Amen, this is God's Word.
So right at the outset, we are reminded here that the real Jesus, while on earth, confronted
!
And often individual lives are affected by evil and by sin.
And it needs explanation.
You know, when we see on our news coverage week after week of the Epstein files, Epstein
Island, and the horrendous abuse and exploitation, or when we think of empires old and new, we
think of the atrocities, the ugliness of modern war and conflicts.
We need to reckon with evil.
There was that great hope at the start of the 20th century that science and technology would
lead us onwards and upwards into some kind of utopia.
But what we discover is that all our technology without God is not getting rid of evil and
in many ways is just creating new forms of evil that previous generations didn't grapple
with.
But then not only do we see externally the reality of evil in the world, the consequences
of sin and the fall, we often see it in our own hearts as well.
It was Solzhenitsyn in the Gulag Archipelago who caught it so well when he said the line separating
good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties
either, but right through every human heart and through all human hearts.
He could sit there in a prison camp in Russia and acknowledge that while he was being in prison,
still the problem of evil was within himself and within us all.
And so the real Jesus believed in the reality of evil.
He believed in the devil and demons and the forces of evil.
In the first century, the worldview for Jewish people and indeed pagan people was that there
were forces in the world that were beyond our ability to see that we're good.
There was angels, those who were bad, evil, there were demons.
Jewish understanding, it was such that they said these forces are not equal and opposite,
that God is sovereign, that God is in control, but the forces of evil are real, but they are limited.
And that was the worldview that Jesus inhabited.
That's what Jesus believed, by conviction.
It can be very tempting for us to kind of write these passages off.
It was a product of its time.
We have better explanations.
We have better understanding of mental health or medical issues.
We can minimize evil.
Perhaps we're just not sure what to do with it,
but Jesus believed by conviction in the reality of dark forces.
He knew the devil's work.
Jesus himself has already faced temptation in the wilderness and passed the test.
Jesus has come into the world profoundly aware of the spreading disease of sin.
Remember, he is God's agent of creation.
He made it in the beginning and it was very good and free of sin.
And we know from the New Testament that Jesus came on a mission to destroy the works of the evil one.
And so it's important that we don't miss this because if we miss this, we miss who the real Jesus is.
And we miss vital truths for our life.
Because what we learn from this passage is that because the real Jesus does have power over evil
and can bring the healing of evil, we can and we should run to him for mercy.
So we're going to think about a couple of things together.
First of all, we're going to think about the power and the horror of evil that we see in this story.
So as I said, Matthew has a stripped back presentation.
You can go to Mark 5 or Luke 8 and you can see more of the awful details filled in.
But even here in this basic presentation, we have a portrait of a demon-possessed man
as if he's being eaten alive from the inside out by evil.
Matthew shows us in a few short verses that evil is destructive.
The picture that we get of these men in verse 28 is that of people experiencing a living death.
Two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him.
They were so violent that no one could pass that way.
What do you want with us, son of God, they shouted.
Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?
They've been robbed of their identity.
The demons are shouting at Jesus, what do you want with us?
They've been overwhelmed by a force greater than themselves.
And again, it's important that we understand evil can't be understood merely in human terms
and it can't be met with by merely human resources.
And again, our societies have been trying and trying really hard.
But I think we can see no amount of education or moral improvement or modern medicine or chemistry
can address the depths of evil.
And rather, what's happening, I suppose, as the modern world, it still looks to deal with evil,
but it's cut away realities of the supernatural.
On the one hand, it's not given us a better world.
The news is still as sad and desperate as ever.
But in cutting out God from the picture, it doesn't give us the resources that we need
to understand what we see and to have hope beyond what we see.
Because this portrait of these men remind us that here is a real force that is above and beyond human explanation.
And we should never underestimate it.
And when we find ourselves crying out against evil and longing for the end of evil,
and who doesn't do that and who doesn't want that,
we are recognizing there is a real problem.
