[0:00] It's a delight to be here, but I have a dilemma. I don't know anything about you. I don't know what trials or tribulations or struggles or conflicts or sicknesses or the circumstances in your life.
[0:15] I'm always a little apprehensive when I go visiting people I don't know, because I can't look out at your eyes and know what's going on in your lives. So my intention this morning is to read a large portion of scripture, so that if the sermon bores you, when you're walking out the door, at least you can say, that was a great text.
[0:37] Sometimes preachers can be very boring, and we're very tolerant of them, but you can always say, that was a great text this morning.
[0:48] Okay? So if I bore you in advance, the text is worth hearing. It's in Luke chapter 8, and it's verse 22 and following.
[1:00] Luke 8, 22. One day Jesus said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side of the lake. So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep.
[1:20] A squall came down on the lake so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we're going to drown.
[1:31] They got up, rebuked the wind and the raging waters. The storm subsided, and all was calm. Where is your faith? he asked his disciples.
[1:45] In fear and amazement they asked one another, Who is this? He commands even the winds and the waters, and they obey him. They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.
[2:00] 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.
[2:14] 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.
[2:26] But 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 demons into solitary places.
[2:41] Jesus asked him, What is your name? Legion, he replied, because many demons had gone into him, and they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss.
[2:57] A large herd of pigs were feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 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.
[3:15] When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside. 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.
[3:36] And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. And all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear.
[3:51] So he got into the boat and left. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return home and tell how much God has done for you.
[4:05] So the man went away and told all over the town how much Jesus had done for him. Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.
[4:18] Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house, because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve years, was dying.
[4:31] As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. But no one could heal out. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
[4:47] Who touched me? Jesus asked. One day or the night, Peter said, Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you. But Jesus said, Someone touched me.
[4:59] I know that power has gone out from me. Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling at his feet in the presence of all the people. She told why she had touched him, and how she had been instantly healed.
[5:11] Then he said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace. It's the first time he ever uses the word daughter. Ever. It's never used anywhere else.
[5:24] While Jesus was still speaking, someone came up from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader, your daughter is dead. He said, Don't bother the teacher anymore. Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, Don't be afraid.
[5:38] Just believe, and she will be healed. When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child's father and mother.
[5:50] Meanwhile, all the people were waiting, were wailing and mourning for her. Stop wailing, Jesus said. She is not dead, but asleep. They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
[6:03] But he took her by the hand and said, My child, get up. Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
[6:18] So, we have this clump of incidents in the Gospel of Luke. And Luke is a very dramatic Gospel.
[6:30] There's always something happening. I always enjoy reading Luke. It's just full of drama. So we have these four events all piled together. And I want to make a number of observations.
[6:43] There are four dangers. There are four types of people. There are four types of faith. And there's one solution. Actually, there are four requests as well.
[6:56] There are four begging incidents in these stories. So there are four dangers, four types of people, four types of faith, four requests, and one ultimate solution.
[7:09] Now, you're tabulating in your head four, four, that's three minutes each. That's four threes are twelve. That's sixteen three minutes. Well, that's a long sermon. It won't be long. We have not got time to stop.
[7:21] What we're doing is we're in the National Gallery, and you're standing back looking at, let's say, Caravaggio. You're not seeing the detail. You're seeing the heights of the painting.
[7:32] You're not seeing the fingers. You're just looking at it from a distance. And that's all I intend to do this morning. There are four dangers. There's a storm. There's disease.
[7:43] There's death. There's demons. Those are the four dangers. The first of them is the boat. Some of those men in the boat with Jesus were seasoned sailors.
[7:54] And as they're going across the lake, ask yourself the question, where does the storm arise from? Who brought it? Is there a demonic twist to it?
[8:07] We don't know. All we know is that when Jesus gets into the boat, as a human being, he falls asleep in it. And as they're going across the lake, these seasoned men are terrified because they fear they're going to drown.
[8:21] There are three accounts of this, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the Matthew account, Jesus rebukes them before he stills the storm.
[8:34] In the other two, the record is the storm is stilled, and then he speaks to them. But Matthew's account is he rebukes them, and then he stills the storm.
[8:45] For in the mind of Jesus, the storm was not the matter of concern. It was their lack of faith. That was the bigger concern.
[8:57] The storm was nothing. It was their lack of faith. Jesus is sleeping in the boat with them. And they're terrified. And sometimes in our lives, there are storms.
[9:10] In a variety of ways, they come. And we think we've been abandoned. We think Jesus isn't in the boat with us.
[9:21] And we're doubting and fearful. That can never be so. Jesus is always with us.
[9:33] Whatever storm may come, Jesus is ever present with us. The storm wasn't their crisis. It was their lack of faith.
[9:45] Their lack of faith. Whatever's going on in your life, whether it be bright or bitter, darker, sweet, Jesus is with you.
[9:58] Always. Always. Always. So that's the first danger, the storm. And then, there is the demons.
[10:13] In the other accounts, there are two of these men. But one of them is highlighted in Luke. One of them wants to, maybe, I don't know what, but he comes to Jesus and the demon within the man is terrified.
