The sermon examines the story from Luke 7:1-10, focusing on the centurion's great faith in Jesus. Despite being a Roman officer, the centurion demonstrates a profound understanding of authority, equating Jesus' ability to command sickness with his own military command. This faith is significant because it is humble and unqualified, recognizing Jesus' power to heal with just a word. The elders of the Jews advocate for the centurion, highlighting his love for Israel and his contributions, but the centurion himself feels unworthy to have Jesus under his roof. Jesus marvels at this faith, contrasting it with the unbelief he encounters in his hometown. The story underscores that the object of faith, Jesus, is what truly matters, and that faith should be placed in Him alone. It further illustrates the concept of grace, showing that divine intervention is not earned by merit but is a gift accessible to all, including those with scandalous pasts. The sermon encourages believers to emulate this humble, unqualified faith, trusting in Jesus' power and grace.

The title of the message this morning is, Great Faith in One Who Can Simply Say the Word. The title is what it is because our text brings us to a man who does have great faith, but it is always the object of faith that matters most. So I'm glad that we have a man that we can learn from who has great faith, But the reason His great faith matters is because the object of His faith can do anything, can speak anything into existence. And who just needs to say the Word. The big thing that we learn from this text is not that we should be like the centurion except to say that we should have unqualified trust in Jesus because Jesus is almighty and Jesus is completely faithful.

So let's pray, ask God to help us, and then we'll look at the text. I do thank you for the examples in Scripture that bring us to look at these people who have had unqualified trust in you. I thank you that you are worthy of such unqualified trust and that you prove yourself over and over and over again to be faithful to people who entrust themselves completely into your hands. Oh, make us a people like this. I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, we're subdividing. Let's begin by rereading chapter 7 verses 1 through 5. Then we'll look at those. Luke chapter 7 verses 1 through 5.

Luke chapter 7 verses 1-5. Now when he concluded all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion servant who was dear to him was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, pleading with him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus they begged him earnestly saying that the one for whom he should do this was deserving, quote, for he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue." And these verses, we're brought to a centurion with a dying servant.

Jesus has just concluded what commentators call the Sermon on the Plain. That was the contents of chapter 6, a wonderful sermon really focusing on two fundamentally different kinds of people. And to summarize it, it's those who are in Christ and those who are out of Christ. Now he enters Capernaum, his home base, since the beginning of his public ministry. So he spent much of his childhood in Nazareth.

Capernaum's not further away. It's a little larger than Nazareth and that has been the home base since the beginning of his public ministry. He's already been preaching and teaching in Capernaum. He's already been casting out unclean spirits in Capernaum. He's already been healing people, a lot of people, in Capernaum.

We see all this in chapter 4, so Capernaum is not new to us. The Word is out far and wide. Previously unheard of things are being done by Jesus. So that's the word on Jesus. Everybody's heard about it.

Tales that have never been told in Israel in these people's lifetime, or really in anybody's lifetime, are being told there. And multitudes are frequently gathering to Jesus to be healed and to be taught. In Capernaum there's a Centurion, a Roman military officer who commands a hundred soldiers. That's what a centurion is. A Roman military officer who commands a hundred soldiers.

The historical records say that they were really well paid. That's not surprising. And this centurion has a servant who is sick almost to the point of death. So this Roman military officer has a servant who is is teetering on the edge of death. The text says that this servant was dear to the centurion.

The Greek word means held in honor, prized, precious. So this is this Centurion is some master. This is a day and age when servants were more of what we would think of as slaves. So don't think of a servant who picks up his paycheck in a couple of weeks, think more of a slave, a person who was actually owned by the master. And masters often viewed their servants as nothing more than animate tools.

I need a tool to accomplish this. Oh, there's one that moves. Actually, that's a human being. That's how people often thought of their servants. David Garland points this out, that often servants were just thought of as animate tools, tools that move.

