Miracles and Matthew 9

The Gospel of the King and the Authority of Matthew 5–9

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, I�m Mike Abendroth. And in real time, it is, what, Saturday, January 19th. And if you want to email me, you can, info at nocompromiseradio .com. Don�t forget about the YouTube channel, NoCoYouTube, we just filmed a few more, Ben has been editing them, and so-called No Compromise Radio, is that what they called this, Relevant Magazine, so-called?

Or something called, yeah, something called No Compromise Radio. And I think this, we�re going into our ninth year, Stephen just is on Facebook Live here, and he said a lot of snow up here. Not yet, although I think we�re going to have a foot sometime between now and the morning.

And I just thought I�d do what J .D. Greer did, and some of the other big campuses, we just cancel service so people tomorrow could stay home and watch the Patriots game. No, sadly, we�re probably going to have to cancel because it�s going to snow all night and then tomorrow for like seven hours is freezing ice storm.

And I don�t want anybody to get hurt, actually somebody from Bethlehem Bible Church on a Sunday night was driving home and there was a tragic accident because of ice, so I definitely don�t want that to happen.

And while I don�t want to have, you know, no service tomorrow, there are times to have no service. And anyway, probably good for some of the dads too to man up and turn on the video and watch Grace to You Live, I mean Grace to Your Life.

Matthew as the Jewish Gospel and the Old Testament Bridge

I�ve been thinking about the book of Matthew, and it is the book of the King, King Jesus. And Matthew does not necessarily arrange things in his gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Matthew.

He doesn�t arrange them chronologically. Sometimes he clumps a few things together, so that�s what I want to talk about today, Matthew chapter 8 and 9, and ask and answer this question from the Bible.

This will be more Bible teaching than the last show. Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Remember the Lord Jesus asked his disciples that in Caesarea Philippi. You have to be saving your money to go to Israel with NOCO Radio, I think not next year but the year after, February 2021, Omaha Bible Church and Bethlehem Bible Church.

Who do you say that I am? And that�s going to be the right question to answer for everyone who�s listening. Now most NOCO people, I�m sure, say that he is Christ, the Son of the living God, and that he is the one who actually in eternity past existed and agreed with the Father to go rescue the elect.

I think most people believe that, but that�s the question, and that�s the ultimate question. So we move to Matthew chapter 8 and 9, a bunch of his powerful work, the Lord Jesus�s powerful works, put together, clumped together so that you would recognize, wow, he is so powerful in that section in Matthew 8 and 9.

The leper is cleansed, the centurion servant is healed, Peter�s mother-in-law is healed, demons are cast out, a variety of sicknesses are eradicated in people, waves and wind are still, a legion of demons are gone, and a paralyzed man is healed.

And you probably need to really figure out in your mind, why does he put these together? And the answer is simple. This is really a wonderful answer. When you read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, how do you know it�s true?

Well, you know it�s true because it�s in the Bible, and the Spirit of God illumines it and all that, but to affirm, to give proper credentials to this King, we have these powerful signs that happen. You see in chapter 8 and 9 that what Jesus said in 5, 6, and 7 has to be true because who can do these kind of miracles?

Why are there sign gifts in the New Testament and 1 Corinthians, for instance? Because they authenticated the message and the messenger, and the Lord Jesus here has been authenticated by what He can do and how He can heal and how He can raise people from the dead.

Jesus, at the end of chapter 7 in Matthew, it says of Him that He was teaching as one having authority, not as the scribes. You want to know how much authority Jesus has? Then watch how He heals people.

Watch how He raises people from the dead. Who is saying these things in Matthew 5, 6, and 7? By what authority does He speak? Who gave Him such authority? Why should we believe what He's saying? Why should we repent and believe that if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery?

Who are you to tell me those things? Answer chapter 8 and 9. Give all these great miracles so that you are confirmed in your minds that Jesus is in fact the Messiah, that He is the Son of God, that He is Christ because He's so powerful.

