Amen. Right, Matthew chapter 8 on our study through Matthew, and Jesus just finished what's
known as the Sermon on the Mount, isn't he? Matthew chapter 7, that was Matthew 5 through
till 7. And he finished by preaching it on false prophets, didn't he? Showing that they
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. And we had a look
at that and I found that really interesting last week and going through that and studying
that, especially the fact that the work salvation is false prophets that we saw in that kind
of nearly end passage there, convinced themselves that they're the people of God, don't they?
You know, they're saying, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name
have cast that devil, in thy name have done many wonderful works. And these people believe
that they're the people of God, they believe that they're God's people, yet they're workers
of iniquity, they're wicked, vile people who somehow with their pride, their heady,
high-mindedness, they're lovers of their own selves, you know, all that stuff that we see
about them, they somehow convince themselves that they're the people of God and that these
holy people, yet they're just full of all sorts of wickedness. Well, that for me is
a really interesting passage. And just to make that clear, that's not saying that absolutely
everyone, he's giving, just he's showing you that there are people that are work salvationists.
And there are some that ultimately just deep down know they're wicked as hell and they
know exactly what they are. But there are many there, it seems, that don't. There are
many there that he said many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? But as much as I'd love to, I won't preach on that passage again. But after
that, he then basically tells them, doesn't he, that hearing and doing these sayings,
so the sayings he's just been saying for the last three chapters there is building your
house upon a rock. And really, it's the rock, isn't it? Building your house upon the rock,
which is Jesus Christ, if you hear and do them. OK, it wasn't just hearing those sayings.
It wasn't just, you know, some people use it as in, well, build your house upon the
rock as in just faith in Christ. Oh, well, faith in Christ and then you're built upon
the rock. No, that is the rock. Yeah, faith in Christ. Without faith in Christ, there
is no rock. But after that, he was talking about hearing and doing his sayings. Right.
And there are a lot of sayings in those few chapters that we've gone through. And then
we go now, he's finished that preaching, that sermon, and we go into Matthew 8 where
verse 1 says, when he was come down from the mountain. Hence, it's called the Sermon on
the Mount. He's come down from the mountain. Great multitudes followed him. So we're going
to pray before we continue. Father, thank you for this chapter of the Bible here that
I'm going to preach. Please help me to preach it accurately now. Help me to preach it boldly,
Lord. Help me to preach it clearly. Help people to just have attentive ears to what your word
is saying to them this evening. And help me to just preach it exactly how you want
me to preach it, Lord. Not my will, but thy will be done. In Jesus' name, prolly this.
Amen.
So it wasn't just a couple of people, was it, that came down from the mount? It wasn't
just his 12 disciples either. Great, great multitudes followed him. Because I don't know
about you guys, but I've heard this. I remember having a debate, kind of, with some Muslim
that is trying to go, well, how many people follow Jesus? 12 people. I said, no, actually,
great multitudes follow Jesus. You're just talking about the 12, the 12. But there were
many disciples. There are great multitudes following him here. And it says in verse 3,
and behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. So what did the leper do here? You notice that right at the beginning. He
worshipped him, didn't he? Yeah, he worshipped him. And behold, there came a leper and worshipped
him. Now, in Matthew's Gospel, we see this word used a lot of times, specifically in
Matthew's Gospel, describing people with the Lord Jesus. Turn to Matthew 2, which is actually
the first time we see it, Matthew 2 and verse 11. The wise men came and worshipped him,
Jesus Christ, as a child. And when they were come into the houses, Matthew 2, 11, they
saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when
they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and
myrrh. Now, as we go through some of these verses, we're just going to see the response,
the following verse each time. What was the response here to him worshipping them? Well,
not much. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they
departed into throne country another way. You see what I mean the second here, because
now turn to Matthew chapter 9, Matthew chapter 9. We've just seen in Matthew 8 here that
the leper came and worshipped him. Matthew 9 and verse 18. While he spake these things
unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is
even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live. What's the response?
And Jesus arose and followed him and so did his disciples. Now look at Matthew 14, Matthew
chapter 14 and verse 33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying
of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. What's the response? Verse 34. And when they were
gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. Matthew 15, 25, chapter 15 and verse 25. Bit
of a Bible study here, flicking, flicking, flicking. Matthew 15, 25. Then came she and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. The response, verse 26. But he answered and said,
It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. Look at Matthew 20
and verse 20. Matthew 20, 20. Matthew 20, 20 reads, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's
children with her sons, worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him. What's his
response? Verse 21. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant
that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in
thy kingdom. Look at chapter 28 now, verse nine, nearly done. Chapter 28, verse nine.
And as they went to tell his disciples, Matthew 28, nine, behold, Jesus met them, saying,
All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. What's his response?
Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee,
and there shall they see me. And last bit, Matthew, Matthew 28 again in verse 17. And
when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. What's his response? And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Notice
how Jesus Christ didn't stop them once. Not once did Jesus Christ stop them worshipping
him. Right? Now turn over to Acts 10, where Peter meets Cornelius. Acts chapter 10. Now
Peter had done some amazing things up until this point, hadn't he? He'd done some amazing
miracles himself. Look at Acts 10 and verse 25. Acts 10, 25. And as Peter was coming in,
Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. What's the response to
that though? Verse 26. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up. I myself also am a man.
Peter says, Don't worship me. I'm just a man. Yeah. Notice the difference here. Turn to
Revelation 22, where similar happens, but with an angel. This is an angel now. John
has been given the revelation, hasn't he? Which is the book of Revelation. And we're
going to look at verse 8. Verse 8 here from Revelation 22. And I, John, saw these things
and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of
the angel, which I be these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy
fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this
book, Worship God. And that's the point being made in Matthew's Gospel, isn't it? That when
the leper here in Matthew 8, too, you can go back to Matthew 8, too, worshiped him,
saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Like every other time, he accepts
the worship, doesn't he? He accepts the worship, which normal men never do. Normal men of God
don't, but Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. Jesus Christ accepts that worship. Never once has he rebuked them for that because
he is God. That's a key for me. That's being made. There's a clear point being made there
in the Gospel of Matthew. They're constantly worshipping him, and they constantly use that
word, whereas in other Gospels, it'd be like they fell down at his feet or they did that.
Matthew's Gospel worshiped him, worshiped him, worshiped him, worshiping him, and not
once has he rebuked them for it. Of course not, because Jesus Christ is God. And like
the angel said in Revelation 22, 9, he said, Worship God. So look at verse 3 here. Jesus
put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his
leprosy was cleansed. So that's the Son of God, God in the flesh, accepting the worship
due to him. And then he immediately heals him, doesn't he? So immediately straight away,
he heals him. There was no dip seven times in the River Jordan, was there? There wasn't
any, you know, well, you better go and dip seven times everything else, like with the
mighty Elisha. This was immediate healing just from touching him, wasn't it? He literally
touched him, and he's healed. And for me, this is a picture of the spiritual healing
that we can receive from our Saviour. That's what I see there. There's no work at all required
from us, is there? We just have to ask him in faith. He's asked him, he's healed him.
