LUKE 7:1-10 SUCH GREAT FAITH2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 7:1-10 Such Great Faith

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The phrase that stuck out as I was studying this portion this week was the phrase there in verse 9 where Jesus describes this man as having such great faith.

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And so we'll be looking at this great faith that the centurion has today as we look at verses 1 through 10 here in Luke chapter 7. The parallel to this passage where it's recorded elsewhere you can find in Matthew chapter 8. And so if you want to dig in a little bit later on and be reminded of what God showed you but also get some new insight in the things that are recorded by Matthew, you can check out this account in Matthew chapter 8.

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But as we get started in this portion today, I want to just spend a few moments thinking about what is recorded there in verse 9. Where it tells us in verse 9 that Jesus marvels and declares that this man has such great faith. Jesus marvels at the centurion's faith. And I would ask you to consider this morning as we are looking at this portion today,

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Do you marvel at this centurion's faith? Really think about it for just a moment. As you read today, as we read together along with George, this account of the centurion, did you just sit back and go, whoa, he had such great faith. Did it really cause you to marvel? Now the reason why I ask that is, as I've been studying through this portion this week, I began to realize that

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that I did not marvel at the centurion's faith. You know, as I was reading through this, I wasn't that impressed. I thought for sure, yeah, great work was done and Jesus did an amazing work. But I began to realize as Jesus stops everything and says, hey, we need to pay attention to this great faith that he has, that I needed to stop and pay attention to this great faith of the centurion.

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Jesus, it says in verse 9, marvels at this man's faith. That word marvel, it means to have admiration or to be wondering about or to be amazed with. But those are kind of general terms and I think that we get a better grasp of what this word means by where it's used elsewhere. The

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This is the same word that's used in Matthew chapter 8 to describe what the disciples did when the wind and the waves obeyed Jesus. So picture yourself in that situation for a moment. You're there in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. There's a great storm and your life is threatened. You fear for your life.

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And Jesus stands up in the midst of the storm and he rebukes the wind, he rebukes the waves, and then they're all still and calm and quiet. It says the disciples marveled, just like you would, right? You'd be like,

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Oh my goodness, I can't believe what just happened. Did you see what, he just said stop. He said be quiet and the waves stopped. I mean, could you imagine what that would be like? Could you imagine the marveling that would take place in your heart? The wonder, the amazement that would occur for you.

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This is the same word that's used in Matthew chapter 9 when the crowd marvels at the lame man who is healed. You might remember that account where they peel back the ceiling or the roof and they lower this lame man before Jesus while he's teaching amongst the crowd. And Jesus forgives the man his sins and then he tells him, take up your mat and walk.

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And the guy who has been lame for some time, he gets up, takes up his mat, and he walks out of the house. He begins to walk, and it says there that the crowd marveled when they saw this take place. And again, if we put ourselves in that situation, I'm sure you could imagine how amazing that would be to see that kind of miracle and the wonder, the awe that would take place within your heart.

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We see also the same word used when a demon is cast out of a man and it says that the crowd marvels at what took place. And then also it's the same word in Luke chapter 24.

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When the disciples were gathered together, they were in a room, all the doors were locked, they were fearful of what was going on, and then all of a sudden, this is after Jesus had been crucified, he'd been resurrected, and so here are these disciples in this locked room, and then suddenly Jesus appears in their midst. He doesn't come through the door, he doesn't, you know, drop through the ceiling, he just appears in their midst. And so,

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And so it says there that the disciples are marveling or they're wondering, they're in awe at the appearance of Jesus. First of all, that he is resurrected from the dead. And then secondly, he entered into the room without using the doors or windows or anything that a normal person could use. He just showed up. He just appeared. And the disciples were marveling. They were in awe.

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And so using these couple examples of how this word is used, it gives us a better sense that Jesus marveled at this man's great faith. It wasn't just that he was like, hmm, that's interesting. He was marveling. He was blown away by this centurion who had such great faith.

