In the Middle of the Storm is a sermon teaching us that the powerful words of Jesus come to people who are going through times of storm.

Key verses:
Matthew 8:14-34

The Bible Is God’s Word

As you are studying the Bible, reading the Bible, understand that it is God’s Word. I think sometimes people read that and don’t understand that but understand it’s God’s Word and understand that it can speak to you.

Now, let me throw something in here that probably none of us are thinking about. There have always been different theological trends. Back in the 1940s is when it got traction – probably started before that. There was an answer to what used to be called in theological circles, modernism. You don’t hear that term much anymore, modernism.

Today, the same concept, again, we are talking about theology here not politics, but the concept today would be called liberalism, theological liberalism. Sixty to seventy years ago, they called it modernism.

One of the answers to that was neo-orthodoxy, “neo” for new, and “orthodoxy.” You have what is orthodox, but you have a new version of it. Neo-orthodoxy took the position because modernism took the position that the Bible is not God’s Word. The Bible is a good book, and it is interesting and contains some truth, but it is not necessarily the Word of God, not necessarily inspired.

Neo-orthodoxy said, well, we’ll go halfway on that. We don’t think the Bible is necessarily inspired but as you’re reading it, if a portion happens to speak to you as you are reading, then that part that you’re reading at that moment becomes God’s Word speaking to you. But in general, it is not God’s Word.

That is not what the Bible says it is and that’s not what the Bible is. The Bible says it is God’s Word. This morning’s passage we were looking at, in Ezekiel, it says the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. Well, what came to Ezekiel? Well, when was it the Word of the Lord? Just when Ezekiel heard it? Or here we are a thousand years later reading it. Is it still the Word of the Lord? Yes, it is, absolutely.

I want us to do that. First of all, to give you a chance to share. It is interesting hearing different people and when you began to read. And you were right, you can read that same passage over and over and see something you never saw before. It happens to me often and you know what? I like that. If I wasn’t getting more out of it – I’ve read this 50 times or more and it’s the same old stuff. No, it is not the same old stuff. I get more out of it each time. But I’m leading up to something here.

I like – and I know some preachers who don’t – I like a red-letter Bible. I just do. The red-letter Bible, in which the words that are Jesus’ speaking are in red. I like that. A good friend of mine, he was at one point the youth pastor of this church here many years ago, Roger Evans, and he is with the Lord now. But I remember with the young people, He taught a whole series to the teenagers in the church on just the red letters. And what was he teaching? Just the words that Jesus said and that was a good series, a very good series.

So, when we look at the words of Jesus whether you have a red-letter Bible or not, the words are the same. Some people object to the red-letter Bible and say that it’s all God’s Word, why highlight part of it? Okay, if that is your preference, that’s fine. I won’t have an argument about that because it is all God’s Word. But I just like being able to look and see that this is Jesus actually speaking and it does something for me. Tonight, the passage we are going to look at doesn’t have a lot of red letters in it and yet it is all about the words of Jesus.

In the Storm

We said this morning we’re going to talk about when you are in the middle of the storm, we talked about a hurricane. Now, thankfully, these days we get hurricane warnings, and we usually know several days ahead if one is coming here.

I don’t know if you are like me, but every hurricane season, I watch them. And if there is one getting close to us or it’s heading our way, I’m always relieved if it turns out back to sea and it doesn’t hit anybody. That happened a lot last year. I don’t know if you remember that. A lot of them just turn back out to sea. Thank God.

But I like to watch them. Probably “like” is not the best word. I do watch them. I don’t find it fun to watch. But I watch them, so I know. But we get that warning, and it wasn’t always like that. I remember when my family first moved to Florida, do you know what the warning was? Out on the beach, they would put up these red flags with a little black square in the middle that told you a hurricane was coming. I’m not kidding folks, that was it, and that was the knowledge.

Then, I remember, I’m not sure how old I was, I was still in school to be sure, and we were watching the television news out of Miami during a hurricane. I think it was Channel 7, it might have been Channel 12, but I think it was Channel 7 News, we were watching the news reporter sitting at his desk giving a report on the hurricane and he goes, “Wow, look at that!” And the camera swung around, and you saw the glass doors to the television station, and they were just bowing like that. Then all of a sudden, the station went off the air. That was it. The doors blew in and knocked them right off. So, yeah, we’ve seen a few storms, we’ve seen a few hurricanes.