Yeah, immediate, straight away. The leper had faith that Jesus could heal him. He said,
thou canst make me clean, didn't he? He said that. He had the faith that Jesus Christ could
do that. And even from a spiritual condition, if you look at it spiritually, as horrendous
as leprosy, because it, you know, that was the epitome of unclean, wasn't it? Leprosy.
Jesus can and will heal you, won't he? There isn't, you know, there isn't a spiritual condition,
and obviously we're not talking about reprobation here. You might think, but I'm so sinful,
but I've done this, and I've done that. You just have to ask him faith, don't you? And
leprosy is a picture of someone who's particularly unclean, right? And Jesus Christ, all it takes
is that faith. Ask him, he heals him straight away. Now look at verse four. And Jesus saith
unto him, go thou, tell no man. No, sorry. Jesus saith unto him, 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. Now here and in many other places, Jesus commands those that he's
healed to keep quiet. You ever wonder why with that? Why does he ask him to keep quiet,
tell them to keep quiet? Well, turn to Matthew 12, where Jesus has just healed a man on the
Sabbath day. So Matthew chapter 12. We see this in many places, him telling him many
of the gospel accounts. He's saying to people, see thou, tell no one, don't tell anyone.
Then Matthew 12 and from verse 14, we're going to look. Then the Pharisees went out and held
a council against him, how they might destroy him. He's just healed this guy on the Sabbath
day. When Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence and great multitudes followed
him and he healed them all. So he's healing large amounts of people here, right? Verse
16, and charged them that they should not make him known. Why? Well, look at verse 17,
that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, now, by the
way, this is for my Isaiah 42, but we're not going to have to turn there. He said, behold
my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put
my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry.
Shout basically, call out, shout out. Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
So he's not out there shouting to all. Why? Verse 20 says, a bruise reed shall he not
break and smoking flat should he not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory and
in his name shall the Gentiles trust. Because he was there to do a job. His ultimate task
was to die on that cross. Would that have happened if he'd got too famous? And don't
get me wrong, his fame went abroad. But would that have happened if he literally was just
being thronged and everyone was all over him and every single thing he'd done was just
getting noise abroad to everyone? I don't think so. Yes, his fame did go abroad, but
I think he still tried to limit that to some degree. I think he was trying to limit that
because ultimately his purpose, his main goal was to die on that cross. And the people would
have stopped that as well, wouldn't they? And that's why I believe that here in Matthew
8 and many other places in the gospels, it says, and Jesus saith unto him, see thou tell
no man, this is in Matthew 8, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest and offer the gift
that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. And he commanded, by the way, an offering
of either birds and lambs or less if he was poor to be brought if healed from leprosy.
That was back in the Old Testament there. Now, Jesus, by the way, isn't just throwing
away all of the Old Testament laws either, is he? He's not just there going, nah, you
know, no worries with that because currently without the new covenant, these things all
still stood, didn't they? Yeah. Now look at verse five. And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him. Now, a centurion was a commander
of a hundred soldiers in the Roman army and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick
of the palsy, grievously tormented. Now, the palsy covers various forms of paralysis. Now,
this could apparently in some cases result in a fairly quick death as well with groups
of muscles contracted. Think like an extreme cramp where it ends up in death as well.
I mean, it sounds absolutely horrendous. Notice how this centurion is saying that his servant
is grievously tormented. It's not, oh yeah, he's just paralyzed, but you know, we're just
trying to help him live. No, he's basically badly tortured by it, okay, by this particular
illness, his palsy. Now, look what happens. Verse seven. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should
est come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. 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. When
Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed verily, I say unto you, I have
not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. So what's happened here? The centurion, this
Gentile has said that he's not worthy to have the Lord in his home. Yeah. So first thing
he says, I'm not even worthy to have you in my home. Yeah. That you come under my
roof. But he's confident that Jesus only has to speak the word and his servant would
be healed. In the same way that he tells his soldiers and his servants what to do and they
do it, Jesus can do the same. Now, there's a few interesting points. You know, I noticed
looking at this from these passages, the humbleness in verse eight is a good one, isn't it? Look
at verse eight. The centurion answered, said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest
come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be, shall be healed.
So he's humble, isn't he? He's humble. He's saying, look, I'm not worthy. This guy's centurion.
He leads, he's a commander over a hundred troops and you know, he's humble straight
away with the Lord Jesus Christ there, isn't he? Now look at this as well. It's faith in
the power of the word. He says, he said there, but speak the word only and my servant shall
be healed. That's faith in the power of the word of God, isn't it? Verse nine. Look at
verse nine. That's interesting because Jesus also says to some men to go and some to come.
That's what the gospel does, doesn't it? You either go or you come, right? And that's the
result of Jesus's words. Jesus's words result in some coming and some going. Yeah. And look,
I know it sounds a bit funny. It's not that Jesus telling them to go away, but those words
of eternal life, that grace through faith is so offensive to so many people, isn't it?
