And so the session is with joy, extends the privilege of the pulpit to David Ocken this morning, one of our missionaries. And David could be coming right now and one of our missionaries to Uganda. And we have enjoyed our weekend with him and look forward to his ministry of the word to us this morning. It's my privilege to be here, a joy to worship with you. And we are going to worship In the way that we give careful attention to the reading of God's word. So I invite you to stand with me as we turn in our Bibles to the gospel of Luke, page 730. If you're using the pew Bible, Luke, chapter seven and verses one through 10. Listen to God's word and then. Sing the Gloria together, page 734 as a response to the word of God, Luke, chapter seven, beginning in verse one, after he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now, a centurion had a servant who is sick and at the point of death, who is highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying he is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he is the one who built us our synagogue. And Jesus went with them when he was not far from the house. The centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself. For I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I, too, am a man set under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one go and he goes and to another come and he comes and to my servants do this and he does it. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. So ends the reading of God's word. People of God, what kind of things cause you to marvel? Many of you, probably like me, on Monday evening were watching the college football game, the national championship, and seeing Florida State so down. It was amazing the way they were able to put together a comeback and actually perfect a perfect, complete a perfect season and win the game. We marveled at their ability to do that. We were amazed as I sat there with Pastor Allen's story down where I was near Pflugerville. But it occurs to me that we so often marvel at things, the things of this world, even an impressive athletic accomplishment. And we can read a passage like the one we heard just read, and it doesn't have a very great impact on us. A marvelous thing took place here, and it wasn't the miracle. The miracles probably caused the people to marvel in this event, as they often do. And it did in the Gospels. We see that. But what's really amazing here is that Jesus himself marveled at something that itself ought to cause us to marvel, to think that that The one who is himself God, the son who has ordained every event that takes place and therefore should never be surprised by an event which was unexpected, which would cause him to marvel. What a reminder for us this morning that in Christ, God took on true humanity and became a true flesh and bones marveling man. But nonetheless, this is one of only two accounts where we ever read in the Bible of Jesus marveling. It says right there, and as you see in the text of verse nine, when Jesus heard these things, he marveled, he marveled, he marveled at the faith, the faith of the centurion. Truly, God had done something great. And my simple message for us this morning is that the story of the faith, the great faith of the centurion teaches us that unworthy Gentiles would come in humility, they would come to the infinitely great one, Christ Jesus. They, too, would come for mercy and for healing and for salvation as they would enable it would be enabled to embrace him by faith. That's what we see in the story of the faith of the centurion. And we'll see this as we note three things this morning about his faith. And the first is simply this. His faith, the faith of the centurion, was evident by his estimation of his own unworthiness and the supreme worth of Jesus Christ. Now, this is particularly striking, isn't it, when we consider the greatness of the individual, the esteem which the Jews held for this man. In our text, we see that the elders of the Jews were happy to go to Jesus on behalf of this man and make the case, as we see it there in verse four, that this man was worthy. Notice that word. They came to Jesus pleading, please, Jesus, this man, he has a valuable servant. He is sick, even at death's door. And we are pleading with you to come and to heal this man. And we see that they appeal to the man's worth. He is worthy to have you do this for him. Verse five for he loves our nation and he is the one who built us our synagogue. This was an impressive individual on a number of levels. He was a centurion a Roman officer commanding around 100 men. This was no small achievement in the greatest military in the world. The Roman Empire had boasted that it had Conquered the entire world and in doing so it had brought people under its mighty rule and made their lives better than they were before. Paz Romana the peace of Rome and the centurions in particular they enjoyed a very dignified social status. They were the most important professionals stationed in any given area. So what we have here is a man of high society. We know that centurions were paid very well and we can tell from the text that this man in particular was wealthy was able to become the benefactor the donor of the construction of a church building as it were a synagogue where the Jews were able to worship. What impresses us the most however more even more than his high standing and his power and his wealth is the fact that he seemed to be pious religious. He loves our nation, said the Jewish elders. More striking than his financial means to build a synagogue was the fact that he cared to do so. It seems that he was not like many other centurions we would expect, so consumed with their share in the glory of Rome that they would look down with contempt upon the lowly Jews. It seems instead, perhaps, that God had done a work in his heart to show that he, the God of the Jews, was the true and living God. Had this centurion even come to worship the Lord, even though for for for for years and years the Holy Nation has suffered under judgment? Was his humility before God such that even though a wealthy and powerful centurion and truth, he did not even feel worthy to share in the heritage of God's holy covenant? People perhaps perhaps such explains his his own sense of unworthiness to even interact with this Jewish teacher and healer such that he instead sent the Jewish elders to speak with Jesus on his behalf. Yet clearly it seems that he understood that this Jesus was more than just any Jewish teacher or healer. I suspect that he had on numerous occasions had the Jewish elders of Capernaum underneath his roof. But we see in verse six of our text that as Jesus was approaching his home, he sent these words of amazing humility. Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. And then verse seven. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you. That really can be translated there. Verse seven. I did not count myself worthy to come to you. In fact, where verse six uses a different word from verse four, similar in meaning, but a different word. Verse seven uses a form of the very same word as verse four. So the Jews said that the centurion was worthy to have Jesus do this for him. The centurion himself was now saying, I did not count myself worthy to come to you or or I did not dare cause offense to your dignity, your worth by deeming myself worthy to even enter into your presence. I did not dare act so presumptuously, and that is why I sent messengers. Amazing humility, isn't it? That an individual of such status would see the greatness of Christ, a humility which proceeded from a profound apprehension of the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. God has had done a great thing to open his eyes to see something of Jesus glory. What a testimony it is of just how great and glorious Jesus is this morning. How much did the centurion really understand? We can't know for sure, but we know that his testimony, his understanding of the greatness of Jesus becomes part of Luke's message in his gospel, doesn't it? That it was not Caesar But Jesus, who was the great one, Jesus is Lord. That was part of Luke's message, which he wrote to Theophilus. Theophilus could be certain of this. And so can we, as we are reminded this morning, this Jesus is none other than the son of God, the Messiah, the great one in him. All of God's wonderful plans are fulfilled not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. And we see evidence of all of this. In the faith of this centurion, he saw his unworthiness and the infinite worth of Jesus. And then we see a second thing about his faith. We see that his faith was evident by his confidence in the power of Christ's word and his mercy to use his power to bless with healing. What amazing words of trust in the power of Christ and verse seven there. Say the word and let my servant be healed. I am unworthy, but just speak the word, Lord, and my servant will be healed. He went on to make a comparison between the exercise of Christ's powerful word and the orders of a superior to an inferior within the Roman infantry. Verse eight, for I, too, am a man set under authority with soldiers under me. And 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. Rome had not conquered the world and achieved all of its greatness without instilling a sense of serious discipline among the soldiers, the valiant soldiers of its great armies, and this centurion had not arisen to his rank without learning very well what it was to be under authority. He understood that when you receive a command from a superior it is to be received as if it came from the very highest of all from the Emperor Caesar himself. It was to be obeyed. Notice interestingly that he says I too am a man set Under authority, I, too, like you, it would seem he seems to be saying perhaps his words even suggest something, something of an understanding that Jesus was working as the one under authority himself sent by the father to carry out his will. But clearly, he was speaking to Christ's authority himself to command and the absolute certainty that his command would be carried out. Simple analogy simple enough isn't it. But what an amazing point he was making to suggest that Jesus commanded the same kind of authority even over an illness even over his servants illness that this commander exercised over his soldiers. We might kind of this sort of something about a side note but I think appropriate to to note the way this this teaching should so powerfully refute the The false teaching, the misunderstanding, some have been taught that they can have Jesus as their savior, but not Lord, that they can have salvation, though they've never made any kind of true commitment to following Jesus as Lord. When we come to Jesus, when the spirit unites us to Jesus through true faith, it unites us to all that Jesus is. Can anyone ever truly Can anyone look to Jesus, the very Jesus to whom this centurion was trusting, look in true faith and decide, no, I'm Lord, I'll be Lord of my own life. Obedience is really optional. Such is not the life that flows out of true faith. The centurion understood the concept of lordship, and he knew that in this man, this Jewish miracle worker, this teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, was one whose command, whose command even over an otherwise fatal illness, would be obeyed unquestionably. What power. What authority. To encourage us this morning because Jesus has. With his authority given him not only as God the son but as the resurrected Lord who finished the work that the father gave him. He has the authority to command even now and he's commanded your and my salvation if you trust in him. Do you believe that. I don't know what kind of trials you might be experiencing, although I heard some of them yesterday as we