RCA – Nipper (click to view picture)
Raise your hand if you don’t know the title of this painting. Do you know what this painting was used for? Does anyone
know the dog’s name?
The title is “His Master’s Voice” and it was the logo for several phonograph companies, including RCA. Phonographs
were record players – the forerunners of CD players. RECORD. You couldn’t really carry them around and listen to
them.
But this picture represented the idea that the sound was so good from this record player that a person’s pet may not be
able to tell the difference between the real voice and a recording. Today with CDs and mp3s and other media, the sound is
MUCH better – we could confuse poor Nipper much better now.
Nipper knew his master’s voice, but was unable to distinguish whether it was real or recorded. Some of us may be in a
similar position – we think it is our Master, but we’re not sure. Some of us know our Master’s voice well and can
recognize imitations and fakes. Some of us, if we were truthful, would have to admit that we don’t know the voice of the
Lord Jesus. I want to help us with that today – all of us. As we begin, let’s ask for our Master’s help to get to know His
voice. PRAY
We are in the Gospel of Luke in our series “A REAL Human Life.” The Lord Jesus lived life the way God wants all of us
to live it. As we look at Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, hopefully we are getting the idea and seeing that it might really be
possible that our lives could be like His by God’s power working in us. We get to see some more of that today. Turn to
Luke 8:22-25. READ.
This sections starts with those interesting words again – “now it happened…” God chooses His words carefully.
Whatever “it” is, it happened by design – God arranged for “it” to happen this way. God had plans for “it,” whatever “it” is
going to be. Could this possibly be true in our lives? Could God have plans – eternal purposes – for what happens in our
lives? What if you and I approached our circumstances with that mindset? How might we look at life differently?
So, it happened one day that Jesus got in a boat with His disciples. This must have been a pretty big boat – I don’t know
how many of His followers got in with Him. We assume it was just the 12, but there could have been more. Last week we
saw that a lot of women traveled around with them, too. So this boat was big enough for at least 13 people and probably
quite a few more.
Jesus told the disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” The lake would have been the Sea of Galilee. It is a
lake about the size of Spirit Lake up at Okoboji if you’ve ever been there – about 5 miles wide and 10 miles long. MAPS
ISRAEL They were in Galilee somewhere on the NW side of the lake and they were going to the SE side by Gadara or
Gergesa. And as they sailed, Jesus fell asleep – another indication of how big this boat was – they weren’t stacked on top
of each other, there was enough room for Him to lie down and sleep.
As we look at the MAP and the area around the Sea of Galilee, you can see the topography around the lake is kind of hilly
– maybe even mountainous. In my study, I found that from time to time, wind storms come down the mountains and blow
across the lake, stirring up the water terribly. One of these “happened” while they were crossing from NW to SE. And
this one was fierce. Their boat started to fill with water as the waves hit and splashed over the sides. There may have been
some kind of cabin on this boat or Jesus was able to sleep while being splashed with water. I think there was probably a
cabin.
The water in the boat and the condition of the storm became so serious that the disciples were literally in danger. So they
finally woke Jesus up. Jesus’ response shows us – for one thing – that in every circumstance of life – safe or dangerous –
we are SAFE when we trust God and do what He says. When people live as real humans are supposed to live, no matter
what the circumstances, God can and will show Himself in us and through us.
Jesus got up from His sleep and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. What does the word “rebuke” mean? The
Greek word here means to “forbid.” “I forbid you to continue.” And what happened? The wind stopped and the water
became calm. And then Jesus says something that blows my mind – “Where is YOUR faith?” Why didn’t YOU stop it?
Why would He ask that if He didn’t mean that they COULD have stopped it? So, once again, by Jesus asking that
question to the disciples, it is obvious to me that He did not pull out any God powers to stop the storm. The real human life
was demonstrated again by Jesus – sleeping in the midst of danger, speaking with authority given by God the Father to
affect even the elements of nature. Where is YOUR faith? Why didn’t you rebuke the wind? Why didn’t you believe that
God wanted to keep you safe and deliver you?
