Matthew 8:28-34
Pastor Jim Thomas
Matthew
The King and His Kingdom
- The Person of Christ (ch. 1-4)
- The Principles of Christ (ch. 5-7)
- The Power of Christ (ch. 8-9)
The miracles of Jesus…
- Reveal His compassion
- Display His authority
- Affirm His identity
- Inspire faith, wonder and worship
Matthew 8:28-34
- The Boundless Reach of Redemption
- The divine initiative of sovereign grace
- No one is beyond redemption by the saving power and sovereign grace of Jesus Christ.
- There is an enemy of your soul, but he is on a tight leash.
- Some people want Jesus to leave. Some people want Jesus to lead.
Mark 5:1-20
“Our Christian life began not with our decision to follow Christ but with God’s call to us to do so. He took the initiative in His grace while we were still in rebellion and sin. In that state we neither wanted to turn from sin to Christ, nor were we able to. But He came to us and called us to freedom.”
– John Stott
“If you want God’s grace, all you need is need; all you need is nothing.”
– Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
– C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
“You are absolutely helpless. The enemy will attack. Temptation will come. But left to yourself, you are like a tumbleweed in a tornado, a handkerchief in a hurricane. The lion will roar, the viper will strike, the flaming arrows of temptation will fly, and you will fall — apart from grace. That is why you need God. Beware of self-confidence.”
– Brian G. Hedges, Watchfulness
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
– 1 Peter 5:8
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”
– C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
“Christ’s call is to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; He came not to call scoffers but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers, and artistic musical performances, but to capture men from the devil’s clutches and the very jaws of Hell. This can be accomplished only by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered devotion, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
– C.T. Studd