“THE WONDER OF HIS PURPOSE”
LUKE 8:26-38
INTRODUCTION:
George Moore tells the true story of Irish peasants in the depression era that were hired by a wealthy benefactor to build some roads. When they started the job the men worked well, they sang their Irish songs and put their total energies into the job. They were so glad to be back to work again. But little by little they discovered that the roads they were building were not leading anywhere. They simply ran out into the country-side and stopped. This philanthroper, meaning well, had given them a meaningless job in order to feed them and supply a living wage. As the truth began to dawn on them they stopped their singing, lost their enthusiasm and became listless. Commenting on the incident the author said, “For a man to work well and sing, there must be an end in sight. The roads to nowhere are difficult to build.”
There are many people in our culture who are working, trying to build their lives, but who have also lost their enthusiasm. They just plod on day after day, going nowhere, having no joy, no song, because the roads of their lives aren’t leading anywhere. Such a man is described in today’s text. This man’s life lacked meaning, his road stretched out to nowhere. He, like many people in our day, had no purpose in life. But Jesus Christ enters the scene and changes everything. And the transformation Jesus brings to this man, He still offers today.. The wonder of a life of purpose, a life of meaning and joy. So before you tune this incident out as not being applicable because this man is demon possessed, let’s give careful attention to it, because many of us have more in common with this man than we realize.
This incident is recorded for us in 3 of the books on Jesus’ life.. Matthew, Mark & Luke. We’ve printed the text from Luke for you but we will be referring to all three accounts in order to obtain a complete picture of the details. Mark describes this event as taking place in the evening hours. Jesus and his disciples have been on the lake and so when they land their boat at the shore of the section of country known as the Gerascenes, it was probably twilight if not dark. Use your imagination for a moment. The disciple’s bring their boat to the shore. They’ve spent a tiring day and now all they hear is the sound of the water gently lapping against the boat as they pull it on shore, the sea gulls are calling... then suddenly.. The quiet is shattered by a piercing scream. It sounds human and yet, unearthly. Seemingly, out of nowhere, a wounded, naked man- hair matted, eyes wild, broken chains rattling from his wrists and ankles, runs at Jesus and the disciples.. and what happens next between Jesus and this man is miraculous and brings us hope and purpose. What exactly did they see?
I. A POSSESSED LIFE: Vss: 26-29
First, they saw a possessed life. Vs:27 is very clear, “..a demon possessed man” is who met them. Mark describes him as “a man with an evil spirit.” Now, let’s take a brief side-road for a moment and discuss demon possession. It has always been interesting to me that the Bible speaks of demon possession so matter-of-factly. Not a whole lot of explanation, certainly without apology or excuse. Some today find it impossible that evil spirits or demons exist or that they could use a body as a “host” much like in the movie “End of Days.” But the Bible simply says it existed when Jesus walked the earth. The question on many people’s minds is: “Does it exist today?” The answer to that question, bottom line, is “yes.” Demon possession can happen today. But let me offer you a couple of qualifiers. (1) I don’t believe it is as prevalent today as it was in Jesus’ time. In His time satan was launching an all out attack on the Son of God and so took people captive much more frequently than he does today. (2) I think it is extremely rare that demon possession is so obvious as it was in this man... “The Exorcist”, the demon like creatures in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and other modern media not withstanding. I mean think about it.. If satan was so obvious that everyone spit up pea green soup or became maniacal in their looks, he might not be too hard to resist. Satan is much more subtle today, and unfortunately, very successful. (3) And this is very important.. I don’t believe that satan has the power to take a person against their will. Demon possession can happen today but... demon possession happens to those who are open to it. This is especially critical to understand. The Bible is very clear that satan cannot possess you unless you court him. 1 Tim. 4:2 does say that some will do that.. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” The key there is they will abandon the faith.. If you follow Christ you must remember, as John wrote in 1 Jn. 4:4 - “Greater is He (Jesus) that is in you, than he (satan) that is in the world.” You don’t have to walk afraid that a demon is going to pounce on you in surprise, he cannot take you against your will. Now, don’t make the mistake of thinking that satan cannot possess you if you court him.. it begins with small advances. An interest in the occult, Ouija boards, voodoo.. Don’t underestimate the adversary.. Do nothing to open yourself to his dark, power.
