Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8 beginning at verse 1. Matthew chapter 8 beginning at verse 1. Page 813 if you're using the Pew Bibles. Page 813 if you're using the Pew Bibles. Children are already dismissed. Bless the Lord God. Amen. God is good. They are so excited to go to their classes, hear the word of God, play, and do whatever else they do. But praise God for the children learning. That's amazing. That's a good thing. That is a good thing. The last time we were in Matthew's gospel, we had reached the end of his life changing, amazing sermon on the mount. And in that sermon, we were given a collection of the type of teaching Jesus did throughout Galilee and the surrounding regions in the early days of his ministry. As we now move into the period following that great sermon, we're presented with a collection of miracles that Jesus did to give evidence of his authority over various illnesses and diseases. When you read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, otherwise known as the Synoptic Gospels, you find that the miracles don't always follow the same chronological order. But don't get hung up on that, because the writers are more focused on the pattern of Jesus' ministry rather than the chronological order of Jesus' ministry. The pattern of Jesus's ministry is teaching, preaching, and miracles. Specifically, healings. And that pattern was announced at the end of Matthew chapter 4, where we're told that Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. In the Sermon on the Mount, we saw some of the best teaching and preaching known to man. Now immediately, immediately after that great sermon, we find Jesus performing some of the greatest acts of healings known to man. So I ask you to please follow along as I read Matthew chapter 8, verses 1 to 17. And once again, that's page 813, if you're using the Pew Bible. There the holy word of God says, When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them. When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said to him, I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes. And to another, come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion, Jesus said, go. Let it be done for you as you have believed. and the servant was healed at that very moment. And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirit with the word, and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. Please pray with me. Father, we seek your help this morning. We pray that these words would penetrate our hearts, Lord God, and that we would be changed by seeing the glory and majesty and power of Christ. Let us cling to him, the one who is able, the one who has authority and power over all diseases and illnesses. And Lord, I pray that wouldn't be the only reason why we are chasing hard after him. I pray that we would want him for who he is, for what he has done within us already. So as we read these words this morning, let us remember them, and let us love you and your son even more, and we can only do that by the power of your spirit. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Before Jesus ascended to the side of the mountain to give his sermon, We previously read in chapter four in verse 25 that great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Why were they following him? Well, As I mentioned, Jesus went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. They brought him all their sick. So that whether it was diseases or demons, he got rid of them. He cured them all. So of course, they followed him. And it shouldn't be a shock to us that many of them weren't following him because they wanted to be his lifelong disciples. Many of them just wanted to see something spectacular. Many of them just wanted their quick fix. Unfortunately, some of us sitting here are like that. Some of us don't really want that lifelong, dedicated, disciplined worship before the Lord. Some of us want our quick fix when our life isn't going right. And the same way Jesus wasn't shocked that some of them weren't following him for the right reason is the same way he's not shocked when we don't follow him for the right reason. As a matter of fact, John chapter two lets us know that Jesus knew all people and knows all people and needs no one to bear witness to him about man. For he himself knew what was in man. But here's the great thing. He still healed them all. and He is still kind to many of us even though He knows our heart and He knows our motives and yet He still answers some of our prayers and we look at Him as the compassionate, merciful, patient Savior and we should worship Him with our all because we see so much tolerance by our Savior It takes an incredible amount of tolerance and patience to heal those who you know are just using you and really don't want you just for you. And the patience, the patience is displayed because although many of them there didn't believe in him at that time, he knew there would come a time when they would believe in him. Whether it was Nicodemus, see John chapter three, and then look at the end after Jesus has given up his life to see what Nicodemus does, breaking ranks with the Pharisees, that took a lot. Think of Joseph, the Pharisee of Arimathea, who gave up his new burial ground, his fresh burial ground. He gave it, his plot, gave it up to Jesus, a Pharisee, a Pharisee. or the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after his resurrection. Many were there, many knew Jesus, many followed him but rejected him. But Jesus knew there would come a time when they would believe and he would put up with their foolishness for a time. Tolerance, patience, praise God. After Jesus's great sermon on the mount, the crowds still followed him. And as I