The sermon, 'On Who’s Authority?', discusses the authority of Jesus as demonstrated in Matthew 8. It recounts several healing miracles, illustrating that Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, the demon-possessed, and others with authority and compassion. The sermon emphasizes the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, highlighting Jesus as the suffering servant who bore our infirmities and sins. It also reflects on Jesus' teachings about trust and obedience, particularly during the calming of the storm and His interactions with the scribe and the disciple. The sermon encourages believers to trust Jesus completely and turn to Him in every situation, recognizing His authority over all creation.

Matthew 8. Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever so he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and served them. When evening had come they brought to him many who were demon possessed and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying he himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. And when Jesus saw the multitudes about him he gave a command to depart to the other side. Then a certain scribe came to him and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.

And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Then another of his disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father but Jesus said to him follow me and let the dead bury their dead. Now when he got into the boat his disciples followed him and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves but he was asleep then his disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us we are perishing but he said to them why are you fearful oh you have little faith then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm so the men marveled saying who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him let's go to the Lord in prayer oh Lord God we do thank you so much father we thank You for the opportunity that You give us, Lord, to study Your Word. Lord, we have something that we can hold on to each and every day, Father, that never contradicts You, Lord.

We have something that we can grapple with, Lord, that we can study, we can pour ourselves into, that does not contradict who You are. And Father, if we ever want to know your will and your desires, Lord, if we ever want to know the direction that you would have us to move in or to go into, Lord, we have your Word that we can pick up and to study. Father, thank you so much for your word. Father, thank you for this morning and giving us the opportunity to study it and to hear from the Lord. I pray now, Lord, that you will speak to us.

Father, speak in spite of myself, Lord. Speak the words of truth. Lord God, we love you and we just lift up this time. In Jesus' name, Amen. This morning we're going to take a look at on whose authority is the title that I made of the message.

One of the things that I want us to look at as we are looking through this passage of Scripture is kind of where we've also been. We heard last week as Jason was leading us through the first section of healings there, we see Jesus healing the leper with a touch. We see Jesus healing the centurion servant with just a word. And we see something that's going to take place over the next couple of chapters, actually through chapter 9. And this is the authority in which Christ came, the authority in which God came.

And so we see this statement in verses 28 and 29. And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings, this is chapter 7, and so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at His teaching. For He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes." And so here is Christ who comes and He sits down and He starts to speak and He's teaching the multitudes. He's teaching these that had gathered around Him. They've come up to the mountainside and we have this beautiful and this perfect sermon that Christ gives to His people.

And so at first he begins with the beatitudes and he starts laying out the characteristic, the character of those who follow Christ. And then he goes and starts breaking out the different sins and he starts again talking about different things. You've heard it said this, but I say this." And He's not contradicting what's actually being said. As a matter of fact, He's going back to the very root of the Word. And He's preaching and He's teaching what is actually being spoken.

And it's been strayed. The scribes and the Pharisees have strayed from this teaching. And they've picked. They've cherry picked, so to speak. And so, Jesus takes them back to what the true gospel is, what the true message, what the true Word says.

You've heard it said this, but I say this. You've heard it said this, but I say this. You've heard it said those of old, but I say this. And so, This is not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But when He who does, the will of my Father in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." And so, here is Jesus upsetting the apple cart. He is actually laying out who He is. He's saying this. This is who I am. He lays Himself out as the judge.

And there are some that are just sitting back and they're in astonishment of what's going on. And we see this in verses 28 and 29. And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at His teaching. For He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes." And so Matthew then takes the next three chapters and he lays out the authority that Christ actually has. He's taught in authority, and now we're going to see His true authority, the true power in which Christ has come.

At this point in time, folks are looking at Jesus and they're seeing something different. They're seeing something that they've not seen before. They're seeing somebody who can, with a word, heal. They're seeing somebody who with just a touch can heal. And they've not seen these things.

This is perfect and complete healing. We're going to see later on as we go through this. We're seeing that these are perfect and complete healings, something that they've not seen before. They've seen healings. Don't get me wrong.

