In the whole of the New Testament, in all the records of the Gospels, Christ did not once, not once, turn away a plea for help. That is a wonderful thing because sometimes people do feel their need of forgiveness, and they do realize that Christ is God and he can heal their lives and change them and unite them to himself and make them Christians. And they start to pray and they say, Lord, forgive me my sin and change me. And as soon as they begin to pray, they think, ‘He won't hear me; he won't listen to me; he will turn me away. A friend of mine has found the Lord, but it won't happen to me. I don't think I will ever find him or be received by him.’ And yet in the record of the Gospels, he never once turned away a plea for help. There is a case where he gave somebody a tough time just to make them ask in the right way, but a plea for help, he never turns away and nor did he here.
What changed this centurion? What caused him to let go of his pride as a Roman officer, of his confidence in himself? He had come to be very interested in the one God of the Jews, but he had a lot further to go before Christ could bless him. This is what changed him. First of all, it was a great need. His servant was dying. Roman paganism couldn't help him; the physicians couldn't help him. It was an incurable condition. But Jesus Christ could help him. Now there is no doubt that that great need bearing down upon him brought him to see his other even greater need. He asked, ‘How can I call upon God for any help? He is holy. I am sinful. I am cut off from him. If I come to him for help, I must at the same time seek his pardon and his forgiveness and get acquainted with him.’ But this same reappraisal can happen here with any of us. There are people who hear this message, but it doesn't get hold of them. What is going to make the difference? God by his grace does something within you and suddenly you feel desperate, suddenly you have got a great need. You say, ‘I must listen. This is everything to me. I must be forgiven. I must find the Lord.’ That is what happened in the experience of this officer. At first he was interested at an intellectual level: the Jewish God is better than the many gods of Rome. But what crystalized everything, and brought to an end his intellectual meanderings, was this burning need which he had. Maybe when it first occurred to him to seek help from Jesus Christ, he thought, ‘God will be pleased with me. Of course he will. I have sponsored a synagogue. I have done a great thing.’