Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. The Lord of Glory. God incarnate is reaching down and touching I'll let it. And the left word. Who's touched?
is healed by the power of the Master's touch. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Senior Pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Despite COVID changing the way we interact, We know how powerful human touch can be. and the power we can have in our words.
Today, we're looking closely at two miracles of Jesus and thinking of the personal impact. Here's Pastor John Monroe with part two of his message: The Power of Touch and Word. During the COVID-19 crisis, many people have been isolated, lonely, disconnected, and have missed the joy of human interaction. The power of human touch is incalculable. Think of the importance of a mother's touch to her baby.
The personal impact of giving or receiving a hug or a handshake. To be deprived of touch has serious physical and psychological consequences. Last time, we were introduced to a man who was literally an untouchable. he had a condition which resulted in him being permanently in quarantine. Talk about being socially distanced.
And yet it was to this man That Jesus comes. And his life is transformed. Let's continue to think of the power of the Master's touch and word.
Now what happens in a passage? As I say, the first sensation of touch experience after years of leprosy is the touch of Jesus. The power of the Master's touch brings immediate cleansing and healing. Normally, if you're clean and you touch something dirty, what happens? If I'm clean at the moment and this podium is is contaminated with the COVID virus, that which is dirty is transferred to me.
My cleanliness doesn't clean the podium. Doesn't work that way, does it? That's why we keep washing our hands. Think of this. The Holy Son of God.
Reaches out. and touches A very, very unclean man. And he is not contaminated. And supernatural way. The leper is immediately cleansed.
It's the power. of the masters. Touched. Touched and changed by the Master's hand, Jesus says, I will. Be clean.
Only two words in Greek. Short response. A lifetime of a difference, an eternal difference, cleanse. By the Master's Hand.
Now, as we've seen in verse 4, the leper to go. through cere some ceremonial uh matters to be declared clean by the priest. It would be a testimony to the priests, to the community, that this leprosy was authentic. There is to be no question about this. The leper is completely cleansed.
That's going to be certified by the. By the priest, and it's going to be seen by people with their own hands. But Jesus tells him, perhaps strangely, you think, say nothing to anyone. No, Jesus doesn't want people following him just to be. Healed.
Remember, the primary mission of Jesus is not healing. Physical healing. It is Salvation. Will you pray as David prayed after his great sin? Psalm fifty-one.
Wash me thoroughly. From my iniquity. and cleanse me. From Haitian. Might be from Mercedes.
You're physically dirty, you take a shower. How can I be clean inside? When I'm so dirty and so wicked. It's the power of the Master's Hand. Through the blood.
that we share at Calvary.
Now the power of the Master's word. Chapter eight, verse five. When he had entered Capernaum, A centurion came forward to him. Appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said, I will come and heal him.
But the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word. And my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go and he goes, and to another, come and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, He marveled.
And said to those who followed him, Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, Many will come from east and west and reclined at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Well, the sons of the kingdom will be thrown. To the utter Darkness. In that place there will be weeping. and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion, Jesus said, Go.
Let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed. When at that very Moment. First the power of the Master's touch, now the power of the Master's word. The centurion servant was seriously ill.
Now, as in the case of the leper Did you notice that this centurion Yeah. To Jesus. Have you ever have you ever come to Jesus? That's what the leper did. That's what the centurion did.
And also, He showed great respect, great humility. Again, he doesn't call Jesus Jesus. He recognizes. What does he call him? Lord.
Verse 6. The centurion replied, Lord, same word, curious. We see this powerful man, this tough soldier. Which fought for Rome. Centurion, a hundred men under his charge.
And as he comes to Jesus again, there's no demand. What does he say? I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. And you're absolutely right. He's a Gentile.
He's a sinful man. He represents the occupying power. Who is he to come to a Jewish man and ask for healing? Of course, he's not worthy. By himself.
Do you have a point? You see, that's humility. See how important this humility is as we come to the Lord Jesus? And he explains: I've got a servant. Verse six, lying paralyzed at home.
Suffering Terribly. The seriousness of the servant's condition is being underlined. He is paralyzed, he can't get up, he can't do anything. Not only is he paralyzed, he's suffering terribly. And Jesus very graciously responds.
So the centurion? What does he say? Verse 7, I will come and heal him. What more do you want? Your servants are home.
He's suffering, he's paralyzed. Perhaps you've called the local doctors, they're unable to help this. Uh wretched servant. Perhaps he'd been with the centurion for many years. Perhaps they travel together under the banner of the Emperor of Rome.
The centurion cares for this man, and there's nothing that can be done. And Jesus says, yeah. You're saying I'm not worthy, but I will come. Meaning I'll come to your home and I'll heal your servant. But this man, this is quite staggering, isn't it?
