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in Matthew chapter eight. And so this chapter kind of covers a lot of different things. But first thing that we see from this is that he's coming off the mountain. So in Matthew chapter five and chapter six and chapter seven, we have the Sermon on the Mount. And the first thing that we see here in verse one, it says, and when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him saying, Lord, if thou will, thou canst make me clean. So it's very clear that, you know, after he got done with that, he came off the mountain. So this is after the Sermon on the Mount. But this leper comes up to him and basically says, you know, if you will, if you're willing, you know, make me clean. And so you can see the faith there is that basically he's just asking, you know, cleanse me. I know you can if you will, if you're willing to. And verse three, it says, And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And 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. So one thing, you know, one thing I didn't even put in my notes, but the Pentecostals out there are going to say that, basically, if you have any type of sickness or anything like that, that the only reason that you don't get healed from that is because you don't have enough faith. That's a, that's just garbage. That's, that's not biblical. Okay. And, and, and the look of these passages and say, see, you know, God's willing to always cleanse somebody. No, it doesn't say he's always willing, you know, and there's two places that would take you to just to prove that to you, that it's not, just because you have mountain moving faith, it still has to be according to God's will. And it's not always according to God's will that you're cleansed from some infirmity, because Paul besought the Lord thrice in Second Corinthians that the infirmity of the flesh should be taken away from him. And what did Jesus said? My grace is sufficient. And it says, you know, in your weakness, then are you strong? And so God sometimes will use infirmities to basically help, help you lean on him instead of on your own self. And also, when it comes to David, when he was praying for his son that was about to die, he says, you know, who knows that the Lord will be gracious and will heal him, you know, and when he was talking about fasting for him and all that stuff. So anyway, that's, that one's just kind of not, but, you know, they're always going to throw out something on there. But, but the one thing I want to, I want to just hit on real quick is where it says, when he cleansed them, what Jesus says to him here, it says, see thou tell no man. Now, this is something that comes up often in the Gospels when it comes to Jesus saying, don't tell anybody. And, and a lot of people have some weird ideas of why Jesus says this. From the Zionists out there to basically say, well, no one knew that he was the Son of God, you know, and this is where the oneness guys will get in here too and say, well, he never told anybody he was the Son of God. Yes, he did. Okay. Now, there's a reason why he's saying, don't tell anybody. And actually go to Mark chapter one, because this is a parallel passage with Mark chapter one. And I'm going to show you why he's saying, tell no man, he's not saying, don't win anybody to Christ, and don't tell anybody that I'm the Son of God. But what it comes down to is that Jesus was a man of no reputation, he made himself a no reputation. And what we're going to see here is that the reason he was saying this is because there would be too many people thronging him, if they just knew everything that was going on, because every time he'd do a miracle, it's just like they would throng him and he'd have to leave. That's what we'll see here in Mark chapter one. And just verse 40, just to see that we're talking about the same story. In verse 40, he says, and there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straightly charged him, and forthwith sent him away. And saith unto him, see thou, say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for our testimony unto them. Notice in verse 45, this is going to add a little bit to this. It says in verse 45, but he went out and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter. So he didn't take, you know, he didn't do what Jesus told him to do. In so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places, and they came to him from every quarter. So why did he say, see thou tell no man? Because basically the crowds would just throng him to the point where he couldn't, because you got to think about soul winning, especially when you're dealing with what he was trying to do, is he's trying to almost like individually go to people and stuff like that. And basically if there's just a big crowd, he can't really do that. And basically to the point where if you remember in some places they wanted to make him a king, and other places, you know, it just wasn't a good situation. So, but go to Philippians chapter 2, because I believe this ties into with what type of man Jesus was. He was meek and lowly, but it specifically says that he was made, he made himself of no reputation. Okay, so he wasn't trying to, he wasn't trying to make himself a reputation or, or get the limelight, so to speak. And, and mostly because, because of that, he, he wouldn't be able to do as much as he, he could. So I believe that's why he's saying, see thou tell no man, is so, because it would kind of hinder what he was trying to do in that city a little bit, because everybody would just kind of lose their minds, forsake of a better term, once they found out he did a miracle. But in verse 5 of Philippians chapter 2, it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery, robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And a lot of times we're more so talking about how he became a man, but, and how he died on the cross, but also the fact that he, he made himself of no reputation, and his voice was not heard in the streets, so he wasn't this street preacher trying to make a big deal, it's just people came to him. So all these cases where he was preaching on the mount, or, and other places, people were basically coming to him. So he wasn't, you know, like the street preachers out there, they're going to where a bunch of people are, and then they're just being obnoxious. When Jesus was preaching, the reason that, you know, he didn't just preach to a multitude that didn't want to hear him. They were following him, you know, and they were just like thronging him, and he'd go out to a desert, and then when he was out in the desert, he would preach to them, because there's a ton of room, obviously, to do, for him to preach to him. But even then, he's like, well I need to feed him now, you know, and that's where you have the feeding of the 5,000 and all that. But, but I want you to see that it's not