said, it wasn't always because they wanted to be with him as their savior, but it was to get a quick fix, a miracle. Right? And so now he comes down from the mountain, and many are still there waiting to follow him. And many were like, what's next? We want to see more. Give us more miracles. And many wanted to be healed. Understandable. This guy is able to take away my sickness. Understandable. They wanted something. Right? Praise God. But what follows, instead of rejecting them because they weren't following him for the right reason, we get Three pleas for a miracle, three displays of Jesus's divine power, and three proofs that a miracle occurred. Plea number one, the leper. The leper. As soon as Jesus descended from the mountain, all of a sudden, this leper appears, kneels before him, and says, Lord, If you will, you can make me clean. In Mark's version, Mark says, and a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling, said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. And Mark brings forth the desperation of the man. He implored Jesus. He begged him earnestly. There was this eager desperation within him. Why the eager desperation? For thousands of years in Jerusalem and beyond, leprosy was one of the most miserable, one of the most feared diseases, and there was no medical treatment. Some forms of the skin disease would just eat away at the body. until the suffering victim would eventually die. Even up until the mid-20th century, in Jerusalem, there was an institution called the Hansen's House, because leprosy was also known as Hansen's disease. And they would put the lepers in this house and deem them as cursed by God. Where did that idea come from? That this disease was a curse directly from the hand of God. possible reason, number one, is Moses' sister Miriam. Moses' sister Miriam was cursed with leprosy directly from God because of her attitude against Moses. And even Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse 9, he wrote, remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt. And then there's Gehazi, Elisha's servant, cursed by God for his greed, for his deceit. And these things gave this belief that all, all who were suffering with leprosy was cursed by God. And it was the same mindset that prevailed in Israel in the days of Jesus. You have leprosy, you are cursed by God. So, If you were diagnosed as having leprosy, which covers a variety of skin ailments, you were immediately considered a social pariah. You were socially unacceptable. You were to be mocked and avoided. And according to Leviticus chapter 13, chapter 13 in verse 45, if someone was diagnosed with leprosy, they would have to wear torn clothes and let their hair hang. And they would have to cover their mouth as they made their way out of the city, yelling, unclean, unclean, so that everybody would just get out of the way and let them get outside of the camp. And they would have to remain there, isolated, for seven days. And the priest would come out to inspect, to make sure that the leprosy was gone. And if not, he would have to remain there seven more days. Exam after exam until they were deemed clean and then they were allowed to come back after, after some steps. We'll get into that in a minute. But what this leper did was totally against protocol. But here's what happened. He believed so much that Jesus was able to heal him that it didn't matter. And it wasn't a matter of, well, I'll be healed eventually. He needed to be healed right then. He could not leave Jesus's presence with the leprosy still there, because who knows what would have happened by breaking protocol. It was so different from what was supposed to be done that Matthew writes, and behold, a leper came. This doesn't happen. And I could imagine as this man is coming back looking like pale, torn clothing, this guy is a leper. I can imagine the crowds just splitting as this guy made his way to Jesus. He needed to be healed before any consequences could take place. So he knelt before Jesus in reverence, saying, Lord, as in master, if you will, you can make me clean. You can do what nobody else can do. You can purge and purify me from this disease. The text says Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean. Anybody and everybody else in that day would have shrunk back, understandably. But Jesus stretched towards him and touched him. When Jesus said, I will, literally, it means to be gladly inclined towards something. It wasn't like, OK, all right, here we go again. You just want healing. OK, there you go. No, he wanted to do this with a glad heart. That's my savior. He wanted to touch this man who was suffering. It was like, yes, I will. From a heart of compassion, Jesus was glad to free this man from this illness. Plea number two, the centurion. We'll get back to the leper. I know some of you were beginning to like this leper. His faith, his willingness to break protocol because he knew he was going to be healed, but we're going to get back to him. For now, plea number two, the centurion. One thing to note here is that although Matthew was written to Jews, he includes this small yet very significant story of a Gentile's great faith. Not only does Jesus commend the Gentile's great faith, but he shames the Jews while doing it. Listen close to the centurion's plea. Verses five and six. When he, Jesus, had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. The love this centurion had for his servant is astronomical. I don't think we understand it. No Roman citizen did that. You don't go to a Jew asking for help, let alone a centurion. A man of authority seeking help from a Jew? Nah, that's not happening. But it appears as if this centurion was waiting for Jesus to get to Capernaum. Jesus had crowds