Luke 7:1-50 - Our Doubting Faith

Church, we will be in that very passage in Luke 7.

And we will, Lord willing, preach, cover all of Luke 7 this morning.

You know, the amazing thing about the Bible, about Christianity, is that God never changes.

He never changes.

He never changes his standard.

He never changes his plan.

Like he's just steadfast.

He doesn't have a set plan for this group of people in their situation and then a different plan for this group of people in their situation.

No doubt the Lord meets everyone where they are.

But the Lord does not change.

What's kind of amazing about that is people are actually very different.

I know in some ways we're really similar.

We have a lot of similarities as human beings.

But as human beings, there's so much that makes us different from each other.

Different understandings, different worldviews, different lifestyles, different convictions and ideas on things.

People are different.

They're very different.

But God doesn't change who he is or how people come to him.

He's steady.

And the main point of this chapter in Luke 7 is that you should put your faith in Jesus because he is compassionate.

And we're going to go through this passage a little differently.

We're going to divide this up into three scenes, three segments, if you will.

So scene one, part one of this of scene one, sorry, part one, which is verses one through 17.

We see that Jesus heals a servant and brings someone back to life.

Pretty remarkable.

Scene 2, verses 18 through 35, John the Baptist questions Jesus, who he is, and then Jesus addresses the religious leaders around him.

And then in scene 3, verses 36 through 50, Jesus has dinner with a Pharisee and teaches about love and forgiveness.

So you kind of naturally see those in chapter 7.

And as we're going to go through these, we're going to be looking particularly for three themes.

And that is that no one has perfect faith.

As we look through these things, we don't want to miss the heart of what Jesus is doing.

And then there's a question for you also.

What are you looking for?

As we go through this passage, what is it that you are looking for?

Let's pray really briefly.

God, we thank you that your word has been given.

We are not left to figure it out.

Thank you that you are a powerful God, almighty in all that you do.

May your word build up, strengthen, build your people.

We pray this in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Here in Luke 7, it begins with this line.

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, what's that referring to?

Well, I know last couple weeks ago I went through Luke 1 through 6 to kind of get us back on track, so to speak.

And in Luke 6, Jesus gives what is known as the Sermon on the Plain.

Matthew gives the Sermon on the Mount.

Really similar teaching, but different settings.

So Jesus finishes this Sermon on the Plain.

And then he enters Capernaum, and then there's a centurion who comes.

This is a very, very famous Bible story.

Most of these in Luke 7 actually are.

This centurion comes, and this is a Roman soldier, a professional, a career soldier.

He would have been over a hundred men, roughly, which was called a century.

A hundred men.

So the centurion comes and he has a servant who is sick.

He cares about this person deeply, it would seem, and he petitions that Jesus would come and heal him.

What's interesting is this soldier, right?

If you don't know Rome, the nation of Rome was occupying Israel at this time.

So he would have been seen kind of as the enemy, an occupying force coming in.

But it would seem he had been a blessing to the people.

The people were grateful for him.

The Jews were his friends.

He helped to build their synagogue.

He says in verse 5, for he loves our nation.

And so they feel like even though he's a Jew or he's a Gentile, even though he's a Roman, it would seem the Lord should do something for him.

He's worthy of the Lord doing something because he's been so kind to the nation of Israel.

So this soldier, this centurion, then sends his friends to go talk to Jesus and ask him to heal him.

Heal the servant, excuse me.

He says something quite remarkable.

He says that I'm not worthy.

This is in verse 6, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

See, the soldier was a humble man.

Even though he had great power, he was kind of in charge, so to speak.

He was a humble man.

He knew something about who this Jesus was.

Therefore, verse 7, therefore I do not presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed.

And then he says in verse 18, which is remarkable, for I too am 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.

Jesus hears this, he's blown away, he's marveling at this.

I tell you, Jesus says, Not even in Israel have I found such faith.

When those friends returned, the servant was healed.

This occupying soldier knew who Jesus was.

He knew the authority that he had.

He knew that the power that Jesus had.

Even though he was a Gentile.

It's supposed to be the Jews that have this great faith.

It's supposed to be the people, the sons of Abraham, those in David's line, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the teachers, the scribes.

They're the ones that have all the lineage and the pedigree and the degrees.

They should have this kind of faith.

But here, this outsider.

One, as Jimmy talked last week and preached through Ephesians 2, a Gentile, someone outside of the covenant, but has been brought in, has tremendous faith to the degree that Jesus says, not even in Israel.

