“Yeah, It’s Him!”
Matthew 8:14-17
OKAY – let’s do this!
SO – we are in a verse by verse study of the Gospel of Matthew (The King and His Kingdom)...
AND AGAIN – from the day we launched it, the goal of this study has been...
To gain a greater understanding of both who Jesus is, and of what it looks to live in the Kingdom that He established 2000 years ago.
SO THAT – as the 13th century English Bishop Richard of Chichester prayed, we will: know Jesus more clearly, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly... day by day.
QUESTION – MGCC... so are you good with this goal? OF:
• Knowing Jesus more clearly
• Loving Him more dearly, and
• Following Him more nearly
NOW – our text for this morning is Matthew 8:14-17...
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” - Matthew 8:14-17
Prayer
NOW – if you remember... when Jesus, on the mountains overlooking the Sea of Galilee, had finished unveiling His Kingdom Manifesto, the crowds were amazed, because He spoke as on who had.... authority. AND THEN – after preaching the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus came down from the mountain
UNDERSTAND B/S – (and yeah I know I said it last week, but it baes repeating...) MGCC we do not worship and serve a God who is far off and distant but who is up close and personal... A God who is near, who comes down from the mountain... A God who comes to where we are! A God who is... ‘Our Father who art in the heavens.’
AND LISTEN – when Jesus comes down from the mountain after the S.M. He begins demonstrating His authority. AND MGCC – that is the point that Matthew is making in chapters 8 and 9...
IN FACT – he structures these 2 chapters to underscore that very truth. (outline)
The Authority of The King Demonstrated
• 3 miracle stories (Matthew 8:1-17)
• 2 descriptions of discipleship (Matthew 8:18-22)
• 3 miracle stories (Matthew 8:23-9:8)
• 2 descriptions of discipleship (Matthew 9:9-17)
• 3 miracle stories (Matthew 9:18-34)
UNDERSTAND – in these 2 chapters Matthew is boldly declaring that Jesus He has authority over all things: over nature, over sickness, over demons, over sin death, over the grave and over how we are to live out our lives if we choose to follow after Him.
AND AGAIN... Here’s the deal, Here’s the point Matthew is making in these two chapters...
Since Jesus possess absolute authority in the world, He warrants absolute allegiance from the world.
From: you/me/right and left
Get It?
AND – so far...
WE HAVE - seen Jesus demonstrating this absolute authority, By cleansing a man who was covered in leprosy, and by healing a centurion’s servant (from a distance) by simply speaking a word.
NOW BEFORE – we dive deeper into our text I wanted to say a few words about miracles in the NT.
UNDERSTAND - performing miraculous signs was one of the keyways that Jesus demonstrated the truth of His claims
• Because talk is cheap, but miracles are currency
• Now, miracles are by definition, extraordinary happenings that can’t be explained by natural means
• Therefore, when a person performs a miracle, it means that God is with him
AND LISTEN...
IF - God is willing to bestow His power on a person,
THEN – it also means that God is endorsing the person’s claims
B/L – in these miracles, God is validating every claim that Jesus was making about Himself, and about what is true/false... right/wrong...
We read in John chapter 2...
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed his glory; and His disciples believed in Him. – John 2:11
He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with Him.” – John 3:2
Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. – Acts 2:22
‘approved’... proved, shown to be
UNDERSTND - Jesus’ miracles were such a powerful testimony, a sign, that His critics were forced to try and explain away.
KIND OF LIKE - the six year old boy who comes home from Church, all excited and his father asks why.
He replies that he learned the story of God delivering His people from Egypt.
He explains, "Moses was about to take the Jews out of Egypt when suddenly the Israeli Air Force appeared with their thundering jets, and bombed Egypt. AS – they were leaving the city, the Egyptian Marines sent out their helicopters and the Israeli Air Force shot them down... AND THEN - Moses crossed the Red Sea on Israeli ships.”
NOW - the father, was a little bother by his son’s rendition of the Exodus story, SO HE - asked him, "Is that really the story they taught you at church today?” The boy replies, "No, but if I told you the real story, you wouldn't believe me.”
AND MGCC - that’s the power of miracles... they forced Jesus’ audience to consider His claims.
