King Of All Kings (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

The Centurion’s Faith and Jesus’ Authority

So Matthew 8 -7 the story goes on, and he, Jesus, said to him, the centurion through the messengers, says something very fascinating here, emphatically, I will come and heal him. I'm not going to send my posse out there, I'm not going to send my folks, I personally will go.

And by the way, that was a major deal because Jews didn't go into Gentiles' houses. It wasn't against Mosaic law, but it was against every sensibility in the world because Gentiles were A, Gentiles, and B, Gentiles did a lot of abortions right there in their house and there's been dead bodies in the house, and you will certainly, if you go to a Gentile's house, it's as good as done that you're going to be defiled.

But Jesus, the one who can touch a leper and not be defiled, can walk into a Gentile's house as well. I'll come and heal him. I'll come and give him therapy, that's the word. I'll go to the Gentile house and heal the Gentile centurion's Gentile servant.

Verse 8, but the centurion replied, see he gets it, that's what the point is here. He gets that Jesus has authority. I'm not worthy, Lord, to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too, verse 9, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I say to one, go, and he goes. I have the authority of the emperor backing me up, and when I give an order, the emperor gives the order.

In 30 BC, the Roman Republic is over and now we have emperors, and when the emperor says, do something through an agent, you do it. And if you defy them, the agent, you defy the emperor. I say, go, and he goes, and to another, verse 9, come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does that.

And here, the centurion, by the work of the Spirit of God certainly, realizes that God's Son is sent by God the Father. He has authority. He has authority to do these things. He's come from heaven. He's the Messiah, and when God the Son says something, it's God the Father's good prerogative just as well.

One man said, here was a man commissioned, a man authorized, and he looked upon Christ in the same manner, sin of God under divine authority with a heavenly commission. The man says, I too am a man under authority.

Even I have authority. I have less authority. I have the authority of only the emperor, but you have a greater authority from the lesser of the greater. You speak for God. You are God. And why does he call him Lord there?

Look at the text. People say, ah, that just means sir. Oh, it could mean sir in the original, but I think it means Lord. I know you can heal somebody without even showing up. You've got to be God to heal somebody that's not even there.

He realizes through the Messiah's, through the Spirit's work rather, that Jesus is a Messiah. Verse 10, when Jesus heard this, he said, don't talk to me. I'm a Jew. You're a Gentile. When Jesus heard this, he marveled.

Now most every time that word is used, it's used of people who look at God and they see Jesus and they go, I'm out of my gourd. I can't get over this. I'm astonished. But here it's used for the incarnate God man.

He's marveled. And said to those who followed him, truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. And now he begins to think of the end messianic banquet, the end times messianic banquet where not just Jews will be there, but Gentiles.

And he says, I tell you, many will come from east and west, Gentiles recline at the table at the messianic banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom, that is Jews, will be thrown into outer darkness in that place.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You think I have authority and you're right because I'm going to tell you this truth with my authority. I'm now thinking about, this is Jesus, Jesus is now thinking about end times, a view to the inclusion of Gentiles with the redeemed of Israel.

Matthew 10, it says, Jesus says, go not into the way of the Gentiles. Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15, I'm not sent but to the house of Israel. But eventually the Gentiles are going to glorify him for his mercy, Paul says in Romans.

I see the centurion's faith and I'm reminded about the end times where the Gentiles also believe. And look at verse 10 again. No one in Israel have I found such faith. This is amazing. No one has thought like this, believed like this, and Jesus just transported to the future as it were, thinking about the Messiah banquet.

I have a question. When you look at Mosaic Law, what's the thing that separates Jew from Gentile the most? Say well, it's clothes and it's worship, but on a day-to-day practical level, how are Jews and Gentiles separated the most?

And you can read Acts to find out and the answer is going to be what? Food. But at the end messianic banquet, there are going to be Jews and Gentiles eating together. And when this Gentile gets saved, Jesus is reminded of this, Isaiah 25 for instance, a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, a rich food full of marrow, of aged wine, well refined.