There have been prophets who have come and have healed. But they're seeing something different now. They're seeing somebody who comes with authority. And so last week When we saw as Jason began chapter 8, he begins talking about the leper. He begins talking about how the healer comes and he's not defiled by the touch, but the one that is defiled is made whole and complete.

We see that even so when he talks about the centurion, and we see the centurion there, and he comes and he pleads, whether he's there physically or he sends someone there to speak to him, it's all the same. And so he comes and he pleads for his beloved servant. And Jesus says, I'm willing. I'm willing. I will come and heal him.

And the centurion says, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. Only speak a word. With a touch, he healed the leopard. And with a word, He heals the centurion servant. We see the authority in which Jesus comes through these two acts.

And so as we continue this same thread of thought, we want to pick up in verse 14. And we're going to start there with Jesus entering into Peter's house. Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw His wife's mother lying sick with fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and served Him. There's a little bit of something different going on here.

The first two scenarios of healing we see the crowd. It's in the midst of the crowd. There are people gathered. There are people that have come. And as Jason had said last week, more than likely when the leopard had come out to be healed, more than likely as he came out, he probably had to come out shouting unclean, unclean, so that those around Him could see that this is one that is unclean, so that people knew.

So this is a healing that is happening in front of a crowd. And Jesus touches Him and amazes the crowd. And then we see also the centurion. And this is in a crowd. And the crowds have gathered.

And so Jesus says, well I'll come. And so he's walking in the crowd following him over to the centurion's house. And the centurion says, oh I'm not worthy that you should come." And so there's this crowd of people gathered around as Jesus is healing and as Jesus is touching. And now we have something a little bit different. We have Jesus coming into the house of Peter.

It's an intimate scenario. It's something a little bit quieter. So Jesus comes into the house of Peter. We don't have the leper crying out, Lord, if it would please You to heal me, You can do this. We don't have the centurion sent, Lord, with just a word, You could heal my servant.

But we have Peter's mother-in-law laying down with a fever. And she doesn't say a word. She doesn't speak a word. And Jesus comes into the house and immediately he sees the need of Peter's mother-in-law and goes over and touches her. Friends, when we are gathered and we think about all the different things that are happening around us, we think about the things that are going on in our lives and the trials and the tribulations that we're faced with, We think about sometimes the turmoil that we're encountered with day in and day out.

Friends, nothing catches God by surprise. Nothing you are experienced with has caught God. God didn't say, oh wow, that one caught me by surprise. He's never caught by surprise. When Jesus walked into that room, He immediately saw the need.

He didn't wait for her to cry out. He went to her and he touched her. The significance of that is huge. It's huge. We have a Heavenly Father, friends, who loves us.

And He loves us unconditionally. He loves us beyond anything we can imagine or compare. When Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served them." Chapter 7 verse 25. Excuse me, actually, actually chapter 6 verse 25.

Excuse me, actually, chapter 6 verse 25. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Jesus teaches not to worry. He teaches us not to worry.

Over in chapter 7, verse 7, He says, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For anyone who asks receives and anyone who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened." And we see in each one of these cases of healing, we see that Jesus cares for those. He loves those.

And he reaches out with compassion and he churches them or he speaks a word. This isn't about prosperity gospel it's not about asking and God providing all of your needs or desireings what it is demonstrating to us is that again as I've said we have a heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally. How many of us as fathers or mothers would look at our children and see them sick and not want to do something for them. How many of us would look at our children and say, you know what, that serves you right for going outside in the cold. You should have got that cold.

How many of us would look at our children and say, you know what, if you had not been climbing up that tree, you wouldn't have got hurt like that, so therefore go tend to your own wounds. Not a one of us. Not a one of us. When we see our children in need, we reach out to them to care for them because we love them. Scripture says we love Him because He first loved us.

Jesus loved us. It also demonstrates that Jesus was not motivated by the crowds. He wasn't motivated to minister by the crowds, the large crowds that gathered around him. He was motivated, friends, by the need. There was a need there.

It wasn't the crowd that caused Jesus to reach over and touch the leopard. It was the need. It wasn't the crowd that caused Jesus to look to the centurion and say, I will come and heal him. It wasn't the crowd that did that, it was the need. It was the need.

