The sermon's title is, like I said a minute ago, Jesus's Power and Compassion. So we have two pictures here, two vignettes. Jesus healing an ill slave on the verge of death, the first one. That's where we especially see his power. We'll see it in a minute. And then in the second situation, we see he raises the dead. So we see his power, but especially there, we see his compassion. Okay? Okay. So the text is Luke 7, 1 to 17, and let's pray. Heavenly Father, Let us see yourself in Jesus as we study this passage and we ask it in his name. Amen so Looking at the text It says in Luke 7 when he had completed all his teaching in the hearing of the people he went to Capernaum now What was the teaching? Well, it was it was a high It was a high mark to meet what he said. He said, why don't you do what I tell you? Aren't you listening to me? You'd be like a man to build a house on a... Firm rock foundation if you do what I tell you and if not, it'll be like you build it on sand and it'll get washed away Well, what what kind of things did he say? Well, he said be happy if you're poor because you have things to look forward to be happy if you're persecuted Because they persecuted the prophets and your reward is great in heaven if you're rich Don't be happy about that because you already have your blessing. So maybe you need to think about some other things that he said about riches to address what to do with your riches. He also said, other people may have a speck in their eye, you've got a log in yours, you need to take that out. Examine yourself, okay, before you try taking out the speck, okay, from somebody else. And he also said to treat others as you would like to be treated. So he said many things that are high for us to achieve, right? So we know those things are difficult. So who is this person that's telling us these things? Well, it's the man, Jesus, who is God, who in these next verses raised the dead. and had compassion on the woman whose child had died, and who had the great power that he demonstrates in the first situation, okay? So this is maybe partly why this is here. Jesus has made great demands on you as his follower. And he's saying, but he is a great God. And this is where he talks, he's demonstrating his greatness. If someone came to you and said, I want you to do this, this, and this, you'd say, why? Who are you? Well, here's the who are you part. Okay. Who is this man? Who's preaching such strong medicine. Okay. So when he had completed all his teaching and the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. Now this, this part about the centurion slave, we talked about it. a couple months ago because I said, what's different about this healing compared to other healings in the Bible? And one difference is it's like what we experience because Jesus doesn't physically come to us visibly and touch us or talk to us to heal us. We've got to pray to an invisible God. And from the invisible throne in heaven, God dispenses his grace to us in response to our prayers. So that's a lot like the centurion. The centurion never sees Jesus. Jesus even never sees the slave who's sick. So it's a lot like us interacting with Jesus. We don't get to physically touch him, okay? We don't get to hear him. So let's just read it. Now a centurion slave who was highly regarded by him, by the centurion, which, what's a centurion? It's just, it's a Roman soldier who's in charge of 100 soldiers. So he's got a big group of soldiers. He's not just a, Commander of a group of five or twenty he's over a hundred. This is a whole installation This is like a base. He's in charge of a base practically right a hundred. That's it. That's a base. Okay? So he has a slave that he highly regards the certain Turin loves this slave and He was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, the centurion, he sent some Jewish elders to him. Well, Jesus was Jewish. The centurion was not, right? He's a Roman oppressor of the Jews, okay? This is what the Jews wanted kicked out. But these Jewish elders loved this centurion back, because the centurion was good to them. So the elders asked Jesus to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they strongly urged him, saying, he's worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue, our worship center. This centurion, he's a pretty rich man, and he has Authority to tell his soldiers to do whatever and he can get stuff done. So he's he built us a synagogue He's very good to us. You know, the the romans are our overlords, but this is one good cookie in the group Okay, now jesus started on his way with them With those jewish elders, but already when he was not yet far from the house I mean, I think the reason I add yet here is He was like, he wasn't even getting close to far yet, okay? I think it's why it says yet far, okay? He wasn't even far, he was way far, I guess is what he's saying. It's hard to know exactly, but he wasn't there for sure, okay? We know that. The centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof. For that reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word and my servant shall be healed. So this is why Jesus next says he has a great faith, because he doesn't seem to think that, the centurion doesn't seem to think that Jesus needs to touch