Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. As I begin this morning, I would first of all like to express my thanks to Pastor George VanderDusen and to the elders here at Redeemer and to say greetings from Church of the King in Sacramento. Pastor Stoos also extends his greetings as I'm here representing our congregation and the fellowship and the relationship that we have in Christ. Well, congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, this morning we are looking at a very familiar passage of scripture, which many of you know, contains a story that we know quite well. It's a story about a Roman soldier who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and he begs him to heal his servant. And of course, Jesus, being full of mercy and kindness, heals the man's servant. And once again, he demonstrates to him, to all who witnessed this great event, and to us even here today, that Jesus is the one who alone can provide us with life and health and every blessing that we desire, every blessing that we would enjoy. And so from one perspective, as we look at this passage, the story that we're looking at is all about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. From another perspective, however, this story is even more directly about something else. Yes, it's about Jesus, but indirectly. It is about the amazing faith of the Roman centurion himself. I remember years ago, I had a mentor who instructed me as I was pursuing gospel ministry. And I remember every once in a while, he would remind me that as a preacher, I had one job and one job only, and that was to preach Jesus Christ from the text of the word of God. And what he meant by that is that it is not okay for any man to stand behind the pulpit and simply preach up the character and preach up the virtues of other men in the Bible. It's not okay to lift them up and to hold them out as examples for the people of God to follow because you see, if we did that, then all we would be doing as preaching moralistic and legalistic sermons, and we would not be preaching Christ. I love my mentor. He was actually a pastor of mine for many years. And I take his advice and his instruction to me very seriously. And many of the things he taught me, I've incorporated into my life and I've been blessed for it. But on this particular point, and he knows we go back and forth as good friends, over the years, what I've come to realize is that such an approach to gospel preaching is really a false dichotomy, because what it does is it separates two things that should always be joined together. You see, as you follow this storyline, you can see that Jesus Christ is evidently glorified in this text. And yet the way that he is glorified is not apart from, but rather in and through the faith of the centurion himself. To put it differently, I would say that it is what the centurion sees in Jesus Christ that you and I need to see this morning. It's what the centurion believes about the Lord Jesus Christ that you and I also need to believe. And so even though we're looking at the faith of this Roman soldier, the truth is that in doing so, we never really take our eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Through his faith, what he sees and what he understands, we grow. and our understanding of the glory of our Savior. And so with that congregation as my justification for preaching up the virtues of this man, I want us to look now at some of the details of our text and see what the Lord has for us today. Now as we do so, one of the very first things we should notice is that in verses 1 and 2, Luke provides us with some details about the context. There we can see that the context is an emergency situation. The context is an emergency situation. He says, now when he had concluded all his sayings and the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum and a certain centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die. You know, in Matthew chapter eight, which is the parallel account to this passage, we can see just how bad this situation was. And Matthew tells us that the servant was, quote, sick of the palsy and grievously tormented. And that is this man was suffering from a severe case of paralysis. He was a paralytic. And Matthew tells us all about the pain that he had to endure. But you know, it's interesting because Luke, Even though he was a physician, he was a doctor, gives us none of that information, but instead he draws our attention to two other points of consideration. First of all, he says that the servant was dear unto his master. And then he says that the servant was at the point of death. And so the picture here that we need to see is a picture of imminent danger and intimate concern. The picture is of imminent danger, and it's a picture of intimate concern. If you look at that term, dear, as it's described in our text, it's important for us to see. Because that word literally means honorable, highly esteemed, and valuable. In fact, this very same word is translated two times in 1 Peter 2 as precious, which really means rare and desirable. And so the servant who's in our text was precious in the eyes of his master. And when you hear that, when you begin to think about that, you might be tempted to just assume that the point Luke wants us to see is that the servant himself was a faithful man. And of course, that's probably true. This probably was a very faithful servant to his master. After all, in Proverbs chapter 25, we're reminded that it's only a faithful servant who can truly please his master. In verse 13 of that text, the Bible says, as the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters. So here, there's little question about the fact that the servant himself was a faithful man. And yet, even though that's true, I would argue that the fact that he was dear unto his master actually says more about his master than it does about himself. And why is that? Well, I would argue it's because in the ancient world, masters didn't always have a reputation for treating their servants with kindness, love, and respect. Some did. but many did not. And so oftentimes, even those who were faithful servants in everything that they did would oftentimes receive harsh and unjust treatment from their masters who would punish them wrongfully. In 1 Peter 2, Peter alludes to this fact. when he calls upon Christian servants to endure and bear up under the