It's so hard for so many people to deal with it. It does result in many people going away,
but it does result in some coming. And then the, and he says, and to my servant do this
and he doeth it. Because when it's to his real servant, Jesus says, do this and he does
it as well, right? Someone is a real servant. Someone's a real disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how it should be. He says, doeth this and he, he says, do this and he
doeth it. And I don't know, I find that interesting there that, that, that he's saying that he,
he has the same, but he's basically saying, but this is what the result should be with
the Lord Jesus Christ. What's the result of hearing this? Well, verse 10, when Jesus heard
it, he marvelled and said to them that follow verily I say unto you, I have not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel, because this guy's a Gentile and he's got more faith than
those that had the oracles of God committed unto them. This guy has more faith. He's saying,
look, not only, I don't even need, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. He's
saying, your word is enough to heal. And then he's just basically saying like, what it's
like with Jesus Christ. You say to some, come and you say to some, go and he's saying to
your servants, you say to do it and they do it, do it. Yeah. Like that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's got this great faith. And, and, and Jesus Christ makes that clear where he
says in verse 11, 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. That's talking about
the Gentiles, the unbelieving nations, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast
out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now outer darkness
for me is a lake of fire for eternity. Yes. God's not done with the Jews yet. It seems
yeah. Ever heard that one before? God's not done with the Jews. No, he's not done with
the Jews. Yeah. There is still a final punishment. And I'm sorry, you know, you might think how
dare you chuckle at this. It's just because it's ironic, isn't it? It's ironic the nonsense
you get from these, for these people that love these Christ rejecting, just hateful,
nasty, just they have nothing but disdain for Christians, for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you get these morons around the world, you know, these Christian morons saying, oh,
God's not done with the Jews. They're like some sort of special people. No, he's not
done with the Jews. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They're going to be
cast into outer darkness. And they are. That is a wicked Christ hating religion, isn't
it? Judaism. Now, it is amazing, isn't it, that some people think they're going to get
this pass card into heaven and we're in. What are we up to? Matthew chapter eight, Matthew
chapter eight. And Jesus Christ already just said, what's going to happen, isn't he? He
said, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness. There shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. And basically, you know, this is people that can actually
trace their bloodlines, by the way. Yeah, this is people that still can trace back to
these stripes, let alone people who have just, they can only trace their bloodline to some
convert at some point at some time who claim to be a Jew. I mean, it's so ridiculous, isn't
it, this modern sort of Zionism. But even here, he's talking to people who do actually
have that bloodline, who do, who can actually probably say, yeah, we are of our father Abraham
and physically they are. And he's saying to them, you know, these children will be cast
into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And this is early on
in the New Testament, but we're not going to stop on that for now. We're going to keep
going because there's a lot I want to cover here. Verse 13 says, 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 selfsame out. And someone with strong faith, I think that's kind of a picture
of that could be the difference to those around them, can't they? You ever thought that like
those people you see just have that strong faith who are just, they have no doubt that
they're going to make a difference. Those around them, they're going to preach the gospel
to people. You get people like that, don't you? Just have that faith. They don't have
those doubts. They don't have that. And they'll just, they make a difference. And it's them
being told something by the Lord Jesus Christ will affect those around them because they
just go out and they get people saved. They get people around them saved. They get people
in their workplace saved. They get people just in their, you know, whether it's, well,
maybe not, maybe the prophet is without honour in his own town and around his own people,
but they'll get everyone else in their life saved. You know, at least they'll get many.
They'll try. They'll make that difference. They'll make that effect. And this guy's such
great faith, but it's his great faith that makes a difference to his servant, isn't it?
Verse 14, and when Jesus was coming to Peter's house, we're moving on here, he saw his wife's
mother laid and sick of a fever. So it's a mother of whose wife? Peter. Yes, Peter was
married. And I did a little just kind of googling on this and just to see, do the Catholics
really believe he wasn't? And I think there were those before that still tried to claim
that he wasn't, because if anyone's wondering what I'm talking about here, so the Roman
Catholics believe that the apostle Peter was the first pope. And some even believe
that he's kind of the example of the pope and is, you know, was unmarried and, you know,
lived this celibate life and everything else. But obviously they must find it really hard
because the scripture clearly says his wife's mother. Right. So, you know, and of course,
the vast majority of Roman Catholics don't believe the Bible anyway, and they just pick
and choose certain parts of the Bible and then listen to what that pervert pope in Rome
says. But, and what his pervert priests say on behalf of him as well, but there were those
it seems that I noticed some, there was like these Catholic apologetics who were saying,
well, what we believe is actually, yes, he was, but then he left his wife, which was
okay, and they try and go to like 1 Corinthians 7 to go, that was all right, and then lived
a life of celibacy after that, having been called by the Lord Jesus Christ and just left
his wife, but that was okay. He didn't divorce her, he just kind of like just left her to
do it. You know, went and lived this life and everything else, but where they see this
in scripture, I don't know, you know, but that's the Roman Catholics, because they don't
see it in scripture because they don't really care about scripture. So it's just a way of
trying to justify this weird celibate sort of, and let's be honest, most of them aren't
celibate, are they? I mean, if you kind of look at it in the real sense of the word,
because they are wicked, vile perverts of vast majority of them, because they're false
prophets and they're given over unto unclean lusts and, you know, what a wicked religion
that is. But then so are all these false religions really, aren't they? It's just that
one, so high profile with it. But yeah, Peter was married. As we see here, Jesus was coming
to Peter's house, he saw his wife's, that's Peter's wife's mother laid in sick of a fever,
and he touched her hand and a fever left her. Okay, and she then relaxed and sat back, did
she? The fever left her and she then said, Peter, what are you doing bringing all these
people into the house? Could you just, you know, go and do something else? I need a bit
of time to recover. No, she arose and ministered unto them, didn't she? She arose and ministered
unto them. She didn't, you know, ask people to find somewhere else to hang out, yeah?
Could you just give me a bit of space? She didn't say, I need a few days now to get over
the trauma, because without all of that feminist brainwash, yeah, which we've been putting
up with obviously in our day and age a lot more, she did what should come naturally,
yeah? What should come naturally to ladies, she ministered, served, supplied these men
of God in the home, and just got up, literally got up from a fever, said, and a fever left
her and she arose and ministered unto them. I mean, that's a great example, isn't it?
That's a great example of a woman there. Are we looking at that? Are we reading that and
going, pfft, mug? Well, you know, what a doormat, you know? Just had a fever and they've let,
did Jesus Christ stop her ministering? I don't see any example of that. Whoa, whoa, whoa,
no, no, no, don't worry, I'll do it myself. No, he let her, because, look, that's a God-given
role for her, isn't it? Is that demeaning? No. No, anyone, would anyone else, privileged
to be able to serve and supply the Lord Jesus Christ, but, but just, just to be able to
do that anyway. And it's something that, that women should try, and I don't think we have
a problem here with the women here, but, you know, that, that in the world it's such, such
conditioning, isn't it? Such brainwash, it's constantly attacking the women to think that
somehow that's demeaning. But for real men of God, yeah, I know about you guys, the more
I read my Bible, the more when I look at these women who just refuse to lift a finger,
and we have had them here before, haven't we? We've had those that refuse to do a thing,
yeah? Refuse to, to, to literally do anything that you might call subservient or anything
else. I just look at them and I think, it's just disgusting, isn't it? It's such a repulsive
attitude to have. And for me, you don't look at it and go, what a strong woman. Oh, she,
I bet she's really independent. No, you know, you just look at them and you just think,
sort yourself out, you know? Whoa, what wickedness. But, but she wasn't. So Peter's wife's mother
here, good woman, dem fine woman there. She got up, she ministered, she served, supplied.