AND LISTEN – every miracle of Jesus pointed to something much greater than the miracle itself. THEY – pointed to:
His identity (as the Messiah, God the Son, the Promised king) and to His Mission.
QUESTION... and what was Jesus mission (like why did He come and dwell among us)?
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. – Luke 19:10
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:31,32
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. – 1 Timothy 1:15
OKAY... let’s do this.
Let’s begin our deep dive into Matthew 8:14-17, “Yeah, It’s Him!”
NOW – the way I want us to attack this conversation is by taking our text verse by verse and talking about some key truths along the way and then wrap up by looking at...
‘The’ truth that Matthew wants us to see in these 4 verses, “Yeah, It’s Him!”
HEY – but before we do that let’s...
Prayer...
OKAY – so here is how I want us to attack our text this morning (May 7, 2023).
WE – are going to slowly walk through these 4 verses and point out some cool truths along the way (Mt 8:14-16)
AND THEN – we are going to dive into ‘the truth’ that points to both Jesus’ identity and mission, as Matthew basically says, ‘Yeah, this is Him!’ (Matthew 8:17)
Some Cool Truths Along The Way
Cool Truth #1 - Jesus is worthy of upending our lives
Upending = to turn something upside down; to affect drastically or radically.
When Jesus came into Peter’s house... – Matthew 8:14
Now in Matthew 8... we know that Peter’s house (a home that according to Mark 1:29 was also the home of his brother Andrew) is located in Capernaum... village of Nahum
QUESTION – do you know where Peter lived when Jesus first asked him to be His follower?
WELL – according to John 1:44... Peter and Andrew lived in Bethsaida, 7 miles NE of Capernaum.
QUESTION – so why in Matthew 8 are they now living in Capernaum?
ANSWER – because Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum (20 miles) to set up His base of operations, ground zero for His Galilean ministry. Matthew 4:13
SO – Peter and Andrew decided to move there.
LIKE – if that is where Jesus was, then that is where they wanted to be, even if it meant packing up and moving to another town.
BUT THEY – were okay with that, because to them Jesus was worthy of upending their lives.
QUESTION – is Jesus worth upending your life?
Turning upside down a radically affecting your life?
HAS - He ever upended your life?
YOUR: schedule, plans, goals, dreams, wants, desires?
NOW – the next cool truth along the way...
Actually takes place ‘before’ Jesus entered Peter’s house.
AND – we read about it in Mark’s account of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. Mark 1:21ff
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey him.”
REMEMBER – in that culture, talk was cheap, and miracles were currency.
News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.
– Mark 1:21-29
OKAY so what is Cool Truth #2 - Jesus has authority over the spiritual forces of evil
I MEAN – here is this guy, possessed by an evil spirit.
A dark power that had to be terrifying to be near.
And Jesus simply says (when the demon begins to mouth off about who Jesus is)...
“Be quiet!”
“Come out of Him!”
And this demon immediately submits.
UNDERSTAND – satan is not even close to being God’s equal.
AND – one day, God will pick him up and throw him into the lake of burning sulfur.
Where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
I don’t know about you but I take great comfort in the fact, that...
The One, who is in us, is greater than the one who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:14-19
Jesus is worthy of upending your life
Jesus has authority over the spiritual forces of evil, and
Cool Truth #3 - Jesus has compassion/love for the marginalized
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her... – Matthew 8:14,15
QUESTION...
WHO - gets most of the attention in our world?
The rich, the famous, the powerful, the celebrity, the athlete, the wise, the ‘royal.’
BUT UNDERSTAND MGCC – a consistent pattern of God has always been to choose:
• the foolish to shame the wise
• the weak to shame the strong
• the lowly things of this world, the despised things and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are.
1 Corinthians 1:27,28
NOW – in Matthew 8 we have already watched Jesus...
• touch the untouchable leper... and
• respond to a request from a centurion, a gentile, an outsider... to heal his servant,
AND – in Matthew 8:15, we see Jesus showing compassion and love to another marginalized person, a woman.
AND YES – women were extremely marginalized in that time and culture.
IN FACT - rabbi’s encouraged all Jewish men to recite this prayer 3 times each day...
“God I thank You, that I’m not a gentile, a slave or a woman.”
