{"id":19151,"date":"2018-05-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/submit-to-the-king-the-centurions-servant\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T17:11:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T23:11:16","slug":"submit-to-the-king-the-centurions-servant","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/submit-to-the-king-the-centurions-servant\/","title":{"rendered":"Submit to the King – The Centurion’s Servant"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[85],"series_event":[518],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[482],"class_list":["post-19151","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-matthew","series_event-guest-speaker","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-alex-garcia","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Submit to the King - The Centurion's Servant","sermon_date":"20180527","sermon_month":"05","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5796,"sermon_slides":5795,"sermon_mp3":5801,"sermon_id":"527181043537","series_or_event":518,"service_type":[472],"speaker":482,"books_of_the_bible":85,"chapter_and_verse":"8:5-13","sermon_transcript":"Alex Garcia\r\n\r\nSubmit to the King, The Healing of the Centurion\u2019s Servant\r\n\r\nMatthew 8:5-13 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a05-27-18\r\n\r\nGood morning you all.\u00a0 And welcome everybody who\u2019s here on the internet as well, or through the internet.\u00a0 And Happy Memorial Day almost, and I appreciate the privilege to speak before you all again.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to get in the way back machine and we\u2019re going to go back almost seventy-five years on this Memorial Day weekend, to December of 1944 when General George Patton was advancing towards the German border.\u00a0 But there was a problem\u2014there was a problem with his Third Army.\u00a0 And the problem was there had been incessant rain and so the third army was stuck in the mud, literally.\u00a0 The tanks were caked, the treads of the tanks were caked with mud and they couldn\u2019t advance.\u00a0 The G. I.\u2019s boots were packed with mud, it was like they were walking through concrete.\u00a0 And so the general, who was a Christian, appealed to the authority of God, and he called his chaplain; the chaplain in the Third Army, and he gave him an order.\u00a0 He said you draft me weather prayer, a pray for my warriors.\u00a0 And so the chaplain said \u201cYes Sir!\u201d\u00a0 And the chaplain got to work.\r\n\r\nSo later that day the chaplain came to the general\u2019s headquarters there in France and presented the following prayer for the general\u2019s consideration.\u00a0 \u201cAlmighty and Most Merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee of Thy great goodness to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend.\u00a0 Grant us fair weather for battle.\u00a0 Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that armed with Thy power we may advance from victory to victory and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd so Patton, in his humility, recognized God\u2019s authority and he had 250,000 copies of that prayer made, and he distributed it to his men and he told them to pray.\u00a0 Can you imagine if a U.S. Army General were to give that order today?\u00a0 They would take him out and court martial him in a matter of minutes.\u00a0 Well, Patton did it, and to the German\u2019s chagrin the weather cleared in a matter of days and the soil dried and the General was off.\u00a0 He goes north to Bastogne to free the beleaguered 101st<\/sup> Airborne who was surrounded by the Germans, and then he makes a hard right and makes his way into Germany and ultimately helps win the war within a matter of months.\r\n\r\nPatton, as a military leader, as a military officer understood authority and he understood his place\u00a0 in God\u2019s chain of command so he appealed to the Supreme Commander in Chief.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t Eisenhower, who was in charge of all of the allied forces.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t F.D.R., who was the Commander in Chief.\u00a0 That was God, the Supreme Commander and chief.\u00a0 Patton understood that God was in charge and so Patton trusted God for victory.\u00a0 He was blessed because of his submission to God.\r\n\r\nAnd today we\u2019re going to see another military officer; we\u2019re going to see a Roman military officer who, like Patton, submitted to God and he was blessed because of His submission to God\u2019s authority.\u00a0 Our passage today is Romans 8:5 and it deals with, as I say, a Roman military officer.\u00a0 But before we get into our passage I want to talk about two things by way of background.\u00a0 I want to talk about the Book of Matthew itself and then also the Roman Empire.\r\n\r\nThere are two reasons why the Apostle Matthew wrote his gospel.\u00a0 One is to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Messiah King.\u00a0 And the other reason is to explain what\u2019s going on with the kingdom, to explain the King\u2019s Kingdom program.\u00a0 And here\u2019s what I mean by that.\u00a0 The kingdom program is a real question that comes up in Matthew\u2019s Gospel because he\u2019s writing to Jewish leaders.\u00a0 He\u2019s writing first to show look, Jesus is the Messiah, the Promised Messiah King, but he\u2019s also writing to show okay, well, where\u2019s His kingdom.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Because that would have been the response from the Jewish listener to Matthew; he would have said \u201cokay Matt, I got it, I got it!\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re telling me that Jesus is the King, the Messiah King\u2026 well where\u2019s His kingdom if He\u2019s the King?\u00a0 Because I, as an Israelite, I\u2019m familiar with the Old Testament,\u201d that Jewish reader would have said.\u00a0 \u201cThe Old Testament is chalked full of these promises, promises and prophecies that the King would come and that the King would have political authority and this utopian kingdom.\u201d\r\n\r\nBut the Jewish reader would have said well, we\u2019re still under the boot of Rome, there\u2019s no independent utopian kingdom here so why do you say that Jesus is King if He\u2019s got no kingdom?\u00a0 What\u2019s going on here Matt?\u00a0 And so Matthew responds to that.\u00a0 Most of our time today is going to\u00a0 be focused on this second item here which is the explaining, Matthew is explaining what\u2019s going on in the kingdom program.\u00a0 We\u2019ll spend a little bit of time on the first one, the first purpose that Matthew wrote the book which is to prove that Jesus is the King.\u00a0 But most of the time will be spent on the second one.\u00a0 And so Matthew\u2019s response in a nutshell is the King offered His kingdom, He offered it!\u00a0 The people, His people said I don\u2019t want it, I don\u2019t want You and I don\u2019t and Your kingdom.\u00a0 And so the King postpones His kingdom.\r\n\r\nThe first words that Matthew records of Jesus\u2019 public ministry are the following words: \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d \u00a0[Matthew 4:17] \u00a0That was in Matthew 4.\u00a0 And John the Baptist in Matthew 3, the forerunner of Jesus, says the same thing, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 3:2]\u00a0 And what John the Baptist and Jesus were saying was look, the King is here, He\u2019s among us, the kingdom is here, it\u2019s near us, it\u2019s within our grasp, it\u2019s HERE, it\u2019s almost here with us because the King is ready to usher it in so submit to Him.\u00a0 It was a message of submission, submit to the King, submit to His physical authority, submit to His spiritual authority, because Jesus proved both.\u00a0 He established both, He established His physical authority because this man controls nature.\u00a0 Who is this man who controls the waves and the winds and the storms?\u00a0 Who is this man who walks on water?\u00a0 Who is this man who heals the lame and the blind and the mute and the deaf?\u00a0 Who is this man who has power and authority for life and death and hell?\u00a0 Jesus established that physical authority through His works and wonders and miracles.\r\n\r\nBut it wasn\u2019t just physical authority He established, He also established His spiritual authority.\u00a0 And He did that through His teaching.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5-7, Jesus teaches the kingdom ethics, the kingdom morality.