You all know Robert and know
how disappointed he is not to be able to be here. But please
continue to pray for him. He's still weak and recovering
from his surgery. So they watched him this morning
and wanted so bad, they thought they'd be able to be here this
morning. And they were just so disappointed that they wouldn't
be able to be. So, Micah, when you pray in a little bit, remember
to pray for Robert and Deanna. Also, I want to welcome into
our fellowship Caleb and Bobby Hickman. They've moved here from
Tennessee, as most of you all know. And Lacey and Abigail and
Bethany. are their three beautiful daughters
and we're just so happy to have them as a part of our fellowship. This is the first Sunday that
our newlyweds have been able to be together in service and
so we want to congratulate them and thank the Lord for Jake and
Livia Allen. Alright, Tom. Number 229, in your hard back,
Tim, now let's stand together. Number 229. Tell me the old, old story of
unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His
love. Tell me the story simply as to
a little child For I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled
Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the story slowly that
I may take it in, that wonderful redemption, God's remedy for
sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story softly with
earnest tones and grave. Remember I'm the sinner whom
Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always If you
would really be In any time of trouble A comforter to be Tell
me the old, old story Tell me the old, old story Tell me the
old, old story of Jesus and his love. Tell me the same old story When
you have cause to fear That this world's empty glory Is costing
me too dear Yes, and when that world's glory is dawning on my
soul, Tell me the old, old story, Christ Jesus makes the whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Please be seated. Please turn with me to Luke chapter
5. Luke chapter 5. And we'll begin at verse 12. As I was preparing this, I thought
of a dear brother, Brother Henry Mahan. Brother Henry said the
first time he heard the gospel, He said, the preacher said, he
kept saying, God willed, God purposed, God chose, God elected. He said, I ran into my study
after that sermon, I opened my Bible, and he said, on my way,
God rewrote my Bible. And that's this verse here. There
was years, I know we couldn't see it, could we? Today we wonder,
how'd we ever miss it? but it is only by God's grace
that He has revealed it to us. I pray He will reveal it to us
this morning. Verse 12, And it came to pass, when he
was in a certain city, Behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing
Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if
thou wilt Thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and
touched him, saying, Oh, this is good news. I will be thou
clean. And immediately, immediately
the leprosy departed from him. This is the gospel. We're that leper, that sin covered. And Lord, if you're willing,
I know you're able to make me whole. I know you're able to
save me. I thought, you know, in religion they say Christ wants
to save you. Christ is able to save you if
you are willing. That's the lie. The truth is,
Lord, every time we gather, even this morning, to worship Him,
Lord, if You'd be willing, You're able to make us whole. You're
able to save us. You're able to allow us to worship. And that's why we're here this
morning. Pray the Lord would be willing. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we confess to You We have
no strength, we have no power, nor we have any ability unless
you make us, give us the ability to worship you, to pray to you. Lord, we pray this morning you
would be willing to speak to us through our brother and reveal
yourself to us and give us the faith, Lord, to believe For Lord,
if you're not willing, it'll all be in vain. But Lord, we
know the good news is you have promised to meet with your people
where the two or more are gathered. And we know that you always answer,
I will. We are thankful for that, Lord.
We pray this morning for Robert DeAnna. Pray, Lord, you would
be willing to heal his body and give them the courage and strength
to look to you during these difficult times and that you would be glorified. We pray this, that Christ would
take this prayer and make this acceptable to God the Father.
Amen. Let's stand together once again
and we'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin.
