Matthew 8:23-9:9 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8 you're already turned there great Matthew eight and we didn't finish chapter eight and that's why we can't just immediately go into chapter 9 we hope to get into chapter 9 tonight I'm prepared to finish chapter 9 but I'm not prepared to sit here two three hours I'd love to but we have commitments to children and to you etc so we'll see how far we go that's how we take it we pick up where we left off and we'll take up our hour and that being said let's pray and get started father dear precious father Peter said to us who have been redeemed you are precious Lord you know and you alone know who we are what we face while we struggle with what we stumble over what we're good at what we're lousy at and Lord you are not only able but you are prepared and wanting to minister to us from this ancient document but always contemporary living book your truths and the truth Jesus said would set us free and I pray you would set us your people or some who are gathered here who are soon to become your people set us free Lord as we expand our knowledge of your truth by the excellent nation of your word and I pray Lord that our hearts would burn within us just like the disciples hearts burned on the road to Emmaus in Jesus name Amen it's good to be back with you tonight it really is hey listen Matthew is all about telling us why Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel the Jews had anticipated the Messiah would come on the scene they were looking for him they were anticipating him greatly one of the Jewish prayers sometimes said daily was this prayer and affirmation prayer I believe in the coming of the Messiah and even though he tarries yet I will wait for him every coming day Matthew comes along and says well let me tell you you don't have to wait any longer the Messiah has come he is here and let me tell you why he's here and he gives us at least up till now five reasons to prove that Jesus is the Messiah Matthew shows us that Jesus is the Messiah genealogically showing that he has the legal route system if you will the pedigree coming from Abraham fulfilling all of the promises in the genealogical legal records presenting that to us in the first part of his book he proves it to us genealogically number two he demonstrates that Jesus is the Messiah prophetically he goes back and he shows how the prophets predicted this and that and something else for example it's Matthew who says Matthew Isaiah chapter seven told us and here is the fulfillment of that behold a virgin will conceive and bear a son and you will call his name Emmanuel which is God with us Matthew tells us that prophetically Jesus had always been anticipated by the prophetic scriptures by the prophets it was Matthew who reminds us of the prophecy in Micah chapter 5 that Jesus the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judaea it's Matthew who tells us that John the Baptist's coming on the scene fulfilled the prediction of Isaiah chapter 40 a voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight paths for the Lord so genealogically prophetically and then Matthew says let me show you that Jesus Christ was the Messiah morally and he paints the picture of Jesus down at the Jordan River being baptized to identify with sinners then going to a mountain to be tempted by the devil and withstanding that temptation so he has the moral fiber the moral qualifications to be Israel's Messiah number four he has shown us that Jesus shows himself to be the Messiah instructively Matthew five six and seven the Sermon on the Mount the subject matter the king and the kingdom of God here is the Messiah giving with all Messianic authority the precepts for the kingdom and it blew people away when Jesus was done at the end of chapter 7 the crowd marveled it says they marveled because he spoke as one having authority not like the scribes and fifth and this is where we are tonight he shows that Jesus is the Messiah miraculously Matthew gives us 10 miraculous signs that irrefutably point that Jesus Christ is the Messiah nobody else has done these things and they were predicted by the prophets themselves and so even Jesus himself said either believe Who I am based on what I said or at least believe me for the sake of the works themselves the works that I do they testify as to Who I am so we're right in the middle of that chapters 8 & 9 talk about those miraculous signs that Jesus is performing we left off right around verse 23 of chapter 8 when Jesus is taking a boat ride verse 23 now when he got into a boat his disciples followed him and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves but he was asleep our Lord and His disciples are travelling from one side of a lake called the Sea of Galilee but it's really a lake 13 miles long by about 8 miles wide they're going from one side the northwestern side over toward the eastern side back in 1986 the I remember because it was the year my son was born the Sea of Galilee receded so low that as one day a couple of kibbutz farmers were walking up and down the shores of the lake they discovered something hard and something wooden and they pulled out a two thousand year old boat if you come with us to Israel some of you have been with us to Israel if you come with us this time I'll take you over to the kibbutz called Ginosar where that boat has been housed it's about 26 and a half feet long by seven and a half feet wide and it shows what a typical boat would have been like 2,000 years ago from the Roman times it's called the Jesus boat so it's not very big