Christ Destroys the Work of the Devil

Christ Destroys the Work of the Devil

Matthew 8:28-34

1 John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

We learn a couple of things from that verse:

1) There is a devil.

2) The devil works. He is active in this world.

Not only is there a devil. The Bible teaches there are also demons. Satan is a single entity. There is only one of him. But there are many, many demons in this world. The Great Reformer, Martin Luther, taught us to sing “And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us…”

To deny that there are devils in this world is to deny the Bible.

To discount the devils in this world is to discard many of the stories we read of Jesus.

We use the term “devil” very loosely. Some of you may think:

Your boss is the devil

The little delinquent on your block is the devil

Your ex is the devil

A particular politician is the devil

That’s not the case. The devils in this world are fallen angels. They followed Satan in rebellion against God and were cast down from heaven and to this earth. There are more devils on this earth than you could imagine. This morning we will see Christ encounter demon possessed men. We will see Christ destroy the work of the devil. We will see a people who push Christ away.

1. Men who were possessed (28-31).

A. A description of the men.

This story is found in all three of the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. Matthew doesn’t record as many details as the others do so I’m going to include their details, so you get a full understanding of what happened here.

Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee and enters into the country of the Gergesenes. He immediately encounters two men who are out of control.

These men were naked. As Jesus and the disciples get out of the boat they are met by these naked men. That would probably have been enough for most of us to go and get back in the boat. But Jesus isn’t intimidated.

These men were violent. Matthew describes them as exceeding fierce. At times they would be caught and chained up. They would eventually break free and continue their terrorizing behavior.

They lived among the tombs. Some tombs were carved out of the sides of mountains. They were caves. These men lived apart from society in those tombs.

We don’t know how long these men had been possessed but the Bible says it had been a long time (Luke 8:27). Their behavior was so violent that a detour had to be made around that area so people wouldn’t come into contact with them.

Mark tells us these men could be heard crying in the wilderness and they cut themselves with stones. I would imagine at night you could go outside and sometimes hear the howling of these men. I’m sure they frightened many children as well as adults.

If you need proof that there is a devil, I introduce to you exhibit A. Look at these men. Consider them a piece of the devil’s art:

A threat to society!

A threat to themselves!

Shamelessly naked!

Violent!

Living among the tombs!

Crying and cutting themselves!

You and I have never seen the devil, but we have seen his handiwork:

See that poor girl strung out on meth? The work of the devil!

See that prostitute? The work of the devil!

See those drunk teenagers? The work of the devil!

See that broken marriage? The work of the devil!

See those empty churches and those packed out bars? The work of the devil.

B. The demon’s response to Christ (29).

The demons have complete control of these men. Mark and Luke tell us that these men ran to and bowed down before Jesus. These men who had terrified so many are now terrified themselves. They are terrified of Christ.

This wasn’t the first time they’d seen Christ. They knew who He was. They knew He was their creator. It was Christ who cast them out of heaven and to the earth. They’d roamed this earth for many years without seeing that face. Now He has come. Look at the two questions they ask:

What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God?

Have you come to torment us before our time?

We can learn a little bit about the devil’s theology here.

The devils believe Jesus is the Son of God.

The devils believe in hell.

The devils believe in a Day of Judgment.

The devil will never tell us Jesus is the Son of God.

The devil will never tell us there is a hell.

The devil will never tell us there is a Day of Judgment.

He will keep his victims in the dark. But when confronted with Christ these devils are so afraid all they can do is tell the truth.

These devils were afraid. They thought they were about to go to hell. The Lord had already cast them out of heaven and to the earth. They knew He could just as easily cast them from the earth and into hell.

There are people who believe the demons and Satan torment people in hell. That’s not the case. Every being in hell is tormented. There are no pitchforks. There is no throne in hell. The devils are more afraid of hell than any human because the devils believe in hell more than any human does. Demons can only torment a soul on this earth.

Friends, look at how weak the devils are before Jesus. Look at them. They are pitiful. They are on their faces. They are trembling. They are begging. You would be a fool to follow the devil after reading this. The devil is no match for the Lord.

