Desperate faith, Luke 8: 40-56

As we look at this final section of chapter 8, we see two miracles recorded by Luke that Christ did, following His return from across the Sea of Galilee.  But as we look at these  miracles, we must ask ourselves why Luke records these two particular miracles at this juncture.  Obviously, these were not the only miracles that Jesus did, there are many similar ones that are recorded elsewhere, and there are many that were not recorded specifically, but were in general described as Jesus going around healing and doing miracles.  So why then are we given these particular miracles?

Well, I can help answer that by telling you the negatives first, and then we will look at the positive answers.  I will tell you what they are not. .  They were not put there to give us a methodology for duplicating similar miracles for ourselves.  They were not given to give us a technique by which we can eradicate illness and death in the Christian life here on Earth.  That may be a popular concept among the snake oil salesmen and  faith healers that you find on television, but it is not a teaching that is born out in scripture.  Paul was a man of great faith, yet he was given a thorn in his flesh that he asked 3 times of God that he would be healed from.  And yet God did not heal him, but said, “my grace is sufficient for you.”  Instead of healing him, however, God gave him a constant traveling companion who was a doctor, the beloved Luke the physician who attended to Paul.  And in fact, at the end of Paul’s ministry, as the Apostolic age was coming to a close, it is evident that Paul was unable to effect the healing of even those close to him, such as Trophimus whom he left sick in Miletus, and his own spiritual son, Timothy who he recommended should drink  a little wine for his stomach ailment.  So it is an unbiblical doctrine that as Christians we can be healed from every sickness if we just have enough faith.

So Jesus did not come, as some theologians would have us believe, to banish sickness in Israel.  A good example is John 5 when Jesus came to the pool of Bethesda and healed the man waiting for the water to be stirred up.  And it says that He healed this man, yet the scripture tells us that the pool area was crowded with a multitude of the sick, blind, lame and afflicted.  Yet Jesus heals only one of them. 

Furthermore, there were undoubtedly tens of thousands of people who died in Israel during the three years of Jesus ministry.  And yet we have record that Jesus raised only three from the dead:  the widow’s son in chapter 7, Jairus’s daughter in this passage, and Lazarus. 

Just last week we looked at Jesus going across the Sea of Galilee to deliver a man possessed by demons.  And when He had delivered Him, He left the region and came back to Capernaum.  There would have surely been many more people in that region who could have profited by being healed or delivered.  And yet Jesus healed just this one demoniac.  There was a strategy behind Jesus’ ministry, and it wasn’t to provide free health care for Israel, or to do away with slavery in the Roman Empire, or to provide clean water or any other number of sociological possibilities.  Rather, Jesus came to seek and to save those that were lost.

So Jesus did not heal every sick person in Israel, nor raise every dead person from the grave.  But He did perform certain miracles strategically, in order to demonstrate His power as God and illustrate certain characteristics of salvation and the Kingdom that He wanted to teach.

For instance, in Matthew 9 when the men lowered the paralytic man on a stretcher through the roof in the house where Jesus was teaching, first Jesus told the  man that His sins were forgiven Him.  And there was a shocked response on the part of the religious officials there at the audacity of Jesus to infer that He could forgive sins.  That was a characteristic of God and they obviously did not accept that Jesus was God.  So Jesus response was to say, “which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk?  But so that so that you may know that the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins, I say to you, rise, take up your bed and walk.” See, the whole point of the miracle was to teach that He had power to save sinners.  Jesus said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

So then we understand that Jesus did  miracles to illustrate characteristics concerning the Kingdom of Heaven, and to demonstrate that He was the Son of God.  And He also does miracles such as healing to demonstrate His compassion.  Jesus has compassion for the lost.  That is who He came to save, those that are lost and without hope.  And Jesus shows us God’s compassionate nature in not rejecting any that would come to Him.

Now in this passage we see two completely different types of people come to Jesus for help.  They are given to us as a contrast in extremes.  We see Jairus,  who had a 12 year old daughter that was deathly sick.  And you see the woman, who had a hemorrhage for 12 years. We are given a contrast of types of people who would come into the Kingdom, from the ruler of the synagogue to the woman who was an outcast.  He contrasts a person who was extremely religious with a person who was excommunicated from the synagogue.  A person of wealth and prestige, contrasted with a person who is financially destitute and an outcast from society.  A person who would have been considered a pillar of the community against a person who was considered unclean. Regardless of which end of the social spectrum you come from, there is but one access to the kingdom of heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ.  They are given to us as an example that for all people, from the richest to the poorest, there is only one way to salvation and that is through Jesus.

Those are the contrasts, but let’s consider their similarities.  One, they were both desperate.  Jairus, in spite of his exalted position in the community, in spite of his wealth and in spite of his religion, has death come knocking on his door.  His 12 year old daughter is dying.  And those of us that are parents can understand his desperation.  If you have ever had something like that come near your house, then you know that you would give anything to have your child delivered.  And yet, sooner or later, death comes to us all.  It cannot be avoided, it is inevitable.  But we can certainly emphasize with this man’s desperation that her life would not be cut short.  Jairus comes to Jesus and begs Him  to come to his house and heal his daughter. 

But as Jesus is going with Jairus, who must have been frantically urging Jesus to hurry, this woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years comes up through the crowd and touches the hem or the fringe of Jesus robe and their progress is delayed.   Luke says she could not be healed by anyone.  Mark says in chapter 5 that she “had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse.”  So she came up behind Jesus in the crowd thinking that if she could just touch his cloak she would get well. 

She too was desperate.  Having a hemorrhage for 12 years not only left her weak and sick and bankrupt, but according to Jewish regulations, she was considered unclean.  She was prohibited from even touching anyone.  Maybe that is why she chose to touch the hem of his robe.  She came secretly because she was ashamed of her condition.  It prohibited her from entering the temple or the synagogue, and so she was a picture of a sinner who is estranged entirely from God.  She too was desperate.  She was broken physically, spiritually and even financially.

Both of these people shared a similar characteristic.  They were desperate in their plight.  Jairus was facing the death of his child.  Death is always related to sin in the Bible.  It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.  It was appointed all the way back in the Garden of Eden that if you disobeyed God and ate of the tree you would die.  Death is the wages of sin.  Jairus recognized that death was knocking at his door and he knew that Jesus was the only answer. 

And the woman with the hemorrhage is a picture of sin.  Her sin had cut her off from life, it had separated her from Jewish society, and it had  separated her from God.  She was  unclean and she was desperate to be made whole again.  And she knew that if she could just get to Jesus He could make her well. 

Listen, desperation is a necessary  ingredient when you come to Christ.  You have to come to the point of realizing the desperate nature of your condition.  Most people are not saved because they come to Christ only as an insurance policy against something they really aren’t very concerned about.  That’s why we buy insurance, don’t we?  We don’t really think that we are sick now, but just in case, we are willing to pay a little for insurance.   Most people are like that coming to God.  We aren’t too concerned about death, it seems far away.  We aren’t too concerned with our sin, it really doesn’t seem that bad.  So we are willing to pay a little tribute now and then to God for insurance purposes.  But if we had a true understanding of our bleak situation, we would realize how hopelessly lost we are, and we would come to God willing to do anything, willing to pay any price, go to any lengths to be made whole.  That kind of desperation is necessary.  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, that you need to be poor in Spirit, recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy, and you need to hunger and thirst after righteousness with the desperation of a beggar.

