WWUTT 2358 The People Ask Jesus to Leave (Luke 8:34-39)

Jesus healed a man that was possessed by demons. The people saw this and they asked

Jesus to leave. May our attitude be to humble ourselves before God and thank him for his goodness to us when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gates. Thank you, Becky. In our study of Luke's gospel, we've been looking this week at the exorcism of the man who was possessed by legion.

So after legion has been cast out into pigs, they run down the embankment into the sea and are drowned.

Now we see the state of the man and the people's reaction in Luke 8, verses 34 to 39.

Here are the word of the Lord. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

Then 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 of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.

So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, return to your home and declare how much

God has done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much

Jesus had done for him. Now, once again, keeping things in context, as we've read them here in chapter eight, we've been reading about the power of Christ's word, the importance of Christ's word, how we must follow what it is that he says.

Remember that in the parable of the sower, Jesus talked about the seed that was cast on the path, in the rocks, in the thorns, and even in good soil.

And at the end of that part, where he's just giving the parable, not even explaining it yet, but when he gives the parable, he still says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

And then in explaining the parable, he talks about how the seed represents the word. It is the message of the kingdom.

It's the gospel that goes forth. There are many who will hear it. Some will have an immediate reaction to it.

They will look like they are saved. They're following the gospel. These are those who were represented by the rocks and by the thorns, but then the word proves to be unfruitful.

The good soil is the person who hears it and produces a harvest. They hold fast in an honest and good heart.

It is said in verse 15, and they bear fruit with patience. After that, Jesus gave the parable of the lamp under the jar.

And this represented how you are to be responsible with what you hear and grow in your understanding.

Even when Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, Jesus said, my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.

Jesus calmed a storm by speaking to it and the wind and the waves obeyed. And here Jesus has spoken to a demon called

Legion and even they have obeyed his word, cast into these pigs, which ran down the embankment and were drowned in the sea.

That's where we ended yesterday at verse 33. And now we see the aftermath of this whole thing.

Jesus had encountered this demon. These demons had begged not to be thrown into a pit.

Instead, they wanted to go into this herd of pigs. Jesus gave them permission. So we see how his word has authority even over the spiritual realm, even over demons.

And of course he commands angels as well. So here's the reaction. Here's the reaction from the crowd.

Here's the aftermath of this exorcism that Jesus has just performed. In verse 34, when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

Now, like I said yesterday, there were witnesses to this miracle, more than just Jesus' disciples and more than just the man who had the demon cast out of him.

I mentioned that this account was shown in the show, The Chosen, but it had nothing to do with pigs.

And there were not any other witnesses to this also. Of course, their budget probably didn't allow for them to have 2 ,000 pigs on hand to have these demons go into.

And then what are you going to do with those 2 ,000 pigs? You're going to drown them in the Sea of Galilee? So that part seemed to be omitted from the story, even that there were any witnesses to it.

But here you had the herdsmen, those that were there tending to these 2 ,000 pigs.

It's in Mark's account that we know that there were 2 ,000. They go into the city and they speak of it in the country.

Everybody hears about the man that was known to everybody, that was known to the people.

The people were afraid to even go near the tombs because they knew that man possessed by legion lived there.

They didn't want to go anywhere near where he was because no one could handle him. He was a threat to everybody.

Even when arrested and bound in chains, as we read, he would break the chains and the shackles.

Just incredible superhuman strength that was given to this ordinary man under this demonic possession.

And so in verse 35, the people having been told this man is not mad anymore. He does not have the evil spirit, the unclean spirit that was making him the way that he was.

And then all these pigs in addition were drowned. And by the way, if you're picturing the scene in your mind, there's 2 ,000 pigs floating on the surface of the

Sea of Galilee. Now they're not gonna leave them there in the water.

They're gonna go down into the water and drag them out, but what are they gonna do next? Burn them, most likely.

They're dead pigs. You can't even really salvage the meat from them anymore depending on how long they've been dead down there.

And then who wants to eat demon possessed pig? Talk about mad cow disease.

This is a whole different level of what mad swine disease, I guess. So you gotta think as these people are coming to see what it is that has happened, there's 2 ,000 dead swine floating on the surface of the water.

So the people come out to see what had happened and they came to Jesus and they 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.

So interestingly enough, even though there's pigs floating in the water, that part's not mentioned.

In none of the gospels actually is that part mentioned, Matthew, Mark, or Luke. But it is said about this man.

That's the part that really got the people's attention. That's what they couldn't believe and what had them so afraid.

The man who had been possessed by all these demons, he's now sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

And so the people perceive, they know, as they come upon this, that this man is subject to Jesus.

They don't know who Jesus is, but as they see Jesus standing there and they see the man whom they have known, who has been a threat to their region for so long, when they see him sitting at the feet of Jesus, they know who has the authority here.

They know who it is who has all the power. Even though, of course, the testimony would have come from these herdsmen, the people see for themselves, because this man that not even chains and shackles could restrain is subject at the feet of Jesus.