The hymn on the back of your bulletin. What makes mistaken men afraid
of sovereign grace to preach? The reason is, if truth be said,
because they are so rich. Why so offensive in their eyes
does God's election seem? Because they think themselves
so wise that they have chosen Him. Of perseverance, why so
loath Are some to speak or hear? Because as masters over sloth
They vow to persevere. Whence is imputed righteousness
a point so little known? Because men think they all possess
some righteousness their own. Not so the needy, helpless soul
prefers his humble prayer. He looks to him that works the
whole and seeks his treasure there. His language is, Let me,
my God, on sovereign grace rely, And own tis free, because bestowed
On one so vile as I. Election tis a word divine, for,
Lord, I plainly see. Had not Thy choice preceded mine,
I ne'er had chosen Thee. For perseverance, strength I've
none, But would on this depend, That Jesus, having loved his
own, Will love them to the end. Empty and bare I come to thee
for righteousness divine. O may thy matchless merits be
by imputation mine. Thus differ these, yet hoping
each to make salvation sure. Now most men will approve the
rich, but Christ has blessed the poor. Amen. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Matthew Chapter 8. Matthew Chapter 8. And then also you can find John
Chapter 20. We'll be reading from both of
those in just a moment. Matthew Chapter 8 and John Chapter
20. We know that faith is the substance
of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things
not seen. For without faith, it is impossible
to please God. For they that cometh to Him must
believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them who
diligently seek him. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And that faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the word of God. And in Luke chapter 7,
the disciples cried and said, Oh Lord, increase our faith. That's the title of this message.
Lord, increase my faith. Give me faith. Cause me to believe. Enable me to believe everything
that you've said. Faith is not believing That you
are saved. Faith is believing that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the only Savior. It's believing that everything
that God said is true. It's resting and hanging all
the hopes of your salvation on the. On the truthfulness. The revealed truth of Christ
in the Word of God. Now in these two passages that
I ask you to turn to, we have one man who the scripture says
the Lord marveled at his faith. He said, I've not seen faith
like this, no not in all of Israel. And then in the other passage
we have an individual who we have for two thousand years called
Doubting Thomas because his faith failed him. And I want to Contrast
these two men this Roman centurion in Matthew chapter 8 and this
disciple in John chapter 20 and let us consider what is the difference
between these two individuals and My hope is that by the end
of this message. We'll be crying with the disciples. Oh Lord Increase my faith Give
me faith Matthew chapter 8, we'll begin
reading in verse 5, and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum,
there came unto him a centurion beseeching him. Now this was
a Roman soldier who was in charge of a hundred other Roman soldiers
who obviously had a lot of influence, a lot of power, and a lot of
prestige in this little town called Capernaum. And he came saying to the Lord,
my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Now palsy would have been any
disease that would have caused paralyzation. So his servant
was paralyzed and being tormented and Luke tells us that he was
about to die. And Jesus said unto him, I will
come and heal him. And 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. and having soldiers under me,
and I say to this man, go, and he goeth, and to another come,
and he cometh, and to my servant do this, and he doeth it. And
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." So here
this Roman soldier, the Romans and Jews were The Jews resented
the Romans' possession of their land. Only a few years after
this, the Jewish-Roman War breaks out and total devastation takes
place. There's an undercurrent of resentment. And yet, this Roman soldier sent to the Lord to have his
servant healed. and then said, I'm not worthy
that you should come under my roof. Speak the word only and
my servant will be healed. And the Lord marveled at his
faith. Now John chapter 20. And we'll begin reading in verse
24. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. And the other disciples therefore
said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them,
except I shall see in his hands the prints of the nails, and
put my finger into the prints of the nails, and thrust my hand
into his side, I will not believe. I will not believe. And after
eight days, so Thomas stays in this unbelieving condition for
eight days. And eight days later, his disciples
were within, and Thomas was with them this time. Then came Jesus,
the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace
be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, reach
hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. Now what is the difference
between this centurion and Thomas? The centurion obviously had a
very high view of the Word. Only speak the Word and my servant
shall be healed. Thomas didn't believe anything
he was being told. Thomas had a low view of the
Word of God. The centurion had a low view
of experience. He said, I don't need you to
come to my house. I don't need you to do anything. I just need
you to speak the word. And Thomas, on the other hand,
I've got to feel him. I've got to touch him. I've got