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All throughout Jesus' ministry, people marveled. They wondered. All throughout. As he was teaching, they marveled. As he was working miracles, they marveled. That was normal. That was common. That was everyday. People were marveling.

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Over the work that Jesus did. But it was not common for Jesus to marvel. In fact we only have two occurrences where it says that Jesus marveled. It was here in this account. And then later on when he marvels at the unbelief of the nation of Israel. And so this is something significant. This is something that we need to pay attention to. It caused Jesus really to stop in his tracks and marvel and say. I have not seen anyone with this great of faith even in all of Israel.

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This is a pretty radical example of faith that we have here in Luke chapter 7. And so I want to encourage you as we look at this portion today to learn some things from the centurion. If Jesus marvels at his faith, well, we should too. But then also we should consider what can we learn from his example that we could have this kind of faith.

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Because really the next question is, does Jesus marvel at your faith? Does your faith stop him in his tracks and he goes, whoa, what great faith they have. What great faith he has or she has. Or would Jesus more likely say to us, oh ye of little faith, as he did often to his disciples, right?

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Well, what kind of faith do you have? Well, we have some things we can learn from this centurion that caused Jesus to stop in his tracks and marvel at his great faith. And so there's three points I'd like to share with you, three things I'd like to highlight about his faith, that we can learn how to have such great faith. And the first thing we see found in verses 1 through 3 is that great faith is faith that asks.

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Faith that asks. Look at verse 1 and 2. It says, Now when he concluded all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion's 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. We see the centurion sends some Jewish leaders to Jesus...

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To ask for a healing. To ask for him to work. We also see here some of the context and the background information to this account.

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We see in verse 1 that Jesus concluded all his sayings. Now, what this is talking about is chapter 6 and what we've been studying for the past few weeks, the sermon on the plain and the things that Jesus taught there. After that sermon is completed, that teaching is finished, now he enters into Capernaum. And there in Capernaum is this situation where there's a centurion who has a servant named

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That was sick. That was ill and ready to die. Now a centurion was a Roman officer.

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He was charged with 100 men. He had 100 men under his authority. And so this means that this centurion that we're talking about here was not Jewish. He was Roman. He was a foreigner. He didn't grow up in Israel. He wasn't, you know, he was posted there. That was where he was stationed, there in Capernaum.

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And so this foreigner, this Roman soldier, is there stationed in Capernaum and he has with him a servant. He probably has many servants, but this one in particular is mentioned because this servant is dear to him. This means that he loved this servant. This was someone that he cared about deeply. And this servant that he cared about deeply is sick and ready to die.

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The fact that he was ready to die, it literally means that there's this expectation of death. Essentially, he's on the deathbed. He's preparing to have his final moments, his final breaths. Death is imminent. It's going to take place. So he has this servant who is in this condition. Now, I think that's not so difficult for us to imagine, right? I mean, I think all of us, we know, we know of, we can relate to someone who

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who is experiencing something this difficult, where someone that they love is facing their final moments of life. We can relate to that. We can understand that. We've been there. Either you've been there with someone who is close to you and they are having their final moments before they enter into eternity, or you're close to somebody who has. I mean, death is a part of life. It's something that we've experienced before.

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And so it's not so hard for us to imagine. We can put ourselves in this centurion's shoes and understand a little bit of what it would be like to be there with someone you love so dearly who is gasping for their final breaths. They're there on the deathbed. And it tells us in verse 3 that the centurion who's in this condition, who's in this situation, he hears about Jesus. And so we know that the centurion does not know Jesus.

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He's not friends with Jesus. They didn't grow up together. You know, he wasn't a disciple of Jesus. He's a Roman soldier stationed in Capernaum and he hears about Jesus. He hears about the miracles that have been going on. Perhaps he's hearing back some of the teachings and the things that Jesus has shared. And as he hears about Jesus, there's something that happens in his heart. And he recognizes, he realizes there's faith that develops there.

