What Does Great Faith Look and Act Like?
Matthew 8:1-13
January 19, 2014
AM
Pastor Craig
Ledbetter
Bible Baptist
Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I.
Introduction (Matthew 8:10)
A.
What does great faith look
like? What does it act like?
1.
Do you imagine it looks like a
pious angel, or like a sweating athlete, or like a wrestling sumo-wrestler?
Struggling, striving to “believe” and trust God?
2.
Well, GREAT faith looks
nothing like what we imagine
B.
Great faith does some
embarrassing things
C.
Great faith comes out of
desperate times and troubles
D.
Great faith is what we all
need to have, every day of our lives!
E.
Let’s see just what it takes
to have great faith, effectual faith, powerful faith, real faith, life changing
faith, heart resting faith… By looking at TWO men’s faith in ONE Saviour!
II.
Background (Matthew 8:1-4)
A.
Jesus has been teaching all day
1.
Up on a mountain, He sat and
taught His disciples – His followers
2.
People gathered from all over
Galilee and sat and listened, and loved every minute of it
B.
Jesus had taught about…
1.
How blessed are the poor in
spirit– are the humble, and broken in chapter 5
2.
The value of MOURNING and
sorrow
3.
The importance of MEEKNESS
4.
Hungering and thirsting after
righteousness
5.
Being Merciful
6.
That Christians are Salt, and
Light in this dark and empty world!
7.
The Importance of the Law of
God
8.
Against Adultery and Lust
9.
Against Divorce
10.
About NOT Paying-Back Evil for
Evil
11.
And about giving your money
away
12.
Jesus taught How to Pray in
chapter 6
13.
About Pre-Judging People
14.
About False Prophets
15.
About False Believers
C.
When He was finished, He got up to go to Peter’s house in
Capernaum
D.
And, everyone just got up and followed Him, watching Him and
waiting to see if He would say or do anything else
E.
Except for one man, a
leper
1.
Pushed through the crowd
a.
He had heard enough that it
made him get up from the grass and walk right up to Jesus!
b.
That crowd of people, spread
apart at the sight of this leper. Why?
c.
Leprosy is a bacterial skin
disease that caused the skin to die and fall off
d.
Leprosy was very contagious
e.
No one wanted to catch this
man’s terminal disease!
2.
Yet, he walked right up to
Jesus
And let’s take a good look at what that
sick, weak, rejected leper does next…
3.
He worships Jesus!
4.
He believed on Jesus for the
impossible – and it was impossible to ask that someone actually HEAL leprosy!
5.
And then this desperate leper,
RESTED in Christ’s compassion and will – he left the result up to Jesus “if THOU
wilt!” THAT WAS ALL HE COULD DO!!! And it was ENOUGH!
F.
Jesus must have smiled
1.
When He reached out and
TOUCHED that leper
2.
And then replied, “I
will! Be thou clean”
3.
And then the impossible
happened! He became clean!
a.
No more hanging pieces of
flesh dangled from his fingers and face!
b.
No more oozing sores
c.
No more painful, sore, red
bruises all over his body
d.
He was whole! Perfectly
healthy
4.
And it all happened instantly!
5.
And it all happened because of
his FAITH in Jesus!
G.
The Leper’s Faith! This leper
had FAITH in Jesus
1.
Not just believing in His
existence – like some try and do
a.
That’s what that crowd had
b.
An enjoying faith – a learning
faith
c.
A faith that accepted Jesus
was a great Teacher
d.
But that was all the people
had
2.
This leper believed Jesus was
the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ!
Just like everyone who was ever born again in the Bible (Ethiopian Eunuch, Acts
8:37)!
3.
He had a kind of faith that
got him to talk straight to Jesus – no intermediaries, no mediators, no church,
or temples, or mosques – right to Jesus
4.
He had the kind of faith that
WORSHIPPED Jesus! WHO do YOU worship? This leper has more sense than most people
today! He knew to worship Jesus!
5.
He had the kind of faith that
would ask Jesus for the impossible – prayed right to HIM!
