SERMON OUTLINE:
1): Jesus calms troubled waters (chapter 8 verses 23-27).
2): Jesus calms troubled spirits (chapter 8 verses 28-34).
3): Jesus calms a troubled body (chapter 9 verses 1-8)
4): Jesu calls a troubled man (chapter 9 verses 9-13)
5): Jesus answers troubled minds (chapter 9 verses 14-17)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
Someone has said,
"The world is so full of problems,
that if Moses were to come down from Mt. Sinai today,
The two tablets he would carry would be aspirin!"
• TRANSITION:
• As humorous as that might be,
• It does paint a sad scenario of a world greatly lacking in peace.
One of the many names and titles for the God of the Bible is,
• The ‘God of peace.’ - used in many New Testament benedictions.
• (Romans chapter 15 verse 33; Hebrews chapter 13 verse 20)
• Jehovah Shalom (The LORD Is Peace)
• (Judges chapter 6 verse 24).
• TRANSITION:
• Peace is a quality that is sourced, it is rooted in God.
• And is an attribute, a quality God gives,
• And a fruit that should be evidenced in the life of every Christian.
Note: The expression "Peace" is normally used in two ways in the Bible.
FIRST:
• There is personal peace WITH God.
• This comes when a person accepts Jesus Christ as Saviour.
• ill: Theological term is reconciliation,
• Two opposing parties are brought together.
• Quote: Romans chapter 5 verse 1.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
SECOND:
• Then, there is the peace OF God.
• Which is available on a daily basis,
• As we walk in fellowship with God.
• Quote: Philippians chapter 4 verses 6-7.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.”
Quote: Charles Swindoll:
• He suggests a practical paraphrase of this term ‘Peace of God’.
• Would be the expression: ‘Mental health’.
• In other words, God desires that each Christian experience.
• A calm, a tranquil, a peace within their hearts and minds,
• And not a panic or strife or discord.
In our passage today we see Jesus bring peace to the disturbed by exercising his authority.
• Now we don’t have time to do a verse-by-verse analyses of the passage.
• So, we are going to pick out a few highlights.
• The big picture and the key point from the five incidents we read.
• We have 5 very different circumstances,
• And they show to us the power and authority of Jesus Christ.
FIRST: Jesus calms troubled waters (chapter 8 verses 23-27).
“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!””
• In this incident we see his power and authority of Jesus over the natural realm.
• He stood up in a boat and literally said to nature, “Be muzzled!”
• And to everyone’s amazement the storm ceased, and the sea went calm.
Ill:
• I remember Bob Telford (evangelist & preacher),
• Preaching on this passage in a Church in Warwick.
• And as he read these verses much to his annoyance,
• His 8-year-old son David, started to laugh, he got the giggles.
• And even the stare from his dad did not stop the giggling!
• After the service when they were in the car,
• Bob said to his son that what he did was not appropriate,
• People were trying to listen but couldn’t because of your giggling.
• David replied, “Well you should not have told a funny joke!”
• Bon said, “I didn’t tell a joke,”
• But David insisted he did.
• So, Bob asked him what the funny joke was.
• And David replied, “You said Jesus told the storm and the sea to be quiet,
• and the sea and the wind obeyed!”
• TRANSITION:
• His child realised that this was a comical story,
• People cannot tell the wind and the waves what to do.
• Unless…Jesus is more than a man!
And that of course is the main point of this incident.
• Jewish people would know their Old Testament.
• And in the book of Psalms (Psalm 89 verse 9)
• It is clear, that only God can control nature.
• New International Version
• “You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.”
• New Living Translation
• “You rule the oceans. You subdue their storm-tossed waves.”
There have been many healers (both good and false) in history.
• But no-one else can claim to change the weather.
• Or even calm the sea.
• Only God is known to be able to cause the wind and the sea to obey him.
• And so, when Jesus gave the command and the wind ceased,
• And there was a great calm on the water.
• No wonder the disciples respond (vs 27),
• “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
• The only possible answer is “God Almighty.”
• Note:
• I love the fact that the disciples are now more afraid of Jesus,
• Then they were of the storm and raging sea.
• And that is the point!
SECOND: Jesus calms troubled spirits (chapter 8 verses 28-34).
“When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!” So, they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.”
• We see the power and authority of Jesus over the supernatural realm.
• Jesus has cured physical illness,
• And now he shows he can cure spiritual illness.
• We are not given the details of how these ended up in this situation,
• We are simply told they were possessed by an evil spirit,
• Which was causing these men to be aggressive,
• So much so, that no one could even cross their path.
• This situation was one of chaos,
• It spoilt their lives - Their mental health was in turmoil.
• It spoilt other lives - They could not enjoy any connections with other people.
• It spoilt their relationship with God – and holiness do not mix!
Note: For me the key verse is 29.
“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
• The demonic world is more switched on than the human world.
