Healing a Centurion's Servant | Frank Brancato

It's wonderful to be here with all of you today.

In looking out over our audience, it looks like we have

several of our members that are missing today.

They're travelling and in other places or some are ill, but we

have some visitors here that are among us too.

And we're so thankful for your presence.

And some are travelling from other congregations stopping

with us to worship here today. And some folks are from the

community. And we want you to know that you

are our honored guest if you consider yourself a visitor here

today. As always is the case, I do

consider it a privilege and an honor to speak concerning the

Word of God. I hope and pray that everything

that we have to consider here for a little while this morning

would be edifying to you and encouraging to you in some way.

We're continuing our series in the Gospel according to Matthew,

and we just finished a year and a half long series on the

greatest sermon ever preached, Matthew 5-6 and seven, the

Sermon on the Mount. It was the Lord's masterpiece.

We learned all kinds of stuff about the Sermon on the Mount.

And last time I began in chapter 8 as Jesus continues his work,

his Galilean ministry, and he does so by performing miracles.

And you remember last time we talked about the first one that

Matthew records, and that is when Jesus cleansed a leper and

the significance of that miracle.

You remember also that we made the point that there's actually

a connection or some similarities between how leprosy

is viewed in the Bible and they're similar to how sin is

viewed in the eyes of God. For example, leprosy is as

disgusting for a person to look upon as it is for God to look

upon sin. The point is, there's a

difference between leprosy and sin.

And here it is. You remember from last time,

leprosy attacks an innocent victim, but sin is a choice.

And even though in our life we may have been a victim of some

circumstance or of some sort in our life, it doesn't give us

justification to make bad or sinful choices for the rest of

our life. We learned a great deal about

that miracle Jesus performed so long ago.

Now he comes to number 2, the second miracle as recorded by

Matthew, and that is when Jesus is going to heal a centurion's

servant. Now, if you look at these verses

and you know me and those of you that do, there's no way that I

can do an expository sermon on that many verses and cover it in

one lesson. I can't hit every single point.

I just can't. That's not the way I am.

So there's going to be some things that I'm going to narrate

earlier on in this story when Jesus heals this man and the

significance of it will make some points.

And then we'll dive in from verses 10 on a little bit deeper

in the application, and we'll make that application today.

But let's just go back and begin in Matthew chapter 8 and verse

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

5. The Bible says when Jesus had

entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him pleading with him.

First of all, I'm going to talk to you about Capernaum for just

a moment. Capernaum is one of the most

significant cities in the Galilean ministry of Jesus.

It was located or situated on the western shore of the Sea of

Galilee. It actually became his home

instead of Nazareth. In fact, the Bible says in

Matthew Chapter 9 and verse one this place was called his own

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

city. It was a very significant place.

It was a place, I guess you might say, that became really

the closest thing that the Lord had to a permanent place on

earth. And we know he did not have a

permanent place on earth. His permanent dwelling place is

in heaven. But for a brief stay, the

closest thing that he could actually call home at this

particular point in his ministry was the place called Caperna.

It's a place where Peter lived. It's a place where there was a

synagogue and Jesus preached in those synagogues.

It was a place that he performed many miracles and he did so

every day. But very sadly.

Please get this. Because of their unbelief.

Yes, because of their unbelief. We're going to talk about

unbelief in this lesson a little bit.

Because of their unbelief, this once ancient, beautiful city was

destroyed as Jesus promised that it would.

I actually read that today in the city of Capernaum, the only

thing that remains are some ruins of a few houses and I

don't know if this is true, but this is free as my father-in-law

would say. This is no charge on this.

Some say or tradition says that one of the houses whose ruins

are there was Peter's. I don't know if that's true or

not, but that's what they say. I also read that there's only

one synagogue left in the city of Capernaum.

It was completely destroyed as Jesus said that it would.

It was this place that this man came to Capernaum, and there was

a man by the by a by as referred to as a centurion.

And he comes to him and he's pleading with Jesus.

Who was the centurion? First of all, the word centurion

is the title of one of the officers of a Roman legion.

The word literally means a ruler of 100.

He was a man of prestige. He was a man of power.

I actually read that centurions were the moral fibre of the

army. They also had to possess the

qualities and the capabilities to fight and the capabilities to

command and the capabilities to lead in peacetime operations.

Quite an important man, this centurion that comes to Jesus.

I like what one man said, though he says that beyond, what beyond

went beyond? This man's military prowess

though was greater. His arm was mighty.

