Matthew chapter 8. So for those that are visiting for the first time just so you
know on Tuesdays we're currently going through the book of Matthew. So every
service we're just going chapter by chapter and today we're up to Matthew
chapter 8. But look at Matthew chapter 8 verse 27. Verse number 27 Matthew 8 27.
This is after Jesus Christ calms the storms and the seas. It says in verse 27
but the men marveled saying what manner of man is this? The title of the sermon
tonight is what manner of man. Okay and then this is this is something that the
disciples are saying to themselves because they're saying just the amazing
miracles that Jesus Christ has been doing. You know he's been healing the sick.
He's been casting out devils and we get to the point where even nature itself
obeys the commands of Jesus Christ. Like what manner of man is this? You know who
are we dealing with here? You know ultimately they knew who he was. They had
placed their faith in him but still as they saw him perform all these miracles
it just amazed them. It just made them realize wow you know this
Jesus is a great God. But let's start off in verse number 1. Matthew chapter 8
verse 1. And when he was come down from the mountain great multitudes followed
him. Now this is something you'll notice in the ministry of Jesus Christ that as
he was going from town to town from village to village from city to city
there would be great multitudes following after Jesus Christ. Okay now
one thing if you read the Bible you come to realize this is that this wasn't
Jesus's preferred way of doing ministry. Okay it was great that he had the
multitudes and he taught them and he healed them but it's not the way he had
planned to go about his ministry. He had planned to go from city to city you know
and one thing with the multitudes it was something that would slow him down and I
want to bring that to your attention because as you read through the Gospels
you'll notice Jesus says certain things and you might be scratching your head
why is Jesus saying that? And we'll look at that soon. Look at verse number 2.
And behold there came a leper and worshiped him. Hey what do you think this
leper has realized about Jesus Christ? Are we commanded to worship man or an
angel? No you know the Bible very clearly instructs us that we only are to worship
the one Lord God the God of the Bible and so when we see the leper come and
worship Jesus what do you think he's admitting to right there? He's admitting
to the deity of Jesus Christ. He's admitting that he's placing his faith
and his worship on Jesus Christ. What does it say in verse number 2 saying
Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and you know what I think that's a
great way for us to bring our prayers and supplications before Jesus Christ
before God. You say God look this is something these are needs that I have to
be met these are sicknesses that I'm struggling with but Lord if thou wilt if
it's your will Lord you can make me clean. Lord if it's your will you can
provide me these needs. If it's your will you can heal me from these sicknesses
and these illnesses. It's a great way to approach God in prayer. Let's look at
verse number 3. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. I want you to
notice that that he touched this man. This was a leper okay. The danger was if
you touch someone with leprosy that you could become contaminated by that same
sickness. This is why lepers were required to be away from the camp away
from the city so they wouldn't affect other people but we see Jesus with his
compassion with his love reaches forth and touches the man saying I will be
thou clean. So we can see that it is the will of Jesus Christ to have healed this
man and he commands that sickness be thou clean and immediately his leprosy
was cleansed. Hey you know what Jesus Christ was not the TV evangelist. He was
not that charlatan going around claiming they could heal all these people. You
know when you see these TV charlatans going out you know and healing people
there's this like long winded process. They bring them up on the stage and they
say oh you know what's wrong with you. How long you been suffering with this?
You know what's the issue? And then you know they're praying maybe maybe in
tongues as it were in their style and it's a long winded process for
entertainment you know and then even then the person comes off the stage not
fully recovered. Alright but when we see when Jesus Christ heals someone it's
instantaneous. It's immediate. He heals them. They're healed. It's not it's not a
show okay and it's immediate. But look at verse number four. And Jesus saith unto
him see thou tell no man. Hey is that what your TV evangelist wants? No you
know they so called heal someone and they want the whole world. They want you
know they put on TV for a reason. So everybody can watch and be amazed. Wow
look at this healer. But that's not Jesus Christ. He heals them. Says look tell no
man. And the reason I bring this up is because I already mentioned that the
whole the multitude following Christ wasn't his intention. He wasn't the
preferred way for him to go about doing it. So if he says tell no man he's
preventing other. Others from coming. You know other great multitudes coming and
as we read through this chapter you'll notice that Jesus is actually trying to
get away from the multitudes. But verse number four. See thou tell no man but go
thy way. Show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for
a testimony unto them. Thank you brother. It's pretty hot today huh? It's worse
here than it is in Queensland. Can't believe it.
