When Carol was walking up to
sing, I was hoping she was going to sing that song. Would you turn back to Luke chapter
7? Verse 9, once again, when Jesus heard these things,
He marveled at him and turned him about in a very public manner
and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you,
I've not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. Now let me
give you two reasons why you and I should look at this passage
of scripture very carefully. Number one, what was said made
the Lord Jesus Christ marvel. That's remarkable, isn't it? There are a lot of things I marvel
at. I don't think he could be said
to marvel at those things that I marvel at. You see, he is omnipotent. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. He's absolutely sovereign. What
could make him marvel? He's God. There are only two things he
was said to marvel at in the scriptures. One time he was said
to marvel at some people's unbelief. He was amazed at the unbelief. And he said to marvel at this
man's faith. And our Lord secondly says regarding
this man's faith, I say unto you, I've not found so great
a faith. No, not in Israel. Now he's the only one who is
capable of making such a judgment as this. And he says, this is
the greatest faith I've ever found. Now, when Peter put his
leg over the boat, to walk on the water, I'd say, what great
faith. You know what the Lord said to him?
Oh ye of little faith. Wherefore didst thou doubt? But
here he says regarding the faith of this man, this is the greatest
faith I have ever seen. Now that makes this passage of
scripture exceptionally interesting, doesn't it? The Lord marveled
at it and he called it the greatest faith he had ever seen. Look
back up in verse one, Luke chapter seven. Now, when he had ended all his
sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum
and a certain Centurion's servant, This was a Gentile, a Roman soldier
with a hundred soldiers underneath him. He wasn't a Jew, but he
had a servant who was dear unto him. He was sick and he was ready
to die. I'd like to make a few comments
about this sick servant. The word sick means literally
There are different words that are translated sick in the New
Testament. This word means evilly sick. The word is actually translated
in other places, evil and amiss. It's taken from the word that
means morally worthless and depraved. And this picture is what you
and I are, evilly sick. And if you don't see that it's
because you're blind. That's all I can say. See the word in verse 10 of this
chapter. And they that were sent returning
to the house found the servant whole that had been sick. Now
here it's a different word. It's the word that means impotent,
without power, powerless. like the impotent man laying
by the pool of Bethesda in John chapter five. And Matthew's account
tells us that he was sick of the palsy. He was paralytic. He couldn't walk. He couldn't
walk in God's law. He couldn't walk in God's commandments.
He had a big cannot. And it also says in our text,
when the Roman centurion described him, He said that he was grievously
tormented. Grievously tormented. That's what's said in Matthew's
account. We'll look at that later on. This poor man was in a bad
way. He was evilly sick. He was spiritually
powerless, unable to walk and grievously tormented by his sin. You know, not everybody's grievously
tormented by their sin. Some are. And the scripture says
he was ready to die at the point of death. All human remedies
had been exhausted. All human hope was gone. He was
at the point of death. Verse three of Luke chapter seven. And when he heard of Jesus, Faith comes by hearing, doesn't
it? When he heard of Jesus. Perhaps he heard specifically
what took place in the previous chapter in Luke chapter five.
Something very similar took place beginning in verse 18. And behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy. Same thing this Roman
centurion's servant had taken with a palsy and they sought
means to bring him in and to lay him before him, but the place
was so crowded they couldn't get in. And when they could not
find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went up on the housetop. let him down through the tiling
with his couch into the midst before Jesus." I love to picture
that. Our Lord is in this room. It's crowded. Nobody can get
in. All of a sudden, the ceiling starts breaking up. Something's
going on. And all of a sudden, they see
this man let down on a rope right in front of the Lord Jesus Christ,
a paralyzed man. Can you imagine being there and
seeing that? The Lord said something very
unusual to him. Verse 20, And when he saw their
faith, he said unto him, man, thy sins are forgiven thee. He didn't say rise, take up your
bed and walk. That's what we would have expected.
He said, man, thy sins are forgiven thee. What an announcement. Thy
sins are forgiven thee. Verse 21, and the scribes and
the Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? You know, he is the only one who
can forgive sins. No man has the authority to forgive
sins. Only God alone. They were right, weren't they?
They just didn't realize who this was speaking. This is God
alone speaking, but they didn't realize that. Verse 22, but when
Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them,
what reason ye in your hearts? Lord can look in your heart right
now. He can look in my heart. He knows everything that's going
on. Can't fool him. What reason you in your hearts?
