[0:00] Greetings to all of you from Coconut Creek, Florida.
[0:11] It's been very nice to be here with the men this weekend. And I also want to express my appreciation and gratitude for all the hard work that was done to make the retreat a success.
[0:24] And the food was great, the fellowship was great, and a lot of people worked hard to make that a success. And I just want to express my gratitude to you for your work and appreciate that.
[0:36] And all the kindnesses that you've shown to me since I've been here. And again, we're thankful for the fellowship that we have with you as a church. A lot of people have asked me, did we get hit with the hurricane?
[0:51] And we were safe. We were on the other side of Florida, so we're very thankful for that. Kind of have mixed feelings because we're thankful we were not hit, but just straight across from us, they got it really, really bad.
[1:03] And so you can continue to remember those folks in prayer. And there's a lot of relief efforts that are going on with churches there trying to help out. But it's beautiful to see the fall colors.
[1:16] I'm actually not, you can probably tell from my accent, I'm not from South Florida originally. I grew up in western North Carolina where the falls are beautiful and I miss fall.
[1:27] So it was kind of an extra treat for me to be here with you this time of year and to see the beautiful fall colors. I think I got here right at the peak.
[1:39] And so that's a real blessing. Well, we're going to take our Bibles today and turn to the Gospel of Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5.
[1:55] And we'll pick up reading at verse 17. Luke chapter 5.
[2:28] Luke chapter 5.
[2:58] And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered and said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
[3:16] Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven you? Or to say, rise up and walk. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
[3:29] He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house. Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
[3:48] And they were all amazed. And they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today.
[3:59] Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, as we come before you on this Lord's Day, we worship you as the great eternal God, the God who is three in one, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[4:14] We thank you for this wonderful day that you've given to us. We thank you most of all that you've given to us your Son, the Lord Jesus, to be our Savior. How we thank you for the forgiveness of sin.
[4:27] How we thank you today that you have planted this church here, and that we have this place where we can gather together as your people, and to sing your praises, and to read your word, and to sit under the ministry of your word.
[4:41] Father, as we come to this part of the worship service, we pray you would help us to worship you, even in the manner and the way in which we listen to your word, in the way your word is preached.
[4:54] We are dependent upon your Holy Spirit. Grant the help of the Spirit. Oh, Lord, we can do nothing without you. You know our frailty. You know our weakness.
[5:06] Please come by your Spirit and empower the preaching of your word, and work in the hearts of your people to build them up in their most holy faith.
[5:17] And we pray today for those that won or those that are here who are lost. Have mercy upon them.
[5:28] Open their eyes to see their need of this great Savior who is set before us today in your holy word. And it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
[5:40] I don't know if it's kosher for me to do this, but I'm going to take my jacket off. Is that okay? All right. It's just a habit. I don't know why I can't preach with my jacket on.
[5:53] And we have a hook on our pulpit, and I hang my jacket on. I've been doing that for years, and so I hope that's not too informal for me to do that. When reading accounts that have been handed down to us of great revivals in the history of the church, we often read of the place of meeting being packed with people who are eager to hear the word of God.
[6:19] The atmosphere is filled with an unusual solemnity and expectancy, and there's this unusual sense of the presence and the power of God in the place.
[6:31] Well, in our passage this morning, we have an incident in the early ministry of the Lord Jesus that could really be described in this way. The atmosphere was electric.
[6:42] It's an incident that's also recorded in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark. And let's just consider the setting. We read in verse 17, Now, it happened on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
[7:04] There's a variant here. It seems to be the better rendering would be the power of the Lord was present with him to heal. That's the idea. The power of God was at work through Jesus in an unusual and striking manner on this occasion.
[7:21] And Mark gives us more information. He tells us that this event occurred in Capernaum. So Jesus at this point is still ministering in Galilee. These are the early days of his ministry.
[7:33] And Mark tells us that so many were gathered in the house where Jesus was teaching that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And Luke alludes to the house being crowded in verse 19.
[7:46] And Mark also tells us that he was preaching the word to them. So here's the context. Jesus is teaching and preaching the word in a house in Capernaum.
[8:00] Crowds are pressing into the house to hear him. So many that the house is completely packed. There's no more room. People are crammed in right up to the door.
