The Demoniac (Matthew 8:18-34)

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Good morning.
Go ahead and grab your bibles turn to Matthew chapter eight, will be in verses 18 through 34. Today, if you don’t have a Bible, there’s a black one probably in front of you in the pew rack there, you can grab that and find the passage on page 789. If you don’t have a Bible, you can keep that one as a gift from us. A few years back, we were heading home from vacation, and Jackie had just let me know that we were about $100 under budget for that trip, which was great. And then we started talking and whenever I get distracted, in a conversation, when I’m driving, I don’t pay attention to driving anymore. And so I went right past the cop, a little bit faster on the highway than it should have been going on the far left lane. And so all of a sudden, immediate fear sets in, like you slam on the brakes, like that’s going to do something, right? You already passed him, then then you just look in the rearview mirror, you can’t take your eyes off the rearview mirror, because you’re waiting for those red and blue lights to start following you. And sure enough, he did. And let’s just say we were over budget by the end of that trip. So now we just plan for that when we go away. But the thing is the police officer in that moment, His power and His authority over me was a problem for me. Now think of another situation, let’s say I’m shopping and I get attacked by someone who’s trying to take my wallet, if a cop doesn’t come around the corner at that point, and I lock eyes with him, and he locks eyes, then with the attacker, what’s going to happen is the attacker is going to flee. And I’m going to run to the police officer. So the thing is, is the power and authority of the police officer remains unchanged. So what changes is my situation, my encounter with him? Why am I there? What is his power and authority for so his authority can be a problem for me or it can be a solution to my problem? Depends on the situation. But either way, there’s fear in these situations, right? There’s there’s some sort of fear when we come face to face with power, and authority. Because for most of us, we have people in our life where we see power, and it’s not a good thing. And we fear them and what they can do with that power. And others and allies, we see them we wield that for good. Now we just saying about Jesus, and there’s no other name. No other name right? He is infinitely powerful. And he has the authority, the ultimate authority. And if you read your Bibles, you understand that when God shows up when Jesus shows up, and fear comes with his power and his authority every single time. The question is, will the power and authority be a problem for you? Or will it be a solution for you? So this morning, we need to ask the question, How will I respond? When I come in, when I encounter the power and authority of Jesus? So think about that. In your life with the power and authority Jews when it has come into your life? How have you responded? What has that encounter been? Like? The chances are there has been fear. And we’re gonna see that fear this morning in every single scene we look at. And we’re going to see that in response to Jesus power and authority. So we’re going to start reading in verse 18, through verses verse 22, says when Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake, then a teacher, the law came to him and said, Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go. Jesus replied, foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. And other disciples said to Him, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. But Jesus told him, Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. Let’s pause here for a second. Why are these encounters with these men here? It seems like an eruption if you’ve been with us in this series, we just came up with three miracle stories, where Jesus performed these amazing miracles of healing and casting out demons. And now all of a sudden, we have these two men come up to him. And then we follow this with three more miracle stories. We’ll look at two of them in chapter eight. But there’s another one in chapter nine. So three, and they get this like little interruption. And then three more. So what is Matthew doing here? Well, Jesus is going to cross the lake here in a second leave the place, he’s been ministering, and he’s going to go to a different location. And so what happens before he leaves us to men approach and wanting to follow Him, they say we have to respond to the power and authority that we have seen so far. And so we have two men, we have a scribe a teacher of the law, and he comes not understanding what Jesus ministry is all about and what it’s actually going to bring to him. That he doesn’t have a place Jesus doesn’t have a place to lay his head at night. He is reliant on the mercy of others in their hospitality for his ministry, something that scribe would not be used to. And then another disciple comes up and he wants to follow but only after he buries his father, which seems like an okay request. There’s pretty good chance to a pretty good chance that this guy’s father was not actually dead in this moment, but probably towards the end of his life maybe sick, but he would not have been in this place if his father had just died, he would have been at home taking care of some