The Gospel of Matthew - Session 6 - Chuck Missler

[Music] well we are in the sixth session of our journey through the gospel of matthew and tonight we're going to focus on chapter 8 and 9. now just by way of review there are four gospels from four different perspectives matthew presents jesus as the messiah the meshiach nagi the king mark the suffering servant luke the son of man and john the son of god that means they have different genealogies except matthew doesn't have a genealogy you don't care about the pedigree of a servant normally matthew focuses on what jesus said and usually tying it to the old testament mark what he did mark's like a shooting script we're going to pop over to mark in a couple of things tonight to show you the differences luke a doctor was interested in his humanity and there we usually get a glimpse is what jesus felt and john is the mystic of the bunch presents him as the son of god and focuses on who he really was now matthew writes the jew the mark and luke both the gentiles roman and greek and john to the church but the first miracle in each one of these is consistent with their primary theme and matthew being jewish picks a very jewish thing his first major healing there is a leper cleansed and of course leprosy is this is to a jew idiomatic at least of sin and mark mark and luke both have demons expelled that's a typical gentile focus and john has a strange thing the water to wine which has well that's a whole thing okay let's move on they also end very characteristically matthew that very jewish thing ends with the resurrection mark the ascension luke the promise of the spirit setting up his sequel the book of acts and john the promise of his return setting up his sequel the book of revelation so uh very interesting and of course they also this all is exemplified by the the four sides the four camps around the tabernacle with the ensigns of the lion the ox the man and the eagle the glimpse representing in a sense those same four gospels so and so we're in matthew and uh we finished section one last time the first seven chapters the genealogy of christ the birth of christ the magi and all of that the baptism of christ and then the temptation of christ presenting jesus christ and then then as the king and then we have the manifesto of the king what's commonly called the sermon on the mount and chapter five you may recall the first six sixteen verses describe what a true christian should be and deals with his character and the rest of the sermon on the mount chapter six and seven dealt with the conduct that should come out of that character character always comes before conduct because what we are determines what we do character versus integrity we talked a little bit about that in the earlier times integrity is belief plus discipline it's the vertebrae of the soul character is taking that integrity and coupling it with wisdom and the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom knowledge of the holy is understanding and so in the first 16 verses of chapter 5 jesus showed us what true righteousness was and that it's inward and from the rest of that chapter he points out that sin is also inward not just outward acts so he exposed the false righteousness that pervaded at that time and holiness does not consistent actions it's not what you just do outwardly then we of course went through the beatitudes which basically recognize what a citizen heaven should be doing beat and there be attitudes not do attitudes it's not what you do it's what you really are you want to be those things and he did not give the sermon amount to unbelievers but he gave it to the disciples those who are already his many people misunderstand that and uh the poor in spirit our attitude towards ourselves the blessed be those that mourn that was the attitude towards sin true sorrow for sin the meek our attitude towards others being teachable and not defending ourselves when we are wrong and so forth hunger and thirsting after righteousness we understand our character by its appetites and uh blessed are the merciful having a forgiving spirit and loving others and pure in heart keeping our lives and motives clean and accepting no substitutes and blessed are the peacemakers we should bring peace between people and god and between people and that are at odds at each other and blessed are the persecuted because he promises persecution all those who live godly lives will suffer persecution and then he talks a lot about commandments and people miss the point he is speaking as the law giver not just the law interpreter and he's speaking of his commandments which are these commandments he's talking about the ones that we find in the remainder of the sermon from matthew 5 and continuing six and seven he will emphasize all through his words in contrast to moses's words and that's important to understand and of course it is a call to obedience in modern day christians we tend to overlook that it is a call to obedience obedience to his words and so he fulfilled the law for us he became our sacrifice and shed his own sinless blood on our behalf and he offered himself once and for all for the sins of mankind that's that's one way he fulfilled the law he fulfilled it in another way see everything was fulfilled before jesus death on the cross when he uttered his last words to tell us die it is finished or paid in full more precisely the second way he fulfilled the law is that he taught and commanded that god's will is under the new covenant for those who would enter the kingdom of god and the whole new covenant of course is why we call it the new testament or new covenant he gives a new set of rules for us and paul himself called those christ's law in contrast to the mosaic law some of them were the same as god had given in the old testament law but many were changed but mostly old testament law was not included in christ's law there's a number of things that were expressed in the mosaic law that christ makes no mention of and and we'll see more of that as we go through the book of matthew the law of christ he did not set aside the law of moses he fulfilled it for us that's the key point he takes the law interprets it to the extreme and in the absolute sense and then he absolutely fulfills it for us so your salvation does not accrue because of your any imagined ability to fulfill matthew 5 6 and 7. because jesus did and you can appropriate his achievement to your benefit that's really the gospel well moving on we're now moving into section two if that was all in section one the presentation of the king and now we're going to see him express his credentials over the next uh five chapters 8 9 10 11 and 12. some of the highlights that we're going to get into the coming the storm and this be interesting encounter with the demons at kadera in chapter 9 we're going to see the call of matthew himself occurs chronologically there we'll learn a little bit about him that you may that may surprise you and then there are also healings all through here i'll summarize those separately but there's two that we're going to particularly point to chapter 9 that occur sort of on at the same time or the same in incident jairus daughter is raised from the dead and this woman with this issue of blood gets healed and there are some aspects of that that may surprise you and that's and that's really what we're carving out for ourselves for uh tonight okay now there are some subtle different if we go through matthew mark and luke we'll see some subtle differences they cover much the same ground but sometimes in a slightly different order and sometimes the descriptions are slightly different and that causes concern to many people some scholars believe that those differences imply that there were two occasions that were very similar that could be it's not necessary though in my opinion others believe they're just slightly different details of the same account for an example when we get to kadera we're going to find in matthew describes two guys that have possessed by demons one in particular that we focus on luke and mark mentioned only one is that two different occasions or is it just a different rendering of the two occasions you with me and that to me strengthens the account because it demonstrates a lack of collusion you follow me so that to me is i i in general we'll talk about them as they come along but i don't see that most of those are of no real consequence but let's just jump in then to chapter eight we'll talk about some healings calming the storm and the demoniac at gadara so matthew 8 verse 1 when he was come down from the mountain great multitudes followed him and behold there came a leper and worshipped him saying lord if thou wilt thou can't make me clean remarkable thing remarkable thing and by the way coming down from the mountain in this whole event this could be in the second year of his ministry it isn't necessarily the day after you follow me you have to bear in mind matthew's not trying to do a chronology or present a biography he's selecting events to make