Galatians in a Nutshell – part 1

Galatians 1:1-5

February 16, 2014

 

In the book of Job, one of Job’s friends (Bildad)

Asked Job a very important question.

 

Job 25:4 “How then can a man be just with God?”

 

Now that is a good question.

How is it that a man can be declared righteous before God?

 

Bildad wasn’t debating whether or not man was sinful.

Bildad knew man was sinful.

 

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

 

Today people would debate whether or not people are actually sinful at all, but Bildad wasn’t debating that. He knew man was sinful.

 

Bildad also wasn’t questioning the necessity of righteousness.

He knew God was righteous and he knew man needed righteousness.

 

He understood that unless sinful man achieved

He righteous standard of God, there would be no salvation.

 

Bildad understood those things, he was not debating them.

 

The question for Bildad was

How could sinful man achieve that righteousness?

 

• If man is sinful…

• If God requires him to be righteous…

How is it that man accomplishes that goal?

 

And that is a very important question.

And a question that has been at the center of much debate

Throughout the history of the church.

 

In fact, it was that very question that sparked the movement

Known as the The Great Reformation.

 

When the reformers squared off against the Catholic church,

They were in agreement that man was sinful,

And they were in agreement that man needed to be righteous.

What they disagreed about was how man achieved that righteousness.

 

And throughout history there have been two basic systems of thought.

 

1) He earns that righteousness through religious effort

(Law, Effort, Tradition)

 

That is what we call legalism.

Man holds to some sort of religious code or religious standard and because he is so good, he actually ascends to the level of obtaining the righteousness God requires.

 

And it might surprise you to know that by far

More of the world holds that view than the second.

 

Most people believe that effort is the means of obtaining righteousness.

Now they may disagree on which actions are most important,

But they still believe that their works is what will do it.

 

• It may be circumcision

• It may be praying 5 times a day

• It may be faithful church attendance

• It may be random acts of kindness

• It may be circling the world on a bicycle

 

They may disagree on the specifics, but they all agree that

There is work to be done to obtain righteousness.

 

That is the first system of thought as to how a man is just with God.

 

2) He receives righteousness through a gift

 

Meaning he cannot earn righteousness through his efforts,

And so it must be something that is given to him by someone else.

 

Obviously that someone else, must be someone who possesses it,

For I can’t give you what I don’t have.

 

So the objective would be to find someone who possesses righteousness

And then see if they will share it with you.

 

And that argument is at the center of this letter to the Galatians.

“How can a man be just with God?”

 

Well, to give you the background of the letter, turn with me to Acts 13.

TURN TO: ACTS 13:14

 

Unlike Philippi, Galatia was not a town or a specific church.

Galatia was a region.

 

In Acts 13:14 Paul and Barnabas arrived in Galatia and came to “Pisidian Antioch”

 

Now we don’t have time to go back over the sermon Paul preached there (you’ll have to go back and listen to that from our Acts study)

 

But in Pisidian Antioch Paul preached a tremendous gospel message

Centered on the resurrection of Jesus, and initially it was well received.

But when Paul’s message reached a level of extreme popularity,

A problem arose.

(13:44-52)

 

• So the Jews rejected the gospel and drove Paul out, but not before many Gentiles were saved.

 

• From there Paul traveled to Iconium, but Paul faced the same opposition there.

 

(14:1-7)

 

• Again Paul was driven out of Iconium because of Jewish hostility.

 

• So Paul came to Lystra, and because Paul worked a miracle in Lystra he instantly had a platform and was speaking the gospel, but the militant Jews in the area wouldn’t let it go.

 

(14:19-20)

 

• So Paul was actually stoned by Jews in Lystra and then went to Derbe.

 

In Derbe Paul preached and many were saved and then

Paul returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch.

 

Now I give you that because I want you to understand the region.

It was a Jewish stronghold.

 

Imagine going into the Sudan or some other Islamic stronghold

And preaching Christianity there.

 

Some might be getting saved,

But the intensity and hatred is intense against you.

 

That was Galatia.

Only it wasn’t Islamic persecution, it was Jewish persecution.

 

Now in each of those cities Paul did leave a church.

Because of the Jewish animosity, the churches were primarily GENTILE CHURCHES.

 

But they received the grace of God and were saved.

 

However the Jews were not willing to just stand idly by

And accept these Gentile churches.

 

(15:1)

And there was the debate.

The Jews said that faith in Christ was not enough

To make a man acceptable to God.

The Jews required that circumcision (adherence to the Law)

Was also necessary.

 

And not only was this debate real,

But a group of these Jews, known as the Judaizers

Were approaching the churches of Galatia

And preaching this message of necessary circumcision.

 

They were attacking Paul’s credentials

They were attacking Paul’s message

And the sad reality is that were having success

 

Because the Gentile converts in the region of Galatia

Were about to be circumcised.

 

When Paul caught wind of this, he was furious

And the result of his anger is the letter to the Galatians.

 

John MacArthur called it “a flashing sword, wielded by a burning heart.”

In other words, this is a fiery, passionate letter.

 

Galatians 6:11 “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”

 

It gives the allusion of him scribbling fast because he has so much to say

And his pen won’t move as fast as his heart.

 

You can also see this fury throughout the letter

Galatians 3:1-3 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

 

Galatians 4:10-11 “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”

 

Galatians 4:16 “So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”

 

Galatians 5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

 

Galatians 5:12 “I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.”

 

Galatians 6:17 “From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.”

 

Obviously Paul is hot!

It is a fiery, passionate letter.

 

And one of extreme importance

 

John MacArthur also wrote,

“The book of Galatians has been conferred with such titles as the Magna Carta of spiritual liberty, the battle cry of the Reformation, and the Christian’s declaration of independence. It is clearly the Holy Spirit’s charter of spiritual freedom for those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Many church historians maintain that the foundation of the Reformation was laid with the writing of Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians. The great German Reformer said, “The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am, as it were, in wedlock. Galatians is my Katherine [the name of his wife].” It was out of his careful and submissive study of Scripture, especially the book of Galatians, that Luther discovered God’s plan of salvation by grace working through faith, a plan unalterably contrary to the thousand-year-old Roman Catholic teaching of salvation by works.

Merill C. Tenney wrote of Galatians: “Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect, and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had it never been written. Galatians embodies the germinal teaching on Christian freedom which separated Christianity from Judaism, and which launched it upon a career of missionary conquest. It was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation, because it’s teaching of salvation by grace alone became the dominant theme of the preaching of the Reformers.”

(MacArthur commentary – Introduction)

 

So obviously this is a vitally important letter to your theology.

 

In this letter Paul defends that salvation is in fact by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

 

And he sets out to squash all forms of legalism which would persuade men to try and earn the salvation that Christ alone can provide.

 

So tonight let’s begin looking at the text.

 

There are 4 points I want you to see. (2 tonight)

#1 THE SOURCE OF PAUL’S MESSAGE

Galatians 1:1-2

 

Now ordinarily when you read one of Paul’s letters

It really starts off somewhat softly.

 

He will remind that he is an apostle and then mention something

About how he thanks God for them.

 

But this letter is way different.

Paul is preaching from the very beginning.

 

See one of the tactics of the Judaizers was to debunk the gospel by debunking the man who preached it.

 

Their attack was just as much personal as it was theological.

If they could shoot holes in Paul, they could shoot holes in his gospel.

 

We saw the same thing with the Corinthians.

They accused Paul of being boring and meek and timid

2 Corinthians 10:10 “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

 

Or even as we read this morning:

2 Corinthians 13:3 “since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.”

 

And the same sort of thing was happening in the Galatian region.

So Paul sets out from the beginning to squash such rumors

In order to defend the gospel that he is preaching.

 

He first reminds that he is “an apostle”

 

The word simply means “sent one” but as far as the New Testament is concerned it carries much more weight and authority.

 

• An apostle was one who was an eye witness of the resurrected Jesus and one with special authority from God to proclaim truth.

 

John 20:21-23 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

 

And that is not to say that the apostles had authority to forgive sins.

That authority is God’s alone.

 

Rather the apostles now had authority to declare

Whether or not a person had in fact been forgiven.

 

We have that authority through the New Testament,

They had it inherent from the Holy Spirit.

 

• Furthermore, these men were the instruments the Holy Spirit used to inspire the Scriptures.

 

Their preaching was accompanied with miraculous validity

And their words were authoritative.

Hebrews 2:3-4 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

 

2 Corinthians 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”

 

1 Thessalonians 2:6 “nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.”

 

So apostles held a special place in the transition of the church.

They are the men who wrote the New Testament.

 

And because the New Testament wasn’t available yet,

God allowed these men to stand upon their own authority,

And gave credibility to that authority by granting that signs and wonders

Be done through them.

 

And that is the first point Paul makes.

 

You may be doubting me and listening to them, but you need to remember that I am “an apostle”

 

And that is not all.