and when you look at this boat you think those guys got in that little thing now I told you before how the Sea of Galilee can be quite tempestuous the storms can come up very suddenly very violently and that boat can be tossed around and that is what is happening here suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves but he was asleep now here's what's interesting linguistically there's a couple of verbs there in the imperfect tense so let me paint the picture by the language itself the waves kept coming over the boat they kept coming over the boat they kept coming over the boat Jesus kept on sleeping and kept on sleeping and kept on sleeping how do you sleep in a storm well you either know the one who controls the storm or you're the one who controls the storm Jesus fit category number two he was God knew perfectly what was coming down the pike he's asleep in the boat the disciples wake him up his disciples came to him and woke him saying lord save us we are perishing that little word tempest back in that first verse verse 23 a tempest arose it's the same greek word that is often translated earthquake listen to the word here it is size moss does that sound familiar seismic we get our term from size moss a tempest a seismic a violent kind of a storm it's a word that emphasizes just how enormous the storm was now here's disciple these disciples were fishermen they they had seen storms before but nothing like this now Jesus sleeping in the boat to me speaks of a couple of things number one his humanity and number two his deity on one hand he was fully man and he is weary in the service healing teaching ministering he's just tired gets in a boat falls asleep that's humanity flip the coin though it also speaks of his deity he's in total sovereign absolute control and so he rests something else that occurred to me as I went through this if you were to compare this storm and this crew with another storm the Bible mentions and another crew from the Old Testament can you think of another storm where there was another crew that told somebody to wake up in a storm Jonah Jonah the prophet of God asleep in the boat but not because he was sovereignly in control he was just dead tired from disobeying God he's asleep in the boat the sailors have to wake him up and say dude you've got to wake up and pray to your God or we've been praying to our gods it doesn't work Jesus calms the storm Jonah says throw me overboard into the storm what a comparison what a contrast and if anything it reinforces something that jesus said to his disciples on another occasion for I say unto you a greater than Jonah is here and perhaps those disciples were even thinking back to that storm now they said to him verse 25 Lord save us we're gonna die we're perishing we're gonna die we're kicking the bucket now that's not true it's natural that they feel that way that's how you feel in a storm that's how you feel in a trial Lord help I'm gonna die it's over the worst is happening the truth is they're safe and they're not going to die but it's natural to feel that and it's natural to say that in your time of affliction but he said to them verse 26 why are you fearful o you of little faith then he arose and rebuked the wind same word as rebuking the demons he rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm why are you so fearful o you of little faith now remember that little sentence because fear is the opposite of faith and faith is the opposite of fear they're mutually exclusive faith and fear cannot dwell in the same heart if you have fear it's because you don't have faith if you have faith it will vanish your fear it allows you to look into the midst of the storm and say I'm not worried I know the one who created this storm and the worst that could happen is it's my time I'm gonna gurgle a little bit and soon I'll be in glory or I'm gonna learn a terrific lesson of faith faith and fear are mutually exclusive he rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm so the men marvelled saying who is this guy my text says who can this be but same difference who is this guy that even the winds and notice this the winds and the sea obey him now they cried out for help thus they expected help to come but they didn't expect this to happen now watch this this is a double miracle because typically if a storm ceases that if it is if the wind stops if you've ever been out to sea in a storm wherein it's windy once the wind goes through once the storm goes through and it's calm the water is not calm the water you're still bouncing around there's still Whitecaps for a long period of time so calming the air is one thing calming the sea is yet another miracle he calmed the wind and the sea they'd never seen this before even a passing temporary storm that blew through still left Whitecaps bouncing the boats around so they marveled like wow who was this guy that even the wind and the sea will obey Him when he had come to the other side to the country at the gurga scenes some of the other New Testament writers call it the gadarenes named after the principal City Ghaderi again if you're with us this coming trip we'll take you over to that city Ghaderi is there on the eastern side there met him two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs the original tomb Raider's exceedingly fierce so that no one could pass that way and suddenly they cried out saying what have we to do with you Jesus you son of God have you come here to torment us before the time now a good way off from there there was a herd of many swine feeding at this point we have moved from