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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] today's future reading is taken from the book of matthew chapter 8 verses 1 1-17 when jesus came down from the mountainside large crowds followed him a man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said lord if you are willing you can make me clean jesus reached out his hand and touched the man i am willing he said be clean immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy then jesus said to him see that you don't tell anyone but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift moses commanded as a testimony
00:00:50 to them when jesus had entered keeping am a centurion came to him asking for help lord he said my servant lies at home paralyzed suffering terribly jesus said to him shall i come and heal him the centurion replied lord i do not deserve to have you come under my roof but just say the word and my servant will be healed for i myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me i tell this one go and he goes and that one come and he comes i say to my servant do this and he does it when jesus heard this he was amazed and
00:01:38 said to those following him truly i tell you i have not found anyone in israel with such great faith i say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with abraham isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be reaping and gnashing of teeth then jesus said to the centurion go let it be done just as you believed it would and his servant was healed at the moment
00:02:16 when jesus came into peter's house he saw peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a favor he touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on him when evening came many who were demon possessed were brought to him and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet isaiah he took up our infirmities and bore our diseases this is the word of god once again it's my joy and privilege to be standing here sharing with you from
00:02:57 the word of god since the last time i was here i'm happy to report to you that my wife and i have had our first dose of the vaccine and our second jab is scheduled at the end of this month i trust most of you have been vaccinated with at least one dose if not two by god's mercy hopefully this will this will be the beginning of a pushback against the pandemic which has lasted too long we are still in the midst of our series on the book of matthew the emco in july has caused a little disruption in our
00:03:30 pulpit schedule two weeks ago dr peter took us through the second half of chapter eight and this morning we will backtrack and examine the first half of this chapter the text for today is taken from matthew chapter 8 verses 1 to 17 with the sermon title the authority of jesus a longer title might have been the authority of jesus as demonstrated by his miracles throughout his three years of earthly ministry jesus must have performed hundreds if not thousands of miracles the precise number is not known
00:04:06 for example at the end of our text in verse 16 we see that in the course of one evening alone many who were demon-possessed were brought to him and he drove out the spirit with the word and healed all the sick it was an evening of many miracles yet a good number of these miracles have been documented in the four gospels for our edification to aid us in our spiritual learning curve if we count specific miracles performed by jesus as recorded in matthew mark luke and john the number is usually given as 37
00:04:47 out of these 37 documented miracles five are found in matthew 8 and another five in matthew 9. now you can easily google and find this list of specific miracles performed by jesus this is one example although the form here is too small to read out of the five miracles documented in matthew 8 3 are found in our text jesus cleansing the leper jesus healing the centurion servant and jesus healing peter's mother-in-law we will go through them one by one against the backdrop of the authority of jesus but let's begin with the word of
00:05:25 prayer or father in heaven as we examine this portion of scripture may your spirit illumine our hearts and convict our minds so that we will not just be half-hearted hearers but diligent doers of your world continue your work of changing us renewing us so that individually and collectively we will reflect more and more your truth and glory in an increasingly darkened world for we ask this in jesus name amen the title of today's sermon says the authority of jesus what does this mean what authority you may ask
00:06:12 authority based on what that's our inquiry this morning at the end of matthew chapter 7 just before our text he says when jesus had finished saying these things the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority this pair of verses at the end of chapter 7 is the breach that links the text our texts to the preceding chapters namely the three chapters of 5 6 and 7 which lays out jesus sermon on the mount the sermon on the mount is an important context to the miracles of jesus in
00:06:51 matthew 8 and 9. in documenting the miracles the author is offering us a kind of a follow-up that will lend weight to what he wrote earlier in the chapters before this jesus was teaching as someone who had authority once once again the question is what authority that's what we want to uncover from the 17 verses before us so let's now dive into this three-part text and examine the three miracles one by one and as we unpack these miracles i'll present you a series of secondary lessons along the way
