1 00:00:02,280 --> 00:00:05,280 Well, welcome again to Redemption Church North Ogden. 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,119 I'm a glad to have all of you guys here with us. 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,080 We are in our series, the book of Matthew. 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,880 We walk through a verse by verse, chapter by chapter and 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:20,760 very slowly so that we can dig out all of the treasures that 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,720 are in the word of God. This was written by God himself 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,880 through men, of course, but we believe the Bible to be without 8 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:35,280 error, infallible, sufficient for everything we need in this 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,200 life. And so there's so much in it 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,560 that we don't want to Passover and, and, and even even in the 11 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,040 the efforts that we're doing to preach through this, there's 12 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:51,680 still things that we can't quite hit as much as we would want to. 13 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:58,760 And so, but thankfully we do get to handle this just chunk by 14 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,040 chunk, paragraph by paragraph. And that's what we're doing. 15 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,440 We're in chapter 8 of the book of Matthew. 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,080 And we last week started this section in the book of Matthew 17 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:14,040 where where the Holy Spirit has has chosen to focus on the 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,320 miracles of Jesus. We've seen, you know, the 19 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:19,360 teachings of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount. 20 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,080 And here we are. And it's a bunch of miracles 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,080 bunched together in this narrative, in this this book of 22 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,200 Matthew. And last week we talked about 23 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:36,120 how Jesus healed A leper and how that represented him saving us 24 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:41,000 from this infectious disease called sin that we all have that 25 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:47,040 only he could take away. And today we're going to look at 26 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:52,720 verses 5 through 13, and we're looking at the faith of an 27 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,840 outsider. This is the story that John, 28 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,560 Pastor John, read for us before we prayed about the centurion, 29 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,720 the centurion asking Jesus for his servant to be healed. 30 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,200 And again, as I've said, looking at miracles, you know, it's hard 31 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,400 to try to dig out of there. What does this mean for my life? 32 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:19,360 How does this apply? And as we look at the context, 33 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,560 the history, the background also, and each one of these 34 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,080 stories is written there for a purpose. 35 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:30,560 It's not just generally so, so we think, OK, Jesus does 36 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:31,720 miracles. That's great. 37 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,240 You know, it's more, there's so much more to the meaning of it 38 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:36,800 that we've got to dig out together. 39 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:41,240 And, and this story in particular is called a speech 40 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,720 story. It's it's it's a narrative where 41 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:50,160 the high point is not the event. The high point isn't actually 42 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:56,080 focused on the miracle itself, but it appears either during or 43 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,440 after the event. And a speech story then is, is 44 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:07,360 something where what is focused on is what is said rather than 45 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:11,360 the event itself. And so it's the words of Jesus 46 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:16,440 and the words of the centurion that we focus our time on here 47 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,840 and try to figure out what does this mean? 48 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,840 What does it mean for them? What does this mean for us? 49 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,760 I've got three points I want to look at as we look at the faith 50 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:31,880 of this outsider, A centurion. And my first one is this that 51 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:40,000 faithful friends intercede or appeal to Jesus for one another? 52 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,200 Let's look at verses five and six. 53 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:47,240 It said when he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came 54 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,800 forward to him, appealing to him. 55 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,600 Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home suffering 56 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,600 terribly. So this is kind of the the setup 57 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,560 of the problem in which Jesus comes and and kind of brings the 58 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,360 solution. A centurion comes up and says, 59 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,200 Hey, I've got this, this my servant at home and, and, and, 60 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:16,000 and Luke, Luke's version, if you didn't know, Matthew, Mark, Luke 61 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,200 and John are the gospels and it tells the narrative of Jesus 62 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,279 life. And, and some of the same, the 63 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,560 stories are in the other versions as well. 64 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:29,240 And in Luke version it, it tells us that this guy, the centurion 65 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,160 really loved this man. It said he was near and dear to 66 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:38,200 him. So this centurion who by the 67 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:44,600 way, is a Gentile Roman officer of the army of the occupation in 68 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,760 Israel under the authority of of Herod. 69 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,800 So this, these are the characters. 70 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:57,880 You've got Jesus, you've got the the the the servant who who is 71 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:03,760 being petitioned for or talked to Jesus about, appealed about 72 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,720 so for healing and then you've got the Gentile centurion. 73 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,520 What's a Gentile? A Gentile is someone who is non 74 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:16,120 Jewish, right. So in the Old Testament all the 75 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:21,280 way and even back to Jesus day, Gentile was just an outsider. 76 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:25,920 You see, God had chosen from one man, Abraham, to bring about 77 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:32,440 this nation called Israel. And he gave them the promises, 78 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:37,400 he gave them the law, and it was through them that the Messiah 79 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,000 would come. And everyone outside of this 80 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,520 nation, as you see in the Old Testament, is is an outsider, is 81 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,760 a Gentile. They weren't part of God's 82 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:53,640 chosen people yet at least. And so to the Jewish people, 83 00:05:54,520 --> 00:06:00,240 Gentiles were unclean. They had to, they had to live 84 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:04,840 with them because the Roman Empire kind of came in and took 85 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:07,000 over Jerusalem and Israel at the time. 86 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,560 And so now they're, they're kind of living in oppression. 