It's wonderful to be here with all of you today.
In looking out over our audience, it looks like we have
several of our members that are missing today.
They're travelling and in other places or some are ill, but we
have some visitors here that are among us too.
And we're so thankful for your presence.
And some are travelling from other congregations stopping
with us to worship here today. And some folks are from the
community. And we want you to know that you
are our honored guest if you consider yourself a visitor here
today. As always is the case, I do
consider it a privilege and an honor to speak concerning the
Word of God. I hope and pray that everything
that we have to consider here for a little while this morning
would be edifying to you and encouraging to you in some way.
We're continuing our series in the Gospel according to Matthew,
and we just finished a year and a half long series on the
greatest sermon ever preached, Matthew 5-6 and seven, the
Sermon on the Mount. It was the Lord's masterpiece.
We learned all kinds of stuff about the Sermon on the Mount.
And last time I began in chapter 8 as Jesus continues his work,
his Galilean ministry, and he does so by performing miracles.
And you remember last time we talked about the first one that
Matthew records, and that is when Jesus cleansed a leper and
the significance of that miracle.
You remember also that we made the point that there's actually
a connection or some similarities between how leprosy
is viewed in the Bible and they're similar to how sin is
viewed in the eyes of God. For example, leprosy is as
disgusting for a person to look upon as it is for God to look
upon sin. The point is, there's a
difference between leprosy and sin.
And here it is. You remember from last time,
leprosy attacks an innocent victim, but sin is a choice.
And even though in our life we may have been a victim of some
circumstance or of some sort in our life, it doesn't give us
justification to make bad or sinful choices for the rest of
our life. We learned a great deal about
that miracle Jesus performed so long ago.
Now he comes to number 2, the second miracle as recorded by
Matthew, and that is when Jesus is going to heal a centurion's
servant. Now, if you look at these verses
and you know me and those of you that do, there's no way that I
can do an expository sermon on that many verses and cover it in
one lesson. I can't hit every single point.
I just can't. That's not the way I am.
So there's going to be some things that I'm going to narrate
earlier on in this story when Jesus heals this man and the
significance of it will make some points.
And then we'll dive in from verses 10 on a little bit deeper
in the application, and we'll make that application today.
But let's just go back and begin in Matthew chapter 8 and verse
5. The Bible says when Jesus had
entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him pleading with him.
First of all, I'm going to talk to you about Capernaum for just
a moment. Capernaum is one of the most
significant cities in the Galilean ministry of Jesus.
It was located or situated on the western shore of the Sea of
Galilee. It actually became his home
instead of Nazareth. In fact, the Bible says in
Matthew Chapter 9 and verse one this place was called his own
city. It was a very significant place.
It was a place, I guess you might say, that became really
the closest thing that the Lord had to a permanent place on
earth. And we know he did not have a
permanent place on earth. His permanent dwelling place is
in heaven. But for a brief stay, the
closest thing that he could actually call home at this
particular point in his ministry was the place called Caperna.
It's a place where Peter lived. It's a place where there was a
synagogue and Jesus preached in those synagogues.
It was a place that he performed many miracles and he did so
every day. But very sadly.
Please get this. Because of their unbelief.
Yes, because of their unbelief. We're going to talk about
unbelief in this lesson a little bit.
Because of their unbelief, this once ancient, beautiful city was
destroyed as Jesus promised that it would.
I actually read that today in the city of Capernaum, the only
thing that remains are some ruins of a few houses and I
don't know if this is true, but this is free as my father-in-law
would say. This is no charge on this.
Some say or tradition says that one of the houses whose ruins
are there was Peter's. I don't know if that's true or
not, but that's what they say. I also read that there's only
one synagogue left in the city of Capernaum.
It was completely destroyed as Jesus said that it would.
It was this place that this man came to Capernaum, and there was
a man by the by a by as referred to as a centurion.
And he comes to him and he's pleading with Jesus.
Who was the centurion? First of all, the word centurion
is the title of one of the officers of a Roman legion.
The word literally means a ruler of 100.
He was a man of prestige. He was a man of power.
I actually read that centurions were the moral fibre of the
army. They also had to possess the
qualities and the capabilities to fight and the capabilities to
command and the capabilities to lead in peacetime operations.
Quite an important man, this centurion that comes to Jesus.
I like what one man said, though he says that beyond, what beyond
went beyond? This man's military prowess
though was greater. His arm was mighty.