00:07:28 in other words practical meaning lessons to aid you in the conduct of your faith but more importantly we want to leave enough time towards the end to draw the main lessons the deeper truths from the text now compared to the main lessons i will not dwell too much on the mini lessons but i'll encourage you to reflect upon them after the sermon in your own time the text opens with jesus came down from the mountain from the mountainside large crowds followed him now this verse must be packed with another verse at the beginning of the
00:08:08 sermon of the mount the two verses the first two verses of chapter five now when jesus saw the crowd he went up on the mountainside and he began to teach them now they has finished teaching he's coming down from the mountainside during my trip to israel in 2017 with a group of mostly fbc members we were in the galilee region and the guide took us to a hilly area known as the mount of beatitudes it was just a short distance about 1.5 km from the ruins of the town of capernaum which is mentioned in verse
00:08:46 5 of our text there we were shown there we were shown a grassley uh huge slopes uh the likes of which uh might have been the location of the sermon on the mount and i stood there and i thought perhaps matthew chapters 5 to 7 should be retitled as the sermon on the hill slope so jesus isn't really coming down from the mountain side he is coming down a hill the crowd is still with him as they have followed him they they have just heard his amazing teachings and they are hungry for more today have you heard of a congregation
00:09:30 that hears a sermon and they want more today if your sermon stretches more than an hour some in the pews will start looking at their watches will still they may even start shaking their watches anyway as jesus and the crowd come down the hill and the next thing they encounter a leper the greek word for leprosy here can actually refer to a variety of skin diseases the worst of which is leprosy now from the man's words and actions we can reasonably assume that he's afflicted with a rather advanced stage
00:10:06 of leprosy nowadays leprosy also known as henson's disease is almost unheard of it's caused by two types of bacteria that affect the skin and attack the peripheral nerves if left untreated it can cause permanent damage to the nerves skin limbs and eyes but today they are effective treatments for leprosy and is entirely curable but not in the past throughout much of human history including during biblical times leprosy was a dreaded disease that aroused fear in everyone now this is where cultural context is
00:10:47 also important when we study the bible so that we can better appreciate why and how people behave back then in those days the only thing worse than leprosy is death itself lepers were described as the living dead the disease was thought to be highly contagious and so lepers were completely shunned and socially distanced by society furthermore lepers were believed to be sinners punished by god and hence they were seen as vowel and despicable beings and so the leper in verse 2 is a social outcast
00:11:25 abandoned even by his family he suffers greatly in his agonizing social isolation on top of the terrible misery caused by the disease itself this is the cultural context that helps us to understand better what's going on so that you can imagine how as the leopard approaches the disciples and the crowd reacting with fear oh no a leper coming don't come close which is somewhat evident in the painting that i showed you in the opening slide a modern equivalent would be like for example if you are tested positive
00:12:01 for kovit 19 and you walk into tesco and you yell hey i'm kovit positive everyone will rush out immediately some might even scold you for breaking your quarantine anyway in the rest of verse 2 the leper the leper knelt before jesus and said lord if you are willing you can make me clean he comes and kneels before jesus and calls him lord some translations say he bowed down in front of him in other translations he worshipped him it is a picture of both lowliness before jesus and reverence for jesus
00:12:43 in other words he acknowledges his lowly helpless estate and at the same time he recognizes jesus elevated and exalted position and here lies our first mini lesson from the text that is whenever we approach god in prayer or in worship we must always be mindful of how small we are vis-a-vis how great god is ascribe greatness to our god as written in deuteronomy 32 3. this is the posture we must assume before god almighty now i know this sounds obvious but i still need to highlight it in our relationship with god he must
00:13:27 increase we must decrease to quote john the baptist it's only when we are aware of where we stand and where god stands and we appreciate the huge gap between the two then only will we be able to relate to god in a deeper manner to continue when the leper says if you're willing you can make me clean he is not sure that jesus he is very sure that jesus has the power to heal him but is less certain if he is willing to do so hence the conditional clause if you're willing nonetheless at the profession of his faith the lord
00:14:07 reaches out and cleanses him of his leprosy in verse 3. the first part of verse 3 is such a powerful statement if you appreciate the context he is a miserable man ostracized by society scourged by a horrible disease he hasn't felt the warm touch of a of a human hand for the longest time no one wants to come near him let alone touch him and then jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man as jesus places his hand on him you can imagine the disciples and and the crowd gasping in this belief but that touch by jesus means so much so