87 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:14,520 The Jews are. But this guy, this guy turns out 88 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:19,840 to be somewhat of a, a good guy. In fact, in the Luke version, it 89 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:25,840 says the the elders of the Jews came and talked to Jesus in this 90 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:30,640 narrative and interceded for him and said he is a worthy man. 91 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,760 He is worthy for you to do this miracle for him. 92 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,360 Why? Because he's, he loves our 93 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,560 nation and he even built us a synagogue. 94 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:47,040 So this guy, this this Gentile Roman officer who should have 95 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:55,360 been the enemy, was liked by the Jewish people and has done some 96 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,960 nice things for the Jewish people, even building them a 97 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:04,280 place of worship. Now, before I get to my point 98 00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:09,160 about how he, you know, appeals to Jesus for his beloved friend, 99 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,120 his servant, there are just some things I want to point out in 100 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,400 this text. You know, is 1 is that this 101 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,760 really reveals to us where the Jewish people didn't quite 102 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,000 understand all the teachings of the Old Testament and the coming 103 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,680 of the Messiah and living by faith. 104 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:34,560 Because these elders of the Jews appeal to Jesus and say he's 105 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,040 worthy of you doing this miracle for him. 106 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,040 That just kind of points out their misunderstanding of 107 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,080 worthiness. You know, a miracle is grace. 108 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:48,280 If God chooses to do something in your life, in my life, to 109 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:55,000 come in and step in miraculously and change your situation, it's 110 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,520 not because he owes it to you or me. 111 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,160 Because of the way that we live, don't we live like that? 112 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,720 Sometimes, though, even we misunderstand the grace of God 113 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:08,440 and we think, if I live a good life, if I do some good 114 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,280 religious things, doesn't God owe it to me? 115 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,480 We even hear people say, you know, people that don't quite 116 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,680 understand the Gospel, that aren't even Christian. 117 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,200 They have this idea if I do more good than I do bad, I think I'm 118 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:24,800 going to heaven. It's probably a majority of 119 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,360 people, you know, that are not believers. 120 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:29,280 They think it's just fair, right? 121 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,320 That's their idea of fairness that they've made-up in their 122 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:36,720 own mind. If I do some good things and my 123 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:41,400 good outweighs my bad. This, though, is where they're 124 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,720 wrong. Now, the servant. 125 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:48,840 Let's focus on this servant for a little bit. 126 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:55,120 He's a young man, bedridden, possibly because of some 127 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,760 accident. Maybe it was malnourishment, 128 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,760 Maybe he had been overworking because he was somewhat of a 129 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,160 slave to the Centurion or a bond servant. 130 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:11,440 Nevertheless, he's paralyzed, he's suffering, and Luke tells 131 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,080 us again in his narrative to the point of death. 132 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,720 So he's not only suffering terribly, laying at home, not 133 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:25,200 able to move, but he's almost about to die in this centurion. 134 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:32,640 This guy who's basically to them, a non believer, comes from 135 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:39,080 this place of desperation and love, not for himself, but for 136 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,920 the servant as he was dear to him. 137 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:47,160 He's asking for help. Now I this isn't even the main 138 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:51,680 part of, of of the message, but because it's in God's word, what 139 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:56,040 I see here is this idea of intercession. 140 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,360 That's why I made it my point as faithful friends intercede for 141 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:01,800 one another or what does intercession mean? 142 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:06,640 It means to appeal on their behalf to another person. 143 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,680 It's actually a legal term. If you were in court, you know 144 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,280 your your lawyer would make intercession for you or a 145 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:17,280 witness would make intercession for you before the the judge. 146 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:23,480 That's what I call praying for other people in your life. 147 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:28,080 That's what the Bible would call praying for others in your life. 148 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,240 In a sense, you could say, although Jesus is there 149 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,800 physically in front of him, you could say the centurion is 150 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:41,560 praying for his servant. This is something that faithful 151 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:44,560 people do. Faithful Christians, faithful 152 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:48,760 followers of God, they intercede for other people. 153 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:53,000 It's not a selfish thing. We're not focused on ourselves. 154 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,960 We're we're, we're, we're concerned and we love other 155 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:02,000 people around us so much so that we are willing to spend our time 156 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,560 praying for other people. There are stories like Abraham 157 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:12,760 in the Old Testament. He interceded for Lot to God. 158 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,960 When when God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, 159 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,760 Abraham said no, what if there are some righteous people in 160 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,240 there thinking about his cousin Lot the whole time, right? 161 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,400 Praying and praying, trying to get God to stop and eventually 162 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,840 God let him go and take Lot out of there. 