Jesus Brought Good News.

Steve Gentry

[0:06] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church. [0:08] This is the first time you’ve been here. [0:10] My name’s Steve. [0:10] I’m one of the pastors here. [0:11] If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter four.

[0:15] We’re going to be starting in verse 23 this morning. [0:19] But first, I do want to say happy Mother’s Day. [0:22] I have a mother. [0:23] That’s how I was born. [0:25] And so I’m very grateful for all that she did for me in that. [0:29] But I was blessed and am blessed to have a great mother who loved me and cared for

[0:35] me and still loves me. [0:37] And because of the work that she did in my life and for my life, I am ultimately who [0:44] I am. [0:45] And she and my father ensured that I was in environments for discipleship as I was raised, [0:51] where I learned the word of God, where I was told that Jesus is God. [0:57] And that’s something you need to tell your children.

[1:00] It’s not just a possibility. [1:01] It is a fact. [1:03] And because of so many of the decisions that they made when I was younger and because of [1:08] so much of the hard work and sacrifice that my mother made, I’m a pastor, I’m a father, [1:13] I’m a husband, I’m many different things that I believe are good and virtuous. [1:17] And I owe it all to that.

[1:20] And so if you’re in here and you are a mother, your children will not have the gratitude [1:25] that you want them to have when they are children, because children are like that. [1:30] But maybe when they’re pushing 40, they’ll look back and they’ll say thank you. [1:35] So that’s the great hope that you have. [1:38] Through all of the hard work, through all of the sacrifice, through all of the exhaustion [1:43] that you endure, it is a great work.

[1:46] And here’s the key that you need to understand. [1:48] It is a work that is ordained by God. [1:51] Eve literally means the mother of all living. [1:56] And so when God made Eve out of Adam to be a helpmate, he did more than just make a [2:03] woman. [2:04] He created and ordained an office.

[2:08] He created and ordained a wonderful gift to this world, and that gift is motherhood. [2:16] It is a design by God. [2:17] It is a high calling of God. [2:21] And regardless of whether you agree with many of the things that I say, even in this moment, [2:26] you have to admit that in this world there is a great effort to make motherhood look [2:32] like a less than dream.

[2:36] I worked in a cubicle for a few years back in the day, and we live in a world where we’re [2:42] told that our dreams are oftentimes in a cubicle and not with children. [2:47] And it’s not that there’s anything wrong with being in a cubicle. [2:50] I mean, I experienced that wonder for a couple years. [2:52] It’s awesome. [2:52] It’s the greatest life you could ever possibly have.

[2:56] Rough days.

[2:59] But imagine looking at something that from the outset of creation, God ordained and said, [3:07] this is good. [3:08] This is beautiful. [3:10] This is my design for mothers and saying, no, Lord, I believe there’s something better [3:16] for me out there. [3:17] I’ve got to rid myself of that distraction and chase a bigger dream.

[3:22] I don’t know that there are bigger dreams than that. [3:27] The gift that God gives this world of mothers, specifically mothers who love Jesus and mothers [3:34] who want to live for the glory of God in all things, that is the greatest gift you could [3:38] give to an entire generation of being that money can’t buy that fame can’t buy that [3:46] power grabs in this world can’t can’t make that happen. [3:52] A submission to the calling of God and the design of God for your life is what makes

[3:57] that.

[3:59] So I didn’t say this in the other services, but I just thought about it. [4:03] And I always say what I’m thinking. [4:04] So, guys, here’s the deal. [4:06] If you’re single and looking to get married and she thinks motherhood is a drag, don’t [4:12] marry her. [4:13] It’s better to stay single.

[4:14] I’ll be frank.

[4:17] And so understand that motherhood is this beautiful thing. [4:21] And I get to watch it from the front row. [4:24] I’ve got three kids and my wife is a wonderful mother and she loves our children and she [4:30] loves me because oftentimes I act like them. [4:33] And so it’s like she’s got four and some of the bonus and and so hey, good news. [4:40] But but so I get I get this front row seat to watching her invest in future adults.

[4:46] See, you’re not raising children. [4:49] You’re raising future adults. [4:52] And in the Psalms, it likens children to arrows that are being formed. [4:56] And the key is that arrows are not formed so they can stay in the quiver. [5:00] Arrows are being formed so they can be shot. [5:04] And so when you are raising children, my oldest is nine, so I have very young children.