And so when there is no crowd, We see how Jesus is truly, truly affected by the need. He saw the need. He didn't wait for Peter's mother to turn her head and say, oh Jesus, please just come and touch me. He saw her and he healed her. And the third thing we see with this is that he heals completely.

I think that's why we see something a little bit different in this telling as well. In the healing of the leper, He tells the leper to go off and to do what's right in the law. And when he heals the centurion's son, it's that very hour we hear that the servant is healed. But in this case of the healing, we see that as soon as she's touched, she gets up and serves. Because we see the completeness in which God heals.

There wasn't a healing that took place. And then she had to, oh, I've been laying here so long, I've got bed sores, And so I've got to get this all taken care of before I can get up. No, when Jesus touched her, she was completely and perfectly healed. This new response we see of her getting up and serving tells us a little bit about Peter's mother-in-law as well. It shows her humility.

It shows the humility that she had when Jesus came and touched her. At that moment, she could have said, He touched me, and I'm special. I'm special now because Jesus touched me. And she could acclaim special recognition because she's Peter's wife, or Peter's mother-in-law, and Jesus touched me. But instead, what happens is Jesus touches her, and she immediately gets up to serve him.

And to serve those in the house. There's a lot of things we can take from that. We can sit back and we can say, well, maybe that's what it is when God touches us. He touches us for the purpose of service. When He heals us from our infirmities, He heals us so that we can go out and we can serve Him, and we can devote ourselves to a life of service to Christ.

Absolutely we can. And we should. We should live our lives in such a way as to be categorized by people of God. And to be categorized as people of God, that would mean that we would be seen as people who serve Him. But we also need to realize too that in this healing we see complete and perfect healing.

We see a God who loves us so much that He heals completely. He heals perfectly. Let's move on to verse 16. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and He healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, and He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness." We see that as Jesus is continuing to heal, we've got crowds of people that are gathering around him. We've got crowds of folks that are gathering to be healed and they're waiting.

Some commentaries say that this was on the Sabbath and so what they were doing was they were waiting for nightfall to come so that they could then bring all of their folks to Jesus to be healed. Matthew kind of lumps or kind of brings everything in. If it's not important enough to this section, he kind of leaves it out. So here we're not necessarily sure. It doesn't actually say whether it was a Sabbath or not.

You might have some of those unholy heading titles that are not inspired in your Bible. And they might say they're Many healed after Sabbath sunset. Understand that that's not inspired word. So we're not sure here. But we do know that when evening had come, that when evening had come, they were brought to him many who were demon possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and he healed all who were sick." So if we go back to Matthew chapter 4, And we looked at the end of that.

We see in verse 24 and 25 of chapter 4, we see when his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. Great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, beyond the Jordan. And so we see that a great multitude is already gathering and following Jesus at this point in Scripture. And they're bringing in, they're sick, and He's healing them all. And we need to understand that you don't heal everybody there without making some sort of an impression on those around you.

Think about this. Think about what would happen if somebody showed up in little old Youngsville and Every sick person that was in Youngsville came out and they were healed of cancer. They were healed of heart disease. They were healed of high blood pressure. They were healed of bleedings.

They were healed of all these different things. Do you not think that that would hit the news? Do you not think that that would hit the news? Do you not think that that would not be spread like wildfire through the community? And so this is what's happening.

Jesus is healing all of these sicknesses and He's doing all this healing. And so, we have here that when evening had come, back over in verse 16, when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and He healed all who were sick. He healed all who were sick. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness." So what's happening here? We could sit back and we could say, well, he's healing all those who are sick.

Or we could go a little bit deeper, and that's probably what Matthew is trying to draw us to, is something a little bit more deeper than just healing. Because he points us to Isaiah 53. And if you've got your Bibles, turn with me over to Isaiah 53. And Gary read this this morning, and I appreciate so much the reading of this. This is the fourth song that Isaiah writes in his writing.