00:14:53 very much to the leper he has never felt so wanted so cared for for so many years even if jesus didn't heal him that touch alone would have been so soothing so comforting to the man and here i offer you a second mini lesson that during your darkest moments in life when all hope is lost remember that the compassionate jesus is ever ready with his hand to reach out to you to touch you just as he did for the leper if only you would stretch out your hand to to meet that touch jesus promises in matthew 11
00:15:37 come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest keep this in mind whenever you face the storms of life and receive his touch to wrap up the first miracle after the man is healed jesus instructs him not to tell anyone from verse 4a this sounds rather strange why is he asked to zip his mouth about what has just happened now the common explanation is that jesus already had a large crowd following him he didn't want the size of the crowd to swell as it would kind of restrict his
00:16:17 movement besides many will be coming to him for the wrong motive just to be healed now this explanation is reasonable but still even if the man had kept quiet the crowd had already witnessed the miracle and many wouldn't be able to to keep their mouth shut now the answer to this puzzle is found in the rest of verse 4 when jesus tells the man to do two things first firstly to go and show himself to the priest now this is so that the priest can quickly examine him and certify him as cleanse so that he can rejoin society
00:16:55 now if the priest were to hear that jesus is the one who has healed him and then the man shows up now the priest might find excuses not to certify him as cleansed this is because the priestly clan is not exactly fond of jesus at the end of matthew 4 even before the sermon on the mount jesus was already performing many miracles and large crowds were following him and this has caused much resentment among the priests perhaps out of envy that they were losing their grip on the masses the second thing jesus tells the man to
00:17:30 do is to go to the temple to offer the necessary sacrifice now this is in accordance to the law of moses in leviticus 11 which prescribes what an israelite had to do if he was healed from leprosy jesus is like telling the man before you open your mouth to tell everyone how happy you are first go and fulfill what the law requires of you in other words first things first it's interesting to note that there is actually a whole chapter leviticus 14 that spells out in detail the steps to take when a leper was healed
00:18:07 no it's not as if leprosy was curable in the ancient world in fact there is only one instance in the entire old testament of a leper who got healed and that's naaman the syrian in second kings chapter 5. after naaman no other miracle no other miracle healing of leprosy recorded in the bible until here in matthew chapter 8 it seems to be something prophetic about leviticus 14. now there's something else i'd like to address before we proceed to the next miracle we want to process what the lepers said
00:18:49 in verse 2 lord if you are willing not as mentioned he was so sure that jesus had the power to heal him but he was less certain if jesus would do it for him jesus could but would he enhance lord if you're willing now it's like when we sometimes petition god for something and we pray if it be your will grant this request of mine if it is according to your will what does it mean when we qualify our prayers in such a manner is it as what the leper thought he could but would he now some people have this idea that oh
00:19:31 no you shouldn't pray like that you should exercise more bonus in your in your faith you should name it and claim it the god will grant whatever you request to say if it be your will is to express some doubts and there is a lack of faith now i'm sorry but i think that it's not biblical then your prayer becomes like a magic wand wavy to get what you want god's will would then be subordinate to your will when we pray if it be your will firstly it's the confession of god's sovereignty he is the sovereign lord
00:20:11 remember the first mini lesson recognizing who we are and who god is paul in the words of paul in ephesians 1 he works out everything to fit his plan and purpose god's plan and purpose supersede and override our will we submit to his will secondly is an expression of trust in god that he knows best rather than the lack of faith is showing great faith that god's ways are higher and better and that he will order things for us in line with his perfect plan even when he doesn't grant what we ask for
00:20:52 we can ask god for anything but god doesn't grant everything when he doesn't it is not just accepting no for an answer is trusting that he has a better plan and hence it's entirely biblical to pray if it if it be your will jesus himself prayed a prayer like this in matthew 26 my father if it is possible allow this cup to be taken from me yet let your will not mind be done when we pray if it be your will we are saying let your will be done not mine it's a confession of his sovereignty and an expression of trust
00:21:38 moving on to the second miracle the healing of the centurion servant from verses 5 to 13. it says in verse 5 that jesus entered capernaum as i pointed out the town of capernaum was just a short walking distance away from where he healed the leper in matthew 4 13 at the beginning of his ministry we read that jesus went and lived in capernaum now he grew up in nazareth but he soon made capernaum his base now to give you a sense of the geography cabinet lies along the northern shore of the sea of galilee