[5:09] I’m raising them with the intention of them leaving. [5:13] OK, I hope some of you are like, keep hoping. [5:16] But but that’s the intention that I have at least. [5:19] And my hope is that I will send them into this world and my wife and I will have invested [5:26] in them and that they will not forsake the God of their creation and they will follow [5:31] him with their lives.

[5:33] And that’s in God’s control. [5:34] I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. [5:36] They could be my oldest is nine. [5:38] They could be total wrecks. [5:39] I don’t know. [5:40] But but my hope is that God will bless that and my hope is they’ll follow Jesus.

[5:45] And if they do, I can tell you right now, it’s going to be because their mother was [5:50] such an amazing testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and because my mother was such [5:55] an amazing testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ to me. [5:58] And that is why I’m the father that I hope to be. [6:02] And every year I also take a moment to say, if you’re in here and this is not a happy [6:09] day for you for a couple of reasons, maybe you didn’t have a mom that loved you.

[6:14] Maybe you had a mom that maybe didn’t do a good job or maybe you are someone who looks [6:21] and all you see is mistakes that you made. [6:26] Or maybe you want to be a mother and thus far something is preventing that, whether [6:31] it be life just isn’t getting there or whether it be medically, you can’t have children. [6:37] I want to let you know, I understand that this is a hard day for you. [6:41] And I also want to tell you that the only place that you will ever find healing for

[6:47] it be guilt, whether it be shame, whether it be hurt because of something someone else [6:51] did, whether it be hurt because of something you did, the only place you’re ever going [6:55] to find healing is in Jesus Christ. [6:57] Your guilt is not going to fix anything. [6:59] Your shame is not going to fix anything. [7:01] Your resentment towards someone else isn’t going to fix anything.

[7:04] Only faith in Jesus is going to make you whole. [7:07] And you’ve got to trust that. [7:08] You’ve got to believe that, that you need to find your identity in Christ because your [7:13] longing for a specific role in life can also become an idol that destroys you. [7:22] And so when you find your identity in Jesus, you help the next generation. [7:26] That’s what my mother taught me.

[7:27] That’s what my wife teaches me. [7:29] And that’s what I seek to do. [7:32] I inhabit a number of roles, but none of those roles or offices that I inhabit are my God. [7:39] Jesus Christ is my God, just like He is your God. [7:42] And that is where you go for healing on what can be a hard day. [7:48] But every year the gift I give to my mother is I preach Jesus.

[7:51] And so I’m not going to give you ten steps to wonderful motherhood today because I could [7:56] do that and you wouldn’t be a Christian if that’s all you got. [8:00] But if I give you the gospel, you’ll be a good mom and you’ll follow Jesus. [8:04] So in Matthew chapter 4 verse 23, here’s what we read.

[8:40] You know, last week we talked about or you guys talked about one of my favorite sections [8:46] of scripture is the script section where Jesus calls His disciples to follow Him. [8:50] And then He gives them this wonderful promise after that command. [8:53] He says, I will make you fishers of men. [8:56] And then in this passage, He actually fulfills that promise that He made to them as He draws [9:03] so many great crowds to Himself.

[9:05] But what happens between verses 23 and 25 is often treated as this segue between the [9:11] calling of the disciples and the sermon on the mount. [9:14] And what I want to do today is I want to help us kind of rid our minds of that type of [9:19] mentality and understand that what takes place in this passage sets the tone for the entire [9:25] earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, because first He’s going to be preaching and teaching. [9:31] Then He’s going to be healing.

[9:33] But then He uses that to draw crowds to Himself so that He can continue that ministry of [9:41] proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. [9:44] And so what Jesus does here is He begins to teach us how He lived in this world so that [9:52] we can begin to example it on our own. [9:55] Do you know there’s a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus? [9:59] Some people know about Jesus.

[10:01] They don’t know Jesus. [10:02] When I was a young man, I collected baseball cards, still have tens of thousands of baseball [10:07] cards. [10:08] The market plummeted and they’re worthless now. [10:10] That’s the most unfair thing to me ever because I should be a millionaire. [10:14] That was the hope.

[10:16] That was the hope is that that was my investment plan to never have to work a day in my life. [10:20] Now, my entire collection is worth about three dollars. [10:23] All right. [10:24] That’s that’s how that investment paid off when I was a young man. [10:26] But when you look at baseball cards, and I might have to explain this because they’re [10:30] not as chic as they once were.

