Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Sovereign and the Swine: The King’s Authority Over the Abyss and the Human Heart (Matthew 8:28–34)

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The Sovereign and the Swine: The King’s Authority Over the Abyss and the Human Heart (Matthew 8:28–34) · Reformed Thinking

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  Reformed thinking. Welcome back.
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  Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening up a, well,
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  a pretty startling and confrontational narrative from
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  the Gospel of Matthew. We are specifically, we're in
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  chapter 8, verses 28 through 34, and this passage, it takes us
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  directly into the heart of spiritual warfare.
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  It does, and it really forces us to confront what we as people
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  value most in life. That is absolutely right.
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  And we have to remember the immediate context of this event.
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  OK, just moments before this, Christ was in a boat on the Sea
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  of Galilee, right? The storm.
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  The storm. Exactly.
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  He was confronting A chaotic, physical storm.
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  He commanded the wind and the waves, and they just submitted.
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  Yeah. And now he steps onto the
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  Eastern Shore and, well, the wind and waves are replaced by a
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  spiritual Tempest. The.
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  Forces of evil. Forces of Evil Matthew showing
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  us that Christ's dominion is complete.
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  It's a complete rule over both nature and the invisible realm.
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  OK, so let's unpack this and sort of set our coordinates for
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  this deep dive. We've got a set of sources,
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  articles, some research that drill down into the historical
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  setting, the theology of the demonic.
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  And the ethical tragedy that concludes the story.
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  Exactly. Our mission today is, I think,
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  pretty straightforward. We want to comprehend how this
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  encounter reveals Christ's unshakable authority over the
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  forces of hell, the grim reality of spiritual bondage, and this
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  searching light this puts on the human heart.
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  It just compels us to choose what we cherish.
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  And the central idea driving our discussion has to be this Jesus
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  Christ is here, exercising supreme magisterial authority
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  over the powers of darkness. He arrives, he judges, and he
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  liberates. Yet in the Funnel Act, he's
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  asked to depart. By the very people who saw the
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  miracle. By men who prioritized their
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  temporary business, their local financial security, over the
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  eternal liberation and holiness he offers.
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  It's a drama of deliverance followed by rejection.
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  It's incredible. We see both the height of
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  Christ's mercy and, well, the depth of human practicality.
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  So let's start at the beginning. Section 1.
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  The king invades the hostile realm.
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  Verse 28 Yeah, we begin with a simple geographical marker here
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  that signals enormous theological movement when he
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  came to the other side. It sounds so simple.
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  It does, but the sources point out that this crossing is not
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  just routine travel. No, it's not.
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  Christ is moving from Jewish territory to Gentile territory.
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  He's taking the initiative. So it's an act of the king
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  crossing boundaries. It is.
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  He doesn't wait for an embassy to come and beg for relief.
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  He lands, and the darkness comes running out to meet him.
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  This is a crucial starting point then.
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  It is if you picture the Sea of Galilee, right?
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  Yeah, the Western side is where his Jewish ministry primarily
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  operated. Right, that's familiar ground
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  for him. Familiar ground, but the eastern
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  side, the Decapolis area, is fundamentally Gentile.
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  By crossing, Christ is immediately signaling that his
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  authority and His Kingdom are not bounded by cultural or
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  religious lines. He's stepping on to what many
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  consider to be enemy ground. Enemy ground ritually and
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  culturally hostile. And the setting confirms this
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  hostility, doesn't it? The country of the Gadarenes.
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  It does. This is a region associated with
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  Gentile presence and a way of life totally unshaped by
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  Israel's purity laws. And we get that confirmation a
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  couple verses later. We do in verse 30.
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  Matthew mentions the herd of swine nearby.
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  The pigs. Yes, the presence of swine is
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  like this flashing signpost that screams uncleanness to any
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  observant Jew. Because they were forbidden by
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  Mosaic law. Forbidden.
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  Their presence reinforces the foreign nature of this
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  territory, and this is vital because it introduces a concept
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  of holiness that should change how we think about our own
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  lives. How so?
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  What do you mean by that? Well, the world often views
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  holiness as something fragile. Like it needs protection.
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  Needs protection through distance, right?
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  If you touch something unclean, you become unclean.
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  If you enter a hostile realm, you're contaminated.
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  You're compromised. But Matthew shows us that
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  Christ's holiness is not passive or defensive.
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  It is aggressive, it's triumphant and it's cleansing.
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  So he doesn't absorb the uncleanness.
