Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Well, it's a great day to study God's word. Welcome to Thru the Bible. In our study of the Gospel of Matthew so far, we've seen Jesus demonstrate his authority to rule his kingdom by performing many miracles. As we resume in chapter 8 and move into chapter 9, we'll see even more of these miracles and then follow his growing ministry throughout Galilee.

Dr. McGee often reminded us that during the long, hot summer season, the Bible Bus doesn't take a vacation. It just keeps rolling along. So let's listen as he explains why your support is especially important at this time of year.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: From time to time, it was my custom to state the policy of the Thru the Bible radio program. It's time again for it to be stated, and I would like to do that. It has never been our plan or purpose from the very beginning to use high-pressure methods. We do not send out junk mail. Everyone that's on our mailing list got there because they asked to be put there, or else someone asked for them.

We today believe that if you are not able to support the program and you want our notes and outlines, that God will raise up somebody down the street or over in the next town to send in enough for you and for them also.

We believe that the real test is the support that comes from any area. We will not continue on a program if we do not get a reasonable amount of support, and we always give every station a fair opportunity to see if it's going to pay for itself. And that, by the way, is all that we ask.

We do from time to time appeal to you to support our foreign broadcasts. After all, we cannot ask them—that is, the Chinese, or the people of India, or the people of South America, or the people in Russia—to support our program. We believe that there are enough folk in this country that are interested in getting out the word over iron curtains, under bamboo curtains, and through the curtains of indifference and sin today to get the Word of God out to the world. So we just let you know this and trust you'll understand that we do need your support, though we will not violate our rule by using high-pressure methods.

Steve Schwetz: And as always, if you're standing with us in prayer and financial support, thank you. Because of you, God's Word is being heard in more than 250 languages. If you'd like to learn more about Thru the Bible or join us in the global mission, visit TTB.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, open our eyes to see you more clearly as we study, and open our hearts to receive what you have for us and then shape us by the truth that we hear. Do your work in us, Lord, for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Now turn to Matthew chapter 8 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I return today to our study in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. The Lord Jesus came down from the mountain where he had given the ethic of the kingdom, and now he demonstrates that he has the power. We've seen miracles: He healed a leper by touching him. He also healed the centurion's servant; he didn't even see him, he healed him from a distance. He healed Peter's wife's mother. And then they brought multitudes to him, and many that were possessed with demons, he cast out the demons.

Now I begin reading today at verse 18: "Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side." I have to continually call your attention to this: "great multitudes about him." You see that literally he healed thousands, not just these that are recorded. After all, John, who wrote last, could say, "many other signs truly did Jesus which are not written in this book." But the ones that are recorded are for you and me for a very definite purpose.

Now, will you notice as he was getting ready to cross to the other side? I read verse 19 of chapter 8: "And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." I am of the opinion this was a young man. I won't go into detail, but I don't think an old man would have done what this young man did. I think he was there in the crowd, that big crowd, and he was toying with the decision, and to him, it was a real decision: Shall I follow this one, or shall I not?

He did not know what to do. But he now sees that Jesus is preparing to go to the other side. The boat's getting ready; disciples are moving down there. He has to make a decision. So he comes out from the crowd and apparently fell down before him and said, "Master, I'll follow thee whithersoever thou goest." He's made a decision now.

The Lord Jesus looked back into the face of this young man and was just as frank and candid with him. Jesus saith unto him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." That, by the way, was a revelation. This young man said, "I'll follow you." The Lord Jesus said, "Have you ever counted the cost?"

Actually, he's revealing his poverty here. The young man opened his heart, and our Lord opened his heart. That's the way he always does. And he said to the young man, "Well, it'll cost you something. When we go to a place, there are no reservations made for us at a Holiday Inn or a Howard Johnson or a Hilton Hotel. We just don't have a place to stay. The birds of the air, they've got nests. The foxes have holes in the ground or a rock where they go. But the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head."

The poverty of the Lord Jesus, and poverty is part of the curse that he bore. I do not know whether the young man followed or not. I've always felt he did. I think when that boat pulled out, there was a young man in that boat who had made a decision for him.

Now verse 21: "And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." Now, another man there had already made the decision, but he says, "Let me first go and bury my father." Now, what did he mean by that? Well, it seems if the old gentleman was dead and they were just getting ready to have the funeral services, that our Lord was a little harsh when he said here in verse 22: "But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead."

What did he mean by that? And how could the dead bury their dead? Well, Dr. Adam Smith, who was quite an authority in the old days of that land and he wrote several very helpful books, he tells of an incident of where he wanted an Arab guide and he was told that where he was going there was a young man in a certain village that would be an excellent guide.