But his heart was kind. Luke said that he loved the

Jewish people and he loved their nation and even personally built

them a synagogue as found in Chapter 7 of Luke one through 5.

He was a man that was not a. Full Jewish proselyte.

Now, what is a Jewish proselyte? A Jewish proselyte is someone

that is a gentile by blood. And by the way, that's, I think

everybody in this room, unless you're Jewish by blood.

And I don't think there is anyone here, but if there is,

I'm sorry. I missed you.

A Jewish proselyte is a gentile, which is anyone else but a

Jewish person by blood that was converted to the religion of

Judaism. This gentile man was obviously a

man of God, or obviously a God fearing man I might say, but he

wasn't a full proselyte. He was probably like Cornelius

as described in Acts chapter 10. OK, he's a man of great

Acts 10 · chapter mention

authority, but he recognizes something very important.

Please get this. He knows he's very important.

He knows he's got a lot of authority.

He knows he's got a lot of power.

But he sees Jesus and he recognizes Jesus is greater than

I am. You know, I think that's a great

picture there. I don't care who you are.

I don't care where you come from.

I don't care if you're the president of the United States.

You know, the leader of the free world is the most powerful man

on earth. They say, I don't care who you

are or where you came from, Jesus is greater than you.

This was a man that had 100 people to his subordinate and he

was leading 100 men. He was a very powerful man, but

he recognized Jesus was greater than he was.

And he comes to Jesus and he pleads with him.

Now verse six, he says, Lord, my servant is lying at home

paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. I want to talk about the word

Lord for just a moment, please. When you look at the word Lord

in the Gospels, it is not necessarily the word Lord that

we use when we describe our Lord and Savior.

In fact, the word comes from the original word D de scalos, and D

de scalos is translated in three different English words.

It's translated Lord, it's translated Master, and it's

translated Servant. In the New Testament.

One scholar said, if you want to notice what our common

vernacular might call that word Lord that this man uses, it

would be the term of respect that we often refer to as Sir.

So he didn't necessarily recognize Jesus as Lord and

Savior. What did he recognize?

That Jesus was a man to be respected.

Jesus was a powerful man and he had the ability to heal his

servant just like that leper did before.

OK, interesting observation though if you look at the New

Testament and you read when the Bible describes the Roman

centurions, every one of them is described in a favorable way.

You know when Jesus was hanging on the cross and the earth did

quake? And all the events that happened

surrounding the cross and Jesus is at the cross.

Do you remember that centurion at the foot of the cross?

What did he say? Matthew's account says this.

He says truly, this was the Son of God referred to as a

favorable way here. This man is referred to in a

favorable fashion too. And it's I think it's kind of

interesting. And this is maybe me just

speculating, but I kind of think maybe these men became believers

in Jesus and followed Jesus as they should.

The man comes to Jesus. He says, Lord, my servant is

lying at home, paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.

The word servant means young child.

And I got to make a couple of points here because anybody here

that's seen the movie The Chosen knows exactly what I'm about to

say. So let's just go through this

and let's find out who their servant could have been, might

have been, and in all practicality was according to

the scriptures and not Hollywood's license.

OK, let's stick to the scriptures.

He comes to him and Matthew uses the word servant.

It's this word here in the original, and it means young

child. OK, so the first thing that you

might think is he was a young child.

However, not so fast, many scholars say, including brought

us that the word here in its origins that is translated young

child can refer to any servant or any slave of any age.

So that's what we know for certain.

What else? How about Luke's account?

Luke uses a different word when it says my servant.

Luke uses this word. It's the word doulos and it

means a slave. Whoever this was, he was a

slave, OK? It's very possible, some

scholars say, that he was born into the family of the

Centurion, and that's the reason for the great connection.

Here's what. They did in the chosen because

of this, because he could have been a young child, because he

was probably born into the family of the centurion.

This is the Hollywood license that they took.

They said he was the centurion son and the centurion son came

as the product or as the offspring of a adulterous

relationship that the centurion may have had with a female slave

and therefore this was his own son and that was the reason that

he loved. Him so very much.

I don't read that in the Bible. That's a stretch.

I guess anything's possible, but I don't read that.

What I read is this. This was a man that was strong

mightily, but he had a kind heart and he loved this servant.

He loved this slave. He was a treasured member of his

household. OK, then the Bible says he was

paralyzed. You know, some say that this was

this meant that he had spinal meningitis.