But his heart was kind. Luke said that he loved the
Jewish people and he loved their nation and even personally built
them a synagogue as found in Chapter 7 of Luke one through 5.
He was a man that was not a. Full Jewish proselyte.
Now, what is a Jewish proselyte? A Jewish proselyte is someone
that is a gentile by blood. And by the way, that's, I think
everybody in this room, unless you're Jewish by blood.
And I don't think there is anyone here, but if there is,
I'm sorry. I missed you.
A Jewish proselyte is a gentile, which is anyone else but a
Jewish person by blood that was converted to the religion of
Judaism. This gentile man was obviously a
man of God, or obviously a God fearing man I might say, but he
wasn't a full proselyte. He was probably like Cornelius
as described in Acts chapter 10. OK, he's a man of great
authority, but he recognizes something very important.
Please get this. He knows he's very important.
He knows he's got a lot of authority.
He knows he's got a lot of power.
But he sees Jesus and he recognizes Jesus is greater than
I am. You know, I think that's a great
picture there. I don't care who you are.
I don't care where you come from.
I don't care if you're the president of the United States.
You know, the leader of the free world is the most powerful man
on earth. They say, I don't care who you
are or where you came from, Jesus is greater than you.
This was a man that had 100 people to his subordinate and he
was leading 100 men. He was a very powerful man, but
he recognized Jesus was greater than he was.
And he comes to Jesus and he pleads with him.
Now verse six, he says, Lord, my servant is lying at home
paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. I want to talk about the word
Lord for just a moment, please. When you look at the word Lord
in the Gospels, it is not necessarily the word Lord that
we use when we describe our Lord and Savior.
In fact, the word comes from the original word D de scalos, and D
de scalos is translated in three different English words.
It's translated Lord, it's translated Master, and it's
translated Servant. In the New Testament.
One scholar said, if you want to notice what our common
vernacular might call that word Lord that this man uses, it
would be the term of respect that we often refer to as Sir.
So he didn't necessarily recognize Jesus as Lord and
Savior. What did he recognize?
That Jesus was a man to be respected.
Jesus was a powerful man and he had the ability to heal his
servant just like that leper did before.
OK, interesting observation though if you look at the New
Testament and you read when the Bible describes the Roman
centurions, every one of them is described in a favorable way.
You know when Jesus was hanging on the cross and the earth did
quake? And all the events that happened
surrounding the cross and Jesus is at the cross.
Do you remember that centurion at the foot of the cross?
What did he say? Matthew's account says this.
He says truly, this was the Son of God referred to as a
favorable way here. This man is referred to in a
favorable fashion too. And it's I think it's kind of
interesting. And this is maybe me just
speculating, but I kind of think maybe these men became believers
in Jesus and followed Jesus as they should.
The man comes to Jesus. He says, Lord, my servant is
lying at home, paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.
The word servant means young child.
And I got to make a couple of points here because anybody here
that's seen the movie The Chosen knows exactly what I'm about to
say. So let's just go through this
and let's find out who their servant could have been, might
have been, and in all practicality was according to
the scriptures and not Hollywood's license.
OK, let's stick to the scriptures.
He comes to him and Matthew uses the word servant.
It's this word here in the original, and it means young
child. OK, so the first thing that you
might think is he was a young child.
However, not so fast, many scholars say, including brought
us that the word here in its origins that is translated young
child can refer to any servant or any slave of any age.
So that's what we know for certain.
What else? How about Luke's account?
Luke uses a different word when it says my servant.
Luke uses this word. It's the word doulos and it
means a slave. Whoever this was, he was a
slave, OK? It's very possible, some
scholars say, that he was born into the family of the
Centurion, and that's the reason for the great connection.
Here's what. They did in the chosen because
of this, because he could have been a young child, because he
was probably born into the family of the centurion.
This is the Hollywood license that they took.
They said he was the centurion son and the centurion son came
as the product or as the offspring of a adulterous
relationship that the centurion may have had with a female slave
and therefore this was his own son and that was the reason that
he loved. Him so very much.
I don't read that in the Bible. That's a stretch.
I guess anything's possible, but I don't read that.
What I read is this. This was a man that was strong
mightily, but he had a kind heart and he loved this servant.
He loved this slave. He was a treasured member of his
household. OK, then the Bible says he was
paralyzed. You know, some say that this was
this meant that he had spinal meningitis.
