“The Power and Authority of Jesus”
(Matthew 8:23-34)
Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
March 17, 2019
The Passage
Matthew 8:23-34
23 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. 25 So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
28 When he had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30 A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 “If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 “Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. 33 Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. 34 At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
Introductory Comments:
We are back in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 8 verses 23 through 34. Let’s set the stage for what’s happening here with Jesus.
Jesus has finished delivering a monumental sermon. He followed that up with miraculous healings and a crowd is gathering near Him at the Sea of Galilee. As He indicates that He is going to cross the sea, some disciples say that they want to follow Him, and Jesus explains some of what it means to follow Him.
Now, Jesus actually gets in the boat and some of His followers come along. Some of His followers are in a boat with Him, and others very well might have been in other boats around Him.
We’ve been seeing glimpses of the power and authority of Jesus throughout the Gospel of Matthew. This passage will take this to a whole new level.
Let’s pray together before we dive into this passage.
(Prayer)
Jesus has already demonstrated that He has power and authority over illness and diseases, as well as over demonic powers. He has healed the sick, He has cast out demons, and many people are following Him.
However, the people are about to be amazed, and even a bit terrified, by His great power.
Illustration: Have you ever seen a magician or an illusionist perform a trick that you are impressed with. Then, they up the ante and perform an even more impressive trick? You know that they are a magician. You know they can do tricks, yet, you are still impressed. The more impressive trick demonstrates the more skill possessed by the illusionist.
Well, today, Jesus is going to raise the bar as far as the demonstration of His power and authority, and it’s not because He’s a magician, it’s because He is God.
So, let’s see these two examples of Jesus’ power and authority.
First, . . .
I. Jesus has power and authority over the natural realm (23-27) [on screen]
Let’s look at verses 23-27.
23 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. 25 So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
The disciples are piling into the boat with Jesus, perhaps more than one boat, we don’t know for sure. These boats were probably small to medium sized wooden fishing boats, perhaps about twenty to thirty feet long.
Keep in mind that these people were from the area and understood life on the lake. They understood the Sea of Galilee. Many of them were fishermen. They probably wouldn’t have gotten into the boats if there was a storm brewing.
Yet, “suddenly,” Matthew says, “a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves.”
This term violent storm actually is the same word to say earthquake. This is no small storm. This is a major thunderstorm.
So much so that the boat was being swamped by the waves.
Illustration: Not too long ago I went fishing with some pastor friends out in Tampa Bay. I grew up in Florida, and I’ve been fishing quite a few times, so I’m comfortable on a boat, and I’m comfortable on the ocean. However, this day was a little different. You see, it’s hard to line up pastors’ schedules, so we had to just go whenever we could go, regardless of the weather. Well, the wind was blowing a bit that day, which created choppy conditions on the water. We were in a large boat, so I thought all would be well. Then, suddenly things changed. The waves started rocking the boat. Water started coming over the sides and splashing down on us, the boat was tossing about, and it was a different situation. I can’t say that I thought I was going to die, but I did think that I may have to swim, and I really didn’t want to swim that day.
You see, the power of nature can quickly bring fear in our hearts and minds. The disciples were so scared that they thought they were going to die.
The disciples were probably unable to understand how Jesus was able to sleep during a storm like this. They came to Him and begged Him to save them. “We’re going to die,” they said.
Apparently, the disciples had enough faith in Jesus to know that He could do something because they said, “Lord, save us!”
Jesus questioned their faith.
Jesus didn’t say that they had no faith, only that they had little faith.
His point was that the disciples should trust God for everything, even safety in the storm. Jesus wanted them to trust in God and He was about to show them that they could trust in Him.
Jesus simply spoke to the sea and it obeyed. Everything went calm.
Can you imagine this happening? This is no ordinary miracle! This is something that would have been visible to everyone around! Everyone in the area would have known that this tremendous storm all of a sudden stopped and everything was calm. What a miracle!
Listen, church: everything in our world is under the sovereign power of Jesus Christ! He is the Creator, sustainer, and controller of all of creation! When He speaks to the winds and the waves, they obey.
Jesus has power and authority over the natural realm.
We can have faith in Him. We can trust Him. He’s got the whole world in His hands!
Second, . . .
II. Jesus has power and authority over the supernatural realm (28-34) [on screen]
Look at verses 28-34.
28 When he had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30 A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 “If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 “Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. 33 Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. 34 At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
Jesus came across the Sea of Galilee, to the region of the Gadarenes, in an area which was called the Decapolis.