A real problem that we haven't been able to fix.
And it reminds us, as God's people, that we have and we need a real savior.
That part of that, an essential part of the good news of the coming of Jesus
is that he comes to confront and to defeat sin and evil in the world and in our hearts.
But this story reminds us that evil is destructive.
It also reminds us that evil is dehumanizing.
It makes us less than we were made to be.
How do we see it in this story?
Well, perhaps before that, we go back to Genesis.
Remember Genesis, we've been in chapter one.
You and I and every person, we've been made in the image of God.
We have been made to know God, to express loving obedience to God,
freedom to enjoy God, to enjoy all the goodness of creation.
And mankind originally was created free of sin and free of shame.
And so we get this beautiful picture of humanity by God's design in Genesis 1.
But once that fall into sin comes, that beautiful, perfect image is defaced.
It's the masterpiece upon which graffiti has been scrawled as evil makes us less than we were made to be.
Now, how do we see that in these men?
Think about the impact on their lives physically.
Here are two men so violent that no one could pass that way.
Their lives are out of control.
Spiritually, they're living in the tombs.
That is an unclean place.
It is the place of death.
When we're told that they came out to meet Jesus,
this isn't the warm welcome and kind hospitality.
This is confrontation.
This is lining up on the battlefield against God's king.
And socially, we see the impact.
No one could pass that way.
No one would dare to come near.
Their uncleanness, their violence,
has left them isolated from the community.
So in these two men, we get a devastating portrait of the horrendous power of evil and sin
as it works on a person's life.
And truly, the parallels can be drawn with our own experience of sin.
We will likely not find ourselves as far down the road as these men,
but I imagine we can recognize something of their experience in our own stories.
Do we know the feeling at times of being out of control?
Perhaps our anger is out of control.
Perhaps we have habits and patterns that we would love to change,
but they seem to master us.
There is a writer called Becky Pippert
who makes the point that what we love the most,
we lose ourselves to.
That might be work, that might be money, that might be hobbies,
but all of those things, if we give ourselves to them wholeheartedly,
they pull away at our freedom.
We lose control to other things.
Maybe we know the feeling of being unclean.
Maybe we resonate with Adam and Eve in the garden
as they're aware of their sin and they feel shame
and they want to hide.
Dark memories and actions.
The shame of our sin or being sinned against.
Evil in many forms that presses upon us
that can leave us feeling dirty and unclean and worthless.
And then there's the isolating power of evil.
We recognize that sin brings with it
a fracturing effect in the universe.
Go back to the Garden of Eden.
We'll get there in a few weeks.
We'll see the damage done to every relationship.
As soon as sin comes in,
there is a breakdown in the marriage relationship
between Adam and Eve.
There's now the thorns and thistles and toil.
The relationship with the creation is spoiled
and they are hiding from their God
because they have sinned against him.
Do we know something of our own sin
causing problems and fractures
in our human relationships?
Can we look back with regret
at breakdowns and losses
because of it?
That's why we can feel far from God.
And so this picture of the dehumanizing effect
of sin and evil,
I think when we look in the mirror
we can see its effect in our own life at times too.
Sin is also presented here
as deceitful and deceptive.
The Bible tells us the devil is the father of lies.
And we see something of that lies and deception
in verse 29.
Listen again to the demons.
What do you want with us, son of God?
They shouted.
Have you come here to torture us
before the appointed time?
What we are seeing in Matthew chapter 8,
what we see in Jesus' mission
is that he is God's Messiah King.
He has been appointed for a work of deliverance.
He comes on this mission of mercy and grace
that runs wider and deeper than any sin,
than any evil.
But what do the demons do?
The demons would have a focus
for these men in their grip
only on the holiness of Jesus.
And so their lies and deception is
don't come near to Jesus
because he will condemn you.
He is holy and you are not.
And so you need to keep your distance.
Coming near to Jesus will be destructive.
The demons know the true identity of Jesus.