00:22:17 and nazareth is to the southwest about 30 km away now for three years jesus ministry headquarters was in capernaum and so in verse 5 jesus is really returning to capenam when a centurion approaches him a centurion is a roman army officer who commands a platoon of 100 soldiers 100 is a century hence the word centurion in contrast to the leper the centurion enjoys a high social status but he's a gentile a non-jew later we'll talk more about this he comes to jesus asking for help now here let me mention something on the
00:23:04 side there is a parallel account of this miracle in luke chapter 7 verses 1 to 10. if you read luke's account of the same miracle you will detect a contradiction with our text in luke's account it says that the centurion sent some jewish elders uh to jesus on his behalf to plead his case now here in our text it says instead that he came to jesus now this is only an apparent contradiction there is a good explanation for this and it's useful to know this in case a non-christian friend tells you uh your bible got errors
00:23:45 now you see in those days when you sent a representative to do something for you is as good as you yourself doing it for example in john 19 1 he says pilate took jesus and flocked him of course pilate didn't flock jesus his soldiers did but it's as if he did it for he was the one who gave the order similarly in john 4 1 we read that jesus was baptizing more people than john the baptist when in fact he didn't baptize anyone his disciples did the baptisms conducted by jesus disciples were described as if jesus
00:24:27 himself conducted them and the same principle is at work in our text the centurion actually sent a group to jesus on his behalf but matthew recorded it as if he himself went to jesus and we shall take it as if as it is written in our text and so he comes to jesus this 17th century dutch painting shows him kneeling before jesus although nothing like that is mentioned in these verses it may be the just the artist's way of linking this to the earlier miracle but in verse 6 he does address jesus as
00:25:04 lord like what the leper did this is remarkable an army officer a man of considerable social standing addressing jesus a commoner as master he is clearly acknowledging his subordinate position to jesus he comes to jesus with reverence like the leper in verse six he does address jesus as lord that's what we see in verse six then he pours out his desperate situation but in a surprising twist it's not about him his servant is very sick we are not told the exact nature of the illness that is causing the paralysis
00:25:50 oh and also great pain in luke's account the servant is described as nearing death also in luke's account the word used for servant can also mean slave so in all likelihood the dying man is the centurion's slave this is worthy of note because again from a cultural context in the ancient world a slave was treated as just an object a tool to be used he had no status no rights whatsoever the amazing thing here is that the centurion comes to jesus not to plead for himself but from for someone else and not just someone else but a lonely
00:26:32 insignificant slave jesus must have been impressed with his compassion compassion for his slave he is the man who shows concern and care for another human being and a slave no less his other centered character must have moved to jesus he doesn't have to say if you are willing like the leopard did but jesus responded at once in verse 7 shall i come and heal him he is embedded for us another mini lesson when we pray don't just petition god for your own needs but also intercede for others it pleases god to a large degree
00:27:18 and the two life groups that i'm involved in we spend time praying for one another and also for those outside the group it's a good thing another reason why you should consider joining a live group now next comes the high point of the miracle the centurion's respond he replies i do not deserve to have you come under my roof most translations render this as i'm not worthy for you to come into my house i'm not worthy i'm not fit for you to come to my house such humility he throws away all his pride
00:27:59 his dying slaves position in society is a very humble one here the master of the slave assumes the same humble position before the master with a capital m in quick succession here lies yet another mini lesson for us when we approach god we must do so with this same attitude of utter humility there must not be a hint of self-righteousness not a trace of self-worth this is related to the first mini lesson we in our lowly position and god in this exalted position but here i'm talking about something more than just
00:28:39 being conscious of where we stand and where god stands i believe one of the things that impedes the the transformational work of the holy spirit in earth is that deep inside we think there is some good in us because somehow we are worthy of god's salvation we don't take a serious view of our sins i mean how bad can we be no before a holy god we must say like the centurion said i am not worthy then only i believe will our spiritual growth be given a boost when we declare ourselves to be unworthy
00:29:21 before god we render ourselves worthy for his spirit to work within us i'll leave it at that there is another perspective to this verse a rather minor one when the centurion expresses reluctance for jesus to come to his house now this is again in the cultural context you see in those days it was a no-no for a jew to enter a gentile's home a jew doing so would defile himself as the gentile's home was considered unclean the centurion didn't want to put jesus on the spot he was hesitant to make things difficult
