WWUTT 2336 Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant (Luke 7:1-10)

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A centurion approaches Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his ill servant.

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And the centurion knows, if Jesus just speaks a word, then it will be done. And we must have such faith as well, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel according to Luke, we're on to chapter 7.

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This week, and we're going to begin this chapter with Jesus healing the centurion's servant.

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I'll be reading the first 10 verses here. Hear the word of the Lord. After Jesus had finished all his sayings and the hearing of the people, he entered

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Capernaum. Now, a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.

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When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.

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And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, He is worthy to have you do this for him.

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For he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue. And Jesus went with them.

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When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

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Therefore I did not presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed.

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For I too am a man set under authority with 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.

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When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him. And turning to the crowd that followed him, he said,

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I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

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Now, this, of course, is a well -known account, and we've read it previously. In Matthew chapter 8 is the first place where we read the faith of a centurion.

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It is written a little bit differently there, and we'll talk about the differences here. You may have noticed as we've been going through Luke's gospel that there's kind of this back and forth that's been going on.

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We'll have a chapter of teaching, and then we'll have a chapter of miracles, back to teaching, back to miracles.

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And so what we're reading here in chapter 7 is going to be mostly miracles. There's a little bit of teaching in there as well.

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Even here, Jesus says that I've not found faith like this in all of Israel.

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So there's some amount of teaching that's being given, even in the healing of the centurion servant.

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He's going to raise a widow's son. That'll be the section we'll look at tomorrow. Messengers from John the

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Baptist are sent to Jesus and asking him if he is the one or are we looking for another?

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And Jesus tells John's disciples to go back to John and tell him what they have seen.

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And he makes reference to the miracles. There's more teaching there given, of course. And then we have the account of the woman who comes and anoints

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Jesus, wiping his feet with her hair, crying on his feet and wiping her tears with her hair.

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So these are the things that are going to come up here in chapter 7. And then when we get to chapter 8, there's going to be parables.

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So that's going to be mostly teaching. We get into the parables of Jesus in chapter 8. Now all of this is still part of a section that is showing us the ministry of Jesus in Galilee that started back in chapter 4 and goes through chapter 8,

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I think, to chapter 9. Here, obviously, at the start of chapter 7, we're in Capernaum.

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We're back in Capernaum where we've been before. Capernaum, once again, was probably the largest city in Galilee.

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It was right there on the Sea of Galilee. And it's regarded as Jesus' hometown.

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Yeah, I know he was born in Bethlehem. He grew up in Nazareth. But Capernaum gets called his hometown because Capernaum is the place where he was most likely residing during the time of his ministry here.

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That may have been where Peter's house was and Peter's mother -in -law lived there. Remember that reading about his mother -in -law being sick and then

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Jesus healing his mother -in -law and then she got up and waited on everybody in the house. So that may have been right there at Capernaum.

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It was kind of a central place of operations for Jesus as he was going out, especially throughout

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Galilee. So here, after he finishes the teaching of the Sermon on the Plain, that's what we just finished up in chapter 6, that chapter being mostly teaching.

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So this is the way Luke 7 starts. After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered

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Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death who was highly valued by him.

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And again, we've read this previously in Matthew chapter 8. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him appealing to him.

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Now that's the way that Matthew records it. It looks like a face -to -face interaction between Jesus and this centurion.

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But the way that Luke writes it, they never meet each other. They never even come face -to -face.

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Now that's a detail that isn't really necessary to have to know.

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It's still, according to Matthew's account, that Jesus had an exchange with a centurion. Whether that was done face -to -face or whether it was done through his servants and his friends makes no difference.

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In both occasions, you have the centurion in Matthew saying, I'm unworthy to have you come under the roof of my house.

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He says that in Matthew 8. In Luke chapter 7, he does go toward the centurion's house.

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The centurion sends out friends to stop him and say, hey, I'm unworthy to have you come under the roof of my house. So in both places, the centurion says the same.

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He just does it through someone else in Luke, and Matthew makes it look like that this was a face -to -face conversation between Jesus and the centurion.

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Now I've made, I've recollected conversations like this before. I've said about a conversation that I had with somebody that wasn't exactly face -to -face.

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It might have been through text message or email or DM on one of the social media accounts or something like that.

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And the way that I relayed the conversation, like if I'm using it in a sermon or writing about it in a blog article or something like that, it may sound like in the way that I am presenting it, like we had a face -to -face conversation.

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But really what I'm recalling is an exchange that we had through text message or something like that.

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So this isn't unusual to do something like this, to recount a conversation in such a way.

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It's not like Matthew is embellishing details or bending the truth a little bit or something like that.

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Nothing of the sort. Matthew and Luke are still in exact agreement with one another.

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It's just the way that the exchange is presented might be a little bit different. Matthew even has something else that he wants to emphasize in his account of Jesus in the centurion that Luke does not emphasize.