[8:10] And others are probably looking through the windows and standing outside trying to listen and to get as close as they can. And the power of God through the Lord Jesus is evident and at work in this meeting.
[8:27] It reminds me of something Martin Lloyd-Jones, I believe it was him who once said, a revival never needs to be advertised. It advertises itself. But there's something else adding to the electricity and the tension of this situation.
[8:43] There are Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by listening to Jesus and observing what was happening. Some were told had come from as far away as Jerusalem.
[8:55] So this tells us that here in these early days of our Lord's ministry, that his fame is beginning to spread and news of him has even reached all the way to the capital. So these officials of organized Judaism, who like to think of themselves as the leaders of the nation, are now starting to hear about and to take notice of Jesus.
[9:15] And they've traveled to Capernaum from Jerusalem to check things out, to investigate. But knowing them as we do, it's probably correct to assume that they didn't come with an open mind.
[9:28] They've probably come with a disposition of envious superiority, ready to find fault. So you get the picture now of the setting.
[9:40] Well, right in the middle of all of this, something dramatic happens. And we have this account of the paralytic and his four friends. And so in the time remaining this morning, I want us to consider this event.
[9:53] It very easily divides itself up if you focus on the characters that are given to us in the event into three headings. First, we'll consider the paralytic's friends and what they did.
[10:04] Second, the paralytic himself. And then third and lastly, we'll consider the Savior, the response of the Lord Jesus. So first of all, we have the paralytic's friends.
[10:15] Now this paralytic had some wonderful friends. They obviously cared about this man. They loved him. They were determined to do anything within their power to bring him to Jesus.
[10:28] Now Mark tells us, I already mentioned four of them. Luke doesn't say that, but Mark tells us that there were four of them. Four friends. So these four friends come along carrying their friend on this little bed or stretcher.
[10:41] And they're determined to bring him to Jesus. They get to the house where Jesus is and there's this huge crowd outside and they try to press through, weaving and pushing and stumbling along, their friend bouncing on his stretcher.
[10:58] Perhaps they make it to just outside the door, but the house is so packed right up to the entrance that they can't get in. But they don't give up. They don't give up.
[11:09] What shall we do? I've got an idea. We'll drop him down through the roof. Now houses in those days normally had a flat roof with the roof serving as kind of a deck or porch.
[11:21] And often there was a ladder or a stairway leading up to the roof on the outside of the home. So in one way or another, they pulled and worked until they got that stretcher bed with their friend to the top of the house.
[11:35] But then there was more work to do. Commentators tell us that the typical roof of that day in that part of the world consisted of timbers that were laid parallel to each other, about two feet apart, two or three feet apart.
[11:51] Sticks were then laid crosswise upon the timbers. And this was then padded with reeds and thistles and twigs. And then the whole thing was overlaid with about a foot of dirt, which was packed down to minimize leakage.
[12:05] And then sometimes tiles were laid, even laid over that. We're told the roof on the house in those days would be about, think about this, it would be about two feet thick.
[12:18] So they had their work cut out for them. But they were determined. They started pulling and digging through the roof to make an opening large enough to lower their friend through.
[12:29] Now try to imagine what was going on in the house as these men were doing that. Certainly, surely people could hear them up there on the roof of the house and they could hear them digging and pulling and tearing.
[12:40] And you can imagine dirt and debris trickling down and falling down into the house. And they hear voices of the men. Then light begins to break through and a warning is given.
[12:51] Watch your heads! And then here comes the paralytic in his bed, lowered down by ropes, in the midst, before Jesus, the text says.
[13:02] And it's interesting, the words before Jesus are put at the end of the Greek sentence for effect, highlighting the drama of this. Here the man lies now and lo and behold, he's right there, right in front of Jesus.
[13:20] Try to picture the scene. What's the crowd thinking? What's the paralytic thinking? What will Jesus do? Now, brothers and sisters, let's think about these four friends a moment.
[13:34] Here we have a wonderful example of Christian compassion. Or at least we could say compassion. We have a wonderful picture of Christian compassion, a wonderful picture of Christian evangelism.
[13:47] These men are an example. They're a challenge, I think, to all of us. There's nothing our friends and our work associates and our family members and our acquaintances and the people around us in our communities need more than for someone to bring them to Jesus.