to have an experience before I'm going to believe. So, faith
has a high view of the word of God. Unbelief has a low view
of the word of God. Faith has a low view of experience. unbelief has a high view of experience. The centurion had a low view
of himself. I'm not worthy that you should
come into my house. Just speak the word only and
my servant will be healed. Thomas on the other hand had
a high view of himself. I will not believe until I see
it and I put my hands on him. I'm the one who's going to stand
in judgment as to whether or not this is true or not. And
so faith, true saving faith, has a low view of self and unbelief
has a high view of self. And fourthly, Thomas had a low
view of public worship. Where was Thomas? Scripture doesn't
tell us. All the other disciples were
there. Thomas wasn't there. He needed to be there, should
have been there. I'm sure he had a good excuse
for not being there. But he wasn't. And he missed
out. And his unbelief was manifested
by his low view of public worship. Now, the Scripture tells us that
this centurion actually paid out of his own pocket to have
the synagogue in Capernaum built. Oh, he had a high view of Christ,
he had a high view of God's people, he had a high view of public
worship, and so always does true saving faith. So there's my four
points, and we'll deal with them one at a time. Thomas had a low
view of the Word of God. He didn't believe what the Lord
had said clearly. None of the disciples did for
that matter, but the Lord had made it clear to them on the
third day, I'm going to rise again. He didn't believe it. He didn't believe all the revelations
that were made in the Old Testament about the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I will not allow my Holy One
to see corruption. Or where God said, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou here at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. The Old Testament scriptures
are full of of scriptures about the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thomas didn't believe any of
it. He didn't believe what the Lord
told Martha at the resuscitation of Lazarus when he said to her,
Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
on me shall never die. Martha, believeth thou this?
Well, Thomas didn't believe it. He didn't believe the testimony
of the disciples. Hey, the scripture doesn't tell
us what all they told him during those eight days, but I suspect
that during those eight days, they told him every single thing
that happened, every detail, every word that the Lord spoke.
They didn't just say what's recorded in Matthew. Well, you know, the
Lord was here and you missed it. You know, he, I'm sure he
interrogated them. Well, now tell me more about
it. What did he, I'm not going to believe, I don't believe it.
He didn't believe the testimony of the church, declaring the
truth about the Word. Isn't that the real seat of unbelief? The irreligious say, this is
just a book that was written by men. It's not reliable. Oh, there may be some truths
in it, there may be some trinkets of truth here and there spread
throughout it, but the irreligious do not believe that this is the
inerrant Word of God. They don't believe that God has
spoken. They don't believe that all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine and for correction and
for reproof and instruction in righteousness that the man of
God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. They don't
believe that these words are God-breathed. They're not by
private interpretation. They don't believe that this
is a revelation given from God to God's people. They discount
it. But the religious are not any
better off. There's a story in the Old Testament
about a king in Jeremiah who was told by the prophet Jeremiah
that Babylon was going to come in and overthrow Judah. And Barak,
the scribe, read the words right from the scriptures. And the
king said, give me that. And the scripture says that he
took his pen knife and he cut up the scriptures and cast them
into the fire. He cut out the things he didn't
like. Now this was the king of Judah. And Jeremiah goes back
to Barak and he says, you write it again exactly like it was
written the first time. Word for word. And Barak did
and then Jeremiah added more judgments to what had already
been said. Why? Because he didn't like what
was being said. And that's the way the religious
are. They pick and choose what they want to believe. They don't
believe in the whole of God's Word. They won't believe it. They stand in judgment of the
Word of God. They choose their confessions
over the Word of God. They hold on to their traditions.
Well, what did that dead theologian have to say about this thing
or that thing? They don't submit to the truth
of God's Word. This centurion believed that
God's word was was perfect. Speak the word only. That's all I need. All I need
for you to do is just to speak it and my servant will be healed. We don't promote denominational
distinctives, we don't hold to some position that a dead theologian,
what sayeth the scriptures? What sayeth the scriptures? That's
our final authority. Thomas didn't believe it, but
oh, what a high view of God's word the centurion had. Revelation
in Genesis chapter 1 verse 3 and God said That's the first time
that it says that in God said let there be light and there
was light and ten times in Genesis chapter 1 you read and God said
and God said and God said let there be this and let there be
that and there was and then in Genesis chapter 3 what does Satan
say to Eve and Did God say, thou shalt not eat of the trees of
the garden? Calling into question the truthfulness
of what God said. And that's the root of unbelief. That's the root of unbelief.