C. The demon’s prayer (30-31).

These demons believed the Lord was going to cast them into hell. With that in mind they ask the Lord for an alternative. They ask to be cast into a herd of pigs that are feeding a way off. Maybe they thought this would be humiliating enough.

There is something else we see here. We see the grace of God. God is so gracious that He is about to answer a devil’s prayer. Every moment the demons stay out of hell it is the grace of God. We also the grace of God toward these men. If these demons stay these men will never be saved.

I don’t want us to think these men are simply victims of the devil. They opened themselves up to the devil. If they had resisted the devil he would have fled. They indulged in sin and ungodliness. They drew near to the devil and he drew near to them. Finally, they were so consumed by the devil that they lost all control of themselves. These men are not even praying. The devils are speaking through them. If it were not for Christ, they would die as captives of the devil.

2. A Savior who is powerful (32).

A. The power of Christ.

We have seen Christ’s power over disease. We have seen Christ’s power over storms and the sea. Now we see Christ’s power over the demons. Just as the doctors in Jesus day could not heal the sick, the fishermen could not calm the sea, the people could not cast out devils.

Devils are more powerful than people. The humorous story of the sons of Sceva is found in Acts 19. These men thought they could handle a demon possessed man. There were seven of them against one demon possessed man. The Bible says that one man beat all seven of those men, tore their clothes off and they ran down the street afraid, bleeding and naked.

Notice the ease with which Jesus expels these demons. He just says “Go.” They obey as quickly as the wind obeyed Him. These demons are immediately cast into the herd of pigs.

We are powerless against the devil. Just look at our world and you’ll see that. We see addiction, we see lawlessness, we see hate, we see murder, we see rebellion. Our world is trying to fight these things in the power of the flesh. We will never win. We will be beaten, bloodied and humiliated like the Sons of Sceva.

What is our hope? Our hope is the Word of God. It is through the preaching of the Word of God that the devil will be defeated.

The Word of God is quick and powerful!

The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword!

The Word of God penetrates the darkest of hearts!

B. The power of the demons.

Mark tells us there was about 2,000 pigs feeding. Luke tells us that thousands of demons had possessed these men. When these demons were cast into the pigs the pigs immediately ran over a cliff and into the sea. Why did that happen?

Did the pigs do this to themselves? Were they so disturbed by the demons they ran off the cliff?

Did the demons kill the pigs intentionally?

I think most likely the demons killed the pigs. Demons will drive people to suicide. People have more self-control than animals do. It would be easier to convince pigs to kill themselves.

But look at the power of these demons. They immediately kill a couple thousand pigs. By the way, pigs are great swimmers. Luke tells us these pigs drowned (Luke 8:33). None of them swam to the shore. These demons are more powerful than 2,000 pigs. Jesus is more powerful than these demons. The drowning of these pigs points to the power of Jesus.

C. Proof of the demonic.

Some people get caught up in why the pigs drowned. If you do that, you’re missing the point. The fact that the pigs reacted this way proved that Jesus did indeed cast these demons into them. NO one could deny this was a miracle. They couldn’t say these men were faking. They couldn’t say this was a trick Jesus did to show people how powerful He is. The drowning of the pigs is absolute proof that Jesus cast the demons out of these men.

The drowning of the pigs also shows the savagery of the demons. They had no regard for life at all. What those demons did to those pigs they would do to every single person if they could. These demons entered these pigs by divine permission, and they proved that Jesus is indeed the Savior.

I like what John Trapp, the famous old preacher said about this. He said the devil cannot give you lice (Exodus 8:18), destroy your house (Job 1:19) or even drown a pig without divine permission.

3. A people who pushed Christ away (33-34).

A. The keepers of the pigs.

It seems that these pigs played an important part of the economy of this town. When the people who kept the pigs saw what happened they ran into the town to tell everyone.

These men told the town what happened to the me who were demon possessed.

They told the town what happened to the pigs.

We can only imagine what the people thought when they heard this story. But we can assume they were trying to defend themselves. The pigs were their responsibility, now they were all dead.

B. The crowd of people.

When they heard the news, the entire city went to see what happened. When they arrived what did they see?

They saw the two demon possessed men clothed and in their right minds and sitting at the feet of Jesus (Luke 9:35).

