Matthew 8:28-34

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

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

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