The Gerasene Demoniac

Introduction

Opening Illustration: When I was a young Christian, in my late teens, I thought like many Christians, that demons were real but also not necessarily a serious thing to take into account on a day to day basis. I knew the Bible spoke about them, but there was an element of fantasy fiction that just limited me. Then I was 21 I moved to Thailand to become a missionary. One night I had a dream that a demon had entered my room and was standing at the foot of my bed, with a white bed sheet over it, like a child might dress up like a ghost. I was not sure of the meaning of the dream, until a few days later. I had a friend over who was buddhist and deeply ingrained in spiritual buddhist practices. I told nobody about the dream. I left the room for a moment, and when I came back, he was standing at the foot of my bed with a white bed sheet over him in the exact same position as the demon in my dream. Two things about this story that should be said. #1 - That young man eventually abandoned his buddhist heritage and came to faith in Jesus Christ. #2 - Ever since then I have had a deep respect for the reality of how demons operate and influence individuals.

Personal: If you are a Christian, you should have a working understanding of how spiritual warfare works. We should avoid an obsession with the occult. We should avoid curiosity for curiosity’s sake when it comes to demons. But the Bible speak much about them, and we would do well to not pretend that they do not exist. I suspect that many of the challenges we face on a day to day basis, have elements of spiritual warfare to them, but because Christians have largely abandoned the holistic Biblical worldview, don’t see it.

Context: Perhaps I have already lost you in our sermon today. And if that the case, I beg of you that you let me complete my whole message before you leave. As we study Scripture we quickly realize that the world the Bible describes has far more spiritual realities happening in our every day to day life than most people care to admit. The Bible is not shy to discuss angels and demons, and a whole most more than that. And neither ought we be. In our passage today, Jesus casts demons out of a man. And we are going to use this passage to learn about spiritual warfare, and about Christ’s beautiful victory over every enemy.

Luke 8:26–39 “Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 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. 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.” 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.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the m…”

Meaning & Application

From this text I would like to draw out three lessons of Spiritual Warfare to aid us in our day to day life.

I. DEMONIC INFLUENCE AND RULERSHIP WILL ALWAYS LEAD TO MISERY

The first principle we see from this text is that demonic influence and rulership will always lead to misery.

Verse 27: Look at this man with me. We are told that this man had many demons and that “wore no clothes, had not lived in a house,” and “lived among the tombs.”

Wore No Clothes: In Christ’s day, nudity was absolutely forbidden. In fact there are a few stories we read about in the Old Testament, where a king, in order to shame his enemies, cuts off their clothing and made them go about naked. And so this demon had placed this man in a place of total humiliation and disgrace. He was ashamed of himself. Shame is a common tool of demons.

Lived Among Tombs: Secondly, he had no home and lived among the tombs. A home is a place of stability, of centeredness, of order in a life. This demon had stripped this man of a home, but he was sentenced to live among the dead. The only proper way to describe this man is that he is being described as one who is already dead. This man’s condition is utterly miserable, and he is being kept there by a force outside of his control. Disrupting stability, and moving individuals towards desparation is a common tool of the enemy.

This Man is Possessed: What we have in this man is an extreme form of demonic influence, often known as possession. One sign of possession in this text is the demons speaking through the mouth of the man. This is a well-documented phenomenon both in Scriputre and spiritual warfare. The demon say that their name is “Legion.” A “legion” in the Roman army was 6,000 men. It could be that this man had become a host to thousands of demons that were ruining his life.

What are Demons: What are demons, or as verse 29 refers to them “unclean spirits.” First of all, where do demons come from? What are they? The first and probably most well accepted theory, is rooted in Revelation 12, among other passages. This chapter is apocalyptic literature and full of symbols and imagery meant to point to something else. We read there:

Revelation 12:3–4 “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

From that text, and others that hint at something like this, demons were created as good angels by God, who rebelled against God when Satan rebelled against God, who is represented in this passage by the great red dragon. The idea is of 1/3 of the stars being cast down to earth is intended to communicate that roughly 1/3 of the angels rebelled along with the Devil. By the way, that is 2/3 better than humanity faired. Because 100% of humanity followed Adam in his rebellion against God. Way to go angels!