163 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:32,520 Moses often prayed for the people every time that they 164 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:38,000 would sin and God would cause a a discipline or a curse to fall 165 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,920 on them, Moses would would plead on their behalf so that God 166 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:47,480 would have mercy on them. Did you know that even the Holy 167 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:53,040 Spirit and Jesus intercede for us? 168 00:11:55,560 --> 00:12:00,320 In Romans 834 it says, Who is to condemn Christ Jesus, the one 169 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,240 who died? More than that who was raised? 170 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:08,240 Who is at the right hand of God? Who indeed is interceding for 171 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,920 US? Jesus Christ sits at the right 172 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:16,720 hand of the Father in heaven, ever making intercession. 173 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,520 In fact, in in Hebrews it says it beautifully. 174 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:24,040 Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw 175 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,680 near to God through Him, since He always lives to make 176 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:31,000 intercession for them. Think about this for a moment. 177 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:37,160 When you are in trouble, when you've messed up, when you've 178 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:41,400 sinned. Yes, Christ atoned for that sin 179 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,480 on the cross, past, present, and future. 180 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:52,840 But in a sense Christ is now our Mediator standing before God the 181 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:58,040 Father and saying as as almost a remembrance, although God 182 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,160 doesn't need to remember because he has perfect memory and he 183 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,400 knows everything. But symbolically, Jesus is 184 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,200 saying I died for them, I died for them. 185 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,080 They're clean, they're they're mine. 186 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,240 You gave them to me. Remember that. 187 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:19,320 Remember that because God is the wrathful God and and sin needs 188 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,520 to be dealt with. But every time the His children 189 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:27,640 sin or our suffering, we can have this picture in our mind 190 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:32,240 that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father ever always 191 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,560 praying for us is what the Bible says. 192 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:39,240 Now let me flip that then. If this is all going on and we 193 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:44,800 see this in this Scripture, my question to you is, do you love 194 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:51,120 people enough around you to go before Jesus and plead to Him on 195 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:56,000 their behalf? I know that we all think about 196 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,440 praying for one another and it's a thing in the Christian life, 197 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,480 you know, as maybe you're new to the faith, then you you, you're 198 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,320 not quite in that prayer life thing. 199 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,160 But as you grow your, your prayer life grows and you start 200 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:08,640 to figure out what am I praying for? 201 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,760 Who am I praying for? And one of the things that we 202 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:17,360 should always have on our prayer list almost every time we go to 203 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:22,320 him, rather than just saying, Lord, do this for me, please 204 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,080 help me, please save me. I know we're, we're, we're a 205 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:29,200 selfish people. I can tend to even lean that 206 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:30,760 way. I want to jump right into all 207 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:32,400 the things that I want in my life. 208 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,920 But there's something about this guy's faith that is an example 209 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,480 that he, he pleads for his servant. 210 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:50,200 Are you pleading for and praying for people in your life when 211 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,800 they're sick, when they're not doing well, when they're 212 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:57,440 struggling financially, when they're struggling in their 213 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:06,000 marriages, You husband, wife, are you regularly praying for 214 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,400 your spouse? I know. 215 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,560 Let me just, I'm going to be honest with you guys and just 216 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:17,560 reveal that we all know that we want to change our spouses, 217 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,280 correct? Be honest. 218 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,640 There's things about them that we wish were different. 219 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,800 And instead of constantly telling them that and trying to 220 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,640 do the work of changing them, why don't we go to the one who 221 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:42,240 can go to the one who will? Or maybe they don't need 222 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:43,840 changing and it's you that needs changing. 223 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:46,760 Just saying. I mean, it's probably a bit of 224 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,920 both on both sides, right? But are we praying for the 225 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:54,720 people that we love? We need to be praying. 226 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,080 And are they in sin? Not just sickness, but are they 227 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,520 in sin? Are you praying for them then, 228 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,360 right? Knowing that you yourself are 229 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:10,880 not without sin. And so as much as we want to get 230 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,320 angry at others and what ends up happening in our own self 231 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,520 righteousness, we forget to pray for those closest to us. 232 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:28,080 Even if they sinned against us, we should be going to God on 233 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:32,360 their behalf. Save them, forgive them, O Lord, 234 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,040 as you've forgiven me. I've done so many things as 235 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,880 well, Lord. And, and so God, you've brought 236 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,240 me out of that. Now please bring them out of 237 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:46,800 that. Faithful friends, appeal to 238 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:51,000 Jesus for one another. That's one thing I see in these 239 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:52,320 verses. But let's move on. 240 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:59,200 I have another point. Humble faith reveres Christ's 241 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,800 authority. It goes on and it says, And he 242 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,240 said to him, I will come and heal him. 243 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:11,480 But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come 244 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,800 under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be 245 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:20,359 healed again. We see the compassion of Jesus 246 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,560 as we saw last week to the leper. 