Matthew's Gospel chapter 8. If
you want to turn to our text this morning, Matthew's Gospel
chapter 8. Let me read verses 5 through
verse 13 for us this morning. Matthew chapter 8 and beginning
in verse 5. And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion begging him, beseeching
him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I will
come and heal him. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof. But
speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man
under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man,
Go, and he goes. And to another, Come, and he
cometh. And to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus
heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, Verily
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you that many
shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But
the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion,
Go thy way, as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And
his servant was healed from the selfsame hour." Our Lord had just finished preaching
probably the greatest sermon that has ever been preached in
this world. We call it the Sermon on the Mount. It was such a great message,
such a powerful message that it got the attention of those
who were listening. He tells us in the last two verses
of chapter seven, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the
people were astonished at his doctrine and his teaching, for
he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. When he spoke, It wasn't that
he raised his voice. When he spoke, the Word was alive. It was powerful. He taught them
as one having authority. And that's because the Lord Jesus
Christ was that prophet that should come into the world. He
was God's prophet and when he spoke the words of God, he spoke
them in truth and he spoke them with authority. But he was more
than a prophet. Jesus Christ is that prophet,
but he's more than a prophet. Look back in chapter 7 again
and look in verse 22. He's the judge of all the earth. I imagine they were astonished
for what the Lord Jesus said here in verse 22. Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your
name? In thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works. Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity." He's the judge of all the earth. Here was a man
that had no place to lay his head. A very humble man. Meek and lowly in his heart.
From a despised city of Nazareth. And here he was teaching to the
multitude, and he said, there's coming a day when I will assign
every man his long haul. And they probably think within
themselves, what manner of man is this? Who is this that will
judge every man? But you know, he's more than
just the judge. He's the eternal Son of God. Look what Matthew said about
him in chapter 3 and verse 16. This is where the Lord had went
to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist had baptized him.
And look in chapter 3 and verse 16, And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him. And John saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lightening upon him, and a voice from heaven
saying, This is my beloved Son. and whom I am well-placed." Jesus
Christ, the Eternal Son, took our humanity, came to this world,
and preached, became a preacher. And God looked down from heaven
and said, I love Him. Every thought He has, every motive,
every word, every deed He does, pleases me. That's my son. But you know, we go one step
further. Look back over in Matthew chapter
1. Not only is this that prophet,
and not only is this the judge of all the earth, and not only
is he the eternal son of God in our humanity, but he's God,
isn't he? Look what he says in chapter
1, in verse 21. Well, look in verse 20. He thought on these things. The
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And
she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And all
of this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
of the Lord in the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall
be with child. and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name." Look at this, Immanuel. What does that mean? God with
us. Well, there's no wonder then,
when he preached this message, they were astonished at him. Look who he was. They were in
wonderment of the words that he was speaking. He taught them
as one having authority. Now, a man is going to have to come
to one of these conclusions. Men are going to have to say
this Bible is a fraud, that the Lord Jesus Christ was a liar
when he claimed to be who he claimed to be, Or men are going
to have to admit he is God. He is who he says he is or he's
not. There's no middle ground here,
is there? He either did what he said he did or he didn't. There's no middle ground. And
if we can prove this isn't true, okay, don't believe it. But have
you ever talked to anybody? Have you ever seen any real evidence? that prove that Jesus Christ
is not who He said He was. No. He is who He said He was. He has done what He said He did.
Therefore, believe Him. Believe Him. For He is true and
He is faithful. But not only did our Lord say
great things about Himself, not only is He who He says He was,
When he finished this message here, he turned right around
and proved who he was. He not only said who he was,
he proved it, didn't he? If you study this chapter, you'll
find six miracles that our Lord did in this chapter. All of them
are absolutely amazing. Here in verses one through four,
he healed this man who was full of leprosy. I guess this had
never happened before. But it's amazing how He healed
him. You know how He healed him? By His mere willingness that
he should be healed. This leper came to Him and said,
Lord, if You will, You can make me whole. And Christ said, I
will. And immediately he was made whole. He proved He was God. And then
here in verses 5 through verse 13, He healed this paralyzed
man. That's what leprosy, that's the
disease that this man has here, the palsy. He was paralyzed,
probably from the neck down. The Lord never even seen this
man, never diagnosed him, but he pronounced him healed. Ain't
that amazing? And then in verses 14, verse
15, he went into Peter's mother-in-law's house, and she had a fever, laying
on her bed, and he merely touched her, and the fever left her.