following him from behind, and he had crowds waiting for him ahead. But the first one we see getting to him is a Roman centurion, and not for himself, but for his servant. After his plea, in verse 7, the omni-compassionate Savior said, I will come and heal him. That's my Savior. I don't know about you, but that's why I love him. What compassion. Are you kidding me? I have a mission, but I'm going to come to your house. Because I know you love your servant. And I know your servant is suffering terribly, so I'm coming. But listen to what the centurion says, and this is mind-blowing. He said, verses 8 and 9, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it." Do you understand the depth of this man's theology? I'm wondering, how does this Gentile know what he knows about Jesus' authority? Jesus was so amazed at this, that in verse 10 he said, truly, I tell you with no one in Israel have I found such faith. John the Baptist, the disciples, and anyone else who may have claimed, oh I believe, he's including all of them, and he says none of them has the faith of this Gentile. D.A. Carson explains the centurions thinking like this. He wrote, the centurion understood that all authority belonged to the emperor and was delegated. Therefore, because he himself was under the emperor's authority, when he spoke, he spoke with the emperor's authority. And so his command was obeyed. Likewise, because Jesus was under God's authority, When Jesus spoke, he spoke with God's authority. To defy Jesus was to defy God. The centurion believed deeply that Jesus' word was vested with God's authority, and that authority would be able to heal his servant's sickness. Amen and amen. The centurion showed an incredible amount of faith. But here's the thing. even though he showed an incredible amount of faith, if the object of his faith wasn't Jesus, his servant would have remained paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. Let me say that in a different way. If you're praying for someone you love, who's more sick than they have ever been, and you're praying for their healing with an incredible amount of faith, But your faith is in the wrong Jesus. Even a Jesus that the culture invented. Your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. God isn't even hearing you. More importantly, you can have an enormous amount of faith that you're going to see Jesus in heaven one day. But if your great faith is in a Jesus that's not the Jesus of the Bible, you're going to end up in hell. you're going to end up in hell. But here's the good news. If your faith is as a small seed, let's say a mustard seed, You can move mountains. You can move mountains. More importantly, you will see Jesus in glory for all eternity because he completed the perfect work on the cross to accomplish your salvation. It's nothing you did. That's the Jesus of the Bible. Plea number three, the disciples. In Matthew's Gospel, we don't see the plea to heal Peter's mother-in-law. However, In Mark and Luke's gospel, we do. After entering Simon Peter's house, Mark 1.29 informs us that immediately, immediately they told him about her. And in Luke chapter 4, verse 38, Luke says they appealed to him on her behalf. Also, according to Mark and Luke, it wasn't just a little fever. You know, the ones that our children get when they don't want to go to school? No, no, it wasn't like that. They say it was a high fever. A high fever. Meaning she could not get up. She was confined to the bed, the scriptures tell us. So what did Jesus do? Mark 131. He came, took her by the hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her. Luke 439. He rebuked the fever, and it left her. In all three instances, first the leper, then the centurion's sick servant, and finally Peter's mother-in-law, we heard the plea from the people, then we saw the healing power of the Messiah. And there was no gradual healing. So the naysayers could say, oh, they were going to be healed eventually. No. These were instantaneous displays of Jesus' power over the natural, physical realm. With Peter's mother-in-law, immediately she rose and began to serve them, Luke 4.39. With the centurion's servant, Matthew 8.13 says, the servant was healed at that very moment. And with the leper, Matthew 8.3 declares immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Now, let's go back to the leper. In verse 3 of Matthew 8, we read Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. In Leviticus 5, the law says, if anyone. anyone touches human uncleanness of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean and it is hidden from him when he comes to know it and realizes his guilt when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed a female from the flock a lamb or a goat for a sin offering And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. The law says if anyone touches human uncleanness of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean, it is a sin. Jesus touched an unclean leper. The question that some have asked, did Jesus commit sin by touching this unclean leper? And the answer is obviously, of course not. The purpose of the law was to quarantine an unclean person to avoid the risk of infecting others. Since Jesus was in no risk of being infected because he is God, he was not breaking the law. On the contrary, by Jesus touching and healing the leper, the healing power of the Messiah was on display right before their very eyes. Jesus could have spoken a word, be clean, and the leper would have been cleaned. Jesus could have waved his arm or his hand and say, be clean. And the leper would have been cured. Instead, he touched him. And instead of the leprosy spreading by Jesus's touch, Jesus revealed the power and glory of God that was working in