Jesus is Lord Over All Including Satan!

Introduction

If you have your Bibles, please take them and find Luke 8:26.  Today, I want to share a message with your entitled, “Jesus is Lord Over All including Satan!”

 

If you were here last Sunday, you saw from Luke 8:22-25 that Jesus is Lord over all including storms.  That means literal storms and emotional or spiritual storms.

 

This is actually a three-part series here in Luke 8.  Jesus is Lord over all including storms and Satan and sickness.

 

When we saw Lord over all, I mean that has authority over.  I mean that He is more powerful than. 

 

Jesus has authority over and is more powerful than storms.  Jesus has authority over and is more powerful than Satan. 

 

On the pages of Scripture this morning, we are going to see a man who was demon-possessed.  I want you to know that I believe that Satan is real and demons are real. 

 

I believe in the demon-possession of individuals in the first century as evidenced in the Bible.  Also, I believe in the demon-possession of individuals in the twenty-first century. 

 

However, I’m not talking about people bipolar schizophrenic or epileptic or ADD or ADHD.  Demon possession is a spiritual condition.  It is not a medical condition.

 

In today’s story, we are going to see the Divine, the Disturbed, and the Distraught. The Divine is Jesus.  The Disturbed is the demon-possessed man, and the Distraught is the group of herdsman working with these pigs.

 

 

1. The Divine: Jesus

 

Verse 26 says that Jesus and His disciples sailed to the country of the Gadarenes.  They had previously been in a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

 

In verse 27, He was met by the demon-possessed man.  As we are thinking about the Divine, who was Jesus, I want you to see that He commanded, and He was compassionate.

 

Jesus commanded because He was and is God.  Even the demons knew that as evidenced by their pronouncement at the end of verse 28. 

 

We also see the divinity of Jesus evidenced in the man’s posture.  The first part of verse 28 says he came and bowed down to Him.

 

Then, we see that Jesus was divine in the demons’ plea.  They knew that Jesus was in charge.  They knew that Jesus was Lord over all including Satan. 

 

In verse 31, they begged Him to let them enter the pigs.  Jesus obliged.

 

Not only did Jesus command because He was divine, but He was compassionate toward the disturbed.  Jesus loved people more than pigs.  Jesus loved souls more than swine. 

 

Jesus saw how this man was suffering, and He healed him.  He saved Him eternally by delivering him personally. 

 

 

2. The Disturbed: The Demon-Possessed Man

 

When we think about this disturbed man who was demon-possessed, I want you to see that he was saved, and then he was sent. 

 

Verse 30 tells us that this man was possessed by many demons, maybe even thousands as his name was Legion.

 

Notice what he like before he was saved.  First, he was characterized by unusual surroundings.  Look at verse 28.  He wore no clothes, and he lived in a cematery. 

 

Second, he was characterized by unusual strength.  Verse 29 says he was often bound by chains and shackles.  This was probably by the townspeople, but he broke them. 

 

Third, he was characterized by unusual suffering.  Mark 5:5 says, “5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.”

 

However, notice what had changed when Jesus saved this man.  Verse 36 says he was healed or saved.

 

His actions changed.  Verse 35 says he was sitting at Jesus’ feel.

 

His appearance changed.  He was clothed.

 

He attitude changed.  He was in his right mind. 

 

Once he was saved, he was then sent.  Look at verse 38. 

 

 

Go to the people who know you best.  Tell them what God has done.  Tell them your story. 

 

Brothers and sisters, our assignment is the same.  God puts specific people in our path every day.  Talk to them about God.  Tell them you story of how God changed you.

 

 

3. The Distraught: The Herdsman

 

The herdsmen are introduced in verse 34.  They heard about what happened, and they saw what happened with their own eyes.

 

The end of verse 35 and the end of verse 37 says they were afraid and seized with great fear.  In other words, they were distraught, but why?

 

First, I would suggest they were afraid because of what Jesus did to their pigs.  Undoubtedly, because Jesus loved people more than pigs and souls more than swine, He cost them a lot of money.

 

Second, I would suggest they were afraid because of what Jesus might do to them.  If Jesus stuck around, would their lives have to change?  Would their behavior have to change?  Would their relationships have to change?

 

That is usually how Jesus works.  Therefore, they asked Him to leave.  See verse 37.

 

 

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, we can’t be like Jesus, the Divine.  We shouldn’t be like the Distraught keeping areas of our lives off limits to Jesus.  However, we must be like this disturbed, demon-possessed man who, after he was saved, was sent.

 

We must go to our family and friends.  We must tell them about Jesus.  We must tell our story of how Jesus found us and saved us.