They know that he is the son of God.
They understand that he has authority over them.
But they hate Jesus.
And they hate the work of Jesus.
And they don't want the restoring ministry of Jesus
to take place.
And evil lies about Jesus.
People are deceived and blinded.
Jesus is ultimate and true good
and freedom and joy.
But how many of us know people
who would say that Jesus is the exact opposite?
The truth we discover in the gospel is,
yes, Jesus is the holy God.
Yes, Jesus is our ultimate judge.
But he came not to condemn the world,
but to save the world.
And he is full of mercy.
And in running to Jesus,
well, that's the way to hear the word of mercy and healing.
So as Matthew records this little story,
this confrontation with the forces of evil,
as we look real evil in the eye,
as we reckon with its power,
its destructive power,
it makes us actually ready to appreciate
and to value more of the wonder of Jesus
and his deliverance.
B.B. Warfield,
in, I don't know if it was an essay,
called Jesus Only,
it wrote that it belongs to the glory of Christ,
that his salvation enters into every region
of human need
and proclaims in all alike
complete deliverance.
John chapter 3, verse 16,
the most famous verse in the Bible,
for God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in him
should not perish,
but have eternal life.
God loved the world.
And the world there
is that idea of the world system
lost in sin and evil
and rebellion against its creator.
God loved the world.
We see in that verse
and we see in this story
something of the staggering nature
of God's love in Jesus,
that the perfectly holy one
loves the world.
Rebellious and sin sick
as it is and as we are.
There's nothing in the world,
nothing in these men,
nothing in us to attract
or to deserve God's love
and yet God's love comes.
And the love of God
is a love so intense
that no sinfulness,
no evil,
no brokenness
can ever deter
or stop God's saving plan.
And so when we come
to a little passage
like this one in Matthew 8,
we're seeing that John 3, 16,
love in action
as Jesus loves the unlovely,
as the Son of God
demonstrates the intensity
of God's redeeming love,
as we see the power of love
to overcome sin and evil
and bring renewal
and restoration.
restoration.
So that as we find ourselves
longing
for an end to evil,
for an end to suffering,
and the lives of the people
around us
or in our world,
the story is teaching us
once again
to run to Jesus.
So we thought of the power
and horror of evil.
Now we need to think about
the powerful healing of evil
by Jesus.
We are probably aware
of some powerful freedom scenes.
You've maybe seen
at the end of the Second World War,
maybe you've seen images
of the liberation
of concentration camps.
Maybe you've watched on TV
as hostages have been released
who were in captivity
for days or months or years.
Perhaps we remember
famous rescues,
like if you remember
the youth football team
that was trapped
in those underwater caves
that were flooding
and the attention of the world
turned to that great
liberation moment.
We recognize in those images
that when a rescuer comes,
everything changes.
What was darkness
becomes light.
What was a situation of death
death becomes life.
And Matthew 8
is one of those great stories.
Matthew presents Jesus
as the great and ultimate liberator.
It's showing us both why
and how Jesus both confronts evil
and brings the healing of evil
for these two men
and in so doing
and gives us hope
for our lives.
Because again,
what we see in Jesus
in this moment
is a salvation
that is broad enough
to cover every evil,
every sin,
every breakdown
that ever afflicts a person.
We see the love
of a holy God
that overcomes
sin.
And these men,
we don't hear it
in Matthew's gospel,
but in Luke's gospel,
they have this wonderful testimony
that they are told
to go and share
how God has had mercy
on them.
And if we were to poll
this room this evening,
to poll any sort
of Christian gathering,
we would find
Christian testimonies
of Jesus rescuing us
in different ways,
from different depths
and darknesses.
For some,
it would be physical.
For some,
it would be emotional.
For some,
it would be rescue
in a relationship.
It would be
a spiritual restoration.
And the Jesus
that worked
in the first century
and the Jesus
that has worked
in our own lives
is the Jesus
that is still working.