00:29:57 for jesus again we see that side of him being considerate towards others to conclude the sermon the centurion says something even more remarkable at the end of verse 8. lord you don't have to come to my house i don't deserve for you to come you just need to say the word and my sick servant will be cured you can heal from a distance you don't have to see the patients you don't have to touch the patient a mere word from your lips will be enough in verse 9 he continues he starts to elaborate the century is saying i understand
00:30:39 authority well i myself come under authority i also exercise authority i have authority over my men so i can recognize authority when i see one i see that you have authority like no man has you have authority over sicknesses and diseases so you just need to give the order and the illness will obey and go away more about the authority of jesus later when jesus hears this he is so amazed in verse 10 he praises the centurion in front of the crowd i have not found anyone in israel with such great faith
00:31:20 meaning look this man is a gentle someone outside god's covenant but he shows more faith than all you people who live under god's covenant now in our context you will be like a non-christian exercising more faith in god than all the christians now in verses 11 and 12 jesus seems to digress to talk prophetically about a future feast in the kingdom of heaven again we shall defer this to the until later when we discuss his authority in the next verse in recognition of the centurion's faith jesus declares to him
00:31:59 go let it be done as you believe it would and at the very moment jesus pronounces these words the servant is healed coming to the last part of the text verses 14 to 17 the healing of of peter's mother-in-law jesus is still in capernaum and from verse 14 he is visiting peter in his house in capernaum possibly for a meal while the other two healings took place in the in public this third miracle is confined to a more private setting in a home away from the crowd now speaking of peter's house back to the 2017 uh trip to the holy
00:32:46 land after the uh visit to a mount of beatitudes we were at the ruins of capernaum nearby the highlight of capernaum was an archaeological site believed to be peter's house a church has been built over the site where you can look down through the glass into the ruins of what has been identified as peter's house in this photo you can see pearly standing there trying to take in the significance of the place it was really amazing to stand at the very spot where this miracle took place it was like the bible
00:33:27 coming alive now before we look into the miracle itself the other thing to note is that peter was married because he had a mother-in-law but the whereabouts of this wife is not mentioned here perhaps she had rushed out to buy some food and wine to entertain jesus many people believe she had already passed away in any case it's not important also interestingly viewing through a modern lens is that peter's mother-in-law lived with him maybe her husband had passed away and there was nobody to care for her
00:34:03 today most husbands do not like the idea of the wife's mother moving in to stay the in-law might become an outlaw but hey i did tell lee fun more than once her mother is welcome to stay with us anytime just uh to make that clear now back to the miracle it's described in just two sentences he saw peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever he touched her hand and the fever left her is that simple compared to the earlier miracle do you notice that peter's mother-in-law looks rather young in this 19th century
00:34:48 english painting today we know that if you have a fever it's symptomatic of a problem with the body is your body reacting to an infection you may develop a fever if you are infected with cov19 or after your vaccination but in those days they considered fever in itself an illness whatever peter's mother-in-law was suffering from jesus healed her he touched her hand and she recovered completely not only was she completely healed she regained her strength at once she got up and began to wait on him
00:35:30 meaning she began to attend to jesus who was a guest possibly serving him a meal she didn't say please let me rest for a while she got up and got down at once to serve jesus now this may not sound like much but we can draw a mini lesson here namely those whom jesus has healed spiritually or or physically they roll up their sleeves so to speak to serve him i'm talking about being involved in church ministries those actively serving god they do so perhaps out of gratitude but more so because they now acknowledge jesus as
00:36:12 their lord many christians treat jesus as their savior but not necessarily their lord now one last mini lesson before we wrap up the three miracles in our text if we look at all three miracles together if we take a bird's-eye view of the profile of those ministered to by jesus one was a social outcast the second was a gentile outside the the covenant and the last was a woman now women in those days were considered to be weak to be second class do you know that it was a long-standing tradition among jewish men to pray thank
00:36:52 god i'm not a gentile a woman or a slave when we examine the profiles of all three persons in our text whom jesus ministered and helped the text seems to be telling us something the common denominator among all three is that they were not the normal kind of people they were people rejected or looked down by society indeed if you survey the gospels you will find that jesus was more disposed to ministering to the sick including the leper the blind and the lame also to the oppressed the weak the marginalized the poor
