Turn with me to Luke chapter
7. Luke 7, looking at the first
10 verses, this is an account of a Roman centurion. And as John Bunyan noted, this
appears to be the first fruit of the Gentiles. This appears
to be the first Gentile saved by the Lord. And it concerns
the salvation, this passage, these ten verses concern the
salvation of this Roman centurion occasioned by the sickness of
a servant that was dear unto him. And there is some foreshadowing
here in this passage of what our Lord does for all his people
since his ascension. because we don't read here in
this passage that Christ ever saw this centurion. I know in
Matthew it says that he spoke to Christ and yet here it seems
to say that there was people sent speaking on the authority
of him and representative of this man. There's no contradiction
there between them and it foreshadows how our Lord saves us, his people,
today. We don't see Christ in bodily
form. We don't hear him audibly speak. He doesn't touch us with his
physical hand and we don't reach out and touch him. his physical
body, or the hem of his garment. And yet, we are made by the Spirit
of God to hear the voice of the Son of God, not audibly, but
taught in the Spirit to hear His words and to believe what
He has said. concerning himself, concerning
our salvation and our need of him. Our Lord, when speaking
to Thomas, said, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen me and yet believe. And that's how the Lord saves
all His people in our day. He saves us without seeing Christ,
without having seen Him on the cross, without having seen the
empty tomb. We see it by faith, which God
gives to those whom He loves and is drawing to Himself, separating
them to Himself in the gospel. So first, I want to speak to
the authority of Christ. I want you to understand that
what our Lord was doing here is He was demonstrating His authority
to say the things to convince the people who had just heard
Him preaching that Sermon on the Mount to convince them and
say, I have the authority to say what I just said to you.
And He does it by a miracle. Verse 1, Luke 7, 1 says, now
when He had ended all His sayings in the audience of the people,
he entered into Capernaum. Capernaum was a city of Galilee
and it was near unto Nazareth where our Lord was raised as
a young man. And after, well this Capernaum
is actually a place where he did more miracles here than in
any other place was in Capernaum. He did the majority of his miraculous
works here in Capernaum, very close to Nazareth. Very close
to Nazareth there. And after his sermon in Nazareth,
what our Lord did was he would demonstrate that he has the authority
to say the things he says. And so when he was in Nazareth,
after he came up from the wilderness, being tempted of the devil, establishing
that he is the last Adam, that he is the fit savior of his people,
he went to Nazareth and there he preached grace words. He preached a sermon of grace,
showing how that God passed by those whom he would pass by and
saved those whom he would. He did that by saying there was
many widows in Israel when the Lord sent his prophet to a Gentile
widow. And he said there was many lepers
in Israel when the Lord sent his prophet past all of them
and healed Naaman the leper, a Gentile. And that enraged the
people, that angered the people to hear of a sovereign God who
saves whom he will, that would pass by me and save another? Why would the Lord? They were
angry with that. They were so angered by it because
man loves that control. He wants that control. And it
terrifies him to think that God is in control. The believer wants
no one else to have that control but God. We don't even want that
control ourselves because we know what failures, what sinners,
what ruined sinners we are. Thanks be to God that he is sovereign
and saves and is able to save to the uttermost whom he will. And so after that, it says in
Luke 4, verse 31, that Christ came down to Capernaum. a city
of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. Nazareth drove
him out. They wanted to throw him off
a cliff. And he goes down to Capernaum, not very far away,
and teaches them on the Sabbath days. And we're told that they
were astonished at his doctrine. They never heard any man preach
and teach like he did. It's noted that his word was
with power. And there in that synagogue,
he rebuked and cast out a devil. from a man in their synagogue,
delivered him of that bondage he was in. And then we're told
that he went into Simon's house and healed his mother-in-law.