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  Not at all. Christ doesn't absorb the
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  uncleanness of the Gadarene region.
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  Instead, the uncleanness is challenged, it's put on notice,
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  and it's eventually expelled by his mere arrival.
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  So he walks straight into the filthiest places.
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  Straight into the most compromised places to assert His
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  rule. You know, the Church often
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  retreats from the world out of a fear of contamination, but
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  Christ moves toward the contamination to conquer it.
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  That reframes the entire purpose of him crossing the sea.
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  He's not avoiding sin, he's confronting the stronghold.
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  Precisely. And the stronghold is defined
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  even more specifically by the environment.
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  The Men inhabited the tombs. The tombs.
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  The text says the Men were coming out of the tombs.
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  This isn't just a random spooky detail.
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  No, it symbolizes something much deeper.
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  It symbolizes defilement, the curse of sin, and the shadow of
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  death. So for the listener who may not
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  grasp the historical weight of that detail, can you unpack
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  that? Why is living among the tunes so
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  significant? Sure, in.
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  The Old Testament, particularly in the Book of Numbers chapter
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  19, contact with a corpse rendered a person ceremonially
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  unclean for a set period. It required purification
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  rituals. So to dwell among the tombs.
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  To live there, it meant these men were fundamentally cut off.
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  They were embodiments of disorder, perpetual defilement
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  and a kind of social death. They lived where life was not
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  meant to exist. Exactly.
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  They were literally dwelling in the physical markers of the
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  final consequence of sin. And the narrative really
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  emphasizes they're terrifying social consequences.
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  It says they were so fierce that no one could pass that way.
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  And this is more than just it's a description of two dangerous
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  men. It illustrates the public
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  societal breakdown caused by this kind of severe spiritual
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  bondage. So they weren't just personal
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  tragedies. No, they were community
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  disasters, evil in this form. It blocks roads, it fractures
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  communities. It turns public thoroughfares,
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  the veins of trade and fellowship, into zones of
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  terror. So the town had clearly adopted
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  a strategy of avoidance. Had to.
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  They learned to reroute their entire lives, their commerce,
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  their social patterns around this evil that they couldn't
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  control. Yes, they settled for management
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  rather than restoration. And that's the human response,
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  isn't it? To problems that are too big to
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  solve avoidance. It is they accepted a new
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  dangerous status quo. They knew where the threat was
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  and their default setting was just to bypass it.
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  Allowing the demons to hold unchallenged domain over that
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  strip of Rd. They sought functional living
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  within a compromised environment.
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  But Jesus, the King, he chooses confrontation.
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  He steps right onto the shore. And the men rush out.
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  Yes, this leads us to the concept of sovereign grace, but
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  in narrative form it does, because the men weren't
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  appealing for help. They were aggressive, fierce,
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  completely incapable of a rational petition.
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  They were captive. They were lost, without any
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  capacity to seek for themselves. The very first move toward their
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  liberation is Christ's arrival. Just his presence.
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  His presence, The language suggests a sudden, unavoidable
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  collision. Christ arrives, and the
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  oppressed rush out as though they were compelled by an
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  invisible force far greater than the demons possessing.
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  Them So this narrative structure is really undergirding A vital
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  theological truth. It is Christ seeks the lost.
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  You do not find him by your own strength.
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  He finds you by his authority. Right.
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  The King has crossed the sea, He stepped on to death's territory,
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  and the realm of darkness is now required to respond.
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  So the confrontation is initiated entirely by Christ's
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  will. Entirely.
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  Not the men's desire for freedom.
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  They had no such desire they could express.
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  It was all Christ. OK, so that brings us to verse
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  29. The confrontation arrives and
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  what's so fascinating is the immediate non human response.
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  Yes, the demons cry out. What have you to do with us, O
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  Son of God? This phrase is a powerful
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  Semitic idiom. It's one of hostility and
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  distance. It's not an innocent question.
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  Oh, not at all. It's an assertion of territorial
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  rights. Basically they're saying why are
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  you interfering? We had an agreement here.
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  This is our business. Darkness is inherently
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  rebellious. It wants autonomy.
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  It does. They resent Jesus's intrusion
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  into what they had claimed as their private domain.
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  But the. Truly staggering part, I think,
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  is the title they use. O Son of God.
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  I mean the forces of hell, those who actively oppose him.
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  They possess A shockingly accurate knowledge of Christ's
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  identity. Perhaps truer than the disciples
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  had moments earlier when they were panicking on the boat.
