Sermons

Introduction

My name is pretty insignificant as it relates to who we're going to see this morning. His name is Jesus. He's with us here in Luke chapter 8, and I'd like for us to look at this together, verses 26 to 39. And I've titled this sermon "An Unexpected Rescue Mission. An Unexpected Rescue Mission." Would you read God's word with me this morning?

"Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had 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 had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 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 spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it 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.) Jesus then asked him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Legion,' for many demons had entered him. And they begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

"Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these. So He gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had 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 the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes 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." This is the word of God. Would you pray with me as we come to understand it together?

[Prayer] Father, thank You for Your word. In it we recognize that You have given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. And so even in this hour, as we come in contact with and yet again are confronted by the reality of how we live, who Christ is, would it be to some in this room who may not know You in faith and in truth, would it be to them life, and would it be to all of us the means by which we grow in our walk with You. Help us, God, through this text to come to understand You in spirit and in truth so that we might be worshipers fit to worship You because we've come to know who Christ is, a Christ who came to seek and to save us. We pray this in Jesus' matchless name. Amen. [End]

Well, I am a Jersey kid. I grew up in South Jersey my whole life just outside of Philadelphia. And grew up in a pastor's home, never desired ministry until I ended up in college, and so that's what ultimately let me out to California. I met my wife in college. She's from Visalia, California. It's like – it's hard to say that it's like Texas because after being here for a couple of days, nothing's like Texas. But it's got the vibes, as we say, in LA.

And so, moved out there, and then quickly there, as I started up as a youth pastor, a small church there, realized I needed to be trained, and that's what got me to start my studies at The Master's Seminary. That was in 2016. And first season, I was commuting to the seminary. It's about a three-hour drive. And it was not only necessary to get started, but necessary because financially, it was really hard to move to LA. Everything in LA is three times the price of anywhere else. And so the biggest thing that was a hurdle for us was finding a place to live. And over time, the Lord opened the doors for us to move to LA by becoming apartment managers. Apartment managers. We got to be in this complex of about 44 units. And part of what cut our rent in half and a little bit more as we kind of logged ours was that we managed this whole property, whether that meant cleaning or collecting rent checks and doing all that kind of stuff, that made it possible for us to move to LA.

There's a couple days that stand out in memory for me that were quite interesting, and one of them was the day I found out the person who lived right across from us was a hoarder. And so I explained where the cucarachas came from. And then the managers called and said, "Hey, we need you to help them move out." And I asked, "Are they still there? Like, am I actually helping people?" and they said, "No, they actually left already. But we need you to move the stuff out."

And so, in a pre-pandemic era, I got a hazmat suit, a mask and gloves, and duct taped all those things to my body and said, "Here we go. We have to go into this unit and excavate everything that's in it. Open the door and the first thing I see are newspapers that are stacked from the floor to the ceiling. And that's not that daunting, but it was a lot. And I'm just slowly trying to get all this stuff out of here and noticing it seems endless, until eventually, I make my way to what I assume is like the kitchen. I see a countertop, there's more newspapers, and I see a fridge, so I'm going, "I'm in the kitchen now, this is progress," but the whole living room is behind it. And getting into the kitchen was the worst. Anything that's old and expires and should be in a fridge, came in a carton, smells like death, it was in that kitchen.

And then I had the brilliant idea walking through this kitchen to go, "Well, you know what? Why don't I open the fridge?" So, walked up to the fridge and opened it, and it was black from top to bottom in mold. I mean, it wasn't a square inch of this fridge that wasn't molded out. And I ran. I ran over to my unit, and then my wife kicked me out because she knew where I was. I had nowhere to go, so I just called right back and said, "I don't know how you want me to do this, but I can't, and I don't think anyone should. What I've experienced and what I've seen is enough for me to know that no man should go in there."

And the thing is, eventually that problem gets resolved. But the story that we're in, in Luke chapter 8, is a situation just like that. We find ourselves face to face with a man that no one would want anything to do with. His life is in such disarray, is at such a low point. It's so unclean and so ungodly that everyone has given up on him, and no one dares help him. This man's life has come to such a low point that everyone has ostracized him and kicked him out and want nothing to do with him. They said, "You're not welcome in town. You're not even welcome around the town. You might as well go live in the middle of nowhere."