YOU KNOW – I was talking to one of our college students after church last Sunday. He was wanting some advice on witnessing to one of his friends at school who is an atheist, but who is also open to dialogue and discussion.
He said that this friend may be willing to admit there is a God, but that he is totally anti-church because of all the harm he feels the church has done throughout the centuries.
I said that yes, it is true that the church has at times done a lot of harm...
However, anyone who is being intellectually and historically honest would have to admit that the good the church and Christianity has brought throughout the last 20 centuries... is undeniable and that it far outweighs any harm.
I MEAN - if it were somehow possible with a great magnet to pull out all of the good that is in our world today, because of Christianity, I do not think that anyone would want to live in that world.
NOW – in my studies this week I came across an article written by a lady named Sue Bohlin entitled,
‘Christianity: The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Women’
Sue writes that it’s not true, as some feminists charge, that Christianity is anti-female and horribly oppressive to women. In fact, she says, nothing has elevated the status and value of women s biblical Christianity lived out.
In here article quotes often from Alvin Schmidt’s book, ‘How Christianity Changed The World,’ (a great book btw) where among other things he talks about how Jesus and the church lifted up the value of women.
He writes the following as he opens up his chapter, ‘Women Receive Freedom and Dignity’
What would be the status of women in the Western world today had Jesus Christ never entered the human arena?
One way to answer this question is to look at the status of women in most present-day Islamic countries. Here women are still denied many rights that are available to men, and when they appear in public, they must be veiled. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, women are even barred from driving an automobile.
Women in Iran are forbidden to wear lipstick, and if they do, they can be arrested and jailed. Whether in Saudi Arabia or in many other Arab countries where the Islamic religion is adhered to strongly, a man has the right to beat and sexually desert his wife, all with the full support of the Koran...
This command is the polar opposite of what the New Testament says regarding a man’s relationship with his wife. Paul told the Christians in Ephesus, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” And he added, “He who loves his wife loves himself” (Ephesians 5:25, 28).
The high and honorable marital ethic set forth in Ephesians, which stems from Christ’s interactions with women, cannot be found in the pagan literature of the Greco-Romans or in the cultures of other societies. The civil and humane behavior that is expected between husband and wife today, even by secularly minded people, reflects the sea change effect Christ has had on the lives of women and on marriage, especially in the West.
The extremely low status that the Greek, Roman, and Jewish woman had for centuries was radically affected by the appearance of Jesus Christ.
His actions and teachings raised the status of women to new heights, often to the consternation and dismay of his friends and enemies. By word and deed, he went against the ancient, taken-for-granted beliefs and practices that defined woman as socially, intellectually, and spiritually inferior.
Jesus is worthy of upending your life
Jesus has authority over the spiritual forces of evil, and
Jesus has compassion/love for the marginalized, and
Cool Truth #4... Serving is the natural response to Jesus’ movement in our lives
He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. – Matthew 8:15
AGAIN CT #4
Serving is the natural response to Jesus’ movement in our lives
Do you agree?
Is that how it has been in your life?
• Jesus is worthy of upending your life
• Jesus has authority over the spiritual forces of evil, and
• Jesus has compassion/love for the marginalized, and
• Serving is the natural response to Jesus’ movement in our lives, and
Cool Truth #5 - Jesus has absolute authority over sickness and disease
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. – Matthew 8:16
NOW AFTER - Jesus’ healing in the local synagogue on that Sabbath morning, the news spread rapidly throughout the town... HOWEVER - because it was the Sabbath, people didn’t immediately track Jesus down to be healed..
YOU SEE - the Pharisees taught that healing was a work, and therefore, it couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. So the people had to wait until the Sabbath was over
BUT LISTEN – once the sun set, people began bee-lining it to Peter’s house...
(The phrase, “to make a bee-line,” originated in the United States in the early 19th century. It refers, of course, to the manner in which bees fly, not only rapidly and directly to the hive, but also instinctively. The intention in using the phrase is to express the naturalness of going after the desired object and the eagerness in doing so.
Here are examples:
The children made a bee-line for the ice cream truck, or
The travelers were so hungry, they made a bee-line for the buffet.
OKAY - so a great number of people are making a bee-line to Peter’s house, and it appears that Jesus just heals them all.
