and and Mark record similar kinds of Incidents and maybe you remember the one occasion where the person cried out. You know blessed are the Blessed is are the breast that nursed you the womb the womb that bore you and Remember Jesus said rather Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it if Jesus ever wanted to establish the idea that Mary had some sort of superiority over other human beings and should be Exalted to a place of adoration or worship.

He had plenty of opportunities to do it. But whenever those things occurred he made it crystal clear That that was not the case and so he does that again here now in verse 22 on through the end of the chapter Luke is going to here now focus on the authority of Jesus Christ, and he's going to show the authority of Jesus in relation to nature in Relation to the demonic realm in relation to disease and ultimately in relation to death he's going to show the authority of Jesus over all of those things and he does so by recording for us a number of incidents in the life and ministry of Jesus where he Exerted his authority over these things Jesus.

Of course, you remember he would say later all Authority all power all authority in heaven and earth have been given to me, you know power or authority is The most dangerous thing in all the world and there have been very few people in History that have really been able to to handle power properly but Jesus having all power and authority It's amazing how he handles this power and authority he never abuses it he never uses it for any selfish means he only exercises his authority and power for the benefit of others and That's why he alone has the right to reign because no one else has ever done that Every human being even the ones that have handled power fairly.

Well at some point that breaks down and at some point you see an inconsistency or at some point you see a failure. But you never see that with the Lord. There's never an abuse of his power. There's never In any way a use of his power for himself.

It's always Benevolent it's always for the benefit of others and that is such a it's such a beautiful thing. And so we pick up in verse 22 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 now.

Jesus’ Authority Over Nature and the Storm

The topographical situation of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is 680 feet below sea level and Being as it is in this valley being surrounded by several Smaller mountains there are these times when when the wind will rush into this valley and churn up this sea in in a way that is I Mean in a sense, it's unbelievable you know if you were there to if you were to be right there on the the seashore on a calm day and you know, you're basically just looking at a lake and It's hard to imagine how this body of water could become so agitated that Seasoned fishermen might be fearing for their life, but it actually happens and it still happens to this day some years ago when we were in Israel a storm hit the Galilee and There were waves on the Galilee that were 3 to 4 meters high now 3 to 4 meters for your in case You know don't know what the breakdown is on that.

That's 9 to 12 feet 9 to 12 feet. I mean those are big waves in the ocean. We're talking about 9 to 12 foot waves in a in a relatively small body of water. So you could see under those kinds of circumstances how these guys would have been Absolutely fearing for their lives and this must have been a storm that was More intense than perhaps any ever some have suggested that it could have been Even a satanically Orchestrated storm Might very well be the case the term that's used when Jesus deals with it.

Finally. It says that he rebuked the wind and the waves and it's the same term that's used when he's dealing with the demonic and Again, if you think of the fact that these men were seasoned fishermen, they'd grown up on this lake.

You would imagine that they'd probably seen every imaginable condition. But to have them as frightened as they were Would indicate that this was probably something Radically out of the ordinary so this little boat that they're in is filling with water and they're in jeopardy of drowning and so they came to him and awoke him.

Many writers have commented on The fact that Jesus was Evidently in a very deep sleep. You know, these guys are fearing for their lives and they've got to actually wake Jesus up and The the comment that is generally made is in reference to the humanity of Jesus here.

We see the humanity of Jesus here. We see that Jesus was probably Exhausted from all of the ministry that he was engaged in so much. So that this boat is about to go under and he's sound asleep. So they awaken him Crying out to him 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 the water and they obey him so They're desperate. They awaken the Lord now Matthew and Mark record the same Story and each one of them Put it just a little bit differently with Matthew Jesus Awakens and before he calms a storm he gives them a mild rebuke he says what are you so afraid of and Then with Mark it's a similar sort of a thing so it seems that the moment they awoke Jesus he Sort of you know mildly rebuked them then he calmed the wind and the waves and then he went on to say to them again Where is your faith now?

Here's the question? Wasn't it? legitimate the concern that these guys had. I mean after all If I have to confess if if I would have been on the boat, I would have done the same thing so and Isn't this what you would expect under these kinds of conditions, but but Jesus kind of rebukes them so the question is why it was understandable that they were as Frightened as they were.

But we've got to remember this. We've got to remember all that Jesus had already done in the presence of these men. You see this wasn't their first encounter with him. It wasn't that they didn't really know much about him.