247 00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:29,240 He says I will make you clean, I will do what you've asked. 248 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:33,040 Says the same thing in this one. I will come and heal him. 249 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:36,200 I want to. It is my will. 250 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:43,960 It's his desire. And what we see here though, is 251 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,800 something interesting about this man who who is who is 252 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:54,560 interceding his humility. Here again, contrary to what the 253 00:17:54,560 --> 00:18:00,960 Jewish pals thought, he is not worthy of this gracious act, 254 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:05,200 although it the religious people thought he was. 255 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,840 He says, no, they've got it wrong. 256 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:13,760 I'm not worthy. I am not worthy of Jesus Christ, 257 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:19,040 God in the flesh who stepped down on earth, the sinless 1 to 258 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:24,640 come under my roof. There's something major about 259 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:29,960 that. He's not worthy, but he still 260 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:32,880 wants something done, a good thing done. 261 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:37,320 He's coming, you know, with with good character. 262 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,960 Now I'm going to just give it away and say that this guy has 263 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,760 saving faith and that's what he's representing is saving 264 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,480 faith. So we can call him a Christian 265 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,200 now. And so let's let's look at this 266 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:57,560 scenario. Grace is unmerited favor. 267 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:03,840 It's a gift, OK? He wants to do something nice 268 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:05,720 for other people. He's helped the Jewish people 269 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,360 build their own church so that they could worship. 270 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,040 How does this apply to us? What would be a good 271 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,680 application? You know, maybe it's a church 272 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:22,520 member who is very generous and has outstanding character, 273 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:27,760 humble enough to know that that that that the actions that that 274 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,920 person does doesn't make them worthy of any special privilege 275 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,040 or for that matter, grace from Jesus Christ, right. 276 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:41,600 We all know as Christians that God's salvation is a gift and is 277 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,000 not owed to us. And so therefore, how could we 278 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,240 come in to the House of God or even in our relationships in the 279 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:51,600 world? And when we do the things that 280 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,000 we're just supposed to do because Christ's nature is in 281 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,600 US. Humility. 282 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,680 Remember, Christ was the ultimate humble one as well. 283 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,800 The king of the universe who stepped down to be born like one 284 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,000 of us. That's called the humiliation of 285 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:13,760 Christ. How then can we go around doing 286 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:18,360 good works, having good character and thinking that own 287 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,840 owes us any special privilege or grace? 288 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,760 It doesn't. It's just we're doing what's now 289 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,800 coming out of our new nature, right? 290 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:34,200 We're being generous because Christ was generous, because God 291 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,200 was generous. We're wanting we're praying for 292 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,360 other people, not so that we can earn brownie points with God in 293 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:44,160 heaven. We're praying for other people 294 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,640 because Jesus prays for you and me. 295 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:51,360 We're doing good things. We are serving. 296 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,920 The reason we serve it's it's because we're under the 297 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:05,280 authority of Christ and we're his servants not to gain 298 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,040 anything. This is just who we are. 299 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,720 We fall in line, we're willing to take the marching orders and 300 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,800 do his will because not only is he our master, but we love him. 301 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,160 And he said, if you love me, you keep my commands. 302 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:23,080 And we want to, even though we don't do it perfectly, we want 303 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:27,600 to, right? And now with this guy, as I 304 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:33,240 said, he's a Roman officer, gentile, Roman officer of the 305 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:40,920 army, high-ranking officer, and he has a special place of honor 306 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,640 actually. I mean, the interesting thing 307 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,440 about his humility, we see it in the next verses here. 308 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:52,680 It says for I too, I'm a man under authority with soldiers 309 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,040 under me. And I say to 1 go and he goes 310 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,880 into another, he come and he comes and to my servant do this 311 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:04,040 and he does it. So in his request, humble 312 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,840 request, he recognizes Christ's authority even over his own 313 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:13,960 authority. You know, the military and our 314 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:19,080 and our culture in America, especially in the Christian 315 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:24,040 Church, there are a lot of Christians, men and women that 316 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:29,360 have went and joined and fought and been a part of our military 317 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:32,320 in America. And so then we give them honor 318 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:37,960 and respect, rightfully so. We thank them for the duty that 319 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,320 they've carried out to keep us safe, to keep us in religious 320 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:45,000 freedom in this country so that we can continue to be the light 321 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:52,240 of the world, hopefully. But in all of their 322 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:59,600 accomplishments, they're still unworthy of coming anywhere 323 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,280 close to the Lord Jesus's glory and authority. 