4-2-23 - The Power Of Christ Over The Enemy

In your Bibles, if you would join me in Matthew Chapter 8 today, Matthew 8, as we stand in honor of God's Word, we're going to read verse 28 down to verse number 34, Matthew Chapter number 8 today. The Bible tells us, And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him too, possessed with devils coming out of the tomb, exceeding fear so that no man might pass by that way. And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God?

Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? There was a good way off from them and heard of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine. And behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they besought him that he would stay with them forever. Well, that would have been a nice conclusion, wouldn't it?

But they did what America is doing. They besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. God, we are so thankful. For the joy of coming and worshipping the name, which is above every name, for truly at your name, every knee will bow and tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. And with joy, we come into this place and sing praises to you. Behold our God.

You are seated on the throne. And we pray that your presence would be mighty here today. May we look upon heaven with joy and let it fill us with peace.

Let the world that is lost be our mission field and not viewed as our enemy. May we go to this world and proclaim the glory of Christ in the gospel of salvation. Bless now as we study your word.

I pray if anyone doesn't know Christ that today they would be saved and that you would sanctify your people. We ask it in Christ's name. And God's people said, man, you may be seated today.

The Bible tells us in the Book of Psalms, 62, verse 11. Once I have heard this twice, it's been written, he says, that power belongeth unto God. God has spoken once, twice.

Have I heard this? The power belongeth unto God. Revelation 19, six is Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The Bible teaches that God is the Almighty.

We serve the Almighty God. And Matthew has come to us in Matthew chapter number eight to reveal Christ as God who is all powerful. In Matthew eight, verse one through 17, he shows that Christ has power over disease as Christ heals the leopard. He cast that leprosy away out of this man's body and the man is whole. And then a Centurion's servant is very ill and Jesus with his word speaks and his servant is healed. And then in verse 14 through 17, he comes to Peter's house and his mother-in-law is sick and he even heals her mother-in-law and she comes down and serves.

And then we saw last Sunday how that Christ has power not only over disease but over nature. They're crossing the six mile trek from Capernaum across the sea and they run into a severe storm that is life threatening. And even for these guys who were sailors, they were scared to death and in great fear came to Jesus who was sleeping while water is coming into the boat. And Jesus arose in verse 26 and says, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? And he arose, rebuked the wind in the sea and there was a great calm. And verse 27 says, But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds in the sea obey him?

I mean, who does that? He rebukes the sea and it stops and the winds lay down. The Bible tells us in Mark 4 41 that they feared exceedingly. In other words, they were more afraid of Jesus than the storm because they realized there was more power in the boat than what was outside of the boat.

And then not only does Matthew show Christ's power over disease, over nature, but then he shows Christ has power over the supernatural. We live in a world that is not simply physical, but there is also a spiritual reality to the world that we live in. There is a world that you cannot see with your physical eyes.

There are other dimensions that are just as real as what we see and feel in this physical realm. There are real angels, there are real demons. The Bible is clear that there are two kingdoms that were with one another, the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the kingdom of Satan. The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, the great Savior and the great sinner. When Jesus came to earth, his ministry came head to head with the kingdom of darkness. Satan sought to kill Jesus even while an infant. He sent King Herod to kill all the children two years and under. Today, Satan's murderous desires are also working itself out through the slaughter of the unborn.

Abortion is an evil act of the enemy. Satan also sought to exterminate the Jewish people through men like Haman in the Old Testament. Satan came in Matthew 4 and personally attacked the Lord Jesus Christ for 40 days. Satan is not a fictional character, he is not a guy in a red suit with a pitchfork, he is real.

The Bible affirms his reality. Seven books in the Old Testament affirms Satan is real. The New Testament, every New Testament writer affirms the reality of Satan. In 29 of 25 passages that speak of Satan in the Gospels, 25 of those passages Jesus is speaking. He said in Luke 10 18, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Jesus came, according to 1 John 3 8, to destroy the works of the devil. Not only is Satan real, but demons are also real. Demons, according to the Bible, are fallen angels.

When Satan fell in his rebellion, according to Revelation chapter 12 verse 4, a third of the angels were deceived by Satan and followed him in that rebellion. Those angels are current demons today. It's interesting that when you read through the Old Testament, you're not going to find demon-possessed people. You have lying spirit, you have the appearance of a median in connection with a demon, but you don't have people manifesting demon possession. King Saul was tormented by an evil spirit, but there wasn't full-fledged demon possession like we see in the New Testament. Also, interestingly, after you get through the four Gospels, you have only two occasions of demon possession, Acts 16 and Acts 19. There's no epistle that writes about demon possession. Nowhere in Revelation in the seven churches does it talk about those who are demon-possessed. Demon possession was not a big issue in the early churches.

It's not even alluded to. Yet churches today seem that they want to constantly spiritualize or demonize everything. And maybe you've been around people who talk about the demon of depression, or the demon of financial struggle, or the demon of sickness. Those aren't all demons.

Sometimes that's just sin, that's just life, that's just hardships. There are people today that are even making movies like Come Out in Jesus' Name that I would warn you from watching and believing. Greg Locke is an unqualified man from even being a pastor, and he promotes very unbiblical teachings.

