WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:24.239 I encourage you to take your Bible this morning to Matthew chapter 8. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:29.280 Matthew chapter 8 as we continue our walk through Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:37.759 I have continually been amazed and appreciative of how God works. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:45.520 We've just been doing the same thing every single week, just continually walking through Matthew's gospel. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:01:02.479 But every week it has seemed in these last few weeks and months, somehow, in some way, it has been richly appropriate to what we are experiencing and enduring in our world at the present time. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.879 And today's text fits right in with that. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:11.359 It's directly applicative to what we are facing in our world. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:14.799 It's Matthew chapter 8, beginning in verse 14. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:22.239 If you would like to follow along with your Bible or your device, I'll begin reading in verse 14 and read through verse 17 this morning. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:25.200 Again, it's Matthew chapter 8, beginning in verse 14. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:34.079 It says, When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law, that is Peter's mother-in-law, lying sick with a fever. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:40.560 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and began to serve him. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:50.000 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:54.719 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:00.000 He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:00.959 Amen. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:11.120 If we were living four hundred years ago, we would not be dealing with coronavirus, but more like the bubonic plague. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:23.360 And we would hear a sermon on this text, most likely about how priests should be able to marry, because Peter had a wife and therefore had a mother-in-law. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.319 But we are not 400 years ago. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:32.800 We are today, and that is not the main point of this text, so we will not preach that particular point. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:35.439 Instead, this passage is a summary. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:40.479 It functions as a summary of the first part of chapter 8. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:45.680 We've been walking through this chapter looking at the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:57.280 And this is the third miracle, that is Peter's mother-in-law being healed, is the third miracle highlighted by Matthew since Jesus came down from teaching the Sermon on the Mount. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:08.159 First, Jesus encountered a leper, whom he healed, but who did not then seek to obey the Lord Jesus. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:26.400 As Jesus further progressed in his travel, he arrived at the village of Capernaum, situated on the Sea of Galilee, which we found in chapter 4 of Matthew, he had made his home base of operations, and which was also the location of a home of Peter and Andrew. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:28.639 It wasn't their original home. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:31.520 Maybe they had a fishing base out of Capernaum. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:32.639 We don't know exactly. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:40.159 But Peter did have a home there, and Jesus there was sought out to heal the servant of the centurion. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:44.560 Now this is the third account, and it is yet more personal. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:50.560 We followed Jesus down the mountainside and into the coastal village of Capernaum. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:57.759 Now, in the village, we follow Jesus into Peter's own home where Peter's mother-in-law is sick. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:03.439 And Jesus heals her with merely a touch. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.159 Now most of you know what it's like to live in a small town. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.159 We're in North Dakota, after all. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.960 News travels fast in a small town, right? 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.920 As a result, the word spread like wildfire. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:21.439 And by evening everyone knew that Jesus was in town. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:30.560 And Jesus spent the rest of that evening and late into the night, the other gospels tell us, healing all who were sick and demonized. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:35.279 It's a fairly simple account. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:41.199 And at first glance, it may even have this sort of quaint kind of feel. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.240 But it is far more than that. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.000 It is far richer than that. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:52.480 But before we look more intently, let's remind ourselves of what Matthew's intention was. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:05:03.360 There were clearly an untold number of healings and miraculous events in the life of Jesus. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.959 I mean, verse 16 and 17 tells us that. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:15.680 We don't even know how many, but he spent all evening hours apparently healing people just in this one village. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:20.639 And those were just one day, one event. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.279 There's three years of ministry in the life of the Lord Jesus. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.120 How many healings were there? 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.199 How many cleansings were there? 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:34.319 Why then did Matthew choose these three? 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:37.600 Why did he choose this leper? 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.639 Why did he choose this centurion servant? 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:45.040 And why did he choose Matthew's mother or Peter's mother-in-law to include? 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:46.959 We have to know this. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.519 We have to find out why did Matthew write these three? 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:58.399 Because if we don't, then we miss grasping the entire point that Matthew's trying to make. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:04.160 And if we miss his entire point, then we will misapply the miracles to our own lives. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:07.120 So why does Matthew include these three miracles? 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.040 I think it's very simple. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:14.079 He chose them to highlight the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.319 To highlight the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:29.120 Back in chapter 4, we saw where Jesus introduced himself, he revealed himself as Israel's promised king, as the promised Messiah, as the coming one. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:34.480 And Matthew told us that he began to proclaim the kingdom because he was there. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.120 And so his Sermon on the Mount then is an expression of his kingship. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:44.879 It is an expression of the demands and the expectations of his kingdom. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:07:06.000 But at the end of that sermon, Jesus went even further, concluding that he is the one who rules over the kingdom of heaven, and therefore he has the authority to grant entrance or to deny entrance into his kingdom. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:13.120 He said that only those with genuine faith in him will be granted entrance. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:23.199 And the distinguishing mark, he told us at the end of chapter 7, of those with genuine faith is obedience to the word of God through Christ the King. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:33.920 Those who believe in Christ have some knowledge of who he is, they have some grasp of his authority that motivates them to follow him and to obey him. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:38.399 And it's only those with faith that obeys who will enter the Lord's kingdom. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:40.319 Maybe that surprises you. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:44.319 If it does, you're not alone. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.959 Because it astonished the crowds that followed him as well. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:53.920 It astonished them because Jesus spoke with one who had authority. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:08:07.519 Not as someone who pretended to have authority or merely spoke authoritative words, but he spoke as one who actually possessed the authority to command people to obey. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:21.279 You are likely familiar with it, where we have that great commission where Jesus said, Go and make disciples of all nations. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:23.199 But do you remember what he said just before that? 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:30.879 In chapter 28, verse 18, Jesus says to his disciples, all authority has been given to me. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:40.720 Not some authority, not partial authority, but all authority has been given to me. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:42.720 That's how the gospel ends. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:54.080 So all throughout this gospel of Matthew, we have this sense, this theme of authority of Christ running all the way through it. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:04.159 But from chapter 7, verse 21, all the way through chapter 9, verse 8, we sort of have this book within a book. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:08.399 Because we find some, we can call them bookends. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:19.919 In chapter 7, verse 21, we have this discussion that begins, this authoritative sense that involves the crowds being amazed at Jesus' authority. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:25.200 Then in chapter 9, verse 1, you can look at that with me just briefly. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:39.600 Chapter 9, verse 1 and 2, Jesus is again near the Sea of Galilee, and some friends bring a paralyzed man to Jesus with the intention that he's going to heal him, of course. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:48.240 Jesus doesn't immediately heal him, instead, he forgives his sins, which instantly erupts a controversy. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.320 Because who could forgive sins except God alone? 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:01.360 See, Jesus knew that the paralyzed man's greatest problem wasn't his paralysis, it was his sin. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:06.080 And Jesus healed his greatest problem. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:09.840 That created a controversy. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.759 Notice in verse 6 what Jesus says in response to the controversy. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:25.360 So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he then said to the paralytic, Rise, pick up your bed and go home. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:27.360 And he rose and he went home. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:35.120 And when the crowd saw it, they were afraid and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:36.320 There's the book in. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:47.679 And where we are is right in the middle of that thread that's very strongly about the authority of Christ. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:57.840 And so the first three elements that highlight the Lord's authority are those three miracles of healing. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:02.000 The leper, the centurion servant, and Peter's mother-in-law. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:14.879 I want you to think back with me through those three elements, those three miracles, as we sort of recap and remind ourselves of where we've been, of what has been pointed out to us from Matthew's gospel. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:22.240 First, with the leper, we saw the Lord Jesus demonstrate his authority to cleanse from judgment. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:34.399 We saw from Pastor Anton how leprosy in the Old Testament is continually associated with this sense of judgment, for sinful rebellion. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:44.159 Leprosy was a very vivid and public sign of God's displeasure with a person's sin. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:50.720 That disease made the person unclean. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:57.200 And as a result of being unclean in the Jewish law, they were driven into seclusion. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:10.080 Imagine living COVID-19 in your own home, not able to go out, not able to be with people, not able to go out and shop with everybody else for your entire life. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:19.519 And if you did go out, you were required to shout out unclean, unclean, unclean, so that people could purposely avoid you. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.879 That was the man's life, and it was a vivid demonstration of God's displeasure and his sin. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:34.000 Jesus cleansed that leper. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:44.799 With a touch and with a command, he removed the disgrace of God's judgment on his life. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:54.000 With a touch and with a word, he removed the visible demonstration of God's displeasure. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.480 What grace and mercy is that from the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:03.840 And what was the response from that leper to that grace and that mercy? 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:13.519 Sadly, it was not to honor the Lord Jesus' authority through obedience to his word, but instead to go and do his own thing. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:19.039 He did what he thought was right instead of what the Lord Jesus commanded him to do. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:27.519 Then in the centurion situation, we saw the Lord demonstrate his authority to heal with merely a word. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.919 You can look back at that and see it for yourself. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:45.440 Jesus was on his way to the centurion's home to heal the centurion's servant, but the centurion sent word to him saying, Lord, I'm not even worthy for you to cross the threshold of my front door, much less my back door. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:46.240 Don't come in. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:47.919 I'm not worthy. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.080 Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.039 We don't know how far apart they were. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.159 They were in the same village, the same community. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:03.519 Very least, there's several blocks, several houses away. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:05.440 Maybe much further than that. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:10.080 Jesus was not in the sick person's presence. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:15.360 And yet he healed the servant. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:26.320 Through that, he he showed his authority to admit a despised Gentile soldier into his kingdom. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:38.000 While at the same time declaring that many who thought they already had their ticket to heaven hadn't gotten on the train yet. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:48.480 It was a slap in the face to the prototypical Jewish faith that rested its hope on its ethnicity instead of on genuine faith. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:15:00.000 So Jesus taught those Jewish crowds what faith was like, and he did it through the faith of a Gentile soldier. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.120 And then we come to Peter's own home. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:08.960 And there in Peter's own home, the Lord Jesus demonstrated his authority to heal without a word. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:17.279 A mere touch is all that was needed to restore a woman to health. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:25.120 These three demonstrations of power and authority are incredibly unusual. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:36.559 Before this moment, Naaman, the Syrian, was the only person in the pages of Scripture cleansed from leprosy. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:39.279 He's the only one. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:48.639 So this is at best very, very rare in the hearing of the people of Israel. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:58.559 And Jesus cleansed the man so completely that he could go and offer proof of his cleansing to the temple officials. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:06.480 If this was anything like what we know today as Hansen's disease, it could be very, very atrocious. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:08.639 People could lose their fingers. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:12.960 There are records of people losing their ears, their noses. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:26.639 And yet Jesus healed this man so completely, so perfectly that he could go and offer proof, visual proof, of God's mercy and grace to the temple officials. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:28.799 He didn't go, but he could have. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:34.399 See, Jesus didn't partially heal, he fully restored. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:42.799 So we've seen then that there's authority that exists in the Lord Jesus, authority of divine judgment. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:45.759 There's authority over sin and forgiveness. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:50.480 There's authority over the composition of the human body when the leper's restored. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:52.320 Jesus acts as creator. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:53.519 He acts as judge. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:54.720 He acts as God. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:57.120 There can be no doubt who Jesus is. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:04.720 If you have any questions when you come down from the mountainside hearing the Sermon on the Mount, these remove all doubt. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:13.200 They prove that Jesus has the authority to proclaim and to demand what he says in his Sermon on the Mount. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:17.599 He displays authority over heaven and hell. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:25.920 He displays authority over eternal punishment, over space and distance, over time and physical barriers. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.960 There's authority over the paralysis of the human body and whatever causes that paralysis. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:37.680 That's not the fake healings of modern TV healers who promise to heal you if you give them a donation. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:40.880 This is true authority. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:59.759 The term that Matthew used in verse 6 of the centurion servant lying down, paralyzed, and Matthew's mother-in-law lying down in verse 14, sick with a fever. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:03.359 The word for lying there is the same word. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:13.200 And it's not it's not a soft kind of word that indicates that you know they didn't feel very well, and so they went to their bed and laid down. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.720 It's a word that means that they were body slammed. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:24.400 That this this illness, whatever it was in these two individuals, sort of picked them up and just threw them to the ground. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:33.119 Devastating, devastating illnesses. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:40.960 In fact, you might remember from Luke's gospel that how Luke records the centurion servant is that he was on death's door. 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:47.279 He was in such bad shape that they were afraid he was gonna die before Jesus could heal him. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:57.119 These are devastating situations, if not for the authority of Christ over his creation. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:04.960 To Jesus, they are merely another aspect of his world that obeys his authority. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:07.200 There's more. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.519 Jesus exercises authority over cultural barriers. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.480 It was not culturally appropriate to touch a leper. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:20.160 If you did, you were unclean. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.759 It was culturally unacceptable for a man to touch a woman in public. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:29.119 Yet he touched Peter's mother-in-law. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:36.079 This is where the current doctors in medicine will appreciate scripture. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:40.079 It was culturally unacceptable to touch someone who had a fever. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.880 And yet Jesus touched her. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:54.640 These instances did not taint the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:08.799 They did not infect him, they did not impact him in any way because he was the one promised by the prophets who would come to take away our illnesses and carry away our diseases. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:10.319 Why? 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:17.759 Because he has perfect and complete authority to restore what the curse of sin has corrupted. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:24.720 There was no grafting, no skin grafting surgery for the leper. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:27.519 That was not required. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:33.200 There was no months-long or years-long regrowth of healthy skin needed for the leper. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:37.920 It was go, show the proof to the priests now, today, do it. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:42.480 How could he do that if he was not perfectly cleansed? 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.240 Instantaneously. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:50.079 The servant didn't need to go through physical therapy to strengthen his paralyzed limbs. 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:53.920 Sorry, PT folks, Jesus put them out of business in that time. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.240 We're thankful for you now, though. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.640 Peter's mother-in-law had a fever. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.920 You remember how you feel after you've had a fever? 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:08.400 Feels like you've been hit by a truck, right? 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:10.960 What did Peter's mother-in-law do? 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.160 She got up and she served Jesus. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.400 Apparently, no effects left from her illness. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:24.880 My friends, there is healing in the hands of the King. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:35.279 And that healing is based in his perfect and complete authority, authority that resides only in the creator of all things. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:58.880 Is it any wonder then why the Apostle Paul would write of Christ Jesus, for by him all things were created, whether in heaven or on earth, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things exist. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.680 What have Jesus said? 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.319 To a disease or to a virus, thou shalt no longer be upheld. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.720 Poof, it's gone. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.799 There's compassion here in Jesus too that we can't miss. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:17.759 It's easy to miss. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:26.000 When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw the sick woman and he healed her. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.160 You see how amazing that is? 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:31.759 The leper. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:35.200 The leper came asking to be healed. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:39.200 The centurion servant. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:49.839 Remember, Luke tells us that the elders of Israel came to Jesus on his behalf, appealing, continually appealing for Jesus to come and heal the servant. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.119 Here Jesus walks in. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.599 Peter doesn't say anything. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:59.279 Big mouth Peter is silent. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:01.839 What does Jesus do? 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:04.480 He sees his mother-in-law lying sick. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:06.640 He instantly knows what's going on. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:08.880 And he touches her. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:18.079 Grace and compassion flow from his hands without so much as a simple request. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:24.720 As he so often did, Pastor Charles Spurgeon spoke so eloquently of this. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:31.519 He said, Jesus lived in a hospital, and it was a hospital of incurables. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:40.480 It contained many distressing cases, yet in none of them was he overmatched. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:50.880 He dispossessed the devils who possessed poor men and women, not only calling them out, but casting them out with sort of a divine violence. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:54.880 And then he says, Jesus feared no fever. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:05.440 No wonder then that as the day ended, Mark tells us that it was a Sabbath day. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:16.000 So everybody's in their homes resting, celebrating the Sabbath, and as the sun goes down, the Sabbath ends, and they come pouring out of their houses to seek out Jesus because they've heard he's back in town. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:17.599 No wonder. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.039 Jesus feared no fever. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:31.839 And in the end, in almost a passing comment kind of way, we're told of yet another element of the Lord's authority. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.799 He has authority over the demonic world. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:44.400 We're going to see this in greater detail later on in the chapter when Jesus heals two men with demons. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:56.160 But here, Matthew just wants us to know that there is a vast, unseen world surrounding us, and Jesus possesses authority over every bit of it. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:04.319 You know, the pages are full of some very specific language about the spirit world. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:08.319 Of course, we know about holy angels, righteous angels. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:10.960 We know about the demons. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:23.599 Scripture refers to those demons as rulers, as authorities, as cosmic powers, as spiritual forces of evil. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:34.240 The Gospels and the book of Acts show us again and again that evil forces have the power to ravage human beings, to impact life and life events in this world. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:38.000 Satan is called the ruler of this dark world. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:43.599 And God the Son stepped into the domain ruled by Satan. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:47.279 The word of God took on flesh and dwelt among us. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:50.480 And the word of Christ took on the ruler of this world. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.039 And when he spoke, crowds were astonished. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.200 When he spoke, the servant was healed. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.759 When he spoke, demons obeyed. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:12.160 Interestingly, in the few centuries before Jesus, the apocryphal book of Tobit says that the way to get rid of demons is to go fishing. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:14.240 Seriously. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:30.160 You go fishing and you catch a fish, and then you gut the fish, and you take the fish's heart and the fish's liver, and you burn them like incense in front of the demon-possessed person, and the demon will smell that burning and leave the person. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:32.480 Really? 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:39.519 You can find out more crazy methods that they tried through the Jewish historian Josephus. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:44.960 Jesus simply speaks. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:47.200 And they obey. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:52.319 With a word. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:55.359 Why? 00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:57.519 Why? 00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:58.559 Why is that? 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.720 There can be only one answer. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:03.359 Jesus is greater. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:14.160 He has an authority and a power and a position that is greater than anything else in the spirit world, anything greater than righteous angels and evil angels. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.559 The only being greater than angels is God Himself. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:23.680 You can read the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1, delineates that Jesus, the Christ, is greater than angels. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.119 He is God Himself. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:29.039 And so it is, He dispossesses them with a word. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:40.240 Is it any wonder then why God makes it clear that this book that we possess today is his word and that it carries the authority and the power of Christ Himself? 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:47.039 Never underestimate, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the power of the word of God. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:28:02.960 It was even provided to us as an example in the life of the Lord Jesus in chapter 4, when he was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights without food and water, and Satan himself came to tempt the Lord Jesus in the midst of those weaknesses. 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:16.960 And Jesus responded to the temptations, not with divine power, not with power that resided in himself, not with authority over Satan, but he relied upon the authority that is in the written word of God. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:19.839 He quoted the written word of God. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:31.200 The believer, my friends, in the Lord Jesus Christ has been given everything needed for life and godliness in the sufficient and authoritative word of the living God. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:38.400 Why then would we ever want to turn to anything less? 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:51.519 We must beware of our innate desire to spurn the word of God, to turn it away for something less. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:58.079 Eve in the garden turned to the word of the serpent. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:07.200 And from that time on, people have been turning to insufficient means instead of to the sufficient word of God. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:13.039 It's powerfully illustrated in the book of Judges, where over and over and over again people did what was right in their own eyes. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:18.880 They looked at their own wisdom, they looked at their own experience, their own understanding, and lived life in light of that. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:22.319 And it led to a devastating cycle. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:36.319 In the last days of Israel's existence as a nation, before being carried off into captivity by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, God spoke to them through the prophet Jeremiah. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:40.720 And he said, My people have committed two evils. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:45.599 Number one, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:50.480 And number two, they have hewed out cisterns for themselves. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:55.839 Cisterns that are broken and that can hold no water. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:00.079 Choosing insufficient things. 