[0:00] If you have your Bibles, take them out to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 8 is where we will be at this morning. Matthew chapter 8, starting in verse 18, and going into the 9th chapter, getting into verse 8.
[0:12] I'm going to ask if Brother Troy would turn me down just a little bit, if you don't mind, because I'm a little loud to myself, and I'm trying to stay calm. Thank you, Brother. That sounds much better.
[0:22] And I'm also saying this, realizing that I do have a little bit of purple in my shirt, and more times than not, as my family likes to tell you, whenever I wear purple or gold, the soul starts coming out, and I start getting a little louder.
[0:34] So I'm trying to refrain and trying to hold back, but we are in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 18, getting into chapter 9, verse 8. I want to thank Brother Jerry for reminding us of those verses that David wrote so long ago.
[0:48] You know, if you ever want to get your pastor's wife kind of agged on a little bit, sometimes she preaches to the pastor. Not a lot of people that preach to the pastor, but I can get my wife preaching to me, and it's typically in this manner.
[1:01] I can say, honey, you know you're the shortest one in the family. And then she will begin with, the Lord tells me I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And I want to tell you, I'm not the only one in the family who's got a little bit of soul, because when she gets into that fearful and wonderfully made stuff, you might as well just sit down, because it's going to go for a minute, and the Lord's going to speak to you.
[1:18] So I don't say much to her about her height any much anymore, because I've had some good sermons coming from her towards me, but those verses resonate with a lot of truth, and they're near and dear to so many, and they ought to be, because God speaks to us, because each one of us are fearfully and wonderfully made, and whatever he makes is good, right?
[1:39] He declares it as good. So how we are, and the way we're formed, and the way we're fashioned, isn't it amazing when God looked upon man, and he said, he is very good, and he stood in awe, and said, there we go.
[1:52] Look at what we've done, and it's an amazing act of creation. Matthew chapter 8, if you're physically able to desire to do so, I'm asking you to join with me as we stand together, and we read the Word of God. We'll be starting in verse 18, and we're reading into the ninth chapter, getting us to verse 8, and you will see while we read into the next chapter, as we read it, we are looking at Matthew's declaration of the gospel here to the Jewish people prominently, and I'll remind you that he is declaring that Christ is the King.
[2:19] So let's read it, and then we'll go from there. Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Then a scribe came and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
[2:32] Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Another of the disciples said to him, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Don't follow me and allow the dead to bury their own dead.
[2:46] When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him, and behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves. But Jesus himself was asleep. And when they came to him and awoke him, saying, Save us, Lord, we are perishing.
[3:01] And he said to them, Why are you afraid, you men of little faith? Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed and said, What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?
[3:16] And when he came to the other side of the country, of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.
[3:30] And they cried out, saying, What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them, and the demons began to entreat him, saying, If you are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.
[3:46] And he said to them, Go. And they came out and went to the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. The herdsmen ran away and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs.
[3:59] And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they implored him to leave their region. Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to his own city. And they brought him a paralytic lying on a bed.
[4:12] Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, Take courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. And some of the scribes said to themselves, This fellow blasphemes. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?
[4:26] Which is easier to say your sins are forgiving or to say get up and walk. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralytic, Get up, pick up your bed, and go home.
[4:39] And he got up and went home. But when the crowd saw this, they were awestruck and glorified God, who had given such authority to men. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day.
[4:52] God, we thank you for the great privilege it is to gather together as your people and to worship and to set our hearts and minds upon you. Lord, to read and to hear read the reading of the Word of God.
[5:04] God, we pray as we have read your Word, Lord, that now it would speak to our hearts. Lord, I pray that it would not be the opinions or the thoughts of man, that it would not be the interpretation of man, but that it would be the very Word of God that would penetrate us to the very depths of our being.
[5:18] And Lord, that it would shape us and mold us and conform us more to your image for your glory and honor and yours alone. And we want to give you all the praise for it. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
[5:29] You may be seated. This morning, I want you to see the deity of the King. The deity of the King.
[5:40] We have just read, and if you were not here last week, you'll have to go back and read it yourselves or you can go back and listen to it. The first portion of Matthew chapter 8, Matthew chapter 8, of course, follows the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
[5:53] And if you remember, as he comes down the mountain there in Matthew chapter 8, there are a series of three what we would call miracles which take place. These three miracles all center around the physical healing of illnesses.