And he finds no home out there either. This man is so unclean, he's living amongst dead bodies. If there were zombies in the ancient world, this would be it. This man is the walking dead, and no one wants anything to do with him. No one seemingly can help him. No one has an answer to his problem. No one has the power to overcome what overpowers him. He's a demon-possessed man.

He's found in the other gospels as well. Matthew 8 talks about two demon-possessed men that approach Jesus. Mark tells this same story about this man, and Luke also highlights just one man. It seems like in Matthew there's two, but this guy's got it worse. And so Luke highlights his life in order to tell you life can't get worse than this, and it's the kind of life no one wants to be around.

I don't know if that's you this morning. I don't know if you've come here thinking, "My life is in such a place that others also want nothing to do with me," or, "My life is caught up in such sin that it's evident and real to me that the church, my family, my friends, they would be right to disown me." And the world seems like it's against you. And the message that we're going to look at in Luke 8:26-39 is that that's what qualifies you to need Jesus.

If your life seems like there's no answers, then Jesus is all you've got left, and that's more than enough. If your life is so gripped by evil or wickedness or disaster, turmoil, then you've come to the right place, not because of the actual location, but because here today we'll meet Jesus. And Jesus can do for you what no other man can. Jesus can do for you what you can't do for yourself. Jesus is going to loosen the chains on a man who's been bound by demons, lost to his community, unloved by his own family, and ostracized by everyone he knows, because beyond this man, knowing and needing Jesus, Jesus knows and seeks him out.

Maybe you're here today and you're lost in your sin and have not put your faith in Christ, and unsure of it. I don't know why you're here this morning, you know the reasons why you showed up. I can tell you one of the reasons and the most important reason is Jesus brought you here so that you can come face to face with Him. And you need to make a decision about what your life looks like with Him.

Many of you in this room might know Jesus. You might love Jesus. You might already be walking with Jesus. And so the story that you're going to hear is not one of you needing to be delivered, but one of you always remembering that you have been. It's a story that reminds you that God can save a man like this, so He surely can save someone like you; that if God is powerful enough, and desirous enough of saving any man, God certainly can; and that if God has done that for you, you ought to never forget it. You ought to never forget it.

To remember that you've been saved by grace through the power of God in Christ, it leads to a change and a transformed life. It leads to a life that doesn't know anything better to do than to go back out there and tell everyone else to come in here. So whether you haven't known Jesus or have known Jesus for a long time, you need Jesus. So you've come to the right place. Should we look at Him together? I think so. "An Unexpected Rescue Mission."

An Unexpected Reception

I want to show you that this story of the demoniac, it reminds us that not only is Jesus powerful, but He's gracious; not only can He save, but He desires to save; that there is no power of hell that is stronger than Jesus, and there's no way to experience it apart from grace. I want to show you that in four ways, and the first of these in this narrative is, number one, "an unexpected reception, an unexpected reception." And we begin our journey here in verse 26. Now, it's got the makings of a horror film. And if you were a disciple, you would probably sense that yourself. And on this side of redemptive history, we can kind of look back, and at least if you have my sense of humor, you kind of laugh at it a little bit. I did, and maybe I'm weird, and that's fine. My name is Isaias; come on, guys.

So, you have to note here, the disciples just went out to sea with Jesus and almost died, right? They literally cried out to Jesus, "Lord, we are perishing!" And Jesus has this ability to rebuke the winds and to cause the raging waves to cease. He calms everything out at sea. He asks them, "Where is your faith?" and they marvel and are afraid and say to one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the waters, and they obey Him." And now, if you're a disciple and a normal human being, you're saying, "Can You just get us to dry land? We need a break."