00:37:30 those were his favorite kind of people and he reached out to them hence the last mini lesson if you feel unwanted if you think you're a nobody if friends have abandoned you if life has treated you unfairly then i have good news for you jesus has the soft spot for you he stands ready to minister to you this is an expansion of the second mini lesson that in your darkest moments in life jesus is waiting with his outstretched hand and this completes our study of today's text coming to the last part of the sermon
00:38:17 there are two main lessons to be gleaned from the text we shall answer the question now at the beginning what kind of authority does jesus have there are two kinds of authority that i want to elaborate and this may get a little deep the clue to the first kind of authority is in verses 11 and 12 which i didn't address earlier in the second miracle jesus commanded the centurion a gentile for his amazing faith then he seemed to digress to talk about a future feast in the kingdom of heaven many will come and will take their
00:38:56 places at the feast in the kingdom of heaven note the important phrase here the kingdom of heaven which also means the kingdom of god both terms uh can be used interchangeably so many will be seated at this feast and then comes the shocker the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth what does this mean you see jesus was serving notice to the jews the likes of the pharisees who thought they had an automatic pass into god's kingdom but because of unbelief
00:39:36 because of unbelief these covenant people of god the so-called subjects of the kingdom would instead find themselves outside condemned in hell the twist is that those outside the covenant of god the gentiles like the centurion who believed in jesus they would instead be the ones inside god's kingdom in other words those who assume they will be in the kingdom won't be there those not expected to be there will be there it was an indictment against many of the unbelieving jews it was a repeat of jesus warning in
00:40:11 matthew 7 21 from the sermon on the mount not any not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven be very careful that these words of caution also apply to christians today but why talk about who will or will not be there in this feast in between these miracles the key is the phrase the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of god it is the kingdom that jesus will establish on earth when he when he returns to rule in the future although the spiritual aspect of the kingdom has already been inaugurated but
00:40:52 jesus will return to set up a physical kingdom and the first thing he will do is to host this grand feast also known as the messianic banquet described in isaiah 25. also called the wedding supper of the lamb in revelation 19. so verses 11 and 12 here are men to point to the kingdom of god at the beginning we saw how the context of our text is the sermon on the mount matthew 5 to 7 that's the backdrop to matthew 8. now over these three chapters matthew 5 5-7 jesus had been teaching about the kingdom of god
00:41:37 for example the beatitudes in matthew 5 which is about the conditions for entry into this kingdom last sunday brother alex preached from matthew 7 which is among other things about getting into this kingdom now where there is a kingdom there must be a king what matthew is trying to put across to his jewish readers is this this jesus who has been teaching about the kingdom of god which you have just heard or read he is actually the king himself he's going to rule this kingdom the one who has been teaching about the
00:42:15 kingdom of god he is actually talking about his own kingdom now you need to know that for centuries the jews had been waiting for the coming of this king whom they referred to as the messiah the anointed one david described him as the king of glory in psalm 24 throughout the pages of the old testament there are numerous there's so many verses and passages pointing to the coming of this king this messiah matthew is like saying to the jews look no further here is the king you all have been waiting for and he proceeds to
00:42:52 document these miracles of jesus in our text to prove that he is the one they have been waiting for the miracles validate his divine credentials the crowds the crowd listening to the sermon on the mount think that jesus is a great teacher no he is more much more than a great teacher he is the king of the kingdom of god that he is teaching about for who has the power over sicknesses and diseases only someone who is from god someone who is god today's scientists who are among the best brains in the world cannot even
00:43:28 overcome a microscopic virus who can command the bacteria and the viruses certainly not any mere mortals the centurion understood that matthew is trying to underscore that that is the context of the miracles in our text and then at the end of the sermon on the mount the crowds marvel at jesus teachings saying he spoke as one with authority what authority his messianic authority his authority as the divine king of god's kingdom you don't believe that then look at his miracles the miracles of jesus testify to his
00:44:13 messianic authority his kingly authority that's the first point if you look carefully the leper exercise a measure of faith the centurion showed even greater faith peter's mother-in-law didn't even ask to be healed so it's not about the amount of faith the miracles illustrate the messianic authority of jesus that's the point the second kind of authority that jesus has is his redemptive authority in other words not only his king jesus he is also jesus the savior now to appreciate where this is coming
