The following is a sermon transcript from our Sunday Service at The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each week, we gather to worship, learn from God’s Word, and grow together. This transcript is provided as a free resource to encourage and equip you in your walk with Christ. While you’re welcome to read and share this content for personal use, we kindly ask that it not be redistributed or published elsewhere without prior written consent from The Rock Church.
INTRODUCTION
Well, last week, Pastor Ben preached on Hebrews 1, 5 through 9. And the emphasis through all the points was on Jesus. And his message was really helpful personally to me and I’m sure to you. So thank you, Ben, for your faithfulness last week.
And so since we’re taking a break today out of Hebrews, I’m not preaching on the next few verses. I decided to focus on the theme of staying on Jesus this morning. So as we read in Luke, there’s an emphasis on Jesus in a variety of ways.
I’ll be preaching out of Luke 8, verses 22 to 39. And within this text, there are two stories. The first story is about Jesus leading his disciples into a storm, and they are tempted towards fear, and they question Jesus, but also marvel at Jesus about how he responds to the situation. The second story is about a man who is in bondage with demons, and how Jesus’ response to the demons affects the man, it affects the people who observed and heard what happened, and the demons themselves.
In both of these stories, there’s a theme: authority, power, fear, and faith.
So this is the main point this morning: Jesus reveals his authority and power in ways that might strengthen our faith to trust and to rest in him and to proclaim his greatness.
So let’s take a look at the first story in verses 22 to 25. There are several observations throughout this story. So rather than have points this morning, I have observations.
1. Jesus Will Lead Us Into Fearful Situations
Verse 22 starts out: “On one day he, Jesus, got into a boat and his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’”
Now, the lake here is called the Sea of Galilee. And so just to educate you a little bit, context is always helpful. The Sea of Galilee is really a hotspot for sudden and violent storms. And it has much to do with the hills surrounding the lake on three sides and the temperature of cool air coming in from the hills and colliding with warm air—kind of what we’re going to have later on today, actually—coming in from warm air off the sea.
And so the result on occasion is that there’s a squall or a whirlwind that can suddenly develop, which is really a sudden, violent gust of wind that produces raging water and can bring either rain or snow, and it can be deadly.
So this is the context of the kind of storms they were going to be going into. This is not your average thunderstorm—you know, the ones we get all excited about. We go out front and we sit on the front porch and we watch and we think it’s great and we eat our popcorn. No, this is not that storm.
To be caught off guard in this kind of storm in the middle of the sea is definitely something to fear.
So take notice what verse 22 states. It says that Jesus is the one that initiates getting into the boat and says to the disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” Yeah, you know, the one that’s a recipe for squalls, right?
So Jesus knew what he was entering into, right? He’s the author of creation. He’s sovereign over all things. And he’s clearly driving this agenda. And he is clearly aware of all of the circumstances that lead the disciples into a situation that actually isn’t really ideal. And it’s actually really frightening. And Jesus is leading them into this situation.
So let me ask you a couple questions. I’m going to ask you a lot of questions. If you didn’t remember, the last time when I was here, I introduced myself a little bit. I’m a Christian biblical counselor, and I counsel through a biblical ministry, and so there’s a counselor and the preacher here, so I’m going to ask you a lot of questions.
So here’s a couple questions to think about:
Have you ever been in circumstances that were unexpected? They weren’t ideal. And they’ve been fearful? Just think about that. And think about how did you respond? Or maybe you’re in it right now. How are you responding? How are you doing with that?
And have you ever considered and rested in the fact that God, in his sovereignty, may have led you into that fearful situation? How about that?
2. Jesus Is Right There With the Disciples
Let’s read on starting in verse 22:
“And so they set out, and as they sailed, he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.”
So verse 23 informs us that when the windstorm came down on the lake—and you have a picture of what kind of windstorm that was—the boat was taking in water and the disciples were in danger.
Where was Jesus?
Well, first—right—Jesus was in the boat. He definitely was in the boat. And then what was he doing? He was fast asleep. Asleep in the stern of the boat.
Now, I’m not sure why Jesus was asleep in the boat, but it would make sense to me that he was sleeping. Just for an example: Jesus was a hard worker. He worked hard. He rose early while it was dark to pray. He spent time with the Father. He was a traveler. And most traveling was on foot, going from town to town. Traveling can drain you; if those of you travel, you know what that’s like.
