This sermon focuses on the importance of understanding and following all that Jesus taught, emphasizing the need to not only listen to His words but also observe His actions and the spirit in which He ministered. It delves into the significance of humility, faith, and obedience in the context of healing miracles performed by Jesus, highlighting the connection between faith, humility, and receiving according to one's belief. The sermon also addresses the necessity of aligning our faith with the Word of Christ and the importance of recognizing God's greater purposes even in times of suffering or unanswered prayers.

We're going to look today at Matthew chapter 8, continuing our study on all that Jesus taught. The reason as I've repeatedly said why we are doing this is because in the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before he ascended up to heaven, he said that they were to go into all nations, make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then for the rest of their earthly life, they were to be taught, Matthew 28, verse 20, everything that Jesus had commanded. All that Jesus taught and commanded was to be taught to believers throughout their life. Very often in a lot of teaching of scripture, some parts of what Jesus taught is being taught but not everything. And so as we look through the scriptures, the Gospels especially, to see all that Jesus taught, it's only then that we'll be able to understand everything that he taught and then only will we be able to obey that command in teaching others and in making sure that we've obeyed them ourselves. So we're now looking at Matthew chapter 8, since we've already covered the last three chapters in the Sermon on the Mount. He came down from the mountain and great multitudes followed him and a leper came to him and bowed down to him saying, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And he stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing. Be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one but go show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded for a testimony to them. Now when we think of all that Jesus taught, Jesus taught not only by words but also by his actions and the way he related to people and what he told them to do. So it was by his life in addition to his words that he taught. So when we think of all that Jesus taught, we need to look at his life and the way he conducted his ministry as well if we are to follow him in the same spirit. For example, here we read that when Jesus healed this leper. Now this is a fantastic thing when every sign of leprosy disappears from a man immediately. You've seen lepers how they are with fingers eaten away, nose eaten away, and disfigurement on the face. In a moment, for all that to disappear is really a supernatural miracle. And if that were to happen today, people would be so excited. They'd ask him to go and testify to everyone and to make sure that he tells everyone who was the one who prayed for him. This is how so many Christian preachers seek honor for themselves. You see that particularly in the great so-called great healing campaigns where as soon as someone has some type of minor healing, almost insignificant, the preacher gets him to stand in front of the mic and proclaim that he's healed so that the preacher gets honor. You see it's so different here in Christ. All that Jesus taught by his life, he was not excited at the power that went out from him. He was excited that a poor leper was healed. This is the spirit of Christ where we are concerned that somebody else is blessed and not so much that he was blessed through me or that people should know that I was the channel whom God used. There's unfortunately so much of that in Christian circles, in Christian preachers, in Christian organizations, churches, missions everywhere where when God blesses someone, we're not excited that God's blessed them but we want everybody to know that we were the ones whom God used. That's not the spirit of Christ and where we see something like that, we need to see that is a trace of the old Adam still in us and if we don't cleanse ourselves from it, we will never be more Christ-like. Here we see that Jesus told him don't tell anyone. Have you ever heard that type of instruction from any person who's been instrumental in praying for somebody who was sick to be healed? This is the spirit of Christ and the other thing we see here is because the old covenant was still there in Israel and the new covenant had not been established, Jesus lived under the law as the Bible says and so he told the leper who was cleansed to do exactly what Moses had commanded in the law to go to the priest and show himself because the priest had to declare him cleansed exactly as Moses commanded. There are many things that Jesus said to people in the gospels which we mustn't forget was because they were still under the law. For example, he told the Pharisees to pay their tithes. He said it's not enough to pay tithes of dill and cumin and etc but also to fulfill the weightier matters of the law. Both you need to do and some people use that as an excuse to say well Jesus commanded people to tithe. Yes he did because they were under the law but that's been abolished in the new covenant. The old covenant has disappeared so the command to tithe is no longer there today. In the same way there's no need if you're healed today to go and show yourself to a priest. Exactly the same thing because the law is over but here's the main thing that we want to see and the second thing we want to see here is the Lord always desires something good for us. You know when the leper said to him if you are willing there is no lack of willingness. The Lord immediately said of course I'm willing and how does that apply to us? It means that whenever we have a need in our life and you go to the Lord and say Lord are you willing to meet this need? The Lord says yes I'm willing. Under the new covenant we see that there are times when the Lord allows us to suffer for some greater good and so not every sickness is necessarily healed even the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh was not healed as we read in 2nd Corinthians 12 and Timothy's stomach infirmities as you read in the last verses of 1 Timothy 5 were not healed because some greater good more important than the healing was what the Lord was trying to accomplish in their lives and so that happens even today. I mean it's just like martyrdom. Under the old covenant we read that when Daniel was thrown into a den of lions the lions couldn't touch him throughout