R899 The Greatest Work Ever Done

Welcome to the Monday edition of The Encouraging Word, featuring the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and the greatest work ever done. The Encouraging Word. That's the title of today's message, The Greatest Work Ever Done.

We'll be headed to Matthew chapter 4 in just a moment, but Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you, we're here for you. Already we are connecting online at tewonline.org and on the phone at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 and online at tewonline.org. I pray you'll consider visiting the website. It's a great place to follow Dr. Don on our socials. It's also a great place to sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don. That's right there at tewonline.org to sign up for the daily encouraging word email.

Now today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. You're going to need your Bibles this morning and I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel and chapter 4. Matthew's Gospel and chapter 4. And I'm going to be reading there in just a moment. So you might want to take a copy of God's Word. It's very important that you do so.

Matthew's Gospel and chapter 4. I want to speak to you today about the greatest work ever done. And I'm going to ask a very unfair question.

I tell you this is an unfair question. If we were to conduct your funeral service this next week and a group of people were to get up and were to eulogize you and I'm sure would say a lot of wonderful things about you. What would they say about your life's work? One of the things that I'm always so grateful for is when God calls people home and you look back and you reflect upon their life's work. What would people say about the work that you are doing?

Some of you might say, well, I'm too young. No, you're not. You are working. You are making an impact. You're touching other people.

There are very few people I know that just live in an igloo by themselves. What would people say about your life's work? When the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, He was about the Father's business. On Wednesday nights, as you know, I'm leading us through a wonderful time of Bible study at 6.30 on Wednesday evenings entitled When God Prayed. In John chapter 17, He has the Lord Jesus just about to go back to heaven. He's going to go through the experience of the cross.

And He turns and looks to heaven and He says to the Father, He says, Father, my hour has come. Would you give back to me the glory that I had with you before I came to this earth? In fact, the same glory that I had with you from before the foundation of the world. Restore to me the rightful privilege that I have with you as God.

Now watch this. Because I have completed the work that you gave me to do. It's an incredible thing to think about. And here in Matthew chapter 4, we're going to discover something about the greatest work that was ever done. Now, folks, I want to say this to you today. God is at work.

I was in a neighboring town and I was just walking down the road really after lunch, minding my own business. And all of a sudden a man popped up and walked up to me and he said, he said, you're that preacher, aren't you? I thought for a moment, wondered whether or not I should confess right there on the spot and tell him that I was indeed. But I could see by his face that God had done something in his life.

I couldn't explain it. And I said to him, yes, sir, indeed I am. He said, well, I can't believe that I've run into you. He said, I didn't know who you were from before a week ago. He said, last week on Sunday, he said, I just happened to tune into the encouraging word at 11 o'clock on WSPA Channel 7.

And he said, I couldn't stop watching. He said, I've never been to church. And he said, I've spent my whole life running away from God.

He said, but something happened last week. And he said, I can't believe I'm actually talking to you. Because last week I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. And I just stood there for a moment and I couldn't get over the fact that God was at work, even though I didn't know this man. And I had no idea what God was doing.

I just simply was doing what God called us all to do. And you know what's happening. Over 50 years, we've had this incredible relationship with WSPA. I'm telling you, it's the most wonderful relationship with Channel 7. Thousands upon thousands of people worshiping with us for 50 years.

And we continue that relationship. And years ago, a small group of people in this church got together and said, we need to take this across America. And so the encouraging word was birthed. It's your ministry that belongs to God. This is the launcher.

This is where the rocket is launched from. And during the week, we are privileged to share the work of Jesus Christ across the nation. Now we're hearing from people all across America.

Literally, we've heard from every person. You need to get involved. You need to pray for the encouraging work because it's taking the work of God out across the nation, joining together with many other wonderful ministries in America.

You need to invest in it and pray about it and be involved. It's yours. It's ours. It's what God has given to us. And I'm here today to say to you folks, God's work goes on.

And He's here today. Now I want to show you something here in Matthew 4. It's a remarkable passage.

And I'll stop just once or twice briefly to explain a few things. In verse 23, the Bible says that Jesus went throughout Galilee. By the way, Galilee was a region, really like the upstate.

It was about 30 plus square miles, just give or take a few. It is an amazing place. This is where Jesus was.

