At the Bible study this Friday
and probably other Bible studies, Pastor Harmon said that they
had had the privilege of having some of the greatest preachers
in the world speak in this pulpit. And I know I know that's true. My job tonight is to tell you
what God has said about his son, and I hope that you won't even
notice That is me talking. You won't have to remember me
at all. The song we sang is one of my favorite. I love the chorus. It says, I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. That's it. That's the
gospel. That's what I believe. Would
you turn with me to Matthew? First of all, let's turn to Luke
chapter seven, Luke chapter seven, and we'll begin there and we'll
pick up in Matthew a little later. You want to hold your place both
in Matthew eight and in Luke chapter seven. We're going to read ten verses
in Luke chapter seven. about an account of a man who
had a sick servant, and he came to Jesus and his servant was
healed. Let's read this together in Luke
chapter 7. I'm just going to read through
this, and then we'll comment on it. Verse 1. Now, when he
had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, Jesus
entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant,
who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. And when he
heard of Jesus, that would be the centurion, he sent unto him
the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal
his servant. And when they came to Jesus,
they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for
whom he should do this. For he loveth our nation, and
he hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them, 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 shouldst come, that thou shouldst enter
under my roof. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come to 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." When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at
him. and turned him about and said
to the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found
so great faith. No, not in Israel. And the title of this message
is Great Faith. Isn't it amazing that the Lord
Jesus Christ, who knows all the hearts of men, would say in verse
nine that he marveled at this man And that he said also he
had not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Now, that
in itself should make the story of this man recorded in God's
word very interesting to us. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
marveled. And because he said this was
the greatest faith that he found in all of Israel, this man was
not even an Israelite. He was a centurion. A centurion
was a captain or not quite a captain, a middle class soldier over several
men, usually ranging from 80 to sometimes 1000. Centurion
means 100. Obviously, he had authority over
these men. And yet Christ looks at this
Gentile, not just a Gentile, a Roman, A soldier in the army
that occupied Israel. And he says about this man who
was a foreigner, I've not found so great faith, not even in all
of Israel. And that to me is amazing. I
want to have great faith because faith honors Christ. Faith honors Christ. Remember
what God said about Abraham. not being weak in faith. He was
strong in faith, giving glory to God. Faith gives glory to
God. And that's why faith honors Christ,
because God has designed our salvation so that all the glory
will go to Him, and none to us. And the way that He achieves
that is that He makes salvation through faith. Look at verse
1 of chapter 7. It says, Now, when Jesus had
ended all these things in the audience of the people, he entered
into Capernaum. If you look at Matthew's account,
it occurs right at the heels of chapter seven. And in Matthew,
chapter seven, if you look back at that chapter, Matthew seven,
it says in verse twenty two. In verse 21, it says, Not everyone
that saith unto me, this is Jesus in his sermon on the mount, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth
the will of my father, which is in heaven, many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name
and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many
wonderful works? And then listen to verse 23.
And then The Lord Jesus Christ says in his sermon, looking forward
into eternity when all men shall stand before him in the day of
judgment. And he says, then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
and his word. It says, look at verse twenty
seven. It says of chapter seven. I'm
sorry, verse 28, it says, And it came to pass when Jesus had
ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes
Lord. He says, all men will come before
him and he will stand as the Lord, judging all men. And he
will regulate who enters heaven and who does not enter heaven.
