The Man Who Amazed Jesus

to worship you today. We know, Lord, that the Word of the God says that you seek true worshipers, those who worship Him in spirit and in truth, and we pray, Lord, that that would be us today, that truly, Lord, out of the depths of our heart, we come to honor and glorify the name of our God.

And we ask today, as we study once again the beautiful Word of God, that, Lord, you'd open our eyes, that we would see the wonderful things for us to stay that will enable us to live for your glory and honor every day. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Luke chapter seven, as we very quickly make our way through this gospel.

Luke chapter seven, we are flying through the gospel of Luke, no pun intended, but we are really moving right along here. And it's a great opportunity for us to study God's holy Word, and we are about to embark on a very critical portion of scripture. It's more than just another incident in the life of Christ, because it follows on the heels of the great discourse that He has just given. And so it provides for us a certain context that will enable us to interpret a passage that will allow us to see the greatness of God and how God's Word takes effect in the lives of people.

We are about to study a man, the only man in the Bible that ever amazed Jesus Christ. There's only one man that amazed Him, and that's Jesus Christ Himself. I mean, amazed Jesus Christ Himself, and that was one man here in Luke chapter seven. This man, unlike any other man in all of Israel, had a faith unlike anyone else. And we know that Jesus Himself was amazed in Mark chapter six at the crowds because of their unbelief. He was amazed at the crowds because of their unbelief. They had seen all of His miracles, they had heard His messages, and yet they had not come to saving faith.

And so Mark six tells us that Jesus was amazed at the people who heard but did not believe. But this is the only man in the Bible that Jesus was completely amazed at. Now, how is it if Jesus is God and God is omniscient and knows all things, then how is it God can be amazed? How is it God cannot know something? Well, it emphasizes the humanity of Christ. In His humanity, remember Luke presents to us the humanity of deity. Luke presents to us the humanity of Christ so we can see Him for who He was in His incarnation.

And so when we read Luke seven, we understand that in His humanity, He was extremely amazed. Now we know that people were amazed at Jesus. We know that they were amazed at His teaching. They were amazed at His miracles. You can read all throughout the Gospels and read about incident after incident after incident of how people stood in complete amazement, complete astonishment at the work of Christ. We'll read about it in Luke chapter eight, when the men on the sea, His disciples, said, What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him?

And the Bible says they were completely amazed and astonished that one could speak a word and change all about the wind and the waves.

And you can read on and on and on about the stories when Christ would go to the man there in the land of the Gerasenes, demon-possessed, cast out the demon, and people were utterly amazed at what He did. But to find one man who amazed Jesus is a different story. And Luke seven gives us that beautiful story about this man and his faith. You know, it's important to realize that at the end of the greatest sermon ever preached, in Luke's account, there was absolutely no response. Luke records no conversion.

Luke records no comment by those in the crowd, nothing. Matthew tells us that the people were amazed at His teaching for they had never heard one who taught like this man. But Matthew records no conversion. Matthew records nothing about the people's response to the message except that they were amazed about how He spoke. And so what Luke does is record for us the very next incident to prove to us that, yes, there is truly someone who lives this kind of life. We read Luke six, verses 20 to 49, that great sermon on the mount, and we think, well, who can live like that?

I mean, that's, nobody does that. I mean, come on, who are you kidding? Loving your enemies? Doing good to those who persecute you? Come on, there really isn't somebody like that. Oh, yes, there is. There is. And Jesus gives them to us in Luke chapter seven. See, the Spirit of God doesn't want you to think, well, Jesus has given us this pie-in-the-sky religion that's way beyond anything that we can ever do, and no man can ever meet up to that standard. No one can ever live truly like that. Well, if you're a true believer, you do live like that.

And Christ is going to give us an illustration that will describe for us all that He said in Luke six, verses 20 to 49. This one man embodies every element of Luke six, 20 to 49. And that's why Jesus is completely amazed in His humanity. Let me read to you the story.

Then we'll look at the setting for the story, because that's important. And then we'll look at the situation that the story gives us concerning this man and all that he believes and why he believes the way he does.

Okay? Luke seven, verses one to ten. When he had completed all his discourse in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. And a certain centurion slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of a slave. And when they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated him, saying, He is worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.

Now Jesus started on his way with them. And when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. For this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes. To my slave, do this, and he does it.