because he didn't want people to know he was the Son of God, it's just the fact that it had to do with his ministry. It had to do with what he was doing, what he was trying to accomplish, and he was going from city to city trying to accomplish his ministry there. So I believe that answers that, if you go to Mark and see that little bit of information added there. But also, we see in here that Jesus says to show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. Now, I guess the Hebrew roots guys are right, you know, we need to start, you know, making sacrifices and offer things and all this other stuff and have priests and do all the Levitical law. Well, this is just a misunderstanding that Jesus, the New Testament did not start until Jesus's death. In Matthew chapter 27, it's very clear when the Old Testament ended. And this isn't a whole sermon on that, I've covered this before, but in Matthew chapter 27 verse 50, when that veil rent in the temple, that marked the end of the Old Testament. It was done. And the veil represented the Holy Ghost was not yet, you know, given, and just the fact that the New Testament hadn't started yet, but as soon as he died, that's when the New Testament started. Matthew 27 verse 50 says, Jesus, when he had cried, again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. And you say, well, okay, you know, the veil rent. Well, look at Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine and verse 16, Hebrews chapter nine verse 16. So when you see this stuff in, when you see in Jesus' ministry, all this stuff about him saying, you know, offer something of the Moses or they're keeping these feasts and doing all this other stuff, it's all before he died. So most all the gospels, until you get to the last couple chapters, you're dealing with Old Testament. You're in the Old Testament, okay. That's why it's so silly to say that salvation was different in the Old Testament when you have the whole book of John, he's just saying, believe on the Son, believe, believe, believe, believe, and it's like, wait a minute, he's saying, he that believes on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believe on me hath everlasting life. That's the Old Testament. He's literally in the Old Testament when he's saying that. And he's not saying, believe on me and you will have everlasting life after I die and raised from the dead. He's saying you have it right now. He that believes on me hath everlasting life. And you know, it shall not come into combination, but is past from death and life and just all those verses, it's very clear that he, you know, it's the same. But in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 16, it says for where a testament is, there must also have necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength at all, while the testator liveth. So it's saying that the New Testament doesn't have any strength and while the testator liveth. Now you can think about this with your last will and testament, right? If you had a will, then it doesn't mean anything until you die. Okay. And it talks about the first covenant wasn't dedicated without blood, meaning that the first testament was, was it started by the death of animals, by the bulls and goats and the blood that they sprinkled upon the, you know, upon the tabernacle, upon the book. And it goes into all that in Hebrew chapter nine. But what blood was shed for the New Testament? Jesus Christ, his blood. That's, you know, this is the blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. And so that's what marked the beginning of the New Testament. And obviously him raising from the dead, thou art my son, this day have begotten me. And again, in another place, it says, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So he's the high priest of the New Testament. And so don't get bogged down when you see stuff like that. When you see, hey, he's saying to bring something to the priest, you know, I thought we were in the New Testament. No, not until he dies. So it makes perfect sense that he'd be saying that. And so in Matthew chapter eight and verse five, as we move along down there. So obviously keep your hand in Matthew chapter eight as we go down the line here. We have the story of this centurion that has this great faith. Okay. So in Matthew chapter eight and verse five, it says, and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come unto my, under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority and have soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go and he goeth into another, come and he cometh into, into 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. Now this is a great story because this man is not an Israelite. He's a centurion of what? Rome. And, and so that's what's amazing is that he actually has the most faith out of everybody in Israel. And he's not even of Israel. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that, isn't that, you know, show me again, God's chosen people here and how they're just so much above everybody else. Now, you know, what advantage did half the Jew, much every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God. You know, they have an advantage because they have the word of God. Okay. Now this story actually shows up in Luke chapter seven. So go to Luke chapter seven, and we'll actually get a little more information about this. And you say, well, that's, that seems pretty faithful there. Meaning that he basically says, you know, I know that if you just speak the word, you don't even have to come to my house and heal my servant. Just say the word. But Luke seven actually gives a little more light that it's actually even more, more miraculous and more, I guess, impressive on the centurion's part because he didn't even come to Jesus himself. He actually sent messengers to say this. This is also kind of shows you too, you know, when you see the angel, like the angels will be speaking for God. And so you see this in Revelation where the angel was talking to John and giving him the stuff, but then he'll speak in first person as God. But it doesn't say the Lord, Seth, it will just be the angel talking. And so that'll show you sometimes, you know, that a messenger can just speak, you know, the message that's being given him. And so when you see it written in Matthew eight, it sounds like that guy, you know, the centurion's the one saying, well, he is, he said it to that person and they said it to them. So even though the messenger, the people that he sent to him are the ones that said it, God recognized that as the centurion saying it. Okay. And so just to kind of give you a little more information too, when you're dealing with the Bible and, and people are going to try to say, it'd be like, I'm just, I'm preparing you for what people say when it comes to like contradictions or they'll say, well, this angel is God or something like