Great Faith…
Wayne Duncan
Wayne Duncan
What do these two scriptures have in common?
Luke Chapter 7
1When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, `Go,' and he goes; and that one, `Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, `Do this,' and he does it." 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Luke Chapter 7
1When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, `Go,' and he goes; and that one, `Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, `Do this,' and he does it." 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Matthew 15:21
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." 23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." 25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. 26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
These scriptures talk about the two people in the bible Jesus describes as having great faith.
Now faith is a big deal. The bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
What I want us to see today is what is great faith…
What is it about these two people that made Jesus say they had great faith? Jesus said about the one, "I've not found faith like this in all of Israel"…that's a big deal!
Again what two things did these two people have in common that got Jesus attention?
Firstly it's interesting to note that both these people were not Jews. What this means is that they had no business with the Jesus. Jesus ministry was to the Jewish people. The Roman and the Canaanite. I mean Jews were forbidden to associate with Canaanite's. They were seen as unclean.
So here you have these people.
What did they see in Jesus? Here it is..
They saw that Jesus is good. Despite what they deserved, they were able to believe God for good. Despite their condition they believed God would help them. Despite their disqualification, they believed God would be good to them.
They had faith in Jesus.
They did have an advantage though. They were not under the law. The law you see exposes our weaknesses and removes faith. They had faith.
Romans 4:14:
For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
How it works is like this…
Living like this has no faith…
If I do things right, and get it all together, then God will be obliged to bless me…If I keep the commandments and the law, God will have to bless me. There is no faith in this, and it does not please God. The faith is in yourself, and your effort, it's worthless!
There is a weird kind of faith that works like this…If I do these things, God will be obliged to give me blessings…this is totally without faith, and at the heart of it is manipulation. If those who live by the law are heirs…the law of do, the law of if I then God will…if those are heirs, faith is of no value…and the promise worthless…what is the promise…the promise is, "I will be to them God"
John Piper has this absolute smoker "God is most glorified, when we are most satisfied"…know this a good God wants you to be satisfied.
What had these two people in the above scriptures, the Roman and the Canaanite woman ever do to receive blessing? Nothing, except believe they would receive a blessing. That's all they did there was no performance involved. They had faith. Faith in who Jesus is. This is true faith, resting our minds in who Jesus is. Jesus is love. He loves us, resting in this position us for receiving the blessing. You want blessings, believe God is Good! Believe he wants to give you everything you want and need.
Jesus called it great faith when these two simply believed in Him.
Look at this stunning scripture Romans 8:32
32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
How do we receive all good things?
Who has given us all good things?
How has he given them to us?
How do we know Father wants to give us good things?
How do these things come to us?
Listen friends…Faith is not something you have…it's what happens to you when you know Jesus.
When we clearly see Jesus, and His performance on our behalf, when we see that we are as righteous as he is through the finished work of the cross, faith rises up within us, and we feel surely we are blessed indeed. When we begin to see ourselves as he sees us, we become confident expectors of His goodness to invade our lives.
Here is this Canaanite woman refusing to believe that she would not be blessed! Jesus called t great faith.
We don't have faith for things, we have faith in a person, Jesus.
Great faith is believing God is good. Great faith is believing God can do what e has promised. Great faith is believing God wants to bless you. This great faith positions us to receive all the blessing of heaven.
If you need a miracle, expect it. Trust in Jesus. Have faith in Him. When we need healing, we believe in Jesus, we believe in His love and finished work, we believe He is good.
If we need a financial miracle, know Father. He did not spare His son how will he not freely give us all good things.
If we have an addiction, or a bondage, know Jesus can and wants you to be free, believe in Jesus. You don't have to have faith for your addiction to be broken, you just need to see Jesus love for you, and faith will happen to you, and you'll find His power released with great power.
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." 23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." 25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. 26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
These scriptures talk about the two people in the bible Jesus describes as having great faith.
Now faith is a big deal. The bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
What I want us to see today is what is great faith…
What is it about these two people that made Jesus say they had great faith? Jesus said about the one, "I've not found faith like this in all of Israel"…that's a big deal!
Again what two things did these two people have in common that got Jesus attention?
Firstly it's interesting to note that both these people were not Jews. What this means is that they had no business with the Jesus. Jesus ministry was to the Jewish people. The Roman and the Canaanite. I mean Jews were forbidden to associate with Canaanite's. They were seen as unclean.