[10:32] But on the back of a baseball card, it had the players stats. [10:36] And so there was this number. [10:38] There was the team that he played on. [10:40] There was the team he previously played on. [10:42] There was his batting average, the number of home runs he hit. [10:45] I mean, all sorts of stats about that player were on the back of that baseball card.

[10:49] And by many intents, that is the extent of many people’s knowledge of Jesus. [10:56] We know about Jesus. [10:58] We know his stats. [11:00] We know that he was born to Mary. [11:02] He was born of a virgin. [11:04] He lived a perfect life, died a sinner’s death on our account, and he rose from the dead.

[11:10] And so we’ll see that and be like, see, I know Jesus. [11:14] And I would say, you know bullet points. [11:17] But knowing the information on the back of a baseball card doesn’t mean I know the baseball player. [11:22] I just know some things that he’s done. [11:24] I don’t know anything about him. [11:27] And so what begins to happen in this section of Matthew is we begin to learn Jesus.

[11:33] And so we can take what we know about Jesus and begin to turn it into real personal knowledge [11:41] of what type of person Jesus was, how he taught, how he related to people, [11:49] what his compassion looked like, his communication styles, [11:53] the way that he prayed. [11:56] And so when we read the gospel accounts, we have this amazing opportunity to learn Jesus. [12:03] And the first thing you learn about Jesus in the book of Matthew about his earthly ministry

[12:07] is number one, that Jesus believed that there is good news that needs to be shared. [12:11] There’s good news that needs to be shared. [12:14] So if you’ll note by the passage, it says that he began to travel all around Galilee. [12:19] And so when Jesus looked to the disciples and he said, follow me, [12:22] he wasn’t just speaking figuratively the way that we take it to mean about discipleship. [12:27] They were literally having to follow him all over the place.

[12:30] And so they’re following Jesus and he’s preaching and he’s teaching. [12:34] And what’s interesting is, is that his first strategy for living his mission in this world [12:38] is to enter into the synagogues and teach the scriptures. [12:42] The reason that he did this is because at this point in time, [12:45] the synagogues had become a very important cultural focal point for the Jews. [12:50] And so they would go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

[12:54] And that is where they would learn the scriptures, right? [12:57] They would be taught, whether it be a rabbi, a Pharisee, for some it will be a Sadducee. [13:02] And that person would teach them about what we call the Old Testament. [13:07] And so for some of it, it was just they would read through the scrolls. [13:11] They would read the Old Testament. [13:12] But then they would also expound on it.

[13:15] And that is where they would seek to apply the law to their lives. [13:20] And so this is getting bigger and bigger and human tradition is beginning to trump [13:24] what God actually said in the Old Testament. [13:27] And Jesus begins to enter into those synagogues and Jesus begins to teach the scriptures. [13:34] But he goes beyond teaching the scriptures. [13:37] Could you imagine what it was like to sit under the tutelage of the author of the book?

[13:44] That must have been an amazing experience. [13:45] It was probably lost on some of them. [13:47] To the one who had actually written the entirety of the Old Testament scriptures, [13:53] he is standing before them actually expounding on what it actually meant. [13:57] I mean, they went straight to the source. [13:59] What a wonderful opportunity.

[14:02] And so Jesus is unpacking for them what the scriptures are all about. [14:06] And the way that his style was in Luke 422, [14:09] the scripture tells us that all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words [14:14] that were coming from his mouth. [14:16] And they said, is not this Joseph’s son? [14:20] And so they’re looking at Jesus and like there’s something unique to his teaching.

[14:23] There is a grace that is uncommon amongst the rest of the teachers. [14:28] And they look at him and they’re like, wait a second, isn’t he just a carpenter’s son? [14:32] And they meant two things by that. [14:34] First, usually you would follow your father into the family business. [14:38] And so they’re saying, shouldn’t he just be out working with wood? [14:42] But then more than that, it was also a slight.

[14:44] Because they’re looking at him and saying, it makes no sense that someone of such a [14:49] common job would have the ability to teach in such a gracious and dynamic manner that [14:55] Jesus is teaching. [14:57] His teaching was not dry and wooden. [15:00] There was life to it. [15:02] The scriptures tell us so much so these people kind of saying, who does this guy think he

[15:06] is? [15:08] Isn’t he just a man just like the rest of us? [15:11] But Jesus went beyond just teaching the precepts of the Old Testament. [15:15] It says that he also preached the gospel of the kingdom. [15:18] There’s two different words here. [15:20] There’s teach and there’s preach and it’s two different ideas to teach was just to

[15:26] tell what it meant. [15:28] But you can teach the Bible and never preach the gospel. [15:32] And that’s something that is always to be avoided because Jesus avoided that. [15:36] He began to make application of the Old Testament and applying it to the future of God’s [15:44] kingdom. [15:45] That word gospel literally means good news.

