The Authority of the Kingdom (Part 6)

When it comes to trusting people, trusting the wrong person can ruin you. In October of 1822, Gregor MacGregor, a native of Glengyle, Scotland, made a striking announcement! Which was, that he was a prince, of the land of Poyais, which was, he said, a little country off of Honduras’s Black River.

He began telling people how the country was so fertile that it had 3 harvests a year! In fact, the water was so pure and refreshing that it could quench thirst with just a small drink! The riverbeds were lined with gold, The trees overflowed with fruit, and the forests were full of wild game that could be easily hunted. He was basically describing the Garden of Eden. Which compared to the dark and rainy, rocky soils of Britain, made people want to be believe it!

The young “PRINCE” went on to explain how the country had everything they needed!… ~ except… just one thing. They lacked willing investors to help develop his country’s untapped resources. And so after publishing articles in the paper, bragging about how he was only looking for real investors who were “real men,” He began selling bonds to thousands of Brits who invested in his country. However, eventually a group of around two-hundred would-be POYAIS settlers sailed to POYAIS, only to discover that the land they had been promised did not even exist, and their money was gone!

Now, now maybe you didn’t invest into a fake-prince who offered you riches for your investment, But who here hasn’t been swindled by something or someone? Maybe you put your money in that guaranteed stock, that wasn’t quite so guaranteeable. Or maybe you believed that nice young man from India who said he worked for Microsoft, and gave him your credit card info so he could remove that “virus” for you... Whatever it was, the result was the same - it made it trusting people more difficult! And because it’s difficult to trust people, we don’t just give it out to anybody, do we? No, we expect people to earn it. We expect people to prove that they are trustworthy We expect people to show, by a pattern of behavior, that we can count on them. We expect people to not simply just talk the talk, but what? Walk the walk…

In our text this morning, Matthew is trying to get us to trust someone... Who is that someone? Well… it’s funny you ask… because that someone just happens to be, a prince....

And what’s this prince offering us? A brand new life... in a new country... With gold… lots of it actually - in fact there are streets of gold.... And the water there satisfies your thirst.... not just temporarily, but for-forever... And all He’s asking for in return is a little deposit, which is.... your life.

So who’s ready to sign up? Who’s ready to lay down that deposit? Because that’s what Christ is calling for. Not just a little of your time, A little of your money, A little of your effort, No, when Christ calls a man (says Dietrich Bonhoeffer), He bids him, come and die!

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:39 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23 ESV

In our text this morning, Matthew understands the dilemma we are facing. And the dilemma is - how can we possibly believe this Prince’s claims? How could we ever trust Jesus?

To make matters worse, Matthew lived in a time where they were lot of people making lots of claims like the ones that Jesus made. And why? Because the in the Bible - in the Old Testament, prophets wrote that a man would come who could actually deliver on all that stuff. He would bring eternal life He truly would free people and heal them! And the way you would know the right guy from the wrong guy, was that the lame would walk, the blind would see, and prisoners would be freed.

For example, the prophet Isaiah, who lived almost a thousand years before Jesus, wrote this:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

Isaiah 35:5 ESV

to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 42:7 ESV

In our passage this morning, do you know what Matthew is telling us? He’s telling us that the one who will do all of this has finally come! The Messiah has come!

And so Matthew is writing to us today, saying: “I know you’ve been duped in the past” “I know false princes have promised you the world while taking your wallet,” “I know you’ve been lied to, deceived, tricked, and conned,” “But believe, this man is the real deal.” “He is the prince of peace,” “The son of the living God, who has not only the authority, but the power to what you truly need!”

And what do we need? 3 things. Turn with me in your Bible’s this morning to Matthew chapter 9, verses 18-34, as we see the 3 things has authority to give - and here they are.

Jesus has the authority to give:

1. Life
2. Cleansing
3. Forgiveness

1. Life

Now, if you’re new with us for our study through the book of Matthew, you need to know Matthew’s thesis - and what’s a thesis what my fellow grammar nerds? It’s main reason he’s writing... And the reason he’s writing is he wants us to know that JESUS, IS, KING! Not just ‘a KING,’ Jesus is THE KING In fact, He’s the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS, And miracles are part of the proof for Jesus’s kingly claim. And so that’s Matthew’s thesis hat’s it - it’s the reason he’s writing, and he wants you to believe it and put your trust in Jesus as KING.