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  Right. What sort of man is this?
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  They asked. And the demons know.
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  That's the grand irony Matthew presents to us.
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  The demons have perfect orthodoxy.
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  They recognize the unique filial relationship and the inherent
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  divine authority of the one standing before them.
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  They know who he. Is they know who he is and this
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  brings James 2.19 immediately to mind.
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  Even the demons believe and shudder.
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  And shudder. That's a critical distinction,
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  isn't it? It shows the difference between
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  mere intellectual ascent and true saving faith.
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  Absolutely. The demons have knowledge, but
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  they possess it without love, without allegiance, and without
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  repentance. So they have the facts right.
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  They have the facts, but not the faith, and Matthew uses this
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  moment as a warning to his listeners.
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  Correct theological vocabulary, knowing the right titles, even
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  proclaiming the truth about Christ.
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  That does not equal true conversion.
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  So saving faith involves receiving him.
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  Receiving him and bowing to his reign, which the demons refused
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  to do even as they acknowledge it.
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  Their question then moves immediately to a fear of
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  consequences. They say, Have you come here to
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  torment us? Right, they don't plead for
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  mercy. Now they plead against judgment.
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  They interpret Jesus's presence not as a negotiation, but as a
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  judicial proceeding. A judicial proceeding, OK.
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  The Greek word translated torment is basenizu.
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  It carries a sense of painful punishment or judicial
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  suffering, often referencing the trial and torture used to
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  extract truth or inflict a legal sentence.
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  So their terror itself testifies to Jesus's identity.
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  It does. When the Son of God draws near,
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  the criminal Kingdom of darkness panics because it noses.
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  Doom is settled. They fear Him as the executioner
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  of divine judgment, not as some competing regional prophet.
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  Here is a question that I think many listeners would have.
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  OK, if the demons knew who Jesus was, and they knew he held the
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  power of judgement, why did they bother asking to be sent into
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  the pigs? I mean, why didn't they just
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  scatter or hide? That's an excellent, challenging
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  question, and it speaks directly to the Reformed doctrine of
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  Providence, which we can touch on later.
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  But the simple answer lies in their limitation.
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  They are not independent agents. They are, as we often say,
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  creatures on a leash. They can't just do whatever they
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  want. No, they know.
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  They cannot simply disappear or choose their next location.
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  They must be sent either into the Abyss, the final appointed
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  place of torment, or into a temporary holding space.
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  So they're asking proves they understood this.
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  They're asking to enter the pigs proves they understood two
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  things. First, that Jesus had the
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  absolute authority to evict them, and 2nd, that they needed
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  his permission, his sending to relocate anywhere at all.
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  Their apparent freedom just collapses into supplication.
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  That sets up the most interesting theological insight
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  of this verse, I think, which is the phrase before the time.
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  This reveals they know history is a directed story.
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  This is a powerful and frankly terrifying eschatological
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  admission from the mouths of the enemy.
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  They confess that there is a fixed, ordained season for their
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  final judgment, determined entirely by divine decree.
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  So judgment isn't just an abstract concept for them.
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  Not at all. It's not a vague threat.
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  It is a future certainty with a specific date on God's calendar.
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  They're not asking will judgment happen?
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  They're asking is the fixed final time now.
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  So their fear is entirely theological.
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  They know their doom is certain. Absolutely.
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  They know their fate is the eternal fire prepared for the
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  devil and his angels that Jesus talks about later in Matthew 25.
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  And Christ's ministry, His intervention in this specific
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  space is essentially a preview. He has arrived, in their minds
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  ahead of schedule. He's giving a down payment on
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  the final verdict. The down payment on the final
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  verdict, right in the middle of human history.
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  That confirms the limitation of evil, which is so reassuring for
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  us. Their activity isn't random or
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  autonomous. Not at all.
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  The very concept of before the time assures us that demonic
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  activity is bounded and governed by the Providence of God.
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  They cannot determine the end. They can only rage within the
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  limits God sets. They are rebels awaiting
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  sentencing, confirming Christ's sovereignty over their chaos.
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  So the universe is not a dualistic battleground.
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  Not at all. It's not God and Satan wrestling
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  as equals. The demons own words confess
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  their creaturely status. And Matthew, by including this
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  confession, he's putting the listener, you, in a difficult
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  position. A very difficult position.
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  Because if the demons confess Jesus as the Son of God and
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  tremble, what does that require of us?
