I please God to bless us this
morning as we meditate in his word let's turn to the Gospel
of Matthew chapter 8 and we'll read verse 8 the Gospel of Matthew
chapter 8 and reading verse 8 the centurion answered and said
Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof
but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed we should be very thankful that
we have such accounts in the word of God to encourage us to
believe that we do have a great God a great God who has heard
and answered prayer that great God who does hear and answer
prayer and that great God who will hear and answer prayer and
so we have a number of accounts in this eighth chapter but this
one we're speaking on this morning is particularly about this man
who was a centurion that means he was in charge of a hundred
men a hundred soldiers he was a very important person in those
days and Jesus had come to this town of Capernaum and this centurion
they came to him came to Jesus and we're told he came unto unto
him a centurion beseeching him now when we read this word beseeching
It means that it wasn't just a casual comment, just a word
spoken, but he was really concerned. And he really wanted Jesus to
hear what he was saying. And he really wanted Jesus to
obey his request, if it could be his will. And it's good for
us to realize that we have a situation like that in our lives today.
because we have needs all of us have needs we have needs naturally
in our lives day by day and we have needs spiritually which
in reality are more important than our needs in our daily life
but here we have then this word beseeching and it's good if when
we come to God in prayer we do come like this beseeching him
really earnestly praying that God will hear and God will answer
now this man he had a very real need well we often have real
needs but we seem to treat them as though they're not very important
but this man had a real need and we're told what it was Lord
my servant lieth at home sick of a palsy generally speaking
that means that this man had a stroke he was afflicted in
that way he couldn't move around and we're told he was grievously
tormented we're not told any details of that what that specifically
meant but no doubt it was very serious because that's what the
centurion said and so Jesus' response to him was very simple
and he said this I will come and heal him there was the answer
to his request he beseeched the Lord and the Lord came and said,
I will come and heal him and that was a clear indication that
the Lord was going to come to the home of the centurion but
the centurion's response was very interesting and it's in
this 8th verse which we read this morning He says, Lord, I
am not worthy that thou, the Lord Jesus, should come under
my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Well, we have a lot to learn
from a little verse like this. First of all, this centurion
realized how great God was and he comes and says I'm not
worthy but thou shouldest come under my roof clearly he didn't
have a very high opinion of himself and it's good you know when we
don't have a high opinion of ourselves we can easily become
very proud and think that we are worthy of notice and expect
the Lord to come immediately perhaps and perhaps in our own
lives to expect the Lord to come immediately to us well we must
always remember that the Lord has a way, a plan and a time and the Bible tells us the Lord
says your time, that's you and me your time is always, we want
it now the Lord says but my time is not yet and it's good to realise
that God has a perfect timing for the things that you and I
need the things perhaps that you and I pray for and perhaps
we pray for very earnestly and beseeching and we think well
the Lord's surely going to answer that now Well, the Lord knows
all about you and me. And He also tells us that He
knows the end from the beginning. You see, we only know what's
happening now. God knows what's before us. You
and I don't. And that's why sometimes the
Lord delays answering prayer. We shouldn't be despondent. And
we shouldn't be annoyed. we shouldn't be angry we should
recognise that God is great and God is in heaven and God looks
down upon us and what a wonderful blessing it is if God hears our
prayers it's good you know to just think upon that and sometimes
I try and illustrate it to you to think that God is in control
of everybody in this vast world. The billions of people that live
in this world. There are many people also in
this world who do pray to God. We're thankful there are still
people that do pray to God. And yet the Lord knows every
prayer. The Lord knows all about us.