“not sent from men nor through the agency of man”

 

Whereas the Judaizers had been sent by the Pharisees and the Jewish traditionalists, Paul was not sent by any of them.

 

• No man told him to preach the gospel,

• No man trained him to preach the gospel.

• He didn’t learn this in a seminary,

• He didn’t learn this in Sunday school

 

Paul learned this directly from Christ.

 

“but through Jesus Christ and God the Father”

 

He will expound on that a little more later,

But you remember that no man pulled Paul aside and told him about Jesus.

 

Jesus Himself confronted Paul and taught him the truth.

Paul was handpicked and directly trained by Christ Himself.

 

This certainly gives Paul a level of priority over the Judaizers.

 

Namely because the One who taught Paul

Has more power than the one who taught them.

 

Paul learned from “God the Father, who raised Him from the dead”

 

Paul’s instructor has power.

And so did Paul’s message.

 

And so regardless of what the Judaizers had told the Galatians

It was Paul who was actually speaking God’s message

About God’s Savior with God’s power.

 

And that was not all.

Paul also said, “and all the brethren who are with me”

 

In other words, Paul’s message was the adopted message of the church.

 

Paul was not the radical, the Judaizers were the radical.

Paul’s message was the message of God and the message of the church.

 

Today we get some radical folks who branch off

And preach thoughts from their own imaginations.

 

And certainly in regard to that we study the Scriptures to find the truth.

 

But we also remember church history and remember what

The official doctrine of the church has always been.

 

The church throughout the ages has already determined the orthodox view on the trinity – One God in three persons

 

The church throughout the ages has already determined the orthodox view on Christ – Both God and man

 

The church throughout the ages has already determined the orthodox view on salvation – by grace through faith

 

Any man who comes contrary to that

Has been and is today labeled a heretic.

 

And so Paul is saying, “Look, I am divinely commissioned and I am preaching the orthodox message of the church – not them”

 

And so I am writing “To the Churches of Galatia:”

 

That is a fiery way to start the letter.

Paul is letting it be known from the start

That he and not the Judaizers has the truth.

 

The Source of Paul’s message is God, not man

#2 THE SUBSTANCE OF PAUL’S MESSAGE

Galatians 1:3-5

 

Again it is hard to miss Paul’s passion because by the third verse of this letter he is already getting to the point.

 

There are no frills, there is no sentimentality, there is no small talk

 

Immediately after listing his credentials

Paul states as plainly as he knows how what this letter is about.

 

These three verses could be called “Galatians in a nutshell”

 

And in these verses there are three things Paul wants

1) RECEIVE GRACE (3)

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,”

 

This is far from some sentimental statement.

This is precisely what Paul wants for the Galatians.

 

He wants them to receive grace and peace

And he knows that Christ is the only means of achieving that.

 

The opposite of grace is obviously works.

And Paul doesn’t want them trying to earn their salvation.

 

He wants them understand that if you throw grace out,

There is no salvation.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

The simple gospel message is this:

• Man is sinful, unable to justify himself before God

• But God in His grace provided salvation for sinners through the sacrifice of His

holy Son

• And now God will freely apply the righteousness of Christ to any man who

places his faith in Christ.

 

If you lose that, you lose salvation.

Romans 3:20 “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

 

And so throughout this letter Paul will be pushing grace, preaching grace, defending grace, offering grace.

 

And the reason is that with grace comes “peace”

 

And when we mention “peace” we aren’t talking about inner tranquility.

We are talking about the absence of war.

 

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

 

By God’s grace our sin is forgiven and we get peace with God.

Apart from grace our sin remains and we are God’s enemies,

Under His wrath, doomed for destruction.

 

So grace is a big deal.

And he hits that point right off the bat.

I want you to receive grace and get peace.

 

Receive Grace

2) REMEMBER CHRIST (4)

 

“Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

See the Judaizers would come in preaching circumcision and Law.

“You have to be circumcised to be saved”

 

That brings up then a very important question.

If you have to be circumcised to be saved, then what did Christ do?

 

And the answer at the very least has to be, “NOT ENOUGH”

 

So Jesus died, so Jesus rose, so Jesus ascended,

But if you still have to do something to be saved,

Then obviously His work was only partial.

 

His work must have been incomplete.

His work must have been insufficient.

 

• And so without realizing it, those who promote legalism of any kind in reality do the greatest disservice to the work of Christ.

 

• Those who require any work of the flesh to secure salvation, in effect, belittle the work of Christ to just another insufficient gesture.

 

But you and I know Christ is much more than that.

He “gave Himself for our sins”

 

He was holy, He was sinless, He was perfect

But He died to pay the penalty of sin He did not commit.

 

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

That is what Christ did.

 

He “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age,”

 

Christ came and died to free us from sin and rescue us from destruction.

 

And if that is not enough, then understand that He did this

“according to the will of our God and Father”

 

That means that Jesus was and is God’s plan of salvation.

 

When God determined to save sinners, His number one plan,

His only plan was Christ.

 

And some people fail to understand this.

• Some people think God’s first plan was to put man into a perfect garden, but

that failed.

• They think His next plan was to send the Law in order to direct men toward

righteousness, which also failed.

• And so His third plan was to send His Son to die in their stead so they could

be saved.

 

But that isn’t true.

Christ was always the plan.

Christ was the only plan.

 

Ephesians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

 

Salvation through Christ was settled before the foundation of the world.

 

• The garden was not a means of salvation, the garden revealed the destruction

of sin.

• The Law was not a means of salvation, the Law revealed how sinful man really

was.

 

Christ has always been God’s plan of salvation.

 

And Paul wants the Galatians to realize that.

Don’t go after another salvation, don’t listen to another plan.

Don’t add to Christ and don’t take away from what He did.

 

• He is the One who paid your debt

• He is the plan of God

• He is the One who offers grace and supplies peace

Remember Him?

 

Do not disregard the work of Jesus – Remember Christ

 

Receive Grace, Remember Christ

3) GLORIFY GOD (5)

 

“according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”

 

And this is another major issue.

 

If man does something to cause himself to be saved, then who gets the credit for that? (man does)

 

Which is why legalism is so attractive to people.

 

Humanity naturally flows toward legalism, because in legalism I can do something to get saved and then get all the credit for it.

 

And I can look down on you for not being what I am (i.e. Pharisees)

 

That kind of salvation is not only false,

But it is detestable because it steals God’s glory from Him.

 

And Paul says, that is the last thing I want.

I want the real gospel with the real savior

So the glory can really go where it is supposed to.

 

This was the battle cry of the reformation.

As Calvin and Zwingly and Luther and those like them waged war against the legalistic machine of the Catholic church.

 

The reformation was described by Steve Lawson like this:

Draw a small building with a foundation, three pillars, and a roof.

 

On the FOUNDATION write SOLA SCRIPTURA it is Latin for “Scripture Alone”

 

• Those men had no use for the Pope’s edicts or his supposed papal authority.

• They did not need the church’s traditions or legalistic codes.

• They were not interested in their unbiblical assumptions and beliefs

 

They only wanted Scripture as the sole authority

For what they believed and for what was true.

 

SOLA SCRIPTURA was the foundation.

 

On that foundation stood THREE PILLARS.

SOLA GRATIA which means “Grace Alone”

 

They studied the Scriptures and believed that works could not save.

The only way man could be saved is if God offered grace.

 

The next foundation was SOLA FIDE – “Faith Alone”

 

Man had to respond to God’s grace

And the only response God accepted was faith.

 

And the third pillar was SOLUS CHRISTUS – “In Christ Alone”

 

And they held that salvation could be achieved no other way but through the redemption of Jesus Christ.

 

So the foundation of the reformation was Scripture Alone

The three pillars of the reformation were Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone

 

And that then led to the ROOF of their structure.

SOLI DEO GLORIA – “For the glory of God alone”

 

That when we study the Scriptures

And we see how salvation really occurs,

There is but one person who gets the glory, and it is God.

 

• It is He who calls sinners

• It is He who justifies sinners

• It is He who sanctifies sinners

• It is He who glorifies sinners

 

And when a sinner is saved, it is not possible to give glory to the sinner,

Or even the person who preached to him.

 

The glory is God’s and God’s alone

 

That basic structure was the framework of the Great Reformation,

 

And the BLUEPRINT for that structure

Came from right here in the book of Galatians.

 

So Bildad, “How can a man be just with God?”

 

By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone

 

That is Galatians in a nutshell

 

By Grace (part 1)

Genesis 11:10 – 12:2 (12:1-3)

February 16, 2014

 

I told you last week that we were

Entering a new section in the book of Genesis.

And as we enter this section we are also introduced to a new character.

 

We started with Adam,

With Adam we learned about the destructive reality of sin.

 

From there we moved on to Noah,

With Noah we learned about the inevitable wrath that follows sin.

 

Well now we move on to the man named Abraham.

Now most people will quickly ASSUME that when we talk about Abraham

We are going to learn about faith.

 

Now in part that is true.