Will God calm the storm for us? Does God want us to go around chasing tornadoes like on the Discovery Channel and
force them back into the sky? Does He want us to go down to the Gulf Coast and stand on the beach and yell at
hurricanes? Should we go out into the fields in the summer and deny the hail from falling? I don’t know – maybe He
DOES want us to do those things. But it is not a matter of showing off or doing tricks for people to see. Jesus always
lived in the closest relationship with the Father and that caused Him to react the way He did.
Things like this are not dependent on our desires. It isn’t even dependent on whether there will be damage done or not.
Jesus tells us in John “I can do nothing except what I see the Father do. I say nothing except what I hear the Father say.”
Jesus KNEW His Master’s voice – and Jesus DID what the Father told Him to do. We’re going to look at the next
experience that happened and then we will talk about knowing our Master’s voice.
Luke 8:26,27. READ. WELCOME TO THE GADARENES! Did this man just happen to be there and Jesus was
unlucky enough to hit the shore at the wrong time? Is that how our God works? God directed the boat to the exact spot
He wanted.
When you are put in circumstances where you have the opportunity to live and speak for Jesus, do you see them as a
hassle or unlucky? Do you roll your eyes? What if everything that happens in your life is organized by God for you to live
for Him? That’s not a question really of “what if.” It is a statement that I want ALL of us to think differently about – that is
EXACTLY what God is doing in every situation of your life. Are you taking all the opportunities He is giving you?
This extremely needy person comes up to Jesus as He gets out of the boat – naked, dirty, wild – according to Matthew,
there were 2 men (we’ll address that in a minute). Look at the next thing that happens. Luke 8:28,29. READ. Luke didn’
t tell us what Jesus said at first to the man – commanding the unclean spirit to come out of him. The story kind of unfolds as
he tells it. But Jesus commands whatever has control of this man to come out. And the man falls down in front of Jesus
and yells at Him.
What do I have to do with YOU, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? There is genuine fear and terror in this demon’s
voice. And there is also the tone of hatred and ridicule. Demons know who God is, they know who Jesus is, but they don’
t believe He will stay who He is. They believe that He can be overthrown somehow. AND they completely misunderstand
His character. I beg You, do not torment me. I’m a VICTIM because of what You’re doing to me.
Look at what happens next. Luke 8:30-33. READ. I just have lots of questions about what happened here. First – what
ARE demons? Is there a difference between a demon and an unclean spirit? Is there a difference between demons and
fallen angels? I think I have kind of always thought that demons were fallen angels. But recently I have been introduced to
an idea that has merit biblically.
In Genesis 6:1-4, before the flood of Noah, there is a statement that opens the door for some unusual possibilities. READ.
We’re not going to delve into the possibilities at all, but there is the opening for what would be soulless beings that resulted
from the union of fallen angels and human women. If an angel and a human produced a child, there would be all kinds of
weird and scary results. You may be hearing more about this in the pretty near future.
But let’s get back to Jesus and this wild man on the beach. Jesus asked the name of the demon. Why? As far as we
know, Jesus never refers to these demons by name. As He always did, Jesus trusted the Father and did what He said – so
He asked what the demon’s name was. One reason may be that we need to know what we’re dealing with in the spiritual
realm before we step in. The people around this man probably knew he was demon-possessed, but they may not have had
any idea HOW demon-possessed he was.
Obviously Jesus needed to make it clear that there was not A demon here, but numerous. And the numerous demons start
to try to make deals with Jesus. Don’t send us to the abyss, send us into that herd of swine over there. Another question –
why was there a herd of swine – pigs – in Israel? According to the Law of Moses pigs were not to be eaten or even
touched by Jews.