of those responsibilities. And it’s those responsibilities that he feels he needs to. He’s obligated to finish before he follows Jesus. Which just means in one year, two years, three years, maybe I’ll follow Jesus. And Jesus says, Let the dead bury their own dead, you’re supposed to follow me. So what is Jesus doing here this morning, he’s not saying that the man’s father, his obligations aren’t important. He’s just saying I’m more important. If you truly want to follow me, you must follow me right away. It’s all or nothing you commit, or you don’t. And so there is a cost to following Jesus. And that’s what Matthew is drawing out here. There’s a cost to following them a cost we have to count before we decide to follow Jesus. Now, what we have here is there’s a crowd that is coming to Jesus, and he wants to leave. If Jesus was interested in getting as many people as possible to make a little profession of faith, he could do that. But instead, when these men come to him, he tells him, this is a really hard call, are you sure you want in because of Jesus power and authority, just draw draws you like a magnet to his power and authority, and you think there’s good things coming, and that life is going to be easy, you’re going to be disappointed. That’s the cost that Jesus is laying out here for them. And if you make a commitment to something like that you’re not willing to follow through, it’s dangerous for your own soul. It’s dangerous for the church, and our ministry. JC Ryle says this about those who don’t count the cost, says nothing, in fact, has done more harm to Christianity than the practice of filling the ranks of Christ’s army with every volunteer who is willing to make a little profession. Are we willing to do more? Are we willing to count the cost to follow him? And in that, quote, nothing here. Nothing that Jesus says that these disciples in this moment should make us feel comfortable with that, like there is a cost there, we don’t come to Jesus on our terms, we come on his terms. And here’s an interesting thing about this. We don’t know if these two men ever followed Jesus. We don’t get their responses here. So we need to kind of look and see, well, this is the call in our lives as well. So we need to respond. How will the story end for us? How will we respond to God’s power and authority? Because when you encounter Jesus, you need to make a choice. And if you’re here, today’s your encounter, because we’re going to come face to face with Jesus and His power and authority. So let’s keep reading. Because we need to ask who is this man? And what kind of power and authority does he have? Look at verses 23? Through 27. Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed Him. Suddenly, a furious storm came up in the lake, so that the wave swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him saying, Lord, save us. We’re going to drown. He replied, You have little faith? Why are you so afraid? Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, What kind of man is this, even the winds and the waves obey him. So they’re on their way. They’re crossing the sea of Galilee, trying to get to the other side, as Jesus said. And everyone is terrified because of this furious storm that comes on their boat. Now, at least three of these guys are seasoned fishermen. They’ve been on the sea, they know the sea. So something about this storm was something they probably haven’t experienced before, something greater than they’ve ever seen. And what are the disciples do? They do the right thing? They go to Jesus, right? They find him he’s sleeping. Lord, save us, we’re going to drown. There’s real fear in this moment. It actually means like, we’re drowning, like we are beyond what we can do anymore. Save us, help us do something. And Jesus wakes up, he gets up and he doesn’t affirm what they’re saying. He doesn’t stand up and say, Wow, this is a really bad storm. That’s not what Jesus does. What does he do? He rebukes first them. His disciple says, you
have little faith. Why are you so afraid? Now, it’s not that they didn’t have faith. It says that they have
little faith, little faith, in contrast to what we saw last week. If you remember last week in verse 10, we have a centurion who comes to Jesus and want Jesus he wants Jesus to heal his paradise servant who is not with him, but he’s in another location. And this train says, if you just say the words, he will be healed. And what did you say in verse 10, about the Cinterion? Truly I tell you, I’ve not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. So we contrast that with what we’re seeing here and the disciples who are with Jesus all the time have little faith. So what we’re seeing here is they’re drowning because they’ve been trying to save themselves instead of going to Jesus first. So they have little faith. And so they come to him, and they probably think he can do something. But nobody on that boat thinks Jesus is going to do this, that he’s going to rebuke them, then he’s gonna look at the wind and the waves. And he’s going to rebuke the wind and the waves. And what happens? It goes calm, completely out if you’ve ever been with kids, and somebody with like, big authority comes in with a big booming voice, and the kids are just, it’s just chaos. And then that one voice comes in and what happens? silence that happens maybe once in your lifetime, but at some