Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 107:23-43

We finish with one of the “some s” exhortations, ad this one fits perfectly with what we preached LAST WEEK and will serve as a good reminder, he calms the Storm (verse 29) he has been good to us, when life and trails and storms literal and figurative rage around us, we can look to him.

He will raise up those who trust in him, he will keep us, let us praise the Lord.

We should begin doing exactly what this psalm commands us to do in the last verse we should “attend to these things”.

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:21-26 (Alan)

Sermon

Good Morning Church!

I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

well today we turn our attention to Matthew 8:23-34.

So the ed of chapter 8. but in this portion, this section of Scripture in particular, context becomes extraordinarily important.

So I would like to remind us of what it is that we are in the middle of, and what that means.

Immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew gives us a series of six miracles with a quick interlude about the cost of following Jesus in the middle.

If we remember back a few weeks ago the first three miracles we covered all together.

Jesus cleansed the leper, he healed the centurions servant, and he healed Peters Mother in Law.

And the Idea that Matthew wanted us to see was that Jesus has Authority.

That he can heal the sick, even from a distance.

Authority was the central issue over and above even the healings.

the people come before him and call him Lord. the centurion even specifically mentions authority.

The centurion proclaimed Jesus authority the Leper proclaimed it when he said “if you will you can heal me.” his ability to heal Peter’s Mother in Law just because he wants to shows his authority that was the main point.

And he used that Authority to challenge those who would follow him to give up everything.

To not have a place to lay their head, like he has no place to lay his head.

To follow him forsaking all other affections and claims on our lives.

Then last week we saw Jesus calming the storm, that was the fourth miracle.

and in that there was one very important question.

Matthew was driving us to look to Jesus and ask a very pointed and important question.

We are called to ask: what sort of man is this.

When we see Jesus performing these miracles we should ask: what sort of man can do these things.

And we know because we have the benefit of theological reflection and knowing who Jesus was in general.

We know the answer to what sort of man is this, we know that he is God, but in the flow of the narrative, we don’t fully know that yet.

And that thought, that Jesus is God, is what Matthew is building up to.

And when we left last week the disciples were wondering, but this week we turn our attention to the fifth miracle, Jesus casting out demons from two men.

And in this we see that though the disciples are not sure, there is a rumbling, PEOPLE may not know, but in the spiritual realm it is clear.

And so what we see in the overarching flow of all these miracles is the ushering in of spiritual realities, spiritual truths are being seen now by all people.

So Matthew 8:28-34 is our text today and we will just read it all at once.

READ

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, Lets Pray

PRAY

SO in this narrative, Jesus casting out these demons, which is a story that all the synoptic gospels relate to us and therefore is an important story.

What we begin to see is that Matthew is driving us to realize over and over again, and this is why context is so important.

Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is different.

Jesus has authority.

Jesus can calm the wind and the sea. he has authority over the natural realm.

And here we see hat Jesus has authority over even the spiritual realm, but the point that Matthew is trying to get across to us is actually bigger and more all encompassing than that.

He wants us to understand just exactly WHO jesus is. and in this, and in the narrative we are talking about next week he lays it all bare.

We are confronted in these passages with Jesus, and who he truly is. and the question that lies before us is what will be your response?

Once you truly see and understand who this Jesus is.

And so he starts by telling us, and starts is probably not the right way to approach this, I want us to see rather a few lessons that we can take from this that paint the broad picture of Who Jesus is. and so we have to first ascertain, WHAT IS THE NATURE OF JESUS’ AUTHORITY?

What is Jesus authority like? is it an authority that is over just certain realms or certain things?

No! the nature of Jesus Authority i that he is over all things!

The NATURE of Jesus’ Authority: OVER ALL THINGS

One of the biggest takeaways when we read this is to see that Matthew goes out of his ways to push us out of the realm of normal, outside of what we might expect to see that Jesus has authority even there.

We start with just the location.

They come to the other side, they come to the country of the Gadarenes.

And there is some debate as to the EXACT location of this getting super technical, but what there is no debate on is that this is Jesus moving out of Jewish country, out of Jewish lands and into the realm of the Gentiles.

He has gone outside of the area of Jerusalem and Judea and Nazareth and capernum and has now gone to a place that is foreign.

And we know it is foreign because of the name, but also because there are herds of pigs which would NEVER happen in Jewish territory.

And so Jesus goes to this place that is outside the realm of where we might expect the Jewish Messiah to have authority and guess what?

He rules there too! he commands authority ever there.

It doesn't matter where you go in the World, Jesus has authority there.

Not Just is it a Gentile region, but he is going into a graveyard.

He is going to a place, these men are coming out of tombs (verse 28).

And even if we just stop and think about the way that people think they way the world operates.

You don’t go into graveyards after dark because, to use Willows word, that's the realm of the spooky.

And that’s the place of the scary and dark and dangerous.

You don't go there because… well I don’t know why we don’t go there because here’s the point, Jesu has authority even there at the tombs.

He has authority over even the places where we think, oh tats where demons ad ghosts and these other things (ghosts don't exist… but these are the things we say).

Even there Jesus has authority.

Then we look to whom Jesus has authority over.

The demons come to him, these demon possessed men come to Jesus and this is what they say: Verse 29 they cry out: what have you to do with us oh Son of God”.

Here it is.

the disciples last week wondered what sort of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him.

the Demons, they know.

The demons see Jesus and they know, this is him, this is the one that we have been fearing, this is the oe w ho has all authority.

We know that the demons know who Jesus us because the demons know who God is.

The demons understand who God is, that doest quell their rebellion, but the KNOW, and when they see jesus they realize: this is him.

these demons understand “here is a man with authority over all things, even us.”

Here is a man who comes to have authority over us, and even, the demons say, he can torment us.

Continuing

So absolute is Jesus authority over all things that the demons are forced, their only recourse is to BEG jesus.

these demons, we know from Luke’s telling of this story that their name is legion because there are so many of them.

They are seen here, verse 31

the Demons are forced, they see Jesus in all of his authority and are left to do nothing but beg.

they have no authority, they have no bargaining chips they have nothing they can say, no leg to stand on, they see Jesus in his true and vast authority over all things and they say: maybe he will send us into these pigs.

maybe he won’t judge us finally and ultimately and totally.

Maybe he will just send us into these pigs, maybe our torment is not full and complete, maybe if we BEG him enough, just maybe this one with authority will let us by.

In this entire story, Jesus authority is shown.

there is no realm where he does not rule.

We have really done it all now, if we add up all the stories up to this one.

He has shown his authority over all realms.

he has authority over sickness he has authority over disease he has authority over everything from leprosy to paralysis to fever and everything in between.

He has authority over the wind and the waves and the sea.

Even nature.

So he has authority over disease, he has authority over nature and now here he has all authority in the spiritual realm.

There is NOTHING except for NOTHING that lies outside of Jesus’ sphere of authority.

Who else can say that?

No one!

Only God. and this is what the demons proclaim,.. “What have you to do with us oh son of God.

To put it differently: what is the nature of Jesus’ authority.

he is Sovereign.

period.