And he will say to some, depart from me, I never knew you. That's authority. And you can
read the rest of those two chapters or those three chapters. And
you see in his sermon how the Lord Jesus Christ did something
that only someone who was perfect could do. He opened up the hearts
of men. He exposed the hypocrisy that's
in our heart. And he laid it bare. And he showed
us that no one could stand before God unless their righteousness
exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, teaching
us where to go for righteousness. And no wonder when he said these
things, it said that he spoke as one having authority. Look
at Luke, back in Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter four. It says in verse thirty one. In verse thirty, it says, but
he passing through the midst of them went his way and he came
down to Capernaum, the same place, a city of Galilee, and he taught
them on the Sabbath days, and they were astonished at his doctrine
for his word was with power. You see that Christ the Lord
of Glory spoke with authority and with power. And now we see
here in this chapter and back in chapter 8 of Matthew, that
as Christ comes down from his sermon on the mount, having spoken
with authority, now we see him acting in authority. So what
he said with his words is fulfilled in his works. And we see this
in this chapter, chapter 7. So here he comes. He had ended
his sayings in the audience of the people. He enters into Capernaum
and a certain centurion's servant who was dear to him was sick
and ready to die. Now, the word sick here, it means
that the root word for this word sick has to do with a depravity. It has to do with an evil, something
that's not sick in a sense that It is just a weakness, but sick
in a sense that it's an evil kind of sickness. So this man's
servant was sick, and it was an evil kind of sickness, a defilement,
a corruption, much like you would expect a leper to be called,
unclean. And here's this man who's sick,
evilly sick, and he's ready to die. And then look down at verse
10. In verse 10 of the same chapter,
it says that later on, after he had been healed, that he is
also said, found that the servant who had was whole, who had been
sick. And in that word, the word sick
is different. It means a sickness of weakness
and impotence. So the man was evilly sick. He
was ready to die and he was completely without strength. Now look back
at Matthew eight in Matthew eight. And in verse five and six, you
see this. It says that when Jesus entered
into Capernaum, there came to him the centurion beseeching
him and saying, listen, Lord, my servant lies at home sick
of the palsy. You see that here? His sickness
is described as a paralysis. He couldn't lift his members.
He couldn't get out of bed and walk. He couldn't do anything
for himself. And then he says after that,
he was grievously tormented. Now, in the Scriptures, God uses
our sickness to portray very closely the correspondence of
our sin to our sickness. And in your own experience, you
feel this. Sickness brings pain. Sickness
brings shame. It brings anxiety. It brings
a fear. It brings all kinds of trouble
into your life. Fear before God. Shame before
men. A pain in your body. Doubting in your mind. And all
these things that sickness brings are the same kinds of things
that sin brings in our lives. So that in Matthew 9, look at
what it says in Matthew 9, in verse 12, he says, After and back, actually, I'll
read in verse 10. He says, And it came to pass
as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners. So you get the you get the congregation
here, the publicans and the sinners. They came and sat down with him
and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said to his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? And when Jesus heard that, he
said to them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. You see the corollary, the parallelism? But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous That would be those
who think themselves righteous, but sinners to repentance. In
other words, he's saying sinners are compared to those who are
sick. And here in this case of this man's servant, he's evilly
sick. The sickness is his fault. It's
the cause of sin and he's completely without strength. He can do nothing
to improve himself, nothing to cause in his own heart a reason
for hope. And not only that. But he's got
this palsy, he's unable to move himself about, unable to lift
his arms, his feet, his hands in order to do the will of God. He has no strength to bring anything
from himself or cause any hope to be found in himself. And so
what this does is it causes in this man a grievous tormenting. And sickness does that. It causes
us to have the same experience. I'm sorry, sin and sickness,
very parallel. But sin causes us to have the
same experience as sickness, this torment. It's like you're
oppressed by the devil because you're tormented by your sickness,
i.e. your sin. Your sin causes you
this grief of mind. And what this man was left with
is I don't know what to do. I'm sick. I'm ready to die. All human hope had been had been
lost. This was the case with this man,
evilly sick, impotent, without strength. unable to move about,
unable to raise his arms to do the will of God, absolutely sinful,
absolutely pictured here by his condition in sickness as being
under the guilt, under the condemnation, under the power of sin. And when he was in that case,