the western side of the Sea of Galilee the northwestern tour were Capernaum Jesus headquarters has been to the eastern side this is Gentile country and the fact that swine are being herded which is very non kosher shows the influence the Gentile world has had on that part of the Jewish population it was an illegal trade Jews would would never do that but now we have Gentile influence in this Galilee region and theirs according to mark 2,000 herd of swine that's where Jesus comes to now you look in verse 28 it says there met him two demon-possessed men if some of you have read ahead and you've compared Scripture with Scripture you might be a little bit puzzled because you're thinking no wait a minute if I read this account in mark or in Luke it says there was one demon-possessed man so you're going maybe maybe you're going ha ha found a contradiction in the Bible no you didn't we told you when we began our series in Matthew that the gospel writers will often provide a certain emphasis and no doubt of the two that are mentioned here by Matthew one of them was more prominent than the other maybe one was sort of in the background not saying anything the other the more prominent one was the spokesperson Matthew would want to include the fact that there were two and not mentioned just the one spokesperson or more prominent one because he's writing to a Jewish audience and by the mouth of two witnesses every testimony is established so he wants you to know there were two not one and Matthew does like pairs there are two here and two there he does that a lot in his gospel so there were two men one of them was more prominent it says they were demon-possessed or literally demonized coming out of the tombs exceedingly fierce so that no one could pass that way there is a supernatural world we live in a natural world of physical world but there is a parallel universe it's very real this bothers some people because they say well you can't prove that I never see them I never see angels and ever see demons I've never seen God and ever sees spirits but they're very real in as much as right now there are pictures in this room and there are songs in this room and there are smallest bits of information in this room but you can't see them but they're here you could see them and you could hear them if you had the right receiver you could tune in to a frequency and you could see the pictures or you could hear the sounds but they're invisible unless you have the right receiver there is a supernatural world there is a world of evil a demonic world ruled over by Satan the will of Satan being carried on by a host of demonic beings and Paul sort of addressed that in Ephesians when he said we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual rulers of darkness and high places rankings of these angelic beings these spiritual beings they hate you and they would love to destroy you Jesus speaking of the devil said Satan has come to steal to kill and to destroy that's what he would love more than anything else is to kill a person before that person would ever have a chance to receive Christ and then to neutralize a follower of Christ and make them stale and stagnant and not powerful and not rejoicing and and not on the on the edge so to speak just sort of blase just neutralized that person he's out to destroy you now he's been watching humans for thousands of years so he's got us pretty wired were pretty basically the same so he knows where our weaknesses are and tries to exploit them but he does want to destroy my mind goes back to my teenage years to two boys one named Richard Wilhite and one named skip Heitzig ordinary boys curious boys boys of whom the devil tried to destroy he was successful with one Richard Wilhite my buddy was always experimental always up to no good my mom said don't hang around that guy she was right he did influence me but I think I influenced him as well I recall the times where he almost lost his life one afternoon both of us totally totally stoned on LSD I won't tell you about my trip it's fruitless but I'll tell you about his he runs out of the room we were in goes on to a highway and charges into oncoming traffic felt totally invincible now I at least had the minimal presence of mind to see that he's going to be killed and I ran out grabbed him and drew him back that was Satan trying to destroy his life sometime later after about with the occult and other drugs I gave my life to Christ and one of the first people I reached out to his Richard Wilhite I remember calling him on the phone because I knew that Satan was trying to get a hold of him and I thought if God could only get a hold of this radical guy he could radically be for Jesus Richard didn't want to hear it Richard hung up the phone after about an hour of my witnessing to him I tried to call him back he picked it up I talked for a little bit he hung it up I called him back he never answered the phone two days later he was dead he had been shot in the head because about a day before he got involved in a drug situation and was busted for about a half a million dollars worth of synthetic heroin in Southern California it's as if something that night he responded to because he didn't open his heart he closed his heart it was the enemy's chance I'm gonna destroy that young man what a wake-up call that was to me no I think I was awoken but that was really a wake-up call Satan wants there is a real spiritual world filled with beings who try to neutralize you if you're a believer and destroy you if you're an unbeliever see it really wasn't due Satan a lot of good to