\u00a0 And then Jesus establishes His spiritual authority over the spiritual realm.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 He exorcises demons; demons fear Him.\u00a0 He issues an order and demons obey it because it because in fear they respect this person, Jesus of Nazareth, this man.\u00a0 So He established both aspects of His authority, physical and spiritual.\r\n\r\nAnd His command to His people, to the Israelites, was \u201cRepent,\u201d which is the Greek word metanoe\u014d,<\/em> and it means to change one\u2019s mind.\u00a0 And so they were supposed to change their mind about their reliance on their racial privileges as Jews.\u00a0 They thought that they were\u2026 there was this teaching that had crept into Israel through the Jewish leadership, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, this false teaching that said look, we\u2019ve got a lock on the kingdom of heaven, we\u2019re guaranteed, we\u2019re good to go because we are racial descendants of Father Abraham.\u00a0 And they felt that all we need is to be connected to Father Abraham as racial descendants and we\u2019re going to have Abraham\u2019s righteousness.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need Jesus\u2019 righteousness, we\u2019ve got Abraham\u2019s because we\u2019re a son of Abraham.\u00a0 But what they were missing was Abraham\u2019s\u2026 Abraham was righteous, he was, but Genesis 15:6, he was righteous not because of his own good works but he was righteous because\u2026 what does Genesis 15:6 say, \u201cAbraham believed in the LORD and it was reckoned to Him\u201d or \u201ccredited to Him as righteousness.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo it was God\u2019s righteous that Abraham had, not Abraham\u2019s own righteousness.\u00a0 And so they were missing that point, they were missing that!\u00a0 Well, as you know, Israel as a whole, there were many exceptions but Israel as a whole rejected her Messiah.\u00a0 Many Jews in that land believed in Messiah but the Jewish leadership, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, they rejected Messiah.\u00a0 The majority of the population following their leaders rejected Messiah.\u00a0 And so what did Jesus do?\u00a0 He withholds the kingdom; He withdraws His offer of the kingdom and He postpones it.\u00a0 He postpones it to a future age, a future time, a future generation of Israelites who will accept His offer.\r\n\r\nAnd so there\u2019s an interim period here from when He withdrew the offer of the kingdom to when He\u2019s going to bring it back or offer it again to a future generation of Israelites who will accept it.\u00a0 So there\u2019s this period of time in between and that\u2019s the church age.\u00a0 Matthew is the only gospel, of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, he\u2019s the only one who mentions the church.\u00a0 And he\u00a0 uses Gentiles, like our Roman centurion that we\u2019re going to see today, to highlight something that\u2019s going to be happening in the church, during the church age.\u00a0\u00a0 Matthew brings Gentiles in in the beginning of\u00a0 his gospel, the Magi from the East who came and submitted and praised and worshiped the baby King Jesus. Then He brings the centurion, in Matthew 8, that we\u2019re going to look at today. Then He brings a Canaanite woman who trusts Jesus, towards the later part of Matthew.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s the second centurion, a different one, at the foot of the cross, who oversaw the torture and execution of Jesus who then submits to Jesus.\u00a0 This amazing act of faith, submits in his humility and trusts in Jesus.\r\n\r\nThen finally Matthew ends the book with the great commission where Jesus says \u201cGo out to all the nations,\u201d those are Gentile nations, the U.S. of A, Mexico, Taiwan, South Africa, all the nations throughout the world, go to those Gentile nations, go to all of them and make disciples of the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.\r\n\r\nSo Matthew explains that this program, first the rejection of the offer, the withdrawal of the offer, the church, then the King will make the offer again to a future positive generation of Israelites.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the amazing thing right now is in the church age the majority of those who are positive to God, the majority of those who are positive to the Jewish Messiah, the King, are not Jews.\u00a0 There are many, of course, who are positive and submit to Christ but the majority, during the church age, are non-Jews, they\u2019re Gentiles. And so that\u2019s why Matthew highlights this role of Gentiles in his gospel.\u00a0 And so there are five principles that we\u2019re going to see about the kingdom program that Matthew lays out.\u00a0 These first three are kind of in seed form in our passage today and they\u2019re more developed as the Gospel of Matthew goes along.\u00a0 And the last two, items four and five, are directly in our passage today.\r\n\r\nSo item number 1, in disbelief Israel rejected her Messiah-king and His kingdom.\u00a0 So as a result the King postponed His kingdom.\u00a0 Number 3, during this postponement the King is building up His church and He\u2019s adding additional heirs to the kingdom, not replacement heirs, the church doesn\u2019t replace Israel.\u00a0 These are additional heirs that He\u2019s adding and the majority of these additional heirs are Gentiles.\u00a0 He\u2019s adding them to His future kingdom because at a future time, a future generation of Israel will accept His kingdom offer and these additional heirs that are being added in the church age will rule with Him.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about\u00a0 you and me; I\u2019m talking about church age believers will rule with Him in that future kingdom.\r\n\r\nAnd then number 5, we\u2019re going to see in our passage today that submission to the Jewish King by faith alone, not faith plus anything else, by faith alone brings eternal blessing and that eternal blessing is admittance, it\u2019s being in, it\u2019s being an heir to His future kingdom.\u00a0 And then number 5 the horrible part is rebellion against the King, disbelief brings eternal punishment and that eternal punishment is exclusion, being cast out.\u00a0 It\u2019s exclusion from His kingdom and we\u2019ll see that as well.\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s the first background item, which is the Book of Matthew.\u00a0 Let me talk about the other background item before we get into our passage, Matthew 8.\u00a0 The other background item is the Roman Empire.\u00a0 In New Testament times Caesar was the absolute authority in the Roman Empire.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t always that way.\u00a0 For five hundred years Rome was a republic and they hated the idea of power being concentrated in one person.\u00a0 They hated the idea of a Rex, which is their word for king or dictator.\u00a0 Instead they were \u201cSenatus Populusque Romanus.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 The Senate and the people of Rome.\u00a0 And they had these initials, SPQR on everything.\u00a0 They\u2019d have it on the banner as the legions, the Roman legions would advance into warfare, they would have a banner that said SPQR.\u00a0 They\u2019d have SPQR on their money, on their coins, they\u2019d have it on their statues, it was just everywhere because that\u2019s how they referred to themselves, SPQR, they were the Roman Republic.\r\n\r\nAnd the Senate and the people of Rome, the reference to people was just kind of a nod to the people because the power wasn\u2019t in the people, the power was in the Senate.\u00a0 That\u2019s who really had all the authority and would rule by consensus.\u00a0 This is 500 years or so.\u00a0 But then this extremely popular general, who was also a politician, came along, very, very successful, his name was Gaius Julius Caesar, and he was so wildly popular that he was declared dictator in perpetuity.\u00a0 Well, a number of senators hated that idea so they cornered him, they murdered him and this created a big power vacuum.\r\n\r\nSo now the republic where powers diffused among a bunch of Senators, now the Republic is changing; you\u2019re going to have power that\u2019s concentrated in one person so there\u2019s civil war.\u00a0 Caesar\u2019s son, adopted son, comes to power, his name is Caesar Augustus, he wins the civil war and then the empire begins.\u00a0 And from that point on power is concentrated in the tippy top, in the top of the pyramid the power is concentrated in Caesar and Caesar\u2019s word is law.