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:12.079 The very first house that my wife and I owned, it was built up on the top of a hillside, on top of a hill, outside of a little village. 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:17.039 And when we first moved in there, there was no city water and no well. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:22.480 Instead, we had a concrete cistern that was built right along the side of the house. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.559 We had to have water hauled in every couple of weeks. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:34.160 It was a frustrating experience for many reasons, but one of them is because it leaked. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:48.559 God says, when you forsake me and you forsake my word, you're pursuing those things that are insufficient. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:31:04.319 When we look at Matthew's gospel, especially these sections in chapter 7 and chapter 8, we see the primary attribute of the word of God that Matthew wants us to see, like a neon sign in the sky, is the authority of the word of God. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:08.480 It demands obedience, it demands respect, it demands proper treatment. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:14.640 We must not act like the king of Judah who took the scroll of God's word and fed it to the fire. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:17.839 In utter rebellion. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:26.160 Instead, God's people stand in awe of his word because we know its power, right? 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:34.480 We know its authority, we know its sufficiency, we know its draw on our souls, all of which come from the one who speaks this word. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:40.400 And that is the response of genuine believers in the king whom they have come to love. 00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:46.240 They're like Peter's mother-in-law, who responded to his grace and his mercy with loving service. 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:57.599 And then we read, at the end of that day, that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:04.400 And he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:09.599 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:14.240 He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:23.119 Twelve times in 28 chapters, Matthew says, This is a fulfillment. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:34.160 Twelve times he says that specifically, many more allusions to Old Testament fulfillments, but twelve times he specifically says, you need to know this is what God promised. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:37.440 This is a very specific fulfillment. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:43.519 And here he highlights Isaiah 53, the passage about the suffering servant. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:51.839 Suffering servant in Isaiah 53 is the promised Messiah, the promised king, the one who is to come and bring salvation to Israel. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:54.720 And Jesus, Matthew says, is that person. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:57.440 This is all about Jesus. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:03.440 Notice in your Bible all of the pronouns referring to Jesus. 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:05.920 In verses 14 through 17. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:12.160 He saw, he touched, they brought to him, he cast out, and so on. 00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:19.119 In the way that Matthew wrote this, those are all included in the verbs. 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:20.799 So there's not a separate word. 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:26.559 It's he carried or he took as this part of the verb itself. 00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:32.559 There's one difference that Matthew kind of pulls out and says, here's the one that has emphasis. 00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:36.000 And that's in verse 17 when he quotes Isaiah. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:37.599 He took. 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:43.920 He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. 00:33:45.039 --> 00:34:04.799 Here, Matthew not only reminds us that as the promised Messiah, Jesus' healing work was not only anticipated, but that it is proof of his ultimate purpose to come and heal the sin that causes diseases by making atonement for it. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:16.000 You see, in the context, Isaiah 53 is all about sin and spiritual salvation from that sin provided by the Messiah, the suffering servant. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:20.320 It details how the coming one will heal from sin. 00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:32.960 And Matthew brings that in and he says that Jesus' compassionate work of sympathizing with sicknesses and diseases of the people is part of the Messiah's work. 00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:34.960 It doesn't save from sin. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:38.400 Healing doesn't bring eternal salvation. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:48.639 Deliverance from demons doesn't automatically mean deliverance from hell, because the root of all causes, the root of all sickness, all disease, and all demon activity is sin. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:53.440 Without the sinful pride of angels, there would be no demons. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:59.440 Without the sinful choice of our first parents, there would be no sin, no disease, no sickness. 00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:09.760 And Jesus, as the suffering servant, had come to pay for sin, and in that coming, he faced the destructive elements of sin. 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:12.960 The destructive results of sin. 00:35:15.119 --> 00:35:31.199 And Matthew tells us that those who experienced and witnessed these healings and cleansing witnessed the proof that Jesus was indeed the one who would come to heal us of our greatest problem. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:34.079 Problem of sin. 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:43.679 His complete work as the suffering servant would pay the price for sin. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:53.119 And when Jesus paid the price for sin, he would provide the way for perfect healing and perfect restoration. 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:56.400 In the atonement on the cross, Jesus dealt with sin. 00:35:56.639 --> 00:35:58.719 He dealt with death and sickness. 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:03.760 And someday in the future, all will be forever removed from God's creation. 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:16.159 So these healings are meant to be astounding because they give clear proof and evidence to the authority of Jesus as the creator and the Lord of all. 00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:23.920 Wonderful and miraculous are the works of Jesus. 