I remember 30 years ago I was living in California after running away from the Lord for years and living like the prodigal son, and finally one day I wrestled all day long with the Lord under conviction that I needed to come back to him.  Finally, about sunset I locked myself in the garage because my roommates were partying upstairs, and I decided I was going to get right with God.  But as I began to try to pray after all those years of running, I think a certain part of me recognized that I was just going through the motions sort of mechanically, and it seemed as if my words were bouncing off the ceiling.  They weren’t going anywhere.  And I thought for a moment that perhaps God had abandoned me.  Maybe I had gone too far.  Maybe God had shut the door and I would be lost forever.  And when I thought that, I can tell you that suddenly I became desperate, my voice became frantic, and the tears began to flow uncontrollably, and I desperately wanted to know that God was there, and that He would answer me.  I am glad to report that God did hear me, and He was faithful to deliver me.  But I learned that desperation can be a good thing.

These two people had another similarity as well.  Besides their desperation, they had saving faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Listen, faith isn’t a monkey wrench whereby we manipulate God’s will to our demands.  Faith is the means by which God answers our prayer to have righteousness transferred to sinners.  Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”  Faith is recognizing that you are desperate, that you have nothing to offer God in exchange, that you are lost and hopeless, and that only by the grace of God, the mercy of God, can you be forgiven and be made whole. 

Jairus had faith that Jesus could heal his daughter.  And yet as Jesus delayed with the woman, his worst fears came true.  A person came running up to him and said, “your daughter has died, do not trouble the teacher anymore.”  For many of us that would have done us in.  Our faith would have foundered right then and there. And perhaps Jairus’ faith started wobbling too, because Jesus says, ““Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” And so Jairus continued with Jesus in faith that Jesus could bring His little girl back to life.  His faith wasn’t founded in his feelings, or even his emotions, but in the promise of Jesus.  I can only imagine the grief he was feeling as they journeyed, knowing that his daughter had died. But he continued in spite of his feelings.  Matthew makes it clear that even knowing that his daughter was dead, he insisted that Christ should come and raise her from the dead.

And the woman also had faith.  In faith she believed so strongly in the power of Christ that if she just touched the hem of his garment in secret that would be enough to heal her.  And when she did so, she was immediately healed. 

Now let’s look at one final application for both of them.  Remember that the Holy Spirit is illustrating through Luke’s account the qualities of the Kingdom of Heaven.  And so there is more here than just a healing and off you go on your merry way.  That is another characteristic of the modern Christianity.  We have a crisis and we want Jesus to heal us, or deliver us.   And when the crisis is resolved for better or for worse, we go back to the normal routine of our lives and nothing really is changed.  But these examples are illustrating saving faith. 

In the case of Jairus, Jesus finally comes to the house and it’s complete chaos.  The professional mourners have already assembled, so they must have been waiting in the wings, or it’s taken a few hours to get to Jairus’s house.  And when Jesus comes into the house he tells the mourners to get out. “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” And the mourners laugh at him, knowing that she was dead.  Mark 5, “But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was. Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).  Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.”

Now what can we learn about the kingdom from this?  It’s teaching the power over death for the believer.  Jesus almost always refers to death as being asleep.  And I don’t believe He did so to try to be coy, but He was illustrating a spiritual reality by a figure of speech referring to the physical. The Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, by definition is a spiritual kingdom. It is the Kingdom where Christ rules His subjects in their hearts.  It’s a spiritual kingdom.  And so when He talks about being asleep,  He is referring to a spiritual state.  In physical sleep, the body is asleep but the mind is still active.  So likewise, in death,  spiritually speaking the body is dead or sleeping, but the spirit is alive. I could say much more concerning this, but time will not allow it.  However, I think it is the key to understanding verses such as 1Cor. 15:51, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”  

And also in 1Thess. 4:15, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” Both passages speak of the resurrection from the dead, when those that are asleep, that is physically dead but spiritually alive, are raised from the dead and given a new, imperishable body.

Luke tells us in this chapter verse 55 that her spirit returned.  Which prompts the question, returned from where?  I submit to you that her living spirit returned from the spiritual realm of the dead.  Jesus describes this realm in a story in Luke 16 about a beggar named Lazarus who died and was in Abraham’s bosum and the rich man whose gate Lazurus once laid at also died and was in Hades, and there was a great gulf fixed between them. I believe that Jesus is describing an actual place in which the living dead are in Paradise and the eternally dead are in Hades. 

But I don’t want to lose you this morning on things that are somewhat ambiguous or controversial, but I will say that I am not idly speculating.  I am merely relating what scripture says.  But the fact remains that physical death is being spiritually asleep, not indicating soul sleep as some would falsely teach, but a figure of speech indicating bodily sleep yet the spirit is very much alive.  One day at the resurrection we will be given a new, glorified body, but our soul and spirit is eternal and is living even in death.

Jesus tells the parents to give the girl something to eat, and He instructs them not to tell anyone about the whole ordeal.  But of course, it is difficult to keep things like resurrection quiet.  Maybe Jesus told them that so they wouldn’t write a book.  Everyone who has a dream nowadays wants to write a book and make a million dollars from it.  And most of it is just plain nonsense that is at odds with scripture.  But what I really think the reason was that Jesus wasn’t interested in getting more notoriety about His healings.  He was already crushed by the crowds to the point that He could barely operate.  And those people that came to see signs and wonders weren’t necessarily coming for the right reasons.  Jesus would say to those crowds eventually in Luke 11:29, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.”  Jesus didn’t want them coming for the miracles, but for repentance. That was the sign of Jonah.

So the Holy Spirit is teaching in the account of Jairus the nature of death for the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus has the power over death, not just physical death, but spiritual death.  We are all appointed to die physically, unless Jesus comes back in our lifetime, but we need to be more concerned with where we are going to spend eternity.  Because spiritually we will be in either Paradise or Hell.

Now the application from the woman with the hemorrhage adds another aspect required to  entering the Kingdom of Heaven. After the woman was healed, Jesus says in vs. 45, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.”

Understand something here that is important.  Jesus isn’t wondering who touched Him, wondering who had somehow stolen His mojo without His approval.  She was healed not because she touched a robe with magical powers, but because Jesus healed her.  And if Jesus healed her then He knew her.  He knew her faith, He knew her condition,  He certainly knew her name and  He knew what she looked like. 

But what Jesus wanted her to do was to confess Him publicly.  Jesus doesn’t want secret disciples.  He wants His disciples to be a witness, to be a light on a hill, not a candle under a candlestick.  Jesus is illustrating the teaching that He just gave a day or two prior, just before they went over to the other side of the Galilee.  Look at vs. 16 of this chapter.  Jesus said, “Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.” 

