This demonic exorcism is not recorded in any of the other gospels, but there are similarities with several others. Despite the simplicity of this scripture and sermon, I am praying that it will be a blessing to us all. May the Lord use it to bring another person, possess by sin, to a saving relationship with the Saviour. And if not that, may there be lessons here for the saints of God.
Here was a demon-possessed man WHO WAS BROUGHT to Christ.
“As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.” Most of our Bibles have an editor’s punctuation mark before verse 32 – a paragraph symbol. I have no intention of editing your Bible or trying to remove that symbol – I think that it should be there. While saying that, none of us have any way of knowing how much time passed between those paragraphs. We have the healing of the blind men, and then the words “as they went out.” The pronoun “they” could refer to the two blind men, or to the Lord and His disciples. The general rule is that a pronoun refers to its closest preceding noun, but does that always apply when there is a new paragraph involved? This could have taken place the evening of the blind men’s cure – or the next morning as Christ and the disciples left their accommodations to go about their ministry. Or, I suppose that it could have been even on a much later day. We don’t know the exact details, but I’ll tell you what I think that it means.
Whether later that night or early the next morning, we see that the Lord Jesus was kept very busy. There was a constant demand upon His time, so much so that it was essential He take vacations once in a while. He didn’t do that as yet, but He’ll have to do it soon. But of course, the omnipotent God has no problem with multitasking, and He needs no rest or sleep. God can do ten billion things all at once, because He is not confined in power or to time, as we are. But here was the Lord Jesus, who deliberately chose to take up human flesh somewhat like you and me.
He had no more hours in the day than you and I. Perhaps he didn’t need as many hours of sleep as I need, or what a baby needs. But still, there was a limited number of things that He could do in an 18-hour day. For three and a half years, Christ was kept very, very busy.
Either early in the morning as they left the house, or late in the evening when the last guests had gone, a demon-possessed man was brought to Him. Was this man dragged against his will – or against the will of the demon occupying him? Possibly. Whether against his will or not, there were people who were concerned about him. They may have been relatives who loved him; they may have been concerned neighbors. They may have been citizens who were tired of having to support his family, because this husband and father was caught up in the snare of Satan.
As I have suggested before, in this bringing we have an illustration of the work of the Christian. Despite what the professional evangelist might say, you and I are not going to save any sinner. You and I are not capable of casting out demons, granting forgiveness of sin, or bestowing eternal life. Such things are the work of God. Only God can forgive sin, and it’s only through the atonement accomplished by Christ Jesus. All that we can do is to bring those people to the Saviour. We can bring them to Christ through prayer. We can bring them to the house of God, where, hopefully, they can hear a bit of the gospel. And we can even bring them to the Saviour by giving them the testimony of our salvation. We might look at these verses and conclude that this is all about the grace and power of Christ. We might study this passage as another example of the deity of Christ at work. While that is certainly true, the fact remains that had this man not been brought to Christ, there might have never been a glorious “casting out.” One of the lessons of this scripture is that you and I have a work to do for the glory of the Lord and for the benefit of people around us.
The man was brought and THE DEVIL WAS CAST OUT.
I have to admit that we are not directly told that this man was voiceless because of the demon. It could have been incidental that he was speechless and possessed as well. But the implication is that he was dumb – silent – because of the demon. “And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake:”
And if that is the case, then this demon was different from those which we have seen earlier. Most of those introduced to us in the Bible were quite loquacious – they seemed compelled to talk. I can’t tell you why, but apparently this devil rendered the man speechless. Apparently neither the demon nor the man could protest that he didn’t want to meet Christ. Neither the demon nor the man shouted blasphemies or testimonies to the person of the Son of God. There is a lot that I don’t know or understand about Satan’s emissaries, and the speechlessness of this man and the devil indwelling him is one of those things. But the situation was clear to the bystanders – the formerly silent man, was made to speak.
I can’t tell you why the man was speechless, but I can tell you a little bit about how it was so. The Greek word translated “dumb” literally means “blunted” or “dull.” It is used fourteen times in the Bible, and it is translated two ways. Listen to these three verses from the Book of Mark where that word is used – “And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.” “And (they) were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.” “When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” In each of these verses the same Greek word in our text is translated “deaf.” The reason that this man could not speak may have been related to the fact that he had never heard. Perhaps he didn’t know how to use his tongue – much like Helen Keller asa child.
As in almost all of the other cases in this chapter, the man’s malady rendered him unfit or excused from the worship of the Lord. Certainly he couldn’t sing the praises of the Lord. And he didn’t hear the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. If he had been a Levite or a priest, he was unfit for service because of his problem whether it was demon-caused or natural. He needed the Saviour. And in that he is an illustration of us all.
And in his case the Lord once again cast out the invading spirit creature. I don’t know whether you have noticed or not, but I have not very often used the word “exorcize.” “Exorcize” is not a Biblical word, but that hasn’t really been the reason that I have avoided it. Friday, I looked the word up in the “On-line Dictionary” which I access over the internet. The details in their definition are interesting. It is a verb – “to expel or attempt to expel (one or more evil spirits) from (a person or place believed to be possessed or haunted), by prayers, adjurations, and religious rites.” Notice that Christ never used prayers, adjurations or religious rites to cast any evil spirit. That definition was preceded by a parenthesis which read “Spirituality, New Age, Astrology and Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems.” In other words, the word “exorcize” takes us to superstition and theological heresy. I may from time to time slip up and use the word, but I will try not to do so. The Greek word is “ekballo” (ek-bal’-lo) – the Lord “exballod” that evil spirit – He cast it out.