She had been on the couch for a long time with a fever. And
if you've ever had a fever for a long time, you know that when
a fever leaves you, when it finally breaks and you get up, you're
weak for a long time. If you've been there, the longer
you've been there, the weaker you are. Well, his mother-in-law
was healed. He drove out fever and it says
she immediately rose up and ministered to them she served them that's
how complete how full his his deliverance was in that hour
and then in Luke 4 verse 40 and 41 when the Sun was setting there
in Capernaum all they that had any sick with diverse diseases
brought them unto him and And he laid his hands on every one
of them and healed them. And devils also came out of many. So that was all done in Capernaum. It was all done there in Capernaum. And so in Luke 6 then, just before
our chapter that we're in, he chose, after a night of prayer,
he chose his disciples. And then he preached this Sermon
on the Mount to the people. And he taught them with authority
and with power the things that were contradicting all those
things that they heard from their teachers. It contradicted those
things. And so because he's saying something
that is true and right and perfect and holy, They needed to know
that he has the authority to say what he said. And so he goes
to Capernaum now and he demonstrates that he is the Christ. And the
reason why is that we are to hear him. We're to hear Christ. He is the Savior whom the Father
hath sent. He is the only Savior. If we
don't hear Him, if we're not covered with His blood, we have
no covering for our sin. We're naked before Holy God who
knows the thoughts of our hearts. He knows the thoughts of our
minds. He knows the words that come out of our mouths. He knows
what we don't say. He knows everything about us.
We're all exposed to Him. but he's given us Christ and
says, look to him. And in Christ, he saves his people
from their sins. He cleanses us from our sins
because we can't clean our own hands. We can't clean our own
heart. We don't have a righteousness of our own. And so that's why
Christ came and we are to hear him. And then the second thing
here is that we ought to consider the occasion of this man's salvation,
this centurion. Verse two says, in a certain
centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick and ready
to die. So of this centurion, he's a
Gentile. He's a Gentile. He's a Roman
soldier. He's a soldier of the enemy who
is occupying their land. And by nature, he's hated of
those people. But this Gentile had a servant
who we're told was dear unto him. He was sick, and he was
ready to die. And that's really all we know
about this servant. That's really all that's said
about this servant for the most part. because the focus is on
this centurion and upon his salvation, what the Lord did for this centurion
in saving him. And it shows us what the Lord
works in the heart of his people. It shows us what the Lord does
to save his people from their sins. And so this centurion is
meant to give us pause. It's meant to consider the faith
which God gave to this man. Would that God would give me
that faith to trust Christ, to believe Him, to seek Him, to
hear His word. In verse 9, Our Lord calls our
attention specifically to this man's faith. Verse nine says,
when Jesus heard these things, and we'll see what those things
are in a bit, he marveled at him and turned him about and
said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And so here we see
that Christ teaches those who follow him and those who who
look, what is Christ doing? What is he doing? He's on the
throne, what is he doing today? He teaches his people, and that's
what he's showing us, is that he teaches those that follow
him and seek after him, and so he turns him about, right? Because you're here to hear the
word, you're here to hear what Christ is doing, to hear what
he says. Well, hear what he says. He turns himself about and he
says to those following him, he said, I've not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel. He's speaking of faith. This
centurion is a picture of the grace of God. This man is a picture
of believers today who never saw Christ and yet have heard
of him have a need of His grace and mercy. And so we'll see that
this is a picture of all who hear and believe Christ and seek
Him for His grace, for His salvation, for His mercy. Each one of us
today is given a picture of our need of salvation and of the
Savior who saves his people completely from their sins. So I want to
give you seven things. I want to cover seven things
that are pictured here in this text that is true of the salvation
that God works in every one of his people. Seven things here
that the Lord brings out. First, this was a certain centurion. A certain centurion. Whenever
our Lord uses that word certain to describe someone or something,
it's signifying that God is in sovereign control. He is almighty
God who is sovereign, able to do whatsoever He pleases to do. Things are not just randomly
happening here in the earth. Things that have happened to
us are not random. God is in sovereign control.
He's done it on purpose, according to purpose. It's according to
purpose. And our Lord uses this word certain
here on people or on Places or certain things there, sometimes
it's for good, sometimes it's for bad. But God is in sovereign
control. God has purposed it. It was a
certain woman. Back in Judges, when we went
through Judges, we saw how there was a man who was out for vengeance,
a man named Abimelech, and the people of a city had retreated
to a strong tower in the town. And that picture, that tower,
was a strong tower that pictures Christ. And the enemy was coming
to burn that tower down. And they were holed up in that
tower, and it says a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone
down, and it struck that man in his head and killed him. And it pictures Christ, our strong
tower, And that woman is a picture of the church, who has nothing
but the gospel of her savior. And we declare that gospel. And
to some, it's a saver of life unto life. And to others, it's
a saver of death unto death. And to that man, he was slain
by him. And they were delivered. And
then we're told that it was a certain place that Jacob, when he fled
from Esau, his brother, the Lord brought him to a certain place
where he lay down and slept that night putting his head on a stone
and it was in that place that he dreamed a dream of a ladder
stretching from heaven to the earth and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon it between heaven and earth showing that
Well, that picture, that ladder is Christ. And it shows that
it's in Christ that God communicates and blesses his people. That's
how he deals with his people is in and by and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And without him, there is no
word of God. There is no knowledge of God.