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  And we see the coming tragedy. The townspeople will see the
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  miracle and still plead for Jesus to leave.
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  The demons fear his judgment. The town fears his disruption.
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  Both groups recognize Christ as a dangerous, unstoppable force
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  that threatens their status quo. That's an incredible parallel.
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  It is. So let's move into verse 30.
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  This is Section 3, the transaction of sovereignty.
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  Matthew gives us the detail about the swine.
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  He does. A herd of many pigs was feeding
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  at some distance from them. And this sets the stage for a
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  public, unavoidable consequence to the exorcism.
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  It does, and it further establishes that unclean Gentile
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  context we talked about. This detail isn't incidental, is
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  it? No, it ensures 2 things.
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  First, the miracle is financially and physically
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  verifiable, and 2nd, the subsequent reaction of the
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  Community is framed by an immediate economic loss.
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  And the sheer size of the herd. The size of the herd often
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  estimated in the thousands. Given the scale of Gentile pig
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  farming in that region, it makes the cost inescapable.
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  Then verse 31 reports the demons request and the word used is
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  begged begged again. The language is that of
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  inferiors before superior. It just shatters any notion that
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  Satan is God's equal. Their supplication is the
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  clearest evidence of Christ's superior authority.
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  They are not commanding, they are urgently entreating.
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  They say if you cast us out, send us away into the herd of
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  pigs. So they assume the eviction is
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  settled, right? The question is only where they
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  will be relocated. Evil is pictured here not as an
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  independent substance, but as trespassing.
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  They can't claim a right to stay.
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  They can only request a concession on their next
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  assignment. And that request reveals their
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  desire to corrupt and destroy. They're not looking for a
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  peaceful retirement. No, they want a new instrument
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  for havoc. That's the nature of evil.
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  Its existence is bent toward annihilation and chaos.
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  They want embodiment. They seek embodiment and
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  influence in the created order, and their preference for swine,
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  unclean animals is fitting for their demonic intent.
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  So they corrupt, agitate. And, as the story soon proves,
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  destroy. They are hostile spirits seeking
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  the least restrictive chain possible.
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  But the vital point remains. They cannot even reach the pigs,
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  which are at some distance, without his authoritative
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  controlling word. Then comes the decisive,
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  effortless exorcism in verse 32. Jesus said go.
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  That's it. Matthew narrates this with
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  breathtaking simplicity, and it showcases magisterial command,
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  not ritual, not struggle, and certainly no lengthy dialogue
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  about the demons, names or history.
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  This is a Divine Word event. It is like the creation of the
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  world in Genesis. Christ's word is divine action.
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  It's the same authority. The authority he displays over
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  the spiritual world flows from the same source as his authority
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  over the physical world. The confrontation is over with a
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  single sovereign imperative verb, hopijit go.
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  And the confirmation is immediate and violent.
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  They came out and went into the pigs and the whole herd rushed
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  down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.
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  The completeness of the deliverance is confirmed and
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  it's externally verifiable. The effect is total.
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  There's no lingering residue in the men.
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  And the destruction of the pigs. It's a kind of parable, isn't
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  it? It functions as a living parable
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  for the community where demons rule.
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  They ruin their bent toward annihilation.
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  Their effect on the pigs immediate total self destruction
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  is a clear visual of what they were doing to the men.
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  Driving them toward death. Driving them toward death, utter
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  isolation and permanent chaos. This is where we have to pause
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  and address the economic difficulty that often troubles
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  modern readers. Yes, especially those who
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  prioritize financial comfort. 2000 pigs drowning is a massive
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  financial loss. So how do we, as Reformed
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  Christians, adhering to a view of God's absolute sovereignty,
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  justify this seemingly unjust destruction of property?
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  This is where we have to correct our human centered view of
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  property rights with a God centered view of sovereignty.
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  We ask was it unjust to the owners right?
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  But we must first establish who owns the animals.
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  OK, Christ as Creator holds the title deed to all creation.
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  Psalm 24.1 states it clearly. The earth is the Lord's, and the
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  fullness thereof. And Psalm 50.
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  Psalm 50.10 confirms he owns the cattle on 1000 Hills.
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  So He has the sovereign right to dispose of His creation as He
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  wills. As He wills especially to
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  demonstrate His glory, this destruction functions as a
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  divine valuation. A divine valuation.
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  I like that. This event establishes a clear
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  and uncompromising hierarchy of worth.
