Luke 9:1-10 - Pastor David Deutsch

Well, good morning, Soli. We return this morning to the gospel of Luke. So please open your Bibles there to Luke Chapter 9 this morning, and we will be in verses 1 through 10. Luke Chapter 9 and verses 1 through 10. Hear the word of God. Our name is our own name. Luke, chapter 9. And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bread, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake the dust off from your feet as a testimony against them. ' And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod, the Tetrarch, heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.

Herod said, 'John, I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things? ' And he sought to see him. On their return, the Apostles told him all that they had done. That's the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's pray. Our God in heaven, we return to the gospel of Luke, which is something that you are returning us to. Therefore, today, I pray that you would give us ears to hear what the spirit is saying to this church on this morning, that you would awaken us out of our slumber, that you would raise us from our laziness, and that you would send us out from this place at the end of the service today, full in every way, full of Christ, full of renewal, full of hope, full of life and on mission, and that you would have us go in a cruciform way, bearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and bearing the promise of all things new. And so I pray today that as you lead us into this, that you would lead us out from this. In Jesus name we pray, and Amen. So we are on the cusp in Luke Chapter 9 of the turning point in the gospel of Luke.

That turning point takes place in verse 51 of Chapter 9. That's when we turn a corner from where we We've been in the Galilean area, and now we're going to turn, and when we get to verse 51, verse 51 says this, When the days drew near for Jesus to go on his Exodus, which is what the Greek word is, he set his face to Jerusalem. So when we get to verse 51, the whole of the story is going to turn, and Jesus is going to set his face like Flint to go to Jerusalem because the time of his Exodus is at hand. But But before that, before Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, he sets his face toward his disciples. And as he sets his face toward his disciples, he sets his face towards the training of the twelve. Because you see, up to this point, all the preaching, all the healing, all the exorcisms, all of the Kingdom coming, all of that has been done by Jesus and Jesus alone. The twelve have not been involved in it. They have not been on mission. They have not been a part of what Jesus is doing other than bearing witness to what Jesus is doing.

But now things are going to change. Things are going to change now, and Jesus is going to bring them in and begin to train the twelve for the mission that will be before them. Now, when we come to this passage, you should feel echoes from the Book of Acts, because Luke is the author of both. It's actually a part one and a part two. It's like Dune, part one, and then you get part two at the movies. Luke has the same thing. He has the gospel of Luke, then he has the Book of Acts. It's one big book broken with an intermission in the middle so that you can use the restroom and get a soda. That's what's going on here. We are feeling the Book of Acts already here in our passage. But we have to remember that we are pre-Cross here. We are pre-Assension here, pre-resurrection, pre-Assension, pre-Pentecost here. So though you You can feel what's going on. You can feel what's coming. All of those events yet have not yet transpired, which give us the Book of Acts. And so what we have here is the trailer. What we have here is an advance on what's going to happen with the disciples as they move into their post-Pentecost future.

What they get to do now, they will do in full. After Jesus is raised from the dead, ascends and pours out the spirit on the day of Pentecost. This is the beginning, really, of the focused training of the twelve. Jesus is going to temporarily send them out. They are going there and back again. We know what we call the great commission, right? Where Jesus commissions the church. In Matthew 28, we might call this the small commission, the little commission, the baby commission. These are the baby steps of what is to come for the church in the Book of Acts. This is to prepare the disciples and the Apostles for what's coming their way. I like this little slip by Luke. I think it's a little slip on purpose to hint because he already knows what he's going to do with Luke: Acts. He already knows the story. He's a part of the story of the Book of Acts. If you read the Book of Acts, Luke is a part of it. He writes himself into the story. When he's talking about himself and the apostle Paul, he'll say, We and we and 'we' and 'we'.

And so he's writing this looking back. But notice what he slides in in verse 10. He says, On their return, the apostle. Well, they weren't apostles now in Luke. But they were apostles when he wrote, probably much later on, as he's also living the Book of Acts himself. Because we know that Judas was never a formal apostle, and that they don't receive apostelship until they are sent by the Lord Jesus in the empowering of the spirit. Luke slides this in to let us know, feel the Book of Acts here, feel the what's coming here, and he lets us in on the sly. And so what it is? What is this training of the twelve? The first thing I want you to see is that Jesus is clearly in charge here. This is Jesus initiated. The disciples don't wake up one day and say, Hey, we want to get in on this healing. We want to get in on these exorcisms. We want to get in on this preaching. Don't take that mantle to themselves. Rather, Jesus is clearly the one driving this. Look at the language, verse 9, verse 1, And he called. That's Jesus.

He called them together. He gave them power and authority. He sent them, and he said to them. This is all this mission that Jesus is going to send them out on this temporary mission of there and back again is initiated by, led by and authorized by Jesus himself. The disciples are on the receiving end of what Jesus is sending them to. But I also want you to see that this is a matching mission. Jesus not only initiates it, it actually is a match of what he himself has been doing. Up to this point, he's the only one that's been doing this. But now he's going to give them the power power of the future in the present in order to carry out this small mission that will begin their training. And so look at what verses one and two say. This is an exact extension of what Jesus has already been doing, has already been doing. It says, And he called the twelve together and he gave them power. Watch this. Power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal.

Notice Jesus gives them power. The power comes from him. It's not their power. It's not their enablement, it's not their giftedness. If you want to know what's going on in this chair right here before I get up to preach on Sunday morning, it's I'm begging for this. I'm not saying, Lord, magnify the gifts you've already given me. Lord, take the graces I already walked in here with. Take the bantle I roll in here with my title as a pastor. I'm down here in almost a fetal position saying, Please don't send me up there. If you do, make sure that you match it with the power that I don't have in myself in order to do this, you see? Because you can't do this with your own giftedness and your own power. You and I can't do any part of our Christian lives on our own, simply with our gifts and Our graces. We require the enablement of God in order for us to do anything for God at all. And so Jesus is going to send them out on mission, but he's not going to send them out apart from himself, you see. So he gave them power and authority over the demonic world.

I'm giving you power. You're going to be able to do this because it's my power. But I'm also authorizing you to step into the place that the original Adam had, that he fell from, and that I, the last Adam, now have and I'm enacting, and I am putting you in that place. And as the demons have been listening to me and submitting to me, they will listen and they will submit to you also. It's amazing. It's incredible. But not only that, not only the exorcisms, not only the power, but the curing of diseases and the healing. These testified to who they were representing. These were those testifying works that gave veracity to the message that the Apostles or these sent ones would be proclaiming. That when they proclaim the Kingdom of God, guess what happened? The Kingdom of God came on the spot. How? Because people were cured. People were healed. That's what happened. So when we pray, like we've been praying for healings in our church, and God answers our prayers, and so far, he has answered our prayers. So far, Amen? Amen. I mean, he has answered our prayers. For every time we've anointed with oil, the Lord has answered that prayer in our church.

That is the Kingdom of God, come in our midst. And I'll leave our hairs on end. That God's Kingdom is coming when we actually pray. It's actually happening at this little church right here. This is what God is doing. This is what he's authorized with these men to go out and to preach the Kingdom of God, and then to have that Kingdom enacted in the curing of diseases, in the healing of the sick, and the exorcism of the demons, which, by the way, is also symbolic. These are not only things that are true. There's demonic activity and ind dwelling, and there are diseases and there are sicknesses. But these things are also themselves symbolic of the sickness of Israel and of the sickness of the Roman Empire. These things are both true and they speak of a wider an issue that needs to be dealt with for the Kingdom of God to come. And so Jesus himself then is giving to the disciples here a matching mission. You go out and you do what I do because I'm empowering you, I'm authorizing you, and I'm sending you. And when you go, you proclaim the Kingdom of God.