And she was so healed so immediately and strengthened, the Scripture
says, she got up and ministered unto them. Now that's amazing,
isn't it? And then in verse 16, Matthew tells us that the Lord
cast out demons, cast them out of men's minds, their bodies,
and He did it by His Word. He simply said, come out of them,
and they came out. And then this great miracle that
we've often read so much about in verse 23 and verse 26, where
they were out in the midst of the Sea of Galilee and the waves
were filling the ship. And the Lord Jesus walked out
of his sleep and spoke to the wind and the sea, and there was
a great calm. And they said, what manner of
man is this? And then in verse 28 and through
verse 34, our Lord cast out this legion of demons out of these
two men living in the cemetery. And I'm just saying, brothers
and sisters, It's not only the message, the word, the doctrine
of our Lord that He preached that proves who He was, it's
what He did. There is no doubt Jesus Christ
is who He says He is. And He has done what He says
He has done. I want us to look this morning,
though, at this second miracle that our Lord performed here.
This Roman centurion, this Gentile man, he was under the authority
of the Roman government. He worked for them. He had a
hundred soldiers under his command, and he had a servant, maybe a
slave, that was sick. He come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I think it's very amazing that he did not ask the Lord
to come and heal his servant. Did you notice that? He just
laid out his case before the Lord, told him who this man was. He's my servant. Told the Lord
where he was. He's at home. And he told him
the condition that he was in. He is grievously tormented. Now they tell us that this palsy
is one of the most feared diseases next to leprosy that the Jewish
nation had experienced. You would go to bed of the night.
You would have a sore throat. During the night your throat
would swell shut. You would have nausea and you'd
vomit. When you vomited, you couldn't
get it through your throat. Sometimes you would strangle
to death. Your whole body would be full of cramps. Your body
would go into shock, and usually within a few days you were dead.
And this man said, My servant lieth at home grievously tormented. And Luke's Parallel passage says
he is at the point of death. So this man was in critical condition,
and this centurion came to the Lord Jesus Christ, told him his
condition, and the Lord said, I'll come and heal him. He didn't
ask him to. He wanted him to, but he didn't
even ask him to. And the man made this statement
here in verse 8 and verse 9. He said, Lord, I'm a man under
authority. I know what it is to be under authority and I know
what it is to command men to do this and that. And he said,
I've got men under me and I command them and they go and they come
as I command them. And he said, you don't have to
come and heal my servant. Just speak the word and he'll
be made whole. And that's when the Lord made
this statement, I have not found so great a faith. No, not in
Israel. A man that has so much confidence
in me, a man that sees my authority, that no disease can resist me. He believes in me. And he believes
all I have to do is speak the word and his servant will be
healed. His faith is great. His faith is great. Well, the
Bible's got a lot to say about faith. The Bible says not all
men have it. Not all men have saving faith,
and there are men who don't even have historical faith. They live
And they die and they perish and never give a thought about
the salvation of their soul. They never think about eternity
and the judgment to come. They believe nothing except what's
present and they die that way. Some men don't have even historical
faith. Some people have the faith of
devils. You know the devils believe in the coming judgment. They
believe they're going to be tormented. The devils believe and tremble. Some people have that kind of
faith. I used to talk to a man where I worked and you start
talking to him and he would almost visibly tremble. It would scare
him to death. Please don't tell me about death.
Don't tell me about eternity. I don't want to think about it.
Devils have that kind of faith. Other people have faith. But
it's not faith that's upheld by the power of God. It's mustered up by the power
of men. And just as it can be mustered
up by somebody else's power, it can be overthrown by somebody
else's power. There was a couple of men in
the New Testament that went around preaching that the resurrection
had passed already and overthrew the faith of some. If you can
get your faith by yourself, or somebody else can give it to
you, besides God, then somebody else can overthrow it. It's a
weak, unworthy. And there are those who have
little faith. It's real faith, and it's saving
faith. But it's called little faith.
