If you have your Bibles, I'm gonna ask that you open them to Luke 7, if you have not already. Luke chapter 7, we'll be reading there in just a moment. There is a figure from Greek mythology who so clearly captures, I think, the attitudes and the mindsets of people in our world today, in our society that we live in, and his name is Narcissus, Narcissus. He is an individual who is absolutely full of himself. He is very self-centered. He's in love with himself. Everything is about him. He's in love with his own beauty. This is an individual where we get the name narcissist. And you think about what a narcissist is, it is an individual who, again, is just completely in love with themself, who has an extremely inflated view of self. They think far more of themselves than what they should. And we live in a society of narcissists, do we not? I mean, all you have to do is get on social media. All you have to do is browse just a little bit and you'll see all the differing individuals, especially today in the last several years, this has just become so prominent where people are constantly wanting to make themselves look good for the public eye. And so every picture you see on their social media and every update and every little blog that you read is about these individuals and what they're doing. And you can just tell that they are so obsessed with themselves. They want to look good in front of everyone else because they think that they are far more valuable than they really are. I mean, just think we live in a society that has Come up with this idea of a selfie. I mean, if that's not one of the most narcissistic things, I can understand wanting to take your picture to have a memory, but that's not, I think, why a lot of people are taking selfies. They're wanting people to see them. They're putting themselves on a pedestal and essentially saying, look at me and worship me. Am I not worthy of your interest? Am I not worthy of your adoration? And so we live in this kind of society where people tend to think of themselves as worthy. They envision themselves as much better than they are. Oh, how we could use a nice dose of humility in our world. But you know, it's hard to be humble when you think you're the best. It's hard to submit to authority when you think you are the ultimate authority in your life. It's hard to value others when you value yourself most. It's hard to get on your knees in humility when you think everyone else should be getting on their knees in front of you. We need the kind of humility that we see in our passage today. We see a centurion who others esteem as worthy, but he himself has a view of himself as unworthy, as an individual who is not good enough. But bear in mind, this is the kind of attitude that I think we should have also, right? Instead of being narcissistic, instead of being so full of ourselves, we need to recognize our own unworthiness. We need to recognize that we too are not good enough. And so in Luke, Chapter 7, verses 1 through 10, we see Jesus graciously, graciously healing a centurion slave because of the humble recognition of Jesus' own authority. And of course, this is exemplifying the inclusion of Gentiles into salvation by faith. So let's look at chapter 7. Stand, if you would, while we read. Luke chapter seven, we'll start in verse one. It says, when he had completed all his words and the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. And a centurion slave who was highly regarded by him was sick and about to die. Now, when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of his slave. And when they came to Jesus, they were earnestly pleading with him, saying, he is worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue. Now Jesus was going on his way with him, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not good enough for you to come under my roof. For this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority with soldiers under me, and I say to this one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, and to my slave, do this, and he does it. Now, when Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and he turned to the crowd that was following him and said, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. And then those who had been sent returned to the house. They found the slave in good health. Father, sanctify us in the truth. Your word is truth. Amen. You may be seated. So, one of the first things that we see in the first couple verses of this is the slave of the centurion. The slave of the centurion, verse one, gives us a summary statement, and then verse two, we see the situation being presented to us. And so the summary statement that we look at verse one, we see that it says, when he had completed all his words in the hearing of the people. So Jesus has finished his sermon on the plain, which we have just went through, and I went back and did some math, and we have had probably a third at least of the sermons out of Luke were from chapter six, which was, I was really happy, because it just shows how much we love God's word, does it not? That we want to be bathed in his word, and we want to understand it. But we have just finished the Sermon on the Plain, and Jesus has completed what he was teaching these individuals, and he's been teaching, if you'll remember, a large crowd, right? Look back, if you would, at verse 17. It says, and Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place and there was a large crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. So this has been a large crowd that have been listening to Jesus. He has been delivering these teachings and they have all heard it and he has finished it up and he has concluded his sermon by emphasizing obedience, which we looked at last week. And now, as he's finished saying all these things, he's moving on. But