You preach the good news of me, and then you offer testifying gifts to the the truthfulness and the power that this is real and the Kingdom of God is coming on Earth as it is in heaven. I want you guys to notice that the point of attack is where the demons are. The point of attack is where the darkness is. The point of attack is where the problems are. The sin and the disease and the darkness of the demonic can represent the sinfulness and the uncleanness of everything that's going on and everything that needs to be renewed by the power of God. And so they go out with this proclamation Ministry of preaching and this holistic Ministry of healing. But what I want you guys to see, and what's really important for us this morning, is that this is an all-out assault on enemy territory. This is very important for us to get this morning. Jesus does not tell his disciples, Wait for the enemy to come to you. The church in the Bible is never in the defensive position. We are always on offense. We are always moving out. We have this weird... I don't understand this, But when Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, it's not that the gates of the church will hold against the gates of hell trying to storm it.

That twists the words of Jesus around. It's the gates of hell that are trying to keep the church out, won't be able to keep the church out. Why? Because we're breaking down the gates, you see. We're just rolling in Jesus' tanks, which is the gospel. We're just rolling right over those things, you see. That's what we're involved in here. C. S. Lewis called it the great invasion, that Jesus has launched an invasion of the Earth with his kingdom. We have a tendency to forget that we are always the ones who are to take it to the devil. We are to take it to the world. We are to take it to the darkness. Why? Because we have the light, because we have the word, because we have the spirit, because we are the church, we are the people of God, and We cannot be sitting around bemoaning the fact that things are getting worse. They're getting worse because we're twiddling our thumbs outside the gates. That's why. They're getting worse because we're not being the people that we're supposed to be to be on for the Kingdom of God. We've laid down with a bad eschatology that tells us we're polishing brass on a ship that's going down.

No, we're not. We are a part of the Kingdom of God that is going to advance in history. The commission that we have been given is that we are to disciple the nations because Jesus is the inheritor of the nations. We are and always will be on the offense. Always. We don't wait for the enemy to bring it to us. You see, this was a little commission. We are a part of the great commission. We're post-Pentecost. Okay? So let me say this, and I know Christine Sholey is going to give me an amen, and I know Mr. Springer is going to say it under his breath. I say this with everything in the world, even though there might be a little few disagreements on what this meant and it means in the church. Soli Deo Gloria is a full-on Pentecostal church. There you go. Exactly. We are a church that is embedded in the post-Pentecost foundation that was laid in the Book of Acts and a part of a building that's being built on top of that. That's where we're at in redemptive history. We're in those days. And because we're in those days, we take it to the enemy.

We take it to them. And we take it to them because we have the gospel. We take it to them because we have the good news. We take it to them because we have prayer, you see. We take it to the very points where the darkness is most active. He is not a tame lion, and we cannot be a tame church. We follow a not tame lion, so let's not be a tame church. We are a a sent church, not a sidelined church. We are a commissioned church. In each Lord's day, that's what happens at the end of this service. We are commissioned to go out in the power of God's spirit, uniting us to Jesus Christ, and we are to take that which we alone have, the treasure that we alone have in jars of clay. That will tell you that this is a different warfare. This is a different warfare. Because the treasure that we offer to people is found in a clay jar. It's found in an ordinary pot. It's found in something that easily breaks, you see. Because our service to the world, Our assault on the world is actually under a cross.

It's in a cruciform manner. We go not with the weapons of the world. We go with the weapons of the gospel. We go with the weapons of prayer. We go with the weapons of being willing to pray for people, pray for their salvation, pray for their healing. We go with the proclamation of the gospel. We trust that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, and that Jesus is going to get those for whom we are sent to. He is going to get those whom he lays his love upon. And nothing can stop the gospel from getting who Jesus wants to get. Nothing can. There is no one under the sun whose sinfulness is greater than the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to save any and every sinner. There is nothing. And if you believe there is, if you believe there's a sinner that's too great for our savior, you should leave now. But that is not the case, because Jesus is the indestructible one who broke out of death. He walked out on the third day, you And he's the one who's commissioned us with his own very spirit to be his people.

Now, guess what? This means that victory looks different for us. Our victory comes with scars. Our victory comes not with gold medals, because the victory of our savior retained the scars, and the scar, and the scars. And the scar, and the scars. Jesus said this. Look at verse 21 of chapter 9. He strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one. Listen, church, the Son of The Son of Man must suffer many things. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And he said to all, now watch this, this is our part. This is what it means for us to go. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life would lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my 'The words of him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of his holy angels.

You see, this is going to cost us everything to follow him. It's going to cost us everything to be on mission. It's going to cost us losing our very lives so they are saved at the end. And so our visions of glory have to change. Our visions of glory have to be cruciform like this. Our visions of glory are a ragged man hanging on a cross on Good Friday, coming out of the tomb on Resurrection Sunday. If that's not the pattern for us in understanding mission, we will forget and we will run from the mission. We will be like, This is not what I signed up for, but it's actually what we signed up for. That's where the power is. The power is in the weakness because the power of God is demonstrated through weakness. You're going to do most of your battling on your knees. I don't mean that just praying. I mean, sometimes just getting from here to there because that's how the Lord himself does it, and that's how he has promised that he's going to do it. We're going to We're sent, and we're sent to suffer. And alongside this suffering is the way the Kingdom of God comes on Earth as it is in heaven.

And we're going to see this as we look in a moment at the shadow of Herod. But let's look and see something interesting here. If we're going to do the Lord's work, we have to do the Lord's work, the Lord's way. It's a famous sermon by Francis Schafer called The Lord's Work, the Lord's Way. Look at verse three and four. And he said to him, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics. ' 'And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. ' You see, Jesus is sending these twelve out on this mission that's short term, the training mission, and he wants to teach them that they are going to be dependent upon him for everything, and they're going to be dependent upon others as well. They're going to be dependent on the hospitality of others, but they're going to be dependent on the Lord going with them, even though he's staying behind. So they're going to be dependent on the Lord's presence, and dependent on the Lord's power, and dependent on the Lord's provision. He's basically, he's telling them, take nothing.

As you go, You could take one coat, but you're not taking your wallet, you're not taking your cell phone, you're not taking anything with you. You're leaving all of that behind. Take nothing for your journey. No walking staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money. And you can take a coat just in case it gets cold. We're entering into the hospitality theme that we've talked about earlier. You're going to depend on the hospitality of others. He says in verse 4, Whatever house you enter, stay there, and then from there depart. The reason why Jesus said that is because there were traveling teachers who would into a town, and they would go into one house, and then they would find out that the bigger house down the street was open to, and so they would leave that house and go to the bigger house down the street. But then they would find that the bigger house down the street from that one, and they would keep going from house to house to house because they were getting in more and more plush situations. Jesus is saying, Don't do that. When you get into a house, just stay there.

Be content. I want you guys to notice the interesting thing here. He is sending them out on mission at a time in which the persecution is low. The persecution is low, so hospitality can be trusted, and the Lord's provision through the hospitality where they go will be enough because the season is pretty even right now. You don't need to worry about provision. It'll be taken care of. These are times of okayness. But watch what Jesus does in chapter 22. Turn to chapter 22. He actually reverses. He says, Remember when I told you to take nothing? I'm not telling you that now. He actually reverses exactly what he says. So turn to chapter 22. We are, of course, on the cusp of the cross here. Okay. The plot to kill Jesus has already been enacted. It's already been done. Jesus has already instituted the Lord's Supper. He foretells Peter's denial. Then look at what he says. Isn't he glad? This is up for all your parents. You could say, when your children tell you, Yeah, but the last time I asked, you said this. And you say, Well, this time I'm saying this. I've given you a for this.