Five Qualities About Demons: Let us learn some characterists of demons from this text. Let me give you five charactestics that will shaped how we consider spiritual warfare.

1) Devils are powerful spirits that are able to possess and influence: First, the devils and demons are spirits that are able to possess and influence people. In this passage we can see the kind of influence that had on this man. He had become a deranged lunatic, who had superhuman strength to break chains when bound. The text before us is an extreme example of demonic oppression. Nevertheless demons are able to influence towards misery. Where Christ seeks to bring life, demons seek to take life. Where Christ seeks to

2) Like their Leader, they Hate Jesus: Like their chief leader, Satan, they hate Jesus. In this text we see them shrieking in terror and disdain the moment Christ shows up. We will talk about this at much more length in just a bit. But here I want us to note what their primary objective is. They live in rebellion to Christ. Their aim is to draw people with them away from Christ. If destruction of a life towards misery like this accomplishes that end, they’ll take it. And if inundating a person in carnal pleasures and fleeting happiness will do it, they’ll take it.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

3) They are transient: Second, notice from this text that demons are spirits who are transient. What I mean by that is that for a good chunk of this story they inhabit a man, but at the end, they inhabit pigs. Demons are not permanently in a single body, but it seems to be the case from scripture, that they seek bodies to inhabit. What this means for us, is that though we do not have power to destroy demons, we do have authority to cast them away from us in the name of Jesus. They are able to be sent away from whomever they are currently harassing.

4) They are invisible: Fourth, this might sound strange, but they are most often invisible. It seems from the text that most of the people in the town understood that this man had demons. But when the demons rushed into the pigs, do you think they knew it was demons that had caused the animals to act so bizarrely? I wonder how much spiritual warfare we see on a day to day basis that we just neglect because we don’t have eyes to see.

5) They are unwearied: Fifth, they are unwearied. Verse 27 begins, “For a long time.” Demons do not weary as we do. If ever picked a fight with somebody, eventually you would grow too tired to keep fighting. Not with the demons. If they find a host and their strategy is working, they stay. They play the same strategy over and over and over. Like a dog returning to his vomit, many individuals are led to the same destructive behavior, not simply because they have some kind of addiction, but because they’re being led on a leash.

Not Always Extreme: Let me take a minute here and this ground level for us. This man was terrorized by them until the point of death. His is an extreme case. But not every case looks quite so extreme. Demons are constantly at work attempting to disrupt the beauty and the goodness of God and his work. Their influence will always lead to misery: loneliness, suicidal thoughts, depression, wreckless behavior, distance from God, alcoholism, substance abuse, rebellion, lack of respect for authorities, and destructive lust, are far more than meet the eye.

Unbelievers Blinded: Before I conclude this first idea. I want to make sure we get some clarity. This man is a picture for us, extreme as the visual image is, of life outside of Christ. Each of us are born into this world, not only susceptible to demonic influence, but actually bowed in reverence to the devil himself. Kind as a person might be on the outside, Jesus teaches us through the scriptures that unless a person come to Christ, thier father is the devil (John 8:44),

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires…

Further, we learn that until a person comes to Christ, they are in the domain of darkness (Colossians 1:13),

Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”

Or we read in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that,

2 Corinthians 4:4 “… the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Pleading: If this is you today. If you have never believed in Christ, I want you to know that as it stands right now, you are in a domain of darkness. But there is hope and life in Christ. I’m going to show that to you in a moment, but I want you to feel the weight of your situation. It is perilous. Perhaps it does not feel like this possessed man, but the condition of your heart is the same, and you need the one who can deliver you.

