Faith or Offense (Luke 7, Jeff Kliewer)

the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus, you paid it all on Calvary's tree. You were buried, and on the third day, on a

Sunday morning, you rose from the dead. And so we gather here in your name, because of your great sacrifice, because of your great victory over death, you are living.

You conquered death, and you are here. So we ask that you would make yourself known through the opening of your word.

That your word would speak to us, that we would hear from you. And Lord, that we would respond to you.

Work in our hearts that we would respond in faith, in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

So the book of Luke is a gospel that records the life of Jesus. And in the third chapter, we were introduced to a character named

John the Baptist. Now, John the Baptist is a preacher that you could probably rightly call offensive.

He's very offensive. If you will, just look at chapter three, verse seven. When a crowd filled with good people, bad people, relative to one another, came to see him, he addressed them this way.

You brood of vipers! Exclamation mark. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

He preached a message of repentance, calling sinful people to turn from sin to the true and living

God. And his delivery could easily be taken as offensive. But if you continue in chapter three, his primary purpose was not to introduce himself, but rather to introduce another.

He was the forerunner. He was the prophet that was sent ahead of Jesus to reveal the

Messiah. And so he tells them that this Jesus who he baptized is the

Son of God. If you look in chapter three, he baptizes Jesus. Verse 21, all the people were baptized and when

Jesus also had been baptized was praying, the heavens were opened. And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.

And here the Father speaks from heaven, saying, you are my beloved Son, with you

I am well pleased. And so John the Baptist has this great privilege to introduce the

Messiah to Israel, to hear the Father say, this is my Son. Mark that in your mind, because John the

Baptist will come up again in Luke chapter 7, where we are today. We will see

John the Baptist again in this chapter. But recall also from John the Baptist that he was a rather offensive preacher.

He came right at people with their need for salvation. He addressed their sin. And so it is today that when the message of Jesus Christ is preached, it calls for a response.

And there are really only two responses to the gospel. Now, it often looks like there's middle ground.

And for a time, there can be middle ground. While a person is hearing the gospel, but not quite sure what they're understanding and taking some time to process.

But by the end of their life, they will go in one of two directions. One of those directions is called faith.

And the other is called offense. In Luke chapter 7, we will see stark illustrations at this point in the text, as Luke has been introducing us to the

Savior. Jesus has been tempted in the wilderness. He began his ministry. He's going forth confronting enemies.

Disciples are being called to follow him. He's doing great miracles. And all of Israel is beginning to take notice.

Here at this point in the text, Luke chapter 7 is the point of response. And we will begin to see that there are two responses that happen here.

Some will have faith, like the centurion that will meet first. But others will be offended by Jesus.

And they will criticize him. And they will dishonor him. And ultimately, they will not believe.

So we will look at these two responses in Luke chapter 7. Let's read it, beginning Luke 7, 1 and following.

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.

So here in the story, we're introduced to a centurion. This is someone who commands 100 soldiers.

That's why you get the term century, 100 years. This is a centurion. He is in charge of 100 soldiers.

We learn that he's a Gentile. So he may be a Roman God -fearing person, because we'll learn that he is sympathetic to the

Jews. But he is not an Israelite. He is in charge of troops, commissioned by Herod under his authority.

In verse 3, when the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the

Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. So this is a culturally sensitive thing to do.

Rather than he himself not being a Jew, rather than going to Jesus himself, he sends some elders from the

Jewish people that he knows, that he has a relationship with. He says, go talk to the rabbi for me.

He sends them out. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, he is worthy to have you do this for him, to heal his servant.

For he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue. So this is a

God -fearing Gentile. Verse 6, and Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends.

So a second delegation now, because he sees that Jesus is actually coming to him. And his friends say to him,

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

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

For I too am a man, 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.

So this is the message that the centurion sends to Jesus. And notice how much of the text is taken up by this message.

The emphasis here in the text is upon the centurion and how he's responding to Jesus.

At the end, we'll get a passing reference to how Jesus does the healing. In verse 10, the servant is made well, but the emphasis here in the text is upon the response of this centurion.

How does Jesus take him? Verse 9, when Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him.