to get it done, or to bring some kind of special potion to get it done, or say something over him to get it done. Jesus could just get it done. The way the centurion looks at it, Jesus is that powerful. He can get it done. If the surgeon asks and Jesus says okay, Jesus can just say the word and it'll be done. Just read it. For I also am a man, says the centurion, placed under authority, with soldiers under myself, 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 was amazed at him and turned and said to the crowd that was following him, boy, poor Jesus. He's such a celebrity. And he's got a lot of paparazzi, okay? And the paparazzi don't like him, but there's a crowd that does like him also. And they're always hanging around him too. It's really rough. Oh boy, oh boy. I say to you he says to the crowd But what a what a cut to the to the Jews. I mean he did the same thing with the with the man who said I'm you know, what am I supposed to do? What's Oh Jesus says, what's the greatest commandment? He says, uh, the young man says Oh love the Lord you go with all your heart souls my strength and love your neighbors yourself Yes, you've answered properly So the guy said who's my neighbor? I'm supposed to love my neighbor, but who's he? So Jesus says, well, there's this guy racially different from you. He's a good example. Do what he did, the Samaritan. Do what this racially different from you person, Samaritan, did to help a Jew that was an oppressor of him. So that was a bit of a cut toward the Jews. I mean, Jesus was a Jew, but he often chose to pick on the chosen people, okay? Because that's one of the reasons he was there, to declare the new covenant and how it was branching out to all the Gentile nations. You know what I'm saying here? Just the broadness of the gospel was there now. And he even said that the ax is at the root of the trees to cut this tree down. The kingdom is going to be given to a different group of people. He said many things like this to the Jews. Here he just said, I haven't found anyone in Israel like this, like this Gentile, has faith like this Gentile. Just feel that cut. I mean, there's this big crowd. Maybe the crowd will go away if I tell them they're not that good. You know? So he says, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. But we shouldn't react that way. Or if we hear someone else is doing good, we should rejoice with those who rejoice, and we should weep with those who weep, right? So if someone says, hey, you did a good job, we shouldn't say, well, tell me I did a good job. We should go, yeah, yeah, he did do a good job. Good job. It doesn't have to always be about me. We always think it does. But I say to you, okay, verse 10. And when those who had been sent, those elders that the centurion had sent, had been returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. So we wanna see here that Jesus has great power, right? The title of this message is Jesus's Power and Compassion. We wanna see his power in this one. The situation if you just speak it'll be done just like when the worlds were created God spoke and there was light and God spoke and there was the the earth and and and there was water and and and there were things growing and each time God spoke and created things and and Jesus has the same authority to speak and If you think that Jesus and the Father are somehow different from each other, then you're mistaken. Jesus said, I come to do the will of the Father. Jesus said, whatever I see the Father doing, that's what I do. Jesus said, just as the Father can give life and raise the dead, he has given authority to me. to raise up anyone that he has given to me. So Jesus has the same authority and power and the same goals as the Father. There's no difference in terms of quality. God the Father is maybe performing a different aspect of the Godhead from what Jesus is performing, but they're all on the same page, them and the Holy Spirit. They're not at odds with each other. When Jesus is sacrificed on the cross, God crushes Jesus and Jesus receives it willingly and they're both on the same page because they're both doing their part to save you. God crushing Jesus and Jesus receiving it. So they're all doing maybe a little bit aspect of what needs to be done, but they're on the same page. It's not like they're fighting against each other. They're agreeing with each other 100%. So when we look at Jesus, we see the Father. Jesus said, how have you been with me all this time and you still haven't seen the Father? Show us the Father and it's enough, one of the apostles said. What do you mean, show us the Father? I'm here, I'm right here. You can see the Father when you look at me. So when we see Jesus doing things, remember, this is what the Father does. The Father and the Son aren't opposed or aren't any different. So he's done this and Jesus has this great power that God has, he is God. All right, let's see his compassion here in this next situation. So soon after, Jesus went to a city called Nain. You can pronounce it however you want, okay? If you're reading it, you'll say Nain, and if I'm pronouncing it, I'll say Nain. Don't worry about it, okay? And his disciples were going along with him, accompanied by a large crowd. Once again, right? Now, as