point, there’s been a time where you just like, wow, that that happened fast. Right? I taught PE for a while. So I had a whistle. Anybody hear that whistle? You would just stop, right? And that’s what happens here. The wind the waves, it’s not this, like slow, calm down. It’s just was completely calm. It was instantaneous. When he spoke, it happened. Now we don’t get his words here. But in Mark chapter four Marks account of the story, we see three words that Jesus says the storm. Quiet, be still. That’s it. And it happens. It’s not just delayed answer. It’s very much like we see in Genesis one, God said, Let there be light. And there was light, because he spoke and it happened. And it tells us the men were amazed. Mark, chapter four tells us, chapter four tells us that they were terrified. So what is it? Are they amaze are terrified? Yes. That’s the answer, right? Why are the disciples afraid? Because they realize in this moment, the one who is in the boat with him is greater than the storm outside of them. That’s what happens. This man just told that thing that we were terrified of to stop and it did. So where their eyes go not to the storm, but to Jesus. Caitlin read it for us earlier, Psalm 89, verses eight through nine, this probably would have been going through their minds, who is like you, Lord God Almighty, you, Lord are mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea. When its waves mount up, you steal them.
This is who’s in the boat with them. So if you’re following along in your notes, the first point here
is that healthy fear leads to faith. Okay, healthy fear leads to faith. How could you not be terrified and amaze in a moment like this, when you see what Jesus does? And they look into what kind of man is this, even the winds and the waves obey him. And not only that the wind in the waves obey him better than you do? Better than I do. The waves don’t fight against Jesus, they just listen, they’re still. So the disciples are experiencing the truth, their spirits in the power authority of God’s Word. And they see that Jesus is a problem. And he is the solution, like his Power Authority being a real problem to us. And yet he also saves them. And I’ve often take myself back to this moment and try to think through if another storm came up minutes after the other one. Let’s say it was even bigger than the other one. What are the disciples going to do? Do you think they’re going to be terrified of the storm? I don’t, I think they would have immediate look to Jesus and just say, can you just do that what you just did? Can you do that? Again? We know you can. And I think that’s what happened because again, their fear changed their fear change from the storm to Jesus. And so they weren’t scared of Jesus, they just leaned in closer to him. And we see that throughout the Gospels, of course, they ask question after question and struggle with their own faith, and yet they continue to trust continue to lean. So the question is, does your fear of Jesus lead to faith? Does it lead to faith? We know what faith is right? It’s that slow and steady trust of Jesus, every single day, never know exactly what’s going to come our way but knowing that Jesus is with us, and that he’s leading us to the ultimate good even if the journey is hard, and it will be hard. Alright, Jesus has power not only over nature, but also over the demonic. Look at verses 28 through 32. When he arrived at the other side, in the region of the gatherings to demon possessed man camp coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. What do you want with us Son of God? They shouted. Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, if you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs. He said to them go. So they came out and went into the pigs and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. What we were asked that question when reading scripture, what in the world just happened? Right? Well, we’ll get there. But first, we need to set up what’s happening so Jesus moves from one location to another class. The Sea of Galilee. And when it says he goes the other side, oftentimes that’s the move from Jewish territory to Gentile territory, or vice versa. And that’s what we have here, he comes to this area of the capitalist, a Gentile controlled area, which explains the presence of pigs. Because we talked about in the series that in Jewish culture in custom, there were a lot of unclean things, and you wanted to keep yourself clean. As an Israelite, right, you want to keep yourself clean. So in this scene, we have a area that’s considered unclean, we had pigs that are unclean, you have tombs and death that are unclean, and to demon possessed men who approached Jesus, and they are unclean. Jesus does not run away. Jesus steps into that mess, that onic clean situation. And it terrifies the demons, as they make it clear in their speaking through these men. And so you might be here you might be thinking, okay, demons really like you think there’s demons, like in our culture with everything that we know. Yes, I do. And there’s a lot of different things we can explore here. If two years ago, we did this same story in the Gospel of Mark, and we’ve had more time with just that story. So I’d encourage you go back and listen to that in our cross and crown series. But it for the moment here, in this context, and what’s happening here, Jesus believes