324 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,640 Doesn't matter all your the medals and the badges and the 325 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,760 people that were put underneath you, even at your job, if you 326 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,720 want to talk about it like that, if you're a, if you're a leader, 327 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,680 if you're a manager, if you're a business owner, you're a 328 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:19,920 supervisor, whatever it is that maybe you have a pedigree of 329 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:24,560 academics and you've done so much and you've accomplished so 330 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,920 much. All of us probably have things 331 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:33,400 like that in our lives, but what we find is, is that all of those 332 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:39,880 don't bring us any worthiness before Christ, you see, And all 333 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:44,160 of those accomplishments that we have done are only possible 334 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:50,200 because of what Christ has done in US and for us. 335 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:54,040 And it's even his common grace that we're even able to have 336 00:23:54,400 --> 00:24:00,800 gifts and abilities and health to do anything because all the 337 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,440 glory goes to him. The Bible says he's the giver of 338 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:09,160 all perfect gifts. Praise God, from whom all 339 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:18,240 blessings flow. So this Gentile military leader 340 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,200 in the world's greatest army at the time, a free Roman citizen, 341 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:27,200 a man who has household slaves, which means he also has some 342 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:33,680 money, thinks Jesus is so worthy that it's unthinkable that our 343 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,560 Lord should come over and just let himself in. 344 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,640 Because that's what Jesus was going to do, was going to go 345 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,480 into the house and heal him. And this is this is unthinkable. 346 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:52,920 Think about that for a moment. You know, it's like I got this 347 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,480 application from one of my commentaries that says it's like 348 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,400 the Queen of England coming to town, meeting you on the street 349 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,840 and saying, oh, I'll just stay at your house tonight. 350 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,840 What would you say to that? At first, you would be honored. 351 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,320 But then you'd come to your senses and I, I don't care how 352 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,840 upscale your house might be, you would suddenly recognize what a 353 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,200 dump it is, right? And you'd say, oh, she can't 354 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,920 stay here. That is this man's disposition. 355 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,960 But even greater than that, who cares about the Queen of 356 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:37,360 England, right? Compared to the Lord Jesus, he's 357 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,680 unworthy to have royalty. That's he is the king. 358 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,400 That's what Matthew's been setting up this whole time. 359 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:49,040 Jesus is the king of the universe and he is unworthy to 360 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,120 have royalty like this in his own house. 361 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:57,440 That's humility and that's reverence towards his authority. 362 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,800 Here comes that train. This happens every so often. 363 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,920 I make a big deal about it. If I didn't say anything, you 364 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,240 probably wouldn't care. But because I joke about it 365 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:15,800 every time. So a Jew did not enter the House 366 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,080 of a Gentile. Also, this was, you know, kind 367 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:24,640 of an Old Testament rule. Jews weren't supposed to go into 368 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,840 the House of Gentiles. It would make them unclean. 369 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,040 And and this guy somehow knew that because he had been sitting 370 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:36,120 around, probably worshipping with the Jews to some degree 371 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:38,440 because he helped build that temple, he would have heard lots 372 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,560 of teachings. This must be how his faith came. 373 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:47,600 He heard about the Messiah and somehow we know, we talked a 374 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,280 little bit about how salvation works. 375 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,920 It's not just because this guy's wiser than everyone else that he 376 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:59,640 got it and they didn't. But through the power of the 377 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:04,640 Holy Spirit and God, this is this is this man was made for 378 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,400 this moment because God knew this. 379 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:09,640 This story is going to be solidified in Scripture. 380 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:11,600 So we'd be preaching about it today. 381 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:19,640 It didn't happen by random chance, but this man has faith 382 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:25,400 enough to see the authority of Christ and it causes him to view 383 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:30,680 himself in a proper way as well. Even after all of his 384 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:36,760 accomplishments. He recognizes as in this analogy 385 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,800 that he uses, that I have people under me and they do what I say, 386 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:47,280 but even more so you, our Jesus, He's basically confessing that 387 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:51,200 Jesus is the boss on earth who can give commands and they are 388 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:58,760 carried out. Christ can command sickness to 389 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,120 be healed, He can command the dead to be raised, He can 390 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:07,040 command the demons to flee, and he can even command creation to 391 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:09,800 bow. And we will see more of that in 392 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:14,000 this section of Matthew's Gospel. 393 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:19,080 But one of the things, again, that is evident in in the book 394 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,520 of Matthew, the last chapter is something this man sees. 395 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:29,640 But Jesus tells his disciples in the end, all authority in heaven 396 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:34,800 on earth has been given to me and this guy sees it. 397 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,520 Here's the question. How about you? 398 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:47,480 Do you see that authority when you're in a desperate time? 399 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,560 Where do you run? Surely this guy could have went 400 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:57,200 to any number of doctors. He had money, He could have went 401 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,840 anywhere. But he knew only Jesus could 402 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,640 help this man. Only Jesus could fulfill this 403 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:07,840 request. How about you? 404 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:14,400 How about us, right? Is he greater than the advice 405 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,520 that we can get from someone else in a situation in our life? 406 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,000 We're so quick to run to so many other places in the world. 407 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,680 I mean, maybe even taking this back to prayer. 