were praying in the men's breakfast trials come into our lives. The world, the devil is against us. He would love to see us as we're afflicted by illness. Doubt God's promises. He's not really interested in seeing our body destroyed. He wants to rob us of our faith. And even if we're not doubting today, we don't know what kind of trials might come into our lives, our lives tomorrow and causes to wonder, am I truly God's child? Am I in the grace of Christ? Do I truly have eternal life? And how wonderful it is to remember that Jesus has promised you who trust in him. He has spoken the word. And when Jesus speaks a word, it will come to pass. And he has promised you life in glory with him forever and ever. The centurion was trusting. and the power of the word of Christ. He understood something that Jesus' own disciples would take a little bit longer to wrap their brains around. Interesting that this is right here in chapter seven of Luke's gospel, a chapter later, Jesus calms the stormy sea. And in that incident, he doesn't end up commending his disciples for their great faith amidst the event. He rebukes them for their lack of faith. They're the ones marveling in that event, asking themselves in Luke chapter eight, verse twenty five, who then is this that he commands even what winds and water and they obey him? It seems that in our text this morning, the centurion understood exactly who this Jesus was, or at least he had no doubts about the extent of his authority. The bacteria, the viruses, the amoeba, the malaria parasites, you can defeat them all by your mighty healing power. Just speak the word and it shall be done. Confidence in the power of the word of Christ and confidence that Jesus would use that power to heal. Why be so bold as to even make the request? We should have expected him instead to have said, I won't ask anything of you, Jesus. I'm not worthy of anything. It seems that he understood that there was something greater than all of his unworthiness. The mercy of Jesus. I'm not worthy to have to host you in my home, but that won't stop me from pleading your mercy. Say the world. Say the word. Let my servant be healed. All of his unworthiness, notwithstanding what an example of faith is, one who boldly embraced the mercy of Jesus and Jesus did not refuse him. Jesus did not disappoint. Jesus did not fail him. Jesus healed his servant. And that brings us to our last point this morning that his faith became a powerful testimony of the truth that God's mercy would reach not only the Jews but also the Gentiles. Indeed any and all who would embrace him the Messiah in faith. That's really Luke's Luke's gospel got Luke's message a huge theme in the gospel of Luke and in his next book The Book of Acts. that the word of God would not be confined to the Jews. It would reach that it would reach the Gentile world. That's the wonderful end toward which Luke drives us in his narrative. And it's been argued that this passage before us is a pivotal passage very important in this regard. Salvation for the Gentiles. That is the wonderful message that will be sounded loudly and more clearly with the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and his ascension into heaven and the pouring out of the spirit, which would empower his witnesses, the apostles to witness not only in Judea, but in Samaria and even unto the ends of the earth. But we can marvel at the way that already here in our text there in Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, as Christ acknowledged the great faith of this Gentile, this centurion, the message message was already being proclaimed. Important message linked perhaps by Luke to another event, something of a foretaste of another day when the spirit would do a mighty work in the life of another centurion. The Bible paints centurion in something of a positive light in terms of the work of God's grace, not in Capernaum, but over in a seaport on the coast. of the Mediterranean in a town called Caesarea, there would be another century named Cornelius, another Gentile, one who had come to worship and fear the God of Israel as God was preparing him for a great thing that he would do a coming day. You can read about this in the book of Acts. You recall that in response to a great vision, the Apostle Peter would eventually preach the gospel to Cornelius and to all of his household. And God would astound the circumcised believers, the Jewish believers, by bestowing on the Gentiles, bestowing on these uncircumcised the very same gift of the spirit which they would receive. The spirit would enable them to speak in tongues. It would be something of a second Pentecost experience and they would be baptized. In a remarkable event in which the Lord would trumpet the news that the Gentiles, along with the Jews, were accepted by God through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. We praise the God for such wonderful news. It's good news for me. And probably most of you here, I imagine, are not Jewish, at least not physical Jews. And it was an important message for the early church that God and his wisdom ordained multiple events. It would not be easy. For that early Jews in the church to accept these uncircumcised Gentiles, accept them into God's family. And so in order to drive this astonishing message into their minds and into their hearts, there would be events like like that other centurion Cornelius and the event which we see in our text today. Isn't it amazing that even before Jesus commenced his faith, already the Jews were speaking to The piety, the godliness of the centurion in Capernaum, this man loves our nation. He built our synagogue. He is worthy to have you help him. Jesus, how this would reinforce the great message. Jewish Christians accepts your Gentile brothers and sisters. God accepts them. He loves them. Christ has shed his blood for them and he is transforming them into faithful servants of his just as