Drawing Near Wk. 3: Authority

Intro: Pastor Allen & Julie/Pastor Doug/Africa

o Drawing Near: The Faithful Pursuit of Jesus

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (Jms. 4:8)/“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6)

o Matthew Summary

- Matthew 1-2 genealogy/birth/early years.

- Matthew 3 John the Baptist/baptism of Jesus.

- Matthew 4 temptation/ beginning of His ministry, early miracles/growing popularity.

- Matthew 5-7 Sermon on the Mount.

 Chapter 7 concludes

Matthew 7:28-29 28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.[1]

o Matthew 8

· 5 miracles in 29 verses!

- leprosy/ Centurion’s servant / MIL / storm / two demon-possessed men.

Jesus has power: Important to know Who we’re turning to, praying to, following

as we look at a story about His power and authority, we recognize that faith attracts Him.

Religion Repels, but Faith Attracts.

Read with me

Matthew 8:5-13 (NASB 2020) 5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, begging Him,

6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.”

7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

10 Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

11 And 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;

12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.[2]

The Centurion: Roman officers, despised by the Jews. 100 soldiers under their command.

unusually merciful as a master: permissible kill a servant who was ill or injured to the point of no longer being useful/Josephus: Trained servants and developed friendships

expressed it in the best way he knew how.

 Here’s the first point...

1. Faith has a vocabulary.

5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, begging Him

He begs Jesus, not by giving Him orders, instructions, or commands.

6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.”

o “Lord.”

Lord, Master, Sir—Titles of respect

o Mike Packard: Just tell him the problem.

Application: Prayer isn’t venting;

 Here’s point #2.

2. Faith Frees Us From the Pride of Religion.

Jesus’ response:

7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

o Just Say the Word/ not to dictate the word that Jesus would say.

Your Word backed by Your authority is all that matters.

o Jesus’ Authority/Unclean to enter gentile home/Laid aside his pride and asked for “the word.”

9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

“I know the rules.”/I’m not worthy. Just speak to this problem that is subject to You./No weight thrown around.

Authority of a word: disobey Roman command equal to Rome or Emperor/ too big for Rome

Pantheon of gods didn’t have an answer /No ritual, trusted Jesus’ power and authority

not let crowd be stumblingblock /sometimes can’t care what people think./sometimes need to run to altar and grab onto Jesus

When centurion speaks, 100 men respond/When Jesus speaks, worlds are created, demons flee, disease leaves, storms cease.

Muslims Dreaming/College students crying out for Jesus/

 The third thing is this…

3. Faith Attracts the Attention and Power of Jesus.

o Amazing Faith: two moments mention Jesus’ amazement: Faith of Gentile

10 Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

opposite reason: unbelief/Mark 6: offended & reject/Mk. 6:6---Amazed at their unbelief

=should have been abundance of faith, but none/shouldn’t have been an ounce of it but abundant

· Jesus prepared to heal the servant, but the centurion insisted that Jesus’ authority

Jesus not street magician;/ didn’t know to expect a Messiah was amazing.

o Roaming the Earth

· How many of us have this kind of faith?

- lost loved one, relational strain, or a physical need that we know He can handle?

· In 2 Chronicles 16, the prophet Hanani rebukes King Asa for relying on a rival king to deliver Judah from the King of Israel’s blockade against them.

- Asa had sent gold and silver to this king instead of taking the need to God.

 Hanani said these very powerful words to Asa:

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)

9 For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

· In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter mentions another pair of eyes that roam the earth…

1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

· But if our hearts are fully God’s and we remain vigilant and alert, the lion may roar, but he can’t devour us.

 The last thing is this…

4. Faith Has a Behavior.

o Pursuit

· What’s the behavior of faith? A relentless pursuit of Jesus.

· What behavior did this centurion exhibit that demonstrated his faith? Let’s look again at verse 5.

5 “And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, begging Him.”

· We end where we began. The Centurion sought out Jesus, not caring about the piercing gazes of others.

 Let’s look at verses 11-13.

11 And 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;

12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.[4]

o At the Table.

· What Jesus is saying here is profound.

- From verse 10 onward, Jesus had been addressing those who were watching to teach them an important lesson.

· What is He saying?

- He’s saying that there will be others dining and reclining at the table of the Lord, and not necessarily those who thought they were in.

- There will be children of Abraham who didn’t recognize the hour of Christ’s appearing who won’t be at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

- Who didn’t respond to His calls to come to Him.

red rover

 Because his faith produced a relentless pursuit of Jesus, he saw His power.

o Have You Really Prayed It About It?

He continues to rule and reign with all authority, He left His disciples with this:

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)

18 Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Altar