[15:48] And so what Jesus was doing was is he was saying, here’s what the Old Testament means. [15:53] Here are the promises of God. [15:54] And then he was pointing to himself saying, I have come to fulfill every single one of [15:59] those promises. [16:00] I have come to be the fulfillment of this kingdom. [16:04] I am coming to fulfill the kingdom because the teaching that you are receiving right

[16:09] now, it is telling you about the past work of God. [16:12] It is telling you how you need to live out the law of God. [16:16] But it is not telling you the future that you need to walk into through faith in the [16:22] Messiah. [16:23] And Jesus is preaching and he is proclaiming. [16:26] And so when we go beyond teaching, because I know there are some and I’ve had so many

[16:31] conversations with people. [16:32] They’re like, I love the teaching that I receive. [16:35] I’m understanding the specifics of the Bible more and more, but I’m uncomfortable with [16:40] all of the life application. [16:43] And to that, I cannot remove it. [16:47] Because the tradition that Jesus gave us is that we learn the information of the scriptures,

[16:53] but they are useless unless we learn what it means to apply faith to everyday life. [17:02] And so that’s never going to stop. [17:04] I’m just warning you. [17:05] I’m going to keep meddling in your life because Jesus meddled in everybody’s lives. [17:10] As that’s going to continue, that is the great tradition of preaching and preaching is [17:15] uncommon.

[17:16] I believe that it is a uniquely Christian thing to preach the good news of the kingdom [17:23] because we are literally entering into territory where we say Jesus is Lord. [17:29] Jesus is Savior. [17:31] He’s coming again to ultimately deliver his kingdom into this world. [17:35] And we need to arrange our lives in light of that. [17:40] And so it’s uncommon in this world, but it is necessary for the Christian.

[17:45] And must be held in high esteem because it is exactly what Jesus really applied his [17:52] life towards as he gave priority to the gospel. [17:57] And Luke 432, it says Jesus wasn’t just gracious. [18:02] It says that he preached with uncommon authority as they were astonished. [18:09] They were astonished at the way Jesus taught because he taught like the guy who wrote [18:13] the book.

[18:15] It’s what I received that to mean. [18:17] He taught like someone who knows how to apply it. [18:20] And that is what the New Testament is for our lives. [18:23] It is teaching us how to apply what was ordained by God and what is a completely super [18:31] natural practice for our lives. [18:33] The word of God can change your life.

[18:36] If you trust it, here’s the deal. [18:38] It will change your life because the preaching and teaching of the gospel is something [18:44] that can be this wonderful thing where it’s like grace upon grace upon grace. [18:49] But then in the very next minute, and this is why I think God has done such a wonderful [18:52] thing of designing this for our lives. [18:54] It becomes very uncomfortable because it’s telling us that we need to walk into a future

[18:58] that we’re scared of. [19:01] It’s telling us that we need to walk into a future that’s different than the one that [19:04] we have in mind. [19:05] It’s telling us that we need to walk into a future that if it’s going to be successful, [19:09] it’s going to be successful because of God and not because of me. [19:12] That’s the terrifying thing of preaching is for me.

[19:16] If you imagine how terrifying it is to come and proclaim these things that I’m not living [19:20] perfectly because I’m still a human being. [19:24] That’s terrifying because I know I’ll be held accountable to that. [19:26] But it’s also inspiring because it’s letting me know that God is leading me down a lifestyle [19:30] that he can also equip me to have my life changed by. [19:35] That’s why I get so excited about preaching.

[19:37] And even though sometimes there are seasons where preaching is not as in vogue as it used [19:41] to be, I still love it because this is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that [19:47] God promises he is going to use to usher in his kingdom and usher people into his kingdom [19:54] who would not otherwise have faith. [19:58] That’s wild to me. [19:59] That’s wild.

[20:00] That’s why I’ve always loved it. [20:01] But he goes beyond preaching and teaching. [20:04] Jesus begins to heal. [20:07] So number two this morning, Jesus has the authority to reverse the curse of sin. [20:14] At the end of verse 23, here’s what we read. [20:18] It says that he was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and

[20:24] every affliction among the people. [20:27] Think about that. [20:29] It’s crazy. [20:31] So his fame spread throughout all Syria. [20:33] They brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those [20:37] oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them.