[6:07] And it is really Christ intervening in a human's life or in man's life and curing him from illness or some physical inability. And Matthew tells us at the end there, somewhere around verses 17, 16, and 17, that this was to fulfill the prophecy that he would come to take away the sicknesses and the infirmities of man, that he would carry our burdens.
[6:29] And we saw the application last week. Does this mean that he will always heal us? Well, no, not necessarily in this point in time in history, but ultimately he heals and takes away all our infirmities, whether it be temporarily here or eternally when we pass from this life into the next, because we understand that the death of the believer is not spoken of as death, but rather as sleep.
[6:52] And we understand that Jesus also makes this bold declaration that he who has believed in me has passed out of death and into life. So the very moment we accept him as our Lord and Savior, we have already passed out of death and into life.
[7:05] And when we enter into his presence, then he has fulfilled that prophecy of taking away our infirmities and taking away all sickness. But we saw last week how Christ came and dealt with the problems of man's illness.
[7:20] And we have kind of this interlude here, you will, with the cause of discipleship. We'll get to that in just a moment. We see it again when it follows in Matthew chapter nine, starting in verse nine, the call of Levi or Matthew and the call to discipleship there.
[7:34] We'll get to that later on, not this morning. But we are met again with another series of three miraculous events. But we are confronted here with this reality that the king which Matthew is lifting up, the king of kings and lord of lords, the king which he is declaring to the Jewish people, the king which he is lifting up for them to see, was really not the king that they were looking for.
[7:57] We understand this. This is why the Jewish people denied him and cried out, crucify him. And if you remember, they cried out, we have no other king but Caesar. And they made that bold declaration after crucifixion of Christ.
[8:10] And Matthew here, writing after the ascension of Christ, is telling the Jewish people, here is your king. And he's not just telling them, he's telling all mankind this as well.
[8:21] And he is writing for them of the power and the wonder of this man who is their king. And he begins to shift focus now from what he can do to you physically to who he is eternally.
[8:32] And he begins to show us the deity of the king. Now the reality that kings have sought for and longed after deity is not something new in history even with the coming of Christ.
[8:45] If you remember the ten plagues, the great ten battles which God fought with Pharaoh in Egypt in the book of Exodus, each of those plagues was intended to show that God was greater than the kings or the gods of the Egyptians, right?
[9:00] They were not just randomly chosen. There was the god of the Nile. So God says, well, I'll turn the Nile into blood. They worshipped all these different animals and all these different things. So God in the ten plagues is confronting each one of their deities.
[9:14] And he is confronting each one of their gods with a lowercase g and showing that he is superior to those gods. Now the last plague, the Passover, in which the firstborn of every Egyptian died, the firstborn passed away.
[9:27] And then we read of Pharaoh's own son dying. Now that, again, is not just God being mean and saying this is what I'm doing because in Egyptian culture, Pharaoh held himself up as God.
[9:41] And to be the child of that God was to possess his deity as well. So God is showing him here in this last plague that I am the God greater than you.
[9:53] And we see this. So the Egyptian Pharaoh lifts himself up as God. He was to be worshipped as a God. He was to be adhered to as a God. Fast forward to the days of Matthew and even to the days of Christ.
[10:06] One of the things that really confronted the early church and separated believers from non-believers was this declaration to cry out that Caesar is Lord.
[10:18] The thing that the church was confronted with or confronted by among the Roman citizens and the Roman troops was they were to come in and say, if you could declare that Caesar is Lord, then we will let you live.
[10:32] If you cannot declare that Caesar is Lord, then you will have to die. And a number of believers died upon this simple profession because Caesar saw himself as God and wanted to be worshipped as God.
[10:46] And if you did not emphatically declare that Caesar was God, then you were saying that there was someone greater than Caesar. There is a king who is greater. Matthew here makes this declaration.
[10:59] There is but one king who can claim deity. There is but one king who is both son of God and son of man and who is God in the flesh and that is Jesus.
[11:11] And here we don't have this just being told us. We don't have this just being declared to us, but really we have it being put on display before us. So we see the reality here of the deity of the king.
[11:22] And we are reminded that because he is who he says he is, then we must respond accordingly. We see it first and foremost with the required commitment that he demands of his people because keeping in mind who he is is the basis for everything else that comes out.