Do not be deceived. Though the early church didn't see demon possession as it seemed to fade off the scene in the life of Christ, there was an explosion of demon possession that you find in the gospels. They were manifesting themselves in an incredible way, only to be surpassed during the tribulation period. During the seven-year tribulation, there will be an explosion of demon possession on this planet. According to Revelation 9, during the tribulation, the Bible says the pit of hell will literally be opened. And the Bible teaches that there are some demons that are so wicked that God bound them in what the Greek word is, Tataras, in a prison in hell. That they are being held in the abyss, and that Revelation 9 tells us that they will be unleashed upon the earth. Some demons are unbound, and they're on this earth, invisible to us in the physical, but then the bound demons will be unleashed upon the earth. It will be so horrifying on the earth in those days that Revelation 9 says, And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. You know men want their sin, don't they? Do we live in a world that wants its sin?

Do you believe that? Are you all awake this morning? Okay, I know you were a little louder at your March Madness games than that. I haven't even watched a game. I don't even know who's in what.

Is it still going on? Okay, so see, I'm not against all that. I'm an old fogey, I guess. Now come around football season, I'll tell you what's going on. But I can tell you there are people who love their sin, and they're pushing sin and wickedness, and they don't understand what they are rallying up. Hell will be unleashed upon this earth. Today as Christians we face real evil and spiritual opposition. Ephesians 6-11 says, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Paul goes on to talk about that we're not battling flesh and blood, but there is a spiritual hierarchy of evil that we are against. Matthew 6-13, Jesus even said to pray that you are not led into temptation, but to be delivered from evil. That word evil can also be translated as the evil one. And so demons are still active in our world.

They work oftentimes behind the scenes. Paul warned in the last days they will be at work, and 1 Timothy 4-1 says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. 2 Corinthians 11, Paul also warned that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, as does his messengers. Do you understand that there are people today that preach about Jesus that could even be demon-filled, demonic pastors who could be messengers of Satan literally, according to Christ in the New Testament? The Bible says deception will be so strong in the last days that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived.

Satan comes like an angel of light, the Bible says. Today you have people speaking in the name of Jesus, things that Jesus never taught, never did, and never performed. Nobody was ever slain in the spirit in the Bible. Nobody was ever jerking out of control. Nobody ever screamed out and yelled, making animal sounds or uncontrollable laughter, filling electricity. Nobody ever spoke in tongues in the Bible in undiscernable gibberish.

That never happened. But today that happens in Kundalini Hinduism. Everything I just said, they do in Kundalini Hinduism. They get slain in the spirit. They speak in gibberish tongues.

They shake uncontrollably. It's exactly what you see in the major charismatic movements around the world. I can tell you God is not doing that.

That is deception. I remember in Chillicothe, we started a church about 18 years ago, my brother's the pastor there, and there was a woman who would, in the middle of the service, middle of singing, she began to shriel like screaming in just an uncontrollably loud, horrible sound. And she said she gets so overpowered by the Spirit of God that she can't control herself. Well, that is false, because the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 14 that the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. There is no such thing as where God gets a hold of you and you act out of control.

But I can tell you when a demon gets a hold of you, you will act out of control. She would scream out and her children would be so afraid they would get on the floor. Her husband would never come to church because he was so embarrassed by this. He was not even a Christian.

Today that woman is running the bars. She has nothing to do with God. But yet there are people who thought that was the move of God. That's a delusion. You know the evidence of the Holy Spirit getting a hold of your life is not you acting out of control. It's you acting in control. The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is temperance, according to Galatians 5 23, which means self-control. Show me a church.

Show me a group of people acting out of control. I can show you that God's not moving there. That's not a work of God.

That's a work of the enemy. Be not deceived. Jesus never did that. You'll never see that in the Bible. And I grew up with that for 15 years.

Massive. Millions of people are deceived by such things. But here in this story in Matthew 8, we will see Christ come face to face with a legion of demons. And I want to see what happens when heaven and hell collide. This morning we're going to look at the power of Christ over the enemy. There are three clear transitions that happen in this story. And the first is the transition from a fierce storm to fierce men in verse 28. It says, And when he was come to the other side of the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce so that no man might pass by. The Lord just came out of a fierce storm that was life-threatening, and now he comes to a shore where there are two demon-possessed men.

The chaos and the raging that they experienced in the storm is now raging in the heart of these two men. Verse 28 says that he came to the country of the Gergesenes. Jesus comes to a town, Gergesa, which is in the region of Gederia, which was part of the Decapolis or the ten cities. Sometimes it reads Gergesenes, the area of the Gergesenes, like Matthew. But in Mark and Luke's account, it talks about the area of Gedera.

Gedera was like the region, Gergesa was the town, just so you kind of understand that language. And it says in verse 28, there met him two possessed with devils or demons. And Mark and Luke, they only talk about one guy, but Matthew shows that there was actually two.

Mark and Luke obviously were just focusing on the one that was kind of the leader and maybe the most severe case of the two. These men are apparently possessed by a large number of demons. Mark 5 verse 13 talk about how there were 2,000 pigs that went into the sea, so there was some 2,000 demons at least possessing these guys. Here in Matthew 8, these demons demonstrate total control over the man. They controlled his voice. In verse 31, it says the devils besought Jesus, saying, If thou castest out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine.

They're speaking, but they're using the man's voice. According to Mark's account, Jesus even asked them in Mark 5, 9, And he or Jesus asked them, saying, What is thy name? And he answered, and the demons respond with the man's voice, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. They controlled also his actions. According to Luke's account, because Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out, for oftentimes it says he caught him and was kept bound with chains and fetters, and he braked the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. These demons were driving these people around. The word driven there, luwano, in the Greek, it's like being driven like a s***.