Digging Deeper – For My Good and His Glory
And they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He had come out onto the land, He was met by a certain man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs. 28 And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.” For He had been commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard; and yet he would burst his fetters and be driven by the demon into the desert. 30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 And they were entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain, and the demons entreated Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission. 33 And the demons came out from the man and entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned. 34 And when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. 35 And 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 And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well. 37 And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to depart from them for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat, and returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons and gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.’ And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
Luke 8:26-39
FOR MY GOOD AND HIS GLORY
Do you think that you are a good person? If you are a good person, then there was no need for Jesus to die to pay the penalty for your lack of goodness (sin). Right?
I am confident that the demoniac was considered to be a good person at some point in his life. After all, he had a house to go home to; the townspeople were making every effort to keep him from harming himself; they knew him in a personal way. He must not have always been demon-possessed! But he found himself in this state of uncontrollable rage brought on by Satan’s minions, meaning brought on by Satan!
So I ask again, are you a good person apart from what Jesus has done in your life personally to make God the Father see you as good, to see you as He sees His Son?
If you think you are good, the Word of God (seed) begs to differ with you.
Romans 3:10-12:
“There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” (See also Psalm 53:1-3.)
In my personal experience, when I have thought of myself as being “good,” when difficult times came, I sent up a compulsory prayer and then went to work.
Just like I believe the disciples did when the storm came upon them on the Sea of Galilee!
They probably thought, “This is not good, and Jesus could probably help, but we have professional fishermen on this boat, and Jesus is exhausted, so we can handle this storm ourselves.”
Who knows how long they strained at the oars and bailed water until the fear of nature (or the enemy, which are sometimes the same thing) took over and they cried out to Jesus for help?
I mean, Jesus was in a DEEP sleep, so it must have been a while that they struggled (unless Jesus slept like my wife sleeps; “Good night,” and she is out like a light; but I digress, and I am NOT bitter about it).
Bottom line, the disciples thought they were good enough to handle the storm without God’s help. The ship was literally sinking by the time they woke Jesus up and asked Him the most incredible question, found in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4, verse 38:
“And He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’”
I mean, who would ask such a question of God the Father, or His Son, or the Holy Spirit, for that matter? I mean, who would do that? Of course God cares, right?
I would, and I have, and I know Him fairly well. They would, and they did, and they knew Him VERY well!
FEAR makes even believing people do stupid things.
And there are different kinds of fear, aren’t there? There is fear of loss (life, position, possessions, relationships), and there is fear of consequences or of authority.
In the parable of Jesus calming the sea, we see the disciples’ fear of death, or loss, AND the fear of authority. In the story of the healing of the demoniac, we see the fear of God’s authority.
But God’s authority can bring either peace or fear, and it changes us.
The demoniac had a healthy fear of Jesus’ authority over his life, and it brought him so much peace that he wanted to follow Jesus.
The townspeople had great fear of what they had seen Jesus do, a true miracle, but the fear made them want Jesus to leave. They were not changed at all.
Fear does not always change us for the better; in fact, sometimes I think it can make us bitter.
The bottom line is this: IT IS GOD ALONE THAT CHANGES A HEART!
In fact, we have no ability in and of ourselves to understand the things of God apart from His Spirit allowing us to. (Remember Ephesians 2 from yesterday.)
1 Corinthians 2:14 says it best:
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
So once again, if you are feeling the hand of God on your life; if He is tilling the soil of your heart; if He is exorcising your demons; then you are His, and He will use you for your good and His glory.
Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7), and you will be changed.
Tomorrow, we will look at God’s perfect sovereignty!
He loves you so much forever!
Quite simply, Dave Griffith loves getting to know Jesus better by studying His Word daily and is passionate about teaching his siblings in Christ how to study His Word as well. He is passionately in love and like with his helpmate, Jackie; and is most fulfilled when he is hanging with his 10 kids (3 of his, 2 of Jackie’s, 3 are married, 2 more spiritually adopted) and 9 grandkids. He is a small group leader and a men’s group leader. He is a serial entrepreneur owning or having owned numerous businesses. He also enjoys naps!