destroy you as a believer physically because she's gonna send you right to heaven so if he can make you stumble other people if he can make you neutralize in your walk and be a bad example it's a better tact here's a situation where these lives are practically destroyed now watch this they cried out what have we to do with you Jesus you son of God have you come here to torment us before the time now a good way off from there was a herd of many swine feeding so the demons begged him saying if you cast us out permit us to go away into the herd of swine interesting thing about demons they seem to not want to be homeless that is that they're looking for a human host to inhabit or some physical host to inhabit in Matthew 12 we'll get to it jesus said when an unclean spirit leaves a man and goes through the dry places and he finds no rest even though he seeks it he says I will return and go back to the house from which I have come and when he goes back and he finds it empty and clean and all swept he says it says he brings with him seven other spirits worse than himself to inhabit that person that hosts that human form so that the latter situation the latter part is worse than the first situation with that man Satan is looking to inhabit a human person he cannot inhabit a believer I just want to lay that groundwork again he can't do that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world he can mess with you he can oppress you he can tempt you but he cannot possess you so they asked Jesus we want to possess now here's something to note these demons have enormous faith notice what they believe now remember James chapter 2 says you say you believe in God big deal that's my translation James says you say you believe in God you do well but even the demons believe and they tremble what did the demons believe we'll notice here what these demons believe number one they believe in the existence of God you're the son of God you don't have any demon who's an atheist they're too smart every demon believes in God number two these demons believe in the deity of Jesus Christ calling him the son of God that's a term of deification number three they believe in future judgment have you come to destroy us before the time the time will be Revelation 20 when Jesus will cast Satan and his minions into the lake of fire that's the time of their destruction the lake of fire temporarily he's gonna throw them into the lake of Galilee but they believe in a future judgment number four they believe in the power of prayer they asked Jesus and they have to ask Jesus they have to get his permission you know demons only operate by permission you know that it's not like they decide okay I'm gonna take over today they have to operate by God's permission in the book of Job Satan said hey God if you can God said I'm gonna turn around to Satan have you considered my servant job there's nobody like him in all the earth Satan said let me Adam let me touch his physical body and you'll discover he'll curse you to your face God allowed Satan to wreak havoc in jobs life physically with his family but only up to a point only up to a point he operates by permission Satan understands that there is a God that Jesus is God that there is a future judgment and he believes in the power of prayer so when a person I believe in God I believe Jesus is God it's one thing to know that here it's one thing to live that here or let me put it another way it's another thing to know it here it's another thing to know it here in the legs because you put feet to your faith obeying what he said doing what he said following him and he said to them verse 32 go and when they had come out they went in when they had come out they went into the herd of swine and suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place and I can show you today the spot the area because it's the only place around the Sea of Galilee where it's precipitous it's steep it's like a cliff almost they ran violently down the steep place into the sea and they perished in the water then those who kept them fled and they went away into the city and told everything including what had happened to the demon-possessed men and behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him they begged him to depart from their region now just a word about superstition over demons I find the people today are superstitious about demonology in the whole area of demons I find many Christians superstitious and it's simply because there's a lack of biblical knowledge and so they they scare easily must be the devil in ancient times there was lots of superstition in this time biblical times there were superstition about the devil it was believed by many people 2,000 3,000 years ago that the air was inhabited by demons who sought to enter a human being and could gain access by something you would eat or something you would drink a demon could attach itself to like your fried chicken certainly your pork sandwich yeah that's demon possessed I've seen some food that I wonder yeah that's demon possessed you don't want to touch that but they actually believe that a demon could attach itself to the food and gain entrance into your body in ancient Egypt the Egyptians identified 36 different parts of the human body and ailments that they said were caused by demonic or evil spirits so they would name things like oh that person has the the spirit of disease the spirit of a fever the spirit of insanity the spirit of deafness the spirit of dumbness all superstitious ancient peoples equated all disease with demon possession some them not all the