Thomas didn't believe what God said. Thomas didn't believe what
the church was saying. The centurion, on the other hand,
Lord, you just speak the word. I know your word's powerful.
I'm a man under authority. I've got people under my authority.
I say to this one, go, and he goes. I say to another one, come,
and he comes. I say to one, do this, and he does that. Lord,
I know you have all authority, and all you have to do is speak
the word, and my servants shall be healed. Now, what is the the application of that to your
life and my life. Oh Lord, speak to me. Speak to
me. Open my ears. Give me ears to
hear. The Lord said, my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. They believe everything I say. That's what faith does. People
say, well how much of God's word do you have to believe to be
a believer? Every word of it. Every single word of it. If you
don't believe every word that God has spoken, you're an unbeliever.
That's it. Plain and simple. You see, the very essence of
being a believer is that you believe God. Always obey everything God says?
No. I believe a lot more than I do. Understand everything God
says? No. Believe it? Oh, I know it's true. I know
God's true. When Mordecai sent Esther into Ahasuerus
to plead the case of the children of Israel, Brahman had deceived
the king into putting out a decree that all the Jews were to be
annihilated. They were all to be killed. And Mordecai finds
out about it and sends Esther, the queen, in to talk to the
king. And Esther says, well, I can't go into the king unless
I'm summonsed, but you've got to go. Well, if I die, I die. And she went in, and the king
stuck out his golden scepter and promised her half the kingdom. What would you want, queen? And
she interceded. And she asked the king, she said,
I want you to rescind the decree that you wrote to kill all the
Jews. And here's what Ahasuerus said.
Ahasuerus said, I cannot rescind the decree. It is a decree of
the Medes and the Persians. It's been written in my hand.
It's been sealed. It's been sent out. I cannot
rescind it. It's the word of the king. But
I'll tell you what I will do. I'll write another letter. And
in that letter, I will give permission to the Jews to arm themselves
against those who would come against them. You see, God said, the soul that
sins shall surely die. Surely die. There's no way around
it. In the day in which you eat of
that fruit, you will surely die. And all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God and all have died. And God can't
rescind that. God can't say, well, you know,
I'll just take that away and I'll let No, but what I will
do is I'll arm my people. With what? With the shield of
faith, with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God, with the helmet of salvation, with the breastplate of righteousness,
with the belt of truth, with feet that are shod with the preparation
of the gospel, I'll arm my people so that they can be defend it
against that death. That death is going to come.
It'll come against my Son in their place. And all that armor
that I'm going to give them is going to cause them to look to
my Son for the hope of their salvation. God can't just say, well, you
know, I'll lower the standard for some. I'll change my righteousness. I'll... No. No. But I'm going to write another
decree. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We believe everything God says. We believe that all that has
been given to Christ by the Father shall be saved. We believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for the sheep. We believe that he didn't waste
any of his blood. He didn't come into this world
in order to make an attempt to save people. He actually accomplished
the salvation of his elect. We believe that. We believe it's
finished. We believe it when he said, Jacob
I loved and Esau I hated. You see the religious take their
pen knife just like that Old Testament king and they cut out
the parts of God's word that they don't like and they throw
it away. The hard sayings. The hard sayings of the Scripture
are the very precious sayings that lead us to find firm footing
on that rock of ages, isn't it? It's the hard sayings of the
Scriptures that we love. The centurion believed he had
a high view of God's Word. We believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ is our Sabbath, don't we? We believe that he's the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. We
believe that we're not under the law. We're
under grace. We believe salvation's accomplished.
Why? Why do we believe these things?