And so we have hope
as we think about a world
that desperately needs him.
Let's notice together
the absolute authority
of Jesus.
He is the one
who can heal.
It's interesting,
isn't it?
The demons know it.
They know he is
the son of God.
They know that he is
their appointed judge.
Have you come here
to torture us
before the appointed time?
They know they are
in Jesus' hands.
They know there is a day
when they will stand
before Jesus
and they will be
condemned forever.
Jesus is God's
appointed judge
to utterly defeat
and to destroy
evil and all dark forces.
And they recognize
the authority of Jesus.
We see it again
as the demons
are begging Jesus.
If you drive us out,
send us into the herd
of pigs,
what does this say to us?
It says those demons
understand absolutely
who is in control here,
whose power is ultimate.
Yes, their power is real,
but it is limited.
Jesus is in charge.
We see that profoundly
in verse 32.
He said to them,
go,
so they came out.
That powerful word
of Jesus,
the evening before
it stopped the storm
and now it stops the storm
in these men's hearts
and lives.
In verse 28,
we're told where this happens.
It happens in the region
of the Gadarenes.
That's important
because it's Gentile territory.
The other great clue
for that, of course,
is that this community
is keeping pigs,
which would be unclean
for a Jew to do.
And so again,
here we are being presented
with a Jesus
who has an authority
so great
that it doesn't matter
which region he moves into,
doesn't matter
what race he is operating in,
no one and nothing
can limit his saving power.
And that's why
we can say to anyone,
anywhere,
that Jesus is good news
for them.
Jesus is good news
for each of us,
whoever we are,
wherever we're from.
So we see
and we notice
the absolute authority
of Jesus.
It's important, too,
to recognize
the priority of Jesus.
Jesus.
Whenever
we come to this story,
there is always,
in a sense,
the elephant in the room.
The elephant in the room
is the pigs.
It's always that thing.
Where do the pigs fit?
What's happening
with the pigs?
And I remember
speaking about this
at a camp
and spending most
of a bus journey
answering questions
about pigs
hurtling off cliffs
and it gets the mind
and the imagination
going.
So what is the place
of the pigs
in this story?
Well, one place
that they have
is to make it
really clear
for us to see
Jesus' priority.
We also see
that's a priority
that's not shared
by the town.
With the command
from Jesus,
go,
we are seeing
that Jesus exercises
almighty power
and we are seeing
that human beings
are more valuable
than pigs.
And we are discovering
that Jesus puts
spiritual need,
human need,
before all other
considerations.
What matters most
to Jesus
in this situation,
in any situation,
is spiritual
deliverance.
That Jesus
is most concerned
with restoring
to health
and to relationship
with God
image bearers.
People made
in God's image
with dignity
and worth
and value.
Those forces
of evil
were trying
to strip
that away
and Jesus
in a moment
restores it.
Jesus' priority
is to rescue
those in desperate
need
of his mercy
and deliverance.
Jesus' priority
is spiritual
and eternal
because as evil
is removed,
as God's mercy
floods in,
salvation comes
to these men
and that's
Jesus' priority.
Sadly,
as we see,
it's not the priority
shared
by the town.
Again,
to think about
those herd of pigs,
what does it represent?
It probably represents
a significant amount
of that community's
wealth
flying off a cliff.
And as
the people
are told,
verse 33,
those tending
the pigs
ran off,
went into the town
and reported
all this
including
what happened
to the demon-possessed men,
then the whole town
went out
to meet Jesus
and when they saw him,
they pleaded with him
to leave
their region.
For them,
they prefer
those pigs
to the people
who were saved.
Our story began
with a meeting,
it began
with a hostile
confrontation
of Jesus,
what do you want
with us?
The story concludes
with another hostile
confrontation,
the town goes out
to plead with Jesus,
and we don't want
you coming near.
The tragedy
is
that they put
their own
financial position
over
the call
to put their faith
in the Lord Jesus.