Jewish people but a lot of the ancient peoples did that now it's interesting that today even among Christians I've heard things like that that sister has the spirit of shopping binge that's a cheap shot brother it's not a demon that's just the flesh or that person has the the demon of whatever it might be that's the flesh these are superstitions yes Satan is real yes he's powerful God is way more powerful let's just set the record straight so you never ever need to run from him or be afraid of him and so many stories of the Bible bear that out in fact I rather think Satan enjoys the press when people talk about the devil and I'm on a demon hunt and my ministry is casting out demons and that person has the demon of lust or the demon of baldness or the demon of shopping Binger I think the devil goes keep it up man you're giving me lots of limelight I dig it okay chapter nine so he got into a boat here we're back in the boat and he crossed over and came to his own City now he's going back to Capernaum his own city as Capernaum that's where he headquartered then behold or hey check it out remember that's what behold means hey check this out they brought to him a paralytic paralyzed man lying on a bed when Jesus saw their faith there's so much truth here many groups will try to say they're not healed because you don't have enough faith I know read that this man had any faith at all and Jesus doesn't notice there his faith he said paralyzed man he probably had no faith but the Gospel of Matthew as the other Gospel accounts point this out that Jesus noticed these guys that brought the paralyzed man they're the guys that had faith Jesus was responding to what he perceived in them not in the man who was diseased so when somebody comes in so that person is not healed because he didn't have enough faith I said great then you become the one who takes him to Jesus and will use your faith to get the job done you seem to have a whole world of it so get the job done now if you read mark chapter 2 mark tells us that there were four guys that brought this man and here's the rest of the story they come to the house where Jesus is at probably Peters house that's restained simon peter's house and they noticed that jesus is teaching and there's like a swarm of people around the house this long line and and they go I want to hang around and wait in line now I can sort of relate to that I hate lines I hate lines in restaurants I hate lines at Disneyland I hate lines on freeways it's like if there's if there is a way I could just like cut through or go on the side I'd be up for that but then if people recognize me it wouldn't be good things so but I hate lines so these guys are thinking I don't want to wait in line so what they do according to mark is they climb the roof they get access on the roof with their paralyzed friend they remove some of the tiles from the roof and they lowered the man right in front of Jesus while he's teaching can you imagine here we are tonight and we're looking up right here now if this was Peters house what do you think mrs. Peter was thinking about now I knew we shouldn't have done this disrupted the whole meeting Jesus saw their faith these four guys thought we got to get him to Jesus now notice what he says he said to the paralytic son be of good cheer or cheer up man be courageous would be another translation your sins are forgiven you why does Jesus say that here's a guy who's withered he's paralyzed he can't move and Jesus looks at him and says hey cheer up man your sins are forgiven it almost sounds cruel why does he say that let me give you three reasons why number one because of prior thinking number two because of priorities number three because of power let me explain the prior thinking and the thinking of many Jewish people including scribes and Pharisees were that if you have a disease if you're sick if you're paralyzed is because there's sin in your life malady equals not being right with God there's something going on that we can't see that you're involved in or were involved in and this is a punishment of God remember back in the Old Testament in the book of Job when job's friends came to him and sort of counseling him member that and one of the guys named Elif as the team and I remember him Elif as looks a job who's suffering he's withering away and he says who being innocent ever perished as if to say this is a universal fact dude if you were a righteous person you wouldn't be suffering this obviously you've sinned greatly you're not innocent now in in thinking this way and this wrong kind of thinking this was their way of getting out of any responsibility to help people like this can I help you you're cursed by God I won't dare interfere with that so they would happily walk by people like this and have nothing to do with them because their theology was so messed up it allowed them to do that so number one prior thinking number two Jesus said be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you because of priorities what was it that this man needed more than anything else well if you were to ask his friends what would they say that he yeah that he can walk what he needs more than anything else is a physical healing so that he can physically walk that's what he needs that's why we're here it's interesting that that's how many of us think we think that this person's greatest need is a physical need he needs to be physically healed really that's not Jesus priority Oh Jesus certainly touched physical bodies the Bible's filled with those kind of examples but the fact that the first words out of Jesus