I invite your attention to the
Gospel according to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew's Gospel chapter 8. This morning's lesson continues
the series, The Healing Ministry of Jesus Christ. If memory serves,
this is the fourth lesson in this series. And we have been
looking at Jesus' ministry in healing many kinds of different
people, many different infirmities. We read in chapter 8, verse 1,
that when he had come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him. And here in Matthew's account,
the first one he healed was a leper. verses 2 through 4. Then he healed
the servant of a centurion, verses 5 through 13. And today we come
to consider Peter's mother-in-law healed in Matthew chapter 8 verse
number 14. We read these words. Now when
Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying
sick with a fever, and he touched her hand and the fever left her. Then she arose and served them. Peter at this time lived in Capernaum. He formerly had lived in Bethsaida,
These two towns were both on the northern shore of the Sea
of Galilee. Peter was a fisherman, evidently
a successful fisherman. Had his own boat, had his own
nets, and he had lived at one time in Bethsaida, but now he
has relocated to Capernaum. And Capernaum was the town in
which Jesus himself resided during the years of his ministry. We read that Jesus had come into Peter's house. Peter lived in this house. It evidently was his house, but
there were others who lived there also, probably Peter's brother. And we read that Peter's wife's
mother was sick with a fever. Now this is very interesting.
There is a certain sect, a certain church, that claims that Peter
was its founder. They claim that when Jesus said,
upon this rock I will build my church, he was talking about
Peter. They claim that Peter was the
first pope of their church. And they require all of their
priests to live in celibacy, to never marry. Well now this
is interesting because Peter was married. We know Peter was
married because he had a mother-in-law. Here was the mother of his wife
and she has come down with a fever. Jesus is going to deal with this
fever. We read that Also, one other
instance in which Peter is said to be married is in 1 Corinthians
9, verse 5, in which Paul speaks of Peter and the other apostles
having the right to have a wife go with them. Peter was married. In his journeys, he took his
wife with him. There were one or two other apostles
as well who were married, and their wives went with them. Paul
was not married, at least at this time. He may have been a
widower, but he went singly or with other men in his ministry. It's interesting that we know
virtually nothing about Peter's wife. how different are important
church women in some circles today. I have noticed that in
some circles, pastors' wives designate themselves the first
lady of the church. It's an interesting term. You
know where it comes from. The wife of the president or
the wife of the governor is said to be the first lady. It is,
you know, a very high position. And we have no qualm with governmental
circles the wife of the president. She certainly occupies a high
position. First lady, go ahead and call
her that. That's a fitting term. But do
you suppose it is a fitting term for the wife of a pastor? Do you suppose it is a fitting
term for the wife of a pastor to let all the other ladies know
that I'm the first lady in this church. I do not think so. Here is a woman, if there was
a first lady of the church, one would think it would have been
her. She was Peter's wife. We do not even know her name.
Furthermore, Christian women are known not for seeking superiority
or high rank over others, but for serving others, as this woman
here did. We will consider that in a moment.
But here we read that Jesus saw his wife's mother, Peter's wife's
mother, lying sick with a fever, and he touched her hand. Luke
tells us that he went to where she was. She was probably lying
there on the bed. And Luke says that he stood over
her and he rebuked her fever. Then he touched her. He touched
a woman with a fever. Now you know that if a woman
has a fever, or if anyone has a fever, Whatever they have may
be contagious during the time of a fever. Jesus is unconcerned
about that. He touches her, rebukes the fever,
and she became well. The fever left her immediately.