[14:05] They need someone to help them to find Jesus. Well, notice several things that various men that I've read, they make these observations and these are kind of the common observations you'll find.
[14:17] And I think they're dead-on observations here about these men. Several things about them that should challenge us in our efforts to reach the lost. The first thing we see about them is we see love.
[14:29] It's obvious, I think, that they loved their friend. They really cared about him. They cared about him so much that they were willing to do anything they possibly could to get this man to Jesus.
[14:42] However difficult. We also see persistence and determination. They didn't give up easily, did they? When obstacles presented themselves, they didn't give up.
[14:55] Something else we can see is that their love for their friend and their earnest desire to bring him to Christ made them creative, didn't it? And willing to take risks.
[15:07] There was ingenuity, there was initiative, there was creativity. Perhaps some of those who were standing outside when they saw these guys lowering their friend through the roof, they said to themselves, why didn't I ever think of that?
[15:21] You know, I'm talking about the people outside that couldn't get in. Man, I never thought about that. That's a good idea. How strange. What an odd thing to do. But what a great idea. You know, if you think about it, if we really love souls and we really want to see people saved, we have to think outside of the box sometimes.
[15:39] I think of George Winfield. For the first time, getting up on that hill, looking out over the coal mines in Kingswood so he could preach the gospel in the open air to those despised colliers climbing out of their holes.
[15:53] I think of that old country pastor who came knocking on our door when I was just a very little boy to share the gospel with my dad. And my dad and the whole trajectory of our family life was eventually changed forever.
[16:08] In fact, my dad eventually became a pastor. And here I am today partly because of the love and the risk-taking efforts of that man. I think of our friends leaving everything and going to the Far East, taking in orphans, giving them food and shelter and love and telling them about Jesus.
[16:28] I think about Charles Wesley. We were singing one of his hymns earlier and his friend, a man named Bray, spending the week at Newgate Prison witnessing to the inmates.
[16:40] Men who were condemned to die. Wesley and Bray asked if they could be locked in overnight with the prisoners who were going to be executed the next day.
[16:52] It was a huge risk. You think about it. These men had nothing to lose. These were violent men who had nothing more to lose if they killed another person. But that night, locked in the prison with these men on death row, Wesley and Bray preached the gospel to them.
[17:06] They told them, Wesley says, that one came down to save lost sinners. They described the sufferings of Christ, his sorrow, his agony, his death, that sinners might be forgiven and be saved.
[17:18] And the Spirit of God came and blessed the gospel to the souls of these condemned men that night. The next day, they were loaded onto a cart and taken to Tyburn where they were going to be hanged.
[17:30] Charles went with them. Ropes were fastened around their necks so the cart could be driven off and leave them swinging in the air to choke to death. But the fruit of Wesley's and Bray's night-long labor was amazing.
[17:44] Here's what Wesley wrote. He says, They were all cheerful, full of comfort, peace, and triumph, assuredly persuaded that Christ had died for them and waited to receive them into paradise.
[17:56] And he mentions one who, he says, saluted me with his looks and as often as his eyes met mine, he smiled with the most composed, delightful countenance I ever saw. We left them going to meet their Lord, ready for the bridegroom.
[18:11] When the cart drove off, not one stirred or struggled for life, but meekly gave up their spirits. I spoke a few suitable words to the crowd in return, full of peace and confidence in our friends' happiness.
[18:23] That hour under the gallows was the most blessed hour of my life. Are we willing to think outside the box?
[18:36] And to take risks to tell people about Jesus. Maybe God would put it upon your heart or mine to do something creative, something that others might think strange or even radical in order to bring the gospel to sinners.
[18:52] That's what these men in our passage did. There was love here. There was persistence. There was creativity. And one other thing that these men were told in the text is there was faith.
[19:03] They believed that Jesus could heal their friend. They knew that as bad as his paralytic's condition was, there was still hope.
[19:15] No one is beyond hope this side of eternity. As long as there is life, there's still hope. Even for the most difficult cases. If we can only get him to Jesus, Jesus can save him.
[19:31] They believed that. Verse 20 says, when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, man, your sins are forgiven you. Their faith.
[19:41] Now I think the plural pronoun there includes the faith of the paralytic himself. And I'll come back to that in just a few moments. But the plural pronoun also includes the faith of his four friends.