You say to yourself, essentially, after reading Matthew 8 and 9, who could do these things but the Lord? Only God could do these things. And when God is speaking, therefore, back to 5, 6, and 7 in the Sermon on the Mount, I ought to hold those things as God's Word, as determinative, as right and proper.

You've got all the crowds following Jesus at the end of chapter 4. He gives the message, chapter 5, 6, and 7. Why should I, the listener, why should I, the reader, think that Jesus is who He says He is?

And all the healings would help you understand that no one but the King, no one but the Lord, no one but Yahweh the Son could do these things. These miracles had been prophesied even from the Old Testament, that when the Messiah comes, here's what He would do.

What are the credentials for Jesus to back up His claim for His sermons? I mean, after all, think about it. Jesus, carpenter, right? Nazareth, insignificant. I don't think He had any royal birth in terms of where He was born, right?

Think stable and manger. Were His parents rich and influential? No. What kind of position did His father hold in town? I mean, He was descended from the line of David, that's true, but He wasn't a big shot.

He didn't run the show, He was just the carpenter. What school did Jesus go to? How many letters did He have after His name? Did He go to the school where all the rabbis went to school? How did He study?

What kind of grades did He get? What kind of accolades did He get? Why should we listen to a common, normal, ordinary carpenter from the sticks of Galilee up in the hills of Nazareth? Have you ever been to Nazareth?

It's not too fun, not too cool. And you mean to tell me that He's the promised Messiah from the Old Testament, and I should listen to Him like He's God? I mean, just think about it for a second. You're at, you know, the Atlanta airport.

I guess that's where all the G3 people are now. You're at the Atlanta airport. You're at the store. You're down at the marketplace, and someone says He's God. I mean, really? I'm God in the flesh. What would you think?

I'd be thinking all kinds of things. Well, Jesus preaches in 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount, and He shows His credentials, His papers. Show me the papers. Show me the papers. He gives those papers, not with parchment and pen, but He gives those papers by what He does, by the authenticating power of the Holy Spirit working through Christ Jesus to deliver people from Satan, to calm nature's storms, and to raise people from the dead.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as Complementary Portraits of Jesus

And here's something that I don't know if you've thought about. I like to think about it regularly, not just on No Compromise Radio, but let's just think of even the bridge between the last book of the Bible, the English Bible, Malachi, would be 2 Chronicles in the Hebrew text, and then the first book of the New Testament.

Do you think that the order of the 27 books in the New Testament are just haphazardly put together? We know they're not written chronologically. You could look at Galatians or James as an earlier book written than Matthew.

But why is Matthew where Matthew is? Now let's think about the four gospels. This is great. This is going to be worth the time today on the Facebook Live. You have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and they're each showing different facets and emphasizing certain things about the Lord Jesus.

The genealogy in John 1 is just the eternal genealogy. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And you have the servant in Mark 1 through 16. No genealogy really, because servants don't have genealogies, and he just begins to serve.

He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life for ransom for many, Mark 10 .45. And you've got Luke, and you've got the Gentile Luke and how he's writing so that you might understand who Jesus is, and He's really human, and He's really God, verily God of, you know, very God of very God.

Now what about Matthew? Matthew's the Jewish gospel, is it not? More Old Testament quotes in Matthew than in Mark, Luke, and John. The answer is yes. Even the canonical placement links between the Old Testament and the New, and that's why you see all kinds of Old Testament in the book of Matthew.

Now, I can't be for certain if this is why it was placed there, but it makes a lot of sense, does it not, that you've got Matthew there that quotes more of the Old Testament than anything else as kind of the bridge into the New Testament.

That's the first book. The sequence canonically of the four gospels links everything back to the Old Testament, and that's what's really wonderful here. And so, you say to yourself, Jesus in Matthew 8 and 9 shows that He has credentials of the King, and the link to the Old Testament is simple.

Isaiah’s Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus’ Miracles

Let me read to you Isaiah 29, verses 18 and 19. In that day the deaf shall hear the word of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of God.

All right, now we move to chapter 35 of Isaiah. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert, and burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.

In the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. The Jewish people would read Isaiah 29 and 35 and say, when the Messiah comes, we'll know for sure that it's Him, because He can do these things.