Notice that he's amazed by him. He's moved, there's some emotion with this. He's marveling at what this centurion says.

And turning to the crowd that followed him, said, I tell you, not even in Israel have

I found such faith. Interesting.

From this first story, we learn two things. First of all, that this person being a

Gentile would not be expected to have faith in the God of Israel. And so here,

Jesus is interested not only in Jews, but also in Gentiles. And so we learn that Jesus is not only interested in white

Anglo -Saxon males, or black men, or Asians, or women.

But Jesus is interested in everyone. That's the first thing we're learning from this.

This is a Gentile, and the text is pointing that out for us. And Jesus makes the reference, not even in all of Israel have

I seen faith such as this. But secondly, and I think the thrust of the text is on the kind of faith that this centurion has.

It's the first illustration for us. It should speak to us of what Jesus would want to see in us.

Not a sleepy faith, but an awake faith, an alive faith.

This is a faith that's confident in the person of Christ. And it's not so much what

Jesus will do for him, because he doesn't demand anything of Jesus, does he? His request is an asking.

Will you heal my servant? Please heal my servant. But notice that the faith is in Jesus' ability to do just that.

He uses himself as an example. As a centurion, I have 100 soldiers underneath me. If I tell this one, go and do that, and this one go over here and do this, they will do exactly what

I said. They respond to my authority, because of who

I am as the centurion in charge. How much more, Jesus, can you command sickness to leave my servant?

This is amazing faith, because it recognizes who it is that the centurion is dealing with.

This is a man who has charge over sickness. It's as easy for Jesus to heal the sick servant as it is for him to give a command to one of his servants.

The centurion gets it. He's dealing with God in flesh.

Only God can command a sickness to leave with the word, and it's gone. And notice there is a movement in America, and on TV especially, if you were to take as a sampling of American Christianity, only what you see on TV.

You would assume that the faith healers that are on TV are pretty much what a

Christianity is, nothing could be farther from the truth. Because the faith healers on TV are telling you that if you'll have enough faith, then

Jesus will do this miracle for you. And if he doesn't, well, evidently, there was something lacking in your faith.

Is that the message we should take for the centurion? No, his faith was not based on Jesus doing the miracle, but on that Jesus could do the miracle.

It was based in the person of Jesus, not this particular miracle given to him.

Now, he would love it, and he wanted Jesus to do the miracle. And Jesus responds powerfully, verse 10, when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

So the lesson is not that if you can muster up enough faith, then your sick relative will be made well.

But if you can't muster up enough faith, well, then Jesus just can't do the miracle. That's the implication that you'll see from TBN.

But no, the centurion believed in Jesus's ability to do it. His willingness was another question altogether.

But here we see verse 11 and following, that often he is compassionate to heal. And it is within his plan to heal.

Notice from 11 to 17, there's a second miracle. And this time, faith is not involved.

Soon afterward, he went to a town called Nain. And his disciples and a great crowd went with him.

As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out.

You think this dead man is gonna be able to exercise faith? No, he's dead. He can't exercise faith.

The only son of his mother. And she was a widow. And a considerable crowd from the town was with her.

Now, the widow could exercise faith. But in the text, all we see is that she's a broken woman.

She's at the end of her rope. Not only is she a widow, meaning her husband has died. And in that culture, that's a pretty desperate place to be, without a provider in the home.

Her husband is dead, now her son, her only son.

Verse 12, is dead. And she's in this procession, following along in a funeral procession.

In verse 13, and when the Lord saw her. Not how much faith she had, but saw her.

He had compassion. The emphasis here is on his heart being moved toward her. This healing will come from the freedom of his will.

From the freedom of his will to heal. And moved with compassion, he will do this.

Keep reading. He says to her, do not weep. Verse 14, then he came up and touched the buyer.

And the bearer stood still. And he said, young man, I say to you, arise.

Just put yourself in the crowd for a minute. Picture this, you've all been to funeral processions, haven't you? We've all been walking behind that casket to go out into that field to lay a body to rest.

Picture yourself part of that crowd. And Jesus stops the whole show and says, stop. And they all stop and look at him.