You can read it here in this chapter where the disciples were
crossing the Sea of Galilee and the storm came up and they said,
we're going to perish. And the Lord rebuked the winds
and the sea, and there was a great calm. And he said, why are you
fearful, O ye of little faith? This centurion had great faith
when the apostles had little faith. That's a miracle, isn't
it? That's amazing. Now, this little faith You know,
it don't take great faith to save you, does it? You don't
have to have great faith to be saved. It's not faith that saves
us in this sense of the word. It's the object of faith that
saves us. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Your faith may be little, just
enough to reach out and touch the Savior, but that's enough.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Why him? Because he's
the object of faith. And little faith will save you
as well as great faith if Jesus Christ is the author of your
faith. I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. The marvelous thing about this
man's faith, he was a Gentile who believed when the scribes
and the Pharisees didn't. He had his heart open when all
the nation of Israel died in blindness. He was a mighty man. He was a man under authority
and had authority. He was somewhat of a famous man
and maybe a rich man. And you see your calling, brethren.
Not many people like this are called. So when the Lord Jesus
said, great is your faith, that was a statement. That was a real
statement. I have not found so great a faith.
And the Lord was talking about this very man and others like
him here in verse 11, when he said, many shall come from the
east and west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the kingdom
of heaven. True saving faith. You know what
He'll do? He'll bring forgiveness of all
sins. He'll justify you before the
throne of God. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. He'll bring the righteousness
of Jesus Christ and clothe our naked shame. And He'll get you
through this world of sin and devils and sets you in heaven
safe and sound at last. That's what true faith will do.
The Lord said to this man, great is your faith. And he said, I
tell you, this man is going to come through this world, be saved
and justified and wind up in heaven and sit down with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. I want to give you Six characteristics
of true faith. And we see them here in this
man's faith. Six characteristics of real saving
faith. And the first one is this. His
faith was in the Lord. See what he said there in verse
5 and verse 6? When Jesus was coming to Capernaum,
the centurion came to Him, beseeching Him and saying, Lord... Now, he could have called Him Jesus.
Many times they did. He could have called Him Christ. Sometimes they called Him that.
He could have said, O thou Son of David. He could have called
Him the Son of God. Many names He could have called
Him, but He goes right up to the throne, doesn't He? He looks
at Him and He calls Him and He addresses Him as the Lord of
Glory. You're the Lord. Faith, whatever
and however it addresses Jesus Christ, And in prayer we sometimes
address Him as the shepherd, we address Him as our high tower,
we address Him as our refuge, as our rock, our life, our righteousness. But faith always acknowledges
Jesus Christ as Lord. I'm somewhat leery. I'm somewhat
weary also to hear some people, or read some people, that they
never address Jesus as Lord. It's always Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He is Jesus, and thank God for
it, but He's Lord, isn't He? The object of Satan's faith is
the Lord Jesus Christ. All who call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved." I love what that and how that thief
on the cross addressed our Savior in his dying hours. He could
have said, Jesus, remember me. Oh, Son of David, remember me.
But how did he address Jesus? Remember Me when you come to
your kingdom. Because Lord is the highest name
that you can address anybody. God has given Him a name which
is above every name. And what is that? Lord. He's
the Lord. And He's the object of saving
faith. And if you know Him, if you believe
in Him, in your heart of hearts, you know who He is. He's Lord. But when the Apostle Paul, Saul
of Tarsus, on his road to Damascus to kill Christians, hated Jesus
Christ, thought he was an imposter, and the Lord revealed Himself
to Saul on the Damascus road, struck him down, humbled him
in the dust, and the first thing Saul said, Who art thou, Lord? I know you're the Lord, but who
are you? And Christ revealed Himself.
This centurion had obviously experienced the work of the Holy
Spirit in his heart. No man can say that Jesus Christ
is the Lord except by the Holy Spirit. And when he come and
he said, Lord, that tells us right there, the Holy Spirit
has opened this man's heart. The Pharisees didn't know Him.
