As the Lord may be pleased to
help me this morning, me in speaking and yourselves in hearing, I'd
like to direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according
to Luke. And we'll take as our text verses
7 and 8. Luke chapter 7, verses 7 and
8. And there we read, wherefore
neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee, but say a
word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set
under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one,
go, and he goeth, and to another, come, and he cometh, and to my
servant, do this, and he doeth it. Luke chapter 7 verses 7 and 8. The Lord Jesus, having established
his teaching so clearly in the previous chapter, chapter 6,
that we read, now in the beginning of chapter
7 we have this true record of two events. One at a distance,
that we will be looking at hopefully this morning, of the centurion's
servant being so miraculously healed. And then following that,
we have the receiving to life one who was
dead, that is the widow of Nain's son. And keeping in mind that
just previous to this, the Lord Jesus had spent a whole night
in prayer with his father. The life of our Lord Jesus is
unique. He came as the word was given
at his birth, unto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ
the Lord. Christ, the Anointed One. the Lord, he who is in control. And following his work on earth
and his resurrection, the Lord Jesus made this great statement,
that all power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all nations. It's in the strength and the
finished work of the Lord Jesus that the gospel is preached. Now, none of us have physically
seen Jesus. A day is coming, of course, when
every eye shall see him. It will be a solemn day for many
because we read that them also which pierced him, those who
derided him, those who offended him, those who would not hear
his word, they will all see him. And there will be no argument
because we read that every mouth shall be stopped. But now is the day of salvation.
And we read in the scriptures today, if ye shall hear his voice,
harden not your heart. And so may there be many blessed
with this gift of hearing And that blessing that was given
to Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened because she and she received
the word which was spoken. What a blessing it is to hear
to our soul's prophet. We shall one day see Jesus and
There's a hymn we sometimes sing, there shall we see his face and
never, never sin. There from the riches of his
grace, bring endless pleasures in. What a day that will be. At the end of time, every eye
shall see him and confess that he is Lord. Now here, in the
scriptures before us, we have This man who is a centurion,
obviously in the Roman army, and a man that was blessed. We read of one called Cornelius.
And of course, we must always remember that about the time
the Lord Jesus was on this earth was the peak of the Roman Empire. And the Roman army were all over
the known world at that time. The Roman Empire grew, it was
powerful, but among them, souls were being
saved. Cornelius was one that sent,
and they came to him, and what a blessing it is. He made that
statement, we're all here before God to hear the words commanded
thee of God. He was made receptive to the
word and saved. Now here we have a man who is,
of course, a Gentile in the Roman army. And when he heard of Jesus,
remembering that his servant, who was so ill, it says he was
dear to him. People who have a servant who's
dear to them, their heart goes out to them when they're unwell. And he sent unto him the elders
of the Jews. He was obviously in touch with
the practicing Jews at that time, and he knew them well enough
that he sent for the elders of the Jews, beseeching them that
he would come and heal his servant. They went on this mission, they
went to Jesus and besought him instantly saying that he was
worthy for whom he should do this. The word tells
us he loveth our nation and he hath built us a synagogue. So this Roman centurion a soldier
in charge of a hundred men, he had authority over his men. And he truly believed that the
Lord Jesus, of whom he had heard, he doesn't read that he'd seen
him, rather like blind Bartimaeus. He hadn't seen the Lord Jesus,
but he He heard of him because when the multitude went past,
Bartimaeus asked what it meant. And they said, Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by. And he obviously heard of Jesus
because at that very moment he cried out and said, Jesus, thou
son of David, he identified him as the true saviour. the Son
of David, the promised Saviour of the line of Judah, Jesus,
the Son of David, have mercy on me. That was his plea, that
was his heart's prayer. And it was through his believing
and his living faith, the gift of faith given to him by God
from above, that his sight was restored and given by the Lord
Jesus. Now this man, in a similar way,
had not seen Jesus, but he had heard of Jesus. And on the strength
of his knowledge of the Lord Jesus, he sent the elders of
the Jews beseeching Jesus, pleading with Him. We know that there
are a Saviour able to heal, has power to heal. Our Lord Jesus is God in the
form of a man. And He's no less, He said of
Himself, I and my Father are one. He has seen me, has seen
the Father. And so this man's faith was lifted
up and he believed that Jesus could come and heal his servants. And to hear is a rich blessing, isn't
it? The centurion heard and that
gift of grace given to him emboldened his faith that he
was pleading with one, even our Lord Jesus, who was able to save
and heal his servant. This centurion obviously had
spent his money and built a synagogue, a place of worship, And it's
so interesting to observe in the New Testament how the Lord
Jesus associated far more with those in the synagogue worship
than he did those in the temple. A synagogue is the house of God,
a meeting place. And there it was that the Lord
Jesus identified himself when he read from the book of Isaiah,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And their eyes
are all fixed upon Jesus because it is he of whom he read in the
prophet Isaiah. And so the Lord Jesus is here and he gets a message from this
centurion. Trouble not thyself, he says,
for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. This was a message sent to the
Lord Jesus because he said he would go with them and heal his
servant. Now the Lord Jesus had a full
knowledge of this man He would have known his heart and soul.