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And so he sends elders of the Jews to Jesus to ask for this healing. He asked Jesus to heal his servant. Now, this is very simple, I understand, but it is so important. As we talk about great faith, as we talk about having such great faith that it causes Jesus to marvel, you need to know that, well, first of all, great faith is faith that asks.

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And we need to be people who are of faith that ask God to work. That ask God to heal. To work miracles. To provide. To meet needs. To accomplish His purposes. I know it's simple. But it is so important. Because James tells us in James chapter 4, he's

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talking about this idea of asking from God and receiving and not receiving. And he's talking about this idea of wanting but not being able to have. And in James chapter 4 verse 2, he makes it clear. He says, Now he also goes on in the next verse to say,

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You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss. Your motivations aren't right. Your heart is not right in the asking. And so just because you ask doesn't mean that you receive. But that aside, consider this for a moment. You have not because you ask not. There are some cases, there are some situations where you do not have, where I do not have, not because God's not willing to give.

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Not because God doesn't want to give, not because God doesn't want to work, but simply because we've not asked. And so great faith really begins here as we look at this example with this idea of asking God to work. Now again, just to be clear, I'm not saying or promoting the name it and claim it doctrine. You know that whatever you name, as long as you have enough faith, then you will get what you ask for.

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And I'm not saying that God is obligated to give you, you know, everything on your wish list. It's not like that at all. Everything that we're talking about here today really is in submission to the will of God. And so just to be clear, I'm not saying you should get everything that you ask for and if you don't, you don't have enough faith. No, no, no. That's not what this is about. But don't miss the point here. We need to ask. And sometimes we miss out.

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on what God would do for us, on what God would accomplish, on what God would work, because we don't ask. It's not faith to not ask God. And sometimes we develop these kind of weird twisted mentalities as Christians, and that's why it's important for us to understand these things. And sometimes we as Christians kind of have this mentality, well, God knows the need, and since God knows the need...

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and he's in control and he's going to do what he wants well i don't really need to pray about it i don't need to ask god about it he's going to do whatever he wants to anyways i don't know if you've ever wrestled with that but i hope you have because that's well it's it's part of our christian walk that that we have to realize he's on the throne he accomplishes his will but he invites us to be a part of his work he invites us to ask to pray to seek him and ask him to work to bless to

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To heal. To provide. Or whatever the need may be. And so it's not faith to just sit back and say, well, I don't need to ask because God already knows. That's not great faith. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus taught about the subject of worry. And he went to great lengths to tell us, don't worry. You don't need to worry. And as he's teaching about worry, he declares that you don't need to worry because God knows what you need.

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And he knows what you need even before you ask for it. You know when you ask something of God, it's not like surprise new information to him. He doesn't go, whoa, I never knew you needed gas for the week. I didn't know you needed food on the dinner table for the week. I didn't know that this person needed healing. It's not we're bringing him information.

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He knows what you need before you ask, Jesus says. But he doesn't go on then to say, so don't ask. He goes on then to say, so don't worry. You see, there's two different things there. We're not to be anxious and worried and caught up with and consumed with these things so that, you know, they eat away our lives. We're not to be consumed with the things that we ask for. But that doesn't mean that we cannot or should not ask.

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We're just not to worry. God will provide. We have to trust Him and believe that He will. And so great faith, faith that makes Jesus marvel is faith that asks. Do you have a need? Do you have someone that you care for who is ill, who is in trouble, who is in a difficult situation? Do you have something going on in your life where there's need of provision, where you need God to work? Great faith.

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Faith that makes Jesus marvel is faith that asks. You have needs. You have wants. And you have desires. And listen, God wants to work. And He wants to bless you. So ask. And again, just to be clear, not saying you get everything that you ask for, but sometimes you don't get anything because you haven't asked. So ask God. Lift up those things before the Lord. Take them to the Lord. And ask Him to work in those situations.