[20:44] And great crowds were coming around him from Galilee, from the Decapolis, from Jerusalem, [20:49] from Judea, beyond the Jordan. [20:53] If you have been to church in any length of time, you probably know that Jesus healed [20:59] people. [21:00] Whether or not you have a good understanding or whether or not you have a bad [21:03] understanding of what that meant, this is not uncommon to your understanding.

[21:07] But what I want you to understand is that sometimes we get tempted to believe that [21:13] in biblical times, healing was just the most normative thing ever. [21:18] And it wasn’t. [21:20] Some of us, we don’t read the Bible right, and we miss that the pages that have [21:25] healings are far fewer and far between the pages that don’t have healing. [21:29] And so what Jesus is doing, even in this era, even for Jerusalem, even for Israel,

[21:36] was so uncommon for them that they were not used to it. [21:39] And that is why he was drawing such great crowds, because he was doing these miraculous [21:43] things that they were not familiar with. [21:47] And so they could look back and they say, yeah, God parted the Red Sea for Israel. [21:51] Yeah, God did some amazing things in the wilderness for Israel. [21:53] God did some amazing things in the promised land for Israel.

[21:56] But for someone to enter into their culture and begin to just physically make people [22:01] who are ill, not ill, regardless of what the disease is, that was completely uncommon [22:07] for them. [22:08] And so I want you to understand that what you’re reading here is unique and it’s not [22:12] something that we see in our era. [22:15] So when you see people claiming to have a divine gift of being able to just heal

[22:20] diseases, or people that say that you have a guarantee if you are a Christian to be [22:25] healed all the time, that’s not true. [22:29] The people that you see making someone fall over on TV or looking at someone and [22:33] pounding them in the face and things of that nature, that’s con. [22:36] That’s con. [22:37] That’s not real.

[22:38] Those guys are all con artists. [22:40] And so what do we have here in this passage? [22:44] I’ll tell you, the first thing you need to understand about Jesus’ healing is that [22:47] it was specifically for divine verification. [22:51] Jesus’ healing was unique. [22:53] It was extraordinary.

[22:56] It didn’t happen all the time. [22:57] And the reason for it was so that people would believe that Jesus is God. [23:01] In John 14 11, Jesus himself says, believe me that I am in the Father and the Father [23:07] is in me or else believe on account of the works themselves. [23:11] And that phrase for works themselves, he’s pointing to the miracles that he is [23:15] performing.

[23:16] He’s pointing to the healings that he is making happen in his life. [23:20] And the miracles like turning water into wine. [23:23] I mean, the stories that we’re going to go through when we go through the [23:26] Gospels, Jesus is making people who’ve never had the ability to walk and he’s [23:29] saying, go take a jog. [23:31] He’s taking people who are blind and he’s making them see.

[23:33] He’s taking people who are deaf and he’s making them be able to hear. [23:36] I mean, Jesus literally raises a few people from the dead with his power. [23:43] He had an uncommon authority. [23:46] And whenever you see Jesus wield it, you need to understand that he’s doing it [23:51] so that people will believe in him for redemption. [23:56] And he’s doing it to show them signs of the coming Kingdom.

[24:00] What’s fascinating about our era is that we get bad news very quickly. [24:06] There is a tragedy in Egypt and I hear about it on my phone before many people [24:10] in Egypt even know it happened. [24:13] Right. [24:13] And most of the time when we receive news, it’s not good news. [24:16] And so if you are an adult, I don’t need to spend much time convincing you that

[24:21] there is pain in this world. [24:22] I doubt I even need to spend much time convincing you there is pain in your life. [24:29] There is pain. [24:30] There is sickness. [24:32] There is disease. [24:33] There is tragedy.

[24:35] There is evil in this world and we must not deny it because Jesus himself did not [24:42] deny it. [24:44] But sometimes the struggle that even I have is I’ll read passages of scripture [24:51] like this and then I will go for healing and I will go to ask God to heal someone. [25:00] And what do I do when he doesn’t do it?

[25:05] Because sometimes you read a passage like this and it’s can feel like a carrot [25:10] that’s being dangled in front of me that I’m never going to reach. [25:15] And I’ll have an illness and I’ll be like, okay, God, come on, you know what I’ve [25:20] got going on today. [25:21] I can’t have a sore throat. [25:23] I can’t have congestion.