And when Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following him, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. It's important for us to understand that Matthew records this same incident, yet Matthew records it a little bit different than Luke does. So you've got to compare the two accounts to come up with an accurate interpretation of what exactly takes place.

For instance, Matthew's account says that the centurion said to the Lord. Luke's account records that the Jewish elders went to the Lord and spoke on behalf of the centurion. So Matthew tells us what he said, Luke tells us how it was communicated to the Lord. Very important for you to compare both of the accounts to come up with a proper interpretation. Another example, that Christ says in verse number nine, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.

Matthew's account says there's no one in Israel with this kind of faith. No one, including Peter, James, John, okay? His apostles. So this is a very important individual and this is a very important incident because it tells us how the Sermon of the Mount is actually lived out in one individual. So let me set for you the setting and then we'll give you the situation that's involved to help you understand this man, his faith, and how it is he amazed Christ.

And then ask yourself this question, does my faith amaze the Lord? If the Lord was among us today in his humanity, would he stand in amazement at the faith I have in who he is and what he can do? That's a challenge for us today as we examine this text together. This is more than just another incident in the life of Christ. This is more than just another story that we can read about. You have to break it down and to understand it. So let's begin with the setting, looking at number one, the chronological setting, then the contextual setting, and then the geographical setting.

All of them play an important part in understanding the text. First of all, the chronological setting.

This incident is divinely ordained by God. This incident didn't just happen. And that's important for us to come to grips with because at the very next story after this, when we go to the city of Nain in Israel and there's a widow whose only son has died, it's not another incident or accident that Jesus happened to show up in that city. No, it's all ordained by God. No accidents in the plan of God. No plan B's in the plan of God. They're all plan A's. Everything happens on schedule. Everything happens on time in the sovereignty of Almighty God.

So what happens next is very important. The Lord in His divinity knows there's going to be no response to a sermon. In His divinity, He knows that there's not going to be one soul that repents on this day. The greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived and there's absolutely no response from the audience, that is, there is no conversion among the thousands there on the plain in Israel. Now the Lord knows that. And everybody here in this sermon probably had the same idea you had when you heard the sermon.

You've got to be kidding me. Can actually, can a person actually live this kind of life? Does this actually happen in real life? And people on the hillside thinking to themselves, wow, this is amazing. You've got to be kidding me. And so in the divine plan of God, chronologically, something happens next. Because Jesus is going to prove to you and to me and everybody there that this is the reality of saving faith. That's important. And so you begin to realize that on that hillside that day, there were thousands of people gathered.

Thousands of people heard the sermon. And we told you that they were the disciples of the Lord. They were people who were the learners, the students, the followers of Christ. It doesn't mean when you read the word disciple, you've got to erase it from your mind that every disciple in the Bible is a Christian because they're not. Judas was a disciple. He definitely was not born again, right? John 6 tells us that many of his disciples walked away and never followed him again. And so we know that just because it says that they are disciples, it doesn't mean they're Christians, but it does mean they are students, they are learners, they are followers of Christ.

From the curious to the committed, to the fascinated to the faithful, and everything in between. And Christ addresses particularly the people in between. People have got to come to a decision. And so he outlines for us, let me give to you briefly, the whole Sermon on the Mount.

According to Luke's account, Christ says, the people that are part of my kingdom, number one, verses 20 to 26, loathe all their iniquity.

Verses 27 down through verse number 38, they love supernaturally. Verses 39 down through verse number 45, they learn only from deity. Why? Verses 46 to 49, because they don't want to be lost for all eternity. That is a summation of what Luke gave us in Luke 6, verses 20 to 49. So the chronology is very important. He gives a sermon, there are no conversions, and yet he's now going to illustrate someone who actually is this way, who truly loves the Lord. And that, number two, is the contextual setting.

You have to interpret verses 1 to 10 in the context of the sermon that was just preached. That's important. There are no chapter distinctions in the original language. Translators put it in there. So it goes right on. The story just goes right on. The Bible says this in verse number one, when he had completed all his discourse, well, when he completed his sermon, it says, in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum.

Now, if you've been to Israel with us, you know that the Sermon on the Mount, the hillside of that mount is not too far from Capernaum. You can walk that very easily. And so he begins to make this journey after he gives the discourse. He's done preaching. It's a much longer sermon than Luke records to us. Both he and Matthew just give us excerpts from the sermon. It's not the whole sermon. We know that Jesus didn't preach for just 20 minutes. I mean, no good preacher ever preaches for just 20 minutes, right?