\u00a0 When he issues a command everyone down the chain of command, the ministers, the generals, the other officers in the army, like a centurion, they\u2019re rank and file, they all executed with precision because Caesar\u2019s word is law and anyone down the chain of command, if someone obeys them they\u2019re obeying Caesar and if someone disobeys them, like if someone disobeys a sinner, they\u2019re disobeying Caesar, the top of the authority.\r\n\r\nAnd Rome had the essential element of an empire or a kingdom; that was the exercise of authority.\u00a0 And how did they do that?\u00a0 They sent their legions out, they sent their army out to North Africa, to Greece, to the Middle East, to Gaul, to exercise their authority because that is the central principle of a kingdom.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to ask you all to kind of put that on a sticky note and put it in your brains because we\u2019re going to come back to that concept of exercise of authority in a little bit.\u00a0 So this chain of command concept is in the Centurion\u2019s brain that we\u2019re going to look at here in a second.\u00a0 And this chain of command concept springboards him into faith. \u00a0So with that background let\u2019s get into our passage.\r\n\r\nMatthew 8:5, \u201cAnd when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, [6] and saying, \u2018Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Capernaum was a city in northern Israel, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 And Capernaum was the basis of operations of Jesus.\u00a0 Matthew called Capernaum Jesus\u2019 own city in Matthew 9, and Mark calls it Jesus\u2019 home in Mark 2.\u00a0 And as His home base He performed many miracles and taught many principles about the kingdom there in Capernaum.\u00a0 \u201cTo whom much is given much is required,\u201d and so Jesus required something of the people of Capernaum, just like He required it of all Israel for that matter.\u00a0 He required that they repent, that they, in other words, submit to Him as the King.\u00a0 But they refused to do that and so Jesus condemns them later in the Book of Matthew.\u00a0 He condemns a number of these cities.\u00a0 He condemns Capernaum and Chorazin, Chorazin you\u2019ll see is just north of Capernaum, also on the banks of the Sea of Galilee.\r\n\r\nBut let\u2019s look at this passage where He condemns them for their disbelief and their refusal to repent.\u00a0 Matthew 11:20, \u201cThen He\u201d this is Jesus, \u201cbegan to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.\u00a0 [21] Woe to you,\u201d Jesus speaking, \u201cWoe to you, Chorazin! [Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.\u201d] \u00a0And then verse 23, \u201cAnd you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.\u201d \u00a0[24] Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.\u201d]\r\n\r\nVerse 20 tells us that Capernaum did not repent, and verse 23 tells us the reason they didn\u2019t repent; they didn\u2019t repent because of their pride, because of their pride in the sense that they said we\u2019re descendants of Father Abraham, we\u2019re good, we don\u2019t need Your righteousness, we don\u2019t need any righteousness other than Father Abraham\u2019s righteousness.\u00a0 But as I said earlier they missed the mark on Father Abraham\u2019s righteousness, it\u2019s really God\u2019s righteousness in the first place.\u00a0 And the wickedness of the men of Sodom was infamous.\u00a0 Back in Genesis 18 God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness which included, as part of that, their homosexuality.\r\n\r\nAnd so Jesus is saying even the wicked men of Sodom, even they would have repented if they had seen the miracles that I did in your city, Capernaum, and have heard the words that I preached in your city, Capernaum.\u00a0 And repent for them, for the men of Sodom, would have been the same thing as Abraham in Genesis 15, believe Him Lord and He would have reckoned it to them as righteousness.\u00a0 But for the men of Capernaum, despite seeing all these miracles and hearing this teaching from the Lord, they rejected it and so Jesus says the judgment for them in the last days, the men of Capernaum, will be worse than the judgment for the men of Sodom.\r\n\r\nThis is one of the verses that tells us that it appears there\u2019s going to be degrees of punishment in hell for unbelievers, depending on their behavior.\u00a0 And so this is a degree of punishment that\u2019s more intense for the men of Capernaum than it is for the men of Sodom.\u00a0 And this comparison between the Israelites of Capernaum and the men of Sodom is really a lesson for the self-righteous.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 I mean, some people say I\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not like \u201cthat\u201d homosexual, I don\u2019t do \u201cthose\u201d sins or I\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not like \u201cthat\u201d adulterer or I\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not like \u201cthat\u201d cheater.\u00a0 And they use that distance that they create to prop themselves up.\r\n\r\nBut God says no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you ALL miss the mark.\u00a0 The self-righteous one misses the mark, the one who\u2019s engaged in the sin of homosexuality or adultery or lying or cheating, everyone misses the mark because everyone falls short of the glory of God.\u00a0 And so people go to hell, not because they commit this sin or that sin or the other sin, they go to hell because they refuse to trust in the sin bearer, the One who paid for sins, that\u2019s the King, Jesus of Nazareth.\u00a0 Each person gets to choose; they get to choose whether they go to heaven or they go to hell by their decision whether to trust in Jesus or not.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like what this old boy had on his tombstone when he died.\u00a0 He had this poem, this rhyme on his tombstone and it went like this: \u201cRemember man, as you walk by\u201d as\u00a0 you walk by my tombstone, \u201cRemember man, as you walk by, as you are now so once was I; as I am now, so shall you be.\u00a0 Remember this and follow me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So some fellow walks by and he looks at that and he gets down and he writes underneath that, he writes\u201d to follow you I\u2019ll not consent until I know which way you went.\u201d\u00a0 [Laughter]\r\n\r\nWe all get to choose whether we go to heaven or we go to hell.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a choice that\u2019s just based on one thing\u2014do we trust in Christ or not?\u00a0 It\u2019s that straightforward.\u00a0 God desires none to be lost.\u00a0 And He loves all of humanity.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we\u2019re told in John 3:16 that God gave His Son for all of humanity.\u00a0 [John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d]\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So that His Son would pay for the sins of the world.\u00a0 Or to say it differently, God hates sin but He loves the sinner; God hates homosexuality but He loves the homosexual.\u00a0 God hates adultery but He loves the adulterer.\u00a0 God hates cheating but He loves the cheater.\u00a0 God hates lying but he loves the liar.\r\n\r\nNow I\u2019m not suggesting that God views all sin the same; no He doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 It\u2019s different, the fellow who is doing 56 miles an hour in a 55 mile an hour speed zone, well that\u2019s different, that\u2019s a different level of punishment than the person who\u2019s engaged in adultery.\u00a0 But what I\u2019m saying is sin is sin, we should call it what it is but when we identify sin we need to be humble about it.\u00a0 We\u2019re sinners too, just in different areas.\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t be self-righteous about it.\r\n\r\nWell, Capernaum, from a Roman standpoint was important enough for them to station a centurion and his soldiers there.\u00a0 It has industry, like farming and fishing and other industries and they stationed a centurion there.\u00a0 In the Bible centurions are always viewed in a favorable light.\u00a0 This centurion, the centurion who submitted to Christ at the foot of the cross, the centurion in Acts named Cornelius who the Apostle Peter ministered to, they\u2019re always viewed in a very noble way \u00a0in Scripture.\u00a0 Centurions were the backbone of the Roman military.