that. You know what I mean? And you got to understand how the Bible narrates things and how that works with, because you'll see the angel of the Lord, or you'll see the angel spoke out of the burning bush, but then it said the Lord spoke out of the burning bush. Okay. Now it could be the angel of the Lord, meaning like, like Jesus, because there's our cases where he's the angel of the Lord, but then there's just cases where it's just a angel of the Lord that's speaking, but it's, you know, it's basically God speaking in first person, even though it's an angel speaking. Okay. But in, in Luke chapter seven in verse one there, and there's actually a similar story in John chapter four. So John chapter four, and don't get, and I listen, I'm there too, meaning sometimes I'm reading through that. I'm like, is this the same? And sometimes when you're reading through your gospels, you're not exactly like going back and referencing every single time it's paralleled, right? But there's a story in John chapter four about a nobleman and his son. And it's actually in the same place as in Capernaum that there's this nobleman and his son is about to die. And in that story is where God says, you know, I'll heal him. And it was that same hour, like he went back home and he found out that he had mended on the same hour that Jesus said that to him. So this is actually a little different because this is a centurion with his servant, not the nobleman with his son. And so anyway, you know, sometimes I get tripped up on that and I'm like, is this the same story? Is it a nobleman and his son, or is it a centurion and his servant? So in Luke chapter seven, verse one, it says, now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. So he's going to Capernaum and a certain centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto them the elders of the Jews beseeching him that he would come and heal his servants. So notice that he's not going himself. He's sending elders of the Jews. Okay. And notice it says, and when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this, for he loveth our nation and have built us a synagogue. So this guy was, you know, it seems like a very righteous man as far as, you know, he wasn't against Israel and he built them a synagogue and all this stuff. So he's a centurion of Rome, but you know, he's a good guy. And so they're basically saying, hey, this guy's worthy of this, but you can see why he's saying, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof because he's not of Israel. Okay. And so in verse six, it says, then Jesus went with them. And when he was not now, not far from the house, the centurion sent to sent friends to him. So notice that what happens here, he sends the Jews to where Jesus is at. Jesus is coming to him, but before he gets to the house, he sends friends, his friends to him and says, hey, you know, don't trouble yourself to come into my house. You know, I'm not worthy. And it says saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself for I'm not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof. Wherefore, neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. And so same story, but now you can see, he says, I have not, I have found in verse nine there, just so we don't have to read the rest of it because the same thing as the other story, I have found not, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. So that puts a little more meat, but even if it was just him standing there saying, hey, just speak the word, that would be pretty great faith, meaning that you kind of think of Naaman, the Syrian, where Elijah said, you know, dunk yourself, I'm sorry, Elijah said, dunk yourself seven times in Jordan. And, and he, and he's like, man, I thought you were going to say some word. I thought you were going to do some kind of like a miracle or you're going to do something, you know, other than just telling me to go swim in Jordan, you know, and, and he was kind of angry about it, but you can see the faith of, of this centurion that he didn't need Jesus to come there and like physically be there. And, and listen, this, this should represent our faith because Jesus isn't coming physically here, but can he still heal? He's God, obviously he didn't need to. And the centurion is really making out a point that even in Jesus' ministry, he could just speak the word and it's done. He doesn't need to even be where the, where, where the person's at and he's healed. And so it shows the power. So there's obviously God, or Jesus' deity there. But, but I just thought that was interesting, just seeing that parallel on the fact that he didn't even meet Jesus in person, but also just seeing the fact that, that God was healing people that were not of the nation of Israel. And we'll see that throughout the gospels. So this whole idea that, you know, Jesus only wants Israelites to get saved is just not true. He wants everybody to get saved. So, but in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 11, as we go on, go on, so he mentions this story and this is why in verse 11 he's saying this, because who got healed? A centurion's servant. So he's helping out someone that's not of Israel. And he's making a point here. And so all the Zionists should listen up at this point because we haven't made it very far in the New Testament and he's already beaten down this Zionism doctrine. And he already hit that in chapter 3 where John the Baptist says the ax is laid to the root of the tree and say not in yourself you have Abraham to your father, right? And so it starts off just basically condemning Israel. But in verse 11 it says, 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. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 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 hour. And so this story is giving us a representation as far as the fact that hey it's not, there's going to be plenty of people from the east and the west, meaning people that are not of Israel that are going to be in the kingdom of God sitting down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And the children of the kingdom are going to be cast out. So what's that talking about? It doesn't mean the children of the kingdom of heaven. The children of the kingdom of Israel. So he's coming after the Israelites themselves and saying, hey, there's going to be plenty of people that are of Rome, there's going to be plenty of people that are from Greece, there's going to be plenty of people from all around the world that are going to be sitting in the kingdom of heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and you yourselves that are children of Abraham are going to be cast out into outer darkness. We're talking about hell, we're talking about the lake of fire. When you're dealing with outer darkness, I believe you're talking about the lake of fire. And so being cast into outer darkness