Now turn to 1 Timothy 5, where, because we're going to just have a quick look at this. I'd
like to cover this quickly because again, the brainwash is strong. This stuff couldn't
be preached enough. I remember we had someone walk out of our church when I preached on
femininity and feminism, which is quite funny, because, because this is, this is hard for
some people, isn't it? Turn to 1 Timothy 5. So where we see there's some criteria for
a widow to be looked after or provided for by the church, right? Okay. So 1 Timothy 5
and from verse 9, 1 Timothy 5, 9 says, let not a widow be taken into the number under
three score years old, having been the wife of a man. And taken into the number, this
is to be literally just provided for. Everything provided doesn't have to pay for a thing,
right? Okay. So she's just going to be looked after by the church, but what's the criteria?
Okay. She shouldn't be under three score years old. So over 60, having been the wife of one
man. Okay. So firstly, she needs to have been the wife of one man. Okay. Not, not, you know,
someone who's, who's gone through the men or someone that hasn't been married at all
here. Well reported of for good works. Okay. Someone who's reported off for good works.
Okay. So that's a good goal, isn't it? So these is good things as, as ladies to be looking
for, are you reported off for good works? Yeah. Good works. Not, am I reported of for
being the most intellectual? Not, am I reported for being the best dressed? Not, am I reported
of for being, you know, the, the, the, the best soul winner or whatever else? Because
my, my presentation is just so smooth. No. Well reported for good works. Yeah. Good works.
If she had brought up children. Okay. Bringing up children. If she had lodged strangers.
Okay. That's looked after strangers. And that can also be, you know, you could, you could
also apply that to just looking after newcomers in the church, being kind, being welcoming,
but also sometimes people do need lodging, don't they? If she had washed the saints feet.
Let's just get this started now. So yeah, I want to wash my feet, but look, basically
it's talking about serving, supplying, doing good, you know, helping out the saints, right?
Ministering unto the saints. Yeah. Doing things for the saints in there, it would have been
as far as washing their feet, which in a sandy old sandal wearing place, I can imagine their
feet might be pretty grim at times, right? Wash the saints feet. You know, what sort
of a poor downtrodden woman is that? Well, that's someone who qualifies for being looked
after by the church for widow. If she have relieved the afflicted. So the afflicted people
that are, you know, being persecuted, if she relieved them, it should help people out,
help people that need help. If she have diligently followed every good work. So this is basically
a woman of God, right? A woman of God that is diligently, that's actually trying her
best to follow every good work. That's someone who is able to be taken into the number. Yeah.
But the younger widows refuse for when they've began to wax wanton against Christ, they will
marry having damnation because they have cast off their first faith. So that's, this is
how they shouldn't be right now. So what's this? This is talking about these younger
widows who will then just end up remarrying off their take and being taken into the number
is basically to serve the church by the way. It's not like, oh, they've been taken into
the number and now they just put their feet up and you know, and no, they've been taken
into the number to serve the church. It's saying, look, the younger widows, they'll
just wax wanton. They'll then want to go and get married. They'll have damnation. They've
cast off their first faith. Okay. And with all they learn to be idle, this is how women
don't want to be. Wandering about from house to house and not only idle, but tacklers also
and busy bodies. Okay. This is people just gossip, basically speaking things which they
ought not. Okay. And that is something that can be maybe a stronger temptation for some
women and others. It can be for some men as well, but particularly maybe for women. Being
busy isn't demeaning, is it? Yeah. That's what I see there. Being busy is good for us,
isn't it? Because it's people that have too much time on their hands, which a lot of the
time get up to silly things, right? Being busy is good. Ladies get busy, right? I will
therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion
to the adversary to speak reproachfully for some are already turned aside after Satan.
And again, look, being a busy serving lady is something that is a glory, isn't it? That's
something that's to be admired in a lady. It's something that we look at as God's people
and think, amen, you know, and just think, yeah, that's someone just working hard for
the Lord, doing things for the Lord. And that's what we want to see now. Now, obviously,
there are things that, on the same hand, that ladies want to see in men as well, right?
And it's no, you know, it's harder to get that response from the women in your life,
whether it's your wives, whether it's your daughters, whether it's other women in the
church, if the men are just a bunch of layabouts, right? If the men are just a bunch of slobs
and don't seem to do anything, and look, we should all be busy, right? And it really works
across the board, because the busier you are, the less you end up getting into wickedness,
the less sin you end up getting into. It's, you know, the devil makes use of idle hands,
doesn't he? Yeah. So anyway, let's go back to verse to Matthew chapter eight there. She's
a good example there. Short example, but a good example there of literally being healed
from a fever and then just jumping up and ministering unto them. We saw verse 15, said,
he touched her hand, a fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them. So she's
not the only one that's busy here. So in case you're wondering, you're thinking, so what
were they doing here? Well, look at verse 16, when he even was come, okay, that's the
evening, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils and he cast out the
spirits with his word and healed all that were sick. So Jesus Christ hasn't finished
there with doing it in the day. He's been out preaching, healing, doing amazing things,
comes to the evening and they just keep bringing people, right? Jesus Christ was a hard worker,
wasn't he? We see him regularly in the gospels, getting up early, working through till night.
He's just getting busy, getting stuff done. And even those people that are bringing them
there, they're obviously working there as well. Now, notice as well in that verse, what
is it that casts out the spirits? His word. And he cast out the spirits with his word.
Yeah, it's his word. It's not some funny dress-wearing weirdo with a crucifix dousing holy water
over people and saying, you know, random things and mumbling and muttering and getting rosary
beads out or whatever other stuff we generally see with this. No, it wasn't some, you know,
weird Pentecostal minister, you know, holding his hand and saying a load of stuff that's
not from the Bible. How does he cast out the devils with his word? It's a word of God
that does it. How do we cast out devils nowadays? We preach the gospel to people, right? Yeah,
we preach the gospel. There's no, oh, you know, we've got to do some exorcism and,
you know, and do a load of weird stuff. And then maybe if we lie over them and I don't
know, I know there's some videos out there. I don't really look into them because they
look pretty freaky, don't they? But no, it's his word, his word. Now, turn to Psalm 107
verse 20 says he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.
It's a word that does it, isn't it? Look at verse 17 that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses.
Now, I think he's referring to Isaiah 53 4 there, which says, Surely he had borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
So again, he's just fulfilling more prophecy there. Verse 18 says, Now, when Jesus saw
great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. Now, the other
side of the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee, when you look at it on a map, it's
basically this humongous lake, isn't it, called the Sea of Galilee. So he's going to go to
the other side now. And he does seem to be constantly trying to evade the crowds, doesn't
he? It seems in the Gospels here, he's saying that he says that he saw great multitudes.