Some say it was a progressive paralysis with respiratory

spasms or even tetanus. Whatever it was, Jesus says I

will come and I will heal him. I think these are beautiful

words and they show the concern that the Lord has, and it shows.

It reveals also that Jesus is always willing to help those who

cannot help themselves. That's the Lord that we serve.

In other words, He's willing not only to grace the presence of

the centurion's home, but also he's willing to bring his power

and he's willing to heal him. But I've got to make a point

here. Jesus is not going to impose His

will on the home of the centurion, OK?

He never says I will come to your house and heal him until

he's invited. You see the picture there?

Jesus will never enter your home until he's invited.

Jesus will never enter your heart until he's invited.

The Bible says he's standing and he's knocking.

Like that song we used to sing. He's knocking at your heart's

door. The door knob of that door is on

your side on your heart. You have to open it.

Jesus never imposes his will. And if you want Jesus in your

home, and you want Jesus in your life and you want Jesus in your

heart, you got to. Open it and invite him in.

We're going to talk about how you do that, not generically,

specifically later on, but you have to open it.

You have to invite him in. There's another time when Jesus

was the morning of the resurrection.

In Luke chapter 24, Jesus meets with those two disciples on the

Luke 24 · chapter mention

road to Emmaus, that little village, and they travelled

about 7 miles. And Jesus allows them to

unburden their aching hearts, and then he begins to preach

himself from the Old Testament scriptures to them.

They had no idea at the time that it was Jesus.

And finally, what did they say? Didn't our hearts burn within us

when he showed up? The scriptures, the things about

himself along the way, powerful thing.

They were moved by the Word of God.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Great picture there. What happens when they got to

Emmaus? They arrived at Emmaus and the

Bible says Jesus acts as though he's going to keep on walking on

by and they peeled off like they were going to their home in that

village. And what did they do?

The Scripture says they compelled him to go with them.

Jesus wasn't going to impose himself.

They had to ask. They had to want.

Jesus. And it was only after the

centurion's request that Jesus says I will come and heal him.

But the centurion said this, he said, wait a minute, I'm not

worthy. I'm not worthy that you should

even come into my home. I know that you're a man of

authority though, and I know that you could speak the word

and my servant will be healed, he said.

I know that because I'm a man of authority too.

He said. I can say to this servant over

here go. I can say to that servant over

there come, I can tell somebody what to do and they will do it.

He said so I know that you could speak those words, and my

servant will be healed. Now verse 10, here's the

response. Now we're going to begin our the

last part of our lesson and we'll get deeper into these

things here. When Jesus heard it, he

marvelled. You know, it's amazing to me

when I looked at this. Who are we talking about here?

We're talking about Jesus. We're talking about the Son of

God. And you know, when the Bible

talks about Jesus as the Son of God, it means he was fully

divine. Our Messiah was fully divine.

You know what that means? Means he knows everything.

So how is it possible that someone that knows everything

that's fully divine was at the very beginning of creation and

everything that was created, He was there helping to create.

He was spotless, He was sinless, He was all those things, and yet

in a physical sense, he marvelled.

That is amazing to me, but I love it.

You know why? Because not only was Jesus the

Son of God, which means he's fully divine, it also says he's

the Son of man, which means he's fully human.

Didn't mean he had earthly parents, meant he was fully

human. So our Messiah that we love,

that we serve, that died for our sins is such not only fully

divine, but he's fully human. And he felt all the emotions

that even me and you had. Can you imagine that?

Here it is. You got this centurion.

And he says, no, I'm not worthy. You should come into my house to

speak the words. And he's shocked at that.

He marvels at that of this man's faith.

He possessed that human emotion, and because of that he was

suddenly surprised at such a demonstration of his faith.

And then he says this. And he said to those who

followed, assuredly, I say to you, I have not found so great

faith not. Even in Israel now please get

this. Think about all the Jewish

people that would have heard what Jesus said.

And you know what he's saying. He was saying that Roman

Gentile. Is greater than them.

I haven't even seen that great a faith that this Roman Gentile

had. I haven't seen it in all of

Israel. And by the way, think about how

Israel felt about the Gentiles. They hated the Gentiles.

You know why? Because under the Old Testament

law, the Jews were God's chosen people.

The Gentiles were considered among the heathen and we're

going to get into actually the mindset in the thought process

that the Jewish people actually had about Gentiles.

That's why I love this. That's why they had no clue.

