In Matthew chapter 8, we left off at verse 27. We're about to read the text of Matthew 8 starting at verse 28 through chapter 9 verse 1 because chapter 9 verse 1 is actually the conclusion of this little account. But before we read it, I'm going to spoil it for you. We've noted several times in this chapter how it deals with the authority of the Lord Jesus over all sorts of areas of life like demons and disease and death. His own disciples last week We learned and read as Jesus calmed the storm, proving his power and authority over nature. And he left the disciples on the boat asking the question, who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him? This morning's text gives at least a partial answer to that question. Not only does the Lord Jesus maintain authority over what is natural, He has all power and authority over the supernatural. Matthew chapter 8, starting at verse 28, says, When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, What have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. So the demons begged him, saying, If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said to them, Go. So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine and suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea and perished in the water. Then those who kept them fled and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to depart from their region. So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own city. the event recorded in our text this morning, tells us more than just what Jesus can do. It is a lesson about what Jesus is willing to do. It would hardly matter to prove that Jesus has all power and authority over Satan and his demons if Jesus was unwilling to use that power and authority. to free people from Satan's wicked grasp. But this teaches us he is ready, willing, and able to come to people who are shackled and enslaved to the powers of darkness and set them mercifully and joyfully free. Matthew has already said this. In fact, he's shown it in this very chapter, almost like a parenthetical thought. Back up in verse 16, when Jesus had healed Peter's mother-in-law of her fever, it says, when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This gives us the same kind of account. He's casting out the spirits with a word. The word Jesus speaks in this text is simply, go. But in our text, I think Matthew is intent on showing how the disciples, having gone through this experience of the storm and the sea, they're starting to grapple with the implications of the things that they've seen. And so now he offers this fuller, more detailed look at Jesus's power over demons. Because from the disciples' perspective, They just witnessed the Lord Jesus as supreme over everything natural, like storms and winds and waves, right? The things that they could see. Now they're going to learn Messiah King Jesus has authority over everything supernatural, even the things that they cannot see. Now, before digging into the text, I think it makes sense for us to set a little bit of groundwork first so this text makes sense for us. There is an unseen world of spiritual beings who are active influences in human life. Angels and demons are real. The text does not argue that point. It simply asserts and assumes it is true as Matthew tells this story. C.S. Lewis once wrote that there were two equal and opposite errors in regard to this subject. The first would be to refuse to believe in the existence of these spiritual beings. The second error is to believe and be so excessively and unwarrantedly interested in them that they dominate your thoughts. in our modern Western culture, we fall into. both ditches in this issue. It is unwise to get so enamored with demons and the occult that we have sort of the infamous satanic panic of the 1980s, where every bad thing that happened was a result of Satan worshipers and demonic influence, as if the sinful nature of depraved humans wasn't a good enough explanation. On the other hand, we should not mythologize or fictionalize the truth about the spiritual world around us in a way that denies the reality of its existence. as he wrote, said that our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but it's with dark powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. So let's just start by laying some groundwork, stating some basic biblical facts about these supernatural beings. So to lay the groundwork for this event. First off, last week we learned that Jesus was the creator of the wind and the waves. He is also the creator of all supernatural beings. When folks like Jehovah's Witnesses start talking about Jesus and saying he is a created angel, it denies the biblical fact that Jesus is the creator of the angels. Listen to what Paul writes about him in Colossians 1, verses 15 through 17. He writes of Jesus and says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created that are in heaven and are on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and through Him all things consist. Right? Every part of nature you can see and everything beyond nature that you cannot see, all of it was made by the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. And he rules over all his creation with unimpeachable authority. The text is going to teach this truth. Second, Satan and his demons began as angelic beings created for God's glory, but they have fallen due to their rebellion and sin. When we sort of collate all the biblical teaching on angels and demons, we find that Satan was an angelic being, but he rebelled against God, recruiting a third part of the angels into his sort of coup to dethrone the Lord God. And as a result, he and all of his followers were cast down to the earth, and they reside here with the determination to oppose God, destroy the image of God in mankind, and they possess great power to accomplish their goals. