Power Over All | Matthew 8:28-34

So we're up to Matthew chapter 8, verse 28. So if you're using one of these Bibles that are out on the chairs, you'll find the reading for this morning on page 789.

Matthew 8:28

Page 789, look for the heading, Jesus restores two demon possessed men.

When he, that's Jesus, arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

What do you want with us, son of God? They shouted. Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?

A distance from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, if you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs. He said to them, go.

So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.

The demons tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon possessed man. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.

And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Good morning, everyone. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, you might notice that we're back into the second part of our series in the book of Matthew called the signs of the kingdom,

in which we have seen so far our Lord perform these wonderfully awesome miracles. First, you might remember, he healed a man with leprosy. Second, he then healed a man that he had never met.

And then third, he healed a woman with just the word of his mouth, in which we saw all peaked in the town of Capernaum with Jesus healing the entire town of all sickness, both physical and spiritual.

Then we saw that so many people were gathering around Jesus that he gave orders to his disciples to get him out of Capernaum because things were getting pretty wild.

So wild, in fact, that some were falling over themselves to be part of the action. And then Matthew takes us to this scene in the middle of the lake of Galilee,

in which we're told that Jesus and his disciples were caught in a violent storm with the disciples freaking out because they thought that they were all going to die, only to see them wake Jesus and for him to prove yet again that he has God's power and authority over creation this time.

The whole thing ended with them asking one question, what sort of man is this?

All of that brings us to our scene this morning where Matthew will again show us Christ's power and authority, the power and authority of heaven that he wields over all things as only God can and does, including the spiritual realm.

And today I want you to see three incredibly important truths that Matthew shows us in our passage.

First, Jesus is the son of God. Second, Jesus has power over every realm.

And third, some people would rather settle for the treasures of this world than receive the treasure of the next.

Before we get into our text this morning, would you please pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we ask for your help with your words this morning.

These spirit inspired words, and we ask that we are helped to see you clearer and that you bring us to yourself and we ask that we would be changed for the sake of your kingdom and glory.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Okay, so first, Jesus is the son of God. We read in verse 28, when he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men coming from the tombs met him.

They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

Okay, so there's a couple of things that I want you to notice here that I think will set us up well for understanding what Matthew wants to show us here.

The first thing that we need to understand is exactly where Jesus and his disciples had landed after that horrid storm of verse 24.

And we're told that that place is called the region of the Gadarenes.

Now that's significant for Matthew to know because Gadarenes was actually a city among a few different cities known collectively together as the Decapolis.

And the cities that made up the Decapolis were known to the Jews as cities that had pagan leanings and practices, even though Jews lived among them.

We might think of modern day Tel Aviv today in Israel.

History attests that the people living in that region were a total mixed bag, both culturally and religiously,

which is to say that the Jews that lived there were not usually practicing, but simply Jews by name and heritage.

I mean, living in a place that breeds and has pig farms isn't the most kosher place for any religious Jew to make their home.

And so that's first, Jesus arrived in the region of the Gadarenes, a land full of Jews and Gentiles and a land full of people that didn't really care about the God of Israel or his law.

Second thing I want you to notice here is that Jesus and his disciples were greeted, we might say, by two locals possessed of demons.

Now, Church, I'm going to be completely honest with you this morning.

This is a really interesting subject where people can fall on either side of the so-called ditch.

On the one side, some people can take a total postmodern view where everything is explained away by science and psychology.

And let's look at this passage and say that these men weren't really possessed by demons, but had serious mental health issues.

And Matthew kind of just put it down to the boogeyman.

Yet on the other side, some can read something like this and put everything down to the devil and demon possession,

where the devil is kind of lurking behind every tree under every stone so that anything bad or slightly odd is put down to the work of the devil and that of his demons.

Well, Church, there is a middle ground in all of this, and I say that we would stay on this middle ground by building our worldview on the sure foundation of the Word of God.

And so on the one hand, if Matthew has reported that these two men that greeted Jesus were really possessed of demons, then these inspired words of God, they must be trusted.

These two men were really possessed by demons.

However, on the other side, we see that Matthew himself doesn't even put everything down to the work of devils and demons.

And we know that because he makes a distinction in things throughout his work, for example, between sickness and demon possession.

We just need to go back to the beginning of our chapter in this series, and we see that there's real distinction made between living in a fallen and broken world,

which results in real physical infirmity and that of demons.

And so there's a middle ground here, and the middle ground keeps us from falling on either side of the so-called ditch.

The Bible clearly states that there are real evil spiritual forces in this world, yet not everything that goes wrong should be looked at and attributed to their work.