• These demons know who Jesus is – “Son of God.”
• And they know too that he has authority and power,
• And that one day he will judge them.
• They are terrified that that might happen earlier than expected (vs 29).
• “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Note: These evil-spirits may be able to overpower and possess these two men,
• But they are no match for Jesus,
• The evil-spirits recognize Jesus' authority to command them (vs 31).
• We see them subordinate to him and beg him to be merciful (vs 30-31).
• In the first incident, the disciples were more afraid of Jesus,
• Then they were of the storm and raging sea.
• In this incident, the evil-spirits are also afraid of Jesus,
• The one they know will one day judge them.
• Once again Jesus is in complete control of the situation.
• And he just speaks one word, “go!” (vs 32).
• And with a single command resolves this situation.
• Once again, the disciples realize that Jesus is no mere mortal.
• He can even command the spiritual realm of evil spirits,
• And when he speaks, they must obey him!
THIRD: Jesus calms a troubled body (chapter 9 verses 1-8)
“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So, he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.”
• In this well-known story,
• We see his power and authority to heal and to forgive sins.
• Now remember we are reading this story with hindsight,
• We know what is going to happen,
• Those who were present did not!
To everyone else at the house it seems Jesus gets the diagnosis wrong.
• The crowd, the friends of the man and the man himself,
• All expected Jesus to say, “Be healed, stand up, walk home”,
• But instead, Jesus says (vs 2), “‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’”
In other Jesus is saying, this man has a bigger need than a new pair of legs!
• A physical healing would have been amazing,
• Everyone would have tackled about it for the rest of their lives.
• But Jesus is doing something even great!
Ill:
• Later in the disciple’s ministry (Luke chapter 10),
• Jesus sends out 72 people on a preaching & healing mission.
• When they return, they are full of stories.
• People have been healed and evil spirits cast out.
• These people are on a spiritual high,
• So, Jesus brings them all back down to earth.
• Luke chapter 10 verse :20
“Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
• TRANSITION:
• The things you are thrilled about are all temporary.
• Don’t ever forget the permanent,
• That is what is most important!
• Likewise, the healing of a paralyzed man is amazing,
• But the focus in these verses is on something bigger,
• The focal point is that Jesus claims to be able to forgive sins!
• The man’s greatest need:
• Which was not a new pair of legs but a new life, a new heart & mind!
• A new pair of legs might last the man 20, 30 maybe 50years (until he died).
• A new pair of legs might allow him to be back in touch with his community.
• But a new heart and mind would put him back in touch with the living God.
• A new heart and mind would prepare him for eternity!
Quote Warren Wiersbe:
"Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs.
It meets the greatest need; it costs the greatest price; and it brings the greatest blessing and the most lasting results".
Ill:
• D. M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia.
• At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said,
“I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross.
I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example.”
• Stearns replied,
• “If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?”
• “I certainly would,” said the stranger without hesitation.
• “All right then,” said the preacher,
• Let’s take the first step. He did not sin.
• Can you claim that for yourself?”
• The man looked confused and somewhat surprised.
• “Why, no,” he said. “I acknowledge that I do sin.”
• Stearns replied,
• “Then your greatest need is to have a Saviour, not an example!
Jesus has made a statement (vs 2&6) that puts him on a parallel with God:
Ill:
• e.g. In the Old Testament only God can forgive sin.
• e.g. Exodus chapter 34 verses 6-7:
• Here, God is portrayed as the one who forgives, emphasizing his authority over sin.
• e.g. Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 17:
• This verse highlights God's readiness to forgive,
• Reinforcing the belief that he alone has the power to absolve sins.
• e.g. Daniel chapter 9 verse 9:
• "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness."
• This verse emphasizes that forgiveness is a divine attribute.
In the Jewish faith, NO ONE can forgive sins except God.
• Jesus knew that the crowd knew that, and the Pharisees defiantly knew that!
• So, if a man claimed to be able to do this, it was blasphemy.
• So, in this incident,
• By his own words, Jesus is claiming to be equal with God.
• No wonder the religious leaders were shocked, amazed, and angered.
• They must acknowledge him or kill him!
• To them Jesus was just a carpenter turned preacher,
• Yet he is standing in front of them claiming to be God!
FOURTH: Jesus calls a troubled man (chapter 9 verses 9-13)
“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””
Well after the spectacular miracles and claims of Jesus,
• These verses might seem a bit flat,
• Jesus calls a man to follow him and that is really that!
• What we see in these verses,
• Is to see the power and authority of Jesus to change lives.
Ill:
Tax collectors were hated for two reasons.
• One: they had been enlisted by the Romans,
• To collect taxes on behalf of the Roman Empire.
• The tax collectors of Jesus’ day, therein,
• Were Jews collecting money from fellow Jews for an occupying foreign enemy.
• Two: Tax collectors also overcharged people,
• They were stealing fees from their own countrymen.