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  Jesus is saying by his actions that the liberation and
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  restoration of two human souls, 2 image bearers of God, is worth
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  far more than the entire gross domestic product of that city.
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  No matter how large the herd. Was no matter.
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  The cost of Christ's saving work is disruptive and often
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  offensive to the pragmatic cost calculating mind.
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  It's a visual receipt of the transaction as you put it.
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  Yes, the price of deliverance was paid in worldly currency to
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  show that the world is nothing compared to a soul found in
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  Christ. And this detail also decisively
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  refutes the error of naturalism and theological liberalism.
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  How so? Well, skeptics often try to
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  explain this away. They say the men were simply
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  epileptic or mentally ill and the miracle was psychosomatic.
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  They believe they were healed, so they were right.
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  But the physical objective fact that 2000 pigs, which have no
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  capacity for psychosomatic suggestion, were seized by the
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  same spiritual entities and destroyed themselves, while that
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  safeguards the supernatural reality of the event.
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  You can't explain that away. You can't.
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  The power is external to the men.
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  It rests solely in Christ's authority.
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  So the miracle is undeniable. It's public and it's costly.
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  A. Triple validation.
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  And this forces the community into a moral reckoning.
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  Which brings us to the tragedy of the story.
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  The real tragedy. Let's move to the conclusion,
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  Section 4, the tragedy of human rejection.
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  OK. For many, this is the most
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  disturbing verse in the passage. Verse 33 reports that the
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  herdsmen fled and reported everything.
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  Everything. Specifically mentioning the fate
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  of the pigs and the liberation of the previously untamable men.
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  The news is unambiguous. Untamable men are now sane,
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  quiet and whole thanks to a powerful stranger.
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  But the herdsmen, they act as anti evangelists.
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  What do you mean by that? They don't run proclaiming the
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  good news of restoration. They sound a financial and
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  social alarm. So the community's
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  interpretation is immediately filtered through the economic
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  shock. Exactly.
• 19:47
  The drowned pigs. The town's priorities are
• 19:50
  exposed by what they emphasize. Loss of profit screams louder
• 19:54
  than the restoration of human dignity.
• 19:56
  And this leads to the collective refusal in verse 34.
• 19:58
  Yes all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw
• 20:01
  him they begged him to leave their region.
• 20:04
  It's an astonishing response to an act of pure, powerful mercy.
• 20:07
  They didn't come out to marvel, to praise, or to ask for more
• 20:10
  healing. They came out to expel him.
• 20:12
  This is the narrative's true climax and tragedy.
• 20:16
  It is a moment of communal interest.
• 20:18
  That climax is not in worship, but in banishment.
• 20:21
  And we have to pause here. You mentioned it before, but the
• 20:23
  parallel is chilling. It is the chilling parallel to
• 20:27
  the demons request revisited just moments before.
• 20:30
  The demons begged for relocation in verse 31, right?
• 20:34
  The townspeople Bay for separation in verse 34.
• 20:37
  So both the forces of hell and the citizens of the world treat
• 20:40
  Christ as an intolerable. Threat Intolerable.
• 20:43
  Yes. Yes, I'll be it for different
• 20:44
  reasons. What are those reasons?
• 20:46
  The demons feared his judgement and the judicial torment.
• 20:49
  He represented the town. The town feared his disruption.
• 20:53
  The cost? The unforeseen costs and the
• 20:55
  demand for surrender that is holiness required.
• 20:58
  They looked at the restored man and the ground pigs, and they
• 21:01
  calculated that the status quo, even with the terror of two Mad
• 21:04
  Men in the tombs, was cheaper. It was more predictable.
• 21:07
  More predictable and cheaper than the unpredictable presence
• 21:09
  of a king who commanded everything, even their local
• 21:12
  economy. This.
• 21:13
  Preference for distance. It really exposes the anatomy of
• 21:16
  unbelief. It does.
• 21:18
  They don't deny the miracle. They can't.
• 21:19
  They can't, but they simply prefer a region with fewer
• 21:22
  costs, fewer surprises, and life without the radical
• 21:28
  confrontation of Christ's holiness.
• 21:29
  They want stability without the king.
• 21:31
  Normalcy without the necessity of a propendence.
• 21:34
  Their entire comfortable routine was threatened.
• 21:37
  They calculated that the upheaval of submitting to Christ
• 21:39
  was too expensive. So the drowned pigs function as
• 21:42
  a moral mirror. A moral mirror, exactly the
• 21:45
  community's heart, is revealed by what it mourns most.