demons are real. And so I’m going to stick with that. Right? That’s what that’s what the Word says. That’s what Jesus believes he believes he’s talking to these demons, and he’s going to do something. So I’m going to stick with what he believes here in this moment. But they want to know why Jesus is coming. What is your purpose? Why are you here? Is it really that time for torture, and destruction? So in that question, what we know is they believe judgment is coming for them. They know their time is going to end. They don’t question Jesus. They just wonder if it’s already there. What do they call Jesus, Son of God, Son of God, the demons, the demons have a better grasp of who Jesus is what he can do than his own disciples did just a little while ago in the boat. James 219, it’ll be on the screen for you says this, you believe that there’s one God, good. Even the demons believe that and shudder. It isn’t enough to give mental assent to God. It’s not enough. That’s what’s happening here. The demons believe that this is the Son of God. That’s who Jesus is. 81% of our country, in recent poll still believes there is a god. Okay, 81% 53% of that is walking around, saying that it’s the God of the Bible? Do you really think we’re gonna go back and count the costs of those first few disciples that 53% of our country’s walking with Jesus? Counting the costs, giving up their lives? For him? I don’t really think so. A lot of people will say, I believe that there is a God. And think that’s good enough. But the demons do that. I don’t think the demons are in a good place. So what is the difference? What is a Christian? Well, it’s submission and obedience to the Son of God. That’s the difference, that the demons know who he is. And they say, This is who you are, but they will not bend their knee in submission and say, We want to follow you. That’s what many are doing today around the world. We believe there’s a God, we’re just not going to follow him. We’re not going to listen to him, we’re not going to obey Him. And yet the demons still know their place, Visa Jesus Power Authority, and what do they do? They beg Jesus. I love that picture. The demons have to beg Jesus, because they don’t have control. They need to ask him permission for them to leave these men and go into the pigs. So they’re not submitting to him in the sense of wanting to follow him they’re submitting because they know that he can move them on to something else, where they’re going to continue to cause havoc. And Jesus, not sure the reasons why grants this permission, and says go and they go. Every time and these last three weeks, when Jesus speaks. When he speaks, things happen with a word, he says Be clean. He says, quiet, be still. He says go and miracles happen. Like Jesus is not a magician. He’s not a showman. He’s not there to draw the crowd and say and try and distract people and try and do all these different things to get people off of what actually is happening. He just does it because He’s God. He has the power and authority. No one can step back and make a YouTube video and say, Here’s how the magician did it. That’s not going to happen. Because he just speaks his word, the power and authority of Jesus as God comes out and changes things. So you can ask how did he do that all you want? The answer is simply that he’s caught. And he can, we sends these demons out allows them to enter the pigs, and they go right into this watery death. And before you feel bad for the pigs, so many people feel bad for the pigs when you read this, but there are two men who are overtaken with these demons, where their lives are completely changed. Right living in these tombs, separated from everyone else, violence causing havoc in the community. And we care about pigs. Let’s remember the guys, right and what happened here, because also, by the way, there was a pretty good chance these pigs were not being raised to be raised in homes as pets, they’re gonna be bacon and ham sandwiches eventually. So Jesus actually does something even worse, if you think about it, because he just took away a whole town’s livelihood. So it’s actually worse than just the pigs, which we’ll get to here in a second. But what Jesus does is significant. So point number two is not gonna be on the screen for you, because I changed it this morning. So let me let me fill in what it’s supposed to be. It’s right fear. A right Fear leads to freedom. Okay, right, Fear leads to freedom. Jesus’s power and authority are a problem for the demons, and a solution for the demoniacs. Those possessed same time, Jesus power, power and authority for one is the problem one is the solution. So what happens to the demons in this moment, when they go down into the pigs into that into the sea, we are not sure how all of that works. And what happens in that moment, once they the pigs die, I don’t know. But what we do know in this moment now, though, is the demons cannot influence anyone any longer. What they were afraid of happening, that Jesus was coming to destroy them actually does happen in miniature. That’s what’s happening here, Jesus in miniature is showing what will happen at the end in judgment, when he banishes them forever, punishes them forever, so that they cannot influence the world any longer. That’s why he’s showing in this moment, he does this over and over again, just giving us glimpses of what this looks like.