Now, imagine that you get to dry land, and the first thing that happens is that some psychotic man runs up to you screaming at the top of his lungs, "Welcome to LA." That's exactly what happens to the disciples here. Finally, safety. No more troubled waters, no more storms, off the boat, and immediately this wild man runs up screaming to them. They've got to be asking, "Can we not escape any of these things that Jesus is doing? How do we keep running into these issues?" Little do they know Jesus is on a divine timeline. He has things to do here. And so we open up by setting out to the country of the Gerasenes.

Now, some are confused by this because Mark and Luke say that it's the country of the Gerasenes Matthew says that it's the land of the Gadarenes. And it's literally this simple, friends. If you were to ask me where I'm from, I'd tell you I'm from Philly, okay. I'm not from Philadelphia though, all right. I'm from Philly in the sense that I was born there, and then I grew up in a town called Pennsauken, New Jersey – about as difficult to pronounce as my first name. You don't know where that is. You have no frame of reference for that. So, here's what I would tell you: "I'm from Philly. I want to make it easy on you. I want to help you."

The writers of the Gospels, they're not trying to give you the minute detail of a town that you might not know, they give you an area that everyone can identify. And so that's as simple as that. They enter into a land that any reader in this time who would have read this would have understood, "We know exactly where you're at. It's opposite of Galilee." And, "When Jesus steps out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons."

It's not Jesus' first encounter with demonic activity in the gospel of Luke. This is His third time encountering this kind of situation. Again, Matthew tells us it's two men, but here we're zoning in on one man in particular who's got it far worse. Notice the absolute decay of his life. Notice just how far he's fallen: "For a long time" – verse 27 – "he had worn no clothes. He had not lived in a house but among the tombs. He's crying out and falls down before Jesus' feet, 'Don't torment me,' the demons speak." "He has an unclean spirit," verse 29. "Many times this spirit grabs such a hold of him that even though they keep him under guard and bind him with chains and shackles, he's able to break out of those bonds with this supernatural strength, and the demons drive him mad into the desert."

I know everyone's lost, I don't know that you can say you're this lost. That's part of the point. If Jesus can save a man like this, what can He do for you? If Jesus can work with these kinds of problems, what problems do you have that Jesus can't face? If Jesus can restore the kind of life that looks like no one can restore, what's going on in your life that's too much for Jesus to handle? If Jesus can overcome a world of evil and sin and wickedness that's running rampant and wild in this man's life, what's going on in your life that Jesus is not able to touch and able to fix? The answer would be nothing.

This man is at the lowest point of his life, and Jesus steps in. Just how low? He's unclothed. He's vulnerable. He's shameful. He's homeless. He has no home. He has no family. He has no friends. He has no community. He has nowhere to belong. In fact, it's not just that he has no home, it's that because he has no home, he's decided to dwell amongst the tombs. This sets him apart in a big way. It's unclean enough for him to have a demon that possesses him, to have this unclean spirit, as it says in verse 29, that seizes him and grabs a hold of him. Associating with the dead would make him beyond unclean to Jesus and to all the twelve Jews that He showed up with. This is the kind of man you would have nothing to do with.

The Bible makes that clear to us. In Leviticus 21, we recognize and see that the priests were to have nothing to do with the dead, and if they did, they would have to go through seven days of cleansing rituals to be made right before they can go back to the people. In Numbers 5:6, you weren't able to partake of the Passover if you came into any kind of contact with a dead body. And in Numbers 19:11-13, to come in contact even in a small way with a dead body was to ensure that you were of total defilement. People could have nothing to do with you; and that's just if a relative passed away, someone you knew, someone that you were helping with the funeral.

Imagine a man who lives amongst dead bodies. This man is perpetually unclean. This is a man that no one can have anything to do with. Even in a pagan land, they understand, "He's not welcome in our society. He's too far gone. He's too much for the rest of us. He's not worth our time. He's not worth our effort." And in steps Jesus.

