Precious To Him

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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Luke, chapter 7, verses 1 through 10. After he 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 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, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.

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And Jesus went with them. 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, therefore

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I do not presume to come to you. 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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And I say to one, go, and he goes. I say 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, said, I tell you, not even in Israel have

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I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, today we begin to walk our way through a large swath of the

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Gospel of Luke. And for those of you who are really fans of pyramids and the color green, green's going to be here for a long time.

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Just want to point that out. I think it goes all the way to Advent, and Advent isn't until when? We'll see if we can mix it up a little bit as we go, with maybe some good feast days or something like that.

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We have an excuse to pull out our red. Now, because of the way the lectionary works, we're beginning our walk through the

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Gospel of Luke in chapter seven. Yeah. So I encourage you strongly go back and read chapters one through six, especially six.

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In that chapter is Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, and it's absolutely magnificent. So for our context today, simply keep in mind that this is early in Jesus's ministry.

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Jesus has been born, circumcised. He went missing for three days at the age of 12, poor

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Mary and Joseph, they lost the son of God. It had to be stressful, right? He was baptized by John the

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Baptist. He healed a paralytic, forgave his sins too. Healed a man with a withered hand on the

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Sabbath, great story. And he's chosen his disciples, and he's preached the Sermon on the

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Mount. That's where we are right now in our text. So with that, we're going to return to our Gospel text, and for today's sermon,

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I'm going to be reading from my translation of this text. Now the reason for that is not because my translation is superior.

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Instead, the reason is because I'm going to give you a literal reading. I'm not going to polish up the translation.

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There's several steps when you're translating. First is kind of like the first block through, where everything is kind of stiff and wooden and it doesn't make good

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English sense. We're going to go with that one. We're going to go with that one. I haven't polished this up.

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And there's a reason for that, because I think that the idioms are going to help draw a few things out that you wouldn't see in a well -polished translation like the

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ESV. So think of this as if this were a painting project, you know, the translation, we're at the primer stage, okay?

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We haven't put all the fancy stuff on it in our translation. So with that, let's return to our

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Gospel text, Luke chapter 7, verse 1. Here's what it says. After he completed all of his words in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum and a certain centurion's slave who was, now in the

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ESV, it says valuable. That's what it says. It says valuable, all right?

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The Greek word there is a little stronger than that. It means something of considerable worth, considerable.

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I would push that, make it just a little stronger and say a centurion whose slave was precious to him.

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Being ill was about to come to an end, the Greek says. So in this text, we're confronted with a desperate situation.

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Time is running out for a slave of a centurion. By the way, centurions are not exactly known to be the good friends of the

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Jews. Remember, they're occupying soldiers. Have you heard of the zealots? Yeah, all right.

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Think about our experience as Americans and our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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They're considered to be, well, occupying soldiers. And what happens to occupying soldiers?

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Well, they're not careful. They're going to find themselves dead, right? And nowadays, the terrorists, the way they work, they hide

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IEDs, improvised explosive devices in order to take out enemy troops, right? Well, they didn't have

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IEDs back then. And the Jews of Jesus' day, there was a whole group of them called zealots who made it their mission in life to make life miserable for Roman soldiers.

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And if you read the disciples list really quick, you know, go back and look at Jesus' disciples, there's one

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Simon the Zealot among Jesus' disciples. You can translate that as Simon the terrorist or maybe

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Simon the former terrorist, right? So here we've got this guy who's a

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Roman soldier in a centurion to boot. I'll explain that in a minute. Time is running out for his precious slave.

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But having heard about Jesus, he's heard about Jesus. He sent elders of the

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Jews to him, asking him so that having come, he might, now

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I know your translation says heal, so that he might heal his slave. Not the best translation.

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This is where I want you to learn a Greek word today. All right. So here's our Greek word and write this down for further use.

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Then the word is dia sozo, dia sozo.

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I won't spell it because it's like Delta, Yoda, Alpha. It doesn't work that way.

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Right. Okay. Dia sozo. And here's what it literally means to rescue, to deliver from a hazard or a danger or to bring someone safely through.

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It's not really talking about healing here. It's come and rescue my slave. He's in dire danger.

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He's about to die. Bring him safely through. That's what this word is about. Keep that word in mind.

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I'm going to refer back to it later in the sermon. So having heard about Jesus, he sends elders of the

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Jews come rescue his slave, they say. So the ones having come to Jesus were appealing to him earnestly saying, he, for whom you will grant this is worthy.

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He's deserving. He loves our nation. He built the synagogue for us.

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Now note here, something here, the Centurion doesn't come meet Jesus face to face.

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He sends others. Think of this as a prayer, right?

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How many of you have seen Jesus face to face? Anybody? No, me either. I haven't seen him face to face. Every time I invite him to Starbucks for a

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Bible study, he never shows up. So I haven't seen him. So when we're in need or dire danger, or we have something that has come up in our life that requires prayer, we pray to Jesus, but we also have others pray on our behalf, right?