He's clothed. Whereas previously, as we read about him, running around naked, he is in his right mind.

Whereas previously the people knew that he was just utterly mad. And regardless of whatever they thought about angels and demons, which was well thought of in that land, in the region at that time, it's not like people just deny the existence of angels and demons.

So regardless of whatever their angelology or their demonology was, they knew that this man was under the control of some other kind of force.

Nobody could have done the things that he did just as a normal person. And so this former monster, this guy that formerly had been under the possession of demons, have you seen horror movies where people are demonically possessed?

I'm not encouraging you to watch one, but have you ever seen that? This would have been scarier than that. Whatever supernatural film that you've seen and the ways that they will try to depict this in fiction still can't compare with encountering something like this in real life.

Remember that the, I had mentioned to you, I can't remember where I talked about this, Monday, I guess it was, the sons of Sceva, as talked about in Acts chapter 19.

In Ephesus, they were claiming to cast out demons. They wanted the same kind of notoriety and popularity that the apostle

Paul was getting. When he was casting out demons. So these sons of a

Jewish priest, the seven sons of Sceva, are claiming to be able to cast out demons.

But then they encounter a man who is actually demon possessed and they were not prepared for that encounter.

So you can make this up. You can imagine in your mind what it might be like, but it's scarier once you see it in person.

Especially considering what superhuman ability a demon possessed person might have.

Now in the films, if you've ever seen it on TV or in movies or whatever else, they'll always make the demon possessed person move in a very awkward way.

Now, all they're trying to do there when they give that portrayal is to make it look creepy and spooky.

They want your skin to crawl with the unusual, unnatural movements of the person that's under the influence of this demon.

A person who has demons probably is not moving in that way. But there is something about the person that does seem just outside of human comprehension.

What is it about this? Something has control over this person that is not human.

And so the people know of this man, how crazy and mad and threatening he was.

How strong he was that not even chains or bonds could hold him. And here that man is sitting at the feet of Jesus.

So just like we read with Jesus calming the storm, what was the disciples reaction when

Jesus calmed the storm? Were they finally at peace? Oh, this storm that was threatening us, it was gonna capsize our boat, we were all gonna die.

Are they now at peace because Jesus has calmed the storm? No, they're afraid. They're still afraid, but where is their fear?

They're afraid of Jesus because they realize Jesus has more power than the storm that was going to kill them.

And so that's even more frightening. Now we should not be afraid as the disciples were because even

Jesus said to them, where is your faith? We should trust in God.

And we should understand he does have power and authority over all these things, over the things of nature that may threaten us.

Whether you're talking about a storm or you're talking about an illness, or you're talking about the very fact that your body is aging, and it's not gonna have the vigor and the spunk that you had in your youth.

Circumstances that you can't control, things that you don't see are coming down the way, whatever it is that may cause you anxiety, we have nothing to fear of any of that because we worship the one who walks on waves, the one who can calm the storm with a word because he made all of creation with his word.

And so knowing that Christ is sovereign over all of these things should give us peace. So likewise, the devil and his schemes, we have nothing to fear of that either because we know that Jesus has the power to cast out demons with his word.

He has all power and authority that he can even send demons into pigs and those pigs be drowned in the sea, which again is a metaphor for the fact that the demons are all going to be drowned in the lake of fire.

Just as these pigs drown in a lake, these demons are going to be tossed into a lake, the lake of fire at the final judgment.

And we know that Christ is that judge. So we should not fear the devil and his schemes. Instead, we should draw near to Christ, flee from the devil, resist his temptations, his ways, his scheming, drawing near to Christ, and he will draw near to us as said in James chapter four.

So we trust in the one who has power over all of this. The people, however, did not trust him.

They look at the man who was demon -possessed, they see him sitting at the feet of Jesus and just like the disciples who were afraid about the storm, they are afraid of Jesus.

Those who had seen it told them how the demon -possessed man had been healed.

So they saw it, the herdsmen saw it. And maybe even the disciples right here are testifying to it.

Maybe not, but it just says those who had seen it told them how the demon -possessed man had been healed.

Yeah, this is the guy, this is Jesus right here. Told these demons, we heard the conversation.

The demons identifying themselves as legion and Jesus sending them into these pigs. And all the people, verse 37, of the surrounding country of the

Gerasenes asked him to depart from them for they were seized with great fear.

Again, we remember this guy. We remember how crazy he was, how much of a threat to us he was.

None of us dared to go anywhere near the tombs. And this isn't fiction.

This isn't like a horror movie sort of a thing. This was real life. There was someone demonically possessed, full of unclean spirits living in an unclean place.

And they would not go anywhere near it for fear of this man coming out and doing whatever to them, harming them physically, stealing their stuff, ridiculing them, just giving them the heebie -jeebies because they knew that he was possessed by unclean spirits.

And here when they see that Jesus had more power than the whole legion of spirits that had possessed this man, they were seized with great fear.

And they're asking Jesus to leave. We can't handle you here. So the people don't trust him.

