Well, let's turn back in our
Bible again to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, I'm taking
the title for the message from what is said in verse 17. Matthew
8 verse 17, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
Isaiah the prophet. This we know is from Isaiah 53,
a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our
faces from him. He's wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, saying himself took our infirmity, willingly
took all of our iniquity, all of our sin, all of our transgression,
which produces sicknesses and he bare them in his own body
on the tree. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
took our sins away. The Lord Jesus Christ as our
great substitute savior and surety of the eternal covenant of grace,
took all the sins of God's people, God's elect upon Himself, unto
Himself, willingly suffered the penalty of God's holy wrath with
our sin charged to His account. When God found sin on His own
beloved Son, He was baptized in the wrath of God. It says
in that same chapter, Isaiah 53, It pleased God to bruise
him. The holy wrath of God, suffering
the wrath of God, satisfying thereby the justice of God, satisfying
the law of God, justifying the ungodly by completely putting
away their sin, making full and complete atonement for them,
having obtained eternal redemption for us, and establishing righteousness
for us. We studied in Matthew chapter
1, remember? Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. We read in 1 Peter a moment ago
that He, His own self, bear our sin in His own body on the tree. In chapter 3 of 1 Peter, it says
the Lord Jesus Christ suffered once for our sins, the just for
the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. That's the only
way we can come. It's through that sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Himself. I like the way that's
written in verse 17. Capital H-I-M. Himself. Whenever I write an
article, I always, when I refer to His name, He, Him, or His,
always a capital. Always a capital. That's one
of the ways you can identify the things that I write. I always
spell Savior the old biblical way, and I always capitalize
anything to do with His name, the Shepherd, the Charity, the
Substitute, the Sacrifice. Now as we consider and study
these verses together, may the Lord be pleased to show us our
great need of Him. As our Lord, only Lord, as God
our Savior, as all of our redemption from sin, and all of our righteousness
before God. I must not only have sin removed,
right? That's what Christ did upon the
cross. He took away all the sin of God's people, taking our sin
to Himself. And he put it away. Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away our sin. I must not only have
sin removed, but I must have righteousness added unto us. imputed unto us. That's why David
writes about, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. He is made to us, but of him
are you in Christ? Who is made to us? But of him,
how did you get in Christ? But of him are you in Christ?
Who of God is made unto us? Righteousness, wisdom, redemption,
sanctification, all these things. Now, let's go back and pick up
a few verses here. In verses 14 and verse 15, we
see that the Lord Jesus comes to the house, the Lord Jesus comes to Peter's
house, and he finds in the house of Peter, his apostle, his beloved,
Apostle, he finds out that his mother-in-law is sick and dying. She has a fever. And the Lord
Jesus Christ touched her hand and the fever left. And she arose
and ministered unto them. Now, all of you have been stricken
with a fever. A fever, even when the fever leaves, if you have
a fever for two or three days and that fever finally breaks
and is gone, how does it leave your body? Weak, doesn't it? Well, the Lord so completely
healed this woman. Instantly, immediately, her fever
left, but her health was regained, and now she's going about serving
the Lord and those who came with Him. But here we see a lesson
about sickness. Peter, the blessed apostle, His
own mother-in-law was sick, and the Lord healed her. It is true,
Peter was a married man. Peter was a married man. Marriage
is honorable, and the Lord even attended a wedding, a wedding
where he turned in Galilee. He attended that wedding, and
they ran out of wine, and he said, just fill all those water
pots up, and he made wine from the water. He turned the water
into wine. Being a faithful believer, even
being a faithful apostle, does not exempt us from trials, sickness,
sufferings in this life. All of us know something about
this, don't we? Man that's born of woman is few
days and full of trouble. Full of trouble, trouble, trouble. We know sickness is a result
of sin. That's the reason we get sick,
and that's the reason people die. The wages of sin is death. Our Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome. Some of the Lord's greatest preachers
down through the centuries, down through the years, were very
sickly men most of their lives. We sing that song often, Rock
of Ages Cleft for Me. Augustus Toplady died when he
was just 39 years old. David Brainerd, one of the chief
missionaries of his country, died at the age of 29 years old. Charles Spurgeon was just 59
when he died. And sick, sick. Most of his ministry,
he was sick. So being a believer, doesn't
exempt us from heartache, trial, sickness, and these different
things. But here we know, here's our rest and our comfort, our
hope. In his faithfulness, he afflicts us, and in his mercy,
he heals us, that the Lord might be glorified. Our great God and
Savior is in control of absolutely all things. That COVID virus
that we're all so familiar with, Where did that come from? Well,
them Chinese. Okay. God sent it through them
to us, to teach us, to humble us. David writes this in Psalm
119, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that
thou, in thy faithfulness, hast afflicted me. God afflicts us,
and then He heals us for His glory. Now hold your place there,
Matthew 8. Let me give you an example of
that, another example of another family that God loved. Turn to
John chapter 11. John chapter 11. Remember it
said that the Lord, when He went to the house of Mary, Martha,
and Lazarus, that He loved them. And yet here's Lazarus, sick
and dying, In John chapter 11 verse 1, now a certain man was
sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister
Martha. It was that Mary which the Lord with anointed, anointed the Lord
and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick.
Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he
whom thou lovest is sick." Now, wait a minute. If the Lord really
loves this man, why is he sick? Read on. When Jesus heard that,
he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory
of God, that the Son of God might be glorified. So, it's all about
the glory of God. All about the glory of God. Lazarus
was sick unto death, but his sickness or sent by God, that
the Son of God should be glorified. And that's a picture of us, dead
in sin, dead in trespasses and sin, and then the Lord is pleased
to quicken us and make us alive in Him. You have to be quickened
who were dead. Now, here's the second thing
I want to look at, verse 16 and 17. And when evening was come, The evening time, getting dark,
was come. They brought unto him many that
were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with
his word and healed all that were sick. That it might be fulfilled
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying himself, took our infirmities,
bear our sicknesses, and his own body on the tree. The Lord
has control over all things, all events, even demon spirits
are subject unto his word. When he speaks a word, they must
leave. Look right across the page, same
chapter, Matthew 8, look at verse 28. When he was come to the other
side of the country, the Gadarenes, the Gergesenes, the Gadarenes
that met him, there met him two possessed Two possessed with
devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no
one might pass by that way. We're going to study about this
next week. But here's what I want to point out, verse 29. And behold,
they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus,
thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment
us? Before the time, they knew he
was the Holy One of God. So even the demon spirits are
subject unto the Lord. And when He told those demon
spirits to come out, they came out. The Lord healed all those
that were brought to Him that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
He healed all those who had need of healing. Everything the Lord
was doing in His earthly ministry, He was doing according to the
will of God to fulfill the prophecy concerning Him The Messiah. He said, my meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. He said,
upon Calvary's tree, it is finished, it is done. He glorified the
Father by finishing the work God gave Him to do. That to this
end, verse 17, that it might be fulfilled. that it might be
fulfilled. Everything the Lord was doing
was to fulfill what was written of Him. Now this statement, that
it might be fulfilled, is made nine times in the book of Matthew. And we've already seen this several
times in Matthew 1, and Matthew chapter 2, and Matthew chapter
4, where it said this was done, and that was done, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. But I want you to turn and look
at another one with me. Turn over here to Matthew chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12, at verse 14, the Pharisees went
out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence, and great
multitudes followed him, and he healed them all. and charge
them that they should not make him known that it might be fulfilled
what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet. Now this is from Isaiah
42. Behold my servant whom I have
chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased, I put my
spirit upon him, he shall show Judgment to the Gentiles, he
shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice
in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break,
a smoking flack shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment
unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust." All
this was done that it might be fulfilled. All the Old Testament
scripture speaks of someone coming And the Gospels tell us that
the Lord Jesus Christ has come to fulfill all things that are
written of Him. Now, here's the third thing I
want us to see in Matthew 18, 19, down through verse 22. There's a lesson about what's
involved in being a true disciple. being a true disciple, being
a true follower of Christ. The Lord gives us some needed
instruction about being a faithful, true disciple of the Lord. When Jesus saw the great multitudes
about him, verse 18, he gave commandment to depart to the
other side. Multitudes followed the Lord
Jesus Christ, and most of them for the wrong reasons, for the
loaves of bread and for the baskets of meat. for free gifts rather
than seeking the giver, they were seeking the gifts. Rather
than seeking the master, they were seeking meat. We read recently
from John chapter 6, the Lord said, I know why you're following
me. You're following me because you got a free meal. Many of
the multitude followed him just to see what they could get out
of him. And that is true in religious
circles today. People flock to different churches
seeking different things, but few really seek the Lord Jesus
Christ and His glory. Look at verse 19, we have an
example of some in that multitude and a certain scribe. Now this
is a very religious Jew. He's a friend of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees who were going about to establish a righteousness
of their own. But this certain scribe came
to him and said, Master, I'll follow you wheresoever you go. Now what was his motive? Maybe he thought, well, if this
guy's got a big following, if I get in with him, maybe I will
have a big following, too. Maybe I will be popular. Maybe
I'll be able to do these miraculous things that this man is doing.