Oxford intellect and author, C.S. Lewis, I think he sums it up well.

He says there's two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall in our thinking about demons.

One is to disbelieve in their existence.

The other is to believe in their existence, but to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

So thinking biblically about demons, we're told that they're spiritual beings who are somehow self-aware and at enmity with God and his image bearers, being us humans.

And as we see this morning in our passage, they can at times wield some sort of power over people.

In this case, these two men weren't just oppressed by the demonic, but possessed, we're told.

Meaning that they were given over to these spiritual beings that had some way found their way into the lives of these two people.

And it's as though their bodies and minds were controlled by them.

All that to say these demon-possessed men, they make their way to Jesus and incredibly they recognize him.

Saying in verse 29, what do you want with us, son of God?

Church, I ask you to engage your imagination with me this morning.

Now imagine, if you will, being one of the disciples in this scene.

You see these two crazy shouting men coming out of the tombs, running towards you, and then all of a sudden, they recognize one of you.

Imagine the thoughts going through your mind.

Imagine what you'd be thinking, these complete strangers who are quite obviously not quite right, recognize Jesus.

And they don't just recognize him, but they stop in their tracks, and this is incredibly important for us to see in our text this morning.

They call him the son of God.

Now, you might remember the first time that we heard this title used of Jesus.

It was used all the way back in chapter four when Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted.

And it was there that we heard this title used of Jesus for the first time.

And interestingly enough, it was used by the devil himself.

All that to say these two scenes point us to a powerful truth.

And that's that the realm that we can't see, the realm in which the devil and demons operate, this spiritual realm,

well, even wicked spiritual beings know that this Jesus, that he's no ordinary man, but the very son of God.

So imagine, if you will, you're standing there, you're hearing this for the first time as one of Jesus's disciples.

You've heard the teaching up on the mount. You've seen the miracles in and among the people and even experienced Christ's saving power

as you feared for your life from certain destruction in that storm.

To now standing here, hearing demon possessed men declare that Jesus is the son of God.

What would you be thinking?

Well, like these men would have been thinking, Matthew wants to bring us into this scene to be thinking the same thing.

This is no ordinary man.

This isn't some great teacher. No, this isn't even just a great prophet.

No, this is a man in which the spiritual beings confess that he's the son of God.

And yet what makes this so interesting, so interesting, Jesus is recognized as the son of God,

but the demons say, have you come to torture us before the appointed time?

In other words, they say, we know who you are, but wait a minute, why are you here?

You're not meant to be here. The judgment isn't yet.

Church, so much could be said about this small exchange.

And let me just say, we will be distracted with questions like, how did these demons know what Jesus looked like?

Were they once angels that were in his service?

If they know that there's a day of judgment, that the war's over, that they've already lost, why do they keep up with the battle?

Why do they keep trying?

I admit that these are some of the questions I was asking of the texts that we have before us this morning.

But all of those things aren't the point of what Matthew wants to show us.

Yes, these demons know a lot of theology.

They say some orthodox statements, and interestingly enough, they even acknowledge Jesus as the son of God.

But notice it, they know all this truth, but it hasn't changed them.

It hasn't caused them to turn from the way they're going.

And so this is a solemn reminder to the disciples who were standing there witnessing all of this, and also to us here this morning.

Even the demons acknowledge Jesus to be the very son of God and aren't saved.

It's a reminder that yes, it's possible to acknowledge Jesus with real theological truths and orthodox statements, and yet not receive him as your saviour.

To put it plainly, it's possible to know a lot about Jesus, but to not embrace Jesus.

Bible commentator and Puritan Matthew Henry once said of this passage,

It's not the knowledge, but the love that distinguishes the saints from the devils.

Even the devil knows Christ, yet rejects him and won't be subject to his law.

And so the first thing we see here is Jesus is so much more than a man.

He's the son of God, and we do well to reflect upon that truth and ask, has it actually changed us?

Second, Jesus has power over every realm.

Now as we saw before, Jesus and his disciples had landed in the region of the Gadarenes,

and as we know, this wasn't a Jewish town that was following the law. That's made obvious to us here in our passage in verse 30,

which says a large herd of pigs was feeding.

Now if this swine belonged to Jewish or Gentile farmers, that's not made explicit in our text,

but what we do know is that pigs were considered unclean animals for the Jews,

so much so that they weren't even allowed to touch them as they too would be considered unclean,

meaning they were unable to go to temple and worship,

and even they were unable to gather with their own people at the synagogue.

So whoever owned and looked after these pigs, well they didn't really care about the law of God.

And so it's interesting what we read in verse 31.

The demons say, if you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.