And he invested in people all day into the night. Some people can be difficult sometimes because some of the people that he was around—they wanted to trap him. They were challenging him. They wanted to trick him. That can be stressful. That’s tiring.
So he falls asleep on the boat ride, which actually, in normal conditions traveling northwest to southeast on the Sea of Galilee, it’s about a two-hour nap. And so it would make sense that he was probably exhausted.
But although we don’t know exactly why Jesus was asleep, what we do know is that he was in that boat. He was in the boat with the disciples.
You know, sometimes if you’re like me, I can kind of wonder, “God, are you sleeping right now? Like, where are you? What are you doing? What are you doing?”
And so for those of us who are in Christ, God’s Word specifically says that God is with us too. It may not always feel that way, but it’s true.
The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
The apostle John wrote in John 14:16–17, Jesus speaking:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
The author of Hebrews in 13:5b says—Jesus saying—“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
So what I’m highlighting here is that no matter what you’re going through, how fearful it is and how terrible it is, Jesus is right there with you. He’s with us, church.
You know, I was thinking—when Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were thrown into the fiery furnace—do you remember how many figures were in the furnace? There were four. There weren’t just three. Who was the fourth one? The Lord.
God is with us, church. He’s with us in everything. He’s trustworthy. We can rest in him.
3. The Disciples Lost Focus of Who Jesus Is
The disciples lost focus of who Jesus is. They lost focus based on their interpretation of what they were seeing about Jesus.
So when the storm hit, it would seem to make sense that Jesus would wake up—especially a storm as violent as I described. You would think he would wake up on his own. But he didn’t.
It’s kind of interesting, you know, because I kind of see in this text here, Jesus just doesn’t roll according to our expectations, does he? He just doesn’t do things the way that we think he should be doing them.
And if we were in that boat, I’m sure I would be saying, “Jesus, why are you sleeping right now? Why are you not up? Why are you not paying attention to me?” Right?
Well, I don’t know why Jesus didn’t wake up. But what the Bible shows us is that Jesus is sovereign over all things, and he’s resting in the will of the Father, who along with the angels are watching over him. So this guy’s at peace while there’s a storm going on.
Well, it might be easy for him because he’s the Lord. But what are the disciples doing? They’re panicking.
Now, it’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay. There are different kinds of fear. The key here is to not let your fear have authority to the point that it redefines what’s true about God and erodes your faith.
Because we’re in scary situations sometimes. And it’s not wrong to be scared. But it is wrong if that scary situation begins to inform you in a way that’s skewed, and now you’re not thinking right. You’re not thinking biblically. You’re not thinking truthfully.
So let’s just reflect for a moment and put ourselves in this scene.
Imagine that you’re an experienced fisherman. Maybe some of you are. Some of the disciples were seasoned, experienced fishermen. Peter, Andrew, James, and John—they were fishermen. They were tested. It would be reasonable to assume that they’d been through similar storms, and they were experienced in what to do and everything, right? I mean, this wasn’t their first rodeo.
So imagine you’re one of them, and you’re in the boat, and you’re doing what comes natural in circumstances such as this, and you begin to realize that your efforts are failing and that you’re not in control, and you might die.
Now, in your desperate moment of facing death, you’re becoming more fearful, so you go to Jesus. That would make sense, right? It would make sense to go to Jesus. We should go to Jesus.
But look what the disciples did in verse 24:
“And they went and woke him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’”
Now, I want to bring the Gospel of Mark into this, because he adds something.
Mark, in his account, wrote that they said:
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Hmm. Interesting. “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
This is a desperate moment—for sure, right? Given the set of circumstances, it might feel like it’s a reasonable question. He’s sleeping, right? Seems reasonable—but is it?
I would think not. Because the question is actually rooted not only in fear but in doubt. They’re indicting Jesus.
So their fear didn’t move them to trust Jesus but to doubt his care. They defined Jesus based on their circumstances.
So I have a question for you:
Have you ever defined God based on your circumstances? I know I have.