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, that the God of this world has blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus, who is the image of God, should not shine to them. Peter describes it as your adversary Satan walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour. We're going to see that truth in this text. Third, the only man with power and authority greater than these demonic beings is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 19, there is a fascinating story where there are seven brothers who conspired together in an attempt to exorcise a demon out of a man. The evil spirit responded to them sarcastically saying, I recognize Jesus and I've heard of the Apostle Paul, but who do y'all think you are? And they ended up running away naked, beaten, and bloody. Even the disciples of Jesus at one time came to him saying, we tried to cast out a demon and it didn't work. That's because the Lord Jesus is the only man with power and authority greater than these evil spirits. And we'll see that truth in this text. All right, that should be hopefully enough introduction and background. The sermon this morning is our 30th message from the book of Matthew. And it is entitled, Jesus Delivers and Departs. And you will note in this text that Jesus does both of those things. He delivers to the merciful salvation of two men on the shoreline, and he departs to the hopeless condemnation of the local residents who asked him to leave. The point of this text shows that the Messiah, King Jesus, is able to take the most hopeless captives enslaved to sin and Satan and set them fully free. I want to see this text in three different stages. First, see the men who were enslaved to darkness. Second, we'll see Jesus break the chains from them And then third, we'll see the world express their preference. The man enslaved to darkness is seen in verses 28 and 29. Look at it with me again. When he had come to the other side, So they've gone through that storm, then they reached the shoreline, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, what have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now, I always want to encourage you as you read the gospels to read each gospel individually and see what Matthew and what Mark and what Luke and what John want to tell in the context of the story that they're telling. But it is also helpful to harmonize or coalesce the four Gospels when they write about the same event to just bring the different facts they record together to have a better picture of what happens on any particular day. In this case, Mark chapter 5 and Luke chapter 8 record this same story. And in fact, they do it in more detail than what Matthew gives us, even though some of those details need to be explained. So just a couple of quick notes. If you're familiar with Mark's account or with Luke's account, I want to just make a note of a couple of things. Matthew says this happens in the country of the Gergesenes, while Mark and Luke describe it as happening in the region of Gadara. Now, all of them are right. One is likely a village and the other is a reference to the region. Ghadara is a city that's several miles inland, but sort of the authority and Power, the territorial control of that city extended all the way out to the coastline. So you were in the region of Gadara. Well, Geresa or Gergesa is a village on the coastline that we know has these high cliff walls, which match the description of this event. So just like if I said this morning, we're in Washington, you say, wait, I thought we were in Illinois. Both of those things are right, okay? Second, there is another difference between the gospel accounts which really seems to throw some people. Matthew says here in this text that there are two men. If you go and you read Mark 5 or Luke chapter 8, you'll see in both of them that Mark and Luke just talk about one man. There is a simple explanation for this. Neither Mark nor Luke said that there was only one man, They're just talking about one of these men. If Matthew's right, and he is, that there are two men, then that means that there are, if I can do the math, at least one. And so, all of them are correct. Most likely, what's happening is, of these two men, one of them is the ringleader, one of them is the most dominant, the most troublesome, and the other one is a bit of a sidekick, or a lackey, or a minion. Right? So, altogether, the accounts describe, as we collate them together, the morning where the disciples encounter that storm on the sea, and they're left in fear of the power of Jesus to calm the storm, that they reach the shoreline, and no doubt, at that point, they probably believe the most troubling event of the day was already behind them. as they pull the boat onto shore only to look up and there are two naked, bleeding, screaming madmen running down to the shoreline intent to do them violence. Verse 28 here describes them as demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceeding fear so that no one could pass that way. Now, let me just ask, if there were a couple of crazy men living in the cemetery where you buried grandma and grandpa, that would be troubling to you, right? That would be disturbing enough, but remember they used caves and tombs, right? Open areas for burial. Matthew's description is these men were coming out of the tombs. So don't read that just as they were coming down from the cemetery, right? They were hanging out inside with the dead bodies. And of course, the local population hated this. Right, if we put the body of our loved one in that tomb, we don't want some naked crazy guys hanging out with it. And so Mark and Luke both describe the efforts of the local population to solve the problem. They would catch them, they would use chains, but at least the ringleader was strong enough to break the chains that they used to bind him. Mark records it this way, he says, he had often been bound with shackles