Well, I invite you to turn this morning in the Scriptures to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, we'll be looking at verses 18 through 34. Found on page 966 in the Bibles that are in front of you, taking three accounts together again as last time and beginning at verse 14 of Matthew chapter I'm sorry, verse 18 of matthew chapter 8 this is the word holy word of the Lord.
"Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came to him and said to him, teacher I will follow you wherever you go Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and 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 let me first go and bury my father And Jesus said to him, follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead And 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 swamped by the waves. But he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, save us, Lord! We are perishing And he said to them, why are you afraid, oh you of little faith Then he rose and rebuked the winds in the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey them And when he came to the other side to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men met him coming out of the tomb so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, what have you to do with us, oh Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, if you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs And he said to them, go So they came out and went into the pigs. And behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned into the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city, they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region."
There will end the reading of God's Word.
Well, the issue of authority should be one of the most comforting and exhilarating truths for us that is revealed in Scripture. In Scripture, that there is One who has all authority. Authority means, of course, that someone has the absolute power, the right to order whatever they decide to order, to command lives, and to enforce what is commanded. This issue of authority is what we're looking at today from Matthew chapter 8.
The truth is, the challenge is that for many people, they don't want to live under any authority in life. We want to live we know this, especially sort of American Christians We want to live independent lives We want to be left alone we don't want to believe there's an authority over us and we recoil at the idea that every aspect of our lives there's nothing hidden every aspect of our lives is under the sovereign power and sovereign authority of someone, because we're uncomfortable of what it will require of us.
The Scriptures make clear, however, that all of our lives, every aspect of them, is under the direct sovereign authority of Jesus Christ. Everyone's life is there. is nobody here today, nobody out there in the masses of people all around us, that is not under this authority. And for those who follow Him, for those who have received this authority, who believe this authority, we know it's the best place to be under. It's this is good news for us. For even though we might bear a cross, we follow under this gracious reign of Christ. That's how it's characterized It's a gracious reign. for his people It's a caring reign it's a reign that leads us and provides for us.
Well, last time we considered with that theme sort of set up front last time we considered Isaiah 53, which was the last verse quoted here at the end of verse 17. When he had done a series of healings, summarily, "and he bore our illnesses and he carried our sorrows." So Jesus is demonstrating His authority over sickness and death, really, is what he was doing. The centerpiece of those narratives, which drives what's happening now, is the centurion, the Roman army official whose servant was sick. And there we saw that the issue of authority came to the surface, didn't we? He spoke almost prophetically, really, describing Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus seems to have gotten really worked up about it, if you will. "That's what I'm after! This man has faith! He sees my authority! I'm a man under authority. I say go and people go, and I say come and they come, and I give orders and they obey. Wow! You believe I have the authority to heal?" That's what I'm after.
It was faith that was highlighted in the midst of this a faith that recognized the authority over christ over every illness in this life. The issue of authority runs now through these narratives. Matthew is unfolding that today, today progressively unfolding that. For as the authority of Christ unfolds before us, as that authority is shown in different aspects before us, there is a progressive unfolding and a revealing of who He is. This is, this is really important. As that authority takes shape, as it claims, as those claims become revealed and manifest in different aspects of life, there's a progressive unfolding of His identity. So this is, this is exciting stuff, I think, and I hope you share with me. It's really wonderful to preach.
I want you to see the unity of these scenes today that we're accustomed to take. I'm approaching Matthew a little differently um by putting the scenes together for you so you see what the, what Matthew and the inspiration of the Spirit is intending to show us. So in this way, we're looking, we're trying to see the important connections in Matthew. And that's the big picture today: Christ is demonstrating with sort of the overarching theme of matthew that he's the true king that his kingdom has come and that he has authority over all.
Today, with this single great command that is embedded in these three narratives that are put together with a great call, and here's that call that comes to us with all authority: "Follow me. Follow me."
So I want you to consider this with me this morning. If you're a note taker we see this in His authority over all people; we see that, then move in His authority over all creation; and then we see the authority over the entire demonic realm and all evil. With, I think, the great question: is how have we responded to this authority and this call?
