Mat 8:1-27; Don’t Miss the Boat - Again.

Sunday October 20, 2024

Main idea: Following the Lord by obedience to His Word will allow you to see His next miraculous work.

Do you feel that Christ is far away from you? Removed by 2,000 years and the billions of miles between earth and heaven? I’ve got news for you. He is in you. And He is here, in the timeless words of the Gospels. Speaking to you and bidding you to get into the boat and follow Him. Follow Him to what? He says, “Come and I will show you.” [Joh 1:38-39]

This is not a fun hike. Not a little boat ride on the lake. This is infinite love begging you to come and see what His love and power can do for you and any other who will follow. 

We must answer the question, “How do I follow Him in 2024 from right where I am?” The answer is not difficult to find. Actually following Him is where you come to terms in your own heart with what Christianity really is. 

Mat 8-9: Matthew particularly chooses 10 miracles to give further evidence of Jesus as Messiah. 

Each miracle has an eternal spiritual application: sin, limitations, fear, evil influence, death, loss, being an outcast, ignorance, helplessness, addiction, slavery (sin of the flesh and world). 

This is a major theme: Isa 53:4 quoted in Mat 8:17. 

Each of the two interludes (8:18-22; 9:9-17) involve a call to discipleship and a boat trip across the very large lake known as a sea. 

If you do not follow when the opportunity comes you miss the boat.

If you want to see further healings and powers over the evils that seek to rule you - you have to follow Him (Mat 10:37-39); pick up your cross is death - no longer an allegiance to world, flesh, sin, but unquestioned obedience.

Incredibly, the most outcast of outcasts approaches Him in faith. 

Leper (Mat 8:2-4)

Leprosy represents sin and owing God what you cannot pay (you fail to live up to His standards). Lev 13-14. 

He has faith: Bold approach, bowed down [imperfect - stayed bowed for a while], calls Him “Lord,” says “You can.” 

Jesus touches him. Matthew uses two verbs to stress this: He stretched forth and touched him - didn’t this make Jesus ceremonially unclean? (Num 5:2)

Centurion - healing of a Gentile from afar (parallel to Canaanite woman in Mat 15:22). 

Matthew’s emphasis on Gentiles in the kingdom (another outcast). The first to appreciate Jesus are Gentiles in his Gospel (2:1-11). 

Centurion’s servant is paralyzed (accident, polio, stroke) and in grievous torment [limited and in pain]. 

Ever feel like you know what you should do but to do it would be like climbing Everest barefoot in the winter? 

Jesus has the authority to heal. Can He heal you? I’m asking you, not the answer to the question on a test. 

Peter’s mother in law.

Fever, bedridden [limited and in pain]. 

Limited so as to be unable to serve.

First interlude: I will follow you, but first… [Luk 9:61 adds a third man who asks to go home and say goodbye first]

“Follow” (same verb) in vs. 1, 19, 22, 23.

He is about to get into a boat and cross the sea. 

Matthew is purposely presenting us with a crossroads that all of us face multiple times in our lives, which are limited in number. 

“I can follow later.” That is true. And He will accept you. The question brought up here is: what will you have missed until then? 

From that moment onward, your acceptance of the Lord’s hand to follow His example, would have opened up other visions of Him and His power of love and life: but those were not seen. 

Matthew’s example: the storm Mat 8:23-27. 

If you had missed seeing this (you were the disciple who preferred to go take care of the final funeral arrangements) when the storms hit your house, you would be far weaker than if you had seen it. 

All people are being hit by storms (Mat 7:24-27). What storms are hitting your house? What has the Lord told you to do? Are you doing it? Are you not? What are the results of each? 

You are facing storms right now. Now is the time to stand before them. Not yesterdays or last year’s storms - those opportunities are gone. Today is the good fight. 

Some of you are facing your storms after you have seen the Lord calm the storm with a word. You have asked, “What kind of Man is this?” And the answer is actually forming in your heart in a real way. 

Some of you are facing your storms and you have not seen the Lord calm the storm with a word. You have not followed and gotten into the boat. 

I have stayed on shore for years. Then one day, after being left behind and watching Him and others sail over the horizon, looking back upon me, I said, “Lord, I want to get in.” And He said …

The grace of God stands ready, stretching forth His hand as when He touches the leper. He heals you and then says, “Join Me in the boat and come and see what I can do.”