Because you can say, Well, at one time Jesus said that, and then Jesus took it all back, and he said this. Why? Because the circumstance has changed. Now we're up the ante here. Now we are in days of vengeance. Now we are in days of persecution. We are near the cross now. The whole place is losing its mind around Jesus now. Everybody's gone nuts now. So a certain protection and provision is required in days of vengeance. They're not required when days are fairly even and okay. Look at what Jesus does, verse 35 of chapter 20. He said to them, When I sent you out with no money bag or a knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything? They said nothing. In other words, that provision was enough. Verse 36, he said to them, But now, I'm changing it. But now, let the one who has a money bag take it. Take your wallet this time, and likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword, sell his cloak and buy one. ' Uh-oh, we're arming up. Jason, we're arming up here. All right? And then he says, For I tell you, the description must be fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors.

And here we are in Isaiah 53, but I can't go there. 'For what is written about me has its fulfillment. ' And they said, 'Look, Lord, here are two swords. We're double fisting swords, Lord. ' All right? And he says, 'All right, that's enough. ' That's enough. You don't have to overarm. Okay, enough. All right, so don't, don't mistake that it's all about the swords. But you'll notice a change here. There's a change in tactic because there's a change in season. For those Christians who lived over in Europe during the World Wars, the way that they went about things during World War II was different than they went about them before World War II. There's a difference between being underground and not underground. So days of vengeance call for a certain wisdom on mission. Days of evenness call for a certain wisdom on mission. But you'll also notice that this is not simply a mission that yields what the disciples are bringing. Turn back to Luke Chapter 9. And I want to remind you guys of this? Because I think a lot of you, and I'm the same way, and the Psalm 73 is in our Bible for a reason.

It's like, why do all the bad people have all the money and the smiles? And all the righteous people have so little and so much suffering? We ask ourselves that question a lot. I refer you to Dr. Psalm 73 to help you with that, okay? When you're having those times. But here's the thing I think we often forget when we're on mission. The mission always takes. We just have not been instructed well, sadly. Because we think the mission only takes if it's successful according to the way that we define it. But it always takes according to Jesus. Look at what he says. He says, Go there, stay, verse 4, and then depart. But then he says this, Here's the other side of this mission. And whenever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake the dust off from your feet as a testimony against them. In other words, the mission is always bringing either blessing or judgment. But God's mission is never neutral. Don't ever think you're like, Man, but I share the gospel with that person, or I was serving over here, I was helping this person over there, I was trying to pray for healing over here.

Never think that it lands neutrally. Sometimes it lands with a blessing, but sometimes it lands with a judgment, you see. Sometimes it lands with a judgment first, and that gives way to blessing later on. But it never lands and does nothing. And so Jesus is telling the disciples, Look, when you leave, if they don't welcome you, you shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. In other words, judgment instead of blessing, you see. This actually happens, right? This actually happens in the Book of Acts, okay? Luke might have seen this. Acts 13, listen to verses 49 to 52. Says, And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing, and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their district. So So their gospel, the word of the Lord is spreading. It's blessing. We're on mission. There's blessing going on. Then we meet with what? Opposition. The Jews incited the devout women to oppose and to begin to persecute participating in persecuting Paul and Barnabas. And they drove them out of their district.

Here's what Paul and Barnabas did, verse 51. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and they went on down the road to Iconium, and they started preaching again, you see. They left judgment in their wake, and they had left blessing in their wake, but they didn't leave nothing in their wake. And when we are faithful, we don't leave nothing in our wake either. When we are on mission as a church, when we are faithful with the gospel and faithful with our praying and faithful with the opportunities God gives to us as a church to be on mission, it never simply lands. It always lands in blessing, or it always lands in judgment, or it always lands in judgment leading to blessing, you see. So we can be confident that when we're on mission, because of where we're at in the story and because of who we're representing, there is always something taking place. Verse 6, go back to Luke 9. This is a mini success. This little short term mission was a mini success, according to verse 6. And they departed and went through the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

And then verse 10 says, On their return, the apostle told them all they had done. This whole thing is a success. Okay. The gospel was preached. People were saved. Demons were excised. Healings happened. They come back and they're all excited about it. But guess what? While all this is taking place, the eye of Mordor was watching. The eye of Mordor was watching. Because you see, church, this is something you need to be aware of. The Kingdom of God will always perplex, confuse, and begin to scare the political powers that be. Because it's a kingdom like they've never seen before. They can't grab it, they can't contain it, they can't control it, they can't stamp it out. We've been here since Adam, and we're still here. You see, we're the ones not going away. You see? So this catches Herod's ear. Verse 7. Now, Herod the Tetrarch. So this is the son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the one who tried to destroy Jesus when he was an infant. Now this is his son, Herod the Tetrarch. And verse 7 says, Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was happening. You see, when Jesus He sent the disciples out on mission, the mission spread from one man to twelve.

So it's gaining traction, and people are talking about it. He heard all that was happening, and he was perplexed. You see, this is where Herod starts. The state starts perplexed. What's going on here? Because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, and he knew that couldn't happen because he had killed John. So we know where he stands, right? He's hearing about something, and we already know where he stands because he's a murderer of John already. Or some that Elijah had appeared or one of the prophets of old. Herod said, John, I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things? ' And he sought to see him. Well, the last time John went and saw Herod, he didn't come back. Okay, so we know what Herod's capable of. Now he's curious about this particular situation, but that's all it is. It's a curiosity. Mordor is curious about what's happening in Middle-earth. He's curious about what's going on down there. But things can change from curious, and they do. Look forward with me to chapter 13, and I know I got to bring this to... Oh, my goodness.

Lord have mercy. I'm going to get railed in an elder meeting five years from now. I'm not going to the next five years. But I got to do this. I don't really care at this point in time. I'm already in knee deep. Knee deep in the water somewhere, so I'm going to go on. Here we go. Chapter 13, I want you to notice something. Between chapter 9 and chapter 13, something has significantly changed from Curious. Look at verse 31 of chapter 13. Now, at that very hour, some pharisees came and said to Jesus, 'Get away from here for Herod wants to kill you. ' That's a little bit of a change. From to kill is a little bit of a change. Now, you got to give Jesus some cred because he pops back. I don't know if we're allowed to do this or not. He's the King of the Kings and Lord of Lords, so he can do whatever he wants to do, but he calls him out. Look at what Jesus says. And he said to him, Go tell that fox. You go tell that guy that wants to kill me. Now watch this, church.

Jesus is basically saying, Look, I run the show. You have no shot at me until I give myself up to you. ' Look at what he says. Go tell that fox. Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, on the third day, I finish my course. ' In other words, I'm not subjected to your time frame. You're subjected to my time frame. That's what's happening with the sermon today. You're subjected to my time frame. Verse 33, Nevertheless, I must go on my own. Can you... This is just a poke in the bear. Jesus is poking the bear. He says, Nevertheless, I must go my way today and tomorrow and the day following. I'm just going to roll on. It doesn't matter what you're trying to do, Herod, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. And then he cries over Jerusalem. Jesus's response is like, You want some? All right, fox. Guess what? You can't get me. You can't get to me. Until the time has come, you can't to get to me. But notice the shift. The shift from curious to he wants to kill you. Because the stakes go higher for those in power when the Kingdom of God begins to threaten them.

But the Kingdom of God begins to threaten them, listen, not by directly threatening them, but simply by being the people of God. Who preach, pray, pray for healing, evangelize, raise our children in the nurture and at the mission of Lord, worship only Jesus. As we are a people on mission, That mission eventually becomes an irritant to the powers that be, and then it becomes a threat to the powers that be. Listen, church, we're in between that moment right now in our country. And the question is this, are we willing, with our children, are we willing to lose our lives so that they might be found in Jesus with this thing. You see, one of the reasons that we have the table every week is because we can't be on mission apart from being fed. Our children, as we're raising them, cannot be prepared for this unless they're being fed. So every week, the Lord feeds us, and then he sends us, and we are a part of what's happening here. And I pray that we will remain faithful in the days that are upon us for the honor and glory of the name of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Our God in heaven, take your word and seal it unto us this day. Enliven us, awakeen us, strengthen us, and send us out on mission to be your people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen..