Some say it was a progressive paralysis with respiratory
spasms or even tetanus. Whatever it was, Jesus says I
will come and I will heal him. I think these are beautiful
words and they show the concern that the Lord has, and it shows.
It reveals also that Jesus is always willing to help those who
cannot help themselves. That's the Lord that we serve.
In other words, He's willing not only to grace the presence of
the centurion's home, but also he's willing to bring his power
and he's willing to heal him. But I've got to make a point
here. Jesus is not going to impose His
will on the home of the centurion, OK?
He never says I will come to your house and heal him until
he's invited. You see the picture there?
Jesus will never enter your home until he's invited.
Jesus will never enter your heart until he's invited.
The Bible says he's standing and he's knocking.
Like that song we used to sing. He's knocking at your heart's
door. The door knob of that door is on
your side on your heart. You have to open it.
Jesus never imposes his will. And if you want Jesus in your
home, and you want Jesus in your life and you want Jesus in your
heart, you got to. Open it and invite him in.
We're going to talk about how you do that, not generically,
specifically later on, but you have to open it.
You have to invite him in. There's another time when Jesus
was the morning of the resurrection.
In Luke chapter 24, Jesus meets with those two disciples on the
road to Emmaus, that little village, and they travelled
about 7 miles. And Jesus allows them to
unburden their aching hearts, and then he begins to preach
himself from the Old Testament scriptures to them.
They had no idea at the time that it was Jesus.
And finally, what did they say? Didn't our hearts burn within us
when he showed up? The scriptures, the things about
himself along the way, powerful thing.
They were moved by the Word of God.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Great picture there. What happens when they got to
Emmaus? They arrived at Emmaus and the
Bible says Jesus acts as though he's going to keep on walking on
by and they peeled off like they were going to their home in that
village. And what did they do?
The Scripture says they compelled him to go with them.
Jesus wasn't going to impose himself.
They had to ask. They had to want.
Jesus. And it was only after the
centurion's request that Jesus says I will come and heal him.
But the centurion said this, he said, wait a minute, I'm not
worthy. I'm not worthy that you should
even come into my home. I know that you're a man of
authority though, and I know that you could speak the word
and my servant will be healed, he said.
I know that because I'm a man of authority too.
He said. I can say to this servant over
here go. I can say to that servant over
there come, I can tell somebody what to do and they will do it.
He said so I know that you could speak those words, and my
servant will be healed. Now verse 10, here's the
response. Now we're going to begin our the
last part of our lesson and we'll get deeper into these
things here. When Jesus heard it, he
marvelled. You know, it's amazing to me
when I looked at this. Who are we talking about here?
We're talking about Jesus. We're talking about the Son of
God. And you know, when the Bible
talks about Jesus as the Son of God, it means he was fully
divine. Our Messiah was fully divine.
You know what that means? Means he knows everything.
So how is it possible that someone that knows everything
that's fully divine was at the very beginning of creation and
everything that was created, He was there helping to create.
He was spotless, He was sinless, He was all those things, and yet
in a physical sense, he marvelled.
That is amazing to me, but I love it.
You know why? Because not only was Jesus the
Son of God, which means he's fully divine, it also says he's
the Son of man, which means he's fully human.
Didn't mean he had earthly parents, meant he was fully
human. So our Messiah that we love,
that we serve, that died for our sins is such not only fully
divine, but he's fully human. And he felt all the emotions
that even me and you had. Can you imagine that?
Here it is. You got this centurion.
And he says, no, I'm not worthy. You should come into my house to
speak the words. And he's shocked at that.
He marvels at that of this man's faith.
He possessed that human emotion, and because of that he was
suddenly surprised at such a demonstration of his faith.
And then he says this. And he said to those who
followed, assuredly, I say to you, I have not found so great
faith not. Even in Israel now please get
this. Think about all the Jewish
people that would have heard what Jesus said.
And you know what he's saying. He was saying that Roman
Gentile. Is greater than them.
I haven't even seen that great a faith that this Roman Gentile
had. I haven't seen it in all of
Israel. And by the way, think about how
Israel felt about the Gentiles. They hated the Gentiles.
You know why? Because under the Old Testament
law, the Jews were God's chosen people.
The Gentiles were considered among the heathen and we're
going to get into actually the mindset in the thought process
that the Jewish people actually had about Gentiles.
That's why I love this. That's why they had no clue.
They had no idea. But Ephesians chapter 3 says
that it was always God's plan, just not revealed yet.
