The Supernatural Authority of Jesus ~ Luke 8:26-39! February 9, 2014 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson!

Intro: In studying the historical documents that inform us of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, one often comes across passages that are thrilling, enlightening, convicting, encouraging, and downright perplexing. Such is the case today. And the reason its perplexing is not because it deals with Jesus or the supernatural, but b/c it deals with supernatural evil. Were going to look at an extreme example of what demonic inuences can do to a human personality that has come under their complete dominion (HT: D. Gooding). And as 21 century folks living in Canada, were uncomfortable with even entertaining the possibility of such notions. !

! Gallup Poll: US: 72% believe in angels; 70% believe in demons. CAN: 56% angels; 37% demons. Why?! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Clue #1: Weve bought into the notion of a cartoonish character (a la O Brother Where Art Thou?)! Pete: Ive always wondered, whats the devil look like? ! Ulysses Everett McGill: Well, there are all manner of lesser imps and demons, Pete, but the great Satan himself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork.! Clue #2: Weve bought into a materialistic view of the world (ie., only what is physical / measurable exists). ! Walker Percys character, Dr. Tom More, in Love in the Ruins, There still persiststhe quaint superstition that only that which is visible is real.!

For these reasons and more, many people in our city nd it beyond difcult to believe that there exists something that we might term supernatural evil, or the demonic or the devil. ! But heres the deal: no one spoke of the devil in Scripture more than Jesus; and if you're willing to take Jesus seriously, you have to take his view of reality seriously too. ! In essence, Jesus says: If you have any respect for mewhether you consider yourself a follow or not dont you dare throw the personal, intelligent, and menacing entity called the devil (or Satan) from your understanding of the whats going on in this world (HT: F. Harrell).! Shakespeares Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.!

Jesus is going to ask you to sophisticate your understanding of all kinds of things: God, yourself, & evil.! When you look around at the worldeverything from the evil of the holocaust to the evil of child trafcking is it just possible that there is something or someone behind the scenes inspiring this evil? Is it just possible that there are indeed malevolent spiritual forces at work against us? ! The ancient wisdom from the Scriptures would say Yes. One cannot explain the sum total of all the evil in the world simply by taking into account human actions and choices. There is more going on that we may be able to see or willing to admit. ! To say that this is impossible is to state that you have an exhaustive knowledge of this universe, and that you know more about this topic than Jesus does. Are you so sure that youve got this right and Jesus has got this wrong? !

! The Supernatural Authority of Jesus ~ Luke 8:26-39! ! Be on the lookout for: (1) the authority of Jesus; (2) the response(s) to Jesus.! ! !
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26! Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27!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. [Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones - Mk. 5:5.]!

1. Vs. 27 speaks of the man as having demons, and vs. 36 speaks of him being demon-possessed, literally demonized or under the inuence of demons. !

! ! (1) Demons are fallen angels who sinned & rebelled against God (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). ! ! ! (2) Satan is a Hebrew term meaning adversary (cf. 1 Peter 5:8-9, Your adversary the devil.). ! ! ! (3) Satan is the leader of demons (Rev. 12:9 - speaks of his angels who joined him in rebellion). ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

(4) Satans primary modus operendi is to use lies & deception (John 8:44; Rev. 12:9 - the deceiver of the whole world). ! John 8:44 (NIV), You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your fathers desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.!

(5) Satan & his fallen angels hate humanity seemingly because they bear the image of God (Gen. 2-3).!

2. Demonization or demon possession seems to be fairly rare. ! only 2x in the OT (possibly); only 2x outside the gospels (Acts)! N. Geldenhuys, a special phenomenon which was particularly frequent during Jesus earthly sojourn and thus was directly connected with His coming to destroy the power of darkness.!

28! When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.! cf. Luke 4:34, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us.! cf. Matthew 25:41, the eternal re prepared for the devil and his angels.! Rev. 20:10, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of re and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.! 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.)! This is an extreme case of demonic inuence: He was dehumanized, animalized, marginalized, and both frightening and fearful (Hughes 305).! 30! Jesus then asked him, What is your name? And he said, Legion, for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. ! A Roman Legion contained 6,000 soldiers. But notice these soldiers of the evil one are begging Jesus not to send them to the abyss. They know their days are numbered. ! Ryken 399, We can smell the fear of the demons in the way they pleaded with Jesus. Some people may not believe in hell, but the demons certainly do. !

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32 Now a large herd of pigs [numbering about 2,000 - Mk. 5:13] was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 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. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ed and told it in the city and in the country.!

Ryken 399-400, Demons destroyed the pigs? Better than turning them loose upon the general population? the pigs were ceremonially unclean and therefore an appropriate receptacle for demons? hog farming was illegal (Lev. 11:7)? Jesus created these pigs so he has the right to do with them as he pleases? Or, Jesus simply used this as a visible display of the unseen reality: Jesus had delivered this man from invisible spirits, and Jesus demonstrated in a very real and undeniable way his supernatural authority of the spiritual realm of demonic forces. The pigs lived and died for the glory of God.!

35! 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. 36! And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 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.!

! Notice the incredible transformation: sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind!! ! ! !

These people went themselves and saw with their own eyes what Jesus had done, and they were told that the reason why he was not sitting at the feet of Jesus was because Jesus had healed him. And they still wanted nothing to do with him. They were afraid of what Jesus might do, how he might rearrange their lives, of his power and authority, and they wanted nothing to do with him. ! 2 Cor. 4:4, In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. ! 38! The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 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.!

! Jesus: Tell them what God has done. The man: told them what Jesus had done for him. ! ! ! !

Important Question: Why did Luke record these stories in his historical biography of Jesus? ! Part of Jesus mission is to reclaim his creation, and to restore sanity to human beings created in the image of God and designed for shalom / human ourishing. His aim is to rescue us, redeem us, clothe us in his righteousness and put us in a right mind. ! Luke is helping us connect the dots to see that Jesus isnt just some ordinary personor even an extraordinary person, he is the One with the supreme authority to deal with the natural and supernatural, to make it obey his commands, and to restore shalom. He brings sanity!!

! Points of Application: !

Main Idea: In Jesus, we find not only our salvation, but also our sanity.

1. Decide what you will do with Jesus. This text shows us two responses to Jesus: (1) The response of those who wanted nothing to do with Jesus; (2) the response of the man who wanted to be with Jesus, and Jesus commissioned him to join in the mission of declaring what God has done for him. !
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! 2. ! ! ! 3. ! !

CS Lewis, There are only two kinds of peoplethose who say to Gog, Thy will be done to God or those to whom God in the end says, Thy will be done. All that are in Hell choose it.!

Adopt Jesus view of reality.! CS Lewis, There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist and magician with the same delight.! Hobbema vs. Calgary! Tell your own rescue story. ! Every Christians has a testimony. The man in this account did. His was a story of delivery from demonic possession. That may not be your story. Yours may be a story of deliverance from enslavement to pornography, deliverance from selshness, hoarding, anger & malice, unforgiveness, the slavery from your past, deliverance from someones nasty verdict of who you are, anything! ! Col. 1:13-14, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his believed Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.!

! Conclusion: ! ! Part of my own rescue story is a story of how Christ delivered me from my own insanity. ! !

Ecclesiastes 9:3, the hearts of the children of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live.!

! Christ rescued me. He has clothed me in his own righteousness, and now Im in my right mind. ! !

How do I know? Because the unholy trinity of sin, the world, and the devil tell me Im crazy for sitting at the feet of Jesus calling him my Savior & King. And all I can say is, Hallelujah, All I Have Is Christ! Hallelujah, Jesus Is My Life!

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