Gooding, David: 2 - Authority and Discipleship—Chapters 8–10

Just a little information. I received today the tentative program for our next visit to the Ukraine. It is to start off in Kharkiv, where we were before, and some other places with unpronounceable names. I would ask your prayers for two women in Kharkiv. They are the two ve- highly responsible political appointees. The first of them has virtual control of all the educational establishments in Kharkiv and area, including the university. When we first met her about two years ago, she was a little bit stiff, as you may imagine. But John Lennox did his charm upon her, and after all see, uh, she softened considerably and became our friends and assured us we, she would get us into all sorts of institutions and into the university itself. And true to her promise, we had to go elsewhere, but when we came back four days later, she had us in the university and in the other institutions. She and the other good lady who was in charge of the training of the, uh, methodologists, uh, invited us to go back, and we're regretful that we have not been able so far to go back, and we've heard some complaints from them. Where are we? So now we have to go back. So I'm sorry, I can't give you their names. I don't know them myself, but if you could pray for these two responsible women. In Ukraine, education is largely in the hands of women, simply because the men, uh, the, the, the, the salaries of, of teachers of all kinds is so abysmally low that men don't go in for it. But these are very high-powered ladies and very responsible and very able. Pray for these two women in Charkiv, that God might meet them and save them and reward them for the way that they are moving to get us into the educational establishments. So welcome now tonight to this study in the, uh, gospel by Matthew. This is the second of three studies that I have been asked to give in the form of an overview of some of the major features of the gospel. And on our last occasion, I pointed out how Matthew has a decided tendency to group narratives together and then teaching together. That is not a universal rule throughout his gospel, but it is marked enough that most commentators point to it. I then made the point that, uh, the narratives are not just selected at random, nor are they unconnected. They are carefully chosen, carefully arranged, and the evidence of it we saw, let me just remind you of it, we saw in the first, uh, four chapters of the gospel that are largely narrative. Uh, do you see? We noticed on that, uh, occasion how that here in the genealogy, great stress is re- re- lain on the fact that our Lord was ultimately the son of David and the son of Abraham. And the long genealogy that is given reminds us of the his- importance of history behind Christianity. The Christian gospel is the result of centuries long of historical intervention by God into human history, particularly in the call of Abraham, the development of the nation of Israel, and the prophets pointing to the coming of the Messiah and the eventual coming of our blessed Lord. And there, as we pointed out, it was vastly important that the, our Lord was the son of Abraham. On this side, we notice the contrast. John is now preaching to the crowds, and he says to some of them, think not to say we have Abraham to our father, for now physical descent from Abraham counts for absolutely nothing. For here it was a question of the way that God had of bringing his son into our world. But here it's a way of how God had in his son to get into the hearts of men and women. This is historical, this is moral and spiritual, and both, of course, are needed to put a balanced point of view. Or take a, a, a another easy example from, uh, that s- those same four chapters. This is the third paragraph, the third story in the, uh, first division. It is about two kings. The wise men come asking the religious authorities, where is he that is born king of the Jews? And the story is taken up with the response thereto of Herod the king. You'll see it's about two kings. When you come this side, it is likewise about two, shall I say, kings or princes. For this is the question of our blessed Lord being tempted by the devil. Now you will notice common to the both of them is this question of worship. Said Herod to the wise, uh, to the religious authorities, where is this king to be born? They knew the scriptures, they pointed him, uh, to the Old Testament prophets and assured him that it was in Bethlehem. There is no record that they bothered themselves to go to find the king. Herod said to the wise men, well, you go and find where he is, and when you've found out, come and tell me that I may come and, wow, and worship him. Do you see? I must remind you that in the Bible, worship does not always mean the singing of hymns and choruses and praising the Lord with hallelujahs. The basic meaning of worship is to bow down before somebody and own their, uh, overall authority. And what Herod was saying was, I as king, King Herod, when I found him, I will bow down to him. But of course it was all a, a lie. He had no intention of bowing down to him. When he'd found the Lord's Christ, born as the prophet said he would in Bethlehem. In spite of God's gift, in spite of God's scripture, Herod would have obliterated the Messiah if he could have done. The question