And this is, as some would say, the suffering servant, the servant's song. This is the clear understanding of that substitutionary atonement of what Christ really came to do. This is what we see here in Isaiah 53. We see the type of servant that Christ, we see the type of Savior that Christ has come to be. Now, more than likely, in this time, some of the commentaries indicate that there are a lot of the Jewish people that probably have kind of overlooked this part.

They've kind of overlooked this portion of Scripture. Why? Because they're looking for a Messiah that's going to come into the world, and He's going to come in with pomp, and He's going to come in as a political leader, a conqueror, who's going to bring them out of their oppression. That's what they're looking for. They're looking for this type of Messiah.

And many of the commentaries have said that they could have just overlooked this. And we fail to see here as we look in verse 2 of chapter 53. For he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. There is no form or calmliness. And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

We have a Christ that grows up unseen by the people. We have a Messiah that's going to grow up unseen by the people. He's not going to come in with pomp and circumstance. It's not going to be this great fanfare. He's not coming in as a mighty conqueror.

But we see Him growing up as a tender plant. And so when Matthew refers to this passage of Scripture that when he says in Matthew, He Himself took on infirmities and bore our sickness, he's referring to more than just this healing. Because many folks associated, and Jason said this last week, that all of sickness comes from sin. Either directly or indirectly, All sickness comes from sin. And as Jason said last week, it takes us back to the Garden of Eden.

It takes us back to the very first sin. And when we were first created, we were created in perfectness. Without sin, without disease, without suffering, without dying, without decaying. And then sin entered into the picture. And at that moment, then sickness came in.

And so we can take a look at all sickness and we can directly bring it in to sin. Sin brought it in. And so when Matthew points to Isaiah 53, he's pointing to something even deeper and something greater than just some man coming out and healing people. But he's pointing to a man who's healing folks, who's going to take on the infirmities, and he's going to take on the sin and sickness of this world, and he's going to carry it all the way to a cross, and he's going to take it to the cross and do away with it. That's what he's bringing into the picture.

That's what he's pointing to. That's what Matthew is bringing in here when Matthew points us to Isaiah 53. When he says here, and that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, he himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Let's take a look at Isaiah 53. Who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground, and he has no form of comeliness. And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteem Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He has opposed and he has afflicted. He was opposed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment.

And who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people, he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, you shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his land. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made transgression for the and made transgression for the transgressors. It is, I believe, impossible to read that chapter and not see Christ who came to bear our sin. It is said repeatedly over and over again, He bore our iniquity. He bore our iniquity. And to the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

For the transgressions of my people He was stricken." Over and over again, it speaks of our transgressions being placed upon Christ. Being placed upon this servant. This one that Isaiah is talking about. And then now Matthew is pointing the pencil and saying, hey, this is the One that was spoken of then. This is the One.

This is the One. It's more than just healing here. He's taken on all our afflictions, all of our infirmities, and He's taken them to the cross so that you and I don't have to go. That's what Matthew's pointing to here. It's so much more than just a healing.

And I wonder how many folks that day, when they read this from Matthew, cocked their head and said, Huh? What? Because it wasn't what they were looking for. It wasn't who they were expecting. So Matthew continues the healings that we see in the beginning of chapter 8.

He heals the leopard with a touch. He heals the centurion with a word. He heals Peter's mother-in-law with a touch. And then He heals completely all the multitudes. Everyone who's coming out, He's healing them.

And Matthew points them to Scripture, points them to the fact that our Lord and Savior, that Jesus came for the purpose of taking on our infirmities so that He could take them to the cross because of our sickness and sin. And then as we move on to verses 18, and when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave a command to depart to the other side. And when a certain scribe came and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Then another of his disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

But Jesus said to him, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead." So great multitudes had gathered around Jesus. Jesus had been healing. He had been doing great things and people were taking notice. And now it was time for Jesus to go get into the boat and go to the other side. And so he says, let's go to the other side so that he can minister and do the things that He's been called to do over on the other side of this lake.

And so there are a lot of folks that are gathering. They're seeing that needs are being met. They're seeing that things are happening. And so they're gathering around and they're wanting to come up to Jesus and to see what exactly it is that's happening. Not everybody that was in the crowd, friends, listen to this, not everybody that was in the crowd needed a physical healing.