Either the owners of these unclean animals were more concerned about the fortune they could make serving pork to the
Romans who lived in their area OR there were a lot of closet pork chop eating Jews in that region. Jesus ended up dealing
with a couple of problems at the same time. He removed the demons from this man AND He got rid of a herd of unclean
animals.
But why would Jesus not send these demons to the abyss? Why would He allow them to move out of the man and go to
the pigs? Jesus lived totally dependent on the Father – He did only what He was told to do. So the Father determined that
His eternal purposes would be better served by sending these demons into the pigs. One part of His plan was to release
this demon-possessed man. Another part was to rid the land of an unclean stain.
Notice, by the way, that to the demons, there was no difference between dwelling in the man or dwelling in pigs. Warren
Wiersbe commented that a pig is as good as a man in Satan’s eyes. The only concern of the demons was not to be sent to
the abyss. This is a place the Bible talks about where demons cannot perform their mischief and ruin peoples’ lives. They
are bound and awaiting judgment.
Jesus allows them to go into the swine, which immediately go insane and rush to their deaths in the lake. We don’t know
for sure what happens to the demons at this point – except what we can put together logically. There could have been no
righteous reason that God would release these demons from this man and then allow the demons to bail out of the swine
right before they died and go infect other people. That is not God’s way.
It does not stand to reason that from one man came up to 2000 demons (according to Mark’s account of this story) and
those demons go ruin the lives of 2000 other people at the command of Jesus. I think Jesus sent them to the swine, at the
direction of the Father, and when the pigs died, the demons were bound in the abyss anyway.
Now I mentioned that Matthew says there were two men here. Is this one of the famous Bible contradictions? Matthew
says 2 – Luke and Mark say a man. John doesn’t mention this account. Luke and Mark’s accounts don’t prohibit the
possibility that 2 men could have been there. What if one of the demon-possessed men was better known in the
surrounding region? There’s another possibility, too, that we’ll bring up in a minute.
Luke 8:34-37. READ. Everyone who heard about this incident went to the scene to see what had happened. They knew
this demon-possessed guy. They knew how destructive and unruly he had been. The crowd gathers and sees this man
sitting with clothes on and at the feet of Jesus and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
This demon-possessed guy has been a bother and a terror to us for years. What kind of a Person must this Jesus be to fix
him? Then the pig keepers told the whole crowd how it happened – how thousands of demons came out of him and
entered the pigs and then the pigs went crazy and ran down to the lake and drowned. And instead of people being thrilled
for the man and celebrating that the demons were gone, they were terrified.
They weren’t just terrified that someone was actually able to deliver this man from demons. They were terrified at how
many demons were there. They were terrified that Jesus – another man – had the ability to not only drive out demons but
also tell them where they could and could not go. What if He started messing with OUR lives?
1 John 4 – perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. These people – a lot like the demons Jesus had just
cast out – only saw the possibility of torment from Jesus. Jesus, led by the Father, directed by the Father, saw very little
faith in that region, so He left.
BUT the one demon-freed guy came to Jesus. Luke 8:38,39. READ. Maybe another reason why Luke and Mark only
mention one guy is because only one of them came to Jesus this way. Jesus didn’t let the guy stay with Him, but He told
him to return to his house and his family and let people know what great things GOD has done for him. The guy left and
went home and he told people everywhere what great things JESUS had done for him. God worked through Jesus.
Could God work through you? By the way, do you think Jesus took the glory for what God did? Knowing Jesus and His
total dependence on the Father, we can be certain that He didn’t. Jesus couldn’t keep this man from declaring whatever
the man wanted. Jesus made it clear to the man, though, that it was GOD who deserved the praise and celebration. It was
God’s work that should be proclaimed.
Are we any different? Should that not be our purpose and mission – that God would be glorified in whatever He does
through us? Are we listening to our Master’s voice? Not like Nipper, but like Jesus – listening in order to do what He
shows us to do and say what He tells us to say.