He gave commandment to depart unto the other side. He's constantly trying to get away from
these multitudes. And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee
whithersoever 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. So he's had a healing
people preach, travel around, but without home to go back to. And his point here to
this scribe is, do you really want to follow me? Do you really want to follow me? Are you
even guaranteed somewhere to lay your head, etc.? And do you really want to do that? Well,
that's a good question for many, isn't it? Are you willing, are you wanting to follow
Jesus Christ, whatever the cost, whatever that means, or do you have conditions in place
yourself? He's saying, I don't even have anywhere to lay my head. And that's a bit of a strange
thing to think, isn't it? Or not strange, it's an amazing thing to think that the Lord
Jesus Christ, God the Son, came to, you know, to this earth and he didn't even have somewhere
to lay his head. He was basically just lodging at different people's homes and didn't know
where he was sleeping one day to the next. He could have been born into a palace, couldn't
he? He could have done the same thing and been in a palace. Now he lived a humble life
and he purposely lived a humble life. And it's amazing, really, isn't it? He says, The
fox have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to
lay his head. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go
and bury my father. Now, this is on the back of the scribe. So just to remind you again
that Jesus had many disciples. Yeah, this is just another of his disciples. OK, because
again, people can kind of look at a bird's eye view of the Bible and just think there's
like these 12 disciples and no one else. And the kids books just have Jesus Christ and
like 12 disciples. And that's it. No, another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer
me first to go bury my father. This is another on top of the scribe, I'd say that. OK, but
Jesus said unto him, follow me and let the dead bury the dead. Now, does that mean that
we can't go to unsaved family's funerals? Because some people love a black and white,
don't they? They love to see something like this and go, right, you know, let the dead
bury the dead. You know, and then we've got a hard, fast rule and I can feel really like
extreme and really holy. You know, I do what the Bible says. Yeah. Well, the point here
is that you've got the Lord Jesus Christ during his three and a half year ministry,
haven't you? Healing, teaching, doing miracles. Yeah. And this guy is saying before, before.
Yeah. So he said to him, suffer me first. He's saying before I follow you. This is basically
more important, isn't he? Now, bear in mind, Lord Jesus Christ is there, yeah, in the flesh,
in his ministry. And this guy's going, well, first I just want to go bury my father. Now,
how could we apply this to ourselves? Some might get saved and say, well, I've got to
go and just, just before I start getting involved with the things of God, I need to at least
go to this boozy wake, for example. One last time I couldn't go and not get involved with
the boozy wake and not go and, you know, raise a few glasses to, you know, whoever it is,
go and do that worldly funeral. Then I'll start going to church. Then I'll start doing
the things of God. Or maybe it's, I've got this one wedding to go to, this one holiday.
You know, I just got, well, there's a lads holiday coming up. I know, like, I've got
saved. I should be, but, you know, or, you know, the girls have invited me out to Butlins
or whatever, you know, I don't know, whatever it is nowadays, you know, maybe it's a dodgy
job. Maybe they're doing, they've got a bit of dodginess going on. Maybe it's a bit of
cash in hand or worse. Maybe it's some criminality or something. Well, I'll get that sorted first.
Then I'll start doing the things of God. Yeah. Maybe it's, it's a sports event, you know,
that they know that, you know, he's just kind of taking out, that's really their idol.
Well, I kind of do that last thing. I do that last competition. Then I'll start doing the
things of God. Maybe it's a never ending series on Netflix or something. Well, you know, once
I've finished that, then I'll start going to church. Then I'll start the Wednesday night
and then I'll start soul winning, you know, once I've, whatever it is. And the point is
with all of this, I believe, is would it have stopped at burying his father, do you think?
So that guy is in front of Jesus Christ. Yeah. He's in front of the son of God. And he's
saying, yeah, I just need to go and do this funeral. Now you might think, well, you know,
is that that bad? Notice he did say, he said, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
It's almost like he's going to be a big part of that funeral. And I don't know what that
unsaved funeral would have been like, but I've been to some unsaved funerals. Yeah.
And usually they're pretty wicked, right? They are pretty wicked. Would you want to
be hands on in some worldly funeral here? Would you want to organise some worldly funeral
of some unsaved person? Because you're a bit messed, you're a bit stuffed either way, aren't
you? Say it was like, say it was your father. And sorry if that's going to bring back maybe
bad memories for some or maybe, you know, bad thoughts for others. But say it was your
father and, you know, and they're unsaved. What sort of funeral would you even have for
them? What are you going to do? You're going to have like, you know, a saved Baptist preacher
there? Like, well, I wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to preach at someone's unsafe, an unsafe
person's funeral. It'd be horrific, wouldn't it? Or what are you going to do? Get involved
in the kind of, well, you know, he's probably up there and everything else is like misquoting
Bible verses to just show that maybe everyone's up there in heaven or something else. You
don't really want to be involved in that, would you? Now, look, I'm not saying you can't
attend things like that because that's a judgment call you make and there's nothing
necessarily wrong with maybe having to attend and I wouldn't be getting involved in chanting
Lord's prayers and all of that sort of stuff. But maybe, maybe you can attend, show some
respects and everything else. But, and that's a hard choice to make sometimes. But Jesus
did say here, follow me and let the dead bury their dead, didn't he? He said, follow me
and let the dead bury their dead. And, you know, for those situations, maybe you let
the dead do all of that, go and pay your respects, do what you feel that you can do with that
without compromising, without, without kind of pulling away from the Lord Jesus. But here
it's really talking about before he goes to follow Jesus Christ. That's ultimately what
the context is here. And it's people finding excuses or trying to do other things before
they basically get into discipleship. And I believe that once people, a lot of the time
when people do that, they don't come. How many people do you, oh, well, I'll come next
week to church. How many people do you get saved on a Sunday? Got a service tonight?
No, no. Well, yeah, I don't know about tonight, but next week, you know, next week I'm there.