But this master holds this servant in honor and prizes him and counts him as precious. So the New King James translators said that the servant was dear to him. And this is undoubtedly some servant too, an unusual servant having made himself so valuable and so honored by this master. Honored by this master. In Matthew's account, in Matthew 7, Matthew relates that the servant was lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.

So Luke says he's sick and near death. Matthew says that he's lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. So, the condition is desperate. But the centurion hears about Jesus, which is not surprising. There's a lot to hear.

You can believe there's a buzz about Jesus because He's casting out unclean spirits and He's healing a lot of people. The news of this would have been everywhere. And This gives the centurion hope that it might be possible for the servant to live Now this centurion is a Gentile He's a foreigner in Israel and he's an occupying soldier. What is an occupying soldier? It means that Israel has been conquered by a foreign nation, by Rome, and this centurion, having command over a hundred Roman soldiers, is there to keep the peace in the conquered territory.

Now he's a friend of Israel, not an enemy as we'll see, but most Jews wouldn't see it that way. If you showed an average Jew a centurion, they would say that's the enemy. And that may have contributed to the reason that he sends elders of the Jews to Jesus to plead his case with Jesus for his servant. The elders would have essentially functioned as local officials. So we see elders of the Jews, you might think old Jewish guys, but elders as much more than just age.

This is a local official like a local magistrate or a local judge. And they are willing to plead the centurion's case with Jesus because of his tremendously positive track record with them. He's actually held in esteem by these Jewish officials, local Jewish officials. They go to Jesus and the text says that they beg him earnestly, arguing that this centurion is deserving that Jesus should go and heal this centurion's servant for two reasons. Reason number one, this centurion loves their nation.

He might be a foreigner commanding an occupying force in Capernaum, even so he loves the nation of Israel. And two, reason number two, he's built them a synagogue. A synagogue is a local meeting place for worship and learning the Scriptures. So it's the local place of worship. The closest thing we know of is right here, a local church.

So the synagogue in Capernaum, presumably the one where Jesus was preaching and healing people in chapter 6, there's almost certainly only one synagogue in Capernaum for the size that it was, That synagogue that we encountered in chapter 4 was built for this Jewish community by this Roman centurion. We should acknowledge how wonderful and unusual this is. What is normal is that occupying military forces distrust and despise the local population and They are distrusted and despised. So imagine how Iraqis thought of US military personnel who were in Iraq when we were the occupying force there. Imagine how our service members thought of the local population and how the local population probably thought of them distrusting and despising each other in large part.

But this Roman centurion is clearly one over the Jews in this community, which obviously would have been a very difficult thing to do. So he's pulled off something that is not easy to do. The people that have been conquered and are occupied by the military force that He commands, trust Him and respect Him and are actually willing to go to Jesus and plead this centurion's cause. So that's verses 1-5, the centurion with a dying servant. Let's continue and look at verses 6 through 8.

Follow along as I reread 6 through 8. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, 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 to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I also am a man placed under authority having soldiers under me I say to one go when he goes and to another come and he comes into my servant do this and he does it Here we have the centurions remarkable statements. Jesus finds them remarkable. Certainly we find them remarkable. Jesus agrees to go with these elders of the Jews. When they're not far from the centurion's house, something unexpected happens.

The centurion sends friends to Jesus to say that he's not worthy that Jesus should come under his roof but that that's not a problem This is the reason he gives for not coming to Jesus personally in the first place. In other words, why didn't he come to Jesus Himself to say, please come and heal my servant? He gives the reason. He didn't think himself worthy to come to Jesus. The elders of the Jews said, Jesus, you should do this for him.

He deserves it. The centurion said, Jesus, I'm not worthy to come to you or that you should come to me. We've already seen this actually a couple of times in the Gospel of Luke. John the Baptist said, I am not worthy to loose Jesus's sandal strap. That was chapter 3 verse 16.

God has given this centurion some sense of that. How? We don't know. The text doesn't tell us. But he has a sense that he is not worthy to do the simplest things in interacting with Jesus.