You know, when a situation doesn’t feel loving, we say, “God, this doesn’t really seem so loving. Are you really a God of love?”
You know, we hear tragic stories. And sometimes—and maybe some of you have experienced these, so I want to be sensitive to that—I’m not just overlooking some of the sensitive things that maybe some of you have been through. But at the end of the day, our situations don’t define God, right? God defines God. Just read his response to Job.
So the disciples lost focus about Jesus, and they uncharitably questioned his care for them after they have seen and experienced him since they met him.
Just consider what situations maybe have you been tempted—or maybe you’re in it right now—to lose focus and question Jesus’ care for you. Something to consider as we continue on.
4. Jesus Is All Powerful Over Nature
So Jesus is awakened, and take notice in verse 24:
“He rebuked the wind and raging waves, and they ceased, and there was calm.”
This is definitely a life-changing moment. Could you imagine being in the boat? Jesus rebukes the storm, and it just stops. Calm. Just like that.
And I put myself in this position, and this is definitely something to be afraid of, for sure. But at the same time, in this scary situation, Jesus is up to something. He’s revealing more of himself to the disciples. They’re seeing more of what he’s capable of doing.
And these are the kind of circumstances that Jesus uses to show himself. Because in these moments—our own storm moments—where we don’t have control, and it’s scary, it’s in these moments that we realize we don’t have control of our lives as much as we think we do.
No matter how experienced we are, no matter how much we think we know what we’re doing—we really don’t.
And Jesus loves us so much that he’ll lead us into these situations to open our eyes and actually see things about ourselves that we need to confess, and we need to acknowledge, and we need to adjust so that we can look to him and trust him and rest in him and have faith in him—and then proclaim the greatness that he’s doing in that situation, right?
So let’s just consider for a moment some more questions. This is the counselor in me.
In what ways have you experienced God perform an impossible, powerful deed in your life? Think about that.
I don’t want to overwhelm you too much. I did provide these questions. So they might be on your Church Center. I did provide them. So I don’t want you to feel like you’ve got to write everything down. What did Joe say? “You can just go to the Church Center and you can pull them down and reflect on them all week and for months and maybe for years.” Because I revisit these questions all the time for myself.
But yeah—what’s maybe something you thought was impossible and God did it? What story of Jesus’ authority and power can you share? Because, you know, we all have them.
5. Jesus Requires Faith in Him Over Our Circumstances
Look at verse 25 and how Jesus responds to the disciples waking him up.
Well, first—let’s start with what Jesus did not say. This is what he did not say.
Before we look at what he did say, Jesus did not apologize for taking a nap and for not waking up when they needed him.
I think this is kind of interesting because, you know, for me, I sometimes—I’m kind of like, “Hey, Jesus, where were you, man? You should have been here right now.” And maybe there should be an apology coming.
But no—we don’t ask that of the Lord. And he didn’t apologize. He didn’t say:
“Oh, I’m so sorry, guys. I’m so sorry. Do you realize how tired I am? I am just so tired, and I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings by not waking up and taking care of this situation. Can you be patient with me? I can see how you can think I don’t care about you. I can see, I can relate. Are you guys okay? Are you okay? This must have been so scary. I’m so sorry.”
No. He didn’t do any of that.
So what does he say? He questions them:
“Where is your faith?”
And this is where I’m going to bring Mark’s account in, in chapter 4 verse 40. Jesus said to them:
“Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Hmm.
So there’s an expectation that they should have been having faith—and they lost it.
Another way to interpret this and what Jesus is saying is like this:
“Guys, guys—come on. After all that we’ve been through together…”
And you’re going to hear in a little bit—they’ve been through a lot. They went through the Great Galilean Ministry. It was like a 16-month period, which I’m going to get into in just a few minutes.
But he’s like:
“After all we’ve been through together—I know that squalls are scary. Like, I get it. I realize that’s a frightful situation. But why didn’t you trust me? Why didn’t you trust me? Why did you let your fear question my care for you?”
After Jesus stops the storm and questions them, Luke says:
“They were afraid.”
And Mark’s text says:
“They were filled with great fear.”
Can you imagine this moment?
You know, it might seem like Jesus was giving the disciples a hard time. Just think about it. Was he being too hard? No, he wasn’t. He wasn’t being hard.