of authority and the word of God and the Christ of God. You will notice at this side, the question is of worship. Here is the king himself, our blessed Lord, and he is being tested by the devil. God allows it. And the issue at stake is the validity of the word of God. So that the devil quotes him scripture perversely enough, in order to tempt him to go against God and to serve himself. Our Lord on each occasion answers the devil with the assertion of God's word, it stands written, says our Lord to the devil. You'll see. So when our Lord was tempted first, the devil said, you son of God, aren't you? Why, m- make these stones bread. You've been fasting for forty days, make these stones bread. Do you know what? I've never been tempted by the devil to make stones bread. I don't know about you. He doesn't bother to tempt me to make stones bread because he knows I can't do it. He tempted our Lord to ma- to make stones into bread, because our Lord did have the more than human power to do it, which but shows his amazing grace, that he let a creature like Satan tempt him to use his divine power for his own enjoyment, as distinct from doing the will of God. Chosen, uh, therefore proved worthy to be king of the universe because his submission to the authority of God and his word. And when Satan couldn't, uh, provoke him otherwise, he said, uh, to him as he took him up a mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. He said, now all these things I'll give you, for they're given to me, if you will bow down and worship me. And once more, Satan didn't mean by the term worship, if you'll get down and sing a lot of hymns in my honor. That isn't the point. What he was tempting our Lord with was, with was, I am an ultimate power, you know. Look here, young man, it's okay for you to go around preaching, stirring up the crowds, and I won't hinder you if you will acknowledge that I am an absolute power. You try to upset my power, then I'm warning you what may happen. Christendom has often been tempted to compromise with Satan and his powers. I leave my comment at that. Our Lord refused, and as a result, the very first thing that next is to be heard in the Gospel of Matthew is that John the Baptist was imprisoned. Now, John the Baptist was our Lord's forerunner, and it was normal that the way a forerunner was treated, the one whom he came before to announce, that one would be treated as the forerunner was treated. And you see the sequence of thought. If Christ will not bow down and acknowledge Satan as a ultimate power, then he'll warn him, won't he? We'll see what happened to your, to your forerunner. He's in jail now, you know. That was a threat. You'll notice the words that are used now, he withdrew. But I leave it there. This is only by way of offering a little evidence that the narrative portions of Matthew, like many other parts in the gospel, are very carefully selected a- a- and uh, uh, uh, compiled. So that in interpreting them, we cannot afford simply to take them as one-off stories, each one separately. Though, though, do do it. I mean, please do it. Any study of God's word is good, you know, if it's done in a proper mood, and if you can only manage one story, well, manage one story then. But to get the full significance of the stories, one must take them as they are written as a whole and observe their interrelationship between, uh, each other. For very often they put the different sides of a similar question. Now, I just add the, uh, advice, I've not attempted to expound the passage. And I say that because some people seem to think that, uh, uh, the thing to do in studying the Gospels is to see all sorts of patterns, uh, in them, and when you have done that, that's that. No, it isn't that. It's only the first stage towards a responsible exposition, to notice that the stories are related and form a coherent whole. Now, tonight and in, uh, next week, God willing, I want to take other blocks of narratives from the Gospel of Matthew and suggest to you what are their dominant themes. So tonight, let's notice that after chapter four, after the narrative, come chapters five, six, and seven. They contain the famous Sermon on the Mount, our Lord's moral and spiritual teaching. On that I shall say nothing tonight. This is meant to be simply a brief overview of the gospel as a whole. That is vastly important. There is enough in that sermon to keep us occupied for months. But now I come to the next block of narrative that follows the sermon material. And the next block of narrative goes through chapter eight and chapter nine. whereas chapter eleven is once more a passage of teaching as our Lord briefs his apostles for their evangelistic mission around Canaan. So let's begin by looking at chapter seven and verse 28. And while you find the place, let me warn you that tonight I may have to talk until a quarter past nine. and if you find the seat getting intolerably hard, do feel free to stand up and stretch your legs. You will not, uh, disturb me nor anybody else, you'll see. But now let's look, as I say, to chapter seven and verse twenty eight. And it came to pass when Jesus ended these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes. And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. On each occasion when Matthew sums up our Lord's teaching by some remark like, and when Jesus had ended these words, or when Jesus had ended these parables, what he next says is a key to understanding what shall follow. And what he next says here is that the multitudes were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as as the scribes. And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. I'm about to suggest that now in chapters eight and nine, the dominant th- uh, uh, theme is a question of discipleship. What it means to be a disciple, and what it will involve us in. And how do you begin a path of discipleship? And what course will it initiate us into discipleship? And one of the reasons that makes me think that is the verb that you see at the end of verse 1 of chapter eight. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. Can you see them? It means literally they followed him geographically down the mountain. You see them just following the Lord, but he had such a tremendous teaching up that mountain that they came and they followed him. Very good. But now notice, if you will, how that verb repeats itself, do you see? In chapter eight and verse 19. There came a scribe and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Not just down the mountainside. I'll follow you wherever you go. And our Lord had to lay down the conditions for him. Look again in verse twenty two. Jesus saith unto a man, Follow me and leave the dead to bury their own. He's talking about the priorities of discipleship, priorities involved in following the Lord Jesus. Now look at verse twenty three. And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. Do you know that's precisely what disciples do, or at least what they're meant to do? Disciples are those who follow the Lord Jesus. And then finally, in chapter nine, verse, uh, uh, uh, uh, nine, Matthew gives us hi- the story of his conversion, and he puts it in these terms. As Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the place of Tal, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Interesting story of conversion, that. Our Lord didn't say to, to Matthew, look here, old fellow, if you believe on me, you will have eternal life. He just said, follow me. That's how the man got converted, and from the very start understood what conversion means. That was fortunate, wasn't it? Conversion means being converted to follow Christ. And being commanded to follow him, Matthew rose up and followed him. I'm suggesting that this very verb being repeated in these passages is beginning to emphasize this matter of discipleship and what is involved in discipleship, and how do you become a disciple? Let's check upon ourselves. Is that a reasonable theme for Matthew to devote two chapters to? Well, very reasonable, because he was present, he tells us, when at the end of his, of his ministry on earth, our Lord gathered them in Galilee to a mountain and said, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, make learners of all nations, make followers of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all things I commanded. This is Matthew's gospel. He tells us that conversion means being converted to follow Christ. And here in these two chapters, he describes what following Christ will mean. I don't know how you feel, but sometimes the thought comes to human hearts, doesn't it? But following Christ? But... what if he should demand too much of me? What i- i- if he should demand things of me that I can't possibly do? Am I wise to embark upon a course of discipleship? Suppose he were to ask for Everything. everything. I can see the point of salvation, isn't that marvelous? We, we come to Christ and we're born again and we receive eternal life and we go to heaven. Praise the Lord we are, and that's certain too. But following, being a disciple, gearing ourselves up to learn, and then do what we learn. What will it involve? I think Matthew has got his eye on us. I don't know whereabouts he is in glory, but when he wrote this, he had his eye on us, you know. Do you see? What will it involve? And first of all, he has four stories, chapter eight, uh, do you see, down to verse seventeen. that puts, if I may say it, the easy side of being a disciple. You say, what do you mean by you're letting the, you're letting us down now, aren't you? You made out it's going to be hard, now you're saying it's easy. Oh, but wait a minute. Take my yoke and learn of me, says Christ, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What a gracious invitation that is to fearful souls about to embark on a life of discipleship. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. So they came down the mountain, and there came a leper and bowed down before him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. And so in these easy section, this easy section, you find people whose faith in our Lord's power has been provoked. We were told, weren't we, at the end of chapter seven, great multitudes came down and were astonished at his teaching, for he thought- taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. The supreme authority of Christ attracted them. If you preach, oh, but you won't, will you? Of course you don't. But you preach a wishy-washy doctrine that Christ is merely a, a, a, a counselor put on by the city or somewhat, and advises you of this, that, and the other. Well, there's something more beyond it. He has absolute authority. And it was the authority