A Man from the City Who Had Demons - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Luke 8:26-39 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 01/02/2022 in Novato, CA.















Sermon Manuscript







Last week I mentioned we had started into a new section that went through the rest of the chapter. It’s a section showing the power and authority of Jesus. Last week we saw Jesus’ power and authority over nature as he calmed the storm. This week we see his power and authority over demons. This again reveals something of the identity of Jesus as God come in the flesh. It also reminds us of the reality that continues to be for us – the reality that there are spiritual forces of evil in this world who are at work against us. We ought not to turn a blind eye to this reality. Yet, as Christians we are also reminded that we have one entirely more powerful than them in our hearts. So then, let us dig into today’s passage as we consider such things.







We begin in our first point to consider the state of this demon-possessed man. The setting from last week’s passage was that Jesus and his disciples were on a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. Now, in our passage they land on the opposite side of the lake, in the land of the Gerasenes, opposite of Galilee. Remember, Galilee was the northern territory of Israel. Israelite territory at that time was the region of Judea in the south, with the region of Galilee in the north, with the Samaritans in between in the region of Samaria. But all that Israelite land would all have been west of the Jordan River. At that time, the Jordan River would have been the eastern border of the Israelite regions. The Jordan River flows through the lake in the north known as the Sea of Galilee. And so then, Jesus and disciples had started on the west side of the lake in the Galilee area and taken it to the east side of the lake. This is my long-winded way of noting that they are no longer among Israelite territories. Now, they are in the broader region known as the Decapolis that ran roughly along that eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, including the land of the Gerasenes. This was an area full primarily of Gentiles. Not only does the geography tell us that, but the fact that there was such a herder of pigs here does too, as pigs were were ceremonially unclean to Jews.







So then, Jesus right away encounters this man who was so afflicted and demon-possessed. Notice the poor man’s estate caused by this demon somehow inhabiting him. He was naked. Of course, God had given us clothes after our fall into sin and in our shame and we realized we were naked. So, this man is left uncovered and exposed by the demon. He was also not living in a home but among the tombs. In other words, he is habitating among death. How fitting for a demon to want him to dwell there. It says that this man had been repeatedly seized by the demon in some way, verse 29, which may mean that it was causing him to have some seizures or go into some frenzied fits. He apparently was then giving cause for concern when this happened, either for himself or for others, because it says that they then bound and shackled the man. Yet, in amazing strength he would break the bonds and would run out to the harsh desert or wilderness. So, this man was in a bad place!







So, then we find out that the man’s demon is actually many demons. Jesus asks him his name in verse 30. The demon answers that his name is Legion and then we are told him that many demons were actually entering him. The term of legion was actually a Roman military term. A legion in the Roman army was a force of roughly 6,000 soldiers and 120 calvary. I don’t think the name of Legion for the demons means that the number of demons was exactly 6,000. But surely this is an analogy that there was a mighty force of demons possessing and afflicting this ma...

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