Jesus told Jairus not to broadcast Him raising his daughter from the dead because He didn’t want to be inundated with thrill seekers.  But He does want this woman to tell what happened to her, because He wants her to be a witness to the transformation that has happened inside her.  She was the perfect picture of a sinner, and so she is a great example of a true convert.  And confession is an essential part of conversion. Jesus said in Matt. 10:32, “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” 

Also Rom. 10:9 emphasizes that confession is vital, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  And that is really what is happening here in this story.  The woman knows that He knows, and so she confesses what she has done and her faith in Jesus to heal her.  And look at what Jesus tells her in vs. 48, “And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”  “Made you well” is actually from the Greek word sozo, which means saved.  Jesus says, your faith has saved you.  Go in peace.  She now had peace with God.  That is another characteristic of a citizen in the Kingdom of God.  She has been made a daughter of God, a child of God by faith.  And because of what Christ would do on the cross, she would have peace with God.  There was no more enmity between her and God.  She had been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God, she was a child of God.  And that is the only way to have  true peace.  Peace is not found in the absence of war, or the absence of death or illness, but peace is found in reconciliation with God. 

That peace, not as the world gives, Jesus said, do I give to you.  And it is available for those with desperate faith, who will embrace all that Jesus is, confessing Him as Lord, and renouncing their sin.  And in that kingdom of God, we find eternal peace, spiritual life that endures through even death by becoming part of the family of God. 

Overcoming the power of darkness; Luke 8: 26-39

When I was a little kid, I was afraid of the dark.  I had to sleep with the door open a crack.  I was afraid that there was something under the bed.  And maybe it was because of my fundamental, fire and brimstone preaching dad, but I had a deathly fear of demons.  I can remember actually sweating in fear in my bed, convinced that somehow the devil was in the room.  Maybe he was, I don’t know.  But anyhow, perhaps due to an inordinate number of traumatic childhood sleepless nights, I have always had a hard time understanding our culture’s fascination with the occult.

I think when I was a kid, they came out with a TV show called Dark Shadows.  And I only saw about 10 minutes of one episode, but that was enough to last a lifetime.  I can’t understand the thrill that some people seem to find in demons.

As we approach Halloween, I see a lot of what I think is an unwholesome interest in demons and witches and the occult.  I don’t have a problem with dressing up in a costume and getting candy from your neighbors.  But I think that glorifying demons or the devil is a dangerous thing.  However, I think the real danger is that the common picture we see of demons and the devil is a misconception.  The danger is that they actually look nothing like the way they are depicted.

Isaiah 14 tells us, for instance, that Lucifer was the star of the morning. Ezekiel 28 tells us that Satan was the most beautiful, most adorned cherub in the heavens.  He was the chief musician of heaven.  The Bible tells us that even now, he appears to be an angel of light.  The deceitfulness of Satan is that he is well content to be cartooned as some horrible looking, vile creature, when actually he is an extremely powerful, even beautiful fallen angel who is able to disguise his true intentions.  The danger of these fallen creatures is that they can operate in virtual obscurity and anonymity, because we don’t really understand how they operate.

But in spite of how appealing and attractive Satan and his angels may appear, their goal is that of bringing death and destruction.  Their strategy is deceit, and by this simple strategy of making a lie seem like the truth, they are able to steal, kill and destroy.  Jesus said in John 10:10, speaking of the devil, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  Satan promises life, but the end result is death.  He promised Eve a better, more fulfilled life if she listened to him, but in fact, it resulted in eternal death.

Jesus on the other hand, came to destroy the work of the devil, which is death, by atoning for sin, which is the cause of death.  1 John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”  So Jesus Christ has come to earth to render powerless the power of Satan to condemn men to eternal death by enslavement to sin.  That’s what Hebrews 2: 14 is saying;  “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,  and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

This  rendering of Satan to be powerless is the fulfillment of what was prophesied in Genesis 3:15 by God to Satan after the fall, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”  Jesus would crush the power of Satan to kill, and Satan would bite Jesus on the heel, referring to the crucifixion.

So if we should believe that Jesus was indeed the promised seed that would bruise Satan on the head, then we should see evidence of that when He walked the Earth.  And that is exactly why Luke records for us this extraordinary miracle.  Luke is illustrating Jesus power over Satan and his demons, and in the process he is going to illustrate some vital principles concerning the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s look at this story which we pick up right after the calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  The disciples are so stunned by Jesus ability to calm the storm that they ask the question, ““Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”  The disciples do not yet understand what we will find that the demons already believe and fear.  As James said, “the devils believe and tremble.”  They know who Jesus is.

So as the storm is calmed, the disciples and Jesus continue to sail their boats to a region on the other side of the lake which was part of an area known as Decapolis.  In the synoptic gospels, it is referred to as either Gerasenes or Gadarenes, both cities near this region where they landed.  But what is interesting about this location is that it is a predominately Gentile influenced region where a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles lived.  Decapolis was noted for it’s Hellenistic influence, and by the time the Romans came into power, it’s 10 cities operated as Roman outposts.  Consequently, most of the Jews that lived there were not really practicing Jews, they had been subverted by the culture of the people that they lived among.  And that is important, as we will see later.

So as Jesus and the disciples disembark, this man came out to meet them who was demon possessed.  Now if you aren’t careful in your study of scripture, you might get the idea from looking at the gospels that demon possession is a very common thing.  But I think that the Bible actually shows us that the recognition of demon possession is actually a rare occurrence.  Demon possession is not really described in the Old Testament at all.  There are obviously some people in the Old Testament that are under the influence or have the power of Satan, but not in the sense that we see it during the time of Christ.  And even after Christ’s resurrection, there are only a couple of instances in Acts, and then virtually no mention in the Epistles at all of demon possession.  Why is that?  Well, I believe that it is due to the divine nature of Christ.  He was born of the Spirit of God, and consequently, the demons as spirit beings recognized Him as deity, as their Sovereign, and though they are in rebellion against Him, yet they are still subject to Him.  So I believe that as Jesus traveled around, the demons reacted violently in fear of Him and often revealed themselves in the process.   But as I said earlier, their preferred modus operandi today is to  operate in anonymity without people really recognizing them.

But let’s look at the characteristics of this demoniac.  He was naked and living in the tombs.  It says He had been seized by the demons many times.  That may mean that there were times of seeming normalcy, and then suddenly he would go wild and break free of his shackles and go screaming into the desert and wind up in the tombs again.  This guy was tormented beyond comprehension.

So the demoniac comes out of the tombs to meet Jesus and his disciples, perhaps to attack them, and he sees who Jesus is and says, ““What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.”  He basically is saying to Jesus, “Let’s not have any trouble between us, Jesus.”  Or “I don’t want any trouble with you Jesus.”   “I beg you, don’t torment me.”

First of all note that he recognized that Jesus was the Son of God.  And that is always a pattern when Jesus heals a demon possessed person. They recognize Him, because they are an eternal spirit, created by Him, they are ageless creatures that fell from heaven, and being spirits, they have the spiritual ability to discern spirits.  And so they recognize the Son of God in His earthly body.

