- [Narrator] Two powerful demon exorcisms in the Bible.
Number one, the Python spirit.
One of the most interesting and contentious facts
in Paul's mission occurred at Philippi in Macedonia,
where Paul exercised a demon possessed girl.
while going to the place of prayer Paul and his companions
encountered a girl with a spirit of divination.
Possessed by a demon, she was able to predict the future
and to produce other remarkable disclosures.
The income she brought to her masters
was considerable as a result.
When she met the Christian missionaries
and for many days thereafter, she followed them,
crying out "These men are the servants of the most high God
who proclaims to us the way of salvation."
Despite the facts that what she said was true,
Paul knew better than to accept testimony from demons.
Moreover, he was grieved by this girl's horrible condition.
So in the all powerful name of Jesus Christ
he commanded the demon to come out of her.
Immediately, she was freed from this dreadful bondage
and became a sane, rational person.
It actually says she had a spirit of pythona,
that may not mean much to most of us,
but pythona was a particular kind of snake, a python.
It is used here because the python was associated
with the God Apollo not far from Philippi.
In this very area of Europe there was a shrine
to the Pythian Apollo.
A lot of what fortune tellers and psychics perform
are moneymaking illusions, but in this event it is true
and has a supernatural origin.
There is no doubt that demons inspire it.
Even today there is still people who possess
the spirit of divination.
As a matter of fact, Luke writes that the girl had a python
because of her association with an oracle.
It is referred to the snake that guarded the temple
of ancient Greek god Apollo on Mount Parnassus.
Her gifts are not from the Holy Spirit.
Satan possesses a counterfeit version of each genuine gift
bestowed by the Holy Spirit.
It is likely that Paul was able to spiritually discern
that this slave girl was operating under the influence
of a counterfeit demonic gift.
During the exorcism that Paul performs,
the Holy Spirit is in no way expelled from the young woman
nor is she deprived of any genuine gifts
that the Holy Spirit may have bestowed upon her.
Demons were never trustworthy witnesses,
rather they were always deceptive.
It was the believers who had been
called to testify of Christ.
As Paul knew, friends and enemies will identify a person
so there was no need for demonic reference letters.
Paul was like Jesus, who often told demons
to remain silent even when they told the truth about him.
Mark 3:11-12,
New King James Version,
"And the unclean spirits whenever they saw him,
fell down before him and cried out saying,
'You are the son of God.'
But he sternly warned them
that they should not make him known."
The girl is said to have a spirit of divination
in the New American Standard Bible
or a spirit by which she predicted the future
in the New Internal Version.
All is troubled by what she said,
despite the fact that it served to validate his ministry.
We read, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her."
By his own authority, Jesus cast out demons.
Paul was careful to speak to demons
only in the power of Jesus Christ,
and he spoke beyond the girl to the demon itself.
With this authority of Jesus.
There was an immediate exorcism of the demon.
However, Jesus said that some demons
would be harder to cast out than others.
When Paul finally responded, the power of God
overcame the demon's hold over the girl.
She was no longer demon possessed,
but her masters bitterly resented
the loss of prophets that resulted from her exorcism.
So they dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates
praetors, and fabricated charges.
Their accusation was that they were troublemakers
trying to upset Roman culture.
After the mob reacted violently,
the magistrates ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten
and tore off their clothes.
The missionaries were sent to prison
after a thorough beating with special instructions
for the jailer to keep them secure.
In response, he placed their feet in stocks
and put them in the inner prison.
The charges against Paul and Silas were vague,
simply accusing them of being troublemakers.
Roman citizens should not have received the treatment
Paul and Silas received.
They were dragged into the marketplace
to face the authorities, stripped, severely flogged,
and thrown into prison without a trial.
After being severely beaten, Paul and Silas
were imprisoned in maximum security conditions,
commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
The inner prison fastened their feet in the stocks.
After such a bad beating,
they were put in uncomfortable conditions.
Fastened their feet in the the stocks.
Even in their pain, God was not far from Paul and Silas.
It is abundantly clear that an effort was made
to sour our relations with the missionaries
and sway the magistrates in favor of Romans.
They were completely unaware of the fact
that the missionaries were also Romans.
We see two of Satan's main methods in this passage.
His first attempt was to establish
false friendship by a demon.
When this failed, he resorted to open persecution.
It must have been a great triumph for the devil
to think that these devoted servants of Christ
would end their professions so suddenly.
His triumphing was premature as it ever must be.
In this case, it turned out to be his utter shame
and to the furtherance of the work of the Lord.
Number two, legion.
The account of Jesus casting the legion of demons
into a herd of pigs is found in Matthew 8:28-34.
Matthew 8:28-34,
New King James Version,
"When he had come to the other side
to the country of the Gergesenes,
there met him two demon-possessed men
coming out of the tombs,
exceedingly fierce so that no one could pass that way.
And suddenly they cried out saying,
'What have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the time?'
Now, a good way off from them
there was a herd of many swine feeding.
So the demons begged him saying, 'If you cast us out
permit us to go away into the herd of swine.'