He knows where we live. He knows what we need. Nothing
is hidden from Almighty God. And it is really good when you
and I, and especially you younger people, realize how great God
is, how high he is, and to think that he graciously condescends
to hear and answer prayer. So let us always remember then,
how great God is and realise God has a perfect right to answer
us, answer our prayers when he will. And we must always realise
sometimes we want something and God doesn't say yes, but God
says no. We sometimes think that whatever
we ask it's going to be granted well we can be thankful that
often God does hear and answer our prayers but sometimes God
says no because it wouldn't be good for us it wouldn't be beneficial
for us it wouldn't be a blessing for us it wouldn't bring us nearer
to God it might take us farther away and therefore it wouldn't
be good for us and perhaps we haven't stood still or sat still
and just analysed our own thoughts our own mind and come to the
right conclusion of what we are asking for is good and is for
our eternal good and for the honour and glory of God So this
centurion then recognizes that he's not worthy that God should
come under his roof. And he gives us some little information
about that. And he tells us, and he says,
well, I'm a man under authority, 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 just to illustrate that he was a powerful man and
yet you see here he recognises as he stands before the Lord
Jesus that he's not worthy that the Lord should come under his
roof well he just wants God to then hear and to speak to him
and that's why he comes now and says this Very simple words,
but it's wonderful if you and I see the faith that this man
had. He didn't want Jesus to come
and do some wonderful miracle in some physical way. He comes
and just makes a very simple and yet very powerful statement. And it's this, but speak. the word only. He only wanted the Lord to speak
the word. And he says, he believed, and
he says, and my servant shall be healed. It's a good thing
for us today if we have faith to believe the Lord can speak
a word. And as in this case here, my
servant shall be healed. We go back perhaps. We need sometimes
to go back. To realize, first of all, the
Bible is true from beginning to end. And because it's true
to believe that the Lord God spoke the world into being. spoke the world into being in
six days. Many people today, of course,
poo-poo such a statement and don't believe it and think it's
well, just mythical, there's no truth in it. But it's good
if God gives you and me faith to believe the word of God that
it is true. And if we think then in those
terms, that the Lord spoke the world into being on those six
days each day there was something different that he spoke and it
occurred and you may think well that's impossible well it is
impossible to our natural minds you see our minds cannot really
assimilate such a statement as that the reason is quite clear
we can only reason as our human minds allow us to and our human
minds can only think in terms that are tangible to us and such
words as that to our natural minds are not really tangible
because we can't actually grasp that there could be a being that
could speak the world into being but nonetheless it is true and
it's a wonderful blessing when God gives you and me faith to
believe that that was true and because that was true we have
a great God who we can come to and believe in that God that
he can do for us the Word of God explains it like this far
more and exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or think
we often bring God down to our level and yet you see So we go
back to Isaiah, that prophet Isaiah. When he saw the Lord
by faith high and lifted up, he saw a great majesty. The Lord
gave him a vision to see something of the greatness of God. And
my friends today, we come before the great God. And this centurion came to the
Lord Jesus, the second person in the Trinity, and said, speak
the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Well, was that
faith misplaced? Was he speaking those words inappropriately? Well, we know, of course, that
it did come to pass. As we read together, and if we
read down just a few more verses, we come down to the 13th verse
in this 8th chapter. And Jesus said unto the centurion,
Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto
thee. and his servant was healed in
the selfsame hour. Well, that was an amazing blessing,
wasn't it? Amazing favour for this centurion. And yet, we're not told if he'd
met Jesus before, if he knew anything about Jesus more than
just hearsay, but he comes to the Lord Jesus. And he'd received
that faith to believe that Jesus could do this great, wonderful
miracle. And he had faith to believe that
Jesus only had to speak the word and it would be done. Well, I
wonder this morning in our lives whether we want Jesus to speak
perhaps to speak to us individually and as I said to begin with we
have a natural body we also have a never dying soul and our natural
body of course will one day die but our soul will live on forever
and then in that great day of the resurrection our body will
be reunited with our soul and what a wonderful Blessing if
the Lord speaks to our heart, speaks to our soul. And it would be good, you know,
if we come just like this, like this centurion. We just want
the Lord to come and speak to our hearts. He's not asking for
a wonderful natural demonstration of some amazing miracle. We just want God to come and
to speak to our soul. You might say, well, how does
God speak? Well, God speaks to our heart,
to our mind. And the words are placed within
us. It's really just, as it were,
a voice speaking within us. and there's a word comes and
it speaks to us and we may wonder what it is we might look round
and there's no one there there's no one actually speaking physically
and yet there is as it were that voice within that voice within
it's a great blessing isn't it when that is like that And perhaps
this word that I'm bringing to you this morning really came
to me in that way. Because obviously I seek the
Lord's direction in the word that I should speak to you from. I don't just pick up the Bible
and think, well that's a jolly nice word. I think I'll preach
from that today. I need the direction of the Holy
Spirit to direct me. And I really struggled. and there really seemed to be
no word and I looked at one and I looked at another and I couldn't
really settle on any particular word and preachers do need the
Lord God to settle a word and so it wasn't really until yesterday
morning and I like to have a text a few days beforehand and it
wasn't until yesterday morning suddenly these words just dropped in to
my heart but speak the word only I didn't
know exactly where they were often words come and you don't
always know exactly where they were but speak the word only
and I found it and found it was this was the text So it's a blessing if in your
life and my life, in one way or another, the Lord speaks to
us. You see, we need direction. You young people, you need direction.