Luke 8:40-56 - Pastor David Deutsch

Good morning. Soli church. Open your bibles to the gospel of Luke and to the 8th chapter, Luke, chapter eight.

And I will read from verses verse 40 through the end the chapter. Hear the word of God. Now. When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Gyrus, who was a ruler of the synagogue.

And falling at Jesus feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years. And though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. And she came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment.

And immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, who was it that touched me when all denied it? Peter said, master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said, someone touch me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me. And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed.

And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. And while he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore. But Jesus, on hearing this, answered him, do not fear, only believe, and she will be well.

And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said, do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand, he called, saying, child, arise.

And her spirit returned. And she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given to her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. That's the word of the Lord.

You may be seated. Let's pray together.

Our God in heaven. This morning, as we come to Jesus, this is where we belong. We would see Jesus. We would have Jesus. We would come to Jesus like Jairus, and seek out Jesus like this woman.

Just a touch, just a visit, just Jesus, Lord, is enough for us this morning. And so I pray that all of us in this room would look and find and seek and be satisfied with Jesus this morning. And it is in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. We are a fearful bunch.

Doesn't take much to get our fears going. We are an anxious bunch, living life with more than anybody has in the history of the world. Saved the pharaohs. We are the most anxious people in the history of the world as well. We are an anxious, fearful people.

And we do face things in our lives regularly, things of desperation, things that are beyond us, moments we cannot answer, things we cannot fix. We find ourselves regularly in desperate situations. And someday we will face the final desperate situation, and that is death. And we do everything we can to sanitize ourselves from death. Billions of dollars are spent on increasing our lives by a day or a year or years, if that could actually happen, if that was actually a reality.

We live for the fountain of youth regularly, and we push death off out of our homes into places where we do not have to see it. And so death is over there so much of the time in our lives, and we try to keep it as much of a distance as we can. And when I understand why, I mean, the Bible is very clear that there's a sinister character to death, and the devil loves death. He is the one who, the Bible says this about Hebrews, chapter two. The Bible says Jesus took on our flesh so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death.

That is the devil, that trickster. That's his trump card. His trump card is, you're all going to die. And what happens? Because death is a power, because death is a force, because death is the devil's trump card.

According to the writer of Hebrews, what happens? We, through fear of death, live enslaved to the coming death. We're scared to death of that moment, that moment of desperation that is absolutely beyond all of us. And so not only do we have to face circumstances in our lives that are beyond us, we're all going to face that circumstance in our lives that is beyond us as well. We come with this to Jesus, and we see that the people that we meet in the story today, they find themselves in these predicaments.

We find a woman who finds herself in a desperate situation that is beyond her and beyond the people around her. Look at verse 43, and you have to read this with a little bit of a wry smile on your face, right? Because this is, after all, written by a doctor who had traveled around with the apostle Paul and was the apostle Paul's personal doctor. And so when Luke is writing this, there must be a little bit of a wry smile on his face when this is happening. Verse 43.

There was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years. And so this is a woman who's had an ongoing desperate situation. And look at it. Though she had spent all her living on physicians, there's nothing left in the bank account. She's got no money.

She's still in her situation. That's desperate. As we'll see in a little bit, it's beyond her. For twelve years, no one's been able to do anything about it. All the technology has been applied to the situation.

The doctors have brought everything to bear that they can, and yet she's still in the exact same situation that she's in. She's in a desperate situation beyond her ability and beyond the ability of everyone around her to answer it. And then there's the girl. Look at verse 49, the second desperate situation. And while he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, your daughter is dead.

Do not trouble the teacher anymore. Your only daughter is dead. Don't trouble the teacher anymore. So for some reason these people believe that maybe Jesus had had the power to heal this girl if she was sick, but he doesn't have the power to raise her from the dead. Go ahead and leave the teacher alone.

The final word is spoken over your daughter. It's now time to mourn. You see, we come to this situation here, and we're facing two desperate situations, two desperate situations in which the answer to these are out of the hands of those who are experiencing these particular situations. I have to be honest with you. There's something here about Jesus that we have to highlight before we move into the passage.

And that is, this struck me as I've been meditating on this passage over the last couple of weeks, that when it comes to this great enemy of humanity, death, when we see Jesus coming to deal with death, he's just never in a hurry. Like, we are an anxious bunch. We're an efficient bunch. We're the rush bunch, right? Our lives are lived at mock speed.

Your friend whom you love, Lazarus, is dying. Yeah. We'll stay on vacation a few more days before we go. No rush. Take some leisure.

I'll get there when I get there. Same thing here. Jesus is on his way to the house, gets interrupted by this woman, and he doesn't push her aside to get to the house. He allows her whole narrative to unfold as an interruption on the way to the house, so much so that the girl moves from sickness to death, and Jesus is just simply leisurely about it. He has a non anxious presence about him as he moves through these stories.

Well, why is that? Why is it that Jesus can take his time and be leisurely about these things? Because, you see, in Jesus we meet the one who always moves on the situation at the time that he chooses. And oftentimes it is the most desperate situation, so that he himself can show that what is beyond us is in no way beyond him. And so we see here not only that, but we also see finally two people who are bearing in their lives the fourth kind of soil we're finally meeting those who here are looking to Jesus, and they are trusting in him.

And they're at polar Opposites of the social society, one an outcast, the other a ruler. But together they form this man and this woman. They form for us what faith looks like. It goes to Jesus, and it trusts that he can, if he will, answer the most desperate of moments, you see? And so we begin in verse 40.

Now, when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. They're waiting for him because the last time Jesus was around, he had raised another child from the dead. He had raised the widow's son from the dead, and then he got in the boat and left. Since then, he's still the storm and showed his authority over the creation. And last week, as we saw, he exercised his authority over the demons.

And now we're going to see him exercise his authority over sickness and death. There's nothing that does not come under the authority of Jesus. But Jesus right now has this reputation because of what it is he's doing. And so when he comes back across the lake, now, everybody, there's this crowd, and they're all following him. And in the midst of this crowd, they're waiting for him.

There is a man named Gyrus who is a ruler of the synagogue. And so this is a man who runs the synagogue. He leads the synagogue. He leads the liturgy at the synagogue. He takes care of everything in the jewish synagogue.

He runs that church there. And so he's known in the community. He has a standing in the community. He has respect in the community. He has people that honor him in the community.

But I want you to notice that when he comes to Jesus, there's none of that. There's no playing the card with this man. There's no manipulation. There's no pulling out his business card. There's no inner ring clout that he brings to Jesus.

There's no bargaining. There's no drawing attention to his standing at all. When Gyrus comes to Jesus, he is just like everyone else, he stands in need of what only Jesus can bring, you see? And so he does not come and pull out his card and say, I'm the synagogue leader. I need you to do something for me.

Rather, what we find here is desperation meets humility. Desperation meets humility. Look at what it is that Gyrus does. And there came a man named Gyrus who was ruler of the synagogue and falling at Jesus'feet. This man humbles himself before Jesus.

He gets in the begging position, not in the inner ring position, but in the pleading position. He knows that when it comes to the situation with his daughter, it's beyond him. But here is one who he has heard is already healing the sick and raising the dead. And this is my only hope. This is our only hope.

And so he falls at the feet of Jesus, and he implores him to come to his house. And the implore there in the Greek is repetitive imploring. He didn't drop to his knees and say, will you please come? He dropped to his knees, and begging Jesus, he implored and he begged and he implored over and over and over again, please come to my house. Please come to my house.

Please come to my house. And here's why. Verse 42, what his situation is, what his desperation is, that leads him to the feet of Jesus. Verse 42 says, for he had an only daughter. Now in the Greek, again, the translation here should be different.

The Greek here is monogeneous. It's the word for only begotten. The same word that's used of Jesus, which means this is his only child. This is not like, I got a daughter, then I got nine sons. So if she goes, I'm okay.