It wasn't that they Hadn't yet seen the demonstration of his power. They had seen with their own eyes. They'd seen him deal with the the demoniacs. They'd seen him heal people instantly they had been with him when he raised that young man from the dead and so where others might have had a basis for Being frightened and crying out for fear of their lives these guys Didn't and that's why Jesus rebukes him and the point is this the Lord expects us to grow and The longer we walk with him and the more we get to know him He expects an increase in our faith so We're at a certain Point in our lives something might you know really rattle us something might really shake us.

At another point in our life after a long season of walking with the Lord and experiencing his goodness his faithfulness His power and those things, you know, he expects us at a certain point to you know sort of rise to the to this occasion and Demonstrate a greater amount of faith.

He wants us to be growing in our faith. And that's the reason I think why he rebuked these guys here. Because their faith should have been stronger Based upon all of the experience they had had with the Lord up until this point.

But There's a process that's going on here with these guys. And as we follow the story just like we we saw with the Old Testament Saints, they're growing they're developing the Lord's patiently dealing with them and occasionally Rebuking them and occasionally, you know sort of verbally chastising them.

But all to to bring them on in the development of their faith. But this is something and of course as we could all understand this was something that just absolutely blew their minds. You know, remember they had seen where You remember the story where they had fished all night.

They hadn't caught anything the Lord said cast cast your net on the other side of the boat. Then they brought in that great catch a fish that they couldn't even drag the nets to the shore, you know. So they had seen these things.

But now for him to stand up in the midst of this little boat and To speak to the wind and the waves and to commend them to be calm and for that to happen. That was just Unbelievable, who can this be? That even the wind and the waves obey him and so for these guys You know, it was a rather lengthy process of Of Having these things really sink down into their hearts and It just kind of shows that You know, we as people we just have a tendency to be spiritually dull and the Lord has to you know Kind of over and over again come back to us with similar kinds of things to just show himself over and over again faithful to show himself over and over again gracious and And That's happening here, so who can this be and So his humanity was displayed in that Weariness that caused him to be able to sleep During the intensity of the storm, but his deity now is displayed as he stands and he commands The winds and the waves and they obey him and so they sailed To the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee, so they left the Western Shore and headed across The Sea of Galilee 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. Now this fellow here, you know when you think about this you you can't get Anything any worse than this. Here's a man who is possessed by demons and He's The other Gospels tell us that that they tried to Control him they even bound him with chains, but he was so fierce.

Jesus’ Authority Over Demonic Bondage

He would break the chains and he would gravitate toward the tombs. He was living in a graveyard and there he was naked and tormented. I mean, you know, can you think of a more pathetic picture than that?

And In that you see what? Satan does to people How he comes and if he gets control in their lives how he he just destroys them and brings them into a state of torment and you know a Lot of times we say and it is true to some extent.

We say well, you know demon possession is something that we don't find so much in our culture. But we you know, we find it in other places which is true to some extent. Places where the gospel hasn't really had a strong impact or maybe not for a long time.

The devil's got a Strong grip on the culture on the people you do find a lot more overt demon activity but listen, I think there's a lot more of it in our culture than we realize and You know some of these Some of these people that we maybe even come across at times, you know you see some some of these people on the street that are You know similar to this kind of a thing.

You pass by somebody and you see that they're you know They're just shouting into the air obscenities and things like that and they're you know, basically, you know living on the streets and they have no Relationship with anybody and you know, they're they're untamable so to speak and of course they've been declared mentally ill and the You know the different Facilities and all are no longer capable of of the large numbers of people that need to be in there.

So they just let him back out on the streets. You know a lot of these people I think more than we would realize are demonized and And it's always amazing to me to find that so often these people If you have encounters with them you find that they are very blasphemous.

Extraordinarily blasphemous and They have obsessions about God about Christ and just all kinds of weird religious kinds of things going on in their heads and that's what's you know spewing out of their mouths a lot of times and For the most part they're just sort of written off as you know, they're burned out on drugs or whatever the case, you know.

They're nuts. They're crazy. They're you know, we're whatever the politically correct term is these days but the fact the matter is I think several of them are just Flat-out demonized just like this fellow was here.

It's a very similar description notice to his His gravitation toward the tombs. You know, we find among our our Culture today with a lot of the younger people we find an obsession with death we find a lot of Young people today being drawn toward that kind of darkness and you know interested in things that are dark and and you know a lot of You know a lot of suicide happening today.