So here you have these people.
What did they see in Jesus? Here it is..
They saw that Jesus is good. Despite what they deserved, they were able to believe God for good. Despite their condition they believed God would help them. Despite their disqualification, they believed God would be good to them.
They had faith in Jesus.
They did have an advantage though. They were not under the law. The law you see exposes our weaknesses and removes faith. They had faith.
Romans 4:14:
For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
How it works is like this…
Living like this has no faith…
If I do things right, and get it all together, then God will be obliged to bless me…If I keep the commandments and the law, God will have to bless me. There is no faith in this, and it does not please God. The faith is in yourself, and your effort, it's worthless!
There is a weird kind of faith that works like this…If I do these things, God will be obliged to give me blessings…this is totally without faith, and at the heart of it is manipulation. If those who live by the law are heirs…the law of do, the law of if I then God will…if those are heirs, faith is of no value…and the promise worthless…what is the promise…the promise is, "I will be to them God"
John Piper has this absolute smoker "God is most glorified, when we are most satisfied"…know this a good God wants you to be satisfied.
What had these two people in the above scriptures, the Roman and the Canaanite woman ever do to receive blessing? Nothing, except believe they would receive a blessing. That's all they did there was no performance involved. They had faith. Faith in who Jesus is. This is true faith, resting our minds in who Jesus is. Jesus is love. He loves us, resting in this position us for receiving the blessing. You want blessings, believe God is Good! Believe he wants to give you everything you want and need.
Jesus called it great faith when these two simply believed in Him.
Look at this stunning scripture Romans 8:32
32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
How do we receive all good things?
Who has given us all good things?
How has he given them to us?
How do we know Father wants to give us good things?
How do these things come to us?
Listen friends…Faith is not something you have…it's what happens to you when you know Jesus.
When we clearly see Jesus, and His performance on our behalf, when we see that we are as righteous as he is through the finished work of the cross, faith rises up within us, and we feel surely we are blessed indeed. When we begin to see ourselves as he sees us, we become confident expectors of His goodness to invade our lives.
Here is this Canaanite woman refusing to believe that she would not be blessed! Jesus called t great faith.
We don't have faith for things, we have faith in a person, Jesus.
Great faith is believing God is good. Great faith is believing God can do what e has promised. Great faith is believing God wants to bless you. This great faith positions us to receive all the blessing of heaven.
If you need a miracle, expect it. Trust in Jesus. Have faith in Him. When we need healing, we believe in Jesus, we believe in His love and finished work, we believe He is good.
If we need a financial miracle, know Father. He did not spare His son how will he not freely give us all good things.
If we have an addiction, or a bondage, know Jesus can and wants you to be free, believe in Jesus. You don't have to have faith for your addiction to be broken, you just need to see Jesus love for you, and faith will happen to you, and you'll find His power released with great power.
1 comment:
Mat 6:12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Now this is mentioned, not as if our forgiving others is the cause of God's forgiving us, or the model of it, or as setting him an example, or as if his and our forgiving were to be compared together, since these will admit of no comparison; but this is an argument founded upon God's own promise and grace, to forgive such who have compassion on their fellow creatures.
Mat 6:15 "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
Mat 6:15 But if you forgive not men their trespasses,.... On the other hand, where men are not of a forgiving temper to their fellow creatures and fellow Christians, how can they expect forgiveness at the hands of God? or what sense of pardoning grace can there be upon their minds? Had they any right apprehensions of the grace and goodness of God, in the forgiveness of their sins, this would influence their minds, and engage their hearts to forgive such who have offended them: wherefore, where this is wanting, it may be concluded of, and said to such persons,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. It is a plain case, that your Father has not given you a true sense of the pardon of your sins, nor can you be certain that he will; nor have you any reason to expect it, when you are so cruel and revengeful to others.
NB It is not that God will not forgive us if we don’t forgive others, but if we have a true revelation and understanding of our forgiven state how can we not forgive. Or if we have stubborn unforgiveness do we think on and understand our truly forgiven state. It would be impossible to have a true revelation of our forgiveness and not openly forgive others.
Our forgiveness is not based on our effort, but on Jesus who reckoned with our sin on the Cross. Our forgiveness was only possible because by dying on the cross, Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. So we could be and have been forgiven.
Col 2 vs 13
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