Some of them needed a spiritual healing. And they were gathering around to come to Him. And they were gathering around and some of them didn't even know they needed the healing. But they are gathering for the same reason people gather for churches today. Think about it.

How many times do you see something new happening in the church? Some new marketing strategy has come out. And so people are flocking to the churches. They're flocking to see what's happening. They're not flocking because they have an understanding of Scripture.

They're flocking because a need is being met there. Maybe it's because they've got some great children's ministry over here and they could drop their kids off over there and totally be neglect of their responsibilities. Whatever it might be, they have these things that they're going through. They're showing up in these churches and they're showing up by groves. There are a lot of people that were seeing what was happening to the sick.

The sick were being healed. And so there were some that were showing up because they just wanted to see what is happening over here. Why is there such a big crowd? Why are you here today? Are you here because you just want to see what's happening around you?

You think that, hey, this is something great. Hey, I saw something on Vision Forum, or I heard Vodi Bakum preach a message, or I read a book by Dan Horn, or I did whatever else it might have been. Why are you here? Is it because He touched you? That He breathed life into your dead body?

That you were dead in your transgressions? And Christ spoke to you and breathed life into you? Or are you here because This just seemed like a good place to be. There are a lot that gathered around Jesus that day, and there are a lot that gather in churches today. And friends, many of them gather for the wrong reasons.

And it doesn't make a family integrated church. It doesn't mean that if we homeschool our children, and if We take our sons to father-son retreats, or our daughters go to mother-daughter outings, or whatever it might be, friends, that doesn't make us into the people of God. What makes us into the people of God is the fact that He has called us. And we have accepted. So we have here two people who have come to Jesus.

Jesus announces that He's going to the other side. He says that when he had saw the great multitude about him, he gave a command to depart to the other side. So he says, okay, we're going to go to the other side. And when he does that, a scribe comes to him, a certain scribe comes to him, A teacher of the law, an intellectual, a scholar, someone who's studied and understands. And this person comes to Jesus and he says, he says to him, teacher I will follow you where you go.

And Jesus says to them, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He speaks to this scholar in such a way, and the scholar has to sit there and he has to make a decision. Friends, we all have to make decisions. When Christ calls us, and He calls us by name, and when He calls us, we have to make a decision. And so here it is.

The first, there's three things I want us to see from this first person that comes to Him. Why? Because Christ wants our complete trust. So He says to the scribes, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." I think this is the first time we come across this term, the Son of Man. So right off the bat we see that This person needs to understand and needs to see the Son of Man.

Needs to accept the Son of Man. So who is the Son of Man? This is a term that's actually confusing to a lot of folks. Turn with me over to John chapter 34. John chapter 12 verse 34.

And the people answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever, and how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So the people, Jesus starts using this term Son of Man. He starts using this term Son of Man in some places and later on we see Son of God. And He's using this term son of man here.

We see over in Daniel, Daniel says, like the son of man, one appeared to be like the son of man. We see over in Ezekiel, we see this term used several times and many times it talks about humanity. It talks about man. And so Jesus is now using this term. He's talking to the intellectual.

He's talking to the scholar. And he says that if you're going to follow me, you're going to have to accept the Son of Man. What does that mean? To accept that Son of Man? It could mean that at this point in time you need to accept that the Savior is going to come in a form that you are not expecting.

The Messiah is coming in a way that you're not expecting. You might be expecting God to come down and show up as this great and mighty King. But in actuality, God has come as man. He has come as a humble man and you need to accept that. Because there's a lot of folks that sit back and they think, well you know what, I can follow this person because he's a great leader, or I can follow this person because they're a great this or a great that.

But to find out that God would love us so much that He would take on the very flesh of man, that He would humble Himself so much that He would come to earth as a man, as a baby born, and placed in a food trough, And to be raised by a carpenter that Jesus would come in such a way to grow up as that plant, that tender plant. Jesus is saying that you have to accept the Son of Man in this. There's a lot of commentary on the Son of Man and what it actually means. Jesus uses it a lot in his own terminology. It points to him here as being the Messiah and he uses it over and over again.

