Jesus Casts Out Demons

INTRO

The phrase Son of Man can be a tough one to grasp, so we’ve tried in the Luke study to focus on Jesus as the Son of Man. But sometimes Luke moves to show Jesus’ omnipotent power. This lesson today looks at how Jesus submitted His will to the Father, while He demonstrated His power over demons. Luke 8 begins by looking at the women who supported Jesus’ ministry (vv. 1-3), then moves to The Parable of the Sower (vv. 4-8), a statement of why He taught with parables (vv. 9-10), and an explanation of the Parable of the Sower (vv. 11-15). Luke then discussed what it means to be the light (vv. 16-18), he looked at Jesus’ relationship with His family (vv. 19-21), and then shared another account of the storm at sea (vv. 22-25).

TEACHING

Luke 8:26-39: Jesus and His disciples sailed across the southeastern shore of Galilee to Gerasenes. As Jesus got out of the boat onto land, a demon-possessed man from town met Him (vv. 26-27a). Notice that the demon-possessed man came to Jesus; Jesus did not have to find the man. In ministry, you may encounter demons, but you don’t need to hunt them out.

The man who approached Jesus had lived in the tombs outside the town for years, and he wore no clothes (v. 27b). According to Matthew 8:28, there were two demon-possessed men who approached Jesus. Nelson’s Commentary says, “The man is a pawn in a cosmic battle that pits the authority of the two sides against each other.”¹The man fell down before Jesus and asked in a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me, Jesus, You Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torment me!” (v. 28). The demon’s confession sounds like the language of Luke 1:31-32 (The Son of the Most High God). But it wasn’t said in worship.

Wiersbe outlines the characters of demons. First, they have faith; they totally understand who Jesus is (James 2:19). Second, they believe in a future judgment (Matthew 8:29) and that they will be subjected to torment in the future; and they also believe in a future place of torment (Luke 8:31).²Demons are fallen angels. When Satan left Heaven, he took one-third of the angels with Him. These are the fallen angels, and because they know they will be placed in the great abyss, they will create hell on earth until that time. These minions of Satan want the same thing he does . . . to steal, kill, and destroy every person on earth. I think one of the biggest downfalls of the church today is that we don’t talk about the fact that we’re in a battle. We don’t talk about the fact that we’re up against an enemy who uses the demonic to come against us. That’s why Paul said to put on the armor of God to defeat him (Ephesians 6).

The demons had seized the man, over and over, even though he was under guard and restrained (v. 29). Then Jesus asked the man his name, to which he responded “Legion,” because there were so many demons in him. A legion was a Roman military designation of 6,000 soldiers, which “suggests this is a spiritual battle.”³When you find yourself interacting with a demon, do not be afraid to speak to it (in the name of Jesus) and even ask its name, because of the power and authority we have within us. The demons begged Jesus not to banish them into the abyss (v. 31).

How did Jesus recognize the man was demon-possessed? Here are the symptoms from Dr. Luke: (1) disregard for personal dignity (naked); (2) social isolation (pulls back from other people); (3) unclean shelter; (4) recognition of Jesus’ identity (when you mention the name of Christ before a demon, you’ll see some manifestation of fear); (5) demonic control of speech; (6) might see shouting or random outbursts; and (7) has great strength. This does not include all the symptoms, but it gives us the lens to see what Jesus saw in this encounter that allowed Him to identify the demonic. Unfortunately, most Christians don’t even look for the demonic because, frankly, we’re afraid to go there. Yet there is nothing to fear. They came and met Jesus; they begged for permission not to be put into the abyss and were ready to negotiate for extra time not in the abyss. In verse 32, a large heard of pigs were feeding (Mark said there were about 2,000 pigs). Jesus gave them permission to go into an unclean environment - the pigs. The pigs rushed down the hill and were drowned in the sea. The Jews understood the abyss as a watery deep below the earth, and the pigs had no value. It’s interesting that the demons chose a different water prison. The demons were drowned but would still face the future judgment.⁴

When the herdsmen saw what happened, they ran to tell people in the town and in the countryside (v. 34). The people came down to see what happened and found Jesus and the man, whom the demons had left, dressed and sitting at Jesus’ feet. They were amazed and afraid of what they saw (v. 35). Jesus set the man free from all the demons, not just some of them. Jesus said in Luke 4 that He wanted to set the captives free. When someone has been set free from demons, he is a new creation and the old things are gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). Out of fear, all the people in the region asked Jesus to leave, thinking there was no way that could have come from God (v. 37). Jesus, without reaction, got in the boat to leave when the freed man said he wanted to go too. But Jesus told the man to return to his home and tell all that God has done for him (v.38). Marshall described this as “a paradigm of what conversion involves: the responsibility to evangelize.”5

Jesus didn’t take the man with Him because He was focusing on pouring into to the 12 disciples. Instead, Jesus sent the man to go tell the people in his own community, because that was the way the gospel would spread (v. 39).

CLOSING

Charles Spurgeon said that when the man was sitting at Jesus’ feet, it was clearly an identification of faith in Christ and a form of submission, he was ready to serve Christ. True conversion means that people are truly set free from everything that enchains them.

To close out, let’s look at seven things we can use with demoniacs. When you encounter a demonic:

1. Don’t do it alone (do it in pairs).
2. Be ready (we are always in a battle).
3. Speak with authority with the power of the resurrected Christ within you.
4. Be patient in the process. It might not happen right away.
5. Don’t make it complicated. Nothing Jesus did was complicated.
6. Ask for the name of the demon.
7. Love that person in the process.

5 I. Howard Marshall, New International Greek Testament Commentary series: The Gospel of Luke(Exeter, England: Paternoster Press, 1978), p. 341; quoted in Constable,p. 202.