From the Possessed to the Prodigal

I. INTRODUCTION:

ME

A. Now there is this tv show that is popular with the younger crowd or as many call them “whippersnappers”. It’s called the walking dead and it’s about Zombies that take over the world and mankind becomes a minority in the world.

B. Their world becomes a whole different culture. They do stuff they would never imagine doing for the sake of survival. They kill for food. They kill for shelter. They kill for survival not the zombies but, they start killing their own kind.

C. Their is this one group leader, named Negan. His group would oppress other surviving communities and force them to pay tribute to him. When any group member would be asked “Who are you?”, they would respond and say “I am Negan”

WE

A. Now for us, our whole world changes to when we come face to face with death.

B. We can be tempted to do things we wouldn’t normally do. We become even more fragile and Broken. Our faith is tested. We might even ask ourselves, “Who am I”? As we question our identity, we can lose our sense of value, worth, and purpose.

C. So what do we do, when we find ourselves in that dark place? Where our humanity is being stripped away and we are having this identity crisis? Jesus encountered such a person....let’s turn to…

II. GOD (

A. The Setting-

C.So what do we do, when we find ourselves in that dark place? Where our humanity is being stripped away and we are having this identity crisis? Jesus encountered such a person....let’s turn to....

Spiritual warfare is real

a. Illustration- “Though the Church does not keep official statistics, the exorcists, attest to fielding more pleas for help every year. Father Vincent Lampert, the official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, said in early October that he’d received 1,700 phone or email requests for exorcisms in 2018, by far the most he’s ever gotten in one year. “

2. To the Region of Gerasene

Father Vincent Lampert, the official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, told me in early October that he’d received 1,700 phone or email requests for exorcisms in 2018, by far the most he’s ever gotten in one year.

a. Gerasene was apart of a region of 10 cities known as “Decapolis”. It was located at the other side of Galilee.

b. This region was extremely Gentile and Pagan(This explains their dismay for losing a heard of pigs) for they didn’t consider pork “unclean”.

c. people of this area were described as belonging to the seven pagan Canaanite nations driven out of the Promised Land by Joshua and the Israelites.

d. These nations worshiped Baal and ate (and sacrificed) pigs

e. used sexual perversions and even child sacrifice in their worship.

3. Dangerous Places Jesus went too

a. Jesus went to regions that one else dared to

b. Jesus went to cross to suffer a humiliating death

c. Jesus went to the grave that he defeated

4. There is spiritual warfare happening all around us

a. Its happening overseas

b. Its happening in own community

c. Its even happening in our own households

B. The Satanic

As Jesus gets out of the boat he is confronted by man possessed by Demons

The Demon possessed man is homeless, naked, and lives in a cemetary(makes him unclean)

This man is lost to himself. He no longer knows himself. He is shattered and broken in a thousand different pieces and has been stripped of all he thought he was.

He is barely human. He is left to himself, isolated, alone, and afraid

How do we respond when we are approached by someone who is like this? How do we respond when we become this?

Each of us have been there

Our life shattered in a thousand different pieces

We lose a loved one

A marriage falls apart

Depression and anxiety just consumes us for no reason

The Demons address Jesus as “Son of the Most High God”

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Sends the Demons into a Herd of Pigs / 8:26–39 / 88

Here the demon was again using Jesus’ true name, hoping to gain control over him (in ancient times, people believed that to know a person’s precise name could help one gain control over that person).

1. Here the demon was again using Jesus’ true name, hoping to gain control over him (in ancient times, people believed that to know a person’s precise name could help one gain control over that person).

d. Jesus ask the Demon possessed man to reveal his name

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Sends the Demons into a Herd of Pigs / 8:26–39 / 88

the demon answered, saying that its name was Legion. A “legion” was the largest unit in the Roman army, having between three thousand and six thousand soldiers. Thus this man was filled with many demons.

1. the demon answered, saying that its name was Legion. A “legion” was the largest unit in the Roman army, having between three thousand and six thousand soldiers. Thus this man was filled with many demons.

2. Ed Murphy, in his Handbook of Spiritual Warfare, observes, "What Jesus is doing is what most deliverance ministers do. He requests information from the demon to know better what is occurring in the life of the poor man."

3. If you've can imagine being tormented by a single terrible sin or habit or thought, what would it be like to be bombarded by hundreds or thousands of them? The demons are pleading not be tormented, but think of the torment this man has suffered for years!

e. Satan’s very purpose is to destroy the image of God. He is out there to steal, kill, and destroy and he has an army of demons out here to do this very thing.