It's an unexpected reception isn't it? I'm sure it wasn't what the disciples thought they would run into when they got off the boat. You want to know what's more amazing than that? I bet you the demoniac never thought that he would meet a man like Jesus. More vital than whatever fear would have been going on in the disciples' hearts is that this man had never seen, heard from, or known another human being for a long time, and all of a sudden, there was a man here talking to him face to face, a man whose mothers had probably told their kids to stay away from, a man who men in the community probably gathered the people and would tell them, "Don't ever go out this direction or you'll run into to this man who could harm you or defile you," a man whom everyone has been careful with; a man whom, probably for a long time, no one has spoken to is confronted with Jesus.

Friend, if you're here and you think you're too far gone, your life is too messed up, your life is something that others don't ever want to talk to you about, others don't want to help you with, Jesus is here, and He's so happy to deal with it. Jesus is crying out and saying, "Bring it to me because I've come to you." You don't need to set up an appointment, Jesus already came, and Jesus came to help people like you.

An Unexpected Request

An unexpected reception. It leads us, secondly here, to "an unexpected request, an unexpected request," and that kind of starts for us in verse 28, and then verses 30-33 highlights how this works out: an unexpected request. So, this man is confronted with a human being probably for the first time in a long time, and he doesn't even get to speak. "When Jesus saw him, he cried out, fell down from Him and said with a loud voice," – "with a loud voice" reminds us of – actually, the way this story is told in Mark chapter 5, these details aren't here. But this man is said to be a howler. He's almost like a werewolf. He is also a man who is known for cutting himself and for harming himself, and maybe even that in an effort to try to get these demons out of his own body if he can.

This kind of deranged man comes up to Jesus and says, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me." It's not the man speaking, it's the demons within. And I'll have you note here really quick, the demons have a really good theology, don't they? They know how to talk about Jesus. They know who He is. They actually respect His authority, to some extent here, don't they? Good theology and love for Jesus are not the same thing. Knowing Jesus and following Jesus are not the same thing. Knowing about Jesus and knowing right things about Jesus is not the same as following in love for Jesus.

They know all about Jesus. They identify what the disciples couldn't identify: "Man, this guy can calm storms that sea. Who is He?" All He does is show up, and the demons say, "This is the Son of the Most High God." That's what James 2:19 says, right? "Even the demons believe, and shudder." They tremble. They fear. And that's what's happening here. As Jesus steps in, the demons are cowering in fear: "What are You doing here?" Their question is not, "Who are You?" their question is, "How did You get here? We didn't expect for You to show up. We weren't planning on this."

And so, the Demons get into such a strange position where they begin to beg Jesus. Notice verse 28, "I beg You, do not torment me." Verse 31, "They begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss." And verse 32, "They begged Him to let them enter into a herd of pigs that was nearby." A big bully was at work in this man's life, and then Jesus showed up and put them in their place, didn't He? There are a lot of them, and that's quite the problem for this man. That's why Luke decides to zone in on him.

"Jesus asked them," – in verse 30 – 'What is Your name?' And they say, 'Legion,' for many demons had entered him." The reality is this man was not possessed by one demon, but by many. A legion is an army. It's denoted to describe for us a battalion of anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 soldiers. That army would be coupled with somewhere between 100 and 150 horsemen. The point is, this man is not just overwhelmed, he's overcome. It's not as simple as to say that this man is possessed. This man is – he's lost. He's been conquered. Who could possibly help a man who's been overrun by an army? However many demons actually possess this man, he doesn't stand a chance. And however many demons actually possess this man, they don't stand a chance when face to face with Jesus.

Notice that they beg, and they beg, and they beg. Their first request in verse 31 is that they would not depart into the abyss. It's like these guys understand the script. As a fan of the NFL, it's my regret to inform you I'm not a Cowboys fan, which I would imagine is hurtful for many of you. And having heard that I'm from Philly, I know what you suspect. But I am not about, "Go, birds," okay? Far worse: I love a team that's in San Francisco.

But anyway, all that being said, here's what we can resonate with Dallas Cowboys and Niners alike. We haven't won anything in a long time. And you know why? Because Roger Goodell sits in his office and writes a script; I'm convinced of it. They want Patrick Mahomes to win every time. He's also really good at football, but I'm convinced there's a script. And if you read it, the Chiefs are going to win again this year.