In order to live like that, we MUST know His voice. How do we know the voice of our Savior? How do we know the
voice of our Shepherd? How do we know the voice of our Master? There are lots of voices out there:
- movies - blogs - people you know
- music - radio - people you don’t know
- news channels - TV shows - our own thoughts
- on and on and on
There is only ONE trustworthy voice – the voice of the TRUE God – the Master – the Maker – the Good Shepherd – the
Savior. How can we do what He says if we don’t know what He sounds like? In his book “Experiencing God” Henry
Blackaby looks at how God speaks to people in the Bible and comes up with several common things. God speaks to us
through the Bible, through prayer, through circumstance and through other believers.
He speaks through the Bible. Do you read your Bible? I mean read the BIBLE – not books about the Bible. Not songs
based on the Bible. Not notes IN your Bible by famous Christian authors. Are you listening to the voice of your Shepherd
and Master from the Bible? God Himself wants to tell you what He says – in His own words. We have a real tendency to
get His info from other people and in other ways. But we miss His voice if we don’t hear it from Him directly.
We have Bible studies going on that get us IN the Bible, hearing from God Himself. On Sundays we go through the Bible
verse by verse, looking at what God says. BUT this is NOT studying – this is hearing. You can certainly still respond to
what you hear, but each believer, each follower of Jesus MUST be able to distinguish the Master’s voice for himself.
God also speaks through prayer. I am thinking about doing a brief series on prayer when we are done with the Gospel of
Luke. We are to pray believing – without any doubting. We are to ask for specific things. We are to ask according to
God’s will. We are to ask in Jesus’ name – according to His character. We are to communicate with God – talk to Him
and listen to Him. He speaks in prayer.
God speaks in circumstances, too. You may have heard of “open” and “closed” doors. Sometimes things like that are
good indicators of God’s voice – but they are not the only indicators. In fact, think about the apostle Paul and the difficulty
he often encountered. Look at the life of Jesus and the resistance He met. Had Jesus and Paul looked at those things as
“closed” doors, they never would have gone anywhere or done what God had called them to do.
Sometime, though, we can clearly see things put in order on a certain path. God, in His sovereignty, puts things together in
ways that show us the next step to take. He speaks through circumstances.
And He speaks through other believers. And let me throw in here – although it should go without saying – He speaks
through other believers who are truly following Jesus. To get advice or guidance from people who just claim to be
followers of Jesus, but don’t actually do what He says in general, is dangerous.
If we sense God’s leading and we see the Bible allows it and in prayer we have confidence and the circumstances seem to
be lining up, then we should consult some followers of Jesus who have been followers for a long time. We should talk to
people whose lives demonstrate consistency in their relationship with the Lord.
If all four of those seem to be in agreement, we can be fairly certain that we are hearing our Master’s voice. And, by the
way, our Master’s voice would never tell us to be dishonest or be hateful or be immoral or be self-centered or self-
righteous or judgmental or foolish. Our Master’s voice would never tell us to go against something He clearly says to do or
not to do.
Hearing our Master’s voice – our Shepherd’s voice – requires spending time with Him. Which sheep are the most
vulnerable to danger in the flock? Which gazelles do the cheetahs go after first? The young and the injured. Satan goes
after the young in faith much harder and the injured in faith much more recklessly. The young in faith may not recognize the
voice of their Master well. The injured may not be strong enough to withstand the attacks of the enemy.
There is a reason God tells us in 1 Timothy to not appoint a young believer as an elder. Knowing the voice of the Master
takes time and closeness and devotion. This is not to say that young believers can’t hear the voice of their Master. But
they should learn to check out what they think they are hearing with the Bible and prayer and the circumstances and with
older believers.
Hearing the voice of your Master comes from …hearing the voice of your Master. As you seek Him, you will find Him.
As you trust Him and do what He says, you will come to know His ways and come to know His voice. As He involves
you in His purposes and His activities, you will recognize His voice and experience His works.