The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Luke Series Chapter 7 (EP 61)

Episode Date: December 7, 2024

In this video, Bryce breaks down Luke chapter 7. Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios LIVE PODCAST SHOW TICKETS👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.org/tickets MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.org (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://www.jesusinthestreet.org/luke follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvideos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And in today's episode, we are on the seventh day of the Luke series. Every day we're reading a chapter of Luke. So by the time you get to Christmas Eve, you would have read the whole gospel of Luke. This is powerful. It's been going great. This is the first week. Before we get into it, guys, I want to remind you guys, January 19th, first live podcast show ever in Los Angeles 6 p.m. January 19th. To get your tickets, go to Jesus in the street.org slash tickets. and get your tickets for the life show. But let's talk about Luke chapter 7 because we're about to see Jesus continually flowing in his earthly ministry. It's going to be powerful. And I love the story we open up with here when Jesus heals a centurion servant. And before you get into the story, we have to think for a second, who out of all of scripture do you think has the most faith we've seen in the Bible?

Some might say it was Abraham because God made the covenant with Abraham. some might say it's Moses because Moses brought forth the Levitical laws and met with God for the Ten Commandments or some might even say it was Rahab, the prostitute who's mentioned in Hebrews 11 is in the cloud of witnesses for being justified by her faith. Some might even say it's Paul because he was transformed from Saul to Paul and it was this powerful thing. But no, Jesus here is actually going to say that this centurion has had the greatest faith he's ever seen. and the centurion is a non-Jew. It's a Roman. This centurion is a Roman as a Gentile.

And Jesus came specifically in his earthly ministry, limited his power in his earthly ministry for the Jewish people. But he's about to recognize this Gentile's faith here and say, you have the greatest faith I've ever seen. So let's read on. After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Copernum. Now a centurian had a servant who was sick and at the point of death.

who was highly valued by him. Now, normally, if a centurion had a servant and the servant was becoming ill or sick, they had the right to kill their servant. Okay? This is pretty intense. They had the right to kill their servant. But now, this servant was loved deeply by the centurion. And so when the centurion had heard about Jesus, he sent him, he sent to him elders of the Jews

asking him to come and heal his servant. And so he was to, the centurion almost felt unwelcome. worthy of going in the presence of Jesus. So he said, I'm going to send some Jews to go before him and ask on behalf of me, because in his mind, he's like, I'm a Gentile. Why would Jesus want to come talk to a Gentile? And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly saying, he is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he's the one who built us our synagogue. And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

therefore I did not presume you to presume to come to you but say the word and let my servant be healed man the centurion understands the weight and deity of jesus christ here he's saying hey listen guys i he sent his friends before them to jesus and he goes listen like i don't think you're worthy to come in here but i know that if you say he'll be healed he'll be healed so if you just say the words i know he'll be healed and i think that's so powerful because in today day's day and age, we say, God, I need you to strike lightning down in front of me to do this. God, I need you to physically be here with me. But then oftentimes, even if that were the case, we would often turn in rebellion to Jesus after we get what we want. But if we know that Jesus is

perfect, almighty, flawless, and he's a promise keeper, then we don't have to demand him. And I'm so encouraged by the centurion's faith. He says, Lord, do not trouble yourself. For I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority. with the soldiers under me. So now he's relating to Jesus. He says, 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 these things, he marveled at him and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. He's saying, not even to the people that I am

devoting my ministry to have I found a faith like this before. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. Such a beautiful depiction of the power of Jesus here. Jesus just said the words and he does it because he's God. He can do it because he's fully God in the flesh. It's powerful. Now we're about to watch Jesus raise a widow's son and I love this story as well again. Beautiful story. But soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain and his disciples had a great crowd that went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold a man who had died was being carried out. The only son of his mother and she was a widow now in a considerable crowd from the town was with her. Now, this mother, the only blood relative she had was

her son and her son has now passed away. Now she has become a widow. And I love this. This is going to relate to James where it says true religion that is undefiled before the Lord is this. To visit widows and orphans in their affliction. We're about to watch Jesus walk this out right here. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. In this moment, Jesus is seeing this woman who has now becoming a widow, and he recognizes the depth and weight of the situation here. She has no more blood relatives. And he said, do not weep. Then he came up and touched the beer, and the bearer stood still, and he said, young man, I say to you, rise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear sees them all, and they glorified God,

saying a great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people. And this report about him spread throughout the whole through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding of country. Now this is very important here because for Jews, they recognize that only God could raise someone from the dead. Okay. So when Jesus Christ commands this dead boy to get up and walk when he's dead, they're carrying him off to be buried. And boom, he rises and walks. They recognize that he's sent from God. But not only that, this should ruffle some people's feathers because if Jesus Christ was the one to raise him from the dead, then that would confirm that he is God in front of all these people.

