Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – The topic for training at the Army Airborne School was what to do if your parachute malfunctions.

The answer – use the reserve chute.

One student asked: “If the main chute fails, how long do we have to deploy the reserve?”

The instructor replied, “The rest of your life.”

His point?

Life can be very short – but decisions we make in the short-term have long-term implications –eternal ones.

That’s a long time.

Urgency attaches to getting it right.

We’ve been looking at how the world of God and the good angels battles with the world of Satan and his demons in spiritual warfare.

God is predetermined winner.

But we must choose which side to join.

There’s no neutral ground.

We are all part of the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness.

In our passage, the warfare has broken out into the open and teaches much.

Our outline is the Destructive Power of Demons which we’ve studied the past 2 weeks.

Today we want to look at the Delivering Power of Christ and the Damning Power of Self.

This shows the urgency of choosing for Jesus.

*II.

Delivering Power of Christ*

*A.

The Repression*

This man was so completely under the power of the enemy that he had lost all sense of his own identity.

V. 27, “For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.

He was beyond human help at the mercy of his captors.

V. 29, “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.”

He thwarted every attempt to help or at least control him by the power of the demons who had taken him over.

V. 30, “Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?”

And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.”

This man cannot say his own name.

His identity has been swallowed up by the demons.

He is completely enslaved to the evil within.

But, Beloved, his bondage depicts that of every person outside of Christ.

We may live in wonderful homes, wear the latest fashions and claim a multitude of friends.

We certainly know our name, but outside of Christ, we are just as enslaved as this man – it’s just not visible.

This passage illustrates in physical terms the spiritual reality of life outside Christ.

Turn to John 8 where Jesus addressed some religious elite -- people who lived in nice homes, wore the right kind of togas, had credentials that society admired.

They would have seen absolutely no resemblance between themselves and poor “Legion.”

But John 8:31 ff: “31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him (a passing infatuation, not a saving faith as we will see), “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.

How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

(To v. 37) I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

And who is their father?

Jump to v. 44, “44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires (Believe me, that was news to them!).

He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

46 Which one of you convicts me of sin?

If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

These fine people in fine clothes with lots of friends looked great.

But Jesus knew they were just as much enslaved to sin as was Legion.

The perception is that there is a middle ground.

There is not!

We are either the children of God or the children of the devil!

The outside is just a façade.

You may not look like a reprobate, but remember that Satan comes like an angel of light, and he does not mind that his children look just like angels of light – just so they don’t make a real commitment to Christ.

Inside, without Christ, we are spiritually dead -- enslaved to sin, whatever we may look like outwardly.

Just as much in bondage to evil as was Legion – our identity just as lost as his for we can only find our true selves in Christ.

Only in Him can we be who we were made to be.

That doesn’t mean we never do any good thing.

Even Jesus said in Matt 7:11, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.”

But Isaiah reminded us long ago, “All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”

How could that be?

How could God say that?

Because He looks on the heart; He sees the selfish motive behind the good deed.

Invisible chains bind those outside of Christ.

Gordon Dalbey says it well: “The question for our lives is not whether we will surrender, but to whom or what we will surrender.”

*B.

The Release* -- Legion was hopelessly in bondage.

But Jesus released him.

Luke shows Jesus’ absolute authority over demons in several ways:

They Knew Jesus Was God – Note v. 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?

This isn’t Jesus talking; this is the demons talking.

They thought they’d harass the new arrival.

But suddenly they see who they are about to attack, fall at his feet and let loose with a loud cry of terror -- like the demon in the synagogue in Capernaum.

They are horrified.

They’re not worshiping – they are scared witless – frightened out of their mind.

Why? Reason # 1 – they know who He is -- Son of the Most High God; they want nothing to do with Him.

But now they’re caught.

Demons constantly acknowledge the deity of Jesus.

That’s fascinating because demons have been so successful at creating two great questions in the mind of modern man – Is there a God at all?

If so, is Jesus God?

Most people still believe in a God of some kind.

But the vast majority deny the deity of Christ.

They will not accept that Jesus was God in human history.

But while modern man may deny the existence of God or the deity of Christ, or both, the demons labor under no such misconception.

They are not atheists; they just like to create atheists!

They know there is a God, and they know Jesus is God.

So, why do they labor so hard to get people to deny Christ?

Because they know the whole issue is, What do you think of Christ?

If they can separate Jesus from God in people’s minds, they win!

The Bible says in I John 5:5, “Who is it that overcomes the world (has salvation) except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

You can’t have God without having Jesus.

We come to the Father through the Son.

That’s why the demons want to separate them – they hate to see people move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light thru faith in Christ.

They despise it.

They Knew They Had to Obey – V. 29 tells us, “For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.”

Jesus commands the demons out.