what's interesting to me is that he has not said everything he could say, has he? He could have said so much more. He could have said so much more. He could have said less. But it says, when he completed all his words in the hearing of the people. And so, in other words, everything that Jesus intended to say, he said. He said it, and now he's moving on. And he moves on, and being done with this particular event, it says that he comes to Capernaum. Now, Capernaum is a place that we have already seen in Luke. We've seen it back in chapter 4, where he cast out an unclean demon. We'll see it again in chapter 10. But while the name Capernaum is only mentioned four times in the Gospel of Luke, it is a rather significant location. It is a rather significant location because Jesus, after he was run out of his own hometown, which we see back in Luke 4, after he was run out of his hometown, he comes to Capernaum and he sets up home in Capernaum. It's like his adopted home. In fact, Luke, if you would, excuse me, Well, you know what? I didn't even put that reference. It's in Matthew, okay? Just know that. It's in Matthew. I didn't even write that reference down. But he had adopted Capernaum as his hometown, and if you do find it in Matthew, this is what it says. It says, now, when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he departed into Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he came and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea. So he has been run out of his hometown, and now he has come to Capernaum, and it says now that he's living there. So this is his makeshift home, in a sense. And so he's coming to Capernaum, and this is a significant location, and it's important to understand that he is spending a significant amount of time here, because when we come to the centurion and how he is recognizing who Jesus is, it helps us to make that connection. It was in Capernaum, too, that Jesus called his first disciples. It's where many, many miracles were taking place. It's where Jesus did a lot of his teaching. And this, again, is important for us to recognize. We think of the centurion. How did he know that Jesus could do this? Well, he's living in Capernaum. He is residing here. He's doing a lot of things in Capernaum. But it's also going to help us understand later in chapter 10 when we see Capernaum being denounced by Jesus because of their refusal to believe despite all the things that they have seen. But then we come to verse two, and we see the situation that is presented to us. It says, and a centurion slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. Now, this situation seems straightforward, but I think one of the first obvious questions that we should ask is, why did the centurion regard his slave so highly? Why did he value him so much? Because if you think about the Romans, right, because this is a centurion, if you think about the Romans, they didn't have to have any kind of care for their subjects. And so a lot of times the slaves were mistreated, they were abused. But here you have an individual, a centurion, who has a high regard for his slave. Now, there's some speculation here. Some people say that these Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, and so they developed close relationships with their servants, their slaves, their attendants. and therefore they became kind of like family. And so being so far away from home on the battlefield or wherever you were deployed, wherever you were sent, it was as though these people were the only family you could have. Now that's one way to understand it. Others say, well, this centurion was just an upright and a moral man. He was a man who apparently loves the Lord, it would seem, or at least believes in Jesus enough that he knows that Jesus is from God. And so they say that he's a moral man, he's an upright man, and so he viewed his slave as a person with intrinsic value. Now, whatever the case might be, what we can certainly recognize is that this is an interesting scene that is set for us. The fact that this centurion has a slave that he regards so highly that he is wanting Jesus to come and heal him, that ought to speak volumes to us. And so again, whatever the reason might be, we're still presented with a very peculiar, I can't even say that word, peculiar, particular situation. Man, I'm just going to be tripping over my words today, okay? A very particular situation. And so you come then, of course, to verse 3 coming next, and here we see that he is sending emissaries of the centurion to Jesus. The centurion has heard about Jesus. Again, it makes sense since he's been, since Jesus has been living in Capernaum and doing many things in Capernaum, such as teaching and performing miracles. But he's heard about Jesus, and he's now saying, you know what? I think this guy can heal my slave. And so he's sending these emissaries to Jesus. Now, instead of going himself, which he could have done, he sends emissaries on his behalf. And we'll find out later, right? It's because he didn't think that he himself was worthy to come. But this was a way that they would have operated. If you were wanting to go and speak to someone higher than you, you would have sent someone on your behalf because you would have been demonstrating your unworthiness to approach the person who is a higher ranking official than yourself. And so he's sending these emissaries to Jesus, and again, this ought to speak volumes to us. This cordial association that he has, this genial alliance that the centurion has with the Jewish elders is unusual. Is it not? Because again, think of the Romans. The Romans were the oppressors. They were the ones who had come in and they were ruling over the Jews here and they are oppressing the Jews and now you have a centurion who's a Roman official and Jewish elders who