Not worthy to come to Jesus, not worthy that Jesus should come to him. Peter said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Do you remember that? Peter has fished all night, caught nothing. Jesus, who's a carpenter, not a fisherman, says, go out into the deep, not where you catch fish, you catch them in the shallows.

Cast your nets into the deep. And fishing wrong time of day, fishing in the wrong spot, but Peter does it and there's this enormous catch of fish that swamps two boats and Peter says, depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. He has some sense of who Jesus is. God has given this centurion some sense of that. There are three different places in the Gospels that Jesus says everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted." That is exactly what's happening in today's text.

Here's a man who humbles himself but Jesus exalts him. He has low views of himself. Jesus, I'm not worthy to come to you. Jesus, I'm not worthy that you should come to me. But Jesus exalts him.

The centurion understands that Jesus not coming to his house, even though he has a servant in desperate need of Jesus that Jesus not coming to his house isn't a problem because of the centurions understanding of authority Military men understand authority. They live and breathe and walk and Everything is authority for military men. This centurion is a man under authority. He has commanders over him who order him to do things, and he does them. And he is a man having authority.

He has a hundred soldiers and he says to them go and they go and he come and they come. He has servants that he gives instructions to and they carry out his instructions. Listen to what J.C. Ryle says, He regards our Lord as one possessing authority over diseases, as complete as His authority over His soldiers, Or a Roman emperor's authority over himself. So he knows he's under the Roman emperor.

If the Roman emperor gave him a command, whatever it was, he would carry it out. He thinks Jesus has just that kind of authority over diseases. He has authority over his soldiers. He's seen a thousand times. I give an order and my soldier carries it out.

He thinks Jesus has authority over diseases just like that. J.C. Rowe continues, he believes that a word of command from Jesus is sufficient to send sickness away. He declares his confidence that Jesus is an almighty master and king and that diseases like obedient servants will at once depart at His orders. This centurion believes that diseases are the obedient servants of this man who he's heard of.

So this centurion believes that Jesus can heal his servant just by saying the word. So that where Jesus happens to be is irrelevant. He doesn't need to be at his house to heal his servant. If Jesus is willing and Jesus says it, circumstances will conform to Jesus's word. Just think about that for a minute.

This Roman military officer, he's not even a Jew, this Roman military officer believes that if Jesus is willing and just says the word, that reality will conform to his word. That's what this Gentile military officer believes. Reality will conform itself to what Jesus simply says whenever he says it. That sounds a lot like Genesis 1. Then God said, and there was.

Then God said, let there be light, and there was light, etc., etc., etc. That is the description of each day of creation week, every day. Then God said, and there was. That sounds a lot like Psalm 33. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, for he spoke and it was done he commanded and it stood fast that sounds a lot like Psalm 107 verse 20 the Lord sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.

That could be a commentary on the current circumstances. This man has a servant who is teetering on the edge of death And this is what he's asking for, the Lord to send His word and heal him and deliver him from destruction. Only the centurion is attributing these things to Jesus. And in Genesis 1 and in Psalm 33 and in Psalm 107 it said of God things that the Old Testament is attributing to God this centurion is attributing to Jesus and he's rightly attributing these things to Jesus. So that is verses 6 through 8, the centurions remarkable statements.

9 and 10, Follow along as I reread 9 and 10. When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him and turned around and said to the crowd that followed him, I say to 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 been sick." In these final two verses we have what Jesus says and does. The Gospels only record two times that Jesus marveled or was amazed. That's not surprising.

He's God. It's hard to amaze God, and God knows everything. Here, Jesus marvels at the faith of the centurion, and in Mark chapter 6, Jesus marvels at the unbelief of the people of Nazareth. Listen to Mark chapter 6 verse 6, and Jesus marveled because of their unbelief. What a contrast!

