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[0:00] Good morning, friends. For those of you I've not met, my name is Dave. And it is my joy to come back and bring us back into the book of Matthew.

[0:17] This year we've been walking through the book of Matthew. Wow, they're happy over there. But we, at the end of July, finished the Sermon on the Mount, and I was really sad to leave it.

[0:34] But then in the month of August, I think we had this moment in the life of our church where people shared some of the very hard things that the Lord has brought them through.

[0:46] And we preached a series of sermons on what it looks like to grieve as Christians. I was really blessed being able to prepare in that sermon series. I was, in my own heart, very blessed.

[0:59] I hope you were too. And I'm very excited to walk again with Jesus in the book of Matthew. And Matthew walked with Jesus physically for three years.

[1:14] And then he wrote a book about it. We call it the Gospel of Matthew, or According to Matthew. And as we come back here into chapter 8, I want to ask, why did Matthew write this?

[1:33] He wasn't a historian. He was a tax collector. He wasn't shooting for the New York Times bestseller list. He didn't make a dime off of writing this.

[1:45] And he wasn't after fame, even though it's part of the Bible, the bestselling book of all time. When Matthew died, he died in obscurity on the world stage.

[1:57] So why did he write these things down? He walked with Jesus, and he came to know him, and he came to love him.

[2:09] And he wanted the whole world to see the Lord. And come to know him, and through that knowledge, come to love him, as Matthew did. And to walk after him.

[2:21] This passage that our worship team has already read for us contains three scenes of Jesus doing healing miracles.

[2:34] But this passage isn't about the miraculous signs. Signs point somewhere. Matthew wants us to look past the wonders and see the wonder-working God.

[2:48] One writer put it this way. His miracles were not ends in and of themselves. They were flaming arrows pointing back to him and the quality of his kingship.

[3:05] And so in this passage, we're going to see three scenes of his miraculous healing ministry. Three people will come asking for healing. And for each request, he does heal them.

[3:15] And then he gives them something more. Something better. Something they didn't imagine asking for. And that is what Matthew wants us to see in Jesus.

[3:31] And when we do, the Father will, by the power of his Spirit, draw our hearts to Christ. In love and in adoration.

[3:44] And across all these centuries, Matthew will have succeeded in his goal. To show us Christ. To draw our hearts to him in love. Let's pray.

[3:54] Father, as we approach your word to us, will you show us your son?

[4:07] And Lord, as we see him, will you make us worshipers? Will we come to love and adore him? We pray that in his matchless name.

[4:22] Amen. Amen. Our passage begins today in Matthew 8, verse 1. And if you don't have a Bible with you, they're on the back table, already bookmarked. I did it myself.

[4:33] So I know that's true. Begins today in Matthew 8, verse 1. And we see a reference here back to where we've just come from. The Sermon on the Mount.

[4:45] When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. Matthew has just spent three chapters recording Jesus teaching up on the mountain.

[4:56] The Sermon on the Mount. And that was Jesus telling us what God's heart is like. And what his kingdom ought to look like.

[5:07] What the power of his spirit does look like in the hearts of his people. And now Jesus comes down the mountain and shows us God's heart lived out.

[5:18] One writer kind of was thinking about this transition from the teaching to the doing.

[5:28] And I really love how he captures it. If men had needed nothing more than counsel, guidance, rules for life, then the Gospel of Matthew would have ended with the Sermon on the Mount.

[5:43] There are those who think they need nothing more. But if they knew themselves, they would feel their need not only of the teacher's word, but of the healer's touch.

[5:56] And would hail with gladness the chapters which tell us how the Savior dealt with the poor leper, the man with the paralysis, the woman with the fever.

[6:07] We may well rejoice that the great teacher came down from the mountain and made himself known on the plain. And among the city crowds as the mighty healer.

[6:20] That his stern demand for perfect righteousness was so soon followed by that encouraging word, so full of comfort, for such as we, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

[6:36] The healing, then, is as essential as the teaching. The Sermon on the Mount points out the way, unfolds the truth, but it is the touch and word of the King himself wherein is found the life.

[6:51] The Christ of God has come, not as a mere ambassador from the court of heaven to demand submission to its laws, but as a mighty Savior, friend, and comforter.