So he takes care of that problem, then the solution and the other side is in miniature again, in the lives of the demoniacs, Jesus heals. He takes the demons away from them, he takes the evil away from them. The evil that we know see and experience ourselves will end completely and eternally. And these men got a glimpse of that. And so do we, as we read God’s word and see this over and over again. The demons are right to fear Jesus. The demons are right to fear Jesus. He has power and authority over them. And he demolishes that power and authority that the demons have. Because it’s not greater than him. It’s never been greater than him. His authority, his power is over them. And they cannot do anything unless he says, so. See that there’s no struggle. There’s no back and forth with them. They’re just have to listen and be obedient to his Word. So the question is, where humanity? So what does this have to do with us because we’re talking about demons here. It’s the same thing though, right? Fear leads to freedom. Right fear of who God is, and what God can do will lead us to a life of freedom, freedom from the power and penalty of sin, first and foremost, but it also brings freedom as we live our lives to know that we don’t need to panic. We don’t need to be anxious, we don’t need to be worried or scared about what’s going on, or who’s in power, because they don’t have a greater power than Jesus. They don’t and they never will. So that freedom there frees us in our lives from spiritual depth, but also frees us to be able to be victorious in this life in Christ because He is victorious. We continue to trust in him lean into him, because he has the power and authority over all. And then this episode brings one more encounter with the townspeople look at verses 33 and 34. Those tending the pigs ran off went into the town reported all this, including what had happened to the demon possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus and when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. So the men tending these pigs have news to share, and they’re gonna go share it with the townspeople probably a lot of them owning these pigs. Now, these men, these demoniacs have been changed by Jesus, right? They’ve been changed by Jesus is it isn’t mere, like just mental assent, just saying, Yeah, we believe there’s a God they’ve been changed by him. It’s a visible difference. People notice it. They saw what happens they’re not questioning what Jesus did. They’re just saying, what is happening? Who is this? What else is he going to do? And the whole town comes out to see this man who has been now causing trouble taking away their livelihood. Now, this reminds me of John chapter four, if you’re familiar with John, For Jesus is speaking with a woman at the well. And he tells her, you know, kind of her life story, he knows everything there is to know about her. And she says, I’m going to go into town and tell everyone. So she goes and tells the entire town, come see a man who told me everything I ever did, could this be the Messiah. And what happens? The town comes out, they want to see they want to hear that one experience with this woman just experienced. And then they invite Jesus into their town for two days, to hear more, to see him to experience him. And what happens it says that many became believers. I wish that was where our story went here. But it doesn’t we have the complete opposite. The townspeople don’t come here in humility, wanting to know Jesus to be with Jesus, they’re intimidated by him, and they decide to push him away. Their fear, this is a problem, we need to get him out of here. They care more about the pigs and their livelihood than they do what Jesus just did for these two men. That’s what they’re looking at. They only see the problem of Jesus power and authority, they don’t see the solution. And they miss out on the truth. They miss out on the truth that his power and authority is the solution that they need for their own lives. It may not be that they’re possessed by a demon. But there’s something going on in life. There’s something going on in your life today that Jesus wants to free you from, that he wants to conquer. And they say, We want to push him away, we need him to leave