408 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:31,440 How many times do we search Google about a problem before we 409 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,840 dropped our knees? We think Google's pretty 410 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,280 authoritative. And I'll tell you what, it's an 411 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,160 amazing tool. You know, you can ask it 412 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:46,160 questions and it scans the entire interwebs of of 413 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,760 information to pull out a bunch of stuff, right? 414 00:29:52,840 --> 00:30:00,040 But we understand that. But do we understand that God is 415 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,440 so much bigger and greater than that? 416 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,600 He is the authority on every subject in the world. 417 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:11,280 Can we not go to Him in prayer 1st? 418 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,480 And then because what we do first is where we really place 419 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:20,200 our faith right? Even when we trust our own, 420 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,080 when, when something's going wrong in our life, what is it 421 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,240 that we do? What's the first action that we 422 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,640 do? Well, people would say natural 423 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,120 reaction is to jump into action, right? 424 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,200 Some of us or there's fight, flight and freeze, whatever you 425 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,520 want to call it. But so yes, some people get 426 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:42,120 scared, start worrying a lot. Some people start trying to fix 427 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:45,440 problems. You know who you are, right? 428 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,640 And again, that's not a good recipe in marriage when one's 429 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,560 the other and one's that, when you're both opposite, one's the 430 00:30:52,560 --> 00:31:00,480 fixer and one's the I need some time, you know, But just know, 431 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,640 where are we going first? We trying again, trying to tell 432 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,480 them all of our feelings first. Or maybe we all need some time. 433 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,280 The fixer. The fixer first needs to say, 434 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:18,440 man, I need to stop for a minute and I need to talk to the Lord. 435 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,000 And then then if I want to hear him. 436 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,320 And I think that's most people's complaints, but I don't hear 437 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:28,000 something from God right away. Well, that's to build your faith 438 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,600 #1 #2 He's already spoken, and it's in this book. 439 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,200 You want to hear I say this a lot. 440 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,000 You want to hear God speak audibly to you? 441 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:46,080 Read it out loud, right? Everything we need for life and 442 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:51,960 godliness in this book. Where's the authority in your 443 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:57,280 life or yeah, do you think because of your accomplishments 444 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,560 that you can fix this? You can solve this one? 445 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,400 This guy humbly knew he couldn't solve this one with all the 446 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:06,880 authority had, all the accomplishments he had and all 447 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,640 the money he had. He still knew he needed to go 448 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,520 plead with Jesus, cause only Jesus has the power and 449 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,720 authority to change this situation. 450 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,520 All right, my third, then and final point is this. 451 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,280 Salvation by faith alone is marvellous. 452 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:33,760 Let's read on. When Jesus heard this, he 453 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,320 marvelled and said to those who followed him. 454 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:40,400 Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 455 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:45,480 I tell you, many will come from east and West and recline at 456 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,720 table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven, 457 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:53,080 while the sons of the Kingdom will be thrown into out into the 458 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,760 outer darkness. In that place there will be 459 00:32:55,760 --> 00:33:02,520 weeping and gnashing of teeth. Focus on that first sentence for 460 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:08,160 just a moment with me. Jesus marveled. 461 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:16,560 Isn't that interesting? Jesus was amazed, astounded at 462 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:21,520 this guy's faith because of his humility, because of the way he 463 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:27,240 cared selflessly about another person, and ultimately because 464 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,880 of the words he said about Jesus's authority. 465 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:38,320 He, Jesus, knew that this guy knew who he was, which was rare 466 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,320 at this time because the Jewish people couldn't see it. 467 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,000 They were blind, they couldn't see who he was. 468 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:54,800 Wouldn't that be great to think that our faith marvelled Jesus? 469 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,200 You can't say that about everybody in the Bible. 470 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:02,240 It's it's really few and far between that God is kind of 471 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,000 amazed at someone's faith. I believe those examples are 472 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:12,760 there for a couple of reasons. You know, one, to maybe strive 473 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:17,239 for that, have the type of faith that that is marvelous. 474 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:22,199 But secondly, I do think again though, that it's we're not just 475 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:25,280 saying that what this guy has, none of us can have. 476 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:31,719 In fact, faith in general is marvelous to Jesus. 477 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,400 He loves it. It's the only way we can come to 478 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,840 God is through faith, not by our accomplishments, not by our 479 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:42,920 works. And that's really what's being 480 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,880 brought out in this story, as we've seen the the elder Jews 481 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,639 have gotten it wrong. This guy's humility about 482 00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:56,920 himself bringing nothing but only asking by faith. 483 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,320 Jesus is basically saying that this guy's faith surpasses 484 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:10,880 anyone on earth at the time, maybe even compared to his own 485 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,640 disciples. And we know if you know the 486 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,320 Bible man, these guys failed time and time again following 487 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,120 him. They were like doubting him. 488 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:23,120 Peter denied him three times. They didn't really understand 489 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,920 what he was doing. They did enough to follow him, 490 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,640 but it wasn't until later that they got the clearer and fuller 491 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:37,600 picture. This guy ultimately though, his 492 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:44,960 faith is, is is astounding because everybody around him was 493 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,040 rejecting him. It was a very small group of 494 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,760 people that really trusted in Jesus while everybody around him 495 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:58,120 didn't get it. Now, just a little side note. 496 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:00,800 It's interesting to think it's this. 497 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,160 This does not mean that Jesus was surprised. 