points really make that carry a lot carry a certain message and jesus put forth his hand and touched him that itself is shocked you don't touch a leper you know i mean first of all they regarded it as incurable and and and in that day it essentially was um and also uh uh highly contagious now is it really contagious is not something we'll talk about in a minute but mainly jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying i will see it wasn't a question of being able to the leper took for granted that he could the lepers somehow understood um that he was lord and the the this term lord uh is used about 650 times in the context of a title it's the greek equivalent to adonai and so forth in the hebrew put forth his hand touched him saying i will be thou clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed that's got to be you know so glib to read it here quickly but that's got to be bizarre here's a guy that probably noticed one day he had a blemish on his hands and it got worse then pretty soon he realized he was in big trouble no longer could touch his wife no longer be with his family had to stay at a distance from his kids when anybody came near he was he had yellow unclean they would leave food someplace for him so he could survive who knows how advanced it was but obviously a very loathsome loadsome disease let's talk a little bit about it it's called hanson's disease today um and uh there's a particular microbe that causes it lesions of the skin superficial nerves attacks on the eyes genitals extremities um it uh basic internal corruption eventually causes erosion of the tissue and insult and it results in deformed and erosive extremities very ghastly very very uh loadsome disease it's transmitted apparently through prolonged physical contact during certain times it's contagious other times it's not apparently and at certain kinds of susceptibility so there are people that can manage to work with lepers with some impunity but exactly um it's not as contagious as as you might think and yet it is contagious in the bible there appears to be no cure for leprosy other than the lord himself we find miriam being cured of leprosy in numbers 12 naaman the syrian general in second kings 5 all by acts of god being cured by that daptzone is a drug today that they used to the resistance of that drug though is increasing there are about two million known cases of leprosy and many suspect that maybe 11 million if all were known and reported so it's a non-trivial issue even in modern society it is regarded in the scripture and treat it as a type of sin there are two common types of idioms of sin one is leavened bread and also leprosy both in their way speak of sin leprosy is a disease and inner corruption that manifests itself outwardly in the later stages so does sin sin starts inward in motives and attitudes and later manifests itself now it's a form of corruption it's also in the case of sin it's a genetic disease we're all victims of we're all sin positive and and each sin and hiv both have a blood cure both have a blood cure here so so in the mind of a leper there is no basis for healing outside of god so when the leper comes to him to be cleaned that's his way of testifying his belief that jesus was was was god and of course he was and he did him and this shows his calling him lord manifest his understanding of that that of god incarnate well jesus said on him see thou tell no man but go thy way show thyself to the priests and offer the gift that moses commanded for a testimony of them see had showing himself to the priest was required by law so jesus saying do what the law requires report to the priest and offer a gift that moses commands which that's all in in leviticus uh but see that he he he didn't want to go tell everybody you know um why doesn't say we all have our suspicions partly because he didn't need to and he's going to he's getting enough of a crowd already he's not doing it for publicity he's doing it to glorify god here and when jesus was entered into capernaum there came unto him at centurion beseeching him and saying lord my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy grievously tormented when you get to capernaum by the way i say when not if because you're going to go there on one of your trips and you'll go to capernaum one of the conspicuous things in capernaum is a synagogue very large it's been reconstructed but but from the from the original stuff synagogue that synagogue was built by this centurion that's in luke 7 verse 5 i believe um now he's a certainty is about had about 80 men you'd think theoretically a hundred but they weren't organized quite that way it's what we would consider a company which is normally about that size he was not a jew he was a gentile and he's coming to christ and christ heals gentiles but always at a distance normally there's going to be an exception we'll talk about in the first 12 chapters matthew will emphasize that jesus christ is presenting himself to israel not the world at large that's going to change at chapter 12 for some very dramatic reasons but the first 12 chapters you'll notice as we go through jesus emphasizes to his disciples that they are to go to the house of israel only to the house of israel that's his that's his mission that's we're doing so this is extraneous to his mission in a sense he's come for israel here the centurion comes to him who's not a jew and so and by the way something else as we're talking about centurions luke the gospel of luke talks a lot about centurions this one happens to be in matthew for some reasons but luke luke is always very kind to centurions you'll see all the way through luke the good the romans the romans are always the good guys somehow and when paul remember paul invoked his roman citizenship and appealed to rome in acts 25 there was that was legally required if somebody appealed to rome a written documentation of the background had to precede his hearing and so it's believed by some scholars that luke volume 1 and volume 2 by one called the gospel of luke and volume 2 called the acts of the apostles were those required documents and as you read those the gospel luke you'll notice that he seems to go out of his way to point out when there were always uprisings wherever they went it was the jewish community that was causing the uprising not not the christians nor the romans and uh so uh he seemed to be occupied to demonstrate that all which tends to support this view that it was the background stuff and of course roman officials are always good guys uh in luke's narratives if you'll notice as you go through it anyway let's go on so this in turn comes to him and he has a servant that has the palsy and you say that him i will come and heal him you think that's what he wanted wouldn't you listen what this guy says centurion answered and said lord i'm not worthy that thou should have come under my roof that's that's a remarkable thing he was a gentile and not welcome in jewish homes an orthodox jew wouldn't allow a gentile to cross that threshold follow me but so he he's in that culture and he says he's not worthy to come under your roof lord but speak the word only and my servant will be healed he knows that jesus just said he'd have to be there this is fascinating to see him realize this so early in this ministry he goes on to say for i'm a man under authority having soldiers under me and i say to this man go and he goeth to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this can you do with it when jesus heard it he marveled there's only twice jesus marvel that i recall one went at the faith of the century and the other one is the lack of faith of israel when jesus heard it he marveled and said to them that followed verily i say unto you i have not found so great of faith no not in israel interesting interesting i say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with abraham itzhak and yakov in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out and out of darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth this is sort of an echo what gospel of john has in chapter one he came unto his own but his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he the power to become the sons of god and jesus said unto the centurion go thy way as thou hast believed so be it done unto you unto thee and a servant was healed in the selfsame hour from palsy from palsy that's a serious thing by the way when you see when you're in capernaum and you see the the the synagogue there over to the right a little bit you'll find the ruins of peter's home and it's been excavated and you can tell from the excavations that it was later enlarged to be a fellowship area because they're all the in those days of course fellowships weren't homes churches weren't invented until the fourth century so and and what the what what the catholics have done have built a very modern uh arches over the excavation and very modern uh uh facility of their own but they've done it in such a way as not to disturb the the excavations there but anyway so