[25:26] And so I need you to heal me right now. [25:30] A month later, I’m still congested. [25:32] All right.

[25:34] And you know, to give you the two extremes, there have been times in my life [25:39] and even in this church where someone

[25:46] has been terminally ill.

[25:57] I’ll tell you, there’s nothing harder for me to go through.

[26:01] Because they want to be healed.

[26:07] I’ll pray.

[26:09] I’ll beg.

[26:14] Because in my finite mind, I thank God what a great testimony. [26:21] If he would just heal them.

[26:24] And there have been times when he hasn’t both young and old.

[26:30] And God says, not this time. [26:34] In Hebrews, chapter two, we read, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great [26:42] salvation? [26:44] It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard [26:48] while God also bore witness by signs and wonders, various miracles by gifts of the [26:56] Holy Spirit distributed what according to his will.

[27:04] You see, when we trust Jesus for healing, sometimes we miss the whole story that [27:12] Jesus is telling. [27:14] Sometimes we miss the grand narrative of scripture because here’s a couple of keys [27:19] that you need to understand. [27:21] First, the sign of what Jesus was doing was about more than physical illness. [27:28] It was about more than physical ailments.

[27:32] It was about the story that he’s telling throughout history because what you see in [27:35] the Old Testament is so different than what you see in the New Testament in Jesus. [27:39] You have to admit that sometimes and you’re like, is this a different God? [27:43] Did he wake up and get in a good mood? [27:45] Because in the Old Testament, God put so many restrictions on who could come into [27:50] his presence.

[27:52] And so I’ll tell you when you read this list, I have to believe that a great majority [27:57] of these people under Old Testament law would not have been allowed into the temple [28:03] to worship God because their illness meant that they were unclean. [28:09] And here what Jesus is doing is he’s saying, I am God, you are unclean, come into my [28:18] presence. [28:19] Why is it so different?

[28:21] And I will tell you because in the Old Testament, what God was doing through the law [28:26] is he was expressing to us our great need. [28:30] He was expressing to us our great unrighteousness, our great sin, our great [28:35] corruption. [28:36] He wanted the curse of sin to sink into our psyche so that we would understand how he [28:45] is wholly other.

[28:47] He is completely separate than we are. [28:50] So much so that in Exodus chapter 34, Moses begs God. [28:54] If you’re looking for an all-star in the Old Testament, a guy that understood God, [28:59] you’re looking to Moses and he looks to God in Exodus 34 and he says, Father, let me [29:04] see your glory, which literally means let me see all of you for all of who you are. [29:13] God looks to Moses and he says, Moses, if I did that, it would kill you.

[29:19] Because you can’t handle my presence. [29:22] And the glory of what so many of us miss in the gospel because we are so physically [29:29] oriented is that Jesus came and he said, now that you understand your great need, [29:39] now that you understand that you cannot, I will do the work. [29:45] And God entered into his creation as a human being. [29:49] And what he’s doing this sign gift for is he is taking that which is unclean and he’s

[29:56] so powerful that he just says, clean.

[30:02] And the disease is healed and the person is whole. [30:07] Friends, the greatest need that every one of us has in our lives is not physical in [30:14] nature. [30:15] The greatest need is not a healing.

[30:21] The way that you probably think about here. [30:24] The greatest need that you have is for Jesus to show you that God is compassionate and [30:30] to give you the ability to enter into his presence clean.

[30:37] And that is exactly the gift that he had to offer to this world and his signs were [30:43] wonderful because if you think about it, every single one of the people that he healed, [30:47] do you realize they got sick again?

[30:52] Eventually, every single person that Jesus healed died at some point. [30:58] And so he didn’t give them immortality.

[31:03] I mean, imagine being Lazarus. [31:05] He had to die twice.

[31:10] He’s like, oh great. [31:11] Now, I know what I have to look forward to. [31:14] I’m going to dread that for the rest.

[31:18] Sometimes when we look at these passages, it is so tempting to look at them and say, [31:24] why don’t I have what I’m praying for?

[31:29] Why won’t you just heal me right now? [31:31] And it can be the most simple of ailments. [31:35] It can be the sniffles. [31:38] Oh God, no. [31:40] I need you to heal me.

[31:45] And what we see when Jesus does these miracles is we see what the deepest longings of our [31:50] life are really about and the only source of where we can find ultimate healing for [31:56] that which we really long for. [31:58] And I love the list of things that Matthew gives that he heals. [32:01] He says, first, he heals demonic possession. [32:05] Then when it says seizures in the ESV, some translations say epilepsy.

