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Pastor James May
Running with the Pigs
Matthew 8:28-34
Matthew 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
Matthew 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Matthew 8:30 And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding.
Matthew 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Matthew 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Matthew 8:33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.
Matthew 8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.
In this passage of scripture there are two demoniacs mentioned as confronting Jesus when He landed on the shores of the Gadarenes. Luke and Mark each only mention one demoniac on this occasion probably focusing their attention only on the worst of the two who was possessed of a legion of demons.
In examining this story, I want us to focus on several things. Why did Jesus go there?
Who benefited from His coming, and what happened to those who would not receive Him?
Why did Jesus go to the Gadarenes?
There could be many reasons for Jesus to come to this place. I don’t think that anything that He ever did was by accident, but that everywhere He went and everything He did had a purpose.
Jesus went to the Gadarenes to invade Satan’s Fortress.
His mission on this earth was to give His life for the salvation of mankind. He knew that there were souls in this land who needed Him desperately and who could not deliver themselves from the hand of Satan and his demons.
Satan had done his best to keep anyone from invading his territory. The scriptures say that no man could pass that way because of the fierceness of the demoniacs.
Many times, according to Mark and Luke, these demoniacs had been trapped, bound in chains in hopes of clearing the road of their menace to society, and every time these demoniacs had broken the chains under the power of Satan and no man could tame them.
We should never underestimate the power of the devil over the hearts of those who don’t know Jesus.
When we look around us, at those who do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives, they seem to be doing well for the most part. It is hard to imagine the chains that hold their soul in the bondage of sin. If we would only take the time to look back to the time before Jesus set us free, we could begin to understand how powerful those chains are.
I am certain that these demoniacs did not want to be possessed by demons. It is written in Mark 5:5, "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." It is reasonable to believe that this man was under constant torment of the demons within. Screaming with mental anguish at the voices which constantly spoke in his mind and in his ear the vile talk of hell, even trying the only things that he could to get the demons to leave by slicing his own body to try to bleed the demons out, and maybe even attempting to commit suicide in an effort to get free from the feelings of dread, darkness, foreboding and cold evil that engulfed him.
No matter what he did, the demoniac had no power over his own mind and actions. He did whatever the demons wished. They even drove him into cemetery to live among the tombs in any shelter he could find, whether it was a stone cover over a statue or even inside a cracked or open tomb. Demons loved the tombs because no one could oppose them, no one would come near, and it was as though they were proudly and arrogantly standing before the world and daring anyone to enter their domain of death.
Those who do not live for the Lord are living for the Devil.
Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Men, women, teenager, and even, in our days, little kids, can stand with their proud, arrogant attitude and shake their fists in the face of God. They can declare that God is Dead and legislate every form of righteousness from their midst. They stand with a proud, holier than thou look and profess to be the only people with the ability to think in this world and don’t realize that they are possessions of Satan himself.
Satan blinds his own children, he doesn’t want them to know the truth. He doesn’t want them to run to Jesus. He doesn’t give them any freedom. Satan is a hard taskmaster. He will promise wealth, power, fame, and popularity but never reveals that, behind the scenes, he is controlling each of his children like puppets on a string.
Do you know anyone who is hooked on partying? On drugs? On sex with anyone at anytime? On pornography? On earning money and collecting possessions? On anything of this world?
These same people would deny vehemently that they are possessed of the devil. Perhaps there are demons living within them at this moment, and then again, there are those who actually are possessed.
What does possession mean?
1.To have as property; own.
2.To have as a quality, characteristic, or other attribute: possessed great tact.
3.To acquire mastery of or have knowledge of: possess valuable data.
4.
a.To gain or exert influence or control over; dominate: Fury possessed me.
b.To control or maintain (one’s nature) in a particular condition: I possessed my temper despite the insult.
5.To cause to own, hold, or master something, such as property or knowledge: She possessed herself of the unclaimed goods.
6.To cause to be influenced or controlled, as by an idea or emotion: The thought of getting rich possessed him.
7.Obsolete. To gain or seize.
Every one of those definitions matches the condition of the life of a sinner that is serving the devil.
I might add, that those same definitions apply to the life of a Christian who has surrendered his life to Jesus.
BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!
Those who are possessed by Satan, are possessed by force, sometimes in subtle ways and always forcefully.
Those who are possessed by Jesus Christ are possessed because they choose to be, in the ways of righteousness and holiness and always in a voluntary fashion.