And he said to them, 'Go.'
So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine
and suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently
down the steep place into the sea and perished in the water.
Then those who kept them fled
and they went away into the city and told everything
including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.
And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.
And when they saw him
they begged him to depart from their region."
According to this story, demons inhabited human bodies.
The demons pleaded with Jesus to accept their offer,
which he did.
The demons leave the men and enter the herd of pigs,
after receiving permission from Jesus.
When the demons entered the herd
they caused the herd to become crazed,
and they ran off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee.
In an ironic twist the demon's desire
to avoid eternal punishment
led to the demise of their earthly hosts.
Because it served his purposes,
Jesus had no reason not to accept their proposal.
First, it resulted in the liberation of the men
from the demons.
Second, pigs were considered unclean animals
under Jewish law, making them an ideal symbol
and safe haven for unclean spirits, i.e. demons.
Third, accepting their proposal had no effect
on the demon's eternal fate on judgment day.
More importantly, Jesus did not commit sin
by accepting the demon's offer.
Demons knew exactly who Jesus was, son of God,
and were aware of their ultimate doom.
The accountant does not explain
why the demons begged to be allowed to enter the swine.
It's possible they didn't want to leave the area
where they had been successful
in causing havoc among the people.
Perhaps they were drawn to the filthy animals
because they were filthy themselves.
The demons may have made this strange request
because it was their last chance
to avoid confinement in the abyss,
the place where evil spirits are doomed.
Revelation 9:1-6,
"And the fifth angel sounded
and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth
and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit,
and he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke
out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace.
And the sun and the air were darkened by reason
of the smoke of the pit.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth
and unto them was given power
as the scorpions of the earth have power.
And it was commanded them that they should not
hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing,
neither any tree, but only those men
which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
And to them it was given that they should not kill them
but that they should be tormented five months,
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion
when he striketh a man.
And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it
and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them."
Whatever their reasoning, it is clear from the account
that demons possessed little power on their own,
and we're powerless to act without Jesus's permission.
As Christians, we can take comfort in knowing
that the forces of the enemy of our souls
are completely under God's control
and can only act in ways He permits.
The Bible does not explain Jesus' reasoning
but demonstrating his sovereign power over demons
could be one of the reasons he cast them into the pigs.
If the pigs owners were Jews,
Jesus could have been chastising them
for breaking mosaic law, which forbids Jews
from eating or keeping unclean animals like swine.
In any case, the owners were so terrified
of being in the presence of such spiritual power.
They made no claim for restitution,
for the loss of their property
and pleaded with Jesus to leave the area.
The people were astounded but unconvinced.
They wanted no more of Jesus Christ.
This demonstrates their heart's hardness
and desire to remain in sin.
The healed demoniac, on the other hand,
displayed true faith and repentance of a changed heart
and begged to follow Jesus.
Perhaps the unmistakable difference
between the saved and the unsaved
served as a lesson for the disciples
and everyone else who witnessed the event.
Mark 5:17-20,
Amplified Bible,
"So the people began to beg with Jesus
to leave their region.
As he was stepping into the boat, the gentile man
who had been demon-possessed was begging with him,
asking that he might go with him as a disciple.
Jesus did not let him come,
but instead he said to him, 'Go home to your family
and tell them all the great things
that the Lord has done for you
and how he has had mercy on you.'
So he obeyed and went away
and began to publicly proclaim in Decapolis,
the region of the 10 Hellenistic cities,
all the great things that Jesus had done for him
and all the people were astonished."
The last two verses were quite surprising
and I believe they encouraged us to think further.
The herdsman fled and going into the city,
they told everything,
especially what had happened to the demon-possessed man.
It doesn't read especially about the pigs.
It reads especially about what had happened
to the demon-possessed man.
In other words, they emphasized deliverance, liberation,
freedom, and healing.
"Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him,
they begged him to leave their region."
Jesus demands a choice, love him and his salvation
or love your prosperity and your wealth.
Two amazing things have happened in this gentile region
both unexpectedly and through the power of Jesus.
The first incredible thing that occurred
was the two demon-possessed men were now free,
and their humanity was restored, they are no longer ruined.
Their humanity is restored to them.
This prompts me to consider another instance in the Bible
in which Satan attempted to bargain with God.
Namely the first two chapters of Job.
Satan asks God for permission to afflict Job
and God grants him permission,
which proves to be a test of Job's faith in God.
Job would have to choose between loving God and trusting him
or loving his possessions, family and health more,
and cursing God for taking them away.
In other words, God used Satan to put Job to the test.
That it appears to me is what is happening here.
Jesus enters the gentile world.
He defeats the devil.
He releases the prisoner.
He portrays himself as a great deliverer,
capable of resurrecting life and hope.
However, he also takes away a herd of pigs,
the livelihood and wealth of some community members.
The story appears to have multiple meaning.
Jesus is the divine son of God.
Second, unclean spirits are defeated by Jesus.
Jesus frees the captives
and gives hope to the hopeless, including Gentiles.