And the Bible says that in that region, He was teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Now, folks, everybody watch me for a minute. I want to give out a spiritual alert because I'm going to guarantee that there are thousands of us right now who need God to do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. Who are you? What's going on in your life? What crossroads have you reached?

What are you suffering through? Now, I'm going to promise you something, folks. When we talk about the greatest work ever done, you're going to be amazed. Look at what happened in the Bible. Verse 24, news about Him spread all over Syria. This was a region they known as the Syriac people. If you just look at me for a moment, just pretend I'm standing in the middle of the Sea of Galilee looking north. Right over there is the city of Damascus. Here are these massive mountains called the Golan Heights. This side over here is Jordan.

If you were to go left, you'd go right over toward the Mediterranean Sea. But to get there, you would have to cross through the Valley of Armageddon, where the final battle of the world is going to take place. And the Bible talks about the Syriac people. In fact, when you go up there today, and the Bible says that the work of God began to spread all throughout this region. Now watch this, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those who had seizures and the paralyzed and He healed them.

Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, which was the Gentile region of the Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea and the region all across the Jordan began to follow Him. What was it about the work of Jesus Christ that was so remarkable? And what does that mean to you and to me today? Well, there are four things here that Jesus did.

I want to just share them with you quickly. Number one, He went about. That's what verse 23 says.

I just, I love that. By the way, if you're an English student, watch this. That's in the imperfect tense. What it means is that Jesus was continually about His business. He never stopped.

He was always actively engaged. A good friend of mine sent me a note from his nephew. In fact, it's like a small diary because his nephew had been in Southern Africa and had gone and done what the Australians call a walkabout. You know, when you go down to Charleston and you take a couple of days off, if you go up to some of my other favorite places, I told you I went to Asheville, a week ago.

I love Asheville, the city of Asheville, love the Biltmore area. My wife and I will go there and just walk about, stop and have tea 10 times in every tea room around there. You know, if you go overseas, you go for a walkabout. Well, watch this, folks. Jesus went about.

He is actively, continually engaged. I know exactly when it was. It was 10 past 6. I arrived here. I usually park way out there in outer darkness where there's wailing and gnashing of teeth because I want to leave the good spots for our guests and friends and for our senior adults and young mothers who need some extra help and people who just need to be a little closer, you know. So I park way out there. I don't even know where my motor car is sometimes, but I'm walking up there.

There's not a sausage in sight. And I'm strolling up 10 past 6 and suddenly I hear someone honking. I turned around. I said, they finally got me, you know, and they're coming up the hill and his motor car was a friend of mine from this church.

10 past 6, folks, cows are not even awake then. I looked around. I said, what is this? And this friend from our church, he wound down his window and he said to me, he said, pastor, he said, I was on the way to do some business and some work and God brought you to my heart. And God put in my heart, if I was to go to the church right now, maybe the pastor will be in the parking lot.

Now for crying in a bucket, folks, this is a 10 past 6 in the morning. He drives up and there I am. Hello.

You know what he did? Wound down his window, took my hand and he prayed for me. He said, God just told me to drive onto this parking lot. I'd find you here. I just came to pray with you.

Tell you I love you. Folks, I'm telling you, God is going about. Can you sense him? Can you feel him? Do you know that he's here? Do you know that he's right here right now? He's in your room. He's in that prison cell with you. He's in that retirement center. He's at that nurse's station.

He's at your bedside. He went about. Second thing he did was he taught. Bible says he taught in the synagogue, which I had time to explain it to you. The synagogue, by the way, had a threefold purpose. They met for three reasons, worship, teaching and preaching. Those in charge of the synagogue were a group of Jewish elders.

They became known as the Sanhedrin. They were all powerful except for one thing. They were under Roman rule. Those who led the synagogues, who made the decisions, who could do whatever they wanted to, could do anything but one thing.

What was the one thing they couldn't do? They couldn't sentence anybody to death. That's why the Sanhedrin had to enlist the help of somebody by the name of Pontius Pilate to do their dirty work for them.

Only the Romans could pass sentence of death. And so Jesus taught in the synagogue, by the way, the word to teach. Listen to the students. The word teach in the scripture literally means to pass on information with a view to discovering truth.