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Well, the second thing we learn about this centurion's faith, the faith that causes Jesus to stop and go, whoa, he has such great faith. We find in verses 4 through 6 that it's faith that is not based on merit. Great faith is faith that is not based on merit. Look at verse 4.

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It says, and when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying that the one for whom he should do this was deserving, for he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue. So this man hears about Jesus. He has this servant who is deathly ill on his deathbed, and he sends a delegation of Jewish leaders to Jesus to ask for his servant to be healed. And this group of Jewish elders, they come to Jesus saying,

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And they're, it says, begging him earnestly. They're really asking him, please come and heal this man's servant. Please do this work. Fulfill his request. But attached with this request that they're presenting to him, they add on to the request and they say, Jesus, you don't understand. This man deserves for you to do this work. I mean, he is such a good man. And he loves our nation so much.

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He has even built us a synagogue. And so the synagogue that was there in Capernaum was built by this centurion. He deserves it. He's done such a great work. These Jews who came to Jesus were convinced that this miracle, that this healing was deserved. Now I find it interesting that it's not here that it says, and Jesus marveled. He didn't marvel over Jesus.

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How much they thought he deserved. He didn't marvel over. How much they were begging him. And pleading him. He didn't marvel over this relationship. Even though it was a very unique relationship. Because.

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Generally speaking, the Romans and the Jews did not get along. The Jews, generally speaking, hated the Romans, especially those in authority, because, well, they were oppressed by the Romans. They did not want to be under Roman rule. They didn't want to pay Roman taxes. They wanted to be free and under their own authority. And so it was not common for the Jews and Roman leaders and authorities to get along so well.

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This man loved the Jews. And as we can see from their words, they cared for him. They liked him. They had a good relationship. But that's not what made Jesus marvel. They come to Jesus and basically say to Jesus, He deserves it, Jesus. You should do it. You should answer his request and heal his servant. He loves us. And he built us a synagogue.

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And so this is a good man. He loves the people and he's done probably many great things for the people. But that's not the point. That's not what caused Jesus to marvel. Great faith is not based on how good or deserving other people think you are. And yet, how many times do our prayers reflect that same mindset? How many times do we have that same mentality?

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Should our prayers ever be based upon how worthy someone is? Think about that for a moment. Should our prayer, our requests for those that we're praying for, should it be because of how worthy they are? Does anyone deserve healing? You see, we get a little bit mixed up in our minds and our hearts. The Bible is very clear.

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If God's going to give us what we deserve, He's going to give us eternal damnation. That's what we deserve. That's what we've earned. Everything that we will ever receive from God, it will never be because we've earned it, because we've deserved it. Is there anybody on the face of the earth that is due some type of reward from God? Absolutely not. And yet, sometimes our prayers will are attached to that type of thinking, to that type of mentality.

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I remember Pastor Greg Laurie sharing soon after his son went to be with the Lord that people would come up to him and say things like, I can't believe that God would let this happen to you. A pastor, a pastor of so many, an evangelist who led so many to the Lord. I can't believe God would let this happen to you. See, this is the same kind of mentality. It's the idea that God owes money

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somebody some type of special protection some type of special provision some type of special treatment and i know we know better but it kind of creeps in unaware we we don't really realize that we're beginning to base our requests to the lord we're beginning to base our faith on whether or not someone is worthy or deserving of the things that we're asking for of god

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Well, this is what the Jews who were sent to Jesus had to say about him. But he sends another set of messengers. In verse 6 and 7, we find out what he thinks of himself. Look at verse 6. It says, Then Jesus went with them. And when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him,

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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. Here the centurion really reveals his own perspective on himself and his deserving of this miracle. The people, the Jews, they thought he was worthy.

