The Son Who Crushes the Serpent

Good morning. Merry Christmas again. Christmas, what is this holiday or holy day all about? According to commercials, it's about gathering with family and loved ones, full of cheer, giving gifts. It's happy people being happy. According to the movies, it's about believing something strong enough that it must be true, it becomes true, and maybe your heart will just grow big enough to enjoy it. It's believing good, being good, feeling good. If you listen to songs, there's supposed to be snow. Well, it must not be Christmas. Bells, animals, animals like hippos, donkeys, and reindeer. Some kind of fascination with the gym or boy in the maternity ward. I have an ongoing feud with the Drummer Boy, for those of you who are new. Christmas, if we search for it in these different sources, it's going to be incredibly disappointing and frustrating. Culturally, Christmas is for people who are already full and happy, enjoying being full and happy. But today, I want to be clear that Christmas is for everyone who needs Christ. Christmas is for everyone who needs Christ. Those who are empty, sad, afraid, alone, grieving, guilty. Christmas is difficult for many. We want to be very clear about that. We see the presentation was supposed to look like in the screen or ideal, but it is a reminder of what's been lost. It's a reminder of what's never happened. It's a reminder of disappointment. This morning we're going to see from maybe not the most typical Christmas text, Jesus sailing and calming a storm and killing a bunch of pigs. We're going to see why Christ came. To calm chaos. To overcome our enemies. To give us great hope. This morning we're looking at Luke 8. If you're new with us, we walk through books of the Bible. We do take periodic times of Christmas or Easter, but this morning I looked at the text that was ahead of us and thought this is a great opportunity to meditate upon why Christ came, why the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary. For one simple sentence for a summary of what we hope to look at this morning, Jesus has come with all power to help his people. Jesus has come with all power to help his people. We have two stories. I believe they're helpful to go together, and I believe Luke has intentionally put them together, because you see the kind of power Jesus has. First, all power on earth. As the creator of this earth, he has all power to calm even the raging sea. And then next, we see all power in heaven. He has power over even the demons. The good news for us this morning is that Jesus has all power and he uses it to help his people. Let's look at our first story. Jesus' power over the earth. This is verses 22 through 25. It begins, as many of the stories include, Jesus and the disciples, they get on a boat. But what's different here is that this seems to be a significant storm. They're looking to go on the other side of the lake. That's the Sea of Galilee. And the significance here is that the sea is so dangerous. that they're terrified. Now remember, four of the disciples were professional fishermen. They knew this sea, they were regularly on this sea. The Sea of Galilee is kind of like Florida. Every day around four o'clock, there's a great storm that just appears out of nowhere. The storms regularly just come out of nowhere. This one seems to be more dangerous than most because again, these experienced fishermen are terrified. The winds are breaking in. The boat is filling. And what's amazing, the fishermen are terrified, but Jesus is sleeping. He's perfectly calm. He's perfectly at rest. He's fully human here. He's a man. He's sleeping. He's resting. And they cry out. Notice how they cry out to him. Master, Master, Rabbi, Rabbi. We're perishing. We're in great danger. And that next line, look at verse 24. They wake him up. They don't clearly have faith. They're just waking him up and declaring their circumstances. Jesus awoke and he rebuked the wind and the raging wave. This is a moment here to reflect upon who Jesus is. Who can do this? Who speaks to the raging storm? Who's able to bring such calm in the middle of chaos? The reason the waves obey, the reason the wind obeyed is they recognized the voice of their Creator that spoke them into existence to begin with. He spoke calm into a storm. If we're to go back to the Old Testament, the theme of chaos runs throughout it. Genesis 1 and 2 is a story of a God who created everything with goodness and order. Genesis 3, beginning with the enmity between God's people and Satan's people, introduces the chaos. There's chaos of human evil against one another. There's chaos of storms, of dangers, of horrible political powers. The theme of chaos is themed throughout though. What you need to remember is God is not the author of sin or chaos. He's the cure. Here Jesus comes and exercises his power of the good God who created all things and ends the storm. The confession here, that we should take advantage of and to see that the chaos represents our rebellion. That the chaos is the fruit of our own sin and disorder. Again, this is helpful for us at Christmas. God the creator came down to restore the order we destroy. That's what we're really celebrating with the declaration of Mary having a virgin conception and giving birth to a son. Not only does he destroy sin, but he conquers chaos. One of the first things here is Jesus' power over all creation. Who