Now I'll say that it's interesting because notice what the demons are doing here.

We've already seen that they recognize Jesus to be the Son of God,

but notice that they recognize that he has authority and will judge them at some point.

And so they beg Jesus to let them for now go into the pigs.

And so we can say they recognize that the Son of God's authority even extends over them,

so much so that they need his permission to move about from one place to another.

And notice it, they don't even challenge Jesus.

No, they recognize that he has come to this region, that he has power and authority from heaven,

and so it's not a question of if, but when he destroys them,

might he for the moment give them to go ahead to depart and torment pigs instead of these men.

Jesus says in verse 32, go.

What do we see?

They come out of the men and they go into the pigs.

Church, I want to step back here and have a look at the big picture that Matthew is presenting to us.

Matthew wants us to see something here.

You see, he wants us to know where all of this is taking place.

He's told us that this happened in the region of the Gadarenes.

And reading through Matthew, we quickly realize this was the first time

that Jesus had come outside of Israel into Gentile territory.

That's important to know.

Jesus and his disciples have come into Gentile land full of people doing pagan things

and living in unclean ways.

And as we've seen, they don't care about the God of Israel or the law, but what do we see?

Jesus still has absolute power and authority.

Even his very word is obeyed by demons.

But this is the question.

Why cast the demons into pigs, all so that they would rush down into the lake and destroy themselves, verse 32?

Well, who's watching all of this?

Who's witnessed all of this?

Christ's disciples and as we're going to see, those tending the pigs as well.

And so this whole scene physically demonstrated to everyone there that a spiritual reality was really taking place in their midst.

A spiritual reality that the Son of God had really come into our world,

had stepped into darkness and could really set people free.

And there is nothing in this world, not even an army of demons,

that can keep Jesus from bringing the kingdom of heaven to bear.

I mean, think about everything that we have learned this morning.

These men were, in the minds of the Jews and most likely in the minds of the disciples, totally beyond redemption.

They were unclean in every which way,

living in a pagan land filled with demons, hanging out with dead bodies in tombs.

I mean, even their own people were terrified and hopeless in helping them.

Yet what do we see?

Jesus comes into their land, comes into their hopeless situation,

and just with the word of his mouth destroys the works of the evil one.

And just so there's no confusion among all who are witnessing this,

just so there's no doubt in anyone's mind,

pigs don't act.

Now this whole scene, it demonstrated to everyone there the absolute power and authority of Christ

over any and every realm.

Brothers and sisters, we see something here.

Demons despise Jesus, yet they know what's coming.

But they're powerless to do anything about it.

And what's more, they can do nothing apart from his sovereign permission.

That's what we see here.

Demons can do nothing in this world apart from the sovereign permission of God,

which means the enemy doesn't have absolute authority in this world.

No, it's not like there's a cosmic arm wrestle happening out there somewhere in the universe

over the fate of the future or even our lives.

Think about the very first two chapters of Job.

The devil is totally bound by what God gives him permission to do.

Again, Matthew shows us God's power is Christ's power.

We see that yet again.

So the first thing we see here is that Jesus is so much more than a man.

He's the son of God.

The second thing we see in our passage is that he has power over every realm.

And there's no place in the heavens or on earth where the king of heaven isn't sovereign.

The third thing we see is that some people would rather settle for the treasures of this world

than gain the treasure of the next.

Read with me verse 33.

Those tending the pigs ran off.

They went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

So again, I would ask you to engage your imagination.

You've grown up in a city and an environment where you know not to go down to the shore or near the tombs

because there's a couple of guys there filled with demons and incredibly violent

who have ran absolute riot in your community.

And even though people have tried to help, there's nothing that anyone could do.

And then you see this guy get off a boat and totally heal these men with just one word from his mouth.

Go.

I mean, those tending the pigs had just witnessed an incredible miracle.

And so it's no wonder that they ran off to the town to tell everybody what had happened.

And just like we saw in the town of Capernaum, when miracles were taking place among them,

the whole town gathered around Jesus.

But this is where there's a big difference, a tragic difference.

We read in verse 34, when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

They've just heard the reports of this man being declared to be the son of God

and then proving his power and authority by casting out demons from people known to them,

who they couldn't help, mind you.

But what are they mainly focused on?

Well, not that their townsfolk had been radically healed and saved,

nor even that their community had been made a better and safer place to live.

Now, when they see Jesus, they plead with him to leave their region because he's bad for business.

Do you see the horrid mentality in all of this?

These people were more concerned about what Jesus had cost them

than they were about the kingdom of heaven coming to bear, setting these two men free.

This is what's so tragic about the whole thing.

