I want to speak to you this morning
on the subject of true faith, great faith. True faith and great
faith. We are looking at the gospel
of Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, if you want
to follow along. God's word says much about faith. There are scriptures which read,
without faith It is impossible to please God. Another says,
the just shall live by faith. Another says, whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. What is faith? And what is great
faith? Only two persons that the Lord
said had great faith. It wasn't Moses. It wasn't Elijah. It wasn't Daniel. It was not
his disciples. Here in this chapter, he rebuked
them for their little faith. He said, O ye of little faith.
I want you to look with me at a story of a man who had great
faith, true faith. Chapter 8, verse 5 of Matthew. When Jesus was entered into Capernaum,
there came unto him a centurion beseeching him, and saying, Lord,
my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. 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. 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." And when
Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to them that followed
him, Verily, or truly, I say unto you, I have not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel. The Lord came to this town of
Capernaum, and this was a town he had visited before. He later
condemned this city, saying, O Capernaum, condemn them for
their unbelief. But here in this city there is
one believer, at least, a Roman soldier, a centurion. Luke's
Gospel, chapter 7, verse 2, says a certain centurion. Scripture
speaks that way quite often. Certain centurion, a certain
woman which had an issue of blood, a certain man, a certain leper. You see, the Lord of glory worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. The counsel
being his predetermined counsel and purpose before the world
began. The Lord came to earth to certain
cities predetermined by him before he came here. Certain city, all
according to his purpose. Certain places. He would go to
a certain well where there was a woman he was about to save. A certain sycamore tree. There
were many trees throughout the land, but he passed under a certain
one. A certain tax table where a man
named Matthias was. certain fishing dock, though
there were many, he went by a certain place and called out his disciples,
James, John, Andrew, and Simon. Certain persons foreknown by
him given to him in a covenant with the Father, and this centurion
was one such certain centurion, though there were many, many
Roman soldiers, this was a certain centurion. If you have the same
faith as this man, you can have great comfort in knowing that
you, too, are one of these certain persons, certainly to be saved
by God, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Someone
argues, well, this centurion came to him, though, and sought
him. Yes, but Isaiah 65 verse 1 says, ìI am sought of them
that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not.î Only a true Believer understands that. I am found
of them that sought me not. See, no one seeks the Lord until
he seeks them, until they are sought by him. No one calls upon
the Lord until he calls them. No one comes except the Father
draws them. No one believes until God Almighty's
Holy Spirit works His mighty power, Ephesians 1.19. This is
called grace before grace, God's power before faith. Faith is
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, the working
of His mighty power. Now, notice this man. And the reason it's so clear
that this was God's powerful work upon this man was, this
was a Roman centurion that came to him. A Roman centurion. The Roman army back then, the
soldiers in the Roman army were the equivalent of Nazi Germans,
German soldiers, Nazi soldiers. They were ruthless, vicious,
violent men who made a sport of torture and killing. They hated Jews. They hated the
Jews who were their servants. They were irreligious, totally
irreligious. And this was a rich Roman soldier. He had servants. And Scripture
says, How hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom
of heaven! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
And this man was not only rich, but he was a Roman soldier, a
career soldier, formerly a ruthless and violent Roman soldier. But you see, with man this is
impossible. With man it is impossible, but
not with God. With God all things are possible.