Then she arose and served them. Jesus had a party that was with
him, perhaps other apostles, may have been other people that
were there in the house, but here is this woman, that Jesus
has healed, and she immediately arises and begins serving them. She evidently fixed a meal, she
served them, and this shows the gratitude of those whom Jesus
healed. They were willing to serve not
only Him, but those who were with them as well. She immediately
arose and served them. She used the hand that Jesus
touched. Notice he touched her hand. She
used the hand that Jesus touched to serve others who were in his
company. Then we read in verse number
16. When evening had come, they brought
to him many who were demon-possessed. And he cast out the spirits with
the word and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, He himself took
our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." We will come back
to that text at a later time. But for the present time, just
bear in mind that Jesus here is said to be healing people
who were demon-possessed. These were demoniacs, people
into which Satan had entered. Now we're going to skip the next
passage. It does not deal with the healing
ministry of Jesus Christ. It deals with the cost of discipleship. Matthew chapter 8 verse 18 down
through verse number 22. Now actually verse 23 down through
verse 27 do not deal with His healing ministry directly. However, I want to deal with
this passage just in reading it and then go to the next passage
and see that indirectly what happened on the Sea of Galilee
that night, probably that very early morning, perhaps had a
bearing on what happened on the other side of the sea. We read
in Matthew 8 23, now when he got into a boat his disciples
followed him and suddenly A great tempest arose on the sea, so
that the boat was covered with the waves. But Jesus was asleep,
fast asleep there in the boat. Then his disciples came to him
and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing. But
he said to them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men
marveled, saying, Who can this be, that even the winds and the
sea obey him? Jesus was asleep there in the
boat. He stands in the midst of the
boat, on a very tempestuous sea, where the footing could not have
been very secure, humanly speaking. But there he stood, and he rebuked
the winds, he rebuked the waves, and they were still, and the
disciples said, What kind of man is this? Well, that's a good
question. The answer is found in the next
passage. Because then we read of Jesus
healing two demon-possessed men. Let us say that the disciples
asked the question, what manner of man is this? And the demons
answered that question, as we shall see. When Jesus had come
to the other side, to the country of the Gergesnes, there met him
two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly
fierce, so that no one could pass that way. He's now crossed to the other
side of the sea, the Sea of Galilee. Two men have come to meet him
when he comes off the boat. Other accounts list only one,
but there were two. The other account probably mentions
only one because he was more prominent than the other. And suddenly they cried out,
saying, What have we to do with you? Jesus, you Son of God, have you
come here to torment us before the time?" These were the demons
who were doing the speaking. They were speaking through the
man's throat, but it was the demons who were controlling what
the man said. Now, considering these two demoniacs,
notice three things we find about them. They were under Satan's
control. They were demon-possessed. That
means that they did whatever the demons told them to do. We
read in another place of the one that was running naked. He
had no clothes. He had no shame. He was running
naked. Here we read simply that they
were demon-possessed and that they were coming out of the tombs. That's where they lived. They
were under Satan's control. And very especially were they
in the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to
do his will. They lived in a cemetery, that
means they lived among the dead. You're going to see here parallels
with these men in their physical condition and other men in their
spiritual condition. They lived among the dead. And
we live among those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Furthermore,
they were exceedingly fierce so that no one could pass that
way. These men scared everyone who
ever came by. And here is Jesus daring to come
to the place where they are, and here they come running up
to Him. Now consider the demons. I want
you to see all about four things concerning them. The demon said, What have we
to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God? Have you come here to
torment us before the time? Notice first of all that the
demons acknowledged the deity of Jesus Christ. They knew him
as the Son of God, and like father, like son. These demons caused
this man to come running up to Jesus, or perhaps it was about
the only thing that these two men could do, but the demons
said, Jesus, we know who you are, you Son of God. They knew
his deity. Men today claiming to be witnesses
for Jehovah, claiming to know a lot of things about him, they
deny his deity, not these demons. They said, we know who you are,
you son of God. Then they said, have you come
here to torment us before the time? They acknowledge the fact
that Jesus would be the judge at the final day. Have you come
here to torment us before the time? They know that a day of
torment is ahead of them in their future. They know there is a
day of judgment ahead of them in their future. And they know
that Jesus will be the judge And the one who executes them
or executes the punishment upon him, even though Jesus himself
had not revealed this to men, they knew this to be true. They knew that he would be the
judge at the final day. Have you come to torment us?
They knew where they were going when that day came. They knew
they were going to the place of torment. It seems that many men today
are like demons. They know who Jesus is. They
know one day he's going to judge them for their sins. They know
that they're going to be sent to torment. And yet, nevertheless,
they're unconcerned about it just like demons. You sometimes
have to wonder if there is not a whole lot of demonic influence
around us. When you see and hear people
who know that Jesus can deliver, they've been taught it, they
will admit it, they know they're going to be punished for their
sins, they know He's going to judge them at the final day,
and yet, And yet, they do not believe in Him and trust in Him.