What is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say,
rise up and walk? Now, what is easier? If I see
a man who's paralyzed, unable to get up, a true paralyzed man
in a wheelchair, what would be easier for me to say? Your sins
are forgiven, or rise up and walk? It'd be a whole lot easier
to say, your sins are forgiven. Because you can't tell whether
or not that came to pass or not. It's a whole lot harder to say,
rise, take up your bed, and walk, and Him respond to that command. Now what's easier? Thy sins are
forgiven? Rise up and walk. Obviously,
it's harder to say rise up and walk, but that you may know that
the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. That which
belongs only to God, I have the authority and the power to do
because I'm God. He said unto the sick of Palsy,
I say unto thee, arise and take up thy couch and go into thy
house. And immediately he rose up before
them and took up that where on he lay and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed and
they glorified God and were filled with fear saying, we've seen
strange things today. Well, this Roman centurion was
foolish enough to believe what took place. He heard of the Lord
Jesus Christ giving this paralytic man the ability to walk. Now Matthew's account
says that he came near to Christ, this Roman centurion. He came
near to Christ. But if you read this account,
he didn't even come to Christ himself. He didn't think he was
worthy to come to Christ. And he didn't think he was worthy
to have Christ come under his roof. He wouldn't even come into
his presence. And yet the scripture says he
came near. You know what that tells me? The further we think we are from
Christ, the nearer we are. And the nearer we think, the
further we are. But he came near. Verse four. This man felt utterly
unqualified and unfit to come to Christ, so he sent the elders
of the Jews to make this request. He already knew what the lepers
knew, but he made this request, verse three, 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. He knew the Lord
had the power to do it, but he felt unqualified to come, so
he sent the Jews. The elders of Jews come and would
you please heal my servant, verse four. And when they came, the
people that this man sent to Jesus, they besought him instantly
saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this. Now,
I'm sure this was a fine man. He's compassionate, but you don't
come into the presence of the Lord of glory with an argument
like this. Why, this man, as good a man
as he was, humanly speaking, he was a sinful, evil man. And
you can't come into God's presence and say, he's worthy for this,
or he's worthy for that. No, he came the wrong way. Or they brought him the wrong
way. But look what it said, verse five, that he was worthy for
whom he should do this, for he loveth our nation. And he hath
built us a synagogue, verse six. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was not now far from
the house, the centurion sent friends to him saying unto him,
Lord, trouble not thyself. I'm not worthy that you should
enter under my roof. If the Lord was on his way to
your home, your home, would you respond this way? You
know, I don't know that I would. I just being honest, I'd be excited
about him coming to my house. I'd want to be at my house more
than I would your house. I mean, that's just the way we would
respond to something like that. I mean, we would want the Lord
to come to our house, but this man felt utterly unfit to even
come to Christ. And he sent friends. He said,
I didn't think I was worthy to come to you. And I know I'm not
worthy to have you come under my roof. Such a stoop would be
too low. That's the attitude this man
had. I think he's very much like Peter. When Peter said in Luke chapter
five, verse 11, Lord, depart from me. You don't have anything
to do with me. I'm a sinful man. Now that's the attitude of this
man. He said, I am not worthy to have
you come under my roof. Now I'm not fit in character.
I'm not able, I'm not sufficient. And the two things I see about
this man, real clearly, he had a very high view of Jesus Christ. and he had a very low view of
himself. Isn't that apparent? He didn't
even feel fit to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, if you and I ever see the Lord the way this man did, we'll
have the same response. We'll be like Isaiah when he
saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. We'll see him sitting on a throne
ruling and reigning if we ever see him. And we'll say the same
thing Isaiah did. Woe is me. I am undone. He sent messengers to the Lord
feeling himself to be unfit And in Matthew's account, he says,
say in a word, speak the word only. Look back in our text,
verse six. Then Jesus went with him. And
when he was not now far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself. He
was so unassuming. For I'm not worthy that thou
should enter under my roof. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto thee, but say in a word. and my servant
shall be healed. Verse eight, four. I also am a man set under authority. I understand something about
authority. I have under me soldiers. I say to one, go, and he goes. And to another, come, and he
comes. And to my servant, do this, and
he does it. I understand something about
authority. That word authority is also translated
jurisdiction, right, power, liberty, strength. I understand authority. I say to my servant, go, he does
what I say. I say to another one, come. He does what I say.