of his word and his teaching that attracted these multitudes. They followed him because they were astonished at his teaching. He taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes. And faith was provoked in this leper, and he came to the Lord Jesus and said, Lord, if you are willing to, you have the power to make me clean. And our Lord stretched forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will, be thou made clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Now, we don't know whether it was the disease called leprosy or whether it was some outrageous skin disease. This we know that according to the Old Testament, it made a man or woman unclean, and therefore they had to be banished from close association with other human beings because otherwise they would have defiled and and made unclean all the people that they mixed with. So that when our Lord stretched forth his hand and touched him, that was a magnificent gesture, wasn't it? No one would have dared to touch a man like that. He had to cry, according to Old Testament regulation, cover his mouth and cry, unclean, unclean, so that nobody even came accidentally near him. And here is our Lord reaching out his hand and touching him. Of course, our Lord wasn't defiled. The uncleanness was banished. But this is the lovely thing, isn't it? He didn't tell people simply, you ought to be clean, or do try and be clean. He has the power to make people. That is the glory of the thing. Who wouldn't be a disciple of such a Lord if he can make you clean? And there is a sense in which, and I quote his word lest you think I exaggerate, he said to his apostles, now you are clean every bit through the word I have spoken to you, and hereafter only need to rinse your feet. So clean, as the epistle to the Hebrews puts it, we have boldness to enter into the holiest of all, our hearts sprinkled, that is with blood. In the old Testament, people are never washed in blood, you know. Washing in blood is a pagan ceremony. You won't find it in scripture. You'll wash garments in blood, but not people. Uh, but says Hebrews chapter ten, with boldness to enter into the holiest of all, into the very presence of God, our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. The blood cleanses our hearts from guilt. Our bodies bathed all over by living water, that is by what Paul would call the washing of regeneration. Shout hallelujah in your heart, incidentally. You can begin to see why I, even I have sort of embarked, well now for, whew, over seventy years, on a, on a path of discipleship, because this was made easy for me to see by his supreme authority. Doesn't just tell me to be clean. He can make you clean. That's gospel, that is. But notice what he said next. He said, uh, uh, uh, he said, I will be clean. And Jesus said to him, see, you don't tell anyone, but go your way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony to them, to the priest. Now, the priest couldn't cleanse anybody of leprosy, do you see? Our Lord didn't turn round and say, now look here, see, uh, my good friend, how better I am than the priest, you see. They couldn't cleanse you with all their ceremonies and things, uh, so you may leave them. Uh, uh, I've now cleansed you. He didn't say like that. He said, don't tell anybody else, you go to the priest. For our Lord wanted to uphold the authority of the priest. Because that authority was bla- based upon the Old Testament being the word of God. And God had laid it down in his word that the priest should examine a man, and if it were leprosy, the priest should pronounce it unclean, with all that it entailed. They had no means of healing it in those days, except a miracle like Naaman the leper got cleansed. But for the preservation of the health of society, it was very necessary. I wish the BBC were listening. Yes, and you know to what I refer, don't you? One senior management figure has now had to resign, haven't they? Because of the outrageously filthy stuff, knowingly put across by B- BBC Radio One. Our Lord isn't of that brigade. Uncleanness is very serious. God's law wasn't playing around. The priest had been carrying out God's law. Our Lord wanted to show the priest that he backed his authority based on God's law. But of course, as simultaneously, what a testimony was it to the, it was to the priest. He could, maybe that same priest had declared the man unclean. He couldn't cleanse him. Christ had done what the law couldn't do. An example of Romans chapter eight, what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. The leper's experience of the power of Christ. Then in from chapter five— uh, verse five down to verse thirteen is the story of the, uh, centurion of Capernaum, whose son was paralyzed and grievously tormented by this paralysis, and he asked the Lord to come and heal his servant. But as our Lord said, yes, I'll, I'll, I'll come with you down to your house, the man began to think a bit more. He said, Lord, you don't need to come to my house while I think about it. He said, I'll tell you why. I'm a man myself. I also, did you notice the also? I also, I'm a, I, I, I'm a, I'm a man like you, you see. I'm also under authority. I'm under the authority of His Imperial Majesty in Rome, actually. And because I, I'm under his authority, if I say to this soldier, you go there, he goes. And if I says, come here, he comes, to say. And if I say do this, he does it. Because of the authority. You don't need to come. You would merely speak the word. So here, with the leper, it was a question of power. With this man, it's a question of authority. Speak only the word. The word that Christ speaks, you know, is not mere fact. It carries authority. In the beginning was the word, and when he spoke, the universe came into being. Word carries authority. But our Lord commended the man because of his faith. Many in Israel that haven't got that kind of faith, he said, but this man, though a Gentile, look at his faith. That's a question. How do you get that kind of faith? Now come. How, pardon? Faith comes by hearing. Ah, he's got the answer, has he? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, or as some manuscripts have it, the word of Christ. It's not a something we work up. It's listening to his word. That's how faith comes, by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. You see it in this centurion. That's why the job of a disciple is to learn. Go and make disciples, people that learn Christ's word and seek the Lord, and Christ speaks his word into their hearts. It carries his Authority. authority. And then there's a delightful little thing. You'll see, um, when, uh, verse fourteen, when, uh, Jesus would come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever. Now, I don't know whether Peter had warned his wife that he was bringing the preacher in. You know, it's wise for all husbands, allow me who have no experience in these things, but it's wise for preachers, if they're going to bring the preacher home, they better forewarn the wife, and if need be, the mother-in-law as well, you see. Mm. It used to be told me as a story, uh, one of these, uh, warning stories of a good man who came home and he so enjoyed the sermon, he brought the preacher back home with him, you see, and announced to his wife he brought the preacher back. And so, uh, that was how they do, and they went to the various, uh, places, and his wife came out into the hallway and saw her husband bending down on the floor, picking up something, uh, hindquarters towards her, and she delivered him a great kick in the posterior. Said, take that for bringing a preacher home. And the man got up, but it wasn't her husband, it was the preacher himself. You, you have to be careful, don't you? I can see that. But there was the mother-in-law, and if we see from what happened eventually, how gladly she would have served Christ and got the meal ready for him, whatever else needed to be done, but she was all in a flap with a fever and was on her bed and couldn't serve anybody. Uh, you won't need to stay long on this. You've never been in such a flap. I have been, I confess. And our Lord, oh, what a gracious touch. He touched the lady's hand. And the fever departed, and she got up, the mother-in-law, if you please, and served them, ministered to them. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. If this is what disciplesm- um, uh, discipleship means, who wouldn't be a disciple, I wonder? And then when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases. I think the metaphor is wonderful. I know you'll tell me that his cure of diseases points us forward to the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in our Lord's atoning death. But just let's take the word in their immediate pro- uh, uh, uh, metaphorical meaning. He found all these folks with their weaknesses and distresses. He put his shoulder under the weakness and carried it. Oh, that's a lovely son of God, that is. He knows my weakness. He's there to put his shoulder under my weakness and carry it. This is the first big section on discipleship. But now let's notice verse eighteen. And when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side, which strikes us perhaps as odd, because if you've been able so far to get a great multitude to come and listen to you, why not increase the multitude? Now you've got what you wanted, haven't you? Well, in one sense, yes. Ah, but if these people are going to be genuine disciples, they've now got to be taken further. And there are lessons of discipleship that cannot be learned unless people are prepared now to go on with Christ along the journey of discipleship. So when Jesus saw the multitude, he says, let's depart to the other side, and there came a scribe and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith to him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. In other words, he had no home on earth. Oh, some people entertained him in their home, but he himself had no home. Always on the move. And said he to the scribes, scribes, perhaps a scribe in the sense that he copied out scripture, even a good theoretician. But when he said, I follow whether you wherever you go to, said our Lord, let me tell you honestly, my good man, I've nowhere to lay my head. If you're following me, you'll always be on the move. That is discipleship. It's okay for me to say I was saved in the year nineteen thirty five. Well, thank the Lord for that. You'll see. It's am I still on the move? With Christ. And another man came, and he was good intentioned, and he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Now, we should not suppose that our Lord is telling the man that he needn't now fulfill his duty towards his