the solution that demoniacs just experienced this freedom from their oppression, real true change and freedom. They see they experienced this and the people see there’s a difference in them, and they don’t want it. In Luke’s account of this story in Luke 837, it says that all the people that reach into the garrison has asked Jesus to leave them because they were overcome with fear. And the saddest part of this is it says so he got into the boat and left. So point number three, in your notes is misplaced fear leads to missing out. misplaced fear leads to missing out there misplaced fear is What will Jesus take from me? Rather than what benefit and good thing Jesus can do for us? If he could do that, for those demoniacs, what can you do in my life? No. Instead their fear is if he took that away from them, what’s the and he took away the pigs? What’s it what else is he going to take for me? What else is he going expect that I give up. And so this man threatens their entire way of life. They look at Jesus as dangerous, dangerous to allow in their lives versus the disciples who lean in closer in faith. When Jesus leaves that place, those people miss out on the greatest news, the greatest person who has ever lived, and they don’t even know it. They don’t even know it. So when they when he leaves the demoniac we’re the only ones experiencing this freedom that Jesus brings the freedom that he could have brought to that entire town. And we read in Mark actually that these men go out and they tell everyone what happened to them. So we pray and hope that people listened and responded to their message. But as we look at this, and we see the disciples, we see these two men who came wanting to fall we see the disciples in the boat, we see these demoniacs we see these talents, we have to start asking the question, what is the point of all of this. And the main point that I have for today is simply this the Jesus will wreck your life. Jesus will wreck your life. It’s what his power and authority does in every single situation. And here’s the thing, Jesus will wreck your life. So let him Let him that’s what we need to learn. Today. He will wreck the version of your life that you’ve created. Okay, he’s gonna wreck that first he’s gonna wreck the version that you feel trapped in. Like there’s demote the moniak did. He’s gonna wreck the life that someone else puts you in. Whatever it is, he will wreck your life, the life of discontent that you fight every day he will wreck that. That’s his. That’s the problem with his power. power and authority. But there, here’s the solution, the same power and authority that does that will build your life back up into a better life. That’s the truth that we believe that’s counting the cost of saying, I have to give up this, yes, but you get him. And you get those benefits, and you get those good things, and you get eternal glory with him. That’s a problem. But it’s also the solution. A couple of years ago, our church did a was a part of kind of a movement called Jesus changed my life. And some of you participate in that. And what’s interesting about listening to stories is every single one of those has a moment where Jesus came in and wrecked your life. He did. One of the stories I was very familiar with, because my wife shared. And many of you know of her health struggles over the years. And she started off by just saying, I thought following Jesus was easy. That’s what I thought I went to church to do the right things. And it was easy. And then car accidents, multiple surgeries, narcolepsy, you name it, she has it. And then we get to 2018 and find out that she needs open heart surgery.
And the whole time, you’re thinking like you’re wrecking my life. We didn’t ask for this. We didn’t want it. If you don’t my wife, she’s got a great smile.
And she says, People have asked how do you keep smiling? And she just said, Jesus changed my life. Because he knows, he threw some things in there that were really hard for us
for her. Have you ever wanted to push Jesus away and ask for an easier life, a life where you didn’t have to give stuff up.
She’s real about the fact that it’s not fun. It’s not fun to go through that stuff. But every one of you here who knows Jesus has a story like that.