[11:40] And since he is both king of kings and lord of lords, and since he is the son of man and the son of God, both titles we find in our text this morning, and we'll get to that in just a moment, and since he is God in the flesh, Emmanuel, and since he who has redeemed us and saves us and is lord over us is also he who created all things for his glory and for his own purposes, since he is creator, sustainer, and redeemer, he has the right to require the utmost of commitments.
[12:15] Ones that even really take us kind of aback and make us go, wow, do you see this? And we are met with this here in the very first declaration of what it costs to be his disciple.
[12:26] Verse 18 says, Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders, let's depart to the other side of the sea. This is the Sea of Galilee. So they're in that region that is so familiar with the disciples. It's in that region up in Judah, the northern, not Judah, Israel, the northern territory.
[12:43] So they're up around the Galilean region there. And they're around the Sea of Galilee. And this is some hometown for most of these disciples. And this crowd is, and this is his popular region, by the way, he was a lot more popular in the northern part of Israel than he was in the southern part of Israel.
[12:58] This is his hometown. Nazareth is from up there, Capernaum, which is where his home base is, is in that region. This is where he spends most of his time. This is where he does most of his miraculous events. And all of a sudden, all these crowds of people start getting around him.
[13:12] And Jesus says, it's time to leave. One thing that you need to understand is that Jesus really wasn't in the business of attracting and keeping crowds. Okay? As a matter of fact, he probably wouldn't have been one of the best pastors of the mega church because he had this habit that every time a crowd gathered, he left, or he separated them.
[13:31] Because it's a little bit later when the crowd's around him, he'll say, whoever does not eat of my flesh or drink of my blood cannot be my disciple. And all of a sudden, everybody in the crowd is going, this is a little hard talk. And they start separating themselves from him.
[13:41] Jesus has a way of weeding out the crowds. It's not always about the crowds because multitudes of people are not always signs and symbols of authentic message and faithfulness and truth.
[13:53] I'm not saying that crowds and people are wrong. I'm just saying, he didn't come to attract crowds. He came to call followers. And that's the big difference.
[14:04] And that call is a call to commitment. So as the crowds are gathering around, Jesus says, it's time to go to the other side. We're going to leave. This isn't the first time he's done it. Remember when he was at Peter's house and they started bringing all the sick and those who were demon-possessed to him and all these people looking for him in the middle of that healing service?
[14:20] Jesus said, okay, it's time to go. And he leaves. But here we see the crowds are gathering around him. It's time to go. And then someone comes up to him, a scribe, comes up to him and says, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
[14:30] Now this sounds great, right? He's making this commitment. Lord, I'll follow you wherever you go. Actually, he calls him rabbi, teacher. You know, I am a scribe. I'm there. I copy the law. I'm a student of the law.
[14:42] The things you're saying are great and the fulfillment of the law. I will follow you wherever you go. And instead of Jesus getting excited about it, he makes it harder on him. Right? This whole easy believism, this easy gospel, this whole, I'm not trying to be mean here or disparaging itself.
[14:58] I'm trying to be faithful to the Bible here. This whole seeker-sensitive movement stuff, really not found it with Christ because Christ doesn't take the easy approach. He doesn't say, I'll follow you wherever you go. Jesus says, oh, that's great because I don't have anywhere to go.
[15:12] Foxes have holes and birds have nests. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. You want to follow me? You'll never have another place you call home. You won't belong anywhere.
[15:23] I have no place here that is my own. It is very difficult. You know, I'm an outcast. I'm isolated. I'm separated. You want to follow me? According to all reports, he didn't. So rather than making it easier on him to follow him, he made it harder.
[15:38] He said, oh, you'll follow me anywhere? But what if where I'm going is nowhere in this world? What if the place I'm headed to has nothing to do with the comforts and the privileges of this life?
[15:52] What if what I'm calling you to is one of great discomfort, inconvenience, isolation, separation, putting aside anything that you find comfortable in this life?
[16:06] What if that is where I'm going to? Will you follow me there? Maybe not anywhere. Anywhere is a big word, right? So he doesn't go and he says, okay, and then we're going along and another man comes to Jesus.
[16:20] He says, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me go and bury my father. Now we kind of get bent out of shape here because we're like, if the Lord is compassionate and merciful, then surely he'll let the man go through this funeral service and we'll let him do all these things and the Lord will give him that respect because, I mean, what kind of Lord and what kind of master would demand such a calling?