Jesus is thinking, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the end time messianic banquet, where Jews and Gentiles will recline at the table to eat together with the Lord.

Verse 13, now to the centurion Jesus said, go and just say this little chant. Go and here's a little bit of oil that you can rub on there. Oil, special rituals, magic. That's how people healed back in those days because there really wasn't real healing.

What Jesus just says is go, let it be done to you as you have believed. You believed I could do it and to the extent that you believed I could do it, which is complete full healing, it is done for you as you have believed.

And the servant was healed at that very moment. Jesus, Matthew's point is, is the Messiah. He is the King. He's the Son of God. He wants you, the listener, the reader, to believe that. Now let me give you the lessons, four practical lessons that grow out of this passage today.

Hell as a Grim Reality

Number one, I'll put them in the form of imperatives so that you personally have to deal with the questions or statements. Believe that hell is a grim reality. You must believe hell is a grim reality.

Now some Jews, of course, will be there at the end times banquet, some Gentiles, but take a look at verse 12. Here is the Lord of love. Here is Jesus, the Messiah, says while the sons of the kingdom, Jews, the unbelieving Jews, oh, some will believe certainly, will be thrown into, and the Greek here is to make it bold, to make it underlined, thrown into the darkness, the outside.

And he does the same thing here with the next sentence. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. So you're horrified by the idea, weeping and gnashing of teeth. I'm telling you, friends, hell is on the way out around here in our society.

No person who's sophisticated and educated believes in hell anymore, but Jesus believes in it. A survey of evangelical seminary students, 20 years ago even, it's probably worse now, said 46 felt preaching about hell to unbelievers is in poor taste.

Same survey, three out of every 10 self-professed born-again people surveyed believe good people will go to heaven when they die. And one out of every 10 evangelicals say they believe that the concept of sin is outmoded.

You can just turn on your TV and watch somebody with a big smile say that every single week. Tozer said the vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.

But friends, hell is real and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ talks about hell. Why? Because it's true. Because we should be thankful we don't have to go. The only hope is through Christ our Lord, so we evangelize.

The more I study about it, even lately, people are trying to figure out a way to tell hell to go to hell, as far as I'm concerned. Get it out of my thinking. So what do they do? Well, you know what? Let's believe in universalism.

Jesus just dies for everybody. Hell's empty. That way I could sleep better. Jesus dies for them. They just don't know it, but he takes them to heaven anyway because we've got an empty hell. Or maybe annihilated.

You know, the Bible talks about fire and destruction. They just cease to exist somehow, sometime, somewhere. Popular these days with evangelicals is, you know what? Hell is when people just don't want God.

Self-exclusion. I don't want God anymore. They follow only C .S. Lewis who says, hell's gates are locked on the inside. We don't want anything to do with God, so we won't have anything to do with God.

Somehow protecting God, but what does Jesus say? Look at Matthew 8, 12. Friends, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God, and here Jesus says they're going to what? Lock the door on themselves?

What's it say? I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't in the Bible. I don't want to believe it, but it's in the Bible. They're going to be thrown in, thrown in hell. When people don't bow the knee to the eternal Son of God, the Messiah, love incarnate, and they reject Him with unbelief and immorality and every other kind of foolish idolatry, then it is thrown actively by God into hell.

The strongest support for hell is found in the words of Jesus. Matthew goes on to say in Matthew 10, do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in where?

Hell. Matthew 13, and cast them in, actively cast into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now when people listen to Paul and Paul talks about women's roles or authority or this, that, or the other, people are always like, well, you know what, I don't really like Paul, but I like Jesus.

And now they have to quick switch that back around because Paul talked about hell a lot less than Jesus did, and now they're like, well, I don't really like Paul, I don't really like Jesus, I like Paul.

I mean, even in the testimony of John, if anyone's name is not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. I truly believe that if you could just take a peek in hell right now and see what was going on, and it's not even the lake of fire yet, you would go insane.

Calvin said, for there can be no doubt but that by such modes of expression, unquenchable fire, worm dies not, day and night forever and ever, the Holy Spirit intended to confound all our faculties with horror.