can speak like this? Who has the power to declare things that would end like a raging sea? This is about hope. There's good news this morning. God has not abandoned us to hopelessness, to disorder, to chaos, to fear. The good news, with the same power that brought the earth into existence, with the same power that ended this storm It's the same power he uses to declare sinners not guilty. It's the same power he uses to declare a people who are far away his own people and bring us near. It's the same power he uses to declare dead, alive now in Christ. That power is executed here because the Creator came to be with his creation even adding to himself our human form. So verse 24 shows us clearly, he's the creator God, who's now part of his creation and bringing order back. Notice there, the storm ceased and there was calm. Verse 25 gives us another challenge though. After Jesus wakes up, calms a raging storm, he then challenges the disciples, and it's a challenge for us. Notice the simple question. Where is your faith? The disciples' original fear was the storm. They woke him up, and now notice after that happened, verse 25, after the question, they were now afraid. Their fear has changed. The fear of the storm, as I'll turn to the one who actually has power over that storm, he's rebuked the storm. The question that we need to hear penetrating our own hearts, where is your faith? Faith and fear are always related to one another. Our faith typically will follow where we fear, or what we fear, or who we fear. Our fear determines where we place our faith. If we have a proper reverence for God, his authority, his word, his son, his salvation, we'll have a right fear. There is a good and right fear. To be clear, there's problems. This storm the disciples faced was truly frightening. But if they'd have recognized the creator is in the boat, if they'd have recognized they can believe in him, that fear would have been put in its proper place. We too often live as if there's nothing to fear and this is putting our faith in ourselves. We too often fear as if we should live under the constant terror of a government or a future or a commitment or a failure. What do we fear this morning? What do our fears reveal about a future and the one who created us, the one who came down to be with us, the one who came down to die for us, to rise again, to give us hope. The disciples, we see here the correction that there's a misplaced faith. Disciples of Jesus Christ, it is so easy to fall into the problem of having a misplaced faith. We do not lose our salvation, we do not lose a faith in Christ, but it's just so easy to take our eyes off of Christ ascended and have a fear that overwhelms us. If we are gripped with fear that leads us to obedience, there's a misplaced faith. What a wonderful opportunity to hear, to remember, and to reflect upon, where is our faith? Is it in the one who gives us absolute hope and comfort? I love the song Amazing Grace. It wasn't until a few years ago I really started pushing the second line. It was grace that relieved my fears and taught me to fear. Grace relieves the real fear of our great enemies, sin, Satan, and death. And then it's grace that helps us to rightly fear. There's good fear. There's things we should be afraid of. but they're all under the sovereignty and the power of God. Notice the reflection. They become greatly afraid. They marvel, who is this that can even command the winds and the water? The winds and the water, they obey Him. This morning, we're reflecting here. The Creator came down to bring calm and order to his creation. This is the kind of power Jesus exercises. Now let's look to our next story. Jesus' authority over the heavens. This is one we don't think about quite enough. We can appreciate wanting to look around on this earth and say we want a Jesus who's greater than a king or a government power. We want a Jesus who's greater than a virus or a sickness. We want a Jesus who's greater than whatever problems we face here that we see. This morning we're gonna look at his heavenly power. God created the heavens and the earth. We are Adams, A-D-A-M, we're humans, we're brought up from the earth. We're designed to be earthly, but we need to be reminded there's heavenly beings, there's angels, there's demons. We can't tell the Christmas story without the angels. We also can't tell the Christmas story without demons. Because Jesus is the one who was born to Eve. Jesus was the one promised to Eve to be born of a woman who, yes, his heel would be struck Then he would crush the head of Satan. This morning, we're going to see the power of the Son of God to destroy the heavenly rebellion. A few Christmas themes as we look through this story, just to go ahead and highlight them. Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. That is a great confession in the story, verse 28. Jesus, Son of the Most High God. Second, Jesus' mission and kingdom defeats the power of Satan. And then third, Jesus' mission and kingdom is for all peoples and nation. Let's walk through this story now and see these themes. They've got on the boat. Not clear they knew where they were headed. Jesus just took a nap. Storm came. He calmed the storm. Now they land. in the land of the Gerazenes. This is a Gentile area. This is unusual. This was an area of the capitalists. There was 10 Gentile cities that dominated this particular area. For those of you who are new to the church or just not familiar with the scripture, the Jew-Gentile divide was significant. The Jew-Gentile divide was hostile. The Jews refused to be around Gentiles because they thought they were unclean. They believed they were unclean. The Old Testament taught that they were to be avoided and we can see they're Gentiles because there's pigs here. It's even worse for a Jew. But Jesus, he steps foot into the unclean land. Just stepping back, we heard the story read. I'll walk through it. Jesus gets on a boat, sails across the sea through a dangerous storm for the purpose of healing one Gentile man. It's incredible to see his purpose, his mission, his desire. They sail over. He steps out on the land. He does not become unclean by stepping on this land, but no, he has brought the cleaning, cleansing power of God. And there met him a significant character for this entire story. A man from the city who had demons, unclean spirits. What this means, the word here is demonized. We've called it demon-possessed. There's a way in this man has been overcome with demonic power that he's lost a lot of his own self-control as a human being. He's overcome, he's overwhelmed. Notice the description there. For a long time, he had worn no clothes. He had not lived in a house, but among the tombs. He's out in the wilderness. He's uncontrollable. And then look at what's put in a parenthesis down there at verse 29. For many a time, the demons had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break them. He had no self-control, and the people couldn't control him. This guy's scary. out in the wilderness without any clothes. But this man comes and meets Jesus as he steps foot on the shore. Look at verse 28. 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. We've got to wrestle with a handful of issues in this text. The clarity of the text is that Jesus has power even over the demons, but like a good story, there's some wonderful questions we're gonna have as we leave. How much of this statement is the man speaking versus the thousands of demons? It's his mouth, it's his vocal cords, it's his tongue, but I believe here the demons are the ones mostly speaking through the man. It's because of the confession. Listen to what they say about Jesus. It's the most important truth we'll see. Yes, he's a creator who calms the storm, but this is it. Jesus. Son of the Most High God. You remember where we've seen this before? This title. It's the same title we meditated upon an entire year ago. Luke 1, 32. When the angel appears to Mary, the first thing he says, you are going to give a birth to the Son of the Most High God. This is the significant affirmation of Jesus that comes from the angels who are speaking on behalf of God and the demons who are rebelling against God. Jesus is the Son of God. This is the doctrine that, if you're gonna be offended by it, this is it. This is what separates Christianity from Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, or our moralistic, therapeutic deism. The doctrine of the Son of God, it's essential for Christianity. Okay, is it difficult? Yeah. One God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's what's revealed. It's what's clearly revealed in Scripture. But it's what the church has always confessed. Most importantly, it's what the Bible teaches us. This, the Son of God, fully God, exercising all the powers of God. He's a Creator God. He's a Savior God. This doctrine is essential. We can step back and ask, why is the church appearing to be so unhealthy in times of difficulty, in times of trials? It always comes down to a low view of Jesus. Ligonier regularly does a survey, and in the survey, 1% of evangelicals agreed Jesus is a great teacher, but not a God. That's concerning. We can look at that and we can say, well, how could they, but we have to make sure we're affirming, holding fast to, and rejoicing in Jesus, the Son of God, has come to be born a son of Eve. It's revealed throughout scripture. Again, that's the first declaration that Mary heard. If you were with us last night, the father declares Jesus his own son at the baptism. Jesus also is declared the son of God at the great transfiguration where we see the disciples saw Jesus in his glory. One of the great declarations, the Roman Gentile centurion declares at the cross after Christ gave up his breath, surely this is the son of God. Being the son of God doesn't mean there's two gods. The Son of God makes it clear in a way that we cannot comprehend the Father who was true God, the Son who is true God. They are one God. The Son has come to exercise all the power of God for us. God alone can save us and praise God. He has come to do so. If you're new to the faith, if you're wrestling with the doctrine of the Trinity, the reason many wrestle with it is that it's difficult to understand, and quite frankly, you will never wrap your head around it. If we want a God that we fully comprehend in every way that makes us feel comfortable, you've just created a God in your own image. The whole point of Him being God is that He's greater than our greatest thought. He's more than we could ever think of. We don't want a God that we fit into this wonderful, clear category, and we just feel like, all right, now it's comfortable because we understand Him fully. No, we can understand Him truly, though. Jesus is not just a man. He's not just a prophet. He's God the