Matthew 8- Faith of a Gentile

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And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Matthew 8:5-9

Today we are going to see the fruition of the New Covenant of Christ. To understand this story in better detail, we first need to understand what a Centurion was. A Centurion was a Roman commander in the military responsible for 100 men, hence century where the name Centurion derived from. So this wasn’t just any ordinary Gentile (Non-Jew) this was a Roman soldier. 

And notice what the Centurion does, He goes and asks the Christ to heal his servant. Wow, talk about radical faith, this Roman soldier goes to the Jewish Messiah for healing, why? Because he has true faith and understanding who Jesus is, the Son of God. Next, notice the Centurion demonstrates and understands the authority Christ has. The Centurion says “Lord I am not worthy for you to come under my roof” Imagine this, a Roman Centurion, who has power and authority, is telling The Messiah he’s not worthy to be in his presence, this is true faith and repentance.

When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. Matthew 8:10-13

Notice what Jesus says here “I haven’t found anyone in Israel with such great faith” think about that! This was a Roman soldier, and he had greater faith according to Christ, then all the religious leaders of Israel. Why? Because this Gentile recognized that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, while the religious leaders all rejected Jesus and had him crucified

Jesus said “ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many sons of Abraham” why? Because salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone (John 14:6) no other way can you be saved. This Roman Centurion was going to see the Kingdom of Heaven and many religious leaders of Israel wont, why? Because of one simple denominator, the blood of Christ for forgiveness of sins.

This is the beginning of the New Covenant, the Gentiles are getting grafted into the Kingdom of God by faith in Jesus Christ, Amen

Matthew 8- The Lepers Prayer

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When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. Matthew 8:1-4

Leprosy was a major issue in the 1rst Century, not only physically was it horrible to have the disease, but from a social perspective also. When you had Leprosy, you were essentially cut off from all of society. You couldn’t work, you couldn’t be in the presence of other people. It was a lonely and miserable life for the Lepers. Now you might wonder, how does this relate to you? We might not have physical leprosy, but we all had spiritual leprosy , which is caused by sin. The Bible tells us “We have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23) So this includes all of us, until we become Born Again through Jesus Christ

First thing to notice is the faith of the Leper, he went after Christ and worshiped Him. The Leper understood who was the ultimate cure for him, it was Jesus. It wasn’t a mistake or an accident that he encountered The Lord, He came running after Jesus. And he understood who Jesus is, the Son of God, the Christ, the one worthy to be worshiped. Jesus didn’t rebuke the man for worshiping him, because Christ is God in the flesh. If Christ wasn’t God then this would have been idolatry. However this man knew Jesus is God and Christ allowed it

Notice the next thing Jesus does, Christ put forth his hand for the Leper to touch him. This was completely forbidden by the Torah, you can have no interaction with a Leper. However again, Jesus is God, Christ is the Living Torah made flesh, and He allowed the Leper to touch his hand. Notice also Jesus said “Be Clean” , Christ didn’t need to pray to God to heal the man, because Jesus is God

The last thing we see is Jesus told the man, “Don’t tell anyone”, but go to the priest and offer a gift as a testimony” Christ didn’t heal the Leper for fame, in fact he wanted the healing to remain silent until the hour has come that the Son of Man was glorified. We don’t know if the man ever did what Jesus asked, however we know Christ brought a dead man back to life. 

You might have Spiritual Leprosy today, you might still be dead in your sins. You need to run to The Lord and worship Him, Let Christ create you a new Clean Heart and a Clean Mind, become Born Again by the Holy Spirit Amen!

Matthew 7- Build On The Rock

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Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:24-27

What is the foundation of your life? Those who reject God and believe they are going to live a “happy go lucky” life are in for a rude awakening. People who don’t build their life on the rock, Jesus Christ, wonder why their lives or marriages fall apart during any storms of life. It’s inevitable, your life or marriage will crumble without God as your foundation.

Jesus tells us its like the wise man who built his house on the rock, when the storms came the house never fell. However the foolish man who built his house on the sand, once the storms come in life, their house crumbles. Why? Because their house was not built on a solid foundation. We need to understand building a life without Christ, is a disaster waiting to come, not just in the present world but in eternity also

Atheists try to define morality without God, they say people can just make up their own morality.  But when confronted about Hilter , their logic crumbles. God’s moral Law, the Ten Commandments, are the moral foundation for humanity. Without God there would be no standard for morality, because we know good and evil exists, we know God exists. What’s my point? Christ is the Rock of our lives, without building your life on God everything in your life will crumble including your marriage. With no standard of morality, why expect people to be moral? 