All right. So he heals the leper. He commands the man to go see the priest
and show himself. Now that's a commandment. You don't need to turn. They'll
just read to you from Leviticus 14 verse 2 which says. So the instructions to a
leper. If they believe they've been cleansed. If they believe they've been
healed. It says here this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his
cleansing. He shall be brought unto the priest and the priest shall go forth out
of the camp and the priest shall look and behold if the plague of leprosy be
healed in the leper. So the reason I read that out to you. I just want to show you
that Jesus Christ is commanding this leper to go about and follow through
with the law of Moses. To follow through of the Old Testament laws. Because as
Jesus Christ was doing all this work the New Testament had not yet come into
effect. The Old Testament was still running. Which is why it's important
because we know that Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law and not to destroy it.
And we see that Jesus Christ is very careful to make sure that people are
following the law of God. He commands him to go and show yourself to the priest.
But he says to him, look tell no man. Because as you know if you went around
saying well Jesus healed me from my leprosy. You're gonna have all these
multitudes come in. You know in addition to the multitudes that were already there.
And Jesus Christ was trying to go about his way in an orderly fashion.
Jesus Christ was like I said trying to get from town to town to city to city.
You know his intention was to go everywhere. Okay but the great
multitudes would slow him down. Let's look at verse number five.
And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum they came unto him a centurion
beseeching him. So now we have a Roman centurion. A Gentile. Not a Jew. Not an
Israelite. You know but a Roman centurion some of that had heard of
Jesus Christ and we know this man had placed his faith on Jesus. We know this
is a believer. We know this man is saved because of what Jesus says about this man.
Okay let's keep reading verse number six. And saying what does a Roman
centurion say? Lord my servant life at home sick of the palsy grievously
tormented and Jesus saith unto him I will come and heal him. Hey this is a
Roman centurion. This is a man with authority. You know a centurion is someone
that has at least a hundred soldiers under his command. Maybe more. Okay and he
has servants and we see the heart of this man that he even loves his
servants. To the fact that this servant is struggling with sickness he goes all the
way to find Jesus so he could come and heal his servant and Jesus says unto him
yeah I will come and heal him. Hey did Jesus just come for the Jews? What do we
see in this passage? We see this as we go through the Gospels chapter by chapter
is that yes Jesus first came to the Jews but if the Gentiles came seeking him he
made time for them. Okay he says look yeah I'll come with you. All right I'll
get I'll come away from this multitude that's following me and I'll come and heal
your servant your one servant you know of a Gentile Roman soldier. Verse number
eight and then these are amazing words please you know just just take in the
words of the centurion because even even these words amazed Jesus Christ.