498 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:09,480 Jesus is God, but as God and man while he was on earth, yes, he 499 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:13,320 has this emotional life with emotional reactions. 500 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:17,680 God has emotions in the Bible, and it's to help us understand, 501 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:21,240 to to relate to God. In fact, we have emotions 502 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:24,680 because God has emotions. Not only has Jesus been 503 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,480 astounded by this guy's faith, but he's also saddened and 504 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:33,000 troubled by the lack of faith in the people around him. 505 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,440 There's a beautiful and yet sad story in John chapter 6 where 506 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:42,920 Jesus starts teaching these hard teachings and it says people 507 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,120 couldn't understand it and they started leaving him. 508 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,640 And Jesus turned to his disciples in a sad moment and 509 00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:54,280 invulnerability even makes me emotional. 510 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,480 But he says, will you leave me to to his own disciples? 511 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:03,320 Jesus experienced emotions in this life and this one in 512 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:06,360 particular, Faith versus lack of faith. 513 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:11,640 Israel lacked any kind of faith that in fact they had it all 514 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:16,880 wrong and they only chose to listen to bits and pieces, but 515 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,440 didn't put it together about the prophecies of the Messiah to 516 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:22,080 come. And Jesus is standing right 517 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:26,120 before them as their Savior, sent to them as the chosen 518 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:31,680 nation, and they're still trying to earn their way. 519 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,880 They're still trying, not seeing that the law was given to them 520 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,320 to show them how sinful they were and how desperate they are 521 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:44,880 and how much they needed Jesus. And So what else do we see then 522 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:50,960 in this passage? He says many will come from east 523 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,600 and West and reclined at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 524 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,920 in the Kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the Kingdom will be 525 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,560 thrown into outer darkness where there will be weeping and 526 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,920 gnashing of teeth. That that passage right there 527 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:06,040 where it says many will come east and West. 528 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:11,480 He's now finally revealing something that was again, it was 529 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,760 in the Old Testament, but they passed it by. 530 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:20,880 This was this was saying that God was now opening up salvation 531 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:28,680 and his his privilege of being a chosen people is now coming not 532 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,800 is not just staying with Israel, but is now opening up to the 533 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,160 whole world. Many will come from the East and 534 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:41,240 the West, from from both sides of the earth, and they will come 535 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:46,400 and recline at table with the forefathers of the faith, the 536 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:51,920 patriarchs of the faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom 537 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:56,280 by the way lived by faith. Abraham is called the father of 538 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,800 faith. The law didn't come till Moses. 539 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:04,360 Abraham in Romans chapter 4 is righteous because of his faith. 540 00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:09,800 It's always been about faith. Yes, God has a standard and a 541 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:16,440 moral law, but it shows us how far we fall short and that by 542 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:22,520 faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ, the one who has come and 543 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:27,440 the one who already died, past tense for us, but for them is 544 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:34,920 going to die for them. Jesus is giving a glimpse of 545 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,520 what the rest of the Old Testament makes so much more 546 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:41,040 clear to us. Paul helps us understand that 547 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:46,760 that because of the rejection of the Jews, this was part of God's 548 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:52,800 plan so that it could be opened up to the rest of the world, and 549 00:39:52,800 --> 00:40:01,120 then that the Gentiles faith us. You and I now make them jealous. 550 00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:05,160 The people that were supposed to be the chosen ones. 551 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:09,200 Romans 930. It says, What shall we say then? 552 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:12,760 That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, 553 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,680 That is a righteousness that is by faith. 554 00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:18,360 But that Israel who pursued a law. 555 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,880 That would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching the 556 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:27,200 law. Romans 910 and 11 paint a 557 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,680 picture of of God's plan of opening up salvation to the 558 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,760 whole world and some parts of it are hard for us to understand 559 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,680 that this was God's eternal plan and this is how in his 560 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:43,920 Providence he's using that Romans 10. 561 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,680 He says, Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for 562 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:50,560 them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that 563 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,200 they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 564 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,760 For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking 565 00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,680 to establish their own, they did not to submit, submit to God's 566 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:04,320 righteousness for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 567 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:10,440 to everyone who believes. This is where we get faith 568 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:12,880 alone. It's all over in Scripture. 569 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,280 God wants us to come to him by faith. 