Good morning everyone. If we've not met before my name is Michael and I'm
Pastor here and it's lovely to have a few new faces with us this morning. It's very
exciting. We do have fellowship lunch after the meeting today so please feel
free to stay back, have a bite with us and have a yarn with us. You're most
welcome. If you've been with us for a while you might remember that for most
of 2023 we spent the better half of eight months camped out in Matthew's
Gospel particularly chapters 1 through to 7 and you might remember that we
spent most of that time in just one sermon of our Lord that's come to be
known as the Sermon on the Mount. Now if you weren't with us and you would like
to get up to speed on the first part of that series we have that all recorded
for you and it's available on our podcast channel which can be accessed
through our website. Those details are in the bulletin. This morning we start
part two of our series in Matthew and we'll be spending the next few months
honing in on chapters 8 through to 10 particularly focusing on our Lord's
signs and wonders and miracles that he performed in his earthly ministry and
why it mattered that he did them and then we'll move on to what we as the
disciples of Jesus are to do with the gospel as witnesses of Christ's ministry
in this world. Before we get into any of that and we look at the passage that we
have before us this morning let's ask for our Heavenly Father's help in the
task would you pray with me? Father we are so thankful to be here this morning
we are so thankful for the grace that you have shown in our life that your
spirit is with us and we ask Father this morning that through the preaching of the
Word through the coming to the Lord's table a little later on that you would
indeed minister to us that you would change us that we would be conformed to
the image of your most holy and precious son. Father we ask for your work in our
midst this morning and we ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen. So as I said the last
time we were in the book of Matthew we were on the mountain with Jesus as he
taught his disciples and it was there that we started to understand that Jesus
hadn't come to abolish what had previously been given to the nation of
Israel in the law and prophets but he had come to give it its fullest and most
clearest meaning and we saw that all throughout the Sermon on the Mount right
Jesus over and over again clearly explaining the heart of God's revelation
to his people but it's here in chapter 8 that our Lord now demonstrates the power
of God by performing signs and wonders and miracles which is God's rubber stamp
on the teaching that Jesus gave to his disciples and the masses that we saw on
the Mount. Looking back on the ministry of Jesus Peter said it like this Jesus of
Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which
God did among you through him as you yourselves know Acts 2 verses 22 to which
the author of the Hebrews adds this salvation which was first announced by
the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by
signs wonders and various miracles Hebrews 2 verses 3 and 4 all that to
say as the Bible defines it signs and wonders authenticate both the message
and the messenger and now it's significant isn't it that Matthew now
records for us that Jesus now enters this part of his ministry where he starts
to do these signs and wonders which prove the truth of his teaching about the
kingdom of heaven and so we might say by words and deeds Matthew was showing us
that Jesus is indeed the Christ that was expected to come and that's important
for us to remember that Jesus is the Christ that was expected to come because
the law and the prophets attested to it and that's actually something Matthew
points out to us in our passage this morning Jesus is the Christ Israel's
king but he's also God's servant whom Isaiah spoke of who came to cure his
people and Matthew proves that to be the case in three different scenes as we'll
see three different scenes but we need to keep this in mind it's important that
we do so Matthew wants us to see one big picture one significant point that is
found right there in verse 17 God always had a plan to send his servant to
come to be the cure for his people and Jesus is that servant and nobody nobody
is beyond his reach so if you have your Bibles with you this morning let's make
our way through these scenes together first looking at verses 1 through to 4
when Jesus came down from the mountainside large crowds followed him a
man with leprosy came and now before him and said Lord if you're willing you can
make me clean Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man I'm willing he said
be clean immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy then Jesus said to him see
that you don't go and tell anyone but go and show yourself to the priest and
offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them now church just to put
a bit of context before you this morning I just want to point out to you two
things first we're told that one man came through the crowds and he came and
knelt before Jesus and that was a man who had leprosy now leprosy was an
absolutely dreadful disease especially in the time of Jesus you see in the
