Read Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. The centurion was a Roman military commander. He was probably a convert to the Jewish religion, although he had never taken the official steps to be considered Jewish. He had done much good for the people in his town.
1. Why did the centurion not come himself to Jesus?
He felt unworthy. He knew as a Gentile he was an outsider.
2. What did Jesus commend about this man?
He commended his faith.
3. What is the one thing in particular that God looks for in our lives today?
Faith
Read Matthew 12:22-45 and Mark 3:22-30. Jesus had just cast out a demon which had caused a man to be both blind and unable to speak. When the crowds reacted by asking, “This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?” the religious leaders responded by trying to explain away the miracle.
4. What do the people mean when they ask if Jesus could possibly be the Son of David?
They are asking if He could be the Messiah.
5. Why do the Pharisees want to be able to explain away our Lord’s ability to cast out demons?
They did not want to accept Him as the Messiah. If He were indeed casting out demons by the power of God, this would validate His claim to be the Messiah. The answer to the question of the people would undoubtedly be, “Yes, He is the Son of David!” Since they could not accept this, they must explain His ability to cast out demons in some other way.
6. What was the explanation of the religious leaders as to how Jesus was able to perform this miracle?
They said He did it by Satan’s power. It was demonic.
7. In Matthew 12:28, Jesus says to these religious authorities, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” What is He saying?
He is saying that if He is casting out the demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, then what He has claimed about Himself is true. He is the Messiah and, the Kingdom of God is at hand.
8. Jesus explains to these religious leaders why they should know this could not be Satanic. What is our Lord’s argument?
Satan would not fight against himself. If someone overcomes Satan or demonic powers, it has to be by a power greater than the demon. Therefore what He is doing must be the power of the Holy Spirit.
9. What does Jesus mean when he says to the Pharisees, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”?
He is saying that the quality of the fruit indicates the quality of the tree, and, conversely, the quality of the tree determines the quality of the fruit. Either you have a good tree with good fruit or a bad tree with bad fruit. You do not have a good tree with bad fruit or a bad tree with good fruit. If He is doing good works (good fruit), then the tree is good; that is, He is the Messiah and not a fraud.
10. Judging by what these religious leaders had done, what, in your opinion, is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
It is attributing what is clearly the work of the Holy Spirit in testifying to Jesus Christ to something less.
11. Why is the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit an unforgivable sin?
It is unforgivable because in rejecting the clear testimony of the Spirit to the person of Christ, the person committing this sin rejects Jesus Christ and, this brings condemnation.
Read Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:20-21 and 31-35 and Luke 8:19-21. Family relationships were much more important in the culture of that day than in ours. One’s first responsibility was to one’s family. If a family member made a request of you, you gave this request priority.
12. When Jesus’ family heard how He was being mobbed by people to the extent that He did not have time to eat, what was their reaction?
They thought He had lost it mentally, that He had gone over the edge.
13. When Jesus’ family showed up to take custody of Him, what did the people tell Jesus? What do you think they expected Him to do?
They said, your family is here. They expected He would go with them.
14. What was Jesus’ reply to the crowd when they told Him His family was waiting?
He asked, “Who is my family?” Then He said, “The one who does the will of God is my family.”
15. What do you think Jesus meant by this answer?
The one who does God’s will has first priority on my time and efforts.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. The Roman centurion illustrates the prime importance of faith in our relationship with our Lord. Was this man a believer? He was without much doubt. He had accepted the God of Israel as the only true God and had done much for the Jewish people. And yet was the centurion fulfilling the law? Not at all. To fulfill the law, he must become Jewish and undergo circumcision. This man had not done that. Yet our Lord commended his faith and granted his request.
Must we be perfect in our faith in God, absolutely correct in our understanding of the doctrines of the Christian faith, utterly free from all sin in our lives before God will hear us and answer our prayers? If the answer to this question is yes, then it is extremely doubtful that God will answer many prayers of believers today for how many of us can claim to fall into that category. We must realize that when God answers prayer, He does so, not because we are perfect in our faith, or in our doctrinal positions, or in our lives; He does so because He is a gracious and loving God. Yes, faith is required. But how much? Perfect faith? No, just a little! The faith, the amount of a mustard seed.
If God answered prayer only for those whose doctrine was perfect and whose lives were without sin, He would be answering prayer, not for those of us who are living, but those who have died and gone to be with Him. If God answered prayer only for those whose doctrine was perfect and whose lives were without sin, His answers would then be based upon our works and not His grace.
2. Our Lord’s challenge to the religious leaders in His day to “either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad;” echoes down through the years to those in our day who would hold that Jesus Christ was a great man, a person to be emulated, but who do not believe that He was the Messiah, or divine. If He is a great leader, a man among men (a good tree), then how can you state that He was not divine, not the Messiah, not resurrected from the dead? That would make the things He claimed to be lies or deceptions (bad fruit)! C. S. Lewis best stated this in his book, Mere Christianity:
I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Collins Clear-Type Press, London and Glasgow, 1961, pages 52-53)
3. God can forgive the sin of murder. He forgives the sins of rape and adultery. Contrary to what many believe, the sin of suicide is forgivable. There is only one sin which God will not forgive, the sin of the cold hardness of the human heart which refuses to acknowledge the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the conviction of a person’s sin and need and the conviction of truth and validity of the gospel. It does not matter what you’ve done in the past; it only matters what you are doing right now. If the Spirit of God is at work in your heart, do not reject it; do not explain it away as just a human guilt trip, do not attribute it to something other than what is the work of the Holy Spirit.