And he speaks to the dead body. In verse 15, and the dead man sat up and began to speak.

And Jesus gave him to his mother. Now look at the response, fear sees them all.

I'd be afraid. And they glorify God, saying, a great prophet has arisen among us.

And God has visited his people. I think they're speaking prophetically there. They don't really recognize that, yes, indeed, this is

God in human flesh. Born to a virgin, living a sinless life, God in the flesh.

But they say, God has visited us. Meaning that God has sent a prophet who's here. And they recognize he's heaven sent.

But literally, God is in their midst. Verse 17, and this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

So here is two examples of healing. And in each case, the healing comes from the freedom of Jesus' will.

He's moved by compassion in one sense. Another time, he is pleased with the faith of the centurion.

But now we will be introduced to a story of offense, at least for a moment.

And coming from a very unlikely source. If you haven't read the text for a while, you might be surprised who it is.

It's John the Baptist, verse 18 and following. The disciples of John reported all these things to him.

Now recognize, when you see all these things, that's calling us attention to something that just took place in the text, right?

So it's the healing of this dead son. And it even harkens back to verse 11, soon afterward.

So you have two events tied together. You have the healing of the centurion's servant, the healing of the dead man, two miraculous healings.

And now we see in verse 18, all these things. So reports of healings, dead people rising, servants being raised up.

All these reports are coming to John the Baptist, and it's beginning to blow his mind. He's thinking more about this one that he baptized.

Look at verse 19, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

These words are at the same time comforting and troubling. Comforting because if even

John the Baptist could have a moment of unbelief, or a wavering in his faith, there's hope for me, and there's hope for each of us.

Who of us, when something horrible happens, doesn't have a moment of wavering faith?

Just today, we found out that this little dog that we were hoping to adopt, that we've been following online, died.

So our kids had gotten really attached to Sheldon at the Mount Laurel New Life Animal Hospital.

So to hear that news is crushing on a little heart. And when something crushes your heart, and everybody here has experienced heartbreak, do you begin to look at God and say, are you really there?

Cuz you very easily could have snapped your fingers and said the word, and little Sheldon would be running around like a healthy puppy, and yet he died.

Is there a God? All of us are prone to waver in our faith. So the two responses are not meaning that there's either faith or there's unbelief, but rather, in the end, that's all that's left.

In the final conclusion, when we stand before the great white throne, we will have believed or we will have been offended.

And even if a believer wavers for a time, it's possible for a believer to depart, even for a number of years, and then come back to that first love from which the person wandered.

But that seed of faith remains, even if sometimes doubts creep in.

Here, John the Baptist, of all people, is having a moment. You guys have all had a moment.

He's having a moment of doubt. Now, why do you think that is? Well, he's probably processing everything. And back at that time, different people interpreted the

Old Testament in different ways. Some people expected there to be three messiahs, a prophet, a priest, and a king, because there were different promises.

The promises through David's line looked for a king. The prophet of Deuteronomy 18, 15 to 18, was a prophet like Moses to come.

How did they know that this would be all one in the same person? Many people didn't know that.

And John is trying to take all these bits of biblical data and weave it together.

And so he comes up with the question, are you the one who is to come? Or shall we look for another?

Who are you? Who are you, Jesus? So he sends his disciples to ask this question.

How does Jesus answer? And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

Now, just pause right there between verse 20 and 21. Cuz I think it's almost like Jesus hears the question, and he's like, hold that thought for a second, hold that thought.

And then look at verse 21. In that hour, he healed many people of diseases, and plagues, and evil spirits, and on many who were blind, he bestowed sight.

Unpause, verse 22, he turns back to say, what was that question you were asking again?

Please restate that, are you the one to come or is there another? Verse 22, he answered them, go and tell

John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear.

The dead are raised up, the poor have good news, preach to them. Answer, Jesus is the only one you need.

Jesus is the Messiah, he is the prophet, he is the priest, he is the king, he is the

Lord, he is your all sufficiency, you who have been searching in this life for meaning. And you're wondering, what is this life all about?

The answer is Jesus. You who have been raised Christian, but you're not sure that's all there is.