No, this is my only child. This is all we have. I have my daughter, and she's the only one. And she's about twelve years of age. You'll notice that she's on the precipice of her future.

If you were a jewish girl, you were on the precipice of your future, right? Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was probably 13 or 14 years old when the Holy Spirit came to visit her. So this girl is right on the edge of the future that they had prayed for and planned for their only daughter. But I want you to notice the number twelve here, because this is important.

This girl is twelve years old, and this woman has had a hemorrhage of blood for twelve years. Okay? So there's also a little bit of a backstory going on here as well, in which the writer is communicating Luke is communicating, and Jesus wants us to understand that the condition that this girl is in, the condition that this woman is in, is the condition that Israel is in at the time. They are an impure people who think they're pure, and they are a dead people who think they're alive. And the twelve s point arc out in that direction.

To tell us what happens with these two needs to happen with the whole of Israel. And that's what Jesus is doing. He is creating a new Israel around himself, and he's going to bring in this woman and this man into this story with him. And so there's a little bit of that going on here as well. And I want you guys to notice something as well.

So it says, for he, this is my only begotten daughter. She's twelve years old and she's dying, okay? So he implores Jesus, he begs Jesus, he sets the situation for Jesus, and this is my daughter's dying. This is beyond us. Can you do something?

I know you can do something, Jesus. And as he went, verse 42 says the people pressed around him. That word for pressed is only used one other time in Luke, and it's earlier in the parable of the soils for choking out the word. It's interesting. The people are pressing in on Jesus, almost to choke out the moment that seems like it's going to happen.

And it appears that that is going to happen, because we know the story. The girl dies, and it appears that the choking happened. But Jesus is greater than that. You see, we're dealing with someone who is greater than all of this situation here. But then in verse 43, something happens.

We're like, okay, we're on the move with gyrus. Jesus is coming to his house. We're all excited, and then all of a sudden, this interruption happens. How good are you with interruptions?

If you want to see the wrong side of me, it's interruptions, right? I have my imagination about how I want my days to go. Thou shalt not mess them up, right? But Jesus, I just gave her along to a book I'm reading called. It's a book on leadership called a non anxious presence.

I don't have that. So I'm reading the book, hoping some of it will rub off on me, right? But Jesus has got this non anxious presence about him because he knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing. And so all of a sudden, out of nowhere, verse 43, this woman steps into the store.

What are you doing here? How did you get here? We're on our way somewhere, we got business with Jesus. I don't have time for this interruption, but here she comes. Verse 43.

And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all of her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. So you have to understand something about this woman having a hemorrhage of blood for twelve years. If you go back to Leviticus, chapter 15, verses 25 and following the law states what condition this woman would be in if she had her post period continued on with blood, okay, what condition she would be in. As long as she is hemorrhaging this kind of blood, she would be in a state of absolute uncleanness. So she would be in every way impure and unclean, so physically impure and unclean, socially impure and unclean, ritually impure and unclean, domestically impure and unclean.

She would, in a sense, during that time, she would be the living dead. Anything that she touched, she would transmit her impurity to that thing. But normally the cycle happens and you get another baptism and you're restored and you're clean and you can go to church and your husband can touch you and you can hold your kids. That's normally what happens for a normal woman. But for this woman, no, this woman has been unclean and isolated from the totality of whatever life she had.

She has been living in a state of isolation for twelve long years. She spent everything she had to get it fixed so that she can be restored to family life, restored to church life, restored to any kind of life whatsoever. Instead, she has been living outside the bounds of all community in loneliness and isolation for twelve years, and no one has been able to help her. She is cut off in every way. And twelve years, my friends, is a long time.

Just look at any twelve year old in the room and think of the totality of that child's life. That's how long this woman has been cut off from everything. But she's heard, she's heard about this one who heals the sick.

There's something about him that changes lives. And so the Bible tells us. And by the way, if you don't catch the, you got to catch the irony of this, okay? This is like an explosive, ironic moment to where we are supposed to look at this and simultaneously we're supposed to howl with laughter and be absolutely just mesmerized by the grace of God, right? So she comes up behind Jesus, like, if I can just touch him, he will heal me of this.

She trusts that. But you'll notice what ends up happening. Look at verse 44. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. So what happens?

She comes up, she touches the fringe of Jesus's garment, and when she does, boom, she's healed automatically. Twelve year flow of blood is gone. It ceases, and she's healed. But you want to know what the word is for fringe of the garment? It is the word tassel.

And you want to know what the tassel was on a hebrew man. A hebrew man had tassels on his garment. And those tassels, we are told in the book of numbers, are there to remind everybody of the law.

Are you picking this up? She touches the part of the garment of Jesus that tells her that she shouldn't be touching anybody. She's touching the part of the garment of Jesus that reminds her that she's impure. You shouldn't be here. The law is against you.

And yet that's the part of she grabs on to the law tassel. And guess what happens? Something reversed happens. The whole thing goes the other way. Right?

And instead of that reaching that Tassel, condemning her to further isolation because of who the tassel is connected to, it actually heals her and restores her immediately. It's absolutely amazing. And you got to have a little smirk on your face. Out of all the places she could have touched Jesus, it's the one thing that reminded everybody she shouldn't be touching anybody. It's incredible.

And then Jesus verse 45, says, who touched me? Of course, everybody denies it. And Peter said, master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said, someone touched me. For I perceive that power has gone out from me.

Jesus knows that someone has come up and touched his garment in a particular way. I'm sure with the choking, other people had bumped into him. Okay. But this was different, because this was the reach of faith. This was the reach of trust.

This was the reach that all I have to do is touch this one, and I will be healed, and everything will change. But why does Jesus do this? Why doesn't Jesus just let this poor woman receive the healing, go show herself to the priests and get back involved in her life and get on with it to Jairus'house, who's probably going, can we get right? But Jesus actually stops in the middle of, on his way to Gyrus's house. He stops with this non anxious presence because of who he is.

And he's going to make sure that this woman's full story is told that her full salvation is told, that her full healing is told. Jesus will not let it be hidden. I want you to follow this with me. Someone touch me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me. Look at verse 47.

And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, falling down before him, and declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. When the woman saw that she was not hidden. See, we've already been told this. If you look back to chapter eight, I love this chapter eight and verse 17. Listen to this.

Pastor Jeremy preached on this chapter eight, verse 17. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. And here it is, this woman's shining moment. Like I'm a march madness fanatic. Like I will stop the world for March Madness, right?

And I love March madness. And one of the things I love most about March Madness is on the Monday night. Even my wife gets into this with me. But every time that Monday night game plays, the championship game, doesn't matter how good the game is or how bad the game is, when the championship NCAA basketball game is over and they do the end. I don't know if you're a fan like I am, but there's always this one moment that I can't wait for.

And it's a song that's called one shining moment. I cry like a baby every single time they play it. Because they go back through the tournament. They show all the last second shots that are there. They show all the upsets that are there.

They bring you all the way through, and they're seeing one shiny moment. It's magnificent. You got one shot, maybe, to be in this championship game, and it might be your one shining moment. Well, for this woman, this is her shining moment. Jesus is not going to allow her story to be untold because he's in a hurry, you see?

He's going to allow the fullness of her story to be told in the middle of this other story that's being told, because he's going to bring her story to light because he wants everybody to know that she is healed and that he's even doing something more for her. He's bringing her to light. She does what Gyrus does. She falls down before him, and she tells everybody what had happened and then her stories in the light, you see, Jesus brings it out for everybody to see. And then Jesus does something in verse 48.

Listen. Jesus does something in verse 48 that he never does anywhere else in the gospel, not just this gospel, Jesus does in verse 48 what he never does anywhere in any gospel at all. Verse 48 he says, and he said to her daughter, she's the only woman in all of the gospels that Jesus calls daughter, you are mine, you are my child, you are my daughter. You see there's something going on here that's more than just a woman being healed. It's a woman being brought home because home is Jesus.