Two weeks time. Well, I've just, yeah, I have something on the Sunday, then I'm there. How
often are they here? Not very often, right? And I think maybe, maybe some of those people
are sincere. Sometimes you talk to them and you think, yeah, that's pretty sincere. Sometimes
you're shocked when they're not here, aren't you? But a lot of the time when you start
letting things get in the way, they kind of carry on getting in the way, don't they? Look
at verse 23. When he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. So we're moving
on now. Behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered
with the waves, but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying,
Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, oh, ye of little
faith? And he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But
the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea
obey him? So this is a great picture of the storms of life, isn't it? Why did he say that
they had little faith? I mean, it sounds pretty horrific here, doesn't it? You know, the ships
covered with the waves. So why did they have little faith? Because their statement was
we perish, wasn't it? Their statement was we perish. They thought they were going to
die, that it was over. And when it comes to tempests that we face, we can often lose faith
that we'll make it through, can't we? Yeah, we see the promises of God, we know that we
can get through it. And you could say this could be a kind of a spiritual application
there as well with we perish. But I think even just, just how many times have you gone
through stuff, you just feel like you're not going to make it, you feel like God's not
going to be there for you, you feel like you're not going to get through this particular trial,
this particular struggle, some might even feel like they're not going to make it through
alive out of certain things, you know. And so often, we start to lose faith that God's
going to come through, right? And it can often feel like he's sleeping, yeah? You feel like
he's sleeping, you're calling out, you're like, please, you know, please just just help
me with the situation, please. And sometimes we do lose that faith. And like I said, that
the ship was covered with the waves, you can understand the fearing. But when you do have
the Lord with you, there should be nothing to fear. Now, we don't, you know, have to
get into that, you know, you get these, I have no fear, I'm a Christian, look, everyone's
going to fear at times, yeah, that's a sin that ultimately other than obviously fearing
the Lord or those in our life that he tells us to fear, look, we're all going to have
times when we do, yeah? But we shouldn't, we should try not to, shouldn't we? And look,
they're going to have those times. And, but when you have the Lord with you, I do believe
that there should be nothing to fear, right? There should be nothing. And that's why he's
saying, oh, ye of little faith, because they're saying we perish, they're just thinking it's
game over. And then he arises, doesn't he, just rebuke the winds of sin, there was a
great calm. And sometimes it can feel like that, can't it, in a Christian life, you go
through a struggle, you go through a hard time, you go through some, some tough tribulation,
maybe some persecution, whatever it is, and you just feel like it's all just, I can't
believe this, it's all going to end, like, how do we get out of this? And what's going
to happen? And then suddenly it's just solved, isn't it? God just solves it like that,
yeah? Just amazing when he does. It's such a great strength, like faith strength that
when you see that happen and you look back and think, wow, I was, oh, it's pretty shaken
up, and look at how things have just suddenly changed and suddenly improved, and it's amazing
when that happens. Now, notice how it does say, but the men marvelled saying, what manner
of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him. And I believe that's the men of
the ship, personally, not referring to his disciples, because it was a ship, it wasn't
a little rowing boat, was it? It wasn't a little pleasure cruiser or anything else,
it was described as a ship, and a ship generally has to have quite a lot of hands running a
ship, yeah? It wasn't, like, it didn't just have an outboard motor and that was it. This
would have been, you know, with a huge great sail and everything else, and I believe that's
the men of the ship there. I know in different Gospel accounts sometimes, you know, it kind
of just says, and they, and I think it says sometimes they, they marvelled saying what
manner of man, but I think here it's making it clear it's a men. The men marvelled Wes,
we've just seen in verse 25, and his disciples came to him and awoke him, but the men marvelled.
I believe it's the workers on the ship there, the sailors there. Okay, now we're getting
on to the exciting bit at the end here. So verse 28, and when he was come to the other
side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils coming out
of the tombs exceeding fear so that no man might pass by that way. Now, Mark and Luke's
accounts call it the country of the Gadarenes. Now, Gergesa, it seems, being a village in
the larger kind of country or state, if you like, of the Gadarenes, yeah, so that's, that's
where there's kind of that crossover there, and sometimes it's the Gergesenes or Gadarenes.
Now, a more noteworthy difference to that is that the other two Gospel accounts, if you ever notice,
refer to it being one possessed, yeah. Anyone notice that? So when you look at Luke and Mark's
accounts, it's one possessed man as opposed to the two mentioned here, yeah. The other two accounts,
by the way, are Mark 5 and Luke 8. We're not going to go there for a second, though. Is there an
inconsistency? Is there an error? Of course not, this is the inspired preserved word of God.
Can't be an error, can they? It's the word of God. Now, the other two accounts don't state
that there was no one else in the vicinity, okay, just a point there. It doesn't say there was no
one else to be seen, it just talks about this one man, right. They just focus on the one, and some
people will call this a demoniac, the demoniac of the Gadarenes or whatever, yeah. I quite like that
word, so I might use that a bit here, okay. So the demoniac, yeah. Now, that one guy could have been
more noteworthy, perhaps the more extreme of the two here. Maybe he was the leader, the one that was
in the public eye, because my thought process with this is I believe that the other mentioned
here is probably his wife. And I know that might sound a bit crazy, I don't know if anyone's heard
that preached, I haven't heard that preached before, but, and again, it's just something I was thinking
reading this, because nothing is incidental, accidental or coincidental in the Bible, is it,
okay. And here, and you've probably heard that mentioned before, the discrepancy isn't an accident,
yeah, there's a point being made, yeah. Otherwise, why did Matthew's account mention the two, and the
other two accounts mention the one? Well, it's just, you know, it was an error by Matthew, or
the other two just didn't pick up on the other two. Well, there's a reason for it, right. And I believe
that, well, the fact that the other two gospels focus on the man, yet here there's no mention of
gender, makes me think that this possibly could be why, if you kind of just skim through that again.
There's no mention of the gender here at all, of these two, and again, okay, obviously it's talking
about two, so it's a they, but these devils do often come in pairs, don't they, they often come
in pairs. And, okay, whether it's reprobates, and these aren't reprobates, or at least this guy
isn't, okay, whether it's reprobates, which often come in pairs, as we've experienced recently, and
many find this really hard to get their head around, because they're just, there can't be that
many, like, reprobates. And I do believe, I believe that reprobates do have at least one, if not more,
devils in them. I think it's just something, I kind of, I might be wrong, it's something I'd like
to study out a bit more, but I believe that, like, we get indwelt with the Holy Spirit, they get
indwelt with the devil, but I might be wrong there. But they do often come in pairs, but even
just with those possessed. So take away from the reprobates here, because we're not going to go
into them for now, we've been hitting that a bit recently, but just go to just people possessed
with devils. How many times have you knocked on doors, and you've spoke to people that are just
literally, like, wild, yeah? And you're like, this person's possessed. And do you then
see their spouse a lot of the time, and just think, oh yeah, perfectly normal, regular
runner. Usually they're both of them doing wild stuff, especially when they're doing, like, the
wild stuff here, you know, and we're seeing the other gospel accounts, all the crazy stuff that
at least this one guy's doing, yeah? And for me, they do often come in pairs. I've knocked on
doors, you've got, like, two just freaky possessed nut jobs answering the door, and coming out with
all sorts, you know, in the background, and everything else. And I don't really know, well,
I do know sometimes why that is. I think when it comes to possession a lot of the time, because
they're opening themselves up to stuff, aren't they? When it comes to reprobates,
maybe the God puts them together, maybe they were both given over at the same time with their own
kind of, you know, crazy stuff that we see in the Word of God, where it causes someone to become a
reprobate. Or maybe, like I say, they're put together, the devil kind of puts them together,
maybe even God does, just lets him fulfil his will to some degree. I don't know, but when it comes to
devils as well, I've seen this a lot. I've seen people that I'm looking at thinking, that person
is possessed, and then you see some other, like, just crazy wild, you know, just nut job who seems
to be in some sort of relationship with them or something else. Well, who's in charge here?