That's speculation, isn't it? In this text, there's no speculation. The demons know exactly how this thing ends. They know that at the end of time, Jesus will have to relegate them to a hell of all hells, an abyss. In Matthew 8:29, they beg Him, "Do not torment us before the time." Revelation 12:12, even Satan knows that his time is short. What kind of arrogance is that, right, For Satan and the demons? I mean, they know they're going to lose, but they keep playing the game. But here they beg. They know that Jesus can do away with them once and for all, and it brings them to their knees.

All the forces of evil are playing like a bully until Jesus steps on the field. And Jesus grants them their request, and it's an interesting reality that then it shows us. Look at what happens in verse 32: "There's a large herd of pigs that are feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these. So He gave them permission." Notice, if demons want to do anything, they have to submit a request with Jesus, and Jesus says yes or no. That's the kind of power that Jesus has.

And Jesus grants that request. So these demons come out of the man, they enter the pigs, and the herd rushes down the steep bank into the lake and drown. Now, this is a devastating part of the story because that's a lot of bacon. As a Puerto Rican, all we do is eat pigs. I know these Jewish guys would have thought, "Good riddance to the unclean." I would have thought, "That's a lot of lechon, I need some of that back."

Mark 5 gives us a little bit more insight into this. It's not just a tiny herd, this is two thousand pigs. Let's do a little bit of math together then. In this inflated economy that we hope gets better, bacon is currently on average nationally $6.87 a pound. Two thousand hogs – an LA man like myself, I don't know anything about raising a pig, though I like to eat them, so I had to look up the market. Average market size of a pig: 280 pounds. This is loose math here, just doing some calculations. If we multiply all this together, what we get is that a $4 million investment just died in a lake. It's a lot of money. That's a great economy for these people, the Gerasenes. One compensator says, "It's a good waste of bacon," and I think that he's right, because what this is telling us is Jesus says, "I'll take one soul over $4 million any day, especially today." Christ would sink the treasures of this world into the depths of the earth if it meant rescuing one sinner from the depths of hell.

If you're here, and you've been running away from God and from Christ and from salvation for far too long already, Jesus is here to tell you, "I care nothing of what you can bring to Me. I care nothing of what the world has to offer. There is no offer that's good enough for what I have to give. I give it freely. And I would rather save you than an entire economy. The world's riches are of no value to Me, not over you." What's holding you back from giving in to a God who operates like that? What's holding you back from giving in to a Jesus who would risk plummeting an entire society to save one sinner who hasn't known anyone in a long time? It's not just true of this demoniac, it's true of you.

An Unexpected Response

The request is granted, and it leads, thirdly, here to "an unexpected response, an unexpected response." Look at verse 34: "When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had 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."

It reminds me of – I don't know if you've ever watched it. It's called The Dog Whisperer. Anybody ever seen this? Cesar Millan. You guys have really nice dogs in Dallas, okay, I've walked around a little bit. These guys are tame. They're like gentlemen, they're really nice. If you come from where I'm from – we're all homeless, honestly, anyway – but the dogs are mangy. And here's what you do: you hire a Cesar Millan and you say, "Could you come to our house and fix this guy?" And so he comes. And this guy shows up at your house, and this dog that seems untamable, he just walks right up to it, and he's watching it, and he'll just go right here, right in this little jawline, and he just goes, "Shh, shh," which is fun. I have a two-year-old home, I try this for her all the time; never works.

But he goes, "Shh, shh," and all of a sudden, it's like this dog is in another planet. I don't know if all dogs go to heaven, but they do in that moment; and in that moment, it's like this dog that seemed like no one could tame, all of a sudden, what happened to him? What changed? Well notice, it's not a new dog, it's a new trainer.

The same is true for the demoniac; he's the same man, he's just under new ownership. He's the same man, he just has a new Lord. He's the same man, he's just following new orders. Jesus has grabbed ahold of his life, and he's not the same; he can't be. He's sitting at Jesus' feet. This, the same man who would break loose of his bonds, of his chains, and run out into the desert to howl and to harm himself and to cause chaos,  he's sitting at the feet of Jesus. He's changed. He's now clothed. Good news for everyone. He's got clothes on his back.