it says in Luke chapter two, verse seven, the centurion servant
was in that case. He was dear to the centurion. And when he was in that case,
then the centurion heard of Jesus. Look at Luke chapter two. I'm
seven. Verse three, Luke seven, verse
three. He says this. And when he heard
of Jesus, Now, what did he hear of Jesus? Well, he may have heard
the Sermon on the Mount. And that gives me great cause
for hope. Because when I hear the Sermon on the Mount, it causes
me to tremble. It causes me to feel very sober
that God, the Lord Jesus Christ, would hold all power over me
and require so much of me. And it causes me to have great
sobriety of mind, but here's a man who understood what God
was saying through the Lord Jesus Christ, and understanding that,
he comes to Christ. And to me, that's a great encouragement,
because it teaches me that those who were there then understood
Why Jesus said those things and what he did. Remember when Moses
was given the law, and he went up to Mount Sinai, and God gave
him the law, and God told him, go down, make sure the people
don't come up to the mount, make sure they don't even touch the
mount. And so Moses goes down, and when he was gone down, the
mountain quaked and smoked, and there was a sound of voices and
trumpet, and the people were afraid, and they said, we don't
want God to speak to us anymore like this. But here, the Lord
Jesus Christ comes down from the mountain, and He enters into
the city, and the people come to Him. And why is that? The Lord Jesus Christ is none
less than God. He's the eternal King, the Lord
of glory. And yet the people come, because
the law was given by Moses, But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ, and God the Spirit drew these people to the Lord Jesus
Christ to hear from Him what they needed. And what did they
need? Sin. Sin had to be dealt with. Their
sin was completely overwhelming them. They were controlled. Throughout
the Gospels, all you see is these people who were completely decimated
by sickness and blindness and lameness and controlled by devils. And Christ comes and heals them
because in healing them, he's showing that he alone saves us
from our sins. And so the man heard of Jesus,
and you might wonder if he heard about this particular miracle
back in Luke chapter 5. Look at Luke chapter 5. In Luke chapter 5, and in verse 18, it says there was
a man when Jesus was in this place He was in a town, he was
in a house, and in Luke 5.18 it says, And behold, men brought
in a bed a man which was taken, notice, with a palsy, exactly
what his servant had. And this thought means to bring
him in and to lay him before the sick man, before Jesus. And
verse 19. And when they could not find
by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went up on the housetop and they let him down through
the tiling with his couch in the midst before Jesus. Here's
a man completely impotent, can't even get out of bed. They open
up the roof. They let him down on these ropes
right in front of Jesus. And it says in verse 20. And
when he saw their faith, he said, man, Thy sins are forgiven thee."
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who
is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? Now, they didn't realize it,
but they were telling the truth. Who can forgive sins but God
alone? And when Jesus perceived their
thoughts, he answering said to them, What reason ye in your
hearts? Don't you love it when the Lord
Jesus Christ looks into the hearts of men and completely opens it
up and exposes them? Because he knew what was in men.
And then it says in verse 23, whether it's easier to say, thy
sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk. I've often
wondered about that. It seems like you could take
it either way. But here is the Lord of glory. Here is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He set them up, didn't he? The
first thing he said to them was, Man, your sins are forgiven you. He knew that they would cavil
at that, that they would accuse him of blasphemy. But he did
it on purpose for a very good reason. What he had said to the
man, Thy sins be forgiven thee, was actually and really fulfilled. But they couldn't see it. And
so he asked them a question, which is easier? Well, for men,
it's easy to say things like your sins are forgiven you because
no one can tell whether it has any effect. But because with
men, talk is cheap. But with God, talk is everything. Everything he says must, in fact,
has already come to pass. And so when the Lord Jesus said,
man, thy sins be forgiven thee, not only were his sins forgiven,
but Christ had taken those sins, borne those sins in his own body
up to the tree, paid the penalty for them, satisfied the justice
of God and received from God for him redemption and the forgiveness
of sins. And so he says this to him, anticipating
with his word that he would fulfill that word and that a man's sins
would actually be forgiven him for Christ's sake. And so when
he said that, he knew he knew it would come to pass, just like
when he said in John 17, Father, I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do before he ever went to the cross. And so
he speaks here, just like in Romans four, God commands those
things which be not as though they were. Christ says your sins
are forgiven. They were actually forgiven.
He had already. He is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the earth. No wonder he could say that.