II. CHRIST HAS ABSOLUTE POWER OVER EVERY DEMON & DEVIL

The second principle we see in this text is that Christ has absolute power over every devil.

In His Presence: We see in the text before us that as soon as Christ walks into the presence of this man full of demons, the demons begin to shutter. The demons say four things to Jesus. These four statements are very telling about who they are and about their destiny.

Son of the Most High God (28): First, in verse 28, we see these demons calling Jesus ‘Son of the Most High God.’ How is it that they know the nature and identity of Christ, even before pretty much any other person alive had figured it out. These are spiritual beings. At some point in the past they had been in the presence of God. They knew the power of the Trinity and each member in the Trinity. And so, when the Christ (who on the outside looked simply like a man) walked into the presence of these demons, they experienced the full weight of his divinity. They knew who he was.

Do Not Torment Me (28): Immediately after that phrase, the demons say, “do not torment me.” This is the voice of a defeated foe begging his victor for mercy. The power differential between demons, and Christ who is God, is not worth comparing. Many people have a Star Wars vision of the world, that there is light and darkness, these two things are in this battle to see who will win in the end. No, Christ has ultimate authority, and they know it. They don’t try to battle or outwit Jesus, the lay down like the insecure cowards they are and plead to be sent away.

They Know their Destiny (31): Third, if you drop down to verse 31, they beg Jesus not to send them into the Abyss. That word occurs sevent times in the book of Revelation as it describes a place where demons would be sent. Well, as it turns out there is a declared final place where the devil and all of his demons will meet their final end at the end of the age. We read of this in Revelation 20:3 which reads,

Revelation 20:1–3 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit [abyss] and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit [abyss]…”

And so, these demons know in their future they will be thrown into an abyss. Some deep dark place where their ability to deceive anybody, or to continue in flagrant rebellion to God would be removed. These demons see Jesus walking towards them, and they think, “It’s today.” Here’s the the thing, it wasn’t that day. That is not what Christ came to the Gerasenes on that particular day to do. But what do we learn about these demons. They are terrified of the power Christ has over them and of their destiny.

They Ask Permission (32): Finally, I love how verse 32 says “Jesus gave them permission.”

What Do We Learn Here: Christ has absolute power of all darkness and every spiritual enemy. Mighty as the demons were, one who is mightier than them had arrived. Powerful as the demons were, they could not so much as enter a herd of swine without his permission. Christ has utter and absolute authority over every spiritual enemy.

It Was Worth it For Christ!: Now think about this story for a moment. After this healing takes place, Christ gets back in the boat, and goes back to where he came from. Was this trip worth it? 2,000 pigs died in the process of rescuing this man from the hell he was living in. You have to understand, with singular focus, Christ goes after the lost sheep. He will leave the 99 to pursue the one. See the love and the value of this man’s life. Everyone had cast him off. He was broken. He was forgotten. He was a lost cause. Christ shows up in his life, and redeems him, cleanses him.

The Gospel: If you are a Christian, this is the love that Christ has for you. He pursued you, when you were bound and blinded by the enemy. He showed up in your life, and gave you a grace that you did not deserve. It’s a singular grace, it’s a focused grace. The true cost of your ransom is not the net value of 2,000 pigs who lives were taken, but it is the net value of the life of Christ, whose life was taken that you might have life restored. That was the cost. His life for yours. See what Colossians tells us,

Colossians 2:13–15 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses… God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Christ has triumphed over every enemy. When these demons rallid to pin Christ to a cross, they thought they were defeating their destiny. They saw it as a way to escape the abyss. But Christ played them like like a fiddle. He used the very thing the demons thought was their final victory, in order to crush their rebellion. In Christ there is freedom. In Christ there is life. He has absolute authority. We all, either bow to the one true king, or join the demons in their failed rebellion.

III. CHRIST CAN WORK A WONDERFUL CHANGE IN THOSE WHO WERE UNDER DEMONIC INFLUENCE

The third principle is that Christ can work a wonderful change in those who were under demonic influence. We read in verse 35,

Luke 8:35 ESV

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.