Creator. He's the only sinless man. Because He's God who came, added to Himself, the humanity of Mary. to fulfill that promise in Genesis 3.15, to save us from our sins. The challenge for us, do the demons have a better theology than we do? They're able to confess this as true, they recognize their creator, but they're still in rebellion against him. Christian, do we confess him and have the kind of reverence and joy we should have? It's one thing to be able to say, I understand, I know, I'll recognize that the Father sent His Son, Jesus is the Son of God. But isn't it rejoicing? We rejoice He's the Son of God. We know Him as our Savior. We rejoice in Him as the Son of God when we recognize He has all authority over my life to obey Him and to enjoy Him. Now the man is speaking. I believe it's the demons who are the ones giving this confession. We do have to ask, at what level does he understand? Then we see in verse 29, for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Jesus came to heal this man. It's the only miracle we know of in this particular place on this particular trip. And it's interesting, the first question, what have you to do with me? Jesus' intention is to free this man. Jesus then asked a question, verse 30, what is your name? The man says, the demons are clearly speaking here, legion, which just means for many. A legion would be 1,000 troops. Now is it thousands or 1,000? We don't know. It's a lot, too many. What's interesting, they beg Jesus. The interrelation here as to what's happening, Jesus has come, he's commanded them out. There's no question they're coming out. With the authority that he spoke all angels into existence, and to be very clear, demons are angels created by God who rebelled against him, just like humans. He created them, they know he's God, with all the authority and all the power, he's commanded them. The only question is, where are they gonna go? They ask, do not send us into the abyss, which represents some kind of judgment and destruction. Then we see another character, the pigs. The authority and power with which Jesus has commanded. Hebrews tells us that he descended, even lower than the angels. There's a hierarchy, God, angels, man. The sun descended lower than the angels. We are lower than the demons, the angels. They have great power over us. This is why the man is helpless. Even though it was just one demon, he is helpless and powerless against this demon or demons. Jesus came lower to become like those he made in his own image to help us. There's no question they're leaving. The only question is where? As we think about the power Jesus exercises here, a song we're not singing this morning, we sang last night. Joy to the world. His blessings flow as far as the curse is found. That's a great promise of hope, a great summary of what God is doing where the curses of the fall, the curses of our rebellion, the blessings of God are going to cure them all. Or as we sang earlier in God rest ye merry gentlemen, to save us all from Satan's power, to free those who trust in him from Satan's power and might. There is no question these demons are defeated. If you think about Christmas, I love family gatherings, but that's not what Christmas is about. Exchanging gifts is a great way of showing gratitude and love, but that's not what Christmas is about. the feast, the decorations. That's not what Christmas is really about. Christmas is about God coming and conquering our enemies that we could not defeat. There's good news of great joy for all people because we're no longer living defeated without hope. The Christ has come. He has authority. to win the battle. Now the real challenge of the story. Why pigs? Verse 32. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. Again, the demons are leaving. The question is, where are they gonna go? We're introduced all of a sudden to pigs. They're feeding on the hillside and the demons, notice there it's they, they begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and the herd rushed down the steep bank and into the lake and drowned. All right, why the pigs and what in the world is going on with the running down the hill? I'm not confident as to why the pigs. Yes, bacon is delicious. I don't think that's it. The pigs are unclean animals in the Jewish tradition. I don't think that's it. I think the pigs are looking for somewhere to go. What was significant is they cannot go anywhere. Jesus does not give them permission. He commanded they have to come out He gave them permission to go into the pigs. Now, this is a large herd. This is real significant loss. There's no insurance. But why the pigs, and what come of it with the destruction? Here's my best guess. It's my hypothesis. Demons are invisible. They don't have bodily form. Jesus could have removed the demons, and the whole city would have seen the man in his right mind, but then they'd be afraid. Where are the demons? Demons, they would think, are territorial. They would be afraid that they're gonna constantly be there to torment someone else, or they would be concerned. I wonder if the reason for sending the demons into a physical representation, the pigs. The beauty of it was Jesus was giving everyone relief. They're all destroyed. It's a physical, visual way of showing these pigs, when they died, the demons were destroyed with them. It's a way of visibly showing everyone that he has conquered. The key thing here is he commands, he permits. Now, then the whole city gets involved, verse 34. When the herdmen saw what happened, they fled and told it to the whole city and the country. The people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. They found the man from whom the demons had gone. What a description. The man who didn't have any clothes, who lived in tombs with broken chains and shackles, now he's described as the man from whom the demons had gone. He was 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 demons-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country, of the Gerizim, asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. 