[7:07] The great teacher has descended. He's taught us on the mountain what his kingdom should look like in the hearts of his people, and now the King walks among his people.

[7:21] And before he even makes it to town, he meets someone asking for the healer's touch. That's what we see in verse 2. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt down before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

[7:40] 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 proof to them.

[8:01] The question in this first scene is not, can Jesus heal? The leper already knows he can do it.

[8:12] He says, If you're willing, you can. The real question is, will he do it? That's what the leper is asking.

[8:23] Is he willing to do it? And this is really important. What do you think God is like?

[8:37] That's the most important thing about you, A.W. Tozer said. Because what comes into our minds and into our hearts when we think of God determines everything about how we will relate to him.

[8:50] If he's a tyrant, we're going to cower in fear. We might obey him, but we won't love him. If Jesus is all powerful, able to work all kinds of wonders, he could demand our obedience, even if he's a tyrant, even if he's evil.

[9:10] And even if he was cold and indifferent, he could still demand our obedience. But if he's powerful and also willing, and he's kind and gracious, well, then he's also worthy of our love.

[9:24] And how does Jesus answer? Are you willing, Jesus? He says, I will, or I am willing.

[9:37] Be clean. Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power.

[9:55] But that's not all. That's not all we see of this Christ whom Matthew wants to show us today. What we said at the outset was that for each request, Jesus does grant the healing.

[10:08] And then he gives them something better, something they didn't imagine asking for. And that's what Matthew wants us to see. That's what he draws our attention to.

[10:22] You can actually hear it in the leper's request. Lord, if you will, you can heal me. Nope, that's not what he says. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

[10:35] Because of his leprosy, this man was untouchable. For as long as he had the disease, he was required to live alone, outside the city, separated from the people.

[10:50] Right? The scene happens between the mountain, verse 1, and the city, verse 5. He is outside the city. No one would touch him.

[11:03] Because if they contracted his sickness, they'd be doomed to his fate, separated and alone. Now in the next miracle, we're going to see that Jesus heals someone with a word.

[11:16] He simply proclaims it. And they're healed. And in fact, the sick person isn't even nearby. They're not in sight. What that means is Jesus doesn't need to touch the leopard.

[11:29] He could simply command it. And it would be so. He can just say the word and he'll be healed. He doesn't need to touch the leopard.

[11:40] He chooses to. He wants to. Because he knows that this man's biggest problem is not the disease.

[11:53] It is the separation that comes from it. Matthew's point is this. Jesus isn't just healing a disease.

[12:05] He's giving the man what he needs more than health. The touch of God. This is the first time the man has been touched since he was declared unclean.

[12:19] And a threat to the community. But God has made us for fellowship with himself and with each other. And this man had been cut off from the synagogue and from the community.

[12:35] And in an instant, not only was he healed, but God himself touched him with a human hand. That's what Matthew wants us to see.

[12:48] That's who Matthew wants us to see. And now, because he is clean, Jesus commands him to go enter the city.

[13:01] And that's where Jesus goes. And that's the scene of our next healing. Look with me in verse 5. When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying, paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.

[13:23] 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.

[13:34] 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.

[13:57] 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 outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[14:14] 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. What stands out about this healing, this second scene?

[14:30] We already mentioned that it happened at a distance, but that's the table stakes, so to speak. The centurion already knows this. He comes with that information.

[14:41] Lord, you can do this. He knows that Jesus is powerful. He calls it his authority. That's the given at the beginning of the story. The real question, the centurion raises himself, I am not worthy.

[15:00] Will Jesus heal the unworthy? He is the Jewish Messiah, which is the, it means the anointed one, he is their coming savior.

[15:14] Would he heal a non-Jewish person who was the foreign military occupying force? Israel was not a free and independent country during Jesus' earthly ministry.

[15:33] Israel belonged to the Roman Empire. and this centurion enforced their subservience. He was the emblem of their conquest.

[15:47] Would Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, bless him, fulfill his request? Christ. The centurion is not worthy to have Jesus come to his home, but Jesus goes much further at his profession of faith and says, I'm taking you into my home.

[16:13] Jesus doesn't condemn the unworthy and he doesn't just bless the unworthy, he invites him in and he gives him a place, the father's table.