and chains and the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, neither could anyone tame him, right? These men, they are stronger than the chains because they are bound by something that is stronger than iron. These men are demon possessed. And they demonstrated this internal turmoil in violent ways. You can just see from the story, they were physically violent to others, right? All those who came close to them. You see in Matthew's description that they were exceeding fierce. They would not allow anyone to pass that way. They were also physically harmful to themselves. Mark describes In this story, always being in the mountains and cliffside tombs, screaming and cutting himself with stones, right? Self-harm is often, but not always, a sign of demonic influence. In another gospel story, there is a demon-possessed boy who continually threw himself in the fire. So these men, they have been ostracized from society. They could not live peaceably with others. They could not be restrained by others. They are a danger to themselves. They are proving this continual source of frustration for the local population and for any traveler who, unbeknownst to them, happened to wander to the shoreline where these two men would come screaming down at them. This is a sad existence, and Luke 8, verse 27 says it had been that way, quote, a long time. When the disciples come ashore, the threat of the storm was behind them, but they are immediately confronted by the tempest raging in these men's souls. These bleeding, screaming madmen running mindlessly down the shoreline toward them, aimed at doing violence, but somewhere along the line, the demons apparently recognize Jesus. Luke says that they fell down before him. Mark describes it as they fell down worshiping, just meaning they fall down prostrate before him. Matthew simply says, suddenly, like abruptly, everything stops and these men, or more accurately, the demons inside these men, start screaming and crying out, what do we have to do with you, Jesus, you son of God? Now, just pause for a second and think about the way Matthew is recording this story. The disciples are pondering the nature of Jesus, right? They'd been out on the boat, they'd seen the storm, they saw Jesus still the storm, and in verse 27, they are left asking the question, what kind of man is this? Well, the disciples aren't sure what kind of man this is, but you know who is sure? The demons know. James 2.19 says that the demons know and tremble. And what they know here is they know that they have no physical power over Jesus, right? The attack that they are making toward Jesus and his disciples gets stopped in its tracks when they see him. They know, according to their own words, that He is the Son of God. Just like saying Jesus is Son of Man is describing His humanity. Describing Jesus as Son of God is a statement about His deity. This is God in the flesh. They clearly also know there is a day appointed for their destruction. Look at the end of verse 29. Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now they begin with this phrase, what have we to do with you? And this is a common expression in their culture that meant probably, literally, what business do we have of each other? But it's a way of saying, what do you want with us? But it's the rest of the statement that's the most telling. Have you come here to torment us before the time? They recognize there is a divine appointment on the calendar of world history where Jesus will fully and finally deal with their wickedness. Any appointment. has at least three essential factors, right? If you want to meet me at the blends tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to drink coffee, which I'm available by the way, right? The three factors there was where, right? Well, it's the coffee shop, the blend, what? Well, we're gonna drink coffee, when? 9 a.m. in the morning. You'll note the demon statement here contains this expectation of a divine appointment in the same kind of detail. There is a where, a what, and a when. Now you could read this, you could read their statement very simplistically and think that they're talking about just the immediate context in front of them, right? What are you doing on this side of the lake this morning? You weren't supposed to come pester us until next Thursday. Clearly, that's not what's happening here. The devils possessing these men know there is a divinely appointed time and place for their destruction. Revelation chapter 20 describes the coming day when Satan and those who follow him will be cast into the lake of fire where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. This is what they fear. Luke records this as the demons begged him that he would not command them to go out into the abyss. These demons know there is a divine appointment. They know it. That is what is at the forefront of their mind. Now if you think about the way Matthew is telling this story, back in the boat when the disciples were in the storm with Jesus, Jesus said they reacted with little faith. I'm gonna attach your memory to last week and see if you can remember what we talked about there. We noted last week that the disciples were expressing little faith because they were just looking at their immediate circumstances. Right? Not to the greater, eternal realities of the victorious Jesus. Now, when you get to the shoreline, these demons that are possessing these men are well aware of the eternal realities that they're dealing with. Their torment is going to come by divine appointment, and nothing is going to change that. But because they know it, they look at Jesus and essentially say, well, what is this about? This isn't the place. This isn't the time. Are you really going to torment us now? Because he could if he wanted to. And they know it. Meanwhile, as all this happens, The men inside them are trapped. We think of demon possession as