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Matthew 7:28-29

The disciples understood and realized that Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:14) they were astonished with his teachings and his authority. Salvation can be found in Christ alone (John 14:6) this is why you need to build your life upon Jesus. When the storms of life come crashing on your life or your marriage, will you be able to withstand it? Without the foundation of Christ, where does your moral standards come from? Without Jesus there is no hope for your life or future

Build your life on the rock, Jesus Christ, put your faith and trust in The Lord. Don’t risk your marriage or salvation without Christ! Build upon the rock and the gates of Hell with no be able to stand, Amen!

Matthew 7- Does Jesus Know You?

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Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23

Today we are going to look at probably the scariest teaching in perhaps the entire Bible, as Jesus says “Not everyone who says Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven” now this ties in what we just went over with the Narrow Path and By Their Fruits, Christ is telling us there are many false Christians, and just by proclaiming yourself to be a Christian will not make you saved

There are many people today and in the past, that professed to be Christians, that used the name of Jesus in their works, however Christ has no idea who they even are. How is this possible? How can so many people be deceived into believing they are saved when they are not? Well most likely, they were taught a false gospel. Most preachers today are not preaching about sin, Hell, judgment, ect because these are unpopular. We want preachers who are motivational speakers, make us feel good, tell us what we want to hear! However these sugar coated messages keep you on the broad way to Hell. 

Jesus said “ Unless you are Born Again, you won’t see the Kingdom of Heaven” (John 3:3) There are no exceptions to this, you must become Born Again. Most Christians today have no idea what that even means. Most Christians today never heard a sermon on becoming Born Again. Or most false prophets have watered down the idea of transformation in Christ, to just saying a few words and magically you now have a golden ticket to Paradise.

Becoming Born Again is a supernatural process, a spiritually dead person can’t be transformed without the Holy Spirit. Not only do you need to be baptized by the water, but you also need to be baptized by the Holy Ghost. You need to fully understand the cross, you need to understand the resurrection, you need to understand the ascension. Most Christians wear a cross on their neck and that’s the extent of their theology, understand Jesus was nailed on the cross for your sins, but Christ died for us because God loves us!

The original Greek for “never knew You” is “Ginosko”, if you search this word in the New Testament you will find it used for verse Luke 1:34 Mary says “ I never knew a man” I never Ginosko a man” What’s my point? Jesus using this phrase I never knew you “Ginosko” is in a personal context. Jesus is saying “ I have no relationship with this person” We can confess to be Christians, but do you have a personal relationship with Christ?

Jesus didn’t come here to start a new religion, He came down because He loves you and paid the penalty for your sins. Christ wants a personal relationship with you not just religious practice or sacraments, Does Jesus know you?

Matthew 7- By Their Fruit

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Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Matthew 7:15-18

We often hear Christians keep saying “Read Your Bible”, and there is a good reason for that. Once you start seriously studying your Bible, you start to realize there is alot of false prophets out there. You start to realize , pretty much every preacher on your TV, is not preaching the true gospel of Christ or most are not being obedient to The Lord.

Now at a quick glance, there people can be very deceiving. They use the name of Jesus to give their organization some legitimacy, they might even quote some scripture, of course out of context, but as Jesus said “They are wolves in sheeps clothing”. They are fake Christians, false prophets. And the Bible tells us Satan planted these wolves throughout the Church , the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13)

So how can we identify these false teachers? Jesus said “By their fruit you will know them” What are these fake ministries producing? As the old saying goes “follow the money trail”. Typically cult groups are driven by three things, money, sex, and power. The majority of these false teachers have large bank accounts and preach a prosperity gospel. They don’t preach a gospel of the cross. Most of these “ministries” if you do some digging, there are lots of hidden scandals, typically relating to sexual immorality. And most of the time, this charismatic leader has full power and control over its people and their worldviews.

These qualities are not Christ-like, in fact Jesus was the opposite of all of this, yet many of these “false prophets” claim to be Christ followers. As Jesus said “ A Good Tree will produce good fruit” and “a corrupt tree will bring forth evil fruit”. False prophets can be easily identified by their fruit. What are they producing for the Kingdom of God? Well you might say these “Mega-Churches” are bringing millions to Christ! The reality is none of these people ever heard the true gospel, they don’t even know the real Jesus of the Bible. None of them are Born Again, therefore these false prophets are leading millions to Hell. 

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:19-20

Many of these people would be shocked to hear these words by Christ “Everyone that produces bad fruit, will be thrown into Hell” now I’m paraphrasing here, but this is exactly what Jesus is saying here. Jesus said “Unless you are Born Again, you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3) 

Be careful who you are listening to, including myself! Read your Bible, be led by the Holy Spirit, cling to the Good Shepherd, run to your Heavenly Father, Amen!