Set Free [Luke 8:26-39]

INTRODUCTION:

I love the gospels. In them we have by way of word, an image of our God. How he talks, how he lives, and we learn much about him especially as he relates to us. There is no other book that will give us greater clarity of who God is and what He does for us, than the Bible. It’s enough to give us what we need to know Him and how we are to follow Him.

In Luke chapter 8, we are given specific stories about Jesus the Christ who is Lord over all. He is Lord over Nature, Luke recounts for us the time Jesus woke up and commanded the storm to be silent and be still and it was so. A dead girl and a hemorrhaging woman, by His word the one was made alive and by a touch of the hem of His cloak the other was healed. He is also Lord over the Supernatural of which we are about to read. But the question you will be faced with by today’s Gospel will be, “Is He Lord over you?” Today, the Spirit may reveal to you that you are being held captive by sins and demons that you may not be aware of. Or maybe you are aware, but you do not know how to be set free from them. Maybe you have been set free but you have not lived to aid others in being set free. No matter which one of these you find yourself in, There is Good news for you today, and without further ado, I give you The Lord of Lords- Jesus the Christ! Let’s begin in verse 26...

Luke 8:26–39 (NASB95)

26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs. 28 Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.” 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert. 30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss. 32 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain; and the demons implored Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission. 33 And the demons came out of the man and entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. 35 The people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. 36 Those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well. 37 And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat and returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

I. Jesus the Christ

- He is willing to cross seas to set people free

- He intentionally goes to the unclean places to make people clean

We all must see ourselves as unclean to this extreme. How sin makes unclean before God. It’s deep within out heart and is transposed to the places where we live and the lifestyle we seek out. There is nothing clean about us. If we be clean, it will require Jesus to venture into our territory and set us free from our sin.

- He has all authority in heaven and earth Lord over the supernatural

- Doesn’t give up on others 1) legion or 2) region

- Relates to HIS work in you not Sins work by you.

- Sets us free to something.

- Possessed by legions to preaching to legions of people

This is a lesson for us that we are made powerless but Jesus is powerful. You need Jesus to break the strongholds in your life and to then give you His Spirit to empower you to live a righteous life. Those who strive to break their addictions or the sins they are enslaved to, in their own strength, will never ultimately break free. But if you call on Jesus and place your faith in Him He will do it. If He can set free a naked, crazy, living in the graveyard kind of man then we know that he can jailbreak you from your sins and demons that haunt you. But you must come to Him in faith not your own strength.

II. The Demonic

- Torture and torment creation

- Divide and conqueror

- They know their end

- They have to get permission

- They submit to Christ

- They plead/pray to God

- They affirm Jesus identity

- They get you to do what they cannot do

- They are deceitful: send us to the pigs Liars

- They seek kill and destroy

- They have great influence

- Only by Christ are they rendered powerless

The demons, who despise mankind, have brought the man to the lowest degree- naked, and living among the dead. The effects of demon influence upon a person is greatly seen. They drive him from the community and from the comforts of home into a desolate place and in a position of shame. Before you think this account is extreme and not relevant to your life let me remind you what, even at this hour, seeks to claim your life:

The Nature of Satan: Deceiver

John 8:44 NASB95

44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The Desire of Satan: Seek, Kill, and Destroy.

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The Works of Satan: More Sin, More chaos

1 John 3:8 NASB95

8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

The Influence of Satan: Causing Disobedience

Ephesians 2:1–2 NASB95

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

At War with Satan: What lies behind

Ephesians 6:12 NASB95

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Satan’s domain: Darkness

Acts 26:18 NASB95

18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

You may not be living in the cemetery, naked, and chained to the fence, but there is no doubt that your life is being sought after to influence you to live in darkness, deceive you with lies, distracted you from the real war and make your friends become enemies. Who wants to keep you from others and especially God. Will help fund your sinful nature with all the justification it needs to relish in sin rather than repent of it. Anyone who continues in sin, who is easily influenced by the lies of satan, who isn’t engaged in fighting off Satan is completely in His domain and is in great need to be set free.

The demonic is like a biting insect. They inject their deception by way of lies to influence your response to scratch an itch that you ought to leave alone. But if they can make you itch, they will cause you to scratch until an open sore shapes and irritates your life. While your itching one bite, they bit again and again in different places, and if you keep chasing the itch your whole body will soon be an open sore.

Two responses: 1)The Demoniac 2) The Gerascenes

III. The Demoniac- Set free

- identities himself by what he possessed

- Alone, shamed, humiliated, outcast, tortured, living among the dead.

- Set free, in right mind, Fully clothed

- Begging to follow Jesus

- Given a purpose

- Go back home

- Never give up on others Don’t hold things against others

This should tell us a couple things: 1) People aren’t beyond saving, so never give up. 2) The only testimony we have in a place where people know your past is the radicle change that Jesus has made in your life- so you might want to stop judging peoples pasts and failures and instead look for the changes that have been made by Jesus in their life.

IV. The Gerascenes: People easily deceived.

- knew the work that Jesus is capable of

- This they feared

- Rejected Jesus Left to continue in their unclean ways

The Gerasenes give us a real life lesson. They would rather reject and ask Jesus to go away rather than having Jesus set them free. They love their sin more than they love Jesus even though He offers them the thing they are looking for- freedom. The greatest deception that is whispered in your ears by unclean spirits is that your sins and vices can bring some freedom to your life. That you are fine and just need to work hard on being better. That you don’t need Jesus. But if you were to see where you are in life with the eyes of faith, you would see that you are open and exposed and living among the dead being influenced by those who hate God. If you have been rejecting Jesus and unwilling to give your life up to be set free, know you are deceived. This is obvious by how easily you are taken away from worshipping and serving Jesus. If you were confronted point blank and ask to give something up so that you could have more time devoted to the worship of and service for Jesus, what comes to your mind that even now might be whispering to you “don’t ask me to give this up,” “Jesus doesn’t want you to be unhappy and wants me to enjoy life.” or even the severally deceitful “You believe and that’s good enough” which is no different then the legion of demons claiming Jesus to be the Son of the Most High God but not like the Man who Jesus set free to go and tells others about what He has done for him. Jesus employs all who believe in Him to tell others how they might be free as well and calls your life to be devoted to Him in all things.