\u00a0 They commanded around a hundred troops and that\u2019s where they got their name, \u201cCenturion,\u201d and we don\u2019t know this particular centurion\u2019s name but we do know his great faith, that we\u2019ll see here shortly.\r\n\r\nThe centurion, just like anybody else in the chain of command under Caesar had great power and great authority.\u00a0 And if\u00a0 you obeyed a centurion\u00a0 you were obeying Caesar; if you disobeyed a centurion (or any other military officer for that matter, or even just a rank and file soldier) you were disobeying Caesar.\u00a0 And this military chain of command gives the Centurion a background that\u2019s, as I said earlier, will springboard him into faith here in a few moments.\r\n\r\nSo this verse says, \u201cAnd when Jesus entered Capernaum a centurion came to Him imploring Him and saying, \u2018Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.\u00a0\u00a0 This man, who was powerful, is an office in Caesar\u2019s army, begs the Lord for something; begs Jesus for something, implores Jesus to help his servant.\u00a0 And he calls Jesus \u201cLord.\u201d\u00a0 This centurion is over the Israelites; he didn\u2019t view Jesus as just some other Israelite citizen.\u00a0 No, he knew there was something different, there\u2019s something different about this man, Jesus of Nazareth.\u00a0 He calls him \u201cLord\u201d and this shows the centurion\u2019s humility.\u00a0 He knows his limitations; he\u2019s not arrogant as some people in power are, he\u2019s a humble man.\u00a0 And the Greek word for servant is the word [can't understand word]\u00a0 It means servant or slave.\r\n\r\nAnd this centurion, being a humble man, cares for the people under him.\u00a0 He cares for his servant, he cares for his well-being.\u00a0 He\u2019s not like Aristotle or the Greeks who had a very different view, a very poor view of how slaves should be treated and a very poor view of slaves in general.\u00a0 Aristotle said this:\u00a0 \u201cA slave is a living tool<\/u>, used in action rather than production, and belongs wholly to his master....The manner of their use [slaves and animals] differs very little, for assistance in matters of necessities of the body comes from both, slaves and domesticated animals<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 So Aristotle used slaves, or human beings, similar to an ox who would till the field for somebody.\u00a0 Or similar to a horse who pulls a carriage.\u00a0 Or similar to a tool, a living tool, like a hammer or a wheel.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s interesting to see how our colleges engage in this kind of selective morality, I\u2019m get off in a different area here for a minute, on the one hand they worship the Greek classics, like Aristotle, but on the other hand they find Americans from 150 years ago, who happened to be on the wrong side of slavery, utterly repugnant and disgusting.\u00a0 They can\u2019t even look at their image.\u00a0 And so I\u2019m not suggesting that slavery was right, and I\u2019m not saying slavery was wrong.\u00a0 But what I\u2019m saying is that there\u2019s some real hypocrisy in academia today because they worship men like Aristotle and then they look at Americans from 150 years ago who were wrong on the issue of slavery but other\u00adwise they were fine Americans.\u00a0 And so you see this kind of hypocrisy involved in academia today.\r\n\r\nWell, the centurion was a powerful man and he cared for people under him and this also shows his humility.\u00a0 \u201cJesus said to him,\u201d in verse 7, \u201cI will come and heal him.\u2019 [8] But the centurion said, \u2018Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof,\u201d the first thing to notice here is that the centurion recognizes that he\u2019s unworthy in comparison to Jesus.\u00a0 This is a man of power and authority, an officer in Caesar\u2019s military who had, probably a fine house.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like he\u2019s worried that oh, my house, it\u2019s not fine enough for You, Jesus, or it\u2019s kind of messy and I don\u2019t want\u00a0 You to come see the mess in my living room.\u00a0 No, this Roman centurion says in comparison to You, Jesus, I\u2019m not worthy for You to even come into my house.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like Isaiah in Isaiah 6 when he stands before the throne of God and he says, \u201cWoe is me, for\u2026 I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of uncleanness.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[Isaiah 6:5, \u201cThen I said, \"Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.\u201d]\r\n\r\nHe doesn\u2019t even want to look at the holiness of God because when\u00a0 you\u2019re in the presence of God your sin is magnified and it\u2019s the same idea with this centurion.\u00a0 He\u2019s like I don\u2019t want You to even come into\u2026 I\u2019m not worthy for you to even come into my house Jesus.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t phony humility.\u00a0 The Centurion is a powerful man, he\u2019s not denying his power and his position of authority.\u00a0 He\u2019s just saying in relation to You, Jesus, I am NOTHING!\u00a0\u00a0 I am\u00a0 unworthy.\u00a0 Humility demands that we recognize that God is worthy and we are not.\r\n\r\nNow this is countercultural.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 I mean, the world doesn\u2019t market humility; the world doesn\u2019t sell humility.\u00a0 The world sells pride and arrogance, and prop me up kind of marketing.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 But the people of God, the people of God recognize that reliance on God and humility, that\u2019s where the real power is.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the strength is.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 says I will boast, I\u2019m going to boast in something, and he didn\u2019t boast in hey, I\u2019m the man, he says I will boast in \u201cmy weaknesses.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:7-10,\u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014to keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. [9] And He has said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u201d Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. [10] Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ\u2019s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s the passage where Paul tells us that God gave him a thorn in the flesh, something that was painful so that he wouldn\u2019t get the bighead, because the Lord had revealed so much to him and he was responsible for distributing to the apostle to the Gentiles, he\u2019s responsible for distributing that information, writing so many books of the New Testament, but the Lord didn\u2019t want him to get cocky so He gave him something that was painful.\u00a0 And he prays \u201ctake it away, Lord, take it away Lord, take it away Lord.\u201d\u00a0 He prays three times take it away and the Lord says no, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you.\u201d\u00a0 And Paul says well bring it then.\u00a0 He says, then I will \u201cboast in my weakness,\u201d and he says I\u2019m happy in my weakness \u201cso that Christ\u2019s power may dwell in me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So that Christ\u2019s power will be perfected.\u00a0 \u00a0[2 Corinthians 12:9, \u201cAnd He has said to me, \u2018My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u2019 Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weak\u00adnesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.\u201d]\u00a0 The point is if someone seeks God, if they want to seek God and want to seek God\u2019s favor, then they have to recognize that God is worthy and they are not.\u00a0 They have to be humble; that\u2019s why the Scripture says, \u201cGod is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.\u201d\u00a0 [James 4:6]\u00a0 That\u2019s a constant theme throughout Scripture.\u00a0 He exalts the humble and he humbles the exalted.\u00a0 You see that throughout all of Scripture.\r\n\r\nSo back in our passage here, [Matthew 8:7] \u201cJesus said to him, I will come and heal him, [8] But the centurion said, \u2018Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.\u00a0 [9] \u2018For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, \u2018Go!\u2019 and he goes, and to another, \u2018Come!\u2019 and he comes, and to my slave, \u2018Do this! and he does it.\u201d\r\n\r\nYou see this great statement of faith by this centurion?\u00a0 There\u2019s no question in his mind that Jesus \u00a0has the power to heal his servant.