Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 8. We are continuing in our study through the Gospel of Matthew today looking at Matt 8:28-34.

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, he has been writing with purpose...to convey the message that Jesus is King.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus proclaimed kingdom principals for His kingdom citizens, and now in chapters 8-10, Matthew shares various ways that Jesus not only preached a good message, but that He had the power, the authority, to back all that He said.

In Chapter 8, we observe Jesus’ authority over sickness, mankind (regarding following Him), nature (as He calmed the sea), and in verse 16 there is a very brief mentioning that he healed “...many who were demon-possessed.

And He cast out the spirits with a word...”

Here in verses 28-34, we again observe Jesus has power over demons, but these verses share one of the most descriptive encounters Jesus had with demons.

We observe several things about demons in these verses: their character, their purpose or intent, their activities, and even a dialogue between Jesus and the demons.

And, as such we are going to spend time today to understand demons…not my favorite topic, but an important topic, especially since this account is recorded in all three synoptic Gospels.

It is rare to hear of demon possession in the United States, and some people wonder if demon possession is folklore, or relevant for today.

I’m not sure demon possession is allowed in our culture…a person manifesting the symptoms of demon possession will quickly find themselves in a mental institution.

Where in third-world and developing countries, that do not have mental health systems, raw demon possession is more visible publically.

Also, demons are highly adaptable and intelligent…in first-world countries their purpose may be best accomplished without horrifying displays, rather through power, success, and shaping society.

Is it possible that some of the most influential people in our country are demon possessed?

I believe so.

Satan is not only described as “roaring lion,” but also as an “angel of light.”

The Anti-Christ comes initially to broker peace on earth, and is widely accepted throughout the world. 2 Thes 2:9 tells us he will deceive the nations with miraculous power, signs, and lying wonders.

It’s important that we learn to recognize demons, as they are not always the snarling depiction from the movie, “The Exorcist.”

One of the great things about studying the Bible chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse, is that you don’t avoid difficult topics.

Today is one of those topics…

I would rather talk about “Following Jesus,” like we did last week.

Jesus and His disciples in the boat together, and the storms of life…how we relate to the disciples and learn from their mistakes.

Great applications!

But, a true teacher of God’s word does not shy away from the tough topics.

As Paul declared to the Ephesian Elders, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”

So, today we are going to talk about Jesus’ encounter with demons.

There is a whole systematic theology on the study of demons called ‘demonology.’

If you want to study the topic in depth, a great and easy to read book on systematic theology is by one of Chuck Smith’s former professors at L.I.F.E.

Bible College.

The book is entitled ‘Foundations of Pentecostal Theology’ by Guy Duffield.

And, listen to this quote from Guy Duffield…great perspective...

“One of the fundamental maxims of warfare has always been study the enemy.

We would be very unwise if we did not do this in this most important of all areas—that of spiritual conflict.”

As a saved believer, God’s indwelling Holy Spirit will not share your body with a demon.

You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and immune to demon possession.

However, since you live in this world, you are still subject to demon oppression.

So, studying the enemy is still wise.

There is another quote about knowing the enemy from the 5th century B.C. Chinese Military Strategist Sun Tzu.

He said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

We spend more time as Christians learning about ourselves, and less about the enemy.

And, this fine.

It’s actually Biblically consistent…there are 294 references to Angels in the Bible and only 82 references to Demons…Over 3.5x more focus is given to Angels than Demons, so if the Bible wants to focus more on that which is holy, we should too.

But,... but there is wisdom in knowing both.

So, today, we will study the enemy (and we will find some applications for ourselves as well).

Today’s teaching is entitled, “Know Thy Enemy.”

Let’s Pray!

Matt 8:28 “When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.” [stop there]

Setting: In the previous scene, Jesus was in the boat with His disciples when a great storm came and Jesus calmed the storm.

Now they come to the “other side” of the Sea of Galilee “to the country of the Gergesenes...”

It’s difficult to say where this city is exactly because ancient manuscripts (i.e., the Majority Text and Alexandrian Texts) of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have variant readings of this city: Gerasenes, Gadarenes, and Gergesenes.

As such, there are numerous theories as to where the city is.

From the account, we can observe the city has a graveyard and it’s near a steep place by the sea.

The map on the screen shows one possibility of where Jesus traveled.