See, Jesus was no stranger to the disciples, and the disciples were not unaware of what Jesus could accomplish.
So I just want to walk you through some of Luke—and I’m going to do it really fast. Okay, so just track with me, and you can read this later.
They believed he was the Messiah, the Son of God. They’d seen Jesus exercise his power and authority in miraculous ways before.
Here’s a picture back in Luke chapter 5.
Some of the soon-to-be disciples witnessed Jesus filling empty nets with fish that seemed impossible to fill after a full night of fishing. In response to Jesus’ command to throw the nets on the other side, Peter is like:
“Are you kidding me, Jesus? Like, really?”
But he says:
“At your word, I will let down the nets.”
And Jesus fills the nets to the point of overflowing and practically sinking the boat.
Peter’s response in chapter 5 verse 8:
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
And verse 9 says:
“For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.”
And you know what Jesus’ response is to Simon Peter? Verse 10 says:
“Do not be afraid.”
And he goes on to say that from now on you will be catching men.
And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Then they go on following him to experience Jesus healing a man with leprosy.
Then the disciples experienced what Jesus did with the paralytic. The paralytic’s friends went through the roof—remember, they go through the roof to get to Jesus. And remember what Jesus did first? He acknowledged their faith. That’s the first thing he did. He acknowledged their faith and forgave the man’s sins. And then to prove that he had authority to do so, he heals the paralytic.
There’s more.
Their response in Luke 5:26:
“And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’”
In chapter 6, Jesus confronts the Pharisees and claims to be Lord of the Sabbath and heals a man’s withered hand.
In verses 17 to 19 of chapter 6, we learn that Jesus healed multitudes—multitudes—of people.
In chapter 7, the centurion identifies Jesus as authority and doesn’t even ask him to come in person to heal his servant but knows Jesus can do it right from that spot. And Jesus again acknowledges that he has not found such faith in all of Israel and that he has found it in the centurion. And then he heals the servant.
Do you see the emphasis here that Jesus is talking about? Faith, right?
Jesus raises a widow’s son from the dead, and the report spreads like wildfire all throughout the surrounding country.
Previously, proving he has authority to forgive sins with the paralytic, he does so again with the woman who anoints and washes his feet with expensive oil and with tears.
There’s more.
In chapter 8 verse 1, Luke states that Jesus went through cities—and villages—proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God, and specifically mentions the Twelve were with him, as others were healed by him.
So they’re seeing all this. They’re witnessing all of this. They witnessed the authority of Jesus over impossible circumstances, physical limitations, sickness, and the ability to forgive sins.
The accounts in Luke 4:14 to 9:17 are known as the Great Galilean Ministry. It’s a 16-month period. And the disciples had seen and experienced a lot with Jesus along this period of time.
So back to the scene.
We’re back on the scene where Jesus questions the disciples.
Was he hard on the disciples when he’s saying, “Hey, where’s your faith? Why are you afraid?”
Now, Jesus is not saying, “Don’t be afraid of experiencing a squall that can kill you.” It’s not what he’s saying. He’s not addressing their fear of the circumstance.
Jesus is addressing their faith in him because of the fearful situation.
It’s okay, church, to be scared about scary things. It’s not okay to lose faith in Jesus.
So we can either trust in what we see, how we feel, and what’s happening in our circumstances more—or we can trust in God’s character, in his promises, and his power more.
Jesus requires our faith in him. He requires our faith in him over our circumstances. And this is hard to do sometimes, isn’t it? It is. It is for me.
So we see here that they seem to struggle to connect the dots:
“Hey—we’re in the boat with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Almighty God. And for 16 months we have seen him do things that we were just in awe of.”
They lost focus. And, you know, sometimes we do too.
So I’m going to assume—although I don’t know you—I’m going to assume that many of you know a lot about your relationship with God. You’ve experienced God. You know his Word. You’ve experienced him doing impossible things in your life. And then you get caught in a situation and it’s almost like in that moment everything just gets thrown out the window and we forget.
Because we are people who do forget and we are people who do drift.
And I believe that part of the reason why this is in the text is to help us, church, to say:
“Yeah, you know—it’s not always all about how much we know and how much we experience. We’re prone to forget. We’re prone to lose focus.”