would be likened to being cast into the lake of fire. And so just giving you another aspect of it as far as being darkness and to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever talks about with the reprobates in Jude. But go to Romans chapter 9. So this I believe couples with Romans chapter 9 dealing with physical Israelites compared to the spiritual Israelites. And this passage is very clear on that, that hey, there is a difference between just being a physical Israelite and being a spiritual Israelite. And you think of Nathaniel, when Nathaniel came up to Jesus, he said, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. And so what does indeed mean? Truly. So what does he mean? Here is a true Israelite. Why? It's the same thing as basically saying who's a true Jew. Those that are circumcised in the heart, those that it's not the circumcision of the flesh, but the circumcision of the heart. And so in Romans chapter 9 verse 3, it says, for I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites. So we're just dealing with the fact of just physically Paul is talking here because he was of the tribe of Benjamin, of Hebrew, of the Hebrews, and he's saying my brethren, according to the flesh, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises, whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all. So obviously the adoption, you know, the adoption of sons and it talks about the spirit of adoption that God has given us because we're adopted children. We're born of God. But that was all given, you know, to the Israelites, but obviously they didn't, you know, by and large they rejected it even in the Old Testament. But in verse 6 there, it says, not as though the word of God had taken into effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Now you can't read that and think that's the same Israel in both those cases. You can't take something out of something and have the same, okay. There has to be two different subsets there. So they are not all Israel which are of Israel. So what's that saying? The all Israel is talking about the children of promise and he's saying that not all Israel is of Israel, meaning that there's a lot of people that are of Israel that are not of the nation of Israel. Does that make sense? Meaning that it's not, the Israel of God is not just comprised of those that are Israelites physically. That's what that's saying, okay. And so that's what you see in Matthew chapter 8. He's saying there's going to be many from the east and the west that are going to sit down in the kingdom of heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and ye yourselves cast out. That's exactly what's being said here. And notice in verse 7 it says, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are accounted for the seed. So they're children of the flesh meaning that they're children of that physical kingdom, but it does not make them the children of the spiritual kingdom. It's only by faith that you're the children of the spiritual kingdom. And so obviously they have an advantage that they were the children of the physical kingdom because they had the oracles of God. They had the covenants and the promises. They were all given to that nation and so they should have been the first to jump on, right. And when you get into Romans chapter 11 it's kind of the same thing. It's like how much more shall the the branch that the natural branch be grafted in. Meaning that you know they should be the first ones to be grafted in. Meaning that if they believe you know they should be the first ones to believe because they already had that information. And so that's what that's dealing with. Now going back to Matthew chapter 8. I know I'm kind of going rapid fire through this, but you know it's there's a lot of information in this. So like I said when I when I'm dealing with these chapters I could preach whole sermons on one of these subset topics that's in here. But I just want to give you an overview as far as what's going on in it. So Matthew chapter 8 and verse 14 it says, and when Jesus was come into Peter's house he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them. So so much for Peter being the first pope that's you know celibate right. You know I don't know how the Catholic church gets away from this because Peter clearly was married. And he was also a bishop right because he says unto the elders I exhort who am also an elder because a bishop must be blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of right or unruly. Not to mention I believe in first Peter chapter five it talks about Marcus my son that Peter's talking about so I believe he had a son. So anyway all that to say is that just a stab at the Catholic church there that that's very clear that you don't have a mother-in-law unless you have a wife somewhere hiding around there somewhere. No one just wants a mother-in-law right now. I have a good mother-in-law but but I know others maybe would disagree with their mother-in-law. But anyway so in verse 16 it says and 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 healed all that were sick. So obviously we saw you know casting out devils I do believe that people are still possessed with devils but how do you deal with it? Do you get one of those crucifixes and you know like get in a dress and start like doing an exorcism thing like you see on tv you know like poltergeist or something like that? No you use his word okay. So if you ever ran into somebody that you thought maybe would be possessed what do you do? Start quoting off scripture to them. You say which script or any of it okay and listen there have been cases where I remember my brother talking to a guy that I think was clearly possessed and all he did was just start quoting off verses and his eyes were rolled back in his head he's like going into his whole like you know I don't think he was speaking in tongues or anything but he probably was going to and but then he just started quoting the verses off to him and devils don't like that they don't like the word of God okay so that's how you deal with that. Obviously you can say the Lord rebuked thee that's the Bible you know that's the scripture so but just use verses but then notice in verse 17 it says that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. So obviously Jesus is going around healing the sick and and casting out devils. Well Isaiah 53 obviously is a whole chapter on Jesus but go to Isaiah 35. I'm going to read Isaiah 53 4 it says surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted. So obviously he did bear our infirmities and our sicknesses but Isaiah 35 3 I believe is a prophecy about how Jesus is going to do what he did when he comes here. So what do you see throughout the gospels usually you see that he's healing lepers he's healing the sick he's giving sight to the blind he's giving hearing to the deaf he's giving he's making