• And making themselves rich while everyone else struggled.
So, Tax collectors were dishonest, and seen as traitors – they were despised!
• Yet, the Rabbi, the man of God does not reject these social outcasts,
• And find a better quality of person to follow him!
• He deliberately targets this man.
• Question: why Matthew – we are not told!
• Possible Answer:
• Maybe he had a troubled & repentant heart,
• And God always looks at the heart!
• (1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7).
Ill:
• Jesus not only sees what we are,
• But he knows what we can be!
• He delights in changing lives for the good!
• Every Christian should have a storey to tell.
Note: Jesus chooses Matthew/Levi.
• This is the only time in the four gospels,
• When Matthew takes centre stage with the spotlight on him.
• So, if you blink you might miss it!”
• Once again Jesus speaks,
• He again gives a command, “Follow me!”
• And when Matthew heard Jesus’ command,
• It was like music to his ears.
• He got up, left all and followed him.
• He did what many of his own more respectable people from the town would not do!
• He followed Jesus!
• Verse 9 simply says: “Matthew got up and followed Jesus".
• Luke in his gospel informs us that it was costly for Levi to follow Jesus,
• Luke chapter 5 verse 28: "He left everything" (K.J.B. "Forsook all".)
• i.e. His prized job, his career prospects, any future income!
Quote:
• In the 1800’s Alexander Whyte was considered to be,
• One of the greatest Scottish preachers of his day.
• Writing about Matthew’s calling he wrote.
"When Matthew left his job to follow Christ, Matthew brought his pen with him!
Little did this ex-tax-collector realise.
that one day God would use him to write the first of the four gospels. "
QUOTE: Warren Wiersbe (preacher & Author):
"The gospel according to Matthew" has been called by many Bible scholars.
'the most important single document of the Christian faith’
Historians tell us that this book was the most widely read, and the most quoted in the early Church.
While all four gospels are important to us,
it is not without reason that Matthew stands first. "
• TRANSITION:
• So, thank you Matthew for this book!
• It allows us to see the power and authority of Jesus to change lives.
• Remember the calming of the wind and sea lasted a few minutes or hours,
• The changing of Matthew lasted his lifetime,
• Question: Which is the greatest miracle?
FIFTH: Jesus answers troubled minds (chapter 9 verses 14-17)
“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.””
• In these verses,
• We see his power and authority of Jesus to over-ride traditions.
Quote: Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition.
“Tradition is the living faith of those now dead.
Traditionalism is the dead faith of those still living.”
• Now, change is never popular,
• In fact, the only person who likes change is a wet baby!
Note: This is an interesting passage.
• Because it is not the religious leaders having a go at Jesus,
• Rather Jesus is getting questioned by John the Baptist's disciples,
• He is being questioned by those who are supposedly on his side!
• Now Jesus and his disciples are not doing anything wrong.,
• But they are being questioned like they are doing something wrong.
• In their culture The Law (Torah) and Pharisaic traditions was the norm.
• Jesus always kept The Law (Torah),
• But he broke and often deliberately broken the Pharisaic traditions (Oral Law).
• In other words, he kept the Law of God but broke the rules of men.
The issue arises because…
• People are watching Jesus and his disciples,
• And they don’t seem to be frequently fasting like JTB’s disciples,
• Or like the pious Pharisees,
• They were being viewed as being ungodly by worldly standards.
Jesus is gracious in his answer:
• Jesus compares his time with his disciples to a wedding feast (vs 15),
• In which he’s the bridegroom and they’re his friends and/or guests.
• So, it is time for partying not fasting.
• Jesus will then use two more illustrations,
• The point of both stories is, get ready for change!
• And that he, Jesus has the authority to bring in that change.
Ill:
• Their old man-made rules and traditions no longer applied.
• Judaism was full to overflowing with manmade rules.
• (the “Oral Law,” eventually written down in the Mishnah,
• And later expanded in the Talmud.)
• These regulations started out trying to help people be godly,
• But in the end, they imprisoned people in rules and protocols.
• Jesus makes it very clear,
• That the new covenant is incompatible with the old.
• The time of the old covenant is over; it’s finished. It is obsolete.
• Jesus didn’t come to earth to patch up an old system,
• He came to replace it.
And finally…
Jesus has power and authority!
• Nature obeyed him.
• Demons obeyed him.
• Paralyzed man’s body obeyed him.
• Matthew obeyed him.
• And John’s disciples…
• We are not told, they opposed Jesus at the beginning of the conversation (vs 14).
• We have no response at the end of Jesus teaching,
• Maybe they were stunned into silence!
• The punchline is,
• Will a submit to Jesus’ authority and power?
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=WC7CUw8f7AKpnTo0pjIAAQI7zREEn6Ce
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/sR5QYSi952M?si=mXzvzFd2zApSUUVx