Abraham is often referred to as “The Father of Faith”

 

But Abraham’s mention in the book of Genesis

Is not just about faith, in reality it is about salvation.

 

We don’t just learn about faith from Abraham,

We learn about JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH from Abraham.

 

Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

 

Abraham’s life teaches us about salvation.

And of course faith is a vitally important part of that.

 

So you can easily see that up until now Moses has been

Laying a basic theological foundation for the children of Israel.

 

We’ve learned about SIN, we’ve learned about the CURSE, we’ve learned about JUDGMENT, we’ve learned about MERCY, and we’ve learned about GRACE.

 

Now it is time for Moses to carry you a little deeper.

Having laid a basic foundation of theology,

Now Moses is about to give you his soteriology (doctrine of salvation)

 

And this is so valuable to us because salvation has always been the same

 

There are those who assume that salvation somehow changed

From the Old Testament to the New Testament.

 

That you were saved one way in the Old Testament

And a different way in the New Testament.

 

That is not true.

Salvation has always occurred the same way.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

Today salvation is by grace through faith.

And that was true for Abraham and every other Old Testament person.

 

THE DIFFERENCE?

We look back to the sacrifice of Christ as atonement.

They looked forward to it.

 

What did Jesus say?

John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

 

Listen to the faith chapter:

Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”

 

The point being that salvation has not changed.

It has always been by grace through faith.

 

Well as we begin studying the life of Abraham

We will eventually get to the “through faith” part.

 

But for now we are studying the “by grace” part.

 

When we get to chapter 15 you will finally see

Abraham give the faith that is required for justification.

 

Until that point, there is only one way to describe Abraham’s life,

And that is GRACE.

 

It is the message of salvation, and it is worth understanding.

This is “The Gospel According to Moses”

 

He is carrying the children of Israel on a journey to the Promised Land,

And he is desperately trying to show them that

What God did for ABRAHAM is precisely what God is doing for them.

 

He’ll go on to show that what God did for ISAAC, JACOB, and JOSEPH, He will do for them.

 

And that reality passes throughout the generations, even to you.

 

Today we begin a study of salvation, and it all starts “BY GRACE”

 

There are three main points here, but we won’t get through them all

#1 THE PEDIGREE OF BLESSING

Genesis 11:10-32

(don’t read it all yet)

You will notice that verse 10 begins with the statement, “These are the records of the generations of Shem”

 

Why is that important?

Because we saw last week that God had chosen to bless Shem.

 

Remember the story?

• Noah planted a vineyard, Noah harvested grapes, Noah made wine, Noah got drunk, Noah uncovered himself inside his tent.

• When Ham saw it, instead of covering for his father, Ham exposed his father.

• It was Shem and Japheth who came in and covered their father.

• And when Noah awoke, he learned what Ham had done to him and Noah pronounced a curse on Ham.

• Noah then placed a blessing on Shem, and even provided that Japheth would share in Shem’s blessing.

 

Genesis 9:26 “He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

 

Noah blessed Shem, and that blessing proved to be prophetic.

God was blessing the line of Shem.

 

And that blessing is seen right away in Genesis 11

As we examine Shem’s line.

 

Let’s read it and see if you pick up on what I am talking about.

(READ 10-26)

 

Now this isn’t the first time we have seen a lineage spelled out.

But this one takes on a much different feel.

 

Remember the famous lineage of Genesis 5?

It was Adam to Noah, and do you remember how it read?

 

Genesis 5:5 “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.”

 

Genesis 5:8 “So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.”

 

And on and on and on “and he died”

That lineage focused on the curse.

 

But did you notice how this lineage is different?

(11) “Shem lived five hundred years”

(12) “Arpachshad lived thirty-five years”

(13) “Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years”

 

And on and on and on.

In fact the word “lived” is used 16 times in this chapter

 

See the lineage of chapter 5 was focusing on the curse, and so it continually mentioned death.

 

But the lineage of chapter 11 is focusing on the blessing, and so it continually mentions life.

 

The curse is no longer in view, we are talking about the blessing.

And so you see this blessed pedigree

All the way from Shem down to a man named Terah.

 

But lets take a look at this Terah and his sons

And see if we can deduce why God chose to bless them.

 

(READ 27-32)

 

Now you see where Shem’s line went.

 

It left the place of the ark, and eventually the descendants of Shem settled in the land of “Ur of the Chaldeans.”

 

And that is important.

Shem’s descendants were not faithful,

Shem’s descendants were PAGAN.

 

Joshua 24:2 “Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.”

 

You have to understand then that this Abraham that God is about to choose was NOT a righteous man.

 

He wasn’t even a good man, he was a pagan worshiper.

He gave the glory of the God of creation to a false man-made god

Who did not deserve it.

 

Terah and Abraham would have been

described like this in the New Testament:

Romans 1:20-23 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

 

That is precisely the type of men that Terah and Abram were.

• They ignored the testimony of creation.

• They did not honor God as God, nor did they give thanks.

• They were futile in their speculations and they exchanged the glory of God

for a manmade image.

 

THEY WERE PAGAN.

 

God DID NOT choose some man who was first choosing Him.

God DID NOT select some man who was first seeking Him.

 

God was choosing to bless a man

Who had offended Him in every possible way.

 

Abram was a pagan idol worshiper.

 

Abram was NOT what we would call a FAVORABLE CANDIDATE.

 

Now I’ll show you another thing about this Abram that God is about to choose.

Not only was he pagan, but he was BARREN

 

(30) “Sarai was barren; she had no child.”

 

Why is that significant?

Because it reminds you that God did not choose a person

Who might have succeeded on his own anyway.

 

God was about to choose a man and make a great nation out of him… One would think God would at least choose a man

Who was capable of reproducing.

 

That is not at all the type of person that God chose.

He chose a pagan worshiper

With no ability to accomplish this dream on his own.

 

Even later in Genesis, Abram will bring this problem up to God.

Genesis 15:2-3 “Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, ” Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”

 

So not only was Abraham not a favorable candidate,

He wasn’t even a QUALIFIED CANDIDATE.

 

I mean at the very least start with a man who is open to worshiping you and who has a lot of kids he can teach to do the same…

 

But that wasn’t Abraham.

 

So he was pagan, he was barren, and he had AMBITION

 

What do I mean?

(31) “Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.”

 

Now it may surprise you that entering Canaan was not Abram’s idea.

It was Terah’s idea.

 

Terah was the one who decided to make a move to Canaan.

• And so they traveled north along the Euphrates to a place called “Haran” (Syria)

• And the Scripture says they “settled there”

 

But that really doesn’t tell us a whole lot

Why did they move to Haran?

What were they looking for?

 

It certainly wasn’t God (they were pagan remember)

 

Chapter 12 yields some insight as to what they might have been seeking:

Genesis 12:5 “Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.”

 

So what exactly did Abram do while he was in Haran?

He was chasing the almighty dollar.

 

• He got rich.

• He accumulated possessions

• He bought slaves

• He acquired the world

 

Abram was the kind of man James warned about.

James 4:13-17 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

 

The point I am making is that Abram was NOT searching for God.

He was searching for gold.

 

And incidentally Abraham is not alone in this.

Romans 3:11 “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;”

 

No one is seeking for God, God is seeking for them.

• Consider the disciples – “You did not choose Me, but I chose You”

• Consider Paul – he wasn’t looking for Jesus

• And it is the same for all genuine salvation – God does it.

 

Abram was seeking the world, not God.

 

Does it surprise you to see what kind of man Abraham was?

• A pagan worshiper who had denied creation and worshiped false gods…

• A man incapable of reproducing…

• And yet a man consumed with the world, even owning slaves…

 

I know a good word to use to describe Abraham – DEPRAVITY

 

John Calvin actually referred to it in his doctrines of grace

As TOTAL DEPRAVITY

John MacArthur called it ABSOLUTE INABILITY

 

In other words, there was nothing in Abraham that was good,

And nothing Abraham could do to change that.

 

He was not a FAVORABLE candidate, he was not a PRIME candidate,

He wasn’t even a GOOD candidate.

 

So why exactly did God choose such a man?

GRACE

 

That is always why God chooses people.

• He purposely chooses the hard cases.

• He purposely chooses the vile, the weak, the sinful…

 

Because when He does His work in them,

It is all the more glorifying to Him.

 

Moses said it like this:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

 

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 16:1-14

There again we see God choosing the most unlikely candidate.

 

And incidentally this hasn’t changed.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

 

It’s amazing to hear people argue against God’s sovereign election.

I always wonder what they do with that passage.

I mean, apart from election, that passage doesn’t even make sense.

The whole point is that God chose those who

Weren’t smart enough or strong enough or noble enough to choose Him

And He did it to make a point.

Namely that He gets all the glory.

 

So Abram may not have been a prime candidate for glory,

But he was a prime candidate for grace.

 

• He was totally depraved

• He was absolutely unable to become what God envisioned on his own

• He was a pagan slave owner with a barren wife.