the lame walk you know and all these different aspects of as far as healing them. Well Isaiah 35 in verse 3 it says strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not behold your God will come with vengeance even God with a recompense he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert. So that's exactly what we see with Jesus' ministry. He went around doing good and that's one of the big things that you see throughout the scripture especially in Mark. Mark is one where if you want to see him casting out devils that happens a lot there and him healing the deaf the blind and obviously you see it here too but that's definitely a scripture being fulfilled. But back in Matthew chapter 8 moving on in verse 18. So Matthew chapter 8 and verse 18. So as you can see with with this chapter it's basically Jesus kind of you know in a ministry he and he's just kind of going from town to town and and and he's just doing different things. So when you see in Acts where it says he went about doing good you can see that in the gospels and what he did. But in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 18 it says now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment to depart unto the other side and a certain scribe came and said unto him master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest and Jesus said 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 and another of his disciples saith unto him Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father but Jesus said unto him follow me and let the the dead bury their dead. And so this is a famous passage dealing with the fact that basically people are wanting to follow him but they have other things they need to take care of or you know basically hindering them from following Jesus. And some of this may sound harsh you know like basically I need to bury my my my father but we don't really know whether his his father has died yet. Okay it's kind of like if your father was on the brink of death you're like well I need to bury my father meaning like he's about to die and if you think about like in Genesis you know when Isaac's like I'm about to die and then it's like 100 years later and he's like that's when he dies it's like man if you were waiting around it would have been a long time and so what this really comes down to is that you should not wait to follow Jesus okay and it doesn't mean that you can't follow him you know like you gotta like just forsake your family and forsake all this stuff what it comes down to is that you need to do it now and not wait and this is where I get a lot a lot of people are saying well you know once I get my finances together once I get this together and that together and once I get the house or once I get this or that then I'll follow Jesus then I'll have more time and it never works out that way because every time something they get that then something else they have to get or something else they gotta get said listen you'll never have everything in order especially when you're younger I mean it's not like you're gonna just have everything in order when you're young I mean you're just constantly it's just in survival mode let's just be honest when it comes to you know having children and you know trying to support your family you're just in survival mode just trying to make it and if you're gonna wait until you're just secure to where you don't have any financial problems or you don't have anything you have to worry about you know you're gonna be ready to die probably you know you're just like all right I'm about to take out my 401k you know I got my annuity you know it's like at that point you're probably not gonna be able to go soul winning like you should and you wasted a whole bunch of time and I think of you know and James chapter 4 it says go to now you that say today or tomorrow we shall go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get dame get game for for whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow for what is your life it is even a vapor that appear for a little time and that vanishes away but that you ought to say if the Lord will we should we shall do this or that and and you know so it's it's very you don't know what's on the morrow and so you need to just go to now uh Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15 I think of this verse when I think about this this passage um and then we saw in in in uh earlier chapters where it talks about uh take no thought for the morrow for the the marshal take thought for the things of themselves sufficient unto the days the evil thereof you know kind of like keep your eye on the moment and I think about this when when I think about people that don't want to get into the work now they're like oh I'll do it later what are they thinking about they're thinking about what they got to get done in the future think about now why not now why can't you serve God now why can't you follow him now why can't you read the Bible now why can't you uh you know memorize now why can't you go soul winning now and there's always going to be an excuse and that's what it really comes down to is that there's always an excuse it's like oh I bought a piece of a ground I need to go see to it right you know I I just married a wife so I cannot come it's like okay why why wait what you know does she already have you that on that short of leash but uh but Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15 it says see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil and listen we don't have much time we got to redeem as much time as we can out of that and so you got to look at the fact that we don't know how much time we have so whatever time we we have we need to be trying to give it to the Lord as much as possible and so when I see this passage here I don't see Jesus saying like unless you're just ready to forsake your family listen if you don't provide for your own especially for them of his own household he had denied the faith is worse than infidel the Bible's not saying to to basically leave your family in the dust okay and even the the disciples I don't believe that they were just leaving their family in the dust I do believe they were still providing for their family and you know taking care of them I don't believe that they were just like forsaking them on end and so or how could peter be a a bishop how can he have his house in order if he's never there okay case in point they're at his wife's house in this passage right it's not like he's not seeing his family I mean at his wife's mother's house so if he's at his mother-in-law's house listen I'm guaranteed he's around his wife some some time in there right but but all I have to say is that people get this this idea that you know like they never saw their family or whatever we don't really know it doesn't give you like day by day timeline as far as what goes on here or how