What should be their reaction? They see that Jesus has the ability to heal this man.

They should be thanking him. They should be at his feet. You are even greater than these demons.

Where are you from? And desiring to hear from him and learn from him. And it might've been like, you know, we read in John four with Jesus going to the town of Sychar in Samaria and a whole town gets saved because of the testimony of this woman.

They all come out to hear him preach about how he is the Messiah. That could have been the same thing with these people here in the country of the

Gerasenes. That should have been their reaction. They come to Jesus and say, who are you? What sort of amazing power do you possess that you were able to heal this man?

Thank you for saving us from his tyranny, the torment he was putting all of us through and for putting him back in his right mind.

You saved this man's life. Even saving his eternal soul. Save my eternal soul to Jesus.

That should have been the people's reaction. And that's not how they reacted to it.

They were afraid of him. They asked him to leave. There's so many times that I have preached about sin and have been asked to leave.

I've been asked to be quiet or the people will go somewhere else. They don't want to hear it. Now, nobody's going to say that they were afraid of me.

And I'm not even saying that they were afraid of me either, but there was definitely something in what they heard they did not want to face.

And so instead of coming face to face with their sin and realizing the evil that they needed to repent of, coming to Jesus to be cleansed, which is really what

I'm just trying to do, just point them to Christ because that's the only way that you can be healed. I can't do anything to you.

Jesus is your judge, but he's also your savior. If you come to him and ask him to forgive you, but instead of facing those things, they'd rather just not hear it.

They would either go away from me or ask me to leave so they don't have to face these things. They're afraid of facing their own sin, of being exposed, of being recognized as not the good person that they would like to think that they are or they want other people to think of them.

And so here are these people as well, because Jesus not only shows himself to be more powerful than these evil spirits, but he shows himself to be holy.

How is it that these evil spirits could possibly be cast out of this man by someone who is holier than they?

And so they're seized with great fear. They ask him to leave. It says at the end of verse 37, he got into the boat in return.

Remember earlier in Luke, when Jesus was with the disciples for the first time, when he told them to cast their nets out of the boat for a catch, and they did, and it was so full of fish that it was capsizing the boat,

Peter falls down before Jesus. What is it that he says to Jesus? He says,

Lord, turn your eyes from me, for I am a sinful man.

Peter even recognized in that moment that he was in the presence of the

Holy One. But Peter humbled himself before Jesus. These people, they would just want him to go away.

And so indeed, he gets into the boat. He's about to return to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. But then, as I mentioned with this particular narrative account,

Luke doesn't exactly lay it out in order. I'm not really sure why, but it says he got into the boat in return.

But before that happens, we have verse 38. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him.

Jesus, take me with you. Let me go with you. But Jesus sent him away saying, return to your home and declare how much

God has done for you. So the testimony to these people who did not wanna listen to Jesus, they didn't wanna be in his presence.

They were too afraid of him. They thought they were gonna be exposed just like this man had evil spirits cast out of him.

It's this man that goes back into that same place and says to those people, here is what

God has done for me. And the last line is not him going through the whole city and talking how much

God had done for him. It says he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much

Jesus had done for him. Now, of course, that is about how much

God had done for him. Yes, Jesus, God, synonymous. But specifically, he's testifying to Jesus being the

Christ. Jesus, the incarnate son of God who came to take away the work of the devil.

That's what 1 John 3 says. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

And Jesus comes and by his death and his resurrection from the dead, you can be forgiven your sin, that work of the devil that has come into creation ever since the garden of Eden when he tempted

Eve to eat the fruit that God told them not to eat from. And then the wages of that sin, which is death, that also being the work of the devil, death that came into the world because of mankind's sin.

So the reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus dies and as an atoning sacrifice for sin, he rises again from the dead so that even death itself is turned backward.

We can live now, those who put their faith in Jesus Christ who destroys the works of Satan.

My friends, if you're a Christian, you've come face to face with the Holy one. You perhaps like Peter have humbled yourself before God and have said, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Turn your eyes from me because I am a sinful man and God has shown favor to you and has lifted you up and has brought you into fellowship with him through Jesus Christ.

So now if you have come face to face with the Holy one in this way, you cannot walk in unholiness any longer.

You must live in holiness as said in 1 Peter 1, be holy as God is holy.

Then in chapter two, I urge you as sojourners and exiles abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the pagans honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify

God on the day of visitation. Verse 16, live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a coverup for evil, but living as servants of God.

And so may our conduct be reflective of that as we continue to walk the path that God has you on.

Whatever course of life he's got you on, live your life to the glory of God.

Heavenly father, may we be as this man who had demons cast out of him and desire that we could go with Jesus, but wherever we are and whatever we are doing, we would proclaim to everyone how much

Jesus has done for us. We were sinners doomed for destruction. We were headed toward death, but by faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and we've been given everlasting life.

That would be our testimony to others, all that Christ has done for us. May we live in the holiness of your ways.

It's in Jesus name that we pray, amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.