if to say, well, there is a devil inside that guy. But if you can imagine all of this as it transpires on the shoreline, well, who is stuck inside of who? These men are the ones trapped inside. They are enslaved. They are confined within themselves as the demons have taken control. but not for long. The men are enslaved to darkness, but the Lord Jesus breaks their chains. Look at verse 30. Now a good way off from them, there was a herd of swine feeding. So the demons begged him saying, if you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said to them, go. And when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine, and suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea and perished in the water. Focus on verse 31 for just a moment. The demons begged him. Let that sink in for a minute. They begged, they had to plead with Messiah King Jesus. They know that their time possessing these men is done, right? Their ride was about to come to a complete stop. And they say, if you cast us out, but the original language is almost, when you cast us out. Really, it is said in a way that leaves no doubt that they know Jesus is literally going to, they use the words, throw them away. And yet, even after being removed from these men, they are under the power and authority of Jesus. They cannot so much as possess a pig unless the power of Messiah King Jesus allows them to do it. these demons who torment the entire population and all the travelers along the shoreline, they have to grovel and beg before Jesus. They are powerless in comparison to him. And for all that, you and I know when we read this story, the first question we ask is, what's the deal with the pigs? Y'all, I'm gonna tell ya, I'm not sure I can satisfy your curiosity on this. A few things, if you wonder why the demons asked to possess the pigs, like that would be a good thing. My best guess is to point out that they are concerned clearly about facing the wrath of Jesus and given the option between the wrath of Jesus and possessing some pigs, the pigs don't seem like such a bad option. It might also be that they see it as an opportunity to turn the locals against him. And if we keep reading the story, we find out that's exactly what happens. Why does Jesus allow them to go into the pigs? Well, one thing we can say with certainty, it is not because their plan somehow takes him by surprise. Right? When they run these pigs down to the cliff and into the water to destroy them, do not read this story thinking Jesus's reaction is, whoa, I had no idea that was gonna happen. It has been suggested that since pigs are unclean animals, according to the law of the Old Testament, that Jesus is allowing their destruction as a statement about obeying God's commands. Maybe. He doesn't say that. So I don't know. The swine herders had no business raising pigs here. That I feel comfortable with. It doesn't tell us here what the demons are thinking. It doesn't tell us what Jesus is thinking. It just tells us what's happened. And so that's all we've got. Why is it that the demons immediately destroy the pigs? My best guess? That's what demons do. Satan is described as a murderer from the beginning. He is like a roaring lion seeking to devour and destroy. They cause pain and destruction. They kill and steal, right? Like I said, it might serve their purpose in turning the population against Jesus, but most importantly, you should see whatever they do cannot overcome the will and power and authority of Jesus. I think it's safe to say what they meant for evil, Jesus used for good. Their plan rooted in wickedness ended up being eclipsed by the Son of God and His plan to show His power and authority. To get this, I just want you to picture what this story would be like If that question about, well, what's the deal with the pigs? Like take the pigs and all of that out of the story. And what are you left with? Without that, what can you see if you're on the outside looking in? Sure, you look at those men on the shoreline and there seems to be a significant change. That would be obvious, but not as obvious as the way this day unfolds in the scriptural story. To see these two long-time demon-possessed men sitting with Jesus and His disciples, clothed and peaceful and in their right minds, that would have been powerful, but you still would have wondered from the outside looking in, what changed? What was going on with them before? But the way this story unfolds in Jesus' wisdom, we get to see the demonic madness and the senseless violence that terrorized these men's hearts for years. Mark tells us that this herd of pigs, Matthew just says it was a large herd, Mark tells us it had about 2,000 pigs, and they run headlong down the hillside, off the cliff, into the sea, and are slowly choked and drowned by the water. And when you read this, or you see this, and you know that that, that is what was inside these men for years, Right? Here's this malevolent presence of devils with the clear purpose of bringing complete and utter destruction. And Jesus saved these men. And all that violence and terror and destruction was unleashed on 2,000 pigs. It was what was bound up in the heart and soul of these men. And you see now what Jesus has set them free from. These men were enslaved to darkness. Jesus alone has the authority to break those chains and set them fully and joyfully free. So then the next question would be, how do you react to that? Well, look, as the world expresses their preference, starting in verse 33. Those who kept them, that is those who kept the swine, fled and went their way into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to depart from their region. So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own city. The swine herders, I do not know how much of the interaction on the shoreline they overheard, how much they saw what happened, but I can say with confidence that they heard