The scribes didn't know Him. But this centurion Gentile knew
Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first characteristic
of faith. Faith recognizes Him. Faith believes
in Him as the Lord. Secondly, and along this same
line, this centurion's faith was in the Lord's omnipotence. Not just the Lord. He didn't
just call him Lord, Lord, but he saw who this Lord really was. Well, here in verse 9, he explains
this very well. He tells the Lord Jesus, he said,
I know something about authority. I know something about being
under authority. When my superiors speak to me, I know how to take
a command. I know how to obey. And when
I tell somebody under my authority, you come, he comes, and when
I say you go, he goes, you do this, and he does that. And what he is saying is, Lord,
I know this about you, that everything is under your power. Everything
is under your authority. I love that, don't you? We don't
come to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe on Him savingly and
believe that He's a little weak Jesus. Do we? No. You know, the longer I live in
this world, the more I see of myself, the higher I see heaven
to be, the more I realize if omnipotence don't save me, I
can't be saved. If Jesus Christ is not the Almighty
Lord, I won't be saved. Martin Luther used to say, when
I look at myself, I see no way that I can be saved. But when
I look outside of myself to the Omnipotent Lord, I see no way
that I can be lost. Because He has the power to forgive
all my sins. He has the authority to give
me life. He has the authority to bring
me up to heaven and set me before the face of His Father without
any fault or spot or any such thing. He is the omnipotent Lord. One old saint said this, My faith
can sleep sound on no other pillar but Christ's omnipotence. Who is the Lord? He's the Almighty
One, the Omnipotent One. One man said, here's a strong
foundation for our faith. Christ is able to save us to
the uttermost. We can lean the full weight of
our heavy souls upon Him. He's able to bear it. We can
cast all our tears upon Him. He can carry them. He is a strong
rock. He can give life from the dead.
He can give power to the weak. He can increase those who have
no might and strength. You and I live in a fallen world
full of snares and devils. We live in a body of death, and
we're going to die. But Jesus Christ, the omnipotent
Savior, has the power to save us and bring us up to heaven. Where's your faith? What kind
of faith do you have? Is it in omnipotence? Is it in
the Almighty Lord Jesus Christ? Paul said this, I know whom I
have believed. I know Him. And I am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him.
That's what faith is, isn't it? He's able. He's omnipotent. Look here in chapter 9. Matthew
where these two blind men kept following the Lord Jesus and
Followed him right into the house and look what the Lord said to
them In verse 27 of chapter 9 and when Jesus departed thence two
blind men followed him crying and saying now son of David have
mercy upon us and When he was coming to the house the blind
men came to him and Jesus said unto them believe you that I
am able to do this? Well, that's faith, isn't it?
Sometimes we have to say, Lord, I believe if you will, you can
make me whole. And then we have to sit and wait
to see what His will is. But faith always says, I know
He's able. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he's
able to perform. And that's the object of faith,
the omnipotent Lord of glory. Here's a third characteristic
of true and saving faith. True faith is perfectly content
with what Christ speaks. Notice that in verse 8. Speak
the word only and my servant shall be healed. Wasn't that
faith? He said, you don't have to show
me a sign. I don't have to feel good. I don't have to dream a dream.
I don't have to wait and see if my servant's going to live.
If you speak the Word, He shall be healed. Faith in His written
Word. That's the foundation of faith,
isn't it? Speak the Word only. Brothers and sisters, I love
to feel good. I really love to feel good. I love to have a heart
full of joy. I love to rejoice and have peace
in my mind. But my faith is not in that.
Our faith is not in our feelings. Feelings come and feelings go,
and feelings are deceiving. Our warrant is the Word of God,
the written Word of God. Nought else is worth believing. To be honest with you, you probably
think, Bruce, if they hear you say this, they'll probably put
you in a straitjacket or something. But do you ever hear voices?
I've heard voices. I've had dreams. I've had some
of the most confusing feelings. But they're nothing. Dreams are
nothing. Feelings are nothing. Here's
the only thing that counts, what God has said in His Word. Boy,
if you can take God's Word and you just believe Him for what
He says, it's well with your soul. And I'll tell you why.
