Matthew 8:28-34
The Gospel Of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
The Stories Around Town are Terrifying
Anyone You Ask Will Tell You, “Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Down to the Lake.”
“In Fact, Don’t Even Go to the Mountains Near the Lake.”
They Say that Because if You Were to Happen to Run into Him…
There’s No Way of Knowing What He Might Do
But, Anyone Who’s Within a Mile of Him Will Know it
Because You‘ll Hear His Horrifying Screams of Agony
He Used to Live Hear in Town…
But Not Anymore
He Used to Be a Normal Guy…
But Not Anymore
Those Who Have Seen Him Since…the Incident…
Say He Lives in the Tombs By the Lake
Can You Imagine that?
Living and Sleeping Next to Dead Bodies!
They Also Say that He Doesn’t Wear Any Clothes
But Before You Giggle at That…
They Say You Realize He is Naked, Not for Typical Obvious Reasons
But Because You Notice the Cuts
His Body is Covered in Self-Inflicted Lacerations
Not Nice Clean Cuts Like You’d See a Surgeon Do with a Scalpel
But Deep, Jagged Gashes
Like What You’d Expect if Someone Were to Try to Perform Surgery With a Rock
They Say Seeing Him is Scary Enough
But His Supernatural Strength Made Him Even More Terrifying
Because of His Erratic and Violent Behavior, Some Have Tried Chaining Him Up
Not for His Own Safety, But for the Safety of Others
But Every Attempt to Restrain Him with the Chains Proved to Be Pointless
He Would Break the Chains and Shackles in Pieces With Ease
No One Had the Strength to Overpower Him
And if He Decided to Turn His Violence Away From Himself and Toward You…
There was Nothing You Could Do to Defend Yourself
So That’s Why They Say, Don’t Go Down to the Lake
And Especially Don’t Go Near the Tombs!
But the Oddest Thing About This Man is That…
It’s Not Him Doing All of These Things
It’s What’s Living Inside Him
Something…or Some Things…Causing Him to Do All These Things
Things More Sinister and Wicked than We Can Fully Comprehend
Things that Find Enjoyment Out of Causing a Person to Feel Such Misery
Things that, Given the Opportunity, Would Like to Do the Same to You and I Today
Things So Wicked and Powerful that Mere Humans Like Ourselves are No Match for Them
But There is One Human Whom They Fear
Matthew 8:28-34
Matthew 8:28-34
I’ve Mentioned that There is a Lot of Structure to How Matthew Has Written His Gospel Account
He Structured it Around 5 Major Teaching Discourses of Jesus
We Finished the 1st (Sermon on the Mount)
And We Will Start the 2nd in Chapter 10
But Currently, We are in the Gap Between the 1st and 2nd
In This Gap, Matthew Shows Us 9 Miracles Split into 3 Groups of 3
And 2 Discipleship Passages in Between the 3 Groups of Miracles
We are On the 2nd Miracle in the 2nd Grouping
This Morning We are Going to Read About a Man, or as Matthew Tells Us, 2 Men…
Who Were Possessed By Many Demons
And We’re Going to See a Foreshadowing of the End of Time…
When the Wicked and Powerful Will Become Weak in the Knees…
When the Son of God Arrives
Matthew 8:28 (NASB)
When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.
Last Week We Saw Jesus Calm the Great Storm and Amaze His Disciples
Jesus Performed a Miracle that Could Only Be Performed By God Himself
Well Now They Have Arrived On the Eastern Shore of the Sea of Galilee
This was a Region Around the City of Gadara
Gadara was One of 10 Cities Known as the Decapolis (10 Greek Cities On the East Side of the Sea)
The Town of Gadara was About 6 Miles From the Sea
Matthew Tells Us that 2 Demon-Possessed Men Came Out of the Tombs to Meet Jesus
Matthew Highly Abbreviates This Story
But the Story I Told at the Beginning of the Lesson is Based On Details Given to Us By Mark and Luke
Imagine Being Jesus’ Disciples…
And Seeing These 2 Naked, Mutilated, Violent Men Come Running Out of a Tomb at You
Tombs Were Considered Unclean and Were Also Thought By Some to Be Haunted By Evil Spirits
So it Makes Sense as to Why These Unclean, Evil Spirits Would Cause These Men to Live in Tombs
Matthew Starts This Miracle Story Off With Some Shocking Information
Jesus Purposefully Takes His Jewish Disciples to a Predominantly Gentile Area
They Go to an Unclean Area
They Arrive at a Cemetery, Only Adding to the Uncleanness
Then They are Immediately Confronted By Unclean Spirits
Matthew 8:29 (NASB)
And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
The First Thing the Demons Cry Out is:
Literally “What to Us and You?”
There are Several Ways You Could Interpret These Words
But What We Know for Sure is This:
They Were Less Than Thrilled that Jesus was There
They Call Him “Son of God”
Son of God is a Very Complex Title
From the Old Testament, it Referred to God’s Anointed King
It was Also a Popular Title for Several of the Roman Emperors
It Also Referred to Jesus’ Special Relationship as a Son to God the Father
But, it Also Serves as a Title for Those Who Place Their Faith in Christ
Galatians 3:26 (NAS)
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
When the Demons Call Jesus “Son of God”…
That Tells Us They Know Who Jesus is
They Know Him to Be the Messiah, God’s Anointed King
And They Know He is Divine Like His Father
They Ask, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
I Think it is Rich that These Being Who are Currently Tormenting These 2 Men…
Are Concerned With Being Tormented
But What are They Referring to?
They Realize that Jesus is Going to Torment Them at the Future Judgement
But They are Scared that He Had Come to Torment Them Now
This Incident Adds Context to James’ Words:
Even the Demons Believe and They Tremble
Evil Spirits are Terrified of the Son of God
I Don’t Know About You, But That Gives Me a Lot of Comfort!