It's a woman who's been without family being brought into the greater family. You see if, remember in Pastor Jeremy's text as well, there was this new family that Jesus was creating right around people who trusted Jesus and obeyed Jesus. Those are my mothers and my brothers and my sisters. And here in this woman, Jesus is saying, see, a daughter has come home. My family is being expanded and this woman is now a part of my family.

And then Jesus goes on to say, your faith has made you well. And the greek word for well, there's not well, it's the word for salvation. So not only does she get healed, she has a deeper healing that takes place. Jesus not only saves her from the hemorrhage, he saves her from her sins. And then he calls her daughter and she's made a part of the family.

And then Jesus gives to her what this woman had not known for twelve years. What you and I are going to extend to one another in just a few moments. He says to her, go in peace. You're now a daughter. You're doubly saved.

Healed and saved, you're restored. Now go in peace because your faith has made you well. You trusted me. You trusted me. You believed that I could do this.

And because you trusted me, go in peace. I've gone beyond what your faith trusted for your faith, trusted for a healing. What you got was a salvation. Your faith trusted so you could be restored to your family. But I'm going to bring you into my family.

You see, Jesus extends it and even gives it more. Can you imagine Gyrus at this time? Hey brother, can we get onto my house? Like can we get home? Right?

And so verse 49 says, while he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore. It's beyond him. It's out of his hands now. It's out of your hands.

It's out of everybody's hands. Maybe there was a shot while she was sick like this woman who had the hemorrhage, but now it's done, she's dead. And you can no longer bother the teacher. But Jesus, verse 50 says, but Jesus on hearing this answered him, and here we go. Do not fear.

See, we don't have to fear death. Gyrus doesn't have to fear the death of his daughter. The daughter doesn't have to fear her death. You don't have to fear death. I don't have to fear death.

The fear and the force of death that the devil had as his trump card. He's been trumped. You want to know how he's been trumped? Because of the death of death in the death of Christ. That's why jesus looked death square in the face and he said, bring it.

He said, bring everything you've got. And he went into the darkness for 3 hours on that Friday when the sun went out, and he faced down the dragon of death, and he took it on, and he absorbed it into his person, and he took it into the grave with him. And on the third day, Jesus walked out of the grave on the first day of the week, the day of new creation, and he took the death that was ours and took the death that this girl experienced, and he faced it down and he overcame it, and he is the resurrection and he is the life. And because Jesus is raised from the dead, death no longer is something we have to fear. Amen.

Have to worry about it. It's been answered. And jesus shows this proleptically here, he rolls it back here, he shows in advance of what's coming, you see? And so he gets to the house. All you got to do is trust me.

I got this. I got death too. I got twelve years of sickness. I got death as well. I got them both.

Only believe and she will be well. And the word well there is saved. We're doing more here than just raising a girl back to a life, that she's going to die again. We're going to save her too, and give her a new future. That's going to be my future, you see?

And they were all weep. And then when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him but Peter, James and John. That's two or three witnesses to verify. And just the mother and father and all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said, do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping.

And they laughed at Jesus knowing that she was dead.

See, this is a group that people paid for. This was actually a vocation. There were professional mourners, and you would pay them money and they would come to your house during sickness and death. And they were just professional mourners. They cried over your situation for you.

And so these are the people that Jesus is dealing with here. They're just doing what they're paid to do. They don't know what's going on here. They don't know anything at all, but they're doing their job. But then we get into the room and verse 54 happens.

And again, you have to watch this.

Under the old covenant, the unclean makes the clean unclean, but never does the clean make the unclean clean. Can you remember that? Under the old covenant, the unclean makes the clean unclean. The clean never makes the unclean clean. So when this woman touches Jesus, the reverse happened.

What should have happened is Jesus should have become unclean and her blood should have remained. But the opposite happened, right? She touches Jesus, and instead, the clean makes the unclean clean. In the new covenant, guess what happens here? Jesus touches a corpse.

Guess what happens when you touch a corpse. You are unclean for seven days and you have to be baptized again. But notice what happens here goes the other way, because it's Jesus, and we're in the new covenant. And so now the clean makes the unclean clean. And so Jesus, taking her by the hand, called, saying, child, arise.

Love this. Look at verse 55 and think of Genesis two seven. And her spirit returned. They have Adam, that lump of clay. And God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul.

This tells us that the girl was dead. Her spirit and body had separated from one another. And when Jesus tells her to rise, her spirit returns to her body and she gets up at once. And he directed that something should be given to her to eat immediately. To confirm this, what Jesus has done, bringing her back from the dead immediately fed, giving her something to eat, which if you feel the gospel of Luke, you feel Jesus'resurrection.

Right? Because what did jesus do every time he showed up in a post resurrection appearance in Luke? He ate. He's always eaten, right? He's eating every single time to confirm that he's truly raised from the dead.

So this girl eats, and her parents were amazed, and Jesus charged him to tell no one what had happened. He doesn't want this to get out yet because he's not ready to make the move that he's going to make in chapter nine. You see? But church, listen to me. Jesus is the one who moves into the desperate situations in a way that is non anxious from his side, but is according to his own sovereign timing.

And he moves into those situations. And he answers those situations because he's the only one who can. He's the only one who is able to answer those desperate situations that are beyond us. And there is nothing that Jesus, if it is his purpose, cannot answer. Desperation is not stronger than Jesus, and death is not stronger than Jesus, because Jesus has met them both, and Jesus has overcome.

And just like this girl, Jesus, too, has provided something for us to eat. And that is the table before us as we come looking to him, who is the answer to every desperate situation, even the answer to our death. Amen. Our God in heaven. I pray that we would have seen Jesus today, and he would be enough that we would find in him our all and all that as we come to the table, simply more of Jesus, this table being a down payment on our own resurrection because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Allow us to see the irony of things. Allow us to see the tragic comedy of things in our own lives and lives of others. Lord, help us to understand, as your people, that nothing can be ultimately tragic because Jesus has been raised from the dead. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Luke 8:26-39 - Pastor Jon Meenk

Well, good morning. Would you remain standing? We're going to continue our study through the gospel of Luke. And we are in Luke eight, starting in verse 26. If you can turn there for me, and I'll read through 39.

Then they sailed to the country of the garrisones, which is opposite gal. 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 spirits 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 garrisones 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 the Lord. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for gathering us today. Lord Jesus, your bride, that you gather today, that we would be encouraged as we read your word this morning. And as we study your word this morning.

And as we sing songs that declare truth this morning. And as we come to the table this morning, Lord, I ask today that we would find rest and that we would be reminded of the great news that we can't save ourselves. And Lord Jesus, our eyes would be turned to you, Lord. Help me in my speaking. Help all of us in our hearing.

We pray for your glory. In Jesus'name. Amen. You guys can have a seat standing for a little while.

All right, settle in. It's nice, cozy weather. We're in church together. Let's have some fun. This is a crazy passage.

A few caveats before we jump into this. If you guys remember my sermon on why we sing. I told you how sensitive my kids are to like spooky things. And so maybe this caveat, first one is just for my kids, but I feel compelled to say it. Young ones that are in here this morning, as you just heard me read and as you hear me preach through this passage this morning, we're talking about a man who's crazy and who has demons, many, many demons in him.

And I just know as a kid, that would kind of freak me out. So, little ones, don't be freaked out, because if you checked out right after you heard demons, or like my son does, where he closes his ears, you miss the rest of the story, that Jesus conquers this. It's not a match at all. These are not a battle of two equals in any sense of the word, okay? Jesus wins, and that's who loves you, okay?

So don't be scared. That's my first caveat. My second one is for people that are like my wife, who have an unhealthy love of animals, and there's nothing I have for you this morning. These pigs die.

They die a gruesome, awful death. So if that hurts your heart, you got to buckle up.