Verse number eight the centurion answered and said Lord I am not worthy
that thou shouldst come under my roof but speak the word only and my servant
shall be healed. Why is that relevant? Because we just saw not long ago
Jesus Christ healing the leper and what how did he how did he heal him? By
touching the leper. All right that's fine nothing wrong with that but now we see
that the Roman centurion come and says to Jesus look I know you don't even need
to come Lord you don't even need to be under my roof all you need to do is
speak your word you know I have faith in your word Jesus I believe in who you are
I believe you just have to say it Lord and my servant will be healed and we see
the humility he realizes having Jesus having God under his roof is too much
for him. He says look just speak it it's just you know and let's keep reading
verse number verse number nine he says for I am a man under authority having
soldiers under me and I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and
he cometh and to my servant do this and he doeth it and when Jesus heard it he
marveled. How do you marvel Jesus? How do you marvel God? I always take
time to reflect when Jesus is amazed when Jesus marveled this must be
significant and it is how did he marvel him when he heard it he marveled and
said unto them that followed verily I say unto you I have not found so great
faith no not in Israel Jesus says look of this Centurion, Roman
Centurion he says I've not found anyone with greater faith than this man in all
of Israel in all the Jews all my disciples you know everyone that that
he's met across his path he says it's this Roman Centurion this Gentile has
the greatest faith that I've seen you know yet in Israel what an amazing thing
you know and what was it he believed that Jesus Christ could come and heal
his servant well not even come just speak the word and heal him and this
Roman Centurion realizes hey look I'm a man under authority and I'm a man that
has authority what's he saying about Jesus I know you have authority I know
you have authority over sicknesses over the devils over whatever it is Lord you
have that authority and I know I can call on that I know you can just speak
your word and you can heal my servant what an amazing faith that this
Centurion had do we have that faith guys you know we read through these stories
but we need to reflect and how do we apply this to us you know do we have
that great faith do we honestly think when we come before the Lord and we
bring our prayers before him that he can answer it if it's his will you know I
think sometimes we because I sometimes have doubts you know honestly you know
just just just the the flesh of man you know I come before the Lord and I bring
these requests I'm thinking Lord can you even answer him sometimes they're
things that I didn't expect can happen and then they get answered praise God
you know sometimes God can work in you even with someone of little faith in
fact all you need is the faith of a mustard seed you know that we read about
in the Bible let's keep going verse number 11 and this is very significant
in verse number 11 and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and
west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven now I just have to cover this I've probably covered it before sometimes
I get confused with what I've preached in what I've preached in Queensland
because I'm going through the book of Luke over there so sometimes I get
confused but look there is a error in our churches in our in our in our circle
of churches amongst our independent Baptist brethren okay and they have this
teaching called dispensationalism I've covered it before okay and one of their
dispensational errors is there in verse number 11 it says in the kingdom of
heaven don't point to the kingdom of heaven and say well that's for the Jews
okay am I right brother that's what they say that's for the Jews and the kingdom
of God well that's for the Gentiles okay what do we see here in verse number 11
who's who's there in the kingdom of heaven yes Abraham yes Isaac yes Jacob
praise God these great men of faith in the Old Testament are there but who else
that many many shall come from the east and west who is he referring to there
the Roman centurion okay the Gentiles people that are not from Israel people
that are not the Jews many will come that includes you and me Reverend unless
you're a Jew then I guess you're fine but besides that you know Gentiles
everyone that has put their faith on Jesus Christ will come and sit down with
Abraham Isaac and Jacob and and and and eat bread in that kingdom of heaven to
come an amazing promise we're gonna be able to shake hands with these Old
Testament sites that we read about in the Bible like look at these great men
we're gonna sit down with them and have dinner with them we're gonna have lunch
whatever is that's on the menu you know that the manner of heaven will be there
with these people look it's for all the kingdom of heaven is not just for the
Jews it's for all mankind everyone that has put their faith on the Lord Jesus
Christ I'm just gonna read to you from actually can turn there if you want turn
to John chapter 10 John chapter 10 keep your finger in in Matthew chapter 8 and
go to John 10 John 10 15
John chapter 10 verse 15 the Bible says as the father knoweth me even so know I
the father and lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have which are