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not the real statement of faith here.\u00a0 He\u2019s saying I know you\u2019re from God; that\u2019s why he goes into a description of authority, authority under, authority over.\u00a0 The centurion is saying I\u2019m in the military chain of command with authority over me and authority under me.\u00a0 And I have the authority of Caesar behind my words, I say something and the weight of Caesar is behind my orders.\u00a0 And I see that you operate under a similar system, Jesus; You not only are under the authority of God but You wield the authority of God.\u00a0 You wield the power of God.\u00a0 Like my words are the Emperor\u2019s words, Caesar\u2019s words, Your words are God\u2019s words and I see \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that You have authority under\u00a0 you, which is life and death and nature and weather and health, and humanity itself.\u00a0 Just say the word and my servant\u2019s life will be restored to him.\u00a0 And I see that You have authority over you too, Jesus, God Himself, because we don\u2019t have the power that you have; we don\u2019t have the power over life and death like you do.\u00a0 It\u2019s clear to me that You do the things of God because you are of God, you have the power of God.\u00a0 God gives life with a word, restores life with a word; I ask that You do the same thing for my servant and I know you can.\r\n\r\nSo this is a huge statement of faith by this centurion.\u00a0 In his humility he submits to Jesus\u2019 authority, not just His physical authority but also His spiritual authority.\u00a0 He submits spiritually to Jesus\u2019 spiritual authority by saying I\u2019m not worthy\u2026 don\u2019t even come into my house, please, I\u2019m not worthy for that to happen.\u00a0 And then he submits to His physical authority by acknowledging that Jesus has the power of life and death and healing and health.\u00a0 And so he submits to that and says I ask you to exercise some of that authority for my servant.\r\n\r\nVerse 10, \u201c Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, \u2018Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Usually this word \u201cmarvel\u201d which is the Greek word thaumaz\u00f3<\/em> is reserved for people\u2019s response to Jesus, when they see Jesus walking on water they thaumaz\u00f3,<\/em> they marvel.\u00a0 When they see Jesus healing someone they marvel.\u00a0 But here it\u2019s reversed, what\u2019s going on here?\u00a0 This is saying that Jesus marveled at this centurion\u2019s faith.\u00a0 We see in the Gospels both the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus.\u00a0 We see both!\u00a0 He\u2019s fully God and fully man.\u00a0 Jesus is able to give life or restore life with a word, which is what God does.\u00a0 But here, like a man Jesus marvels at something, at someone.\u00a0 So sometimes Jesus acts from the perspective of His humanity, He marvels at someone or something and other times He acts from the perspective of His deity, He reads people\u2019s minds.\u00a0 That\u2019s what God does.\u00a0 Right.\r\n\r\nMatthew 12:25, \u201cAnd knowing there\u201d these are the Pharisees, \u201cAnd knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them,\u201d XYZ\u2026\u00a0 Who reads people\u2019s minds but God.\u00a0 And so we see this balance between the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus, fully God, fully man in one person forever.\u00a0 And notice back in verse 10 Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.\u201d\u00a0 Whenever Jesus says \u201ctruly\u201d in all of Jesus words, the whole Bible is important of course but when Jesus is saying \u201ctruly\u201d He\u2019s saying hey, listen up, I\u2019m going to say something BIG here.\u00a0 And so what He\u2019s saying is the Israelites that I\u2019ve been ministering to, they\u2019re not believing in Me, but this outsider, this foreigner, he\u2019s the one with the great faith, not My people who I\u2019ve been ministering with.\r\n\r\nNow are there exceptions to that?\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, but the majority, the Jewish leadership, ahhhh, we don\u2019t want you, in fact, we\u2019re going to kill You, we don\u2019t want You Jesus!\u00a0 And so Jesus is saying the Israelites are not believing in Him and instead it\u2019s the outsider, this foreigner who\u2019s believing in Him.\u00a0 There was this racial arrogance that crept into the thinking of many Israelites from the teaching of their leaders, the Sadducees and the Pharisees.\u00a0 And they thought they had a lock on the kingdom of heaven because they were racial descendants of Abraham.\r\n\r\nThey also thought that non-Jews would not enjoy the benefits of the kingdom of heaven, they would not be part of the kingdom of heaven because you had to be, in their mind, racially descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 Now let me pause for a minute and say unfortunately throughout the centuries some Christians have\u00a0 used this wrongly as a basis for anti-Semitism.\u00a0 And they\u2019ve said okay, and then I\u2019m going to be racially arrogant against you and I\u2019m going to be prejudice towards you, the Jew, and let me say that\u2019s not only ungodly and sinful but\u2019s really absurd for a Christian to ever be involved in anti-Semitism because we worship a Jew, the Jew of Jews, Jesus of Nazareth!\u00a0 We are the meter of Christianity and so it\u2019s not only sinful to be engaged in anti-Semitism but it\u2019s just absurd for a Christian to ever be involved in that.\r\n\r\nWell, John the Baptist calls out the Sadducees and the Pharisees on this bogus view of the kingdom, that it\u2019s only reserved for racial descendants of Abraham.\u00a0 And John the Baptist says this when he calls them out.\u00a0 He says, \u201cAnd do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father, for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[Matthew 3:9]\u00a0 What John the Baptist is basically saying is it\u2019s true that by race and tradition you\u2019re connected to the promises of God.\u00a0 John the Baptist, who is an Israelite speaking to Israelites, he\u2019s saying it\u2019s true that you\u2019re connected by race and tradition to the promises of God, and by race and tradition to the Scriptures, which came through the Israelites.\u00a0 And by race and tradition to the great men of faith of old, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean that you have a lock on the kingdom of heaven.\u00a0 God can raise up other heirs, additional heirs from these stones to be heirs to the kingdom of heaven.\r\n\r\nSo Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, turns the idea of racial arrogance on its head.\u00a0 Jesus shows that the kingdom of heaven is open to all who will submit to His authority.\u00a0 Now I want to be clear on this point when I say \u201csubmit to His authority.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about Lordship salvation, that is a false view.\u00a0 Lordship salvation is the idea that you need two things to be saved; you need the first, trust in Jesus that He paid for your sins, and then second you need to commit to follow Jesus, or commit to make Jesus Lord in your life.\u00a0 That\u2019s false, patently false, and we know that from Acts 16.\u00a0 When the Philippian jailor, who is about to commit suicide because the Apostle Paul and the other Christians there are freed from the jail with this earthquake and they\u2019re all gone and the penalty for a prisoner being lost by a guard was the guard would be executed.\u00a0 And so this Philippian jailor is about to commit suicide and Paul says \u2026.don\u2019t hurt yourself!\u00a0 And the Philippian jailor says \u201cWhat do I have to do to be saved?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Acts 16:30]\u00a0 He knows he\u2019s a Christian, he knows Paul is the leader, an apostle of these Christians.\u00a0 He says \u201cWhat do I have to do to be saved?\u201d\u00a0 The Apostle Paul says something simple, \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Acts 16:31]\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t says and do this and make this commit\u00adment and make this promise to God.\u00a0 He just says \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 There is but ONE condition to salvation.\r\n\r\nAnd so Lordship salvation is not true, there\u2019s one condition of salvation and there are really two different things here; one is salvation and one is after salvation. Salvation is\u2026 when I say \u201ctrust\u201d \u00a0\u00a0or \u201csubmit to the King\u201d that\u2019s when you trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins that is submitting to Jesus for the access to the Father for forgiveness of\u00a0 your sins.