The last scenes have created a problem for Christ. He has been willing to heal people of all their diseases. Can you imagine the dilemma? Today, if Pastor Gordon were out healing people in Escondido, church would be really full this morning be a lot of people who would want to come and have every ailment healed. Jesus is now known because he's been doing this on a popular level with the people, which created problems even for the scribes and the Pharisees. That's why they were restrained because of his widespread popularity. He's healing people, and he's healing all kinds of diseases. But the issue is, and the problem was, that is not primarily while he came. why he came You had all these people caught up in the enthusiasm of it who wanted the kingdom to come in their way, and jesus just as somebody who was supposed to give health and wealth if they signed on the dotted line, if you will. And we know that many people follow Jesus under the same pretenses today, for the same reasons. People will follow him for many different reasons. But a lot of people come to Christianity on this idea that life will get easier for them and better for them, and they're not really interested in the claims of the authority that Christ is bringing and the calls that he's giving.
Well, the next three scenes address this. Three scenes that I believe run together on this great theme of authority. So we read in verse 18, to begin and to pick up: "Now when Jesus saw the crowd around him," notice carefully, "he gave orders to go to the other side." The enthusiasm has resulted in him moving out of Israel to the more Gentile, pagan, rebellious regions known by the people of Israel. So he's on a move; he's on a move. And he's going out into the hostile regions with the Gospel. This is powerful stuff when we consider when he comes to the region of the Gadarenes. But notice what is said: "he gave orders." That doesn't quite capture it. He gave a commandment. He gave a commandment: "Go to the other side." This was to this hostile region where these demon-possessed men were. So we see the connection already starting to form here between these three narratives.
But notice what just happened. This amounts to what says in verse 22 was a command to follow him: "Follow me" into this difficult and this hard region. The next section captures who followed him. But he had just claimed authority. I want you to notice this. This theme that's running through he had just claimed authority over all who heard him. It's not that this was just a command for the disciples. You'll notice here, it was a command given to the multitudes, for there are many people hearing it and many people are coming up asking about it people who weren't immediately in the train of the disciples, the immediate fellowship of the disciples. In fact, we know from Mark that other boats will follow Jesus to the other side. But this is certainly how the crowds heard it. It was a universal, authoritative command and call for them to follow him.
Now, to capture this, Matthew raises two figures that he wants to engage for a minute who respond to this. Verse 19: "And a scribe came up to him and said, teacher I will follow you wherever you go scribe of course, were hostile. The scribes were hostile to Jesus. They were part of the religious ruling body in Israel. Jesus's response is fascinating. Jesus says, "Well, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
A scribe somebody hostile to Jesus. Here's this call, and he immediately belts out, "I'll follow you," probably because of all the healing. But Jesus looks right into his heart. He reads the man's heart. Even if sincerity is there, he has no idea of what this requires. It's as if Jesus said, "Are you sure? Are you sure? I mean, he's kind of breaking every evangelistic method today at this point. You sure? You know, foxes have dens to go to, right? You know, birds make nests all the time that they have a place to lodge in, don't you? You know what you're committing to? I have no place to lay my head. Are you sure you want to come? Are you sure you want to follow?"
Not going to be much comfort in this. Discipleship requires self-denial, doesn't it? It requires loss. It requires sacrifice. It requires suffering. It requires serving. It requires cost. Are you sure? Have you counted the cost? Have you thought about this? Have you calculated what it's going to cost you? There's gonna be a lot of self-denial here.
No sooner than another man walks up notice a disciple. This time, that's interesting. A disciple, somebody who was claiming to be a follower of Jesus, and said, "Lord, let me first go bury my father. I've got to bury Dad first. He just died." Notice the shocking response. Remember, Jesus is reading hearts here. Jesus said, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." You get the sense that he's pressing in on the man about priorities. He had just given the command, and we know what Jesus saw behind it. What he saw behind it was that the only real reason this man was following was for wrong reasons, really. But he had a greater priority to his family. That's why he was there. So he presses him. There's no condition on this command: "Follow me, follow me now."
And there are many people who need to hear that. This is not a call for later. This means now. This means now. There are many who have stronger loyalties to family than Jesus. And Jesus always put the spiritual family first, didn't he?
Now, this is shocking stuff. This is, this is, uh, this is pressing stuff. The kingdom of God is full of those loosely connected to Jesus. But it comes down to it, they're not willing to follow. They're not willing to truly follow. They want the life of ease.