There is no understanding of the true and living God. And
so there's a certain place. At other times, there's a certain
someone that he's gracious to. It was a certain woman that reached
out and touched the hem of his garment that was healed, who
had an issue of blood for 12 years. Sometimes he uses that
word in parables. It was a certain rich man and
a certain beggar. that the Lord speaks of. And
there was many certain ones who sought to injure and destroy
the Lord. And yet there was certain sinners
to whom he was very gracious and merciful too. And that's
where we are today. We see the purpose of God's grace
for this certain centurion. A certain centurion. Would to
God that there were here today certain someones that God purposed
a certain grace for. to bless them, to heal them,
to break their heart and show them their need and show them
the sufficient healing hand of Christ that heals our sin disease
and delivers us from death and ruin. Wood to God. Second, we
too have something precious just like the centurion had. It says
that a certain centurion's servant who was dear unto him was sick
and ready to die. Brethren, our Lord calls our
attention to the faith of this centurion because there's a purpose. There's a purpose why this man
was seeking the Lord. He had a servant that was dear
unto him, that was sick and ready to die. That's a description
of us. We have a precious, dear soul
that is eternal. that does not die, that lives
forever either in the presence of holy God or in eternal habitations
in hell separated from God. We have something very dear,
something very precious like this man's servant. It is our
eternal soul that God has given to us and because of our sin,
our sin in Adam, The wicked things that we do and think and practice
because of our sin, we are sick. And we can't heal ourselves like
this servant. And like this servant, we're
ready to die. We're spiritually dead and we're
ready to lay this body down in the dust and then we stand before
holy God in judgment. in our works if we have not Christ. That's what Paul calls the law
of sin and death. It's just so, right? Everybody
dies, and we're all sinners. There's no denying that. Just
like the scriptures say, we see that truth in ourselves if we're
honest with ourselves. We're all vile sinners, and we're
gonna die. And after this, the judgment.
And so our Lord is showing us that we have something very precious,
a soul, an eternal soul. And I pray that the Lord help
us to see that, to know my soul is eternal. It lives. This body
is just an outward form. It's just a tent. It's going
to be laid aside, but my soul lives on. And so I think the
God of our glory made Him to be so. He brought this to pass
as a picture of the preciousness of our souls to make us to see
our need of His grace and mercy, to make us to see that we need
to hear Christ. We need His salvation, and we
know We know we can't save ourselves, but that's why He sent Christ.
And He shows us the preciousness of Christ here. Third here, our
Lord is teaching us that His people have ears. He gives them
ears to hear the voice of the Son of God. It says in verse
3, And when he heard of Jesus, and this is more than just a
carnal hearing of a man named Jesus. He heard Christ. He heard what Christ was doing,
what he was saying, and what he was able to do. He heard of
Jesus and the Lord blessed that word to his heart. The Lord blessed
that word to him to see that that's the Savior. He's able. I need him. I need him here.
I've got a dear servant who's sick and ready to die, and this
man is the healer. This man is the great physician.
I need him here. And so he brings us, he shows
us this to bring us to see, have I heard Christ? Have I heard
of what Christ has done? He tells us in his gospel who
Christ is. that He is the Lamb of God, that
He came in the flesh, the Son of God laid aside His glory,
took upon Him this flesh, yet without sin, and He came and
established for us that He is the Messiah. He endured the temptation,
He suffered, thus proving, He was perfected in His suffering,
in other words, He proved that He is the last Adam. the Savior,
whom the Father promised to save His people from their sins. He came and went willingly to
that cross, not for His own sins, but for the sins of His people,
to atone for their sins, as their sin-bearer, to make an atonement
to put away their sins. God hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And so he did that to satisfy
God's justice, to deliver us out of the hand of God's justice,
so that when we die and stand before God, we don't stand in
our sins and in our filthy works. We stand in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. He reconciled us and he redeemed
us with his own blood, making us perfectly righteous in him,
not by the law, but by the blood of Christ. He's our confession
and our hope. 2 Timothy 1, 9, and 10 tells
us of Christ saying, he hath saved us and called us within
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose of grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
He abolished death in that that body of sin, which we were in
in Adam, hath no more power over us, no more dominion. We're not
afraid to die and stand before God because it's not what we've
done. It's not the good or the bad
that we've done or haven't done. It's what Christ has done. That
is our hope. He's abolished that death so
that there's no more fear of death or worry about whether
or not I'm good enough and done enough to please God. I haven't. Christ has. And that's the hope
of his people. And so we're made to hear of
Christ in the gospel, and that hearing is made effectual to
his people, so that we hear and say, yep, that describes me,
I'm the sinner, and I need that savior. Lord, save me. Save me. And so that brings us to the
fourth thing, that children of God will seek salvation by Christ. We will seek the Lord for his
mercy. He will stir us up. He will strip
us down and make us to see, I can't run any longer. I need your grace,
Lord. I need your salvation. He gives us a need. For some,
it's sickness. For some, it's difficulties and
various trials and manifold temptations and afflictions and hardships.
