Luke
8:26-39 NIV
26 They sailed to the region of the
Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When
Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a
long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in
the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and
fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with
me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For
Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had
seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he
had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into
him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to
order them to go into the Abyss.
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there
on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he
gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out
of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank
into the lake and was drowned.
34 When those tending the pigs saw what
had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and
the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they
found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’
feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those
who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been
cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the
Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear.
So he got into the boat and left.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone
out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how
much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much
Jesus had done for him.
Hey! That’s Me!
First
off, let’s realize that Jesus is now in non-Jewish, or Gentile territory. And
in this Gentile territory, Jesus displays a compassion for people not of His own
race, that imitates God’s mercy for ALL people. Hey! That includes me! Yes,
Jesus comes to not only Jew but Gentiles like me too!
This
whole passage about demons made me realize how God has come to me, in Jesus,
even as I deal with my very own demons. Think of this for yourself as well.
Demons
make me think of conflict, sin, separation from God. Demons that take me far
away from a God who made me for Himself, who in Him, that is God alone, I can
trust.
For me
demons are an inner division and a hostility to my soul and spirit. I hate
these demons. Look at the words of Paul in the 7th Chapter of Romans…
19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not
want to do—this I keep on doing.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me,
waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law
of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
Yea, these are the demons I struggle with!
BUT – Jesus comes to me, just like He came to this
demon-possessed man, to cure me of my demons, my sin, my separation from God
--- BUT --- the cure WILL involve suffering. Yes, to be saved I will SEE my
need to be saved on all dimensions. To be saved, I WILL see my disgusting,
sinful, ways. To be saved, I WILL smell the stench of my sin and face what I
find disgusting about myself.
Yes, to be saved, I will notice God VOID in me as
God confronts me in my sinfulness, and demands from me what is painful to me.
In front of God, my Savior, God WILL give me a hard, difficult, painful
readjustment.
Let’s look at an example of this tough stuff from
the Old Testament, to a man after God’s own heart…
David, committed a lustful adultery and had her
husband killed. Feel this, as God confronts David with his sin through God’s
words spoken through Nathan…
2
Samuel 12:7-14 NIV
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are
the man! This is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your
master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you
all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given
you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word
of the Lord by doing
what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the
sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of
the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the
sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took
the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own
household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes
I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will
sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did
it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all
Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have
sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has
taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But
because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will
die.”
For me?
I realize, in this account, and my own sinfulness, how I MUST KNOW the pain of
judgment BEFORE I can experience the joy of God’s salvation.
I
realize that like the demon-possessed man and David in his sin…
Hey! That’s
Me!
I – not just
me – But an entire mob of disgusting “Me’s” – am filled with a bunch of sinful
conflict and sins. Every Man is full of sins. Yes, a Legion of sins. If you
want numbers that fall short, a Roman Legion was around 6000 soldiers. Well, my
sin is much greater than that!
But
LOOK! As Jesus saves, as Jesus casts out my sin, as I face the Truth of Jesus
in God and as Jesus takes on my sin, He removes the power of sin over me. THEN
--- I can sit at the feet of Jesus IN joy, to acknowledge that Truth and see
salvation in Jesus. What does this make me want to run out and do, in response
to what God has done for me, through the saving love of Jesus?
It makes
me gleeful to “Point To Jesus,” to tell what God does for me and for you and
for all creation, as I sit at the feet of Jesus, in my “right” mind and in the
face of the Truth of God’s eternal love.
Yet,
look around. When this takes place and people see me saved from sin, death and
the devil, the stinker that I am; some fear this Truth that Jesus saves the
demon possessed, “Hey! That’s Me!”
Some don’t
want to see, or admit, in this power of God to save, because they fear Truth.
The Truth in themselves of a need they would rather not face.
BUT
The fear
for the saved that realize the power and the beauty and the love of God for
them and all creation, bursts forth in a joyful praise of God that is for today…
tomorrow… and forever! Thanks be to God!
Hey! That
demon possessed man --- Hey! That’s Me!
May we
rejoice as the demon possessed man rejoiced … listen to this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZhHe3vvWC0&list=RDlZhHe3vvWC0&start_radio=1
The
Saving One – Chris Tomlin
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