So here it is: we have the first revelation in Matthew of His identity. All of a sudden, in the midst of this, all of a sudden comes this identity revelation. Jesus speaks of Himself. He says, "Are you sure you want to follow? The Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
It's almost at this point in Matthew It's the first designation here in Matthew of Jesus designating Himself, as the son of man. What's clear is. Jesus is making a unique designation of himself of His identity of who he is but when we find it when jesus says son of man as is designated many times throughout the gospel of matthew what it's usually in connection with are His sorrows are is His humiliation His suffering and then His exaltation it's usually a designation that's capturing his path that He has to walk. And so you put it together with Old Testament usage: Ezekiel uses it, Daniel uses it. You'll notice here that it's really describing, especially in this context, His path of suffering to glory. Suffering first. Do you want to walk with me? Do you know what the Son of Man has to do? Do you know the path you will have to walk?
Now comes the second designation. So to summarize that first expression of His authority: He had He demonstrates authority over all the peoples he calls them to follow a path of suffering to glory. And the first scene captures what a variety of excuses.
Second scene, verse 23: second designation of His authority. When he gets into the boat, the disciples followed. Don't miss that. Was a sovereign command. His disciples followed. He gave the command; his disciples followed. So, so you see something developing here. His disciples follow. It's, um, it's capturing for something really powerful in the midst of this. That even though there were all these excuses happening, His power is evident, His authority is evident. That as soon as what seemed to be impossible calls that he gave, he demonstrated His authority in that His disciples did follow. What an encouragement, by the way. His command is always effectually accomplished in the life of His people. They follow. They follow.
Now, here's the tie. Do you see it yet? What happened in the previous section that we considered last week? What did the centurion say? "For I am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I say to one, go. and they go I say to one, come and they come i say to one do this and they do it." Jesus is like, "That's it right there! You know what that captures? My authority! My authority!" Look at the authority he speaks. His own follow. It's really powerful stuff. Following is not something anyone does without the sovereign power and authority of Christ that bears down on our lives. He calls; we come. He calls; we follow. He says go; we go. I think we need to hear that voice today, and you're here today for that reason. You realize you know, the whole this is this is trembling to think about. You really didn't bring yourself here. "Blessed is the man You choose to come into Your courts." You may be someone who's never come in here before. God put you here today. God drew you here today. You don't even realize the powerful sovereign will of God that bears down on you. It's awesome.
It's a following, though, that is captured just by what Jesus said: "Are you sure? Do you know what it will require?" And that's our second scene. He takes him right into hardship and difficulty and testing. He leads him behold right into a storm.
Notice the blessing of this: for it's in the following storm now that the revelation of him begins to increase in his disciples. This is nighttime. They, they get into the boat. "Where behold, there arose a mega storm a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he was asleep."
I, I love this because I want you to remember that wherever he leads us, into the following that he calls us to follow, the boat can't sink when he's in it. I've said that before, but I just find that remarkable. Look at the complete calm, though. Look at the complete calm of the One who holds all authority in His hands who is in the below part of the boat sleeping, resting. Nothing shakes him absolutely nothing. Wherever the following takes us, we have the centerpiece here, which is probably some kind of chiasm, for it centers on again faith faith becomes the great issue.
So the storm builds. The storm swamps the boat. They begin to panic. They cry out. Notice the language: "Lord, don't you care? Save us! We're perishing!" And immediately He responds: "Why are you afraid, oh you of little faith, not no faith. little faith As if the circumstances in which the following created by the sovereign call that got them on the path, as if the circumstances as they found themselves, outside of His authority. See this? He led them into the storm. He drove them right into it to experience the storm, to live through the storm.
Almost universally, every time this passage is preached, I've said before, it's always, "Jesus will calm the storms in your life." No, He's going to take you in one. He did not come to take away your storms. He came in your following to lead you into one. That's why so many don't want to get on board. He wants to strengthen faith. He wants to demonstrate His authority. But what we need is what's captured here.
Notice this: "Then he arose. And he rebuked the winds And the sea. And there was immediately a mega calm." a great calm.