long they are away from the family maybe it was like they're away from that for a little bit then they go back and see their family and then they would go out on a mission trip so to speak we don't really know the time frame of that obviously they were with him for about three years in his ministry but they'd be kind of like if if I was you know going on mission trips or I was doing things you know it doesn't mean that I'm like gone that whole time and so you know sometimes people have a I guess a messed up view and sometimes it just comes from watching movies you know watching the greatest story ever told or watching like the depictions of Christ and like what's going on and they're all wearing dresses you know they're just living under a you know under a bridge or something like that and they never see you never see their family ever okay but yet the Bible brings them up and stuff like that so but going back to Matthew chapter 8 and verse 23 we said we have this story with Jesus rebuking the sea in verse 23 it says and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him and 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 said unto them why are you so 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 marveled saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him now this is a magnificent story this is different than when he walked on the sea because he was in the ship the story where he walks on the sea is where they're in the ship by themselves and he didn't go with them but Nahum go to Nahum chapter 1 because this is actually a great passage to show the deity of Christ and the fact that who can who is able to rebuke the sea and to calm the sea god you know god is jealous god you know and it talks about how he's furious in Nahum chapter 1 is a great chapter on that but in verse 3 just i just want you to see that the pronoun he in verse 4 is talking about the lord all caps lord Jehovah so we're talking about god here in verse 3 of Nahum 1 it says the lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked the lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet he rebuke at the sea and maketh it dry and drieth up all the rivers and carmel and the flower of lebanon languish it so when it talks about jesus rebuking the sea and making it calm you can definitely see why they're saying what man or man is this and what it comes down to is they're really seeing hey this is god this is god almighty that's in the flesh and and so you know he's saying you know oh faithless generation error not faithless generation saying why are you fearful oh ye of little faith it doesn't say they don't have faith okay and so i do believe that disciples were believers and it talks about that in john chapter 2 that they believed on him but how much faith did they have in that how much were they they truly believe in it and and listen i know i talk about perfecting the faith in james chapter 2 it talks about that but that shows you that you don't always have this massive faith that you just are moving mountains with your faith so you can have whatever faith you have put it in christ you'll get saved okay but you should be increasing that faith and not being little in faith and so his disciples obviously were not they didn't have mountain moving faith here to know that if the son of god is in the ship with them they're not going down okay and so but it's interesting go to jonah chapter one because the book of jonah is such a picture of christ and i know i hit on this with jonah chapter two with him being you know in the heart of the earth jesus being in the heart of the earth and jonah being in the whale's belly but notice this parallel as well and what you see a lot of times in the bible too is sometimes you see a kind of an anti-picture of something meaning that in this story jonah is is fleeing the presence of god he's not he's not right with god and uh but it's the same it's almost the same exact story where you have the ship that's getting taken out by the sea and in this case jonah is asleep in the ship okay so in verse four of jonah chapter one it says but the lord sent a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his god and cast forth the wares that were in the uh were in the ship into the sea to lighten it up of them but jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep sound familiar so the ship master came to him and said unto him what meanest thou of sleeper arise call upon thy god if so be that god will will think upon us that we perish not now in this story jonah is not the one that just said hey you know peace be still no he had to be thrown into the ocean and god's the one that that caused it to stop and so obviously you kind of see that anti-picture a little bit of jonah where but he's sleeping in the ship so you kind of see this foreshadowing of what jesus was going to do in his ministry but there's so much in jonah and i know i preached a sermon on that but there's so much in there as far as dealing with that picture of christ with jonah and all that and obviously you see it in matthew dealing with the fact that the preaching of jonas that they repented at the preaching of jonas and that is greater than jonas is here and so um you definitely see that picture with him rebuking the sea and being asleep in the ship and so but it kind of reminds me too you know when it comes to in our life we may think that everything's just falling apart but there's really you know there's nothing to really worry about and uh you know there's a lot of things that you can worry about and think that are just you know everything's just falling apart but in reality everything's just fine and uh you know it's it's something that we need to to not fret not worry about it and then matthew in the earlier chapters with the sermon on the mount we saw that where the bible is talking about that is is is take no thought for the morrow and and just basically not the fret not the worry and so um you can definitely see that now you can definitely see why they were worried so it's not like we couldn't relate to that because there are real problems that are going on but in the end god knows and and and you know god takes care of the sparrows and how much more value are we than sparrows and so we need to think about it even in those storms of life that that god obviously cares about us and wants us uh the best for us so but in matthew chapter 8 the last portion of of the passage that we see here is dealing with um with these these men that are possessed with devils now this story is interesting now the reason that this is interesting because in matthew chapter 8 we see two men that are possessed with devils but there's two other places in the bible that this is mentioned where it mentions the legion now legion is not mentioned here but this story is i believe the same story and in those stories you just see one man and