These demons did not. And people today, seemingly under
demonic influence, I do not say possession, but perhaps, but
at least under demonic influence, have the same response as these
demons. We read that, now a good way
off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. Mark 5.13 says about 2,000 swine. Now remember that this was in
a Gentile area. This was in an area where swine
were grown. where swine were raised, where
swine were eaten. This was a Gentile area. And
here has Jesus come to this place, and the demons request, because they
know He's going to cast them out of these two demon-possessed
men, they deserve to go into the swine. Here's the fourth thing concerning
demons. Look in verse 31. So the demons
begged him, saying, If you cast us out, permit us to go away
into the herd of swine. They acknowledged the sovereignty
of Jesus Christ. They knew his deity. They knew
his judgeship, they knew his lordship, they knew his sovereignty. If you cast us out, permit us
to go away into the herd of swine. And he said to them, go! So when
they had come out, They went into the herd of swine, and suddenly
the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the
sea and perished in the water. Then those who kept them, the
swine herds, shepherds keep sheep, swiners keep swine, And they
went away into the city and told everything, including what had
happened to the demon-possessed men. These men who knew what
had happened, they knew not only about the swine, they knew that
Jesus had healed these two demoniacs. They went into the town and they
told what happened. They said, Jesus has come to
our shore. He has healed a demoniac. He has exorcised his demons from
him. The demons have gone into the
swine and the swine have perished in the sea. And behold, The whole city came
out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged
Him to depart from their region. They begged Him to depart from
their region. They're unconcerned about these
two men. These two demoniacs whom Jesus
has healed. Unconcerned about them. Unconcerned
that these two men had been restored, unconcerned that no one needs
to be afraid of these two men anymore. Rather, they are concerned
about the fact that, well, their swine have run into the sea.
They begged him to leave. On another occasion, another
man told Jesus to depart his presence. These people said,
Jesus, depart. On another occasion, Peter did. Jesus did a very miraculous and
marvelous thing and Peter ran up to him and he says, Lord,
depart from me, for I am a sinful man. I am unworthy to be in your
presence. Peter knew himself to be unworthy
of Jesus' presence. These people were unappreciative
of Jesus' presence. They begged him to depart. Now,
someone has said, why would Jesus permit demons to enter swine? Why would he do that? That question
has been raised quite a few times. Why would Jesus permit demons
to enter swine? He should not have done that.
When did you ever hear anyone ask, why does the devil send
demons into people? That's not very good of him.
You don't hear that question very often. But people are critical
of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? Jesus has come,
has brought salvation to this place, and these people say,
Jesus, we want you to leave. We want you to be gone. Never
let it be so with us. Alright, we now come to chapter
9, verse 1. A paralytic was brought to Jesus. So Jesus got into a boat, crossed
over, and came to his own city. Actually chapter 9 verse 1 should
be chapter 8 verse 35. Chapter division here is not
that good. They begged him to depart, so
he did. Now in chapter 9 verse 2, an
entirely different situation arises. He came to his own city,
that was Capernaum. Notice, his own city was Capernaum. Have you ever observed and noticed
the places that were associated with Jesus? Bethlehem, the place
of his birth. Egypt, the place of his refuge
when Herod was trying to kill him. Nazareth, the town where he was
raised. Capernaum, the town in which
he resided as an adult. And Jerusalem, where they killed
him. Those towns you need to be aware
of and think about them. Here, Capernaum is called his
own city. It was the place of his residence
at that time. But remember the towns that were
associated with Jesus or the towns with Egypt. It was a place,
we do not know the town. There's Bethlehem where he was
born. Egypt, where he found refuge, Nazareth, where he was raised,
Capernaum, where he lived as an adult, and Jerusalem, where
they killed him. He came to his own city. Verse
2, And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, he is said to
have had palsy, lying on a bed. Now, Matthew's account is very
brief. The other account goes into far
greater detail. It mentions that there were four
men who brought this man. He's a paralytic, he's paralyzed.
He cannot move, evidently cannot speak, cannot walk, cannot use
his limbs. Four men are said to have come
to the house, and by the way, it perhaps was Peter's house
because that's where Jesus often stayed there in Capernaum. They
went to Peter's house and removed the tiles from the roof in order
to put this man down into Jesus' presence. There probably was
a stairway, and we do know that in those days that people lived
on top, they did many activities on top of the roof. By the way,
there is an article in your bulletin today, the exposition of the
proverb, speaking about residing in a corner of a rooftop. But
you could go onto the rooftop, it was an advantageous place,
You could cook meals up there. You could sleep up there. You
could talk to others because other people would have flat
roofs and you could have conversations from roof to roof. Well, this
roof had some tiles in it, T-I-L-E. And these men, these four men,
had a paralytic friend who could not come to Jesus. And evidently
there were so many people in the courtyard and so many people
in the house, they could not bring the man into Jesus' presence. So they say, he needs to be healed. How are we going to get this
man healed? So they evidently walk up the
steps that were perhaps on the outside of the house. Walk up
the steps to the top of the roof. They go to the roof and remove
some tiles that are there in the roof. And then, and by the
way, they evidently removed a good number of tiles. You know, it
may have been a section about as big as one of our seats of
plywood we have up here, four by eight, because you've got
a man in a bed, you've got to lower him down. They removed
a good portion of that roof. And you can imagine the commotion
that's going on inside as Jesus is in that house teaching. They're
hearing all this commotion, and then they see that tiles are
being removed from the roof, and men are looking down to see
where Jesus is, and they remove more tiles, and then the four
men get on both sides of the open roof, and they take the
bed upon which this paralytic man is laid and they begin to
lower him down to where Jesus is. Imagine what's going on in
the minds of people as they see all these things because here
is this man being lowered. Now remember he is paralytic.