Spurgeon said, in that place we dare not look, perhaps it would not be possible for any man to get a fair idea of the torments of the lost without at once becoming mad. Deep down though in the heart of people, they have a conscience and they know, I read this week an old account of the US News and World Report, what people like to be buried with.

British actor Robert Morley, I want to be buried with my credit cards. M .L. Evans, I want to be buried with a fire extinguisher. Heather Tanner, I want to be buried with a good map, in case the choirs don't sing well in heaven, Sir David Wilcox of Cambridge, I'd like a pair of earplugs.

The only one that made any sense to me was Maurice Godbold, who said I'd like to be buried with a crowbar, in case the affair proved premature. What do you want to be buried with? I'll tell you what, bury me with nothing but the confidence that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How about that? All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, saved from sin, saved from wrath, saved from hell, saved from God's blistering holiness, saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, like the centurion, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be what?

Given a fulfilled life, you get it all in life, no, you will be what? Your greatest need will be taken care of, saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. And if you're not a Christian here today, you do exactly what Jonathan Edwards says. You flatter yourself that you'll escape hell somehow, someway outside the cross.

And these words of Jesus are here to just rip that short-sheeted, Isaiah-like covering off, thinking somehow you can cover your sins with your own righteousness. The cross is the only hope. Jesus is the Messiah, lesson two.

Religion Cannot Save You

The first one is hell's a grim reality. Number two, don't fall for the lie that religion can save you or anyone else from hell. Don't fall for the lie that religion can save you. Spiritual privileges learned from the passage of Israel can't guarantee salvation.

Look at verse 12 of Matthew 8, the sons of the kingdom, they had it all. Read Romans, they had everything, promises, the glory, the Shekinah, the pillar of light, the oracles, they had it all. Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, they had it all.

You know who the humanly most difficult people in the Bible were to save? Religious people. I'm fine, I don't need anything. It wasn't the wicked, those had a lot of notoriety for being evil. It was the people who were outwardly religious.

When Jesus sees those who have no righteousness, he's kind, close, eats with them. And when Jesus meets a self-righteous person who externalizes their relationship with God, he blisters them. Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, John 3, well, first of all, Jesus wasn't asked a question by Nicodemus, but this is probably the question of Nicodemus' heart.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is, what, born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, the time for you to go to school is over. Well, if I just learn a little bit more about Jesus and if I just had to figure out all these other things.

Here's the thing for religious people. You don't need more instruction. You need to repent and be born again. That was the point to Nicodemus. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Well, you know, Jesus, I know you're a religious teacher and here's Jesus. Stop that. You don't need a religious teacher. You need a savior. Quit all this. You're a good religious teacher. When people say that, oh, you know, he's a good religious teacher.

He's a nice, warm man. Quit it because that doesn't help you at all. Religious education isn't the answer. Leon Morris said in one sentence, Jesus sweeps away all that Nicodemus stood for and demands that he be made, remade by the power of God.

I love the story of Bishop John Taylor Smith. He was a former chaplain general of the British army. Seems apropos talking about the centurion and he preached a text in a large cathedral. You must be born again.

My dear people, do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not new birth. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The rector was sitting on his left.

Pointing to him, he said, you may be a clergyman like my friend the rector here and not be born again. For except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. On his right sat the archdeacon pointing to him.

You might be an archdeacon like my friend here and still not be born again. For except a man be born again, he cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You might even be a bishop like myself and not be born again.

But except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Several days later, as Harry Ironside tells the story, the letter arrives to the bishop from the archdeacon. Dear Bishop, you have found me out.

I've been a clergyman for over 30 years, but I've never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand it. But when you pointed to me and said that a person could be an archdeacon and not be born again, I understood what the trouble was.

Would you please come and talk with me? The account says he was gloriously saved as God regenerated his soul. The church is finally over. I'm headed for the door. The sermon was inspiring like hundreds were before.