I say to another, go do this. He does it because I am set under
authority. But I understand this about you.
You're not set under authority. You're over all authority. You're the Lord of glory and
whatever you will must come to pass. He believed in the absolute sovereignty
of Jesus Christ. Now what's that mean? That means
that Jesus Christ has a will. Leper understood that, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He believed Jesus Christ
has a will and he believed that Jesus Christ had the power and
has the power to make, to cause his will to come to pass. Do
you believe that? Do you believe what this leper
believed? He believed that Jesus Christ
had a will. He believed that Jesus Christ
had the power to make his will come to pass. He believed that
Jesus Christ had the right to make his will come to pass. And
he believed that whatever Christ willed became absolutely historical
necessity. If he willed it, it was. As the Father raises the dead
and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. Whom He will. Do you believe
in the sovereignty of Jesus Christ? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
8. Let's look at Matthew's account for just a moment. Verse eight, the centurion answered and said,
Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should come under my roof, but
speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. All you have
to do is speak it. All you have to do is will it.
And it comes to pass. Now there are some things that
are not seen or understood apart from the word only. It's a good
word. For instance, in Genesis chapter
six, verse five, we read, and God saw that the wickedness of
man was great upon the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was mostly evil continually. I didn't
quote it right, did I? God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In Psalm 62 verse two, the Psalmist
said, he only is my rock and my salvation, not he mostly,
but he only is my rock and my salvation. In Psalm 71 verse
16, David said, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine
only. Now, why was it that he made
mention of his righteousness only? Because David had some
understanding of what righteousness is, and there is only one righteousness. And it ain't yours. And it ain't
mine. It's the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. That's the only righteousness
there is. And the only way you or I can
be accepted is if we have His righteousness only. And only
is a good word to go with His righteousness, isn't it? He's
the only one who has righteousness. Mark chapter 2, verse 7, I've
already read this. Who can forgive sins but God
only? He's the only one who can. And
then I love that passage of scripture in Matthew chapter 17, where
the Lord was transfigured before his disciples. He took James
and John and Peter up onto a high mountain apart. And the scripture
says he was transfigured before them. His deity burst through
his humanity, and his face shined like the sun, and his clothing
was glistening. Son, can you imagine that?" Peter
didn't know what to say. He said, Lord, it's good for
us to be here. And it was good for them to be there. It's good.
I would have said, it's good for us to be here. Wouldn't you
like to be there? He said, let's make... Oh, what happened though? During this time, there stood
two men talking to him, Moses and Elijah. You know what they
were talking about? They were talking about the decease
which he should accomplish. They were talking about what
his death would actually accomplish, the full salvation of everybody
he died for. You know, that was the subject
before time began. That's going to be the subject
in heaven, and it's the subject right now. It is the subject,
the decease which he should accomplish in Jerusalem. And there they
were talking. And Peter was looking on, he
said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Let's make three
tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
He said that not knowing what he said. And then a great cloud
overshadowed them and a voice came from the cloud. This is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And then
it says after that, They saw no man save Jesus only. In Luke chapter 8, verse 50,
the Lord said to that man who had lost his daughter to death,
fear not, believe only. Believe only. and she shall be made whole.
And we read in Mark 14, 36, I'll read this to you. And they besought
him that he might touch only the hem of his garment. And as
many as touched him were made perfectly whole. But this scripture
in our text is the onlyest of the only. This man said, I don't need to
see anything. All you have to do is speak it
and it's done. I'm utterly unfit to be in your
presence. Just leave me out of the equation.
Speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. You spake the word and the universe
came into existence. You're the one who upholds all
things by the word of your power. You yourself are the word of
God. When you speak, it's omnipotent
speaking. When you speak, it's absolute
sovereignty speaking. When you speak, it's omniscience,
all wisdom speaking. When you say something, It becomes
more than necessity. It becomes more than reality.
It becomes history. Speak the word only. That's all
it takes. And my servant shall be healed. What else? Get to the part that's
great. I did. This is what the Lord calls great
faith. It's made of two things, a high
view of the Lord Jesus Christ and a low view of yourself. And that is what our Lord calls
the greatest faith in Israel. Now I realize that People will
say, well, you know, don't be so negative. Don't be so morose
about yourself. Lighten up. I'm pretty light,
but I'm realistic. I cannot describe myself, nor
can I describe you as bad as it really is. Fellow came up to me about a
year ago. It was, it was, you know, I was a preacher and he
said, uh, he said, I'm, I'm, I'm feeling bad about myself.
