Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8 as we continue our study through the Word of God. And we have seen so far in our study in Matthew the person of Jesus, found in Matthew chapters 1-4. Then we saw the principles of the kingdom, found in Matthew chapters 5-7. And now, in Matthew chapters 8 and 9, we will see the power of Jesus. And we will be looking at these two chapters over the next two weeks!
You see, in this portion of Scripture there are 10 miracles performed by Jesus. The leper was cleansed. Then the centurion’s young servant was healed. Next we will see Peter’s mother-in-law healed. Then the Sea of Galilee is calmed during a violent storm that was tossing their boat around so bad that the disciples that they were going under. Then two demon possessed men were delivered and this healing took place in the area of the Gadarenes’s. A paralytic is then healed. Next the daughter of Jairus is raised from the dead. Then a woman who had a issue of blood, a female bleeding disorder, for 12 years, is healed. Two blind men were given their sight. And a mute, demon possessed man was delivered!
That is what we will be looking at over the next two weeks in Matthew chapters 8 and 9. And with that said, let’s dig into our study this evening beginning in Matthew chapter 8 starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSE 1
1. As Jesus completed His Sermon on the Mount, the King’s Manifesto, He now comes down from the mountain, and there are multitudes of people waiting for Him, and are now following after Him, wherever He is going. And I want you to notice that Jesus, the Messiah, does not isolate Himself from the people, but is walking among them, touching them, having compassion for them, and that should be our hearts, reaching out to people, putting their needs above ours.
VERSES 2-4
1. Leprosy, called Hansen’s disease today, is an incurable infection that destroy’s nerve endings so that a person loses feeling in their hands, feet, and eventually it effects their entire body. And their bodies become disfigured and they say that you could smell a leper 100 feet away! This bacterial infection begins under the surface of the skin, just like sin does, until it then begins to manifest itself outwardly. It is a deadly disease that can take a persons life in 9 to 30 years, but you don’t want to live that long. Now, because you had no feeling, people would lose fingers, toes, and-so-on because they would not have the warning of pain to remove that part of their body from the irritant, like fire. It is so bad that rats would come in at night and chew off their fingers and toes and they would not feel it, and they would not notice it until they woke up and saw that part of their body missing!
2. Listen to this from Philip Yancey:
Hansen’s disease (HD) is cruel, but not at all the way other disease are. It primarily acts as an anesthetic, numbing the pain cells of hands, feet, nose, ears, and eyes. Not so bad, really, one might think. Most diseases are feared because of their pain - what makes a painless disease so horrible?
Hansen’s diseases’s numbing quality is precisely the reason such fabled destruction and decay of tissue occurs. For thousands of years people thought HD caused the ulcers on hands and feet and face which eventually led to rotting flesh and loss of limbs. Mainly through Dr. Brand’s research, it has been established that in 99 percent of the cases, HD only numbs the extremities. Destruction follows solely because the warning system of pain is gone.
How does the decay happen? In villages of Africa and Asia, a person with HD has been known to reach directly into a charcoal fire to retrieve a dropped potato. Nothing in his body told him not to. Patients at Brand’s hospital in India would work all day gripping a shovel with a protruding nail, or extinguish a burning wick with their bare hands, or walk on splintered glass. Watching them, Brand began formulating his radical theory that HD was chiefly anesthetic, and only indirectly a destroyer.
On one occasion, he tried to open the door of a little storeroom, but a rusty padlock would not yield. A patient - an undersized, malnourished ten-year-old - approached him smiling.
"Let me try, sahib, doctor," he offered and reached for the key. With a quick jerk of his hand he turned the key in the lock.
Brand was dumbfounded. How could this weak youngster out-exert Him? His eyes caught a telltale clue. Was that a drop of blood on the floor?
Upon examining the boy’s fingers, Brand discovered the act of turning the key had gashed a finger open to the bone; skin, fat, and joint were all exposed. Yet the boy was completely unaware of it! To him, the sensation of cutting his finger to the bone was no different from picking up a stone or turning a coin in his pocket.
The daily routines of life ground away at the HD patient’s hands and feet, but no warning system alerted him. If an ankle turned, tearing tendon and muscle, he would adust and walk crooked. If a rat chewed off a finger in the night, he would not discover it missing until the next morning....
....Stanley Stein (author of Alone No Longer) went blind because of another cruel quirk of HD. Each morning he would wash his face with a hot washcloth. But neither his hand nor his face was sensitive enough to temperature to warn him that he was using scalding water. Gradually he destroyed his eyes with his daily washing.