The choir sang the anthem the best I ever heard. And all the people listening were blessed and even stirred. The invitation given was earnest, warm, and strong while the congregation all joined in the final song.

I almost was persuaded to let the Savior in, but church is finally over and I've turned away again. Church is finally over. I feel almost the same. I guess I wait till next time to call upon his name.

They say he's very patient, long-suffering, and kind. His arms are always open for those who will seek shall find. I've heard the gospel story. I know it very well, how Jesus died to save me from everlasting hell.

And then the ominous last chorus. Yet I can't help but wonder when my last chance will be. And church is finally over for all eternity. What about you? If I were to point at you, you must be born again.

You say, yeah, but I'm religious. Do you know of religiosity without worship of the Messiah? Amos 5 says, I hate your feast days. If you won't bow your knee to Jesus Christ, may I, as kindly as I can, but it has to be stern.

If you won't bow to Jesus Christ, God hates your church membership. He hates your baptism. He hates your Bible reading. He hates everything that you do. He hates the money you give. Why would God the Father so crush his son?

It's like if you come to my house and say, you know what, I'd like to get into good graces with Mike. I'd like him to be friends with me, and we'd like to have a camaraderie and a friendship. And every time my son Luke walks by, you kick him.

These days, you wouldn't get away with it very much because he's... But when he was little, but Mike, you're a neat guy. I think you're a fine guy. I want to spend time together. Let's go on vacation together.

And he walks by Luke, and there's another kick. How can you honor me without honoring my son? You think you honor me with all these externals when you won't believe the son? So give up your vain religion.

And what does Jesus say? Come unto me, and I will give you what? Rest from that religious merry-go-round. Lesson three, it is proper for you to have a low estimate of yourself before God. It is proper for you to have a low estimate of yourself before God.

A Low Estimate of Self and a High View of Jesus

The centurion, I'm not worthy to come to your house. John the Baptist, I'm not worthy to tie your sandal, loosen it. In an I am good, I do good world, we need to just come face-to-face with, we need a savior because our heart's ecclesiastes are full of evil.

If anybody could think highly of himself, the centurion could. I am a Gentile military occupier, and I can ask elders of the Jews to go talk to Jesus, and they do it. I don't treat my servant like chattel, I care for him.

I don't hate the Jews, I'll build a synagogue for them. But he knew before God, he was lost. Don't let the people who sell self-esteem nonsense influence you. Salvation is only seen through the eyes of a person with greater intensity because of the length at which God would have to go to rescue people like us.

And lastly, number four, have a high estimation of Jesus. This goes together with three. Have a high estimation of Jesus. That's exactly what the centurion did. You can't think too highly of Jesus. Your view of Jesus can't be too high.

Oh, I'm kind of overdoing it. I've been to football games before, and I think, oh, that's kind of a little overdone. Baseball games, that praise is a little overdone. Concerts after the 18th encore, people still flicking their, holding their iPads up.

Now, if you praise me, here's what'll happen. I'll like it. And on the inside, I'll say, keep going. On the outside, I have enough refined sensibilities, allegedly, to say, no, no, no. The sinner is saved by grace.

But inside, here's Jesus. He just accepts it all. He didn't say, well, I'm not really God. I'm not really a son of God. I'm not really the Messiah. He receives this praise. And the praise that Jesus commends is a faith that commends Jesus.

I know you. I trust you. You have authority. You're the Messiah. You do things and say things. You've got authority from God. I trust you. I believe in you. I honor you. And Jesus accepts it. If anyone could praise himself, it would be the centurion.

But his response is, Jesus is the focus. Faith in Jesus is the right response. What does the text say? I've not found such great religion among all the Jews. I've not found such great character, such great love for other people.

No, he commends faith. That's the right response. Low view of ourselves, high view of Jesus. Thomas Brooks, the Puritan, said, he that believeth on the Lord Jesus shall be saved, be his sins ever so many.

But he that believeth not on the Lord Jesus must be damned, even though his sins be ever so few. So what's your view of Jesus? Crutch, good man, or the Messiah?

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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