Verse 18, the messengers from John the Baptist. I love this passage. This is so beautiful because now we're about to see, after you go from two big miracles, we're about to see John the Baptist, who was preparing the way for the Lord. We're about to see him experience some slight doubt here, actually, about the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

It says the disciples of John reported all these things to him. and John calling two of his disciples to him sent them to the Lord saying are you the one who's to come or shall we look for another so John is in a little bit of doubt here and it's not confirmed why John is doubting John the Baptist but one can only assume here a lot of people's perception of the Messiah to come was that the Messiah was going to free the Jewish people in a political kind of perspective like the Messiah was going to come and the kingdom that he was going to bring was one of political reign. And that's why the Romans were actually afraid of Jesus. It's because they thought that he was going to bring in this new political power and he was going to bring this new kingdom that was going to overthrow the political government at the time. And so one can just assume maybe John was doubting because he's in prison right now. He's expecting a new political government to come into place maybe as his assumption and nothing's happened yet. But see, I love that's how Jesus is because they're like, you guys are thinking in the moment. Like they're thinking for themselves in the moment. Like,

We need a new political government, but Jesus is like, no, I'm bringing a kingdom that's eternal. That brings the forgiveness of sins that unites you guys to me. It's so powerful. But one can say, hey, maybe that's why he was doubting. And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist is sin us to you saying, are you the one who's to come or shall we look for another? In that hour, he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits. And on many who were blind, he bestowed sight.

And he answered them, go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind received their sight. the lame walk lepers are cleansed and the deaf here the dead are raised up the poor have good news preached to them and blessed is the one who is not offended by me many people were offended by jesus because he didn't bring the political government that they were expecting they were the romans thought that they were going to get overthrown by the messiah but no that's why he says blessed are those who aren't offended by me but this is powerful because he's reminding john saying look i am confirmed i am the christ look at my character right now i'm doing things that the christ

was sent here to do. And all of those things that are listed here, the blind receiving their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, or all stuff that Isaiah prophesied that would be fulfilled by the Messiah in Isaiah 61, Isaiah 32, Isaiah 21. So, I mean, this is powerful here. He's even speaking to John saying, like, look, I'm fulfilling the very thing that Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would do. Powerful. When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. Now, even though John had doubt, John the Baptist had doubted him for a moment, he's about to encourage John the Baptist. He says, what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king's courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before my face, who will prepare your way before you. Now this is powerful because people's perception of John the Baptist is oh he's got a demon oh this guy's crazy he's a woolly booger who eats locusts and honey

he looks crazy and he's saying he's not a read shaken by the wind he's steady he's disciplined he's a servant and he's actually about to make a bold statement here in verse 28 about John the Baptist but also something hopeful about me or you because he says look it is written here before I behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. He's saying, look,

John the Baptist is doing the work that was prophesied. He is the one who's preparing the way for me. Then he says, I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John. Out of all the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist is the greatest. Why? Because instead of him saying the Messiah is coming, John the Baptist messages, he is here. He is come. He is now. That makes him the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, but John the Baptist dies before the new covenant comes into fruition. So this next statement is powerful. He says, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. So then he says, even though John the Baptist is the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, you and I are greater than John the Baptist because we get to experience

the fullness of the new covenant that John the Baptist didn't get to experience. He was just preparing the way for it, which is so powerful. What an honor that you and I get to share, that we get to experience the grace of the new covenant, that we don't have to follow 613 laws and 10 commandments to deem us righteous, but rather, we actually are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. That through his death and resurrection, we are forgiven, made clean, and pure because of him. When all the people heard this and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers reject the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

to what then shall I compare the people of this generation? And what do they like? They're like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another. We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep. For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine and you say he has a demon. So he's like, he's not normal and so you call him a demon. And then he says the son of man has come eating and drinking doing normal things. And you say look at him. He's a glutton and a drunkard. A friend of tax collectors and sinners. And the reason they say that about Jesus is because John the Baptist wouldn't have necessarily been a friend of text collectors and sinners like Jesus would. Yet he says, yet wisdom is justified by all their children. Wisdom in the situation is accepting Jesus Christ and John the Baptist for who they actually are,

who Old Testament has prophesied them to be and who Jesus is according to his character and his teaching because he's living it out. He's living it out. And we're going to close chapter 7 with the sinful woman who is forgiven. One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at the table. So there's this Pharisee named Simon, and Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus in. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner when she had learned that he was reclining at the table and the Pharisees brought an alabaster flask of ointment. Now, we have to understand this woman was a sinner and outcast looked down upon by the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders of the time. And she brings something an alabaster flask of ointment, which this alabaster flask would have been a year's satire.

this had the value of a year's salary. Okay. And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw him, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is, who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answered to him, saying, Simon, I have something to say to you. Now, this Pharisee is trying to embarrass Jesus here. He's saying, look, if Jesus knew what kind of woman this was,

if she knew what kind of past she had, he would never let her touch his feet. He would never let her even walk into this house. And how often do we do that in today's society with friends, loved ones, or people that we know at school or in the workplace, where someone has done something wrong or had a past, and we can't seem to forgive them in our heart, so we judge them and justify our judgment

based on their history and past. And he says, no, if this may be a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of the woman this is and who is touching him, or she is a sinner. And I can't imagine what the awkward silence was in this room. And to break the awkward silence, Jesus turns to Simon the Pharisee in a personal manner and says, Simon, let me ask you a question.

