Kingdom Authority Over Sin & Sickness: Matthew 4:23, 8:1-13 - Matthew: Kingdom of God Revolution

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

The Levitical law said if you touch a leper, you become unclean.

Jesus says, you touch a leper, and the leper becomes clean.

Religion says if you hang out with lepers, you become a leper.

Christianity, biblical Christianity says, you hang out with lepers, you'll start getting lepers clean.

At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

You know, I love the word supernatural.

Supernatural is such a cool word because it means that God does something super in your natural.

Isn't that cool?

That God takes you naturally, you're up to no good.

You know you are.

You're a mess.

Most of you in this room are just a mess, left to your own ways.

But we have a supernatural God that takes your natural.

He doesn't obliterate it.

He doesn't obliterate who you are.

He doesn't obliterate your talents and gifts.

He actually comes in and he supercharges it through the energy of the Holy Spirit.

Isn't that exciting?

That's actually the word used the most in the New Testament for the work of the Spirit is energyo in Greek.

It's energy.

He gives you energy.

How many of you would say you need a little more energy in your life?

Hello?

Of course we do.

Physically, mentally, emotionally.

And that's why Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

He's covering it all.

He wants energy in your heart, and he wants energy in your mind, and he wants energy over you physiologically.

He wants energy over you, not just spiritually.

Now that's where that's where the spark plugs are.

So we get filled spiritually, but then the spirit-filled life, which is what we're going to cover, one of the messages that Liz and I are going to give at the couples conference is the power to be out of control.

The power to actually be out of control.

To let the power of the Spirit work in you mentally, emotionally, physically, not just spiritually, but that's the spark plug.

That's what sends the fire into the pistons of all these other areas of our life.

And today we're in Matthew 8.

So turning your Bibles to Matthew 8, and it's an interesting passage because it's kind of a potpourri of the life of Jesus.

So we finished the Sermon on the Mount.

How many of you know that when Jesus comes with the kingdom, he comes proclaiming and demonstrating.

So there were a lot of proclaimers, and there's today a lot of proclaimers of religion, even in Christianity.

But Jesus came not just with proclamation, which was the Sermon on the Mount we just covered, which I think is the greatest sermon ever given.

It's the character of the kingdom.

If we can live the Sermon on the Mount, which seems impossible, and it is naturally, but it's not supernaturally.

But then Jesus did something that other religious leaders can't do.

He demonstrated the kingdom.

So he didn't just proclaim, but he demonstrates.

And so if you recall, as we go through Matthew, in Matthew chapter 4, everywhere Jesus went, he's casting out demons and healing the sick.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Then we have the Sermon on the Mount.

And now again, he's going to pick it up with the demonstration of the kingdom.

So if you're a note taker, you need to jot down the kingdom always comes with proclamation and demonstration.

The reason the culture has a problem with present-day Christianity is because we do a lot of talking, but we don't do enough doing.

And the doing, if it's truly the kingdom of God, is doing what Jesus did.

Hello?

Right?

Jesus, we're gonna see again, picks up where he left off in Matthew chapter 8.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

It starts with a leper.

He says, when he had come down from the mountain, so this is after the Sermon on the Mount, which we've covered, great multitudes followed him.

So he hasn't lost anybody.

I mean, this is amazing right here.

I might not have been following him anymore after the Sermon on the Mount.

That seems like pretty where I come from.

That's kind of that's high oats.

Anybody who comes out of a ranching or farming background like I do in the South, we call that, we call that high cotton or high oats, according to what state you're from.

There's not a lot of cotton in some states, a little more oats in others, but that's like there's no way.

There's no way I can do that.

Multitude continue to follow him.

And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

Now it's interesting in the Bible, we never have a leper asking to be healed.

We always have lepers asking to be clean.

I'll explain that in a second.

Then Jesus put out his hand and he touched him, and he said, I'm willing.

Be cleansed.

Immediately the leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one.

This is this at face value seems a little bit strange, kind of countermarketing, but it's actually not.

Tell no one, but go your way and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded.

So he's referencing Leviticus 13 and 14 as a testimony to them.

So there's three things we know about a leper at that time.

Number one, leprosy was always associated with sin.

So leprosy was always associated with sin in that person's life, and that's why they had leprosy.

So a leper never went to a doctor to be healed.

A leper was commanded by Moses in Leviticus 13 to go to the priest.