And so what are we going to do about that so that we can keep our gaze on Jesus?
See, what Jesus is addressing in this moment is:
What’s it going to take for you to maintain trust and rest in who I am? What’s it going to take?
And that’s a tall order. There’s a lot of things to think about: spending time with him, being in his Word, going to church, maybe being a part of the body, being in small group, serving. I mean, we could go on and on. What’s it going to take?
But think about that.
Throughout our spiritual maturity, our faith has to function as we mature.
And when Jesus rebuked the sea and it became calm, they were filled with a different fear. This was a different fear. This was the fear of the Lord.
And they marveled and they questioned:
“Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
The moment moved them to a greater faith in Jesus. Do you see this? It moved them to a greater faith in Jesus.
And from our point of view—in a way, we’re not there and we didn’t experience what I’m talking about here in the text—we’re kind of like spectators, right?
And if you’re like me—because I’ve done this a lot—in the Old Testament, when I’m reading stories about the Israelites and how they’re losing faith, I’m like:
“What’s their problem? Like, what’s their problem? How can they not be trusting God right now? It’s so ridiculous.”
And then—but it’s a different story when we’re actually on the scene ourselves. It’s easy from a distance to be critical and be thinking, “Man, what’s their problem? They were with him for 16 months. What’s their problem?”
Well, we probably would’ve acted the same way they did.
It’s easy to be critics until we reflect on our own experiences.
So let’s do that for a moment, church.
Have you ever considered that the storm that maybe you’ve experienced—or you’re experiencing right now—may not necessarily be because you’ve been disobedient?
You know, God doesn’t take us through storms just because we’re not walking right or maybe we’re in a sin. Sometimes he allows consequences to happen, of course, and there’s discipline. But have you ever considered that God’s leading you into a storm because you’re following him? You’re following him—and he’s going this way.
That was kind of the situation in the story of Lazarus. Jesus wanted to go back to Bethany, and he and the disciples were experiencing some persecution, and the disciples were giving him a really hard time, like:
“What? Like, do we have to go this way?”
And yeah—Jesus said, “Yeah, we’ve got to go back.”
So Jesus has a purpose here in the storms of life, and his purpose can be a variety of things when he leads us into these storms.
It can expose our weakness, our inadequacies.
It can break down our sense of self-sufficiency, skewed thinking.
Sometimes it reveals more of him—which we see here. We see more of Jesus because of this storm than we would’ve seen if we didn’t go through the storm.
And it also gives us opportunity to be strengthened in our faith and to proclaim his greatness and to testify and to be a witness and testify of what Jesus has done.
So we get a picture here that we’re prone to drift and forget, and we’re in need of being reminded of who Jesus is and what he’s up to in our lives—especially in trying times.
And it’s in the trying circumstances that reveal our unbelief in Jesus. But it also strengthens our faith in Jesus from our head to our heart.
Because it’s one thing to have head knowledge, right? You can read all you want about forgiveness. You could be the most educated person about understanding the definition of forgiveness, what forgiveness looks like, how forgiveness is supposed to function. But you’re really not going to be very good at it until you experience forgiveness.
And so just a side note here—if you’re struggling with forgiveness right now, if you’re struggling to pay forgiveness forward, it’s probably not because you’re ignorant or you don’t understand what it is. Maybe you’re not experiencing it enough that it’s changed your life to pay it forward.
So as we come to a close in the first story—and the second story is going to go faster, by the way, so don’t worry—there’s questions to consider that you can look at on Church Center, but I’ll just read them real quick.
Just consider:
- What kind of situations are you tempted to be fearful of, influencing you to skewed thinking and questioning about who Jesus is?
- What do you believe regarding how the power and authority of Christ can function in your life?
- Are you doubting in an area of your life?
- Or on a more encouraging note, in what ways can you testify about God’s power and authority and how it strengthened you?
Things to consider.
6. Jesus Has Authority Over Spiritual Forces
Second story. Luke 8:26–39.
So as we approach this second story, we need to keep in mind again—same as the first story—that Jesus knew where he was going and what he wanted to accomplish. He had an agenda. He was on a mission to preach the gospel. These miraculous experiences—they validate his claim regarding who he is and what he’s about.