Now, for this man, we don’t have a record of how it happened, but simply that he was entirely possessed and possessed by more than one demon. In fact, vs:30 tells us that when asked his name by Jesus the or a demon replied, “Legion.. Because many demons had gone into him.” Here was a man completely under the constraint of evil spirits. A person under the most drastic degree of control that is possible in humans. And by looking at this man, I see a couple of parallels that could be instructive for us. Consider what evil and it’s sinful expression had done here. I’ve used an acronym S.A.D. to describe what had happened to him.
(1) The “S” is that he was shameless. This man no longer had any sense of modesty or shame.. Vs:27- “For a long time this man had not worn clothes..” It is true that sin ultimately renders a person shameless. Modesty becomes a big joke. It is seen as a backward, Victorian concept of prudish, hyper-critical people who haven’t “gotten with it.” Yet as Christians we are told “dress modestly and with propriety.” And this becomes especially important for the women.. Why? Not so much because of you, but because of us men. Our heads are so turned by the visual that the Lord asks you to help us. A preacher friend of mine admitted that he had a problem with looking at scantily dressed women and allowing his mind to wander into impure areas. So, after a particular quiet time in the book of Job where he had come upon the verse in Job 31:1- “I have made a covenant with my eyes, not to look lustfully upon a woman..” he decided he would watch what he looked at. As it worked out he was in a shopping center right after that, going into a Rite Aid, and out walks a beautiful girl in short, short, shorts and a halter top. Seeing her and remembering his covenant with his eyes, he put his head down and refused to look, and walked straight ahead. The only problem was he walked straight into the Exit door of Rite Aid with a “thud!” It’s hard on us girls. But one of the characteristics of sin is that it begins to strip us of our modesty and we can become shameless.
(2) The “A” is abandoned. Notice that it appears that his friends and neighbors had at one time tried to salvage him, but now they had given up. He is described in vs:27 as not having “lived in a house” for a long time and in vs:29 it tells us that he “had been driven by the demon into solitary places.” The more a person comes under the sway of evil, the harder it gets to live with them until, finally, everyone of good influence pulls away and leaves him alone. Please understand, sin separates, sin alienates. It drives people to extreme loneliness and despair. While sin promises fulfillment and gratification, it actually in the end leads to separation and alienation.
(3) The “D” is “deranged.” This man became a raving lunatic who was extremely violent. These evil spirits had destroyed his finer qualities.. Love, gentleness, tenderness. You don’t have to see this extreme type of possession to see sin do that today do you? Spouse or child abuse, school shootings, violent crimes.. Sin eventually imposes it’s own values on a person and they are not pretty.
But that is what sin does.. It makes a person S.A.D... And all you have to do is put the spiritual on the back burner of your life and put this world, which satan temporarily rules over, as #1 to have it happen. God tries to tell us over and over.. All who put this world first will be mastered by it. Rom. 6:16- “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” It doesn’t take demon possession like with this man to see a person under the sway of evil and the Evil One. According to the Bible if God isn’t controlling your life, then the things of satan are. And part of satan’s success is his subtlety. Satan is a master at directing lives from the shadows.. As long as you don’t believe he’s there then you won’t be alarmed and take action to change things. In the mean time, gradually, he leads you down the path of sin, a degree at a time and you don’t realize it. Much like the frog who if you put in boiling water would jump out, but will stay in tepid water that is heated one degree at a time and ends up cooked.. You finally are doing things you never dreamed you would do. But the good news is that you don’t have to be a slave to sin.. It doesn’t have to have the downward spiraling effect it does on some and certainly on this man.. Because there is someone who wants to protect you from all that... You see, this demon possessed man, with no sense of shame or modesty, having been abandoned by other human beings, a violent, raving lunatic, was about to find the answer to his problems, the same answer, that’s available today. As this possessed life becomes..