You know, in your school life, in your university life, in your
working life, you need direction. You need to know that this is
the right way. again another word we have in
the Bible which says that this is the way walk ye in it when
you turn to the right and when you turn to the left in our little
lives on this earth we need to have the confirmation that God
is with us we're not just wandering aimlessly through life but there
is a purpose in our life it's a great blessing when that is
so when the Lord has and reveals to us his purpose for you and
me sometimes our lives are turned upside down we find ourselves
in a very different situation well we're not told about this
centurion but we are told that He came and said his servant
is at home sick of the palsy. There was a change then. He got
this need that he wanted his servant to be healed. And there
may be things in our lives that we need God to come. And he couldn't
heal this man. And he was clearly very ill.
Very ill. And yet he would appear to be
a servant that the centurion wanted to be a servant. And therefore
he came to the Lord. That's a good thing for you and
me today. In our lives, if we have a problem,
if we have a difficult situation, that we don't try and solve it
ourselves. That's a tendency, isn't it?
You think, well, I must do this. Well, I must do that. I'll go
here, or I'll come there. It's good if we can come like
this centurion. He came to Jesus. He came to
Jesus. Yes, and in coming to Jesus,
you see, he came in this right way, beseeching Him, praying
to Him. When we have a real need, we
come in that way, really praying earnestly. It's not just a mere
reciting a prayer. Nothing wrong in reciting a prayer.
But the reality is, when you and I have a real need, we almost
might say it's kind of forced out of us. And we have to pray. We have
to pray to God. Because we've got nowhere else.
And we need an answer. Now again that can, as I said,
can be in two ways. In our natural life, coming back
to that first of all, you young people, in your school and college
days you may need direction. And you may need help in exams
and guidance in the subjects you should take and the courses
you should go on. And then eventually the job that
you should seek for. Well, I hope you don't just think,
well, I'll just look around and see what there is. It's good
if you pray. And it's good if you come like
this centurion and beseech the Lord. That means you earnestly
pray that God will direct you. Because we do have a God who
has said he hears and answers prayer. And therefore it's good
for you to seek direction of God in our lives. And then, of
course, as you get older and you want husbands and wives,
again, it's good to pray to God that he would direct you with
regard to finding a husband and finding a wife. And then a place to live, a place
to live. Again, you need to ask the Lord,
beseeching that he will give you right directions in where
to live to provide a place for you you see sometimes we just
look around ourselves but it's good when the Lord does direct
us and again I've said that sometimes God says no sometimes you may
really fancy perhaps going and living in a certain place and
God says no and you get a bit irritated Because things don't
seem to be going right. They seem to be going wrong.
