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WHAT WE BELIEVE: |
"The Assurance of
Faith" Luke 7:1-10 (NKJV) 2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. 3 So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 5 "for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue." 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 7 "Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 "For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" 10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick. In trying to put together a library that will help me as I seek to pastor God's people, one of my primary goals has been to buy faithful commentaries on God's word. So when I was given a complete set of commentaries on the New Testament that another pastor had discarded from his own library a couple of years ago, I was very pleased. That is until I started reading through them. It didn't take me long at all to figure out why their previous owner had thrown them out. The author of the commentaries seemed to make the systematic denial of every fundamental tenant of orthodox Christianity the overall objective of his commentary. So there were no real miracles in the bible. Jesus didn't really walk on water, he walked beside the water, but the Disciples although they were for the most part experienced fishermen were too stupid and backwards to realize what was taking place. Jesus didn't raise the son of the widow of Nain from the dead, he just realized that the boy was in some sort of coma and about to be buried alive and somehow revived him. This miracle however, the author concluded was entirely contrived, probably because he couldn't come up with a suitable rationalization for such an amazing healing one that took place without Jesus ever coming into contact with the servant in question. I got rid of that commentary set as well, but I was reminded of it as I was preparing this sermon. I was reminded of it, because it really struck me as tragic that in commenting on this miracle, the author of those commentaries had doubt as his starting principle. All of his work flowed out of his belief that Jesus was not who the scriptures everywhere declared him to be. The Messiah the only Begotten of the Father the Savior of the World God, the Son! I couldn't help but feel pity for the man because he was the very opposite of the Centurion that we read of in these very verses. Far from being a man of great faith in Jesus, he was not even a man of little faith, he was a man who had no faith, and not knowing the power of God or His word, his expositions of it were dark and unhelpful. He was just another of the bad trees Jesus warned us about in the Sermon on the Mount who would never produce good fruit. So that author took a wonderful narrative about the nature of faith in Jesus and only spun tales that told you how deep was his own lack of it. Let us then instead take faith in Christ and His word as our starting point as we look at these verses, and seek to learn all that we can about the nature of faith from them. While there are probably innumerable lessons about faith that could be gleaned from these verses I'm going to suggest that Luke 7:1-10 teaches us three things in particular:
The Romans were the occupying power in Palestine and this particular
Centurion probably had overall command of the garrison in the city
of Capernaum. As such he was someone with a great deal of direct
power over the lives of the people who lived there. He could, of
course, have used that power for evil, extorting money and doing
wickedly which was fairly common it was how officers in the
legions "feathered their nests" or provided for their retirement. In
fact it was so widespread that when some soldiers ask John the
Baptist "What should we do?" in Luke 3:14 he replied "Don't extort
money and don't accuse people falsely-- be content with your pay."
But this centurion doesn't act use his power for evil he uses it for
good. Rather than stealing money from the townsfolk he spends his
own to help them. In verse 5 we read that the Jewish elders confirm
that he was the one who had built the Synagogue for them. Further
they testify that he "loved their nation". This man was what was sometimes called a "Godfearer." A gentile
by birth, but someone who had come to embrace Judaism, but had not
gone so far as to be circumcized and become a full Jew. He was
someone who, because of His faith put service to others ahead of
self-agrandizement. This is a humble man, he is not above loving and caring for even
one of his servants the word there is Doulos and it
actually probably means slave. In fact he is so concerned for this
bond-servant that he humbles himself before the elders, asking for
them to contact Jesus and plead with him to come and heal his
servant. More importantly note the Centurion's estimation of himself.
The elders have no problem telling Jesus in verse 4 that the
Centurion is worthy or deserving of this favor. But what does the
Centurion say about himself verse 6 "Lord, don't trouble
yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my
roof." Here is the mighty official of the all-conquering Roman Empire
telling Jesus, a man who had not so much as a house to call his
home, that He was not worthy to have Him come to His House! The Jewish Elders of course in keeping with the doctrine of works
righteousness say that his good works have made him worthy of
the favor of Christ. But the Centurion knows better, he
knows that the favor of Christ is all of grace, and none of works.
Truly he understands that regardless of his rank, just like the tax
collector in Christ's parable if he would be saved he too must cry
out "God have mercy on me a sinner!" As Ephesians 2:8-9 tells you: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that
no one can boast. APPLICATION: No one is worthy of Christ or His Favor.