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And so he sends the delegation. They say, oh Jesus, he really deserves it. You got to come. And so Jesus begins to go. He's going with them to the house. But as the centurion realizes, oh they're coming here. He sends another set of messengers. He sends his friends. No, no, no, no. Please, you misunderstood. The Jewish elders took it too far. I didn't want you to come here. He says, look, I'm not worthy for you to come to my house. The people thought he was worthy. His own opinion though is,

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I'm not worthy. He says it twice to make sure it's clear, but he uses actually two different words. In verse 6, when he says, I'm not worthy that you should enter under my roof, it basically means I'm not good enough. I'm not sufficient. I'm not a good enough reason for you to come. I'm not worth your time. And then in verse 7, he says, I didn't even think myself worthy to come to you.

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Not only do I not want to take you out of your way and bring you over here and take you away from the work that you're doing there. I'm not worthy of that. I'm not worth it. But I didn't even think I was worthy enough to come to you. This word worthy is the word that means to have a reward owed. To deserve something. He says, look, I don't feel like I deserve anything from you. You don't owe me anything.

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And so the centurion sends these messengers to Jesus saying, look, I'm not worth your time. Don't waste your time coming to my house. I'm not worthy to have you under my roof and I'm not even worthy to come to you. I'm not deserving. You don't owe me anything. The centurion here is not trying to sell himself. He's not trying to say, okay, Jesus, understand, look at what I've done.

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I want you to think about this nice synagogue I've built for your people. Think about, I mean, look how good I've done. Look how I spent this money. Look how I incurred this expense. Look at what I've done. He's not trying to sell himself and say, you know, hey, you should really do this miracle for me. Look what I've done for you. No, no, he's understanding correctly, Jesus, you don't owe me anything. And I'm not even really worth your time. As a centurion, he could probably give a command and

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Have Jesus escorted in by the soldiers right into his presence. But he's far from that. He's saying, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy for you to come here. I'm not worthy. You don't owe me anything. He felt so unworthy. But notice, he still asked. He still asked.

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Even though he felt so unworthy, even though he would say, I'm not worth your time. You don't owe me anything. I didn't even want to come bother you because I'm nothing. But he still asked. That's important. Because even though he was unworthy, he sent his request to the Lord. You see, there's a combination that we need to grasp hold of. And we know it, but we lose sight of it. We forget. It's a combination of faith and grace.

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And it's a combination that cannot be separated. They're inseparable. Wherever you have one, you will have the other. Grace, of course, is often defined as unmerited favor and kindness. It's God's goodness to us that we don't deserve. And it begins at salvation. I'm sure you're familiar with Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. By grace you have been saved through faith. Grace and faith, they're always working together.

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And anything you ever receive from God will be by grace through faith. Anything God ever does for you, it will be by grace through faith. It began at salvation. It will continue on through the rest of eternity. Everything we have from God is by grace through faith. And yet, do you ever try to convince God that He should answer your prayer? Do you ever try to persuade Him? Do you try to say, well, look at what I've done. Look at how good I've been.

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Look at how good they are. Look at the missionary work that they're involved with. Does a missionary deserve healing more than you? What do we deserve? Judgment. See, that's where grace comes in. God's good to us, not because we deserve it. He invites us to ask, not because we're worthy, not because He owes us anything, but because He's good. And He wants to be good to us. And He wants to work in our lives and in our midst.

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We know this, but we forget and we often try to convince God. We try to kind of build up and say, well, look, I've been going to church for this long and I've been doing this and I share with that person and Lord, please, please give me that car or please, please heal my friend or whatever the request is.

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Or we look backwards and we think, oh man, I haven't been doing so good. I don't got a lot of credit, you know. Okay, God, please answer this prayer. Please do this request. And then I'll make it up to you. Then I'll go on and I'll live my life for you. And I'll be devoted to you. And I'll go to church every day. Doesn't work that way either. You see, both sides, it's, well, we're basing it upon how worthy we are, how deserving we are. And that's not great faith.

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That's not even good faith. That's not even mediocre faith. That's works. And it's not faith to stand back and say, I'm so unworthy, I'm so undeserving, so I'm not even going to ask. That's not faith either. You see, it's grace and faith combined. Yes, I'm unworthy. Yes, I'm undeserving. But God, you told me to ask, and so I'm asking. Not within the authority. I'm not making demands. I'm asking, Lord, would you work? Would you heal?