[16:39] Well, the first thing we need to understand is more than likely this man's father was still alive. Okay? Some Bible scholars think that the man's father might have died and he was asking God to give him the, the Lord to give him the next few months to go through all the grieving process and all the planning process, which is just natural to man.
[16:57] But more than likely from context clues what was going on is this man's father was still alive and what he was asking is Lord, let me just wait until my father dies and get all the states settled and I get everything kind of lined up and in a row and when I have everything together, Lord, then I will be willing to follow you.
[17:14] Let me, let me first meet all my family obligations. Let me first meet all my requirements here. Let me, let me take care of the things of this world. Let me take care of all the affairs here.
[17:26] Then I will be ready and Jesus makes this statement. He says, well, let the dead bury their own dead and he makes this statement that essentially says those who aren't responding to the gospel are already walking in death but those who hear the call of the gospel should leave that behind all worldly concerns, all worldly affairs and move forward in life.
[17:50] What did he say in John? He who has believed in me has already passed out of death and into life. So those who aren't responding in faith are already dead but those who have responded have passed out of death and into life and Jesus here says, your allegiance to me and to follow me should be greater than any allegiance you have on the face of this earth.
[18:14] The son's allegiance to his father was pretty strong and Jesus says it needs to be greater. If you don't think that God isn't serious about this, go back to Genesis. Go back to Genesis 12 and read where God called Abram out of the land of the earth or the Chaldeans and look at God's call to Abram.
[18:32] Leave your family. Leave your family behind and come and follow after me and you're going to read it and then you'll see where he gets about halfway. He doesn't get to Canaan and he stays there for a while, right?
[18:43] And we don't know why he stays there for a while and then you need to go to the book of Acts. You need to go into Acts chapter 8 and you read of the martyrdom of Stephen. In Acts chapter 8 you read Stephen's declaration of what happened and now you're letting the Bible be a commentary on the Bible because what happens there is Abram, when he hears the call of God to leave his family, he takes along his father with him and they stay halfway.
[19:10] But then go back to the book of Genesis and see after his father died, then God made a covenant with him. God didn't say you and your daddy come, you and your family come.
[19:22] He says, I'm calling you and unless your commitment to me is greater than your commitment to anyone else in this world, we're not moving any further. This is the very same thing Jesus says to this man right here.
[19:33] This man says, I am willing to follow you but it has to come after my other commitments. Jesus says, no, that's not the way it works. You follow me before you do all these other commitments.
[19:48] Look at this requirement of the king, right? And then the one that really gets me is this, so he got into a boat and his disciples followed him.
[19:59] Now we would think, okay, there's no safer place than following Christ, right? And I agree with that but let's be careful where we put that word safe there because we want to be scripturally true. His disciples followed him.
[20:10] They got to the boat, they're following Christ. It is Jesus who initiates this journey, right? Jesus gets into the boat, the disciples follow him and they go out into the sea and a great storm came.
[20:24] So what does this tell you? Following Jesus doesn't make you miss the storms. Sometimes following him leads you straight into the storm. Sometimes obedience is the very thing that leads you into the one area where you're going to be scared for your life.
[20:39] And this is his requirement. This is his calling, right? Follow me. He doesn't say follow me and the sea's going to be glassy smooth. Sometimes following him is going to lead you into the storm that even though you're a fisherman on that lake you're going to think you're dying.
[20:55] The Sea of Galilee is known for its storms that just come up very quick because it's kind of in this basin and it's really surrounded by all these mountaintops so that's the Sermon on the mountain. When the wind swoop down and it causes such a great storm that would swell up and there would be white capping and all these men who were fishermen, right?
[21:11] Remember Peter, James, and John? They're sitting here and they're in this boat and they're going along and all of a sudden they're saying, you know, Jesus, we're dying here, we're perishing here, this probably wasn't just a little bit of a storm, this was a big storm.
[21:22] But how did they get there? They followed Jesus. The requirements of this king is that he would be priority and you've got to trust him wherever he takes you.
[21:39] Now, only God himself, a king who is God in the flesh could ever demand such commitments. This is why kings throughout the ages have sought to lift up their own deity, their own self-pronounced deity because if they are God, then wherever they lead you, you will take them.
[21:57] But the reality is is there has never risen a king who is truly God, yet we have him here before us and he is our king and he is our savior. And the commitment that he requires is absolutely worth giving to him.