 

The only word for that is grace.

“By grace are you saved…”

 

The Pedigree of Blessing

#2 THE PROMISE OF BLESSING

Genesis 12:1-9

 

Oh please don’t miss that first line in chapter 12

“Now the LORD said to Abram…”

 

THAT IS HUGE!

• Abram wasn’t crying out to God, God was crying out to Abram

• Abram wasn’t choosing God, God was choosing Abram

 

And God was choosing him despite what he was.

The doctrines of grace would call this UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

 

That is to say that there was no reason for God to choose anyone He chose, except for grace.

 

And that was true for Abram

Joshua 24:2-3 “Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ‘Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.”

 

But that is also true for salvation today.

• Who here deserved to have God draw them to Himself?

• Who here deserved to be saved?

• Who here met the prerequisites of being called?

 

No one.

God chose you and God called you, despite who you were.

 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

Titus 3:4-7 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

 

God’s election is unconditional, it was for Abraham, it is for you.

God is demonstrating grace

 

But let’s look a little closer here to these 9 verses.

• This is in fact the moment when God began to cry out to Abraham.

• This is the moment when God began to reveal salvation to him

• This is when God began to make His will known

 

It merits looking at a little closer,

As it most definitely reveals what true salvation is.

 

1) THE REQUIREMENT (1)

 

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;”

 

God’s selection is in fact unconditional

There was no criteria that made Abram more appealing to God

 

But just because the offer of the blessing is unconditional,

That does not mean that receiving the blessing is unconditional.

 

Grace always comes with an expectation.

 

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

And the expectation for Abram is obvious.

“Go” (leave)

“from your country”

“from your relatives”

“from your father’s house”

 

Sound familiar?

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

 

Luke 9:61-62 “Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

Luke 14:25-26 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

 

Psalms 45:10-11 “Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.”

 

And we could go on.

Salvation hasn’t changed any

 

The call to follow God is a call to forsake the world.

It always has been, it always will be.

 

This is the requirement.

Blessing is there, but there is a cost to receive it.

 

We are on a journey for a better place,

But to get to the better place we must leave the old one behind.

 

Hebrews 11:14-16 “For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

 

That is what God was requiring of Abraham,

And that is what He still requires.

 

Abram had to leave and go “to the land which I will show you;”

 

So Abraham left without even knowing where he was going.

It was a place he had never seen.

 

Sounds like the narrow gate and the narrow road wouldn’t you say?

Leave it behind, and travel a road with poor visibility.

 

That was the requirement Abram faced.

 

God is gracious in that He calls unworthy sinners

Into a life of unmerited blessing.

But you must receive that blessing by doing what God asks.

 

How true this also was for the children of Israel.

• God had a land of promise waiting for them.

• God was leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey

• But they had to go there, they had to enter it, they had to take it

 

In fact, it was their refusal to do this that cost them the blessing.

They didn’t enter the land because of unbelief.

 

Abram is required to respond to God’s grace.

The Requirement

2) THE REALITY (2a)

 

“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;”

 

And that is great news.

God may be asking you to leave your life behind,

But don’t ever get the idea that He is stingy.

 

In fact it only appears like you are losing your life.

In reality, you are gaining it.

 

Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

 

God always rewards those who follow Him.

 

Perhaps the greatest illustration of this in the New Testament

Was the day when the Rich Young Ruler walked away.

 

He chose the world and rejected Jesus.

It got the disciples wondering of they had made the right choice.

And they point blank asked Jesus what His plans for them were.

 

Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

They asked a direct question and Jesus gave a direct answer.

And the point is that it is worth it.

 

God was asking Abram to leave, but He wasn’t stealing from Him.

God had something better in store.

 

And this was true for Israel.

God was asking them to leave Egypt (a life of slavery)

So that they could enter Canaan (a life of blessing)

 

How tragic that so much of the time the children of Israel

Wanted to return to Egypt.

 

AND THIS REALITY IS TRUE OF SALVATION FOR YOU.

 

You also were totally depraved, unworthy of salvation.

• A pagan who did not give God the glory He deserved.

• A man or woman incapable of fulfilling on your own all God planned for you.

• A person consumed with the world and indifferent to the things of God.

 

BUT…

 

God reached down into your life, chose you anyway,

And issued a call to you that you did not deserve.

 

Ephesians 2:1-9 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

The only requirement is that you respond to that call of grace,

Leave the world behind,

And receive the blessing that God has in store for you.

 

It is the grace of God’s salvation and it has never changed.

 

Jesus vs. Sin

Matthew 9:1-8

 

You are aware of the point in Matthew’s gospel.

Jesus is Messiah

 

And you are aware of Matthew is currently doing.

Matthew is revealing the power of Jesus.

• Power over sickness

• Power over fallen creation

• Power over Satan’s army

 

And the reason is because Matthew wants you to see a greater picture.

All of these things Jesus has defeated share one thing in common.

THE ARE ALL THE EFFECTS OF SIN

 

• Without sin there would be no sickness.

• Without sin there would be no unruly creation.

• Without sin there would be no demons.

(it was sin that caused Satan to fall)

 

And so Matthew is doing a very thorough job of detailing Jesus’ power,

And he is pointed about it.

 

Showing us that Jesus is the only One

Who can deal with a problem as big as sin.

 

And this morning Matthew gets straight to the point.

 

We see the miracle of Jesus healing the paralytic.

BUT PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT THE MAIN PURPOSE.

 

Jesus didn’t come to defeat sickness

Jesus came to defeat sin.

Defeating sickness was how He proved He could defeat sin.

 

Beyond that, Jesus wasn’t even looking to heal on this day.

 

Luke records, “The power of God was present to perform healing.”

But both Mark & Luke reveal it was a preaching service.

 

Mark 2:2 “And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.”

 

His miracles were for the present, His teaching is for eternity.

He was preaching to save sinners.

 

Jesus is now doing what He came to do. “SAVE SINNERS”

HE WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL!

 

This story is famous for Jesus healing a paralytic,

But that is not what this story is about.

THIS STORY IS ABOUT JESUS POWER TO FORGIVE SIN.

 

Forgiveness is indeed a hot commodity.

 

Anyone who understands God’s assessment of humanity

Understands the need for forgiveness.

 

Romans 3:10-18 “ as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

 

When looked on in that light,

Our need for healing doesn’t compare to our need for forgiveness.

 

No one will spend eternity in hell because they are sick.

They will spend eternity in hell because of sin.

 

There is nothing more needed in our lives than forgiveness.

 

But it’s not just those who know the truth who understand this.

 

Woody Allen, the adamant atheist was once asked,

“If there is a God, what would you most like to hear Him say?”

To which Allen responded, “You are forgiven”.

 

Even the wicked who claim God is a myth

Understand the need for humanity to be forgiven.

 

WHY DO THEY FEEL THAT WAY?

Because something inside them tells them they are in trouble.

 

Listen to what Paul said to the Romans.

Romans 2:14-15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”

 

Paul is talking about the conscience.

Every man has one

Every man has violated it

GUILT IS THE RESULT

And so even those without God’s Law know they need forgiveness.

In short, forgiveness is a universal need.

 

• And while we need a cure for cancer…

• And while we need a cure for AIDS…

• And while we need to make the world safer…

• And while we need to strengthen the economy…

All of those needs are dwarfed by our need for forgiveness.

 

This morning, we study the One who has the power to offer forgiveness.

 

As we look at this story, we will see four things

that will teach us both the author and power of forgiveness.

#1 THE PLEA FOR FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:1-2a

 

“Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city and they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.”

 

MATTHEW LEAVES PART OF THE STORY OUT.

 

Mark 2:1-4 “When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.”

 

One of the things that is becoming increasingly obvious

Is that we are dealing with needy people.

 

It was a crowd that pushed Him across the sea of Galilee earlier,

And as soon as He returns so does the crowd.

 

But that wasn’t all that came.

Luke 5:17 “One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.”

 

The religious big-wigs didn’t like all the attention He was getting

So they come to scout Him out.

 

And what we have here is a mass preaching service.

• Some want to condemn Him

• Some want to obey Him

• And everyone has all eyes on Him.

 

And that is when we get this paralyzed man showing up.

 

Now, I said this point was, “A Plea for forgiveness”.

Some would say, “That’s not why they came”

But you must understand the mindset of the day.

Even as far back as Job, it is obvious that

People equated suffering with sinfulness.

 

In short, they didn’t believe that the righteous could suffer.

 

In fact, one of the purposes behind the book of Job

Is to show that the righteous can indeed suffer.

You remember the grief Job’s friends gave him.

 

Eliphaz told Job

Job 4:7-8 “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? “According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it.”

 

Later he says:

Job 5:17-18 “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.”

 

It is obvious that Eliphaz thought that pain and wounds

Were a direct punishment for a person’s sin.

 

They did not comprehend that the righteous could suffer.

 

This mindset had carried into the New Testament.