The folks aren't understanding, They're not clear with this. It could actually be a term, some commentaries say, it could actually be a term that reveals and does not reveal who he actually is. It could be a term that he uses to reveal that he is the Messiah and it could be a term that he uses to kind of be ambiguous about it so that those who are there have to really think through this process. The term captures both his authority and his suffering. As man, as the son of man, he's coming to suffer.

To take on our infirmities as we saw back in Isaiah chapter 53. The one who came to take on our iniquities. The one who came to take on our sin, our complete sin, so that He could suffer and die for us. So, as we see right off the bat, Jesus says, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. If you're going to follow after Him, you need to understand and accept who He is.

Another thing that you need to understand and accept is that You need to understand and accept who He is. Another thing that you need to understand and accept is that you need to understand and accept that there's going to be a certain amount of things taken away from you. What does that mean? I'm not saying that you're going to live in poverty or anything like that. But hey, here Jesus says, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.

Could that mean that you're to live in poverty? It could. Could it mean that just common things are to be taken from you because of your following after Christ? It could. It could mean a lot of things.

But I think It also means that if we're going to follow after Him, we need to give Him our complete and undivided hearts. And if He calls us to live in poverty, then praise the Lord because as we saw over in chapter 6, we said, saw chapter 6 verse 19, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And if you are to follow after Christ, then should not your treasure be in Christ.

Should not your heart be in Christ and not other things of this world? Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And the third thing is, will you abandon everything to follow after Him? Are you willing to give up the house? Are you willing to give up your comforts?

Are you willing to give up the things that God may have blessed you with up until this point so that you can follow after Him where He's going from this point on? Verse 21, Then another of His disciples said to Him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. Here we have the second person, a common disciple, a common person, an average man. So we had this scholar and intellectual, we had this one who was an expert of the law come to him.

And now we have an average man come to him. And he says, but Lord, let me bury my dead. And there's a lot of different things that we can see in this. The Jewish law about the time frame from when a person dies to when they're actually buried and all these different things could possibly have been that the man's father had not even been dead yet. And so in doing this, he's looking to Jesus saying, let me bury my father yet.

He could be dead in the next six months to a year or however long it could be. And so Jesus says, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. It's not an unreasonable request. It's an excuse, but it's not an unreasonable excuse. We see here that we all make excuses from time to time on why we do things and why we don't do things.

This is a legitimate excuse. Matter of fact, Scripture tells us that we should take care of our family. Right? Absolutely. And so this is a legitimate excuse.

But I think what Jesus is getting at here, He says right off the bat, follow Me and let the dead bury the dead. Here we have an average man who is in the comfort of his own environment. He's in his own area. He's following after Christ while everything is good. While everything is perfect.

He's following after Christ. And then when Jesus says, let's go over to the other side. It could be a place that he's never been before. It could be something he's never done before. You know, growing up in the church and being a part of many churches, the seven last deadly words of the church, we ain't never done it that way before.

This could have been something that he had never heard before. We ain't never done it. We never been over there before and it could be taking him out of his comfort zone. It could be taking him away from what he's always known. And Jesus is saying are you willing to trust Me?

I'm calling for your complete trust. That's what I want. You have a legitimate excuse here to bear your debt. And that's not what he's saying. He's not saying to shirk your responsibility with your family.

But he's saying, do you trust me? Are you giving me your complete trust? Let the dead bury the dead and follow Me." I've got a special note here, and I just want to pull this aside. God never contradicts Himself. He will never contradict Himself.

And one thing I want to make sure that we're clear here is that there's a lot of times that we hear of folks who say, oh, I felt a calling to do this, or I felt like God was leading me to do this, or I had this great feeling and I did this because of this great feeling over here. And I want us to understand something friends, that your feelings do not matter. Nor do your experiences matter. But what matters is the Word of God. Because That's what you should hold as your standard.

Not your feelings and not your experiences. But the Word of God. Because God's Word will never contradict itself. If you have this feeling, I feel like God's leading me to do something. I feel like God's leading me over here to do this.