While other towns
and villages
around them
were experiencing
God's grace
as people were being healed,
as people were hearing
good news,
confronted with
the real Jesus,
as this town
said,
no, thank you,
we don't want you
coming near.
Perhaps one way
this story
can help us
practically
is to give us
a moment
to reflect
on our own
priorities,
maybe not as
starkly presented
as the priorities
of this town,
but to think about
where we devote
our own thoughts
and energies.
If we were to look
at our spending,
our calendar,
our plans,
those are good
indicators of
what we value.
Do they reflect
the priorities
of Jesus?
Does it reflect
that most important
to us
is that we are
known and loved
and saved
by our God
through Jesus?
And again,
to recognize
that right now,
as God speaks
through his word,
God and his grace
are coming near
once again.
and there is
a warning
of this town,
don't be so
embedded
in the world
that you don't
let Jesus in
and find mercy.
We also need
to notice,
don't we,
the deliverance
of Jesus.
Another point
of the pigs
at the end
of the day
actually is that
they are not
the point.
the point
is the power
of Jesus.
The point
is the healing
of the demon
possessed men.
The point
is that
with this one
word of command,
go,
those demons
hell-bent
on destroying
image bearers
are driven out.
What we see
is the reality
that Jesus,
the light of the world,
drives out darkness.
We see that love
conquers hate.
we see a dramatic
picture of the
freedom that
Jesus brings
as he undoes
the curse of
evil and sin
and so there is
physical deliverance.
Maybe we see it
especially in the
other writers.
We will see them
clothed and in
their right mind.
There is a social
deliverance.
Now that their
violence is gone,
now they're not
out of control,
they can move
back into the
community.
community and
they can move
into the community
with good news
to share.
And there is a
spiritual deliverance
that is so clear
to see.
No more are
these men
unclean.
No more are
they experiencing
a living death.
God in Jesus
has come near
to show mercy.
mercy.
We find ourselves
groaning and
longing to be
free and for a
world free of sin
and evil.
And that's a good
longing, isn't it?
It's a good longing
when it makes us
run to Jesus.
As we recognize
he has the power
to confront,
to defeat,
and to bring
healing from evil.
But the question
remains, how does
that deliverance
come to us?
And for that we
need to move on
in Jesus' story.
It comes as
Jesus confronts
those dark forces
of sin and evil
at the cross.
And there at the
cross it is Jesus,
the son of God,
who suffers
physically as his
body is torn and
beaten as the
Lord of life
dies.
There at the
cross Jesus
suffers socially,
he's been betrayed
by Jesus,
abandoned by the
disciples,
he walks the
road of suffering,
alone he is
despised and
rejected.
And he suffers
spiritually as he
bears upon himself
the full weight of
the sin of the
world and the
wrath of God
that sin deserves.
As he feels in
that moment that
sense of being
forsaken by the
father, he
becomes as it
were an unclean
thing in our
place for our
sin and for our
salvation.
But we know that
three days later
Jesus will leave
the place of death,
Jesus will leave
the tomb in
victory and
triumph, his
triumph over the
spiritual forces
complete.
And in Jesus'
powerful victory
of evil over evil
there is the
promise of healing
for each one of
us.
If like these
men we will run
to Jesus to find
mercy.
And we have the
promise of an
ultimate healing
from Jesus.
What will that be
like?
It's wonderful,
isn't it, to come
towards the end of
the Bible, to come
to the closing
chapters of the
book of Revelation
and we see the
future hope of the
Christian life, of a
new heavens and a
new earth, of life
returned to the
garden, now a
city, to a world
free of sickness and
suffering and death
and sin and evil, a
world forever set free
from groaning to
rejoice in God's
goodness and love
forever.
So when we see and
sense sin and evil,
when we experience the
sorrow and the
suffering of life in a
fallen world, let it
lead us to the Lord
Jesus, our great
Redeemer, to find hope
and healing in him.
Let's pray together.