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Now, some of you might have in your mind, you might be thinking, well, what about James chapter 5 verse 16? The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. If it's not based on our worth or our deserving it, then what is this about? The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availing much. Well, I would ask you the simple question, who's righteous? You can throw the first stone, Jesus says, right? Who's righteous? None of us. Apart from Christ, none of us.

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We're not righteous. None of us are. But in Christ, we all have the righteousness of Christ applied to us. And so in Christ, we have His righteousness. You see, it's not about us. We are pretty consumed with and caught up with ourselves. And we often think everything's about us. But we need to step back and remember, it's about the Lord. It's about Him. It's by grace.

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Not that we deserve it. Through faith. And so faith and grace are always going to be intertwined and combined. It's inseparable. It's not about how good you are. It's not about if you've been good this week or this month or this year. It's not about if you've messed up or if you've done a miracle. Great faith is not based on merit. Faith will never say, Lord, I deserve it, so please give it to me.

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Lord, that person deserves it, so please do that work. That is not faith. Great faith, faith that makes Jesus marvel, is faith that is not based upon how worthy a person is. So what is great faith? Well, we find that in the third point as we finish off in verses 7 through 10. And that is that faith, great faith, is faith that rests in Jesus' authority.

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Faith that makes Jesus stop and marvel is faith that rests in his authority. Look at verse 7. It says, Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to you, but say the word and my servant will be healed. And here in verse 7 we begin to see, oh wow, this guy's faith is really amazing. This guy's faith is great faith. Because again, put yourself in his situation.

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You're there with someone you love dearly who's on their deathbed. And Jesus is a couple blocks away. Wouldn't you want Jesus there with you physically? But he says, look, I'm not worthy. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. Not perhaps he might be healed. Hopefully he'll be healed. He's got a good chance if you say the word. You see, we see very clearly here this centurion

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grasped hold of the reality of Jesus's authority. That he wasn't just a magician who could kind of do a little trick when he was there. He wasn't a good physician who just, you know, knew some secret things and he could heal the person. He's actually recognizing Jesus is God. He's actually recognizing Jesus has authority over everything.

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And all he has to do is say the word and my servant will be healed. He doesn't have to be in the room with them. He doesn't have to perform some kind of, you know, ritual or seance or something. All he has to do is speak a word. The centurion here is saying, I believe you really are God. I believe you really do have authority. And you can just say the word. Now again, this is for someone who is dear to him. This isn't someone he doesn't care about.

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It's like, well, just say a word. If it works, great. If not, oh well. This person he loves, their life is at stake. And he says, you don't have to come here. You can just say the word. You see, he really has this faith. This is great faith. He believes without a doubt. He's holding fast. Jesus, you have all authority. You have all authority. I think if it was me, I would say, Jesus, yeah, no, come on, hurry up. Get here quicker.

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He says, you just got to say a word. It does not usually happen, just so you know. When someone goes into the hospital, I don't think I've ever heard the voicemail that said, hey, I just got put in the hospital. Only got a few breaths left. Don't come. Just pray for me right there. No, people in the hospital, they say, come, come. That presence is important to us. Yeah, come lay hands on me. I need prayer. And that's biblical. There's nothing wrong with that.

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But understand here, this man who had this servant that he loved and Jesus is on the way. He says, I'm not worthy. I hate to trouble you. I'm not worth your time. Just say the word. You see, it illustrates, it shows he had fully embraced that Jesus is God and that he has all authority. And then he explains that even more in verse 8.

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As he talks about authority. In verse 8 it says, For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, go. And he goes. And to another, come. And he comes. And to my servant, do this. And he does it. And notice verse 9. 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.

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And so Jesus is on the way. And the guy now sends another group of messengers. He says, I'm not worthy. I'm not worth your time. Please don't waste your time. All you got to do is say the word. Because I know what authority is like, he says. I'm a centurion. I've got soldiers. I've got servants. And I tell them to go and they go. I tell them to come and they come. I tell them to do things and they do things. Right?