 

John 9:1-2 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

 

Later, Jesus heals the blind man, and the Pharisees get angry,

because he won’t lie about Jesus. So they say:

 

John 9:34 “They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”

 

During Jesus day, it was common thought,

that if you had a sickness or a disease, you had a double problem.

SICKNESS & SIN

 

THIS MAN MAY HAVE BEEN LOOKING TO BE HEALED.

BUT EVERYONE KNEW,

THAT COULD ONLY HAPPEN WITH FORGIVENESS.

 

These men were crying out to Jesus for forgiveness and healing.

 

We look at their plea for forgiveness,

Such great faith that they cut a hole in the roof.

 

With that being said, let me remind you how forgiveness works.

 

1) Someone has to pay the price for the forgiveness.

 

FORGIVENESS IS NEVER FREE,

IT ALWAYS COSTS SOMEBODY SOMETHING.

If you aren’t forgiven, then you will pay the price yourself.

If you are forgiven, then the offended is paying the price.

 

(If someone breaks your window. ONE OF YOU WILL PAY FOR IT.)

Someone always must pay for forgiveness, it isn’t free.

 

Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’”

 

Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

 

Matthew 26:28 “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

 

YOU UNDERSTAND, FORGIVENESS ALWAYS COMES WITH A PRICE,

AND SOMEONE MUST PAY IT.

 

John MacArthur wrote,

“When Jesus spoke those words to the paralytic, He must have tasted the bitterness and agony of Calvary, knowing that the words could be effective only because He would take the man’s sins upon Himself. Every time He forgave sin He knew and anticipated the cost.”

(MacArthur, John: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 8-15; Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1987, pg. 52)

 

The first requirement of forgiveness

Is finding someone to pay the price

 

2) The sinner must come to the offended in repentance and faith

 

If someone throws a ball through your window, and they come to you and say,

“I’m not sorry, you had that coming.”

Would you be inclined to forgive them? NO.

 

THE REASON IS BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.

 

Well we know that Jesus is fully ready to forgive our sin,

But you must seek Him in true repentance, and faith.

 

Mark 1:4 “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

Acts 10:43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

 

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Forgiveness has requirements.

 

Those requirements are met here in the story of the paralytic.

They found the one who would pay the price.

They approached him in humility and faith.

 

Our plea for forgiveness is the same.

#2 THE PRESENTATION OF FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:2b

 

“seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

 

The humble approach in faith, and Jesus agrees to forgive.

If the story stopped here, it would be no less of a miracle.

 

This is the miracle of the story,

And the main purpose of why Jesus came to this earth.

 

HERE WITH THE PARALYTIC.

THE MOST IMPORTANT MIRACLE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED.

 

WE ALSO SEE THE RESULT OF BEING FORGIVEN.

 

Jesus says, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

 

There are two words for courage in the New Testament.

 

One is (TALMAO) – which refers to outward boldness.

 

This person is scared, but charges into the fear.

It is being afraid, and going through with it anyway.

 

That is not the word Jesus uses.

 

The second is (THARSEO). Courage that eliminates fear.

 

It represents the courage that eliminates fear,

Not the courage that perseveres through it.

 

Jesus doesn’t tell this man to be tough in the midst of danger.

He tells the man what you were afraid of is now gone.

Forgiveness wipes out our fear, because it wipes out our enemy.

 

1 John 4:15-18 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

 

When we truly receive the forgiveness of Jesus, that love casts out fear.

It doesn’t just give is the guts to endure, it takes away the enemy.

Now with nothing to be afraid of, we also have no fear.

 

However, a person without forgiveness,

Who hasn’t turned to God will very much live in fear.

 

Hebrews 10:26-27, 31

“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES…It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

 

And that is why Jesus told this man to “take courage”

 

No longer do you have to be afraid.

No longer do you have to dread.

 

I love that song “In Christ Alone” that we sing.

“No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life’s first cry to final breathe, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand. ‘Til He returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I’ll stand.”

 

Jesus performed the miracle on this man, and fear was gone!

 

First, the plea for forgiveness, second, the presentation of forgiveness.

#3 THE PROOF OF FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:3-7

 

This is one of the tragedies of our world.

Regardless of how wonderful Jesus is. There will always be skeptics.

 

As soon as Jesus says this, that little mob

Who came to accuse Him found what they were looking for.

“This fellow blasphemes”

 

Mark 2:7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

 

You see, they knew what an ordeal forgiveness was.

Furthermore it is yet another claim by Jesus that He is indeed God.

 

The theology of the Scribes was correct.

Only God could forgive sin.

 

It was the discernment of the Scribes that was lacking.

God was in front of them, and they couldn’t see Him.

 

They didn’t believe that the man had actually been forgiven.

Because they didn’t believe Jesus was God

 

AND SO JESUS SETS OUT TO PROVE HIS POWER.

(Not His power over paralysis, but His power over sin)

 

(4-5) “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?”

 

You answer that question, but make sure you answer the exact question.

 

Because if you say that it is easier to forgive sin

Than it is to heal a paralytic then you are wrong.

You and I would come much closer to healing a paralytic

Than we ever will to forgiving a sinner.

 

It took a word from Jesus to heal the sick.

It required the death of Jesus to forgive sin.

 

So forgiveness is much more difficult.

 

But Jesus didn’t ask which is more difficult.

Jesus asked which is easier “to say”

 

And the answer to that question is that

Anyone can say you are forgiven, because it is invisible.

 

(6-7) “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins – then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home.”

 

Jesus main miracle was forgiveness of sin,

The other miracles only served as validity.

 

John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

 

Jesus offered unmistakable proof that He had the power to forgive sin.

 

JESUS CAN FORGIVE

What that means for us, is that when we come to Jesus

In true repentance in faith,

Then we can be confident that our sins are indeed paid in full.

 

Colossians 2:13-14 “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

 

That is what Jesus meant on the cross when He said, “It is finished!”

 

And not only that, but based upon that sacrifice

He gave great authority to the apostles.

 

John 20:22-23 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

 

This didn’t mean they could forgive,

But rather that they could authoritatively offer forgiveness through Christ.

 

That is why Peter preached at Pentecost:

Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

 

Because of Jesus, forgiveness is real.

You really can be clean before God.

BECAUSE JESUS PAID THE PRICE FOR FORGIVENESS

 

First, the plea for forgiveness, The presentation of forgiveness,

The proof of forgiveness.

#4 THE PRAISE FOR FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:8

When the people saw this, the were “awestruck”.

And they began glorifying God.

 

We are told why they glorified God.

Because He “had given such authority to men.”

 

They worshiped because finally there was One

Who had the authority to forgive sin.

There was finally One who could fix our biggest problem.

 

If there ever was a reason to worship, this is it.

Psalm 32:1 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!”

 

Psalm 130:3-4 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”

Charles Spurgeon

1) He Forgave it All

2) He Forgave it Fully

3) He Forgave it Freely

4) He Forgave it For ever

 

FORGIVENESS IS THE BEST REASON TO WORSHIP GOD.

We couldn’t earn it,

We couldn’t afford it,

We didn’t deserve to receive it,

We could never live up to it,

BUT THANKS TO JESUS WE’LL NEVER BE WITHOUT IT.

 

THIS MORNING LET ME OFFER THIS FORGIVENESS TO YOU.

• Jesus came in the form of man and lived a perfectly sinless life.

• He then was crucified for sins He did not commit.

• And His blood became an acceptable offering to God on behalf of all who will trust in Christ.

 

If you will repent of your sin, and give your life to Jesus Christ,

He will forgive you of all your sin and make you clean before God.

 

THIS MORNING LET ME ALSO SAY.

If you have turned from your sin, and trusted in Christ,

There is no reason for you to live in fear or guilt any more.

Jesus really did settle it all, and there is nothing more you need done.

 

Keith Getty wrote a song called “The Power of the Cross”

(some have heard it, Peggy will sing it soon)

 

“Oh to see the dawn, of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary. Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then, nailed to a cross of wood.

This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.

“Oh to see the pain written on Your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin. Every bitter thought, every evil deed, crowning your blood-stained brow.

This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.

“Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath, quakes as its Maker bows His head; curtain torn into, dead are raised to life, “Finished!” the victory cry!

This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.

“Oh to see my name, written in the wounds, for through Your suffering I am free; death is crushed to death, life is mine to live, bought through your selfless love.

This the power of the cross, Son of God slain for us, what a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross.”

 

Colossians 2:13-14 “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

 

 

Jesus vs. The Army from Hell

Matthew 8:28-34

 

Again, at this point in our study,

You are aware of what Matthew is presently doing.

He is systematically showing us the power of Jesus.

 

We have seen His power over sickness.

He restored a leper

He healed a paralytic

He removed a fever

 

We have seen His power over nature.

He calmed the storm

 

And we know why He did all those things.

It was to show that He had the power to undo the effects of sin.

HE IS THE ONE WHO CAN REVERSE THE CURSE.