Not even in the place where all the promises were made and all the promises were fulfilled of the Messiah.

Not even there have I found such faith.

One commentator I was reading was saying that this is the only instance that, and I didn't fact-check this, but he was saying, this is the only instance where we see Jesus healing someone where he wasn't even around the person.

He wasn't even present.

He wasn't there, and yet the person was healed.

This soldier knew that.

It was like this foregone conclusion: like, I don't need to go to Jesus, and Jesus doesn't need to come to my house.

He has this authority.

He can just speak it and it's done.

It's taken care of.

It's healed.

He knows how authority works, the power of Jesus.

So many times we think about faith and we think, well, it's got to have all these components.

And you've got to make sure that you believe all the right doctrines and you have to go to all the right churches and you have to be baptized at this right place and do this kind of communion and all those things.

And not that some of those things are bad.

But if what are the odds, though, that a centurion living among the Jews is going to be someone who has the greatest faith.

But isn't that just the way of Jesus?

Isn't that just the way of the kingdom?

That when when we, as we were talking before earlier in Luke, how everything feels upside down in a beautifully marvelous way.

Here, this Gentile occupying soldier has faith.

And he demonstrates.

Then we see this the next part of this scene one where Jesus then heals this young man.

And we're not really given any context here.

Other than Jesus is walking by and there's this great crowd, this man had died.

Here's his mother, who's also a widow.

And Jesus has compassion, as verse 13 says.

He saw her, and he had compassion on her.

And he said, Do not weep.

And he came up and touched the buyer, which is, I had to look this up, just a plank that they were carrying the body on.

And everyone stood still.

And he said, Young man, I say to you, arise.

And here just speaks it out.

And the dead man sat up and began to speak.

And Jesus gave him to his mother.

The dead man sat up.

You know, when we talk about what it means to be a Christian, it's that you're dead in your sin.

You're dead.

Spiritually speaking, your affections, your love for the Lord, your things that you the desire, the things of the Lord, it's dead.

The Lord comes.

He brings life to you, and you sit up, you resurrect.

This is what baptism was a symbol.

Baptism is a symbol of this.

We're dead in our sins, buried, because what Christ has done cleanse, we're raised to newness of life.

New affections, new desires, a new hope, a new family, a new Lord, a new master.

The dead man sat up and began to speak.

Oh, and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people, and their report spread about him through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Jesus' heart.

One of compassion.

He heals both these people for what would seem kind of different reasons.

One, the centurion came and he asked.

He asked Jesus, knowing that Jesus could heal.

Knowing Jesus didn't have to heal, but he could heal.

Jesus heals.

His heart was to heal, to bring hope.

And then the next thing is you have a situation with this widow's son who has died.

And again, we don't know if she had any faith.

We don't know what she believed completely.

We know that there's a large crowd there.

Jesus has compassion on her.

And these stories feel kind of different, right?

One, this amazing, powerful person with all this faith, and he understands it's amazing.

It kind of makes sense that Jesus would heal this guy or his servant.

And then here's just this widow.

She's lost her husband, she's now lost her son.

And Jesus has compassion on her.

He has compassion.

His heart is to be compassionate, to bring healing, to bring hope.

Now that servant and the son who was resurrected died eventually.

They went on to live for a while, but eventually they did die.

So their ultimate hope wasn't that Jesus would just resurrect them.

That's all they needed.

That was a good thing and a compassionate thing, a glorifying, God-glorifying thing.

But their ultimate hope that Jesus would save their soul.

And you read a story, these stories.

You just think, what is it that you are looking for?

You come to Jesus.

Are you coming with confidence?

That you just you've seen the Lord do so many miracles again and again.

You understand his power, and you're coming to him with this great assurance and this hope and this just clarity.

He's God, he can do whatever.

And you come and you just make a request to the Lord.

You're looking for healing, for forgiveness, for meaning.

Maybe you're more like the widow.

We don't know where, again, where what she believed exactly.

But there wasn't this interaction.

The Lord had compassion on her.

Maybe you're someone who you don't have this great faith.

Maybe you don't have things all worked out, but what you do know is that it feels like your life is in shambles.

It feels like meaning and purpose aren't there.

The Lord is a compassionate God.

He is compassionate.

So if you're looking to him for healing, for forgiveness, if you're looking to him for hope, that he might restore the joy of your salvation, or that he might grant you salvation.