00:44:53 from let's try to unravel what might be in matthew's mind as he was writing all this at the start of chapter 5 he wrote jesus went up the mountain's side in verse 1 of chapter 8 he comes down from the mountainside in exodus 24 13 moses went up the mountain and in exodus 32 15 he came down from the mountain moses went up the mountain and he came down the mountain carrying the ten commandments jesus went up the mountain and he came down the mountain and performed ten miracles as recorded in matthew
00:45:32 was matthew trying to recast the scene in exodus for his jewish audience if he was then he could be trying to say hey the law of moses doesn't save you you can try to live by the by by by the commandments of god you can try your very best but how often you fail no the law doesn't save you if anything it only magnifies your sin you see salvation can only be found in this man jesus i believe this is what matthew was trying to get at view from this perspective the last verse in our text starts to make sense
00:46:14 in verse 17 matthew penned a sort of a commentary to the narrative this was to fulfill what was spoken to the prophet isaiah he took up our infirmities meaning illnesses and bore our diseases now if you read this plainly this verse can come across as strange because if indeed jesus had borne our all our diseases why do we still get sick again the context is key here you see this verse is a quote from verse 4 of isaiah 53 isaiah 53 now that should ring a bell isaiah 53 is the famous chapter entitled
00:46:55 the suffering sermon a servant which foretold the suffering and death of jesus who bore our sins on the cross so that all who believe in him and accept him can have their sins forgiven matthew inserted isaiah 53 4 into the text for a purpose so why talk about the forgiveness of sin when documenting the healing miracles of jesus there are at least two answers one is that matthew wanted to sh to point out that the person who has the power to heal the sick also has the power to forgive sin jesus can heal anyone physically and
00:47:37 well he can also redeem those who are spiritually lost he has the redemptive authority now this will be clearer in the next chapter chapter 9 and i shall leave it to the next picture the other answer is that sin and diseases are closely intertwined while a person may fall sick as a result of his personal sin for example in 1 corinthians 11 30 but generally speaking diseases are an indirect consequence of sin meaning when sin came into the world when adam fell nature became cursed tainted with all
00:48:18 sorts of germs bacteria and viruses causing so much pain and sufferings i can almost imagine what jesus might have been thinking as he healed the leper the slave and peter's mother-in-law he might have been thinking sin has caused so much pain and sufferings i'm going to resolve this once and for all i will go to the cross when the time comes i will bear all these pain and sufferings and offer the forgiveness of sin indeed the day will come when sin will be totally banished when that day comes there will be no more sicknesses and
00:48:58 diseases isaiah gives us a glimpse of this in isaiah 35 then would the eyes of the blind be open and the years of the death unstopped then would the lame lip like a deer and the mute tongue shot for joy kovitt 19 will be unheard of the healing miracles in our text is jesus giving us a foretaste of what it will be like when he shall sit and rule as king in the eternal kingdom of god where there shall be no more sin and illnesses but for now he comes as jesus the savior hence when seen through verse 17 we see
00:49:43 in our text the redemptive authority of jesus i trust that matthew 8 verses 1 to 17 is now clearer and has spoken to you both through the mini lessons and the two main lessons the redemptive authority and the messianic authority of jesus tell us that the savior redeems what the king shall return the first should feel us fill our hearts with gratitude the second with hope shall be close in prayer [Applause] work a miracle in our lives oh our god so that any spiritual paralysis in us might be removed
00:50:28 so that we who are unworthy might live lives that are worthy of your calling and we pray this in jesus mighty name amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] everyone needs compassion a love that's never failing let me fall on me everyone needs forgiveness the kindness of savior the hope of nations [Music] savior he can move the mountains my god is mighty to save he is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so take me as you find me all my fears [Music] fill my life again
00:52:58 surrender [Applause] my god is mighty to save he is mighty to save forever altar of salvation he rose and conquered the grave jesus conquered the grace shine your light and let the whole world [Music] jesus shine your light and let the whole world see we're singing for the glory of the risen keith savior he can move the mountains my god is safe he is [Music] [Music] [Music] and let the whole world see sing it for the glory of the risen [Laughter] shine your king and let the whole world see we sing it
00:54:59 for the glory [Music] if the word of god has ministered to you today if you wish to respond if you need someone to pray for you or pray with you please type the word pray into the group the zoom chat now a church leader or pastor will be assigned to talk to you privately perhaps you are in a dark place now in your life like the leper in matthew 8. talk to us give us a chance to pray for you do type the word pray into the zoom chat now for the rest of you if you wish to make a decision to follow
00:55:46 jesus or if you wish to attend the alpha program or join a live group or if you have any prayer requests please scan this qr code now we would love to attend to your needs