So it was a cleansing, it was an issue of cleansing, and he was considered unclean.

So number two, number two, because of that, a leper was to be avoided at all cost.

So they lost family relationships, they lost connections with people, and when a leper would come into town, he was commanded by Scripture to actually himself to cry out, unclean, unclean.

And so people would scatter.

So to put perspective to what's happening here, there's a crowd coming off the mountain.

You that are going to Israel with me in June will go to that mountain.

So he's coming down, he's coming into Capernaum, and when that leper shows up, he's probably saying, unclean, unclean, and people are scattering because it was believed to be highly contagious.

It actually is not.

Leprosy is not highly contagious, but except through sneezing and coughing.

But the people scattered.

Thirdly, third thing we know about lepers is it was the only relationships that a leper would have would be a colony of lepers.

So they were cast out of society, they were cast out of the general healthy population and sequestered to a colony.

So Jesus says to him, I'm willing to heal you.

And that's the first point here today, guys.

Jesus is always willing to heal your leprosy.

And all of you have got leprosy.

You all, all of us have leprosy.

We have the leprosy of lust.

We have the leprosy of jealousy.

We have the leprosy of anger.

We have the leprosy of unforgiveness.

And Jesus can cleanse you today.

Isn't that good news?

Say that's good news.

That's really good news.

And our leprosy is not that different than physical leprosy in that leprosy always began with some kind of a lesion on the skin.

If you study Leviticus 13, you can see the progression that's given in Scripture about this lesion.

And if the hairs became white and it went down deeper, then they considered the person a leper.

Men and women, that's the way sin always works.

It's just a lesion in your heart.

But if you don't deal with it, if you don't take it to Jesus, it's gonna get deeper and deeper and deeper.

And that anger, that little anger problem you have as you go get older becomes manifested through a stronghold.

And I believe it can become, you can become demonized.

Even a believer can be demonized.

We're gonna talk about the demonic next week.

It doesn't mean you're demon-possessed.

I'm not saying that.

I'm talking about demon influence in our lives.

And so if you'll come to Jesus today, he says, what did he say?

I am willing to be cleansed.

It's really easy.

It's really easy, but here's the problem you're full of fear.

Because what I mean, I was thinking about the leper.

I've had all week to think about this leper guy.

And think about it, he's been cast out.

It's probably been years since anybody's touched him or hugged him because the touch of a leper was forbidden because he was unclean.

And he now has an association of relationships I would imagine he's become comfortable with.

It's his colony.

And that's the way any sinful leprosy is, as you start having a colony of other lepers that you hang out with.

And it takes tremendous faith.

It really does.

It takes faith that you came here on a blustery, cold, semi-snowy morning with 80% humidity.

It felt like Georgia to me today in the winter.

You came here.

But then we become comfortable with our leprosy.

So we start hanging out with people who have the same leprosy as us.

So angry people attract angry people, and jealous people attract jealous people.

Remember what I talked about a couple weeks ago?

You get what you notice.

What you notice is what you attract.

So think about the faith required by the leper.

You think, well, of course he wants to be healed.

Of course he wants to be healed.

There's not actually that many lepers in the gospels that want to be healed.

But everyone who comes gets healed, gets cleansed.

Because I think what happens in any of our lives is we become comfortable with our colony.

We become comfortable with our sin, and it takes tremendous faith to say, Jesus cleanse me, and Jesus knows if we really mean it.

And when I was in prayer this morning in our prayer time, and I encourage any of you guys that have a heart for prayer and worship, we have these young people leading us in prayer and worship in the chapel, and I kept getting this sense that there's a lot of fear.

And I believe what the Lord's saying is some of you here this morning are bound up with fear because of the leprosy of your life, and Jesus wants you to know this morning, he's willing to completely cleanse you today.

So he cleanses this guy.

I mean, he touches him, he's not supposed to touch him.

The Levitical law said, if you touch a leper, you become unclean.

Jesus says, you touch a leper and the leper becomes clean.

Religion says if you hang out with lepers, you become a leper.

Christianity, biblical Christianity says you hang out with lepers, you'll start getting lepers clean.

Isn't that good news?

You're at the right place.

We're just a leper colony.

All we are at the road is a leper colony trying to get clean.

Say I'm a leper, but I'm set free, and I'm cleansed in Christ.

All right.

That's good news.

Now, when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying at home, paralyzed and dreadfully tormented.

I mean, I read that.