Everything you hoped would come to pass, doesn't come to pass. Well, when you and I come to
that situation, what we need is God to speak. And to tell
us, this is the way. Walk in it. This is the way. This is the right place. This
is the place that I've provided for you. What a wonderful blessing it
is to have a God then who does hear and answer prayer. Here we have this centurion,
you see, prayed to God, besought the Lord that he would heal his
servant. And we might say he was open-minded
to how that would come to pass. and we shouldn't have preconceived
ideas sometimes we do have preconceived ideas and we say Lord I've got
a plan I want you to work to it well that's the wrong way
round the Lord says I've got a plan and you are to walk to
it it's very different isn't it? not to dictate to God God
can dictate to us and it's good if he does because then we can
believe it is the right way and so as you go on and grow up and
God willing have families and that and you know we need help
and guidance in bringing up families sometimes children are very difficult
Some are easier. But we need, nonetheless, help
from God. And we need the Lord to speak
to us and to direct us in the way that we should go. Well,
we should be very encouraged, therefore, that we have a God
who has given us his word and a wonderful account like this.
We see the faith of this centurion. And he says very simply, but
Speak the word only. And remember, he said, I'm not
worthy that thou, Lord, should come under my roof. And it doesn't,
I don't need you, Lord, to come under my roof. Just a simple
statement. But speak the word only. and my servant shall be healed
well today in our natural lives that's very wonderful but it's
also more wonderful in our spiritual life you may say, well what do
you mean by that? what I mean by that is this we
need Jesus to come and to tell us that we are one of his children
And by that I mean one who the Lord Jesus Christ came down into
this sinful world to live that perfect life and to die that
sin-atoning death upon the cross at Calvary to take away all our
sins. And you may say, well, I don't
think I'm very much of a sinner I've been a pretty good person
all my life well just recognise that it's not a question of how
good or how bad you've been because one sin one sin condemns us condemns
us so that we will never go to heaven if one sin remains and
we need therefore to know that the Lord Jesus died upon that
cross at Calvary to take away our sins. Well, I wonder, I wonder
this morning, all of you in this congregation, I wonder if you
ask the Lord to show you, to speak to you, a wonderful word, speak the word
only. that he has loved you that he has saved you that he's gone
to prepare a place for you in glory all these things are very
wonderful but they're all very important and all of us need
to hear the voice of Jesus to our hearts to our soul He may be a very quiet voice,
a very still, small voice. You may remember Elijah. He ran away from Jezebel. He
was very frightened of Jezebel because she said she was going
to kill him. And it was just that same day, really, that there
had been that wonderful appearance of God for Elijah on Mount Carmel
when the Lord had brought down fire. to consume the sacrifice
in answer to Elijah's prayer all the prophets of Baal failed
dismally and nothing had happened and God had wonderfully appeared
but now we see poor Elijah running away he ran a long way and he
came to a cave and he went into the cave and then he came and
he stood in the cave's mouth and he wanted God to speak to
him and there was a great tempest, a great storm but no voice from
God no voice from God there was a great earthquake but no voice
from God sometimes we think there's got to be something very dramatic
in our lives well it is dramatic but not quite in the way that
we expect And Elijah tells us, the Lord came to him then and
he spoke like this, a still, small voice. A still, small voice. A very quiet voice. Do you know what God said to
Elijah? He said, what doest thou hear, Elijah? Elijah ran away. No need to run away. No need
to be afraid. Because God was on his side. If God before us, who can be
against us? We don't have to be afraid of
people. We don't have to be afraid of
men and women. We don't have to be afraid of
boys and girls. We have to put our confidence
in God. Well, Elijah shouldn't have run
away, but he did. But God was gracious to him. And I've sometimes, I know I've
told you, a little account of a friend I knew, a man quite
a lot older than me, and he used to tell us, or at least he was
very happy to tell us, when God spoke to him and he tells us that he was digging
in his garden on a Sunday and suddenly God spoke to him these
words that he spoke to Elijah what doest thou hear? and he
realised that he shouldn't really have been digging in his garden
on a Sunday So he got his spade and fork and threw them in the
shed, went indoors, this was a long time ago, and into the
kitchen, and the radio was on in the kitchen on the mantelpiece,
and he turned it up louder to drown out this voice, which he
didn't want to hear. Fell on the floor and crashed.
That was the end of that. And so this voice, it wouldn't
leave him. What doest thou hear? So next
Sunday comes round, he says to his wife, we're going to church
today. And she said, wow, all right.