570 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:21,200 This story of the centurion is a Gentile who wasn't even a part 571 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:28,520 of the chosen nation without any of the privileges of God is able 572 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:35,800 to come to him by faith. And as I said in in Romans 11, 573 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,200 this plan, this mysterious plan that God is doing, it says. 574 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,640 So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall? 575 00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:46,480 But by no means. Rather, through their trespass, 576 00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:51,400 salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel 577 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,200 jealous. Why is this significant? 578 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,880 Because without God opening it up to the Gentiles, you and I 579 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:00,360 wouldn't be here in church today. 580 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:04,760 We wouldn't be headed to heaven. We would not have a relationship 581 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:13,600 with Jesus Christ. This is a marvelous truth. 582 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,960 It is also a mysterious one. In fact. 583 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:25,480 First, Peter says this amazing thing in verse 12, chapter one, 584 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:27,320 verse 12. It was revealed to them that 585 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:29,960 they were serving not themselves, but you in the 586 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,280 things that have been announced to you through those who preach 587 00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:36,320 the good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into 588 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:42,000 which angels long to look. Even the angels are astounded at 589 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,680 this whole grace through faith alone in Christ. 590 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:50,840 The Gospel angels are looking at this like wow. 591 00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:00,040 Now we're the chosen race, the royal priesthood, a holy nation 592 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:01,640 of people for his own possession. 593 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:06,040 As Peter goes on to say, this thing's been opened up. 594 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:11,160 All people come to Jesus by faith. 595 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:19,040 Faith is a gift. The Providence of God gets us to 596 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:21,640 this point. And So what do we do with that? 597 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:25,400 Then? We look at each other, we look 598 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,520 at ourselves, and we say, how did I get here? 599 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:30,800 Again, with the humility of the centurion. 600 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:35,480 I don't even know why me? Why did I? 601 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,040 I did? Did I humble myself enough to 602 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:46,280 get to this point? I don't dare to say that grace 603 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:52,880 is a gift, and as Ephesians 2 says, a gift of God so that no 604 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,360 man can boast. So here we are. 605 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,560 We should marvel at the fact that we get to be a part of 606 00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:05,080 this, that we get to know who Jesus is because there are so 607 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:08,200 many people in our world that don't get it. 608 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:15,000 If you're here today, if you don't get it, I would, I would 609 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:21,440 ask you, I would plead with you. Do you see something here that 610 00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:24,400 you haven't quite seen before? Are the words of God starting to 611 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,960 penetrate your Stony, stubborn heart and your mind? 612 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,240 Is God letting you into this marvelous faith? 613 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:39,080 It seems so simple that all I have to do is believe that Jesus 614 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:43,160 came, He died on the cross. I went against God, but that 615 00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:46,200 atoned for everything I've done against God. 616 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:52,600 But yet you haven't come to that point yet of saying Jesus is 617 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:57,640 Lord like this man has. Will you do that today? 618 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:05,040 If you can and if you will, he will answer that prayer and come 619 00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,520 into your life and heart and change you from the inside out. 620 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:11,360 As the story ends, it says into the centurion Jesus said go, let 621 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:13,880 it be done for you as you have believed. 622 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:16,600 And the servant was healed at the very moment. 623 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:23,440 The main idea what can we learn from this miracle? 624 00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:28,360 The speech story as as it is called, we ought to be praying 625 00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:32,920 for those that we love, not just for their physical bodies, but 626 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:37,280 for their souls also. And no matter what we've 627 00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:40,520 accomplished in this life, Jesus Christ has accomplished so much 628 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:44,600 more and has earned his place of authority in everyone's lives. 629 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:50,120 There's no excuse. Nobody can say that Jesus Christ 630 00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,320 hasn't earned the position as Lord. 631 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:55,960 It's just, will you submit to it? 632 00:45:57,160 --> 00:46:00,840 And lastly, we come, we must come to him in faith to receive 633 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:02,840 the marvellous benefits of the gospel. 634 00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:07,640 This thing that we can't earn and we don't deserve, yet we're 635 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:13,240 going to be transferred from from earth to heaven one day in 636 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:17,720 perfection because of nothing we did but by faith alone. 637 00:46:23,670 --> 00:46:25,470 Where do you stand on this today? 638 00:46:27,350 --> 00:46:32,230 You have a marvelous faith. I pray you do. 639 00:46:32,790 --> 00:46:37,910 Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you again for your 640 00:46:37,910 --> 00:46:41,190 word. Thank you for all that you've 641 00:46:41,190 --> 00:46:50,960 done for us by revealing the truth to us, by sending your son 642 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:58,120 to die for us. Help us Father, in our faith. 643 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:04,000 We have weak faith at times. Help us to be strengthened 644 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:07,000 today. Even why we gather on the Lord's 645 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,440 Day to be filled up so that we can be strengthened for the rest 646 00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:13,360 of the week. Help that be today. 647 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:18,480 Moving forward. Help all of us to walk out of 648 00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:25,000 here full and rich so that we can go on to please you, to love 649 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:29,040 other people, to do your will and to make you famous. 650 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:33,080 I pray in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. 651 00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:34,000 Did you stand and see?