They had no idea. But Ephesians chapter 3 says

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

that it was always God's plan, just not revealed yet.

It was always God's plan that Jewish people that are faithful

believing Christians and Gentile people that are faithful

believing Christians are those that are going to be in one body

and they're going to be in the one saved body.

And that is the body of Christ, of the church, the Kingdom.

Wow, that is wonderful. But you know what they thought

about the Gentiles. They're.

Rotten. We don't like those guys.

You know what Jesus says? I haven't even found so great a

faith as that Roman centurion Gentile.

I haven't found such great faith, no, not even in Israel.

Now, by the way, this in a magnified sense is a

condemnation of Israel itself. It really is even the Jews in

Israel. It's a comic condemnation of

Israel itself. And here's why it's true.

And we know that, that most Jewish people living under the

Jewish religion back then and still today do not recognize

Jesus Christ as the Messiah. That's a fact.

There were many times when Jesus was walking on the face of the

earth that people thought he was a good man, but they didn't

think he was the Messiah. The messianic prophecy that goes

all the way back to the Old Testament, what do they want?

They wanted a Messiah. They just missed the one they

got. They rejected the one that they

got. They thought he was going to

establish an earthly Kingdom and finally lift the oppressive

thumb of Rome and get that off their back.

And it was going to be more of a political, worldly thing, right

They. Misunderstood.

They misunderstood about the Messiah.

Many Jews back then didn't accept him as the Messiah, and

many Jews even today do not accept Jesus as the Messiah.

That's point #1. Here's point #2.

Some Jews believe then, and some Jews don't believe today.

Or some Jews believe today. Some believe then, some believe

today, right? But what's different?

They lack, many lack the commitment to Jesus, the

reverence for Jesus, the humility it takes to come to

Jesus, and they lack what this man had.

I think this is beautiful because this was a man that

didn't have the privileges of all the aspects of Judaism.

He didn't have those privileges. He didn't know about that.

And by the way, you know what else he didn't know?

This is amazing. They didn't know all the

prophecies of the Messianic Kingdom.

They didn't know anything about that.

He knew nothing about that. And yet he has greater faith

than all the Jews. As a result, Jesus says, I've

never seen anyone like him. And the Jews were originally

God's people. They were the ones for whom the

Messiah first was sent, but I love this.

Ultimately Jesus came for the entire world and his account

encounter with this Gentile hints of the universality of the

Messianic Kingdom. Notice Matthew chapter 8 and

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

verse 11. Here's what I mean and I say to

you that many will come from the east and the West.

That's amazing. He's telling them, if you can

just imagine how they feel about this, I haven't seen anyone like

this Roman gentile in all of Israel.

Then he said this. I say to you that many will come

from the East and the West. Who's that?

Who are those that comes from the East and the West?

I'm going to tell you the ones that come from the east and the

West. That's me and you.

That's the Gentiles, what they thought about the Messianic

Kingdom and what they thought about God's relationship with

man and what they thought about Judaism.

What he's saying is this, you're mistaken and you're wrong.

I'm telling you this, there's going to be those that come from

the East and the West. That's Gentiles.

That's me and you, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

in the Kingdom of heaven. Let me give you some Bible about

that. Acts 13 to 46 Then Paul and

Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of

God should be spoken to you first.

Who is that? That's the Jewish people.

OK, but since you, the Jewish people, rejected it and noticed

this phrase and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we

beat we. Turn to the Gentiles.

Now I got to make a point of clarification here, because

guess what? Nobody's worthy.

Nobody is worthy of everlasting life.

That's true. That's why we are saved by

grace, which is unmerited favor, which is a gift that you don't

deserve. God gives us what we don't

deserve, and that is grace or eternal life when we obey Him.

And God doesn't give us what we do deserve.

That's mercy, and that's to be. Lost when we obey Him, He

doesn't give us that. He shows us mercy, right?

So if nobody's worthy and the Bible says there's none,

righteous, No, not one, what does this phrase right here

mean? You judge yourself unworthy of

everlasting life. Here's the answer.

The answer is found in this passage.

Those that reject it judge themselves unworthy of

everlasting life. The flip side of that is this.

Still saved by grace, still a gift, unmerited favor.

But the flip side of this is if those that reject it deem

themselves unworthy of everlasting life, then the

opposite is those that accept it judge themselves.

Worthy of everlasting life, not based on our own merits.

It just means this. You're a candidate for

everlasting life when you accept it and accept the terms.