Modern Warfare:

A man all alone. Instead of naked dressed in business casual. Instead home he is at the office. Instead of chained he is chasing the clock putting in his time to earn his cash. All this seems well and good at first but his work ethic has diminished his spiritual ethic of leading his family in prayer and devotion to God. His marriage is pretty standard with not real issues to get counseling on. His kids are decent students and involved in things that should develop their resumes for college, but they don’t know much about who God is and they are not really invested in listening to their parents on spiritual matters namely because they don’t have a witness before them of putting God first so why should they. Church is optional at best.

I would argue that if any of these things seem to reflect what is taking place in your life than Satan has influenced you to some extent. He has influenced you to diminish the role of God in your life by keeping you busy, distracted, and comfortable. I would say it would be the most obvious if you were chained and naked and in a dessert and out of your mind but Satan is more deceitful, he would rather influence you to be more comfortably numb then he would to make his influence in your life obvious. He is in the game of blindness not clarity.

NOTE of Caution to Men:

Since it is father’s day, I have a message to the fathers. Men, you are of a particular interest to Satan. As we have seen, Satan and his demons understand God’s commands and order. God has placed you in His creation as Head over your families, like Christ is the head of the Church, since you are given this mandate by God to lead your families, Satan has a particular interest and investment in seeing you and your leadership banished and ruined. He would have you silenced in your homes, he would have your influence on your family discredited by your past sins you have committed in your life and shame you into not leading. He would have you preoccupied by anything, to keep you from doing what you were created to do, which is to lead others to worship God. He would rather make you inactive and sitting in a recliner zoned out on ESPN or fox news than reading God’s word to your family or teaching them God’s ways.

I have listened and watched as society and cultural movements advance the Devils schemes against men. Deceiving others to identify men as failures and wrongly wielding their power. Because of this we hide ourselves in our work because no one will have a problem with us if you just keep being a bank roll. So you remain silent so you won’t be accused of being too masculine or abusive, you hide your sin in fear that what others think or say about you might be valid that you are a failure. But God has made you His agent to lead in your homes and in the world. Don’t cower to be anything less. Be the kind of man that God intended you to be when He created Man- to lead his creatures and creation in right order and to worship and reflect Him.

What your wife needs is the love of Christ and you are God’s agent to deliver it. What your daughters need is the image of a good father who loves them and protects them and gives them the vision of who they should marry. What your boy needs is a leader who points them to Christ and makes them ready as a warrior of the kingdom of light going to war against the kingdom of darkness. As father you are God’s agent. Your community needs you as one to offer leadership and guidance that points to God and His wisdom and one who is willing to accomplish the tasks no matter how hard or difficult the opposition may be. You are God’s agent for this. This is why both Joshua and King David declare, be strong and show yourself a man. Not just any man but God’s man- the agent who leads others to Christ and in Christ.

Men, don’t be cast so easily aside by your failures and past sins. Christ has cleansed you from them and has established you as a Good man again, that you might live out your days for God’s glory. Men you are not toxic, that is a lie seeking to diminish your influence. You are not the sum of past mistakes or present sins, your sum lies in Jesus the Christ. All you were created for and employed to do it is make Jesus famous and to model Him for your area of influence. If you don’t know how to be a man consider then your champion Jesus. Who wields his strength in serving others, who ventured into the darkness to expose it to light, who never compromised or gives up his purpose, even unto death. Who isn’t led away by temptation. Who doesn’t tolerate sin but encourages others to go and sin no more. Through the one man, Adam, all were made sin, now through the son of man, Jesus, all can be made righteous. What man will you be like? Adam or Jesus? If it be Jesus then everything you do including your inactivity matters. Be strong and show yourself a man, and confess your sins to Jesus and receive forgiveness and to one another to find healing. Let your voice be heard and let it speak of the Word of God. Let your manliness be made known by how much you look like the Son of Man- Jesus. Endure hardships and trials but do not be defeated even if you lose. Be strong and show yourself God’s man and watch how you are the agent by which God is changing the world into Heaven. Satan would have you silenced but God would have you shouting His greatness. Don’t follow your family in Christ. Lead them!

Closing:

What I am offering you in the name of Jesus is freedom. Jesus right now has already put his foot down to set you free from sin and the influences of Satan. Do you believe this? Do you trust this? Do you want this? You can either submit yourself to the Son of the most high God or you can reject him and ask him to leave. Either you want Jesus to cleanse you of sin, or you want to continue in your sins. This freedom will begin today, and as you continue to grow your faith, it will continue to set you free from things you didn’t even know you were a slave to. Jesus will work His freedom in you both by His Spirit and His bride. That’s right. This freedom comes to fruition in your life by having faith in Jesus, then you’re given the Spirit to work within you, and He also gives His bride, the church, to walk with you in His freedom to help you along the way. Come and be free, come sit at Jesus’ feet. Experience the life you were created to live in Jesus. Ask, “What business do you have with with me Son of the Most High God?” You will find that His business is YOU and your freedom in Him. Seek to be set free you will be free indeed.