He is a compassionate God.

Sometimes we can do this thing as Christians where we just feel like we can't bring anything to the Lord.

I'm so sinful and wicked, and God's holy, and I just gotta clean myself up first, and I gotta get right, and if I can just get two or three days in a row where I don't sin, then I can come with confidence to the throne of grace.

Friend, you don't understand grace then.

What God has done for you.

The confidence isn't that you've got yourself kind of in a spot where you're clean, squared away, and you can go to Jesus.

The point of grace and coming to the throne of grace with confidence, it's not your confidence, it's confidence in who Jesus Christ is.

That He is who He says he is, that He is compassionate.

That your faith, it's not this level of faith, if you have enough faith, then you can come.

There is no perfect faith.

So you come because your faith isn't in you, it's in Christ.

It's in the object of your faith.

Your confidence is in the object of your faith, Jesus Christ.

Your faith isn't in your faith.

Jesus is compassionate.

So whatever you're looking for, look to him.

He will satisfy the desires of your heart.

And scene two.

Jesus goes on, and then these disciples from John the Baptist come.

They come and they ask, which is a pretty remarkable thing, are you the one who is to come?

This is verse 20.

Or shall we look for another?

It's a what a remarkable question.

John the Baptist, if you don't know, is one Jesus' cousin, half cousin, so to speak, right?

He leapt in his mother's womb, his mother's womb when Mary was present.

He was the one that Isaiah was speaking about in the wilderness.

He was the one when Jesus came, said, I'm unworthy to untie his sandals.

He baptized Jesus.

He witnessed the Holy Spirit descend, the clouds open, and God the Father say, This is my Son.

So he saw all these things.

He saw it, he heard it, he felt it.

And then he's doubting.

Now, before we kind of look down at John the Baptist, we're like, okay, man, what more do you need?

Just have a little humility here.

But this is what's going on.

And Jesus answered them.

Verse 22 go and tell John what you have seen and heard.

The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, and lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Then it says that John's messengers had gone.

This amazing person.

Verse 28 says, I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John.

He's the last prophet in the old covenant.

He's the last prophet.

And of all the prophets in the old covenant, he was the one to see the Messiah.

He was the one to see the hope of Israel.

And yet even he doubted.

Questions.

Is this really you?

Are you who you say you are?

You know that John eventually was imprisoned and beheaded.

There's a good chance that he was imprisoned now.

And he's wondering, all about to die.

Is this it?

Jesus, are you the one who's to come?

Or should we look for another?

John doubted.

And sometimes, as Christians, we think that if there's any doubt in our minds, we've just got to eradicate it.

We've just got to kind of keep saying things over and over again, kind of programming our mind because we just can't be any doubt.

If there's doubt, then we probably don't believe.

I think there are definitely seasons and times where maybe you're not doubting.

Or for Christians, you get to a spot where doubts don't come.

But I will say that doubts would seem to be a regular, a rather regular part of following Jesus.

Why?

Because we have broken hearts.

We still have our sin nature.

John is doubting, and the Lord reassures him.

And he's quoting what he had just quoted a couple of chapters earlier.

And he had said that the Messiah would come and do these things.

And he said, I'm fulfilling this in your presence.

And he's saying, Listen, I'm doing these things, these miracles.

I am the Messiah, what Jesus is declaring.

So John's disciples go back and report to John, and then Jesus deals with the crowd.

He begins to speak to them.

And he's getting after their how they had interacted with John the Baptist.

He's saying, you know, everyone kind of made a big deal about this.

John guy out in the wilderness.

And he begins to kind of do this amazing thing where he questions their heart.

What is it that you went out there to see?

What is it that you were wanting from John the Baptist?

What were you wanting?

What is it that you were looking for?

Verse 26.

What then did you go out to see?

A prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

He this is who of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.

Jesus gives this rebuke to the hard-heartedness of the religious leaders and those who are there.

In verse 31, to what then shall I compare this generation?

What are they like?

They're like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out 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 came eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say he has a demon.

Then the Son of Man has comes eating and drinking, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

He's saying, What is it that you're wanting?

Clearly, you're not after the truth.

You're not after the Messiah.

You're after what you want to be after.

You're protecting your idols.

They didn't really want faith in God.

What these people wanted is prestige and power, recognition.

You know, our hearts, even as Christians, even though we because we still have this sin nature, they can do this thing where we try to justify our actions.

Well, I would have stayed at that church if they would have just done this thing differently.