Because God said so. And he's given to us faith to
take him at his word. What did the centurion say? Lord,
I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Speak the word
only. That's all I need. You just speak
the word only and my servant shall be healed. Thomas had a high view of experience,
didn't he? Unless I take my fingers and
press them into the, into the wounds in his hands and take
my hand and thrust it into the wound on his side, I will not
believe. I'm going to confirm what you're
telling me by what I see and by what I feel. That's what the unbelieving Pharisee
said, show us a sign and we'll believe you. And the Lord said,
no, a wicked and perverse generation is seeking after a sign. But
they didn't believe it when he did show them a sign. He raised
Lazarus from the dead and they got together, the Sanhedrin got
together and said, what are we gonna do? If we allow him to
remain, we're gonna lose both our place and our position. We're
gonna lose our whole nation. We've got to crucify him. They
didn't believe it when they saw him cast demons out of demon-possessed
people. They said, he's doing it by the
power of Beelzebub. And they blasphemed the Holy
Spirit. And the Lord told them that sin
will never be forgiven you. They observed the acts of the
Spirit of God working through the Son of God and they credited
the devil for it. when the blind man was given
sight. I mean, here's a man that all of his life, 38 years, had
been a beggar and everybody knew him, he was blind. And the Lord
miraculously heals him and they want to interrogate him on who
healed him and why it was on the Sabbath and how it was done. You see, the things that men
say they need from God in order to confirm the truth of the gospel
Even when they experience them, that doesn't help them. It doesn't
help them. Unbelief is always looking for
an experience. It's always looking for a feeling.
People say, well, you know, they look back at an experience when
they got saved and they talk about how, well, you know, I
just, I cried and I walked the aisle and I just had a warm feeling
and God just, and they're holding on to that experience for the
hope of their salvation rather than looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ for all their righteousness and for all their salvation.
Thomas had a high view of experience. You remember in 2 Kings chapter
5 when Naaman came down to Elisha in Dothan to be healed of his
leprosy and Elisha wouldn't even come out of the house and Naaman,
the scripture says, was wroth with him. He was so angry and
he told his servant, he said, I thought the man of God would
come out and he would raise his hands and he would have a ceremony
and we'd be, you know, we'd do something here. Go down to the
Jordan and wash myself seven times. We got better rivers than
that back in Syria. See, he was looking for an experience.
And that's what people do. They go to, people come here
out of religion, often times, they, well, you know, you don't
have stained glass windows and you don't have crosses and you
don't have statues and you don't have smoke and mirrors and you
don't have all the trappings of religion to make us feel good. We have purposefully left those
things out of this building. Why? Because they are a distraction. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the Word of God. Men in their flesh want a feeling. They want an experience. They
want something that tantalizes them. Thomas wanted an experience.
Unless I touch him, And my experience will confirm what you're saying,
whether it's true or not. Now, to Thomas' credit, when
the Lord did appear, he said, Thomas, here, I heard what you
said. I was there, Thomas, when you were talking. I just wasn't
revealing myself to you. And Thomas never touched the
Lord. He just fell at his feet and
said, Oh, Lord, my Lord and my God. Thomas, it's good. It's good that you believe, but
you're believing because what you saw, blessed are those who
have not seen yet they believe. Now you have not seen the Lord
Jesus Christ in the flesh. You've not seen Him. You've not
seen God. You've not seen the spiritual
world. Not with your physical eyes. You've not touched it with
your physical hands. And all those religious experiences
that men rely on, they think, well, that's spirituality. No, it's not. It's flesh. It's
flesh. It's all it is. And the flesh
profiteth nothing. It's the Spirit that giveth life,
and the Spirit gives life by the Word of God. Lord, I don't need an experience.