- Philip Yancey, Where Are You God When It Hurts?, 1977, pp. 32-34
3. Because it was incurable and deadly, like AIDS of today, people were fearful of those who were leper’s, and rightly so, for it seems to be a airborne disease and a disease that is also passed on through contact. One ancient Rabbi said "When I see lepers I throw stones at them lest they come near me." Another said, "I would not so much as eat an egg that was purchased on a street where a leper has walked." And, among the sixty-one defilements of ancient Judaism, leprosy was second only to a dead body in seriousness.
There were also rules to follow. According to the Talmud, which is the authoritative body of Jewish tradition, a Jew could not get any closer than six feet to a leper. And, if the wind was blowing, the limit was 150 feet. They also were to cry out as they walked down the street, to warn others, "Unclean! Unclean!" You also had to live outside the city walls in isolation. No one could touch you. It was a horrible, disfiguring and lonely disease.
4. And yet, God speaks of a cleansing for a leper in Leviticus chapter 14. Why? Because God can cure this incurable disease and when He did, He wanted it as a witness to others of the power of God! And this involved taking two birds and killing one of them over running water. You then would take the live bird, along with a scarlet string, cedar wood, hyssop, and dip them into the blood of the slain bird. This former leper was then sprinkled seven times and pronounced clean by the priest, and the live bird was then set free. But this man still had to remain outside his tent for seven more days, wash his clothes, shave all his body hair, bathe himself, and then on the eighth day he would bring the guilt, sin and grain offerings and then he was anointed by the priest and then he could rejoin society.
5. Leprosy in the Bible is a type of sin. In Isaiah God speaks of Israel being sick with this disease on a spiritual level. In Isaiah1:5-6 we are told, "Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment."
You see, leprosy starts out unnoticed, under the skin, and it deadens the nerve endings or it deadens us to the affects of sin as we then become disfigured, numb and lonely. And there is no cure for sin by the works of man, only by the power of God. You see, this man came to Jesus believing he could be healed by Jesus, if Jesus was willing. Thus, he bows down before Jesus, worships Him and Jesus reaches out and touches him. And how that touch must have felt to this man who was untouchable. No one would touch a leper, but Jesus did! And Jesus healed him. And Jesus can heal people of the deadly disease of sin, if they would only come to Him and allow Him to touch their lives!
6. After this man is healed, Jesus tells him to go an offer the gift that Leviticus 14 speaks of, the things we have talked about, to go before the priests, and let your healing be a witness to them. Can you imagine what this guy was like after he was cleansed! He was probably jumping up and down praising God, reaching out and hugging people! All that disfigurement, that hard, rough skin, missing parts of his body, are now restored and he was made new in Christ. Remember the story of Naaman the commander of the Syrian army who was cleansed of his leprosy by the prophet Elisha and in II Kings 5:14 we are told, "So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." That is what God wants to do for you when you come to Him, make you a new creation in Christ!
7. Now this is kind of strange, Jesus tells this man to tell no one except the priests of what took place. Obviously he couldn’t help himself, and he was telling everyone, shouting out loud and strong what God did for him. And I think we would do the same. But why did Jesus say that? There are a couple of reasons. First of all the people were looking for a political Messiah, and Jesus did not come for that but to save men from their sin. Secondly, Jesus didn’t want people just drawn to Him for temporary physical healing, for He came for more than that, He came to bring everlasting spiritual healing. And He wanted the priests to pronounce this man clean, according to the Law, before all the crowds pronounced this cleansing.
8. Now, the question is, "Are you willing to go out and touch people that are disfigured by sin, unclean, as Jesus did?" I hope so! That is what it is all about. Reaching out and touching lives that are hurting, disfigured, lonely, and-so-on, with the love of Jesus! I remember when AIDS first came out and as you would listen to some Christians, they were treating these people like the religious people of Jesus day were treating lepers. They didn’t want to touch them, they didn’t want any contact with them, and they were only getting what they deserved, it was a judgment of God! Let me ask you this, did God give you what you deserve? Of course He didn’t, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Be careful! Now I am not saying that we are to be foolish in our actions and tempt God, but I am saying we need to reach out and touch people for Jesus. Didn’t Jesus touch your defiled body and heal you? Of course He did. So go out and touch someone for Jesus! And once you start, you won’t be able to stop!
9. What about you? What about your life? Do you believe that the Lord can heal your marriage? Do you believe He can save that rebellious child? Do you believe the Lord can break that habit that has you in bondage? Maybe you do believe He can, I hope you do, but maybe you are wondering if He really wants to? He does! Like this leper who was disfigured, foul smelling, Jesus wants to touch your marriage, your child, your habit, or whatever, just come to Him with child-like faith and ask!