him, proving that he was the promised Messiah. And I want you to let the process of this leper's healing go through your mind as if you were there. You know this man had leprosy. You passed by him on the way out of the city and now you're watching him have his hair restored and the parts that went white are coming back to its normal color. You're seeing his skin get its tone back. and all the sores that may have permeated his body are being cured. How is this not the Messiah that I have learned about all my life? How is this not the one who's my conquering king? I need to follow him, but instead their hearts, many of their hearts were more hardened, more hardened. Jesus presented before them proof that a divine miracle occurred. So thus far, we've heard the plea, we've seen the power, now let's discuss the proof. According to the law, once again, but this time from Leviticus 14, once someone was cleansed from leprosy, they had to bring an offering to the priest as proof that they were healed. They had to present to the priest two live, clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. The priest would command them to kill one of the birds in a clay pot over fresh water. He was also to take the live bird with all of these things, the cedarwood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. The priest would then sprinkle the blood seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he would pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field. And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water and he shall be clean. And after that, he may come back. He may come back into the camp. Before the leper was allowed to come back into society, there had to be proof. Once the leper proved to the priest that his leprosy was gone, the priest had to prove to the population that the leprosy was gone. How? By pronouncing him clean and letting the living bird go into the open field according to the Word of God. Jesus gave proof to the population that he was the promised Messiah. How? by answering the three pleas miraculously which attest to the power of God working through him. Afterwards, after these things, even more people who suffered with demonic oppression were brought to him. For those whose heart was opened, they came among those who came just for a miracle. many people came, many people followed, those who had sicknesses, those who knew people with diseases, they came in flocks, this man is great, somebody great, we have never seen this before, and they just kept coming and kept coming to the Lord. Verse 16 of Matthew 8, that evening They brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick." At this point in Matthew's gospel, he does what Mark and Luke didn't do in their gospels. Connect Jesus to the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. At the end of verse 17, he quotes Isaiah 53 and verse 4. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. However, if you look at Isaiah 53 verse 4 in your translation of the Bible, it will say something like, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. And there's a slight difference, but not much. illnesses cause griefs and diseases bring sorrow Isaiah 53 verses 4 and 5 in context says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. six times, six times in those two verses, we're told that believers will receive eternal benefits through Jesus's death on the cross. Now, why? Why does Matthew not? We read scripture and on Thursday nights, if you're not coming out, I ask you to come out because we're learning how to interpret scripture. We're learning how to study the Bible. We're learning how to take these things that we observe and how to interpret them and then how to imply them to our lives. So we ask questions like, what's happening and why? How do I apply this to my life? I see great things, and it's not just like reading the newspaper. We go from story to story to story, and then we keep it moving, waiting for the next news. We put the television on for more news. This right here is life transforming news from scripture, the mind of God. The question to ask here is why does Matthew attach three powerful acts of physical healing to a passage about the suffering servant whose death would bring eternal healing, aka eternal life? I believe the Spirit of God is leading Matthew to reveal the fact that Jesus' power to heal all physical illnesses points to his greater ability to heal all spiritual illnesses, even spiritual death. Isaiah 53 verses 4 and 5 is a small portion of one of the suffering servant passages, but it's the most explicit reference to the substitutionary atonement of Christ. By Matthew relating Jesus to this text, he's revealing two things, at least two things. Number one, Jesus is more than just a physical healer. He's more than just a physical healer. He heals the outside, but more importantly, he heals the inside, the inside. And number two, Jesus doesn't have to inspect people to ensure that they're clean like the priest did. He makes them clean. He makes them clean because he is the promised Messiah, the healing Messiah who was pierced for our transgressions. The one who was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. Peace that we never knew. Peace between us and God. We were so wicked. The wrath of God could have destroyed us at any moment and he would have been just to do it. But because of Christ, we now have peace, reconciliation with the almighty ruler of the world. If you don't know him, I pray you seek him. I pray you will plead out to him that you may have this peace. You know in your heart you're living in sin. You know in your heart there's some accountability that's going to take place. You know nobody gets away with doing wrong