are on good terms. That is very unusual. So remember that these Jewish individuals had some, or the Jews had some individuals who would... start working for the Roman government, collecting taxes. And did the Jews like these individuals? If you were a Jew who began collecting taxes for the oppressors, you were viewed as a traitor. You were viewed as someone who has turned their back on God's people. And so again, The relationship between the Romans and the Jews sets up for us a very interesting picture when we read that this centurion is on good terms with these Jewish elders. And so the Jewish elders are sent as messengers, as an envoy, as emissaries to seek out Jesus and to ask him to come and to save the life of the centurion's slave. Now, we're gonna come back to this in just a bit, but just quickly note that the centurion believes that Jesus can indeed save his slave's life. That's amazing to me. It's amazing to me. In Luke, we, of course, have already seen Jesus performing healing. Jesus has performed several healings. If you consider passages that we've looked at already, he has healed a man who had a withered hand. He has healed a leper. He has healed a paralytic. And so you have several specific healings that we've already seen in Luke so far. But also, if you, again, just flip back to verse, chapter six, verse 18. This crowd that had been hearing him preach, it says that in verse 18, there are those who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the crowd was trying to touch him, that's important, to touch him, for power was coming from him and healing them all. And so again, Jesus's activities, his ministry, the things that he's been doing have been causing people to talk. People have been seeing these things and they've been going out and telling others. They've been spreading the news of what Jesus has been doing. And so there have been many healings that have taken place and this centurion has no doubt heard the reports and has said, you know what? I believe that this man can heal my slave. And so he sends these Jews to go and do this, and the Jews are coming to him, excuse me, the Jews are coming to him, and they approach him and they are pleading earnestly. They are pleading earnestly. Now, given that Jesus has already performed healings, why do they have to plead earnestly with Jesus to come and heal this individual? Why do they feel the need, in other words, to beg Jesus to come to this centurion's house and heal his slave? He's clearly demonstrated that he has this ability. So why not just come and ask? Why are they pleading earnestly? Well, again, Has Jesus been selective in his healings? Has he been reserved in who he has approached to heal? I don't think he has. Rather, he has been healing all that have been coming to him. However, these are Jewish elders asking another Jew who has been healing individuals to come to a Roman's house, a centurion's house, So they feel like, I don't know that he's gonna, I don't know how he's gonna feel towards this Gentile. I don't know how he's going to feel about this person who's not a Jew. And so they come and they're pleading and they try to make the case for the centurion. What do they say? If you look in your text. Verse four, when they came to Jesus, they were earnestly pleading with him, saying, he is worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue. Isn't that interesting? They say that he's worthy, and then they back it up with some evidence. He loves our nation. In fact, he's the one who built our synagogue. But again, he's a Roman centurion. He's a Gentile. He is one of the oppressors. Why would he love the nation of Israel? Why would he help them build their synagogue? Well, Scripture doesn't answer these questions, so I just wanna let the truths of what these men are saying stand. This is apparently a man who has heard about the teachings of the Jews. He has heard about Jesus. He has heard what Jesus has been doing. And as he has heard all of these things and kind of grown accustomed to the culture of the Jews, he has fell in love with these people. And he has decided that he's going to help build their synagogue so that they can have a place to worship. But I wanna draw your attention to the fact that the Jews feel the need to vindicate this man by validating his worthiness. Do they think that Jesus would be unwilling to help him because he's a Gentile? I think that's the case. And not only is he a Gentile, he's one of the oppressors. He's a Roman, a centurion. So in their minds then, in the minds of these Jewish elders, to be deserving of God's divine healing, one must demonstrate their worthiness. Man, that's such a misguided mindset that people still have today. We think, I need to show myself worthy so that God will help me. I need to show myself valuable for God to pour his love upon me. I need to be something special for God to save me or to help me or to hear my prayers. I mean, how many of us end up thinking that we are deserving of far more than we are? We have this mindset and we start trying to live in such a way as to build a good rapport with God. but that's not how it works. Do we live in obedience? Absolutely, we just saw that last week. We live in obedience, but we should never think that our obedience somehow makes us worthy of God's grace. Not even just for salvation, but how many times do we think that we can't come to God in prayer because we've been living in sin? and we view ourselves as unworthy, or we view ourselves as more worthy than we are, and we think, I think I can handle this myself. We need to have the right mindset with regards to our own worthiness and the grace of God. These Jewish elders, again, are trying to prove to Jesus that this man is worthy for Jesus to heal his servant. And so while they have pleaded the centurion's worthiness, the