\u00a0 That is an act of submission when we trust, when we believe, or rely, all the same thing, believe, trust, rely, have confidence in, that\u2019s an act of submission to Jesus\u2019 authority for salvation.\u00a0 And then after you\u2019re saved in that instant of time then there\u2019s okay, well what do I do now, for the rest of my life.\u00a0 Okay, well, you\u2019re still supposed to be submitting to the authority of Jesus, it\u2019s just here those are daily decisions, those are hourly decisions.\u00a0 So those are two separate things, salvation and then post-salvation.\u00a0 And in those hourly decisions where we\u2019re obeying Him we\u2019re accumulating rewards that He\u2019s already designed for us in His kingdom, in His future kingdom.\r\n\r\nSo what\u2019s happening here in verse 10 and verse 9 is that Jesus is complimenting the centurion; Jesus marvels at the centurion.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Jesus marvels at the centurion and when He marvels what He is saying is it\u2019s a compliment but it\u2019s not just a compliment of the centurion, it\u2019s also an indictment of Jesus\u2019 own people because they\u2019re rejecting Him.\r\n\r\nAnd so what Matthew is doing is he\u2019s developing these principles that I referred to earlier, these first three principles.\u00a0 They\u2019re hinted to in our passage and they\u2019re developed more throughout the Book of Matthew, but He is saying that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen here, there\u2019s going to be disbelief.\u00a0 Jesus says I haven\u2019t found faith like this centurion with anyone in Israel.\u00a0 Matthew is going to develop that and he\u2019s going to say look, the people are going to reject Jesus and so what He\u2019s going to do?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to postpone His kingdom.\u00a0 And what\u2019s He going to do after the postponement?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to implement the church and in the church age He\u2019s going to add additional heirs to His kingdom because these heirs said I don\u2019t want You, I don\u2019t want it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want You, I don\u2019t want\u00a0 Your kingdom!\u00a0 Jesus implements the church age and adds additional heirs or in the words of John the Baptist, he raises up new sons from the stones.\u00a0 That\u2019s\u00a0 you and me, right?\u00a0 During the church age.\u00a0 And then, number four, submission to Jesus, to the King, the Jewish King, by faith alone brings eternal blessing and we\u2019re going to see that; Jesus is going to say that for the centurion.\u00a0 And then number five, there\u2019s rebellion and rebellion is disbelief and punishment.\r\n\r\nBack to our passage here, verse 11, \u201cI say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;\u201d [Matthew 8:11]\u00a0 This phrase, \u201ckingdom of heaven\u201d is God taking the peace and prosperity and joy and power and authority of heaven to the earth, and bringing it to the earth, imposing it on the earth, providing it to the people of the earth, us on the earth.\u00a0 And the king\u2019s kingdom, it begins with the thousand year reign.\u00a0 The kingdom of heaven begins with the thousand year reign and then propels into eternity thereafter.\r\n\r\nWe know that from Daniel 2:44 where we read, \u201cIn the days of those kings\u201d the kings there are the kings that Pastor Andy taught us about, with respect to that statue, the big statue, the King of Babylon, the King of Medo-Persia, the King of Greece, the King of Rome, \u201cIn the days of those kings\u201d those kingdoms, those human kingdoms, \u201cthe God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed,\u201d never means never, \u201cand that kingdom\u201d the God of heaven kingdom \u201cwill not be left for another people;\u201d just like Babylon, the Persians came in and took the Babylonians kingdom.\u00a0 The Greeks came in and took the Medo-Persians kingdom.\u00a0 The Romans came in and took the Greek kingdom.\u00a0 When God institutes His kingdom, no one is taking that one, because it\u2019s a forever kingdom.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd what does a kingdom need?\u00a0 A kingdom needs the exercise of authority.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 That\u2019s what Rome did, they sent their legions to all of the territories of the empire to exercise their authority.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Germans did, they sent their armies throughout all of Europe to exercise German authority.\u00a0 That\u2019s why our G.I.\u2019s went in and spilt their blood for those people and for us, for freedom.\u00a0 Well, if human rulers know that you need to exercise authority for a kingdom, for there to be a kingdom doesn\u2019t God know that a thousand times more?\u00a0 Of course he does.\u00a0 The King of heaven will return and this time when He returns He will return to rule, with power and authority, ABSOLUTE power and authority.\r\n\r\nYou see, the world doesn\u2019t want to hear about that Jesus.\u00a0 They want to hear about the sweet cuddly baby Jesus in the cradle.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to hear about the Jesus who is the warrior, the warrior-king who slaughters His enemies and in Revelation it describes the blood up to the bridle of the horse.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to hear about the ruler Jesus, the ruler Jesus King, they want to hear about the baby Jesus because it convicts them.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 It convicts the person when we know there\u2019s a day of accountability coming, there\u2019s a day of reckoning coming and that day of reckoning, the ruler Jesus is set forth in Psalm 2.\r\n\r\nSo let\u2019s take a minute and look at Psalm 2.\u00a0 There we read, \u201cWhy are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing?\u00a0 \u00a0[2] The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,\u201d \u201canointed\u201d in Hebrew is the word \u201cmashia<\/em> \u201cwhich means chosen one or anointed.\u00a0 This is the Davidic king, not David but the son of David; mashia<\/em> translated in the Greek is Christos; Christos<\/em> translated in English is Christ so you say it this way: \u201cThe kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Christ,\u201d we\u2019ll see that phrase again in a minute.\r\n\r\nVerse 3, \u201cLet us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So the world says I\u2019m the boss of me, I\u2019m the boss of me, I don\u2019t need You; I don\u2019t need You God and I don\u2019t need Your Christ, I\u2019ve good, I don\u2019t need that, I don\u2019t need you.\u00a0 Verse 4, \u201cHe who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.\u201d\u00a0 This word \u201cscoff\u201d in the Hebrew means to mock, to deride, God mocks those who think they don\u2019t need to submit to His authority, those who ignore His authority.\u00a0 Verse 5, \u201cThen He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, [6] \u201cBut as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a reference to Jerusalem.\u00a0 This means that God has installed His Messiah in Jerusalem as the King of the world.\u00a0 And the verse speaks in the past tense because it is so certain to occur it\u2019s as if it already happened.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t happened yet; it\u2019s not going to happen until Christ returns but it\u2019s so certain to occur the Scripture records it in the past tense because it\u2019s absolute, it WILL happen with absolute certainty.\r\n\r\nVerse 7, \u201cI will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:\u00a0 He said to Me, \u2018You are My Son,\u201d Messiah is the Son of God, right, \u201cToday I have begotten You.\u201d\u00a0 The phrase \u201conly begotten from the Father\u201d is a title of Jesus.\u00a0 Verse 8, \u201cAsk of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,\u201d the Father will give Messiah the nations to rule over, \u201cAnd the very<\/em> ends of the earth as Your possession.\u00a0 [9] You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.\u2019\u201d This is the absolute, unequitable authority of the King, of Jesus.\u00a0 Verse 10, \u201cNow therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 This is a warning that God is about to issue.