I would have obeyed that scripture, but this thing is going on in my life.

Or I just, you know, I have this thing, this, if people understood this about me, then they would know why I don't do, follow all of the Bible.

Or someone speaks a convicting word to you, and you just begin to kind of defend yourself here and defend yourself there.

If you're honest and you step back, what are you after?

Do you want the truth of God's word and God's spirit to penetrate your heart and to illuminate your sin and where you need to grow and how much you need, Jesus?

Or do you want to keep going on?

Lying to yourself.

Jesus, verse 33 and 34 here, this rebuke that he gives, this is love in action.

These are hard-hearted people.

When John came, they ridiculed him.

He is a demon, don't listen to him.

Then when Jesus comes and he's doing all these miracles, and they're saying, Well, look, he's a glutton and he's a drunkard.

He's hanging with all these sinful people.

Just look, just anything we can justify not following Jesus.

So he corrects them.

He says, Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.

Those who are looking for the truth.

Those who are children of Abraham, those who are descendants of David, who are in the covenant, covenant people, following God.

They're following the Messiah.

They belong to Him.

And those are God's children.

Those who follow Him.

See, even now with John's doubting and the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees, Jesus is being compassionate to them.

He's bringing good news.

He's declaring to them what is true, to the hurting and to the broken.

And again, he's bringing judgment to the prideful, to the arrogant.

Jesus is compassionate toward them.

When you think about Jesus, all the things that he's done, what is it that you are looking to him for?

Are you looking for promises fulfilled?

Jesus, are you the Messiah?

Do you really have the power to save me?

Can you really free me from my sin?

Can you really pay the price for my sin?

What is it that you're looking for?

Are you looking for truth?

Are you looking for this understanding, this illumination to come in and penetrate your heart and open your eyes and see the glory and the majesty of who God is?

Or are you looking for someone who's just going to affirm what you want to hear?

What are you looking for?

Then in this final scene, verse 36, Jesus is going to have a meal with a Pharisee.

He's at the Pharisee's house.

And there's a very, very well-known story.

It's powerful.

Jesus says, after knowing what Simon was judging this woman and then judging the Lord for his interaction with her, Simon, I have something to say to you.

What a powerful thing.

What an amazing thing.

Genuinely, I don't mean this, but genuinely that we have God's word.

That we have the Bible.

And when Jesus is saying, listen, Christian, I have something to say to you.

We'd like to think that our ears would perk up, all our attention would come in, and we're just like, zoned in.

Here, Jesus, Messiah, the creator of the heaven and earth, is going to say something to me.

What's he going to say?

This is what he says.

A certain moneylender had two debtors.

One owed 500 denarii, which is about 20 months worth of wages, approximately.

So it was two years of income, and the other 50, which was about two months worth.

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 had canceled the larger debt.

And he said, You have judged rightly.

Then he turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman?

Something that's amazing about Jesus is his ability to see.

See people, see their brokenness.

Certainly Simon had seen the woman in a sense before.

He knew who she was, some kind of reputation for her activities.

He had seen her.

He saw her there with Jesus, weeping, washing his feet with her hair, anointing with oil.

He saw those things, but he didn't see her the way Jesus did.

It's very evident, even as verse 43, when he said, when Simon answers, he says, the one I suppose.

Clearly, Simon doesn't even see himself.

Jesus says, Do you see this woman?

I entered your house as your guest, invited.

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, no greeting, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Therefore I tell you that her sins, which are many, are forgiven.

For she loved much.

But he who is forgiven little loves little.

And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.

Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins?

And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you.

Go in peace.

Here, this woman would seem culturally the farthest away.

You know, this the faith of the centurion man, he was an occupying force, but he was a standing, he had all this authority and standing and reputation, and he had this great faith.

John the Baptist was doubting, but you know, he's of this lineage and a standing, and he had great faith.

This woman.

This is a sinful, sinful woman.

But yet she understood something, didn't she?

When Jesus said to her, or to Simon, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven.

You know what she knew that Simon didn't know and the religious leaders earlier in this passage didn't know?

She knew her sin.

She was aware of her sin and she was repentant.

She was contract.

She was broken over her sin.

She didn't come thinking, well, maybe if I just kind of put on a really good show, then Jesus will kind of take care of me.

Maybe if I do these things, I'll get noticed and somehow earn favor.

She knew the ways of the world.

She knew her sin.

And she knew who Jesus was.