centurion himself believes that he is unworthy of Jesus's presence. And so we see the humble faith of the centurion in verses six through eight. Now, before we examine the centurion's message, I wanna note something at the beginning of verse six. Look there if you would. It says, now Jesus was going on his way with them. Now we would usually very easily just pass right over that. We would pass right over this little statement, thinking of it as a transition. It is a transition, but we would think of it as a transition and nothing more. And we would miss, perhaps, divine truths that are in this little statement. Jesus was going on his way with him. To do what? To go to the centurion's house and to go in and heal his slave. Now, again, it's easy to miss this on a cursory reading, but what is Jesus' first response? He goes. He goes. Now, he's going to the home of a Roman centurion, a Gentile, to heal the slave, but why is that unique? Why is that special? Why should we focus on that at all? Well, flip over to Acts chapter 10, if you would. Acts chapter 10, and we're going to see, I hope, a little bit of why this is such an interesting An interesting thing that Jesus is doing, an interesting response of Jesus. Acts chapter 10. In Acts 10, we see another centurion, a man by the name of Cornelius. And I want us to just briefly look through his account so that we can see a few things. Acts chapter 10, let's look at verse one. It says, now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household and gave many alms to the people and prayed to God continually. So pause there. Again, you have another centurion, a Roman official, who has, it would seem, who has turned to the Lord instead of his own false gods. Right? Because you remember Rome has their own mythos. They have their own mythological gods that they worship. They had Mars and Jupiter and Saturn, all these gods that they would worship. And so the fact that this centurion has turned from that and has turned towards the Lord, Yahweh, is very interesting. And so he is a man who fears God, and he's praying to God continually. And then in verse three, about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had come in and said to him, Cornelius, and looking intently on him and becoming afraid, he said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send some men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon who is also called Peter. He is lodging with a tanner named Simon whose house is by the sea. And when the angel who was speaking to him left, he called two of his servants, a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, And after he explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. So here is a centurion who has had a vision where the Lord has told him, hey, you need to send some messengers to get Peter and bring him back to you. Now, what's interesting is that he does it. He does it, right? He recognizes that this is the Lord, and he obeys what the Lord has told him to do in this vision, and then continuing on. Verse 9, "'And on the next day, as they were on their way,' that is, the messengers, "'and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop "'about the sixth hour to pray. "'But he became hungry and was desiring to eat. "'And while they were making preparations, "'he fell into a trance and saw heaven open, "'and an object like a great sheet coming down, "'lowered by four corners to the ground. And there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the sky. And a voice came to him, Rise up, Peter, slaughter and eat. But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean. And a voice came to him a second time, What God has cleansed no longer consider defiled. And this happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into heaven. So Peter ends up, I'm skipping a little bit here, Peter ends up going with Cornelius' messengers to the house of Cornelius, and so skip down to verse 24. In verse 24, it says, "'On the following day, he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. And when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter raised him up, saying, "'Stand up! I too am just a man.'" As he talked with him, he entered and found many people assembled. And he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him. And yet God has shown me that I should not call any man defiled or unclean. That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was summoned. So I ask for what reason you have summoned me. Now, pause there. Peter is mentioning his own vision about how God has said what God has cleansed, do not call defiled or unclean. And so he's saying, because of that, this is why I've come. Because otherwise, for a Jew to associate with or to visit a foreigner, a Gentile, it would have defiled that Jew. And so Peter is saying, and yet I've had this vision, which is why I've come and which is why I didn't put up a fuss. I came and I'm here and I wanna know why you had me come here. Well, look a little further. Let's pick up in verse 30. And Cornelius said, four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments. And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Therefore, send a Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you. He is lodging at the house of Simon the Tanner by the sea. So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been ordered by the Lord. And opening his mouth, Peter said, I most truly comprehend now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation, the one who fears him and does righteousness is welcome to him. You can turn back to Luke. Consider that as you read this phrase, where we see that Jesus was going on his way with them to the home of a Gentile, which seemed to be believed that would have defiled an individual. Where does that idea come from? Well, I think what was being alluded to when Peter said that, when he said that it is for a Jew to associate or visit a foreigner, I think what's being alluded to is Deuteronomy 7. So actually, instead of Luke 7, turn to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7. And here I think we have, we see a passage that clearly teaches that Jews were to remain separate from the Gentiles. So just read with me if you would. Let's read the first six verses of Deuteronomy 7. When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and He clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you. And when Yahweh your God gives them over before you and you strike them down, then you shall devote them to destruction. You shall cut no covenant with them and show no favor to them. Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them, you shall not give your daughters to their sons, Nor shall you take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me, and they will serve other gods. And the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and he will quickly destroy you. But thus, You shall do to them, you shall tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut their ashram in pieces and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. And so here we have, again, that idea that the Jews were a special group of people chosen by God in order to be a light to the world. And so, therefore, they were to remain separate from the nations around them. And they were to... cut themselves off, in a sense. They weren't to intermarry with them because, again, that would turn their sons and the daughters away to these foreign gods and to idols. And they would, and we see that so often in the Old Testament, do we not? Where they start getting together and they're turned away from their God to the gods of the nations around them. And so, again, this is teaching that the Gentiles have to be careful how they associate with the Gentiles, but I don't think that it's forbidding every kind of interaction with the Gentiles. I think the extent to which we see the Jews in the New Testament taking this, it seems to be beyond what the Old Testament commanded. Now, some commentators have said, and I agree, that this is what was known as the tradition of the elders, the traditions of the elders. In other words, there's no actual command or law that is forbidding Peter from associating with or entering the house of a Jew and visiting, but the religious leaders have put up these fences, and they had a fence put by God in the law, but then they take it, and they say, yeah, but in order to do that, we need to do this, and in order to do that, we need to do this, and they put up these other fences that help them stick to the law as best they can. And so, in your mind, if you need to be careful how you associate with the Gentiles, what are you gonna do? Well, I'm just not gonna have anything to do with them. And you're gonna cut yourself off completely from them. And we see that mindset in several places throughout Scripture. John chapter four, you don't have to turn there, John chapter four, you have the Samaritan woman at the well speaking to Jesus, and it says, therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, how do you, being a Jew, right, this is a Samaritan woman, and she says, how do you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, being a Samaritan woman? And then in John chapter 18, verse 28, whenever they are taking Jesus to be on trial, it says that they led him from Caiaphas into the praetorium, and it was early, but they themselves did not enter into the praetorium, so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. So the Jews of this day thought that associating with or visiting with or going into the home of a Gentile would defile them. We can be like that at times, can't we? We can be individuals who are avoiding others because we don't wanna be associated with them. We don't want to become defiled. And yet ought we not be reaching out to everyone, to every individual, to every people group with the gospel of Christ? No matter what their religion is, no matter what their race is, no matter what their economic status is. But despite the mindset of the Jews here in this day, Jesus was willing to go to this man's house. to go to his home and to heal his slave, but now the centurion has second thoughts. And so the centurion humbly intercepts the envoy that has been coming to him. Even though he originally wanted Jesus to come, because if you look at our passage in Luke, right, if you go back up in verse three, It says, now when he had heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking him to come. He wanted Jesus to come. And now Jesus is coming, and the centurion has a change of heart. He has a change of mind. And so the centurion has this change of mind, and as Jesus is approaching the house, it says, excuse me, It says that the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further for I am not good enough for you to come under my roof. Now that's a different tune than the Jewish elders were singing, isn't it? The Jewish elders were commending his good deeds. They were talking about how worthy he was. They went to Jesus and they were singing his praises and they said, this man loves our nation. He has helped build our synagogue. He is worthy for you to come and do this for him. And now the centurion says, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof. Do you recognize that about yourself? Do you recognize that it is not anything that you can do to make yourself right before God or worthy before God? Listen, any good we do, we hit on this last week, but any good that we do is because we have Christ, right? It's because Christ has redeemed us and we are now filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can live according to what God