So we know that the Lord preached for probably hours on end because, remember, there were no TVs, there were no DVDs, there were no TiVos. There was no iPods to listen to. There was no cell phones that go off during the sermon. Wow, what a great thing, right? Jesus never was interrupted by a cell phone. Wow, what a day as people reach for their cell phones to turn them off. But, you know, none of that going on. So all they had was just to hear people speak and hear the sermon. And these were learners.

These were disciples. These were followers of Christ. They hung on every word that he said because never a man spoke like this man so he could speak for hours on end totally captivating the audience because there was no other place to go. There was no ball game at noon. There was no little league championship in the afternoon. There was nothing like that. This was it, see? And so he had a captive audience. He would speak the truth. Discourse was over. He gets up, makes his way to Capernaum. What's everybody do?

They follow him. That's what everybody did. They just followed Jesus around. I mean, he did miracle after miracle after miracle. He preached sermon after sermon after sermon. They went, saw the miracle. They heard the sermon. They saw somebody else get healed. And they heard the sermon. And they just went from place to place. And Christ wants to bring them to a point of decision. That's why he concludes the sermon the way he did. Yet nobody made a decision. I guess not to decide is to decide when it comes to eternity, right?

So if you don't decide for Christ, you automatically decide against Christ. And so he wanted people to understand the truth. So he's going to illustrate the sermon. He's going to illustrate it with a centurion, a Roman centurion, who loves his slave unconditionally and supernaturally. Who loves his enemy, the Jewish people, supernaturally. The Jews would hate him. He would love them. The Jews would hate him. He would do good to them by building them a synagogue. This is an amazing man. A Roman centurion who called Jesus Lord.

For there will be many who say, Lord, Lord. But don't do what he says. This man calls him Lord and all he wants to do is live a life of obedience. That's the contextual setting. Now the geographical setting. The text says that he went to Capernaum. Capernaum was the main city on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. You can go there today. It's in ruins today, but you can go to that city. It was an agricultural center. At its base was a great fishing business. Peter's home is there in Capernaum.

You can also visit that today as well. It was the headquarters of Jesus's ministry. And it was this city, Capernaum, who was exposed to more miracles and more sermons than any other city in Galilee. It was this city who never rose up against Christ. It was this city who never became angry with the Christ. I mean, in Nazareth, his own people wanted to throw him off a cliff after they heard his sermons. In this city, they heard many sermons but never wanted to throw him into the sea or to kill him.

They just were indifferent. They heard it over and over and over again, but they made no response. Some of you were in that situation. You come to church, you hear the same sermon over and over and over again. You see the work of God among the people of God, but yet you make no decision for Christ. You are lethargic, apathetic. And that was the citizens of Capernaum. And Christ would say these words about this city. And, by the way, it is this incident that led to these words. And Christ says in Matthew chapter 11, these words, verse 23.

And to you, Capernaum, and you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. It was this city who had heard and seen it all, yet never rebelled outwardly in an antagonistic way against Christ. They just never responded to the message in true repentance.

And yet they had seen everything. And Christ says to them, do you think because I had my ministry base here in Capernaum, do you think that my disciples who are in this city, and because I did miracle after miracle after miracle in this city, that you're going to ascend to heaven?

Not on your life. Think again. In fact, quite the contrary. You're going to burn in hell forever. Why? In fact, he says, not only will you burn in hell forever, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for you. In other words, you can live a life of complete perversity, complete debauchery, and have it better in hell than to go to church every Sunday, hear the gospel, and never respond to the truth. That's the point of Matthew 11. Christ says you can live the worst lifestyle in all the world, never go to church, be the worst sinner in the world, and it's better for you in hell than it is for those who hear the word of God week after week after week, and it goes in one ear, out the other, you become very lethargic, very apathetic to the truth, never respond to the truth, you will have a more severe judgment than those of even Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isn't that amazing? The geographical setting is very important, because it's this story that turns the light out on Capernaum. It's this story where Christ says, that's it.

They will not respond. It's over for them. And that's a big danger for many people, isn't it? Where Christ says, you know what?

You've heard it. You've seen it. You're not going to respond. You've hardened your heart. And you can harden your heart against the things of God, and the more you do, you're guaranteed of this one fact, that God then will harden your heart. And when God hardens your heart, there's absolutely no opportunity for repentance. That's Hebrews 6, verses 4 to 6. It's impossible to renew them again to the point of repentance. That's why it's always more dangerous to go to a Bible-teaching church and not respond.