You know the hurricane’s coming, even if it’s only the red flag with the black square in the middle of it. You know a hurricane’s coming; you get ready for it. It comes and you get the storm. Some of them have not been too bad. Some of them are horrific, absolutely horrific.

Many of you remember hurricane Andrew which wasn’t bad here. We didn’t lose power here but south of here, it was a total disaster zone. We went down there and made several church trips down there to try to help out. And first of all, whole neighborhoods, just gone, flattened. No doubt about it, nothing there but rubble.

We went to a particular church down there. They had just built, just finished a brand-new building and it was gone. Just rubble there. We went down several weekends, on Saturdays, and tried to help out. A crew of us would go down there and work all day but the damage was so extensive, you worked all day and at the end of the day you couldn’t see anything that you’ve done. It was just that much more. We were sending down cases of water and other things trying to help out.

But then, the front of the storm passes and you’re in the eye of the storm and it’s calm. A lot of the time, the sun comes out and the wind stops blowing. The rain stops, the sun comes out and you think, “Whew, it’s over.” But it isn’t. The second part of the eyewall comes and generally speaking, it is worse than the first part. And you went through that first part and you’re in the calm, you think you’re okay, and then you get hit again with the worst part.

What are you going to do when the storms of life come? Because they do. Maybe, you won’t go through a bad hurricane like that. I hope you don’t. I could tell you more hurricane stories, but I think you got the idea by now.

In this passage that we’re going to look at, the words of Jesus come to people who are going through times of storm. There are different situations here and you’ll find these same stories in the other gospels, at least in Luke and Mark. But there are obvious times here when these people are going through different kinds of storms and yet the words of Jesus make all the difference.

So, that is what I want us to focus on this evening. We are going to read first a little story and several other stories, and we’ll hit them all very quickly and we’ll see how the words of Jesus come during the time when you’re in the middle of the storm.

The Storm of Illness

Look at Matthew chapter 8 verse 14:

Matthew 8:14: “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.”

Matthew 8:15: “And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.”

Now, that is the storm of illness, and we are going to come back to that in a moment. But Jesus spoke to her. You don’t see that He spoke to her in this passage, but again, you’ll find it in Mark chapter one and Luke chapter four. The words of Jesus come. It comes in times of illness.

I’ve talked to you about this before. Notice the first part, verse 14, “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house” – He is in Peter’s house years ago in Capernaum. We saw the ancient synagogue there and I think it’s about the size of this room if I remember correctly. It is a very, very old synagogue. We sat on stone benches, I guess that’s what you’d call them, on the side, it’s where the elders would sit, and then the service would have been conducted from up in this part.

But back in that corner, back there, there was a part of the floor that had been cut away. If you look down in that cutaway portion, you can see that underneath the synagogue you’re standing in, there’s another one underneath it. That’s not unusual in that part of the country, in that part of the world. Israel often built on top of the ruins of a previous building. You see that a lot.

So, you look down and you see another synagogue down in there. Now, what’s interesting about that is, the synagogue that you’re in is old, it’s ancient. But the one underneath is older. This is the synagogue at Capernaum, and not the one you’re standing in but the one you can see down under it, that is probably the one where Jesus taught. That’s pretty fascinating that you can look down into it. Why do I bring that up? Because that’s where this story happens.

Jesus had just been at the synagogue and afterward, they went to Peter’s house. Now, there are the ruins of an old house nearby and they’ll tell you it’s Peter’s house. Well, that would be a connection with the story if they went from the synagogue straight to Peter’s house. But it is so close to the synagogue that I doubt it was Peter’s house. And I even asked them, “How do you know that’s Peter’s house?”

“That’s Peter’s house.”

“How do you know?” And the truth is you don’t know, and I even asked her, “Did you find his mailbox? How do you know that’s his house? You don’t know.” I’ll tell you whose house I think it is, but I don’t know either. It’s probably the house owned by the ruler of the synagogue, the man who’s in charge of the synagogue maintenance, and so forth. It’s probably who’s house it is. Why do I say this? Because of how close it was to the synagogue, that would make sense.