the night but in the early days of Christianity when in the Roman amphitheaters Christians were thrown to the lions the lions ate them up immediately. Daniel's three friends went through the fire untouched but when Christians have been persecuted in the early centuries and burnt at the stake the fire burnt them up because in the new covenant there was a greater glory that would come to God through Christians going faithfully through suffering through Christians going faithfully through sickness and there are cases where even in the new covenant the Apostle Peter for example was delivered from prison supernaturally. Paul was delivered from the Philippian prison supernaturally but the same Paul later on when he was in prison in Rome was not delivered supernaturally he had to spend some years in prison and so we see that God's ways are not always the same he's always seeking to accomplish his purpose for the greater good of ourselves and those whom he wants to reach through us for example in the Philippian jail the reason why Paul was not delivered was delivered supernaturally was because the jailer had to be converted and in the Roman jail he was not delivered supernaturally because he had to witness to the Roman guards so that they would be converted so God's ways are always for his greater glory and the greater good of humanity and it's not always for our own comfort so we need to keep that in mind and not say well Jesus healed everybody who came to him therefore everybody will be healed today that's actually not true and anyone who gives people that impression is not speaking the truth I mentioned that in passing because that's often taken as an example we need to understand all that Jesus taught and here's another case of healing he entered Capernaum a centurion came to him and said Lord verse Matthew 8 and verse 6 Lord my servant is lying paralyzed at home suffering great pain I and Jesus said to him I will come and heal him now there's something wonderful you see about the centurion his humility remember he was a Roman military man a man who was in charge of centurion perhaps a hundred soldiers under him a man used to exercising authority and yet we see his humility in willing to travel all the way from wherever he was going to meet Jesus just to tell him about his servant who is paralyzed and lying at home now a military captain to be interested in a slave working in his home probably a Jewish slave is an amazing thing and you see his humility that's the first thing you need to see and the you see that humility further in verse 8 when he replies to Jesus saying I'm not worthy Lord that you should come under my roof but just say the word and my servant will be healed so before you see his faith I want you to see his humility now if Jesus were to say to you or me I want to come to your house you say sure Lord come but look what he says he certainly would have loved for Christ to come to his house but he says I'm not worthy you're so holy and I don't feel that I can really receive you such a holy person into my house the reason I mentioned that is there's a great connection between humility and faith and you see that and then you see his faith when he says Lord you just stand here and speak the word and you'll be healed because I'm also a man under authority and when I tell a soldier under me to go he goes immediately without any delay and being under authority if somebody tells me to go I go as well that's the point if I tell another soldier to come he comes if I tell a slave to do this he does it and then he was recognizing two things though he didn't understand it fully see military men usually can recognize other military men something about their bearing the way a person walks and conducts himself indicates a military man and this Roman said sure and couldn't understand it but there was something about Jesus bearing that indicated that he was a man subject to some authority he didn't know what it was and that's why he says I also I too what does that mean he's saying Lord like you I am also a man under authority what authority was Jesus under that the Roman centurion recognized he couldn't he didn't know anything about the trinity or the father or any such thing but he recognized this is a man who doesn't seem to be doing whatever he feels like doing he seems to be a man who's guided by somebody else and that's amazing that he recognized that and that's why he says I also in verse 9 am a man under authority and the other thing he recognized here was that when a man is under authority he has authority over other things or people so he recognized that Jesus he had obviously heard about Jesus healing the sick so he recognized that it was because Christ was under authority that he had authority over sickness and he knew that with that type of supernatural authority from heaven you don't have to be actually physically present near the sick person the sick person could be many kilometers away and he could just speak the word and the person would be healed it's a remarkable faith many cases people brought the sick child or man right up to Christ for him to touch but here was an amazing case where he didn't bring his servant he probably could have brought him in a chariot but he didn't and he says you don't have to come to my house my house may be five kilometers away but if you speak the word here I know my servant will be healed five kilometers away and he said therefore I ask you to do it and when Jesus heard this it says he marveled there are only two places in scripture where it says Jesus marveled and it's very interesting to see that it says he marveled when he saw faith like this imagine doing something to make Jesus Christ himself marvel and the other example is in mark's gospel in chapter 6 where we read in mark 6 and verse 6 he marveled at their unbelief these are the only two places in scripture where we read about Jesus being surprised or wondering one case where he saw amazing faith and the other where he saw amazing unbelief faith meant so much to the lord he was always excited whenever he saw people who had faith and terribly disappointed when he saw people with unbelief and so we read here he marveled and he said truly I say to you I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel he's comparing a Roman military man who does never read the bible who doesn't know anything about Moses or the prophets or any such thing with all of Israel including the great scholars who had studied the scriptures and saying I found more faith in this man who hardly knows anything about scripture compared to all the