And notice what it says: "He's in his right mind." Believing in Jesus changes the way you think, friends, changes what you believe, changes how you process information, changes how you view the world, changes how you understand God, and changes how you submit to the truth. This man is changed. And, friends, it's a good reminder for all of us, right? If Jesus is going to save this man, He's going to change this man.

So, what's different about us? Oh, why would the system change for you or me? Why is it that God would save a man who's been possessed by demons his whole life and reorient and change his way of thinking, transform his way of living, but you get to keep the sin that Jesus died for? How is it that God would change this man's life upside down, but somehow you get to hold on to things that Jesus told you to get rid of? How is it that this man isn't left the same, but you say you love Jesus and you are? It's a reminder to us, friends, that it can't be that way; that when Jesus saves and rescues and redeems, He transforms.

That's what happens in this man's life, and the response is shocking to this. "They see this and" – verse 35 ends by saying – "all the herdsmen were afraid." Now, fear can be a good thing, but in this case. it's obviously a bad thing, because verse 36 continues, "Those who'd seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear."

You know the most dangerous place to be is to see Jesus, know Jesus, understand Jesus, and get rid of Jesus. It's to experience and to have seen and watched as Jesus worked and watched as Jesus rescued, to behold His power, to see His glory, to experience His grace, and then tell Jesus, "You can pack Your bags and leave." That's a shocking response. You would think that in amazement, they would want Jesus to do more. Maybe in amazement, they would want to welcome Jesus to do the same thing back in town for others who have needs. Not so. Jesus changes this man's life, and they see nothing better to do than to get rid of Him.

Friend, if you're here and you see the power of Christ to be able to change a man and restore a man and save a man, the first thing you need to do is recognize you need this, too. That's what the Gerasenes didn't understand. They thought, "Well, good for him. That fixes one problem, but we don't need the same thing." Little do they know that all have fallen short of God's glory, and the wages of sin is death, and it doesn't have anything to do with where you were born or where you come from or how low your life looks. Your life might look different than the demoniac, but your heart is the same. And if you hear these words and you see this Savior, do not turn Him away.

An Unexpected Return

That's an unexpected response because anyone who sees Jesus and what He does here, the only reasonable response is to follow. And it leads us, fourthly here, to "an unexpected return." That reasonable response, we don't see it from the world; evidently, they give up on Jesus. But we do see it from the man who's been rescued. An unexpected return.

"They're seized with great fear," – in verse 37 – "and so Jesus gets into the boat ready to return back to Capernaum. And the man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with Him." That's exactly the right response, right? "If Jesus can do this in my life, then I want to be where He is."

And notice, the man does exactly what the demons did. The demons begged and begged and begged, and they got their request. And the demoniac, he watched it all play out. He watched as what tormented him his whole life went crashing down a hillside into a lake never to be experienced again. And now he begs and begs and begs to be close to Jesus, and everyone in this room would think Jesus would say, "Of course."

Look at this unexpected response where Jesus sends him away. What got into Jesus? Isn't that the best thing for him, to stay close to Christ? "Why don't you just stay with Me?" you would think Jesus would say. "We got a little room here on the boat." Austin, when he preached on this message, said, "He could have easily kicked Judas off the boat and let this man in." But hindsight is 20/20. Jesus had all the sight; but, for us.

And we would understand that, right? We would get it if Jesus could make a little space for this man to stay with Him. There's something more important at play here. Though Jesus is being sent out of this place, and though Jesus is being sent out of this country, Jesus is telling this man, "If you stay, I stay." Jesus is telling this man, "They might kick Me out; but if you stay, they can't get rid of Me. They might not want Me here, but I'll send you back in, and if they've got you, they've got Me."

Notice what happens here, it's incredible, verse 39. The command is, "Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you." Okay, got it. "So, the man goes away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much God had done for him." Is that what it says in your Bible? No. It says, "He went back in and proclaimed throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him."