You know, I was thinking how as a person living in that time, it might have been more difficult to recognize Jesus as the Son of God than it is for us living today to believe that He is the Son of God.  And the reason is that by all accounts, Jesus wasn’t much to look at.  Contrary to many period sacred paintings you see in some churches today, Jesus didn’t have a halo over His head to identify Him.  Rather,  Isaiah 53 says that “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Secondly, notice the effects that the demons had upon this man.  He was naked.  Nakedness in the Bible always confers the idea of shame.  He would have been cold and bruised and scratched and dirty and disheveled.  He was really someone to be pitied.  He was living in the tombs.  Tombs were generally in caves in that region of the world.  He was living in caves with the bones and rotting flesh of dead people.  Death and uncleanness is another characteristic of the works of the devil.  He was often bound and in chains.  The verse from Hebrews we looked at awhile ago told us that is a characteristic of what Satan does to his victims. He enslaves them.  And finally, he was tormented by the demons who attacked him and drove him insane.

We see in this poor man a picture of the terrible effects of sin.  I was in San Diego a couple of months ago and I was really upset while I was there by the homeless population I saw everywhere on the streets.  I have been in many large cities around the world, and I have never seen so many homeless people in one place before.  And it is particularly striking because of the contrast.  San Diego is one of the most beautiful cities in America.  And yet everywhere I went, I was accosted by the spectacle of the homeless.  But most of them were not just normal people who happened to be out of a job and lost their home.  By far, most of them seemed to be mentally disturbed.   Some of them acted irrationally angry.  A few of them seemed dangerous.  I remember this one young homeless guy with a steel pipe walking down the sidewalk hitting signal poles with a look on his face like he wanted to kill someone.  And I could not help but think that a great majority of those folks that I saw seemed to be victims of drugs or alcohol.  Things that the world touts as being attractive, to helping you to  have a good time, to enjoy life to the fullest.  But they are just lies that lead to enslavement, alcohol addiction, drug addiction which lead to a type of insanity, and will eventually lead to an untimely death.

In Revelation, it says that one of the characteristics of the end times will be an unwillingness to repent of drug use which in the Greek is called pharmakeia, but which is interpreted in our Bibles as sorceries. Rev 9:21, “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”  So by that definition, we find that there is a link between demon influence and drug use, and consequently I believe we will continue to see an escalation in demonic activity as we go forward to the end of the age.  The bottom line is I think that though we don’t see many extreme cases such as this demoniac running around in our graveyards today, yet Satan is still in the business of enslaving people.  People still find themselves chained, tormented and enslaved by the devil.  We just don’t often give the devil his due.

Vs. 30, “And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him.”   Please understand the significance of Jesus asking him his name is not so that we can form some exorcism ritual whereby we ask their name and then bind the demons.  The Bible does not tell us to bind demons. The demon’s name is not significant other than it gives insight into the complexity of this man’s problem and let’s us see what Jesus already knew.  A Roman legion could have as many as 6000 soldiers.  So this man was possessed by thousands of demons, which would be unusual, to say the least.  One demon is more than sufficient to do the work of the devil.  But it would seem that Jesus comes expressly to this area in order to meet this man and deliver him from the power of darkness.  And one possible reason may be that by this man’s condition of being tormented by thousands of demons,  Jesus is  able to demonstrate most dramatically his power over demons.  We see that thousands of demons are no match for the one Son of God.

These demons then implored Jesus not to cast them into the abyss.  That is the bottomless pit that is called the Lake of Fire.  The Bible says it is reserved for the devil and his angels.  And somehow, the demons know that this is the judgment reserved for them.  I think that the devil and his demons know the Bible better than most Christians.  So they are begging Jesus not to cast them into the abyss but to let them go into the swine feeding on the hillside.

Now Mark tells us that there were 2000 pigs.  And pigs were declared unclean in the Jewish law.  So it is very likely that these pigs which were unclean were being raised by non practicing Jews for Gentile consumption.  And 2000 pigs is a large herd of pigs, even by today’s standards.  They probably were the property for the entire village and represented their livelihood.  So these swine reveal that the people living in this region had been corrupted by their culture, and had excused themselves for breaking God’s law because they found it lucrative.

So Jesus grants them their request.  Vs. 33, “And the demons came out of the man and entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.”  One thing we do seem to be able to discern from this story is that demons desire a host body.  They don’t want to be bodiless.  Jesus said in Luke 11:24 “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’  And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. “Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”  That’s evidence that social programs that purport to free men and women from their problems without offering the solution to their soul don’t really work.  But what I want to draw your attention to specifically is that the spirit goes about seeking a place to rest.  They consider a body to be a place of rest, a house in which they can live.

But the 6000 demons are too much for 2000 swine, and they rush to their death.  I read in the Surfer’s Journal once about a couple of guys in Indonesia out surfing and this pig came running out of the jungle and started swimming out to sea.  He swam straight to the horizon and didn’t come back.  So I guess pigs can swim.  But I guess they are also smart enough to prefer to commit suicide than to hang out with the devil. Pigs may be smarter than a lot of people who think that they can play with fire and not be burned.  That they can hang out around the devil’s influences and not be destroyed.

So we have seen in these verses the destructive power of the devil, now starting in vs. 34 we see the transforming power of Jesus. “When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. (35) The people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. (36) Those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well.”

Notice the transforming power of Jesus.  Before the demoniac was running around naked, screaming, driven insane by these thousands of demons.  Now he is clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Listen, the point that Luke is illustrating here very vividly is that transformation is the hallmark or fruit of Christianity. Transformation is the hallmark of a Christian.  Naked, now clothed.  Insane, now in his right mind.  Running around screaming, now sitting at the feet of Jesus.  Don’t be deceived, if you don’t see a transformation like darkness to light, from storm to calm, from turbulent waves to a still waters, then chances are you aren’t really seeing an individual that is truly saved.  Because transformation is the fruit of the kingdom of God.

I read a story once about a hippie nudist colony back in the early 70’s that supposedly became saved.  And a couple of days later they showed up to be baptized and they were all in the nude.  Well, I don’t think that showed a true conversion.  When Adam and Eve sinned and God came walking to them in the garden they hid because they were ashamed of their nakedness.  No one had to tell them they were naked.  They knew it, and were ashamed.  And so God killed an animal to cover their nakedness with it’s skin which was the first sacrifice portraying the sacrifice that Jesus would make for our sin, to cover our nakedness and shame before God.