[22:11] He should be first place. He should be the greatest priority. He should be the one that we give our life to. He should be the one that we trust even if he leads us into the middle of the storm. He should be the one that we follow with reckless abandonment that, okay, if we're going to go into the sea and he's going to send us out there and the storm's going to come up, by the way, it happens again.
[22:29] He does it a little bit later, yet he sends them out there without himself, right? They're in the sea in there. They're rowing and they're rowing and then he starts walking across on the water and he comes to them as they're struggling in the sea. Jesus has a habit of sending his people into the middle of stormy situations.
[22:43] And that's okay if he is who he says he is. And he puts it on display for us here. So that leads us to the second thing that is the realized authority.
[22:55] The three miracles which precede us show us that Jesus has authority over physical illness. The three miracles that are here show us his authority in three other areas.
[23:06] So they're going along and they're in the boat and things are going crazy and Jesus is asleep which is amazing to me because that which scares men to death is nothing for him either. He walks across the top of them or he sleeps in the middle of them and that's pretty comforting to realize, right?
[23:19] So he's sitting here and in his humanity he's tired and so he's asleep and they go and they wake him and they say, Jesus, what's going on here? He says, save us Lord we are perishing. Now I love this because Jesus wakes up and before he rebukes the sea he rebukes the men.
[23:37] Save us Lord for we are perishing and in the middle of the storm and in the middle of the chaos and in the middle of the craziness before he makes everything calm he rebukes them.
[23:50] He looks at them and says, you men of little faith because the storm is raging but it's really not the greatest concern.
[24:02] It's not the primary thing, right? Jesus has a habit of always addressing the primary first and he says, why are you afraid? In the middle of the storm by the way he just wakes up and says, why are you afraid?
[24:14] You men of little faith there's nothing to worry about here and then he gets up and he says and he rebukes the wind and the sea and what does it say there?
[24:24] What does it take to us? It became perfectly calm. The first authority we realize that this king has is the authority over nature.
[24:39] His authority over nature. When the sea of Galilee is stirred up by the winds that often come down the banks of the mountains whenever the winds stop it usually takes a number of hours for the sea to calm down.
[24:54] But when this king stopped the wind he also stopped the waves. Much like I'm a literal interpretive of scripture I literally believe that when God parted the Red Sea and it says that they walked across on dry ground I think the bottom of that sea was dry ground.
[25:12] I don't think their feet got muddy. I don't think they left footprints because I think God could park the sea and dry the ground in a moment just like I think that he could tell the wind to stop and the sea to stop at the same time.
[25:26] He said well I don't understand that nobody could do that and you're exactly right because you don't have the authority to do it but he who created it has the authority over it. We don't have the right to tell the creator of something what he can do or cannot do with that one thing he has created and since he is the creator and the sustainer he also has the authority to do with it whatever he wishes and the first authority we realize that this king Jesus has is he has authority over nature.
[25:56] Now there's some reconciliation that must take place because if our king has authority over nature then why do things happen in nature that we wish didn't happen? Is it because it is beyond his control?
[26:07] No. Not at all. Does that mean that he causes and creates it? Not saying that either. I'm just saying that he is the authority over it.
[26:21] And with this all the scripture testifies. Paul himself said he created all things for his own good pleasure. These are his things.
[26:32] So anything that happens in nature is to bring glory and honor and recognition of its creator. it is to testify to the reality the understanding that man cannot control nature is to testify to the reality that there is one who can.
[26:51] When it's out of our control it is a greater testimony that we are not God yet he is. And we realize when he stops it he has authority over nature. He goes to the other side of the sea and he gets into that Galilean region and there in that Galilean region he meets two demoniacs.
[27:11] I know when you open up another gospel account you will read of a single demoniac and probably the reality behind that and Mark the reason there is only one is because much like many of the occurrences that happen with Christ is one of them desire to follow him.
[27:25] Mark speaks of the demoniac who wanted to follow him and go with him and Jesus says no don't come with me stay here and go back and tell everybody what happened right? Go back and tell everybody about the healing and all the power that's taking place in your life so Mark is focused on the one who's committed because more than likely there are two there and one of them is just happy that he's healed and the other one is not only happy but he's also repentant and wants to follow and Mark focuses on the one just because an individual focuses on one does not mean there's not two so again we realize that scripture does not contradict scripture because if there was two there most definitely was one.