enough. ran down the cliff into the sea, the pig farmers run away the other direction into the town. And I guess that's understandable. I mean, it is a frightening thing to see the power and authority of Jesus on display. I mean, if we could go back a week, when the disciples saw the power and authority of Jesus over the storm, they would have run away too if they could, but they were stuck in the boat with them. These pig farmers run to town and they tell everything. But no, they tell everything. Matthew uses that word everything at the end of verse 33. And as if that's not enough, he also includes the statement that says, including what happened to the demon possessed men, right? So Matthew wants you to know when they get to town, the people in town are not hearing half the story. The people in town are not coming down to the seaside ill-informed. They hear everything that was going on. They hear about the pigs. They also hear about what happened with the demon-possessed man. It's important to know that because of the reaction in verse 34, they all came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to depart from their region. Just visualize this day unfolding for a moment. The swine herders run into town, yelling, telling everyone about the strange doings that are going on down at the shoreline. And people run down to the shoreline to check it out. And when they get there, right? They look over and there are the demon-possessed men that have terrorized them for years. And those men are sitting clothed. Luke says clothed and in his right mind. They are sitting, dressed, peaceful. Maybe their wounds have even been treated. These are the men that they could not bind by chains when they tried. These are the men that would hang out in the tombs with the bones of grandma. Right? Violent to others, violent to themselves, and all that's cured. It's all fixed. They look over at the shoreline, and there's those men in peace, and that is obvious. But, you look over the other direction, and you see over by the cliff, underneath the cliff, in the water, there are 2,000 pig carcasses bobbing up and down in the waves. And so they just stand there processing this, right? We see these men over here, they are thanks to the power and authority of Jesus, they are at peace, they are cured, they have no ill will towards people anymore, but you also see the result of the power and authority of Jesus over there in the water. And yeah, I know, he did not destroy the pigs, but you have to recognize now, even 2,000 years later, the destruction of the swine happened as a direct result of the sovereign power and authority of Jesus. And the townspeople react with fear. They're not afraid of the demons, and where did they go? Like, did you ever read the story and go, well, then what? They're not afraid that there's demons hanging around the area. They're not worried about the pig farmers. They're not worried about the two men anymore. They're not afraid of the disciples. They are afraid of Jesus. This is where the story of Jesus calming the storm and the story of Jesus casting the demons out of these two men, they fit so perfectly together because the end result of both of those stories is fear. The power and authority of Messiah King Jesus is a fearful thing. Don't you doubt that for a minute. But his worldview is eternal. Clearly, Jesus places a higher value on the eternal souls of men than he does things of no eternal significance, like a herd full of swine. So if you're looking at Jesus like these town folks are and facing the prospect of, well, if he stays here, we're gonna have to submit to that authority and power. It is scary. Because Jesus's authority, it comes with some clearly glorious experiences, but it also comes not just with enslaved sinners being set free, it also comes with, there's gonna be consequences that we don't necessarily want to face and costs that we don't want to incur. And these town folks react to the loss of the pigs and the potential loss of whatever else submitting to Jesus will cost them. And they essentially say, look, here's the deal. We want to keep our pigs and we want you to keep your distance. We don't want the peace you bring at the cost that it comes with. And if you're thinking, well, how could they not care? About the men who were trapped in darkness, I think the answer is maybe they do care, but they don't care about it as much as they care about their own convenience. And we are free to judge them harshly for that, but we also need to turn that same judgment back onto ourselves and ask, do we claim to care about the souls of the lost world around us, but then prioritize our own comfort and convenience over declaring the gospel of Jesus to them? This story ends as Jesus, who has just brought his disciples over the sea, through the storm, landing on the shoreline. He hears these people begging him to go away, and apparently he gives some command like, fellas, get back in the boat. Verse one of chapter nine says he got into the boat and crossed over and came to his own city. Imagine telling Jesus, why don't you just go back where you came from? Even though he came into this world to save the world. This echoes the words of John's gospel that Jesus is God made flesh and he dwelt among us and in him was life and light. And John said he was in the world. The world was made by him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. Will you receive him? Will you call him Lord? Will you submit to his power and authority over your life regardless of the cost that comes with it? Will you trust in his death, burial and resurrection to save your eternal soul? Or even in the face of the evidence that he alone is able to take the most helpless captives enslaved to darkness and set them fully free, Will you ask him to go away and leave you alone? Will you plead with him for deliverance? Or will you plead with him to depart?