I MEAN - like it does not look like Jesus turns anyone away, or that He placed demands or preconditions on the people, He just heals everyone, as Luke writes of their various diseases.
CT #5
Jesus has absolute authority over sickness and disease
BUT LISTEN - even as we acknowledge Jesus’ authority over sickness and disease, we must also acknowledge that He does not grant healing every time we request it.
IN FACT - the last time I checked, the death rate for Christians was 100%.
YES B/S - this body will eventually fail us ...and unless Christ returns for us first, physical death of this body is where each of us is headed.
THEREFORE - regardless of how many times Christ may say “yes” to our request for healing, sooner or later, His answer to that prayer will have to be no and He will allow our bodies to fail. IN FACT – if you think about it... being healthy is simply the slowest possible way to die.
BUT MGCC – the good news is that the bible teaches that one day, Christ will heal your body permanently and completely... not by repairing your current body, but by replacing it with a new body.
YOU KNOW – in a way our physical bodies are kind of like a rental car, something we use for a while and then turn back in when we’re done with it
And like a rental car, we shouldn’t get too attached to our current bodies because we know we’re going to be returning it soon.
AGAIN – God’s ultimate plan for healing you isn’t an extended warranty with unlimited repairs of your current body...
INSTEAD - His solution is replacing that failing body with something much better...
AN: eternal, glorified body that will never die again, never hurt, never experience sickness or disease, never grow weak, never get old.
MGCC – try to wrap your brain around that one for a second?
LIKE - how amazing will it be to experience that life?
AND LISTEN – Jesus’ healings in Matthew 8 is our proof that Jesus has the power to make these things happen.
Our bodies are clay in His hands and He can mold them – or remold them – as He pleases.
And He promises to do that for those who come to faith in Him!
SO - let me ask you, which would you rather have forever?
Would you prefer to hold on to your current body with all its wear and tear and mileage and problems and limitations?
Having to experience getting sick, getting injured, and then Jesus healing you only to get sick again down the road?
And all the while, your body just gets more wrinkled and frail?
Is that what you prefer?
Or would you prefer to turn-in that lemon of a body for a shiny, new body with the new car smell and no dents, no rattles?
LIKE - it never breaks down; it never gets dirty.
No check engine lights, and it can’t run out of gas.
Obviously, we all want that shiny new car...
I MEAN - most of us are ready to dump our old, worn out body... But as the saying goes...everyone wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die.
YEAH – you have to be ready to let this one go whenever that time comes, in order to receive that new and better body.
BUT HEY – checkout Paul’s attitude about this very topic in 2 Corinthians...
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.
For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us.
Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. – 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:8
That’s a biblical perspective on healing
We earnestly seek healing from Jesus in our prayer life, and sometimes, He will choose to heal us
But we also know that eventually, He is going to bring this body to an end, one way or another.
Because the truth is He loves us far too much to keep us in the decaying body.
• Jesus is worthy of upending your life
• Jesus has authority over the spiritual forces of evil, and
• Jesus has compassion/love for the marginalized, and
• Serving is the natural response to Jesus’ movement in our lives, and
• Jesus has absolute authority over sickness and disease
‘The’ Truth – Yeah, It’s Him!
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” - Matthew 8:14-17
Now when New Testament authors quote an Old Testament Scripture verse like this, they expect the reader to revisit the entire Old Testament passage.
YOU SEE – we are not just to take the little bit that he inserts and use only that – instead it is intended to draw your mind back to the original text, where you read the full context of what is going on and you apply the full context... that’s the idea.
Matthew does not quote all 12 verses of Isaiah 53, he just quotes the one verse, but the point he is telling you is ‘go back and look at the entire chapter.’
A chapter that has something to about what is going on right now.
SURE – the physical healings at Peter’s house drew a great crowd... but Matthew wants us to know that these Physical healings are just a shadow of a greater truth, About:
• who Jesus is
• His mission, and about
• a far greater and more enduring healing, than simply the physical.
AGAIN – Matthew is like ‘Yeah, It’s Him!”
SO – as we wrap up this morning let’s do what Matthew wants us to do... look at the full context of the verse He quotes in Matthew 8:17...
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53