[32:10] The reason it does that is because historically that’s what we’ve translated that specific [32:14] ailment to be. [32:15] In the original language, it’s actually a word that means moon struck. [32:19] And so that is a holistic word to describe someone that seems like they are out of their [32:26] minds. [32:27] And so when a person has a seizure, it seems like they’re out of their minds.

[32:32] But that also, I believe, based on the language, envelopes a great number of mental illnesses. [32:38] And so it says that Jesus was making wrong minds right. [32:44] But then thirdly, it also says the paralytics, those who had first, spiritual ailments, [32:49] demonic possession, second, mental ailments, and third, physical ailments on the outside. [32:56] And so he’s giving us a holistic view to show us that no matter what the need, no [33:01] matter what the curse of sin has caused, God has the ability to heal it according

[33:08] to his will. [33:10] He can give us what we long for. [33:14] Number three, Jesus creates a longing for what only he provides. [33:20] Do you see how he does that in this passage?

[33:23] I mean, if you hear that there’s someone that can heal you in the next town over, and [33:29] I know this happened in many, many towns. [33:31] Decapolis actually means 10 cities. [33:34] And so it’s in all these cities, Jews, Gentiles, everybody’s coming to Jesus. [33:40] And they want healing. [33:41] So he has created a longing for what he can provide for these people because Jesus wants

[33:47] to draw these great crowds to himself because God has so much compassion for what these [33:54] people need and he has so much compassion for what this world needs that he begins to [34:00] provide over and over and over. [34:03] And so when I want instant relief, I have to understand that God doesn’t only want me [34:10] to have a longing for what he can provide. [34:13] He also wants me to have the faith to trust him with what he will provide.

[34:19] He doesn’t just want me to say, this is what I need. [34:23] Give it. [34:24] And when he doesn’t, I’m like that kid who didn’t get what he wanted. [34:28] And I’m a brat. [34:30] But instead, he wants me to have the faith to say, Lord, this is what I think I need. [34:36] And then he wants me to trust that he can do it.

[34:39] He can do whatever he wants to. [34:41] Ephesians 3, he can surpass all of my expectations with his ability. [34:46] But he wants me to trust that he can define my need greater than I can define my need.

[34:53] So I go to him with this longing and I believe that he can provide. [34:58] But he’s going to provide according to his will. [35:04] Matthew 4, 19, something you went over last week, leads into this passage where he looks [35:09] to the disciples and he makes the greatest call, the greatest sacrifice when he says, [35:13] follow me.

[35:15] And his promise is what? [35:16] I will make you fishes with men if you’ll follow me. [35:20] And then he fulfills it here. [35:21] Verse 25.

[35:24] It says, he began to draw great crowds.

[35:31] Thousands of people began to follow him around. [35:36] Thousands, masses of people because they had need. [35:41] The curse of this world was on them and they needed something from Jesus. [35:46] And Jesus could fulfill every one of their needs.

[35:52] But he wanted to fulfill the greatest need that they had, which was redemption.

[36:00] In John, Chapter 14, one verse after saying, if you don’t believe because of the words, [36:07] I’m saying believe because of the miracles I’m doing, he looks to his disciples and he [36:10] says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I [36:15] do. But then here’s what’s audacious. [36:16] This is just drives me nuts. [36:18] He says, greater works than these will he do because I’m going to the father.

[36:23] This is the guy that stood in front of the tomb of one of his friends and said, stop [36:29] being dead. [36:31] And his friend obeyed him.

[36:35] How can I do better than that?

[36:39] How can I top? [36:42] Making a dead heart begin to beat again.

[36:47] Unless God puts evaluation on something better than that.

[36:54] He does.

[36:56] You see, the great miracle that Jesus is talking about there goes beyond physical [37:02] healing because Jesus didn’t just want to heal us physically. [37:07] He will. [37:09] Don’t hear what I’m not saying. [37:11] If I’m sick, you know what I do? [37:13] Right before I go to the doctor, I pray, heal me.

[37:19] Heal me. [37:20] When you tell me you’re sick. [37:23] I pray that God will heal you because I believe that he can and I believe that he [37:28] does sometimes.