not of this fold Jesus look I've got other sheep that's not of this fold
referring to the Jews okay I've got other sheep then also I must bring and
they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd look Jesus
does not have two folds he doesn't have one fold of the Jews and then you're
you're gonna enter into the kingdom of heaven and I've got another fold of the
Gentiles or the Church Age and you're going to enter into the kingdom of God
and there's this crazy teaching honestly cause that they believe that there's
these two grips and they'll never cross paths even into eternity you know when
God creates new heavens and new earth they teach that basically the new earth
is for the Jews and the new heaven is for the Gentiles it's like what in the
world look Jesus Christ has one fold there is one people of God okay your DNA
is irrelevant your DNA is irrelevant go back to Matthew chapter 8 Matthew
chapter 8 in fact we're all one blood okay why should your DNA make you any
make you special when we're all of Adam and Eve we're all of Noah okay in the
flesh but are we saved because of our flesh no the Bible says we must be born
again we must be born of the Spirit we must be a seed of Jesus Christ
regardless of the physical seed that you are but back to Matthew chapter 8 verse
12 please Matthew chapter 8 verse 12 and it says this but the children of the
kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth the children of the kingdom who's he talking about he's
talking of the Jews okay because it was the kingdom what was for the Jews Jesus
Christ is the king of the Jews he did come to Israel he did come to show
himself the king of kings and the Lord of Lords to save sinners he did all
these great works in all these towns in Judea of course he came for the Jews but
so many of them rejected him and praise God many also believed on him but by
and large Israel as a whole rejected Jesus Christ and those that rejected him
those that were supposed to be the inheritors of the kingdom of children
the kingdom Jesus says they should be cast out into outer darkness and be
cast into the lake of fire okay and the Bible describes it as a place of
darkness as well by the way but I want to about that right now it says there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth okay and look praise God if you're saved
you're escaping a place where you would be weeping and gnashing of your
teeth I mean the torment would be so great that you just be sorrowing all the
whole time regretting the fact that you rejected Jesus but you're also gonna be
gnashing your teeth you're gonna be in pain you know just grinding your teeth
together hey praise God if you're saved you've avoided this place and it's a
free gift what do you have to lose you know free gifts you know we should
understand how important the knowledge that we have is the gospel is and the
need for us to get out there guys because look there'll be many from the
east and the west we're gonna find in in Australia other people from the east and
the west to come and sit down and be part of this kingdom of God all right
now um please turn to Matthew chapter 3 I'm going to show you this Matthew
chapter 3 verse 7 Matthew chapter 3 verse 7
because the Pharisees just just never learnt they just struggle with this
teaching the whole time Matthew chapter 3 verse 7 and when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them Oh generation
of vipers who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come bring forth
therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within yourselves we
have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham so we see look this is this is not the
first time even John the Baptist is preaching against the Pharisees you yeah
you're physically a child of Abraham so what God can make these stones children
of Abraham if he wants all right your DNA does not matter it's not what
literally makes you the spiritual children of Abraham and just going to
quickly read to you from Galatians 3 28 it says there is neither Jew nor Greek
there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus and if ye be Christ's then a ye Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise hey I can say to you with full confidence I am
Abraham's seed hey this was written to the Galatians these are this was a
Gentile Church and he says to the Gentile Church hey you're Abraham's seed
because you're in Christ you're in Jesus Christ and your heirs according to the
promise your heirs of the kingdom of God as of the kingdom of heaven praise God
that we are we can say you know we full assurance not because our DNA but
because of what Jesus Christ has done for us that we are children of Abraham
praise God back to Matthew chapter 8 verse 13 Matthew chapter 8 verse 13 and
Jesus said unto the centurion go thy way and as thou has believed so be it done
unto thee and his servant was healed in the self same hour so now we move on to
another story and when Jesus was coming to Peter's house now who's Peter we know
who Peter is right he's one of his apostles and the Roman Catholic Church
will say Peter is their first Pope all right and we know that the Roman
Catholic Pope's you know they commanded to be celibate they commanded to to not
get married so let's see what the Roman Catholic Church has to say here verse
number 14 and when Jesus was coming to Peter's house he saw his wife's mother