II. A PRESERVED LIFE: Vss: 30-37
A preserved life. I find vs:28 very interesting. “When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at His feet, shouting at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torture me.’” Both Matthew and Mark tell us that this man came and met Jesus. Why? If the demons have control of the man, and if they see in Jesus, someone who can harm them, and certainly both those things are true, why don’t they run from Jesus rather than to Him? I thought of a couple of things: (1) Could it be that in Jesus, they see something that many people miss? That the Son of God is all powerful and all-knowing and can’t be run from? After all, how do you escape God? Where do you go to hide? The writer of Psalm 139:7 asks, “Is there anyplace I can go to avoid you? To be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute — you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!” (The Message)
(2) Could it be that there is still enough of this man’s humanity left that he knows who he must go to for help? Mark 5:6 suggests that. After describing the man’s discomfort & hopeless condition it says, “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of Him.” Whatever the reason for his coming to Jesus, the Son of God was certainly the answer to his problems. And Jesus transforms this man in three steps:
(1) Jesus responded not with chains, but with care. Vs:30- “Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’” What would your reaction have been to this naked, disheveled and deranged man who came running down from the tombs toward you? Fear? Indifference? Anger? Jesus received him, just as he did the woman at the well that we studied last week, exactly as he was. Jesus was constantly taking the time to help others regardless where they were ranked on the social ladder, or of how degenerate they appeared. And He still cares like that today. Charles Weigle wrote, “All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me, All my heart was full of misery and woe; Jesus placed His strong & loving arms around me, And He led me in the way I ought to go. No one ever cared for me like Jesus, There’s no other friend so kind as He; No one else could take the sin and darkness from me- O how much He cares for me!”
(2) Jesus removed the source of evil from his life. This may be the first documented case of the “Swine flu”.. Because that’s just about what these pigs did.. Vs:31- “And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.” By the way, if you ever wonder whether or not demons can enter you without permission? They had to ask to go into pigs didn’t they? How likely is it they could enter people who are called, “the sheep of His pasture” without His approval? Jesus removed the negative from this man’s life. And when Jesus saves you and me, He does the same thing. He completely cleanses you from sin. 1 Jn. 1:9- “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness.” But He doesn’t just remove the negative & leave a vacuum.
(3) Jesus also replaced the evil with peace and sanity. When word about what had happened got out it draws a crowd and what did they find? Vs:35- “When they came
to Jesus they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind..” What a contrast! From abandoned He sits at the feet of the Son of God.. From shameless and immodest to completely dressed.. From deranged to being in right mind! And the wonderful thing is that Jesus promises that same preservation from sin today! If you will only understand that He cares for you and come to Him He will remove the things from your life that keep you bound up & chained.. Maybe it’s greed, doubt, anger, pride, envy.. Whatever it is.. Jesus will remove them and replace the chains with the Holy Spirit. And with His help as you walk together and build a relationship with the Lord, you will find the negatives being more & more replaced by His values.. Why? Because The Holy Spirit becomes your Comforter, your Companion, your Intercessor in prayer, your Guarantee that your sins are forgiven, your future is planned and you have what this man now had..
III. A PURPOSEFUL LIFE: vss:37-38
Notice the contrast between the crowd and this man. The crowd wanted Him to get out of town. Why? Hadn’t they just been visited by the Son of God? Hadn’t they just witnessed a miracle of incredible power? Hadn’t they just seen a man delivered from the bondage of demon possession? And yet they ask that man to go away? Two thoughts here.. (1) Maybe the request had some connection to the pigs. Could it be that they focused more on the possible loss of income from their property than on the potential blessing from God that stared them directly in the face? You may say, “Well that would be crazy.” But don’t people do the same today? Instead of asking Jesus into their lives or into a deeper relationship they say, “Well, I believe in God and Jesus but I don’t want to become fanatical.” “Well, I’ve given myself to God.. Now to get baptized or give my money to the church or spend time serving in a ministry.. That’s a little much.” Jesus continues to give opportunities to accept Him or grow in Him.. Don’t get your priorities so confused that you send Him away! (2) But one thing all the gospel writer’s agree on about the crowd.. They were afraid! In fact, Luke says in vs:37- “..they were overcome with fear.” Afraid of what? Most scholars refer to the fear of more loss of property.. If there were more demon possessed people in the region where would Jesus send them next? Into the cattle? Into the camels? But when you look at vss:35-37 the fear seems to be more connected with the transformation of the demon possessed man than the pigs. Vs:35- “When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; AND they were afraid.” The people in Vs:37 were overcome with fear after they heard in vs:36 about how the man was cured. The Living Bible says about those in vs:37.. that “.. A deep wave of fear swept over them.” One author suggested that their fear was that Jesus would see them for who they really were. If He had the power to see, talk and handle demons, what could He see in their lives? We can only guess at what they were so afraid of but we know what Jesus did.. One of the saddest verses in all the Bible- Last of vs:37- “So He got in the boat and left.” Jesus didn’t then and won’t today, force Himself where He’s not wanted. So He didn’t beg, He didn’t plead, He just left.