It is the most dangerous place in all the world to be. This is the greatest place in all the world to be, but if you're not going to give your life to Christ, you are sitting in the most dangerous spot you could ever be, if you don't respond to Christ. And that's the point of what takes place in this sermon. That's the geographical setting. The Bible says there was a certain centurion.

We don't know his name, but you need to know this about centurions. Every time they're mentioned in the Bible, they are mentioned in a positive light, never once in a negative light. Centurions in the Bible, we know three of them that were saved. This man, the man in Luke 23, the centurion at the cross, and Acts 10, the first Gentile convert in the church age.

His name is Cornelius. We know his name. But the man at the cross, we don't know his name. We don't know this guy's name. But we do know that he was a centurion, making him a ruler over, a leader over 100 soldiers. Now listen, to be a Roman centurion, you were battle-tested. You were a stud. You were the bomb. You were the man, okay? Because you were battle-tested. How did you become a leader of those 100 men? You had to fight them in battle to gain the victory. So you were more studly than all the guys you led, alright?

And they were under your command. And in the Bible, you can read in Acts 22, Acts 23, I think it is Acts 27, when Paul has confrontation with centurions, you will always note that they are extremely obedient to the law. They will never violate the law. They are men of supreme integrity. These men are men above all men. These are a true man's man. When you read about them in the Bible, you will note that they are courageous, they are brave, they are strong, they are committed, there is great fortitude about their lives.

They follow orders explicitly. Explicitly. Even when there are men around them wanting him to compromise, like in Acts 27, with the different people who wanted Paul not to make it to where he was going. And there was one centurion who said he was under orders to make sure Paul arrived safely. And that was going to happen no matter what. They were men who were dutiful, lawful, responsible, and accountable. These men in Scripture are recognized as the backbone of the Roman army. This was just not any soldier.

This was a Roman centurion. And when you read about them in the Bible, they are always presented in a very excellent light. Never are they recorded as in a negative light. Always positive. And three of them we know for certain came to saving faith. And so what do you have? You have a Roman centurion. You have a Gentile. You have an idolater. You have some individual outside the covenant of God. You have a non-Jew. You have a man whose main occupation in the city of Capernaum is to make sure that every citizen pays their taxes.

So therefore he is in essence a tax collector and hated by all Jews. And on top of all that, he reported directly to Herod Antipas that every Jew loathed. And Jesus says, this is the man with the greatest faith in all of Israel.

Now you have the geographical context. Let me give it to you in situation and point out three characteristics of this man that exemplify his life, that demonstrate to us how he lives out the Sermon on the Mount in Luke 6, verses 20 to 49.

Okay? He becomes a living, breathing example of a true disciple. And while we might read a lot in history about Roman centurions and marvel at their physical skill, marvel at their political skills, marvel at their social skills, they are all great things. But Jesus marveled at none of those. He marveled at his spiritual life and his faith in God alone. Here was a true disciple among all the disciples that were following Christ. Remember, just because you're a disciple doesn't mean you're saved. And there are lots of people following Christ because they saw him as their rabbi.

And Christ says there was a certain centurion, wasn't a priest, wasn't a rabbi, wasn't a Jew, wasn't a Pharisee, he was a Roman centurion.

He was a Gentile, he was a pagan idolater, and there was this man who had faith unlike anybody else in the land of Israel. Why? Because of his belief in the Lord, because of his commitment to the Christ. Three characteristics. Number one, he had great charity or great love for others.

Listen to what the Bible says. Verse two, And a certain centurion slave who was highly regarded by him was sick and about to die. Now the word slave is doulos, but go down to verse number seven. It says this, My servant, or he says, I do not consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. That is not the word doulos. That's the word pis, which means young boy. That's very important. Because it says he had high regard for this young boy who was his servant.

Now listen, if you're a slave, you're not held to high regard. If you're a slave, you're a slave. And if you're a slave, you get sick, you're of no value to your master. Right? If you're a slave, you get sick, you can't do your duty, you are of no use to your master. This slave was sick. How sick was he? Well, listen to Matthew's account. In Matthew chapter eight, And when he had entered Capernaum, a certain centurion came to him, entreating him and saying, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain.