6.
And he had the kind of faith
that would let Jesus decide best what should happen in his own life, based on
Jesus’ will, not on his own!
H.
Everyone else had faith to HEAR Jesus… But THIS MAN had faith
to BELIEVE Jesus!
III.
Main Message
A.
A Roman Centurion Meets Jesus - The Desperation (Matthew 8:5)
1.
Not an off-chance meeting
2.
This Centurion went out of his
way to go and find Jesus, and the stop Jesus on His journey to Peter’s house
(8:14)
3.
This Centurion
a.
Was a Gentile – NOT a Jew –
not someone who should be interested in Jesus
b.
He was a Roman – that meant he
worshipped Idols, and Mythological gods like, Jupiter, and Mercury, Saturn and
Diana, Mars and Vulcan!
c.
More than that, he was a Roman
military oppressor!
1)
He was a soldier
2)
An army commander over 100 men
who maintained control of the people for Rome. That’s why he was referred to as
a Centurion!
4.
This Centurion had a servant!
a.
A very sick servant – a Jewish
servant! Somebody who worked for him
b.
He had the palsy – a paralysis
c.
Grievously tormented by the
palsy – in agonising pain
d.
The physicians could do
nothing for him
e.
He was so sick, he could not
be moved
f.
And this Centurion, this hard,
fierce, oppressive military man, loved his servant, and wanted him healed –
wanted him well!
5.
So the Centurion hears about a
man named Jesus
a.
He has never felt worthy of
actually being in Jesus’ presence before
b.
And yet he has heard what
Jesus has said
c.
Probably by the very servant
who was now sick
6.
And the Centurion decides to
risk embarrassment, and rejection, by asking Jesus to come and heal his servant!
B.
The Centurion’s Worship (Matthew 8:6)
1.
The Centurion doesn’t just
ask, he “beseeches” Jesus – begs Him!
a.
Romans, especially Roman
soldiers never “begged” anybody! They commanded!
b.
But here he was beseeching
Jesus to do something impossible – to completely heal his servant!
2.
The Centurion worships Jesus –
calls Him LORD!
a.
Do you know who the Romans
referred to as ‘Lord?’
b.
There was only one person they
were taught to call Lord… the one who was supreme commander of all men… the only
one who was the ultimate being in charge!
c.
Caesar!
d.
And yet this Centurion calls
JESUS Lord!
e.
Oh how important that little
word is, in our worship of Jesus!
3.
The Centurion ASKS Jesus for
an impossible thing – a miracle! NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!
a.
Did NOT ask for himself
b.
But for that Jewish servant,
laying on a bed back in his home
C.
The Lord’s Answer (Matthew 8:7)
1.
I can imagine all the people
following Jesus, seeing this Centurion and all his entourage fall before Jesus,
and their mouths dropping in utter shock!
2.
And when those close by heard
that Centurion ask for a miracle, they were amazed that such a man would even
believe in such things
3.
But the biggest surprise came
when Jesus said, “Okay, I will come heal him!” (8:7)
4.
You could have heard a pin
drop!
5.
Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, the
Christ of God, just simply agreed to go to a Gentile’s home and heal a lowly
servant. He promised he would come and heal him!
D.
The Centurion’s So Great Faith! (Matthew 8:8,9)
1.
His Faith
a.
Was not in his own importance
– he humbles himself!
1)
This Centurion was a very
important person in Capernaum – but in the presence of Jesus, he was a nobody!
Someone unworthy! Unworthy is a very strong word
2)
He does not say, “My
servant is not worthy that thou shouldest come into his chamber, because it
is in the garret;” But “I” am not worthy that thou shouldest come into my house.
3)
This Centurion was right! He
truly WAS unworthy!
a)
He was NOT a Jew – he was a
Gentile dog, like you and me!
b)
He was not innocent – had done
many things wrong as a soldier
c)
He was a sinner, separate from
the true God by his own sins!
b.
But
his faith was in the very
words that Jesus could speak!
1)
He rightly knew Jesus had
power to speak and command things to happen
2)
That Jesus had power in His
words
3)
Yes, Jesus could touch and
heal
4)
But Jesus didn’t have to
touch, to heal
5)
All Jesus ever has to do is
say what needs to be done, no matter how impossible, and it will be done!
c.
This Centurion believed that
Jesus could suspend the very laws of physics and walk on water, calm the raging
sea, raise the dead, and even heal his dying servant!
d.
People expected Jesus to go
and touch that servant, but this Centurion knew the power was in Christ’s WORDS!
e.
What are you holding in YOUR
HANDS right now? The words of God!
2.
His Reasoning
a.
The Centurion had great power
in his own words
1)
Commanded things to be done,
and they were done
2)
No one ever argued or
disobeyed his commands
3)
Why? Because the Centurion’s
power came from a power ABOVE him that gave him that power – his authority and
power came from Caesar!
b.
Well, the same was true with
Jesus’ power
1)
“I can control men…, but YOU
can control all things!”
2)
This Centurion knew that Jesus
could command impossible things to be done, and they would be done (Ps 33:8,9) “Let
all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”
3)
There would be nothing
impossible to Jesus!
4)
All because Jesus’ power was
given to Him from above – from His Father!
E.
Christ’s Praise (Matthew 8:10-12)
1.
It was then that Jesus must
have really smiled!
2.
He MARVELLED – Jesus was
AMAZED at what He just heard!
a.
This is one of only two times
when Jesus is said to have marvelled!
b.
He turned to everyone
following Him and praised this GENTILE, ROMAN CENTURION…
c.
Not because the Centurion was
GREAT, but because his FAITH was great!
d.
Here is a man, a Gentile man
using GREAT FAITH
e.
More than any Jew had ever
used before!
3.
Jesus BOASTS that the GENTILES
(you and me) will sit down one day with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven!
4.
He REBUKES the Jews… the very
people who SHOULD be believing, will be cast out and locked out of the kingdom
of heaven forever!
F.
Christ Speaks that Word (Matthew 8:13)
1.
You can return home now. The
word is given!
2.
As confidently as you have
believed, so have you received
3.
The Centurion’s servant was
miraculously healed at that very same time!
4.
And the Centurion was never
the same!
IV.
Conclusion
A.
Both that weak Leper, and this powerful Centurion had great
faith in Jesus Christ!
B.
But, we are like the crowds…
1.
We only love the teachings,
and even love to watch the miracles.
2.
But we are just tagging along
until we get bored
3.
And we never have anything
happen for us!
C.
Jesus here reveals the reason for so little faith among
Christians:
1.
So little humility – we think
we are pretty good! When we are NOT!
2.
Trusting in our good works, or
in our religion, or in this church or that church
3.
Instead of only in Jesus the
Messiah – in HIS abilities, as the resurrected Son of God!
4.
He has ALL power! (Matthew
28:18). And that means all power!
D.
We must trust Jesus
like the Leper, AND like the Centurion…
1.
That He will do right!
2.
And He will have compassion on
your need
3.
THAT, Faith, when placed
squarely on Jesus, will change not only our circumstances, but our very lives as
well
4.
Faith is rewarded in
proportion to our confidence in the authority and character of God.
“As
thou hast believed” (9:29,30; 15:28; 17:20; 9:23)
5.
It can save a soul!
E.
Hey, when was the last time that you:
1.
Pushed through the crowd to
spend time at the feet of Jesus?
2.
Humbled yourself before the
Son of God?
3.
Worshipped Jesus? Not just
“God” but worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ!
4.
Believed on Jesus for the
impossible!? For the forgiveness of all your sins!
5.
And then RESTED in Christ’s
compassion and will?
a.
Leave the result of your
asking, begging of Jesus up to Jesus “if
THOU wilt!”
b.
Thank God that Jesus does have
a will! And it is always right! Not willing than any should perish, but that
all, everyone in this room, should come to repentance! Today!
6.
That is when you will be enjoying “SO GREAT FAITH!”