what wait a second wife Peter had a wife how can he be the first Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church of course he was not okay that is that is tradition
that's a myth that's not true Peter was married Peter had a mother-in-law he saw
his verse number 14 he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever so his
mother-in-law here is sick with a fever all right verse number 15 and he touched
her hand and the fever left her and I'm not notice how quickly when Jesus
Christ heals I mentioned that before you know he it's instantaneous okay when
Jesus Christ he was noticed not just is she healed but then it says and she
arose and ministered unto them so you got this lady who's probably half dead
in bed Jesus Christ comes and heals her Jesus doesn't even say hey take it easy
get your rest recover your strength no the whole strength has been recovered
she's back to full operating mode and she goes and ministers unto them she
goes and serves them maybe a meal and water and whatever you know cleans their
clothes or whatever it is that she was doing to minister to them immediately
as soon as she's healed she was able to go and be productive you know and you
know we can take the application here of salvation you know as soon as you place
your faith on Christ it's not some process it's not like well now I'm
working to my salvation and I've got to get to a point where I'm saved no it's
instantaneous you're saved immediately you're washed by the blood of the lamb
and guess what as soon as you're saved you're ready to minister you're ready to
go and preach the gospel to your family and friends you've heard the great news
it's simple it's a free gift it's that its simplicity in Christ you can go and
minister immediately just like this woman has and you know you don't have to
be a stay ten year seasoned church member to go soul winning you can be
saved and you can go straight soul winning you know how you got saved just
share the same news to to your loved ones all right verse number 16 and when
sorry when the even was come they brought unto him many that were
possessed with devils and he cast out the spirits with his word and he would
all that was sick they might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses so I
don't have too much to build on there but I'll just read to you from the
reference that he's been referred to there when it says spoken of Isaiah the
Prophet that's Isaiah 53 verse 4 I'll just read it to you which says and this
is a great chapter of Jesus Christ but it just says surely have borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God
and afflicted and he was wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for
our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes
we are healed something that I didn't really realize until I read the Bible
through a few times you know we often talk about Jesus Christ when he died on
the cross he died for our sins you know he paid the punishment for our sins but
it's more than just that when you look at it because look at the inverse number
17 it says saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses so
when he died on the cross he also took on our sicknesses our infirmities all
that pain you know and it says there in Isaiah 53 not just that but he carried
our sorrows you know our he was wounded for our transgressions and so you know
it's more than just a sin but it's basically all the pain you know the
whole curse that was brought on mankind that was brought on this earth for being
sinners all of that was put on Jesus Christ when he paid for our sins on the
cross verse 18 and when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment
to depart up unto the other side so I just want you to notice that so here's
obviously this is the Sea of Galilee and it says that he's he's commanded his
disciples because they had ships to be brought over to the other side of the
sea say why did he do that verse 18 now when Jesus saw great multitudes about
him it got to a point where the multitudes was just so great you know
that he wasn't effective anymore obviously you know I can lift up my
voice I can preach to you guys you can hear me and obviously if this was a
little longer they'd probably hear me but if you could imagine there's a great
multitude of people it'd be hard just to preach it'd be hard to teach it'd be
hard to get around everybody Jesus we got to move on from here guys so he
asked him to take him on a ship to the other side okay and on the other side of
the Sea of Galilee it was the land of the Gentiles by the way we'll look at
that now verse number 19 so now it's on the other side of the Sea of Galilee it
says I'm not sorry not yet not yet but as I was about to do that verse 19 it
says and a certain scribe came and said unto him master I will follow thee with
whatsoever thou goest and Jesus saith unto him the foxes have holes and the
birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head
say why doesn't he have a place to lay his head because I told you Jesus
ministry was to go town to town city to city he doesn't know whether that city
is going to receive him if they rejected him he'd have to continue on to another
town you know he wouldn't have a place that was fixed to lay his head verse 21
and another of his disciples said unto him Lord suffer me first to go and bury
my father but Jesus said unto him follow me and let the dead bury their dead say
Jesus that that's pretty harsh right I mean this guy wants to bury his father