So now we know a little bit about this young boy who's a servant, is that he was lying paralyzed at home in great pain. Now, what caused the paralysis? What caused the great pain? Was it a viral infection? We do not know. Did he fall and get injured and was paralyzed on one side of his body? We do not know. All we know is what Matthew tells us. He was lying paralyzed and in great pain. Luke's account tells us that we have this centurion who understands that there's something about the Lord that will help him.

And he has this servant who's a young boy, and this young boy is highly regarded by his master. In other words, this master, this centurion, had great love for this young slave boy. For this young boy was in training. This young boy was being mentored by this Roman centurion. So he was more to the centurion than just a slave. He was a young boy that he had fond affection for, that he highly regarded. In fact, that word highly regarded, same word used to describe Epaphroditus in Philippians 2, a man who was well honored and precious to those who knew him.

So here was a young boy who in the mind of this Roman centurion was valued supremely. He was honored supremely. And he wanted this young boy to experience the healing power of Christ. And how did he know that? We've already read throughout the Gospel of Luke that word about Christ had spread all throughout the region. I mean, by this time in his ministry, I mean, you'd have to be in a cave under a rock, half dead, blind, deaf, and dumb not to hear about Jesus Christ. And all the work that was happening throughout the land of Israel.

And so this man had already heard about the healing power of Christ. He already knew who Christ was. And he knew that if there was somebody who could help him, it would be Jesus Christ. And so he asked Jesus to heal a servant. Notice, Luke's account tells us how it all went down.

Matthew's account tells us what he said, but it was communicated through the Jewish leaders. Now, this is extremely important. Listen to what happens. It says, verse 3, And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of his slave. Now, listen.

Why didn't he go? When you read Matthew's account and don't read Luke's account, you think he went, but he didn't go. He sent the Jewish elders. Why? Because he saw himself as completely unworthy. That's what the text says. The text says in verse number 6, For I am not worthy. Verse number 7, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. See, he already saw himself as worthless. He saw himself as a sinner. He saw himself not worthy to go and even talk to the Lord. So he sent some Jewish elders to go in his place.

He would stay with the young boy, which accentuated his love for the young boy, his care for that young Jewish slave. And he sent these Jewish elders to entreat the Lord to come to his aid. And the Jews responded. They went. They didn't go out of obligation. They didn't go out of fear. They went because they wanted to. Listen to what they say. And when they had come to Jesus, verse 4, they earnestly entreated him, saying, He is worthy for you to grant this to him. This is the only time recorded in the Bible where Jewish leaders advocate for a Gentile.

Only time. This or on behalf of a Roman soldier, excuse me. Only time. Only time. That makes this scene very unique. You got this Roman soldier who goes to the Jewish leaders of Capernaum and says, Will you go to Jesus? Will you entreat him? Will you beg him to come and help my slave, my young boy? Will you go to him? And they say, sure. We'll go. We'll go. Why? Because when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. And these Jewish elders were the enemy of the Roman centurion.

And this Roman centurion was the enemy of the Jewish elders. But something had taken place in his life that caused him to love his enemies. And so these Jewish elders go and they explain to Christ, Listen, you need to come. But I want you to notice what they say.

It's very insightful to the Jewish religion. It says, they said, He is worthy for you to grant this to him. See that? He saw himself as unworthy. They saw him as worthy. And in the Jewish religion, God does for you because you have proven yourself worthy. See, it's a works-based system in Judaism. We kind of live that way too. We kind of think that if we do all the right things, that somehow we are worthy for God to bless our lives. I mean, after all, we live the holy life. We've sacrificed for Christ.

He owes us, right? We're due. We live that way all the time. Thinking that somehow God is to give us some kind of payback for our worthiness, for how we have served him. Folks, that's practical Judaism. Once you get to the point where you expect God to do for you because somehow you see yourself as worthy, you are practicing Judaism. That's what you're practicing. It's not Christianity. Christianity sees itself as utterly worthless, deserving nothing. In fact, the moment you get to the point where you say, you know what, I don't deserve this, but I deserve that, you are practicing Jew.

Because that's what Jews do. I deserve this. Folks, you don't deserve anything but hell. And it's only by God's grace you got heaven. Just stop right there. That's all you need. But boy, we get to the point where we think we're worthy. God owes me. I deserve this. So the Jews, because of their religious belief, they say, Lord, you owe this to him, because he's a worthy guy. I mean, after all, he loves us. And if he loves us, that must mean he has some acceptance of our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That puts him in good standing with us. Therefore, you need to go to him and you need to heal him. Listen to this. He loves our nation. Wow. Not that he likes us. He loves us. Agapao. It's the highest form of love. It's that unconditional kind of love. It's not that he's just a friend of our nation. No. He truly loves us. In other words, they come to him and say, he is one who loves his enemies. He loves us. Lord, you need to come to him. See, this is how this man demonstrates great charity. Because he lived a life of unconditional love.