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So think of this as a prayer. It's kind of like that, but this wasn't a very good prayer. There's some problems with this prayer.

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So what do you pray when you are in need? I'll just kind of throw that out as a question in the middle of the sermon here.

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So this is a prayer. What do you pray when you're in need? All right. So Lord Jesus, I'm having trouble with my family.

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My relationships are a mess. I'm having difficulty with my body. I'm not healthy. There's pain, or maybe finances are not going so well, or the farm is experiencing difficulty.

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What do you pray in a situation like that? Now, these are common areas where things go badly in our lives.

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All of this is a consequence of our sin. And this is where the televangelists and the parasite preachers teach us to make ourselves worthy of a miracle and deserving of God's blessings by sending in our best seed offerings, right?

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Yeah. Send in your best seed offering and God will heal you. He'll repair your marriage.

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He'll bring peace to your finances. He'll make you healthy, wealthy, and wise. And all of this is blasphemy.

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And you know this, right? God's gifts and his blessings are not purchased with American currency, or any other currency for that matter, no.

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God does not and will not help you financially or in your marriage or other ways because you've sent him money or put money in the plate.

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And a little bit of a side note, God does not will for you to send your money to a televangelist either.

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They're false teachers. We do not support them, right? So many of you know this, but even if you're not tempted to send your money to a

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TV huckster, you actually are still tempted to think this way about God.

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God, I'm in need, but I haven't missed church in almost six months, right?

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I've been faithful to put my tithe in the plate on every payday. Therefore, Jesus, I'm worthy to have you solve my problem.

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I'm guilty of doing this. We all are. This is not how

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God operates. Let's go back to our text. So he's worthy.

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He's deserving. He loves our nation. He built the synagogue for us. A little bit of a note here.

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It's an interesting statement. The fact that they note that this centurion has built their synagogue for them, well, this means the centurion has heard the law of Moses.

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He has. He has more than a cursory introduction to the word of God. And by the way,

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God's word never returns to him void. Keep that in mind.

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So the text then says this, now Jesus was proceeding with them and he already being not far distant from the house.

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The centurion sent friends saying to him, notice now, and these are not elders of the

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Jews. These are the friends of the centurion. And here's what they say, master, don't be troubling yourself for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.

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For this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. Ah, so now the truth comes out.

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He's heard the law of Moses. He knows he's not worthy. Being kind to the

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Jews and building their synagogue does not tip the scales in his favor regarding his sinful condition.

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It's not enough. It's not sufficient. It does not put

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God in his debt. By the way, your good works, your money, your good behavior cannot and does not earn

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God's favor. Doesn't earn his blessings either. And if you think they do, then it's time for you to say this prayer along with the centurion.

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Repeat after him, I am not worthy, right?

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I am not. And then the centurion's prayer now change says this, but Lord, speak in a word and let my servant be healed.

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So with no bargaining power, no chips to cash in, no special favors that he can call in, he ends up throwing himself completely on the mercy of Christ.

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And this is where it gets interesting because remember, he's built their synagogue for them. That means he's heard the law of Moses. Let me remind you of what was said in our

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Old Testament text, right at the tail end of it. Here's what it says in 1st

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Kings chapter 8, 41 through 43. Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people,

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Israel comes from a far country for your name's sake, for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm.

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When he comes and prays toward this house here in heaven, your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people,

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Israel, that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

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Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, prays for the nations and those who would come to Israel and hear the great name of God.

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And here, this Roman centurion, he's not only heard the law of Moses, surely in his dealings with the

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Jews, he's somewhere heard about how great

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Yahweh of Israel is. He must have heard that Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

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He truly must have heard that he will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

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He also must have heard that Yahweh does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

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Surely he must have heard, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is

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God's steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does

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God remove our transgressions from us. That's Psalm 103. Surely he must have heard that if the

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Lord should keep or mark iniquities, no one could stand. But with Yahweh, there is forgiveness, therefore he is feared.

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Psalm 100. So the centurion now confessing his unworthiness throws himself completely on the mercy of Christ.

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This unworthy, sinful centurion is now praying a totally different kind of prayer.

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And here's what he says. But speak it in a word and let my servant be healed, for I also am a man being placed under authority, having soldiers under myself.

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And I say to this one, go and he goes into another come and he comes into my slave.

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Do this. And he does it. Here's what the centurion's praying. Jesus, I believe that you have authority to heal my precious servant.

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I believe that you have authority from God. My faith is in you is not misplaced, and I know that all you have to do is say the word and my precious servant will be healed.

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Please, Lord Jesus, say the word. I'm not worthy to have you do this.

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I'm not even worthy to see your face. But I have heard of the God of Israel and his mercy and his kindness and his great love and his grace.

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So please have mercy on me, Lord Jesus, and say the word. It's a good way to paraphrase his prayer.