Paul and Barnabas talked boldly to the Jews and said this and

says, because you have rejected it and judged yourself unworthy

of everlasting life. Then he says, we turned to the

Gentiles. OK, The Jews, by the way, are

descendants of Abraham. And what he's saying though is

this. He's saying that non Jews will

take precedence at the Messianic banquet.

And that's when he says right here, this phrase will sit down

with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven.

The phrase sit down actually means this.

It means to recline as at a banquet table.

You know, this phrase or this term actually initiated with the

Persians or this concept here. It was later adopted by the

Greeks and the Romans and also the Jews.

And it's referring to leaning back or reclining on someone at

a low table. At a banquet.

That's what it's referring to, interestingly, But it's

interesting in the Scriptures how things have changed.

Jesus is using this phraseology right here of sitting down,

meaning this is a good thing, this is coming to the banquet

feast. This is talking about heaven,

and they're going to be reclined in heaven and have a place of

celebration and a place of rest and all that.

But that word, or that phraseology in its origins,

really had a negative connotation going back to the

Old Testament. It was used to describe people

that were lazy. By the way, I got to tell you,

God has never appreciated laziness or sluggard or somebody

that didn't take care of their responsibilities.

Amos refers to the same phraseology as.

Being at ease at Zion, it's the same kind of concept, same kind

of thing. So what once was a very negative

connotation, it had changed in time.

And Jesus is using this sitting down, which is this reclining at

a banquet table to describe what it's going to be like in heaven

one day. Brought us said it this way.

The person reclined, leaning on his left elbow so as to take

food from the table with his right hand, while the feet

extended obliquely to the outside of the couch.

Thus the feet could be washed while one was reclining.

What he's saying is many are going to come from the east and

the West and are going to have this position in heaven, and

they're going to be with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the

Kingdom of heaven. In other words, this really

shocked. Them.

You know why? You know what they thought?

They thought that it was the Jews themself that we're going

to be with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all those heroes under

Jewish faith, and they were going to be the ones that were

going to be there. You know what Jesus says, Not

you. No, it's going to be those from

the East and the West. It's going to be those Gentiles

or believing Christians. OK, something else too that they

believed. And I thought this was

interesting. I didn't know this and study

this, but I thought it was interesting.

I'm going to share it with you. One of the greatest.

Things that they believed or felt.

And I'm talking about the Jewish people that thought that they

were going to get to go to heaven, right?

One of the greatest things that they felt is not.

Only were they going to enjoy being in the presence of God and

the presence of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the heroes and

all that stuff, right There was more.

One of the great blessings to a Jewish person was.

They were going to be there and the Gentile would not be there.

That's a terrible attitude. I got to tell you something.

I've tried to do my best to devote my life to preach in the

gospel, and I know what the Word of God says in order for a

person to be saved, and I'm going to preach that for the

rest of my life. But I'm going to tell you

something. If God decided to change his

mind and let everybody in, I'm good with that.

If that's what God chooses to do, He says he won't do that.

But if he did, if he decided to let everybody.

And anyone into heaven, I'm not going to have a.

Problem with that, what the Jews thought is the Jews thought is

we're getting in and they're not, and they took great pride

in that. That's a terrible attitude to

have. I don't think we should ever

have the mindset or the attitude that we're going to be glad that

we're saved and somebody's lost. I think that is a terrible

attitude. We should never have the

attitude that somebody else or be happy that somebody else has

lost and didn't make it. In fact, I read something about

the 23rd Psalm. You know, the 23rd Psalm.

It says thou preparest a table before me in the presence of

mine enemies. That's a beautiful thing, right?

You know what Jewish rabbis interpreted that passage to mean

right here? This is what they actually

believe It to me that a table is going to be spread exclusively

for the Jews within sight of the Gentile enemies, leaving these

outcasts to watch. And shame.

And in anger. Jesus says no, anyone that comes

to Jesus, we'll get to that in a minute.

No matter who you are or where you're from, Those Gentiles in

particular are going to be reclining with Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven.

And then he says about what the fate they're going to go

through. And here it is in the next

verse. But the sons of the Kingdom will

be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and

gnashing of teeth. What is that?

Here's another shockwave that ripples through the crowd as

he's concluding this particular narrative.

And that is this. Not only are the Gentiles going

to get into heaven, but the Jews, the sons of the Kingdom.

By the way, that is a phrase that is used, a common Hebrew

idiom referring to Abraham's legal descendants.

In other words, what he's saying is this.