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. Everyone ran away, the herdsmen. They come back with the whole city, and again, if you think about the description of this man, the one from whom the demons had gone, the man previously possessed or demonized, what a testimony. Not only have the demons been destroyed, the pigs, but now we see this evidence. This man we were all terrified of. We all tried to have control over. We tried to help. We could not help. He now is sitting at the feet of Jesus. In his right mind. Fully clothed. What kind of response should the entire city have at this moment? There's representation, there's demonstration. Jesus has given numerous testimonies. You can trust him. Notice what it says about them. They were afraid. Even more, verse 37. They were seized with great fear. We see again here, fear and faith connected. They're so afraid, they tell Jesus to go away. The man no longer has fear of these demons. He has faith in Christ. What an incredible contrast. What a picture. Jesus alone can help this man and these people. The crowd knew how bad his life was. The crowd knew what he was like. Now they can see the full transformation, and they should say, praise be to God, we're seized with fear of who you are. Let's believe in you. Notice they're so gripped with fear, they say, get away from us. There's a kind of fear that's self-enslaving. There's a kind of fear that they're so gripped by, they just push away. And notice the pain, the Gentiles, they're like us. Sinners in need of a Savior. They're not demon-possessed, but they're controlled by their own sin. They're rebelling against God. They've seen his power and they push away the only hope they have. In contrast, verse 38, the man begs Jesus, let me be with you. The man begged him. The God who came to be with us has healed this man. He now recognizes, I just wanna be with you. And this is the odd turn here. Typically, when Jesus heals a Jewish person, he says, don't tell anybody. Here, he tells the Gentile, who wants to just be with him, no, go. Tell everyone what God has done for you. The proper response, of being healed, restored, blessed by Jesus, his desire to just be with him. He who came to be with us, now we would want to be with him because he is the one who gives us the balm and the healing and the care and the comfort we need. Notice the clarity of Jesus' deity. Jesus says, go and tell what God has done for you. Luke makes it clear, he went and told everyone what Jesus, God, had done for him. Today, there are only two ways to respond to Jesus. There might be a desire to say, you know what, I'm just gonna take some time, I'm gonna see what happens, not right now, I've got too many things to do, I don't have time for making a major life decision. There's only two ways to respond to Jesus. Either believe in him and what he's done for you. He died, he's the only one who's died to save you from your sin. He's the only one who's risen again to give us new life. He's the only one who will come again, and He will judge everyone. And either we will be found innocent and forgiven in Him, or we will be found guilty in our own sin. You can receive Him by faith. Desire to be with Him. Declare what He's done for you. You can push Him away. You can remove Him. This morning, realize the danger. pushing Jesus away. If you're not a believer this morning, do not push this opportunity away. To hear the gospel, that your sin that you cannot control, your fear that grips you that you cannot control, you can be healed, you can be forgiven, you can be helped, but only by believing in Jesus. Do not wish him away. Believer, There are things to be truly afraid of. There are truly enemies. The Bible is very clear about this. There's Satan and demons, there's our own sin, and there's death. All of these enemies are greater than us. When we place our faith in Christ, when we place our faith in the God who has power over all of these enemies, we can believe in the good news. The heralding of the good news. Good news means victory is declared. And we declare victory because victory has been won. He's risen. He's coming again. The invitation. Long to be with Him who came to be with you to save you. Not to keep enjoying sin, but to repent of sin. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you. In a season where we can feel more alone, more frustrated, more depressed, More sad. You give us the right news. The news of good news. Of great joy. For all people. I pray that we would hear you. Believe you. Trust you. And praise you. as the God who has come to be with us so that we can enjoy walking in your presence, abiding in your Son. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us sing our song of response, Joy Has Dawned.