ancient world many thought that leprosy was the judgment of God and and because
it was a disease that not many people knew much about those who had contracted
it for whatever reason were usually thought to spread it among communities
and so lepers were always pushed out of society and ostracized in one sense
because people thought they were dirty and would spread disease among them but
in another sense because people were worried that that person who they deemed
to be under the judgment of God would spread moral disease among them as well
so not only do we have a man here in whom people would have been fearful of
because they didn't want to catch what he had we also have a man who was in the
outskirts of society because people deemed him to be judged of God so that's
the first thing to note here people with leprosy were social outcasts and they
were seen as unclean in every way second in the law of Moses the priest which was
mentioned in our text the priest was only there to confirm that you had the
disease or that a healing had taken place it means that the priest was never
there to perform the healing itself in other words the priest was only there
to rubber stamp what only God could do and so this desperate man makes his
way through the crowds and he casts himself before the Lord and notice what
he says Lord if you're willing you can make me clean notice that Lord if you
are willing you can make me clean that's interesting with the background we just
thought about right because he's talking to Jesus like he has the authority
and power to take away his physical and spiritual uncleanliness the church it's
Jesus's reaction that's most stunning notice it he doesn't say you need to go
to God with this nor hey let's pray together on this no he reaches out he
touches the man and he says I am willing be clean do you see what our evangelist
Matthew was showing us here do you see that Jesus is in the place of the only
one who can actually do something about this man's situation in the place of
God himself who is the healer of all physical mental and spiritual disease
and so what happens next is hugely significance for the crowds to witness
we're told that he was immediately cleansed of his leprosy one incredible
scene we have here Jesus stands in the place of only what God can do and shows
his authority and power over the most dreaded of diseases a disease that made
anyone unclean who came in contact with it even priests would need to give a
sacrifice if they had come in contact with someone with leprosy yet Jesus
reaches out to this man he touches him he remains clean and with the power of
his word he heals him that's the first scene Matthew shows us that Jesus makes
the unclean clean next he shows us that Jesus came to serve all people all
people even his enemies we read in verses five through to thirteen when Jesus
said entered Capernaum a centurion came to him asking him for help Lord he said
my servant lies at home paralyzed suffering terribly Jesus said to him
shall I come and heal him centurion replied Lord I don't deserve to have you
come under my roof but just say the word and my servant will be healed try myself
and my man under authority were soldiers under me I tell this one go we
goes I say to this one come he comes I say to my servant do this and he does it
when Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those following him truly I
tell you I haven't found anyone in Israel was such great faith I say to you
that many will come from the east and west and will take their places at the
feast with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the subjects of
the kingdom will be thrown outside into darkness whether it will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth and Jesus said to the centurion go let it be done just as you
believed it would and at that moment his servant was healed now just to make a
bit of sense of this Israel was an occupied nation under the mighty fist
of Rome meaning that the Jews were an oppressed people in their own homeland
and the guys that Rome used to keep order usually by brute force was the Roman
Legion Roman soldiers now to say that the Roman soldiers and the Jews didn't get
on is an absolute understatement the Jews were treated woefully by their
represses and those who were in charge of the soldiers on the ground were the
centurions the commanders we might call them so it's interesting to note the
details that Matthew was laid out for us here this centurion with all the
authority and status he doesn't come and demand but he came very much like the
guy with leprosy in a position of humility asking some translations say
pleading imploring Jesus to do something that again only God could do and that was
to do a supernatural work in the life of this man's servant and heal him now we
don't know all the details here about how the centurion heard of Jesus so what
was going on with the servant but something drew him to Jesus something
caused him to know that Jesus was the only one that could work in the life of
his servant and so like the leper who crossed all sorts of social boundaries
to get to Jesus we have a scene with this centurion doing the same thing Jesus