Abraham's legal descendants are not getting in.

You know why? You know why?

Because you can't go to heaven without Jesus.

Anybody got a problem? With that, Jesus says no one

comes into the Father except through me.

So I don't care how good they thought they were under the law

of Moses, if you can't go to Jesus, you can't go to heaven.

So what he's saying is the Gentiles that accept Jesus,

they're going to get in, but the sons of the Kingdom or those

that were legal descendants of Abraham that reject Jesus, they

are not getting in. The Lord's point is this.

Abraham's true descendants are those who combine a faith in

Christ with good works. John chapter 8 and 39, they

John 8 · chapter mention

answered and said to him, Abraham is our father.

Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do

the works of Abraham. Here's another passage,

Galatians 3:00 and 9:00. So then those who are of faith

are blessed with believing Abraham.

Who's going to be blessed? Those of faith, the sons of the

Kingdom that reject Jesus. What's going to happen?

They'll be cast into outer darkness.

You know, these next two statements are some of the

saddest statements in the Bible. And I promise you something when

I'm done with this lesson, I'm going to tell you some good

stuff. But right now I got to come to

this part of this verse and I got to tell you some bad stuff.

In particular, and in the context, Jesus was saying that

those in the Kingdom or. Those sons of the Kingdom, those

Jews that rejected Jesus, they're going to be cast out

into outer darkness. That is a picture of you know

what it is? It's hell, it's what it is.

They're going to be lost. The point is God severely

punishes. Please get this.

God severely punishes those who reject His Son.

Can you imagine how it must be in the eyes of God?

By the way, I'm not God and I do believe that Bible passage.

It says that God's thoughts are not my thoughts, His ways are

not my ways, and he's so much higher than me.

I'm nothing in the eyes of God. I'm nothing compared to God, but

I can just. Picture in my human mind.

As somebody that actually is a parent and a father, and I can

kind of relate in one aspect when I do something for my

children. And then they decide to reject

it. That's painful.

Can you imagine how it is for God, who is so much superior to

me and who has done greater things for His children than I

could ever do for anyone in this world by sending Jesus to die

for our sins? What?

Do you think God thinks when He looks down and sees people

reject him or looks down and sees people that turn their back

on Him and stop serving him? How must that feel to God?

We had a great Bible study this last week and you know the older

I get I think I've changed how I feel about things.

I remember we used to have singings here at Plans Rd.

Many of you have. Go back that far and you will

remember when a brother used to sit right here, when the one of

the great song leaders in our congregation set right here.

And I remember he would get up during our singings, lead a

song, and then he would stop and say, wouldn't it be great if the

Lord came back right now? And I used to think that's a

wonderful concept. And I do believe that we long

for the coming of Jesus. But the older I get, I want

Jesus to come back. Yeah, that's true.

But not now. And I'm going to tell you why.

Stay with me. I haven't got off the

reservation because I know that there are people that are not

living right that still have good, honest hearts, and I want

God to give them time. I know about that personally.

I also know there's a lot of people in this world that are

wonderful people that don't know Jesus, but they're wonderful

people with great hearts. I want God to give them time

too. I used to preach a sermon and I

used to make the point, if the Lord came back today, would he

be an intrusion in your life? And I still believe that there's

a difference between, by the way, having the Lord come back

and not wanting the Lord to come back because I just got a lot of

stuff to do. I got a lot of worldly stuff I

want to do and participate in or whatever it is.

There's a big difference between that and wanting the Lord to

tarry because there are good, honest souls that still need to

come back. Big difference.

I longed for the time when the Lord had come back, but I want

Him to come back at a time when He gets us all.

That's what I want. It's in His hands, only God

knows. And by the way, one final thing,

I'll slip it in. This is this is me.

This is my opinion. I think there's a reason why the

Bible says that God is the only one that knows when God, when

Jesus is going to come back. Only God knows Jesus is my

Father only, not the angels in heaven.

I think there's a reason you've heard me say it before.

I'm going to say it again. I think the.

Reason is, is because God hasn't made that determination of when

that's going to be yet because there are still good, honest

hearts. What did God do in the Old

Testament? When God was done, He was done.

He destroyed the world with the flood, He destroyed Sodom and

Gomorrah. He said I won't, I won't destroy

it. If there's just 10 righteous

souls, I'll spare it for 10 righteous.

But there wasn't. When God's done, he's done.

I don't care what people try to tell us about how this world's

going down the hill and this country's gone.