He lived a life of loving supernaturally. That's the way his life was. And the only way he could do that is if somebody had told him about Christ and someone had given him the truth of the gospel and his life was changed. Because no normal man would ever do something like that. Let alone a Roman centurion. He loved the people of God. That means he had to come to some understanding of the God of Israel and the plan God had for his own people. Point number two.

He was marked by great generosity. Great generosity. Verse five. For he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue. You know, I love going to Capernaum in Israel because you can actually go to this synagogue today. This synagogue today in Capernaum is still there. You can see it. You can touch it. It's a synagogue built by this guy. This guy. That means the guy had to have some money. But more than that, he came to love the truth. He desired truth. And he wanted the Jewish people to be able to hear the truth and listen to the truth week after week after week, day after day.

So he took his money and he built them their synagogue. Now why would he do that? Unless he truly loved the truth. Unless he had truly come to know the God of truth. If he was a pagan idolater, that would have never happened. But because he had come to a point in his life where he accepted the true God and had forsook the pagan God that he had served, he thus would build them a place where they could hear the truth. He was a God-fearer like Cornelius was in Acts chapter 10. He truly wanted the truth to be proclaimed.

Now this is very important. How did this man ever understand the truth when in all practical reality, Judaism does not have any evangelistic efforts? It has none. In fact, listen to Romans chapter 2, verse number 24. Romans 2.24 says, For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. In other words, because of the Jewish nation, the name of Christ was blasphemed among the Gentile nations. Christ said in Matthew 23, these words in verse number 13. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men.

For you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Judaism keeps you out of heaven, doesn't get you into heaven. In fact, it says further down in Matthew 23, verse number 15, these words. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself. Judaism led people to hell. It did not lead them to heaven. So how did this Roman centurion get through all the falsehood of Judaism to come to a point of truth where he would build a synagogue where the truth was proclaimed and to love those who hated him?

Somebody had to tell him. Because faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. But the Bible never tells us who that person is that explains the truth to this Roman centurion. It never tells us. But as you read the story, you begin to realize that there's somebody out there who really knows how to present the gospel accurately, present it properly, present it in a way that actually, when given, it takes effect in the life of someone's life, and they are so transformed that they live. Luke 6, verses 20-49.

That's so amazing. Whoever shared the truth with him is never mentioned in the Bible. But you can be sure of this, that that person's reward in heaven is absolutely fabulous. Because they were among the silent minority who never is mentioned in Scripture, but is true to the Word of God. And this man, this Roman centurion, he built in their synagogue. So he was a man marked by generosity. He was a man marked by great charity. And he was a man marked by great humility. Great humility. The Bible says very clearly these words.

Now Jesus started on his way with them. And when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. Wow. Whoever presented the gospel to him presented it right. Because this guy knew he was absolutely worthless before the Lord. As opposed to the Jews, who saw themselves as worthy, rich, the kind that God would accept, that deserved an entrance with God, and an audience with God.

This man knew he didn't deserve anything with the Lord. So he, out of a need, sends these Jewish leaders to go to tell Christ, listen, come to my house. Heal my boy. And Christ then is on his way. And now all of a sudden he has a change of heart. Don't come. Don't come, Lord, because I am not worthy to have you under my roof. Lord, don't come, because if you come, I am a sinner, my young lad is a sinner, and you are holy, and you don't deserve to be in our presence. Or we don't deserve to be in your presence.

You come to us. You are holy. We are unholy. Never mind. Don't come. Don't come any further. What would you do? He would say, I've got cancer. You've got to come. You've got to come, Jesus. Lord, my son is dying. You've got to come. We'd be begging him to come. This man is begging him not to come now.

I am so not worthy for you to come under my roof, because I am a sinner, and I live in a sinful environment. Don't come. Can you imagine that? This man, great humility, true poverty of spirit, true meekness. He knew he deserved absolutely nothing from God. And that's why this man amazed the Lord. It goes on and says this. Verse 7, For this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. Oh, by the way, Lord, do not trouble yourself further. That's the word that means skaluo, which means to be agitated or annoyed.