They saw thousands of dead pigs floating in the water.

They saw Jesus.

If this had happened in our day, I’m sure PETA would not be happy. The headlines would read “Jesus kills two thousand innocent pigs!” To Jesus, these two souls were worth more than 2,000 pigs.

But when this crowd of people saw what Jesus did, the Bible says they were taken with great fear (Luke 9:37). Normally when a crowd hear that Jesus was nearby:

They brought the sick to Him

They asked Him questions about the Law

They asked for salvation

But not these folks. Do you know what they wanted? They wanted Jesus to leave. His presence scared them.

RC Sproul said, “Only those clothed in Jesus’ righteousness can be comfortable in His presence.”

They were doing to Jesus what He had just done to the demons. They were telling Him to depart. No wonder this is such a devilish place. We must have one, Jesus or the devil. If we reject Jesus, we give the devil an open invitation.

C. The corrupt heart of this people.

These people did not care that these two men were no longer tormented by demons.

They didn’t care that they could walk this road safely now.

They didn’t care that Jesus Christ had blessed their land with His presence.

They weren’t resisting the devil in this area; they were resisting the Lord. They should have had a celebration! There should have been feasting, dancing, singing and celebration! Instead there was fear and rejection.

They cared as little about these men souls as the devils themselves did. It is a corrupt heart that can look at a lost world and not be broken.

We ought to be broken over our culture. The devil may not be as obvious as he was here. The devils do what they want with a person. The Bible says even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. Judas was possessed by Satan and no one knew it. What is it we should look for to identify the works of the devil?

Immodesty. Nakedness without shame. Look at the magazines, the pornography industry, the way people dress

Violence. We inflict pain on ourselves and on others, we maim and kill. From abortion to gang wars violence is widespread.

Uncleanness. “Unclean spirit” immoral actions: sexual, drunkenness, lies, rebellion.

Devils are active in our country. Please hear what I am about to say very clearly:

Mental illness is a reality. I believe it truly is. But some diagnosed as mentally ill are possessed by devils.

Many in our prison system are possessed of devils.

I’m not blaming everything on the devil. But to deny that the devil is active in our world is to deny Scripture. Just as these people chained up the demon possessed, we have:

Locked up the demon possessed.

Medicated the demon possessed.

Institutionalized the demon possessed.

The more our country rejects Christ the more room we give the devil. Our answer seems to be:

Build more jails

Develop more drugs

These things won’t help. Our country needs Jesus. Sadly, we are like this crowd. We are trying to put Him on a boat and ship Him away.

I can’t prove this, but perhaps the people were upset with Jesus because hurt their economy. That was a lot of pigs! They were obviously being raised for business purposes. Maybe they didn’t think they could afford to keep Jesus around.

Now listen, I’m about to say something. Listen now. Our culture doesn’t care that things like sexual immorality, pornography, and alcohol is killing people because there is too much money to be made from it. The truth of the matter is that a lot of folks are in bondage and much of our society likes it that way because one man’s bondage is another man’s bankroll.

One of the biggest arguments in favor of legalizing devilish deeds is this: If it’s legal, we can tax it.

We can tax the drugs!

We can tax the prostitution!

Our culture doesn’t care if you shut down the church if you leave the bars open. Why? Because one generates tax revenue and the other doesn’t. We care more about our pigs than we do our people.

Christ has come into this world to destroy the works of the devil. The devil works in people. These people were indifferent to the demon possessed; Christ cared for them.

These ole boys had their life changed. They were set free. Luke tells us one of them was so excited he wanted to go with Jesus. He didn’t want to stay with this bunch. He was ready to preach. Jesus told him to back to his own city and preach. The Bible says he went back to the city and started preaching. Jesus put the gospel in that city.

That’s evidence of a changed heart. The devil is real. If you know Jesus, you can see the work of the devil. If you know Jesus, you are burdened over the work of the devil. If you know Jesus, you can help destroy the works of the devil by preaching the gospel.

Oh friends, hear me please.

What will Satan do to a man? He will rob him, fill him and condemn him.

What will society do to a man? They will isolate and restrain him.

What will Jesus do for a man? He will save him.