he is with you. We know that the message is the message to them would be that God accepts them not on account of circumcision or any other obedience to the law. They're justified just as you and I are justified, forgiven, counted righteous by faith alone. And if it is by faith alone, then ultimately it doesn't matter if you're a Jew. Doesn't matter what your ancestry happens to be. The only thing that matters is that you have faith in Jesus Christ. What a wonderful message, a message that can be illustrated by considering the one other occasion I mentioned that there were two occasions where Jesus marveled at something. When was the other occasion? Mark, Chapter six. We won't take the time to read the entire account, but if you want to look at the verse, Mark, Chapter six, verse six is the one other instance where Jesus marvels and it was not to in response to an encounter this time with a foreigner. Instead it is it was as he was visiting his own people his own hometown Nazareth. These were the people among whom he was raised. They knew his family and what caused him to marvel as he visited them was that their great faith as it was with the centurion. It was the opposite wasn't it. He was rejected. He was dishonored in Nazareth. Sadly, it was in Nazareth Nazareth where a common saying was proven true that a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among notice. Jesus is among his relatives and in his own household. It says in Mark chapter six verse six. He marveled because of their unbelief. What a contrast. From the Roman centurion and these were not just any Jews. These were fellow townspeople and in some case even blood relatives of the Israelite the Messiah the one at the very center of all of Israel's hopes in contrast to the Roman centurion. How did they respond. Marvelous unbelief. How strikingly we see that the issue of faith its presence or lack thereof. obliterates any distinction between Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, female, in terms of who has the right to be an heir of eternal life. It is true that the centurion is held forth as something of a man of great faith presented positively. But really, the point here is not to exalt him above the rest, is it? The point here, the thing that should astound us. is the greatness of Jesus and the marvelous thing that God was doing in Christ and inviting all unworthy sinners, all to come to him, to possess him by faith and to share in all of the riches of God's people in Christ. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Isn't that what the word teaches? Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand and he will exalt you In due time, Peter tells us that James teaches that James 410. And isn't it so wonderfully proven true even in this text? Wealthy, powerful centurion came in humility like a poor beggar, and Christ lifted him up by granting his request and by publicly commending his faith. He exalted him not to the end that he should be counted great of himself. But as a powerful testimony of the grace of Christ to unworthy sinners like you and me who come and say, I don't deserve anything, I don't deserve to have you come under my roof. And Jesus receives us and Jesus comes and he even dwells within us and gives us all that he is and all that he has. Isn't that wonderful? He even comes to you this morning, doesn't he? As he reminds you and encourages you. strengthens your faith and out of that faith. The Bible teaches that Christ dwells in your hearts by faith and you are moved unto humility, not to the end that you will come in glory in your worldly achievements, your wealth, your education, your career, your acts of piety. Did you contribute much towards the construction of the synagogue, as it were? No, you count those things as nothing and yourself as an unprofitable servant. And you do not look down on others and see that yourself is as greater than they. You count others better than yourselves and you seek to serve them in love and humility out of honor of Christ. Such is your mind, because your mind is the mind of your savior. And isn't the greatness of Jesus seems most wonderfully in that he came in its world not to exalt himself, but to humble himself, even to the point of dying that shameful death. on the cross, and God is the one who has exalted him and given him the name above every name. And one day all will see, even the great ones, the kings of the earth will see what the centurion was able to see. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. So don't marvel at the sports events, it's OK to root for your Favorite team to enjoy watching great accomplishments and the other things of this were of this world. But it is before the Lord Jesus and him alone that you are to bow down and worship. Marvel this morning at the greatness of Christ. Marvel at the power of his word. Marvel at his mercy and marvel at the fact that he has given himself to be yours as you receive him by faith and go forth in humility and walk In the faith of the centurion, we pray and ask God to help us do that this morning. Let's pray. We pray, oh, Lord God, though we acknowledge that we are unworthy to ask anything of you, we with the centurion would say would come to you and say, just speak your word, Lord God, speak your powerful word this morning, work by your spirit in the hearts of your people. Take your word and apply it to our hearts and to our lives. Open up our eyes to see how great and glorious is Christ. Lord, build us up by your word so that in confident trust and in humility we might go forth and live for his glory. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. We are going to respond with a singing. Of number 507, I invite you to stand as we sing together. Approach. Approach my soul, the mercy seat, and then receive the benediction. Receive the benediction, beloved people of God, now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.