He would have known his innermost thoughts. And what a blessing
it is that the humility given to this man teaches us that the
Lord Jesus hears our humble cries. And sometimes when we find it
difficult even to come to God in prayer, Their words don't
seem to flow as we would love them to, but God can look upon
our heart and mind and soul, and if we come humbly before
him and pleading his almighty power and his righteousness and
his love and his ability to answer prayer, then I think we're on
safe ground because we're pleading his promises and his true worth. And this man who sent his friends
to him, saying, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy
that thou shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore, neither thought
I myself worthy to come to thee, but say a word, and my servant
shall be healed. Bible commentators are quite
united that many of the Gentiles that came to a knowledge
of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament had of course read,
they would have had access to the Old Testament and they would
have most likely read much of the work of God in the Old Testament
which would encourage them to believe in the Lord Jesus. And there's so much in that little
phrase, in those five words, but say in a word, but say in
a word. We read in the opening words
of scripture, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the
earth. The earth was without form and
void. The darkness was upon the face
of the earth. What happened? And God said,
he spoke a word. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And we read so much in the Old
Testament of God speaking and things coming about, right through
creation. We read of the wonderful power
of God in every part of creation. We read, and God said, God said,
let the waters unto the heavens be gathered unto one place, let
the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land
earth, and gathered together the waters called the seas, and
God saw that it was good. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass and herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. Especially at
this time of the year, friends, we see little seeds Each one
is a miracle. God has created the earth with
herbs that have seed in themselves. Only a few weeks ago, I sprinkled
a row of carrot seed across the garden. Now I've got a lovely
green stripe across it. What a wonder. Carrot seed is
like dust. And yet every little seed has
a growing point. and the warmth of the earth and
the water which God gives, it germinates and plants grow. And as in nature, so in grace.
What a blessing it is that we are each born with a soul. And a soul that under God's wonderful
saving grace can respond to the glorious good news of the gospel
proclaimed. And so may we continue in prayer
that the glorious good news of the gospel will be the awakening
of souls to God's praise and his eternal glory. This man had faith to believe living faith,
true faith, that if the Lord Jesus was to speak a word, his
servant would be healed. And he goes on to explain his
position. He said in verse 8, I also am
a man set under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say
to one, go, and he goeth. To another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and
he doeth it. He most likely started off as
an ordinary foot soldier in the army. He eventually was stationed
in a part of the world where the Lord Jesus lived and taught. And as we've already observed,
he'd heard of Jesus. But no, he's depending on Jesus. But he didn't feel worthy to
come and speak to Jesus. He held him in such high respect.
But his belief was that all power belonged to the Lord Jesus. But say a word and my servant
shall be healed. And I understand with studying
the word of God that the word shall In the scriptures, in the
original language, would have been a more powerful word than
will. We read of things will be and
things that shall be. And I understand that in the
original language, the word shall carried with it more authority
and more power. And this man believed, my servant
shall be healed. He was a man who had come up
through the ranks. He was now in charge of a hundred
soldiers and he had command, authority. If he said to one,
go and do so and so, whatever this exercise was, he didn't
argue, he did it. And to another come, and he came,
And to my servant do this, and he doeth it. And he truly believed
that the Lord Jesus, being the eternal Son of God, and having
power over all things, as we read in those opening verses
to the Hebrews, that the Word of God is powerful, most clearly shown to us in the
Lord Jesus, we read that he hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the
brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
He is God. And this dear man, this centurion,
believed that he is God, and if he was to say a word, that
his servant would be healed. Such was his faith. That was the message that came
to Jesus. What was Jesus' response? Well, it was remarkable, wasn't
it? When Jesus heard these things in verse nine, we read, he marveled
at him and turned him about. Imagine Jesus leading his people,
like the shepherd leading his flock. going in front of them,
and then he turned round, and so they'd all be facing him,
wouldn't they? He turned him about and said
unto the people that followed, I say unto you, I have not found
so great faith, no, not in Israel. What a blessing this man received.
that his faith was a living faith and he believed that if Jesus
was to speak a word, his servant would be healed. It could well be at that moment
that Jesus spoke a word and his servant was healed because the
very next verse says, and they that were sent returning to the
house found the servant whole that had been sick. This man who heard of Jesus was given the spirit of humility.