It was always God's plan that Jewish people that are faithful
believing Christians and Gentile people that are faithful
believing Christians are those that are going to be in one body
and they're going to be in the one saved body.
And that is the body of Christ, of the church, the Kingdom.
Wow, that is wonderful. But you know what they thought
about the Gentiles. They're.
Rotten. We don't like those guys.
You know what Jesus says? I haven't even found so great a
faith as that Roman centurion Gentile.
I haven't found such great faith, no, not even in Israel.
Now, by the way, this in a magnified sense is a
condemnation of Israel itself. It really is even the Jews in
Israel. It's a comic condemnation of
Israel itself. And here's why it's true.
And we know that, that most Jewish people living under the
Jewish religion back then and still today do not recognize
Jesus Christ as the Messiah. That's a fact.
There were many times when Jesus was walking on the face of the
earth that people thought he was a good man, but they didn't
think he was the Messiah. The messianic prophecy that goes
all the way back to the Old Testament, what do they want?
They wanted a Messiah. They just missed the one they
got. They rejected the one that they
got. They thought he was going to
establish an earthly Kingdom and finally lift the oppressive
thumb of Rome and get that off their back.
And it was going to be more of a political, worldly thing, right
They. Misunderstood.
They misunderstood about the Messiah.
Many Jews back then didn't accept him as the Messiah, and
many Jews even today do not accept Jesus as the Messiah.
That's point #1. Here's point #2.
Some Jews believe then, and some Jews don't believe today.
Or some Jews believe today. Some believe then, some believe
today, right? But what's different?
They lack, many lack the commitment to Jesus, the
reverence for Jesus, the humility it takes to come to
Jesus, and they lack what this man had.
I think this is beautiful because this was a man that
didn't have the privileges of all the aspects of Judaism.
He didn't have those privileges. He didn't know about that.
And by the way, you know what else he didn't know?
This is amazing. They didn't know all the
prophecies of the Messianic Kingdom.
They didn't know anything about that.
He knew nothing about that. And yet he has greater faith
than all the Jews. As a result, Jesus says, I've
never seen anyone like him. And the Jews were originally
God's people. They were the ones for whom the
Messiah first was sent, but I love this.
Ultimately Jesus came for the entire world and his account
encounter with this Gentile hints of the universality of the
Messianic Kingdom. Notice Matthew chapter 8 and
verse 11. Here's what I mean and I say to
you that many will come from the east and the West.
That's amazing. He's telling them, if you can
just imagine how they feel about this, I haven't seen anyone like
this Roman gentile in all of Israel.
Then he said this. I say to you that many will come
from the East and the West. Who's that?
Who are those that comes from the East and the West?
I'm going to tell you the ones that come from the east and the
West. That's me and you.
That's the Gentiles, what they thought about the Messianic
Kingdom and what they thought about God's relationship with
man and what they thought about Judaism.
What he's saying is this, you're mistaken and you're wrong.
I'm telling you this, there's going to be those that come from
the East and the West. That's Gentiles.
That's me and you, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the Kingdom of heaven. Let me give you some Bible about
that. Acts 13 to 46 Then Paul and
Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of
God should be spoken to you first.
Who is that? That's the Jewish people.
OK, but since you, the Jewish people, rejected it and noticed
this phrase and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we
beat we. Turn to the Gentiles.
Now I got to make a point of clarification here, because
guess what? Nobody's worthy.
Nobody is worthy of everlasting life.
That's true. That's why we are saved by
grace, which is unmerited favor, which is a gift that you don't
deserve. God gives us what we don't
deserve, and that is grace or eternal life when we obey Him.
And God doesn't give us what we do deserve.
That's mercy, and that's to be. Lost when we obey Him, He
doesn't give us that. He shows us mercy, right?
So if nobody's worthy and the Bible says there's none,
righteous, No, not one, what does this phrase right here
mean? You judge yourself unworthy of
everlasting life. Here's the answer.
The answer is found in this passage.
Those that reject it judge themselves unworthy of
everlasting life. The flip side of that is this.
Still saved by grace, still a gift, unmerited favor.
But the flip side of this is if those that reject it deem
themselves unworthy of everlasting life, then the
opposite is those that accept it judge themselves.
Worthy of everlasting life, not based on our own merits.
It just means this. You're a candidate for
everlasting life when you accept it and accept the terms.