VERSES 5-6
1. Capernaum was the home base for Jesus now, and as He gets there, Luke tells us that this centurion’s young servant was sick, paralyzed, about to die. Now a centurion was in charge over 100 men, so he was a powerful man to say the least. And now he recognizes, as powerful as he may be, his young servant was dying and there was nothing he himself could do for him. So he sends out some of the Jewish elders as his representative, to go to Jesus and ask Him to come and heal this young slave, for he believed that Jesus could. How often when our backs are up against the wall, there is nothing we can do, all our power and resources amount to nothing, and then we do the only thing that is left to do, bring it to the Lord. May He be the first we bring all our problems, concerns to!
VERSES 7-9
1. As Jesus approached the house of this man, according to Luke, he sent out some friends who ask Jesus to heal this young slave boy at a distance, He need not go any further. Why? Maybe because he felt unworthy to have Jesus come any closer. Maybe he didn’t want Jesus to enter his house which would bring defilement upon Jesus for entering the house of a gentile. You see, he did know the God of Israel, he even built a synagogue for the people. And now he comes to Jesus, believing He could heal this young slave boy. And from the words his friends spoke, words he told them to say, this centurion understood authority, that all are under someone. And for us, for example, a wife is subject to her husband, a worker is subject to his boss, we are subject to the laws of the land, and-so-on. And ultimately we are all under the authority of God, like it or not!
VERSES 10-12
1. This gentile understood authority, he had more faith than the children of Israel. In fact, many in Israel will not enter the kingdom of God because they have rejected the Messiah, Jesus Christ! They did not believe Him or receive Him! You see, there are only two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. And you will determine which one you belong to by receiving or rejecting Jesus! It is as Paul said in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Notice, faith in Jesus, you have to believe or you are not a child of God. And if you believe, He will reward you for your work, your service unto Him. It only takes a little faith to move a mountain, but no faith won’t move you or God!
VERSE 13
1. You can’t place God in a box or have some magical formula to use for healing. You know how some are, "Be healed in the NAME of Jesus!" Or "Be HEALED in the name of Jesus!" Or "Be healed in the name of JESUS!" And you might as well be saying abracadabra or whatever! You see, it is the sovereignty of God. Not all are healed, but God does heal, according to His will, may we not forget that. The first one we saw Jesus touch a man and healed him, a man who believed that Jesus could. Here Jesus heals from a distance, and it was not the faith of the young slave boy, but the faith of his master! And over and over again you will see there is no formula for healing. Don’t put God in a box! And don’t restrict what God wants to do, be open according to God’s Word!
VERSES 14-15
1. Here we see Peter’s mother-in-law sick. Imagine, the first pope was married! Go figure? Anyway, she was very sick, possibly with malaria, and Jesus touched her and healed her. And Peter said, "No, don’t do that!" No, he didn’t say that! But I do want you to notice what she does do after she is healed. She goes and serves! I don’t understand the mentality of spectators in the body of Christ, each has a function, and when God has touched your life, you can’t help but serve, can you? I know I drive my wife crazy with this, but when I got out of the hospital I was ready to teach, and I thought I was going to because I feel God has called me to serve, but when my doctors found out, they put a stop to it for a few days! The thing is, I don’t want to be a spectator, but actively involved in the work of God. It is as Jesus said in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." As our example, Jesus came to serve, to be a servant of all, and so should we!
VERSES 16-17
1. A long day and yet Jesus always made time for people. For most of us, we would be wiped out, ready to vegetate in front of the television. But not Jesus! At the end of this day the multitudes came to Jesus and He touched them and healed them and may that be our heart. Having compassion on the people, and if you do, you will be blessed and God will refresh you! And, over and over again Matthew links what Jesus was doing to the fulfilment of what the Old Testament prophets spoke of, and not only physical healing, but more importantly, spiritual healing. That is Peter’s point in I Peter 2:24, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed."
VERSES 18-19
1. As they are preparing to cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a Scribe comes up to Jesus, probably moved by what Jesus said, and offers to follow Jesus. As we are going to see, there is a cost, and this emotional response will be squelched if he is not sincere in what he said. Why? Listen to what Jesus says next.
VERSE 20
1. Why would Jesus say that? Because, if you can be inspired through emotion you can also be discouraged through emotion. Jesus wants your heart. You must be sure that is what you want, for the cost is everything! Are you willing to follow or are your possessions in the way? That really is the question! If they are in the way, that emotional high will be brought very low, and you will walk away as things get tough, as they get difficult, when they don’t go the way you want them to go!