That's what happens in your classroom. And when you bring it into a spiritual context, the Lord Jesus, one of the great hallmarks of the work that Jesus Christ did, according to the will of the Father, was to pass on information about himself with a view to those who heard it, discovering the truth of what he was saying. He taught, but there was a third thing he did. He preached. Well, if teaching is the passing on information with a view to the one hearing it, discovering the truth of that information, teaching according to the scriptures, preaching is to cry out. We get the word herald from that. And preaching is an announcement.

If teaching is the passing on of information to discover truth, preaching is an announcement concerning the truth. Back in Jesus' day, they understood that because all the kings and important people had town criers. They had heralds. And whenever the king wanted to pass some information onto the people, the herald would walk outside his castle and he would stand there and he would say, hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. This is what the king has decreed. It's an announcement.

Teaching passes on information and allows you to discover the truth. Jesus was doing that. He was engaged in that in the synagogues. But when he climbed onto the mountain, he began to preach. What was he doing? He was making an announcement about the kingdom of God.

He said to them, I want you to know that I am the son of the living God and I have come into this world and I am going to set you free. I'm making an announcement today. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton and we'll be back with the rest of today's message, the greatest work ever done in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you, we're here for you. We're connecting on the phone at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And online there's an especially remarkable resource called Grace for the Widow that I hope you'll consider taking a look at. It's by Joyce Rogers, Adrienne Rogers' widow. The powerful preacher and good friend of Dr. Wilton penned this remarkable book as she has walked through the season of widowhood. And God has strengthened her, encouraged her, and helped her mentor others in this season of life.

Maybe there's someone in your life, maybe it's you, that would be blessed by a book that would take you straight to Scripture for encouragement and strength for the widow. Again, all the details are online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's message, the greatest work ever done by Dr. Don Wilton. But there was a fourth thing that he did, he healed.

Now I love this, folks. All right, let's just review. He went about, this is the work of Jesus Christ, the greatest work that's ever been done. He went about, he moved about, he never stopped.

It was continuous action. Everywhere you and I are, God is. He is involved in the affairs of mankind. You're not on your own. You haven't been left in the lurch. You haven't slipped through the cracks as far as God is concerned.

He loves you and he's walking about and he's available to you. Number two, he taught, he passed on information. Number three, he preached, he announced, he heralded the good news. But number four, he healed.

Now folks, I want to show you something here starting in verse 24. Because four things happened when Jesus healed. Number one, news spread about him. News spread, the news spread, word got out. Folks, there are people that you are touching because of your love and your generosity and your prayer and your willingness to go and to be used and to love that you cannot imagine.

It's an amazing thing. News spread. Number two, the second thing that happened was that friends brought friends to Jesus. Bible says people went out and brought others to come and to be touched by him. You may be interested to know this, that the number one way by which most people come to know Jesus Christ still remains friends bringing them to hear the Gospel. Do you know some of you might look at me today and say to me, Pastor, just tell me what I can do.

I get asked that a lot. It's a wonderful question because we all want to do something for the Lord because everything is very precious in God's sight. Doesn't matter how small or how big, God's not interested in equal giving.

He's interested in equal sacrifice, isn't He? That we do for Him what we know that we need to be doing according to that which God's put in our heart. But I'm going to tell you, if you were to say to me today, Pastor, what is something that I can do for the Lord?

Bring your friends to church. Okay, watch this. You're ready for this? All of you right now have got a friend, a relative, a fellow student, a neighbour, somebody that you know that doesn't know Jesus, raise your hand.

Look at it folks, I rest my case. All right, I'm going to ask the next question. When last did you invite a friend and bring them to the feet of Jesus? That's not the only means by which people can come. Do you know folks, I meet people every week and every month who say, somebody brought me to church and I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Somebody cared enough said, I'm coming to get you. That's what happened when Jesus did His work. But there was a third thing that happened.

He healed them. Now folks, I want to show you something here. This is remarkable, I'm just telling you.

This is amazing. It's going to knock your socks off, I promise you. There were four categories of healing that took place in this passage. Number one, first category is the category of pain. Pain, it's what the Bible says here, that He healed, brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering, number one, from severe pain. What is pain folks? Pain is the inability to cope. That is what happens to people who are in pain. Jesus healed them. You ever met someone who says, I've got debilitating headaches, stomach ache, arthritis. I've got something going on, I'm hurting, I cannot explain it. It's just continual, Jesus healed them.

What was that category? It was an inability to cope. Why did Jesus heal them from pain?