responds he says do you want me to go and heal him imagine that for a moment
imagine having Jesus offering to come to your place to have the most famous
rabbi teacher in the country but incredibly our evangelist Matthew
records something here the centurion says to Jesus he's not worthy to have him
come to his house but and this is where it gets really interesting he says I'm a
man under authority I can give a word and it's done you can give a word and
it's done in other words somehow this man knew that Jesus had the authority of
God and the power of God that he could simply say the word and it would be done
brothers and sisters we see something incredible here we're told that when
Jesus heard this he was absolutely amazed so amazed in fact that he hadn't
found this kind of humility and faith even among his own people among his
own people who knew the scriptures mind you so Jesus says I'm going to do what
you believe I can do and as Matthew reports reports here with the word
Jesus healed that man's servant again we see the absolute power and authority
that Jesus has with the word Jesus speaks things coming to being Jesus acts and
lives are changed now admittedly there is so much that we could say on just
these few verses but I just want you to notice one thing here on the one hand
we're seeing the absolute power and authority demonstrated by Jesus he's
willing he speaks and light shines in the darkness kind of reminds you of
Genesis one right yet on the other hand look who is coming to Jesus and how
Jesus is treating them the leper a social and spiritual outcast the
centurion a Roman commander whose sole purpose was to oppress the people of
God one is seen to be under the judgment of God and the other is to be seen as the
judgment of God yet how does Jesus treat these people how does he treat the
outcast and Israel's biggest threat well we see that people people no matter who
they are as they humbly come to Jesus we see that he cares for them we see Jesus
reach out to them because he wants to save them he wants to heal them he wants
them to come into a saving knowledge of who he is so first Matthew shows us that
Jesus can make the unclean clean second he shows us that Jesus came to serve all
people even his enemies third scene this was God's plan all along we read in
verses 14 and 15 when Jesus came into Peter's house he saw Peter's mother-in-law
lying in a bed with a fever he touched her hand and the fever left her she got
up and began to wait on him now church you'll immediately notice that things are
all backwards here right in our first scene the man with leprosy came to
Jesus in our second scene the centurion came to Jesus and we see that they both
plead with him yet Jesus came into the house no one says anything and he simply
goes up to Peter's mother-in-law touches her hand and she's healed I think
there's a couple of things going on here first it goes to show us that Jesus
knows exactly what we need even before we ask him I want you to notice our text
he saw her sick in bed Jesus knew exactly what was wrong and what she
needed so he goes to second I want you to notice how undramatic her sickness is
she had a fever maybe a headache maybe some aches even a flu but again how
beautiful is this it reminds us that nothing is too small or insignificant
for our Lord to notice and act upon it was said before that we had World Day of
Prayer here on Friday and we were reminded of that very thing we were
reminded that we are to take all our cares before the Lord because and Peter
makes this explicit because he cares for us and so church it's in these little
moments in the ministry of Jesus after he's proven to the crowds that he can
make the unclean clean and a moment after he's proven to the Gentiles that he
just needs to say the word and it will happen he then comes to the sickly
woman holds her hand and heals her of the smallest thing our God cares he cares
about the cosmic things he cares about the little things and we can take it all
to him because not only does he care for us but he has the power over it all and
when I say all I mean all as Matthew continues in verse 16 of our text this
morning when evening came many who were demon possessed were bought to him and
he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all sick all the sick and so in
one breath Jesus comes into the home of Peter and deals with the smallest thing
yet in the next breath people were being bought to Jesus and he's showing us
that yet again his power and authority is there it's over all things and he's
doing things that only God can take care of and Matthew tells us in no
uncertain terms this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah
he took up our infirmities and bore our diseases verse 17 this is so incredibly
interesting what Matthew was doing here and I say it's interesting because our
evangelist is quoting from the prophet Isaiah and Isaiah in the 52nd and 53rd
chapter of his book prophesied that there would come a day when God would
send a servant and that servant would come to save his people how by serving
them by taking on their infirmities and bearing their disease and Matthew is
saying to us here this morning in our passage this Jesus this Jesus who taught