That he had the authority to forgive sins.

She loved much, Jesus said.

She loved him because she was aware of her sin.

He just makes this clear.

Those who forgive little love little.

What a convicting word.

Those who are forgiven little, love little.

Think about your own life and forgiveness.

I'm not saying this is a hundred percent true, but maybe it's true for you.

If you're someone who just your affections for Jesus, your love for the things of Jesus, for his people, for his word, for his truth in your life is just little.

It's diminished, small.

Maybe you do not forgive much.

Maybe you're one of those people who kind of work on a scale.

And as long as you kind of are outweighing other, whatever's on the other side, whether that's whether you're using good works or whatever you're however you're setting your scale up, as long as you're just a little bit above, what do you think that's gonna do in your heart?

It's gonna make you prideful.

It's gonna make you selfish.

And sure, you'll forgive, and it's because you know you have to.

But down in your heart, you're still holding on.

At least I forgave them.

At least I was the mature one and I forgave them.

When affections are small, there's a good chance that you don't understand what you've been forgiven of.

You don't understand your sins and how your sins are many.

See what's interesting is Jesus, in a sense, is not really that bothered by this woman's sin.

She's aware of it, she's repentant of it.

Jesus is more bothered by the Pharisee who does not see his sin, and those who do not repent of their sin.

Jesus, his compassionate heart has come.

And for those who are crying out for salvation, those who are aware of their need for a savior, Jesus is compassionate and he's there to show love.

He is a loving God.

He says, Your sins are forgiven.

And when Jesus said that to this woman, this is amazing.

He knew how they were going to be forgiven.

All of her sins were gonna go on to him.

He was gonna be the bearer of her many sins.

It wasn't good works, it wasn't some kind of arbitrary nice thought or vibe or feeling, or it was he was declaring, I will take your sin, I will die for your sin.

I will have the wrath of God poured out on me for your sin.

Amen.

That is love, church.

That is a Savior who loves, who knows someone's sin, says, your sins are forgiven.

See, the heart of Christ is compassionate, never ceasing, never ending.

And he tells her to go in peace.

What an amazing truth.

If you are a Christian, if Jesus Christ has washed away your sin, that you can go in peace.

Whatever else is going on in your life, whatever other chaotic thing is happening in your world, you can go in peace because your sin has been paid for.

This thing that was keeping you from God, keeping you condemned for eternity, keeping you from this relationship that you were created for with your creator.

It's been removed, it's been taken care of.

So, in light of eternity, in light of ten thousand years, no matter what you're facing, you can go in peace.

Jesus is a sufficient, compassionate Savior.

So, what are you looking for?

Are you looking for forgiveness?

Are you looking for the love of God to be poured out and lavished upon you?

Or are you just looking and seeing other people's sin?

Seeing what they're doing wrong and talking in your head about all these arguments about what they should be doing right and why.

Or are you coming looking for love and forgiveness?

Church, I want you to hear me.

Let me close it.

Jesus, he is all powerful, he heals.

He literally takes people who are dead and brings them back to life.

He redeems.

He set forth a plan to redeem his people and rule the world, and he is doing that.

He is the one who was to come and came, and the one who is to come, and he will come again and set all things right.

He will redeem.

He's all powerful, he forgives.

There's no other person in your life that you need forgiveness from more than Jesus.

Because you might have wronged some people in a sense, but there's only one person you've broken their law.

That's God.

You've broken his law.

And because you've broken his law, he's the only one, he's the only one who can forgive you for that.

You need his forgiveness.

He can do that.

Jesus can do that, he can forgive you of your sin.

Jesus is all-powerful, and Jesus is all-loving, he's compassionate, he speaks the truth.

He doesn't mince words and make things confusing.

He's honest and real.

He speaks when it's real, he speaks the truth.

The Bible says this again and again.

We see this in this passage that Jesus is all loving.

He is a friend of sinners.

Coming to those who are sinful and in need of a savior.

And Jesus is real.

He's real.

He really healed and brought back to life.

He really is the Messiah.

He is the one.

There's no other name under heaven that's been given that man might be saved.

It's only through Jesus that we can be saved and He is real.

And He really does forgive sinners and loves them.

He really does.

I'm a testament to that.

You're a Christian.

You are a testament, a witness to that.

That He really does forgive sinners.

He really does lavish His love on us.

So put your faith in Jesus.

Keep your faith in Jesus.

Keep following Jesus.

Let's pray.