Because He wanted to restore them to the only means by which you and I can cope. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The second category was those who were possessed. Now watch this folks, possession is the second category.

Look what He says here, you can read it for yourself. He says, the demon possessed. It is spiritually impossible for a Christian person to be demon possessed.

Now in the next few weeks, I'm going to show you why. It is spiritually impossible for a Christian person to be demon possessed. Possession means that you are under the control of something other than yourself. Now what does the Bible say? The Bible says you're either for God or you're against God.

There's no such thing as neutrality. God tells us that when we are in control of ourselves, when we become the centre of our own universe, we stand outside the plan of God because we are not under His control. But the Lord God takes this to a far greater level and I'll deal with it at a later stage because there is all kinds of possession folks. Demon possession means that you're under the control of someone else other than yourself and Jesus came in order that you and I would come under His control. This deals with our very moment of salvation.

I truly believe that with all of my heart. But there are other forms of possession. I know people who are possessed by alcohol. Pornography will do that. Have you ever met somebody who says to you, I just cannot do that anymore?

I just don't seem to be able to control my reactions. Folks, let me tell you a person who loses their temper and who shoots their mouth off and uses four letter words when they get out of whack, they're under the control of somebody other than themselves. That's who Jesus was talking about.

I had a wife who said to me, pastor, I love my husband, but I cannot stand the way he always loses it. That's what Jesus was talking about. Pain, possession.

Number three, I want you to look at this very closely with me folks. If pain is the inability to cope and possession is the inability to control, power is the inability or a lack thereof is an inability to plan. He talks here about having seizures. By the way, the word there is the word that we use for epilepsy. Over my lifetime I've had some dear close friends who have suffered from epilepsy having seizures. Do you know how debilitating that is for people who suffer from that? Do you know what happens with epilepsy?

And I'm being very simplistic. A person who suffers from that loses power folks. They have a power shutdown. And if they have a power shutdown, it robs them of their ability to plan. Very hard for a person who suffers in this way to plan. Even to go and take a swim in a swimming pool because they don't know when the power is going to shut down. Drive a motor car, say I'm just going to go to the grocery store and get some groceries. Can't do that because they're afraid that their power might shut down.

Go for a hike by themselves. Maybe you have a loved one and you say, look, I'll be back. I'll just leave you alone.

I'll be back. And there's a fear to leave a person like that. They don't want to be left alone because they might have a power failure. Jesus healed them. And then there was a fourth category. And that was the matter of being paralyzed. Watch this pain, possession, power and the paralytic. What is being paralyzed? That's an inability to move. An inability to move. You are rendered helpless.

A person who is paralyzed cannot move, which means they cannot function properly. They need help. We do whatever we can to help people who find themselves in such predicaments. Folks, watch this. Jesus came into their midst and he did something that no man could do for himself. That's his work.

And the final result was that people followed him. What a powerful message from Dr. Wilton today. And when he's standing in the pulpit and preaching like that, God speaks and it's through his word, the living word of God, the Bible itself. If the Lord has spoken to you, I pray you would open your heart to what Dr. Don's going to ask you to do next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If God's touched your heart, let us step into the next steps with you walking beside you. Give us a call at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-967 to Christ to rededicate your life. We have wonderful resources for you. Call us, 866-899-9673. Or read us online at TEWOnline.org.

That's TEWOnline.org where you'll discover great resources like this. We are living in a rapidly changing world. What is this new normal today? How do we as believers hold firm? How do we press on? We press on by resting in the safeguards of our faith. When you have a history of God's faithfulness in your heart and spirit, you can walk boldly and unflinchingly through the midst of trouble.

Why? Because God has proven himself to you. With your gift of support to the Encouraging Word this month, you will receive Dr. Wilton's faith-building message, The Safeguards of Our Faith. This four-message set will help equip you to stand firm on the foundation of Jesus Christ in these not-so-new normal days. Call us at 866-899-WORD or request The Safeguards of Our Faith, available on CD or DVD today. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener-supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. What a great day of studying God's Word. God's Encouraging Word together with Dr. Wilton. Tomorrow I hope you'll join us. His message is on the greatest vision ever seen. Again, at this same time, I pray you'll not only join us, but maybe invite a friend to join us. Now and then let's stay connected online at tewonline.org. Take care and God bless.