jesus came into peter's house he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever and he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered under them i like that you know that that's cool gets healed gets right to work rolls up her sleeves and does whatever she did to minister them i think that's cool also means that peter is married but that's interesting too it's interesting paul writes in some of his epistles how it's fine for people in the ministry to be married he wasn't we don't know if he wasn't married and she passed away there's a big debate about that among scholars but the point was what's interesting there's all this nonsense being promoted by dan brown's book the da vinci code the idea that you know mary magdalene and jesus were somehow married and so forth um obviously obviously not biblical for lots of reasons but just as one argument to arm you with should you get into discussion like that paul makes an argument that it's okay to be married and uses the fact that peter was married as an example if christ was married he would have used him first okay now christ is going to be married we're going to attend the marriage supper of the lamb right but anyway people who who fall for the da vinci thing it just demonstrates how little how shoddy the biblical background they have is it should prompt you to do some homework anyway let's go on when even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with demons it says devils that's an unfortunate translation there's only one devil or many demons so we should be demons possessed with demons and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were sick one simple sentence but wow they brought him many that were possessed with demons and he cast out spirits with his word and he was sick there are many today that take the view that that's just old-fashioned language for mental disease or something nothing could be further than the truth and we're going to see that demonstrated before the evening's over demonic attacks demons are real they're very malevolent very resourceful they have some limitations we'll talk about that but they're very very real in fact there are probably a lot of cases that are attributed to mental illness that are demonic and that's a whole another area to get into but let's uh we'll leave it here for now that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by isaiah the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses and he's quoting here from isaiah 53 and this verse from isaiah is one of the most abused verses in the scripture because there are all kinds of guys on television and elsewhere that use this verse to claim a power of healing that's not what this is talking about he took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses on the cross he's speaking of sin something far more serious than the kind of of of illnesses and so forth we're talking about this is the context here of the s of the demon spirits and so on um don't misunderstand me god does heal today and people are healed miraculously through prayer and laying a lot of hands and certain but god is sovereign he will there's no formula there's no uh there's it does it when it pleases god to show us strength that way and the the application of this by people who are raising money on television is is a misapplication in many respects enough said let's move on now when jesus saw a great multi-uh one one last thing about that these guys that are on television with their wealth uh gospel they name it and claim it this week or blab it and grab it call them what you like that's scriptural it's in revelation 3. these are people who believe they have need of nothing right they don't realize they're poor wretched they're late if you look at the leosean thing that's exactly it describes them to a t by the way anyway going on now when jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment to depart unto the other side see they're at the sea of galilee they're at capernaum which i'll show you a map a little bit and it's getting crowded so one way to get the crowd is to pop into a boat and uh and incidentally obviously the lead possible doesn't if it mostly is whom who's the number one guy huh peter sure he's all he's got certain gifts foot in the mouth disease you know ready fire aim peter but neat guy and uh you see him he's always on the inside he has a brother andrew that's often tags along uh but peter james and john are the inside three but they were all partners in fishing businesses and uh so and and get that in your mind because these guys are not uh these these are not bookworms stay-at-home guys these are outdoor rugged um they would be competing for the man each year i would imagine that sort of thing um so on well so anyway he gave commandment to depart to the other side so they jumped in a boat went across and a certain scribe came and said unto him master i will follow thee with us whoever thou goest and jesus said unto him the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests the son of man hath not where to lay his head in other words you better count the cost before you sign up being a disciple you always want to check out the destination before you buy the ticket right another of his disciples said to him lord suffer me first to go and bury my father he said to him follow me and let the dead bury their dead now that can mean a lot of different things okay um when he says we always visualize we suffer me and go to go bury my father that you visualize the father has died he's got to hang around to do the funeral that may be what's in view but not necessarily what what he might be saying you know i've got a father i've got to take care of until he passes on i'm tied down i can't join you now and jesus is saying follow me let the dead bury the dead now let the spiritually dead take care of those that aren't saved that's sort of if you take it either way it's still um jesus is telling you where to put his emphasis that gives me personally a huge problem by the way because i don't like to go to funerals i think they're morbid if it's a christian it's a celebration and i've done a few of those and uh but if if it's not as it is and if there's especially if there's if there's nothing to build on if you're pretty cert certain the person passed away isn't saved i don't know what to do i don't like going there i welcome some excuse to be out of town not to that's i'm just admitting i'm not saying it's right i'm saying i'm not suggesting you follow me i'm just saying candor with you i have a tough time with funerals unless the person saved and if they're saved that's a whole different ball game and i've been to a couple of funerals of something that was saved but it was organized by someone who wasn't in one case it was a masonic situation yeah and another one it was sort of a new age kind of thing and what the people didn't know is i happen to know the guy well enough i knew he was saved and i interrupted the proceedings i let them do their thing and then there's always a chance for somebody who wants to stand up and i did i told him like how it was got a little applause from someone because we had a there's a group of us that we understood and this guy al was anyway accepted the lord but anyway onward uh i don't like funerals but again this is where someone was saved they just didn't understand why or how they did before it was over anyway so this is on the way to ship now i said when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed when they say ship by the way we're talking something about 26 foot long you know now as an academy guy after it's a ship it's not a boat about something you put on a ship you know but you and i would call it a boat normally we'll show you a picture of it and when he was entered into ship his disciples followed him and behold there arose a great tempest in the sea it's so much that the ship was covered with waves but he was asleep that says a lot first of all when i first saw that my first time i saw the sea of galilee was i disappointed about the only thing in israel i was disappointed with we're coming up over the hill down from nazareth you come up from nazareth and you're going up over this hill and then you start going downhill and there's a sign that says you know you're going below sea level and always tell everybody on the bus to be sure to roll up your windows and some people read too they don't get it it's just a gag you know anyway we're going down and you see the sea of galilee in front of you and it's nothing but an over now by the way it's all a result of a mistranslation it's not the sea of galilee it's the lake of galilee but it's a mistranslation that goes way back so everything calls the sea of galilee anyway or canezzara or it's shaped like a harp so it's connected but anyway it's not that big what is it seven miles across and 20 or 30 miles long it's not that big and i i looked i couldn't i couldn't visually because you could see the other side you know i mean it's not you know and i thought how can i remember