You can be assured that you've got saving faith. It may not
be great faith. It may be little faith. But if
it's in what God says, it's real faith. It's saving faith. And once it begins in the heart,
it never will stop. Lord, speak the Word only. Boy, this is the promise that
God has given to everybody that believes His Word. And what is
that promise? Eternal life. Eternal life. These things have I written unto
you, John said, that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life. Fourthly, true faith lays hold
of those saving attributes that it sees in Jesus Christ the Lord. Here is a miracle of faith. Don't you think it's somewhat
mysterious and very telling that when this centurion came to the
Lord, he never said one thing about come and heal my servant. Why did he ask him to come and
heal his servant? Here's what I really think this
centurion's thought was. He saw such goodness in this
man, Jesus Christ. He saw such kindness. He saw
such love. He saw such a desire to intervene
and help the needy. He says to himself, all I've
got to do is tell him the awful, dreadful condition my servant
is in, and he will be so overwhelmed with kindness and mercy, I won't
have to ask him to come. He'll just come and heal him. Boy, I'll confess something to
you this morning, and it's been an awful grief to my heart. And it's because of my awful
unbelief, and I know the devil has used it to reproach the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. I have a terrible time sometimes
believing that there is enough kindness, that there is enough
grace, that there is enough goodness, There is enough long-suffering
in Jesus Christ to save my poor soul. Do you ever wonder about that?
Because nobody that's taught of God thinks, man, I'm worthy.
Man, you ought to be kind to me. Look at me. You ought to
be willing to save me. Look at me. No, when God teaches
us how hell deserving we are, It takes real faith to look at
the Lord of Glory and say, I believe that there is in Him everything
to save me in spite of what I see in me. We're really saved in spite of
ourselves. You know it. The cause of our salvation is
found outside of ourselves. It's found in the love and in
the kindness and the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. And that's the characteristic
of faith. I used to have all kinds of doubts
and fears about so many things, but the Lord settled so many
of them. And I think I've reached the point now in my life that
I'm not afraid to die. Not afraid to leave this world
and go to the next. And it's not because I've gotten
more faithful and more sanctified and more holy. I just see in
Jesus Christ what the Bible says is in Him. He is full of grace. God has put everything in Him
to save broken, needy, wretched, lost sinners just like us. And
faith sees it. And faith comes to Him. J.C. Rowell made this statement. He said, To believe in Christ's
power and in His willingness to help us in our need is a rare
and precious gift of God. Let us be ever thankful if we
have it. To be willing to come to the
Lord Jesus as helpless, lost sinners and commit our souls
into His hand is a mighty privilege. Let us ever bless God if this
willingness is ours, for it is His gift. Such faith is better
than all other gifts and knowledge in this world. Many a poor converted
heathen who knows nothing but that he is sick of sin and that
he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ will set down in heaven while
learned scholars are rejected forevermore. Blessed indeed are
they who truly believe. Here's the fifth characteristic
of true faith. It considers others. This centurion was a man, obviously,
of authority. I imagine he was somewhat of
a popular man. Probably feared by a lot of people. Maybe rich. But we find him doing something
that's very odd. Things that centurions just wouldn't
do. Things that mighty men, rich
men, wouldn't do. He walked probably for miles to see the Lord and to lay the
case out of one of his six servants before the Lord of glory. Isn't
that amazing? I mean, if I'd have been a centurion,
I would have said to somebody under me, you go over there and
ask Jesus of Nazareth if you'll come and heal my servant. No,
he went himself. Can you see him? He's obviously
a distinguished man, probably a Roman uniform on. And he's
a very proper person, a respected person. And here he stands before
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, Lord, I have a servant.
And he's died. You know what faith does? You
know what real faith does in a practical sense? It has consideration
for those who are under it. How do we treat our waitresses? How do we treat our waiters when
we go out? You know one of the reasons you and I are so kind
to waiters? You know one of the reasons we
don't run them hack to death and leave them a quarter for
a tip when we leave? That's not the way of true believers.