uh and before i read it you know i was trying to figure out you know is this a different story because in those stories it says the gadarenes and this is the gergacines but i think i personally believe it's the same place just a different way of saying it or maybe uh uh sometimes they'll have like a different name for the same place um what's interesting about this is the fact that in all those stories when you look in there it's right after he rebukes the sea i mean you have the story of jesus rebuking the sea and right after that you have the legion story same thing here what's interesting though is when you go to mark and you go to luke where this is mentioned right before that you have the parable of the sower and matthew you have the parable of the sower and you don't have the parable of the sower until matthew 13. so you know i was looking at it like which one is it is it is this like a separate story that happened before you know one happened before the parable of the sower and one happened after the parable of the sower uh and all this stuff um but to me i think it makes more sense that this happens right after you beat the sea and this is the story because listen there's many times where he's teaching the same thing over and over again so to think that he only taught about the parable of the sower one time would be ridiculous okay because we see that with end times prophecy and matthew 24 is obviously the all of it discourse but you have uh you have uh him talking about that same type of thing in matthew 10 you know and it even has the passage where it says he that endureth unto the end shall be saved and it's talking about that watch that it's clearly talking about end times prophecy which he mentions in matthew 24 and so in this case i do believe it's the same i'm going to explain why in one place it says two people and why it would say one and the other but this is where people get mixed up with they think there's a contradiction or and i may do a whole sermon on this as the supposed contradictions in the bible or at least hit on some of the big ones that people try to say but this is one where they'll say it's like well is it two people or is it one and or they'll say well you know the sermon on the mount and i heard james white saying this and i don't know why i listen to that moron sometimes but i was listening to something he was like talking about you know probably because he's trying to answer he's trying to rebut pastor anderson's thing that because pastor anderson's going uh chapter by chapter through his book and just demolishing his book on the uh his his argument against king james onlyism but he said this he said well you know in the bible you have problems when you look at the parallel passages in in the gospels and he says you know and and you know the the sermon on the mount in matthew you'll see differences in the sermon on the mount and luke here's a problem with that sorry that the so-called sermon on the mount and chat and luke is actually in a plane he's speaking in the plane so he's not on a mountain but he's saying the same things and some of the same things right and so you gotta you know it's funny because this guy's supposed to know so much about he's such a scholar doesn't even know that luke chapter six isn't even on the mountain but in that chapter it says that he's on a plane but you see the same thing in luke 21 luke 21 is actually happening what's in luke 21 is actually spoken before he gets to the mount of olives if you look at context he's actually still at the temple then he goes to the mount of olives then you have matthew 24 and mark 13 because then you'll look at luke 21 and be like oh he's kind of saying some different things here and doesn't seem to be the same thing yeah because it's two different things he's it's two different times he's preaching a lot of it's similar but it's two different things so all that say is that you know when you're getting into this i yeah one time i was thinking well you know i want to look at all these passages and i want to put them in order but listen it's better just to read the gospel straight up instead of trying to fit it all again and i'm doing this to show you more information okay when you're when i'm preaching it when you're in your bible reading just read through the gospel and then go to the next possible and read through that there's nothing wrong with paralleling and looking at the parallels but what i'm saying is that don't get caught up in that type of stuff because uh people are constantly nitpicking at that type of stuff but but anyway matthew chapter eight and verse 28 notice what it says it says and when he was come to the other side into the country of the gergaseans there met him too possessed with devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce so that no man might pass by the way 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 there was a good way off from them and heard of many swine feeding so that the devils 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 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 and they that kept that them fled and went their ways into the city and told er told everything what was befallen to the possessed with death with our possessed of the devils 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 so i'm going to show you why i believe in this passage you're dealing with two people and why in the other passages you just see the one man and uh go to mark chapter uh five and you can find this in luke chapter eight i believe as well but uh pretty much the same story uh but this is common dealing with the fact of how the bible does how you see a parallel story but there's different information it'd be like if i was at uh work tomorrow and i said you know brother anthony was at church but miss paula was at church and brother jason was at church but then i was that came home or i was talking to someone else and i said you know brother jason was at church did i tell a lie did i tell anything that was wrong no now why would in one story would i say three different people and why would i say one person because in the story i was maybe talking about brother jason i'd be like well brother jason was at church and we were talking about this this and this or something like that right because i'm focusing on him in in the one story i'd be telling somebody in the other story i was just talking in general about people that were at church and and stuff like that so just because in a story where it says you know uh so-and-so was there and in another story it says you know just one person was there it doesn't mean that it's wrong it just means that the the person that was writing it was focusing on just the one person you say why was he focusing on the one person well i'll tell you why because in this story you don't see anything about what these two men said or