all those stories about storms well there's two aspects to i need to point out to you um well first of all you'll be one when i was in annapolis um one of my early weekends i was in the battalion uh y'all team uh sailing team and we went on a weekend one only a place of plea could get away on weekends in those days but anyway uh we had been taught by the old assault that if you're on this chesapeake bay which you can't see the other side it's it's a serious bay um if you if it's clear blue sky but you see a cigar-shaped cloud on the horizon reef sail right now and said in ways to scare us to death and i dismissed it just some old salt trying to get a shook up well it happened that weekend i was on the all and we were out at chesapeake bay and there was a little uh cigar-shaped cloud the first classman said reef sail so i'm up on the foxel trying to bring down the jib halyard and the halyard fouled so i couldn't get the jib down easily and it was a matter of five minutes before we were taking green water over the bow there was lightning and darkness and i realized that the the chesapeake bay something like that can come up very quickly now we managed all right obviously and so forth but um from that background i learned something about the sea of galilee up in the northwest corner there are two big mountains called the horns of hutton and the winds are such that they become a venturi and they can create very quick very severe storms on that lake so it's it's more treacherous than it would look it's just like a what seemed like a little lake um but there's another aspect to this having said all that we're going to discover that the disciples that are with christ on this boat are terrified now wait a minute these are professional fishermen that were familiar with those waters you understand for them to be frightened tells me that this was not a normal storm and knowing what's coming later i think it was satan's attempt to wipe out the lord it's that kind of a storm how concerned was the lord he was asleep the disciples came to him and woke him saying lord save us we perish now these aren't namby pamby you know lovers these are seasoned fishermen who are in partnership uh on those waters he said why are you fearful of ye little of faith when he arose and he what did he do he rebuked the winds his strange phrase strange phrase he rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm that should have been impressive that would you know yeah but the men marveled saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him what's going on here we see someone a leper saved palsy cured let's see what's he doing here matthew is concatenating these events to make a point what point is he making for you to draw he's showing his credentials see the great tragedy of of mel gibson's movie the passion which i think he did a marvelous job but the one primary failing is i don't know how you could repair in a movie anyway is it doesn't get across who he was it wasn't some tragedy it was an achievement because of who he was the jesus boat it was discovered in january 1986 it's an unfortunate label it wasn't the boat that jesus is on that's just the label that they've used and it sticks on it so if you're on the internet you can you can find out more about if you like there it was in 1986 we were there the sea of galilee was it was a drought it was unusually low lower than it had been in many many decades and two brothers noticed it was in this thing in the mud and they had the brains to get help and there was an and they flew in from texas and elsewhere experts overnight that analyzed what it was they recognized what it was and confirmed later it was what they thought that the mud the sediment had strangely protected it but it if they dug it out it would all fall apart so they did it they spent 11 days getting under it and wrapping with polyurethane then they let it they worked out a deal over 11 years to dry it out it was submerged in a solution of heated polyethylene glycol and a synthetic wax then replaced the water within the wood cells okay the hull then was allowed to dry very slowly literally over 11 years this allowing its present exhibition in what is now an atmosphere controlled museum and this is what it looks like it's 26 and a half feet long seven and a half feet wide four and a half feet right high it has in fact been dated between the first century bc in the first century a.d so what it is it's a representative boat of what was on the lake in those days doesn't mean it was the boat that they had that's getting a little silly in fact they learn a lot about it the wood has numerous repairs the reuse of timbers and they have 12 different kinds of wood in it indicate that it had a long working life for many repairs and apparently by an owner of very meager means that's what they've been able to infer from the st of course they've been studied like mad as you can imagine and it's now in in especially a special museum and uh you can go there and and take a look at it and they have obviously a you know a little video they'll show you and all that stuff so okay when he was come to the other side now if you visualize the sea of galilee going from rough from the north end down towards maybe the middle of the northeast side that's where they are came to the other side into a country of the gergeny gurgazines or sometimes called gadara that was the region on the other side of the jordan that the tribe of gad settled in gadara probably derives from that and that's the area that controls it there but anyway there met him too possessed with demons coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce so that no man might pass that by that way there is a region up there by the way that still is tombs and there still are what they call them trogolites that uh it's dangerous to go there by yourself and not where we go but i mean there are regions because they're they're outcasts and and uh homeless brigands of different kinds but there's two matthew talks about two the other gospel buyers only focus on one i don't see that's a problem but i just mentioned it to you caught by surprise and since they're demonic they demon possessed they're violent and they're typically take their refuge in the tombs and these are fierce and uh menacing obviously and behold they cried out saying get this now this is an important sentence to think about what have we to do with thee jesus thou son of god art thou come hither to torment us before the time oh wait a minute man first of all they're knowledgeable beings inside these men this isn't some kind of mindset jesus hadn't announced that yet he's demonstrating it by his actions in a sense we can infer that he is obviously and he's going to talk about that more explicitly later but what have we to do with thee jesus art thou come hither to torment us before the time they acknowledge his supremacy they're not afraid of him they they just know he's in charge i mean yeah they're afraid and says i mean they're not trying to intimidate him that's my point that's what i really meant to say they also know that they're destined for torment at a time yet future what's he doing coming early that's what their question is do you realize all that conveys for us demons aren't a euphemism for mental disease these are knowledgeable beings spirit beings that are indwelling how many do you notice it's plural we that's not because there's two denying acts the same thing same record as with when it speaks to the single one there's more than one inside this guy how many do you think mark tells us two thousand tooth can you imagine gudera capital of roman province of perea perea is the region uh on the other side of the jordan it stood at the summit of a mountain about six miles southeast of the sea of galilee that's gudera itself the remains of guderard's tombs which dot the cliffs for considerable distance around the city the present inhabitants are called trogolites dwelling in tombs is what it means like the poor maniacs of old occasionally they're almost as dangerous as uh two unprotected travelers according to easton's bible dictionary but um it's interesting we're gonna find swine up there you're gonna say what are they doing up there well gudera was a grecian city not a roman city that's why they're being raised because they're swine outlawed in jewish jewry gudera was reduced to ashes by vespasian at the beginning of the roman war which added the overthrow of jerusalem so by 70 a.d guedera is leveled just a piece of background but i want you to notice what these guys announced what they announced was not known at that time they recognized that there is a time coming that they'd rather avoid they knew that he is in control of it they are acknowledging his deity and their destiny and his control of it now when they said that of course there was a good a good way off from them a heard of many swine feeding mark tells us how many two thousand so that devils or the demons besought him saying if thou cast us out suffer us to go away into the herd of swine in