As we've been working through the gospel of Luke, we've been seeing Jesus move in power, move in authority. And then just last week, we heard Pastor John preach on. They're on the sea of Galilee, and the storm comes, and they're afraid, right? And then we're left with this hanging question at the very end of the passage that we ended with last week, where the disciples say, who then is this? That he commands even winds and water, and they obey him.

So there's this big question laying out there, right? And this can be lost on us. I think I say this probably every time I preach, but I like to dive into these things and read them slower and not just read past stuff that we've read a thousand times, right? We know who Jesus is. But still, at this time, these guys are asking, who is this?

Who is this guy? Right? And it's this big hanging question. What's so cool about this passage is we're going to hear this question answered today and it's going to come from the least expected person in the least expected place. It's just so beautiful.

The poetry of scripture. And speaking of the poetry of scripture, my wife and I really like movies. We like documentaries, but we really like movies that are, it either begins or ends with based on a true story. So it just makes it that much cooler that like, oh, this really happened. But those are always, always embellished, right?

To make them more entertaining, to make them more to follow, like a storyline. It's not like exactly how it happened. And so as we read this story today, and maybe this was happening in your mind as I was even just reading it, Dave Dawson, our filmmaker, over here, as I was reading through this, or maybe this is already happening in your mind where you just kind of lean towards, not that this isn't a historical account, but this is like a fairy tale. And I want to remind us all, and this is stating the obvious, I know, but I just want to remind us all as I read through this and we see the poetry that's in scripture and we see how it points to this and points to that and tells us so much more than even the story, remember that this is an historical account written by Luke, that this really happened, that this is true. And this is just the beauty that we get when the author of the story is also the author of Life itself that God gets to use through the power of his spirit, inspiring these words written on paper and also has written history, that he's the great author that gets to tile this together.

And it's so beautiful seeing this poetry. So enough intro. Let's get into it. Verse 26 says, then they sailed to the country of the garrisones, which is opposite Galilee. We can read right past that, but this is really important.

Jesus has had interactions at this point with gentiles. But Luke makes sure to highlight by saying opposite of Galilee. That this is Jesus'first trip into predominantly gentile territory. He's gone opposite galilee. Right.

And if you're not convinced with that piece of evidence, now watch the descriptions that come after this. First thing he encounters as he steps onto this land is a man possessed by demons, right? Unclean. And where is this man living? In tombs among the dead.

Unclean. And what are we going to find also roaming around on the hillside near them? Pigs. Unclean, unclean, unclean. Jesus is stepping into the taboo right here.

Jesus is stepping into a place where the ritualistic, righteous dare not go. Jesus stepping into darkness. And we're going to see what he does. And immediately he finds this dehumanized man, right? This man that's possessed by demons and he's naked and he's wild and he's living among the tombs.

And later we're going to find out that the townspeople, the people in the city would even try to control him by chaining him up. And he would break the chains and just go wild and run around again some more.

As I was studying for this passage, I was just reading these description of this man. And we had eaten dinner at my house and everybody had finished and everybody kind of had gotten up and was doing their things for the night. And I just was still sitting at the table having this verse in my head, knowing this, I was going to preach a sermon coming up and just thinking about it and trying to wrap my head around this guy and his existence and what it was like. This wild guy, naked, possessed by demons, running around. And I kid you not, I hear, like yelling and then coming running down the hallway is my youngest boy breaker, totally naked, screaming and running circles around the dinner table that I'm studying at.

So it's like, oh, man, he's not like that guy. He's not demon possessed. He's a good dude. Yeah, I think he finds a herd of pigs somewhere. But my son, he's no example of this guy, right?

As you think about it, and if you sit like I did and contemplate it, think of this guy's existence. Just torment, pain, shame. It's absolutely unimaginable. And I wonder how much he's present and how much he's aware of because this dialog that Jesus has with him, right? You hear the demon answering, what is your name?

Legion. And I just had this thought that this guy probably, in whatever capacity he's aware of the situation, is probably begging when they would chain him up. He's probably begging for the chains to hold. He's probably begging that they would get him under control because of just this absolute torment hell on earth that he's going through. And it's hopeless.

And he's utterly hopeless because it's nothing that he has the power in himself to conquer, and it's actually nothing. There's more than just human intervention that he needs to conquer it. And so he's truly hopeless that he can't conquer this thing and just the power of other people around him can't conquer it.

And so as we read through this next section, let me help us out in that. As you read through it, you may notice that it kind of jumps around. Luke actually doesn't, as he writes this, he doesn't record it in chronological order. And that's not to change the story, but that's a storytelling trick skill of highlighting certain parts that he wants us to see, right? So he strategically moved things around to highlight certain things and to bring to the front some other things.

So he waits to give us the backstory of the demon possessed man. And he even waits to give us the dialog between Jesus and this demon possessed man. And he brings to the very front that when Jesus steps on land, that they have this statement of answering the question of who then is this that we remember is hanging there by the disciples? And Luke puts in the very front from this least expected guy in this least expected place, this question that the disciples who have seen miracle after miracle don't get from the mouth of demons. This guy says the first line that we see in Luke's account, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God.

Everybody's scratching their heads. Everybody's wondering, who is this guy? Who is this guy? And they go opposite Galilee. He steps on land of unclean, unclean, unclean.

And the least likely guy in that whole country who is possessed by demons comes up to him and answers that question and names who he is. Isn't that awesome? So crazy. Luke then goes on to describe Jesus's interaction with this man. And Jesus displays his authority over this man by asking his name, getting him to tell his name, which is legion, which then means there's more than one demon.

There's actually a lot of demons in this man. And so Jesus tells this army of demons that he tells them to leave this man. And they ask, like, they know that Jesus has the power to cast them to the abyss right then and there. And so they beg, Jesus, let us go into these pigs. And Jesus grants them permission to enter the pigs.

And because of their hatred of God, because of their hatred of God's creation, they go into these pigs. And the pigs run down the hillside. They run into the lake, and they sink, sink, sink down to the bottom of the lake. They drown and die.

Now, Luke records the herdsmen who are obviously taking care of these pigs are nearby. So they witness this whole thing that happens right in front of them. So they run and they tell everybody in the city, they tell everybody in the country, and everybody comes to see for themselves what's happened. And what they come upon is so beautiful. Remember the torment, if we can lean into, the torment that this guy saw, if we can lean into.

And remember living among the tombs, wild, just looking for relief. They come back and they see this man, and he was a man who had demons, and now he's a man whom demons have left. He was a man naked, and now he is a man clothed. He was a wild man shouting at Jesus, and now he's a man sitting at Jesus'feet. He was a man out of control, and now he's a man in his right mind.

It says he was a man living among the tombs, living among the dead, and soon is going to be told to go back and live in your home. He was a man completely dehumanized, and now he is a man completely restored the power of Christ, interacting with this man and the authority of Christ. What he could not do on his own and what no human in his town could do for him, Christ has done for this man. And it's a complete and final and total reversal of this man's situation. And if.

I think if we stopped right there, we would just assume, I'm almost positive that everyone in here would just assume that the townspeople would be thrilled. And even if they weren't thrilled for this man, I'm sure they could not stand this man. But even selfishly, you would think they'd be thrilled, like, we're finally rid of this guy who's a maniac, running through our town, wreaking havoc, no clothes on, like, he's a headache. This guy's a handful. And, you know, there's a case to be made that the townspeople were frustrated because of the amount of money that was lost in these pigs dying.

But Luke doesn't make any mention of that here. But what he does make very clear is they asked Jesus to leave because they were seized with great fear. And we've heard, even just going through Luke, we've heard other crowds and other people be full of fear, and we got to dive into that a little bit more. This isn't the kind of fear of reverence, the fear of awe and wonder, of the fear of encountering something that's greater than I, the fear of recognizing the authority. This is just a fear, absolute terror.

This guy is something other, and I don't get it. And please leave us. Please get out of here. Even though Jesus has just relieved them of this nightmare of this man, they asked Jesus to leave. We want nothing to do with you.