If you come to me, you're going to be agitated. If you come to me, you're going to be annoyed. Why? Because I'm a sinner. And you're holy. I'm not worthy for you to come. And then it says in verse 7, For this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. Lord, don't come. Just speak the word. Are you saying the word? Because he knows authority. He says, For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go, and he goes.

And to another, come, and he comes. And to my slave, do this. And he does it. Lord, you know what? I am so worthy. Just speak the word. Here is a man who with great humility understands supreme authority. He understands the authoritative power of God. He understands the sovereign omnipotent power of God. Lord, just speak the word. I mean, I don't need you to come and touch anybody. I don't even need you to be at my house. Just speak the word. Just say a word. I know authority. I'm a soldier. I'm a centurion.

I got people under me. I say, do this. They do it. I say to my slave, go, here he goes. All you got to do, Lord, is just speak the word. Just speak the word. You speak the word. My servant is going to be healed. This man had a belief in the word and the power of the word. Unlike most of us have. Right? He knew that Jesus just spoke the word. All he needed was a word from God. That's it. That would be more than enough. And so you come to verse number nine. And now when Jesus heard this, he marveled.

Was astonished. Was amazed. Turned and said to the multitude that was following him, I say to you, not even Israel have I found such great faith. Now you can imagine seeing thousands are following Christ. They heard the comment from the leaders. Christ goes. They're going to. And then all of a sudden, the centurion's friends come to Christ as he's in Capernaum, just about to go to the house, and they say, you know what? He doesn't want you to be here. Don't come. He just wants you to speak a word.

If you speak the word, his slave will be healed. And Jesus stops and is completely taken in by this man. He turns to the multitude and says to them, in essence, you see, there is actually somebody who lives what I just preached. There truly is. And because there is, there is absolutely no one, Matthew's saying, all of Israel who has that kind of faith, not one. This is the man. He's the guy. He's saying to the people, the crowd would say, whoa, how do we get that kind of faith? Well, what do we got to do, Lord, to live that kind of life?

Lord, what? He just told them in the sermon. He just told them in the sermon previously. But again, there's no response. Matthew says something very interesting in his account. Matthew records some more words of Christ. He says, truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. And I say to you that many shall come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom, that is the Jewish people, shall be cast out into outer darkness.

In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Whoa, can you imagine that? So now Matthew tells us that there are going to be people coming from the east and from the west. That means many Gentile people, not just this one Roman centurion who was a pagan Gentile, but there will be many from the east, there will be many from the west who will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The great fathers of your faith will become the fathers of their faith. And yet the sons of the kingdom, the Jewish people, you know what's going to happen to them?

They're going to be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because they will not believe as this pagan Roman centurion believes in me. What a statement. How did they get there? You know how they got there? They had everything except one thing. They had it all. They had the right heritage. They had the law of God. They had their Messiah. They were in the land that lasts forever. They had everything except the one thing they needed. And that was a righteousness that was not their own.

They had a self-styled righteousness that fit their system. But what they needed was a righteousness that was not their own. And that's why in Matthew's account, in the sermon he says in Matthew 5, verse number 20, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven. And they had it all. And Capernaum had it more than anybody. They had it all. Except for the one thing they needed that they couldn't obtain themselves. A righteousness that wasn't their own.

A righteousness that could be imputed to them, that could be reckoned to them because they would believe in the Messiah of Israel. And they would give their life to Christ. And this one man, the Bible says, verse 10, and when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

This story is the beginning of the amazing sadness of Israel. The one man that amazed Jesus introduced to us the amazing sadness of Israel because they were blinded to the obvious. They still did not obey and follow the master like this one. There was still no response even after what Matthew said. We're sons of the kingdom, Lord, how could we be cast into the eye of darkness? We are children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How is it that we're going to miss the kingdom? There's no question like that.

None whatsoever. There's no response. Again, there's no response like there might be for some of you today who have come week after week after week and still there is no response. If that's the case, be careful that God does not turn out the light and there be an impossibility for you to ever come to the knowledge of the truth. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. The truth of your word and all that's there. May we, Lord, truly, truly come to a point in our lives where we have a faith like this man who believed in the authority of your word, who was marked by great humility because he saw himself as unworthy, who was a man who loved his enemies, who truly lived the truth.

May we be that way. In Jesus' name, amen.