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They have to do what I say. I'm under authority. They're under my authority. I understand how authority works, he says. And his understanding of authority is what makes his faith unique. You'll see as we continue on in Luke, other people ask Jesus to heal them, and he does. But this man is unique for his great faith, for his understanding of the authority of Jesus.

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The centurion had heard of Jesus. He'd heard about the miracles performed. He'd heard about the work that was done, the things that he taught. And as he heard about what had taken place, the centurion believed, if Jesus is able to do those things, if Jesus is able to work those miracles and speak those things, then he must have real authority. He must be God.

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He came to that conclusion by hearing about Jesus. He realizes that kind of authority could not be limited to a local or physical presence. It's not just that if Jesus is there, if he's in the midst, then he could do something. No, no, no. That kind of authority, he has to be Lord of all. The elements, creation itself,

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must be under the authority of Jesus for him to be able to do what he is doing. And so he tells Jesus, Jesus, all you have to do is say the word and my servant will be healed. It will happen if you say the word. That's all you got to do. Because I understand authority.

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And I understand, Jesus, that ailments and sicknesses, they're under your authority. I understand that problems, that difficulties, that everything in this life, physically, spiritually, or anything else, it's under your authority. And Jesus, all you have to do is say the word. Sometimes we get a little bit superstitious. And we kind of think, well, you know, this place. Oh, God works so powerfully in this place.

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But there's nothing special about this place. It's a building. It's physical. It's a location. This church or any others. There's no spot on earth where God can work more powerfully or better than anywhere else. He can do whatever He wants, wherever He wants, whenever He wants because He has all authority. Now this place is special because we're in obedience to Him gathering together in His name. And He says we're two or three gathered together. I'm there in their midst.

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And so out of obedience to Him and because of what He has set up, we gather together and He works in our midst. But it's not because of a place. And it's not because of a certain person. You know, if God were to take me out and bring in someone else, He's still God. He could still do, well, He could do anything that He wants to do. A bigger work, a smaller work, take us farther or bring us closer to home. He could do whatever He wants. It's up to Him.

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It's not about a place or a location or some incredible person. It's about Him saying the word. The author of Hebrews gives us a little definition of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. It says, Faith really is living out the unseen reality.

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There's an unseen reality. There's things going on behind the scenes we don't see, but they're real. They're really happening. And this centurion embraced. He held on to. He grasped this unseen reality. He tells Jesus, you don't have to be here. You don't have to be physically in his presence. You can say the word and the unseen reality is under your authority and my servant will be healed.

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Is this the way that you think? Is this the way that you pray? Is this the way that you believe? Jesus, all you have to do. Everything is under your authority. Do you believe that? I would ask you to consider the situations that you face. Yeah, there's hardship. There's hurts. There's difficulties. There's hard things in life. Do you believe? Have you grasped hold of the reality that everything is under the authority of

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What we see in verse 10. Those who were sent, these friends who come to Jesus, they now return to the house. And it says they found the servant well who had been sick. So it wraps up the account with the healing of the servant of the centurion. It caused Jesus to stop everything. He's like, whoa, hold up. This is incredible faith. I'm marveling at this great faith. I haven't found faith like this in all of Israel.

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And now these friends go back and they find his faith was fulfilled. His request was answered. His servant was healed. But let me point out, faith is not based on the outcome. If the Lord had chosen not to heal this servant, would the centurion's faith have been any less great? No. He still had the faith. He was still accurate. Jesus is over authority.

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authority over all things he he is able with a word to heal would jesus have been any less lord if he had chosen not to heal the servant no you see this is where it comes back to everything is in submission to god everything is under his authority and so it's his choice it's his prerogative he gets to choose the work that he does and the works that he does not do

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That's not up to us. And we can't say, well, if you have enough faith, then God has to do it. If you can find that in the Bible, then you're reading the wrong Bible. That's not biblical. No, God is God. He's on the throne. He gets to choose. But he invites us to be a part. And so faith, great faith that causes Jesus to marvel is faith that asks. And we need to ask the Lord to work.