\u00a0 [11] \u201cWorship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling.\u201d\u00a0 Do we do that?\u00a0 Or do we approach God king of casually.\u00a0 This says, \u201cWorship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s cool to rejoice but He says \u201crejoice with trembling.\u201d\u00a0 Approach God with humility.\u00a0 The fact that God would even let us mention His name is beyond comprehension\u00a0 The fact that he even reveals Himself to us is amazing.\u00a0 And so he says, I am God and you all are not, so submit to Me.\u00a0 And here he says He\u2019s the authority, He\u2019s the absolute authority.\u00a0 And so we need to approach God with an attitude of humility and submission.\u00a0 Or in the words here, \u201crejoice with trembling\u201d and \u201creverence.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 12, \u201cDo homage to the Son,\u201d that\u2019s Christ, \u201cthat He not become angry, and you perish in<\/em> the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled.\u201d\u00a0 The connotation here is that Messiah\u2019s wrath may be sparked like that so beware, this is the warning, beware and submit to him to avoid His wrath.\u00a0 And then you see these beautiful words at the end, \u201cHow blessed are all who take refuge in Him!\u201d\r\n\r\nIs the Lord is slow to anger and rich in mercy as the Old Testament says many, many times?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Is the Lord\u2019s message a message of hope and mercy and love?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 But there\u2019s another part of the message too; the other part of the message is a message of wrath and judgment.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a part of the message that the world doesn\u2019t want to hear about but it\u2019s here; it\u2019s a message of authority and submission.\u00a0 Submission is a word that the world and our culture find most repugnant but God says submit; submit to Me and to My authority.\u00a0 In the day that the Messiah King returns He will bring the authority and the peace and the prosperity of heaven to this earth when He rules with absolute authority.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why the angels declare in Revelation 11:15, they declare that \u201cthere were loud voices in heaven, saying, \u201cThe kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord\u201d there\u2019s that phrase again, \u201cof our Lord and of His Christ;\u201d that\u2019s God the Father and God the Son, \u201cand He will reign forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 So the angels say what Daniel says, that this is a forever kingdom, that is the kingdom of heaven.\r\n\r\nAre we so comfortable with our lives, with what we can see and touch and feel that we don\u2019t really get concerned, we\u2019re not really that interested in our future inheritance and the kingdom that God will bring?\u00a0 Is our prosperity so dear to us that we could care less about our position as heirs in His royal kingdom?\u00a0 This is real. We will return with Christ and be part of His kingdom during His thousand year reign and then into eternity thereafter.\u00a0 We should never be blas\u00e9 about this. The\u00a0 King is coming\u2026 THE KING IS COMING!\u00a0 We should live like\u00a0 we believe it, not yeah, okay, cool, yeah, it\u2019s in the Scripture, yeah\u2026\u00a0 No, this is real, THE KING IS COMING and when the Messiah King comes in the power of God He will turn this world upside down.\u00a0 And the world ignores that.\u00a0 And He will come like a thief in the night, when the world least expects it.\u00a0 [\u201cFor you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.\u201d\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 5:2.]\u00a0 Be ready, be ready!\u00a0 Trumpets are often associated with royalty.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you saw any part of the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markel last week but at the end of the wedding, the Prince is there with his new bride, he\u2019s standing and all the guests are standing and they face the queen and you hear these trumpets, and then they start singing \u201cMy country tis of Thee,\u201d no, this is the wrong words, right, it\u2019s \u201cGod save our gracious queen\u201d right?\u00a0 And every time I hear that I want to say hey, you guy stole our song.\u00a0 But of course they were first and we were second, we took their song.\r\n\r\nMy point is trumpets are often associated with royalty and it\u2019s the same for the King of Kings.\u00a0 When He returns the trumpet will sound.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s not going to be the Queen of England\u2019s trumpeters, it\u2019s going to be the trumpet of God and we know that from 1 Thessalonians 4 where we are told \u201cFor the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch\u00adangel and with the trumpet of God,\u201d and that must be a trumpet that is incredible, \u201cand the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17]\u00a0 The King is coming!\u00a0 He\u2019s going to gather His church just a few years before he institutes His reign, His kingdom, actually exactly seven years, but my point is the King is coming, be ready!\u00a0 BE READY!\r\n\r\nBack to verse 11, I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 8:11]\u00a0 When Jesus says \u201cmany will come from east and west\u201d He\u2019s talking about you and me, if you\u2019re a Gentile.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about outsiders like this centurion; He\u2019s saying that submission in Him by faith alone brings eternal blessing.\u00a0 We, as Gentiles, will enjoy the banquet, the Jewish banquet, with believing Jews.\u00a0 Believing Gentiles will participate in the Jewish banquet with believing Jews, that banquet with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.\r\n\r\nAnd the kingdom referred to in this banquet notion is there in the Old Testament as well, where it\u2019s described in Isaiah 25:6-9.\u00a0 There we read, \u201cThe LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;\u201d \u201call peoples\u201d means Jews and Gentiles, \u201ca banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and<\/em> refined, aged wine.\u00a0 [7] And on this mountain\u201d that\u2019s another reference to Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and this mountain is here in this area of Jerusalem, that\u2019s where the capital of Israel will be, and not just the capital of Israel but the capital of the world during the kingdom.\u00a0 \u201cAnd on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,\u201d \u201call peoples\u201d includes Gentiles, \u201cEven the veil which is stretched over all nations.\u201d\u00a0 All nations includes Gentiles.\u00a0 [8] \u201cHe will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,\u201d those are beautiful words; they are repeated again in Revelation.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; or the LORD has spoken.\u201d\u00a0 Meaning His Word is immutable, unchangeable.\u00a0 If this doesn\u2019t happen He is not God which is unthinkable.\u00a0 [9] \u201cAnd it will be said in that day, \u2018Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited\u201d wait on the Lord, \u201c that He might save us. \u00a0This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo the point here is that under verse 7, because the Lord will be ruling from Israel, and specifically from Jerusalem, we see that all power will emanate from the Lord.\u00a0 All power will emanate from Jerusalem.\u00a0 And Jewish believers, because they have a privileged status in the kingdom, they\u2019ll be, say almost like administrators of the King and through them the world is blessed.\u00a0 We also will rule with the King but this concept of the Jews having a more privileged status in the kingdom, that is true!\u00a0 It\u2019s true!\u00a0 And even in Amos 9:11-12, even in stronger words than here, \u201cIn that day I will raise up the fallen booth\u201d or hut \u201cof David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old;\u00a0 [12] That they may possess the remnant of Edom\u201d Edom is one of the Gentile nations that\u2019s right next to Israel, \u201cAnd all the nations who are called by My name, Declares the LORD who does this.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo when the kingdom comes and the King returns, the Jewish King, Messiah, He will exercise authority over the Gentile nations and the Jews will rule with Him.