And that humility led to hope. We have three H's here, haven't
we? He heard, he was given humility, and that humility led to hope. And
hope, dear friends, is forward-looking, isn't it? Hope is a wonderful
blessing for us to consider. We have in the Word of God, in
Psalm 146, these words. Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the sons of man, in whom there is no help. His breath
goes forth. He returneth to his earth. In
that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein
is, which keepeth truth forever. Psalm 146. What a blessing it
is that these precious truths we can read today The Lord can
lead us into a fuller and deeper knowledge of our need and the
all-sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. This hope gives to us a higher
view of the Lord Jesus. Hope is forward-looking, isn't
it? And it's a blessing to hear God's
word and it's a blessing when grace is given to us by
the Lord Jesus himself. That which humbles us and to serve God with a gift of humility leads
to a higher view of the Lord Jesus on whom our hope of heaven
depends. These precious truths are recorded
for our learning that we, through patience and comfort in the scriptures,
might have hope. The dear hymn writer Joseph Hart
wrote those words, the soul that with sincere desires seeks after
Jesus' love, that soul the Holy Ghost inspires with breathings
from above. These blessings, these great
blessings, are of mercy and grace. And the greatest blessing that
we can know here on earth is the forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness
is a tremendous gift, isn't it? No man can forgive sins but the
Lord Jesus Christ. I heard an account some years
ago, and this was a soldier, But he was a soldier who was
a conscript, and he was rebellious. He would not take orders. And if I was a year, I think if I
was a year older, I would have had to do national service. But
they stopped it just as I was coming up to 18. understand that what you have
to learn is that you don't question any orders. Well this man said
he was going to beat the army system, he was going to be a
rebel, and the result was that they gave him all the discipline
they possibly could. Because the more you try to step
out of line when you're in the forces, the more trouble you
get in. He was put in a military jail,
He was given hard labor to do. They gave him all the discipline
they possibly could, but he was still a rebel. And the commanding
officer, apparently, was a God-fearing man. And the officers had a meeting
together as to what to do with this man. What could they do?
Whatever we do, he fights against it. and we haven't yet made a
good soldier of him. We feel as though we failed.
This man that feared God, he shared with the other officers,
he said, I'll have that man in this office with me and I'm going
to tell him that although he's fought against the system and rebelled, I'm going to forgive
him. this man was marched in and he
was told to salute because that's what they did and then he was
invited to sit down and he was expecting he didn't know what
he thought they might put him under a further punishment but
there he was as hard as nails and this high commanding officer
looked at him he said we're going to forgive you You know, the result was that
man's heart melted to think that all his rebelliousness had not
won a thing, and they'd forgiven him. And the result of that was
that he dropped into line, he obeyed orders, he became a good
soldier, and he rose up in the ranks and did well. The fact that he was forgiven
was what melted him. What he didn't expect came his
way. Dear friends, it's by grace we
are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship. This man was forgiven freely,
And therefore, that affected his heart, his life, his future. And this centurion that we've
looked at for a little while this morning did not think himself
worthy to come to Jesus. But Jesus himself thought him
worthy to be visited by him by healing his servants. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, we
read. This centurion who was used to
sending orders by his army did not necessarily need to be there,
did he? He had faith in his servants. And this centurion had a strong
faith in the Lord Jesus. who he had not seen, but he depended
on him. The Lord Jesus said, following
his glorious resurrection and before ascending to glory, lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the world. He also
said, all power is given to me in heaven and on earth, Go therefore
and teach all nations. And the Apostle Peter makes this
wonderful statement, and what a blessing it is that
the Apostle Peter, who the Lord Jesus showed such love to, is
he who uttered these words in his first epistle, He said, whom
having not seen, he's speaking to the early church, ye love,
in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And so may the
Lord bless these few remarks to us this morning. Help us to
remember that we trust in our Lord Jesus, whom we have not
seen, and yet he's still at work. And those who seek him, we read,
shall find him. May the Lord bless his word to
us.