Eyes of the blind, ears of the deaf, lame man leaping, tongue of the mute sing for joy. And then Jesus does that. This must be the Messiah, therefore, in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, I should believe what He's saying.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Isaiah 61, and then Jesus quotes that very thing. You're to understand that these prophecies in the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus, and they speak of the Messiah, therefore, you should listen to Him.

So when you're reading Matthew 8 and 9, and I regularly read Matthew just 8 and 9, I mean, you could read the whole thing, of course, 1 to 28, but I like to just read 8 and 9 because I personally need to be reminded that God is a powerful God, and God can do whatever He wants, and whatever He pleases, as often as He pleases, in spite of what everybody else pleases, God is powerful, and God controls people, God controls Satan and demons, God controls nature, and that I just need a good dose of that, because typically, I just think myself, I'm in charge, and I know deep down I'm not, but functionally, I act that way.

John the Baptist’s Doubt and Jesus’ Answer

Remember John the Baptist in Matthew 11? He didn't really know if Jesus was the Messiah, and what's it say in Matthew 11, 1 to 6? When Jesus had finished instructing His disciples, His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, He sent word by His disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? We've got to understand if you're the right one or not.

I've got some questions. And Jesus answered them, go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.

That's right. See, they're putting it all together. This has to be the one, because this is what Jesus is doing, and of course, there's something more important than physical healing, right? You can be physically healed and still go to hell, but this is an authentication, this is an affirmation of Jesus, and of course, it does show His kindness to these people who are enslaved to all kinds of physical maladies, and how He knows, and how He cares, and how He has compassion to restore and kindness to heal, and when you think about everybody getting healed, what does that make you think of?

It should make you think, physical healing should lend myself to think about spiritual healing. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried away our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.

There in Isaiah chapter 55, there's that link. People always say, well, is there healing in the atonement? Well, duh. No, that's no compromise. See, since only Stephen and Barbara are watching, I can just kind of say what I want now.

Just between us girls. Oh, and Stephen. What do I have over here? Oh, this is going to be really good. I have some old papers from seminary, and this is when you actually had to type them out. And 1993, Winterim, 1993, a paper, Review of Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church.

Uh-oh, what did I believe then? And what do I believe now? I'm afraid to read those in public, but I think I'm going to, but just not this show. But I've got all these things. The Scope and Center of Old Testament Theology and Hope, Winterim Term Paper Project.

And then there's all kinds of notes and stuff from the professor. What's this one say? Mike, I would be challenged by this section as a sermon, but be careful to give the straightforward logic in a reasonable such-and-such monitor of the progress of your Bible understanding.

Hmm, I don't have any idea. Yeah, where are my Darby books? Where are my left-behind books? Where are my Hal Lindsey books when I need them? All right. Anyway, back to our topic. Our topic is simple.

Matthew 9:18–26 and the Two Healings That Point to Faith in Christ

When you read Matthew, here's how I'd like you to read it. I'd like you to read it as, it's about a king, right? Here is the king. And what happens? How do we know he's the right king? Well, there's a genealogy, because you have to know he's got the right bloodline, right?

How do you know he's the king? Well, let's talk about his birth, and so we can understand where he's born and what's all that going on. Well, there are rival kings, and rival kings want to kill this particular king.

So we read about that with Herod. And then we look at the message of the king, 5, 6, and 7. Well, how do we know he's got authority? What kind of authority does he has? Does he have? Does he have? Well, answer, since he has authority to heal, since he's doing what the Old Testament said the Messiah would do, we therefore can trust him.

Jesus is the king. He has power over sickness, and then ultimately he has power over sin and death and hell. Anyway, when it comes to Matthew, that's the way I'd like you to read it. So let's just go into one of the stories in this section and just highlight a little bit more particularly what is going on with Jesus.

And it is right there found in...I'm trying to find where this section is. I actually cracked my...here's my...I teach from this, this iPad. I think it's 4 Mini, and there's all the notes and stuff right there, highlights and things like that.