Decapolis means “ten cities.” It was a Gentile region that was under Roman rule. There were several major cities within it, located across the Sea of Galilee from Jewish territory. Jesus had officially entered Gentile territory.
Somewhere in that territory, Jesus encounters two demon-possessed men who are hanging out amount the tombs.
These men were probably well known to all those in the area. Indeed, they caused such a stir that the people couldn’t even go around them.
They were violent, troublesome, and lived among tombs for crying out loud.
Yet, Jesus is not afraid of these men at all. In fact, they seem to be afraid of Jesus.
The demons inside these men know who Jesus is and they ask Him, “What do you have to do with us?”
They knew a lot about Jesus. Listen to what they knew:
They knew that He was the Son of God (verse 29).
They knew that there would be an appointed time when He would deal with them (verse 29).
They knew He could cast them out (verse 31).
For whatever reason, the demons thought to ask Jesus if He could cast them into the pigs as they were cast out of the men.
We don’t really know exactly why, but Jesus allowed this to happen.
Some say it’s because the pigs were considered unclean, so Jesus didn’t care about them.
Some say it’s because Jesus wanted to judge the Gentiles for eating pigs.
I’m not sure either of these is the case. We really don’t know. We do know this: Jesus cared more about the men than He cared about the pigs!
After the men went into the pigs, they killed all of the pigs by running off of the cliff and into the sea.
As you can imagine, that freaked-out the men that tended the pigs so they ran into the city to tell everyone.
As was happening everywhere Jesus went, a large crowd came out to see Him and what He was doing.
After witnessing and hearing what Jesus did, the people of the city begged Him to leave the region.
We’re not sure if they asked Him to leave because He had just caused the destruction of a bunch of pigs and they thought that they couldn’t afford for Him to stay around.
We’re not sure if they were simply terrified at His miraculous nature, so they didn’t want to be around Him.
They didn’t know everything about Him, but they knew that they just lost a lot of pigs and this man was very different, so, they asked Him to leave.
Throughout this second encounter, we see that Jesus has absolute authority and power over these demons. The demons knew it and you better believe that everyone that saw this encounter knew it after what they witnessed!
Jesus has power and authority over the supernatural realm. There is no spiritual power in our world or outside our world that has the kind of power and authority that Jesus has.
These men that were possessed by these demons were seemingly helpless until Jesus intervened and did what only He can do!
Jesus has power and authority over the natural realm and the supernatural realm.
Concluding Thoughts:
Many times when people read this passage they immediately gather that the meaning of this passage is that Jesus can heal the storms in your life and cause the demons in your life to flee.
However, the passage is not really about us. The passage is about Jesus.
The meaning of this passage is about the great power and authority of Jesus.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: Every force is subject to the power and authority of Jesus. [on screen]
(repeat)
Jesus has power over everything! Every sea, every demon, everything!
Although the meaning of the passage is not about us, there are implications for us.
We can, indeed, have faith that Jesus can do anything He wants to do in our lives.
Just as Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, He can do miracles in your life if you have faith and trust Him!
Just as Jesus delivered the men in the Decapolis from demons, He can deliver you from anything that you are suffering from, be it physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, or mental.
Have faith in the power and authority of Jesus.
That takes us to our weekly challenge:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
- Beamazed at the power and authority of Jesus. [on screen]
Are you amazed at the power and authority of Jesus?
Do you believe He can do anything?
Do you have faith in Him?
- Submityourself to the power and authority of Jesus. [on screen]
If you trust Him, if you have faith in Him, submit yourself to Him.
Recognize His power, recognize His authority, and say to Him, “Lord, Here Am I. Do as you will with my life!”
Closing:
The Gospel of Matthew is continually pointing us to Jesus as the one true Son of God who is worthy of our total devotion.
We’ve seen His fulfillment of prophecy, we’ve heard His revolutionary teaching, and now we’ve seen His great power and authority.
He can change your life if you give it to Him.
Have you given your life to Jesus?
(Gospel Presentation)
(Closing Prayer)
Invitation Song – Lord Here Am I
Benediction:
If you have any sort of spiritual decision that you would like to make, you can contact me or Pastor Richard and we would be glad to talk to you anytime.
We will be back tonight at 5:30 PM to conclude our study on the World Religions and Christian Cults. Tonight is ask anything night world religions and cults. See you at 5:30!
Let’s dismiss by singing the Doxology.
(Sing Doxology)
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