I think his motive was totally wrong. Now, the scribe said,
I will. Warning. Be careful what you
boast about. I will follow thee." And the
Lord put a roadblock up. Okay, you want to follow me?
Get ready to be homeless. Get ready to be penniless. Get
ready to be hated of all men for my name's sake. The Lord said to him, the foxes,
they have holes to hide in from the danger, from the weather.
The birds of the air, they have nests where they can feel secure
and safe, but the Son of Man, The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he said, I don't have anywhere to lay my head. If you're going
to follow me, know that I'm homeless and poor. The Lord gives us an example
of what it means to follow the Lord. Another of his disciples
said in him, verse 21, Lord, suffer me first to go bury my
father. But Jesus said to him, follow
me. Now the other man said, I will
follow you. And here, this man, the Lord
said, you follow me. Now remember what happened when
the Lord said that? Look at Matthew 9, verse 9. He walked up to the
table of Matthew, sitting at receipt of customs, and he said,
follow me. And he rose and followed him.
You remember we studied over in, I think it's Matthew chapter
4 when he saw James and John and Peter and Andrew out in fishing
boats. They were fishermen and they
were coming back from fishing that day and cleaning up the
nets and straightening things up and he walked up to the boat
and said, said, follow me! And immediately they left their
nets and left their father. and they followed the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, that scribe said, oh,
I'll be a disciple. I will. The flip side of that
is the Lord said, follow me. He will. And that's the difference. It's not me first. Now hold your
place there and turn to Luke 9. We have this, and we studied
through the book of Luke, so this is familiar to you. Luke
9. 57, Luke 9, 57. It came to pass that
as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I'll
follow you wherever you go. And the Lord said, the foxes
have holes, the birds, the air they have nests, the Son of Man
hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, follow
me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first. Now underscore those two words,
me first. Salvation is not involved with
me first. Salvation is involved with him
first. Let me first go and bury my father. And the Lord said unto him, let
the dead bury the dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. Now most of the commentators
that I read after, they think that this is one of the apostles
the Lord calls, Philip. Go preach the gospel. Another
also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let, here's this word
again, me first. You see, following the Lord is
not me first. Following the Lord is involved
in him. Let me first go and bid them
farewell. which are at home at my house. And the Lord said, verse 62,
no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of God. So it's forward. It's looking
to Him. Not looking back. It's looking
to Him. Me first. It must be Christ having
all the preeminence in all things. He must be first in all things. Everything. We read in Colossians
chapter 1, He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. Colossians 1, 17, 18, and 19. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. Remember back in Matthew chapter
6, where He said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
And the rest of these things will find their place. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
unto you. Now, it's interesting, back to Matthew chapter 8. This
is the first time we read of this statement here, the Son
of Man. The Son of Man. We know He's
the Son of God, right? He's God the Son. part of that
sacred trinity. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. But here He's called the Son
of Man. And it's the first time we run into that statement made
in the New Testament. The Son of Man. The Son of Man. Now, He refers to Himself often
as the Son of Man. Thirty times, thirty times in
the book of Matthew alone, He calls Himself the Son of Man.