But there was one who wasn’t going to let the moment escape. This man wanted to stay close to Jesus. So great was this man’s deliverance that he could think of nothing more important than remaining with Jesus. You see, this man now had a “why” for his life and he wanted, more than anything else, to develop a relationship with this One who had transformed his life. Someone once said, “If a man has a why for his life, he can endure any how.” This man before Jesus had no purpose for living but now through the Son of God his life is transformed into one of significance! And Jesus continues to work the same miracle today.. I could ask scores of people in this room to come up and tell you what they used to be... and what, because of Jesus Christ, they now are. I’ve seen lives transformed not just in some hilly section of Galilee but in this very room. Those who were once addicted to drugs or alcohol, now clean; those who were once bound to destructive sexual relationships now healed; those who were lonely now comforted; those who were lost now found. People who have been brought from places where they were their own worst enemy to places where they are “sitting at the feet of Jesus, dressed and in their right minds.” Life after life transformed.. And this man knew what he had been and what he now was. No wonder he wanted to stay! But the Lord had other plans for him.
Does it seem strange to you that Jesus turned down his request? But Jesus wasn’t building a traveling, revival show. He was more interested that this man show those who had seen him in bondage, now completely free. What an impact he would have when he did as vs:39 says.. “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” Our first priority is to demonstrate to those we know.. Relatives, friends, co-workers.. How Jesus has changed us. More important than how impressed people are with the sermon, or how moved they are with the singing, or how inspired they are by the service... is how clearly they see the transformation that Jesus has wrought in your life. Does this thing called Christianity really make a difference? Interestingly, some time later when Jesus returned to this general area it says that a “large crowd gathered.” I wonder if it was because of this man’s testimony.
Jesus gave this man two purposes.. And as I see it, He gives every one of us the same two purposes in his or her life.. (1) Is a very pointed purpose.. salvation. The most important change you will ever undergo is the one that Jesus offers in cleansing you from sin. He, and He alone promises to transform you from sinner to saved, from dirty to clean, from a life that lacks true meaning to one of great purpose. But once you are saved, once your soul has been guaranteed heaven.. Why hang around? Isn’t everything you’ve ever heard about heaven going to be better than this place? Why stay here in the mud when you could live in the stars? (2) Because secondly, besides the pointed purpose there is a prolonged purpose for staying here.. That’s to share the good news of salvation with others. And what a grand purpose.. To go to heaven when we die and take as many people with us as we can when we go! The most important question I can ask this morning is: Have you allowed Him to change you? I mean really change you? From sinner to saved, from living for the temporary to having an eternal purpose for your life?
The Bible teaches that until you know and accept Christ, you are “dead in your sins.” Oh, you may be walking around looking alive, but according to the Bible you are among the “walking dead,” spiritually dead because you have not been forgiven. You live in the tombs of this world without even knowing it. But the good news is you don’t have to stay there. Today Jesus is near.. Will you do as this man did and come kneel before Him and be cleansed or like the crowd and send Him away? Why not in full submission ask the question this man did? “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” He’s ready to give you an answer, and transform your life in a way you might never expect and you’ll certainly never forget!