And so in our text this morning, Matthew gives us a really big reason to trust Jesus as king, and the reason is, Jesus has authority over life. Which if you think about it, is a pretty good reason to trust Him as King of your life - is it not?

What do you mean trust Him with my life? Well, I’ll tell you what I mean, and I mean this:

Everyone here this morning and if you’re breathing oxygen, you’re trusting in SOMEONE or SOMETHING to give your life meaning. We all do this. Every single one of us does.

Now what kind of things do we look to to find meaning? Job, career, money, sex, fame - you name it - any of these things can become the center of our identity. Any of them can become the thing we look to in our life, that makes us say, “As long as I have that, I’m happy.” In the Bible that’s called idolatry, which means, we are all naturally idol worshippers at heart.

What is the first of the 10 commandments? You shall have what? “No other gods before me.”

And what it the second commandment? You shall make no idols. And what does that mean to make an idol? Is that like, a carved moose with Eagle wings or something weird like that that bow down to and pray to? Sure, maybe - Not necessary - especially for us Americans.

What it means to make an idol is to worship something that’s not God. Which is basically loving something more than God.

It’s to look to something that’s NOT GOD and say, “If I have that, I’m happy, and if I don’t, I’m miserable.” That’s really all idolatry is. It’s to center your life on something that’s not God, which breaks the first two commandments. And the troubling part is, we all naturally do it. We are born idolaters. And our idolatry, which is sin, leads to death and judgment, not life.

And so when Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth and THE LIFE” - He is saying that HE ALONE brings life. Not the lesser gods, or idols we are looking to to give us happiness.

You wanna know one of the big problems with looking to created things instead of the Creator to find happiness? Whatever you look to will fail you. Whatever you look to, decay and whither. It won’t last.

For a lot of us, family is the thing that we can easily look to to find happiness. Whether that be our spouse or our children, but as this ruler who came to Jesus found out, even our children can be taken from us suddenly at young age.

In verse 18, this ruler comes to Jesus and says: “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And so what happens? Well, Jesus agrees and goes with him.

In verse 23 it says that when Jesus arrived at the house the flute players and the crowd were making a commotion. Now why were they doing that? Because unlike our culture which has quiet and solemn funerals, in Jesus’s day they were loud a vocal. In Jewish funerals back then, they would actually pay professional mourners who would come to the funeral and cry and wail on account of the deceived. That’s a really weird profession to go into.

So anyways, they would also hire some flutists - floutists - whatever... And so those flute players would play their flutes throughout the time of wailing - or “commotion” as Matthew puts it.

And so that’s the scene when Jesus arrives, and he says in verse 24: “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And what do the people do? They laugh at Him. In fact, a better way to understand that verse is to say they scoffed in unbelief at Him.

Which is portrays the two responses we always find with Jesus. Belief - and unbelief. Which is our same situation today. Will be believe Him, or disbelieve Him.

Now, did you notice what Jesus said to the crowd? He didn’t say: “the girl is dead, but don’t worry! I’m gonna do some resurrecting here!” No, He says: “The girl is not dead, but ‘sleeping’.”

Now, they likely knew what Jesus meant, and I don’t have time to explain all of that. But here’s the point. Jesus is saying, that for Him, death isn’t death! It’s nothing but a nap! And why is death but sleep with Jesus? Because of resurrection!

As the prophet Isaiah wrote:

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Isaiah 26:19 ESV

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Isaiah 26:19 ESV

In John 11, Jesus says:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 11:25 ESV

That’s a bold claim, is it not? VERY Which is then proven to be true when Jesus reaches over, grabs the little girl by her cold and lifeless hand, and picks her up into life.

In a few weeks we are going to celebrate Thanksgiving, where we get together with family and friends. And there’s something I heard a while back that sort of haunts me, and it’s this. As joyful as thanksgiving can be, As wonderful of a time it is, Inevitably, one person at that table will come to see the death and decay of every family member they love. One of them will outlive the rest after seeing funeral after funeral after funeral, as they bury fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and even sons and daughters.