Listen, if you claim to be a Christian and you are happy living like the devil, then you better question your salvation.  There can be no fellowship of light with darkness.
2Cor. 6:14 says, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord.
“AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.  And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” The demoniac is a picture of salvation, a hopeless, helpless sinner who is transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

Next, notice the damning power of sin.  We have already spoken of this somewhat, so I will be brief.  But when the townspeople come out to see what has happened, they were gripped with a great fear, and they ask Jesus to leave their country.  And so once again Jesus grants a request that day, and leaves their coast.  It’s an amazing thing that these people aren’t asking Jesus to stay, to visit their town, to teach them the word of God.  But instead, they are gripped by fear, and tell Him to leave.  We can only surmise why they would ask Jesus to leave.  And I would suppose that it had to do with the fact that they recognized that following Jesus required a complete capitulation.  It required being willing to give up a lucrative occupation.  It would require a transformation that they were not willing to accept.  And I think that even Jesus acknowledged that it is better to flat out reject Christ than to pretend to come but only come part way.  Jesus said in Revelation 3, “I would that you were either hot or cold.  But because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

This mixed up group of Jews living amongst the Gentiles were unwilling to concede that full conversion that Jesus required.  And that was their damnation.  Jesus left their town.  Jesus would take his message to those who would accept it.  And I think that is very often the damnation of the church today as well.  We claim a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.  That is, we deny the power of transformation.  We come to Christ dragging all the world’s garbage, all our secret sins, our favorite passions, and we expect to be accepted by God, but we have never really been converted.  We live an untransformed life, and we are surprised that we have no power of God in our lives.

And that brings us to the last point, the testimony of a transformed life.  The demoniac begs Jesus to go away with Him.  I don’t blame Him, do you?  I wouldn’t want to live in a town where the people had chased Jesus off.   But Jesus doesn’t grant that request.  He denies this man’s petition to leave his home town.  Vs. 39, “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”

Jesus had a job for this man.  And that job was to stay among the people that he grew up around, that had seen him at his worst, and to be a testimony to the transforming power of Jesus Christ.  Listen, it’s a hard thing sometimes to humble yourself and go back home to your community and apologize for things that you have done.  It’s a hard thing to witness to people that know you best.  It’s easy sometimes to go to a far away place and put on a religious front and pass out tracks or whatever it is that you do, but it’s another thing to go to your work and be a witness for Jesus Christ.

And let me tell you something else.  The reason that it is hard is that it’s not what you say to those people at home that is going to make a difference.  What is going to make a difference is the testimony of a transformed life.  You no longer talk like you used to talk.  You no longer do the things that you used to do.  You no longer have an interest in the things you used to.   That kind of transformation has an impact.  But if you aren’t really transformed, then you aren’t going to be much of a witness, no matter where you go.

Rom 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

I will close with this simple question.  Have you been transformed by the power of Christ?  Have old things passed away and all things become new?  If not, come to Jesus today in faith and repentance and be transformed from light to darkness.  And if you have been saved, but you have to admit that your light has dimmed, that you are not what God would have you to be in your home and community, then confess your sins to God and let go of whatever it is that is holding you back and ask God to renew a right spirit within you.  Let’s pray.

The question of faith: Luke 8:22-25

Today we come to a story in our ongoing study of Luke, that at first glance seems so simple and straightforward that it hardly bears discussion.  And yet, like so many of the incidents Luke has recorded in his gospel, there is much more to it than readily meets the eye, and it has been placed here very strategically on the part of Luke in order to help illustrate a Biblical doctrine.

And the doctrine that we consider today is that of faith.  Faith is essential in a Christian’s life. Hebrews 11:6 says that “without faith, it is impossible to please God.”  And Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  So faith is essential to be found pleasing to God, and vital for salvation.   We have already seen several instances of faith in our studies, and today it will be examined within the context of this story of Jesus calming the storm.

The subject of faith is one that has been misunderstood quite frequently in our modern day church.  As with every doctrine found in scripture, the devil is quick to try to twist it, or subvert it, in order to deceive and get you off track spiritually.  And I believe that faith happens to be a favorite of Satan’s deceitful strategy today.  He has orchestrated the modern word of  faith movement that sees faith as a mechanism by which one is able to manipulate God into doing what they want Him to do.  That is a gross misunderstanding of faith, and it is not only an affront to God, but it is also a dangerous error that brings about the ruination of many naïve Christians.

The difference between truth and error is usually very subtle. It is usually Satan’s strategy not to completely bring in an outrageous lie as doctrine, but to simply take a standard truth and either add to it, or take some from it in such a way that there is still some truth there, but the emphasis is unbalanced.  We must be careful then not to come to scripture with a preconceived notion, or with an agenda, or a theory, and then look for scriptures whereby we may find validation for our theory.  But we must come to scripture honestly, with a sincere heart, humbly seeking what the Lord would teach us from the whole counsel of His word, and prayerfully asking God to provide the Holy Spirit to guide us, and then being willing to be obedient to the truth revealed.

Let’s look first then at the context of the story.  As with some of the other events recorded by Luke, there is not an effort to be exactly chronological as much as to use this event to illustrate a doctrine that he wants to make at this point.  And I really think that the point to be illustrated is found in the preceding sections of scripture, where he has shown that the character of a Christian is revealed in what he does with the word which he has received.  That is the case in the parable of the soils, that person who hears the word and receives it in a good and honest heart, and then holds fast to that word, bringing forth fruit.  It is reaffirmed in the story about Mary and Jesus’ brothers, when Jesus says that those that are his family are those that hear the word and do it.

Romans 10:17 tells us, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Hearing the truth is of paramount importance, but simply having a head knowledge is obviously not the desired result.  To hear with faith is also to apply that faith to action.  Abraham was found faithful because he believed God and acted on that belief by going out to a land that God showed him.  Obedience is proof of your faith, and that fruit is the characteristic of a Christian.

So not only is this story an illustration of true faith, it is also an illustration of those who are truly in the kingdom of God.  The nature of the Kingdom of Heaven is the primary teaching of Jesus during this period, starting with the Sermon on the Mount.  He gives message after message describing the characteristics of those that are in the Kingdom of God as opposed to those who are not.  So this ship the disciples get into with Jesus to journey across the lake can be readily be seen as a metaphor of the kingdom of heaven.  We will look at that more later.

So as Luke records, Jesus told the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of the lake.  The synoptic gospels of Matthew and Mark fill in some of the details that Luke leaves out.  It was at the end of a very long, eventful day.  It was evening.  And the lake was called the Sea of Galilee or sometimes the Lake of Genessaret.

And as they launched out in the boat, Mark says there were other boats as well.  It must have been a quiet, still evening.  Many of the disciples present were commercial fishermen, who had spent their lives upon the Sea of Galilee.  In fact, the boats likely belonged to James and John and Peter, who had left their fishing business to follow the Lord, but still had their boats in Capernaum.  These men routinely fished at night.  You remember when Jesus came to Peter in the boat and told him to cast on the other side and Peter said, “We fished all night and caught nothing.”  So this was a routine journey on this boat on a still, moonlit night, on a Lake that was merely 13 miles long and 8 miles wide.  It was a something that would have been considered by these men to be completely routine.  A daily experience.

As they launched out into the lake, the gentle rocking of the boat and the strain of the day’s activities caused Jesus to fall asleep on a cushion in the stern.  Remember how his mother and his brothers had been concerned for His health, that He had no time to Himself because of the constant crowds, to the point that He could hardly eat or sleep.  This story shows us a picture of a sleeping Jesus.  Exhausted in His humanity.  Worn out by constantly traveling and preaching and ministering to the sick and oppressed.  And now He falls into a deep sleep.  It is a great mystery how the divine and the human both exist in His being.  He was subject to all things just as we are.  He hungered, He thirsted, He grew tired in His human body.  And yet He was God in His Spirit, the Eternal Creator of the Universe, who subjected himself to the frailty of a human body just like ours. And being exhausted, He fell fast asleep.

But as Jesus slept in the stern, a sudden storm came upon the Lake.  This Sea of Galilee is a very unique body of water.  Living near the ocean, we are familiar with the winds and waves of the Atlantic.  We have storms such as this nor’easter that can be fierce and do a lot of damage.  We are familiar with hurricanes and the terrific power that they can have.  But this lake is quite different than our sea.  For one, it is over 600 below sea level, and ringed by mountains which at one point are almost 10,000 feet high.  And on the other end is a plateau which crests at 3000 feet.  And perhaps due to the great variances of elevation, the cold air can come rushing down the mountain passes and crash against the warmer temperatures near the Lakes surface and the result is like a tempest in a teapot.  The Sea of Galilee is known for the fierceness and suddenness of it’s storms.  Seas can quickly go from calm to over ten feet in just a few minutes when the winds come rushing down the mountains.

I can imagine that Peter and James and John were not overly concerned at first.  After all, James and John were called the Sons of Thunder.  Peter was not afraid of a little storm either.  All of them had handled the worst that this lake could throw at them in their fishing careers.  And yet this time it seemed that the gates of hell flung open and everything was coming against them.  The boat began to take on water as waves were breaking over the bow.  And suddenly, what started out as routine turned to absolute panic.  Their ship was half underwater and was going down. 

They came to Jesus in the midst of the storm and Jesus is still asleep on the cushion in the stern.  We don’t know how big the boat was, but it must have been a pretty good size.  It was a sailing vessel, and was big enough to hold a dozen or more men.  And in the back of the boat, or the stern, may have been a shelter of some sort, and Jesus is lying there on a cushion, blissfully asleep.

Luke’s gospel says they called out, ““Master, Master, we are perishing!” Mark’s gospel adds, ““Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”  They obviously thought that they were going to die.

Jesus gets up and it says He rebuked the wind and the waves and said, “Peace, be still.”  And suddenly everything became calm.  Not just the wind became calm, but the sea became calm.  As surfers we look forward to a wind event, because it kicks up the waves.  The energy from the wind is transferred to the water and causes waves.  And then we look forward to a cessation of wind, or at least the wind going offshore which cleans up the face of the waves.  So even though there is no more wind driving the waves, the energy continues to push the waves in for quite some time, sometimes days afterward.  And this is when we like to surf.  But in this case, the wind died out immediately, and so did the waves, something which is an impossibility under normal circumstances.

When the wind and the sea became calm, vs. 25, Jesus says to them, “Where is your faith?”  And the disciples became even more afraid at the calm, they were fearful and amazed and said, “Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”

Now let’s look at the application, or what the significance of this story is for us.  And I think it can be expressed by looking at the three questions in this story.  The first question is that of the disciples, “Master, do you not care that we are perishing?”  The greatest danger to a wrong view of faith as we talked about earlier is false expectations.  We listen to some false teachers proclaim that faith is a mechanism by which you can get God to provide you with health, wealth and happiness.  They tell us that God wants us to be healthy.  He never wants us to suffer or die.  That His will for us is to be successful by all that the world considers successful.  That God just wants us to be happy.  And we want to believe these lies.  Then they tell us that we can have all these things that God wants us to have, if we just have enough faith. So we muster up all our conviction, all our desire, all our sincerity, and we wish really, really hard, we hope really, really hard, and we tell ourselves that we really, really believe that our desires will happen because we believe they will  .

But what eventually happens is that the illness that you really, really wanted to be healed of does not go away.  The person that you spoke a word of faith over actually died.  God doesn’t come through like you thought He was supposed to.  And when that happens, the devil is right there to whisper in your ear that God must not care.  God really doesn’t love you. God really can’t be trusted.  And if you aren’t careful, you will find your faith shipwrecked, because you listened to the wrong message, and you believed something God never promised.  Jesus said in the parable of the lamp in vs. 18, “So take care how you listen.”  Be careful what you listen to.

The disciples found themselves at the point of panic, when they cried out, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?”  They were sure that they were going to die and that didn’t jibe with what they thought they had learned from the miracles of Jesus.  Jesus healed the sick, He raised the dead, but now it seemed they were going to die.  So they panicked, because they listened to the voice of Satan whispering in their fear, “Jesus doesn’t care.”  He is over there sleeping, and we are dying.

Listen, God never promised you a life without storms.  He never promises you a life without suffering.  He never promised you a life without death.  No, the Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment.  Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles, but I have overcome the world.”  The point is, that you will still have troubles.  The life we have been promised is that of the Spirit, spiritual life, not a worry free, stress free, trouble free physical life. 

Every hero of the faith listed in Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith chapter went through storms, many went through painful torture and even death.  Yes, some of those men and women of faith came through storms and “by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection;” Yes, hallelujah! But it doesn’t stop there, because it says “others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”  These destitute were great men and women of faith too.  In fact, it may be argued that it takes more faith to go through trials than it takes to go through blessings.  But the point I want to make is, that God doesn’t promise a lack of storms, but that He will be with you in the storm.  Peter, who became very familiar with storms and trials in life,  says in the first chapter of his first epistle, that the purpose of these storms is to refine your faith which will produce glory to God.  “even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The second question Jesus asked.  “Where is your faith?”  I think that the disciples had faith.  But they had an immature faith that was overwhelmed by fear.  Their faith hadn’t grown.  It hadn’t been exercised. It hadn’t been refined.  They may have had faith just the size of a mustard seed.  It was small.  But it was faith.  It’s important that we make sure that our faith is founded on the promises of God.  Not on wishful thinking.  The words of the old hymn say, “My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed.  I trust the ever living One, His wounds for me shall plead.  My heart is leaning on the word, the written word of God.  I need no other argument, I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me.” 

See, faith is not just a head knowledge, but an activity.  Faith is action.  Faith is when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. Faith is not founded on feelings.  Those disciples were humans just like us.  They were panicking.  They were looking at the circumstances around them and they forgot all the works that they had seen Jesus do just a few hours or days before.  Don’t we do that?  Hasn’t God proven Himself to us over and over again, and yet in the pandemonium of a new storm, we panic, thinking, “yeah, but this is worst that any of those!”  “This is different!  Where are you Lord?”  Faith is steadfastly applying what you know to be true when you want to panic. 