And he answered it and says, say it, teacher. He says, a certain money lender has two debtors, one that owed a 500 denary and the other owed 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? He says, look, there's a really big debt and a really small debt. And if both are canceled, who will love them more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, from whom he canceled the larger debt.

Makes sense. If you had the larger debt and it paid you off, you would be way more grateful because you had the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Then he turned towards the woman. He said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time

I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Now listen, he is looking at Simon and saying, you denied me all the basic gestures that a host gives to a guest when they come into your home. You denied them to me. You didn't even give me the basic gestures for someone that is invited into a home. Yet this woman who has nothing, whose home this isn't, this isn't even her home. She has an anointed my feet with an ointment that is a years worth salary. She has wet my feet and cleaned my feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair all that she had. Her tears of joy and of love and of gratefulness is powerful.

It's so powerful. And the reality of this is that Jesus is saying her character is far more greater than your character. Her character is far more genuine than your character. He says, therefore I tell you her sins, which are many are forgiven, for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. Her great love was a sign that she had been forgiven. Not she was forgiven because of her great love. The reason that we're able to love people well, the reason we are able to serve well is because we recognize that we've been forgiven, that our debt has been paid, our debt has been cleansed. And because we've had a great

debt our sin has produced the greatest debt of all time our sin has caused a debt in our lives that no imperfect man could pay and that's why god looked down on mankind and saw a debt that no man could pay and said this is an this is an incredible debt that no man can pay and so there must be a perfect sacrifice for a debt like this and god knew that only he being perfect could pay this sacrifice to wipe the slate clean so he humbled himself and took on flesh and took on the cross and died of death that you and I deserve taking on the sins of the world so that you and I might be forgiven. It's powerful. Jesus Christ recognizes the dead and mankind and says you can't pay it but I can. And imagine if Jesus Christ got on the cross like you and I do often in

friendships, relationships, then we get frustrated. And he gets on the cross and he goes, I've had enough. I'm getting down. I'm tired. You wicked people. You're never going to listen to me. I'm done. Imagine if he said that, but he doesn't. He was led to the cross like a lamb to the slaughter, silent for he knew that you and I, relationship with us was the joy set before him that Jesus Christ was silent on the cross, thinking about you and I saying, I'm going to be silent and dying the death that you deserve because I just want friendship with you. I want relationship with you. And I love you more than anyone on the planet and I would do this if you were the only person on the planet who would sin I would do this for you that's what Jesus Christ does and that's what

Jesus Christ is displaying to this woman here saying look you have a history people may write you off society may write you off but in my eyes your repentant heart you're forgiven and deemed pure in my eyes and he says to her then those who were at the table with him began to say among them who is this who even forgives sins because he says your sins are forgiven to the lady in verse 8. And he says to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. The reason she was able to love Jesus and serve Jesus is because she had faith in the Christ. She had faith that he is who he said he is. He is the Messiah who came to save people from their sins, past, present and future, and wipe the slate clean. Luke chapter 8 is so powerful and I'm so moved by that woman who, the sinful

woman who is written off by society. Because in today's day and age, if you've done something poorly, if you've done something wrong, you get written off, don't listen to that person, don't be friends with that person because they've messed up. Yet we're oftentimes more tolerant of our own sin than other people. And then when we're in the position of being written off, we are wishing that we had grace that wasn't, that we weren't dishing out. That's what happens often. But the beautiful thing about Jesus Christ, and he says, listen, mankind, you try to figure this out on your own, you think that you know how to serve people and show grace, but you really don't. I'm not going to tell you how to live my life. I'm going to show you how to live it.

And follow me as the example. We can look to Jesus Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith and say, man, if I'm going to be like anyone, I want to be like Jesus. And if I'm going to be a fool for anyone, I'm going to be a fool for Jesus. I pray that Luke chapter 7 today has encouraged you guys. If you guys want the free printout to track your plans listening or watching the podcast and reading it on your own, go to Jesus in the street.org slash Luke. You enter your email.

You get a free download of the PDF of Luke. It's powerful. I love you guys. I'll see you guys tomorrow for Luke chapter 8 and go to Jesus in the street. org slash tickets to get your tickets for the live podcast show. Love you guys. See you guys tomorrow.