Life Application Bible Commentary, Luke Jesus Sends the Demons into a Herd of Pigs / 8:26–39 / 88

THE DESTROYER

There is an old fable about a scorpion and a frog. The scorpion asked the frog to carry him on his back across a creek. The frog said no, fearing the scorpion would sting him. The scorpion swore he would not, and so the frog warily allowed the scorpion to hop on, and started across the stream. Sure enough, when they were halfway across, the scorpion stung the frog. “Why did you do that?” yelled the frog. “Now I will die and you will drown, too!”

“I know,” replied the scorpion. “It’s just my nature to sting.”

Satan is pictured several different ways in Scripture—Lucifer, the Accuser, a prowling lion—but they all have this in common: Satan’s nature is to destroy. Luke 8:27–29 shows how demons were intent on destroying a man. When that plan was thwarted by Jesus, they settled for destroying a herd of pigs. Satan and his minions have one goal: to destroy. Don’t make the same mistake the frog made. Avoid riding with the devil.

Illustration: There is an old fable about a scorpion and a frog. The scorpion asked the frog to carry him on his back across a creek. The frog said no, fearing the scorpion would sting him. The scorpion swore he would not, and so the frog warily allowed the scorpion to hop on, and started across the stream. Sure enough, when they were halfway across, the scorpion stung the frog. “Why did you do that?” yelled the frog. “Now I will die and you will drown, too!”

“I know,” replied the scorpion. “It’s just my nature to sting.”

Satan is pictured several different ways in Scripture—Lucifer, the Accuser, a prowling lion—but they all have this in common: Satan’s nature is to destroy. shows how demons were intent on destroying a man. When that plan was thwarted by Jesus, they settled for destroying a herd of pigs. Satan and his minions have one goal: to destroy. Don’t make the same mistake the frog made. Avoid riding with the devil.

C. The Solution

1. Terror of the Abyss (8:31)

"And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss." (8:31)

We see here that it is no longer just a single demon speaking. For it says “they” begged him…The demons recognize the great power and authority of Jesus. They seem terrifed of the Abyss which in the Greek means depth, the underworld, perpetual darkness, a bottomless pit. In the book of Revelation it is mentioned as a prison for the antichrist, scorpions, and spirits. It’s where Satan is shut up for a thousand years before he is released then thrown into a lake of fire

Notice that it is no longer a single demon speaking, but "they begged him...." The demons recognize Jesus' authority to command them (Greek epitasso), but seem to be terrified of the Abyss. In Greek the word abyssos means "abyss, depth, underworld."[5] In classical Greek, abyssos is used for the depths of original time, the primal ocean, and the world of the dead. In the New Testament it is a prison for the antichrist (, scorpions (Revelation 9:33ff), and spirits (; , , ).[6] It is here that Satan is shut up for a thousand-year period, before he is released for a short time, and is finally thrown into the lake of fire ().

2. Jesus allows the demons to enter the pigs

We see here more evidence oh how everything is under the authority of Jesus. There is power and authority in the name of Jesus which every knee will bow and lip will confess that He is Lord!

3. Jesus heals a man who was possessed by atleast 2,000 demons

Jesus totally transformed this man’s life. He was saved to the uttermost.

He went from walking with the dead in the cemetary, to walking in the life of the Spirit

He went from naked and afraid to being clothed in righteousness of Christ

He went from running in the wilderness to being at the feet of Jesus

D. The Sending

The people in the community asked Jesus to leave

They were afraid

They lost a lot of livestock and money in the 2,000 pigs

They coudnt fathom the power of God

Jesus told the healed person who use to be demon possessed to “Go Home”

The healed person wanted to go with Jesus

it’s interesting because usually Jesus said “Follow me”

Could this formally demon possessed man by the prodigal son, Jesus talks about in ?

Decapapolis Certainly was distant in its values and beliefs.

It was definitely a place for "wild living," and it had plenty of pigs that needed to be fed.

For the son, it would be only a short walk from the Decapolis back home to his forgiving father.

No one knows whether this is the country Jesus had in mind in the parable, but certainly the lifestyle of the Decapolis fits the parable's description.

Jesus told the formally demon possessed man to “Go home. Tell everyone the great things God has done for you!

YOU

A. Have you lost your sense of identity, of who you are in Christ?

B. Do you feel like you have lost all hope, wrapped up in the chains of your failures, past, and sin?

C. Do you feel like you also are just walking among the dead?

D. There is freedom and hope in the power of Christ. He is calling the prodigal home!

WE

YOU

A. What if we as a church, welcomed the homeless? Welcomed the homosexual? Welcomed all, as the father has welcomed us! What if we, don’t fear the power of God like the community of this demon possessed man did? Can you imagine the breakthrough our city would experience?