But the Lord will bring every one of his children to see, I
need him. I need his salvation. The centurion
heard of Jesus and he sent for him because he needed him. Look
at verse 3. 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. This man heard the good news
of Christ. He heard who he was. He heard
what he is able to do and is doing for his people, and he
said, I need him here. I need him to save my servant. And so there we see God gave
him a need, and having that sick servant, that's what he used
to show him his need of Christ, and to show him that he's the
only Savior. that he's the one who heals.
Our Lord said in another place, they that are whole need not
a physician. I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. That's who he came for. And so
this picture, this servant who's sick, it's a picture of my sin
disease. I'm sick. I'm ready to die. My body is about to be laid in
the grave any moment. Lord save me. That's what he
shows each one of his people here. It speaks of our sin, which
leads unto death, and that we need him. He's the Savior. So
those who hear the gospel of Christ, they seek Christ because
they need that Savior to save them. That's why we're seeking
Christ. I need him, that Savior, a complete
Savior, full. I don't want someone that's going
to meet me halfway because I ain't moving an inch. I don't have
the ability. I'm sick, ready to die, can't move. So those who hear the gospel
of Christ, they seek Christ, that Savior, the one who said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. And he tells us in another place,
ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock,
and the door shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh,
receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.
And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Christ graciously
does that in his people, to ask him, to seek him, and to knock
for an answer. If you need him, seek him, ask
him, pray to him, even that tiny grain of a mustard seed, like
a little mustard seed of faith that he gives. That's what he
gives to his people and they'll venture upon him and see more
and more that he is indeed the true and living God. Fifth, as
Jesus drew near to his child and as he draws near to his people,
we see more and more our need of him and our insufficiency
and unworthiness of him. but we see him more precious
to us. It says there in verse 4 that
when the elders of the Jews were sent to Christ, what did they
say? They saw Jesus instantly saying,
he's worthy. for whom you should do this thing.
He's worthy. They said in verse five, he loveth our nation. He's
built us a synagogue. He's worthy, Lord, go do this.
Do this for him. Verse six says, Jesus went with
them, and when Jesus was now not far from the house, at this
point, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord,
trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy. I'm not worthy that
thou shouldst enter under my roof. And that's a picture of
what the Lord does is He draws near to us. We see our need of
Him more and more. And we see His sufficiency more
and more. John the Baptist understood this
work of grace where the Lord shows us that we're not getting
better. Christ is getting greater. He's
made more and more of a Savior to us. John the Baptist said,
I must decrease, he must increase. And that's what he does. We decrease
more and more in our own estimation and Christ is lifted higher and
higher and higher as he draws near and reveals himself to us
in his word. And that's because God isn't
looking for worthy people who have lots of works and things
to boast of in themselves. That's not who Christ came to
save. He came to save unworthy sinners. who have nothing to
boast of. Christ is all our boast. He's the savior of the needy
sinner. Sixth, the child of God will
believe Christ by God-given faith. The centurion exercised the faith
that God gave him. This was God-given faith. God-given
faith, verses seven through nine. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto thee, but say in 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. He's confessing, that Christ
is God. He doesn't even need to be there
to save his people. He's omnipresent. He's omniscient. He's omnipotent. He can do all
things. Christ can command that sickness
to leave in the same manner that that centurion tells his servant
to do something and he doeth it. Or a soldier do it. Go do
it and the soldier does it. That's how effective Christ's
word is. And when Jesus heard these things,
he marveled at him and turned him about and said unto him that
followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith,
no, not in Israel. This was true faith, and Christ
made an example of it for those that follow him, saying this
is true faith. This is something unique and
special. Why is this man's faith unique
and special? Because it's faith that is the
gift of God. It's not of this flesh. It's
not of my ability. It's not of my works. It's not
because I'm good. It's given. to God's people,
to whom He will, sovereignly giving them faith, that fruit
of faith. Faith is never called a work
of the flesh. If you want to see the works of the flesh, you
can look there in Galatians 5.22. It describes the wicked things
we do in the flesh. But those precious things, which