Paul and Barnabas talked boldly to the Jews and said this and
says, because you have rejected it and judged yourself unworthy
of everlasting life. Then he says, we turned to the
Gentiles. OK, The Jews, by the way, are
descendants of Abraham. And what he's saying though is
this. He's saying that non Jews will
take precedence at the Messianic banquet.
And that's when he says right here, this phrase will sit down
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven.
The phrase sit down actually means this.
It means to recline as at a banquet table.
You know, this phrase or this term actually initiated with the
Persians or this concept here. It was later adopted by the
Greeks and the Romans and also the Jews.
And it's referring to leaning back or reclining on someone at
a low table. At a banquet.
That's what it's referring to, interestingly, But it's
interesting in the Scriptures how things have changed.
Jesus is using this phraseology right here of sitting down,
meaning this is a good thing, this is coming to the banquet
feast. This is talking about heaven,
and they're going to be reclined in heaven and have a place of
celebration and a place of rest and all that.
But that word, or that phraseology in its origins,
really had a negative connotation going back to the
Old Testament. It was used to describe people
that were lazy. By the way, I got to tell you,
God has never appreciated laziness or sluggard or somebody
that didn't take care of their responsibilities.
Amos refers to the same phraseology as.
Being at ease at Zion, it's the same kind of concept, same kind
of thing. So what once was a very negative
connotation, it had changed in time.
And Jesus is using this sitting down, which is this reclining at
a banquet table to describe what it's going to be like in heaven
one day. Brought us said it this way.
The person reclined, leaning on his left elbow so as to take
food from the table with his right hand, while the feet
extended obliquely to the outside of the couch.
Thus the feet could be washed while one was reclining.
What he's saying is many are going to come from the east and
the West and are going to have this position in heaven, and
they're going to be with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the
Kingdom of heaven. In other words, this really
shocked. Them.
You know why? You know what they thought?
They thought that it was the Jews themself that we're going
to be with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all those heroes under
Jewish faith, and they were going to be the ones that were
going to be there. You know what Jesus says, Not
you. No, it's going to be those from
the East and the West. It's going to be those Gentiles
or believing Christians. OK, something else too that they
believed. And I thought this was
interesting. I didn't know this and study
this, but I thought it was interesting.
I'm going to share it with you. One of the greatest.
Things that they believed or felt.
And I'm talking about the Jewish people that thought that they
were going to get to go to heaven, right?
One of the greatest things that they felt is not.
Only were they going to enjoy being in the presence of God and
the presence of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the heroes and
all that stuff, right There was more.
One of the great blessings to a Jewish person was.
They were going to be there and the Gentile would not be there.
That's a terrible attitude. I got to tell you something.
I've tried to do my best to devote my life to preach in the
gospel, and I know what the Word of God says in order for a
person to be saved, and I'm going to preach that for the
rest of my life. But I'm going to tell you
something. If God decided to change his
mind and let everybody in, I'm good with that.
If that's what God chooses to do, He says he won't do that.
But if he did, if he decided to let everybody.
And anyone into heaven, I'm not going to have a.
Problem with that, what the Jews thought is the Jews thought is
we're getting in and they're not, and they took great pride
in that. That's a terrible attitude to
have. I don't think we should ever
have the mindset or the attitude that we're going to be glad that
we're saved and somebody's lost. I think that is a terrible
attitude. We should never have the
attitude that somebody else or be happy that somebody else has
lost and didn't make it. In fact, I read something about
the 23rd Psalm. You know, the 23rd Psalm.
It says thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies. That's a beautiful thing, right?
You know what Jewish rabbis interpreted that passage to mean
right here? This is what they actually
believe It to me that a table is going to be spread exclusively
for the Jews within sight of the Gentile enemies, leaving these
outcasts to watch. And shame.
And in anger. Jesus says no, anyone that comes
to Jesus, we'll get to that in a minute.
No matter who you are or where you're from, Those Gentiles in
particular are going to be reclining with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven.
And then he says about what the fate they're going to go
through. And here it is in the next
verse. But the sons of the Kingdom will
be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. What is that?
Here's another shockwave that ripples through the crowd as
he's concluding this particular narrative.
And that is this. Not only are the Gentiles going
to get into heaven, but the Jews, the sons of the Kingdom.
By the way, that is a phrase that is used, a common Hebrew
idiom referring to Abraham's legal descendants.
In other words, what he's saying is this.