unjust conditions in which they lived. Now listen to what Peter says in verses 18 through 20. He says, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it, if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, and you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. You see, based upon what Peter says there, we can see that not all masters looked upon their servants with the kind of love and kindness that we see in our text. Not many masters would describe their servants as precious in their sight. Servants would come a dime a dozen for a man like a Roman centurion, a man of power and perhaps wealth, prestige. But this man looks upon his servant and says, you are precious in my sight. So remarkably, long before the apostle Paul ever penned his letter to the Colossians, this Roman centurion was already fulfilling the instruction that Paul would later give to Christian masters. That's interesting because what it tells us is we see the law of God written on his heart. We see the grace of God at work in his heart by the way that he treats his servants. In Colossians chapter four, verse one, this is what the apostle Paul says. He says, masters give unto your bond servants that which is just and fair, knowing also that you have a master in heaven. So what can we gather just from these opening details that Luke provides us with? Well, as I alluded to, we can so far at least begin to make the case that this is a man who at the very least is a man who fears God based upon what we see with him building the Jews a synagogue. He may even be a convert to Judaism. He may be a worshiper of the true and the living God at this point. And yet so far he has not heard the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as of yet. I would argue that the seeds of God's grace are at work. in this centurion's life. But to see that, we need to look beyond the equity of his household dealings, beyond the relationship that he simply sustains to his servant. I want us today to look at the rest of this message in terms of three basic points as we analyze the faith that is on display in this text. I want us to focus on the quality and the content of this man's faith in Christ specifically. To help with that, Luke provides us with these three points. The first thing that we see that manifests this man's faith is the action that he took. The action that he took. The second thing we see is the assessment that he made. The assessment that he made. And finally, we see the affirmation that he receives from the Lord himself. And so we have the action that he took, the assessment that he made, and the affirmation that he received. These three points will summarize our whole message for today. Well, let's take these one by one and let's look first at the action that he took. Look at verse three. Verse 3 says, So when he heard about Jesus, he sent the elders of the Jews to him, pleading with him to come and heal his servant. Now it's not entirely clear how long the servant was sick before the centurion heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. It could have been a few days. It could have been a few weeks or even longer. And so really we don't know what kind of resources he already had used up to this point. And remember in Luke chapter eight, we hear about that woman who had the issue of the flow of blood. And we know that she suffered in her condition for 18 long years, actually 12 long years, I apologize. And in verse 42 of that text, you can see that this woman spent all of her resources trying to find a physician, trying to find a cure and a healing everywhere or anywhere that it could possibly be found. Luke says that she spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any. So her condition was ongoing and she spent up all her resources. Well, here in a similar situation with sickness that's unto death, And we can just imagine that because the centurion loves his servant, that he would have spared no resources in trying to find him the treatment that he needed, to find him the cure and healing that he needed. However, we can also say that whatever the centurion did try up to this point, didn't seem to work because his servant was still sick. And Luke tells us that now he was at the point of death. He was on the verge of death, and that is when the centurion heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a practical lesson for us as we think about the timing factor of how all of this is coming to pass. That lesson is that God is never late. God is always on time. Now that might sound like a cliche, and indeed it is a cliche. It's become a cliche, hasn't it? But it's nevertheless true. Congregation, God is never late. God is always on time. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever asked the question, why was it that God waited for the widow of Zarephath to run out of food before he sent the prophet Elijah to her house? I would say that he did that so he could test her faith. And we know that because when Elijah finally came, the woman said that she had no more food, but what she did have, she was about to bake so that she could eat her very last meal and die. And the question there was, would this woman believe the message that Elijah brought? In 1 Kings 17, verse 14, here's what Elijah told her. He declared, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, the jar of flour shall not be spent and the jug of oil shall not be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth. In other words, you don't have to worry. The Lord will provide. And when Elijah came, he came exactly on time as a messenger of the grace and mercy and covenant love of God. You know, the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's Romans chapter 10, verse 17. And we don't know exactly what this centurion heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. All we know is that he heard about him. Whatever it was that he heard, it was enough to move this man into immediate and decisive action. You know, so often we hear something. It's a promise from God's word, but we fail to act upon it. And when we fail to act upon God's promises, then it's because we are having a lack of faith in the moment. It's just true. And so the first thing that we can see that manifests this Roman centurion's faith is the action that he took. This action was at least twofold. Notice that it consisted of a sending and a pleading. A sending