He went up to inquire about him and he said to the young man, "Would you be my guide?" And the young man said practically what you have here. He said, "I first have to bury my father." And there sat the old gentleman in front of this place where they were, the little hut. There sat the old gentleman, as hale and hearty as you please. And yet he said, "Suffer me to bury my father."

What he really meant was, "I have to take care of my father until after he dies. He's my responsibility." Now the Lord Jesus said to him, "You follow me, and you let someone else take care of him, or let him take care of himself." You say that's rather harsh. I don't think so. I think that what he's bringing the young man to is to make a decision. Is he going to put Christ first?

And when that young man makes that decision, then the Lord Jesus would probably then say, "You go back and take care of your father." I think that's the important thing. I know that there was years ago a young lady that had a father that was quite demanding, old man, and she wanted to go as a missionary. She gave herself to go as a mission—she went to the field and did a good work.

And then she came home and found out that her father absolutely was helpless, no one else to take care of him, and he was decrying the fact that his daughter deserted him, that she really was not a Christian and all that sort of thing. And the old gentleman had never made a decision for Christ. So she came home, and she took care of him.

And the old man was really shaken by it. And it was during that time that he made a decision for Christ. I'm confident that the Lord Jesus was leading her in all of that. But there was the day at the beginning she had to decide whether she'd go as a missionary, whether she'd put Christ first. And I think that was the case here.

Now we are told, verse 23: "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him." Now we have the fifth miracle here, and it hasn't anything to do with healing. It has to do with a physical miracle over nature. And I think that here you see the power of the Lord Jesus demonstrated—actually, the power that I think Adam had before he lost that dominion. God gave him dominion, we're told. Dominion means you've got a kingdom. And now we see in this the last Adam, we see it manifested.

Now notice this: "Behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea." This was no ordinary storm. We saw in the temptation of Jesus that the devil left him for a little season. I think he's back here now. I think this storm was actually satanic in its origin, an attempt of Satan to destroy him. "Insofar that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep."

I think this is one of the most human scenes. He was so weary that even in a storm he could sleep. But there's another side to this: He could sleep in the storm, whereas I can't. I'm a little nervous. Now will you notice: "And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish." And what little faith they had.

Will you notice how he handled this situation? "He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" He rebuked them. "Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." And Dr. Luke puts it—he said to them, "Be muzzled." Just like dogs on a leash, he put them back with a muzzle on them, these waves, they just smoothed out.

Now these men exhibited very little faith. That may be true, but there came a day when the storms of persecution broke over the bark of their little lives, and I can't find a one of them crying out, "Carest thou not that we perish?" None of them cried out. Remember the early church when persecution broke? They didn't say, "Lord, remove the persecution." That's what I say today. What they said was, "Lord, give us the courage to stand for Jesus." That was the important thing.

My, how we need that kind of courage and conviction today. Now verse 27: "But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!" You see, the one who could give the ethic is the one who can also demonstrate the dynamic.

Now we come to the sixth miracle here, and this is a tremendous miracle. We don't have time to go into detail; it has to do with the casting out of demons. Let me read verse 28: "And when he was come to the other side," now he's crossed over the Sea of Galilee, "into the country of the Gergesenes," now Gadarenes it's called.

And these people were of the tribe of Gad. You remember the tribe of Gad stayed on the wrong side of Jordan, and what happened to them? They went in the pig business, and they shouldn't have been in the pig business. You see, when you once disobey the Lord, the next step of disobedience is not so difficult, and before long, we are really walking out of the way and his will altogether.

Now, "there met him two possessed with demons, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way." These were dangerous men, demon-possessed men. "And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"

Now, this opens up a tremendous area and one that, today, unfortunately, we know so little about. And that, again, may I say is, I think, one of the most unfortunate things. And the word "devils" in our translation should be "demons." There's only one devil; there are many demons. It's difficult here for us to understand the import of this miracle and the others where demons are involved. I personally think these are the greatest miracles he performed. And it's because of our phenomenal ignorance of demons that the subject just doesn't impress us properly.

We today are not impressed by it. I consider these miracles the greatest that he performed. Now, will you notice this, verse 29: "And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine."

For some reason, they want to be made real. When I say "made real," brought into physical reality. They want to be materialized; that is the thing they seem to be concerned about. And even satisfied to go in a herd of swine. "And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters."

The herd of swine had rather die than have the demons possess them. Mankind's a little different; many are demon-possessed. Now, I believe that you have a real manifestation of the supernatural during the time of Moses, during the time of Elijah, and during the time of the Lord Jesus. I believe that we're moving now into an orbit where we're seeing more and more manifestation of that which is demonic.

And I think there are many evidences of it that are about us today. It's difficult to pinpoint many of these. I think there's always a danger of going overboard and saying that they believe so-and-so is demon-possessed. Every now and then, a person comes to me and says, "Oh, I think so-and-so is demon-possessed." Well, I think you and I need to be very careful of that; that's sort of like witch-hunting. But there are demon-possessed people. I do not think any child of God could be demon-possessed.

And I think a great deal of insanity today—I attempted one time in psychology to major in abnormal psychology. I had a man that worked with these people; he was a medical doctor, by the way, and he was a Christian. And he told me he was fairly sure that a great many of the cases that he had were actually in the realm of the supernatural, that they were demon possession.

There's a great deal of evidence, friends, in this sphere. Now, they go into the swine; the swine go into the water. I'm of the opinion that the demons did not want to be confined. They knew something about the confinement of certain other demons, the fallen angels as they're called in the epistle of Jude. They didn't want that; they wanted to be able to materialize themselves here in this world.

Now verse 34: "And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts." And this is certainly ironic, is it not? They would rather have their pigs than have Jesus. And believe me, friends, that's not peculiar to Gadarenes. There are a great many people today will take pigs instead of him.

Now, I'm going to move right on into the ninth chapter because we've had six miracles there that demonstrate that he has the dynamic, the power, and chapter 9 continues the same thought. And you have six miracles that are recorded here: one in the realm of nature, he stills the storm as we've seen back in chapter 8; and the physical ones that he performed, the healing miracles; and then the supernatural ones that we're going to have here, and that is the raising of the dead; and the spiritual ones are actually the casting out of demons.

And you have the supernatural and the spiritual in this chapter. Now, notice verse 1: "He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city." Now he returned back from the country of the Gadarenes—they didn't want him—and he comes back to Capernaum. Verse 2: "And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy."

We're given details here that you don't have in the Gospel of Mark. And when we get there, I'm going to go into detail relative to this one because Mark tells us about how he was let down through the roof, you see. But the Lord Jesus here, you will recall, not only healed this man, but he forgave him his sins. And they're both related, as we've seen.

And there were there certain of the scribes, and within themselves they said, "This man blasphemeth." Well, they also were of the opinion that he couldn't make him walk either. But our Lord asked them the question whether is it easier to say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," or to say, "Arise and walk"? And they wouldn't answer, but if they had, they'd have to say, "Well, for us one is as great as the other."

So the Lord Jesus said, "You get up and walk." They see that, and that means the one who can make him walk is the one who can forgive his sins. And friends, may I say, that's the condition of performing a miracle and of healing. If you can forgive sin—and you and I can't forgive sin, only the Lord Jesus can do that—and only he can make the man to walk.

That is something so important today, and let's don't get in the way of what he does. Let's make sure that he receives the glory. Now, I'm not going into any more detail into this miracle because we deal with it again in detail in the Gospel of Mark.

And in verse 9: "And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him." And even in the brief Gospel of Mark, Mark tells us that Matthew made him a dinner, but Matthew doesn't mention that. Matthew invited a lot of his publican friends; he wanted them to know the Lord Jesus also.

"And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples." Now, it was in the home of Matthew. "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" You see, they believed that you shouldn't do that sort of thing.

And I'm afraid that there are a great many of the saints today that are not at least having the sinners in for dinner. Wouldn't hurt, you see. They are the ones we ought to try to reach, and we ought to have some contact with them.

And when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." And he's the great physician, you see. He's come to heal them of sin; that's man's basic problem. And that ought to be said to a lot of our little Christian groups who have their banquets and what they call their fellowship, and they meet together and believe me, they don't have anybody in from the outside. If they do, they'll freeze them out; and I'll tell you that.

May I say to you, I think some of these so-called Christian groups are sinful in their very existence and in their meeting today. The Lord Jesus said, "You don't invite a doctor in for people that are well." But now he says, "Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."

Now Matthew's back at it again; he's quoting Scripture, Hosea 6:6. "For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And he could have included the Pharisees there because they were sinners; in fact, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

"Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" Now, the disciples of John had been observing him. After all, weren't some of these men originally disciples of John? Andrew was, and Philip was, we know. And these two men, they had come now and were following the Lord Jesus. The other disciples of John said, "Look here, there's something happening that's a little different the way that we do it, and we wonder why." Now the Lord Jesus is going to enunciate a great principle and reveal the fact that the dispensation is going to be changed. That's very important, but we'll deal with that next time. May the Lord richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Well, in our next study, Dr. McGee guides us through one of the most often misunderstood passages in Matthew chapter 9: the parable of the wineskins. What did Jesus really mean? Well, you won't want to miss it. And to go further in God's word yourself, get our app or visit TTB.org. You'll find a wide range of helpful resources, all created to strengthen your understanding and deepen your love of our Savior. Or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE, and we'll be glad to help you find exactly what you're looking for. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll see you next time as we continue our journey through the Bible.

Steve Schwetz: Our story on the Bible Bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride, and you'll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God's great redemption story. Is this your story too? I hope it is.