Abraham's legal descendants are not getting in.
You know why? You know why?
Because you can't go to heaven without Jesus.
Anybody got a problem? With that, Jesus says no one
comes into the Father except through me.
So I don't care how good they thought they were under the law
of Moses, if you can't go to Jesus, you can't go to heaven.
So what he's saying is the Gentiles that accept Jesus,
they're going to get in, but the sons of the Kingdom or those
that were legal descendants of Abraham that reject Jesus, they
are not getting in. The Lord's point is this.
Abraham's true descendants are those who combine a faith in
Christ with good works. John chapter 8 and 39, they
answered and said to him, Abraham is our father.
Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do
the works of Abraham. Here's another passage,
Galatians 3:00 and 9:00. So then those who are of faith
are blessed with believing Abraham.
Who's going to be blessed? Those of faith, the sons of the
Kingdom that reject Jesus. What's going to happen?
They'll be cast into outer darkness.
You know, these next two statements are some of the
saddest statements in the Bible. And I promise you something when
I'm done with this lesson, I'm going to tell you some good
stuff. But right now I got to come to
this part of this verse and I got to tell you some bad stuff.
In particular, and in the context, Jesus was saying that
those in the Kingdom or. Those sons of the Kingdom, those
Jews that rejected Jesus, they're going to be cast out
into outer darkness. That is a picture of you know
what it is? It's hell, it's what it is.
They're going to be lost. The point is God severely
punishes. Please get this.
God severely punishes those who reject His Son.
Can you imagine how it must be in the eyes of God?
By the way, I'm not God and I do believe that Bible passage.
It says that God's thoughts are not my thoughts, His ways are
not my ways, and he's so much higher than me.
I'm nothing in the eyes of God. I'm nothing compared to God, but
I can just. Picture in my human mind.
As somebody that actually is a parent and a father, and I can
kind of relate in one aspect when I do something for my
children. And then they decide to reject
it. That's painful.
Can you imagine how it is for God, who is so much superior to
me and who has done greater things for His children than I
could ever do for anyone in this world by sending Jesus to die
for our sins? What?
Do you think God thinks when He looks down and sees people
reject him or looks down and sees people that turn their back
on Him and stop serving him? How must that feel to God?
We had a great Bible study this last week and you know the older
I get I think I've changed how I feel about things.
I remember we used to have singings here at Plans Rd.
Many of you have. Go back that far and you will
remember when a brother used to sit right here, when the one of
the great song leaders in our congregation set right here.
And I remember he would get up during our singings, lead a
song, and then he would stop and say, wouldn't it be great if the
Lord came back right now? And I used to think that's a
wonderful concept. And I do believe that we long
for the coming of Jesus. But the older I get, I want
Jesus to come back. Yeah, that's true.
But not now. And I'm going to tell you why.
Stay with me. I haven't got off the
reservation because I know that there are people that are not
living right that still have good, honest hearts, and I want
God to give them time. I know about that personally.
I also know there's a lot of people in this world that are
wonderful people that don't know Jesus, but they're wonderful
people with great hearts. I want God to give them time
too. I used to preach a sermon and I
used to make the point, if the Lord came back today, would he
be an intrusion in your life? And I still believe that there's
a difference between, by the way, having the Lord come back
and not wanting the Lord to come back because I just got a lot of
stuff to do. I got a lot of worldly stuff I
want to do and participate in or whatever it is.
There's a big difference between that and wanting the Lord to
tarry because there are good, honest souls that still need to
come back. Big difference.
I longed for the time when the Lord had come back, but I want
Him to come back at a time when He gets us all.
That's what I want. It's in His hands, only God
knows. And by the way, one final thing,
I'll slip it in. This is this is me.
This is my opinion. I think there's a reason why the
Bible says that God is the only one that knows when God, when
Jesus is going to come back. Only God knows Jesus is my
Father only, not the angels in heaven.
I think there's a reason you've heard me say it before.
I'm going to say it again. I think the.
Reason is, is because God hasn't made that determination of when
that's going to be yet because there are still good, honest
hearts. What did God do in the Old
Testament? When God was done, He was done.
He destroyed the world with the flood, He destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah. He said I won't, I won't destroy
it. If there's just 10 righteous
souls, I'll spare it for 10 righteous.
But there wasn't. When God's done, he's done.
I don't care what people try to tell us about how this world's
going down the hill and this country's gone.