There's a crack. I have not dropped it. But this is some kind of uber Otter Box, and there's a crack in this screen, not on the protective screen, but the real screen. And I'm thinking, what is going on?

So maybe I have to call Otter Box. But we're going to talk today, Matthew 9, 18 to 26, Jesus Messiah and how He's going to do something nobody else could do, which should confirm in your mind that in fact Jesus is the Messiah, and you should trust Him with your very soul.

Trust Him as a sin bearer. Trust Him as the one who obeyed in your place the law of God, that He was born a woman, born under law, that He might redeem us, Galatians chapter 4. And we're going to have two kind of...it's like a split screen that's going on in Matthew 9 here.

And you've got Jairus regarding his daughter, and you've got the woman who's bleeding. And there's lots of differences, and some similarities, but some of the differences. You've got Jairus, male, female, bleeding woman.

One's an outcast, right, she couldn't be part of the temple worship or synagogue or anything. But Jairus, he was a prominent leader. One was very public, and that is Jairus, he did things in public. The other, she had to be isolated because of the uncleanness that she had ceremonially, and of course even physically.

One is named, one is not named. What do we call it when they're not named? Anonymous. One comes to Jesus very directly, and one sneaks up on Him. Jesus heals one way with Jairus' daughter and another way with his lady.

There are some similarities. Oh, by the way, why are there so many differences? Well, lots of scholars think it's simple, that here's the two extremes and then everything in between, right? You've got these two differences in every way, and yet, although on the opposite end of the spectrum, everybody else fits in there in some way, shape, or form.

There are some similarities. Healing needed to be involved in both cases. Both are thinking Jesus could do it, and maybe even last resort type of thing. And wonderfully, Jesus isn't affected regarding ceremonial uncleanliness, either by the blood or by the death.

Now, normal people back in those days would be ceremonially unclean if you touched the dead body, touched somebody who had a blood issue, you would be unclean. I guess the biggest similarity in these two is I think both Jairus and the woman believed the Lord Jesus Christ, that He saved both of them from their sins.

He made them born again. They both had the right object of faith, not just for physical healing, not just raising from the dead, but also trusting their souls to this Messiah who's King and Messiah. And this is good for all of us because we sin.

Our sins have merited judgment and death and hell and eternal displeasure. But the Bible says, can you imagine? Here's some good news for you as we wrap up the show today. Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.

That's pretty good. A lot of people let you down. I let myself down more than anybody else lets me down. Whoever believes in Him shall not be disappointed. And then it goes on to say two verses later in Romans 10, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That's good news. That's good news. Now, Matthew, sometimes he describes things in more detail than Mark does. Mark gives these verses 23, these episodes 23 verses. But here, Matthew is much briefer, nine verses.

It's usually kind of the other way around. And of course, Luke sometimes goes on and on because he's got the doctor's insight. But we're going to take a look at these two passages, both Jairus and the woman.

A Brief Detour Into Left Behind, the Quran, and the Book of Mormon

But I don't think I'm going to have time. I'm looking around for those books, those left behind books. You know, I have to say that I've never read a left behind book, so I can't judge it. I remember that when Rick Warren's book came out, Purpose Driven Life, somebody said to me, well, have you read the entire thing?

I said, no, but I've read sections of it. Well, you can't judge it until you've read the entire thing. Okay. Slog away. Anyway, that has nothing to do with anything. Have you read the entire thing? Can you read the entire Koran before you judge it?

I mean, it might be a good idea to write all the Book of Mormon before you judge it. But once I read in 2 Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, you're saved by grace after all you can do. Do I need to read any more?

But that's just a little more no-go stuff. What other papers do I have here? I'm trying to stall because I was going to try to get into Jairus' daughter section, but I don't think I'm going to be able to.

Barbara Laurie said, I read the first page and slammed it shut. Oh, this is going to be a good one. I got an A on it. See, there's the A. I can prove it. Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Documents of Vatican II.

Okay, here's NoCo Jr. right here. It almost makes me throw up when I read the subtitle on page 660 for Everlasting Memory is a joke.

My name is Mike Abendroth. We've got to wind this thing down. God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.