[19:54] What kept them going? Think about it. What kept them from quitting and giving up in their efforts to bring their friend to Jesus? What kept any one of them as they started digging through that roof?
[20:07] What kept any one of them from stopping and saying, wait a minute, this is crazy. It's embarrassing. We look like a bunch of idiots up here. It's a waste of time. You'll have to finish without me.
[20:19] What kept any of them from doing that? It was not only love for their friend. That was part of it. It was also faith. They believed that it wasn't a waste of time. They believed Jesus would be willing and that he was able to help their friend.
[20:36] And brothers and sisters, let us not waver in our faith, but believe that Christ is able to save and he is willing to save and that the gospel is a power of God unto salvation to those who believe.
[20:49] And believing the simple message of Christ crucified can break the hardest heart. and lives can be transformed. Families can be transformed.
[21:01] Whole communities can be transformed. Well, we've considered the paralytic's friends. Now let's consider the paralytic himself.
[21:13] And we don't know very much about him. All we know is that he was a paralytic. Which, kids, that means that he was paralyzed or he was crippled. He couldn't walk.
[21:24] He had to be carried about by other people on a stretcher or some kind of lightweight portable bed. Now imagine the misery of this situation. The bed sores.
[21:36] The stiffness of his joints. The indignities of not being able to perform the most basic functions. And there was no cure for it.
[21:49] There was nothing in front of this man in life but more of the same until his stiff body would be lifted into a coffin and buried in a grave. He's paralyzed.
[22:01] Unable to do anything to deliver himself from his condition. Now, this was the real physical condition of this man. But I remind you that these miracles and healings in the ministry of the Lord Jesus they're also called in the New Testament signs.
[22:21] That means that they're intended to signify things to us. Okay? They have a revelatory function. They're intended to teach or to reveal something about God or about Christ or about the gospel.
[22:36] On the one hand they are revelations of the power of the Lord Jesus confirming and showing that he is indeed the promised Christ and the Son of God. There are also revelations of his character his heart of kindness and compassion toward those in need and they're also intended to be foretaste or previews of the consummation of our redemption on the last day when God's people will be freed forever from all disease and sickness and from death itself.
[23:07] They are previews of that day. But these healings serve another function. They serve as pictures for us of the spiritual healing Christ gives to sinners now.
[23:21] The work Christ does now in the salvation of souls and they often illustrate for us as well the spiritual condition of those who are lost in sin.
[23:33] This is true of the healing of the leper in the previous passage. The condition of leprosy is sometimes used to illustrate the nature and the effects of sin upon the human soul.
[23:45] Well the same is true with the paralytic. Spiritual paralysis moral and spiritual inability these are concepts that the Bible sometimes uses to describe the spiritual state of all all of us by nature because of what sin has done to us.
[24:07] We are born into this world spiritual paralytics. Sinners unable to change and to save ourselves. Romans 8 7-8 the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be inability so that those who are in the flesh cannot please God total inability spiritual paralysis 1 Corinthians 2 14 but the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God nor can he know them because they are spiritually deserted again this word can is a word of ability the natural man cannot know or receive the things of the spirit of God the things of Christ and the gospel it's not saying that he can't understand intellectually the facts of the gospel the idea is that he cannot know them savingly he cannot grasp them he cannot see the glory in them he cannot taste the sweetness of them he cannot lay hold of them by faith apart from the Holy Spirit enabling him to do so he's a spiritual paralytic and that's the case of all of us by nature we come into the world in this way and this is the case
[25:31] I would venture to assume this morning was someone here in this building sadly you are so spiritually paralyzed that you aren't even aware of it and you don't care but there may be others here this morning like this man in our passage and you are at least so far awakened as to realize your paralysis you've been caused to feel your paralysis and your need if you think about it and you're honest paralysis is a perfect description of your condition you have ears to hear the gospel you've heard it many times you hear it sometimes with careful attention you read about the gospel talk to others about the gospel but somehow you find yourself unable to lay hold of the promises of the gospel and to apply them to yourself if you're told to pray you try but your prayers seem cold and worthless you're told to trust and to have confidence in
[26:47] Jesus but you just can't seem to do it you've almost given up in despair you're in a state of spiritual paralysis perhaps you've been stuck in this condition for a long time and you can sympathize with this hymn you understand what the hymn writer is speaking about when he wrote these lines I would but cannot sing I would but cannot pray for Satan meets me when I try and fright my soul away I would but can't repent though I endeavor oft this stony heart can never relent till Jesus make it soft I would but cannot love though wooed by love divine no arguments have power to move a soul so based as mine oh could I but believe then all would easy be I would but cannot Lord relieve my help must come from thee