• 21:48
  The deliverance of two image bearers should have been the
• 21:51
  headline, but the stability of their financial system was the
• 21:55
  controlling concern. This is the sin of practicality
• 21:59
  and materialism elevated to the level of idolatry.
• 22:02
  They truly chose pigs over presence.
• 22:05
  They did. They valued their economic
• 22:07
  security, which they could control, above the restoration
• 22:10
  of souls, which demanded surrender.
• 22:12
  It illustrates a difficult but constant gospel principle,
• 22:14
  doesn't it? Like it does, the same Christ
• 22:17
  who brings comfort and liberation to the broken and
• 22:19
  enslaved also profoundly offends the comfortable and the self
• 22:22
  satisfied. So they were willing to tolerate
• 22:25
  the evil. They were willing to tolerate
• 22:27
  the existence of destructive evil in the tombs as long as it
• 22:30
  was contained, and the cost was only fear and inconvenience.
• 22:33
  But they couldn't tolerate the Son of God.
• 22:36
  None of his authority dared to threaten their livelihood.
• 22:39
  That's the paradox of a sinful heart.
• 22:42
  It resists holiness if holiness demands costly surrender, even
• 22:46
  if that holiness brings liberation to others.
• 22:49
  And the consequence is severe. Jesus doesn't argue, no, He
• 22:52
  simply grants their request. Matthew 9.1 says he entered into
• 22:56
  a ship and passed over. And this is perhaps the most
• 22:59
  serious judgement God can inflict.
• 23:01
  What's that? When he gives the Sinner the
• 23:03
  very absence they asked for? Wow.
• 23:05
  The Gadarenes secured their economy.
• 23:07
  They got to keep their pigs or what was left of them, but they
• 23:10
  lost their Savior. They prayed.
• 23:12
  The only prayer that Jesus is sure to answer in judgment
• 23:15
  depart from us. So he leaves them to their
• 23:17
  prophets and their status quo. But without the presence of the
• 23:20
  Holy One, this narrative stands as a stark warning to us today.
• 23:25
  We must fear the departure of Christ from our lives, our
• 23:28
  churches, and our nation far more than we fear the loss of
• 23:31
  any earthly good or financial security.
• 23:34
  It's a sobering thought. They witnessed the King's
• 23:36
  dominion and requested his absence.
• 23:38
  A terrifying choice. All right, let's move into our
• 23:40
  final section, Theological synthesis and application.
• 23:43
  OK, We need to take this entire dramatic narrative and place it
• 23:47
  into the broader framework of our theological understanding.
• 23:51
  Let's start with the key doctrines confirmed by the
• 23:53
  events in Gadara. 1st we look at Christology.
• 23:56
  This narrative defines Christ as the Lord of the invisible world.
• 24:00
  Not just a teacher or healer. No, he is the stronger man, as
• 24:04
  Matthew later refers to him in chapter 12, who binds the
• 24:07
  strongman Satan simply by his sovereign word.
• 24:11
  And his authority is inherent. It is.
• 24:13
  It resides in his very identity as the Son of God, which the
• 24:16
  demons themselves confessed. He commands the deepest reality
• 24:20
  of the universe. 2nd Doctrine Providence.
• 24:23
  The permission granted for the demons to enter the swine is a
• 24:27
  well. It's a stunning, practical
• 24:29
  illustration of God's total sovereignty.
• 24:31
  It's a powerful example of the doctrine of Providence,
• 24:33
  something central to the Westminster Confession of Faith,
• 24:36
  right, which teaches that God's decrees are immutable.
• 24:40
  Specifically, the Confession states that God in his
• 24:43
  Providence orders all things, even those that fall out by
• 24:47
  necessity, freely or dependently.
• 24:50
  We see that here. So God's sovereignty extends
• 24:52
  even to the malice of angels. Exactly.
• 24:55
  The demons are not free agents of chaos.
• 24:57
  They are creatures on a leash. Their range is limited and their
• 25:01
  next move is not self determined but permitted by God for his
• 25:04
  wise purposes. So they may beg to ruin.
• 25:07
  But they can only ruin where and when God sends them.
• 25:09
  Even the worst chaos serves a divine, limited purpose.
• 25:12
  It confirms God's ultimate control is never compromised.
• 25:15
  Never, not even in spiritual conflict.
• 25:17
  And 3rd eschatology. Yes, the demons fear of before
• 25:21
  the time confirms the certainty of a fixed appointed judgment.