and a pleading. But you know, as you look at what the centurion is doing here, I think it's very instructive for us to back up and just analyze who is being sent and who is being pleaded with. In other words, the centurion, if you notice the arrangement of the words, is not pleading with the elders of the Jews. He's sending them to plead with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why is it that he is not pleading with the elders of the Jews? I think the obvious answer is that he knew there was nothing that they could have done to heal his servant. The power was not in them. Deliverance was not in them. Salvation was not in them. As a matter of fact, when it all comes down to it, there's really nothing that any man can do to heal any other person in and of himself. In James chapter five, verses 13 through 15, there's a passage of scripture that really helps us understand how all of this works. Listen to what James says. He says, is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing Psalms. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now there we can see that when you are sick, it is appropriate to call for the elders of the church so that the elders of the church might attend to you and minister to your needs according to their capacity. James says they are to take oil and anoint you. What is the oil? It represents the Holy Spirit. But notice, that it's not the elders, it's not the laying on of hands, it's not the pouring of oil that has the power to heal anyone because then in verse 15, James continues and he says, and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. You see where the emphasis is. Yes, we are instruments of God's grace. We do what the Lord requires us to do, but the whole time we know that there's no power in us. You remember in Acts chapter three, when Peter and John were going through the gate called Beautiful, there was that man who was laying there who was lame in his feet. And he asked for alms, and Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but what I do have, I will give unto you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, get up and walk. And the man was restored, and he leapt to his feet, and he runs into the temple to worship God, and all the crowds come surrounding Peter and John. And what did Peter say on that occasion? He wanted to make it absolutely clear. He says, if any of you happen to be thinking that I raised this man up by any power that's in myself, you're wrong. But only the power that is in the name, that is in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ was able to raise this man up. And so it's instructive for us to see what the centurion is doing. It's very clear that the centurion's faith and hope and trust was directed to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not directed to the elders of the Jews, but he sent them and he pleaded with the Lord. But you know what's very interesting as you follow this storyline, is that by the time the elders got to Jesus, you'll notice that they radically reinterpreted the nature of the centurion's request. They reinterpreted the nature of the centurion's request. How did they do that? Well, the elders redefined his persona when they represented him to the Lord. They represented him to the Lord as a man who was, quote, deserving or worthy of the grace of God. Look at verses four and five. And when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying that the man for whom he should do this was worthy, for he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue. Now here's a side sort of parenthetical question I have for us. Maybe you can search this out as you go home. Why is it that the elders decided to do this, reinterpret the man's persona, present him as one who's worthy of the grace of God? Well, as you study the New Testament in some of the context of the political landscape of the day, you begin to realize that there's good reason to believe that this was an act of political expediency. What I mean by that is simply this. It's very possible that what we're looking at here is a situation in which the local religious authorities are trying to maintain good relations with the local civil authorities, which in those days was always a two-way street. After all, this man, as far as they were concerned, had done his part in building them a synagogue. He was maintaining that local relationship. He even invested in the building of that synagogue. Maybe they thought the least they could do is fulfill this man's request for them to go to Jesus and beg him to come and heal his servant. Now remember, we are in Capernaum. Capernaum was not favorable toward our Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 11, you remember Jesus upbraids the cities where many of his mighty miracles were done, and one of those cities that did not receive the Lord, even though he had done many mighty works, was Capernaum. And we know what happened in Mark 2 and Mark 3, as the record tells us, of Jesus' visitations to the synagogue in Capernaum. So this is why. It's a parenthetical study. Why is it that they did this? Well, we can search that out at another time. It would take us too far afield. But I would say that there's good reason to believe it was an act of political expediency. But Luke doesn't tell us that. So that is my personal speculation, just so you know. Whatever their motives were, however, we can still say that they did radically misinterpret the centurion's request. And I say that because in their assessment of that man, he was worthy of the Lord's blessing. But the question that we have to answer is what kind of assessment did the centurion make of himself? That brings us to our second point. We've already seen the action that he took, and now we're looking at the assessment that he made. Look at verses six and seven. Then Jesus went with them, and when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not even think myself worthy to come unto you, but say the word only, and my servant will be healed. Here you can see in stark contrast to the elder's presentation, the centurion confesses a twofold unworthiness before the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, he was unworthy in his own assessment for the Lord Jesus to come unto him. He says, Lord, do not trouble yourself for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Now when you see that, maybe you'd be