mouth to a paralyzed man as your sins are forgiven shows us the greatest priority in a person's life is that their sins be forgiven what is the profit a man if he gains the whole world or a physical healing and loses his own soul there are many benefits to Christianity some have been orphanages hospitals mercy ministries that have gone out all over the world in the name of Jesus to help people we've been at the forefront historically traditionally for years but I usually don't get involved in any group who refuses to along with giving out food and medical supplies etc refuses to share the gospel of Jesus Christ oh well we're preaching the gospel with with our actions and if necessary we'll use words it's always necessary to use words the gospel is the word of the Lord so to heal a person to make a person well fed so that they can hear the truth and go to heaven is a wonderful thing but to feed a person to heal a person and then that person dies and faces a crisis eternity you're not doing them any good at all you're just prolonging the inevitable so the first because of prior thinking because of priorities there's the third reason because of power watch this and once some of the scribes said within themselves this man blasphemes now notice where they said this where'd they say it in themselves they didn't say across their own page slow mo did you hear what this dude just said he's blasphemy they didn't say it out loud they thought it in their minds jesus knew what they were thinking they were thinking this man blasphemes but Jesus knowing their thoughts said why do you think evil in your hearts but how do you think these guys felt when Jesus sort of exposed them publicly hey I know exactly what you're just thinking here's what you just thought be very uncomfortable to be around somebody like that why do you think evil in your hearts and listen to this question for which is it easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say arise and walk but that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralytic arise take up your bed and go to your house and he arose and departed to his house now when the multitude sought they marvelled some translations say they were filled with phobophobia fear like woe and glorified God who had given such power to men okay let's answer the question which is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or rise take your bed and walk well I suppose it's easier to say your sins are forgiven because nobody sees that it's an internal work you can say to anybody your sins are forgiven how can you prove they are or not so it's easier to say your sins are forgiven it's harder to say rise take up your bed and walk because if the person doesn't you're a fraud so it's easier to say your sins are forgiven but here's the point both are impossible for any human being to do a human can't forgive sins a human can't heal a disease like this both are impossible for men both are possible with God and if you can say one you can say the other if you can say rise take up your bed and walk you'll be able to say your sins are forgiven any person who can say what's just a minute walk and the guy walks that person that person has the authority to say your sins are forgiven because the miracle the outward miracle the outward power demonstrates the inward Authority that's the point here Jesus demonstrates the inward Authority by saying to the paralytic rise take up your bed and walk that you might know that the Son of man has the power internally watch this externally one proves the other that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins now here's something else interesting and I know I'm going slow in Matthew but this may be the last time through Matthew I don't know when the Lord's coming back and at the rate we're going anyway so I don't want to miss things this term son of man is a fascinating term a term that the Jewish leaders would have been alerted to it's an apocalyptic term it's a kingdom term it's a term that comes out of Daniel chapter 7 and those scribes and those Pharisees they knew that in Daniel 7 Daniel sees a vision of the Son of man coming in clouds of glory something that Jesus will allude to will speak of in Matthew 24 it's a it's a term of the kingdom coming to the earth so what Jesus is saying is alert alert the kingdom of God has come into time and space because you have just seen the king heal and forgive the son of man has power has authority and he arose and he departed to his houses rolled up his bed and booked it and when the multitude sought they dropped their jaw they marveled they glorified God who had given such power to men and as he passed on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him follow me so he arose and he followed him one day notes I'm interesting in all of the other accounts of Jesus calling Matthew he's not called Matthew it's called Levi this is the only book that includes his name Matthew of course the book was written by Matthew it could be that Matthew I can't prove this but here's a possibility it could be that his original name was Levi and its name was changed to Matthew by Jesus now I say that to you because Jesus seemed to like to do that Simon's name wasn't Peter till Jesus said you know your name is Simon but I'm changing your name to Peter right James and John were called sons of Zebedee because Zebedee was their dad Jesus said I'm giving you a new name I'm gonna call you sons a thunder because you wanted to nuke that village he renamed them I'm sure they bore that shame and that insight joke among the disciples the