for long. You may get away in this life for a little while. Sometimes it catches up to you. Sometimes it doesn't. But God knows all things and you know that. You know that. is the one whose wounds healed us. Wounds speaking of his death on the cross, shedding of the blood, taking the penalty that we deserved. Throughout the Gospels, some of you have picked this up, but throughout the Gospels, physical sickness is often used as an illustration of spiritual illness, spiritual sickness. Everyone born into this world is born spiritually sick. Everyone walking the streets is literally dying because of sin. It's no coincidence that Matthew used three people who in those days were considered to be as good as dead. For the leper, many believed it was only a matter of time before he perished. The paralyzed servant was basically on his deathbed just waiting to die. Peter's mother-in-law was suffering with a high flu. Before antibiotics and aspirin, more people died from a high fever than from any other single cause. Apart from Christ, we are all members of the walking dead, and there is no human remedy to save us. This is why Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 and 2 tell us, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. or walked. Then verses 4 and 5 of Ephesians 2 says, but God, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. Jesus' power to eternally heal everyone, everyone whose plea from the cross of their heart is Lord save me Give me the power to repent, that I may follow you, that I may leave an example to the world that you have the power to take a liar, an abuser, a thief, someone who is covetous, someone who's violent, and give them the nature of Christ. And Christ came and he displayed your nature, your nature. That's what I want, Lord. That's what I want. God is so good. I want you to take the heart, the fact that apart from Christ, there is no life. There is no life. Apart from Christ, we cannot turn to please God. We cannot turn enough to please God. That is not happening. And I want you to remember the leper. Remember the leper was to remain unclean as long as he had the disease. We have the disease born with a spiritual sickness that unless the Lord says a word or touches us we will remain spiritually sick until we die and end up in hell. Please don't leave here if you know you are on the way to hell and you know it. You know it. With one touch immediately Jesus made him clean. There were no works involved. Immediately, the touch came from Jesus, and this man was cleansed, healed, made right before the priests to come back into society. With one word, we are cleansed, made right, justified before the God of all the earth. Let that sink in. That's incredible! Think about the centurion. In Judaism, Gentiles were considered dogs. But this Roman centurion pleaded with Jesus to heal his servant. And with one word, Jesus healed his servant. Paralysis gone. No works. He couldn't do any works. Remember the illnesses often reflect, the physical illnesses often reflect the spiritual realities. That man could do nothing but lying in his bed suffering terribly. We can do nothing to warrant the cleansing we need for eternal life. And I also want you to keep in mind that in Israel in those days, women were less than, considered property. But with one touch from Jesus's hand to hers, Peter's mother-in-law's fever left, and she rose and began serving Jesus and the people of God. She didn't do that before. She could not get out of the bed, but Jesus gave her life. to resurrect her from her sickness, her illness. And what did she do? She began serving Jesus and the people of God. In your fleshly nature, you don't want to do that. But when Jesus gives you life, you want to serve him and the people of God. You don't want to just come in here and then leave and go back out into the world. No. You have been touched by Jesus. You want to serve Him and the people of God. For the unbelievers here today, for the unbelievers who may see this online, you were born with spiritual leprosy within, as we all were. But you will remain unclean until you kneel before the only one who can heal you. So to whom must you run? You know. To whom must you turn? You know. For Lord Jesus Christ, I implore you, make your plea to him today. The healing power and grace of the Savior is able to cleanse you immediately. And the proof that you are spiritually healed will be your newfound hatred for sin. And your newfound hatred for sin will be due to your newfound love for Christ. Your newfound love for Christ will produce this transformation that you can't do on your own. None of us did it on our own. Those who know Christ did it because He worked in our hearts to bring life. He took away the spiritual blindness so we can see Him. And when we see Him, we love Him. When we see Him, we recognize we need to repent. Our newfound love for Christ has to bring a change. It has to. It has to let us all continually confess our sins and receive healing for our soul. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. Your word transforms sharper than any two edges sword. I praise you today. Lord God, I know that you are able to save at a moment. And I know we will not seek you unless you do a work in us. But I also know that we will be held accountable. Lord God, these things are above my pay grade to try to understand and figure everything out. But I thank you, Lord God, that you have given us enough. We don't need more information. We have enough information. We know you are righteous, we know we're unrighteous, and we know Jesus bridges the gap. Jesus makes us right. And we may come before you humbly, crying out, Lord, give me life. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen.