Delivered

O.T. #541 "Delivered"

May 2, 2025 

Luke 8-Part 9 

LET IT GLOW

Three times Jesus has kept me alive. Once after surgery when I stopped breathing with too much morphine, another time after a colonoscopy when my potassium was depleted, and another time after a Covid shot when it was doing through my heart that I could feel. Of course, He save me a sinner, too, when I was 16. How great and merciful is our God! He is all-powerful. 

Has Jesus rescued you? Today, we will study about a man who was delivered from thousands of demons.

Jesus and His disciples went to the area of the Gadarenes. These were people from the tribe of Gad, who did not cross over the Jordan River with Joshua, but stayed on the other side. That is where the group met a demon-possessed man. What do we know about this man?

• He had the demons for a long time.
• He wore no clothes.
• He didn't live in a house, but in the tombs or caves.
• Demons controlled the man so he couldn't do what he wanted to do.

What happened when the man with demons saw/met Jesus?

They fell to the ground and cried out loudly, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God Most High? (verse 28)

James 2:19 says, Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 

The demons have no difficulty recognizing in Jesus the supremacy of God. (verse 28) The demons' fear, was not worshipful awe of the Almighty, but a selfish dread of destruction. Unlike those mentioned in chapter 4, these begged for mercy, asking not to be tormented. (Did they know the abyss was waiting for them, according to Revelation?)

Do we recognize Jesus is the Son of God Most High? Do we bow before Him like the demons did, honoring His authority?

LET IT GROW

Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (verse 29a)

Then Jesus asked him what its name was. "Legion" was the answer.

A legion of roman soldier could be numbered 3,000 to 6,800 soldiers, so the man could have been possessed by thousands of demons. What torment!

What did Jesus do? He sent the demons into the pigs on the mountain nearby. The herd of swine ran violently down a steep place and into the lake where they were choked. 

Well, that destroyed someone's lively hood. The workers ran to let the owners know what happened. What did the town people find whenever they came out to see it all?

the man who had been possessed was sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind. This must have scared the curious onlookers. 

Jesus did it. That was all the explanation which was needed. The local people told Jesus to leave, so He got into a ship and left. Before leaving, Jesus to the delivered man to return home and show how great things God had done unto him. This nameless man proclaimed the good news throughout the whole city of how great things Jesus had done for him.

Are we proclaiming what great things Jesus has done for us? Has He save your soul? Share it. Has He redeemed your life? Tell others.

LET IT GO

My friend, I pray that you, too, have been delivered from the consequences of sin-death. 

Have you asked Jesus to forgive your sins and be your Savior?