And in that moment, if your parent, sibling, or child, is the source of our joy and happiness - if you don’t have TRUE - REAL resurrection hope - do you know what that’s going to do to you? It’s going to CRUSH YOU!

BUT.... When your loved one suddenly dies. Even if your young daughter suddenly cries out unexpectedly in the night, and you rush in only to have her die suddenly in your arms... When that happens... there’s only ONE thing that will get you through it... And it’s the ONE who has authority over life and death... The One who will, by the grace of God, one day so very soon reach down and pick up your little daughter’s lifeless hand and raise her up into everlasting life!

Church, Jesus doesn’t raise this girl simply to show how powerful He is, He isn’t throwing His weight around to gain recognition and respect, He does it in order to show us that if we trust Him with our lives, we can, in pain and tears, confidently sing:

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (ESV) “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only does Jesus have the authority to give:

2. Cleansing

In verse 20, a women approached Jesus as He was traveling hoping to be healed. The text says that she suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years! Most likely this woman suffered from a condition called menorrhagia, Which is a disease that causes the menstrual flow to continue on, which not only produced severe weakness from the anemia due to the low-iron levels, but also would make her ceremonial unclean.

The short version of a long explanation, is that in the Old Testament time in the Old Covenant, there was LOTS OF stuff that would make you ceremonially unclean - and this was one of them. And because of her ceremonial uncleanliness, this women would have been a social outcast. There’s a high likelihood her husband would have divorced her, and even if he hadn’t, whoever she touched became temporarily unclean, which would have also barred them from the temple or synagogue.

And so realizing she couldn’t touch Jesus, since that was forbidden as an unclean women, she says: “If I only touch His garment, then I will be made well!” And if that’s not a picture for the cleansing Jesus brings, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS! What do I mean, I mean this.

In Mark’s account of this healing, he says that the woman had tried EVERYTHING TO BE HEALED, In fact, Mark says she spent all she had and was no better off, but actually grew worse! Which happens to just like every man-made religion out there, BAR ONE! See, every religion out there is like, “YUP, we all have got a serious spiritual problem, and it’s gotta be dealt with!”

What’s the remedy? Well obviously, we had better do something about it! Find a good spiritual doctor who knows the stuff we need to do! Because it’s about YOU doing the right stuff to fix your spiritual condition. That is EVERY religion in the world. It tells you “more good behavior PLUS less bad behavior = SPIRITUAL CLEAN” But it’s WRONG! It’s dead wrong! For just as there was NOTHING this women could do achieve healing for her physical condition, there is NOTHING we can do to achieve healing for our spiritual condition! NADDA!

But do you know what will? A mere touch of faith in Christ. And it won’t just clean you up, no, it will CLEANSE YOU COMPLETELY from the inside out!

Isaiah 1:18-19 (ESV) “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

All this women had to do was touch Jesus’s garments to be healed, Similarly, in Mark 6, it says:

And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Mark 6:56 ESV

Everyone, - super focus mode for a minute! Stick with me here because what I’m going to try an show you is… well, awesome.

OK - quick review question: What did they have to touch to be healed? Jesus’s garment? “ERRRR” No, the “edge” of the garment.

And do you know how the same Greek word used here for “edge” is translated in Matthew 23:5 when it speaks of the edge of the garments that the religious leaders wore? “Tassels”

Alright, one more piece of the puzzle and then the payoff.

What were the tassels for? It goes way back to Moses in the Old Testament. In Numbers 15:37-41 it tells us what the tassels were for.

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Numbers 15:37-41 ESV

The tassels were basically a WWJD bracelet. They were a visual reminder of God’s laws and commandments, reminding the people to obey them all! To “BE HOLY” because GOD IS HOLY! Except that’s sort of a problem isn’t it, because who amongst us is holy?!?!?!...

None, But, ONE! For Christ is the only one who’s tassels perfectly picture the perfect obedience required by God’s law.

For us, the tassels are but a haunting reminder of our complete inability to obey the righteous demands of the law. The tassels remind us of our sinfulness, and that we could never be holy as God is Holy. The tassels remind us of our sin and suffering that we cannot alleviate - no matter how much good works we throw at it!

But, when only when we’ve exhausted our efforts to find a cleansing of our own, can we reach out in faith to Christ, and find cleansing by a mere touch of His garments.