Who's ultimately responsible, if it is? So say this one, Sam right here, say this was a couple,
who's the one in charge? According to God, the man, right? Okay, so that man, the leader,
and whether it's the weird drugs, he's to blame, isn't he, ultimately? Where does the buck stop at?
The man, right? He's to blame. Whether it's the Ouija boards that they got into, he's to blame,
isn't he? Whether it's the new age crap, yeah, and it is just new age crap, isn't it? He's to blame.
He's getting his wife, his girlfriend, more likely nowadays or whatever it is, into that
sort of crap. He is to blame, isn't he? Yeah, because he should be manning up and he should be
going, no, this stuff is wicked, yeah? And what about the mediums? The mediums taking his wife
off to see this meet or letting her go off with her friends or whatever it is. Again, who's to
blame? Really, stops at him. Responsibility stops at him. What about the tongues and all that stuff?
What about the churches and all that stuff? Who's to blame? Really, the man. Because the women are
the weaker vessel and because really we have to protect them, we have to guide them, we have to
help them and stop that constant attack by the devil on them and ultimately it comes down to us.
Look, all of us here, no one here I don't think has been saved probably longer than 10 years,
probably max, and all of us here are probably at some point are responsible of being bad leaders,
yeah? Bad husbands, bad partners sadly or whatever it is, yeah? But here I think for me
that could be maybe what's going on here, maybe that's why it's true, maybe it's making the point
and then it's this guy that's basically the famous one, it's this guy that's the one that's talked
about, it's this guy because really he is the one responsible here and a lot of the time it will be
the male focused on in scripture as well isn't it? In many different areas of walks of life we see
that as well in the scriptures and the man here is the one but I think that's why it's two and
we're going to look at some of the stuff that we see of this guy now. If you turn over to Luke 8
where we see a more detailed description of the man's behaviour, so Luke chapter 8 and verse 26
where we see then it's just talking about the one here, it says, and they arrived Luke 8 26
at the country of the Gadarenes which is over against Galilee and when he went forth to land
there met him out of the city a certain man which had devils long time and wear no clothes neither
abode in any house but in the tombs and again I would assume, I would hope that the guy with no
clothes it was a woman that was the other one because that would get even more freaky wouldn't
it? Okay he wore no clothes, he didn't abide in the house but in the tombs and look we see that
sort of stuff, we see that sort of stuff being pushed don't we that kind of that obsession with
the dead or the undead as some call it amongst a lot of people that you know seem to be what we
would call possessed and when he saw Jesus he cried out fell down before him and with a loud
voice and by the way it also says that in Mark's account as well with a loud voice said what am I
to do with thee Jesus son of god most high beseech thee to make me not. You ever notice that with
those nudges, they always have loud voices don't they? You ever talk to those possessed,
you ever have them like try and chase you down the street when you're preaching the gospel
screaming in your face and stuff they always have loud voices don't they? It always like really
scuppers things when you're trying to preach. I remember the first time I properly went out with
Public Soul Winning and I was in a town centre and this woman Pentecostal came up to me and then
within five, ten seconds I'm trying to preach to someone as well she's screaming in my face
and then you get the gift of tongues and all this and I was just like shocked like wow it's pretty
freaky when they did and she had the loudest voice like the whole of this Sutton High Street was all
just like what on earth is going on and she's not the only one like they all like that aren't
they? They all just seem to have this crazy make sure this is still plugged in because I was
getting a bit carried away there but yeah she was yeah that was great and they do a lot don't they
you know they shout they holler they just call out in a loud voice well here he and with a loud
voice said what have I to do with thee Jesus our son of god most high beseech thee to make me not
for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man for oftentimes it had caught him
and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters and he break the bands and was driven of the devil
into the wilderness and again you see some of these guys and I'm not saying it's all that
case but sometimes you know the people that get the job sometimes in some of these mental hospitals
where obviously there's going to be a mixture of possessed people and not but some of these guys
have to be pretty strong you know I've heard I knew a guy that worked in one of these places
quite a strong guy and he was saying like some of these people you know you're having to to take you
know do some pretty like crazy stuff to try and pin them down some of them are like two three men
and they're just like normal looking people and they just get this this unreal strength don't they
sometimes and and I don't know I've seen these people before and they do just look pretty wild
and pretty scary and you hear stories about this so anyone ever heard uh pastor Jimenez talking
about the story the guy outside is um in his front garden and and he was saying like it took
a quite a few policemen I think to pin this guy so it's just a regular looking guy but and with
other people they just pin them down but there's just something I don't know this is it's the
devils isn't it in them this guy's breaking the bands the fetters these are like chains
he's snapping them he's breaking them and then he was driven of the devil into the wilderness
and again you know some of these people a lot of time they do seem to be kind of in their own
little world don't they their own little kind of you know a lot of the time they like to be in
kind of a fairly quiet dwellings and other things just just doing crazy stuff and and uh you don't
have to turn it but mark five five says and always night and day he was in the mountains and in the
tombs crying and cutting himself with stones so again it's self-harm as well and look just to make
uh just to make a point with this is that again you don't want to go like right anyone who's ever
like done any self-harm they must be possessed with them because look the devil's been pushing
that stuff on kids for a long time yeah through through possessed musicians and possessed you know
kind of just influences on children and everything else and that kind of grunge scene and all that
stuff has a lot of that but it is obviously one of the signs as well and and obviously the the
here this guy's in the tombs he's like got this unhealthy obsession with the dead he's
hurting himself and everything else and you know it's pretty concerning stuff isn't it and that's
a pretty pretty crazy picture but that's just something that you'll see around won't you and
you'll see people that do this stuff and and the combination of it all together and yeah pretty
pretty pretty crazy well where we are back in uh back in matthew eight it says and behold they
cried out in verse 29 matthew 8 29 says and behold they cried out saying what have we to
do with the jesus our son of god art thou come hither to torment us before the time so i believe
that that's the two of them okay that's i believe that's probably uh maybe it's a husband and wife
or something like that but i might be wrong there it doesn't really matter but verse 30 says and
there was a good way off from them and heard of many swine 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 will 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 perish in the waters now turn back to chapter seven
because and you might not have been here you might heard this but this is something i'm going to give
you a quick summary of what what i believe about this when we studied the first part of matthew
seven i looked at something i believe is being pictured here in this story and this is a brief
summary okay this is a summary of what we went through a bit more in depth when we looked at
chapter seven and part one of that in matthew seven six it says give not that which is holy
unto the dogs neither cast ye your pearls before swine let's say trample them under their feet and
turn again and rend you now i believe that dogs and swine are being used interchangeably here
yeah and and as our dogs in the assembly of the wicked in psalm 22 16 you don't have to turn there
which is obviously a prophetic sample it says for dogs have compass me the assembly of the wicked
