November 27, 2011
Scripture
Let’s read some verses at the end of Ephesians 1; this is the first of the apostle’s prayers in Ephesians. I just want to connect this with the thoughts we have had this morning. “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” (vv. 16 - 18). Now, these next words give us an indication of the greatest demonstration of God’s power in the Bible: “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power [margin: ‘the might of his power’], Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (vv. 19 & 20). This is the greatest show of power, even greater than creation. Then, we have a parenthesis: “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, ”—and this is what struck me—“and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (vv. 21 - 23). We read about a body prepared for Him; we are part of this body. What a body! We recalled it in this loaf this morning. What mighty power; how worthy He is!
Hymn 346 - Jesus who lives above the sky
Prayer
Let’s imagine for a moment that I accidentally step on a ant hill; I’ve crushed their home, and they’re all hurrying to repair what they can. Is there any way for me to apologize to them? The only way I could do that is if I became an ant. Now, think about this in relation to God. How is God able to talk to people on earth, who are infinitely smaller than He? God was able to do it by sending His Son Jesus down to earth, to become a man. Today, we are going read about that in Luke 2.
Luke 2:4-8
God had ordained Joseph and Mary to be Jesus’ earthly parents. At this time, Joseph and Mary were espoused to be married and were living Nazareth. Just before Jesus was to be born, Caesar Augustus made a decree “that all the world should be taxed.” This meant that Joseph and Mary would need to go to Bethlehem.
Upon arriving in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary went to the inn to find a place to stay. An inn is like a hotel. Unfortunately, all the rooms were taken: the only place available was a stable. This is where the travelers would keep their animals when they were staying at the inn. So, in this stable, Mary had her baby. Jesus was born and He was laid in a manger instead of a crib. A manger is a feeding trough that the animals would eat out of. If you had the choice would you want to stay in the stable or the inn? You would probably want to stay in the inn, wouldn’t you?
Well, that is the story of how God sent Jesus, so that He could relate to men. But Jesus is still looking for places to stay: He wants to live our hearts. Is your heart open to the Lord?
Luke 8:26-36
So Jesus and the disciples made it across to the land of the Gadarenes. When the Children of Israel took possession of the Promised Land, two and a half tribes - Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh - decided to live on the east side of the Jordan river because of the good cattle-farming land. It is possible that these Gadarenes were descendants of Gad. But look at what they had become - pig farmers! No Israelite was to eat pigs, the Law forbade it. It shows us that if you don’t go all the way with the Lord, you’ll probably backslide.
Last week we said that the wind was like Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air. He was the one that caused the storm on the lake. Jesus and the disciples made it across after Jesus calmed the wind, but it was only to find a man that that was controlled by Satan! Some - not all - of those who refuse to commit their lives to Jesus find themselves possessed and controlled by Satan.
This man is a picture of an unsaved person because he lived in a place of death - the tombs. Unsaved people today live in a place of death - the world. For Christians, this world is not our home, we’re just passing through.
Another thing is that this man was naked. The sinner lacks the garments of salvation, but the believer can become like the church of Laodicea: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revalation 3:17).
Also, this man would break the chains that the local people tried to bind him with. God has given us the “chains” of the ten commandments. All that unbelievers can do with the ten commandments is break them.
Finally, this man cut himself with stones. We would think that somebody would have to be out of their mind to do such a thing! Many people, though, do things that damage their lives. They drink, take drugs, or have a lifestyle that shortens their lives.
Despite all the bad that these evil spirits were doing through this man, they recognized who Jesus was. The disciples didn’t seem to be able to do that. The demons pleaded with Jesus that He wouldn’t torment them. There is no salvation for these demons, and therefore they have no hope. Contact with Jesus was torment to them. Thankfully God has provided salvation for men.
Jesus asked this man, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because there were many devils in him. We don’t know exactly how many devils, but we do know that two thousand pigs were filled with them, so there were at least that many. These spirits want to live in and control a body. They asked the Lord that He would not send them into the deep, but into a herd of swine. Jesus suffered them to do so. The devils controlled the man, but Jesus controlled the devils. 1 John 4:4 tells us that the One in us is greater than the one that is in the world. Just as Legion was controlled by the power of these evils spirits; so must we, as Christians, be controlled by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
“The deep” in Darby’s translation is “the bottomless pit.” Revelation 20:13. Everlasting fire is prepared for the devil and his angels, as Matthew 25:41 tells us. They don’t anticipate their end, but we can anticipate ours.
As we said, the Lord granted these devils their request and let them go into the pigs. The pigs ran down a steep place and were drowned in the lake. Those that fed the pigs ran and told the people what had happened. The people, in turn, came out to see; and they “found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (v 35). He was in the right mind, and in the right place. Paul admonishes us, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:5. The people found it frightening that this man was in his right mind. Some people think that we’re not in our right minds because we sit at the feet of Jesus. Festus told Paul, “Much learning doth make thee mad.” Acts 26:24. When Paul was Saul, and was mad in his efforts against the church, people understood him; but now that he was turning the Gentiles from darkness to light, they said he was mad.
The people of the country were so frightened that they asked Jesus to leave. They would rather have a crazy man and their pigs, than Jesus and somebody in their right mind. Jesus did what they asked, and He did what the devils asked, but He didn’t take Legion with him when he begged to come along. Instead, Jesus told him, “Go home and tell what great things God has done for you.” It’s the same with us. When the Lord saves us, He doesn’t take us home; instead, He sends us out to tell others what great things God has done for us in saving us from our sins.
Hymn 130 - To God be the glory
Prayer