Whatever you want to say, hey, man, it ain't as bad as it once
was and we can look optimistically to the future and
take the gospel to good, honest people hear Jesus talking about
the lake of fire, but you know what Jewish tradition, they
didn't get it. They.
Didn't understand this. You know what the Jews thought
he said. The sons of the Kingdom that
reject Jesus going to go to outer darkness.
What they believed, according to Edersheim is Jewish tradition
maintained that the Gentiles will be consigned to the darkest
valley of Hinnom. By the way, that is a city waste
dump where fires burned all the time.
It was a city waste up where things were thrown there and so
forth, just like a dumped wood and fires burned all the time,
right? OK, That is the picture of what
Gehenna hell is, the lake of fire.
Jewish sinners, this is what they believed.
Because of the merit of circumcision, they will be
delivered from this awful place. In other words, because of the
covenant of circumcision under the old law of Moses, it didn't
matter what they did therein is. That what Jesus just said.
Jesus says the opposite. And at the judgement, evil doers
will be banished from the light of God's presence.
And then I want to notice this last phrase here.
They'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Weeping is in contrast to happiness.
It is the messianic feast happy, the banquet happy, joyful.
Opposite of that outer darkness weeping.
You ever notice about this phrase gnashing of teeth?
I used to think it meant it's going to be so painful.
It's kind of like if you've ever had to endure any pain you ever
had any pain. Hurts.
Yeah.
And you grimace. OK.
I used to think that's what it means, not what it means.
The phrase gnashing of teeth is not referring necessarily to
pain. It's referring to anger.
Can you imagine somebody that
falls into the category being an outer darkness?
They're going to be weeping and anger.
Why is that? When you arrogantly assume that
your fate is sealed for good, and you find out that it is not,
and it's because of what you. Did.
Wow. That is a fate that I did to
myself when the Lord said to obey and then I decide not to
and I don't make it. That is a fate that I did to
myself and I got what was coming to me.
If I make heaven, it's not going to be what was coming to me.
It's going to be a gift. OK, but if I don't make heaven,
it's my fault. It is my fault.
And I think really when the Bible says it's worse for
someone that once knew and left, I think the phraseology just
means this. I don't think the punishments
worth worse. I think the mindset to know for
eternity, it didn't have to be that way.
I think that's what that means. If you don't know what you don't
know, then you don't know what you don't know.
But if you didn't know and then you rejected it, you're going to
know for eternity and then you're going to want one more
day. Unfaithful Jewish people moan
because of their self-inflicted faith.
Fate, the invitation they arrogantly assume is in the
mail, as one man said, is in reality delivered to the
faithful. This phrase right here, gnashing
of teeth, is referring to anger. Let me just give you a couple of
scriptures about that. In Job 16 and 9.
He tears me in his wrath and hates me.
He gnashes at me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his gaze
on me. OK, remember when Stephen was
about to be stoned to death and Stephen is standing there and
Stephen looks up into the heavens and he says, I see Jesus
standing on the right head of God.
They were so angry. You know what they did when they
heard these things? They were cut to the heart.
And they gnashed at him with their teeth.
Didn't bite him. Didn't he go bite him?
Nashed at him with their teeth. Anger, anger, quite a quite a
contrast between being lost being the sons of the Kingdom
were the Jewish people that rejected Jesus and those that
come from the east and the West that come to Jesus.
Now I'm going to say Jesus specifically was talking about
Jewish people and them being lost.
But folks, I got to say it. The same fate is true for
anyone. Regardless of what your blood
type is, regardless of where you came from, your nationality, if
you reject Jesus, it's the same thing.
Let's talk about something happy.
Now. You know Jesus talks about
heaven as a banquet in the marriage of the King's son.
It's beautiful. In the marriage of the King's
son, he talks about a banquet, a banquet feast.
I've thought about that throughout the years, and I've
thought about, I mean, me or you.
It's so far removed from our lives to go to the King's palace
that that's a whole nother group of people.
I don't even know how to say it. And maybe the only thing that we
would ever see from a King's palace is maybe from a distance,
maybe from a distance looking through those gates and looking
into the beautiful landscaping. But from a distance, when I
think about the King's palace that the Lord refers to
metaphorically, I think about it from a literal standpoint.
And I think about that is so far removed from our lives, that
concept. But just picture this.