[10:26] terrified. He's terrified of this man who was landed on the shore, who is now going to disturb his life or their lives if he exerts his power. And the demon, through the man, says, please don't send us out into the abyss.
[10:43] See, y'all heard a swine? Send us into them. And there are a lot of them. I think there are 2,000 of them. And when Jesus gave permission for the swine to be possessed by demons, what do the demons do?
[11:01] Commit suicide. Only humans can be possessed. Animals are wise if they don't want demons. So they all leap off the cliff and they drown themselves.
[11:16] And there's a lovely telling incident about this man. It tells us three things about him. It says he was homeless, naked, and dispossessed in his mind.
[11:28] He was a mental wreck. He was physically naked. He was a companion of the tombs in the graveyard. And when the Lord liberates him from the demons, this man is so changed.
[11:45] If you follow the next section, it says he was in his right mind. He was clothed and he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. What a transformation. What a transformation.
[11:58] If you're a Christian, you're equally as transformed. You were a sin-loving, self-serving, egotistical man or woman. And you thought the world revolved around you.
[12:11] And then Jesus invades your space and you realise the world revolves around him. And it changed your entire outlook.
[12:23] So this man has been altered and he is so giddy with joy. He wants to go with the source of his joy. When you go, bring me with you.
[12:33] He's restrained. It's not going to happen. He's left behind where he was.
[12:46] And then they come to shore again and a 12-year-old is dying. I thought the 12-year-old might have stayed in the room because I wanted to say something to the children. Sometimes we think the children don't listen.
[12:59] But we have to make sure we say something to them from the scriptures. So this 12-year-old and only daughter is dying. And the father of the girl is so distraught.
[13:12] He does not care. He falls at the feet of Jesus in the street. He's a man of significance. He's the synagogue leader. And he's in the street and he's begging this man to come to heal his daughter.
[13:28] And Jesus says, I will go with you. And he begins the journey. As he's going, a woman with a bleeding situation for 12 years.
[13:46] She's spent all that she has. She's a social outcast. She's not to be seen in public. She cannot sit at family gatherings. According to Leviticus, she is unclean.
[14:00] So this poor woman for the last 12 years has been socially unclean. Think of the loneliness of that. Without kith or kin or family or hug.
[14:14] She sees people going to temples, to synagogues. She sees families in the street, but she's a social outcast. And she does something this day. Whether she dresses and conceals herself, but she knows, she knows that this man, Jesus, can heal her.
[14:33] And she's going to break social taboos. And she's going to go through the crowds. And she's going to touch him. If only I can touch him, she says, he'll heal me. And she comes through the crowds, incognito, this social outcast.
[14:49] And she touches him. And as she does so, something happens in her body simultaneously. And she's, she's walking back and she's saying, I feel something.
[15:03] I feel something that wasn't there two minutes ago. She's walking away. And then all of a sudden, this voice says, who touched me?
[15:15] Who touched me? And the disciple says, hey, do you not see the mass of people around you, Jesus? He says, yeah, but someone touched me and power has left me.
[15:28] And this girl has to own up and she has to look Jesus in the face. And she says, let me tell you my story.
[15:40] And she told him. And he says to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Your faith has made you well.
[15:53] And then as he's going down the road, the doctor, medic says, you know, the girl is dead. She's kicked the bucket. She's shuffled off this mortal coil.
[16:05] Don't waste his time. And Jesus, to Jairus and his wife, hold on, just believe. So he comes through the house. He puts all the wailers and the keeners out.
[16:17] He brings in the three of his disciples, his witnesses, and the parents are there. And he, what does he do? He touches her. And in that touch, life is given.
[16:29] And she sits up, this 12-year-old, she eats, and she's changed. Jesus has invaded her space. Jesus has invaded her space.
[16:44] So those are four great dangers. Four great dangers. But there are four great requests in this incident.
[16:59] Jairus asks Jesus to come. Jesus comes. The demons ask Jesus to leave. He gives permission. The crowd, sadly, asks Jesus to go.
[17:16] Imagine that. Imagine that. We don't want you around here, Jesus. Please go. They're quite consistent.
[17:28] We don't want you. We don't want you. We'd rather have our darkness. And guess what? Jesus gives them what they want. The light moves, and they're in the dark.
[17:42] So he answers their request. But there's one, the last one, is in the negative. That man who's been healed of the demons, he says, please let me go with you.
[17:54] Please let me go with you. And he's the only one that Jesus says no to. I want you to go back and tell all your friends and your family what God has done for you.
[18:13] That's what I want you to do. I want you to be my evangelist, my messenger to your kith and kin. They know the difference that's come into your life.
[18:23] They can see it. Tell them who did it. Jesus has done it. So in these grand pictures, we have these four great dangers.
[18:38] And Christ overcomes them all. Yet there is a master danger. There's the mother of all dangers. There's the mother of all dangers.
[18:50] Making storms calm, chicken feed. Raising the dead in everyday currents. Healing diseases, no power.