00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:29.119 Freedom is provided, health is restored. 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:40.880 But those gifts given to those people serve to point us directly to the greatest gift of all promised through Isaiah. 00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:51.039 Eternal healing that can be had through the King, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. 00:36:52.480 --> 00:37:00.800 You know, this was recorded by Matthew many, many years, probably at least a couple of decades after the Lord Jesus returned to glory. 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:18.000 There were some healings by the apostles that we see in the book of Acts for several years, but the healings and the release from demons naturally declined. 00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:29.039 So what hope is there for those who don't have healing, who don't have recovery from reading these things? 00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:32.960 Matthew's very first listeners, they would read this and say, that's not going on today. 00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:34.320 Jesus isn't here. 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:47.840 Matthew brings in Isaiah 53 to remind us that through Jesus, there is a resurrection hope for everyone who believes. 00:37:48.719 --> 00:38:04.960 There is a hope that will bring with it the final crushing of sin and the release of all of God's creation from the curse of sin, so that God's people will be perfectly and forever free from sickness and disease. 00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:11.599 That requires us to recognize that this life is not all there is. 00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:14.559 There is more to come. 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:21.119 And it is greater and more glorious than anything we could experience here. 00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:26.639 Do you suffer under the burden of disease? 00:38:28.559 --> 00:38:33.519 Do you bear the weight of sickness and cancer? 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:41.840 Have you felt the soul crushing of death? 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:48.719 Then look at these demonstrations of Jesus' power and authority. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:51.840 Look at them and see him. 00:38:53.599 --> 00:38:57.440 See him, the one who possesses all authority. 00:38:57.599 --> 00:39:02.719 And now trust that in him one day he will heal everything. 00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:10.239 So there are two defining truths of this summary passage. 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:14.320 One is the authority of Christ's Lordship. 00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:18.000 And the second is his power to heal. 00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:21.760 Who is your authority? 00:39:24.719 --> 00:39:26.719 Who is Lord for you? 00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:31.360 Whose directives do you obey? 00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:33.599 Is it Jesus? 00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:35.039 It should be. 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:39.360 It must be if you are to be in his presence in eternity. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:45.440 But really, in the day-to-day moments of life, who is your Lord? 00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:48.480 Who is your Lord? 00:39:48.639 --> 00:40:00.719 If you give yourself freedom to sin in a particular moment, then self is Lord, not Christ. 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:10.079 If you whine and complain about the demands of Scripture, are you not whining and complaining about the authority and the sufficiency of God? 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:21.519 If you listen more to yourself than you do to your Lord, if you remind yourself more of your own experience instead of what Christ Himself has said, then who really is your authority? 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.559 Thinking about sickness and disease. 00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:39.679 I want to upend what we hear popularly on television and from health and wealth proclaimers. 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:44.079 It is God's intention. 00:40:44.639 --> 00:40:49.679 It is fully God's intention to bring ultimate and perfect healing to everyone. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.079 But it is not for the present. 00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:59.920 He has promised and he will do it. 00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:14.480 But he has promised to do that when all who oppose Christ have been crushed and he rules over all, bringing with it perfect restoration without sin and without any of sin's consequences. 00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:29.519 And so we are reminded that sickness and disease that cannot be remedied in this life or that costs us greatly in one form or another all point us directly to our desperate need for Christ. 00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:33.440 The Christ who heals, yes. 00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:48.880 But ultimately the Christ who brings perfect and complete healing through the blood of his cross and his future victory over sickness, disease, and death through the crushing of sin and Satan forever. 00:41:50.559 --> 00:41:58.480 And everyone who trusts in Jesus, the King, the Messiah, the great healer, has that hope. 00:41:58.719 --> 00:42:02.719 And you can rest in that hope. 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:06.320 May that blessing be yours this week. 00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:06.880 Let's pray. 00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:14.639 Lord Jesus, we come and we bow before you in humility, acknowledging our inadequacies. 00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:18.320 Lord, too often we rely on our own strength. 00:42:18.639 --> 00:42:21.920 We rely on our own wisdom, our own experiences. 00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:24.320 We don't trust your word. 00:42:24.559 --> 00:42:25.840 We don't trust your authority. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:27.440 We don't rest in you. 00:42:28.800 --> 00:42:33.760 Forgive us and cleanse us and restore in us a heart that longs for you. 00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:37.519 That seeks to obey you. 00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:43.679 And by your spirit work within us to cause us to walk more fully in line with you. 00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:49.599 Help us to see and to rest in the power of your great might. 00:42:51.519 --> 00:42:59.119 Yes, to heal physically because you are the possessor of heaven and earth. 00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:01.039 You are the creator of all things. 00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:17.039