But they had left the synagogue and they go to Peter’s house. And notice verse 14 again:

Matthew 8:14: “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.”

I pointed it out to you before, Peter is the only one of the apostles that we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was married. And I think probably they were all married. If not all of them, most of them, but a good chance they were all married. But we know for sure Peter was married.

Why does the Lord tell us that? I think He tells us that because of this miracle here, but I also think the Lord in His wisdom told us that because He knew that centuries later the Roman church was going to say Peter was the first pope. Well, as you know, the priests in the Roman church aren’t permitted to marry. And of all the apostles, guess which one we know for sure was married? Peter. That kind of throws a wrinkle in that, doesn’t it? God is so much wiser than we are. He knows so much more.

So, Jesus comes to the house and Peter’s wife’s mother is sick. Peter’s mother-in-law is sick. And notice verse 15:

Matthew 8:15: “And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.”

She probably served them a meal. When it says she ministered unto them, it doesn’t mean she preached a sermon. It means she probably served them a meal. Now, that’s really tremendous but the story goes on in verse 16:

The Storm of Demonic Possession

Matthew 8:16: “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:”

Matthew 8:17: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”

Matthew 8:18: “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.”

“The other side,” means the other side of the Sea of Galilee. There is the storm of illness. Somebody you love, somebody you care about, somebody in your family is sick, and the Lord comes to heal. Here, somebody in your family, somebody you care about may be possessed by the devil. Or maybe they’re not. Maybe they have some mental illness or some other challenge. And the words of Jesus come, and they are healed. Why? Verse 17:

Matthew 8:17: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”

And the Lord’s words were there to heal in time of need. Notice Jesus’ words have power over illness and Jesus’ words have power over demons. Don’t miss that. So, He has power over illness, He has power over the storm of illness. His words even have power over demonic possession.

I think we are going to see more and more cases of demonic possession as time goes on, as we get nearer to the end, I really do. I don’t have time to go deeply into that but just let me say this. Where you find fewer cases of demonic possession is where you will find a greater number of Christians. Why is that? The Holy Spirit indwells Christians. The Holy Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2, holds back evil. That’s one of the things He does. He holds back evil. Where you see more Christians, you see fewer incidents of demonic possession.

But where there is a smaller number of Christians, you’ll see greater incidents of demonic possession. Why? More of the presence of the Holy Spirit holds back evil. With less of the presence of the Holy Spirit, evil has more free reign. Again, we could get deep into that, but let me just leave that with you for now.

So, the Lord’s words have power over physical illness, power over spiritual wickedness, in this case, demonic possession.

The Storm of a Dying Loved One

But let me show you something else, in verse 19, “And a certain scribe came” – and by the way, I like Luke’s account of this story. I just do, Luke 9:59-62. But let’s look at this.

Matthew 8:19: “And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.”

Watch Jesus’ answer.

Matthew 8:20: “And 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.”

Did you know Jesus didn’t preach the prosperity gospel? Jesus didn’t say, “You know, if you’re right with God, you’re going to be blessed beyond imagination. You’re going to have…” We came across this somewhere recently, I don’t know where, my wife and I have done a bit of traveling lately, but we came across something that talked about the “name it, claim it” idea. You want this to be yours, claim it and it will be yours. That’s not true, it’s not in the Bible, it’s not godly.

But look at this. This man comes and he wants to follow Jesus. “I’ll follow you. I’ll follow you wherever you go.” Well, that’s the attitude to have. But Jesus cautioned him. He says He has no place to sleep tonight. Still want to come? Birds have nests, foxes have holes, “but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Still want to follow me?

Jesus is challenging this man but he’s also encouraging him. He’s saying: Do you want to give up the comforts of home? Do you want to give up material security? Do you love me enough to understand that these things are not important? Do you love me enough and do you want to follow me enough to leave all that behind?

Now, let me share something else with you. These things Jesus is teaching here – don’t think God is a robber, some people do. Some people may not use that term, but they think that way. They think God is a robber. We can’t follow the Lord because of all the stuff that will be taken away from us. He’s not going to take anything away from you and leave you shorthanded.