The first thing that you should do then is to back it up with what God's Word says. What does God's Word say about this? Study God's Word. Know it inside and out. Spend time in God's Word regularly so that when you do have this feeling, which it could be the Holy Spirit laying on your heart to do this or to do that, when you do have that feeling, then you know where it's coming from.

You know that it's coming from the Lord because it's not contradicting Himself. We need to understand that when Christ calls us out to do things, and He calls us to do a lot of things, He calls us out to minister to certain people. As this ever happened to you, you're driving down the road and you're heading to work or you're heading someplace and all of a sudden a name pops into your head and you think, well I haven't thought about them for years. And at that point in time, that name popped into your head for a reason. It popped into your head so that you can pray about that person or maybe call them or do something like that.

But then there are also times when things pop into our head and they're not necessarily what God would have us to do. And sometimes good things. There are sometimes that there could be great things out there. Great and wonderful things that we could be doing and it would be against God's will for us to do them because God didn't call us to do them. And we need to study God's Word and know what it is that He's called us out to do.

So I want to make sure that when we take a look at this, because there's a lot of times we can take a look at these passages of Scriptures about following after Jesus and dropping everything that we have so that we can follow after Him. Abandoning all so that we can follow after Him. I just want to make sure that we understand that God will never contradict Himself. He will never tell you to do something that His Word does not already say. And we need to study and know His Word.

We need to be men and women and children of obedience and not of sacrifice. Understand, friends, we need to be people of obedience. God desires our obedience over our sacrifice. And so when we take a look at these two illustrations here, we see that there's this great crowd that's gathering around them. We see that Jesus is already demonstrating his authority through the way that he heals.

He heals those that are sick. He heals all types of infirmities, demon possession. He feels epilepsy. He's healing all these different folks. And he's going through each one of these things and he's leading them to this understanding.

And a great crowd is coming around him. And now he needs us to understand this, that he's calling for our complete trust in Him. Our complete trust in Him. Follow Me. Let the dead bury the dead.

So let's move on to verse 23. Now when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him, and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea. And so the boat was covered with waves. But he was asleep, and his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save me, save us. We are perishing.

But he said to them, Why are you fearful? O you of little faith. Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the waves, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey Him? So Jesus gets into the boat and His disciples follow Him.

Those that to this point, to our understanding, they are saying, okay, I am going to count the cost. I am going to follow Him. I am not saying how much belief and understanding they have at this point in time. They could have a belief in him. They could have an understanding of who he is.

It could be very infantile at this point. We don't know. I'm pretty sure it's infantile at this point. Why? Because they falter back and forth throughout Scripture.

We don't really even see until Matthew chapter 16 where Peter actually says, you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. So where their faith is, we're not sure, but we do know that they've left everything and that they're following after Jesus at this point in time. They get in the boat and they're heading across. Some of these are seasoned fishermen. They've fished this lake before.

They understand how the winds come in and create these great storms. And so they've been there. And so here they are, these men are on this boat with Jesus. And the storm comes and rises up. And this is a beautiful picture, friends, of where we should be at if we're truly trusting in Jesus.

This is where we should be if we are truly trusting in Jesus. Jesus just got done calling for complete trust and following Him. And now he shows us even greater where the true picture of trust is. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with waves. Some interpretations say that the boat was actually filling up with water to the point that it was beginning to sink.

But he was where? Asleep. That's trust. That's trust. But he was asleep.

And when disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing. But he said to them, why are you fearful, O you of little faith? So we see these seasoned fishermen, they've probably been doing everything they possibly can do to keep the boat afloat. They've probably been bailing out as much as they possibly can to make sure that they don't sink. They're doing everything that they possibly can.

And when they've done everything that they think to do, they do what? Because nothing is helping. They finally go to Jesus. And they wake Him up. What did they think He was going to do?

What did they think He was going to do? He's in the boat. The boat's filling up. He's in the same predicament they're in. What did they really think He was going to do?

They cry out to the one they're believing in. And they cry out, Lord, save us! We are perishing. And Jesus says to them, why are you fearful? O you of little faith, why are you fearful?

Let's just go back to the beginning of chapter 8 where we see the leper come to Jesus. And he says, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. And then we see the centurion say, Lord, my servant is paralyzed. I was lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And then he says, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak the Word and my servant will be healed.

We see these illustrations of folks crying out to the Savior. Crying out to God. Lord, save us. Lord, heal us. And here, these seasoned men, these men who had been watching Jesus, these men who had been sitting at His feet when He was teaching on the mount, and talking about the Beatitudes, and talking about the characteristics of following after Him.

These men who saw the multitudes being healed. These men who saw Peter's wife in the seclusion of the house, Peter's mother-in-law in the conclusion of the house when they saw her be healed. These men who saw, saw the hand of God move. Now they're crying out to that same one, Lord save us, we are perishing. But he says to them, why are you fearful?

Oh you of little faith. Isn't that a contradiction as well from that centurion where he says, Assuredly I say to you I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And now he looks to the disciples and he says, Oh you of little faith. What are you putting your trust in, friends? Who are you putting your trust in?

Is it your job? Is it your family? Is it your spouse? What is it that we place our trust in? Many of us place our trust in the wrong things.

Jesus says, Oh, you of little faith. And then He arose and He rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm." He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm with His Word. John tells us, let's flip over to John. John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of man, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The same mouth that spoke this world into existence, stood up in that boat and calmed the sea. The same mouth that breathed life and all that there is, is the same God who said, be still.

And the sea became a great calm. The same mouth. The same God. And there was a great calm. Again friends, as we saw with Peter's mother-in-law, when Jesus healed her, she got up and began to minister.

Here we see when Jesus calms the sea, it is a great calm. So much so that in verse 27, so when the men marveled saying, who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey Him? The question that's been asked from the moment Jesus stepped into the scene, who is this Jesus? Who is this? Who is he?

The same question that many ask him today. And As they found out firsthand these seasoned fishermen, they experienced firsthand the hand of God. As they cried out and woke Him in His sleep, they cried out, Lord, we're perishing. Save us. Here we have them astonished and amazed.

By whose authority? Again, Jesus demonstrating that He is God and God Almighty. This morning as we try to tie all of this together, there's so much here, there's so many things that we've kind of grappled with, there's some things that we just did an introduction to, so to speak, on this. But I just want to give us a couple of situations, a couple of applications for us to lean on. The first one is that Jesus cares about us.

He wants to see us healed of our infirmities and our sicknesses. He wants us to be in a right relationship with Himself. He cares for us like the perfect father cares for that son or that daughter. He wants that relationship to be right. He wants to be ever a part of that relationship.

When there's a need, he wants to fill it and meet that need. Just like the perfect Father does for His children. Another application is Jesus heals completely. Jesus heals us completely with a word or a touch. He controls everything, all of nature, with His very breath.

And when He speaks, it's complete. The third thing is, Jesus demands complete trust and following of Him. Jesus demands complete trust and following of Him. It takes complete trust, friends, to understand that we have a loving Father who cares for us completely. And when He speaks to us and touches us, He heals us completely.

It takes Trust to do that. And the last thing I want us to take a look at here is that Jesus wants us to turn to Him in every situation. Jesus wants us to turn to Him in every situation. No matter what it is in your life, friends, no matter where you're at physically or spiritually, no matter what's going on with you right now, Jesus wants us to turn to Him. He wants us to turn to Him completely.

He wants us to give Him our complete trust so that He can move and work in us in a way that brings glory and honor to the Father. This morning, where are we in our trust? This morning, where are we in our understanding of Christ? Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh Lord God, we do thank You so much Father for this time that you've given us.

Father, we pray that as we have looked in your Word, Lord, there is so much here, Father, and sometimes so much can be left out. And Lord God, I pray that you speak truth unto us. Father, help us to understand what it is that your word says. Lord, help us to understand true obedience, complete faith and trust in you. Lord God, help us to turn to you in everything that we do.

Lord we love you and we just lift up this time. In Jesus' name, Amen.