Consider the change in this man. I love, how when you read this text the fear that came over the townspeople is not regard to the 2,000 pigs that just drowned themselves. Their fear is in regards the crazy man, who is suddenly sane, and joy filled.

Christ is able to free you: To the Christians in the room, you were transformed the moment you placed your faith in Christ. Like this man, you became a new person. For the first time you saw reality correctly, as it really is, underneath the wonderful Lordship of Christ. This man’s story is every follower of Christ’s story. While that major transformation happens once in a believer’s life, the moment they trust in Christ. There is an ongoing transformation that Christ has on an individual. Though every believer is free from demonic possession, demons still do their best to take our eyes off Christ, to sow misery, destruction, and shame into our life. Believers can be attacked in all kinds of ways.

Ephesians 6:11 ESV

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Practical Applications: I want to leave you today with highly practical steps for engaging in spiritual warfare. When you are confronted by spiritual warfare, how ought Christians claim the victory Christ won for them. Let me give you 6 R’s to remember. I have borrowed and adjusted these from another author. But they are wise and clear.

Recognize: First, we must recognize spiritual warfare. Jesus taught that he could set people free, but the religious leaders of Christ’s day responded,

John 8:33 “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone…”

Perhaps the marital conflicts are far more than just personalities clashing. Perhaps the continual turning to alcohol is more than an addiction. Perhaps the inability to say no to pornography is in fact demonic attack. The first step, that will change everything is to reognize your need for Christ’s victory to be applied.

Repent: Second, repent. Confession of sin is one of the great tools we have in our fight against our enemy. When we fail to confess we trap ourselves in shame. We don’t let anyone else in. But confession

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed….”

This is a discipline, that we have to foster in our spiritual lives. We should regularly hold our lives open before the Word of God and let it search us. Are we holding onto bitterness? Are we not offering forgiveness? Are we enjoying sin? Each of these are footholds that the enemy latches onto.

Renounce: Third, renounce. This word means to disown.

2 Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word…

Very often people repent of sin, but don’t disown and break the tie they have with everything associated with that sin. We see this very visually with addicts, who have breakthrough for a moment, but try to keep doors open in their life where the old ways are within reach. To renounce is cut the tie. To declare it dead in your life.

Resist: Fourt, resist. A Christian is never free from demonic attack. In fact, the deeper you walk with the Lord, the more you will be attacked in different ways. He will sow lies in your mind, cause you to doubt your faith, cause you to numb your zeal.

James 4:7 “…Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

This means to take an active position of standing against his lies. I coach little girls soccer, and one thing I’m constantly yelling at them, is to stand ready. There’s no pickin daisys, chasing butterflies and hugging each other on the soccer field. Ready position. So it is with the Christian walk.

Renew: Demons are very good at building a false mindset in people. At convincing that the promises of the gospel, in all of their wonder and glory, could not possibly be for them in full! And so, if the devil cannot win you to his rebellion, he will settle for numbing you from being a fruit-bearing disciple. O, the lies I have heard Christians repeat over the years are heartbreaking.

Our marriage cannot be saved.

I’ll just never have full victory over this sin.

I guess its my lot to just be alone.

I’m just different from other Christians, I don’t fit in with a church.

Where do these lies come from? They are purely of the enemy!

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”

We must renew our mind constantly by allowing the Word to shape our mind.

Conclusion

There is a very real battle for you, and for every person in this room. You can’t see it with your eyes. But its there. You are called Christians, to a victorious life in Christ. You are called upwards to sainthood, to discipleship. You are called to worship now and in eternity. You are called to lay down your life for the least of these. You are called to boldly stand for truth, and not cave to cultural pressure. You are called to be intimately and known and perfectly loved by Christ, who has purchased your soul with his own life. Don’t settle for anything less.