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One has to wonder. At this point, what the Jewish elders must have thought about the centurion's confession of being unworthy.

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They were there bargaining with Jesus based upon this man's worthiness to receive this miracle.

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And now the centurion has just cut the legs out from the negotiation. They have no chips to bargain with.

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He has to wonder what they must have thought of that. Having heard these things,

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Jesus marveled at him. And having turned to the crowd following him, he said,

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I say to you, not even in Israel did I find so great a faith.

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And then having returned to the house, the ones having been sent found the slave. Being healthy, great faith.

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We are not saved by our worthiness. Our prayers are not answered by God because of our worthiness.

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We, as the scriptures say, are saved by God's grace through faith. It is not the result of our works.

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And here we see in graphic and vivid detail what that doctrine looks like in action.

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What must the Pharisees have thought of Jesus marveling and praising the centurion's faith?

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They were very religious. But in all of Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees and those who were taught their brand of self -righteousness all throughout

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Israel, Jesus had never found such faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please

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God. Hebrews 11, 6 says. The Jews had to have been stunned by this outcome, stunned by Jesus's high praise for the faith of this

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Gentile centurion. Yeah, sure. He built their synagogue, but he's still a Gentile.

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He still eats bacon. Right. Don't get me started on bacon.

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So he's still a Gentile. And they had to also be stinging from Jesus's tacit rebuke of their belief that their works make them worthy of God's gifts and grace.

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Jesus didn't say it explicitly, but he did say it. So now the story comes full circle for us.

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In the beginning of this account, we are told about a slave who was precious to his master, a master who was one who was put in authority over others.

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In this case, the one in authority is a centurion. And they are men put in authority over 100

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Roman soldiers. Hence the word centurion. The original prayer of the centurion was that Jesus might rescue, rescue, deliver safely through his precious servant.

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Now, if we stop to think about this very carefully, then we as Christians will find ourselves in a very similar situation.

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Consider this passage from Ephesians chapter one, verses 11 through 14. Paul writes, he says in him, we were chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory.

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And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised

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Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are

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God's possession are revealed to the praise of his glory.

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Scripture says we Christians are God's possession. Peter says this in First Peter to nine through 10, you are a chosen race.

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Christians, you are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are a people for his own possession.

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So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, once you were not a people, but now you are

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God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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Beloved, we belong to Christ. He has purchased us with his holy and precious blood.

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And Christ is not merely a man with authority over a hundred soldiers. He is the king of kings and he is the

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Lord of Lords. Or as it says in Hebrew, he is Yahweh Sabaoth, the

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Lord of Armies. Yeah, Jesus is not like that centurion.

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And unlike that centurion, Jesus is worthy. Keep that in mind.

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He is. And the scripture reveals that he is worthy for us. Revelation chapter five reads thus.

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John writing. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals.

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And I saw a mighty angel proclaim with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and to break it seals.

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No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.

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And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

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And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the light, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, he has conquered so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures.

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And among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

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And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

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And they sang a new song and listen to their song. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our

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God and they shall reign on the earth. Worthy.

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Unlike this Roman centurion, Christ is worthy, the praise continues in heaven, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

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Worthy is Jesus. Beloved, you are

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Christ's precious possession. His blood bought slave is what you are and all authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth has been given to Christ and he knows that you are sick to the point of death because of your sin.

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He knows that unless he speaks the word, you're not going to make it through. Your sin is too great.

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Your debt is way too massive to be able to pay. But he, like that centurion, is not about to let you die without desperately springing into action in order to rescue you.

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And so he did. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary for you.

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He suffered under Pontius Pilate for you. He was crucified for you.

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He died. For you, he was buried for you.

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He rose again from the grave for you. Because of this, here is our prayer.

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Lord Jesus, we are unworthy and we are sick with sin and nearing death.

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But you, Lord, are the one to whom all authority has been given. Therefore, speak the word,

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Lord, and we will be Dia Soutzo. We will be rescued and brought safely through.

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This is our prayer. How do you think Jesus will answer this prayer of faith?

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Will he turn you away? Be gone with you, you unworthy slave. Our worthy

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Jesus now answers this prayer. He speaks the word. And here it is.

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Are you ready for his word? Here it is. Forgiven. You are forgiven.

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You are made clean. Today, you leave this house healed and rescued.

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Your Jesus has brought you safely. So, do you have faith to believe these words, that same kind of great faith that Jesus praised in the centurion, or are you still trying to scrape together a list of good deeds that you've done in order that you can present them to Jesus to try to prove to him that you're worthy?

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Of his forgiveness, his mercy, his grace, and his miracles.

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I'll let you think about that in the name of Jesus. Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church.

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1 5 9 5 0 470th Avenue, Northwest Oslo, Minnesota.

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5 6 7 4 4. And again, that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church.

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1 5 9 5 0 470th Avenue, Northwest Oslo, Minnesota.

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5 6 7 4 4. We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.