With young people people making packs together to you know a group of people committing suicide together things like that and when you see these These kinds of things. You know, we tend to in our modern culture.

We tend to look at that and say oh man those guys need counseling. You know, wow, they need a therapist. They need some psychologist and You know those things might be helpful to some degree but the but the bottom line is they need Christ.

They need to be saved. They need to be delivered from the grip of the devil because that's really what's happening. The enemies got a hold of these lives. But the beautiful thing is that the Lord is able to take the most hopeless case and in this particular fellows Situation, you know, there was nothing that Anybody could do for him humanly.

He was beyond help the best they could do is just try to you know incarcerate him and Prevent him from probably hurting himself and other people. But they couldn't even do that. They couldn't even keep him chained.

But I love what happens as he meets Jesus face to face. And so 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 so Luke tells us the same thing Matthew and Mark does that the the demons drove him into the wilderness and Jesus asked him saying what is your name and listen to this?

He said legion because many demons has had entered him. A Roman legion was made up of literally thousands of soldiers. Anywhere from five to six thousand soldiers made up a Roman legion. Jesus says what is your name and this one?

Entity this one demonic entity speaking on behalf of every other one of them says we are legion. Now how this can be who knows I mean remember we read about Mary Magdalene. She was possessed of seven devils or demons.

These are things that we really don't Understand and Again, I want to say I think you know the world of psychiatry the world of psychology. And I'm not saying that those things are not beneficial at times and psychiatry can be beneficial.

Psychology is Questionable, but you know once in a while you get a you know a psychologist Who's really biblically oriented and they can be very helpful, but you know? The thing is these people are completely in many ways.

They're out of their league because they're dealing with things that they don't even understand. They're attributing all of the problems that people are having to in in the case of a psychologist. They're attributing them to you know issues from their past or whatever that You know need to be dealt with in some way that of course the psychiatrists would look at it more from the standpoint of a brain chemistry or Chemical imbalances and things like that, but rarely.

Even among Christians rarely do you find any? Emphasis on the demonic and I think that is the that's the missing component so often because I believe that in every single case of a Psychological mental disorder there is a demonic element to it now I'm not saying that everybody is possessed, but I'm saying there's a demonic element because certainly Satan is Going to take advantage of any weakness that a person has and if they have a mental weakness He's going to take advantage of that and he's going to try to infiltrate into that area where there's that break and.

So the problem is though again We have a lot of these people in a position of trying to help, but they don't take into consideration this huge factor in these kinds of conditions. I remember years ago talking to a psychologist and I was talking to him about You know some of these kinds of things and I was suggesting to him as we were discussing back and forth some of these different You know syndromes, or you know whatever they're called disorders or whatever and I said to him.

I said you know I think there's a strong Demonic element there, and you know the guy was a he was a Christian psychologist. But when I said that he really sort of just smugly Dismissed what I said and Sort of blew that off as oh well No, you know that's ridiculous, and we don't believe in that stuff today, and no we know what's really going on.

I thought wow you know sad. Unfortunate because if you're missing one of the main components, and what's somebody's suffering from how are you gonna even begin to deal with it? So you know these these are things that are are Are relevant today?

Cultural Manifestations of Spiritual Opposition

And I think we're seeing more of An increase in demonic activity in these days than we've seen in a long long time. I mean look at you know just look around the world. I mean the crazy stuff. That's going on we see it on the the level of false religion we see the rise of particularly of course Islam and Its murderous spirit.

We know where that comes from because Satan we're told in the scripture he is He was the original murderer. From the beginning and so when you find this murderous spirit. You know that Satan is behind this and So you see it on that level, but you see it also on the level of different philosophies and things.

But you see it more on the popular level. With what's going on in the culture with all of the? Just giving over of people's lives to the flesh and then of course when you introduce the drug element. You know there was a period of time where it seemed like to some degree maybe we we got a little bit of a Handle on on the drug issue in the culture of course.

Anyone here, that's my age or maybe a little younger or older you remember. You know kind of the from the mid -60s all the way through the 70s a lot of drug activity in the culture. And it seemed like the 80s things changed a little bit.

I just I just remember back during the 80s. It didn't could you know I was dealing with a lot of young people at the time and stuff and there just didn't seem To be as much drug activity as there was when I was in my teens everybody's doing drugs when I was a teenager.