[27:51] I wonder if there's anyone here and that song expresses something of how you feel well if so see yourself in the paralytic this morning indeed listen to me okay anyone who understands and feels something of what's expressed in the words of that hymn is actually already in the way of deliverance in fact I would say that faith in Jesus Christ the still very weak is already beginning to bud in your heart think about it this man was paralyzed yes but at least he realized he was paralyzed and he realized and he believed that only Jesus could heal him we also see that he was willing to be carried to Jesus by others he wanted their prayers and their help to get to Jesus didn't seem to resent their efforts he wanted to get to Jesus he was willing to be lowered into his very presence the very presence of Jesus and to lie at his feet for mercy if only
[28:59] I could get into his presence if only I could lie at his feet now I remember when I was in similar condition many many years ago and I can remember I felt I don't know if I would have defined it that way but I felt spiritually paralyzed I had no peace I had no assurance and it may sound silly but I can remember in my misery I would look out the window into the front yard at the tree there's a big tree in the front yard and I would think to myself if that tree was Jesus I would run to him and fall before him and beg him for mercy and I know from everything that I've read in the Bible about him that he would receive me if only he were there if only that tree was actually Jesus maybe I was an idolater or something but that that's what I would think I had at least enough certainty in my mind that he would receive me if he was here right now if I could go to him out there and fall on his feet
[30:04] I know that he wouldn't turn me away and I would think about that and then I would think to myself but isn't he here now just as certainly as that tree out in the yard doesn't he see me here sitting in this chair looking out the window and coming to him in my heart and I remember thinking about that promise that Jesus made him who comes to me I will in no wise cast out well here's the paralytic he thinks if I could just lie at his feet there's hope this is where I long to be my friend is that where you want to be well if this is where you want to be lying at the foot of Jesus looking up to him alone for mercy and salvation from sin let me tell you a secret if so if that's where you wish to be that's where you actually are the Lord
[31:19] Jesus is here this morning and as you throw yourself down before him in your heart you're right where this paralytic came to be just lay there before him in absolute helplessness telling him how sinful you are tell him how sick and paralyzed by sin and unbelief you are like this or like this man you don't even need to speak a word just tell him in your heart lying helpless before him as your only hope of deliverance and that in itself is the beginning of faith in him and he will not cast you out Jesus says in verse 20 it says in verse 20 that Jesus saw their faith and that plural pronoun there includes the faith of the paralytic himself lying there helplessly before him and Jesus is saying to you this morning in the gospel just as surely as he said to that man man woman be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you
[32:32] I have dealt with them I paid your debt once and for all by my sufferings my death upon the cross arise take up your bed as it were and by the power of my grace go forth now forgiven and walk in newness of life what a wonderful picture what a wonderful picture we consider the paralytic's friends the paralytic himself now the best part it's always the best part let's talk about the savior himself what we see about him how did jesus respond to the paralytic and his friends well notice with me first of all the declaration that jesus made verse 20 when he saw their faith he said to him the paralytic man your sins are forgiven you your sins are forgiven you now when we first read this it might seem a bit odd and out of place maybe you've read it before you wait a minute this man was a paralytic he came to be healed and jesus says your sins are forgiven perhaps his four friends were thinking this as well what do you mean his sins are forgiven we brought him to you jesus for healing from his paralysis but when jesus saw their faith he doesn't heal the man of his paralysis at least not yet he says your sins are forgiven now why did jesus do that well let's think about it first of all i'm convinced that though this paralytic longed to be healed he had also begun to feel his sinfulness in fact i'm sure of it when we gather up all that said about this event in the three gospels and we bring to bear upon it the teaching of the rest of scripture perhaps this illness itself had caused him to reflect on his life perhaps god had used this affliction to awaken this man to his sinful condition and though he wished to be healed and he hoped to be healed perhaps there's an apprehensiveness as he's being brought to jesus and as he lies there before jesus and his mind is burdened with the thought why in the world would jesus ever heal me after all the be of good cheer be of good cheer be of good cheer those words be of good cheer i think imply that this man was was in a downcast condition his sins were weighing upon his soul secondly jesus pronounces first the forgiveness of his sins i think is a lesson to all of us and the lesson is this the forgiveness of our sins is much more important and a much greater blessing than being healed of our sicknesses now you wouldn't gather that from some of the prayer meetings that i've been in from time to time but it is a much greater blessing obviously we should pray for the sick we should pray for the sick but we also need to remember that the salvation of people's souls is much more important than the healing of their bodies