[37:31] I believe that God uses those prayers and he heals people instantaneously. [37:35] I believe for some people he heals them after a period of time. [37:39] I believe that for some people they will endure death before he heals them and [37:44] makes them whole in his kingdom. [37:46] But I believe God always heals, but I have to trust him with the healing. [37:51] But there is a healing that I need and you need that transcends the physical

[37:56] healing. [37:58] It’s a holistic healing.

[38:01] And acts we begin to see the greater works that Jesus was talking about. [38:07] When the disciples begin to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. [38:14] To preach you need faith in Jesus to preach. [38:17] He died for your sins to preach. [38:19] He rose from the dead winning victory over sin and death. [38:23] Believe in him and the Holy Spirit took those words and communicated it into the

[38:30] people who were dead in their sin and he took death and he gave them life and [38:37] they came alive through faith in Jesus Christ and they were then indwelt by the [38:43] Holy Spirit of God because when you put your faith in Jesus God comes into your [38:49] life and he makes you alive through the Spirit of God and then he teaches you [38:54] and he guides you and he leads you and Jesus says you may be fascinated that I [39:00] can make the lame to walk again, but there’s no greater miracle than

[39:05] regeneration and redemption through the power of the Holy Spirit that comes when [39:09] you are forgiven of your sin and you are free to live for God according to his [39:14] word. [39:16] So there’s no greater miracle.

[39:19] And that miracle is going on to this day.

[39:26] See friends when you begin to learn Jesus you begin to learn that he drew the [39:31] crowds because of his great compassion for our needs.

[39:39] God doesn’t want us to ignore our needs. [39:42] He doesn’t want to pretend that they don’t exist. [39:43] God wants us to be honest and say we have needs and God wants us to take our needs [39:50] before him and he wants us to offer them and he wants us to trust that he does [39:54] have the ability and he will do it according to his will because he is God [39:58] and I am not but he wants us to understand that it is not all about what

[40:03] we think we need.

[40:06] Sometimes I am so absorbed with what I think that I need. [40:10] I forget the greater works that I am called to.

[40:14] I forget that God has called me to have compassion on the crowds. [40:20] See it’s not that God doesn’t want me to bring my needs. [40:22] He tells me over and over. [40:23] He says Steve bring your needs before me but he wants me to think like Jesus. [40:29] He wants me to think that when I go before him because he can fulfill my need.

[40:36] I need to begin to bring other people with me.

[40:42] I need to experience the glory that I am whole in Jesus Christ. [40:49] I do have my greatest need fulfilled now and forever.

[40:55] But not everybody else does.

[40:59] The story of Christianity.

[41:03] Does not end with you.

[41:09] That story is meant to go through you. [41:13] And the greatest work that could ever be done. [41:17] It is meant to go into the lives.

[41:21] Of great crowds.

[41:26] If Jesus is your Savior your greatest need has been met.

[41:31] And if your greatest need has been met. [41:34] How will he use the rest of your needs to draw crowds to the only one who can [41:41] provide for those needs.

[41:45] Every week we reflect on the Lord’s Supper. [41:49] A wonderful picture maybe. [41:53] Of how God fulfills needs.

[41:58] The broken bread represents the broken body of Christ and the cup represents his shed [42:03] blood. [42:05] When you eat and drink it represents the life of Jesus going into your life. [42:09] You come with nothing but need. [42:13] And he gives you everything you ultimately need. [42:16] And this table is open for you.

[42:19] If Jesus is your Savior if he is your Lord if you have trusted Jesus Christ and [42:26] what you’re going to do by eating and drinking is you’re going to proclaim to [42:29] every single person in this room. [42:31] I am a follower of Jesus Christ. [42:32] So if you’re not a follower of Jesus Christ, I don’t want you to lie today. [42:36] I want you to be willing to be honest.

[42:40] Maybe admit I’m not a Christian. [42:42] So I’m just going to sit here. [42:44] Or what I would rather you do is when everyone else is partaking of what we call [42:49] communion, maybe you could just step out into the foyer for a minute where one of [42:52] the leaders of the church can talk with you about the gospel pray with you about [42:57] maybe a need that you have in your life.

[42:59] Maybe answer questions that you might have but I want you to understand that [43:02] today can be the day of salvation for you. [43:05] Today can be the day where the Holy Spirit comes into your life leads you [43:11] through this world and enters you into the kingdom of heaven. [43:16] But if you’re in here and you are Christian, you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior. [43:21] These tables are open.

[43:22] Come proclaim the death of your Savior and then go.

[43:27] Take your needs to.