He cannot move. He cannot speak. But notice what
the scripture says. And Jesus seeing their faith. We do not read of a single word
having been said. We are led to believe that the
paralytic himself could not speak. But he saw their faith. Faith works! You can see faith! Consider that. You see faith in what it does. They lowered this man down. And
Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Son, be of
good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. Now
that's strange. It does not appear that the paralytic
man was sent to Jesus in order to be forgiven of his sins. They wanted him to be healed.
But they believed Jesus could do that. By the way, these four
men, what were their names? You know, they are four of the
most important men in the Bible when we speak of a group of four
men. Very important group of four men. We do not know their names. We
do not know their names. Doesn't matter. They were men
full of faith as was this paralytic. They had so much faith in Jesus's
power to heal, they were willing to remove part of a roof of a
house to get him down into Jesus's presence. And Jesus says, he
doesn't say, you're healed. He does not say, do you want
to be healed? He does not say, what do you
want? Jesus knew the man needed to
be healed and wanted to be healed. But Jesus did not talk about
healing. He said, Son, note the tenderness, Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. It is thought that perhaps this
man had lived some kind of a life of dissipation. that had brought
this infirmity upon him. And do you know that if you engage
in certain things in life, if you overindulge in this or overindulge
in that, it can have bad repercussions in your body. And it is thought
by some that since Jesus said, your sins are forgiven, He's
talking about the special sins of this man that had brought
on this condition. We do not know that to be the
case, might have been. But the important point here
is that Jesus said, your sins are forgiven you. Now Matthew
does not bring it out, but there were in that house and in that
area a number of scribes and Pharisees and doctors of the
law. They had come from as far as
Jerusalem. They had come from a long distance,
and some of them from very long distances, even from Jerusalem. And here they've come, and they're
watching Jesus. They're wanting to find out more
about Him, but they do not like Him. He's getting more glory
than they do. And when Jesus said, Son, your
sins are forgiven you, what did one of them say? This man blasphemes! Actually, they said it in their
hearts. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? Well, there's a
good reason for that. Evil hearts have evil thoughts. For which is easier to say, Your
sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise and walk? Is it easier
to forgive a man of his sins or to heal him of his infirmity? Now, both of those are impossible
with men. None of us can do either. But
Jesus here is arguing in such a way as to say, I am
able to do the greater deed, which is to forgive a man of
his sins. But then again, you cannot see
that. So therefore, he argues from
the point also of healing the man. He says, none of you can
heal him and none of you can forgive sins. I told the man,
you're forgiven. You say that's blasphemy. Well,
I will show to you that I have the power to forgive sins by
showing you the power to heal him of his infirmity. He said
to the man, rise up and go home. Arise, take up your bed and go
to your house. Now if Jesus can do that, then
he can do the other to forgive the man of his sins. The man
arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men,
because men do not have this kind of power. The people knew
that in their presence was one who could Heal infirmities and
also forgive them of their iniquities. They marveled and they rejoiced. We have such a great physician,
this Jesus Christ. We have one who can heal us of
all our infirmities. And we're going to pause at that
point But I do want you to see some of these applications. When Jesus healed the mother-in-law
of a disciple, we learn that in taking care of strangers,
Christ does not forget his friends. Pardon me. Here is good news
for his own people. And in the healing of the demoniacs,
Here is good news for men today who are in the snare of the devil,
having been taken captive by him to do his will. And in the
healing of the paralytic, here is good news for those who are
unable by themselves to come to Christ, but have friends who
care enough to bring them. Oh, that we would bring our loved
ones to Jesus. And oh God, our Father, we pray
that you receive our thanksgiving for having sent Jesus to us. We thank you for all his healing
powers, all the infirmities he could heal, and we pray that
you receive our thanksgiving. To your glory in Jesus' name
we pray, amen.