 

Well, this morning Matthew gives us yet another area

In which to display the power of Jesus.

 

This time Matthew reveals Jesus’ power over Satan.

WHY SATAN?

Because he is that usurper that we spoke of last week.

 

Last week we spoke of the perfect creation

And how it was cursed because of the sin of Adam.

Let us not forget that Adam had some help in his decision.

 

Genesis 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

 

Obviously we do not hold Adam innocent.

Adam made a bad choice, and one which has consequences upon us all.

 

Yet, in one sense Adam was a victim.

He was a victim of the work of Satan.

 

And so while Christ has proven He can undo the effects of sin,

You and I know that there is still a bigger problem.

For you see, when Satan tempted Adam,

It was he who stole the authority over creation.

Adam once had it, Satan stole it.

 

And now, Adam is not the one who rules this creation, Satan does.

 

2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him “the god of this world”

Ephesians 2:2 calls him “the prince of the power of the air”

Ephesians 6:12 refers to him as “the ruler”, “the power”, and “the force of darkness in this world”

 

He stole the right to rule this creation from Adam,

AND SO OBVIOUSLY SATAN MUST BE DEALT WITH.

 

AND HE WILL BE.

Even Genesis promised that One would come to deal with this usurper.

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

 

From the day Adam and Eve were punished God promised

That one day One was coming, the seed of Eve,

Who would crush the head of the serpent.

 

And so the world has been looking for that man.

 

Matthew wants you to know that He is Jesus.

Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

 

1 John 3:8 “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

 

And so, again, if Jesus is the Messiah,

Not only must He overcome the effects of sin on this world,

But He must also be the One capable of overcoming the usurper

Who helped introduce sin to us.

 

And that is why Matthew reveals that Jesus routinely cast out demons.

 

Now, while most are a footnote or a single statement,

Matthew chose to expound on this one.

 

And the reason is obvious.

 

You have read this story enough to know,

That while some call this man the Gadarene Demoniac,

Others call him by the name he gave which is “Legion”.

Mark 5:9 “And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

 

And to help you understand better.

A legion was a military term.

 

Matthew 26:53 “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

 

A legion comprised of 6,000 soldiers.

 

And so it is obvious why Matthew would choose this specific event.

 

This isn’t just Jesus vs. A Demon

This is JESUS VS. THE ARMY FROM HELL

If Jesus wins here, there is no doubt that He can handle Satan.

 

#1 THE REALITY

Matthew 8:28-29

 

“When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him…”

 

So it has been quite a couple of days here.

• Preached in the Synagogue

• Cast out a demon

• Healed Peter’s mother-in-law

• Conversed with two would-be followers

• Fell asleep in a boat

• Woke up and calmed the see

 

Now it is Sunday, and they have reached the other side.

 

And no sooner does Jesus get out of the boat than is He confronted.

 

Mark 5:2 “When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,”

 

While Mark and Luke only record 1 demon possessed man,

Matthew here says that there were two.

 

Mark and Luke obviously focused on the worst of the two,

But nothing they said indicates that there was only one there.

 

And so these two men meet Jesus instantly.

And let’s talk about the REALITY of this situation.

 

“two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.”

1) POSSESSION

“two men who were demon-possessed”

 

That is a little bit of a confusing term.

People seem to liken it as one having a demon inside of them.

 

But it is more than that.

A demon is a spirit and so it is not as though

They are hindered by the skin of a human.

(Satan could get “in” any of us, he certainly gets in our mind at times)

 

The idea here is not that these men have demons in them,

But rather that these men have demons controlling them.

 

• These men are under their authority.

• These men are under their command.

• The demons “possess” them in the sense of ownership

 

These men belong to these demons.

 

HOW DID THEY GET IN THIS PREDICAMENT?

Scripture doesn’t say.

 

We do know that there is a direct correlation between this and sin.

 

Ephesians 4:27 “and do not give the devil an opportunity.”

 

1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

 

The idea here is that Satan takes ownership,

Much in the same way that he did with Adam and Eve.

He trades for something you want.

 

And frequently we yield control of an area of our life to him

Because we will not part with something in it.

 

That is why the believer’s armor deals with these components:

Truth as a belt

Righteousness as a breastplate

Gospel of Peace as shoes

Faith as a shield

Salvation as a helmet

God’s word as a sword

 

The idea is that we protect ourselves from him

Through righteous and discerning living.

 

Now, we don’t know what these guys did, Scripture doesn’t tell us,

And notice that Jesus doesn’t even address it in their lives.

Jesus merely sees these men as victims of Satan

 

2) POSITION

“met Him as they were coming out of the tombs.”

 

These men were literally living in death.

 

Can you imagine a worse place to live than in the tombs of the dead?

 

This was a spiritual picture of the effects of Satan in a life.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;”

 

He certainly has done that here.

 

And really, Matthew doesn’t even give you the whole picture.

 

Luke 8:27 “And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs.”

 

Mark 5:5 “Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.”

 

This guy was in a horrible position.

He was a victim of Satan.

 

And so, in case you were unaware,

Let me just remind you that Satan has no good plans for you.

 

What he offers is sweet to the taste and death to the soul.

He is the type that would give liquor to an alcoholic

Sugar to a diabetic

Keys to a thief

And a gun to an angry man

 

He gives so that you will be destroyed.

And these men are a living illustration of that.

 

Possession, Position

3) POWER

“They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.”

 

Again, Matthew doesn’t tell you everything.

 

Mark 5:3-4 “and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.”

 

These men didn’t just hurt themselves, they wanted to hurt others as well.

And no human agent was able to bring them under control.

They couldn’t even bind him with a chain and subdue him.

 

And just for a moment let me remind you of the power of Satan.

 

We live in a world where Satan is mocked and taunted

And almost treated as a dork.

 

If you will remember Peter and Jude both said the only people

Who would mock and taunt and revile Satan or his demons

Are actually the arrogant false prophets.

 

2 Peter 2:10-11 “Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.”

 

Jude 8-9 “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

 

Even mighty angels don’t rebuke and revile the devil.

 

Yet we live in a day where this occurs.

 

And let me tell you why this is foolish.

Because none of those people have a clue who they are dealing with.

 

HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHO SATAN IS?

Ezekiel 28:14-16 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.”

 

Satan is a cherub.

It was cherubs who spread their wings over the mercy seat.

It was cherubs whom God put to guard the garden of eden.

It is cherubs who surround the throne of God.

 

CHERUBS ARE THE ELITE AND POWERFUL ANGELS.

AND SATAN IS A CHERUB.

 

Yes he is fallen, yes he is evil,

But being evil didn’t make him less powerful.

 

And even the holiest men in Scripture had trouble with him.

(He caused Job a considerable amount of trouble)

 

Let me give you some verses of example.

 

1 Thessalonians 2:18 “For we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, more than once — and yet Satan hindered us.”

 

(Or we could talk about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan”

Whom Paul could not deal with.)

 

Matthew 17:14-16 “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

 

Daniel 10:12-13 “Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”

 

Here we have the apostles, even Paul, and even an angel from heaven

Who had legitimate difficulty dealing with Satan and his angels.

 

False prophets certainly did.

Acts 19:13-16 “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

 

Beyond that, we know that demons are crafty with the power to deceive.

1 Timothy 4:1-3 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.”

 

And if all that is not enough, let these men here be an example.

No one could handle them.

 

In Scripture just one demon can wreak havoc on a human.

We see them causing all sorts of problems:

 

Matthew 12:22 – muteness & blindness

Mark 9:25 – Deafness

Luke 13:10-17 – bodily deformity

Mark 1:26 – Uncontrolled Fits

Luke 8:27-35 – Antisocial behavior

And obviously here – Insanity

 

And I don’t tell you that so that you will be in awe of the devil

But so that you will have an accurate understanding.

 

YOU DON’T WANT TO MESS WITH SATAN

AND YOU CERTAINLY DON’T WANT ANYTHING HE OFFERS

 

But there is one more thing here you should see.

4) PERCEPTION

(29) “And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

 

And obviously demons have perception.

 

Jesus has walked all over this area and performed numerous signs.

And yet no one has seemed to be able to tell who He was.

Not even the disciples in the boat who were afraid.

 

But it only took a matter of seconds

Before these demon-possessed men spotted Him.

They knew Him instantly.

 

Furthermore they know what many lost men today don’t recognize

Which is the day of judgment is already appointed.

 

In fact, their concern is not that Jesus is going to destroy them,

But that He might do it early.

 

“Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

 

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

And so here is the reality.

 

Two demon-possessed men who are terribly tormented and out of control,

But the demons victimizing them, recognize that their days are numbered.

 

The Reality

#2 THE REMOVAL

Matthew 8:30-32

 

Notice it is not a matter of “IF” Jesus casts them out,

But rather what He will do with them once they are removed.

 

These demons are so afraid of what He might do,

That they already start pleading for mercy in the sentence.

 

“Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

 

No one knows why these demons wanted to enter the pigs.