• 25:25
  They know history is linear and it's directed toward a definite
• 25:28
  goal, the final public overthrow of Satan and his minions.
• 25:32
  And their knowledge proves. This their knowledge of this
• 25:35
  future doom ordained by God, proves that God has unchangeably
• 25:39
  ordained whatsoever comes to pass.
• 25:42
  Christ's arrival in Gidara is a visible assurance for us that
• 25:46
  his victory over the spiritual forces is not a question of if,
• 25:50
  but when. Judgment is certain and the time
• 25:53
  is fixed. It is OK.
• 25:55
  This text also acts as a crucial defense against several common
• 25:59
  errors that we see in the modern church and in the secular world.
• 26:02
  Let's look at some refutations. Let's do it First.
• 26:04
  Let's revisit theological liberalism and naturalism.
• 26:07
  This is the error that seeks to reduce every miracle to metaphor
• 26:10
  or some kind of psychosomatic suggestion.
• 26:13
  Arguing that the men were just mentally ill.
• 26:15
  Right. And the story is just a way of
• 26:16
  saying Jesus helps people feel better.
• 26:18
  The transfer of the demons to the pigs serves as an external
• 26:22
  historical verification that refutes this entire approach.
• 26:26
  Because if the men were only mentally ill.
• 26:28
  How did that mental illness become contagious to a herd of
• 26:31
  2000 non psychosomatic swine? The objective physical
• 26:36
  destruction of the herd proves that a real supernatural entity
• 26:39
  was involved, and it proves that the power of Christ is
• 26:42
  objectively real. It safeguards the supernatural
• 26:45
  world view of the Bible. OK, second reputation, the
• 26:48
  prosperity gospel. Oh, this one's big.
• 26:51
  The common teaching today is that obedience to Christ results
• 26:54
  in immediate material security and financial gain.
• 26:57
  This passage seems to be in direct contradiction to that.
• 27:00
  It's the starkest refutation we could ask for.
• 27:03
  Christ caused massive financial loss of fortune, the livelihood
• 27:07
  of perhaps dozens of people, to achieve the spiritual liberation
• 27:11
  of two individuals. The cost was counted and the
• 27:13
  souls 1. Yes, the Kingdom of God often
• 27:16
  stands in direct opposition to worldly wealth and comfort.
• 27:19
  Jesus is not here to boost our financial portfolio.
• 27:22
  He demands we count all things as loss for him, as Paul said.
• 27:25
  So if your definition of a successful gospel ministry
• 27:28
  excludes this kind of thing. If it excludes the possibility
• 27:31
  of catastrophic God ordained financial loss, you are thinking
• 27:36
  like the Gadarenes, not like the King of Glory.
• 27:39
  It forces us to ask, are we prepared for the cost of the
• 27:43
  Kingdom? Exactly.
• 27:44
  The cost is often high, and it is often paid in the currency of
• 27:48
  worldly comfort. OK, third, let's address
• 27:51
  superstitious fixation, particularly in some modern
• 27:54
  deliverance ministries. This refers to the error of
• 27:57
  those who elevate the power of the demonic by engaging in
• 28:01
  extensive dialogue, demanding the demons names, or using
• 28:04
  complex extra biblical rituals to secure deliverance.
• 28:08
  Jesus did none of that. None of it.
• 28:09
  He used a single magisterial word.
• 28:11
  Go. So the text grounds the
• 28:14
  believer's response in something much simpler.
• 28:16
  Grounds our response to spiritual conflict in the simple
• 28:19
  declared Word of God and the finished victory of Christ, not
• 28:22
  in conversational engagement with evil or in elaborate
• 28:24
  ceremonies. Christ's authority is absolute.
• 28:27
  It's not achieved by superior spiritual technique or ritual
• 28:30
  knowledge. That brings us squarely to the
• 28:33
  application. For you, the listener, we have
• 28:35
  to apply this text through the Law and the Gospel.
• 28:37
  We do. 1st The law functions to expose the sin in our own
• 28:42
  hearts, the gathering within us. Yes, the law exposes the modern
• 28:46
  idol of personal peace and affluence.
• 28:49
  The Gadarenes were possessed by their possessions.
• 28:51
  And they refused the Savior to protect their pigs.
• 28:53
  So we have to press this difficult question upon
• 28:55
  ourselves very personally. What are your pigs?
• 28:58
  What is that temporal security, that career path, that financial
• 29:01
  portfolio, that political or social standing that you would
• 29:04
  ask Christ to leave untouched to preserve?