You know what the Jews believe? They're out in the night. This is the Mediterranean. This is the big seas around them. They believe that the seas around them were a place of chaos and of evil and the abyss, like Capernaum. The word here, "rebuke," is fascinating. It gives a sense that he rose up and he chastised the waters. Now, I've never done that in the middle of a storm. You've never seen me go out and chastise the winds, have you? You should run if I did that. That'd be a weird guy. That'd be a crazy man. He stands up and he rebukes the waves. And it's not as if the sea, when it was swamping the boat, this is the great point, was outside of His sovereign authority. Christ, as one pastor said, was in majestic calmness, sleeping through the whole thing. But the raging sea, used all throughout the Psalms to describe, was an instrument here. And the Psalms describe the raging, turbulent world in which we live. They use the sea to talk about the evil of nations. They use the sea to talk about all the turbulence of life. The sea was simply a little instrument of choosing, His choosing to strengthen his disciples' faith in all storms.
Jesus says in the midst of them, "There's no reason to panic. You hear that? In the midst of whatever it is, there is absolutely no reason to panic. There's a reason no reason to panic in the midst of, you might say, the most, which is what Christians are doing right now, in the most turbulent cultural moment. He has absolute authority over it all. He let us into it." And Matthew wants you to see it. There's no reason to fear whatever turbulent moment comes upon us. We're not doing the calming. Did you hear me? We're not doing the calming. You're not stopping the raging sea. That's your problem, is you think you are. And you're all worked up. He speaks. He wills. Then it's calm in His timing. As soon as he rebuked the wind and the sea, we read "great calm." It's like that sea of glass, like crystal, around the throne. Around the throne there's no turbulence, beloved. Nothing's frustrating Him. It's on earth the turbulence is. When He speaks, it goes calm.
The heart of it comes again in the unfolding of His identity. In the midst of all this authority being shown to us, this is what overwhelmed them. They said, "What sort of man is this that even the winds in the sea obey?"
He had just said He's the Son of man a designation that captured the uniqueness of the storm He has to walk for us by way of a cross, that we must follow too. We We carry a cross. we bear a cross But they're absolutely struck with this. And this is what you have to be struck with if you're making any progress in the faith, or you're going to be all worked up about all the stuff happening. He has absolute authority over all of creation. Think of this. He commands. He shows His authority. He reveals Himself as the Son of Man. Now he takes them into the storm to face the greatest fear of life to draw out faith. They're confronted with the great question: "Of who is this we are following?" That He has authority even over creation the waters. Who is this? Yeah, who is this? Who are you following? And that leads us to the final account.
When they came to the other side, which he had commanded them to go, they entered the region of the Gadarenes. Any half committed follower was gone at this point, by the way. You don't go into this region if you're if you're a Jew. This is, this is Gentile region. This is, this is pagan land. These are vile people Here's the light of the world breaking into the darkness with no fear. No fear. That used to be a theme in the 90's That's why I said it. Wes is laughing. He knows that one.
We read that "two demon possessed men met him coming out of the tombs, so fierce, no one could pass that way." They're described as violent. They are fierce men. We know Mark says no one could even bind them. So terrifying were these figures that no one even went close to the road where these tombs were located. They're cutting themselves out there. They're screaming all day long. This is the size of a Roman legion in them. We know from Mark that it entered probably around 5 000 demons if you're taking that literally. Jesus comes out of the sea. They come bolting down the mountain. They're ready to attack. "Who is this coming off the sea?" We know from Mark, as soon as they get to the sea and they see him, they drop the knee and they cry out.
Notice here: everyone else they had tried to kill. They had no fear of themselves. Here it is: "What have you to do with us, oh Son of God?" Okay, we are moving here. We are moving in progressive revelation of identity. "Have you come to torment us before the time?"
They recognize who He is. They know they have come and seen the One they know. They have an appointed day of judgment from Him, that He has consigned them to everlasting destruction. "Why are you coming here? What are you doing here?" The entire demonic realm is deathly afraid of Him. But what a revelation before the disciples! "Son of Man" at the center of the three narratives is "who is this?" And the demons now are proclaiming it. "It's the Son of God!" They knew who He was. He's divine. He's the everlasting Son. We know Him. Oh, we know Him well. He created us. They're deathly afraid.
He stands before them as One who has all authority and had already pronounced judgment on them. You know what Jude said? "The judgment's already been pronounced at this point on them." And these angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation. He has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day." They are under His authoritative judgment right then and there with no hope and no way out. They know it.