If you look back at the scene across the lake at the city of Capernaum,

you see that Jesus cast out demons and healed all sickness as people in that town gathered around him.

Jesus went into the city of Capernaum and he saved the people there,

setting people free and healing all disease.

Jesus had come to these people,

yet they gather around him to ask him to leave, to get out of their city.

They didn't want him involved in their lives.

Church, it's clear from this brief description

that there's people that care more about the treasures of this world

than they do about the treasure from heaven.

Jesus came to set them free and to heal them,

so that they might enter the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life.

Isn't that a picture of our society today?

There's many in our own time and even in our own city

who allow their desires for the things of this world to come between themselves and Christ.

They would rather have fulfillment now than turn to Christ and walk with him in this life.

It's clear in our passage that the demons had enslaved these two men.

That's clear.

But we might say that the entire town was enslaved as well.

Enslaved to their desires and to their treasures.

And that is a warning for all of us this morning.

Will you love the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ more than anything in this world?

Or like the world, will you put all your hope and effort into the things of this world?

And notice it, it's all going to be destroyed anyway.

So as we end our time in this sovereign part of scripture, I just want to say a few things.

First, if you are here and you believe that you are totally beyond redemption,

beyond forgiveness, beyond salvation, then I want to say to you that the Word of God

has something very different to say about your situation.

Now the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost.

And you my friend are not beyond his saving power.

You're not beyond his saving touch or forgiveness.

I believe that about myself, that I had committed way too much sin,

that I was unclean, unfit for the kingdom.

I'd done too much for Jesus to ever save me.

I truly believed it to the point where I was hopeless, I felt without cause.

You are here by no accident this morning.

Jesus has absolute power to save people from absolutely anything.

Second, there's truly sinister and malicious forces in this world.

We might not think about that all the time or see it as overtly as some cultures,

but what we've seen in our passage this morning with pigs,

physically demonstrates to us the absolute destructive nature of the demonic realm.

And so though the world would like to rewrite reality

and tell us that demons are either a figment of our imagination

or that spirits are just a bit of fun to get to know through Ouija boards

or clairvoyance or mediums, well this scene shows us a vitally important truth.

There's a spiritual realm, there's demons,

and there's only one direction that they want to take people.

Don't fall for the lies.

Don't be blindsided by the world's opinion.

The Word of God reveals to us, don't get involved, don't engage with things of this nature.

Though I might first appear innocent,

there's one place that these spirits want to take all of God's creation,

and it's into the abyss with themselves.

Third, with all that said, there is no denying that we live in a world of evil, suffering, pain, and violence.

And as a result, many of us, myself included, as disciples of Jesus Christ,

we can live in fear of what will happen next.

Brother, sister, when you begin to fear, might I urge you to remember the Gospel.

The Son of God came into our world.

He came into darkness to set us free from the powers of this world,

even when we were utterly hopeless.

And He could do that because this Jesus, this Son of God,

has all authority over everything in this world, seen and unseen.

And nothing, absolutely nothing, can keep His people away from Him or tear us from Him.

So in light of that, we are the most secure people in this world

because we're in the hands of the One who has all authority in all things.

And He cares and loves His people.

But also remember this.

There will come a day when leprosy will be no more,

when paralysis will be no more, when fever will be no more,

when there will be no more natural disasters,

and when demons will no longer tempt or torment.

A day when the authority of Jesus and His Kingdom will be fully realized on earth as it is in heaven.

And we can know that because of what Jesus did for us at the cross.

How He conquered sin and death, how He dealt with our greatest need,

and how when it looked like evil had won,

when it looked like the devil and his minions had snuffed out the light of the world,

He rose from the grave victorious.

Jesus is our hope in this world.

Jesus, He's our eternal treasure.

And so let's come to Him in prayer now.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we sang those wonderful lyrics this morning

that you stepped down into darkness,

where we were lost, hopeless, dead.

You came into our lives and set us free.

Lord, we are so encouraged by your words this morning that you have all power and authority.

Some of your last words to us Lord is that it's all been given to you.

And so Lord, we want to be a church that obeys your commission.

A people that shine your light,

that take your good news out into our city, out into our world.

Lord, would you help us to remember the gospel?

Lord, by your spirit, would you turn our hearts and minds continually to not fear

what the enemy says it can and what it plans to do to take the church out?

We know that the gates of hell will not prevail because of your victory over Satan.

Lord Jesus, might we be a church that's faithful to your gospel?

Might we be faithful to your commission?

Might we be faithful in making disciples of you?

And we ask that you would continue that work among us and keep the evil one at bay.

We ask for this in your mighty name. Amen.