tells us to do. Any good that we do is because of Christ. So before we come to the Lord in prayer, before we get down on our knees and start offering up our supplications and our petitions, let's recognize that we too are not good enough. And he says, for this reason, because I don't think I'm good enough. For this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. The same humility that kept the centurion from going to Jesus himself is now keeping Jesus from coming into the house. But how can the slave be healed if Jesus is not gonna go into the house? and touch him. Again, you think back at what we read, and I noted it, but back in chapter six, verse 19, it says, and all the crowd was trying to touch him. Right, there was this mindset that physical contact had to be made for you to be able to be healed. Now, Jesus has already demonstrated, I think, already in the healings that we've seen, that that's not the case. When he tells the paralytic to rise and walk, he didn't touch him that we see. But this centurion, he says an amazing thing. He says, but just say the word. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority with soldiers under me, and I say to this one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, and to my slave, do this, and he does it. Now this reminds me of Nicodemus' statement about Jesus in John chapter three. In John chapter three, you don't have to turn there, but John chapter three, a very familiar passage, it says that there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God. Note that. We know that you have come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Nicodemus recognized that Jesus was from God because of the signs Jesus was performing. And the centurion also recognizes this because he knows that Jesus has authority over disease. Just as the centurion's words bear the weight of who he represents, Right, because you think he is unofficial, but there are officials over him. So just as the words that he says, the commands and the orders that he gives, just as those bear weight because of who he is representing, so Jesus' words have authority because he has come from God. And so the centurion says, just say the word and my servant will be healed. His recognition of Jesus's authority is bolstering his faith in Jesus's ability. And notice how Jesus responds. In verses nine and 10, we see the marvel in the authority of Jesus. Jesus is amazed at the faith of the centurion. Consider the faith that the centurion displayed here. He didn't need Jesus to touch his slave. He knew that Jesus could merely speak the word and he recognized that Jesus could do this even though he himself was unworthy of such a request. And while the Jewish elders were singing the praises of the centurion, he himself said he was not good enough. And this is what Jesus is speaking of when he says, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. I have to wonder what blessings are we missing out on because we think more of ourselves than we should. Instead of being so full of ourselves like Narcissus, like so many people in our world today, we should emulate the humility that we see in this centurion. That is the kind of faith that Jesus approves of. A faith that recognizes our humble status and dependence upon God. In fact, rather than the centurion, look to Christ as the ultimate example of humility. It is Christ who humbled himself and became like a man, robed himself in flesh, became as a servant, and humbled himself in obedience to death, even death on a cross. That's the kind of humility that we ought to have in our lives. It is our Christ-like humility before God that pleases the Lord. That is how we come to Christ in salvation. It is how we live our lives as Christians. It's how we share the love of Christ with others. So I ask you, do you have a Christ-like humility that we see even in this centurion? Do you recognize that you are unworthy? Do you recognize that you are not good enough? When you come before God, do you think you deserve to have your prayers answered because of how you've been living in obedience? But listen, we also see Jesus' authority demonstrated in healing. So one quick final word, we'll wrap up. I want us to notice how the story ends. Look at verse 10. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. The centurion's faith was not misplaced. Christ indeed had the power to heal the servant with just a word. What a wonderful, glorious Savior Christ the Lord is. He commands authority over nature itself. That's demonstrated here in our passage by the healing of the slave. Listen, leave, this is my plea to you. leave all thoughts of self-worth behind and recognize that Christ and Christ alone is the one who is truly worthy. He is worthy of our praise and our adoration. He is worthy of our love and our faithfulness. He is worthy of our obedience He's worthy of our time, our efforts. He is worthy of all. So how do you view yourself before this holy God? How can you live in such a way that others see your humble dependence upon this God who is worthy of all? Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful that you are a God who who condescends down to us, that you are a God who has humbled himself in obedience to death so that we, sinful people, might be reconciled to a holy God. Lord, I pray that you would remove all all thoughts of self-worth from us. Lord, that you would purchase of that. Not that we would devalue ourselves, but rather recognize that we are made in the image of God. Lord, we are not you, we are made in your image. And while we have that intrinsic worth, help us not to think more of ourselves than we should. Help us to praise you and to glorify you in a way that demonstrates that you are the one who is truly worthy of all that we have. Father, we ask these things in your son's name.