tempted to think that the centurion was simply giving an expression of his respect for Jewish custom. After all, you remember what the apostle Peter said to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, right? When the Lord gave Peter that vision, Right? And then he sent him to Cornelius' house to preach the gospel. When Peter gets there and he begins to address the people of the house, you remember what he said about entering under the roof of a Gentile, right? In verse 28, it says, you know how it is unlawful for a Jewish man to keep company or to go unto another from a different nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. In other words, the laws and customs of the Jews were such that it took a special word from God himself before Peter was able to bring himself to come under the roof of a Gentile man. And so, we have to ask the question, is that what the centurion is referring to? Not entering under, having Jesus enter under his roof? Could his comment in verse six simply be an expression of his respect for Jew-Gentile relations of the day? Well, I would answer no, that that's too superficial of a reading, because notice the centurion actually goes on to say more. In verse seven, you notice that in his assessment, he wasn't just unworthy for Jesus to come unto him, but he also said that he was unworthy to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he might be. Now consider the humility of the faith of this centurion. Just think in terms of a comparison with the other expressions that we find in Scripture of the faith and humility of God's people. Think about how the Apostle Paul shows us great humility before the Lord. He said, I am not worthy to be an apostle. That's humble, right? But then you might say, hey, at least he's numbered among the saints. At least he's somewhere in leadership, even if he didn't think he was worthy to be an apostle. I think about the prodigal son who also gives us a statement of great humility when he says that he was not worthy to be a son of his father, but instead he would go back to his father and he would ask to be hired as a servant. That's a statement of humility, right? But then maybe you reason through that and you say, well, at least he was a servant in his father's home. And after all, he did say that his servants, his father's servants had bread enough to spare. So he was being humble, but he was securing blessings for himself. That's not true, but you may reason that way. Think about John the Baptist who says that he was not worthy to untie the strap of the Lord's sandal, which we know was the job of the lowest slave in the household in those days. Of course, if you wanted to reason through that, you might say, well, hey, at least he could picture himself as some sort of servant in the house of the Lord. When you look at the centurion's expression, it should grip you as being equal to all of these other genuine expressions of humility. And I would argue even above it, or should we say below it, right? The centurion is giving us a statement of faith that is so saturated in genuine humility before Jesus Christ. We gotta look at that. It is praise worthy. The centurion says, not that he's not worthy to be an apostle, or a son of his father, he's not worthy to be a servant, but he says he's not worthy even to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. Not even to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. That's the kind of humility that we should want as we approach the Lord. We should never approach the Lord with any notion in our minds that we are deserving of the grace that we are about to seek from him. When we come to the Lord, the first thing we should say is, Lord, we are not worthy of the least of your favors, but only for the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, we plead with you. Be merciful to us. You see, that is the right disposition. That's a disposition that manifests a true and saving faith. Amazing faith, marvelous faith. But notice here that the centurion didn't just accurately assess himself as being unworthy, but he accurately assessed the Lord Jesus Christ as being glorious and majestic. and worthy of worship and praise. This man understood not only the honor and dignity of Jesus Christ, but also his sovereign power, his kingly authority. He understood something about the power even of the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what he says. I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof. I'm not worthy to go out to you. I sent these guys to mediate between us because I'm unworthy, but I know you're glorious and I know you're powerful. Only say the word and my servant will be healed. Now in verse eight, the centurion goes on to make a very interesting comparison because he likens the authority of Jesus Christ to that of a commanding officer in the Roman army. He says this, for I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. That's the key. 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. Here we have an amazing analogy that we need to unpack real quick so we can see exactly what this man is saying. What this man is confessing here is that in the very same way that every soldier is under the authority of his commanding officer, so every spirit of infirmity, every sickness, every disease, and even death itself is under the authority of Jesus Christ himself. That's what his confession amounts to. Those are the implications of what this man is confessing about Jesus. And to see it, just consider this one question. Who are the soldiers in this man's analogy? In the analogy, Jesus is the commanding officer and the sickness of the centurion's servant is his soldier. This man is confessing the fact that sickness is but the servant of the Lord, a messenger of the Lord. He's saying that sickness does the bidding of the sovereign God. Sickness obeys his very command. Now, is that a hard teaching for us here? at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, that God is sovereign over everything, including sickness and disease. It's a hard thing to experience providentially, but do we not affirm that by faith in what the Word of God teaches? That God is absolutely sovereign. And if He commands sickness to go, He commands sickness to come, He commands sickness to depart, sickness obeys the voice of Jesus Christ, amen? Yeah, Colossians 1, verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. All