Whatever He takes from you, He’ll repay you a hundred-fold. Now, that’s another passage where we can find scriptural evidence of that. But that’s a fact. Don’t you ever worry about it. I’ve heard preachers say it this way and it’s so true, “You can’t outgive God.” You can’t do it and you need to know and understand that the Lord’s not going to shortchange you.

Matthew 8:21: “And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.”

Matthew 8:22: “But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.”

Look a verse 22, “But Jesus said unto him, Follow me.” If you take the message of Jesus and want to condense it down to two words, that’s it. Jesus said, “Follow me.”

“And let the dead bury their dead.” – Lord, I’ll follow you, let me go bury my father first. Jesus said, “Follow me.” That’s a challenge. Somebody would say, “But that’s cold. He wouldn’t even let him go to his father’s funeral.”

I’ve seen what I think is cold. I’ve seen a case many years ago when a lady in our church passed away and her son was in jail. And they wouldn’t even let him out to attend his mother’s funeral. I thought that was pretty cold to tell you the truth. I really did. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, but I thought it was pretty cold. That’s not what’s happening here. That’s not the case.

It may be, and very likely, that this man’s father hadn’t even passed away and a good chance he wasn’t even sick. What he’s saying is, “Let me stay home until dad dies. Let me bury him and then I’ll come to follow you.” What he’s saying is, “I’ll follow you later, not now, later.”

Jesus said, “Follow me.” That is a challenge. What if that wasn’t the case? What if his father had just died? No, He’s saying to let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. That’s what He’s saying. And if you’re saved, you need to place the Savior first in your life and you need to focus on following Him. Jesus’ words are very simple, “Follow me.”

The Storm of Nature

And the words of Jesus come to us in time of illness, they come to us in time of spiritual trouble, they come to us in time when we’ve lost our loved ones. They have power. Look at verse 23:

Matthew 8:23: “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.”

Matthew 8:24: “And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.”

I’ve been out on the ocean I don’t know how many times. I’ve never been in that situation. I’ve never been where the weather was so rough the waves were covering the ship. I’ve not been there and I’m not complaining about that. I would not be comfortable in that situation. Verse 25:

Matthew 8:25: “And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.”

I’ve talked about this here before and I mentioned it not too long ago but I’m going to mention it again. Bob Puffer who has been here many times, writes a lot of songs. One of the songs he wrote that I like – he probably likes it too but that is not what I meant – one of the songs he wrote that I like is “This Boat Cannot Sink When Jesus Is in It.” Just think about that.

Matthew 8:25: “And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.”

Matthew 8:26: “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.”

Jesus says [paraphrasing], “Why are you afraid? I’m here with you.” They say, “Yeah, you’re asleep.” And the other Gospel writer says in the hinder part of the ship, “You’re asleep, a storm is raging. Don’t you see we’re in trouble? You’re asleep. We need you, wake up.” Jesus says, “Why are you so fearful?”

Do you think the boat is going to sink with Jesus in it? No. Common sense would tell you that’s not going to happen. But you need more than just common sense. You need faith. “O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.”

Matthew 8:27: “But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”

I’ll tell you what manner of man that is. That is the one who spoke the universe into existence. If He could speak the universe into existence, He could certainly speak to the wind and the waves and calm them down. What do you think? Jesus was with them in the storm. His disciples had followed Him. They were in the right place, and they were doing the right thing and the storm still came. And folks, that can happen to you. Maybe it already has happened to you. Maybe it is happening to you right now.

You’re in the right place. You are following the Lord to the best of your knowledge. You’re doing what you believe you’re supposed to do and you’re probably right about it and the storm still comes. But he is still with you.

And His Word, though the ship was covered in waves, His Word calms the waves. Now, look what they did. They had little faith, but they did the right thing. Look at verse 25 again:

Matthew 8:25: “And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.”

When you’re in the middle of the storm what do you do? Come to Him. Come to Him, it’s the right thing to do. And not only did they come to Him, but they also prayed and their prayer was the right thing to pray. The disciples came to Him and did the right thing and woke Him. You don’t need to wake Him, He’s there.