He got the message, who he met with face to face on the shores of that lake, who he spoke to in hopes of being rescued, whom he watched cast demons into a herd of two thousand pigs, whom he watched and saw as the people feared him just get back into a boat to return to Capernaum. This is Jesus, but this is also God. That's the message he has as he goes back into town. So they can get Jesus out of town physically, sure, but they can never get his name out of town, not with this man around.

I bet you he looked crazier than ever. This man who's gone from the hillside in the tombs now in town never able to get the name of Jesus out of his mouth. All he does is go back into town and tell everyone, "The man that you saw heal and rescue me is not just man, but He is God. He is a rescuer." And, friends, it's the good news that every single one of us who's been saved just like this man gets to share.

I'm all for everyone going out, finding a way to be a blessing to the greater church and to the world abroad. But, friends, you live in Dallas. Tell Dallas about Jesus. If you're going to reside here and live here, make it profitable for the kingdom by telling others how much Jesus has done for you, and let that have an impact, because Jesus isn't just a guy, Jesus isn't just a man, Jesus isn't just another person who's got some quick fixes to your troubles, but Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord. And so when you talk to others about Jesus, there's no subject that gets higher than that. There's no person that gets higher than that. There's not much more you'd want to talk about than that.

The unexpected return is that this man goes back into the country with the one thing they tried to get rid of. Is that true of you? Are you a disciple of Jesus and it's known not simply by the fact that you want to be close to Christ, but you want to take Christ to those who are not close to Him? Not only by the fact that you love to be with Jesus, but you know that there's others who need Jesus, and you'll go to them. Jesus tells us here and shows us here that if they get you, they get Him. That's the way God works.

And this has been the trajectory of what Luke has been trying to do in this gospel, this saving and this rescuing, this man who had no hope, no friends, no family, and probably had thought he would waste away and one day become one of the dead bodies that he lived amongst. Jesus showed up in his life to rescue him in such an unexpected way, unexpected if you haven't been hearing the words of Jesus.

In Luke 4:18, Jesus declares who He is in His own town of Nazareth; and by doing so, He also declares what kind of ministry He's going to have in those short years that He had on earth. Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He's anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

From then on out, what we've seen and what you've seen in the gospel of Luke is Jesus doing just that, isn't it? Luke 4.31. He shows up in Capernaum; and there is a man who has a demon, and Jesus casts it out. In Luke 4:38, Jesus goes to Simon Peter's house, and there, the miracle of all miracles. He helps Simon's mother-in-law recover from a high fever and she's made well again. And in this, even the demons are coming out, saying, "This is the Son of God."

In Luke 5:12, "There is a man with leprosy who just so happens to be where Jesus is. In Luke 5:17, there is a man who just happens to be where Jesus is teaching at, and so his friends lower him down through a roof. In Luke 6:6, Jesus enters the synagogue to teach, and there just happens to be a man there with a withered hand whom Jesus can heal. In Luke 7:1, Jesus enters Capernaum, and there just happens to be a centurion whose servant isn't doing well, and Jesus heals him. In Luke 7:11, Jesus goes into a town called Nain, an unknown town. Nobody knows what this is or where this is. And Jesus just so happens to enter into Nain, and it just so happens that while He's there, there's a widow whose son had died; and as Jesus enters into town, this dead man is being dragged out of town, and Jesus raises him up.

In Luke 8, it just so happens that His disciples set sail in the sea, a storm is brewing, and Jesus has to calm it down; and it just so happens that when they land ashore, they run into this demoniac who hasn't seen, spoken to, or heard from anyone in a long time. Luke is actually trying to get us to a place where you recognize this doesn't just so happen, this is what Jesus came for. The pinnacle of this entire gospel will be Luke 19:10, after Jesus meets with a wee, little man, one whom I can resonate with in stature, not in riches. Once Jesus meets with him, Jesus says His mission statement: "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

What we've been seeing is that though no one seems to be looking for Jesus, Jesus seems to be finding everyone He wants to. Along life's journey, along His ministry path, Jesus keeps coming face to face with everyone He wants to meet with. And, friend, that's no different this morning. You're here, you could be here for a multitude of reasons – the donuts were great, the coffee was good, you guys are a great hang. I'm going to throw this out there: you're here because Jesus brought you here and He wants to meet with you, make no mistake about it. He came to seek and to save the lost. And if you think $4 million getting sunk into a lake is a lot to save a man, what about the precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God? If you think that's a lot of money down the drain, to save a man that seemed expendable, what about Jesus dying while we were still His enemies? What about Jesus giving His life while we were ungodly? What about Jesus giving Himself up for you and me though we don't deserve it?