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I'll get to that here in just a moment. But first, let's come back to the details here. So in verse three, when the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the

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Jews asking him to come and heal his servant. Now remember, before we got to the sermon on the plane, even though that was mostly teaching that we had there in chapter six, there was still a mention of miracles.

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Jesus healed the man with a withered hand. He was also doing a great number of miracles and casting out evil spirits.

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This was spoken about in a very general way right before the teaching of the sermon on the plane.

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So it said it was said in Luke six verses 17 and 18, there were people who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

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And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him for power came out from him and healed them all.

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So the fact that Jesus was healing and doing all these great miracles was one of the reasons why so many people had come out to him to listen to him teach.

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They wanted a miracle. They wanted to be healed themselves, and they wanted to hear what this great teacher was going to say.

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If this guy is the Messiah that we've been looking for, we might want to listen to what it is that he has to teach.

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And so we have the sermon on the plane. So it's kind of like here with the account of the centurion. We're going back to the word that is spreading about these miracles that Jesus has performed.

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So he goes back to Capernaum. And when the centurion heard about Jesus, so this is verse three, he sent to him elders of the

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Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. Now, Romans and Jews did not fraternize with one another very much.

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There was quite a separation between Romans and Jews. And we know that there was a faction of Jews called the

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Zealots who were attempting to rise up and fight against the Romans, trying to drive them out of Judea.

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And that's what sparked the Jewish Roman war that ends up resulting in the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

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So there was not a whole lot of good air between the

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Jews and the Romans. Yet here in this case, this centurion has a great relationship with the

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Jews. And so that the Jews even go to Jesus and plead on his behalf, he sent elders of the

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Jews, not just any Jews, but the elders, those who taught in the synagogue, they go to Jesus.

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And when they come to him, they pleaded with him earnestly saying he is worthy to have you do this for him.

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So this this is a group of Jews speaking to another Jew, not the centurion coming himself, not even sending other

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Romans to make this appeal. But there's there's credibility to the kindness of this centurion in the fact that there are

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Jews coming to Jesus and speaking so fondly of him. And they say in verse five, he loves our nation.

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He actually loves Judea and well, Galilee in this particular case.

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He loves Israel. He loves this people. He's not like those Romans who oppress us.

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He wants to do good for us. He's a benevolent ruler in this particular region.

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And he even built our synagogue for us. He loves our nation and he is the one who built us our synagogue.

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Now, you probably know, and I think we've considered this in previous lessons, but there is a synagogue in every town.

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We read about Jesus going to the synagogue in Nazareth back in Luke chapter four. That was kind of beginning this whole section on Jesus teaching in Galilee.

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And so this is about the synagogue that's there in Capernaum, which would have been larger than the one in Nazareth.

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It probably was the largest one in Galilee and hear elders who are teachers there in that synagogue.

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Some of the most respected men in all of Capernaum are coming to Jesus and saying this man is worthy for you to do this for him.

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He's kind to us. He loves us. He built us our synagogue so that the teachings of the

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Jews would be able to continue. Maybe this centurion even listened to those teachings.

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And he's heard the word about Jesus. And he knows that he is a man capable of healing, he's heard about these people who are sick, who are healed and like like without any effort, he doesn't have great medicine, he just touches or he speaks.

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And those who are sick are immediately healed. Those who have demons are restored.

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The demons cast out. And so Jesus listens to their word.

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And in verse six, he went with them when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends.

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So you might have a picture of them like leaving the village and going on to another village. He would have been walking through Capernaum.

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So he's with them and he's walking through town. And before he gets to the house, it could also be that the centurion may have like a headquarters that's just outside of town, wherever the

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Romans would have been set up. That's where that's where Jesus was going to. And when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him,

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Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

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Now, we don't know why the centurion may have had a change of heart here because the

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Jews come to him and say, come with us and heal his servant. He's worthy of you to do this for him.

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And Jesus goes with them. And when he is not far from the house, now the centurion sends other people, friends of his to say,

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Lord, don't trouble yourself. I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. So somewhere in this, knowing that the great teacher, knowing that the great healer is coming to him, something about that really does trouble the centurion spirit.

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I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof. The centurion is worthy of Jesus doing this kind act for him because of how loving he's been to the

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Jews that he that he lives among. But he considers himself this is a very humble statement.

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He says of himself that he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof.

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I have a speculation here. I'll get to it here in just a moment as to what the centurion may have been thinking of here or how

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Jesus even regarded this based on the account that we have in Matthew eight. But like I said,

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I'll come back to that here in a moment. Verse seven, the centurion threw his friends, saying, therefore, I did not presume to come to you.

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I'm not worthy to come to you and stand in your presence, but say the word. And let my servant be healed, for I, too, am a man set under authority with soldiers under me.

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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.

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What an incredible display of faith that this centurion is demonstrating with this particular response.