This Gentile centurion Has such deep faith in the Lord Jesus that he makes this astonishing reply to Jesus in verse. Eight. I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word. And my servant will be healed. You don't need to come, you just say the word.
And my servant will be healed. Now that's authority, that's power, isn't it? Who can do that? Only God. Centurion understands authority.
He understands the power of words. He understands the power of command. He is serving under the emperor. And whatever the emperor says, he is to execute it.
Furthermore, not only can he receive commands, he gives commands. He's got soldiers under him. He can say to one, do this, and the guy does it. Don't do that, he doesn't do it. He understands the power of words, the power of commands, the power of authority.
And such is his faith. And the Lord says, listen, you don't even need to go to my house, just say the word. And my servant. will be healed. That's power, isn't it?
God He's speaking. What authority. What power? One of the reasons at Calvary Church we put such emphasis on the Word of God. We teach and preach it rather than getting involved in political activism.
Or Emphasizing other things going on in society, and my giving you my opinion about all kinds of things, or just giving little inspiring sermonettes. One of the reasons we focus on the scripture is that we have a strong conviction that this is the word of God. Do you understand that? Do you understand that when the Bible speaks, God speaks? And that I could spend a lifetime with someone trying to explain the gospel.
And they could never get it in an instant. The word of God, what does it do? Jeremiah says it shatters hard hearts. You come here as a clinic. You come here as a sceptic.
You come to shine, find fault. With our worship, with our preaching, you've got plenty of ammunition, I can tell you, to find fault. You're arguing that God doesn't exist, that Jesus is not the Son of God. Yeah. I've seen it over and over again.
In a moment, The word of God. Can penetrate your heart. And change it. The writer of Hebrews says that the word of God's like a two-edged sword. It pierces.
It convicts, it challenges us. It exposes us. It leaves us naked and bare before God. There's nowhere to run other than to say, Lord, I'm not worthy. Save me.
and help me. And this centurion is a great example of authentic faith. He believes the word of God. He acts on it. His faith is not some nebulous, mystical, positive thinking kind of faith with believe, believe, believe, I believe.
No, it's not I believe, it's I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that your word can heal my servant. This man knows about Jesus. He comes to Jesus. He expresses his need to Jesus and he believes.
That the Lord Jesus is so powerful that one word Can you hear a servant? And that's what happens. And the servant was healed. at that very Bombard. Don't you admire the leopard and a centurion?
Going to Jesus. Overcoming some seemingly impossible obstacles. Who are you, Mr. Leper? You're unclean.
Go away. Who are you, Centurion? We don't like you. You're Roman, you represent Rome, go away. We're not going to ask you over for supper.
But Jesus comes. With a touch. with a word. They've changed. See, faith is believing.
But responding to God's truth. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ. That 2,000 years ago, God in His grace sends His Son, God incarnate, the Word becoming flesh. We're going to celebrate that with communion as we take the bread. We believe that God came in flesh.
The living God. And that he comes down, down, down to the leper, to the centurion, to you and me, and he deals with our sin by dying on the cross. Rising again. The triumphant Christ. and wants us to come humbly and acknowledge that we're lost.
and ask him for cleansing and Salvation. Jesus, verse 10, marvels at his faith. He says, I didn't find this in Israel. I haven't found one. one jewish man one jewish woman who who's got this kind of faith it's a This Gentile faith is an example to the Jews.
And he takes the opportunity. to remind his hearers that there's going to be a coming kingdom. There's going to be a messianic kingdom. There's going to be a messianic banquet. And at that banquet, There's not only Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, they're certainly there, the great patriarchs.
But from the east and the west. He's talking in Israel. As far east as you go, and as far west as you go, there are people who are going to come and recline at the kingdom. Yes, people like the leper, like the centurion. Like the unclean Gentile.
Like you and me. And we will recline in that banquet. But He refers to the sons of the kingdom, the Jewish people in that context, who have openly rejected him as Messiah. What happens to them? They're rejected, they're thrown into the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
They know better, they've heard the truth. They've listened to the message. But when it comes to the point, they are rejected. You're thrown out into outer Darkness. But the humble The broken.
The bruised Who've come humbly to the Saviour. They will recline, praise God. Can you picture this future that we have? We will recline with our Saviour. at that magnificent Now, finally, very quickly, verses 14 through 17, we see another example of the Master's touch.
and word healing. Verses 14 to 15, we see the Master's touch healing. Again, when Jesus entered Peter's house, Capernaum, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand. And the fever left her.
And she rose and began to serve him. Perhaps it was an early Case of COVID-19, I don't know.
Some kind of virus. Yeah, it was it was Making her Lie around. She's sick, she's got fever. What does Jesus do? Simply, tenderly, he just Touches her on the hand.