other words if jesus just cast them out of the demonic they would be disembodied okay they apparently seek embodiment rather than just be cast out they petition him at least send us into those swine the first thing is you first thing we infer from that is that for some reason that's an advantage to them they we always find demons in the new testament seeking embodiment usually a people of course here as a second best kind of thing they apparently want to go into the herd of swine that's a mystery but that's all we know what's even a bigger mystery why does the lord let him do it because they apparently need his permission important point he said unto them go and when they were come out they went into the herd of swine and behold the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters so they drowned anyway that may not have been something they counted on the lord gave them their wish but it's my suspicion i don't know this and my suspicion is he caused him to go drown themselves you say what on earth why lord why did you do that i can only think of one plausible reason to let us realize they're real these aren't a figment of the guy's imagination this isn't you know a a some kind of mental disorder where he can change his voice and pretend he's demon you know you follow me these things obviously were real and that's the point this episode recorded in several of the gospels is is is a a a an insight into demons and uh we call this the case of the deviled ham of course but all right i refrained using that title and other things but it was it took a lot of restraint now okay that that has had a rather gloomy aspect on their economy two thousand swine are worth a lot of money they that kept them fled apparently they were around in other words the swine keepers the shepherd types you know that were watching over these two thousand watched all this happen they were not too excited about that well i guess they were excited about the negative sense they they kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything what was befallen to the possessed of those demons and behold the whole city came out to meet jesus and when they saw him they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts he was you know hurting business that must have been a strange time because they must have been really shook at the same time do it somewhere else you know kind of thing not in our neighborhood they came over to the other side of the sea into the country of the gutterings when he was come out of the ship immediately there met him out of the tombs oh excuse me what i'm doing here i'm shifting to mark chapter five to give you the same tale as rep as as as expressed by peter's secretary mark young mark was we believe the guy that did the penmanship for writing for peter this was peter many people feel it's peter's gospel there came over to the other side of the sea into the country of the gatherings and when he was coming out of the ship immediately met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs and no man could bind him no not with chains see mark mark's a little more graphic of the four gospels mark writes the shooting script when they sit on the grass he says it's green grass little things that creep in there you you you when you're reading mark you can't help but get a visual picture he's just well that's peter couldn't bind him not with chains because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broke it in pieces neither could any man tame him and always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones see the demons always destroy their host they're they have an agenda it's it's adverse to you and when he saw jesus far off he ran and worshiped him and cried with a loud voice and said what have i to do with thee jesus thou son of the most high god i adjure thee by god that thou torment me not and he said unto them come out of the man thou unclean spirit and he asked him what is thy name and he answered saying my name is legion for we are many who he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country now there was a nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding and all the demons beside him saying send us into the swine that we may enter into them and forfeit jesus gave them leave and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea they were about two thousand and were choked in the sea and they that fed the swine fled and told at the city and the country and they went out to see what it was that was done and they come to jesus and see him that was possessed with the demon and that had the legion sitting and clothed in his right mind and they were afraid that much took him out because they knew this guy they knew his history and he's sitting there in his right mind and they that saw it told them they saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine and they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts they're going to come back later and cheer because he's going to tell his side of the story and over time there's another occasion where they come back and scholars suspect that by then the mood has changed even though it's a it's a obviously gentile region okay moving on uh still in mark five when he was come into the ship he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him how be it jesus suffered him not but saith unto him go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the lord hath done for thee and have had compassion on thee and he departed and began to publish in decapolis that's a group of ten greek cities that was in that region how great things jesus had done for him and all men did marvel and there is scriptural evidence to indicate that that was a revival of sorts that came because they came to later and they were cheered the declaration of demons what they announced was not known at that time they recognized there was a time coming that they would be rather avoid that he was in god was in control of it and they acknowledge his deity their destiny and his control of it demons i suggest to you are different than fallen angels there's a tendency young bible students to sort of lump them all in one bucket fallen angels demons so and indeed they're all malevolent but we know from the scripture there are ranks of angels and we find that we find certain many illusions to that let's what do we know about angels we know that they can materialize that will we're told the scripture that many of entertained angels aren't aware we're talking about the good guys of course but still they can materialize they have that ability they can take people by the hand they do in uh genesis 19 and a lot of other places will take a lot a lot and this family out they sit down they can they they can have meals and so on they can indulge in combat one angel one night after dinner slaughters 185 000 syrians and i don't think there were 195 000 syrians there i think there's probably several hundred thousand those just the ones they slaughtered you know the turks used to do that they'd slip into a camp and slit every other man's throat because the next morning when the guys woke up it made them legendary i'm not suggesting that necessarily was there but i'm just saying you don't mess with angels okay demons though are very different they seem to be powerless except to the extent they indwell they seek indwelling and there is a suspicion among some scholars that what they may be is the disembodied nephilim in genesis 6 we find fallen angels somehow with women had created hybrid offspring called the nephilim the fallen ones and that was that was what brought on the flood actually well when those nephilim drown what happens to their spirits we know from isaiah 26 14 that they can't be resurrected because in my opinion because jesus did not become an ephlom and die for them so they are i think captive to satan but i think they're disembodied spirits so maybe that's what the demons are and after the flood we know that there are groups called the rephaim the walking dead and the refugees cannot be resurrected and that's and and joshua's given the strange commandment to wipe out every man woman child of certain tribes because there's a gene pool problem again you won't understand a lot of the old testament unless you understand who the rephaim really are and then there's this whole business in daniel 10 those are very powerful angels dealing with there the spirit of the power of asian of greek and greece and persia we know that demons are under satan's control there are some of his resources they're malevolent they're dangerous they're around and if you're not a christian you're vulnerable that's a i'm not sure you can make a big sales case out of that but let me tell you that's enough of a reason to get protected because i believe you are protected if you're saved and not bluffed this is not a term for just a simple psychiatric disorder and interesting to understand another thing we learned from this episode is they could not indwell even animals without permission so if you're christ if you belong