Whatever you want to say, hey, man, it ain't as bad as it once

was and we can look optimistically to the future and

take the gospel to good, honest people hear Jesus talking about

the lake of fire, but you know what Jewish tradition, they

didn't get it. They.

Didn't understand this. You know what the Jews thought

he said. The sons of the Kingdom that

reject Jesus going to go to outer darkness.

What they believed, according to Edersheim is Jewish tradition

maintained that the Gentiles will be consigned to the darkest

valley of Hinnom. By the way, that is a city waste

dump where fires burned all the time.

It was a city waste up where things were thrown there and so

forth, just like a dumped wood and fires burned all the time,

right? OK, That is the picture of what

Gehenna hell is, the lake of fire.

Jewish sinners, this is what they believed.

Because of the merit of circumcision, they will be

delivered from this awful place. In other words, because of the

covenant of circumcision under the old law of Moses, it didn't

matter what they did therein is. That what Jesus just said.

Jesus says the opposite. And at the judgement, evil doers

will be banished from the light of God's presence.

And then I want to notice this last phrase here.

They'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Weeping is in contrast to happiness.

It is the messianic feast happy, the banquet happy, joyful.

Opposite of that outer darkness weeping.

You ever notice about this phrase gnashing of teeth?

I used to think it meant it's going to be so painful.

It's kind of like if you've ever had to endure any pain you ever

had any pain. Hurts.

Hurts. Yeah.

And you grimace. OK.

I used to think that's what it means, not what it means.

The phrase gnashing of teeth is not referring necessarily to

pain. It's referring to anger.

It's referring to anger. Can you imagine somebody that

falls into the category being an outer darkness?

They're going to be weeping and anger.

Why is that? When you arrogantly assume that

your fate is sealed for good, and you find out that it is not,

and it's because of what you. Did.

Wow. That is a fate that I did to

myself when the Lord said to obey and then I decide not to

and I don't make it. That is a fate that I did to

myself and I got what was coming to me.

If I make heaven, it's not going to be what was coming to me.

It's going to be a gift. OK, but if I don't make heaven,

it's my fault. It is my fault.

And I think really when the Bible says it's worse for

someone that once knew and left, I think the phraseology just

means this. I don't think the punishments

worth worse. I think the mindset to know for

eternity, it didn't have to be that way.

I think that's what that means. If you don't know what you don't

know, then you don't know what you don't know.

But if you didn't know and then you rejected it, you're going to

know for eternity and then you're going to want one more

day. Unfaithful Jewish people moan

because of their self-inflicted faith.

Fate, the invitation they arrogantly assume is in the

mail, as one man said, is in reality delivered to the

faithful. This phrase right here, gnashing

of teeth, is referring to anger. Let me just give you a couple of

scriptures about that. In Job 16 and 9.

He tears me in his wrath and hates me.

He gnashes at me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his gaze

on me. OK, remember when Stephen was

about to be stoned to death and Stephen is standing there and

Stephen looks up into the heavens and he says, I see Jesus

standing on the right head of God.

They were so angry. You know what they did when they

heard these things? They were cut to the heart.

And they gnashed at him with their teeth.

Didn't bite him. Didn't he go bite him?

Nashed at him with their teeth. Anger, anger, quite a quite a

contrast between being lost being the sons of the Kingdom

were the Jewish people that rejected Jesus and those that

come from the east and the West that come to Jesus.

Now I'm going to say Jesus specifically was talking about

Jewish people and them being lost.

But folks, I got to say it. The same fate is true for

anyone. Regardless of what your blood

type is, regardless of where you came from, your nationality, if

you reject Jesus, it's the same thing.

Let's talk about something happy.

Now. You know Jesus talks about

heaven as a banquet in the marriage of the King's son.

It's beautiful. In the marriage of the King's

son, he talks about a banquet, a banquet feast.

I've thought about that throughout the years, and I've

thought about, I mean, me or you.

It's so far removed from our lives to go to the King's palace

that that's a whole nother group of people.

I don't even know how to say it. And maybe the only thing that we

would ever see from a King's palace is maybe from a distance,

maybe from a distance looking through those gates and looking

into the beautiful landscaping. But from a distance, when I

think about the King's palace that the Lord refers to

metaphorically, I think about it from a literal standpoint.

And I think about that is so far removed from our lives, that

concept. But just picture this.