Maybe there's some other answers in other religions, in other prophets, in other teachings. The answer is

Jesus, don't look for another, he is everything we need. And if you haven't seen that yet, it's trouble with your eyes.

It's not trouble with who he is. John the Baptist was wavering, that's okay.

But in the end, Jesus reveals who he is. What testifies?

The blind eyes that now see, the open ears, he says. The dead who are being raised up like that son of that poor widow.

The poor have the good news preached to them. There is no God like our God. There's never been one in all of human history who raises the dead with his words, who stops funeral processions and says, get up dead man.

This is our savior, this is the only one we need. And that's the point he makes to Jesus, and so it's a break in this direction.

Recognize who I am, if your eyes can see who I am, says Jesus. You don't need anything else, there is no other.

Don't look for another, this is all there is. Now look at 24 and following, and when

John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. Once again, these are comforting words.

Cuz here's the guy that was just wavering for a moment. What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?

Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king's courts. What then did you go out to see, a prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written.

Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John.

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Verse 27 could be a sermon all by itself.

We've talked about this subject before. Jesus goes back in quotes from Malachi to show that Malachi, the

Old Testament prophet, prophesied a prophet who would introduce Jesus.

We learned in the third chapter that Isaiah did the same thing. Chapter 40, verses 3 to 5.

Isaiah had foretold the forerunner who's gonna prepare the way for Messiah. Jesus does the same thing here.

He points us back to Malachi to say, if Isaiah saw this and Malachi saw it,

John the Baptist is not speaking of his own authority. He was sent by God, and he's fulfilling prophecy.

And you can trust the one that he's introducing. So these verses build our faith, because if even the prophets are prophesied, there must be a

God who can tell the future. This is a trustworthy word. But continuing with the train of thought here, verse 28.

Jesus commends John for his faith. Although John had a moment of unbelief, let's remember who he is.

This is the guy, more than a prophet, who left everything and went to live in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey.

Dressed like a madman. People saying, he has a demon.

Why would they think that in the first place? Because he left everything and went to the wilderness and dressed like he did.

And yelled, you brood of vipers at everyone who came to see him. They thought he had a demon.

Jesus is commending this kind of faith. This is a man who left all to follow God. And now as he's coming to a fuller realization of who

Jesus is, the only one. He's a part of a kingdom. And that's what we're being taught.

If you see Jesus for who he is, if you trust in him, if you have faith.

Your faith might waver. You might have a faith that's like a mustard seed. But it's a genuine faith in the son of God.

You're greater than John the Baptist. You're sinless through the imputed righteousness of Christ.

Meaning, the death and burial of Jesus has taken your sin away. And he counts you as righteous.

He reckons you as righteous. And a full member of the kingdom, a child of the living

God, through faith. That's what faith can do. That's the response that John had to Jesus.

And that's what's being commended to us. Now, the offended ones. Recognize, guys, we live in a culture that takes great offense at Jesus.

My friend, I had the great privilege to lead this guy to Christ. He's an uncle, well, he's not technically an uncle.

I guess like an uncle second removed or something. I shared the gospel with him years ago. He became a Christian. But he emailed me this week and said,

I was sharing the gospel on Facebook. And your cousin, my cousin, his wife was offended by that.

And I think I might have ruined the relationship. And I emailed back saying, listen, you preach the gospel.

People will be offended by it. People will be offended by it. The world will be divided.

Jesus said, I come not to bring peace but a sword. And he didn't mean that in a hostile way.

He meant that to say that when the gospel is preached, it divides people.

Some people will be offended. When you claim that Jesus is the only way to the Father. When you say that he is the exalted one and all other so -called prophets, whether they have 6 million people or 2 billion people like Muhammad following them, that they have to bow and fall on their faces like everyone else.

Philippians 2, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When you start preaching that, when you say that Jesus is the only way, the truth, the life, people will be offended by you.

They will be offended. The gospel is offensive.

And it's foolish to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the wisdom and power of God.

Here's where we see it in the text, verse 29 and 30. When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared

God just. Declared God just, they declared him righteous.