he approached the gate of the city, A dead man was being carried out, and he's the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Ooh, I missed that the first time I read that. And she was a widow. Oh, oh, oh, he's the only son. So there's this woman, her husband has died, and now her son has died. And that's her only son. And you have to understand, you know, in this culture, if you're a woman, you've got to have a man. I mean, she's got to either go back to her family or become a beggar. It is a very rough situation for a woman in the Jewish society to be by herself, okay? We're a little more free for women. There was a time, and I don't know how, how much it affected people, but it's a true fact that, I'm not sure how many years ago, 50 or so years ago, if you were a married woman, the bank would say, well, we'll talk to your husband about what you're requesting. You'd go to the bank and they'd say, okay, we'll have to get your husband's permission to do whatever, get a loan or whatever. So, I mean, We've come away from that but but they were further into that situation the Jews were okay, so So she's in a difficult situation and That's just one aspect. I don't care about the situation. She just lost her son How awful right whatever this the other the rest that I just said that's just that just makes it adds damages to it, but she's lost her son and And she has no husband right now. He's already gone. And there's a crowd coming out. So, you know, often when a young person passes away, there is going to be a crowd because it's highly unusual. And we feel really bad for the parent when their child passes away. We always say, You know, a parent doesn't want to outlive their kids, right? And we've got this bendy bun right here, right next to this, right? So we want to see his compassion. No one asked him to do anything. It doesn't indicate here there's any faith involved, okay? That doesn't mean there isn't any, but there isn't any indicated. The emphasis isn't so much on faith in this one. The emphasis here is, there's still emphasis on his power, okay? Because not only is he, he cured an ill person, the previous passage. This passage here, he's raising the dead. As I said before, Jesus has in other places said, the Father raised the dead and he's given me that power. I raised the dead. I raised the dead. And so, the emphasis here is on the Lord observing, right? You know, we have the power of Jesus. We have the compassion of Jesus. What we're not seeing in these passages so much is the knowledge of Jesus, right? We'll see that somewhere else, but this is what we need in God. We need a God who knows everything and a God who is all-powerful and a God who is compassionate. That's the God who's telling us what to do, what we should be doing, right? Okay, he's worthy to listen to. Okay, so he says, So there's a big crowd, so she was well-respected. But when the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, do not go on weeping. When Lazarus died, there's a two-word verse. It says Jesus cried, or he cried. He wept, thank you. He wept, Jesus wept. But here, He immediately says to her, do not go on weeping. This is not someone he was close to on a personal level in life, unlike Lazarus, which was a part of the family of the Mary and all her sister, Martha, and Lazarus, they're all related, and Jesus' close friends in that case. But yeah, but here, a stranger, but he even has compassion on this stranger. Do not go on weeping. And he came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt. And he said, young man, I say to you, arise. So we see from here, he was a young man, okay, a young man. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all. and they began glorifying God. Hey, if you've ever seen a science fiction movie where somebody has some amazing powers, everyone gets frightened because they don't know what that person can do or might do to them. And we should fear God, but I know this is a healthy fear, I think, more of a respect, okay? But I'm sure there was a part of a fear where, wow, God has granted to Jesus these powers. And who is Jesus? Well, he is God, okay? But he's man too. And so as a man, he is living out the life of the God-man on earth. So fear gripped them all in response to this. And they began glorifying God. Well, praise the Lord, that's great. And so it says here, they were saying, this is how they glorified God, a great prophet has appeared among us. And they were also saying this, God has visited his people. And this report about him spread throughout Judea and in all the surrounding region it ought to and so We see here his compassion It says in the book of Hebrews that we have a high priest that is familiar with all of our lives, the difficulties of our lives, because he lived it. Jesus came and lived it. God came and lived our lives. He did not come and he wasn't like a king or a rich person. He had nowhere to lay his head, he said. The son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Now that doesn't mean he never slept on a bed, but it was like he was an itinerant preacher who moved about a lot. It was just, where is he going to lay his head next night? I don't know. Of course he knew. But he went about doing good and preaching. So he is a great