are fruits, they're fruit of the Spirit. They're given by
the Spirit of God, and so faith is the gift of God. By grace
are you saved through faith, and that, that faith, is not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's God's gift. Therefore
it's a work of God, and then that he calls to Christ. As we
read in Hebrews 10, 38 and 39, now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. This is the work of God revealed
in his people. It's not a temporary thing. It's
not a little passing thing. It's effectual in our hearts. Our Lord works that in his people. When it says the just shall live
by faith, it means that those who have faith in Christ, they
have it because they have been justified by Christ. It's his salvation work for whom
he's justified in the day of his grace for them. So that fruit
follows their justification in Christ. And it's because the
Lord sends his Holy Spirit to seek out his people. and to reveal
this faith in them, in Christ. And then when it says they believe
to the saving of the soul, it means that it is the accomplished
work of Christ in them. None for whom Christ died shall
die in their sins and go to hell. It's impossible. He's going to
deliver you. He's going to make this word
effectual in your heart. and you shall not escape it.
He will sovereignly save and deliver, pluck his people from
the jaws of death and bring them into his body to the saving of
their soul. Whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. He's
not gonna fail, he's almighty God. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say to these things
if God before us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his own sum, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? He's not going to
leave you in darkness. He's going to draw you. He's
going to give you a need and He's going to draw you and bring
you under the sound of that gospel and make it effectual unto you
because it pleases Him to do so. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
the successful Savior. He cannot fail to save all whom
He redeemed. They shall be brought out of
that darkness and brought into fellowship with God. When He
said on the cross, it is finished, says he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost because there was nothing more to do. And so he's
that picture of that seed which falls to the ground and dies
and bears fruit, begins to bear fruit, much fruit. And it's our
faith 2,000 years later is the result of the fruit of Christ.
It's his redemption. It's his work just continuing
to grow. And we go forth preaching that same word. over and over
again because that's what the Lord takes and shows us, Christ,
through this gospel and reveals life, manifests life and faith
in His people. And then seventh, this is glorious
here, seventh, the salvation of Christ is immediately complete. immediately complete. Verse 10,
And they that were sent returning to the house found the servant
whole that had been sick. As noted earlier, this servant
is a type of our precious soul, our eternal soul. When Christ
saves a sinner, He brings salvation to them in time completely. They are whole. They are What
Christ has done in them in that hour is sufficient for them to
stand before Holy God from that moment on. When the thief on
the cross said to Christ, when he was on the cross, Lord remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. That's all that man
said, the Lord revealing faith in him. Jesus said unto him,
verily I say unto you, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. That man in that instant was
complete, sufficient to stand before holy God, accepted of
him. Now as we live in this life,
if the Lord gives us time after he reveals faith in us, we'll
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. But we
are as holy now as we'll be in heaven. That's how perfect Christ's
salvation is and complete it is. We are ready to stand before
God. Because it's not our works, it's
not whether we've been baptized or not, or whether we took the
Lord's Supper or not, or how often we came to church, and
how many doctrines we knew. You that believe in Christ are
ready to stand before God because you stand complete in Christ.
It doesn't say that when he got back there, the servant was starting
to get better. It doesn't say that he got a
little better each day as he put forth some effort in the
things that he heard about Jesus himself. No, he was whole. He was better right then and
there. For by one offering, Christ hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified, sanctified by him. So, our Lord works these seven
things in all his people by his grace and power. God chooses
to save whom he will. And he makes our eternal souls
precious in us. He gives us a need. He shows
us our need of Christ and he makes us to hear the gospel.
He makes us to seek Christ, the Savior of sinners. And as our
Lord draws near and teaches us, He shows us more and more how
unworthy we are, but how great, how mighty a Savior He is. And
sixth, He reveals faith in us. He reveals faith in all His children,
the fruit of the Spirit. And we see, finally, that this
salvation is full and complete in Christ, all of Him. I pray
the Lord bless your souls and bless your ears to hear and believe
the Lord Jesus Christ unto the saving of your soul. Amen.