And it sort of seemed like it you know subsided for a season, but man. You know it's just come all the way back around and It's probably even to some degree going beyond where it was before. But you look at the numbers of kids today who are Just spending their lives getting stoned.

You know smoking dope and smoking. You know not just pot, but they're smoking ultimately heroin and You know crystal meth and LSD made a big comeback and all these things and you know with all of this you see the devil's the devil is.

He's on the warpath. He's you know he's back it with a vengeance and We're seeing this happen with the you know these kids just being swept up in This stuff and man we have got to we've got to pray that God will pour out his spirit and and Deliver these young people from these things and thank God.

He's able to do it and here. We have an extreme Situation and we see as we go on that Jesus Deals with it quite simply. He deals with it very easily and of course this is what we've seen in the past isn't it we have seen the Lord Take somebody who was so in the grip of Satan and just release them in an instant.

And you know I want to see myself. I'm praying Lord. We need to see more of that. We need to have a whole new You know crop of people getting saved and hearing the Testimonies about how God delivered them from this grip that the devil had in their lives and the Lord I believe wants to do that in these days, but back to the story verse 31 So they said they are legion because there are many they begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.

So the demons are begging the Lord not to send them into the place of Kind of a permanent incarceration. And 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.

So this is all very strange. You know demons begging the Lord to Be allowed to go into this herd of swine. So he permitted that then the demons went out of the man entered the swine and ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

Now some have Astoundingly criticized Jesus here for Jesus had no right messing with other people's private property those were not his pigs. He had no right to send those demons into those pigs. That's what some of the you know skeptics have said.

Well, you know the fact of the matter is they were his pigs he created them they were his pigs and Those pigs were also Trespassing on his land. Because that Of course was his land and pigs were not supposed to be there in his land.

But you know this is the nonsense that people come up with. So when those who fed them saw what had happened they fled and told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus and Found the man now listen to this they 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.

Wow. But look at this beautiful picture the man look at the before-and-after. He's completely uncontrollable. Driven by the demons tormented by the demons out of his mind and now there he is sitting at the feet of Jesus.

He's clothed, and he's in his right mind praise the Lord. What a great testimony. What a great story and How many I was thinking as I was just looking at this passage today? I was thinking of how many people does this description fit?

People who were one time Just so bound up by the devil, but now they're so to speak they're clothed. They're sitting at the feet of Jesus. They're in their right mind. They're worshiping the Lord. There's nothing more beautiful than that and we see it here, but the reaction of the people is really amazing.

They were afraid. They also who had seen it Told them by what means he had been demon-possessed was healed then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes. Listen, they asked him to depart from them for they were seized with great fear and He got into the boat and returned.

Rejecting Christ Despite Seeing His Power

Amazing. They asked him to depart. They saw the power of God deliver this man and Amazingly, they didn't want any part of it. Now this is something that I think you would probably agree with me. You know, it's just it's so hard to comprehend that but we have to.

You know, we have to keep a biblical view of things. I Said this I think I said it Sunday morning. You know we tend a lot of times to think that the reason people aren't believers is because of some failure on the part of the church or You know, we we've not really been the best witnesses.

We possibly could be or you know, they haven't really clearly heard the gospel or you know, and of course in some Instances that is the case. But we also have to remember That There are those who have heard the gospel who know the gospel who understand the gospel and who reject the gospel.

They don't want anything to do with it. They don't want God in their lives because the Bible tells us that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and Jesus just came and he shined a big giant light Into this region of Gadara and the people said we don't want that light.

Because that light is exposing the darkness we live in and we want to stay in the darkness. So Jesus you just take your friends and you go away that For me, and I think for many of you as well. That is a hard thing to understand.

It's a hard thing to comprehend now I know it a little bit and maybe you do too because Probably most of us we have Memories of resisting the Lord. I definitely resisted the Lord for a period of time, but thank God he you know Was persistent and he continued to pursue me and I and I finally and likewise with you, you know.

We finally surrendered but for those that just continue to harden their hearts and you know There's something very frightening when a person says to Jesus go away. And you know what? The frightening thing is he will do it.

He will go away and Man, when the Lord goes away, you know, you've just opened yourself up for trouble like you've never seen but some people they persevere through the trouble to just you know continue to go on in their sin and So as we go through life and as we go through ministry and as we attempt to reach the world I think sometimes.