The people from his hometown didn't believe simply because they knew him as, quote, the carpenter's son, and they knew his family, while this Gentile military officer had great faith and had not a doubt that he could command deadly illness to flee from a distance. Both things amazed Jesus. The unbelief of the people in his hometown who should have believed, who had every reason to believe, and the faith of this Gentile military officer who had every reason to despise and distrust the people he was living among. Jesus turns to the crowd and says this, I say to you I have not found such great faith not even in Israel. Israel is where we should find the faith.

Israel is where we should find people believing. The most faith, the greatest faith. Israel had the generational history of God's faithfulness right Israel had the generational thousands of years of God's faithfulness So Israel should have the most faith, the most people who have faith, the greatest faith. Matthew Henry says this, and This will humble us. Listen to what Matthew Henry says.

Christ will have those that follow him to observe and take notice of the great examples of faith that are sometimes set before them, especially when any such are found among those that do not follow Christ so closely as they do in profession, that we may be ashamed by the strength of their faith out of the weakness and waverings of ours. What's he actually saying there? He's saying that God, for our own good, sometimes shows us people who are doing more with less, who have stronger belief in Him to act and to do for them than we have, though we have better reasons to believe those same things. They're doing more with less, and sometimes God will bring us someone who's doing more with less to Give us a holy jealousy of the faith that they have, and to cause us to desire it for ourselves. God has done this with this text and does this to me, for me, from time to time.

He shows me people who are doing more with less to give me a holy jealousy and a desire to go further. Jesus does this. Yes, Jesus said this, I say to you I have not found such great faith even in Israel he does not say that to Gentiles he's saying that to Israelites listen to what Matthew records in his account so same events different gospel Matthew records this I'm reading Matthew chapter 8 verses 10 through 12. When Jesus heard it, what the centurion thought about authority, when Jesus heard it, He marveled and said to those who followed, Assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I say to you, that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." He turns around, he's saying that to Jews, to Israelites. It isn't Jew or Gentile. It's faith or unbelief. It isn't family line or any form of human association, like attending church.

That isn't it. It's do you believe and entrust yourself to Jesus or do you not? This is so important. This is so important. It's wonderful that we have children growing up in Christian homes, but they must know this.

It's not Jew or Gentile. It's faith or unbelief. It's not who your parents are, or if you sit in a church on Sundays, it's do you believe and entrust yourself to Jesus, this Savior. To Jesus this Savior. Finally, this text says that those who were sent to Jesus returned to the centurion's house and found the servant.

Well, When they had left, he was sick and dying. He was paralyzed and greatly tormented. When they returned, they found him well. I know you've heard me make this point many times before, but it's an important point. These verses drive it home.

It's the object of faith. What healed that servant? Not that the centurion believed, but that Jesus was able to do what the centurion believed that he could do. It was Jesus's ability, not the faith itself that matters. Suicide bombers have great faith, and they bet their life on it.

They blow themselves up because they believe. That is not what Jesus is commending. Jesus is commending great faith in Himself because He is worthy of our complete trust and confidence because He is faithful. That is what is commended by Jesus. An acknowledgement, Jesus is worthy of this full trust and confidence when no one else is worthy of this full trust and confidence.

Jesus is deserving of my faith and of great faith because he is faithful. Who's the hero in the story? Jesus of course is the hero in this story. He is the faithful God who can do anything just by saying the Word. You have great needs?

Where should you go? Go to the one who can fix it all just by saying the Word. Who knows how to act with perfect wisdom? When Jesus says the word, reality conforms to the word that he says. Reality is just a description of what God has decided to do.

Reality is not this separate thing. It's just, it's what we call the working out of what God decided to do. Jesus is the name that matters. We don't even know this man's name. You have two accounts, one in Matthew 8, one here in Luke chapter 7.

They're extensive. We don't even get His name. Here's why. His name doesn't matter. Jesus is the name that matters in the account.

Who are the people who have had great faith in history? We know some of the names. We don't know the millionth of it. Maybe the people who have had the greatest faith in history, we probably don't even know their names. Who are the people who have the greatest faith, the strongest faith who are alive today, you don't even know their name.