And this actually reminds me of the passage that Pastor David preached not too long ago about sowing our seed indiscriminately.

I think it's fair to say that if you and I were to have the mission of going to the country of the garrisones and we were to witness to the people, and we were to put down, make a list on a piece of paper in order of who's the most likely to receive the good news of Jesus and who's the least likely. I bet this guy is at the bottom of all of our lists.

And who rejects Jesus? The entire town, the entire city. And who accepts Jesus and knows who Jesus is? The least likely guy in the least likely place. A guy whose name we don't even know.

You have friends. We have no idea what's been stirring in the hearts of people, what seeds have been planted by other believers who have gone before us, how that seed has been watered by other brothers and sisters who have had conversations we don't know. And so it's not our place to hold seed in, to keep it thinking. I can just tell by looking at that guy that he's bad soil. It's not our place.

Sow that seed indiscriminately. Where you are in your workplace, where you are in your neighborhood, where you are with sports teams, where you are with what you do and where you go in life. Take that seed and cast it out. God is in the business of turning everything on its head. God is in the business of taking the least likely person and using that person to confound the wise, to confound the powerful, to confound the influencers.

So reach out and sow that seed indiscriminately.

Luke then goes on, and he changes the order again here on purpose to highlight some stuff for us. It says that Jesus gets in the boat as the townspeople asked Jesus to leave, and he gets in the boat and he leaves. And what Luke has done here is he's cleared the scene. So he goes on and says, hey, the townspeople want Jesus to leave. Jesus gets in the boat and he leaves.

And now it's like blackout. And now let's focus on one conversation, one last conversation. So the only two characters left in our scene is Jesus and this man. And as we look at this dialog between Jesus and this man, I think we can agree that his request is a good request. His request is an honorable and noble request.

Right. And it makes a lot of sense. Jesus, I want to go with you.

I want to follow you. And Jesus tells him, no.

You know, that had to be a hard no to receive from that guy, because you think about it. He has to go back and live in that town.

It actually sounds way more fun. This guy set me free. I'm going to get on this boat with this guy and the guys that he came with, and I'm just going to put my past in my past and just get out here and start new. And Jesus is saying, no, you're going to be my beachhead here.

And you guys, imagine the embarrassment of that. Like, I really can't.

I mean, seriously, you are wild and crazy running around naked in your town. Like, I live here in Newbury park. Holy cow. Like, yeah, the news that that was, man, that's got to be so crazy hard. But you know what?

It also, we can learn from it, as we can learn from everything in scripture. So often we're told to bring our request requests before the Lord, right?

But we never know. We never know what the Lord is really, really doing. The story that he's weaving together, and especially in the moment, in the moment of life when we're just trying to figure out that moment, this guy's whole world has just changed for the better, but still, it's his whole world has just changed. And figuring out what the Lord is doing in that moment is so beyond us. And I even think sometimes, even when we put time between us in those moments, it's still even hard to see what the Lord is doing.

Maybe we get glimpse of it, like, oh, I can now see, like, now, five years removed, I can see the good that the Lord was weaving together, right? But in the moment, it's so hard to see. But this takes us back to. It's what Pastor Noyes'point was last week, is that Jesus is trustworthy, and we just have to understand that God is writing history, and then he holds us in his hand and that we can trust him. And though the road in front of us may look terrifying and humiliating and scary and everything else that you can think of, the Lord has put us on that path so we can walk in it in confidence, not because we're the best thing ever, but because he is and we can trust him.

Jesus commissions this man, go back and live in this town. Go back and live in your home and go tell everyone what God has done for you. And here. If you didn't believe the statement of the demon possessed man answering that question here, Luke bookends that answer with Jesus himself saying, tell everyone what God has done for you. Giving us further proof.

Jesus declaring that, this isn't me, this is God moving. I am the son of God. God among us. If there's any question on who was calming the wind and the waves in that boat, it has been answered by the demon possessed man and by Jesus himself, God incarnate, Jesus on earth. So as Jesus moves towards this man and steps into his darkness and steps into his life, God has moved towards this man and stepped into his darkness and stepped into his life.

And so, as I've been preaching through this, I hope you guys are making these connections all on your own. As we've been going through this, like this man, you and I have no power in and of ourselves to conquer this thing that enslaves us. We are utterly hopeless in our sin. And even outside of us, there is no amount of human coaching, no amount of human wisdom, no amount of human discipline that can ever free us from the thing that enslaved us. It is only through the power of Christ that we who are once slaves and hopeless can be restored completely.

It's only through Jesus that we who were once dead and living among the dead are now raised to life. It's only through Jesus we who were once naked, exposed, have now been clothed in righteousness. It's only through Jesus that we who are once outcasts, living in the wilderness have been adopted by the king. It's only through Jesus that we who are once restless, out of our minds, running from idol to idol to idol, looking for relief. It's only in Jesus that we find rest and we can sit at his feet like this man.

Jesus has done this all for you, Christian. A complete restoration, a complete reversal. Not by your power, not by the wisdom of anyone else, but by God stepping into your life, stepping into our world and doing what we could never do for ourselves.

I wonder if this guy, probably not right away, but I wonder if, as years went on, if this guy had a sense of humor, if he just began to own like, this is me, this is what I'm doing. I know what Jesus did for me, and I'm just going to own it. The entire town knows his story. I'm sure he's getting weird looks all the time. I'm sure that as he's walking down the street, people are crossing the street before they get to him.

I'm sure people are still angry with him and that they're hurling insults at him.

I wonder if he ever say he's in the market because I'm sure people are bringing up his past, right? People are reminding him of the crazy man who is out of his mind, people putting in front of his face his humiliation, his life possessed by demons, living among the tombs, humiliating stuff. And I just wonder if he ever, in the marketplace, buying bread one day from some lady, just goes like. And pretends that he's, like, the demon's back. It would be a killer icebreaker to start witnessing to somebody.

I hope he had a sense of humor. I hope he enjoyed it.

But in all seriousness, I think of that, and I think how we can learn from that as well. Right? We constantly, by the accuser, have our sins and our past and our chains, our enslavement, our hopelessness in our face.

You may by tomorrow morning, already be struggling with remembering and doubting the restoration that you've received. And the hope that we have is the same hope that this guy had. And I hope he thought this, that as people would hurl this in front of him when he would get down on himself and fester on his own shortcomings and fester on his own failures, that he remember those little piggies running down the hillside, going into the lake, sinking to the bottom and drowning. And he would remember that the thing that enslaved him is buried at the bottom of that sea.

And Christian, Micah 719 tells us he will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Brothers and sisters, my friends, Christ has stepped into our dark world, and he's stepped into your dark life, and he's displayed his power in who he is as the son of God. And in doing so, he has set you free. He has set the captives free.

And one day, like this man, one day we will be with Jesus face to face. But until then, like this man, Jesus commissions us and he says, go into your town and declare everything that God has done for you. And so your commission today, Christian, my commission today is to take the good news that you have received as we come to the table here shortly. The good news that you have received, that you are welcome at the table. Not because your own works this last week, not because you lived a perfect life this last week, because I know you didn't.

I didn't. But because Christ did. And he lived that perfect life for me and for you, and he died for me and for you, that he would give us his life, and he would give us not only take away our sins and our awful deeds, but he would give us his good deeds. Your sins aren't just wiped away. And now you're a blank slate.

And hopefully you fill that blank slate with good things. That's not how it works. Jesus has destroyed your sins and buried them in the ocean and taken his good works and filled your ledger with what he's done. God sees you, and he sees perfect. And he sees all the works of Christ in you.

Christian, take that good news and go to your workplaces, your sports teams, your schools and your neighborhoods and declare everything that God has done for you. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven seal this word upon our hearts. Lord, empower us to let it actually affect our lives.

Through the power of your spirit, we pray for your glory in Jesus name. Amen.