88 Lord of All

The disciples had been growing blind to who Jesus was. They were listening to Him teach, they were aware of His claim to be the Messiah, and they knew He had power. Yet they kept forgetting that He was God in the flesh. They tried to steer Him to being a King and forgot to trust Him. They needed a reminder, as we often do, of who was walking with them.

Knowing their hearts, Jesus leads them first into a violent storm. They see His humanity as He sleeps in the stern of the boat, and express their lack of deep faith by questioning His care for them. This is the first experience that God gives them to help soften their hardened hearts. Yet He is done. He isn’t just Lord of the Storm, but He is Lord of all. He now leads them into one of the most dramatic and visible spiritual encounters of their lives. They are going to see God’s power over Satan in no uncertain terms.

Who is Jesus?

He is the Center of all History.

God created the heavens and the earth to show His glory.

From before the foundations of the earth were laid, He knew man would fall into sin and planned to redeem man by sending His Son.

His Son would manifest the glory of God to all the world, showing His power, love, compassion, mercy, judgment righteousness, and wrath.

Heb. 1:3 “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

The disciples don’t know that Jesus has come to die and have not understood who He really is. They have seen His power of creation, and now must learn of His power over the supernatural.

1 Peter 1:20-21 “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Harmonizing Accounts:

Gergesenes versus Gadarenes: Two towns and the name of a region. (Sea of Galilee, Sea of Tiberius)

Matthew adds that their was a second man, although only one appears to do the talking.

Matthew also tells us that these men were “exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.”

Mark adds that they roamed the mountains and tombs, continuing to cut themselves and to cry out. They came to Jesus, recognizing Him as Lord and bow before Him in worship.

What Happens?

Jesus and the Disciples arrive on shore and try to use this path to head into town.

The demon possessed men meet them and Jesus commands the demon to leave. A dialog follows with the demons eventually possessing the herd of swine and killing them.

Lessons

We must distinguish narrative accounts from teaching accounts.

With the four soils we were told:

Matthew 13:11 “He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

Here we have an account of something that happens and how Christ deals with it. We should not assume that it is normative, but miraculous. Christ doesn’t tell us to imitate Him in this, but uses this to reveal who He is to the disciples.

You don’t notice people going to sea in a storm to try to still the storms.

But the NSW (Neo-Spiritual Warfare) movement with Neal Anderson and the book “the bondage breaker” use this account to teach trying to get a demons name as it gives you power over the demon. There is no evidence of this at all.

This is the only account where Jesus asks a name.

Reason: It is to let the disciples know what He already knows that they are dealing with many spirits.

Neo-Spiritual Warfare movement:

Much is taught as having been learned from experience.

Yet satan is a deceiver, a liar and the father of lies.

Does anyone really think that they can tell when a Spirit is acting deceitfully or truthfully? Only Jesus / God can know this. Only God can compel truthful answers.

We are never taught to listen to satan, but are to resist him staying steadfast in the faith. (which comes from the word of God. Romans 10:17)

The man / men was Possessed by a legion of demonic spirits.

There is a movement in NSW to change the traditional terms, which were derived from the text of scripture to a more generalized term. (Demonized)

The bible makes distinctions that the traditional terms support.

Possessed — Unsaved, demon lives within, able to possess them at times completely, sometimes manifesting as muteness, sickness, seizures, deafness, suicidal tendencies....

Oppressed — can be anyone. External oppression.

Paul was given a thorn in the flesh by satan.

Job was allowed to be tested by God.

The hidden agenda for this debate is to break down the distinctions between demon possession and demon influence in order to support the conclusion that Christians can be demon-possessed. This is made evident by one such theologian’s statement:

If by ‘demon-possessed’ they mean that a person’s will is completely dominated by a demon, so that a person has no power left to chose to do right and obey God, then the answer to whether a Christian could be demon possessed would certainly be no …

By rejecting the historically accepted definition of demon possession and reducing it to nothing more than an extreme form of demon influence, that author is then able to say that Christians can be demon-possessed, and thereby justify so-called deliverance ministries and exorcisms of believers.

Robert Dean Jr., “Demon Possession and the Christian,” Chafer Theological Seminary Journal 14, no. 1 (2009): 13.

These deliverance ministries and exorcisms of so called believers pander to the flesh as they give us the power over satan through the name of Jesus. They sell books and bring believers in the bondage of fear as they see satan in every circumstance and area of life.

Verses to support that a Christian can’t be possessed.

The Holy Spirit Dwells in Us. 1 Co 3:16 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Spirits only seek an empty house: Matthew 12:43-45 ““When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.””

Jesus has prayed for us to be kept from satan. John 17:5

Those truly saved keep themselves from sin and the wicked one does not touch them. 1 John 5:18

God promises to protect us from the evil one.

2 Thes. 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.”

Arguement from Silence: Demon possession of believers is never mentioned in Scripture.

So why do they try to teach that a Christian can be demonized?

To justify the sin of some professing Christians.

James 1:14 “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”

3. During Christ’s earthly ministry there were more demonic encounters than at any other time in God’s Word.

With the light of Christ, satan was more visible.

Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8 “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

So he healed sickness, cast out demons, even raised the dead to show who He was.

These were sign gifts that testified to all that He was God.

Both Jesus and the writer of Hebrews tell us that these were signs that He was speaking from the Father. They were in agreement as God.

There was never a time that Jesus failed to perform a miracle that He claimed the power to do.

4. The demons know who Jesus is, worship, and know His power, yet are not saved.

A mental assent to the reality of God and Jesus, even to the resurrection, does not equal salvation.

Both the Beatitudes and the Four Soils parables emphasize the need to see the fruit of obedience to know the reality of salvation.

5. Jesus is God in the flesh with power not only over nature, but over everything in heaven and earth.

He is able to command and rebuke satan with a word, even a legion of demons submits with no ability to resist.

Why did He cast into the Swine?

Many try to make a point that the Swine were unclean and this land was near Israel so having swine was bad.

I don’t believe this.

We are trying to justify God and we don’t have to.

Israel alone was forbidden to eat pigs as their were deemed unclean by God.

Yet on the day they were created, they were ‘very good’.

After the flood they were given to man as food.

After Peter’s vision in Acts 10, they are again given to all men as clean.

God is not evil for allowing this source of income to perish. He isn’t doing it even because they are are worse than other people.

Luke 13:1-5 “There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.””

All men have sinned. Unless they repent, God will judge them with eternal hell. To have allowed this judgment is not sin, but a warning of the true judgment coming.

It reminded the people of the Sovereignty of God. He rules over the Spirits and over all men. They were under His authority.