of creation holds together by the word of the power of Jesus Christ. You remember that story in John chapter nine when the disciples were walking together with the Lord and they passed by a man who was blind from his birth. He had a congenital blindness. You remember their concern that day. Because what they often thought in those days was that if a person suffered from any serious injury, any serious sickness or disease, it was because God was angry. It was a direct punishment for that person's sins. But here, the disciples had a puzzle to solve. They said, well, this man didn't become blind, he was actually born blind. So from the very first day of his existence, he's been blind. stricken with this illness. So what did the disciples ask the Lord? Well, they said, Rabbi, who sinned? Was it this man or was it his parents? Because they were trying to tie his illness to some act of God's judgment. Now, ultimately, we know that all sickness, all disease comes as a result of the fall and the curse of sin. the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, right? But it's not a direct consequence of individual sins every time. That was an assumption, and Jesus corrects that. Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither. This man nor his parents had sinned. But this man was born blind, that the works of God should be revealed in him. In other words, God in His sovereign goodness caused this man to be born blind. In His sovereign goodness so that one day he would be sitting there at that very place when the Lord Jesus Christ would walk by, look upon him in mercy, and heal him by the power of His Word. and the glory of God in his works of grace and mercy and kindness would be manifested in this man. Now this man has a testimony and he will shine as a bright light in the world in which he lives. Well amazingly the centurion recognized at least part of this truth. He recognized the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ over the sickness of his centurion, of his servant. And so once again, we see the characteristics of true and genuine faith. Well, our third and final point that we want to consider is the affirmation that he received. We saw the action that he took, we saw the assessment that he made, and now we see the affirmation that he received. Look at verses nine and 10. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him and turned around and said to the crowd that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And those who were sent returning to the house found the servant well, who had previously been sick. Well, first of all, this man received the affirmation that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus affirmed that this man had true and saving faith, and he called his faith great. Now, there's two ways he affirmed him, of course. Verse 10, you can see that when the men returned to the house, they saw that Jesus actually healed the servant. But the second is that Jesus heralded this man's faith. And I would say this, as you begin to think about how that might apply to us, remember that only two times in all of scripture, and I'm talking about the gospel records, two times in the gospel records, 89 chapters of gospel history, only two times has Jesus ever said to be amazed or to marvel. That's what marvel means. It means to be amazed, shocked, to be in wonder, right? Two times. The first time is in Mark chapter six and its parallel chapters, where Jesus marveled at the unbelief of the people. It says he marveled at their unbelief. And then the other passage, the other instance is here in our text, where Jesus marvels at the centurion's great faith. Isn't it interesting, Luke says, when Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him. and said, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. What's the point of application for you? As you think about that Bible statistic, that only two times do we see Jesus marveling, amazed, shocked and wondering, has to do with unbelief and great faith. What's the application for you? Well, first of all, we just, We just learned that there's only two things that makes Jesus marvel. The first is when people who have every reason to believe, refuse to believe. When people who have every reason to believe, refuse to believe. So if you've grown up in a Christian home, you've heard the gospel since the day you were born, you live in a home where the kingdom of God is reigning among you, your parents are praying with you and for you, they're instructing you in the word, you're part of a good Bible-believing church, you have every reason to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and it would make Jesus marvel if you refused to believe. The second thing that causes Jesus to marvel is that when the people who for all intents and purposes are the least ones expected to believe actually believe, that's glorious too, isn't it? It's glorious. The people who are least expected to believe, like this Roman centurion, what would make him believe the way he believes? God's grace. And so as you think about these two things, unbelief and faith, here's a concluding exhortation for us today. The fundamental question that we have to ask ourselves as we walk away today is on what basis does Jesus Christ marvel at me? Make that personal. On what basis does the Lord Jesus Christ marvel at you? Now I know what some of you are thinking, but Jesus is the Son of God, true. According to His divine nature, He knows all things. But according to His human nature, He hungers like us, He got tired like us, He sorrowed like us, He suffered like us, and here He gets amazed like us. The question is, on what basis is He amazed at you? Is it for your unbelief? or is it for your great faith in him? As you consider that question, may the Lord grant that all of us, every single one of us here today, would fall into the second category, knowing that Jesus marvels at us because we, by the sovereign grace of God, are trusting in his word. And may our faith, just like the faith of this Roman centurion, be manifested in our lives May our faith be manifested in everything that we do, including the actions that we take, the assessments that we make, and the affirmation that we receive from the Lord himself. Amen. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material herewithin, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.