And I said, it's worse than you think. When I say I have a low view
of myself, this man, he felt utterly unfit to come to Christ. Not worthy, not fit, not sufficient. What that means is, is you believe
you're a sinner. I don't mean just taking the
theological term. I imagine just about, if not everybody in here,
believes in the doctrine of the total depravity of man and the
fall of Adam. I mean, when Adam fell, I fell. He became dead, I became dead.
I was born into this world, original sin with a sinful nature. Probably
everybody believes that, most of us anyway. But it's one thing
to believe in the doctrine of total depravity, and it's another
thing to believe that you yourself are totally depraved. That's
you. That's what this man thought
about himself. He was unworthy to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He believed he was a sinner. You believe you're a sinner?
That means that you were born evil? That means
that all you do is sin, all you think is sin, and you can't do
anything about it. And if God sent you to hell,
just and holy is his name. If he saved everybody but you,
he'd be right, holy, just, and true. You believe that? This
man did. And he had a high and exalted
view of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I understand authority.
And all you gotta do is will it, and my servant shall be healed. You know, I love the authority
of Jesus Christ. I love it when they came to arrest
him, and he said, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And what happened? They went
back onto the ground. They fell backwards. You know
what he was letting them know? You're not in control of this situation.
I am. You come to arrest me, it's only
my will being done. You need to understand, I am
in absolute control of everything. When Pilate said to him, speakest
thou not to me? Don't you know I have power to
release you, and I have power to let you go? The Lord looked
at him and said, you don't have any power at all over me, none
at all. except it be given thee from
above. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
has all authority. You know, when they were nailing
his hands to the cross, it was his will giving them the strength
to do it. When he died, when death came to him, he allowed
it. He gave up the ghost. He allowed
it to come. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. Death couldn't take him till
he said, I give you permission to do it now. Now, this one who
is so great, and so glorious. When He said, it is finished,
the reason being, the sins of all of God's elect have been
placed upon Him and He made complete satisfaction for those sins. Because of who He is, He can
do it. Now if I die for your sins, what good would it do you?
None at all. But if He dies for you because
of who He is, Your salvation becomes an absolute event that's
already taken place. History. Great faith. is not so much believing
we'll get what we ask for, although we should, we should, the Lord
tells us that. But even with everything I ask
for, I'm always wondering what my motive is. I don't know how
to pray, don't know what to ask for. I mean, I ask for things
and there's all kinds of things I ask the Lord for. But do I
always know for sure I'm going to get what I ask for? No. As
a matter of fact, I never have known for sure, not once. I guess
maybe if I did, I'd get it. I don't know, but that's not
really what the prayer of faith is. It's not so much believing
that you'll get what you ask for, but great faith is a great
view of Jesus Christ. That's what great faith is. It's
a low view of yourself, and it's a high and exalted view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look back at Matthew's account
once again. Matthew 8. The centurion answered, verse
8, said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should come under my
roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. Shall be. For I'm a man under
authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this man, go, he
goes. To another, come, and he comes. To my servant, do this,
and he does it. And when Jesus heard it, he marveled. And he
said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I've not found
so great a faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, that
many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the
children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, go thy way. And as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee. Did you hear what he said? As
you've believed. Have you believed? I believe that if Jesus Christ
wills my salvation, I'm saved. I believe that if he shed his
precious blood for me, my salvation is an absolute historical event
that's already taken place. And I'm hanging all of my hope
on Him. I'm not looking anywhere else. All of my hope is right here.
That who He is and what He did is all I need to make me perfect
before God. And that's my only plea. It's
the only plea I have. I'm hanging all my hope there.
And the Lord says, As thou hast believed, so be it done. unto thee. Now, do you believe
he is able to save you? I'm not asking you if you believe
that he will save you. You might not be that sure about
that. I'm asking you, do you believe he's able to save you? I do. I do. You believe he's able to
save you? If you believe that, that's where
you're relying. That's who you're relying on. I'm relying on that. May God
give every one of us the grace to have the same faith that this
man had. Now, like I said, I bet no one
but the Lord would call this the greatest faith in Israel.
We would look at it as, you know, maybe the guy needs to have his
self-esteem pumped up a little bit or made to feel better about
himself, you know, but the Lord Jesus called it the greatest
faith in all of Israel. Let's pray together.