But with the men, it was easy to say things like that. They
could make up anything they wanted to as long as you didn't have
to prove it. And so Jesus says, which is easier? But that you
may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive
sins. He said to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise,
take up thy couch and go into thy house. And by his rising
in verse 25, it proved that he had also forgiven his sins. When
the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross, when he hung on the
cross and he cried, it is finished. That was his word. What did that
word mean? It meant that it was actually
finished. His word cannot not be done. His word has power. That's why
we read here. He spoke with one having authority. His word had power because what
he spoke had to come to pass. Back to Luke chapter seven. And
so when he heard of Jesus, faith comes by hearing. and hearing
the word of God. And what he heard was of Jesus. He didn't just hear things about
doctrinal things in the abstract. He heard about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everything that he believed that
would happen by coming to Christ for his servant was all entirely
based on what he thought about Jesus. He thought he was the
Lord. He thought many things about
him, which you're going to see here. But because he heard of
those things, what he heard about Christ caused him to be convinced
of who Christ was. And therefore, that faith God
gave to him brought him to Christ and coming to Christ. As we learn
in John 635, is synonymous with faith. And so when he heard of
Jesus, he sent unto him elders of the Jews, beseeching him that
he would come and heal his servant. No doubt the centurion, if you
read about centurions in history, they commanded men and they were
put in their office because they were notable for their courage
and bravery. And this man who was notable
for courage and bravery, Among men, he was honorable, respected. Among men, he would have looked
like someone you really wanted to show respect. And so the men
he sent, the elders of the Jews, they treated him like that. Look
at this. Look how they treat the man who
was a centurion. In verse four, when they came
to Jesus, these men that he sent, who were the elders of the Jews,
They besought Jesus instantly, urgently, saying that he was
worthy for whom he should do this. Now, the Jews were always
revealing their total ignorance. And here they're revealing their
total ignorance of what would motivate the Lord Jesus Christ
to come and heal a man. Certainly not the man's worth. But that's what they argue, because
they thought that God came to them and blessed them because
of their own personal obedience. God is not worshipped with men's
hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life and
breath and all things, because all things are of him, from him,
and to him. And so they didn't believe that
they didn't understand that they were ignorant of God's righteousness
and they would go about to establish their own righteousness. But
that's that's what they did. They came to Jesus as poor ambassadors. Yet they did carry his case to
Christ. Why did he send them? Why did
he send these elders? Well, he was a Gentile. He was
a Gentile and being a Gentile, not only a Gentile, but he had
two strikes against him. He was a Roman. And as a Roman
Gentile, no doubt he thought, just like it says in Ephesians
chapter two, remember that you being in time past Gentiles in
the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. You see that? But you who were
sometimes afar off are now brought nigh by the blood of Christ.
And so this centurion, he understood something about Christ. What
he heard about Christ, what he believed about the Lord Jesus,
taught him something that he himself was not worthy to come
into his presence. He himself couldn't even come
to his presence. Outwardly, he was a man of notable
character, courage, bravery, integrity, honored by his master. But inwardly, the Spirit of God
had taught him something entirely different. Compared to and in
the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was nothing. He was nothing. And he couldn't come to Christ
himself, so he sends these men. And so, the men argue more. They say, They go on in verse
five, not only do we think he's worthy, but he loves our nation.
He built a synagogue for us. Maybe that's where he heard about
the Lord Jesus when Christ was in the synagogue. He heard him
speak there, perhaps. Verse six, then Jesus went with
them. And when he was now not far from
the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him,
Lord, this is the centurion again. He sends another group of friends.
Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that thou
shouldst enter under my roof. Do you see what kind of faith
this man had? He had true faith. What does
faith, when it's true, teach us? First of all, faith is always
based on what God said. And it's based, if it's saving
faith, on what God has said about his son. But when it comes home
to the heart, it teaches us, I'm not worthy. I am not worthy. Not worthy of the least of your
mercies. Remember Mephibosheth, he's like that with King David,
I'm not worthy to even come into your house. And then therefore,
he says in verse seven, wherefore, neither thought I myself worthy
to come to thee. He's he's communicating to him
through these men. But look at the next phrase in
verse seven. But say in a word and my servant shall be healed. You see that turn back to Matthew
chapter eight. I want to read it there. It's
slightly different worded, slightly different. He says, and in Matthew eight,
it's interesting if you read Matthew eight, you see this man
coming. You don't see the intermediaries.
You don't see his friends or the elders of the Jew. The man
himself comes directly to Jesus. And I wondered about that and
I thought it was interesting. I heard I heard another man say,
don't you think? Don't you think it's possible
that God intended us to see it both ways? Here's a man. He comes
to Jesus and yet he doesn't come in his own mind. He's far off.