Jesus possesses us, purchases our freedom, and then gives us the freedom to choose to serve Him or go back to serving the devil.
Jesus gives us a choice; Satan doesn’t!
As soon as the demons saw Jesus they knew Him!
Do you want to know why any religion of the world is accepted accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
The reason is simple. Everything that is not of Jesus Christ is of this world. Everything that is of this world already belongs to Satan and, in some form or another, everything of this world is designed to lead us away and keep us away from the Truth.
Satan’s demons are always busy, screaming over the airwaves, through the news media, in the halls of Congress, on the city streets, trying their best to strike fear into the hearts of anyone who would try to invade their territory.
You can mention Mohammed, Buddha, Hare Krishna, the Egyptian idols, or any other golden calf of the world and you won’t hear a cry of offense, but let someone, anyone, speak the name of Jesus Christ and suddenly all hell will break loose.
James 4:4, "… know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
SATAN’S POWER IS VERY LIMITED!
He is able to control, to persuade, to distract people and maintain power and possession over them almost at will.
But there are times when he has no power at all.
Matthew 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Matthew 8:30 And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding.
Matthew 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
These demons knew that they were in the presence of Almighty God and they also knew that they were destined to be cast out.
Those who are the proud and arrogant of this world may not know or understand what lies ahead because they are blinded, but Satan and his demons certainly do.
These demons couldn’t even enter into a pig without the permission of Jesus.
Jesus is in control. The demons tremble now in fear. There fortress is demolished in the presence of the King of Kings and they have no defenses.
Understand this:
Satan has no power in the presence of Jesus Christ. He is a defeated enemy.
He cannot stop you from finding Jesus if you will to do so.
He cannot stop Jesus from setting you free.
He cannot stop the blood of Christ from washing your sin away.
He cannot stop the deliverance that Jesus brings!
Jesus commanded them to “Go” into the herd of pigs and they had to obey immediately. The demoniac was instantly set free and in his right mind. They only people in this world who have the answer and can reason in their right mind are those who are saved and full of the Holy Ghost. God is truth. God is wisdom.
The power of the Word of Almighty God is awesome indeed.
In the beginning – God spoke and there was light!
God spoke and the earth was formed!
God speaks and mountains tremble and the earth quakes!
God speaks and things happen!
There is creative power in His word!
There is also the awesome power of judgment in His Word!
The demoniac was free! The land was safe again for any who would pass that way! There would be no more cries of agony, cutting with stones or living among the dead!
It was as though he was re-born to a whole new life with his past nothing more than a memory that was fading quickly.
That’s what Jesus can do for you right now.
He will take away your pain, your feelings of dread, your fear of the future, the weight of sin and He will create within you a clean heart and give you new life!
What happened to the swine and to those who chose to not accept Jesus?
This is the sad part of this sermon.
The demons caused the swine to go mad and the whole herd ran off of the edge of a high cliff into the sea and drowned.
It has been said that these pigs were being kept by Jews in a foreign land which was strictly against the Law of Moses.
Sometimes God will drive your wealth, your health, your popularity, your fame from you in order to get your attention.
Wealth and all those things of the world carry no significance with God, but your soul is worth all of heaven’s riches.
Too many people would rather run with the pigs than accept salvation in Christ. They would rather stay in the muck and mire of sin, live on the leftovers of life and follow the herd over the cliff of death into eternal hell.
Those round about recognized Jesus, they knew His power, they knew that He had the ability to save their country and heal their diseases, and to deliver their land from the bonds of Satan completely, but they chose not to let Him do so.
The rest of the people were blind to the fact that they, too, needed deliverance. They did not recognize the fact that they were also possessed of the devil. They considered their pigs as a source of wealth, to be more important than knowing Jesus. This world was too important to give up raising pigs and obey the righteousness of God. They refused to change their ways, repent of their evil and follow Christ. They asked Him to leave and in so doing, gave up their only hope of deliverance from the powers of hell that held them.
Jesus will not override your will. He is the perfect gentleman. He stands ready to forgive if only we will allow Him to.
Jesus left the land of the Gadarenes. Two men, who were once possessed by Satan now belonged to God’s family. Two men out of the multitudes that needed Christ.
Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
What about you?
What will you choose to do?
Will you choose to run with the rest of the pigs, chase Jesus away, and live as a possession of the devil;
OR – RUN TO JESUS, ASK HIS DELIVERANCE, ACCEPT HIM AS SAVIOR, AND BE SET FREE?
The choice is yours! What will you choose?