to him i can assure you he doesn't give anyone permission they can harass you be subject to testing of all kinds but not in indwelling and there's a lot of theologians that will argue that and i'll take them to the mat on that one matthew 9 next chapter be some more healings the call of matthew and then two healings that are very distinctive that we'll deal with matthew 9 verse 1 he entered into a ship passed over came to his own city now he's back at capernaum come back from kader back at capernaum which visualize essentially on the north side of the sea of galilee and behold they brought him a man sick of the palsy lying on a bed and jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee this may sound familiar to you because you've read it in the other gospels where they took to get them in it was so crowded they had to take part of the roof off and lower them in there this is probably that same incident matthew doesn't get into those details but same thing because the issue that is joined here isn't just curing the guy is thy sins are forgiven me there's a big theological issue here that comes to surface do you seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee and predictably behold certain of the scribes said within themselves this man blasphemes jesus knowing their thoughts said wherefore thinking evil in your hearts for whether is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and walk but that ye may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins he then turns i visualize then said he to the sick of the palsy arise take up thy bed and go on to thine house and he arose and departed to his house that's particularly impressive if you realize how it got there i mean they had to lure him through the roof you know he picks it up and takes it home i love this this is great but when the multitude saw it they marveled and glorified god which had given such power unto men see the point was made not just healing the palsy is what would impress us but would impress a theologian or someone theologically sensitive that he also had the power to forgive sins there is nobody in the old testament moses himself abraham you name it that had the power to forgive sins you get the picture this is unique this is the creator incarnate walking around among us and as jesus passed forth from thence he saw a man named matthew actually his name was levi he changed it to matthew but all right sitting at the receipt of custom and he said the name follow me and he arose and followed him now it's interesting matthew inserts here a biographical note he's obviously a tax collector in capernaum let's find out a little bit more about matthew the person the call of levi was the culmination of the previous several miracles the cleansing of the leper man taking of the palsy jesus had demonstrated his authority to make a person ceremonial clean ceremonially clean and to forgive sins matthew's very jewish this was not lost on him now those who two authorities were brought to bear on the one who was to become his disciple he was sitting at the place of told a customs house he's a tax collector to really understand this you have to understand how the romans did this they collected taxes through a franchise calling tax farming and they assessed a fixed figure to the right to the highest bidder and uh then sold the right to collect them to the highest bidder the buyer then had to hand over the assessed figure at the end of the year and he could keep any excess get the picture we're adopting the same style in our state legislatures no i'm serious they can condemn a piece of property uh because you if you're a landlord and someone in your in your apartments could get caught for drugs there's a crime against the property the state can take take the property confiscation of property the property stays with the state and if you spend three years fighting it and get exonerated you don't get your property back because by then it's been distributed you want to look into the end of those issues they're growing and they're it's eroding the whole concept of property ownership moving on this of course invited extortion as you can imagine see in luke 5 it says after these things he went forth and saw a publican named levi sitting at their seat of custom and said and follow me and he left all and rose up and followed him that's where we get the name levi there from from luke jesus gave him a new name matthew which means gift of god he left all he made a decisive break from the old life this is something we need to understand in greek the era's participle it's an imperfect indicative literally he was continuously following him in other words it's not a it keeps going this is quite a franchise to abandon he left his toll he left his calling that means he broke with herod because all this was roman but under herod and he abandoned any future with the roman empire you realize what he cut loose from he burned his bridges no going back no going back he was probably collecting boats uh tolls on the boats on the seashore he was an employee of uh herod and a vassal of rome as a lackey of romans this position would have alienated him from the religious community of his day he would be not we he would not be welcome in the synagogue he would not be welcome he is like a collaborator with the enemy he would have been excommunicated from the synagogue and he would not he could not serve as a witness in court he was peria he was bad news but he had a skill that you need to know one of the obligatory qualifications among the professionals in the greco roman world was that of attacking graphos or a shorthand writer they had no carbon paper they had no printing presses all commercial transactions had to be copied written down books kept all manually all manually and if your livelihood depends on that it's no surprise they would develop shorthand techniques and they have those shorthand techniques are mentioned in the bible and matthew is a former customs official would have had a working knowledge of tachography which is trended writing and thus may have been able to transcribe the sermon on the mount verbatim just as tertius and others were able to transcribe paul's more verbose utterances when you go to psalm 45 1 we're going to the old testament now in your english it says my heart isn't dying of good matter i speak of those things which i've made touching the king my tongue is the pen of a ready writer that word translated ready writer or skillful writer is uh a term in the hebrew quick skilled scribe but when it's translated the septuagint into the greek they use a synonym for for a shorthand writer oxygraphos that shows up there what that what does that mean it simply means that 300 years before christ that term in the greek was a common term among the people that's why it was used by the septuagint translators the fact that they used that term in the greek translation of the old testament tells you that that term and that skill was a common thing among the people follow me okay so there are professional stenographers that's why they call them manuscripts they're written by hand i'm not being cute here that's really what the word comes from and specifically named ones who really wrote the book of romans and say paul well you could sort of a catch question alternatives did for him and there's a whole bunch of timothy was described for three of the epistles himself and sylvanus and then timothy 4 4 by timothy and sylvanus a couple of those and some of the others also may have been but they're not these are places where they're actually named in the in the in the epistle luke five levi something else i want you to pick up you pick up the luke account you don't pick up in matthew but we'll get into matthew threw a party now he's not a social guy he's not accepted by who who's gonna come to the party his peer group other guys that are republicans and tax collectors whatever levi made himself a great feast in his own house there was a great company republicans and of others that sat down with him but their scribes and pharisees murmured against his disciples saying why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners and jesus answered and said in the day that be whole need not a physician but they that are sick i come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and that's in luke 5. getting back to matthew it came to pass as jesus sat at meat in the house it doesn't you don't recognize it's obviously matthew's house it's not as clear of the matthew account behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples and when the pharisees saw it they said in the disciples why does your master republicans and sinners and jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold need not a physician but they that are sick but go and learn what that meaneth and he's quoting here from hosea 6 actually i will have mercy and not sacrifice for i am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance that's really a summary of hosea 6 6 actually the only part the reason i want you