He's unworthy to come. He's an alien from the Commonwealth
of Israel, strangers to the covenant of promise, without God, without
hope, without Christ in the world. And yet here in this chapter,
he's coming. When we know in our heart that
we're the furthest from Christ and we have no basis in ourselves
to come to him, and yet the Spirit of God draws us, that's when
we are the nearest. That's when we're the nearest.
And so here he has it in chapter eight. He comes to Jesus and
notice what he says down in verse eight. He says, I'm repeating
part of it. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should come under my roof. But
listen to this very carefully, but speak the word only and my
servant shall be healed. Speak the word only. That's what
great faith is. Remember our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was tempted of the devil, the son of God, tempted by one
of these created fallen angels. And when he says to him after
he was hungry, he says, see these stones make bread. And Jesus
said he didn't say, I'm not going to make bread. He said, man.
Man. shall not live by bread alone.
What was he saying? He was made under the law, made
of a woman, born of a woman, made under the law, man, for
his people. And he was not going to deviate
from that. He was going to live by the law
of God for his people's sake. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by what? Every word of God. The only thing
that Christ attended on was the word of God. And here we see
this man who was a centurion who had a servant very parallel
to our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, speak the word only
look on in verse nine, for I am 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. Now, that's when Jesus marveled.
Here's a man. He comes to the Lord in his secular
career. He's a soldier under authority,
and yet he has many soldiers under him. And he sees the Lord
Jesus Christ. He understands something about
his authority, and yet he also understands something about his
mission. He was sent by his father. Was the Lord Jesus Christ under
authority? He was. Remember what he says? Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it is written of me. To do what? Thy will, O God. He came because his father commanded
him, and yet it was in his own heart to do his father's will.
so one with his father, that his father's commandment was
even in his own heart and will. He wanted nothing more than to
do what was in his father's heart. He says in John 5, the son can
do nothing of himself but what he seeeth the father do. And
yet, everything that he did was also his own will, so closely
aligned. There was no deviation. He was
the express image of his father in everything that he did. And
in this case, in John 5, he says, as the father had life in himself,
So hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. He quickens
whom he will." So the Lord Jesus Christ was both under authority
to do the will of God, and he himself was of ultimate authority
as the one God had given everything. Remember Hebrews 1 verse 3, he's
the heir of all things. God will refuse him nothing. Everything he says will come
to pass. Not one thing that the son of
God requires will be left undone. Why? Because everything he wants
is in his father's heart. So much so that whatever he does
is the work and the will of his father. And the centurion understood
something about that. And he says, I myself am a man
under authority and I also have soldiers under me. And Jesus
marvels at this. Here's a man. He wants one thing
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Speak the word only and the basis
of his faith. is what he understood about who
the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's God Almighty, King over
all, the heir of all things, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the sovereign Lord over all of the universe. And he knows
that if he just speaks the word, that's all he needs. And I wonder,
is that really all I need? Is that all that you need? Do
I want anything more then that the Lord Jesus Christ would speak
his word. Turn to Psalm chapter 71. Psalm chapter 71. I was reading
this just tonight before we came. In verse one
of Psalm 71, it says, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. I always like that. I just trust
in you, Lord. Let me never be put to confusion. I'm relying on you. I'm relying
on what you said. Don't let me be disappointed.
Deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape. Incline
thine ear to me and do what? Save me. You see what the psalmist,
he wanted to escape. He wanted to escape the wrath
of God, the guilt of sin, the power of sin. He wanted to escape
the enemies that sin brought, death. the devil, the flesh,
all these things, the world, everything against him, the floods
of ungodly men, the accusations of the wicked, his own conscience,
let me escape by your righteousness. Incline your ear to me and save
me. And look at verse 3. Be thou my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continually resort like a refuge. And then he says
this. Thou has given commandment to
save me. Well, that weren't my rock in
my fortress. That's the word only. That's the word only. And so oftentimes in the as my
sin sickness distresses me in my heart, in my mind, I'm constantly
asking, Lord, Speak the word only. Look at Psalm chapter 35. In fact, another similar passage
in Psalm chapter 35. And these are undoubtedly can
be taken as the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also of
his people. It says in verse one, look at
this. Plead my cause, O Lord. Is that enough? Would it be enough
if the Lord Jesus Christ would speak the word to plead your
cause? Would it be enough if the Lord
Jesus Christ would speak a word to his father as your advocate
to plead your cause? And wouldn't it wouldn't it be
enough if your cause was also his cause to save you from your
sin? That's all I need. That's all
I want. Flee my cause, O Lord, with them
that strive against me. Fight against them that fight
against me. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. But look at verse two.