And so he takes his wife, and I think he had three or four
children, and picked them all up, and they were playing in
the garden, all dirty and scruffy. And put them in a pram, and off
they went to church to hear the gospel. Well, that was the beginning
of the spiritual life in that man. And what had God done? He'd fulfilled
this truth. Speak the word only. A quiet
word, but a word which had penetrated right into that man's heart. Now, in one way or another, all
of us need to hear the word of the Lord. All of us need to hear
God speaking to us, especially with regards to our eternal soul. We need to have the blessed confirmation
that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us. And because he's
died for us, he's taken away all our sins. And we are clean. There's no sin left. What a great
blessing that is when the Lord comes and speaks to your heart
and my heart. What a great blessing that is.
Again, I think I mentioned to you recently, I'll tell it again,
when I was a little boy, little boy at home, and I was born in
a war and my dad had been in the army, and my mum told me
about the time when God spoke to my father. And I thought,
wow, God hasn't spoken to me. And I was really worried about it.
And I was really concerned about it. And when I was only a little
lad, I remember going and praying to God that he would speak to
me. well I can be very thankful to
God for his mercy towards me that he has spoken to me on a
number of occasions to his great and holy name for his honour
and for his glory but you know such occasions are needful and
some people seem to put these things off as irrelevant doesn't
matter doesn't matter well it may be perhaps in a very different
way the Lord may ask us a question it may be believest thou these
things? and what do we say to that? how
do we respond? do we say well no it's just a
lot of fairy tales I don't believe it or do we come and say Lord
I believe And perhaps we come, like that man we recorded in
the Word of God, tells us this. He came and said in answer to
that question, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. What it meant was this. He did
want to believe the truth of God. And he was
fearful of not believing. Well, I wonder how you think
this morning. Do you believe the truth of God?
Has God given you faith to believe? Has he caused you, therefore,
to really hear his voice in answer to that question, do we believe? You see, I can't answer that
question for you. You can answer that question
before God. It's very important. It's very
vital. We're fast passing through time. And what a great blessing
it is to know then the Lord speaks to us and tells us that he has
died for us. That we are his children. And
it is well with our souls. How necessary that is to know
that it's well with our souls. We're very concerned, aren't
we? About our bodies. That's not wrong, that's right.
But it's more important to be concerned about the health of
our souls. Speak the word only. That's what
we need God to do for all of us. To speak into our hearts
and to confirm to us that he's loved us. Yeah, I've loved thee
with an everlasting love. And with loving kindness, I've
drawn thee. Great blessing that is, isn't
it? What a wonderful favour to know that we have a God who has
not cast us off, not cast us off, but has come into this world
to save our souls. Save our souls. We don't deserve
any blessings. We have to feel like this centurion. I'm not worthy, Lord, of any
notice. I'm not worthy of any blessing. But I do need it, Lord. Do hear
my prayer. I beseech Thee. Do speak to me. Don't cast me off. But hear my
cry. Well, the Lord has said, he will
hear the cry of the destitute and not despise their cry, not
despise their prayer. Remember, again another word,
the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman avoideth
much. We may not always realize whether
our prayers are effectual, but it is a great blessing if they
are fervent, The centurion was fervent in beseeching. It wasn't just a casual form
of words. He was beseeching, he was fervent.
And what a blessing for you and me, in our lives, to be fervent
in our prayers. And to not give up until the
Lord has heard and answered our cry. to know that it is well
with our soul if it's well with our soul we are eternally blessed
and that one day by the grace of God we shall be with Jesus
in glory forever and ever where there will be no sin and no sorrow
but everlasting happiness true happiness doesn't reside in the
things of this world true happiness and the peace of God resteth
in eternal realities. The hymn writer has it right
when he said this, to know my Jesus crucified by far excels
all things beside. Well may we have that earnest
prayer that we may truly know the Lord Jesus Christ dying upon
the cross at Calvary, to redeem our souls, and to hear those
words, I go to repair a place for you. And if I go to repair
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am there, ye may be also. But speak the word only. Amen.