They recognized the righteousness of God. Romans 3, 26 explains how

God is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in him.

Having been baptized with the baptism of John, there's group one. They heard this madman in the wilderness preaching repent of your sins.

And they repented. And they were dunked underwater. How foolish is that? To go underwater and come out of water in front of other people.

How foolish is that? But it's a marker. It's a marker on the outside that shows that something's changed on the inside.

It's an easy way to tell if someone, you're saying, have I been born again? Have I truly been saved? Well, one great marker to distinguish the difference.

Have I been willing to submit to the ordinance of baptism? Not that the water will save me, but if I've been born again, then why would

I not obey Jesus into the water? It's an outward symbol of something that's happened on the inside.

But now look at verse 30. These are the having not been baptized. Verse 30, but the

Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

There's the separation. Right in that parenthesis, verse 29 and 30, you have those who accept the message of Jesus, those who reject the message.

It's a dividing point. Those who have been baptized in John's baptism here, and those who have not.

Those who rejected, those who were offended at John the Baptist. That's the division in the text.

It's not the cultural thing to say at this particular point. Most preachers who want to tickle ears, who want to say what the culture wants to hear so that they can pack an auditorium, will not mention sin and this great divide, but this is the response of faith.

Either you respond in belief or you take offense at the message of Jesus. And we have to preach the text, don't we?

We have to stick with what the Bible says. We're gonna get an amazing illustration now here of this difference.

Jesus will comment on the offended. It's kind of funny actually if you get the comparison of what he makes here.

31 and following, to what then shall I compare the people of this generation? And what are they like?

The offended, what are they like? The Pharisees. They're like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another.

We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep.

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine and you say he has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

Yet wisdom is justified by all her children. Children sitting in a marketplace, calling out to passersby, trying to play a flute for them that they'll dance for them.

Or play a dirge that they'll mourn with them and nobody wants to play along. And so they start to cry about it.

Jesus compares the Pharisees here to crybabies. Look at these crybabies.

They're sitting in the marketplace crying because Jesus won't do what they say.

John the Baptist came eating and drinking and they complain about that. He has a demon.

The son of man eats with tax collectors and sinners. And they complain about that. They're complaining and whining about everything.

They're taking offense all the while. Verse 36 through 50 is a story that, as beautiful as the story of the centurion's faith is, we have a second picture of beautiful faith, of what faith genuinely is.

But juxtaposed to that now, we're going to get a picture of offense, all in the same story.

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. And he went into the

Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the

Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment. This is faith, guys.

This is a beautiful picture of faith. And standing behind him,

Jesus, at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.

And wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Again, just pause and picture that scene. Jesus in the Pharisee's house, and in comes a sinful woman.

We don't know what her sins are, but there could be any number of sins. Could be adultery, it could be that she's in some kind of prostitution.

We don't know precisely, but she's known as a sinner. And here she comes, and she's crying, and she's falling at his feet.

And she's crying so much, she wets his feet with her tears. And then she uses her own hair to wipe his feet.

This picture of just adoring love, and desperate plea for mercy.

She knows that she's a sinner. She doesn't even need to be told here. She knows her sin, and Jesus just lets this happen.

He allows himself to be adored in that way. On the other side, standing behind him, this is the woman.

And then verse 39, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.

Do you see, that's in his heart, that's what his heart looks like. And even in his heart, he's saying, yeah, he should know what this woman's really up to.

If he's really a prophet, well, guess what, buddy? He's reading your thoughts right now. He knows what you're thinking.

He knows the darkness in there. Guess what, and Jesus answering him, don't you love how

Jesus can answer someone's thoughts? And Jesus answering said to him,

Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it, teacher.

And when I read that in the text, it gives me this creepy chill in my body.

I just picture Simon, this Pharisee, sitting in the presence of Jesus Christ, the

Son of God, the creator of the farthest star, and the universe itself.

And this man looks him in the eye and says, say it, teacher. Do you see just that arrogance?

He doesn't know who he's talking to. The arrogance in that, say it, teacher.

I'm ready, bring it, what do you have to say? And so Jesus tells a parable.

A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50.

When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?