and preached who was attested to by these incredible signs and wonders to
prove he's the Christ who stood in the place of God and had the power over
leprosy over a servant of a centurion he never met over a fever over the demon
possessed over all sickness this Jesus he could reach into the lives of people
who was so far past human aid and he could save them and spare them there was
nothing too great or too small for him this Jesus was spoken about by God long
ago he's the servant that God said he would send one day to save his people
church the servant did indeed come and as Isaiah goes on to say in the rest of
chapter 53 the servant didn't come to be served but to serve and ultimately he
would give everything to serve even giving his very life for others and no
more clearly do we see that in the cross in reflection to the ministry of Jesus
the Apostle Paul says it like this Christ Jesus who existing in the form of God
didn't consider equality with God something to be exploited instead he
emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant taking on the likeness of
humanity and when he had come as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death even death on a cross Philippians 2 verses 6 through 8
brothers and sisters it's because of God and his sending of his servant that we
have such hope it is God who reached down to us to us who were at one time the
spiritually unclean and the enemies of God and while we were still his enemies
God sent his only begotten son God in the flesh as a servant to serve us in a
way that only God can serve as we've seen this morning there's nothing that
can't be healed and there is no one out of the reach of the saving power of the
Lord Jesus Christ so if you're here this morning and you would say that you don't
have a hope in the world then I would say to you friend that you are actually
here by no mistake you have all the hope in the world if you were just like the
people we've seen in our passage this morning humbly come to Jesus and confess
your need for him as we've seen this morning those who enter the kingdom of
heaven are the ones who humbly come to Jesus and you must come to him alone
however know this Jesus never ever cast anyone away from him who does so
maybe you're here today and you would say that there's something in your life
keeping you physically mentally spiritually bound maybe you would say
Michael I really identify with that guy who had leprosy in that you have a
disease in the soul that can't be cured perhaps you're bound by drugs alcohol
pornography and you've tried with all your power and might to save yourself
maybe you feel like you're totally beyond help and you'll hear this morning
and you would say that the sin is so deep that you can't even say it with
your mouth brother sister in Christ the Lord Jesus he has the power over every
circumstance and if you will just trust him the Lord answers those who call out
to him that's his word to us church the forgiveness the cleansing the freeing
comes when we seek Christ and humble ourselves before him and ask us to make
ask him to make us clean by his power that is a prayer that he will never ever
reject no matter who you are no matter what you've done Christ makes anyone
clean of anything finally if you have come to a saving knowledge of the truth
if you have experienced Christ's saving power he's making you clean from being
unclean from making you his friend from being God's enemy from his tender touch
of picking you up then you know like the centurion knew that Jesus has the power
to do all things that he is able to give new life that he's able to bring light
into the darkness with just a word of his mouth and so I want to ask you this
morning church I want to ask you to pray with me I want you to pray with me
that we would be a church that would walk in the example of our Lord Jesus
Christ that we would be a people that would reach out to the outcast that we
would reach out to our enemies to reach out to the needy the spiritually
afflicted and the sick with the good news of God's cure for all our
infirmities to be a people that reach out to the nations with the gospel of
Jesus Christ would you pray with me for that this morning let's pray now
father we are a people that recognize that these just aren't words on a page
but breathed out from the very spirit of God that these words are eternal words
settled in heaven that these words are your words to us father we dare not be
a people that ignore these words and we are so thankful that by your grace you
have enlightened the eyes of our hearts that you have given us faith that you
have received us into the kingdom of God but father we don't want the story to
end there we want you to use us use us for your kingdom for your glory as we
prayed this morning the power the glory the kingdom is yours and we would ask
that we would be a people used by you city on a hill a light in this world
father we ask that you would use us to take the gospel to our neighbors to all
those around us you would give us boldness clarity and that we would know
that you are with us in the mission because you promised that you would be
we ask for all of these things in the name of Jesus and for your glory