[19:01] Casting out demons, done. And the reason they're done is because the kingdom of God has come into this world. It's an invasion.
[19:13] It's an invasion of God's new kingdom. If we're all healed here and all diseases gone and all demons rid, heaven wouldn't be what it's going to be.
[19:24] But to give us hope for the future, to give us anticipation of what is yet to be, we see evidences of what will be then. But there's a master danger.
[19:43] There's the mother of all dangers. the cause of all that has come into the world, even in those four events, diseases, death, storms, demons. The source of all of that is the master danger.
[19:59] Sin. Sin. Sin. You can't see it, but you know its effects. You know its effects. It's everywhere. And something greater than a word is necessary for that to be dealt to us.
[20:17] It's not as God, as Jesus put the stars in the sky and he says, oh yes, there's Orion and the Pleiades, there's the bear. I number them, he says, I number them and I name them and I put them out each night, he tells us, in Job, when you read it.
[20:34] And when he puts the fish in the sea, he just spoke the word. When he put the mountains where they are, he spoke the word. Yes, all he did, just spoke. There was power in his word.
[20:48] But to deal with your sin and my sin, words won't do it. Words won't do it. So what has he got to do?
[21:02] Oh dear. Oh dear. He has to become the sin bearer. He has to become the cursed one.
[21:15] He has to become the one that justice has to satisfy and yet hope and mercy must be demonstrated. How is it going to be done? There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin.
[21:32] He only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in. The master of all dangers, the mother of all dangers, which breathes in your lungs and fills your head, needs to be eradicated.
[21:50] and you are carrying it about with you. And if you don't get that dealt with, you'll be damned in the darkest place of hell.
[22:03] people. But, but, but, on a hill outside Golgotha, outside Jerusalem, a man who never lied or stole or lusted or was envy or lazy or picked a fight with anybody, the perfect man, the sinless one, the holy one, is taken like a piece of timber and he's nailed to a cross in the midday sun and God says, I can't look at this and then he, then the sun is covered.
[22:35] He says, and if I can't look at it, no one else will. And he satisfies justice. All the punishment that my sin deserved and your sin deserved, he executed on him.
[22:57] And then they put him on a grave. and Satan gloated, Jesus is dead. I have the victory.
[23:08] I rule the world. And three days later, what happens? Our stone is rolled away and the guy they put in the hole is no longer there.
[23:25] And they meet him a few days later and he's got nail prints in his hands and feet. And the devil realises, I've been defeated.
[23:37] By his cross, I've been crushed. By his death, I'm destroyed. And I and you this morning who are Christians and know the Lord Jesus, the master, the mother of all dangers.
[23:57] It can never threaten us. It can never threaten us. We'll never get what we deserve. We'll always enjoy grace.
[24:11] We are as loved by the Father as he loves his Son. and he will not love you any less than he has loved Jesus.
[24:26] Ah, but you are saying you're getting excited, Matt. You're getting excited. You're a little old. It's the O-O-T-T. Hey, I don't care if I'm getting excited. What excites you?
[24:37] A rugby ball? What's that going to do in eternity? Your job? What's that going to do in eternity? Your career? What's that got to do in eternity?
[24:50] I am excited because I want to see your faces in heaven. All of them. And the one that brings us there is the one who destroyed death.
[25:08] This Jesus is not some weak, anemic, frail thing. He's the man above men. He's got sinews and flesh and muscle.
[25:23] He knew what it was to do a day's work. He knew what it was to walk two and a half thousand miles with a pair of rope and toe sandals. He knew how it was to make a table and a chair and a bed and provide furniture for people.
[25:36] He was all of those things. But he's more than that. He's more than that. He holds the stars in the sky each night. And he fills your lungs with air every second.
[25:49] And he's just so majestic. He's indescribable. He's indescribable. And if you never remember me, I don't give it monkeys.
[26:01] But remember this. Jesus defeats death, disease, demons, storms, and Satan himself.
[26:15] Now let me ask you, as I conclude, do you know this Jesus? Do you know this Jesus? because no matter what else you know, if you don't know Jesus, you'll die in your sin.
[26:36] You'll die in your sin. Let's pray. Just before we pray, whatever storms may be going on in your life, whatever you may be struggling with by way of health, or finance, or fears, whatever loved ones you may have concerns about, remember, Jesus is bigger than them all.
[27:13] God, he can still storms with a word, he can cast out demons on command, he can raise the dead, he can heal diseases, he can cast out demons, he can be your brother, he can be your savior, he can be your deliverer, for all is found in him.
[27:45] And so Lord Jesus, as we had glimpses of you even this morning briefly, we pray that you will magnify them and increase them, and that Christ may become bigger than we could ever imagine, and that our fears and our problems and our sins will grow small in the presence of such a majestic one.
[28:05] we thank you Lord Jesus for staying on the cross, we thank you Lord Jesus for going to the tomb, but we thank you Lord Jesus that you rose again, and we have hope beyond the grave, and we have joy every day, and we have you as our older brother and savior to walk with us, may we walk with you day by day, and know you more and more, we humbly pray, Amen.