His primary mission actually is not to do miracles. That’s not his primary mission. His primary mission is to preach the gospel.
And there’s one audience that knew without question who Jesus was—without question—and they were all too familiar with his mission of preaching the gospel. You know who they were?
Satan and the demons.
So—the sixth observation, and this is the last one: Jesus has authority over spiritual forces.
So look at Luke 8:26–28:
“Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite of Galilee. Think about that—after all they just went through. It’s really interesting. That experience—I wouldn’t want to get into a sailboat for like a couple of years. And so now they’re back in, and they’re going the opposite of Galilee. Man, Jesus really, really took them through a lot.
And Jesus stepped out on land, and there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes. He had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.’”
Now—if you were one of the disciples standing behind Jesus, what would you be thinking if a man intentionally fell down before Jesus in a subservient way and inquired about what Jesus would do with him, pleading not to be tormented? Like—here’s another really weird and scary situation.
So let’s continue in the text, verse 29:
“For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.”
Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?”
And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.
And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
“Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him not to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”
Now—consider what you might be thinking if you were witnessing this, if you were on the scene. There’s not just one demon. But you realize that there are many demons that entered this man, and you heard the name Legion.
Now, Legion—that wasn’t a word that was used a lot. Legion could represent maybe 6,000 soldiers. I’m not saying there are 6,000 demons, but Legion meant a lot.
But imagine you’re seeing they’re resisting and disobeying Jesus’ initial command to come out of the man—and they start negotiating with Jesus. They’re negotiating with Jesus.
What would you be thinking?
I’ll tell you what I’d be thinking.
I’d be thinking one of two things:
One: After all that I just witnessed and experienced regarding the power and authority of Jesus Christ, at this point these demons are really, really stupid. They’re stupid to think they can take on Jesus and win. That would be one thought.
But then—if doubt started to creep in—I could possibly also think:
“I know that I’ve seen Jesus cast out one demon before, but not many. This is against the dominion of hell… Hmm. Can he do this? There seems to be resistance. They’re resisting him. Maybe they’re too strong for him. But then why are they begging him not to send them into the abyss?”
Maybe—consider where you might land. And where do you land when you’re in scenarios like this? Hopefully not with demons—but maybe:
“Oh—could God do this? Could he? I’m not sure. I’ve not seen this before.”
So there’s a number of things going on in this scene that I just want to highlight—like three things.
First: There’s a major confrontation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan right here. Major confrontation.
I mentioned a legion can be as many as possibly 6,000 soldiers. We don’t really know the amount, but we know it’s a lot.
What we also know is that demons are fierce. They’re fierce.
Notice in verse 29 that the man is stripped of common comforts such as clothes and a home, as well as his identity.
The man is bound with chains and shackles. He’s in bondage. The demons are strong and destructive. Luke informs us that they were strong enough to break the bonds that the man was in. And they also drowned the pigs that they entered.
The demons were driven and unruly, so the man could not overcome the demons as he was driven by them.
The demons were driven to reign free and not be confined in the abyss. So they asked to be sent into the pigs.
And then thirdly, we’re provided with a picture of the power of the kingdom of God.
As powerful and fierce as the demons are, in verse 28 it says that—they are in great fear of Jesus and subjected to his authority. But because they were also driven and unruly, they attempted to negotiate with Jesus to possibly not be confined to the abyss. And so they requested to enter into the pigs.
Some observations to take notice here:
The demons were in great fear of what Jesus will do to them. Do you see that?
And the demons needed permission from Jesus to enter the pigs. Take notice of the authority that Jesus had over a legion of demons.
Now—a classic question is: “Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the pigs—the poor pigs—and they died?”
And that’s a great question. And you know, there might be an answer, but I’ll just be humble here: I’m not sure. I don’t know. I looked into it. I read about it. It’s unclear personally to me. Ben, maybe you have an answer for your church at some point.
But you know what? I don’t think that’s where we need to go.
Maybe they didn’t want to leave the area. Maybe it was their last-ditch effort in avoiding confinement in the abyss. I don’t know.
But whatever the reason is, what was clear is that the demons had virtually no power—no power.