You know by the way, some people talk. The idea is that if the church was just doing it, right the whole world would be saved. No, that's never going to be the case. The church is always going to be a minority.

Jesus said it the road to destruction is wide multitudes are on it. The the path to life is narrow. So we need to remember that and I think a lot of times we sort of unnecessarily Condemn ourselves thinking well, you know, we failed so desperately but what can you do?

Look at Jesus you think he Didn't do a good job of witnessing there. You know, you think he maybe blew it in some way. So they got turned off. No, he did exactly what needed to be done, but they still said Go away, we don't want you here.

Sad sad situation. I was talking to somebody the other day who was telling me about their relative that passed away recently and In a in a conversation where they were attempting at a point to share with them.

The person just said, you know I don't want you to talk to me about this and I'm. You've got your opinion and I've got mine and that was the state that they died in and Boy, that's a frightening thing, but it happens it happens all the time.

Testifying to Christ’s Deliverance

So as we carry on here 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?

This is an interesting one, isn't it? I mean, what is this guy saying Lord? I want to. I want to get in the boat. I want to go with you guys. I want to be part of this. Jesus is there with his disciples.

Jesus says no, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go back to your home and that's where I want you to be a witness and You know, it just reminds us that the Lord has a different calling for all of us.

Sometimes I think we tend to Think that unless we're you know an apostle. Unless we're right there in the boat with Jesus, you know, maybe we're not where we should be but Jesus he's got us all situated in all kinds of different places and So for this man, he wanted to go with the Lord, but the Lord says no, that's not what I have for you.

But I want you to go back to your family. I want you to go back to your home. I want you to go back to the people who have Known you and saw you in the condition that you were in and I want you to Testify to them of the great things that God has done for you and you know in I Think in all of our lives to some extent.

There is that You know our witness starts Right where we're at. We don't necessarily have to think in terms of okay. Now I'm a Christian. I've got to go over here and do this. We need to realize okay.

The Lord has saved me and now right where I'm at. He wants me to Be a witness he wants me to be a testimony and so for this man 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 and So it was when Jesus returned that the multitude welcomed him for they were all waiting for him.

So boy, I this is one of those kinds of things where wouldn't you have loved to have been there watching that when this guy comes back into town and the last time most people had seen him was when he was in that state of total insanity and torment and you know, he was vicious and violent and I Would imagine everybody was absolutely frightened to death of this guy.

But now they've heard the stories About the visit of Jesus and what's happened and now they see him clothed in his right mind Praising God telling the people the things that God had done for him. Oh, man those You know Like I was saying the other day testimonies are so powerful.

You might not have All of your theology sorted out yet. You might not Have you know a ton of verses committed to memory. But if you've got a testimony You've got something powerful. You just tell people what the Lord's done for you.

And that's a great place to start and that's pretty much where you know. Most of us start you just start by telling people what the Lord has done for you. And I know that that's Where I started and I know that that's where many of you started and of course through time we you know we gather knowledge and we grow in our understanding and so we're able to to add to that but The testimony is a very powerful thing.

And so I think sometimes people get sort of hung up because they think oh, well, what am I gonna say this? I don't even know what I don't really know the Bible that well what verses and you know. Just hey, just tell them what the Lord's done.

Tell him how God set you free tell him how he saved you tell him how he changed your life tell him where you were at and what you were doing and and what's happened to you today and That's powerful. That's awesome.

And that's what this guy did and so as we go on behold there came a man verse 41 named Jairus and he was a ruler of the synagogue and He fell down at Jesus's feet and begged him to come to his house for he had an only daughter About 12 years of age and she was dying and she was dying.

Faith in Jesus Amid Disease and Desperation

You know, we read over these things and it's good to pause and to ponder and to think about Where this man was at this moment a place of utter and complete Desperation his daughter was dying and when your twelve-year-old daughter is dying.

Oh God, what can you do? Is there anything that you can do? You'll you'll do anything and so this man now notice he is a ruler of the synagogue. Jesus was as You know, he was already Seen as a dangerous person in the eyes of the religious elite the Religious rulers of the nation had already labeled Jesus as a dangerous person.

He was a false prophet in their estimation he was a blasphemer and so for this ruler of the synagogue. Now remember as a ruler of the synagogue, he would have been to some degree subject to the authority of these rulers.

But of course he knew that they couldn't do anything for him what were they gonna do. But he knows that Jesus has power so he comes to Jesus In hope that something might be done for his daughter who is dying.