Simon answered, the one I suppose for whom he canceled the larger debt. And Jesus said to him, you have judged rightly.

And turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet.

But she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time

I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. And you did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little, loves little.

And now he turns to her on his right, and he said to her, your sins are forgiven.

Her act of adoring worship was just a beautiful picture of faith. But what

Jesus says back is a beautiful thing that each one of us needs to hear. And without it, we're lost.

Your sins are forgiven. It's better than being a crippled servant or a sick servant and being healed.

It's better than being a dead man raised. Those things are only physical. This is spiritual.

Your sins are forgiven. What better thing could he have said to her?

Because he can do it. And those who are at table with him began to say among themselves, who is this?

Who even forgives sin? You can picture them just seething with anger. Who does he think he is that he could forgive this woman's sin?

And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

And so this morning, we've been given two very stark pictures. And they're very different people.

And there's a big divide between them. On the one hand, you have faith, and faith that is genuine is worshipful.

It's not just that you walked an aisle as a kid and prayed a prayer. It's something that goes on from accepting

Christ as a savior to a continued life of faith, a continued life of worship.

When you come to church and you praise his name from a heart that adores him, that's like that woman.

You wet his feet with your tears when you confess your sin. When your sin breaks your heart and you cry about it.

And you confess your sin, that's still beautiful to him. These are the things that the genuinely saved do.

What else do the genuinely saved do? Well, right away, they get baptized. As foolish as that sounds, they're willing to go under the water in obedience to their savior, crucified with Christ, raised to walk in newness of life.

That's faith, but on the other side, is this offense.

Offended by the exclusive claims of Christ, by this claim that he forgives sins.

Claim to be God, it's offensive to the religions of the world. Call him a prophet, call him a teacher, call him a messenger from God, just don't call him

God, God alone forgives sins. So this morning, which are you?

Do you have faith, a genuine faith in the son of God? And will you go preaching that faith, preaching the message of this faith, of Jesus Christ, to others that they also can believe?

Or are you sitting offended by the savior who loves you so much?

He's willing to forgive any sin. This desperate woman is a great example for us. This centurion, this gentile is a picture.

All are welcome to come. The response of faith is what God is wanting.

Are you willing to place your faith in Jesus Christ? Worship team, will you come on up? I'm gonna give a moment here for those of you who you're not sure that you've ever accepted

Jesus as your savior. You've never responded or you don't know that you have to genuinely accept

Christ. And after that, we're gonna take communion. Because this bread and this wine pictures his body and blood shed for us.

We respond to him in continued faith, continuing to believe. Let's take no offense at him, but believe the gospel.

Let's pray. Father, we're so privileged to come into your word and to receive truth from you.

And as the author, Luke, here has laid out the difference between faith, genuine, adoring faith, and offense.

Lord, let each one of us be found in that camp of believers, to truly believe and worship you.

Lord, we come to you right now aware of our sin. And some of us are overwhelmed with our sins.

Maybe we think that there's no way that you would welcome us to your table.

There's no way that our sins could be forgiven. They're too many, they're too dark. But the truth of the word of God that we're hearing today is that you welcome sinners who will just humble themselves and come.

Come to the savior to be forgiven, to be made whole.

So, Lord, I just ask now that you would move in the hearts of people. If there's any here that are not yet believing, that are just too easily offended by the claims of this savior, open their hearts,

Lord God. And to those of you who maybe have never accepted

Christ, or you're not sure that you had genuine faith, why don't you right now just call on his name? Confess your sin to him, just begin to tell him those things, all of them.

Say you're not offended by him, but that you need him, that you need the savior. Confess that he died on the cross and rose from the dead.

Call on his name for salvation. Why don't you just call on that name in your heart right now?

Ask him to save you. You'll find him to be a merciful savior. So, God, now as we come to your table, we ask that we would respond as that sinful woman did.

Knowing that if it weren't for your body and blood, we would be lost, dead.

But through your death and resurrection, you offer us this new life. We come to this table thanking you, remembering your death on the cross, your resurrection from the dead.

Thank you for this bread and this wine. Jesus, amen. Ushers, will you come forward?