[27:58] If you and I meet two people on the street and we walk away and I go home and I tell my wife about the two people we met on the street and you go home and tell your wife about one person you met on the street that does not mean that there were not two that just means you were focused on the one so we need to say that's okay because God is speaking through people in our humanity but if there were two there most definitely was one so we just say okay let scripture be true even though man has to scratch their head but we find the fulfillment here that when Matthew records this Jesus goes across the other side he's met by these two demoniacs and what's amazing about these demoniacs is because they have been chained and bound and they lived amongst the tombs we get this from the other gospel account and no man could bind them that's one of the things that has always kind of amazed me I look at the the small details of scripture and I hope you do too because while no man could bind them and no man had authority over them all Jesus had to show up all Jesus had to do was show up among them right nobody could chain them nobody could hold them they broke the biggest of chains they ran around naked amongst the tombs they were full of these demons nobody had any control everybody was afraid to go there nobody could go that way Jesus steps on the shore and they come to Jesus did you see that Jesus did not approach them they approached him and while no man could bind them they ran up to Jesus and said what have we to do with you now prior to this Jesus has referred to himself in one of his favorite titles he referred to himself as the son of man the son of man has nowhere to lay his head in the next miraculous event the healing of the paralytic he will refer to himself as the son of man Jesus often refers to himself as the son of man because this is a revelation of his humanity but did you realize that every time demons speak to Jesus they always call him the son of God because they are very very very aware of his deity there is this perfect balance of humanity and deity he is both fully human and fully God and when the spiritual realm addresses him they always refer to him as he is in his fullness and that is the son of God and when he shows up they come up to him and they cried out what business do we have with each other son of
[30:07] God now pay attention to this this is one of those things that blow your mind you need to you need to really just lay a hold of this okay you need to really just look at these truths and let the Bible be true and let all men be found liars and let the Bible speak these truths to you even if you don't understand it because they ask him this question have you come here to torment us before the time in the demons mind is a specific time and in the demons mind there is this question has the son of God come to torment us before the time now that time is found in the book of revelations when the lake of fire is opened up and all the demons are cast into the lake of fire that is the time of their torment but what I need you to understand though we may not comprehend it we need to understand it is true the demonic demonic world around us the spiritual forces of wickedness and darkness know that their time is coming to an end and they know there is a time they are moving about on this world and in this life and in this realm for a time but they are fully aware of the fact that there will be a time when their day is over and God will torment them and cast them out because it has come to be that time I am not one who wants to attribute everything that happens to me to Satan I don't give Satan more credit than Satan is due but
[31:32] I also am not one who discounts the work of Satan or the works of demon possessed spirits around me I believe as Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of the air and the spiritual forces of darkness right I know there is a spiritual battle going on around us I know there is a realm which I really am not always that aware of but I also know there is this battle there's a battle going on in the hearts and minds of our children there's a battle going on in the hearts and minds of you and there is a battle that goes on amongst our churches Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church he says that the church will move forward Matthew 16 we'll get to that later which implies that the church would be pushing against the gates of hell now the church exists on earth so for the church to be pushing against gates of hell that means the gates of hell must also be on earth right that we're pushing against and wrestling against this darkness but here's the good news the king who is over us and the Lord who reigns over us and the one who leads us and the one who we follow the demons know that there's a time coming of reckoning with him and they testify to this here have you come to torment us before the time which also testifies the reality why does Satan work so hard in your life and why does the demonic activity is so prevalent in your life is because they know that the time is drawing near and they're always going to work harder before the time is over but I've got better news for you because they know that time is coming and they're asking Jesus have you come to do that and Jesus never answers this you know that Jesus never says a word and there's this herd of swine as pigs one Bible commentator says a lot of ink has been spilled over these pigs the only thing you really need to know about these pigs is that man's more important than pigs okay that's all you need to know so I was like man there was a lot of good barbecue running off the cliff there's a lot of bacon I saw I cooked some sausage this morning right I would have been tempted to get into the bottom of that lake and see if I couldn't pull it out some pigs that had me some bacon or something like that but all we need to know is man's more important than pigs okay we're not really getting into anything other than that there's this herd of swine over here and the demons bring it up says if you're going to cast this out cast this into that herd of swine this is the only thing
