June 19 2022
June 19th 2022
Old Testament: Isaiah 65:1-9 “I am too Holy for You”
Psalm: Psalm 13 “How long will You forget me”?
Epistle: Galatians 3:23-4:7 “According to the Promise”
Gospel: Luke 8:26-39 “Return to Your Home”
Sermon Text: Luke 8:26-39
Sermon Title:
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“We live in a culture that has been inhabited by demons. We see it starkly in the abortion movement, where slogans such as “My body, My choice”, are substitutes for rational, biblical thought. The demonic is also clearly evident in … the fact that no one is able (or willing) to answer so simple a question as; what is a man and a woman”. This is a quote from Pastor/Professor Peter Scaer of Concordia Theological Seminary; Ft. Wayne, Indiana.
There is currently a documentary out by the title “What is a Woman” (by Matt Walsh) in which he tries to interview many types of people, but virtually no one is willing to say on camera what a woman is; either because they have believed the demonic gender twisting lies or else because they are afraid of the personal trouble it will cause them (such as, loss of friends or income or reputation) if they publicly acknowledge the truth that there is only male and female as God created it.
Isaiah well described his day and ours in the Old Testament reading this morning; “I spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people; who walk in a way that is not good; following their own devices; a people who provoke Me to My face, continually (yet who arrogantly say) … do not come near to me, for I am too holy for you”. (Isaiah 65:2-3a, 5a) This kind of thinking is clearly not from God and He warns any who are comfortable in their sins, including us here today, that His judgment is coming to those who refuse to repent.
We see this everywhere we look in our world today. We see/hear people virtue signaling; this means talking about how righteous their lives and views are and how everyone who disagrees with them; most especially Christians who believe the Scriptures; are evil. We tend to deny this kind of demonic influence in our world; in part because it’s too terrible to think about. We do not want to deal with the reality, that the world around us is hostile to Christ and us His people. We don’t want to hear about a very real devil and his demons who are trying to destroy our faith and drag us down to hell with them.
And we certainly don’t want to hear anything about our own sins or the sins of those we love. The Apostle Paul described this way of thinking as “having itching ears … accumulating teachers to suit their own passions … turning away from listening to the truth and wandering off into myths”. (2nd Timothy 4:3-4) We always want to hear something “positive or uplifting”; (like Joel Osteen’s false “positive thinking” church) that doesn’t deal with life as it is in this sinful world.
So, pastors are often pressured by people in their congregations, not to talk negative about this or that sin; and not just the ones already mentioned, but things like coveting what others have or gossiping and putting the worst construction on what others have said and done. Don’t (you dare) correct anyone, lest you make them mad and they stop coming to church or (worse) stop giving money.
Now, that was not what was going on in our Gospel reading this morning. This was not some phony believer pretending to be righteous; or someone unaware of or trying to ignore the demonic influence in their lives. The reality of demonic influence and possession is made very clear by Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac. “Then they (Jesus and His disciples) arrived in the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And as Jesus stepped out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time, he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house, but among the tombs”. (Luke 8:26-27)
The man possessed by many demons, we will find out how many in a moment, and “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. For He had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of the man”. (Luke 8:28-29a) The demons knew who Jesus was and were afraid that He might “torment” punish them.
They beg Jesus not to torment them, even though they had been tormenting this poor man, for who knows how long. “For many a time they 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”. (Luke 8:29b) The demons showed no mercy to this man, but now they beg Jesus for mercy.
“Jesus then asked him, what is your name? And he (the demons speaking for the man) said, Legion, for many demons had entered him. And they begged Jesus not to command them to depart into the abyss” (Luke 8:30-31); in other words, be cast into hell. The name they gave relates to the Roman Legion, which was 4 to 6 thousand soldiers. Yet despite thousands of demons possessing him, Jesus still has power and authority over them; and they know it. Though He is outnumbered, He is not overmatched.
Our Lord Jesus still has the power to set us straight as well, that we might think more clearly about these things. What He did for the demoniac in our text, He can do and does for us today; through His powerful Word. But now, as then, most people do not want anything to do with Jesus. They know He is both merciful and all powerful; that He can drive out the demonic influences in their lives; forgive their sins and give them eternal life; and yet they stay away from the Lord and they do not welcome those who speak truth in His name.
How often do we do the same? Knowing the truth of God’s Word, but going on with our lives as if we didn’t. “Don’t we realize that our sinful nature is far to weak to be able by its own strength to resist the devil? Nothing less than Christ’s power is needed for our conflicts with the devil”. (Apology, Article IV, par. 138-139) Don’t we realize that He has already defeated sin, death, and devil for us? As the Scriptures declare, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil”. (1st John 3:8)
This is what happened next in our text today. Jesus cast out the demons, and at their begging, “He gave them permission” (Luke 8:32b) to enter a herd of pigs. “They entered the pigs and the herd rushed down a steep bank into a lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country”. (Luke 8:33-34)
The workers had just seen Jesus perform a great miracle, which they related to their friends and neighbors. This caused many people to come out and “see what 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 he demon-possessed man had been healed”. (Luke 8:35b-36)
Despite what they had just witnessed, did you hear what they tell Jesus? “They asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear”. (Luke 8:37a) Rather than receive what Jesus had to offer them, which they had just seen and heard, they tell Jesus to get lost; “so He got I to the boat and returned”. (Luke 8:37b)
Again, I ask the question; how often do we do just this? We do not want to be bothered with the truth of God’s Word, for fear of what it might cost us; rejection from the world and often even from our “so-called” friends and family. So, we seek peace with the devil, our flesh, and the sinful world, rather than with our Lord Jesus, who has paid the price that we might have peace with God. We do this not seeming to care what the cost is to our souls or the souls of those we claim to love. Of these things, we need to repent.
Contrast that with the attitude of the helpless man that Jesus healed. “The man from whom the demons had gone out, 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”. (Luke 8:38-39) Interestingly both the demons and the man healed of their influence, “begged” Jesus; both recognizing His authority over them; the demons because He could destroy them and the man because he had been saved by Jesus.
As stated already, Jesus has destroyed “the works of the devil” (1st John 3:8) just the Scriptures declare. He suffered on the cross, died, was buried and then raised bodily from the dead and by His redeeming work, Jesus has defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the power of the devil. He desires to give us His gifts of life and salvation, through His blessed Word and Sacrament. This is the Amazing Grace we sang about moments ago. He has “saved wretches like us (from sin and death) and brought us through many dangers, toils, and snares” and temptations of the devil.
In His grace and mercy, God keeps calling out to “a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good” (Isaiah 65:2); “ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me … to be found by those who did not seek Me”. (Isaiah 65:1) The crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ lovingly calls us back to Himself each and every time we gather around His Word and Sacrament. Therefore, we gladly receive His gifts and gladly proclaim, “how much Jesus has done for us”. (Luke 8:39b) Amen.
The peace of God …