This isn't the end of the story. But this man's salvation, it's a testimony and a reminder of what Jesus can do and what Jesus came to do. Luke is reminding us that it's not simply that Jesus has the power to save – He does – it's that Jesus wills to save. Friend, what good would it be? You need $100; I have it – I don't, but let's say I did. You need $100 and I have it. It doesn't mean a whole lot if I don't want to give it to you. What good is it if Jesus has the power to save but does not want to save? The demoniac gives us the answer to that. He never thought help would come, but Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

Hope is here. Hope can be found because Jesus did come. Jesus did give His life. He gave it up as a ransom for many, so your sin is not too much for Jesus. Your wickedness is not more than Jesus can handle. Your sin can be forgiven; and much more than that, you can walk in a new way of life because of Jesus. And much more than that, you don't need to be selfish with the gospel. But you can go to all those people that you thought of that need Jesus and tell them, "Jesus can help you, too."

Conclusion

I'll close my time with three questions, three questions as we go this afternoon. Number one: What possesses you that Christ is not able to handle? What possesses you that Christ is not able to handle? Are you gripped by fear; a desire to be liked, appreciated, affirmed, patted on the back? Are you gripped by just an anxiety, the world we live in, finances, family? What possesses you that Jesus isn't strong enough to deal with? Have you seen and beheld even in this incredible story that Jesus is more than capable? Give in to Jesus?

Secondly: What do you possess that is unworthy of forsaking for the sake of Christ? What do you possess that is unworthy of forsaking for the sake of Christ? What do you have that's so important that it would hold you back from following Jesus? What do you value so inappropriately that it would cost you your soul? Is that you here today? Think about how much you might gain or lose to value the wrong things. Your soul is at stake, my friend. If you're here and you don't know Christ, whatever you're holding on to is insignificant in comparison to your soul which will either live with God for eternity or perish for eternity. What do you possess that's unworthy of forsaking for the sake of Christ?

Lastly: If you possess Jesus, why would you not tell every hell-bound sinner that there is one who can loosen their bonds? If you possess Jesus, why do you hold on to an old life when you have a new one? And if you've been given new life, why would you not use it to live for the glory of God and tell everyone you know that what God has done for you, He can do for them, because Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Would you pray with me?

[Prayer] Father, we thank You for Your word – its clarity, its truth, its power, and above all these things, its grace. Lord, we know that You can save. Lord, we know that You're more than capable. We know that Your power is unrivaled. We know that You can do what You say You will do. What Jesus has shown us is not only can You do it, but You desire to do it. You will do what's on Your heart, and on Your heart is to save sinners.

This man experienced it in the most powerful of ways, and we get to see in him a portrait of just the drastic transformation that can happen in the life of someone who does not know or have the grace of Christ. But our life doesn't need to be in that kind of a hell for You to save us. Lord, whatever it is that's going on in us, would You remind us that You're more than able to rid us of our burdens, to carry our anxieties, to provide our needs, and to bring us to the end, the other side of which we will behold Your face in glory for all eternity.

Lord, if it's to be Jesus on our lips in heaven, make it Jesus on our lips here on earth. And so if we've tasted and seen the goodness of the Savior, make it not only that You transform our lives in a powerful way, testifying to the world that we know You, but make it that we would resound with the message of the hope of the gospel to the ends of the earth, starting right here, that those who do not trust in Jesus, who trust in everything but, would come to see that there is no one as trustworthy, there is no one worth following, there is no one as powerful, and there is no one as gracious as King Jesus. We pray these things in His name. Amen.