what they did after this but in mark five and in luke eight you're going to see something dealing with there but i do want you to see that i do believe this is so it doesn't say legion in this passage but we see that in mark uh chapter five so verse one it says and they came over onto the other side of the sea into the country of the gadarenes and when he was come out of the ship immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit so notice now it's just a man with an unclean spirit and it goes on and keeps talking about this man you know and then it says in verse nine and says and he asked him what is thy name and he answered saying my name is legion for we are many creepy verse but yes you know the legion the many devils that were that were in him and then in verse 12 it says uh and all the devils besought him saying send us into the swine that we we may enter into them and in verse 13 we can see a little more information dealing with the fact of how many devils were probably in this person or at least or it could have been in the two people it says in verse 13 there that the swine ran violently down a place in the sea they were about 2 000 and were choked in the sea so think about this if you had swine that were i mean you'd imagine the ones that were possessed would be the ones running off the the side there so i believe that there was at least two thousand because obviously devils can more than one devil can possess a you know a body right so there was at least two thousand devils that's crazy okay to imagine that but we see a little more information with that when we're dealing with the legion what are we dealing with when it says that these devils were in him that that's a crazy amount so we see that the that they come out like the country comes out and they want they they're wanting them to leave because think about this two thousand of your your swine of your herd just perished you know imagine someone comes into your coast you know or comes to your farm or something like that and they come to your farm and like all your cattle just just plow themselves into like a you know into the ocean or into the the lake or something they all just die you're like what in the world who came into my house you know like who came to my farm because that's a lot of money you know you think about it like how i'm not sure how much a pig costs i didn't look it up before i did the sermon but it obviously that's a that's a lot of money if you have two thousand i mean let's say you had well let's say it cost a dollar for a pig which i guarantee it costs more than that that's still two thousand dollars you know that's not a short amount of change there but what we see though is we see more information about this one of these guys that got healed so they prayed him to depart from the coast in verse 17 but now it's giving us more information it says in verse 18 and when he was coming to the ship he that had or had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him how be it jesus suffered him not but set them to him go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the lord had done for thee and hath had compassion on me and i love this verse because i love what he says here it says and he departed and began to publish in decapolis how great things jesus had done for him and all men did marvel and so you say well why in one why in this story is it talking about one man in that story talking about two men because only one man was the one that was actually wanting to follow him and then only the one man is the one that actually came back and started telling and praising god for what had happened to him and praising jesus you say well when does that ever happen the 10 lepers you know the 10 lepers that got cleansed and only one came back and so you can imagine why why would god only want to mention one guy because only one guy was actually serving the lord but two did get healed okay and so sometimes that's why i believe the bible does that where it'll just show one person you know instead of the two or whatever one he's trying to focus on somebody but you didn't see that in mark or in matthew chapter 8 did you you didn't see it this story about and you know either one of them doing this you didn't see both of them doing it and so and mark and luke it's focusing on that one guy and saying hey this guy was healed this guy had these devils cast out and he also went out and spread it abroad and gave glory to god and so we'll see that throughout the bible how it does that sometimes but that's my answer that's why i believe in one passage but it really doesn't matter okay let's say i didn't have an answer okay why i mentioned it doesn't matter meaning that it's still not wrong it still doesn't make it you know a mistake or anything like that but i'll probably i was actually thinking about this you know as i was studying for this i'm probably going to do a sermon on like you know just the different so-called contradictions dealing with you know did they caught crow once or did he grow twice you know and just different things like that where people were trying i may just one time i just went to an atheist site and i just i want to know your contradictions you know because i don't know what you know like to me there's no contradiction so to me i'm like trying to figure out what they say is a contradiction and so i was just going down the list i'm like most of them are all just dumb meaning like it's just like they don't understand english grammar and where it's something like this where it's like well there's two men here in this story and one man in this it's like very easy to answer but uh but the cock growing one i think is probably a good one to know and then there's other ones that uh that they try to say so i may do a whole sermon on that maybe this sunday but that's massive chapter eight um a lot of good information good doctrine in there and so we'll continue with our our series next week in chapter nine um but uh but yeah i think there's just a lot of good information as far as why jesus did certain things why he was why he would say don't tell anybody about this and because he's a man of no rep he made himself with no reputation and obviously his ministry and the way he wanted to do his ministry he needed to be on the the dl so to speak he needed to be on the down low when he was doing things and uh but uh but anyway matthew chapter eight great chapter let's end with a word of prayer doing holy father lord we thank you for this evening and pray that you would uh be with us as we go home but also as we sing one more song to you and lord we just uh we thank you for your word we thank you for the fact that it's perfect and we're just uh always finding new things in it and we just pray that you would be with us throughout this week uh as we go back to work and lord we love you and pray all in jesus christ's name amen