I don't even need You to come to my house. I'm not worried
that You should come into my house. I don't need you to prove
anything to me. Speak the word only and my servant
shall be healed. Now that's faith. You see, having a high view of
experience is not faith. Oh, I've got to have peace. I've got to have the peace of
God. I've got to feel saved. Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My only warrant is the Word of
God. None else is worth believing. You see, this centurion, and
here's what faith does. Faith understands that. Faith
knows how fickled feelings are. This centurion, I'm sure, was
thinking, you know, I've been angry at some of the men under
me before and I've exercised discipline against them that
I shouldn't have done. Because something they did or
something they said made me angry. Or I tolerated something I shouldn't
have tolerated. Or I was abused by, he started
out by saying I'm a man under authority, I was abused by someone
over me. Because they woke up in a bad
mood one day. You see, He was saying, I understand
authority, and I don't trust my feelings. And I don't trust
your feelings, and I don't trust anybody else's feelings. You
see, our trust is not in our feelings. It's not in our experiences. Faith is in the truth of God's
Word. Faith is in the revelation that
God has made of His Son. Faith is in Christ. It's all
about him. I don't need to see anything. I've
submitted to unreasonable and unprofitable demands by my boss. And I've made plenty of mistakes
leading my troops. I've disciplined them out of
anger. I've tolerated them because of bad behavior. I mean, when
they had bad behavior, because I was too lazy to discipline
them. I've been fooled by my feelings to be happy when I should
have been sad. My observations are fallible,
my feelings are fickle, and my judgments are flawed. I cannot
trust the way I feel. You can't trust the way you feel. But isn't that what we gravitate
towards? That's unbelief. Unless I touch it, unless I see
it, I'm not going to believe it. I've got to have an experience. That's unbelief. That's unbelief. If you're waiting
for some kind of experience from heaven before you come to Christ,
that's just because of your unbelief. Thomas had a high view of himself. Unless I touch his wounds and
I thrust my fingers into those nail-scarred hands and put my
hand into his side, I will not believe. I'm going to be the final arbiter.
I'm going to be the one to decide what's true and what's not true,
because my judgments are infallible. I'm going to handle the Son of
God like a coroner doing an autopsy, and I will write my report as
to whether or not He really died, or how He died, or whether or
not He's really alive. I'll put it in my report." Isn't
that amazing? Unbelief. A man believing that
he has the power to decide, that he has a free will, that he's
the highest judge. Man believes that God has abdicated
his throne and given him the authority to save himself when
he's ready to be saved. His decision and his works, that's
unbelief. Way too high a view of oneself. Man has set himself up on the
throne of God. Oh, but this centurion, don't
you love it? Don't you love it? Oh Lord, I'm
not worthy. I'm not worthy that you should
even come into my house. Turn with me to Luke chapter
7. Luke gives us another account
of this event. And this is a good example. The
unbeliever oftentimes will read two competing accounts that they
perceive to be competing and say, well, see, it doesn't say
it the same way there that it said it over there. That proves
that it's the, no. It's just two men telling the
same story about something that happened from God, the Holy Spirit's
inspiring Matthew and Luke. But Luke tells us that the man
didn't actually approach the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He
sent a servant because he didn't think he was worthy to even go
up to the Lord. Look what Luke says in... I didn't write the verse down.
Okay, at the beginning, Luke chapter 1. Now when he had ended
all these sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into
Capernaum, and a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him,
was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he
sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he
would come and heal his servant. It's the same story. But now
he sends the elders of the Jews, because he figures, I'm a Gentile,
there's no way I can plead my cause with this one who is the
savior of the Jews. So I'll send a Jew and maybe
he'll Maybe he'll listen. And when they came to Jesus,
they besought him instantly saying that he was worthy for whom he
should do this, for he loved our nation and he hath built
us a synagogue. Somebody tells you you're worthy,
don't believe them. It's not true. This man knew
he wasn't worthy. The Jews went to the Lord and
tried to present this centurion as a man who was worthy because
he had spent the money out of his own pocket to build a synagogue
in Capernaum for the Jews. He wasn't able as a Gentile to
go into the synagogue, but he had enough respect for their
God to build them a synagogue and now they present, Lord, he's
done this for us and now you should do this for him. That
was their opinion of him. Then Jesus went with him, and
when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for
I am not worthy that thou should enter into my roof. Wherefore,
neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. But say in
a word, and my servant shall be healed, for I am also a man
set under authority. having under me soldiers, and
I say to one, go, and he goeth, and to another come, and he cometh.