85 times in the Gospels and then over in the Revelation a couple
of times. He is truly the Son of Man who
truly identified with us in our humanity apart from sin. The Word was with God and the
Word was God and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but took upon himself the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion
as a man. He humbled himself, became obedient
to the cross, became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ identified with our humanity
as well as with our infirmities and sin. As God, He owns all
things, right? Psalm 24 says, the earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof. As God, he owns all things. He
created all things. As a son of man, he has nothing. I don't even have a place to
lay down my head at night. Foxes, they have a home. The birds, they have a nest.
A son of man owns nothing. I thought of this scripture,
2 Corinthians 8-9. Paul writes about giving. He says, "...ye know of the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might be
really made rich." God made Him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Now, listen to this. Now I'm not sure where I got
this. I don't know if this is from
me or if I'm borrowing this from someone else. I don't remember.
So I'm not going to give myself credit because it may belong
to John Gill or John Owen or Matthew Henry or somebody else,
Robert Hawker. The eternal Son of God became
in time the Son of Man, in order that sons of men, by His almighty
power and love and sovereign mercy and electing grace, be
made truly sons of God. Did you get that? Let me give
it to you again. The Son of God became the Son
of Man, that sons of men might become sons of God. Does that
make sense? Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. God incarnate in human flesh. Great is the mystery of
godliness. He never stopped being God when
He was manifested in the flesh, but He became what He was not.
Flesh. Real flesh. He was a real substitute,
the real man for real sinners. And his sheep do really follow
him out of love in their heart for him alone. When he says to
Matthew, follow me, he said, my sheep hear my voice, I know
them, and they do follow me. They follow me. Now, the third
thing I want us to see is these disciples with the Lord
in the sinking boat. I mean, the boat is sinking.
He commanded them to go to the other side. He commanded them
to get in the boat. And they got in the boat, verse
23, and when His disciples entered into the ship, His disciples
followed Him. When He was entered into the
ship, His disciples followed Him, following Him. That's what disciples do. And
behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the
ship was covered with waves, but he was asleep. He'd been
working all day. He was tired. It was time to
rest. And his disciples came to him
and woke him, saying, Lord, save us, we'll perish. Water was coming
in the boat. The boat was sinking. And he
saith unto them, why are you so fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the
wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. He not only stopped
the wind, but the momentum of those waves, it was a calm. And the men marveled, verse 27,
saying, what manner of, and that word man has been added, what
manner of God is this, what manner of Power is this, that even the
winds and the sea, they obey Him. Now we see two distinct
things here, don't we? We see His real humanity. Why
is He sleeping? Remember John chapter 4? in that
city of Samaria, where he's going through that city of Samaria,
and it's about noontime, and he sends his disciples away into
town to get some food, and he's sitting on the well, being wearied
in his body. He was a real man. He never did
a miracle one time to satisfy his own earthly, fleshly needs. He did for others, but not himself.
He was a real man, tempted and tested, In all points like as
we are, yet without sin. Yet without sin. Now, it's always
a good thing to follow the Lord, isn't it? It's always a good
thing. It's wise and always a good thing
to follow the Lord wherever He goes. It is right and safe to
follow Him. It's a good thing to be with
the Lord, even in a boat upon the seas of this life. But it
does not secure us from the storms of life, does it? Now, I got
this from someone. Jesus Christ is no security against
the storms, but he is the perfect security in the storm. He had never promised an easy
passage, only a safe landing. Peace rules the day when Christ
rules the heart. And behold, there was this great
wind, a storm, and the boat started taking on water. And we see the
Lord Jesus Christ in the back part of the ship being asleep. As a man, He wearied Him body,
but as God, listen to this scripture. Remember Psalm 121, He that keeps
Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. God never sleeps. He's always
on the job. But the God-man Mediator, he
was a real man and he wearied him body and he was sleeping.
No mere man can rebuke the wind, the sea, and bring a great calm.
But the God-man did. Our Lord brings the storm into
our life, and the same Lord also brings the calm in the storm.
He said, I'll never leave thee, I'll never forsake you. Lo, he
said, I'm with you always. Now, verse 25, we see at least
three things. A cry of reverence, Lord. You see that? Lord, save us. They cried for mercy like the
publican did. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. It was a cry of reverence, Lord. It was a cry of mercy,
Lord, save us. It was an urgent cry, Lord, we're
going to perish. If you don't do something, we're
going to die. We're going to die. Now here's a heart-searching
question, verse 26. And he said to them, why are
you so afraid? I'm the Lord. Why are you so
fearful? O ye of little faith. And then
he arose, and he rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was
a great calm, and the men marveled. Now a heart-searching question.
Why are you so fearful? In Mark chapter 4 where this
is given, we read, how is it that you have no faith? They
had no faith in Him while He was over there sleeping. They
had no faith in Him. And then in Luke chapter 8 it
is, when it's recorded there, it says, the Lord says, where
is your faith? What has become of your faith?
They had little or no faith that He might deliver them. And here
we read, why are you so fearful, O ye of little, little faith? One of my favorite scriptures
in Isaiah says, fear thou not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed,
Isaiah 4110, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness, O ye of little faith. Remember the
words of our Lord to that Roman soldier that said, only speak
the word and my servant will be healed. Remember what the
Lord says of him in verse 10, Matthew 8 verse 10, Verily I
say unto you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And
here's these little disciples, the apostles. Where's your faith? How is it you have no faith?
And then he said, you have little faith. Little faith, now listen,
little faith and small faith is saving faith. Because saving
faith always looks to Christ. It relies upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, whether it be little faith or small faith. The strength
of faith is not in faith itself. The strength of faith is the
object of faith. It is not the strength of faith
that saves, it's the object of faith that saves. That's why
saving faith always looks back to the giver. The giver of faith
is Christ. Look unto me, he said, and be
ye saved. Looking unto Jesus, who's the
author and finisher of our faith. The Lord does not cast us away
because we are fearful and lacking in faith. Notice he arose and
rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. In
Mark chapter four, he said to the sea, peace be still. I thought of this verse in Psalm
46, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among
the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Another picture here of salvation.
The storm of God's wrath is against us. The Lord Jesus Christ arose
as our mediator and savior. He brought in everlasting salvation
for us. He made peace for us with his
own blood. He reconciled us unto God. And
the fruit of his atonement is salvation full and free, and
it gives us peace with God being justified by faith. We have peace
with God. And the men marveled. The men
marveled, saying, what kind of a person is this? that even the
wind and the seas obey him." Amazement. Mark, it says, they
feared exceedingly. Luke says, being afraid, they
wondered. They were filled with astonishment,
fear, and reverence. There was such a shine of his
majesty, such a display of his divine power that appeared to
them so clearly and plainly and powerfully, they said, Who is
this? Who is this person? Who is this
man? Well, I know he's a man of righteousness.
We know he's a man of God. He's a man of faithfulness, and
he's a man of mercy. He's the man of salvation, isn't
he? He's more than a mere man. Here's a full display of his
deity, the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. None but God controls
the elements and the weather. Who sent the storm? Who controls
the waves of the sea? It's not Mother Nature. It's
God Almighty. Psalm 89 said, thou rulest the
raging of the sea. He's the creator and sustainer
of all things. Psalm 107 said, he maketh the
storm a calm. He brings the storm and he brings
the calm. None but God controls all things
in nature, in providence, and especially in salvation. Of him
and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory both
now and forever. What manner of man is this? He's
God Almighty. That's what kind of man he is.
He's a man of faithfulness. He's faithful to His covenant
people. He's a man of righteousness. He brought in everlasting righteousness
for us. He's a man of redemption. He
obtained eternal redemption for us with His own blood. He's worthy of trusting Him for
all things in salvation. He's worthy of trusting all things
in Him for all of salvation.