(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) 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