prophet, yes, but much more. God has visited his people. These are the people that God had chosen, the Jews. And Jesus was sent, first of all, to the Jews. And if only All the responses have been so positive. But we know from the book of John, especially, at the very beginning, it said, he came to his own people, and his people received him not. But to those who received him, who believed his name, he gave the power to become children of God, who were born not of the blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And so So Jesus was rejected and ultimately killed, but here he is showing his love and compassion, knowing exactly where he's going, and knowing that these same people, and we'll be celebrating Palm Sunday in a couple of weeks, and it's so What's the word? It's a happy, joyous, and sadness at the same time, you know. The day, I love the day. Palm Sunday, or the day when we celebrate his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It's such a sad and happy day at the same time. But if only man could respond well, but no. The word for God's working in our hearts, we will not respond well, because it's our natural reaction, which we read in Romans earlier. to be not seeking for God. So, but we thank the Lord for giving us these pictures of the true God. He is, in Hebrews, He's familiar with our problems. So He's a high priest. He is our go-between. Not somebody else, not the saints, not Mary, but Jesus. Not the priest, not me, but Jesus is the mediator between God and man. He's the man Jesus. He's the mediator between God and man. He's God and he's man both. And he's the mediator between God and man. We go to Jesus, we don't need to go to anyone else to approach God. God receives us through Jesus. And so, yes, God had visited his people. He really had. And we even call Jesus the God with us. Come on now, what is it? Emmanuel, thank you. Sometimes I draw a blank. Emmanuel, God with us, thank you. I know I have a bunch of preachers that can help you all here in the audience that, hey, these interactions help you stay awake, that's good. You think it's bad, it's good. Yeah, but anyway, so God with us. God has visited his people. A great prophet has appeared among us. Fear gripped them all. Wow. Raising the dead. And you know, the Pope is really sick. He was in the hospital for weeks and he got out and he's still really weak and he's going about his daily business and chores, but it's weak. He's weak. And it may be before Easter, they'll need a new Pope. I don't know. He's not in that condition right now, but I'm just saying he's weak. Physically, he's weak. We are all going to die. We are all going to die. Even the Pope, who according to the Catholic Church, that's Jesus on Earth, you know, practically. But even the Pope dies, okay? You die, I die. God does not die, but God became man so he could die for us. And here we see the power of God to raise the dead. And we have to say to ourselves, well, why doesn't he just raise all the dead right now? Well, it's not the time for that. It's just not the time. There's a time coming. And if you are trusting in Jesus and you die, you will be raised from the dead. All that God has given to Jesus, Jesus will raise from the dead. And so there, you know, people say, well, Jesus was healing everybody that came to him. Well, he didn't heal everyone that died. He healed a few people who died, right? And so he didn't really heal everybody. Otherwise, no one would have ever died while he was around. Although they said that of Lazarus, if he had been here, he wouldn't have died. So the point I'm making is this. Jesus didn't come to raise everyone from the dead then. But he came to demonstrate his ability to raise people from the dead. including you spiritually, right? From a spiritual death, which is where your mind is darkened to the truth. And God can illuminate your mind and give you spiritual life, and then you can trust in Jesus and be forgiven. God can give you spiritual life. And the fact that he gave physical life just authenticates the fact that Jesus is the giver of all kinds of life, whether physical or spiritual. He is the forgiver of sins. Is it easier to say, get up and walk, or your sins are forgiving you, Jesus said. But in order so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins, I tell you, get up and walk. And the man got up and walked. That's not the situation. I'm talking about another one. And so, you know, these things are here to illustrate and authenticate what Jesus, who He is, and what He can do. Well, let's have a word of prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thanks, Lord, for these two. demonstrating the power that is yours, that is Jesus's power, and the compassion that you and Jesus have for all of us in our difficult situations. And the fact that Jesus experienced life, which we think perhaps was more for our benefit, not so much that he would be changed, but that we would know that He truly knows what it is to be alive in this world. And so, Heavenly Father, we are weak, so we thank You for that action, the incarnation of Your Son into this world. We thank You for that. We thank You so much for His demonstration of His power and His compassion for us. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.