All of the great saints have realized that: you'll remember that
John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said "I tell you the truth: Among
those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the
Baptist" told the people that he was not even worthy to
"stoop down and loose Christ's sandal strap." Paul, perhaps the
greatest of the Apostles described himself as "the chief of all
sinners" none of them have ever come to Christ saying "I
deserve your salvation" all have rather come to Jesus saying
first "I am not worthy: nevertheless I ask" One of the saddest sins amongst Christians however, is the desire
to assert that we are somehow worthy of the salvation we have
received. Of late I have been appalled to see a sharp increase in
the number of men claiming to be reformed who are teaching that our
own good works are necessary for our salvation. In other words they
teach that Christ does the initial work saving us from our sins by
his death on the cross, and then it is up to us to produce good
works that will make us worthy of entering the kingdom. These men
teach that we are initially justified by faith, but that our final
justification is by our works of obedience. So we are ultimately
saved by faith and good works. Brothers and Sisters our salvation
is ALL of Christ and entirely by GRACE through faith alone! I
tell you the truth, if you are trusting in your own works of
obedience to make you "fit for salvation" you are hoping in vain,
for even our best works are tainted by sin. I trust no one here thinks they are better Christians than Paul
the Apostle and yet he described all his good works as rubbish
in Phil. 3:4 that word in Greek Skubalon is far stronger, I
will not translate it into its nearest English equivalent lest I
utter a profanity. If we trust in anything other than the completed
work of Christ we are guilty of terrible pride. We refuse the
spotless wedding garments of his own righteousness and instead
choose to appear before a holy God attired in filthy rags. And truly
I tell you, no man so attired that way will stand in the day of
judgment. Christ tells us exactly what will happen if we show up at
the Lamb's wedding feast clothed in anything other than his perfect
righteousness in Mat. 22:11-13 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man
there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 "So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without
a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot,
take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' True Faith like that of the Centurion is Humble, therefore as
Thomas Watson said: "Let us come to God in profound humility; say not, Lord, my heart
is good, and my life blameless. God hates this. Lie in the dust, be
covered with sackcloth: say as the centurion, Lord, I am not worthy
that thou shouldest come under my roof; I deserve not the least
smile from heaven. (Mt. 8:8). This is the way for pardon." 2) The Object of Faith - That brings us obviously to the
next point the Object of true faith. That can only be Christ.
Notice the implication of the words of the Centurion in verse 8. He
is a man who has authority, he issues commands, and the things that
he has commanded are carried out by those under him. He does not
need to do them himself. He commands and those under him obey So what is he implying about Christ? The Centurion is saying, I
know you do not need to come to my house in order for my servant to
be healed, only say the word and he will be well. He is saying:
You O Lord have authority over everything in the Universe, all you
need do is command this disease to begone and my servant will be
well. Now who has that kind of authority but God alone?
That is why Jesus commends his faith the Jews are doubtful, the
Pharisees demand signs and wonders, even his own Apostles frequently
don't seem to understand and yet this Centurion, this Gentile gets
it! He firmly believes that Jesus is the Messiah in the full Old
Testament sense of that word, he acknowledges in that brief
declaration that he believes that Jesus is indeed who Isaiah said
would come to his people in Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the
virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name
Immanuel. Immanuel. It is a Hebrew word that means GOD WITH US. It
literally means that the Messiah will be God incarnate, dwelling
amongst His people. The Centurion's faith is firmly in Christ. This
is what amazes Christ - the Jews, the children of the kingdom, the
members of the visible church don't get it, as John puts it in John
1:11 "He came to His own, and His own did not receive
Him." but this Gentile evidences a profound faith in Jesus
that says that God has forever changed this Gentile's heart. 3) The Assurance of Faith - Note that the firm ASSURANCE
THAT THE CENTURION'S FAITH PRODUCES. He trusts in God, and has
complete confidence in the ability of Christ to do what He has
promised. He sees Christ coming towards his house and hurries to
send his servants to Him "Lord, do not trouble Yourself
" and then
"But say the word, and my servant will be healed." With a word you can do this! There is no doubt here, none of the
if you can do anything for my son that the father of the
Paralytic shows in Mark 9:22. He is assured that everything that
Jesus has promised to do he will do, and Jesus had already indicated
that he was willing to come and heal his servant. APPLICATION: What is the Application of this to us? Believe the promises of God regarding salvation! Luke 6:35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.
He who comes to Me shall never
hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never
thirst. 2 Col. 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes,
and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. IF YOUR FAITH IS FIRMLY GROUNDED IN CHRIST, and in HIM ALONE, YOU
WILL BE SAVED! Heb. 6:17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the
heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it
by an oath, |
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