father. We know that from chapter fifteen of this very gospel, when our Lord outright and publicly condemned the Pharisees for saying that so long as a man fulfilled certain, uh, religious duties that they put on him, then he was no longer responsible to honor his fa- uh, father and mother and pay their maintenance in their old age. Our Lord roundly condemned it. But you see, the fact is that when we come to Christ as our master and we're his disciples, there's no first before him. He must be first in everything. I was in Malaysia once, and a dear Christian friend, he, he, he brought to a meal a friend of his, senior man, I suppose, in those days, perhaps middle fifties, because he was kind of interested in Christianity, my host told me, and perhaps there would be a chance to speak to him. So I got in conversation with this good man, and he explained to me, being a good Chinese, yes, he was very interested in Christ and would like to trust Christ, but he couldn't do that just yet because his brother, his older brother senior, hadn't died. And in the Chinese, uh, family, uh, law, Juzi, you not only have to obey your father and mother, but even more important is your first brother senior. You wouldn't think of taking any decision in life if you didn't consult your first brother senior. And his first brother senior wouldn't have approved of him becoming a Christian. I can't become a Christian yet, he says, till my brother has died. Just don't do that. No, no, says Christ. We're going to be a disciple. It's not first anything before me. Christ must come first. If we make Christ first, he will tell us to look after our parents. Of course he will. But that's that order. Christ first. And our hearts can feel, can't they, for many of our friends in other countries, who, if they want to put Christ first, then they will offend the family so much that they might be executed by the family. This is tough, isn't it? Let the dead bury their dead, says he. That hurt, you go and you follow me. Or as he puts it elsewhere to somebody, you go and preach the kingdom. What does that mean? That is not Christ being, uh, ha- hard-hearted. Suppose, suppose you, you have a teenage son, uh, uh, uh, and he's got knocked down by a lorry or something in the road, and you take him to hospital, you see, he's got a broken leg or a broken skull or something, and uh, you say, look, he's surgeon, oh, while you've got a needle there, uh, patch up his trousers for me. Uh, of course, you see his trousers have got torn. What do you think the surgeon would say? Nonsense old chap. Anybody can sew his trousers up. I'm here to do what other folks can't do, that's to save his life. And when it comes to following the Lord, we must not be hard-hearted, we must be kind, must we not? But we have to do what Christ has given us to do that other people can't do. We must not be deflected from our sacred work that the Lord gives us to do for him. To do for other people what they could easily do for themselves. Mm-hmm. So then they all got in the boat. And when he is entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. That's what disciples do, they follow the Lord, do they? And behold, there arose a great storm, a tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep. And they came to him and awoke him, saying, Save Lord, we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, what manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? I remember being in church once, years ago, and someone had got up and read the story of the storm on the lake, and how the apostles feared the boat was going down, and how the Lord rebuked their lack of faith, and the boat didn't go down, and exalted us on that score. Later in that very same meeting, there was a stranger present, tall, face tanned with some hot sun, I suppose. And he said very quietly, my brothers and sisters, I have to tell you that sometimes the boat goes down. He was a missionary. He had to tell us that the five men had just been murdered by the Auca Indians, and they were his colleagues. Sometimes the boat goes down. What is the lesson, therefore, taught us by this incident? And why did he rebuke them for having little faith? Well, you see, the storm arose and he was asleep. But wait a minute, who was he? Is your faith big enough to say he was the Christ? Mm-hmm. Big enough to say that, um, he was the Son of God? Mm-hmm. You think it possible that because he happened to be asleep, he'd go to the bottom and be drowned? I don't think so. Nor would he be drowned if God had gone asleep. But he took them this way to show them that in following him, they should recognize that he is the master and lord of the material forces of the universe. And therefore we can journey with him. When our time comes, he may allow us to be executed or die of some disease. But if we perish, it will never be because he'd fallen asleep and wasn't aware of it. And it takes that kind of spirit sometimes, doesn't it? It would take it if you were the Apostle Paul on a boat in the middle of the, uh, uh, Mediterranean Sea, tossed with the wind for a fortnight, with no sun, uh, or stars appearing and not knowing where on earth you were, near land or wo- and fearing any minute to go to the bottom. But his faith was in the Lord, who controls all the forces of nature. We're safe in his hand. We shall never perish because he wasn't paying attention. But, you know, that's a lesson you can only learn as you follow him in life, isn't it? You winter sail with him, going through life and meeting life's storms. When he was come to the other side, we're told, there met him two men possessed of demons, so fierce that nobody could pass that way. Yes. Following Christ on the path of discipleship is not just a game. Sooner or later, to a lesser or greater degree, Satan will try to make it impossible for us to move forward. Is any encouragement to our younger brothers and sisters, years ago, when I first began to take God's word seriously, and the Lord had begun to speak to me, so that I felt as I were walking on the clouds, listening to the Holy Spirit telling me of Christ, it was magnificent. That was followed by an experience that I came to think of was the devil trying to put me off studying scripture forever. This is the way our Lord took them and the boat. A hard, sometimes frightening lessons to learn. He cast out the demons and made progress possible, demonstrating his power, not theirs. The demons asked permission to go into the pigs, and the pigs ran down the r- uh, the the uh, the hillside and were drowned in the lake. The townspeople came out and saw all this loss of pigs. They saw the demoniac now cleansed, seated, clothed in his right mind. But the cost was too much for them to pay. Lost a whole hoad of herd of pigs. They preferred the man being demonized then. And they asked our Lord to depart. And the tremendous wonder is this, that he who could command the forces of nature and was superior to the forces of hell, when the people asked him to go, he went. That's an awesome choice to have to make, isn't it? It is possible to say no to God and to God's Christ. Serious. And I had every ambition to getting through chapters eight and nine. How mistaken can we be on time? And I mustn't try your patience anymore. Chapter nine, when we get to it, if ever we do, will continue with the path of discipleship. And the second, which is, oh, now what is the third section of it, will return to the wonderful easiness of discipleship. The yoke is easy, and the burden is light. But then it comes to the final and the fourth section of it, and it will begin to probe into our very deepest heart, emotions, troubles and disabilities, and show us how the Lord can cope with them. But we must leave it for tonight. Next week, if the Lord spares us, I shall hope to look at another major part of the narrative. And I shall be suggesting from chapter eleven to the end of chapter thirteen that this deals not with discipleship, but with the problem of evil. And you say, what's that to do with us? Well, everything. I've told you before, let me tell you again, that's what old men do. Uh, do you see, uh, I remember after a lecture in my student days, there came a fellow student. He was a Jew. His parents had recently been gassed in the gas chambers in Germany. He had escaped. We were, I was trying, he was learning Hebrew, and I was trying to. And, uh, he says to me, David, he says, your Jesus cannot be the Christ, can't be the Messiah. I said, how's that, John? He said, because the Old Testament prophesied that when the Messiah came, he will put down all evil, and your Jesus just hasn't done it. He had reason to speak, didn't he? His parents had just been gassed by Hitler. Don't you start inventing, says he, uh, the idea that Jesus set up a spiritual kingdom. That's what you Christians made up to cover your disappointment when Jesus didn't put down evil. How would you answer that to a Jew? But you see, if Matthew's going to say that Jesus is the Messiah, and he's writing for Jews as well as Gentiles, he'll have to face it, won't he? How can you say Jesus is the Son of God? Or even if there's a God at all. If he's a God that cares for evil, why hasn't he stopped evil? Evil. Matthew knows his gospel, doesn't he? But knows the problems that people would hurl at him from his own Jewish community if he tried to say that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And of course, he has to answer the question. What is the answer to it? But there, like any good newspaper writer, I leave you on tenterhooks, just hoping you'll come back next week, you see. But never mind, just let's pray and now give thanks to God for the refreshment. Our Father, we thank thee for thy holy word, and we thank thee even more for him who is the word eternal. And we thank thee, Father, for causing us to hear thy Word, living and abiding, and stirring in our hearts new life and a desire to follow thy dear Son. We bless thee for his easy yoke and the light burden that he puts upon us. And yet we pray, Lord, for thy grace and courage and our faith, that we may follow Christ on the path and never give up moving forward and progressing in the way of discipleship. And so we commit one another to thee and pray that thy word, thy Holy Spirit will make thy word meaningful to us, both in comfort and encouragement and stimulation for the future. And now we thank thee for kind friends that have provided refreshment for us. Bless it to us and our fellowship together, and remember those who afterwards go to talk shop. Bless their testimony, we pray, and grant them in thy good time to see the fruit that shall come from it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.