maybe he's just recently passed away or maybe maybe he's just waiting for him
to pass away and then he says I'll follow you Jesus all right now we need
to be careful with these passages because these are the passages people
are going to take to teach a workspace gospel and as we go through these
chapters I'm always telling you I'm showing you how people use verses to
teach a workspace gospel because I'll say well look here you actually have to
follow after Jesus you have to keep his commands follow his ways you know you've
got to leave everything behind in order for you to become his disciple now
there's a truth to that okay but we know salvation is not by being a disciple
discipleship is something that happens after you're saved the other thing you
need to understand when you read through the Gospels is that this is the three
year ministry of Jesus Christ physically on the earth his disciples were
literally following him his disciples had literally left their full-time jobs
the you know the fishermen have left fishing and and you know Matthew had
left the you know left from being a publican from being a tax collector he
left it to follow Jesus these guys literally left everything behind because
they Jesus was moving he was going from town to town if you went like Lord I'm
gonna have to bury my father by the time you got back Jesus was already moved on
he was already gone this isn't a time where people had cars we could just
easily transport and work out where is Jesus and get in a car and and no you
know if you wanted to follow Jesus in this point in time you literally had to
leave it all and put him first okay and follow after him now in saying that
there is a principle for us okay the more you want to serve Christ of your
life and if you ever want to get into full-time ministry into a church become
a deacon a pastor whatever you got to count the cost you know the more you
want to do for the Lord the more it's gonna cost you the more you have to give
up the of your life now if you just want to be a faithful church member praise
God that's awesome you know it's gonna cost you a couple of hours every week
you know if you want to be a soul winner you want to go and knock doors you know
you want to do that praise God that's you know you're commanded of you to do
that but it's gonna cost you another few more hours you say I want to be a
preacher maybe not a pastor but just a preacher good you know it's gonna cost
you a good amount of hours preparing a sermon every week that's fine but notice
the more you want to serve the Lord the more you want to follow after him the
more you want to get into full-time ministry you got to understand it's
going to cost you okay it's going to cost time away from maybe your family
so you can focus on on preparing for sermons or whatever it's going to take
time away from you you know that's something you just have to understand
but please don't think you have to not bury your father in order for you to do
that because that was something specific for that time okay but hey there might
be the there might be the situation where your family is literally holding
you back from saving God you know you might have grown up in a family that's
that's unsaved it's not Christian you know and I hate the fact that you say
they hate the fact that you're going to church yeah there might come a time with
you literally have to say guys I have to put you behind because I've got to put
God first you know and that that can be a realistic thing as well for you you
know one example of this is you know in 2017 before I became a pastor before I
was ordained I went to South America Chile for three months to see my
relatives to see my uncles and cousins and all that stuff there and the reason
I did that for three months was I knew as soon as I became a pastor that I
wasn't going to find three months of holiday ever again okay you know it's
not like becoming a pastor you can just like take holidays and I don't think
it's a good thing to do I mean even when you look at the Old Testament you look
at Moses you know and Moses is a good example of a Old Testament pastor you
know he went up into the mount to get the Ten Commandments of the Lord he was
gone for 40 days and he came back what happened to the church whatever to the
congregation they set up a golden calf and they were worshiping that golden
calf you know so I don't believe it's wise for a pastor to be gone away for a
long time you know I was thinking even in July to go to what a conference in
figure it is California or whatever but then I realized in July here this church
has this one year anniversary so I'm gonna bring my family here for a couple
of weeks and then I thought okay I can do that for a couple of weeks and maybe
I'll go to the conference afterwards there'll be no two weeks that I'll be
gone nah I'm not gonna I'm not gonna come back to a church worshiping a golden
calf you know I don't think it's the right thing to do I don't think it's
gonna happen okay but still I think the principle is there in the Old Testament
I think it's a good lesson you know you shouldn't be gone for too long of a time
and leave the church behind but something that I had to realize I came
to realize man when I become a pastor I'm gonna have to forego a lot of things
that I that I want and that's why I went for the three-month holiday you know got
that out of the way so my family might be the last time I see my family and