\u00a0 The nations will be blessed because of their association with the King and the King\u2019s people, the Israelites.\r\n\r\nVerse 12 of Matthew 8, \u201cbut the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.\u201d\u00a0 This is a terribly, terribly sad verse.\u00a0 Jesus is saying that the heirs of the kingdom, they\u2019re going to be cast out into a place of suffering, not a place of joy like the kingdom but a place of suffering.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about racial descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who refused to submit to the Messiah King\u2019s authority, who refused to trust in Jesus.\u00a0 In the Greek there\u2019s a definite article, there\u2019s a \u201cthe\u201d before the word \u201cweeping\u201d and before the word \u201cgnashing of teeth.\u201d\u00a0 So you can read it, \u201cin that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 What is doing is it\u2019s emphasizing the horror of this scene.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s be clear, this is hell, this is the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 message is not just hope and peace and love; it is those things.\u00a0 It is those things!\u00a0 But it\u2019s not only those things; it\u2019s also a message of wrath and judgment and punishment and horror to the one who refuses to submit to Him, to the one, in other words the one who refuses to trust in Him for their access to the Father, their access to God.\r\n\r\nNow many Christians today are embarrassed by the idea of hell, they\u2019re just embarrassed by it because they\u2019re afraid that they\u2019re going to be called the bigot, or they\u2019re going to be called intolerant.\u00a0 And so they just say let\u2019s not use that word, let\u2019s not talk about that! Well, Jesus didn\u2019t candy-coat it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying we should be rude about it but we need to be honest.\u00a0 It\u2019s not bigoted to say brother, you\u2019re going to hell if you don\u2019t believe in Jesus.\u00a0 I remember my parents gave me the gospel when I was young, just a kid, and I remember that and I probably believed then but I know I believed when I was sitting in church, I could have been seven years old, eight years old, and the pastor, firing away, said, \u201cbelieve in the Lord Jesus Christ or\u00a0 you\u2019re going to HELL,\u201d well, that\u2019s easy for me, I don\u2019t want to go there!\u00a0 I want to go to heaven, so he said \u201cbelieve in the Lord Jesus Christ and you\u2019ll go to heaven\u201d so it was straightforward.\r\n\r\nJesus is not candy-coating the principle of hell.\u00a0 It\u2019s real.\u00a0 It\u2019s real!\u00a0 And we shouldn\u2019t candy coat it also; we should present the truth in love but present the truth, don\u2019t deceive people!\r\n\r\nVerse 13, \u201cAnd Jesus said to the centurion, \u2018Go, and it shall be done to you as you have believed.\u00a0 And the servant was healed that very moment.\u201d So the centurion asked Jesus for help believing that Jesus would help and Jesus granted his request.\u00a0 Now I can\u2019t say that this is a blanket statement; this is not a blanket statement.\u00a0 Every time we ask the Lord for something, just because we believe it doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re necessarily going to get it because it has to be within His will.\u00a0 This was in the will of God to grant this and so Jesus granted it.\r\n\r\nThere is a movement in Christianity today that says if\u00a0 you just have enough faith you\u2019ll be healthy.\u00a0 If you just have enough faith you\u2019ll be wealthy.\u00a0 If you just have enough faith\u00a0 you\u2019ll be prosperous.\u00a0 And this is called the prosperity gospel and I hate\u00a0 using that phrase because it\u2019s not the gospel at all because what\u2019s wrong with that thinking is that it totally ignores the will of God.\u00a0 It refuses to submit to God\u2019s will and God\u2019s authority.\r\n\r\nHere Jesus granted the centurion\u2019s request because that was God\u2019s will but sometimes it\u2019s not God\u2019s will to heal us.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s not and we just have to submit.\u00a0 The point here is that it\u2019s not submission to God if we say I\u2019m going to pray really hard for this and I\u2019m going to believe that You\u2019re going to give it to me and then I\u2019m guaranteed to get it\u2026 I\u2019m guaranteed because I believed it and I prayed.\u00a0 That\u2019s a misunderstanding of Matthew 21:22 where Jesus said, \u201cAnd all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.\u201d\u00a0 That means asking in the will of God consistent with the will of God and we know that because Jesus prayed just a few chapters later for something that the Father didn\u2019t give Him.\u00a0 Jesus prayed in Matthew 26:39, He asked the Father to make it so He didn\u2019t have to go to the cross to pay for my sins and your sins and the sins of the world.\u00a0 [Matthew 26:39, \u201cAnd He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, \u201cMy Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.\u201d]\r\n\r\nBut then, praise God, Jesus finished the prayer with \u201cnot My will but Your will be done.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0He prayed Father, if it\u2019s possible let this cup pass from me, but not My will but Your will be done.\u00a0 And so the Father didn\u2019t grant that prayer because it was the Father\u2019s will that He go to the cross and Jesus submitted to the Father\u2019s will.\u00a0 My point is just because we ask and just because we believe we may not get it because it has to be in the Father\u2019s will also for God to grant any particular prayer.\r\n\r\nSo in conclusion, Matthew uses Gentiles, like this centurion, to show us five things about the kingdom.\u00a0 The first three are hinted here in this passage, in our passage today, and the last two, items four and five, are directly in the passage.\u00a0 In disbelief Israel rejected her Messiah-King, and His kingdom.\u00a0 As a result, He postponed the kingdom and during this postponement there is the church age when He is adding additional heirs to His future kingdom, that He will institute when He returns.\u00a0 And number four, submission to the Jewish King by faith alone is eternal blessing and that eternal blessing is admittance into the kingdom.\u00a0 Number five is the horror, it\u2019s rebellion and rejection of the King by disbelief and that brings punishment in the form of being excluded from the kingdom.\r\n\r\nSo the centurion, a military office, not unlike General Patton, submitted to the authority of God.\u00a0 He recognized authority that was greater than his own; he recognized Jesus\u2019 authority and he trusted in Him.\u00a0 And for that reason He will recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.\u00a0 He is an heir of the King\u2019s future kingdom just like you are and I am if we trust in Jesus.\r\n\r\nNow if there\u2019s anyone here or on the internet without Christ, without hope, and without eternal life we want you to know that Jesus paid for your sins, personally!\u00a0 He died for the sins of the entire world and He had you in mind when He was on the cross.\u00a0 And so He is the only access to the Father.\u00a0 If you refuse to believe in Him you will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Scripture says!\u00a0 I wish it wasn\u2019t true, I wish there wasn\u2019t a hell, but I don\u2019t get to make that call.\u00a0 I have unbelieving friends that I\u2019ve given the gospel to that have rejected it and so I wish there wasn\u2019t a hell but that\u2019s not my call to make.\u00a0 That\u2019s God who makes that call and that\u2019s what He\u2019s designed and so we submit to Him.\u00a0 So if you want to go from being the enemy of God, which is where you are if you\u2019ve not trusted Christ, to being the daughter or the son of God then just believe; just trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and\u00a0 you\u2019ll go from being the enemy to being the daughter or son of God.\r\n\r\nFather, we thank\u00a0 You for this time together.\u00a0 We ask that You challenge us and encourage us and remind us that soon Your kingdom will be here.\u00a0 Challenge us to live with that in mind and not to get so distracted with what we can see and touch and feel.\u00a0 Encourage\u00a0 us to submit to You in all that we do and all that we think and we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the honor and praise and glory.\u00a0 And we pray this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t