Matthew 8:30 (NASB)
Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them.
In this Predominantly Gentile Region, These Pigs Were Probably Raised for Food
Mark Tells Us There Were About 2,000 of Them
This Would Have Been a Large Source of Income
Matthew 8:31 (NASB)
The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”
Mark and Luke’s Accounts Tell Us that Jesus was Commanding the Demons to Leave…
But They Weren’t Obeying Him
It Seems that Before They Left, They Wanted to Negotiate With Jesus
They Asked Jesus if They Could Enter the Nearby Herd of Pigs
They Knew They Could Only Do So With the Son of God’s Permission
They Didn’t Want to Be Cast Out Without a Physical Host to Possess
Maybe Demons Prefer to Inhabit a Physical Body?
And of Course They Would Choose the Bodies of Unclean Pigs
Luke Tells Us They Begged Jesus Not to Command Them to Go in the Abyss
This Word Abyss Can Refer to Several Different Things
It Can Refer to Deep Water
It Can Refer to the Place of the Dead
It Can Refer to a Bottomless Pit of Torment
Many Believe This to Be a Holding Place of Torment Until the Judgement Day
This May Be What the Demons Were Referring to When They Asked if Jesus was There to Torment Them
Regardless of What the Demons Meant By “the Abyss”…
We Know Jesus Had the Power to Send Them There
And They Desperately Didn’t Want to Go
Matthew 8:32 (NASB)
And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.
Jesus Allowed Them to Go into the Herd of Pigs
But Then the Entire Herd Ran Down the Hill and Drowned in the Sea
I’ve Always Had So Many Questions About This
But the Fact is, There are Many Questions We Just Don’t Know the Answer to
And That’s Okay
We Don’t Have to Understand the Behavior of Demons and What God Does With Them
Instead of Looking Through Our Eyes at This Situation…
Let’s Look Through the Eyes of the Men Who Were No Longer Being Tormented By These Wicked Spirits
While They Were Possessed, People Were Terrified of Them
No One was Able to Help Them
And it Got to the Point that No One Seemed to Care About Them…
Or Their Pain and Suffering
But Then a Jew Shows Up On a Boat
And He Wasn’t Afraid
In Fact, He was the Only Person These Demons Had Ever Been Afraid of
And This Man Cared About the Pain These Men Were Experiencing
He Crossed an Entire Lake Just So He Could Help Them
And They Experienced the Sweet Relief of Being Free From Evil’s Control Over Them
And They Watched as That Evil Entered the Pigs…
And Drowned in the Depths of the Sea
Evil was Gone
They Were Freed From Torturous Slavery
Light Had Conquered Darkness
God Had Vanquished the Devil
Matthew 8:33 (NASB)
The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs.
The Pig-Herders Witnessed This Entire Ordeal
So They Did What Any of Us Would Have Done
They Ran Away and Told Everyone in Town About it
This is Where We Expect to See Jesus Become Famous On This Side of the Sea
He Had Done What No One Else Could Do
He Cast Out the Legion of Demons and Saved the Lives of These Men
He Made Their Region a Safer Place
He’s a Hero!
He’ll Soon Have Another Large Crowd of People Following Him
They are Going to Want Him to Stay With Them
Matthew 8:34 (NASB)
And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.
The People Didn’t React the Way We Would Expect
They Beg Jesus to Leave
But Why?
We Aren’t Told Why
Luke Mentions They Were Afraid
But Afraid of What?
Afraid of Such a Powerful Man Who Could Cast Out the Demons With a Word?
Afraid That He Might Destroy More of Their Property and Wealth?
We Aren’t Told Exactly Why They Begged Him to Leave
But They Did
And He Complied With Their Wishes
Jesus is a God Who Gives Us What We Truly Want
If We Want Him to Save Us, He Will Save Us
If We Want Him to Leave Us Alone, He Will Leave Us Alone
Mark and Luke Tell Us That the Men Wanted to Travel With Jesus
But Jesus Tells Them to Go Back into Town and Tell Everyone About What He Had Done For Them
That’s Exactly What They Did
And Everyone was Amazed
Jesus Turned the Most Broken and Lost People in the World…
Into Vessels for His Glory
And Jesus Continues to Do the Same Today!
Application
Application
I Found This Text to Be a Difficult One for Me
I Normally Like to Dive Deep Into a Text
To Ask Relevant Questions and Discover the Answers
But So Much in This Unexplained
We are Given Almost No Answers to What Exactly is Going On and Why
When That Happens, We Have One Last Question to Ask
“What is the Main Point?”
What Does Matthew Intend for Me to Take From This Text?
In the 1st 3 Miracle Stories, There was a Theme of Uncleanness and Outcasts
Jesus was Was Willing to Reach Out and Touch the Unclean and Outcasts of Jewish Society
I Believe We See a Theme in These 2nd 3 Miracle Stories as Well
Jesus Calmed the Storm, Which was Considered Authority Only God Possessed
Today We‘ve Seen the Demons Call Jesus the Son of God…
And How They Expect Him to Judge Them When He Returns
And Next Week We Will See Jesus Claim the Authority to Forgive Sins
Do You Notice a Theme?
Jesus Possesses the Authority of God
He’s Not Just Our Savior, Our Master, and Our King
He is Our God
And He is Coming to Rescue Us From Evil
The Wicked Will Bow Before Him and Confess Him as Lord Before They are Cast into the Abyss
And We Will Forever Be Free From Evil and Oppression Forever More
Where Does that Leave Us Now?
We’re Like the 2 Men Who Were Saved
We Aren’t With Jesus in the Flesh Right Now
We Have Been Given a Mission to Tell Others of What He has Done for Us
And Be Vessels of His Glory