It's just not. True faith considers those who
are less fortunate who are going through difficult times in their
lives. Faith loves them and seeks to
relieve them just like this man did. I told you a couple of Sundays
ago, I've been doing some research on these faith healers, they
call themselves. You know Kenneth Copeland. is
estimated to be worth $750 million. Can you believe a preacher? And
you know where he got that money? Off of the back of sick people
who have became desperate and sent him their money to get some
relief from the pain and sickness that they're experiencing. Him and others like Oral Roberts
who went out to face God in judgment, Jesse Duplantis and all of those
faith healers that have made merchandise of men's souls, if
they had been here in this centurion's stead, you know what they would
have did to their servant? You give me what money you've
got and I'll see about healing you. True faith doesn't seek
to be served. by needy people. True faith serves
needy people. That's what we see in this man.
That's a practical thing, isn't it? A husband who truly believes
the Lord, he'll be a better husband. A wife who truly believes the
Lord, she'll be a better wife. There'll be better parents. Children
will be better children. They'll be obedient to the parents
if they believe the Lord. If everybody in this world believed
the Lord, everybody would be helping others, wouldn't they?
That's just the characteristics of faith. You know what the Bible
says about real faith? It works by love. It works by love. How do you
know somebody's got true faith? You can see it. Man, you can
see it works by love. There were these four men. They
had a friend, very, very sick, couldn't walk,
he was crippled. And they put him on a cot. And
they took him up to the house where the Lord was preaching.
They couldn't get in the house. So they climbed up on the roof
with this man and they tore off the shingles and they lured him
down right where the Lord was. And the Bible says, when the
Lord saw their faith, How do you see somebody's faith? It
works by love. They wouldn't give up. Their
friend was in need, and they just kept on and kept on and
kept on until they met his need. And I'm saying to you, that's
the characteristics of faith. Sixthly and lastly, true saving faith, where it abides
in the heart. That person has a low opinion
of himself and a high opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
what he said here in verse 8. He said, Lord, I'm not worthy
that you should come into my house. I'm not asking you to come into
my house because I'm not worthy that you should come into my
house. Pilate, the governor, may have
been in this man's house. King Herod may have come into
this man's house. He was from Herod's Jewish dictionary. I bet this centurion has entertained
generals in his house and thought nothing about it. But he says,
who are all of those men compared to you, Lord? They're nothing
compared to you. I am not worthy that you should
come in to my house. The stronger your faith is, the
more you cast contempt upon yourself, and the more you will look to
Christ and give Him all the glory and honor for everything. John the Baptist, our Lord said
he was the greatest prophet that ever was born to woman. And you
know what he said? I'm not worthy to stoop down
and unlatch his sandals from his feet. He must increase and
I must decrease. What do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you have a high opinion of
Him? Give Him all the glory? If you've
got real faith, you do. David, King David, was getting
a little bit older. He went out with his men one
day and almost got killed. Some guy was trying to spear
him and they got to him just in time and saved David's life.
A few days later, David said, I'm going out with you guys again.
And they came up to him and said, David, you're not going with
us. You're not going with us. They said, if they If they start
getting the best of us, we'll run off. And they could cure
less. They'll just let us go. They
could kill half of our army and they don't care. We're worth
nothing. And they said, you're not going
with us to fight because we can't risk losing you. You're worth
10,000 of us. Ain't that what you say about
Christ? Don't you see this eternal difference between you and Him? He is so high, and you're so
low. He is so holy, and you're so
vile. And you say, Lord, I see this
eternal difference between you and myself. But here's the hope,
because He is eternally different than we are. If He was like us,
we could not be saved. But He's not like us. And we're going to bring him
down on our level, aren't we? To live and die with real faith
in the heart is to never die. This centurion is alive today
as much as he's ever been. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Faith. Boy, I want it. I want
faith, don't you? I want real faith. Not much of
it. That's why the Bible calls it
precious. Things are precious because they're rare. This faith
is rare. And it's God-given, and God upholds
it, and it has its characteristics. The way you've taught us and
showed us yourself. Opened our hearts to your word.
We just stand amazed. And Lord, give us grace just
to give ourselves away. Lean all our weight upon you.
These mountains of sin that we sometimes feel. The working of
them in our awful, awful, shameful heart. We know they're forgiven. because of your precious blood
that will never lose its power. Bless this dear people. Thank
you for them. And bless this congregation for
Christ's sake. Amen.