[16:37] The unworthy outsider is invited into Christ's home and that's the scene. The scene of this last healing happens inside a home.

[16:50] Look with me at verse 14. 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.

[17:09] By this point it goes without saying that Jesus can heal as he wills power over sickness and he's willing to heal those who come to him like the leper has come to him, like the centurion has come to him.

[17:24] But this last healing asks a slightly different question. What about those who don't come to him? Will he see the unseen?

[17:38] This woman is the mother-in-law of a fisherman. woman. That's not exactly a glamorous station in life. And she's an older woman.

[17:49] That's not a place of prominence in our culture and in her time she's not memorable at all. And not only that, she is bedridden. She is hidden from view because of her sickness.

[18:03] This is the invisible woman. she's healed. But Jesus goes to her house and he sees her. And without even hearing a request he heals her.

[18:19] But here's the thing, not only does he go to her, not only does he see her, not only does he heal her, he gives her something better than healing. Just as he's given the leper something better than healing.

[18:32] Just as he's given the centurion something better than the healing. So too he gives her something better than the healing. He immediately restores her to family life.

[18:46] He touched her hand and the fever left her, verse 15, and she rose and began to serve him. He permits her to show him hospitality, which is not demeaning in any way.

[18:58] We would consider it a great honor to host a VIP in our homes. there's no more important VIP than Jesus.

[19:11] When Jesus comes, she finds healing, yes, but she also gets to welcome the living God into her home.

[19:23] In every circumstance,! In every circumstance, Jesus has granted healing, and he has granted something more.

[19:36] His touch, a fellowship, a place at his father's table, the opportunity to welcome him into our home.

[19:50] Matthew means for us to see his power, but more than that, to appreciate the bigness of his love. Yes, God is powerful, but it isn't the power of an evil tyrant or a disinterested deity.

[20:09] He's powerful, and he directs his power in a personal, in a loving, in a restorative way. Matthew has been drawing our attention to Jesus' power and his heart.

[20:26] And when he concludes in verses 16 and 17, he goes one step further. Verse 16, that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

[20:49] It's not just for three special people that Jesus comes. It is for all who will come to him. Then verse 17, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.

[21:06] He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. Jesus is establishing a kingdom where sickness and death don't reign.

[21:18] sin. How? By taking their infirmities and burying them himself. Sickness, disease, and death, they all come from one place, sin.

[21:41] They're not a natural part of the world God made. They are a corruption of it. we go through life thinking that pain and illness and coffins are normal.

[21:54] Because that's all we know, but that's not normal. We have sort of an is-ought fallacy going on in our heads. And this is because our first parents, Adam and Eve, trusted the enemy rather than the Lord and chose their own way.

[22:14] That's the heart of sin. And we follow them in that pattern by our nature and by our choice. And when they did, they, along with all creation, were subjected to curse.

[22:28] All of creation groans under that curse to this day. And that's not to say that every sickness is tied to an individual sin. Falling ill does not mean that God is punishing you for a specific act.

[22:42] Jesus' disciples once asked him whose sin was responsible for a man's blindness. And he basically answered him, that's not how this works. These three are people who are suffering under the curse in general.

[23:01] There's no indication here that they were being judged for sins, specific sins, that they were suffering under a curse, a curse that Jesus came to lift.

[23:14] That's a pattern we see in their healings. The curse has resulted in sickness. It's threatening death. And sickness has also resulted in separation.

[23:25] The leper can't even be near people. The servant is paralyzed, can't leave the house. And so too the woman is bedridden. The curse separates us from each other.

[23:38] And Jesus bridged that separation. He touched the untouchable. He invites the unworthy outsider in.

[23:52] He sees the invisible and restores her to family life. And that's what this reference to Isaiah is all about. Sickness and death are the most visible signs of the curse that this world is broken.

[24:08] And we did it. Because that curse, that brokenness comes from our sin. And Jesus bore that curse.

[24:20] When he bore the full weight of it on his cross. As we go to Isaiah 53 we see that it's part of this wondrous servant song. The paragraph, the stanza of that song that we see quoted here in Matthew, is Isaiah 53, 4-6.