I just described how fierce and how strong and how unruly they are, right? They had no power to do anything without Jesus’ permission.
So the main takeaway here, church:
Jesus is in charge.
Jesus is in charge.
Well—we just walked through two stories.
In both stories, we see evidence of Christ having the authority and power to rescue and save—and having equal authority and power to condemn and destroy.
And church, this should bring us comfort.
Jesus is sovereign over all things. That’s comforting. Nothing can stand in his way. And he has purpose in everything he does. That’s a comforting thought when we’re in scary situations.
And in both of these stories there are a variety of people who are shown being awestruck of Jesus.
The disciples—they marveled that the wind and the sea would obey Jesus.
The demons—they were terrified because they knew the power of Christ and what he could do to them.
Then there’s the herdsmen.
There’s the herdsmen, there’s the man who had demons, and the people in the surrounding region.
Let’s read on about the herdsmen—Luke 8:34:
“When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and the country. Then the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.”
“And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.”
They were seized with great fear. Hear that.
“So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.’ And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”
So the herdsmen—they were so amazed that they went out and they told people in the surrounding region.
The man who had demons—notice his response. The naked and homeless crazy man with no identity was in bondage and under the authority and power of demons until Jesus met him.
And after he met Jesus—see in verse 35—he was sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, clothed, and in his right mind.
He begged that he might be able to go with Jesus. Who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t want to go with Jesus? I would want to go with Jesus. But Jesus said no.
“Go and proclaim.”
Do you see the emphasis of evangelism—preaching the gospel? “Go and proclaim throughout the whole city what Jesus has done.”
But then you have the people in the surrounding region who heard the testimony of the herdsmen. So they hear the testimony of the herdsmen and they come out to see what happened for themselves.
Look how they responded:
They’re awestruck. Awestruck. Response was fear.
In verse 37, Luke says that they were seized with great fear.
They didn’t even take the time to see if they could receive compensation for the loss of the pigs. They basically told Jesus:
“Get lost.”
So you see here—they all clearly experienced the authority and power of Jesus Christ.
The demons—they already knew what their ultimate fate would be, but it didn’t stop them. It didn’t stop them from seeking to try to reign and triumph over Christ. But they know what their end is.
The disciples—they were afraid, right? But then they end up bouncing back and marveling and still following Jesus.
The man who had demons wanted more of Jesus.
And the herdsmen and the people in the community were gripped with fear and had hardened hearts and didn’t want anything to do with Jesus.
CONCLUSION
So—in conclusion, as we come to a close, may both of these stories, church, be an encouragement to want more of Jesus despite what’s going on in your life.
In these two stories, God has clearly illustrated that he has ultimate authority and power over all things.
And so, before we pray—I don’t want to forget the greatest illustration.
We saw great illustrations today of Jesus’ power and authority. But what’s the greatest illustration of his power, his authority?
The gospel, right? The gospel.
And in Philippians 2:3–11—and I encourage you to read that if you are still seeking and you’re wanting to know more about Jesus—there’s a wonderful picture of the gospel in Philippians 2:3–11, where Jesus became a bondservant and he emptied himself to the point of death on a cross, taking upon God’s wrath in our place for you and me to be reconciled to God and experience forgiveness.
And God gave Jesus the name above every name.
If we confess Jesus is Lord, repent of our sins, and follow Jesus, we are forgiven and identified with him for eternity.
God is on his throne, church. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, which means that Jesus is entrusted with everything. He reigns. He rules, church.
And he has the ability to strengthen our faith—to help us to rest in him and to proclaim his greatness.
PRAYER
Father, you know we’re all in different places right now, but you know every single one of us in this room. You know our hearts. And you know what you’re addressing in us.
And so I pray, God—I pray for everyone here, including myself—would you help us to grow and mature in our faith in you? When we’re going through the storms of life, when we’re in scary situations, help us, God, to not allow those scary situations to redefine who you are and hinder us from seeing what you’re up to in our lives.
So as we reflect this morning and consider, we ask you, God: What are you addressing in me this morning? What is it that you want me to see and to acknowledge and confess and repent of? What is it about you that you’re showing more of yourself to me so that I can more confidently rest in you?
God, would you accomplish your sanctifying work in us, I pray.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
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