And the gang she is immediately healed. And she demonstrates humility by serving the Savior. It's wonderful, isn't it, when you see people serving so many of you are involved in Survey. We all love being served. Isn't that wonderful to serve?
That's one of the marks of a true believer, isn't it? We want to serve. We want to serve the Savior. We want to help others. A sign of authentic faith.
And then verses 16 and 17 at evening. Do you picture this as the sun's going down? They bring to him many who are oppressed by demons. And he cast out the spirits with a word. and healed all who were sick.
This was to fulfil What was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, he took our illnesses and bore our diseases. Matthew, speaking particularly to Jewish context, loves to quote the Old Testament, and he does so here from Isaiah 53. A reference. to the healing in the atonement. Many who are oppressed by demons.
What does Jesus do with a word? One word. Word of authority, word of power. Come out! And he cast out the spirits and he healed all who were sick.
If you ever watch one of these faith healers, I I shouldn't call them faith healers. Uh con men, quacks. Is that too strong? I can think of stronger words. I I remember We had just arrived in the United States, I'd never seen it before, we were watching on T V.
and this well-known quote faith healer. And people are coming in wheelchairs. They've got a bad back and they've got a bad leg and they're hobbling around, right? Just utter nonsense. I'm very skeptical, I admit it.
And then there comes parents. with a little child, maybe 18 months. uh suffering from spina bifida. And I said to Gutenberg now, if he heals That child. I'm a believer.
Right. I know he can't do it. You can tell you you've got a headache and you're feeling better. He can he can with the adrenaline going, he can get you running a little bit. But to heal a child, child doesn't know what's going on, and so he he heals, he goes through his routine, shouting it out, and of course nothing happens.
And I could see the parents looking and saying, well, you're the healer, there's nothing changed. Then he says, Well, this is one of these cases where it's going to take some time. Jesus is not like that, is he? He heals all. You will say, no case.
It's too difficult. for Jesus. There is no situation Too difficult for our Lord. And can I say again, there is no sinner too deep in sin beyond the grace and the mercy of God. I've met people, I remember speaking to a man who told me he'd committed murder, and he's convinced.
That there is no forgiveness for him. And he described some of his other activities, and it was horrendous. I'm not easily shocked. I think I've heard many things, but it was shocking to hear him. And I said to him, Yes, for you.
There is forgiveness.
However, deep, didn't we sing? How deep? How wide? But the love of God. And one of the songs.
That God's love God's grace is so deep, it reaches down and down.
Now, what about? Verse 17. Matthew's quoting from Isaiah 53. What's Isaiah 53 about? It's about the cross.
750 years before the Messiah comes. Isaiah is writing and saying there's one who's going to come, the Messiah, but he is a suffering. Messiah, who wants a suffering Messiah? I want a Messiah who's strong, who gets rid of the Romans and sets up his kingdom there and then. Isaiah says, No, this one is going to suffer, in fact.
He's going to be pierced. and wounded. and crushed. Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, yes, and by his stripes we are healed. Think.
of the lashes on. Our Saviour. What's Isaiah saying? We understand it in that context. Jesus comes.
He is the Messiah. He can heal the leper. He can heal the word. He can cast out demons. There is no case too difficult for him.
Context. Yes, he's wounded for our transgressions. Peter writes, 1 Peter 2, verse 24: He Himself bore our sins. In his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Again, quoting the same scripture as Matthew in Matthew 8, quoting Isaiah 53, by his wounds you have. been healed. On the cross. Jesus dies for our sins, yes. But he also dies for all of the impact of sin on us, including our diseases, including our illnesses.
And every single one of us has some disease, some illness that is in our body, and other than the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, every single one of us, however, godly. will die. We don't despair. We are people of hope. Because we realize that our hope is not in this world, it's not in America.
It's not in any city. on earth, our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we've been singing, nothing can take away that hope. or separate us from that love. And when our loved ones die, of course we mourn them.
But we don't mourn as those who have no hope because we know that they are safe home and the pain and the suffering and the disease and the cancer are all over. And soon If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you'll join them. Very soon. Have you been touched by the Master's hand? Has the word of God pierced your heart?
Have you obeyed it? Do what the leopard did. Come to Jesus. Do what the centurion did. Come to Jesus.
He'll heal you. He'll forgive you. He'll cleanse you. The wonder of being touched. By the Master's Hand.
This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. But to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace, we find We must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? What's been your experience of human touch? I realize there is inappropriate touching. But being touched by someone who loves us is powerful. Also What's been your experience of the power of words?
Too often our words hurt rather than encourage. Has your life been touched by Jesus? Have you known the power of His word? He asks you to come to him to find rest and forgiveness of your sins. Don't resist the invitation.
Come to Jesus today. and experience healing, salvation and transformation. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