to look then once you get the picture this is a party matthew through the first thing he did he left his source of income cut burned his bridges with the establishment and throws a party i'm sure to tell him guess what i've discovered i've discovered the messiah let me tell you about him here he is you know then came to him the disciples of john saying remember john baptist had his disciples they were a little different you know they were repentance oriented they're saying why do we in the pharisees fast often but thy disciples fast not see john's disciples are still under the law they hadn't really gotten with it yet and jesus said to them can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast well obviously what jesus is saying as long as he's around why should they is when he's gone but notice the term he's using that people they stumble don't pick up on that we're talking about a very interesting term here and to understand that term you need to understand the procedure in an ancient jewish wedding there was a betrothal with a ketubah payment of the purchase price then they were both set apart and sanctified so to speak technically because they're set apart the bridegroom then splits going back to the father's house typically to build an addition uh for his new bride when the wedding's consummated he prepares the room edition the bride in the meantime prepares for his eminent return she doesn't know how long it's going to be she is considered uh committed she doesn't date okay it's done deal it just hasn't been consummated yet she doesn't know when he's going to come it could be a year or two she has no idea song of songs deals with this too by the way in the old testament but uh if you want to get in and get our commentary it'll help illuminate that whole thing if you want but she prepared then what happens he usually comes by surprise we're in that mode the covenant's established with us first corinthians 11 25 the purchase price was nothing other than the shed blood of jesus christ the bride is set apart that's what ephesians 5 and a number of other passages deal with we're reminded of the covenant with him he's going to be coming back the bride whom left for the father's house that's where he is today and he'll return by surprise to gather his bride that's exactly what paul talks about first thessalonians 4 and so forth so our relationship with christ is modeled by that wedding model he even calls himself the bridegroom yet that all should tie together i invite you to do a careful study on the ancient jewish wedding and see how it patterns it'll get you used to the whole doctrine of eminence and the rest of it but jesus goes on to explain no man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment for that which is put in to fill it fill it up take it from the garment when the rent is made worse in other words isn't pre-shrunk neither do men put new wine into old bottles else the bottles break and the wine runs out and the bottles perish but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved when they bottle the thing of a wine skin okay and this tells you something else it wasn't grape juice or at least it may have been when they put it in but it's for many is what causes it to break so when they say wine they mean wine but that bothers a lot of people and we go down that path but but uh the wedding kana anyway let's move on now we're going to talk about two healings when you spake these things out of them behold there came a certain ruler it turns out to be gyrus the head of the synagogue and worshipped him saying my daughter is even now dead now here now here's a challenge she died but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live there's a guy that has hutzpah you know he's convinced that christ can even raise from the dead he really understood who he's speaking to jesus arose and followed him and so did his disciples but something happens on the way we want to take note of and behold a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment we learned from the other gospel writers that she spent all her savings over those 12 years trying to get help and nothing she has this hemorrhaging going on for 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment now the minute you get into this thing you've got to understand hymns you're going to take any one of these things and make a whole study of it in this case it's worth our departure here in ancient mesopotamia to cut off the hem was to strip one of his personality authority and so forth we wear rank typically on the shoulder like in military or on the sleeve like a navy or airline pilots that sort of thing in those days they they had expressions of their heritage their genealogy or their rank on the hem of their garment so the hymn was this was symbolic of their insignia their authority and so a husband could divorce his wife by cutting off the hem of her robe that was symbolic it cut her off from his authority a nobleman could authenticate his name on a clay tablet by pressing the hem which had a particular pattern into the clay the soft clay get the idea david cut off the hem or the skirt of saul's robe in the wilderness of engetti in first semi-24. the genealogy was represented woven into the threads of that hymn david himself was what he did he found himself in a cave where saul happened to choose to sleep in so he cut it off and slipped out so that tomorrow he could prove he when they were down the valley up on the hill he tried to prove to saul that he could have killed him he didn't and he's showing and saul had to realize that it was that he had the opportunity to kill him he didn't that was the point but even david is conscience stricken because he had personally interrupted the lineage to the throne and symbolically taken away the authorities in the lord's name he he did it because it was practical but he later regretted because he realized the symbol some the symbolic act of it and saul did understand in first samuel 24 20. so anyway it's just another example they have fringes on the levitical garments god's covenant with israel in ezekiel 16 and 39 he says i will spread my skirt over you that's what god says of israel i'm putting my authority my protection over i spread my skirt over you it's it's a weird expression in our culture a very understandable one in theirs joseph's coat of many colors we don't know if it's caught many colors it's a term we're not sure that's a guess but clearly it wouldn't it was enough that his brothers were envious and it also may have had a very significant hymn on it the lord's hymn is sought for healing in several places mark for matthew 14 and mark 6 and of course it's also operative here the woman that's putting her through felt if she can just touch his hem she'll be healed that's her concept okay now when ruth and boaz ruth makes it it goes to boaz to spread thy skirt over thine handmaid if you read verse nine of chapter three it sounds like she's propositioning him in the middle of night no that's it's worse than that she's asking him to take her to bride to give her an inheritance and so forth and he's glad to do it there's that's the there's a big climax course in chapter four i'll let you look it up but the point is she was asking him to exercise his authority over her it doesn't it isn't an improper sexual act that's what it looks like to a naive reader no no it's worse than that she's saying marry me period you know it's a much bigger deal liberate marriage now let's talk about this woman for a minute she has an issue of blood right and an issue of blood like that makes if one is jewish makes one ceremonially unclean anything touched was ceremonially unclean having jesus having jesus touch her made him in theory ceremonially unclean what does that tell she's the crowd if she's jewish she shouldn't be in that crowd she should be out of the camp right what does that tell you about the woman anyone gentile exactly right it's inferential and but it would certainly seem so and otherwise she would not be allowed in the crowd she said within herself matthew 9 verse 21 if i may but touch his garment i shall be whole fascinating but jesus turned him about and when he saw her he said daughter be of good comfort thy faith had made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that hour and when jesus came into the ruler's house you see he's on his way to jairus home came to the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise these are all the professional hired guys he said to them give place for the maid is not dead but sleepeth and they laughed him to scorn such a thing was ridiculous they knew she was dead you don't have to debate that one otherwise they would have there was no doubt in their mind when the people were put forth he went in and took her by the hand and the maid arose let's go let's read this whole thing in mark 5. when jesus was passed over again by ship under the other side much people gathered unto him for he was lying under the sea and beholder cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue gyrus by name we learn a few things here jairus by name and when he saw him he fell at his feet now that's pretty impressive that's a form of beast here's the head of the synagogue but he he's acknowledging christ in many ways here and beside him greatly saying my little daughter lieth at the point of death i pray thee come and lay thy hands on her that she may be healed and shall live whether she was actually dead or not it sounds like she's on the point of death he may have resented jesus stopping to deal with this woman with the issue of blood because by time they get there she's dead well i mean people know that she's dead so in mark 5 and jesus went with him and much people followed him and thronged him a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse when she heard of jesus came in the press behind and touched his garment so she's desperate 12 years where she said if i might touch his clothes i shall be made whole and straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him turned him about in the press and said who touched my clothes the disciples said unto them thou seest the multitude strongly and says thou who touched me i mean they don't understand he's a crowd and somebody bumped into him you know he looked around to see about to see her that had done this thing and but the woman fearing and trembling knowing what was done in her came and fell down before him and told him all the truth as if he needed to know he of course knew it and he said unto her daughter thy faith have made thee whole go in peace and be whole of thy plague and while he spake they came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said thy daughter is dead why troublest thou the master any further as soon as jesus heard that the word was spoken he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue be not afraid only believe and he suffered no man to follow him save peter james and john the brother of james these are the inside three in jairus's home at the mount transfiguration at gethsemane there's a half a dozen different places where they are favored in one case andrew joins the the mount of olives the so-called oliver discourse at the olivet discourse and andrew peter's brother joins them so there's four but it's usually peter and james and john the two brothers known as the sons of thunder and he comes to the house of the rule of the synagogue and seeth the tumult and them that wept and wailed greatly and when he was come in he said unto them why make ye the subdue and weep the damsel is not dead but sleepeth and they left him to scorn but when he put them all out he explained that to them more clearly out out but when he had put them all out he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel and them that were with him and entereth in where the damsel was lying and he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her talitha kumai which is being interpreted damsel i sanity arise and straightway the damsel rose and walked and then mark gives a bombshell in my mind it's like one of these mysteries that you may you follow through it's got a complicated plot but right near the end there's a little twist that suddenly changes everything things that weren't what they what they seemed right we discover how old is the little gal 12 years old and they were astonished with a great astonishment he charged them straightly that no man should know it and commanded that they should give him to give her something to eat okay okay now why did the holy spirit connect i believe the holy spirit connected these two events by the 12 years there may have been no connection in to them 12 years ago but they're both here both receiving the benefit of christ in a connected way does that mean anything maybe not but we learn from the jewish mind see this idea that prophecy is is prediction and fulfillment prediction that's a greek model the gentile mind the hebrew model is that pattern is prophecy and and the matthew hammers that all through we looked at that chapter 1 chapter 2 out of egypt i've called my son and so forth pattern is prophecy let's take a look at this is there a symbolic connection here the woman had an issue of blood for 12 years the daughter raised from the dead was 12 years old who is jesus christ called on to raise the daughter the daughter of zion that's the title of israel 18 times the book of lamentations alone it's a title of israel the daughter of zion in route to raising the daughter of zion a gentile woman is healed by faith jesus came to israel and was rejected actually but opened the door to the gentiles when the gentiles are complete the father says son go get him he takes them out and god is once again presenting the kingdom to israel they rejected the first time they'll receive it ii and there's a pattern here that is i believe eschatological but i would make a big case of it i wouldn't build any doctrine from it but i think you might find it provocative to think that through moving on then in matthew 9 the fame thereof went abroad unto all that land when jesus apart events two blind men followed him crying and saying thou son of david have mercy on us and when he was coming to the house the blind man came to him and jesus saith on him believe he that i'm able to do this they said yay lord two guys that are blind man and then touched he their eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you and their eyes were open and jesus straightly charged them saying see that she that no man know it but they when they were departed spread abroad his fame in all that country and they went out behold they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil this one's a tough one for some strange reasons the rabbis in the past did cast out demons from time to time but one of the ground rules were they had to have the demon identify himself that was in their procedure if you had someone demon-possessed that couldn't speak that was one the rabbis couldn't touch so this has profound significance to the rabbinical community there here's a dumb man possessed meaning he can't be possessed with the devil or with a demon and when the demon is cast out the dumb spake and the multitudes marvel saying it was never so seen in israel because of that factor that is missed unless you have some background but the pharisees said he casted out devils through the prince of devils so they don't deny what he did but they ascribe it to satan that's going to be the death knell in a sense in chapter 12. the entire ministry of christ will change in chapter 12 from 13 on it'll be a different ball game and we'll talk about that when we get there and jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people and when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd then saith he to his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few pray you therefore the lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers unto his harvest there are ten miracles here matthew groups them to prove to his readers that jesus christ possessed the powers of the king that the old testament promised the messiah would have in his first sermon he announced that he would prove that the spirit was upon him by healing and helping the multitudes and that was back in it's actually luke 4 and isaiah promised in the kingdom age that the blind would see the lame walk that's what isaiah predicted in isaiah 35 and all these chapters take us back this picks up so to speak what we left off in chapter four went to the sermon on the mount ties it all together christ's credentials he had power of disease in chapter 8 verse 17 verses leprosy palsy and fever yet power over nature calming the storm power over satan power over sin power over death power over darkness and power over demons these were all arranged i believe by matthew to get across the idea of his credentials setting the stage for what's coming now we looked at communist storm the demonic call of matthew we looked at those two healings in particular in chapter 10 the 12 were going to be sent out on a special mission chapter 11 john the baptist is going to be responded to in some surprising ways and that's what we'll do in the next session read chapters 10 11 review the instructions to disciples and how do they apply to us today you may find some difficulties there and in that spirit we review john 1 as we tackle john the baptist in what way is john the baptist the least in the kingdom of heaven how is he that how is the least in the kingdom of heaven greater than john what does that really mean i stand for closing word of prayer father we just thank you for who you are we thank you father for your word we pray father that we would really understand the credentials of our king as we commit ourselves into his hands in the name of yeshua our lord and savior jesus christ amen [Music] you

Channel: Awaken Humanity

Views: 1,255

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Chuck Missler

Id: tGZGs4rp7Jk

Length: 82min 49sec (4969 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 29 2020