Are we getting it now? So they beg him. "If you're going to cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs." And don't miss what happens here. Demons seem to have freedom. Demons seem to have freedom. They could enter men. They could enter, known as swine. What are they asking? They could overtake the minds of people. They could control actions of people. They seem to have all this freedom. But what are they asking? Permission to go into the pigs.
Notice the emphasis. What does he say? One word: "Go."
Okay. Now, are you seeing the connections here? The centurion. "Go." He commands the entire demonic realm with just a word: "Go." And the legion of demons goes. And they go into the pigs. And they rush violently down the slope into the sea that he had just calmed and drowned them in the waters. That's a lot of pig floating in the water. Our pig farmers are devastated right now. That's a loss of a lot of money.
What's the ending? The herdsmen see them. flee. They flee into the city. When they saw this. What in the world? Who is this? they go tell everyone. "You just lost all your pork for three years!" The whole city comes out, and the sad moment of the narrative is this: "When they saw him, they begged him to leave, leave the region right now. Leave!" Who was in darker bondage?
Isn't that a shocking response? It's meant to be. It ties to the beginning of the three narratives. Beloved, he had just demonstrated His authority over all people. His authority over all creation, the waters and the waves, And now the entire demonic realm of all evil. And when He commands, it goes out. When He decides, it leaves. When He calms, it calms. We don't do that.
None of the people could bind these men. Here's my question today: "Who of these three groups, creation, fallen angels, or fallen humanity, was the most difficult to reach and submit?" Who? It wasn't creation. It wasn't the demons. It's the human heart. They saw him, and they begged him to leave.
Here's the good news: He has the power, with a word, to shatter the darkness of the human heart so that people follow. And in His followers, they follow. There is, as you follow, a progressive strengthening of your faith as you learn Him and you see who has laid a claim on your life. Who is He? Who is He? He's the Son of Man who had to travel the path of the cross for you to go to glory. He's the One that holds all creation in His hands. He's the divine Son of God who holds everything in His hands. The Son of Man. The Son of God. But the disciples are saying, "Who is it? Do you know who has called you?"
This is God in the flesh, and He has placed a call on your life and my life. How could we miss His great care to do this? He just left that entire region with two very effective missionaries. Who are those missionaries? These men whom he just set free. "Follow me," says Jesus. "You know who you have to do with. You know who's calling. Do we recognize He's placed a great calling on our lives?"
I have the best news. The very next section, I want everyone to look at, will close with this thought. Paralytic is let down through the roof. Look at verse 9. Verse 6, sorry. "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to do what? Forgive sins. Rise, pick up your bed," and here's the word: "Go!"
You know, He can do that for you today. With one word, forgive them all. He has that kind of authority. Pharisees say, "That's blasphemy. Only God can do that." Yeah. You're right. If He's not God. But He's God! Here's the One through whom everything was made, the One who said, "I have the authority to lay down my life and to take it up again," has the authority with the word to forgive all your sins.
Listen to what He says to you today: "Follow me. I will lead you. I will test you. I will try you. I'll take you right into the midst of the storm. And with My resurrected voice, I will train you so that you know who I am. The Son of Man will come. He has all authority to judge the living and the dead with His angels in the glory of His Father and will judge all peoples."
That's Him. But what message did He leave the church with today? This ties to Matthew. Listen carefully. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go! Go! Go and preach the Gospel. Go make disciples. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And I am with you to the ends of the age. Go! I'm always with you. I have the authority to forgive sins. And you have to believe my voice is that powerful. You now go. You now go. And you follow me, and you trust me, and you get on board with my mission. You go make known the Gospel. They will come. They will come. They will follow. There's nothing to fear. I'm with you to the close of the age. All authority is mine, and I'm saving people. The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."
Oh, He just destroyed the demons lives. He's actually come to save us! That which the angels had no hope of receiving What hope beloved What authority what confidence! So be confident. Whatever storm it is, He's showing Himself to you. He's revealing Himself through His Word, and He has said to you, "Follow me, and go. I have that kind of authority in heaven and on earth. Believe me."
Amen.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your beloved Son and showing us, giving us a glimpse of who He is through the work of Your Spirit. May we be followers. true followers May we hear the voice, and may we go. Bless us, oh Lord, and thank You for giving us such comforting words that this One has the power in His timing to calm the raging sea. Let us trust Him and let us know Him. In these you take delight in jesus name. Amen.
Thank you.