rest of you who read the for so many years I wonder if that can be true even today all that Jesus taught does he have to rebuke us who are Christians who read the bible so much and study the bible so much that we don't have the faith that sometimes even a non-christian may have in what God can do in so many situations even today there are non-christians who believe well God will help me and many Christians who get into a panic and are anxious and fearful I say to you there's more faith in those people than you who know the scriptures and the lord goes on to say I say to you all that Jesus taught remember verse 11 many from the east and west will sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and those sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness the place where they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth if you take seriously what Jesus said that the sons of the kingdom verse 12 will be cast out now there are some people who feel Christians that sons of the kingdom can never be cast out they will always be there consider what Jesus said the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness and why are they cast out in the context because they don't have faith whereas this person who has faith who is not one of the sons of the kingdom who comes from east and west is going to sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob were sons of the kingdom in the kingdom of heaven and the others will be out with the way there's weeping and gnashing and teeth which speaks of hell it's very important to understand this very often we think that just because we know so much of the bible and we understand so much truth intellectually that the lord must be very happy with us and very accepts us without any reservation but that's not what he looks for if we can learn from this roman centurion two very important characteristics that Jesus looks for and appreciates one is humility the other is faith and we could also add to that a concern for the poor there are actually three things we see here this military man has a concern for a poor slave he's a humble person who does not feel that christ is worthy to come under his roof and he has faith to believe that christ can do anything even from a distance when we apply that to ourselves today we can have the same qualities if we want this is what appreciated he appreciates it even today whenever he sees people who have a concern for those who are the outcasts of society those are on the fringes of society those who are poor and weak like this military man had and those who have the humility to recognize that they are nothing in his presence those whose faces are in the dusk before the lord and those who have the faith that is not only from five kilometers away but from millions of kilometers up in heaven that christ can speak the word today Matthew chapter 5 and Jesus said to the centurion in verse 13 go your way this is verse 13 let it be done to you as you have believed and the servant was healed at very hour what we see here is another thing that is something unique which we hardly ever find almost never in the old testament right from the beginning of the new testament jesus always appreciated faith you see that right through his entire ministry wherever he saw faith he appreciated it tremendously salvation is by faith everything we receive from god is on the base of faith and these words jesus repeated to more than one person to this and let it be done to you as you have believed what did jesus teach very often we can have a wrong understanding of this not as you have earnestly desired not as i earnestly desire for you see sometimes we think i earnestly desire this it could be anything well you don't get it according to your desire god earnestly desires many thing for us many things for us but we don't get it because the law is not according to your earnest desire or according to god's earnest desire the principle is according to you how much you have believed for be it done for you as you have believed we receive according to the measure of our faith and that is why we find that some people receive much and some people receive very little it's like if the rain's falling heavily outside and one person puts a cup outside another person puts a bucket and a third person puts a huge tub they're going to get different quantities of water it's not because god is partial to one not at all the same rain is falling everywhere but the size of the vessel is different and that determines how much each person gets it's exactly the same in the christian life if you find a difference between one christian and another it's because there's a difference in their faith according to their faith they receive as you have believed let it be done for you now our faith i want to mention this also must be based on the word of jesus see jesus had spoken this word to him and the bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of christ it's not that i just try and work up faith in my heart for anything i want this is the foolishness that you find in so many christians they desire and covet so many earthly things and they try to imagine that they're working up faith to believe god to get that thing that's not it romans 10 17 is clear faith can only be based on hearing the word of christ we must have a very definite promise abraham did not have a son at the age of hundred just because he worked up faith for it god had specifically told him that he would have a son then he could have faith faith is always based on the word of god and here also it's the same principle so according to what you believe but that faith must be based on the word of christ and as i said earlier this faith is coupled with humility if we don't have humility it's very difficult to have faith there's a close connection between the two it's not only here but in a number of places we see this you see this in the case of another a woman who once jesus said in you read about it in matthew 15 a canaanite woman jesus tried to test her by saying we can't give the children's bread to the dogs and she said she took that position okay lord i may be like a dog but can't i get the crumbs that fall from the table and she got according to her faith it was humility again to be willing to take the places of a dog at the foot of the table and say lord i'm not i don't deserve the bread give me the crumbs and her faith was great these two non-jewish people jesus appreciated their faith so there's something that we can learn from the example of this roman centurion that can help us in our daily christian walk