And to my servant, do this, and he doeth. And when Jesus heard
these things, he marveled at him, and turned about, and said
unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Lord, I sent servants
to you because I didn't think I was even worthy to approach
you. He had a low view of himself,
didn't he? Faith always has a low view of himself. Always. Job said, Behold, I am vile.
Isaiah said, Woe is me, I'm undone. Peter said, Depart from me, Lord,
I'm a sinful man. Paul said, In me that is in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Faith always has a low view of
self. Thomas had a pretty good view
of himself. He thought he could make good judgments about things. But this centurion, he's like all those who have
faith. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. You know, when Isaiah saw the
Lord in Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah never dreams that God's going
to have mercy on him. He said, my eyes have seen the
king and I'm a dead man. The Lord's the one who took the
initiative to send one of the seraphims to get a coal off the
altar and cleanse him and make him whole. Lord, here's what faith says. Faith takes sides with God against
oneself and says to God, if you choose to cast me into hell,
that's what I deserve. That's what I deserve. I cannot offer you one thing
to justify myself or to prove to you that I'm worthy of salvation. completely dependent upon your
mercy, completely dependent upon your grace. Now I want to close
quickly, I'm sorry, time has gotten away from me. I hate it when preachers Make
me feel guilty about not coming to church. Or try to make me
feel guilty about not coming to church. It reminds me of a
mother trying to manipulate her children, her adult children,
to come see her more often. And the more she begs them and
tries to make them feel bad about not coming, the more they don't
want to come. Y'all ever had that experience? That having been said, public
worship. Oh, what Thomas missed out on.
Thomas should have been there. And like I said, I'm sure he
had an excuse. But I like one definition I heard, an excuse
is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. And I'm sure that, you know,
we always have good excuses, don't we? The blessing that there is to
be had. A being where God has promised
to meet with his people. Where God has promised to reveal
himself. Where the gospel of God's grace
is preached and God's people are encouraged to fellowship
with one another. Now I can say to you, I don't
want you to be here unless you want to be here. Now children, that
doesn't apply to you. But, you understand what I'm saying? I want God to put it in our hearts
for us to want to be here. This is the place where we meet
with God. This centurion had a high view
of public worship. He spent of his own money whatever
was necessary to build a synagogue in Capernaum so the Jews could
worship God and he could hear about Jehovah. Thomas, on the other hand, Wherever
he was, I don't know. But he missed the presence of
the Lord, didn't he? He missed the Lord speaking to
him. I close with the passage that I Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter
17. Verse one. Then said he unto the disciples,
it is impossible, but that offenses will come. You're going to be
offended and you're going to offend someone else. It is impossible
to avoid all offenses. It's going to happen. But woe
unto him through whom they come. It were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck and cast into the sea that
he should offend one of these little ones. Now here he's talking
about offending one away from Christ. Take heed to yourselves. If thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent,
forgive him. And if he transgress against
thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again
to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles
said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Now what does forgiveness have
to do with faith? Everything. Everything. You forgiving someone who offends
you is the evidence that you've been forgiven. And your inability to forgive
someone else is just the evidence of your Not looking to Christ
for your own forgiveness, for your own forgiveness. Lord, increase our faith. We want to have a low view of
ourselves. We want to have a high view of
your word. We want to have a low view of
our experience. And we want to have a high view
of public worship. And if we do, if we do, the Lord
will enable us to experience our own forgiveness and to forgive
one another. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word, and we pray now that you would just speak to
our hearts so much more than what we're able to say. Reveal
to us the glory of Thy Son and increase, increase our faith.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 268, let's stand
together. You. How firm a foundation ye saints
of the Lord Is laid for your faith in his excellent word What
more can he say than to you he hath said To you who for refuge
to Jesus have fled. Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not dismayed. For I am thy God, I will still
give thee aid. Faith in thee, help thee, and
cause thee to stand, Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I cause thee to go, The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow,
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee
thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials thy
pathway shall lie, my grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I design. Thy draws to consume and thy
gold to refine. The soul that I Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake.