AMAZING FAITH

LUKE 7:1-10

      Twice in Scripture, Jesus marveled.

•          Once for absent faith (Mk. 6:6)

•          Once for amazing faith (Lk. 7:9)

Here, a man exercised amazing faith in Jesus to work in behalf of another.

  I. Setting for faith (in Capernaum after the Sermon on the Mount)

Mt. 11:23 [ESV]. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

 II. Story of faith (a Centurion and a servant)

      A. Historical details

      Edersheim wrote, “The heathen Centurion is a real historical personage. He was captain of the troop quartered in Capernaum, and in the service of Herod Antipas.”

      Robertson wrote, “The centurion commanded a company which varied from fifty to a hundred. Each cohort had six centuries. Each legion had ten cohorts or bands (Acts 10:1). The centurions mentioned in the N.T. all seem to be fine men as Polybius states that the best men in the army had this position.”

Lk. 23:47 [ESV]. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!"

Acts 10:1-2 [ESV]. At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort,

 2. a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

      B. Human drama

          1. Slave

      Barclay wrote, “In Roman law a slave was defined as a living tool; he had no rights; a master could ill-treat him and even kill him if he chose.”

          2. Sickness

          3. Synagogue

III. Steps to faith

      A. The centurion heard the Word concerning Jesus.

      Andrew Murray wrote, “The power to believe a promise depends entirely, but only, on faith in the promisor. Trust in the person begets trust in his word.”

      B. The centurion faced a crisis of belief.

      In Experiencing God Henry Blackaby explained the crisis of belief as a turning point where you must decide what you believe about God. What you do reveals what you believe about God, regardless of what you say.

      C. The centurion acted in obedience to the Word.

      George Mueller said, “Faith has to do with the Word of God.”

      D. The centurion spoke by the merits of a mediator.

          1. Man’s judgment (1 Cor. 4:5)

          2. Self’s judgment (1 Tim. 1:15)

          3. Christ’s judgment (Mt. 11:11)

 IV. Speak in faith

      A. Unworthy before authority

      Edersheim wrote, “But in his self-acknowledged ‘unfitness’ lay the real ‘fitness’ of this good soldier for membership with the true Israel and in his deep-felt ‘unworthiness’ the real ‘worthiness’. . . for ‘the Kingdom’ and its blessings.”

      B. Utterance in authority

      St. Teresa of Avila declared, “You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”

      Warren Wiersbe said, “Faith is only as good as its object, and the object of faith is God.”

      J. Oswald Sanders said, “Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.”

Heb. 11:1. Faith means we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.

      C. Under the authority

      Morgan wrote, “When he said he was a man under authority, he meant that his life was completely submitted to a central will.”

“To him the emperor was the center of life.”

      D. Understanding of authority

      Vincent explained, “The centurion speaks in a figure. . . ‘I know how to obey, being myself under authority; and I know how others obey, having soldiers under me. If then I, in my subordinate station of command, am obeyed, how much more thou, who art over all, and whom diseases serve as their Master.’”

          1. Submission beneath authority bestows authority (Jesus submitted to the Father and operated with all the authority of the Father).

      Morgan said, “It means that the secret of his authority over his soldiers was his submission to the authority over him.”

“Because Thou art submitted to authority, Thou art in authority. . . .”

“Thus being for ever under that authority, He was in the place of complete authority, over demons, over disease, over all the forces of Nature.”

      Wiersbe said, “It is worth noting that only those who are under authority have the right to exercise authority.”

          2. Statement as an authority activates all authority (Jesus spoke as the Son of Man with all the authority of the voice of God).

  V. Salvation by faith

      A. If Jesus saved, He would save.

      B. If Jesus sought, He would help.

      C. If Jesus sacrificed, He was worthy.

      E. If Jesus spoke, He was there.

      F. If Jesus submitted, He was Lord.

      G. If Jesus started, He would finish.