This shows the city of Gergesa (modern day Kursi), which is where Third-Century Christian Scholar, Origen, theorized this account occured…though many scholars disagree with Origen.

But, there are steep cliffs in Gergesa, and there are ruins, so Gergesa is a strong possibility.

At the very bottom of our map, you see the town of Gerasa…a possibility, but most scholars find this problematic because it is 35 miles from Galilee…likely too far for those who tended the pigs to go to the town and return with all the town people.

However, it has been suggested that there was another town called Gerasa (just south of Gergesa), a small village that was part of the region of Gadara (The main city of Gadara is also on our map…5 miles from the Sea of Galilee).

This is another strong possibility, and here’s why:

Josephus wrote that Gadara had “villages...situated on the borders of Tiberias [Sea of Galilee]...” (Life 42.9).

I have a slide of a 2 C. A.D. coin from Gadara, that displays a Roman War ship, indicating Gadara likely had a port town.

So, interesting and compelling theories.

One last theory, not about the region, but about the history...Some Pastors theorize that this may have been the area where the Tribe of Gad settled in Num 32.

I think this is a stretch since the land where they settled (Jazer and Gilead) is south of the Sea of Galilee and predominately directly east of the Jordan, though there seems to be a sliver of land alloted to the Tribe of Gad that touched the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee (thought the steep cliffs seem lacking in that area).

Interesting theory though…the Tribe of Gad chose not to settle in the Promised land because the land east of the Jordan was good for cattle.

If this was the same people group, how far they would have drifted…from cattle to pigs- an unclean animal.

Continuing on, Mark records, “when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit...”

Talk about no rest for the weary.

The disciples and Jesus were in the great storm, and now they are immediately greeted by a violent demoniac.

Mark and Luke record one demon-possessed man, Matthew records two.

Again, a lot of theories as to why there is a variance between one and two demoniacs recorded.

Not the major point of this account, but I’ll share this...

Some have proposed Matthew is establishing two witnesses, but this falls short because there were other witnesses at both of these events.

In a Bible map, I saw listed Matthew’s account in one location, and Mark and Luke’s account in another location, indicating two different events.

I strongly disagree with that idea since the event details and timing all line up in the synoptic Gospels.

Other scholars have suggested one man was in a more severe state, but I struggle with this idea because I don’t understand the degree of severity.

How is someone more demon possessed?

Matthew will also list two blind men in Matt 20:30, where Mark and Luke only records one blind man.

Is one man more blind than the other?

What makes sense to me is the obvious difference between Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Matthew was a first-hand eye witness and was one of the 12 Disciples, the other two (Mark and Luke) were not present, nor were they of the 12. Matthew was actually there at the event, so his account has greater weight.

Mark writes a second hand account (likely from Peter) and Luke writes a second hand account through various interviews.

And, how often when we retell a story, do we leave out some details, like all the people present?

If I had a conversation with one person, but 4 were present, but the majority of my conversation was with one key person…later, as I retell the story I may just focus on that detail…on that person.

I believe that is why we see a variance in the Synoptic Gospels.

Now that we have the setting and some ideas on why two versus one demoniac, there are some very interesting things to observe about the nature of these demon possessed men...

First, the character of demons is described as violent, unclean, immodest and wicked...

Matthew describes the demoniacs as “exceedingly fierce [extremely violent], so that no one could pass that way...”, people avoided that area because of threat of violence.

Mark describes them as unclean…and this would have been on numerous fronts…demon possession, dwelling in the tombs (with the dead), in the land of pigs, with Gentiles...

Luke 8:27 “...he wore no clothes...” So, these demon possessed men lost all modesty.

Paul wrote, “...women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control...” 1 Ti 2:9 and this applies to men as well in principal.

Running around naked or even immodest dress, these are not likened to God and holiness.

Matt 12:43-45 (another insightful passage on demons)…it speaks about a demon when cast out may return with “...spirits more wicked than himself...” So, not only are demons wicked, but there seems to a degrees of wickedness.

Demon possession is not a good…it’s evil…and there are those who are demon obsessed.

There are people out there who dabble in the occult and welcome evil spirits to inhabit them.

They are fools thinking they will gain power, but demons are violent, unclean, and wicked.

Second observation, demons are very strong.

Stronger than mankind, but not as strong as Jesus, not as strong as God: