Mercy or Sacrifice? (Matthew 8:23-9:13)
Moving Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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I titled this sermon Miracles & Mercy because this are the two things we are going to see from Jesus in the last part of Matthew 8 and the first part of Matthew 9.
Chapter 8 & 9, Matthew records various miracles that Jesus preformed:
healed a leper (Matt 8:1-4)
He healed a centurion’s servant (Matt 8: 5-13)
He helaed Peter’s Mother-in-law and many others (Matt 8:14-17)
----today---- we will see how he calms the storm, cast two demons into a herd of pigs, and healed a man who could not walk.
----And there are even more in chapter 9 that we will talk about next week..
Why all the miracles? Why was it important for Jesus to show the power he had?
He was who he said we was. To make a proclamation stating that you are the Son of God, and if you have seen the Father you have seen me. If you make those statements, you should be ready to prove it..to show it. If can’t, your are just a madman.
Words alone, aren’t enough. A man could walk into this place right now, and say he is Jesus. He could say I and the Son of God. But at some point, this man would have to give evidence.
Jesus choose to exhibit his power though miracles. And if you look at all of the miracles he performed, none of them were for himself. All of the miracles did two things:
Prove that he had the power of God and he was God
In every miracle, it was for someone else’s good. Jesus never performed a miracle for the benefit of himself, only others.
Open your Bibles to Matthew 8.
This morning we are going to look at
3 miracles that Jesus performed, and in each miracle, how the people reacted. Then
we are going to look at what Matthew wrote about himself when Jesus called him as a disciple.
And finally, a sentence of instruction from Jesus and what he desire from those who would follow him.
Read Matthew 8:23-27
(18) Jesus told them to go to the other side of the water.
—as they were on the water a great storm came. Jesus was asleep below in the boat, and the disciples came to him to wake him and they said…Save us, Lord.
only account of Jesus sleeping.
they awoke him and look at his response.
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
His disciples had just seen him heal Peters mother-in-law, the servant of the centurion, and the leper. You would think their faith would be huge.
How many times does this happen to us. We see something that only God can do… we know he did.. but then something else happens and we worry and fear. I( have seen God do great things here at A Place of Hope. He has always provided, even when we think something is too big..he makes a way. He provides a miracle. The repair on the building there, when we got the paper showing how much it would cost.... 12 million… I thought, HOW ARE WE GOING TO RAISE THE MONEY TO GET THIS? I worried. 12 million is a lot of money. But we placed that need before God, and his people began to give.
Look at the way his disciples reacted when he calmed the storm...
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
What sort of man is this? They would see and he continued to teach and perform miracles…and even rise from the grave… that he was God.
Read Matthew 8:28-34
I love this miracle because it not only shows the power of Jesus because he was God, but it also shows his power over death and hell.
These demons knew who Jesus was...
English Standard Version Chapter 8
29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Even before he cast them out, they knew who he was and the power in which he had.
Look at the reaction from the people after he sent the demons to the pigs...
34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
In the first miracle the disciples were in awe, but in this miracle, the people wanted nothing to do with him.
If you try to preach or witness to people, you are going to see people give their life to Christ, or turn away and have nothing to do with Him. It is a decision only they can make. Even in a great miracle, some will not believe.
Read Matthew 9:1-8
**own city?
This miracle happened in the presence of Scribes.
Scribes: experts in the Jewish Law. When they were first formed their duty was to copy the Law and Scriptures by hand, but later they joined with the Pharisees and began to think like the Pharisees. Most importantly they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
So they did not have a problem with the healing of the man, but the Scribes had a problem in that Jesus said he could forgive sins. The Scribes only thought that God could do that. It’s true. But Jesus was God, and they did not believe that.
Now look at how the people reacted after seeing the miracle...
8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Afraid? That word in the Greek means that
feeling awe at witnessing extraordinary events
....and they glorified God.
Read Matthew 9:9-13
Matthew is the writer of this gospel, so he writes about his own calling to be a disciple by Jesus.
Matthew was a tax collector. A hated man. He worked for the Romans to collect taxes from the Jews, and he would add some more to their taxes that he would place in his pocket. People did not like the tax collectors.
But as Matthew writes, Jesus walked up and said, follow me, and he did. Just like Peter and Andrew dropped their nets, Matthew dropped the taxes and followed Jesus.
After this it seems that Matthew prepared a meal and invited his tax collector friends…sinners. The Pharisees saw this and they couldn't understand why the man, who calls himself the Messiah would eat with these people who cheat others and eat with sinners as well. Jesus has a great answer...
12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
If you are well, you don’t need a dr. If you are not sick, there is no reason to go to the hospital. But if you are a sinner, you need Jesus. If you are not saved…you need Jesus.
Then he spoke these words to the Pharisees....
13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
These words blew the minds of the Pharisees....mercy is better than sacrifice?
If you were a Jew in that day, sacrifice was the most important thing. A faithful Jew would follow the Jewish custom of bringing a sacrifice before the Lord to the temple. A faithful Jew would sacrifice for many reasons including as an atonement to cover their sins.
But… Jesus would be the ultimate sacrifice. This is what he was trying to tell them. This is what he was trying to tell the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but they would not listen.
The best way to understand this is to understand that sacrifice is an outward act, but mercy is an inward act. Sacrifice (providing a sacrifice at the temple) was easy. But, mercy, an inward act showed the true heart of the person.
But these same words were spoken by the prophet Hosea hundreds of years before....
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
(mercy = steadfast love)
Now mercy can move in both directions. God can give mercy to us, and we can show mercy to him.
How does God show mercy to us? None of us deserve his mercy. We are sinners, we are traitors from God to sin, and do not deserve his mercy.
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Mercy is what he gives to us. This mercy allows us to be justified in the eyes of God. And if we chose to accept his mercy and justification, then we have the hope of eternal life. That is how God uses mercy towards us. But what about how we can use mercy towards Him?
remember he said.... I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
The mercy that God wants is a heart that is turned to him. Because when your heart is turned to him, the things that flow from your life will show your love for him.
Is it important to be nice to people? yes. Is it important to not lie. yes. Is it important not to steal? yes. But all of those outward things happen because of an inside heart of mercy and love towards God.
Jesus is saying…give me your heart first. Give me your heart. Give me your true inside, because that is what matters most. When that happens, everything else will fall into place.
What is most important to you…Mercy or Sacrifice?