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It's part of the way that we get to participate in his work. It's part of the work that he does in us. As we ask, he's working in us. He's bringing us in alignment with his will. And sometimes we miss out on things that God would love to give us, but we don't ask. As James says, you have not because you ask not. So we need to ask, but we need to make sure that it's not based upon...

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Our worth. Or how worthy we are. Or some reward that we feel that we're due. How good we've been. Or even how bad we've been. And that would cause us to not ask. Great faith asks. Acknowledging the grace of God along with faith. That everything that God does for us. Everything that God works. As I think it was John tells us. Every good and perfect gift is from above.

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But that's never because we've deserved it. It's always by His grace. And so great faith, faith that causes Jesus to marvel, is faith that asks but is not based on merit, on how worthy we are or think we are or somebody else is. Great faith is faith that rests in Jesus' authority. Do you believe that God has authority over your situation?

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Or are you trying to resolve that situation on your own? Do you have great faith that causes Jesus to marvel? I want to encourage you this morning. This isn't, you know, like you need to kind of like get a little bit hyped up and like, oh, okay, yeah, good faith, good faith, good faith, okay, great faith, whoo! I don't know if I should be jumping on my foot, but... This isn't like, you know, try to get hyped up. This is about you...

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grasping hold of the reality. Jesus is in authority. I believe that. And Jesus, all you have to do is say the word and my life is completely different. All you have to, you can take me out of this. You can take me through it. You can change it. You can do whatever you want. You're Lord. You have all authority. Joey Buran.

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at the recent pastor's conference in June, he was sharing about faith. And he shared something I thought was really interesting. I think I've probably shared it before with you. But typically we think about faith in the sense of like how much you do for God. But he was realizing and he was sharing about the process as God was bringing them through where you realize faith is not really about how much you do for God.

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But it's how much you endure for God. Not how much you do, but how much you endure. He says, look, faith is really about allowing God to crush you. To remove the flesh and just to accomplish His will because He's on the throne. And you don't run from Him. You don't run from His plans. You don't run from His work. You hold fast. And you have joy and you have love and you walk with Him even though life's hard and difficult and painful and you got six servants that are dear to you.

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Because you've grasped hold of the reality. He's on the throne. He's in authority. He's working all things together for good. He will accomplish his purposes. And so today I want to encourage you to have great faith. To trust God. No matter what. Believe. He can say the word and things will be different. But things are the way that they are. Either one of two things. Either you have not asked or it's what's best for you. That's the two options.

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Things are the way that they are. Either because you have not asked or because where you are is what's best for you. Because He has all authority. You understand that? Do you have great faith? Does it cause Jesus to marvel? Let's pray. Lord, I pray as we consider the centurion's great faith, Lord, that you would help us to believe in the same way. Lord, that we would rest in your authority and trust in you and know that you are good.

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Lord, that we would hold fast to your promises. And Lord, that we wouldn't allow this life and circumstances to distract us or confuse us or cause us to try to do things on our own to fix our situation. But Lord, I pray that we would look to you. And Lord, that we would ask. In whatever situation you're facing right now, just lift it up before the Lord silently in your heart. Just present it to the Lord. Ask.

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God, as we lift these things up to you, we ask not because we're worthy or deserving, not because you owe us anything. Lord, we ask because you're the one on the throne. And we invite you. Lord, accomplish your will. Do your work. Lord, I pray that you would heal. I pray that you would provide. I pray that you would work miraculously in all of these petitions that are going up before you. According to your will. Lord, we're not

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worthy. We don't deserve it, but we know all things can be done at your word. You're the creator. You are God. And so we rest in you and we rest in your decision. And Lord, if you choose to work, we praise you. If you choose not to work, we praise you knowing you are God. And so we submit to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.