Listen, I read that this week, and she was like, Steve, that guy's like, he has to be demonized if that's the condition he's in.

How many have had any kind of paralysis in your life?

It's on some part of your body at some point, even if it was brief.

Isn't it scary?

It's so scary.

One time I was I was doing an opening run on floor exercise, which was a which was a one and a half.

So I would I came off the floor and did one and a half somersaults in the leadoff of the first run, and I hit short and I snapped my neck underneath my head, and I felt paralysis just rippled through my body for about probably a half of a second.

And I got up and finished the routine, and it was fine.

And it's a scary thing to be to have a part of your body that you could move and you have no control now.

And then it says he's dreadfully tormented.

So if that's not enough physically, the emotional torment.

Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him.

So this pervasive sense of the demonstration of the kingdom is that Jesus is always ready to respond to any form of faith, even if it's just a little bit.

So this is a centurion.

The centurion answered and said, So centurion, centuries, centurion was over a hundred men.

He's a Gentile.

Luke says that he was a God-fearing man who had given, who had actually built the synagogue in Capernaum.

You that are going to Israel with us, we will go to that synagogue.

Obviously, the real synagogue's underneath it, but there is a synagogue like it today.

Centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.

And then he explains why he believes that.

Why just a word is all that Jesus, he's not even asking him to come and lay hands on his servant.

He said, All you gotta do is say the word.

That's all that I need.

And I know that my servant will be healed.

For I also, verse 9, am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.

And I say to this one, go, and he goes.

And to another, come, and he comes.

And to my servant, do this, and he does it.

So this centurion understands the kingdom of God.

He understands it like you're gonna see in a moment, no one else in Israel, because what he understands is that in my position as a centurion, as a soldier, if Rome tells me to do something, I have to do it.

So when Rome, when Caesar gives a word about something that's supposed to happen in Palestine, or in this case, Galilee, I'm over a group of a hundred men.

I tell them what to do, but it's not my authority that's telling them what to do, it's the Roman authority that's telling him what to do.

And he recognizes in Jesus that God the Father is guiding Jesus.

And if Jesus says something that the Father's saying, he's got all the authority of heaven and earth, and in this case, my servant will get healed just by your word, because I know how this thing works.

When I tell my servant to go, he goes and he does it.

When I tell my servant to come, he comes and he does it.

Because he's got all the power of Rome, and you've got all the power of the kingdom.

Do you guys realize that?

That the authority of the kingdom resides in each one of us that are Jesus' followers.

You have the kingdom of God within you.

And as we study God's word, as we read God's word, as we meditate in God's word, as we memorize God's word, as we're believing and standing on God's word, your authority grows.

Your authority, not in you, but your authority in Christ.

Isn't that good news?

That's the best news.

Because that authority resides within us.

Now watch what happens next.

Verse 10.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled.

Circled, he marveled, underlined, he marveled.

There's only two places in Scripture where Jesus marvels.

Now, where Jesus goes, everybody's marveling.

But this is where Jesus marvels.

There's only two places in Scripture, and this is one of them.

He marvels and he says to those who followed him, Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.

We'll compare that later to Mark 6, 6, where Jesus comes into Capernaum.

And the outskirts of Capernaum is Nazareth.

He comes into Nazareth, his hometown, and he marvels at what?

He marvels at their unbelief.

So in one case, Jesus marvels his unbelief, and in another case, he marvels at great faith.

Here's what I think is happening.

Jesus marvels where he sees faith where it should not be.

Jesus marvels where he sees faith that should be there and it's not.

Young people, listen to me.

Coming out of Christian homes, coming out of homes where your parents pray.

Coming out of homes where you were brought to church.

Coming out of homes where you saw not perfect, but you saw a father that tried to be a good man, or you saw a mother that tried to be a good woman, and you're rejecting the faith, Jesus marvels at you.

He marvels.

How could you do that?

You know, two, was it two weeks ago we had the big baptism down here, and we had all these young people, gangbangers, coming out of gangs.

Twenty some odd people got baptized in second chance through faith ministries that we're just so behind and we love so much.

We saw people weeping, coming out of the water, getting baptized.

Many of them have never had a dad, never had a real mom.

Or maybe they have one or the other.

Everything stacked against them, they have faith.

Jesus marvels at that.

And then we have others that come out of middle class homes, upper middle class, had everything really done for them, and they're rejecting the faith, and Jesus marvels at that.

So he sees the centurion and he marvels at his faith because he shouldn't have it.

He grew up around parents and he grew up around a home with the Roman Pantheon.

So there are many gods.

He had heard about many gods.

There were these little figurines that they had that they would worship at and light incense to, kind of like we saw in Japan in Shintoism and Buddhism, the little the little candles and all that stuff, and yet they believed.

He believed.

And he understands the kingdom.

It's really hard to understand the kingdom sometimes in our lives, isn't it?

Because we're so individualistic.

It's kind of our thing.

And the Lord would say, no, it's not your thing.

You're part of a kingdom.

And that kingdom rule, guess what?

Jesus is not up for re-election in 2020.

Jesus is for everybody if you're for him.

So where are you at on the spectrum?

Where are you?

Are you one that Jesus is marveling at because you've had everything that is possible?

You've been under Bible teaching, you've been under great worship, you've been around great people, and you still don't have any faith?

Or are you one of those that you're in that place and really it's been a rough life?

Maybe it's been a rough year.

Maybe it's starting off not so good, but you got a little bit of faith.

You're hanging on.

Jesus marvels at that too.

And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

So he's speaking of Gentiles, he's speaking of Americans, he's speaking of Africans, he's speaking of Europeans, he's speaking of Russians, he's speaking of Latin Americans and South Americans and Asians.

He's seeing ahead from the East and the West, they're gonna come, but the sons of the kingdom, meaning those in Israel, will be cast out into outer darkness, and there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So here's what he's saying.

He's saying, look, he's if if we could read into this and put the gospels together in a sequential order, he's looking at Nazareth where he's from, and he's saying, I marvel that you as Jews who have the scriptures, they would have had the Old Testament, the Torah, at that time, can't even understand what's before you.

And yet, here's a Gentile who had no background at all.

He gets the kingdom and he gets who I am.

He marvels at their unbelief.

And look at verse 13.

And this is huge.

Circle it, bracket it, underline it, whatever you want to do, highlight it.

Jesus said, Go your way as you have believed, so let it be done for you.

And his servant was healed that same hour.

Hebrews 11, 1.

Faith is a substance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

Verse 6, without faith, without faith, it's impossible to please God.

For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

You see, faith is the belief that God eventually is going to reward.

Now, isn't that that's good stuff, right?

Turn to your neighbor and say, God will eventually reward faith.

If you diligently seek him.

There's conditions.

The conditions for one leper, do you think he came from a leper colony?

Probably so.

90% sure.

This guy came from a leper colony, only one leper came.

Only one leper came, and he pushed his way through the crowd, and they scattered when they realized he was a leper, as he shouted out, unclean, God says, I'm willing to heal you.

And then a centurion who's a good man, he's a God-fearing man, has no background whatsoever, works his way through the crowd because he cares about his servant, and God shows up for him.

So, truth be told, men and women, you find what you have faith for.

Listen, you find what you have faith for.

If you are of a background where you believe God doesn't heal today, then you will not see any healings happen.

If you believe that God doesn't set people free from the demonic, you won't see people set free from the demonic.

But if you believe that God can heal, I'll guarantee you this, you'll see a whole lot more healings than you thought possible before you believed.

Does God heal all the time?

I'd like to say yes.

My experience says no.

My experience says that when people come up here for prayer, some get healed and some don't.

But guess what?

I'm not God, are you?

So I don't, I'm not gonna tell him what to do, but I'm gonna tell him this we came and we pray, and the more we do that, the more people get healed.

That's pretty good news.

So he's a rewarder of those who seek him.

Now, when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.

So the first pope was married.

So he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and served them.

Beautiful picture of what happens when we get healed, we start to want to serve.

When you get healed, the stuff in your life you want to serve others.

I come early to church, and there's just all these people volunteering in there with all of your donuts and your coffee and stuff, and they're making stuff, and then all these young people and parents and men and women are downstairs getting things set up for your children's ministry, and the lobby's all been made beautiful, and and our team keeps this place beautiful, and then you go to the women's ministry with um with what's happening with Christine on Thursdays, and all the place is packed with women, and then you come to the godly hour of 6 a.m.

on Tuesdays for all in men, and we're packed out now on the chapel with men for from 6 to 7.

And I bet you, how many of you say God has touched you in some close to miraculous way, at least once in your life?

That's right.