Jesus said, where is your faith?  Did you leave it on the pew last Sunday when you went home to the storm that awaited you?  Have you learned so much and yet don’t apply it?  Someone said once that courage is not the absence of fear, but acting courageously in spite of fear.  And I think faith is very much like courage.  It is believing in God’s promises when circumstances tell you that there is no hope.  And let’s give the disciples credit for coming to Christ when their faith ran dry.  That is always the answer.  When you come to Christ for answers in your storm, then Christ will provide the peace.  He may not still every storm, but He promises to quiet your heart in the midst of the storm.  Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

The third question is by the disciples.  Vs. 25, “They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”  First of all, remember that when the journey just started, Jesus was sleeping. Jesus is our example of how we are to be in the storm.  Even though in His humanity, in His body, He was tired and worn out, He was so deprived of sleep and food that His family were concerned for His health, and He was in the middle of a terrific storm, yet Jesus is asleep.  Jesus is resting.  He knew that the storm was coming, and yet He had absolute confidence in God the Father that His time had not yet come.  He knew that nothing could snatch Him out of the Father’s hand.  His confidence is our example, as He told us in John 10:28, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”  Our confidence is that our days are set by God, not by circumstances, not by accident.  Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were appointed for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” 

Who is this man whom the wind and the waves obey?  He is Jesus, One with God, Creator of the Universe, and yet He is seen in human flesh.  He is our Savior.  He loved us so much that He gave His life for us.  And though His body was human, yet His Spirit was God.  And this is our promise as well.  That we who are dead in sin in our bodies, might be made alive in our Spirit.  That being given eternal life, we might never perish and no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand.  We have eternal security through the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from sin.  This Jesus whom all of creation obeys, loves us so much that He died for us.

Psalm 139 describes God’s never ceasing love for us. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all.  You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.  Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.  If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.  For You formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.”  That is the basis for my faith.  My faith has found an anchor and that harbor of rest is in God’s word, His promise that He will never leave me nor forsake me because He loves me. 

I said at the beginning that the disciple’s ship is a metaphor for the kingdom of God.  As Christians, we are individually members of His body, the church.  We individually are temples of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.  And corporately, we are each living stones, being built up, Peter says, into a spiritual temple.  Now what that means is that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is living in you. If you are in the kingdom of God then Jesus is in your boat.  How can you fear the storm when Jesus is in your boat?  You are going to have storms in this life.  And because you are human it’s going to be stressful to go through these storms. But take comfort in this, Jesus is going through the storms with you.  He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Rest in Jesus, and rest in His word.  For by His word, the wind and the waves obey Him.  Jesus is our peace in the midst of the storm.

Listen and obey, Luke 8:16-21

There is a difference between hearing and listening.  I’m sure all of you husbands out there remember a time when you are reading the paper or watching television while your wife is telling you all about her day and what the kids have been doing.  And eventually she says, “Are you listening to me?”  And you say, “Yes, of course. I heard everything you said. ”  But it is obvious that though you heard her talking, you have no idea of what she really was saying, because you weren’t really listening.

I’m sure that happens in church quite often as well.  You sit there and hear the sermon, but afterwards it’s very difficult to recall exactly what the pastor was talking about, unless there happened to be a funny joke or some sensational story.  I think that any preacher that ever lived has had that problem.  Even the best preacher has a difficult time getting people to truly listen.  Jesus was by far the greatest preacher that the world has ever seen, and yet as we looked at His message about the parable of the soils last week, we see that at one point He calls out in a loud voice, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  I said then, that I think we lost something in the process of  interpretation.  I think what Jesus was crying out, maybe even in a little bit of frustration, was “He has ears to hear, let him listen!” Or, “Hey, if you can hear Me, you need to listen up!”

In other words, the crowds were coming out to hear Him, but they were leaving without being changed by the message, because it was going in one ear and out the other.  They weren’t listening with open and receptive hearts that responded to the message.   They were like the people James was talking about in chapter 1 vs. 23,
“If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”  “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

We said last week that the parable of the soils was about the four different kinds of responses of our hearts to the word of God.  There are hard, indifferent hearts that reject the word of God.  There are emotionally driven, superficial hearts that seem initially to respond, but then wither away in times of difficulty or temptation.  There are hearts that are enamored by the world that are choked of any mature fruit in their lives, and then finally good, honest hearts that bring forth fruit.

But not only is that parable talking about hearts, it is talking about hearing, or listening.  Listening with the right attitude, with a willingness to be obedient is the key to understanding how that parable works in our lives.  Notice that Jesus refers to hearing over and over again in the parable.  Vs. 12, “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.”  Vs. 13, “Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy…”  Vs. 14, “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard…” Vs. 15, ““But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” The parable is all about hearing, listening to the word and then acting upon it.

That’s why when Jesus finished the parable He cried out in a loud voice, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  Because it is a dangerous thing to hear the truth of God’s word and not respond to it.  And it is very possible, in fact I think it is more than possible, I think it is very common, to go to church Sunday after Sunday, and hear the word of God and yet remain unsaved.  It is entirely possible to do good deeds, to join the church, become a member, even be on some board at the church, and yet die without Christ.  It is a dangerous thing to hear and not listen, to listen and not obey.  It’s important to listen not just to learn some facts, but that hearing would be joined with faith, and faith would be joined by obedience.

In John 1 it says that Jesus was the Word.  And in vs. 9 the Word “was the  true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”  See when the light of God’s word truly illumines our hearts, there will be a response.  It is incongruous to consider yourself a Christian, to say that the light of God has come into your life, and yet your life is characterized by darkness.

That incongruity is why Jesus immediately adds a metaphorical illustration directly following the parable of the soils.  He says in vs.16,  “Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who come in may see the light.”  That’s a fairly obvious illustration.  You don’t light an lamp to hide it, whether under a bushel basket or under a mattress pallet.  You light a oil lamp to be put on a pedestal, so that it lights the way for others.

Well, the illustration may be obvious, but what truth is Jesus trying to convey through it?  He is teaching that if you are a true Christian, if you have received the light of God, then that light is going to radiate to others and show them the way to salvation as well.  God didn’t give you the light to live in darkness.  But He gave you the light so that your life might shine as a beacon in the darkness to draw people to Christ.  

See, Jesus is still talking about the parable; the fruit that is supposed to be characteristic of good soil, or good hearts.  And if your life isn’t reflective of Jesus Christ, then Jesus is saying that is indicative that you aren’t of the light.  Your reflected light should be nothing less than a miracle of a transformed life that gives glory to God through your actions.

Jesus explained that principle further in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Peter expanded on that principle in 1 Peter 2:9, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." So the point is that there is going to be a direct correlation between having received the light of God’s word and then shining that light through your words and actions to the world around you.  It’s a direct correlation between hearing and obedience. It’s going to be obvious from your life if you really are a child of God.

Now look at the next vs. 17, “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”  We need to understand this within the context of the parable of the soils.   A good and honest heart produces good fruit.  A heart that is still in it’s sins, does not produce fruit. The fruit or lack of it is indicative of the condition of the heart.  And that is what Jesus is expounding in this verse, that the secrets of the heart will become known, the secrets of the heart will one day come to light. What a man sows he will also reap.  Or your sins will one day find you out.

You may be able to fool the pastor, you may be able to fool your family or friends for a while, but eventually, what is hidden will be revealed.  Jesus uses these same analogy in different message at another time in Luke 12.  And He makes it clear in that message that He is talking about hypocrisy. Jesus said in vs. 1, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.  Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.”  Jesus is obviously talking about hypocrisy being revealed at the  judgment.  And even though the hypocrites had hidden behind a mask of religion, yet there would be a day when the secrets of their hearts would be made known before God at the judgment.