And you know what? It doesn't matter. Jesus is the name that matters. Jesus is the one who can do anything by just saying the word. Applications, I'll give you three.

Number one, humble, unqualified faith in Jesus is the target. You want great faith? This man, this centurion has great faith. What makes it great? It's humble.

He has low thoughts of himself. I need lower thoughts of myself because low thoughts of myself reflect what is real. What can I do? Not much. That's a low thought of myself, and that isn't false humility.

That's reality. I really don't actually control all that much. I need low thoughts of myself. Like that centurion had low thoughts of himself He didn't think he was worthy to go to Jesus. He didn't think Jesus.

He was worthy that Jesus should come to him But he knew that Jesus could do great things just by saying the word So he had low thoughts of himself, but the highest thoughts of Jesus. That's what I need. Humble, unqualified faith. Unqualified meaning He knew Jesus could do anything. His servant was teetering on the edge of death.

It doesn't get much worse than that. And he didn't hesitate to believe that Jesus didn't even need to be present, but that he could heal his servant at a distance. Number two, we can trust Jesus' preached word because of his healing word. This is a point made by Matthew Henry in his commentary. Listen to what Matthew Henry says.

Now, so he's picking up that Jesus just finished the sermon of Luke chapter 6. Matthew Henry says, now to give an undeniable proof of the authority of His preaching Word, He here gives an incontestable proof of the power and efficacy of His healing Word. In other words, Matthew Henry is saying God never asked anyone to just believe in words. He proved that Jesus had the authority to reveal truth from heaven in these miracles. So a sermon followed by incontestable proof of the power and efficacy of His healing word, meaning this man really was about ready to die and he really was healed and there were multiple witnesses and there are hundreds of healings in the Gospels done in front of the multitudes.

We are not being asked to check our thinking at the door when we're brought to the Gospels and the preaching of Jesus Christ and the revelation of truth by Jesus Christ and His apostles. That it comes from heaven is proven by miracles done before multitudes. There were multitudes of eyewitnesses. They all had friends. These people who were healed, next week a man will be raised from the dead.

This is a man with friends and family. These things were done before many eyewitnesses. We're calling them authenticating miracles. We have preaching. You know that that preaching is the revelation of truth from heaven because you have healings done before multitudes.

We can trust Jesus' preached word because of his healing word. Number three, it is all of grace, this unearned, undeserved favor of God. The elders of the Jews were wrong to tell Jesus what He should do. You should do this for Him and what someone deserves. He deserves that you should heal His servant.

They were not right about that. The centurion was right. He was unworthy. God is full of grace and Jesus is God. Period.

That's what's happening in this text. God is full of grace and Jesus is God, period. David Garland says this, grace is not something that one earns or gets. It is something that one can only receive and it is given to prodigals, publicans, prostitutes, and Gentile troopers. The gospel really is scandalous.

It really is scandalous. You do things like this for Roman soldiers. You do things like this for tax collectors. You do things like this for the black sheep of the family. You do things like this for the black sheep of the family, you do things like this for prostitutes.

That will be the end of this chapter. We won't even be out of the chapter before Jesus is doing these things for people who have very scandalous pasts? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. The Gospel really is wonderfully scandalous.

You should be thankful that it is. It means that we're not out of reach of the grace of God. Let's pray. Jesus, I wonder when I coming from this text, I wonder what it would be like if we would begin to cultivate a more humble, more unqualified trust in you. We would have lower thoughts of ourselves and the highest thoughts of what you can do, what you're pleased to do.

What would you unleash here if we could grow in these ways? God, would you teach us what would be unleashed here if we would grow in these ways? Would you cause us to grow in these ways? Would you give us a hunger and thirst to be less like what we've always been and more like this centurion with such a humble, unqualified trust in Jesus, coming with great specific needs and a belief that if you just said the word, it would be done. Pray this in your son Jesus' name, amen.