(But it certainly makes them appear desperate to a Jewish audience)

And Jesus allows it.

(32) “And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.”

 

So the demons enter the pigs, and the pigs rush to their death.

He really didn’t even have to tell these demons to go.

After they saw Him, He only had to let them leave.

 

AND DON’T LET THE DEATH OF THE PIGS BOTHER YOU.

THESE PIGS SERVE A GREAT PURPOSE.

They prove that these men were truly demon-possessed.

 

This was not a healing of a disease, this was a removal of demons.

Or else the pigs would have never been affected.

 

MAKE NO MISTAKE, JESUS DEFEATED THE ARMY FROM HELL.

 

DEMONS ARE NO MATCH FOR JESUS

 

Demons almost seem to have their way with humanity,

But we learn here that even an army of them is no match for Jesus.

 

One demon might throw your life into a tailspin,

But an entire army from hell can’t do a thing with Jesus.

 

In fact Jesus’ power over Satan is so strong,

Many assumed He was just their leader.

 

Matthew 12:24-29 “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? “If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”

 

You see, He is the One who can crush the head of the serpent.

He is the One who can not only undo the effects of sin,

But who can also put a stop to the liar who introduced it.

 

JESUS UNDID THE WORKS OF SATAN

Acts 10:38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

 

Jesus’ ministry could be described like this.

Jesus went around undoing the work of Satan!

Satan was no match for him.

 

Isn’t it becoming obvious that this man is the Messiah?

 

You would think all would run to Him.

But not all do.

 

In fact, let’s look at the third point.

#3 THE RESPONSE

Matthew 8:33-34

 

I don’t know about you,

But this seems to be one of the strangest things I have ever seen.

 

“the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.”

 

When I prepare sermons,

I begin with a piece of paper which only contains the text I am preaching.

 

But for verses 33-34 I only have one word written.

“WHY?”

 

Surely everyone in that town knew who He was,

And for the life of me I can’t figure out why they wanted Him to leave.

 

But honestly:

I CAN’T FIGURE OUT WHY PEOPLE REJECT HIM TODAY EITHER.

 

When we see who Jesus is, and what He desires for our lives,

I can’t figure out why instead of pleading with men to come,

We don’t have to tell people to wait their turn.

 

I am blown away with why people don’t just flock to Jesus.

 

THERE IS REALLY ONLY ONE EXPLANATION

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

 

The only conclusion I can come to is that these two men

Were not the only ones Satan was working on.

 

O sure these two men looked the worst.

Sure these two men left no doubt as to their need.

 

But it is obvious to me that the crowd on this day

Was every bit as deceived.

Only the difference is that the two tormented men left delivered,

And the others chose to remain in their sin.

 

What happened to this man with a legion?

 

Mark 5:18-19 “As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

 

The crazy, violent, naked, destructive man was saved.

Yet it was all the normal, sane, social people who remained lost.

 

Satan loves to afflict people like these two men,

But even more than that he likes to deceive people like this town.

 

And now, their only hope is the demoniac

Who will stay as an evangelist in that region.

 

THE POINT IS SIMPLE.

 

There is no doubt who Jesus is.

He is the Messiah.

 

• If you have never given your life to Jesus let me ask you, “Why?”

• If you have never publicly confessed Him, “Why?”

• If you have never obeyed in baptism, “Why?”

 

Because your rejection is just as baffling as the rejection of this town.

 

So this morning let me ask you to do what these would not.

 

Open your eyes to see that Jesus is the One who can save you

And instead of asking Him to leave,

Why don’t you ask to go with Him.

 

Surrender your life to Christ.

He is the Savior of the world.

 

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

 

Jesus vs. Nature

Matthew 8:23-27

 

As you know we are now in the middle of Matthew’s thesis

On the power of Jesus.

 

Matthew has done his research and is bringing a solid argument That Jesus is the Messiah as made evident by His power.

 

And having already tackled sickness and disease

Matthew now moves to chapter 2 in his thesis.

 

We might call this Jesus vs. Nature

 

And before we get into this amazing story,

Let me first of all explain to you why this is such an important event.

 

It is vitally important that Jesus not only reverse the effects of disease,

But that He also reveal the power to reverse the effects of nature.

 

If Jesus can fix disease, but not nature,

Then He cannot be the redeemer,

For mankind is not all that needs redeeming.

 

Let me explain.

 

You know how the story began.

Genesis 1:26-31 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

 

And without getting into a whole different sermon on the creation story,

There are two main things that I want you to recognize in that passage.

 

1) Everything God created was good.

2) Everything God created was placed in subjection to man.

 

So God made it good and He gave it to man.

 

Creation began with perfection and the establishment of authority.

 

No animal dared cross Adam…

No wilderness dared starve him, or cause him to thirst…

No sun dared scorch him…

No dark dared frighten him…

No water dared drown him…

No wind even dared to mess up his hair…

 

Creation was perfect and Adam was in control.

Not because of his own authority but because of the authority

That the Creator of all things had bestowed upon him.

It was good and man was in charge.

 

But you know that it didn’t last for long.

 

Man fell in to sin

By reason of his rebellion against the command of God.

 

And because of this not only was man cursed, but so was creation.

 

Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

 

Because of the sin of man, not only was he cursed

So was the creation in which he dwelt.

 

Paul explains it this way:

Romans 8:19-22 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

 

Very simply put: SIN WRECKED THIS EARTH

 

Now environmentalists will tell you that it was Styrofoam

Or Hairspray

Or plastic water bottles

Or CO2 emissions

 

But Scripture is clear about what has caused the wreckage of this earth,

AND IT IS SIN.

 

Isaiah 24:19-20 “The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”

 

The sin of man wrecked this earth.

And that reveals to us an obvious problem.

It is a problem that is lamented by the writer of Hebrews.

 

Hebrews 2:5-8 “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”

 

You see the writer of Hebrews is tackling a perplexing issue.

It is this.

 

• God promised in Genesis 1 that man was in charge of creation.

• Furthermore David wrote in Psalm 8 (which he quotes) that God “appointed him over the works of your hands; You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

 

But the writer of Hebrews read Genesis 1 and Psalm 8

And then he looked out his window and said,

“But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”

 

He pointed out a glaring problem with the way things operate,

And that is that they are operating

Opposite of the way God intended them to operate.

 

CREATION ISN’T IN SUBJECTION TO MAN.

 

If you don’t believe me, sometime watch Animal Planet.

 

“I SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE”

And watch stories of people who get lost in remote areas, and in a matter of hours are on the brink of death from dehydration, hypothermia, or heat stroke.

 

“FATAL ATTRACTIONS”

About people who try to keep dangerous animals as pets, which eventually harm them. (Venomous snakes, or Tigers, or Lions, or a Buffalo, or Monkeys, one lady fed Bears)

 

And if those shows don’t convince you.

 

Just watch the news.

You may not have heard but in Japan

They are having a little trouble with creation.

They call it the worst devastation since the Atom bomb of WW2

 

The point being is that the creation that at one point

Would not have dared to cross Adam in any way

Now adamantly, ruthlessly, and continually seeks to kill him.

It is like the writer of Hebrews said,

“But we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”

 

But it is at this point that the writer of Hebrews

Interjects a little hope into the situation.

 

Hebrews 2:8-9 “YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”

For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”

 

We don’t see creation subjected to man, “But we do see Him”

 

WHO?

You know the writer of Hebrews refers to Jesus,

The One who has the power to restore things to its proper order.

 

• The One who has the power to put creation back in subjection to man.

• The One who has the ability to redeem creation from the usurper to which it was sold and put man back in authority.

 

“We do see Him”

 

You see, if Jesus healed every disease, but never dealt with nature,

There would still be a problem.

For creation (like man) also needed to be dealt with.

 

That is what makes a story like this so vitally important.

 

Before we can sign off and Jesus as the redeemer

We need to know if He can reverse all of sins effects, including creation.

And that is what we see here.

 

5 quick points.

#1 THE STORM

Matthew 8:23-24

 

The story picks up where we left off last week.

“When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.”

 

You remember the day.

• That morning in the synagogue He cast out a demon.

• That afternoon He healed Peter’s mother-in-law.

• That evening He healed all that the crowd brought to Him.

• When trying to leave He got cornered by two would be disciples.

• The Scribe who loved comfort

• The Disciple who wanted to collect his inheritance

 

By now it is dark, Jesus is tired, and they finally get in the boat.

It is probably also noteworthy to point out,

That even though Jesus was leaving He still wasn’t alone.

 

Mark 4:36 “Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.”

 

So Jesus only effectively got away from part of the crowd.

The part that had access to a boat went with Him.

 

So here it is late Saturday night or possibly even early Sunday morning

And Jesus and His disciples are in a boat crossing the sea.