What if one day, what if one day you got an invitation and it

wasn't to go get get a tour at the King's palace, It was to sit

at the King's table. I can't even imagine what that'd

be like. I bet we'd go out and get the

best clothes we could possibly afford.

If we didn't have them, we'd rent them because we're going to

the marriage of the King's son. We're going to sit at a banquet

and eat with the king. And maybe on that day that we

got there, and it was the night of that feast, maybe we got up

to those gates and we looked into those gates that we once

peered through from a distance. But this time it's different.

Maybe. Now we stood before those gates

and they open wide, and then the King's servants are lined up on

the right and on the left, and they're bowed down before us.

It's different tonight. Then here comes a servant and

grabs us by the hand and leads us through the gates.

And the first thing that we do is we look at our clothes that

we once thought were good enough for the occasion.

We realize they're nothing but filthy rags.

Then here comes another servant, and the servant hands us a

wedding garment and we put it on, and it's the most beautiful

thing we've ever seen. And right then and there, for

the very first time, we say I belong.

I belong here. And then maybe the servant takes

us to the doors of the banquet room.

The doors are even beautiful. Even the door knob is solid gold

and the doors swing open wide and we look inside and it's a

place of light. It's a place of beauty.

It's a place of warmth and fellowship.

And we go inside and we go to a seat that is taken to, we're

taken to that place and our name is written down.

You know why? Because we were invited and a

spot was reserved for us. That's my spot.

And I sit down and you sit down and then we look out and we try

to look at those that were there too.

Other people. You know what we find?

Hey, there's a there's a lame man over there.

There's a fellow over there. He's groping because he's blind.

He's trying to find his spot. And finally, everybody gets

seated and you look around and you wonder where are all the

people that didn't make it? Where's the doctors of the law?

Where are the scribes and the Pharisees?

Where's all the religious, Jewish religious elite?

Where are they? They weren't there.

You know why? 2 reasons.

They either rejected the invitation altogether or they

just didn't have time. I'm going to tell you something,

folks. The picture of that representing

the banquet in heaven is similar, but here's where it's

different. When you get the wedding garment

and you. Enter in to that feast.

You won't be blind anymore. You won't be lame.

You'll be perfect. We won't be having brothers miss

services today because tomorrow or the next day he's getting a

pacemaker or one that's already had one.

We won't have people that are battling.

Cancer. We won't have people that have

other. Ailments.

It won't be there on our. Own the.

Filthy rags that we wear, we're not worthy.

But when you put on the wedding garment, you belong, and you

put. On that wedding garment when

you're. Baptized into Jesus Christ for

their mission of your sins when you become.

A child of God, an obedient. Child of God, you can't do it on

your own way. A place of warmth.

One final thing. The thing that made all of.

These people that made it into the banquet room.

Here's the criteria. They were invited and they came.

Jesus. In verse 13 heals this man, he

heals him from his sin, the centurion.

Servant healed the servant. From his illness, in the same

way Jesus heals us from our sin too.

But here's the invitation you got to hear the word of God.

Romans 10/17 So faith comes. By hearing and hearing by the

word of God. We've done that today.

But upon hearing the word of God, you got a choice.

Jesus said this. You got to believe with all your

heart. Hebrews 11 and 6.

Without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to

God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those

who diligently seek Him. Then what?

You got to repent of your sins? Acts 17 and 30.

Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands

all men everywhere to repent. Now what?

After you take those steps, you're a fit.

Candidate to do this, and that is to make the greatest

confession you will ever make, and that's confessing Jesus

Christ as the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if

you believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered, said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of

God. Now these steps are leading

toward or pointing to the point of salvation.

But please get this the point of salvation.

Is. This be baptized for the

remission of your sins Mark 1616.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved he who does not

believe will be condemned. Is baptism essential to be

saved? I didn't say it The word of God

does first Peter 321 the light figure where in the even baptism

does also now save us, not the. Putting away the filth of the

flesh. But the answer of a good

conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What else? What happens when you take those

steps of obedience and become a child of God?

And what happens when their sin becomes in your life?

Then what Bible? Says what we do.

There here. First John 1:00 and 9:00 if we.

Confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our.

Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I love this. Confess means this to say the

same thing that God says about that sin.

That is confessing sin to God with godly sorrow and

repentance. Then what?

God Forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness,

meaning even the contamination of that sin is gone.

Isn't that beautiful? Gone.

Why is it important to confess? James 516 says confess your

trespasses to one another and pray one for another that you

may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of

a righteous man avails much.