just come and faithfully serve the church and our churches you know so you
know if you have am I if you're thinking about that you know I'm thinking about
being a pastor one day you understand there's a cost there's a cost involved
okay in following after Jesus Christ let's keep reading Matthew chapter 8
Matthew chapter 8 verse 23 23 and when he was entered into a ship his
disciples followed him and behold there arose a great tempest in the sea in so
much of the ship was covered with the waves and he was but he was asleep hey
guys the lesson here we all have turmoil was in life we're all gonna go through
trials and tribulations in our life but you know what it's possible to sleep
like a baby it's possible to just lay your head at night and go to sleep and
not let the tool turmoils bother bother you that much the only way to do that we
see Jesus able to do that we see Jesus on the ship the storms and he's just
asleep his fast asleep the only way you're gonna get through two modes in
life and get your get your baby sleep all right and be arrested is if you're
in close fellowship with Jesus okay you've got to be in close fellowship
with Jesus let's keep reading verse 25 and his disciples came to him and awoke
him saying Lord save us we perish if I was on that ship that'd be me because
I'm not a very good swimmer I'd be going to Jesus Lord you know save us we perish
verse 26 and he saith unto them why are you fearful oh ye of little faith then
he arose and rebuked the winds in the sea and there was a great calm but the
men marvelled saying what manner of man is this that even those winds and the
sea obey him Wow you know Jesus Christ can command nature the winds the seas
and they obey him I'll say this you're smarter you're you're you're you're a
much greater creation than the winds on the sea but they're able to obey Jesus
Christ and unfortunately we look at ourselves when we sin when we fail you
know that's that we come to a point where we've not obeyed Christ we've
disobeyed Christ you know and it's like that these disciples just reflect that
upon themselves they're like man how can he control nature how can nature obey
the voice of Jesus Christ but that should be us we should be saying hey we
need to be obeying Christ you know and when we sin we should be you know God I
failed you you know put your hand up confess your sins and and ask for
forgiveness verse 28 and by the way Jesus Christ mentioned there they didn't
have enough faith you know in comparison to the to the Roman centurion I would
have loved to see how the Roman centurion would have handled that
situation if he had the greatest faith and he was on that ship I reckon he
would have been calm I reckon he would have in control don't worry Jesus on the
ship you know I think he would have been just fine but let's keep reading verse
number 28 and when he was come to the other side into the country of the
Gergonses Gergonses they met him to possess with devils by the way this
country is the country of Gentiles okay we're not in a place of Jews right now
and the reason we know this is because they're also farming swine pigs and we
know that the Jews obviously the pigs were an unclean animal in the Old
Testament so we know we're in the land of the Gentiles here they met him to
possess with devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce so that no man
might pass by the way now this story is recorded in three Gospels and I've heard
this story used to say that the Bible has contradictions all right because in
the Gospels of Mark and Luke the same story is there but it only speaks of one
man coming okay but in the book of Matthew it talks about two possessed
with devils coming to see him now that's not a contradiction all right what's
happening here and I'll explain this a little bit later but what's happening
here is that the Gospel of Matthew is is highlighting that there were two of them
but the Gospels of Mark and Luke basically just focus on one even though
it's talking about one it's not saying there was only one it's just focused on
that one and we'll see why later on let's keep reading verse 29 and behold
they cried out saying what have we to do with thee Jesus thou son of God art thou
come hither to torment us before the time and I just want you to notice there
that even the devil's know that Jesus is the Son of God all right I mean that
they're not saying Jesus the Father they're not joining Jesus the Holy
Spirit they're saying Jesus thou son of God and something else they admit to
they'll come here that to torment us before the time you know the devils of
this world know they've really lost the wall you know they don't even know
they're defeated they really know they're going to be cast into that lake
of fire forever torments it forever they know that it's Jesus Christ that's gonna
come and torment them they really know that okay and right now they're just
trying to cause as much destruction as possible all right but we don't need to
be afraid of Devils okay great is he that is in you then he that is in the
world okay you have the Holy Ghost in dwelling the believer we have the power
of God in us we don't need to be afraid of Devils but notice they know they know
they've lost okay and but I also want you to realize the Devils can say to
Jesus that he is the Son of God and you need to be careful of the people you
listen to the preachers that you listen to the churches that you attend because
there are many false teachers that have gone into the world okay that will say
good things that will say true things these guys the Devils are saying the
truth that the two things they say are true that Jews is the Son of God and
they're gonna be tormented by him those things are true okay but it's Devils
that are speaking so you need to be careful when when you listen to preachers
or you decide to pick up a book and read it that you make sure this person's saved
make sure this person's got the right gospel first of all and then listen to
that person because even Devils even demon-possessed people can say some
truth but then they'll still twist they'll twist it they'll bring
corruption they'll bring heresy so you gotta be careful and listen if someone's
not saved don't don't listen to them don't be like well they're not saved
they won't listen to them about the gospel but they've got other good
material but other things don't go there it's probably full of heresy it's
probably full of lies why would you why would you risk that you know why would
you risk that when you've got good men of God that are saved that are preachers
now that we have the internet there are a lot of good preacher online you know
find the best people that you can find listen to them but be mindful of who you
listen to let's keep reading verse number 30 and there was a good way off
from them and heard of many swine feeding so there was a bunch of pigs
that were feeding so the devil's besought him saying if thou cast us out
suffer us to go away into the herd of swine and he said unto them go and when
they were come out they went into the herd of swine and behold the whole herd
of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the
waters so we see so much so many great works of God here we see Jesus healing
leprosy healing the sick casting out Devils right we seem doing all these and
and even can you know commanding nature to stop and that it calms down for him
and now we see that even the devil's obey Jesus Christ okay Jesus Christ
tells me yeah you can go and so they go they ask him for permission as it were
it's just amazing you know what manner of man is this you know this Jesus
Christ that we serve praise God that you know we serve the Lord God and then it
says in verse 33 so yeah sorry the devil's going to the pigs the pigs then
for whatever reason they suck a panic they run into the sea they perish in the
water and then verse 33 and they that kept them fled so the farmers of these
pigs they flee and went their ways into the city and told everything that was
befallen to the possessed of the devil's and behold the whole city came out to
meet Jesus and when they saw him they besought him that he would depart out of
their coasts hey what manner of man was there that he came he could heal he had
a great message of salvation and yet these people could see the authority
they were afraid of him and they said look leave this city we don't want you
here it's a sad thing and that's the reality guys when you go door to the
there's gonna be those that receive you there's gonna be those that reject you
all right we don't have it so much here oh sorry then he would be part of the
cousin and yet Jesus Christ obliges he says all right I'm leaving I'm going and
he ends up leaving can you guys turn to Luke chapter 8 please Luke chapter 8
because I want to show you just one difference here with the story that we
see in in Matthew and also in Luke so remember I told you in Luke Luke
chapter 8 verse 38 go to Luke chapter 8 verse 38 remember Luke I said it focuses
on the one man okay so let's understand this Luke chapter 8 verse 38 it says now
the man out of whom the devil's were departed besought him that he might be
with him but Jesus sent him away saying so Jesus heals two men that we know that
from the book of Matthew okay but in the book of Luke he focuses on the one man
and this one man comes to Jesus after he's healed of the devil's he comes and
says he wants to be with Jesus says Jesus I want to follow you I want to be
a disciple I want to follow you but notice Jesus says but Jesus sent him
away why is that why did Jesus send him away well we already know that the men
of the city asked Jesus to leave they didn't want Jesus to be there so Jesus
says he sends him away saying look at verse 39 return to thine own house and
show how great things God have done unto thee and he went his way and
published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him so
this is why the other Gospels focus on the one man because it's this one man
that wants to be a disciple of Jesus Jesus says no you stay in the city I've
been asked to leave we know that Jesus leaves but he leaves this one man that
was here the devil's to stay in his city and publish the great works of Jesus
Christ hey he was a sole winner for that city all right so we can see look
this man was not asked to leave everything behind in fact this man was
asked to stay in the city staying with your family save your friends and be out
there preaching the gospel you know and today guys we don't have Jesus Christ on
this earth today walking the earth like we you know back then but Jesus Christ
has left us here we have a job in this city in this city of Sydney okay to
publish the great works of Jesus Christ to be sole winners you know that's what
we've been left to do just like this man that was possessed of the devil's right
so I hope that gives you some things to think about in this chapter let's pray