[33:46] Jesus says go that's it one word and they went and they went to the swine they ran down the hill that region around the Sea of Galilee has got cliffs and all this stuff around it and they just why because they're pigs okay they're pigs and I haven't really met a very highly intelligent pig in all my life they're pigs just right off this hill I remember I had a pig given to me one time this is complete side note had a friend of mine said just take this pig I don't need this pig anymore actually belong to my neighbor so this thing just won't it won't stay in you can have it so it took it home and I said well I'm gonna top it out clean it up feed on it I'm gonna send it to the butcher and I got it butchered and man when I got that pig back we got all the pork it wasn't pig that time now we call it pork right and I'm eating and I kept spitting out all these little pellets and I finally went back to my friend I said man why has this pig been shot so many times he said well that that farmer didn't really like that pig and he had a habit of getting out he shot him about five or six times probably so I just kept spitting out all the 12-gauge shot that came from this pig now all you got to do is probably shoot me one time I'm not pushing through the fence anymore but I'm not a pig right and I know somebody said man that's inhumane no that's called farming is what that's called you know you're tearing up my fences quit tearing up my fences it didn't kill the big big lived a long time after that he just absorbed it right just sucked it in here they run off the cliff they die because as one pig goes so go all pigs and 2,000 of them jump off this cliff and go down and they they go into the bottom what authority do we realize Jesus has here this is a good one Jesus not only has authority over nature Jesus has authority over demons some of us have been wrestling with things that we don't have the authority over but we do know the one who does because it doesn't say greater you than he who is in the world it's as greater as he who is in me he or the capital H who is in me than he who is in the world he has the authority over demons not you don't tread around on demon ground and think you have the authority to be there because you don't and I say that with all sincerity and truth I've met people who've messed around in that realm and been messed up in that realm because you don't have the authority to be there only Jesus could walk into the tomb with those demons and those demons beg and cry to be left alone and Jesus alone could tell them to go and they did so don't go anywhere he won't lead you but if he leads you into the presence of demons then you have he who is with you has the authority over I have been in the presence of what I would call demonic activity while following Christ and seeing him in those authoritative positions I have met those who went without Christ and been overwhelmed like the seven sons of Sceva found in the book of Acts but Jesus has authority over demons his authority over nature his authority over demons and then we move on he goes to the other side he goes back home and I got to make this quick and we see the end of the paralytic who's brought to him read the other gospel accounts his friends bring him dig the hole in the roof and set him down among you remember he's there teaching they bring this paralytic lying on the bed they let him down the roof and then
[36:59] Jesus says be of good cheer right it's okay don't worry about it again Jesus also always addresses the primary before he deals with the secondary he says there in chapter 9 verse 2 take courage son your sins are forgiven your sins are forgiven and then he validates that by telling him to get up and go home so three things we realize our king has authority over he has authority over nature has authority over demons he has authority over sin so just as much as you can't battle your demons on your own you can't handle your sin on your own either he has authority over sin now you know why they said blasphemy in their heart only God has that type of authority only God only God himself has authority over nature only God has authority over the demons only God has authority over sin and yet Jesus validates it the sea became perfectly calm the demons left and the men became perfectly healed and that paralytic got up and walked home we realize his authority third and finally and I'm done and I promise this will be quick we see the reaction of man you don't have to look at the verses you can read them again yourself look at the reaction of man the scribe left him didn't follow him the man who said he would follow him after he buried his father don't follow him didn't follow him the disciples were amazed even as they followed him and said who is this man with such authority the demoniacs were healed the men of the city begged him to leave the paralytic got up and walked the crowd was awestruck but when you read the other gospel accounts they also took him to the edge of the city and tried to stone him but one thing we see is that every time the king is seen for who he really is man is forced to respond cannot be unresponsive to a king like this you may be following him you may be following him and go wow there's so much about him I didn't know and that's okay because at least you're in the boat following him you may be one of those like the city who said he does some amazing things but I don't want anything to do with him get out of here but the crowd that upsets me the most that concerns me the most and the crowd that I look at internally to make sure that I'm not in the most is the crowd that was awestruck and glorified God that he had sent his power down to men that wanted nothing to do with the king they wanted the power they wanted the show but they didn't want the king
[40:17] Jesus calls that lukewarm all we have to do is ask ourselves what is our response to this king and his deity where do we stand among the crowd let's pray Lord thank you for this day God thank you for your faithfulness to us Lord may we look internally within ourselves and judge accurately our response to you for your glory we ask it in Christ's name Amen Amen Amen
[42:13] Amen Amen Amen
[43:43] Amen Amen Amen