As the Psalmist writes:

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7 NIV

Jesus has the authority to give:

3. Forgiveness

After the women touched Jesus and received instant healing, Jesus turns to the women and says, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” The word Matthew uses here is an interesting one, and it’s σῴζω, which means SAVED. Jesus is essentially saying, “Take heart, daughter, your faith has saved you.” But why would Jesus put it that way? In other healing accounts He doesn’t. Why with this women?... Well, it’s because... I think her faith saved her!

Wow!~ Deep, right?!

But if her faith saved her, then she really must of have some pretty strong faith not only be physically saved by Jesus’s healing powers, but also spiritually saved! She must have ate her spiritual Wheaties for breakfast, right!? Which means if I wanna be saved, I had better start doing what she’s did! Is that the point of text? After all, in 3 of the healing accounts found in this chapter the healing are said to be in accordance with their faith. So is faith some commodity, some religious work that we do and hand over to God? Does the degree of healing that we receive from Jesus somehow correlate with how much faith we have? No...

In Mark and Luke’s account, once the women touched Him, it says that Jesus noticed that “power went out from HIM!” Which means, it wasn’t the strength of her faith that saved her- it was the strength of the OBJECT of her faith that saved her! And what was the object of her faith? It was CHRIST - WHO IS THE ALL-POWERFUL GOD!

Faith doesn’t HEAL US- God does! Faith doesn’t GIVE US LIFE - God does! Faith doesn’t GIVE US CLEANSE US - GOD DOES! Faith doesn’t FORGIVE US - GOD DOES!

We must never forget this church. We must never forget that the only reason we can experience life, cleansing, and forgiveness is because: Christ gave us His life for ours upon a cross. Christ took our uncleanliness and gave us His cleanliness. Christ brought us forgiveness by taking upon Himself the full wrath of God for the sins of men.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

And because Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, we experience healing! What kind of healing? The same kind He did! FULL RESURRECTION TO ETERNAL LIFE!

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 ESV

This is our hope church! This is our song!

As we are about to sing in a moment: “What is our hope in life and death?” “Christ alone, Christ alone!!!” What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him be long!!!

Is Christ your hope in life and death? Is Christ your confidence?

Maybe He is, but this morning your hope is wavering a bit, Maybe your confidence is a bit shaken. There’s a million and 1 reasons that could be the case for you, but maybe it’s because you’ve forgotten that it’s not the strength of your faith that saves you, but the object of your faith that saves you. Maybe you’re looking to the faithfulness of your tassels, instead of Christs! If so, get your eyes off your sin and back onto the Savior who ALONE can perfectly satisfy the righteous demands of the law which the tassels represent! And then get back up - shake off the guilt of sin and put on the confidence of Christ as you serve Him with joy and gratitude! Yes, our sins they are many, but HIS MERCY IS MORE!

Maybe you are here this morning and you can’t say Christ is truly your hope in life and death, but maybe you either want Him to be, or... have more questions about Him. Well, if you want Him to be, it’s really as simple as reach out by faith and grab a hold of Him. It doesn’t matter if you’re 7, 47, or 70, it’s the same. just a touch of faith is all it takes - for as Jesus tells us, if we have faith even as large as a mustard seed - which is pretty small - we can move mountains with it! Which again, the point is not at all the strength of our faith, but the strength of the object of our faith, which is all all-powerful God! So by grace through faith, confess your sickness - confess your sins to Him, for

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 ESV

And if that’s you this morning, make sure you tell someone so we can celebrate with you.

When we come to receive the full forgiveness of God found in Christ Jesus we will not only experience life and cleansing to a degree in this life, but eternal life and total cleansing in the life to come when Christ’s raises our moral bodies!

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11 ESV

I realize this is a bold claim, i realize for many it’s an it’s unbelievable claim, An untrustworthy claim. But here me and the words of Matthew from our text this morning - it is a trustworthy claim... And though we don’t have time this morning to dive further into that, if you have questions, myself or many other here would love to sit down and show you how might know that you have eternal life.

John, a colleague of Matthew’s, writes to us saying:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13 NASB95

Do you have eternal life? If so, live in it! If not, what are you waiting for? Come and get it.

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.