entire three-and-a-half years of ministry so Jesus liked to change names and it could be that his named Levi his background name his original name was changed to Matthew by Jesus Matthew means a gift from God now he's the tax collector he's anything but a gift from God that's how people viewed him I because I know this of Jesus what Jesus looks at when he sees you is he identifies not just who you are now but what you'll become once he gets ahold of you he looked at Matthew and said big ripoff I'm gonna turn you into a gift from God not a person who takes gifts from people but a gift sent from God to people because Jesus is so gonna radically change Matthews life he'll never be the same so it could be that Jesus gave him that name now look this is what we know about Matthew / Levi number one fact number one he was a Jew if he asked the name Levi it's probably because he's from that tribe that's a Jewish name Gentiles never called their kids Levi he was Jewish if he was from the tribe of Levi that means he was originally supposed to have been a priest so it's probably safe to say he's from a priestly family but he's a renegade he didn't want the religious lifestyle he wanted the money number two he's a tax collector so automatically he's on the blacklist you know if you were to meet somebody tomorrow and they shook your hand and they said I'd like to talk to you and they said to you I'm from the Internal Revenue Service would you smile would you be set at ease would you give that person a hug now you'd probably go thanks boom run the other way in those days in those days it was far worse tax collectors were so despised that one one Roman writer says I have never seen a monument erected to an honest tax collector they were barred from synagogue worship so that means this guy hadn't been in church for a long time kept from the synagogue put in the class of sinners tax collectors and sinners you'll see that in the New Testament and that is because the method of taxation if you think it's bad now in our country really bad back then taxes were collected by the Roman government under a system no it's tax farming a franchise was sold to the highest bidder the highest bidder was able to collect taxes for Rome but could add as much as he wanted to add and keep it for himself and give the requirement to Rome now here's the trouble in those days they didn't have the Internet they didn't have newspapers okay so you would know in one district what you were being taxed versus another district unless you travel there a lot you had to pay the tax it was required by the Roman government or a stiff penalty would be enacted so what was the tax rate well number one number one just so you know how people how this guy hated people hated Matthew number one there was the poll tax the poll tax was the tax you pay for being alive in the Roman Empire for being a person who is able to breathe Roman air you pay a poll tax if you're a male age 16 to 65 if you're a female age 14 to 65 you pay a poll tax number two was the income tax that's a flat 10% add to that the poll tax add to that Harbor tax road tax import tax add to that ground tax now ground taxes if you're a farmer one-tenth of all your grain one-fifth of all your grapes or wine is given the amount is given to the Roman government if you had a cart with wheels on it there was a cart tax you would be taxed get this based on the number of wheels that were on your cart he had four wheels you were taxed more than if he had two or one if you live by the sea or by a lake like Galilee there was a fish tax you would be taxed per fish so this made Matthew very rich and very resented they hated him Jesus says Matthew a gift from God he says follow me so we know that he is Jewish we know that he was a tax collector the third thing we know is we wind this up tonight we know that he was decisive he made a decision now watch this Jesus passed on from there saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him follow me it's not a long sermon it's not even an introduction a single command follow me so he arose and he followed Jesus that's a decisive man now probably Matthew had heard about Jesus maybe saw the miracles maybe he was there the Sermon on the Mount he's collecting the tax right outside of Capernaum that was where his toll booth was oh and by the way if you come with this to Israel I can show you the marker that announces the tax booth from 2,000 years ago in Capernaum they've uncovered a stone that talks about the toll booth which is we know Matthew is the one that kept that toll booth and that inscription in that stone has been uncovered and it's there for you to see in Capernaum Matthew had heard Matthew had seen Matthew had pondered and one day Jesus walked up to him and said I want you come follow me Luke's Gospel tells us this Matthew left everything he had and he went and he followed Jesus immediately now Matthew probably had more to give up in any of the other disciples he was very wealthy and if you work for the Roman government as a tax collector and you quit that job you can never return to that job it's over he gave it all up he gave it all up he arose and he followed Jesus I was impressed few years back and I've been to India several times at the one of the first times I was in India what impressed me the most is that when a believer comes to faith in Christ in India there's this immediacy about being baptized you never hear a person say yeah I was saved like four years ago but I'm getting baptized today they never hear that it's like I just got saved about twenty minutes ago I'm