 

(24) “And behold”(That word is used to speak of the suddenness of the storm)

 

“And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea”

 

John MacArthur writes about this:

“The sea of Galilee lies just over 600 feet below sea level, near the northern end of the Jordan River. Mt. Hermon rises 9,200 feet to the north, and the strong northerly winds often plummet down the upper Jordan valley with great force. When they meet the warmer air over the Galilee basin, the intensity is increased. Hitting the cliffs on the eastern shore, the winds swirl and twist, causing the waters beneath them to churn violently. The fact that they come quickly and with little warning makes the storms all the more dangerous and frightening.” (MacArthur Matthew commentary 8-15, pg. 33)

 

If I was a weather man I would expound on that a little for you.

But the point is due to the terrain surrounding this sea,

The wind was sudden and the wind was violent.

 

This was no small storm.

 

In fact, let me give you a little interesting tidbit.

 

“great storm” translates SEISMOS

It is where we get our word for seismograph.

 

Of the 14 times this word is used in the New Testament,

13 of those times it is translated “earthquake”.

 

Only hear is it called “a great storm”

 

Matthew’s literal words?

“there arose an earthquake on the sea”

 

That paints a visual for you doesn’t it?

Even more so now that we all know about Tsunamis

And the devastating force they bring.

 

This is no small storm.

Matthew called it a Tsunami.

 

We’ve watched the news in recent days about what just hit Japan,

Now imagine having been in a fishing boat just off the coast of Japan

When that thing hit.

And you have an idea what we are up against.

 

But just to help with the imagery.

 

Matthew goes on to say, “so that the boat was being covered with the waves;”

 

Marks says:

Mark 4:37 “And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.”

 

Again, this is a massive storm that these men are caught in.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like.

 

And then we come to the first truly puzzling statement of the text.

“but Jesus Himself was asleep.”

 

Now in one sense I can relate.

I sleep hard on Sunday night after preaching

(sometimes I even snore Carrie out of the bed)

 

SO JESUS IS TIRED

That alone (by the way) is a tremendous picture of His humanity.

Jesus was fully man, and He was tired.

 

However, even the sleepiest among us

Wonder how He could have slept through this.

 

It is not like this was a yacht.

There is no where Jesus could have been sleeping

That He wasn’t getting wet.

 

The boat was rocking…

The wind was howling…

The disciples were screaming…

Water was splashing Him…

And He is asleep.

 

The Storm

#2 THE SOLUTION

Matthew 8:25

 

And this isn’t hard for anyone to figure out.

 

No doubt at this point the disciples have tried all they know to do.

Remember that Peter, Andrew, James, & John were raised on this sea.

 

But as I said, this was no small storm.

 

And to make matters worse, Jesus is asleep.

 

Brings to mind a few Old Testament passages

From a few other saints who felt abandoned.

 

Psalms 44:22-23 “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.”

 

Isaiah 51:9 “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; Awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces, Who pierced the dragon?”

 

I don’t know if those passages came to their minds,

But we know they would have quoted them if they had.

 

For that is exactly what they do.

 

Despite any type of confidence they may have previously had,

They now all see the need for someone greater than themselves.

 

Don’t you love it when you see people come to the end of themselves?

We know that until we come to the end of ourselves

We never come to Jesus the way He desires.

 

So the disciples, having seen Jesus

Handle sickness and demons with no problem whatsoever,

Determine to let Him try His hand at tsunamis.

 

Their solution is to wake Jesus up.

(25) “And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”

 

It was no longer a possibility, it was about to be a reality.

We are dead men.

 

The Storm, The Solution

#3 THE SURPRISE

Matthew 8:26a

 

“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?”

 

Every time I read that, it just blows my mind all over again.

 

That is a puzzling statement!

“Why are you afraid..?”

 

This is one of those moments that I would really have liked

To have seen the expression on the disciples faces.

 

Remember, that they just woke Him up.

They are tired.

They are soaked.

They are terrified.

 

And presently the waves are still crashing.

The boat is still rocking.

They are all clinging to things in the boat to keep from being swept overboard.

 

We are still in the middle of the violence of a tsunami

In this little fishing boat.

 

And Jesus says, “Why are you afraid..?”

 

Does anyone in here not know the answer to that question?

 

I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEEN THE DISCIPLES FACES

 

You see the real question here is not what Jesus asked the disciples,

The real question is what every disciple would have wanted to ask Jesus.

 

Which was, “Why are You not afraid?”

 

Now before we go any farther.

I know we commonly read this story

And focus on the small or little faith of the disciples.

 

But I am going to suggest to you that their faith

Is not the whole point of the story.

 

Can we just for a moment see the enormity of Jesus’ faith?

 

You see what we have here is Jesus’ faith

In comparison to the disciple’s faith.

 

None of us here can for a moment question the size of the disciple’s faith.

They are in the boat.

They left their homes.

They are clinging to Jesus.

 

We know their faith is larger than ours.

Yet compared to Jesus their faith looks almost non-existent.

 

Sort of helps us understand when Jesus says,

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…”

 

It is obvious that Jesus has a faith

That is far beyond anything we have ever even contemplated.

 

Jesus has faith of such degree that until now

You or I may not have even realized how large faith could be.

 

Could faith indeed be so great that you could be in a fishing boat in the middle of a tsunami and not be the least bit concerned?

 

Can we agree that the faith of Jesus

Is unlike anything we have ever seen before?

 

Sure we can.

He has amazing faith.

 

Now, let me take you one step further.

 

DO YOU KNOW WHY JESUS FAITH IS SO MUCH GREATER THAN THAT OF THE DISCIPLES?

 

Is it because He’s been to heaven and seen it all?

No, faith has never been about sight.

Is it because He knows the future and they don’t?

No, the word of God tells us the future, but we still get afraid.

 

THE REASON HIS FAITH WAS SO MUCH GREATER THAN THE THEIRS:

 

He was the only One in the boat

Who had a proper understanding of who He was.

 

He was the only One there who truly knew who He was.

 

In essence He had the greatest conviction.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

The disciples faith was little

Because they did not yet know Him well enough.

 

Let me give you some more perspective.

 

Remember a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the day Jesus marveled?

 

Matthew 8:9-10 “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”

 

Jesus was saying, this man knows Me better than anyone in Israel.

The size of your faith is directly proportional to how well you know Jesus.

 

In my mind it sort of magnifies that statement by Paul in Philippians.

Philippians 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

 

I like how the NIV puts it.

“I want to know Christ”

 

Why wouldn’t you?

Knowing Jesus matters.

That is why the disciples were afraid, but Jesus was not.

 

They didn’t know Him very well and as a result they had “little faith”.

 

The Storm, The Solution, The Surprise

#4 THE SILENCE

Matthew 8:26b

 

“Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.”

 

When I started talking about a tsunami some immediately wonder

If a tsunami ever hit the shore of Galilee.

And the answer is “No”.

Jesus stopped it before it got there.

 

This is miracle power all the way.

This is Jesus doing what no man has been able to do

Since before the fall.

 

He commanded creation, and it listened.

Psalms 107:23-30 “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He guided them to their desired haven.”

 

And don’t miss Matthew’s point.

Here is a man who has the ability to undo the effects of sin on creation.

For a brief moment creation found its Master.

And it is an undeniable proof to us that Jesus is indeed the Redeemer.

Who else could undo sickness?

Who else could cast out a devil?

Who else could command the sea?

 

Which brings us to our final point.

#5 THE SHOCK

Matthew 8:27

 

“The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

 

You see, they didn’t know Him well enough yet.

They were still caught off guard.

 

And they ask, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

 

Do you want me to answer that one for you?

 

A GOD-MAN

 

• He must be the Savior of the world.

• He must be the Messiah of God.

• He must be the Redeemer of fallen creation.

 

And you see that takes us back

To where we started with the writer of Hebrews.

 

He said, “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to [man]. But we do see Him”

 

Right now creation is still in chaos.

Just like right now sickness and disease still run rampant.

 

But that doesn’t change the fact that we know the One

Who will one day put everything back in its proper place.

 

CHECK THE TIME

In fact: TURN TO: REVELATION 5:1-10

 

John saw the One who could redeem the earth back to God.

And if you keep reading that book.

You find that in chapter 6 Jesus starts the process.

 

READ: 6:1

And 7 seals give way to 7 trumpets.

And 7 trumpets give way to 7 bowls.

 

And at the conclusion of those judgments

The Lord returns to take back what is rightfully His.

 

And the usurper is overthrown.

 

Revelation 20:1-2 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;”

 

You and I know what that 1,000 years is.

It is the millennium.

It is the time when things are put back in their proper order.

 

Isaiah actually wrote about it.

Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.”They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.”

 

And friends, Jesus is the One who will accomplish that.

 

He is the One who can redeem this fallen creation back to God.

And He is the One who can redeem your fallen life back to God.

 

 

DO YOU KNOW HIM?

 

And if you do, is it possible that you could know Him more?

Could it be possible for your faith to be grown?

 

THEN THIS MORNING CRY OUT TO KNOW HIM MORE.

 

Pray.