You're at the right church, you're at the right place, and something in you wants to serve out of the gratefulness of your heart, and so does she.

When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and he healed all who were sick, circle all, all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, And he himself took our infirmities and he bore our sicknesses.

So it's quoting Isaiah 53, 4.

And there's two kind of, I'll just say there's two streams of thought on this.

One is that Jesus always heals.

And if you don't get a healing, the issue is your faith.

I don't believe that.

I mean, how much faith did Jarius' daughter have when she was dead?

Okay, so I'm just a little thought.

Okay, so it's not, but there's another school of thought that God doesn't really heal anymore, and it's just spiritual healing.

But it's very clear here, church, that the association made by Matthew, and he's actually not quoting Isaiah 53.5 by his stripes we're healed.

He's actually quoting Isaiah 53.4.

So he's saying that when Jesus comes, there will be healings.

That's, I mean, I'm not real smart, but I can figure this out.

He's saying he healed everyone, he cast out their spirits, and then he says, this is the fulfillment of the prophecy.

And I believe when Jesus comes, there's always some form of healing.

There's always demons that are cast out, there's always our leprosies that get cleansed, and there's always physical healings that occur.

They just do.

We see it all the time around here.

How many of you, since you've come to the road, have been cleansed or healed in some way since you've been here?

Yeah, almost everybody.

So that's what Jesus does.

Verse 18.

And when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave a command to depart to the other side.

Then a certain scribe came and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.

And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Then another of his disciples said to him, Lord, let me go first and bury my father.

But Jesus said to him, Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.

Now, here's what I think is happening.

Jesus is saying, This is not my home.

This is not where I'm going to lay my head.

I'm passing through, I'm a pilgrim.

You want to follow me?

Then you have to make a decision about where your home will be, who your family will be.

Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests.

I don't have any place to lay my head.

I'm going to rest when I get back with my father.

How many of you know there's not a whole lot of rest in this life?

Just when you thought you were going to rest, something happens with your kids.

Or with one of their coaches.

Or stock market drops at 450 points.

And you've got a lot of stocks.

Right?

Or you get, you go to the doctor, and it's just a routine checkup.

And then he comes back and he's sobered by something he saw, and he says, You need to come back for more tests.

Hello?

Or that guy or that gal you thought was headed toward marriage decides it's over.

This life is not going to give you rest.

So everybody say this life is not going to give me rest, but Jesus will.

Follow me.

He gives you rest in the midst of storm.

That's why he sets us up.

That's why he sets us up with what happens next.

Now look back.

Verse 18, Jesus saw a great multitude.

He gave a command to depart to the other side.

Luke says that they were going to go to the other side.

That's important.

Verse 23.

Now when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him, and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea.

So the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.

Then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing.

But he said to them, This doesn't seem fair.

I've been on the Sea of Galilee.

It's big.

This is not a pond.

This is a sea where in parts, I mean, you can barely see the other side.

I mean, we're talking about a sea, dangerous.

Some of these guys are fishermen.

They know the sea.

They're professional seamen.

And he says, Why are you fearful?

Oh, ye of little faith.

Do you ever feel that way with God?

Why am I why am I fearful?

I just heard I had cancer.

Then he arose and he rebukes the winds and the sea.

There was a great calm.

So the men marveled, saying, Who can this be?

That even the winds and the sea obey him.

Men and women, when God tells you to do something, and he commands you to get in the boat, he's gonna get you to where he wants you to go.

First thing.

He's gonna guide you.

That's what he does.

He's really good at it.

Number two, in anything we do, even in the center of God's will, it's gonna seem like he's asleep.

Right?

Like, where is he?

He told me to go on the mission field.

He told me to move here.

He told me to go after that job, and it's not working out, and it seems like he's asleep.

Third, he's not asleep.

And he allows demonic activity.

Actually, some would even say that this tempest that came up seems to be an attack, a demonic attack.

He wakes up, he's looking for faith, and this is what encourages me.

He doesn't see a lot of faith, but he sees a little.

A little.

Sometimes you have to say to your kids, can you do a little bit right today?

A little.

How many of you parents know if your kids do a little bit of right, it goes a long way.

It's because you're you're lined up with the kingdom.

And so even when our faith is little, God can can calm the sea.

Because it's not how much faith that we have, it's who our faith is in.

And fourthly, remember this God breaks the power of fear in our lives because where he guides, he provides.

Where he guides, he provides.

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