getting baptized now I got saved yesterday I'm getting baptized now they take them and ask the Christians too who are newly converted to walk through the streets of their village singing take them down to the nearest body of water typically a river and they baptized in their number one they want to announce to the world hey I'm not a Hindu anymore I'm not a Muslim anymore I'm following Jesus now and I'm making it public and so the hope you know City goes out their window and sees this parade of people walking down the street follows him down to the river to find out what's going on and the preacher is down there gives the gospel baptized is the person the first time I went to India I'm met a man named joy cootie Chaco brother joy he was called and he had the his he was appropriately named cuz he smiled all the time he's so full of joy and he told me his testimony it was remarkable he said I come from a Hindu background my father is a Hindu priest and I haven't seen my father he said for 20 years because when he found out that I had given my life to Jesus he took a sacrificial knife and he tried to kill me and I had to leave home and I haven't been home since but he was filled with joy he had left all to follow Christ and he was filled with joy here's what I loved about the story of Matthew all the people that nobody else wants Jesus wants all the rejects all the ones we will say Oh tax collectors and sinners Jesus I'll take them they're my kind because they know that they're sick they know that they need help and watch what I can do in them and then through them Father in heaven one of the great truths one of the great realities is that you don't see like man sees as the prophet Samuel so aptly put it for man looks at the outward God looks at the heart jesus saw into the heart of Levi slash Matthew and knew what he could become a gift a gift sent and what a gift matthew has been to us those of us who read his book and the gift that he has given in his writings and in his life an example Lord you love restoring people you love taking rejects people who are beat-up mangled by the world depressed hopeless and giving hope to them extending forgiveness because that's our greatest need that's your greatest accomplishment and it's my prayer that you do it again I believe there are some who have even gathered tonight or watching online or listening on radio who have not yet committed their lives to Christ and yet Jesus is inviting them to come and be changed and to come and become a gift to the world he will send them to and for those Lord that are here tonight in this room I pray that you would do that work of convincing you would do that work of salvaging if you're here tonight and you've never made a conscious personal choice to follow Jesus as Lord as master of your life a savior of your soul I want to give you that opportunity to do it if you made a decision at one time but you're not following him you haven't been walking with him in obedience and you need to come back home to him tonight and be restored I want you to be also a part of this you want to come basically and you want to get right with God tonight as we're praying and so many of us are praying for you friend if either of those description fits you someone who's never personally given their lives to Christ somebody who's just been disobedient to the Lord and needs to come back home and recommit I want you to raise your hand up in the air and as you raise it up you're saying I'm coming home I'm coming back I want that touch I want that forgiveness just slip your hand up so I can see it as I pray for you tonight raise it up in the air so god bless you toward the back who else raise it up saying yes to him god bless you [Music] the Lord's been speaking to you you're not here by accident you're here because he drew you anyone else [Music] in the family room god bless you Jesus is saying do you follow me leave it all follow me anybody else let's stand to our feet we're gonna sing a final song and I'm gonna ask a few of you that raised your hands saw you in the family room and someone in the middle and a couple in the back I want you to get up from where you're standing we want to be a part of this with you and we want you to publicly identify with Jesus tonight Jesus called people publicly as you can see and Jesus is calling you publicly and we'll rejoice with you and we'll pray for you and with you if you raise your hand even if you didn't but God is drawing you to himself as we sing this song you get up and stand right up here in the front right now right here that's our God [Music] those of you who have walked forward let me lead you in a word of Prayer I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer out loud I wanted you to pray it after me out loud say it from your heart say it to God this is you giving your life back to the one who gave you life to begin with you ready let's pray lord I give you my life I admit I am a sinner please forgive me I believe that Jesus died but he shed his blood and that he rose from the dead and that he did it from me I turn from my sin I turned my life to you as my Savior be my master in Jesus name amen you're God's kid [Applause]

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 4,753

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church, Miracles, Tax Collector, Levi, Mark, Luke, Sons of Zebedee, paralytic, Power, Demons, Demon, Demonic world, Satan, Supernatural, Gergesenes, Storm, Sea of Galilee, Messiah, Jesus

Id: HzcAr8x8H3I

Length: 62min 46sec (3766 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018