I wonder how exactly this “exballiation” took place. Did the Lord order the devil’s departure, or was it forced to depart by the mere presence of deity? We are not told, and I suppose that it really doesn’t matter. Because of God’s grace and power, the dumb man could once again hear and speak. Was this the first time in his entire life? Had he been possessed from birth? We don’t know for sure.
Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have been one of Christ’s disciples that day and to experience all the rest of the story?
Once again, THE MULTITUDES MARVELLED.
There were several periods in Israel’s history when there were public and private miracles performed. For example, there were some during the days of Moses. The Ten Plagues could be classified as miracles, but there was nothing like this. And then there were some during the exodus and the forty years in the wilderness. But the miracles of Moses were all on a national level, not individual blessings. For example, there was water out the rock, flocks of quail, and the parting of the Red Sea. Then there were miracles during the days of Elijah and Elisha. Most of these were personal miracles – sustaining starving people, and raising the dead. But during that time were devils or demons clearly and unmistakably casting out? When had there ever been such an abundance of healings and resurrections? Indeed, “It was never so seen in Israel.” And if it hadn’t been seen in Israel, then we might also say that it had never been seen anywhere else.
Again I point out that such things were expected from the coming Messiah. We have already looked at prophesies about Christ coming from Isaiah and from the Psalms, so I won’t belabor the point. I’ll just remind you of Psalm 98 which we read earlier. The new song; the song of the New Testament and the song of the Millennium will be filled with new things. “O Sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation; his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen” – and in the sight of Israel.
It needs to be pointed out once again, that it is easy to make people marvel, but it takes the grace and power of God to enable people to believe. There were hundreds who were stunned and awestruck at the miraculous power of Christ. There were many who were convinced that this miracle-worker must be the promised Messiah – the Kingdom of God must be at hand. But there were very few who believed on this Christ, and who yearned for salvation through Him. There were those who marveled, and those who became mediocre disciples, but there few who became true followers and loving believers of Christ. Which of those describes you?
The multitudes may have marvelled but THE PHARISEES BLASPHEMED CHRIST.
The word “blasphemy” is not found in this scripture, but it is described here. To “blaspheme” is to “speak reproachfully,” “to revile,” “to calumniate.” The Pharisees declared that what Christ was doing was through the power and authority of Christ’s greatest enemy. That was a lie – a malicious lie designed to harm the work and reputation of the Lord Jesus.
Before we come back to this, it might be important to consider what they didn’t do or say. Here was the Lord Jesus healing crippled people, restoring sight to blind eyes, and even raising the dead. What the Pharisees could not do in the face of these miracles was to deny the miraculous reality. As I pointed out last week, they will try that with the man who was born blind in John 9, but it didn’t work. “The Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. and they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.” Try as the unbelievers might to undo the miracles of our Lord, they cannot be undone.
Rather than denying these miracles – because everyone knew these people – what the Pharisees did was to say that Jesus worked miracles by the power of Prince fo the devils – by Satan. The Lord willing, we will study a very similar case to this demon-possessed man as found in Matthew 12. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” I am not going to study this prince of the devils at this time; we will await that chapter. But Christ clearly declares that these Pharisees were referring to Satan. “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.” Let it suffice at this time to say that the Pharisees were ascribing Jesus’ power to Satan. Since they had no answer to the miracles, they were speaking reproachfully, reviling, calumniating.
In a related matter, do you know the general reason why people blaspheme, curse, swear and generally use filthy language? Some will say that it is habit; they can’t help but talk that way. But do you want to know the general, underlaying reason below the habit? I say without any fear of contradiction – they do it because they are stupid. People curse, swear, and call others filthy names, just like these Pharisees, because they don’t have an answer; they don’t have anything better to say. People curse because they are too stupid to learn a proper word to place in that sentence. It is not cute, smart, macho or brave to use filthy language – it is stupid and sinful. These Pharisees felt that they had to say something, so without anything worthwhile to utter, they blasphemed the Son of God.
Now before I move on to our last point, let me try to make another modern application. The casting out of this demon is another illustration of the salvation of God. And here you are. Some of you are better illustrated by the palsied man, or the woman with the blood problem. Some of you are best illustrated by the sick and dying servant. We are all illustrated by the dead child. But here you are – many of you have been healed, cleansed – resurrected. And the more that you shout the praises of the Saviour – the more the wicked of this world are going to blaspheme in reply. Those people can’t very well calumniate the Saviour, so they will turn their blasphemies upon you. They may say that you are a church-goer, because you aren’t man enough to put your wife in her place, and refuse to attend. You are a tea-totaller, because you can’t hold your liquor. You are a Christian, because you are too stupid to believe the atheistic scientists. You are a holier-than-thou Puritan; a dooms-day-er; a Bible-thumper; a sissy; a panty-waist. Let them sling their slights, their blasphemies, and even their filthy names. Their names cannot change, deny or undo what the Lord has done in your heart. Granted, those words may sting, but they cannot sting as much as the thorns which your Saviour wore in His passion and death. You Saviour heard a lot worse than you will ever hear as His ambassador.
The multitudes marveled at Jesus’ miracle, the Pharisees blaspheme, but THE LORD JUST CARRIED ON.
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” Neither the number of people needing the Lord’s grace, nor the attacks and slanders of the wicked, slowed the Saviour from the work He intended to do. His face was steadfastly set toward Jerusalem, knowing full well what awaited Him there. Praise God that Lamb of God knew what He was doing. Praise God that a sacrifice has now been made which was sufficient to meet our deep needs.
Have you humbly knelt before this Christ who can heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the sinner? Do you still need deliverance from your sins and the sin in which you were born? Repent before God, put your faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cover your sin before God.