They, saying, “Lord, save us: we perish” – Lord we can’t do this. Some of them at least, not all of them, were fishermen, experienced, and they said that they were not going to make it. “Lord, save us: we’re about to die here.” And the Lord was with them. The Lord stands up and He says what? “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

They were with Him, they had followed Him, they were going where He was going. They were in the right place doing the right thing, so they just needed to trust Him. And they just needed to exercise the faith that they had.

You’re following Him. You’re in the middle of the storm and not only can that happen it will happen. Know that He is still with you and come to the words of Jesus. He can rebuke the wind, He can calm the storm because nature is subject to His Word. Notice verse 27 again:

Matthew 8:27: “But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”

Because they do. We’re going to finish with a story we looked at not too long ago. A different Gospel writer but same story.

The Storm of Spiritual Trouble

Matthew chapter 8 verse28, “And when he was come to the other side into the country” – Remember what He said after raising Peter’s wife’s mother and the demons He cast out when they got into the ship and gone to the other side? While they were going over, they got into a storm and then they go to the other side.

Matthew 8:28: “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.”

They came from Capernaum which would be here (pointing directions) and came down over here to the country of the Gergesenes or the Gadarenes, Gadara, kind of like that if you were looking at the map. So, no man could pass by that way.

Matthew 8:29: “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?”

Isn’t it interesting that these demonic spirits recognize Jesus as who? As the Son of God. “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” They know they are under judgment; they know they are living on limited time. They know their destination is the lake of fire. But they also knew it wasn’t time yet for that. “Did you come to send us there early?” – that is what they are asking.

Matthew 8:30: “And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.”

Matthew 8:31: “So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.”

Matthew 8:32: “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.”

He said “Go,” one word. What happens when He said, “Go”? Well, “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.”

Matthew 8:33: “And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.”

Matthew 8:34: “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.”

Dr. Lee Roberson said that’s the strangest verse in the Bible. Here, these demon-possessed men had been tormenting them. Nobody could walk by there. Jesus gets rid of the demons. They run into town and tell everybody what happened. The whole city comes out to meet Jesus and you’d think they’d say, “Thank you. You sure helped us out there.” No. What do they do? They ask Him to leave. About like people today.

One word from Jesus. One word has powerful results. The demons left the men, they possessed the pigs, they destroyed the pigs. The devil uses a person and then destroys them. That’s his MO as they say, modus operandi. And then those who were around were afraid of Jesus. They didn’t want Him around anymore. They asked Him to leave. But there were those who believed in Jesus. They wanted to go with him. That demon-possessed man wanted to go with Him. Jesus told him to go home to his friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for him.

Trust the Words of Jesus

Here’s what I wanted you to see in these stories that we covered in these few minutes together. Jesus’ Word has power over people. Jesus’ Word has power over illness. It does have power over illness. Jesus’ Word has power over spirits. And Jesus’ Word has power over nature.

So, whatever storm you may be going through, Jesus’ Word has power over that. Whatever storm you may be going through whether it’s illness, the loss of a loved one, spiritual trouble, or just a natural storm. Maybe it’s financial trouble. Whatever storm you are going through you can trust the words of Jesus. Jesus’ Word has power.

I think as we look at our present situation, God’s been good to us. I don’t think you can argue that for a second. I asked you tonight when you started reading the Bible and reading God’s Word. But if I ask you to tell me of times God has been good to you, there’d be at least as many people as have spoken, maybe more, maybe all of you. Because I think we could say that.

But there are things going on in the world today that are very dark, and they don’t look very encouraging at all. Can I share something with you? It’s been that way before. This isn’t the first time. Not by a longshot. People before us and people you know have seen situations as bad as today and worse. But the Word of the Lord is still true, and the words of Jesus have power and the words of Jesus will get you through. You can trust the words of Jesus.

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Let us pray. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you that we’ve had this time together to testify and try to look into your Word, time to realize that you have power over physical problems, spiritual problems, emotional problems, and all the things, all the storms that come into our life. When the doctor has bad news. When the nurse comes out to you and says, “He didn’t make it.” All the storms that come, His Word still has power.

Lord, we may find ourselves at the beginning of the storm. We may find ourselves in the very eye of the storm. We may find ourselves in that second part that’s worse than the first. But in all of it, we trust your Word.

Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. The invitation is simple tonight, the alter is here if you need it. Father, bless now in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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