He saves the chief of sinners. God gets great glory in saving
great sinners. Here this centurion came by God's
grace and God's power. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ
beseeching him. That means pleading, begging,
beseeching him, pleading with the Lord to do something for
his servant. Though this was a rich man of
influence and power, a man of means and authority. Why, he
comes to one that is greater than he, that he feels is greater
than he, pleading, begging. And that's how you'll come when
you see who Christ really is. Though this was to the common
man, to the natural eye, just a Jewish, simple Jewish teacher,
carpenter's son with no education. By God's sovereign power, this
man saw in the Lord Jesus Christ more than that. He saw the Lord
of glory, one much greater than he, and the only one with the
power to do for him what he needed done. And he said in verse 6,
Lord, my servant, lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously
tormented. He called him Lord. He called
him Lord. Every tongue will someday call
Jesus Lord. And though many today say that
Jesus is Lord, yet they call him by the name Jesus. God's disciples did not call
him Jesus in Scripture. They called him Lord. He said
one time to them, to the disciples, you call me Lord and Master and
you say well, for so I am. His enemies, self-righteous Pharisees,
called him Jesus. Salvation is to understand who
he really is and bow to his sovereign authority. Bow, beg, confess,
and call on the name of the Lord. This man calls him Lord. He says, My servant is sick of
the palsy, grievously tormented. Here is another remarkable proof
of God's grace upon this man. He is a soldier now, but he was
formerly a ruthless, violent man. Yet now he is greatly concerned
for one of his lowly servants. The Roman soldiers, by nature,
don't care about their servants. They can just get another one
anywhere, but saved Roman soldiers do. Luke's Gospel reads, This
servant was dear unto him, and he was dear to others. He generously
provided for a synagogue for the Jews in his town. That was
something the Jewish rabbis and Pharisees, those hypocritical
religionists, didn't do. They could have done it. They
had the money, but wouldn't. This is what grace does to a
man or to a woman. It makes them generous. God's people. Verse 7 says, Christ
said unto him, I will come and heal. The Lord will show mercy
on whom he will. Exodus 33 says he will have mercy,
show mercy on whom he will. Mercy, by definition, is sovereign. It's not something you deserve.
It's something the one who determines to show mercy must determine. The Lord will show mercy on whom
He will, but He will show mercy. He is merciful. The Lord will
be gracious to whom He will. Grace, by nephedition, is sovereign. It is a gift determined by the
giver. Salvation is by grace, meaning
you can't earn it. You are not worthy of it. We
are not worthy of it. But the Lord will be gracious.
The Lord will hear. The Lord will come. He says,
I will come. and heal him. I will come and heal. Now, it
was faith for this centurion to come to the Lord. It was faith
for him to believe that he was the only one, Christ was the
only one who could heal his servant. What is faith? Well, it is believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, believing on him. That means more than
just believing he existed, believing the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus. It means a firm persuasion of
who He is. Who He is. This is God manifest
in the flesh. If anyone doesn't believe He's
God, they're not a believer. Faith is firm persuasion of who
He is. All power given unto Him in heaven
and on earth. The Holy One of God. Faith is
trust based upon His Word. Trust him. Believe him. Everything
you said, everything he is, faith is commitment. Forsake self and
commit to him. Here is true faith. He says in
verse 8, the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy
that thou shouldest come under my roof. You just speak the word
and my servant shall be healed. I am a man of authority, he said.
Whatever I say goes. I say to one, come, he comes,
to another, do this, and he doeth it. And our Lord marveled and
said, this is great faith, great faith. What did he say? What is great faith? What is
true faith? Here it is. The man said, I am
not worthy. And people, this is what everyone
in heaven is saying right now. In heaven, in Revelation 5, it
says there is a number of 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of
thousands saying, worthy is the lamb to receive, or that is to
be to have ascribed to him all power
and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
And every creature in heaven and on earth, under the earth,
said, Blessing, honor, glory and power unto him that sits
on the throne. We are not worthy, they said,
unworthy. Great faith, true faith is to
believe we are not worthy, that he alone is worthy. I know folks
like to say that, worthy, worthy. But when people say things like
that, Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in
your name? They believe they're worth saving.
When someone says everyone deserves a chance to be saved, that means
they believe that someone is worth saving. No, nobody in heaven
believes that. The thief on the cross, Mary
Magdalene. Saul of Tarsus, none of them
believed they were worthy. Everyone in heaven says, but
one who is worthy. And this man had great faith.
He says, I am not worthy. Just speak the word. Here is
great faith. Whatever the Lord says, goes. Whoever the Lord says come, they
come. Whatever the Lord says, do. He'll
do it. It is God which worketh in us
both the will and to do of his good pleasure, Scripture says.
That's faith and great faith. This man had it. Is that what
you believe? That you're unworthy? That he
alone is able and has all sovereign power and authority to do as
he will with whom he will? Then you are a certain saved
person. May the Lord make it so. Amen.