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The centurion is saying, I know what it means to have authority. I have authority. I say to this person, go and he does it.

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So if I have this authority and I can accomplish things by a word, you have authority greater than mine.

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That's what the centurion is saying of Jesus. It is an incredibly humbling admission of Christ's power.

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You have authority. I know you have great authority. And if you just say the word, you don't even have to come to me.

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I know you can just say the word and my servant will be healed. And the centurion is not asking for proof.

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Oh, if you're really the son of God, prove it to me. Say the word and heal my servant. That's not what the centurion is asking for.

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He already knows Jesus authority. He's not testing him.

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He's not asking for proof. He's saying, I know if you just say the word, it'll be done.

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That all authority belongs to you. And when Jesus heard this in verse nine, he marveled at him and turning to the crowd that followed him, said,

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I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

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Jesus just said the word and the servant was healed. Now, like I said, in Matthew's account, he's got a little bit different direction that he goes with this.

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There's something else that Matthew wishes to state with this, whereas Luke is just highlighting the miracle.

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Matthew is highlighting the teaching that Jesus gives in association with the miracle. So let me come back to Matthew chapter eight.

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When Jesus heard this, I'm in verse 10. He marveled, marveled at the centurion's faith and said to those who followed him, truly,

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I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.

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In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so what

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I think was going on with the centurion, why he changed his mind when Jesus was approaching his house is because he knew that he was a

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Gentile and not a Jew. And so he was not worthy to have a Jew come under the roof of his house.

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Like he didn't want it to be the sort of a thing where he could cause a Jew to become unclean. He's thinking of Jesus and saying,

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I'm not worthy. I'm a Gentile, completely different diet, completely different practices than you

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Jews. Remember, the Jews did not eat with Gentiles. So the centurion, out of great admiration for Jesus, says to him that I'm not worthy to have you come under the roof of my house.

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He recognizes the Jew -Gentile distinction and that the Jews were God's chosen people.

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He's not worthy to have the son of God come into his house and be under his roof.

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And so that may very well have been the reason why the centurion then sends friends to Jesus and has and they say to him,

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I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof. But if you just say the word, I know my servant will be healed.

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And so when Jesus responds to this, then he talks about how even the Gentiles will be exalted in the kingdom of God.

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I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Gentiles eating at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yes, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness in the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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There are Gentiles like this centurion who will believe. And the Jews will not believe.

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And so the Jews will end up being among those who will be condemned, those who did not believe in Jesus and did not follow him.

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Now, I'm kind of adding to the text that we're reading here today and Luke seven, because Luke doesn't go on to explain that.

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So what Luke is really just trying to emphasize here is the authority that Jesus had, but not necessarily the teaching that's connected with that regarding how even

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Gentiles will be welcomed into the kingdom of God. That's what Matthew is showing. And that's a great theme going on throughout

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Matthew's gospel, showing how the true people of God are going to be those who believe in Jesus, how

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Jesus fulfilled what Israel failed to accomplish as the sons of God.

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They're regarded as sons in the book of Hosea. God calls Israel his son, though Israel failed.

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To obey God and accomplish his will, but Jesus succeeded at every point, so Jesus is faithful Israel and everyone who is in Christ will therefore be part of his kingdom.

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And so Luke is emphasizing the miracle here. Matthew has another objective.

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Luke just emphasizes the miracle, but both still pointing to the authority that Christ has in both accounts.

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It points to the authority of Christ for when the servants who came to Jesus returned to the house, they found the servant well.

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It was accomplished just like the centurion had faith that Jesus would do.

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He would just speak a word and it would be done. And my friends,

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Jesus has that same authority still now, he could speak a word and obliterate the world with his word.

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After all, he created the world by a word. Let there be light. And there was light just by speaking these things into existence.

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So they came to be. And as we read about at the end of the sermon on the plane, at the end of Luke chapter six,

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Jesus had said, whoever comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like.

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The one who builds his house upon the rock who is Christ is the one who builds his house on a sure foundation and he will be saved in the day of trouble.

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But the one who does not listen to the word of God builds his house on sand and he will fall in the day of trouble and especially on the day of judgment.

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So continuing that theme here in the start of chapter seven, we see the authority of Christ's word and how we must believe it and follow it.

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And it's those who believe who have such faith and will inherit the kingdom of God.

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Let's finish their heavenly father, you are our great God, our father who loves us, who gives us all good things, especially the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus, and that we have been joined to you, adopted into the family of God because of what

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Christ has done for us. Christ has been seated and exalted above all things.

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His word has all authority. And so may we listen to the word of Christ today and do what he says.

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If Christ has the authority to speak and accomplish whatever he says, then we as his servants must be subject to the word of the king, but doing it in the delight of our heart.

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For we know it is our king who saves us and promises us an eternal kingdom forever with you in glory.

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It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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