Take hold of shield and butler and stand up for my help. Draw
out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute
me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. You see that? That's
the word only. Just say the word. Because I
know if you say it, it's already done. Look at Hebrews chapter
one. Hebrews chapter one. And this
is not an unfamiliar verse, but we're going to look at it in
this light. It says, Our Lord Jesus Christ,
in verse three, who being in the brightness of his glory and
the express image of his person and upholding all things by the
word of his power, there it is, the word of his power. Listen
to what he did when he had by himself Purge our sins sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Do you need a word more
assuring than that word? Is the word of God too little
for us? to take to the Lord Jesus Christ,
to our Father in prayer, and say, Lord, this is your word.
This is all my hope. Speak the word to my heart. Speak
it before the throne of God. Speak it to my conscience. Cast
my enemies out. Fulfill your word, Lord. You
said by yourself, you purged our sins. That is all my hope. My hope is that you, as my high
priest, went into the holiest of all, you offered yourself
to God. God received you, my sacrifice,
with all my sins, and was satisfied, propitiated. And he turns about
receiving full compensation for everything that I violated against
his law and against his glory. And it's all put away. And he
puts it all out of mind. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came out on the resurrection morning, like it says in Leviticus
1630, when the priest on that day would make atonement for
your sins, cleansing all your sins before the Lord. And he
came out and look at this verse with me in Leviticus 16. This
is what our Lord Jesus Christ has done, really done. Even though
here it was in a kind of pretending way and a figurative way, the
Lord Jesus Christ really did it in Leviticus 16.30. Picture now the fulfillment in
our blessed Savior we just read about in Hebrews 1.3. For on
that day, Leviticus 16.30, for on that day shall the priest
On that day, the priest shall make an atonement for you to
cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before
the Lord. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ
has done according to God's word. That's what he's done. And the
centurion comes and he asks him to speak the word only one more,
one more verse in the Old Testament. Look at Second Samuel. Actually,
maybe two more verses. Second Samuel. chapter seven. And you see this principle throughout
the Bible, the word of God, the gospel message about our living
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word of God. That's the only
word that saves. It's the only word that saves.
God must speak it to us or we have no hope. Here it is in the
word. The gospel is given to us from
the word of God and the gospel concerns our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now we see this in David here. Look at Second Samuel 27,
verse 25. After God had promised all this
to David, he says, and now, oh, Lord God, Second Samuel 7, 25. Now, Second Samuel 7, 25. I'm
sorry. And now, O Lord God, David is
praying the word that thou has spoken concerning thy servant
and concerning his house. Listen to it very carefully.
Establish it forever and do as thou has said. How often do I
find comfort in those words? Lord, show me your word. Teach
me the gospel concerning your son and make that word my word. Speak it to my soul. Show me
that on my Lord Jesus Christ, when he entered in to the holiest
of all in heaven itself and offering himself to God, it was what God
thought of the sacrifice. I wasn't even there. It was what
he did. I didn't do anything. It's what
God thought and what Christ did that made the difference, that
put away my sins. And when we see that, we're like
the centurion. He may not have even heard the
word faith, but one thing he did hear about is the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he was huge in his eyes. All he could see was that
he, if he spoke the word, could heal his servant. And here David
is saying, Lord, the word which you've spoken, do what you have
said. That's the word only. No wonder
the Lord Jesus Christ marveled. All he needed was the word. He
didn't ask for a sign. I'm not even in the equation.
Don't even come to my house. Just speak the word. That's all
I need. Just your word. And that'll be enough. He created
the world by his word, he upholds all things by his word, all of
providence he is bringing about to fulfill the eternal purpose,
the will of God according to his word. He does it all because
he sits in eternity ruling over all things in all places to bring
about the benefits of the salvation he earned for us. And he does
it by his word. He upholds all things by the
power of his word. Lord, speak the word only, and
that will be enough. Amen.