have enclosed me they pierce my hands and my feet dogs are alongside evil works and jews and
philippians 3 2 which says beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision yeah so
there's something about what what are these dogs who are these dogs that are used kind of alongside
beware of them they're like evil workers what are they well deuteronomy 23 we see that dogs can
refer to sodomites verse 17 says there shall be no whore of the daughters of israel nor a sodomite
of the sons of israel thou shalt not bring the high of a whore or the price of a dog see it used
interchangeably into the house of the lord thy god for any vow for even both these are abomination
to the lord thy god so sodomite and dog being used interchangeably pretty clear so in matthew
seven six and just to make it clear it's not saying every time you see the word dog in the
bible it means it's talking about sodomite uh but here clearly it is right and then in matthew
seven six i believe that jesus is saying not to give holy things to sodomites he says give not
that which is holy unto the dogs yeah he's not talking about fido neither cast you your pearls
before swine let's say trample them under their feet and turn again around you i think sodomite
and dog being used interchangeably it's the same with dog and swine okay that's what i believe i
don't see what what's the difference what the swine then i think it's just being used interchangeably
he said give not that solely unto the dogs neither cast your pearls before swine let's
say trample them under their feet and turn again and rent you now we also see both these animals
again this is i did go through this in matthew seven but let's just i'll just do it quickly
again in second peter two when talking about reprobate second peter 2 21 says for it had
been better for them not to have known the way of righteous and after they have known it to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them but it has happened unto them according to the true
proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to a wallowing in the
mass a picture of a dog and a pig representing reprobate right okay from second peter two
both of them being unclean animals the swine being the most famous of the unclean animals really
isn't it wallowing in filth yeah which is rather fitting isn't it just wallowing in filth wallowing
in the mire yeah so the dogs use interchangeably with swine reprobates pictures of dogs or sows
which is a swine which is a filthy dirty pig then jesus heals this guy then casts all the
devils into this herd of swine yeah that then self-destruct and like i said i believe that
reprobates have devils i believe they're possessed with devils i think it explains a lot of the
behavior they do where they just seem to almost be coordinated together and do things like kind
of as a group a mix when you see it especially when you experience it in church life and things
like that where they're just clearly being controlled by devils yeah the devils in them
are just communing with each other and they're just so full of wickedness they're just these
easy empty vessels that are just happy to just partake in any sort of sinfulness that they're
able to and still get away with pretending they're holy well here he casts the devils into this herd
of swine that then self-destruct don't they so the herd of swine just self-destruct like we see
reprobates do they just just end up just this wicked lifestyle which just ends in early death
and everything else here i think it's particularly picturing these filthy sodomites and then the
picture then is not only that they're saying well look cast us into the into the reprobate the
reprobate goes straight down into the into the deep anyway so they've just kind of like you know
died in these what is a picture of the swine but then also the value we see of god of one guy saved
over two thousand plus dirty reprobates who just end up just dying anyway and it doesn't seem like
jesus is at all fussed by that is he in in where we are where we looked at and then we see that
the the town there cared more about the swine than the safe guy though right and again and look you
might go well that only applies now look cultures throughout history have ended up just being you
know the big civilizations have just ended up running rampant with sodomy haven't they and and
they've always ended up before they've destroyed just rejecting god's people rejecting the gospel
a lot of the time doing horrible things to god's people and they ultimately just choose the wicked
chooses a vile reprobate over jesus christ right and and that's what we see here because it says
and they that kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything and what was
befallen to the possessed of the devils and behold the whole city came out to meet jesus
so when they saw him they besought him that he would depart out of their clothes so it's like
they you know they it's it's you know these reprobates are ultimately spiritually destroyed
by us anyway we're there just preaching the gospel preaching what these people are we're showing the
truth of them they're wicked vile people etc and what do people want they want us to depart out of
their clothes i mean and these people if you think about like they're so vile aren't they
like the picture of just this vile dirty pig these people are so vile they're so disgusting we've got
the point now where our culture at least people are choosing the reprobate over the bible believing
christian aren't they where you preach the word you preach the word of god and you're some sort
of just enemy of righteousness it seems i mean it's an absolute mess isn't it it's such a joke
and again the conditioning so strong that we're almost kind of getting used to it and accepting
it aren't we and you kind of just and of course because it's just on every corner i mean ultimately
you have to get used to it and accept it i suppose otherwise you're gonna be banging your head
against the wall which just seems to get harder and harder but but isn't it isn't it crazy when
you just step back and look at that and that's what i think that picture is there that's a
picture of that that's what i believe those pigs that do represent the sodomite and and we just
have a nation of people we have kids at school just being brainwashed and conditioned to believe
that somehow these are just normal people poor people and that anyone that preaches the truth
and anyone that's basically spiritually killing them and and and just showing them for what they
are everything else is some sort of enemy of righteousness some sort of hate speech peddler
some sort of whatever else they are and uh you know whatever they they come out with all these
different terms don't they but we're just men of god preaching the bible aren't we yeah we're men
of god believe in the bible and here that's what i believe that's a picture of now i understand that
that many maybe some won't agree with that and you know it's not really a big deal if you don't
i'm not at all dogmatic about that but i i have often looked at this story i've looked at this
for many years now and just always just thought what's the point with those pigs what's the point
with those swine and then that's what i believe looking at that dog and swine and that made me
start thinking about that and it's only the other day i started thinking that and and that for me is
what i think that's picture of i might be completely wrong there and if i am well anything i said there
is an untrue anyway so you know there is a good chance to have a little rant about sodomites
anyway so on the plus side you know i've got that on the system until next week so um let's uh let's
finish up then we'll pray to finish up guys so father i thank you for your word i thank you for
um for a great chapter of the bible there and there's a lot of lessons a lot of scripture we
could have you know separated that into many sermons and you know i'm sorry if i've maybe
gone through that too quickly and not dwelt on certain parts and certain messages there but
but i'm hoping as well that maybe just different you know there'll be a different message for
different people here and hopefully something will stick something they'll be able to take
home and apply to their life out of all those many many truths that we've got out of that chapter
lord i pray that you just you know you just help help everyone here to want to apply you know
bits of that chapter to their life to go forward and and actually think on these things to dwell
on the word of god to meditate on these things uh going forth you know for for the rest of this
week and into the weekend and um lord i pray that you just help everyone get home safely tonight
help everyone return safely as well on sunday for for another day here in jesus name for all this
amen