[24:40] See how it is tied to him bearing our sin, the sin that caused the curse to begin with. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

[24:57] Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

[25:08] Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we, like a sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[25:29] the curse threatened the leper with a gruesome slow death, and the paralyzed servant as well, and the curse threatened Peter's mother-in-law with death by a fever.

[25:49] Those things threatened those people with death, but Jesus was not only threatened by death. He didn't just experience a taste of the curse, he drank it to its dregs.

[26:04] He experienced the curse in its fullness, death itself, and he emerged victorious. Why did Matthew write the book of Matthew?

[26:19] So he could tell you that Jesus bore! Your curse, that Jesus died your death, and Jesus conquered it all.

[26:31] The tomb is empty. This passage shows us that he opens the gates. Anyone can lay hold of his substitutionary work by crying out like the leper, trusting like the centurion, and receiving his grace like the sick woman.

[26:53] he stands in heaven with a curse does not rain, preparing his father's table where the untouchable is embraced, where the unworthy outsider is welcomed in, and the invisible one sits in friendship with the most high God.

[27:16] that's the payoff. Everyone in Matthew chapter 8 gets healed, but they get something so much more.

[27:31] The unclean leper receives the touch of God himself. The enemy centurion receives an invitation to the Lord's table.

[27:44] The invisible woman gets to welcome the living God into her living room, into her life. The end game here is not health and wealth.

[27:59] God's purpose for you is to make you family, to place his loving hands on you, sit you down at his fellowship table and say, I have made my home.

[28:16] With my redeemed people. The great gift they receive here is not health, it points to the great gift, Jesus.

[28:28] He offers them himself. That's Christ's heart. It's a heart for you and for me. Do you see past the healings to the healer?

[28:41] love? Does love? Does that prompt your heart to love? Have you run to him for restoration by faith to bear your curse as a substitute and welcome you to the father's table?

[29:00] Is your heart set on him or on something else, something less? when Charles Spurgeon preached this passage, here is how he brought it to a close.

[29:21] The reason why Jesus is able to heal all the curse that sin has wrought is this, because he himself took our sin upon him by his sacred substitution.

[29:38] Sin is the root of our infirmities and diseases, and so in taking the root he took all the bitter fruit which that root did bear. Oh, tell it out again, and tell it out again, and tell it every day, and tell it in the dead of night, and tell it in the glare of noonday, and tell it in the market, and tell it in the street, and tell it everywhere, that God took sin from off the back of sinners, and laid it on his innocent and only begotten son.

[30:14] Oh, mystery divine, never to be known if God had not revealed it, and not even now to be believed if God himself had not assured us of it. he laid sin upon Christ.

[30:27] All we, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Hearken then, ye guilty ones, hear how freely God can forgive and yet not injure his justice.

[30:44] If you trust Christ, you may be sure that you are among the number of those whose sins were laid on Christ, he was punished in your room and place and stead.

[31:03] Jesus bore our curse on his cross. He did it to lift the curse. We see that in the healing.

[31:15] He did it for something more. He did it to give us the blessing. What blessing is that? They asked for a favor from God.

[31:31] What they found is that he gave them himself. Matthew wrote the book of Matthew so you'd see Jesus, who he is.

[31:49] See his heart. And so that you would trust him and so you would come to love him. Has he succeeded today in your hearing? Let's pray.

[32:09] Father, will you open the eyes of our hearts God's to see Jesus, the God who comes and touches the untouchable and invites in the enemy and sees the invisible one.

[32:38] Lord, thank you that he did not only bear our curse, but Lord, that he invites us to his table and offers us himself.

[32:58] Lord, for those who have never known him, Lord, I pray that in this most beautiful passage of your scriptures, they would see Jesus and that you would draw their hearts to him.

[33:14] That even today they would repent and believe and find life in him. And for all those who have already come to that and have already been made children by your grace through faith, Lord, will you draw our attention and our longings to Christ again?

[33:39] Will you, by the power of your spirit, well up adoration in our hearts? Will you be worshipped in us? And Lord, will we find that as we place our eyes on Christ, the things of earth grow dim and we become conformed to his likeness, become true worshippers in our joy in him?

[34:05] thank you Lord, that this is who you are and that you give yourself to us because Christ gave himself for us. We pray these things in his matchless name.

[34:20]  Amen. We're going to move now to the Lord's Supper.