VERSES 21-22
1. Another disciple of Jesus says that he will follow, but first he needs to bury his father. And Jesus says "...‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’" Matthew 8:22. That sounds very harsh and unloving on Jesus’ part, doesn’t it? And this poor man, what he said sounds very legitimate until you realize that this was a saying that spoke of staying home until the father died, which could be in 10, 20, 30, 50 years from now. He probably wasn’t even sick. And Jesus response to this man is that he needs to follow now, not later. What excuse have you given the Lord for not following? In the excuse you are saying that you are not yet ready to follow! Why? You see, your God knows what is best for your life, and if He is calling, you need to take that step and follow! You see, as the Greek poet Hesiod said, "You can’t plow a straight furrow when looking backward." Who are you going to serve? Won’t you be like Joshua and respond by saying, "...But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15.
VERSES 23-25
1. Now, as they set sail, a tempest or SEISMOS in the Greek, hits the area. It is a word we get seismology from, so you might say that this storm was a real shaker! The Sea of Galilee is 680 feet below sea level and to the north is snow covered Mount Hermon, 9,280 feet above sea level. So as a cold air mass descends down from Mount Hermon, through a small ravine in the valley and funnels into the Sea of Galilee, storms can erupt very quickly, and they can be intense with 25 foot waves!
2. Now the disciples are fearful, they thought the boat was going down, and they begin to yell at the Lord to do something, and the Lord is fast asleep after a full day of serving the people. So the Lord wakes up and we read in verse 26...
VERSES 26-27
1. Now why did He say they had little faith? Think about all the miracles they had seen, and now, when things were affecting their own lives, they didn’t trust in the Lord. What about you? Are you sharing the Lord and His Word with others as they go through difficult times, encouraging them to trust in the Lord, and yet, when it comes to your own life, you are not? That is hypocritical! Secondly, Mark tells us of this event, "On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’" Mark 4:35. Notice that Jesus said "Let us cross over to the other side" not "under!" Do you really think that the promises of God will fail? If you do, your faith will waiver and you will be anxious like these men because you are not trusting the Lord.
2. Here we see Jesus calm the Sea, and it blew them away! When Jesus does that in our own lives it shouldn’t blow us away, but cause us to worship Him and thank Him, it should increase our faith! And, I guess it should blow us away, that God loves us and cares that much for us He is willing to calm the storms in our lives!
VERSE 28
1. These demonic men were fierce, breaking chains that were used to bind them, terrifying the people so much that they avoided the area. This was not a secret, but a well known fact! They probably had signs up warning people to stay away.
2. Now Matthew tells us there were two men while Mark and Luke tell us there was only one. Are the Scriptures contradicting each other? Not at all! Mark and Luke focus on one of the men, maybe the more powerful one, while Matthew tells us there were a totally of two.
VERSE 29
1. Interesting, the demons recognize that Jesus is God and yet men today want to reject that truth. That does not mean these demons were saved, but they know Jesus for before the fall, they were part of the angelic realm with Lucifer. In speaking of the fall we read in Revelation 12:3-4, "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth..." And they also know their time is short, there is coming a day of judgment, of incarceration for them. And today, many reject the coming judgment of God, but even the demons recognize it is coming.
VERSES 30-31
1. For whatever reason, these demons wanted to re-enter a body, and so they ask Jesus to allow them to enter the pigs on the hillside.
VERSE 32
1. If you go to Israel, there is only one place along the Sea of Galilee that slopes down, and it is in the area of the Gadarenes! Why this happened we don’t know, but let me say this, Satan and his forces have come to destroy, to kill, and that is what we do see here. And Mark tells us that 2,000 pigs were killed, which tells me that these men had many demons within them, tormenting them. One other point that you may want to write down. This is the first mention of deviled ham in the Scriptures! Sorry about that one!
VERSES 33-34
1. Now this is interesting. These men are freed and the people run home, they tell what took place, and the town comes out and demands that Jesus leave. Why? First of all, if these were Jews, this was an illegal trade, pigs were not kosher! Secondly, they were more concerned about their trade, their possessions, their commerce than the lives of these two men. How often we see that today where money, possessions, positions are more important than reaching the lives of people who are dying in sin, possessed by the Devil. Why is that? Because many have an "I" problem! And if you do, believe it or not, you will be asking Jesus to move on because He is getting in the way. You may not see it like that, but by ignoring others, that is exactly what you are doing. And if you ask Jesus to leave, He will! He will not force Himself upon you. But He will call you, knock upon the door of your heart. In Revelation 3:20 we are told of Jesus, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." Won’t you let Him in?
2. In this chapter we have seen 5 miracles, and next time we will see 5 more. And it just shows us the power of God, that Jesus is God, the fulfillment of what the Old Testament prophets spoke of. And the religious leaders will not be able to deny these miracles, so they will accept them but say they came from the Devil and not God. How sad. May we not be that narrow minded that we miss out on the miracles that God is doing!