Jesus wrecked something. And then he said, I’m better. And he showed you that he was better. Every single story reminds me of Mr. Beaver, Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Alright, they asked him Is as land is as land safe. What does he say many of you know this, of course he is safe. But he is good. That’s Jesus’s power and authority. It is not safe. But he is good. He is good. And then distributor says he’s the king, I tell you. And we serve a good king who is not safe. And so think for a second about the story, your life, how God has come in and wrecked your life. And I know in talking to many of you, you would never go back and get rid of that moment now. But it wasn’t easy. It didn’t feel good. It was never something you would ask for in the moment. But you know who you are today. And what Christ has been doing how he’s been forming you more and more into His image is only because of that moment. So we lean into it. And we trust, even when it’s hard. So this comes all the way back to verses 18 through 2218 through 20, who’s counting the cost? count the cost before you come to if you want to follow Jesus, you must count the cost first. So if you’re here and you are a you’re seeking something, you know, there’s something else out there that I want you to know that this is who it is to stop giving mental assent to there being a god and take a minute to consider his power and authority. And when you consider that power and authority, you must respond. You must respond. Are you content with just saying you believe? Are you willing to come and humble submission and let him wreck your life because I promise you what’s coming is not easier. But it is better. And I encourage you to talk to other people here. So they can tell you the same thing. Because when he wrecks your life and breaks that down, he builds up a better and stronger foundation. Every single time. And in church, if you are walking with Jesus, we need to keep counting the cost. It’s more than just one decision. On one day. It is daily dying to ourselves taking up our cross and following him. Because we know we’ve experienced that he is better. And then we pray. Here’s something you can pray today. And this is a hard prayer. I pray this for my kids and I know what it means. Lord, do whatever it takes Do whatever it takes to catch someone’s heart to bring them in. I pray that over my kids, and I know that can mean really bad things for me.
But if it means eternal glory for them, then I continue to pray it. Lord, do whatever it takes wreck my life. Record there’s your dangerous that is. Because if you really hard life now, but in a million years in glory,
they’re not going to walk away. Before you come to cost, you must remember to that Jesus counted the cost, he doesn’t ask us to do anything that he wasn’t willing to do. First, he counted the cost. Remember the storm earlier in our story. Jesus walked into the greatest storm any of us could ever imagine the wrath of God on him. He could have calmed it. He did. But it cost him his life. To calm the storm that we were headed for the storm we were going to walk in if he didn’t, first the rebellion and the sin against God, the punishment that we deserve, he walked right into, because he knew we couldn’t do it ourselves. He had to save us and take us to where he wanted to take us where we’re supposed to go with him. That’s why we continue to walk with Him and trust Him. And then remember the demons too. It looks like evil had one on the cross when Jesus said it is finished. And he hung his head and he died. That looked like he had been defeated by the evil that just a little while ago. In this moment. He says go and the demons flee but did evil. When when he said it is finished. It sounded like victory to the enemy. And yet, when he rose from that grave, three days later, they realized it was a statement of victory over evil and death, and sin. He has a victory, to see him in a victory not only for him, but a statement of victory for us that our salvation is done. It’s completed. It’s done. It is finished. Christ has won. He has risen. Love has triumphed over death forever. How will you respond to His power and authority, the power and authority that erase him from the dead, the power and authority that is there for us today. And my prayer is that the Lord would do whatever it takes, that he would wreck our lives in order to find a better life in him. Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You for Your power and your authority. The power and authority that we know is greater than the evil that we face in this world. It’s a power and authority that’s greater than any hardship that we will face. And we know ultimately your power and authority was enough to raise Christ from the dead. Your power and authority is enough to change our lives to transform us and to make us NEW.
Jesus, you love us. We don’t deserve it. I pray for all of us here this morning, Lord.
We’d realize that we need to come to you on your terms. Because you gave up everything, to make a way for us to be saved. You gave your very life for our lives. And I pray, Lord, that we would step into that trusting and believing that you have something better for us. We know ultimate Lord that will look like seeing you face to face in glory. But until that day, we know we get to serve you be with you. Obey you know what it means truly, to follow you to die to ourselves every single day. Jesus we love you. Thank you, you loved us first. We pray this in Your name. Amen.