What if one day, what if one day you got an invitation and it
wasn't to go get get a tour at the King's palace, It was to sit
at the King's table. I can't even imagine what that'd
be like. I bet we'd go out and get the
best clothes we could possibly afford.
If we didn't have them, we'd rent them because we're going to
the marriage of the King's son. We're going to sit at a banquet
and eat with the king. And maybe on that day that we
got there, and it was the night of that feast, maybe we got up
to those gates and we looked into those gates that we once
peered through from a distance. But this time it's different.
Maybe. Now we stood before those gates
and they open wide, and then the King's servants are lined up on
the right and on the left, and they're bowed down before us.
It's different tonight. Then here comes a servant and
grabs us by the hand and leads us through the gates.
And the first thing that we do is we look at our clothes that
we once thought were good enough for the occasion.
We realize they're nothing but filthy rags.
Then here comes another servant, and the servant hands us a
wedding garment and we put it on, and it's the most beautiful
thing we've ever seen. And right then and there, for
the very first time, we say I belong.
I belong here. And then maybe the servant takes
us to the doors of the banquet room.
The doors are even beautiful. Even the door knob is solid gold
and the doors swing open wide and we look inside and it's a
place of light. It's a place of beauty.
It's a place of warmth and fellowship.
And we go inside and we go to a seat that is taken to, we're
taken to that place and our name is written down.
You know why? Because we were invited and a
spot was reserved for us. That's my spot.
And I sit down and you sit down and then we look out and we try
to look at those that were there too.
Other people. You know what we find?
Hey, there's a there's a lame man over there.
There's a fellow over there. He's groping because he's blind.
He's trying to find his spot. And finally, everybody gets
seated and you look around and you wonder where are all the
people that didn't make it? Where's the doctors of the law?
Where are the scribes and the Pharisees?
Where's all the religious, Jewish religious elite?
Where are they? They weren't there.
You know why? 2 reasons.
They either rejected the invitation altogether or they
just didn't have time. I'm going to tell you something,
folks. The picture of that representing
the banquet in heaven is similar, but here's where it's
different. When you get the wedding garment
and you. Enter in to that feast.
You won't be blind anymore. You won't be lame.
You'll be perfect. We won't be having brothers miss
services today because tomorrow or the next day he's getting a
pacemaker or one that's already had one.
We won't have people that are battling.
Cancer. We won't have people that have
other. Ailments.
It won't be there on our. Own the.
Filthy rags that we wear, we're not worthy.
But when you put on the wedding garment, you belong, and you
put. On that wedding garment when
you're. Baptized into Jesus Christ for
their mission of your sins when you become.
A child of God, an obedient. Child of God, you can't do it on
your own way. A place of warmth.
One final thing. The thing that made all of.
These people that made it into the banquet room.
Here's the criteria. They were invited and they came.
Jesus. In verse 13 heals this man, he
heals him from his sin, the centurion.
Servant healed the servant. From his illness, in the same
way Jesus heals us from our sin too.
But here's the invitation you got to hear the word of God.
Romans 10/17 So faith comes. By hearing and hearing by the
word of God. We've done that today.
But upon hearing the word of God, you got a choice.
Jesus said this. You got to believe with all your
heart. Hebrews 11 and 6.
Without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. Then what?
You got to repent of your sins? Acts 17 and 30.
Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands
all men everywhere to repent. Now what?
After you take those steps, you're a fit.
Candidate to do this, and that is to make the greatest
confession you will ever make, and that's confessing Jesus
Christ as the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if
you believe with all your heart, you may.
And he answered, said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God. Now these steps are leading
toward or pointing to the point of salvation.
But please get this the point of salvation.
Is. This be baptized for the
remission of your sins Mark 1616.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved he who does not
believe will be condemned. Is baptism essential to be
saved? I didn't say it The word of God
does first Peter 321 the light figure where in the even baptism
does also now save us, not the. Putting away the filth of the
flesh. But the answer of a good
conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What else? What happens when you take those
steps of obedience and become a child of God?
And what happens when their sin becomes in your life?
Then what Bible? Says what we do.
There here. First John 1:00 and 9:00 if we.
Confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our.
Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I love this. Confess means this to say the
same thing that God says about that sin.
That is confessing sin to God with godly sorrow and
repentance. Then what?
God Forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness,
meaning even the contamination of that sin is gone.
Isn't that beautiful? Gone.
Why is it important to confess? James 516 says confess your
trespasses to one another and pray one for another that you
may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of
a righteous man avails much.