So not only does an enlightened heart bring forth fruit, but our hearts will be judged by their fruit, and still talking about fruit, Jesus says in vs. 18, “So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”  For whoever has… has what?  Well, He is talking about having real salvation.  Whoever heard the truth and in faith obeyed the truth and is truly saved, that person will receive more and more.  That is referring to the process of sanctification which is simply an act of following in obedience.  As God reveals through his word something He wants you to act upon, then you act upon it.  You respond obediently.  And then God will take you further, guide you to another step in your faith, and as you are obedient to that, He will give you more and more.  Until one day, Christ comes back and we are taken up with Him and God will give us all our rewards for our stewardship here on earth.  But until then, we are to be disciples, being careful to listen attentively, that is following step by step His word, guided by the Holy Spirit and being obedient to His leading.

But there are some, Jesus is saying that will have even what they think they have taken away from them.  Some who think that they have a place in the Kingdom of Heaven will one day stand in judgment before Jesus.   Jesus said in Matt. 7:22, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’  They thought they were part of the Kingdom because they had done something that was perceived to be miraculous, and yet they weren’t saved because they practiced unrighteousness.  The true nature of their heart was revealed by their lack of godliness.  Their lives did not reflect Christ.

I referred last week to another parable Jesus gave of the wheat and the tares.  Both the wheat and the tares  looked alike right up until the harvest.  So the master told his servants not to try to remove the tares because they might mistakenly uproot the wheat.  But to wait  until the harvest.  Because at the harvest, which is the  judgment, God will separate the wheat from the tares because He knows the hearts.  I don’t know the hearts.  I don’t know who is saved and who isn’t.  But I can tell you that when I look at the lack of fruit in some people that claim to be Christians I am afraid for them.  I wonder about them.  I have known some professing Christians in this community for over 12 years.  And I have to say that there are some that I haven’t seen any fruit in their lives.  From what I can see they haven’t grown spiritually one inch in the last dozen years that I have known them.  I fear for those people.  I hope that they are saved, but only God knows the hearts.  However, Jesus says that if they truly had the light, then they would be growing, they would be growing more and more.  But I don’t see that.

The last section here again seems out of place or as if it stands alone in contrast to the earlier sections.  But Luke under the guidance of the Holy Spirit inserts this event at this juncture because he wants to continue making the correlation between hearing and obedience.  And this passage concerning Jesus mother and brothers will help illustrate that principle.

Look at vs. 19, “And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd.  And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.”  There is a parallel record of this event in Mark 3 which gives us a little more insight.  His mother and his brothers came out of concern for His health.  By the way, this is irrefutable proof that contrary to the Catholic Churches teaching that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, it is clear that Jesus had half brothers.  That is, they were sons of Mary and Joseph, whereas Jesus was the eldest, and was the son of God and the virgin Mary.  Mark  6:3 names Jesus' brothers. There is James, Joseph, Judas, Simon and His sisters, plural.

But they are concerned that He seemed to be taking this Messiah thing too far. Mark says they thought He had taken leave of His senses. Though Mary believed that He was her Savior, yet His brothers according to John 7 did not.  They came to believe after His resurrection and we see them in the early church in Acts. 1:14.  So it was reported to Jesus that His mother and brothers had come for Him to take Him home.  They thought He was going too far.  He wasn’t eating, and He wasn’t able to rest, and they thought that they would have a little intervention and set Him straight.  I’m sure the Pharisees had a smirk on their face watching all of this go down.

But Jesus says something that seems at first almost cruel or at the very least indifferent to His families wishes. He says, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”  But Jesus isn’t being disrespectful to His family.  He is making a point that is illustrative of the importance  of being obedient to the word of God.

The point being that those that are children of God will be evident because they are doers of the word, not just hearers of the word.  We know that the Bible says you are not saved by your works, but by faith.  Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  We know that salvation is not by works.  But we also know that good works are the result of salvation.  James 2:17, “even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” He says you prove you have faith by your works.  It is the result of a transformed heart that is obedient to God.

All throughout the NT the scriptures emphasize that faith will be accompanied by works.  In Matthew 7 Jesus says, "The one who hears My Word and obeys it is like a man who builds his house upon the rock." In John 8, "If you continue in My Word, you're My real disciple." In John 14, and John 15 He says, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." In 1 John 2:4, John says, "The one who says I have come to know Him and doesn't keep His commandments is a liar.  And the truth's not in him."  It’s pretty clear that the outcome of your salvation is to produce fruit, the fruit of obedience to the word of God.

I hope you have been truly listening today and you’ve honestly taken stock of your life  and realized that you have never really produced the fruit of righteousness.  Your life doesn’t reflect the light of Jesus Christ.  And perhaps you sincerely want to know that Jesus is your Savior.  You want to be changed.  You recognize your spiritual bankruptcy and want Jesus to transform you into a child of God.  I hope that is the case.  And if that is how you feel then you are on the right track.

Coming to Christ is simply a matter of being sick of your sin, recognizing your need for a Savior and calling on Him to change you.  God has made it possible for you to have a new life in Christ.  Jesus paid the price for your sins, and if you accept Him as your Lord and Savior you can be saved.

I recently saw a video about some men that wanted to join the French Foreign Legion and I thought it might help to illustrate what it means to come to Christ as Lord.  The interesting thing about the French Foreign Legion is that it is open to every nationality in the world.  You don’t have to be a French citizen in order to join the Legion. In fact, it is known for it’s willingness to accept criminals from every sort of situation, regardless of their crimes, and offer them refuge in the French Foreign Legion.  The Legion promises them a legal sanctuary, and a new identity.  Men can escape their past and find a new life in it’s service.  The only thing that they require is that you willingly come to them, you willingly give up your identity, your passport, your personal photos, possessions, money, everything you have you are to give up to the Legionnaires.  You have to also swear allegiance to the Legion and be willing to sign up for a minimum of five years.  Then the Legionaries begin a grueling physical indoctrination where they break you down and then completely remake you into a soldier of the French Foreign Legion.

But let me tell you, God offers a lot better deal than the Legionnaires.  However, He also requires that you willingly come to Him, acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of saving, coming in faith that He is able to save you and that He is who He says He is.  He will not force you to come.  And coming to Him He requires that you  be willing to lay down all your personal possessions.  Everything you have you give over to Him for safe keeping.  Your identity, your money, your aspirations, your goals, your possessions, even your family ties must take a back seat to the Sovereignty of Jesus Christ.  When you do that, then God promises that He will take you and remake you, He will exchange your sins for Christ’s righteousness, and once you are made holy and righteous by the blood of Christ, He will put His Holy Spirit to live in you, that you might have life, and to work through you that you might be able to do the works of God.

I’m not here today to tell you it’s easy or painless - that if you just say a prayer or have some emotional experience that you can be saved.  You can come as you are, but you cannot stay as you are.  Salvation requires a full capitulation.  Everything you once held dear, you count it all as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus.  But I am here to tell you today that by the blood of Jesus Christ it is possible for you to become a child of God.  No matter who you are or what you have done, salvation is offered to you today.  I pray that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Hebrews 3:7, “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.  “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’”  Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.  But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Do you hear His voice today?  Are you listening?  Then what is your response?