• 29:07
  We often prefer a safe Jesus, don't we?
• 29:10
  One who blesses our meals, maybe heals A mild illness, but who
• 29:13
  fundamentally leaves our worldly securities alone.
• 29:16
  And the law condemns that pragmatic heart, the heart that
• 29:19
  calculates the cost of repentance as too expensive.
• 29:22
  If we look at a radical call to ministry or an act of costly
• 29:25
  obedience and our first thought is but that will destroy my 401K
• 29:29
  or that will ruin my reputation, then we are thinking exactly
• 29:33
  like the people of Gnora. The law forces us to acknowledge
• 29:35
  that we too often prioritize worldly comfort over the
• 29:38
  presence and disruptive demands of the holy King.
• 29:41
  We do so if the Law leaves us condemned as materialists.
• 29:44
  The Gospel shines brightly in the contrast.
• 29:47
  It does. Particularly in the sheer
• 29:49
  unmerited grace we see displayed.
• 29:51
  Consider the men. They were not just sinners.
• 29:54
  They were fear cut off from society, utterly dehumanized and
• 29:58
  incapable of asking for help. They were dead in their
• 30:01
  trespasses. And yet Jesus took the
• 30:03
  initiative. He crossed the hostile sea,
• 30:05
  invaded enemy territory and confronted the legions of Hell,
• 30:09
  all to rescue two men who had nothing to offer him but filth
• 30:12
  and hostility. This is a powerful illustration
• 30:15
  of irresistible grace. It is He came for them when they
• 30:19
  could not come to him. And the substitutionary contour
• 30:21
  of the text. It points us directly to the
• 30:23
  great transactions that paid the ultimate price for us.
• 30:26
  The Krog. The cross.
• 30:28
  The demons begged for the swine and pigs died here to validate
• 30:31
  the deliverance of two souls that foreshadows Calvary at the
• 30:35
  cross. The Lamb of God died taking the
• 30:37
  ultimate judicial torment, the full wrath of gods that we.
• 30:40
  Who were once enslaved in the tombs of sin.
• 30:43
  And condemned to separation, might be set free, delivered
• 30:46
  from the dominion of darkness, and closed in the righteousness
• 30:49
  of Christ. The death of the pigs was a
• 30:51
  visual aid. The death of the Christ was the
• 30:53
  final complete payment. Finally, for the believer, this
• 30:58
  narrative calls us to obedience. Yes, to the changed life that
• 31:02
  flows from gratitude. We have to cultivate a heart
• 31:05
  that values souls rightly. And if our hearts are more
• 31:08
  distressed by a stock market crash than by the spiritual
• 31:10
  lostness of our neighbors, we must confess that we are still
• 31:14
  thinking like the Gadarenes. So the call is simple, but it
• 31:17
  requires daily effort. Daily effort.
• 31:19
  We must cultivate a heart that values one human soul above the
• 31:23
  wealth of the entire world. The action required is to be
• 31:27
  willing to suffer loss for the gospel, to welcome the King's
• 31:30
  disruptive presence, knowing, as the writer to the Hebrews
• 31:33
  reminds us, that in Christ we have a better real and
• 31:36
  everlasting substance. So we embrace disruption, not
• 31:39
  avoidance. That's the call.
• 31:40
  So, to sum up, the narrative of Matthew 8.2834 presents a
• 31:45
  decisive, terrifying and liberating confrontation.
• 31:47
  It does. Christ is king, forcing
• 31:50
  everyone, demons and citizens alike, to declare their
• 31:53
  allegiance. The demons, despite their
• 31:56
  rebellion, were compelled to submit.
• 31:58
  While the citizens, blinded by the love of temporary security,
• 32:01
  chose materialism and banishment over the Savior.
• 32:05
  The deepest tragedy here is not that men are held captive by
• 32:08
  evil. Christ can fix that instantly.
• 32:11
  No, that's not it. The tragedy is that they can
• 32:13
  stand there, witness absolute mercy and total liberation, see
• 32:17
  the cost of that deliverance, and still ask the Savior to
• 32:20
  leave. It forces us to ask that final
• 32:22
  critical question. What are you asking Him to leave
• 32:25
  behind in your life to preserve your comfortable sense of
• 32:27
  control, Right? The people of Gdara secured
• 32:29
  their immediate financial stability, but they chose the
• 32:32
  ultimate terror, the absence of Christ.
• 32:35
  Do not make the same mistake.