[36:44] the healing of our building this morning my friend here today you may wish you had a lot of things that you don't have right now good health food clothing money in the bank but listen there is nothing you need more than the forgiveness of your sins because without that you'll be lost and damned forever but when all of your sins are forgiven by jesus christ nothing can ever take that away nothing can ever take that away and when you have christ you have everything both in this life and in the world to come and in the end will be heaven and the eternal glory that awaits us but there's a third reason jesus declares first the forgiveness of this man's sins jesus is being deliberately provocative here in order to provoke the pharisees and to reveal something about himself something of the glory of who he really is you remember the pharisees and the teachers of the law are there and the detractors the critics looking for something to pin on jesus well jesus was deliberately seeking to provoke these guys and for a reason indeed what was their reaction of verse 21 and the scribes and the pharisees began to reason saying who is this man who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but god now the pharisees were right in part they were right that for any mere man to claim the authority to forgive sin is blasphemy and they were right that no one has the authority to forgive sin but god but what they were missing is that jesus himself is god god the son so you see jesus has deliberately created this provocative situation because he desires to confront his detractors with the implications of what of this healing that he's about to perform and he also wants everyone there and every one of us here to understand the implications of it as well he's revealing himself to us in this event he's telling us who he really is so he first says to the paralytic your sins are forgiven you we have the declaration jesus made secondly we have the test that jesus proposed picking up at verse 22 but when jesus perceived their thoughts he answered and said to them why are you reasoning in your hearts which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise up and walk but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the man who was paralyzed i say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house now do you see what jesus is doing here he's proposing a test you guys are reasoning within yourselves who can forgive sins but god alone because i claim authority to forgive sins you are accusing me of blasphemy well let's settle this question right now in order that you may know that the son of man me jesus of nazareth has power on earth to forgive sins and then of course there's the implication of that that i'm more than just a man he is the god man god the son and human flesh let me propose a test so you see that's the test jesus is proposing he says which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise up and walk now from one perspective of course it's much harder to forgive sin than to heal a paralytic only god can forgive sin but here's the logic that jesus is using in proposing this test from another perspective from the perspective of everyone watching this event
[40:46] it's much easier to say your sins are forgiven why well because no one can verify that right no one looking on from the outside can verify that this man's sins have really been forgiven but if i heal this man no one can deny that because you'll see it with your own eyes so what our lord is saying is this i'm going to prove to you my authority to forgive sin the moral miracle of forgiveness and i'm going to prove it to you by the physical miracle of healing this man so we have the declaration jesus made the test jesus proposed and now thirdly the proof jesus provides the proof jesus provides that he's not blaspheming that he does indeed have the authority to forgive sins verse 24 but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the man who was paralyzed i say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house immediately he rose up before them took up what he had been lying on and departed to his own house glorifying god and they were all amazed and they glorified god and were filled with fear saying we have seen strange things this day now what's the message what is god's word telling us as we come now to the climax and the conclusion of this event in the life of the lord jesus what's the main message that we are intended to take home with us well actually jesus in this event is revealing and declaring to us two very important interrelated truths about himself first by his action he is declaring that he is indeed the almighty god in human flesh he is the divine eternal god the son the second person of the blessed trinity and secondly he is declaring that as god he has authority on earth to forgive sin jesus christ has the authority to forgive sins of all who come to him for mercy but let me add something here before we bring this to a conclusion we're not to understand from this that it's simply because he is god that as god he has authority to forgive sin if i may say it this way even god can't forgive sin simply because he decides to at least he can't do it and still remain holy and righteous god that he is for god to forgive sin it must be done in a way that is righteous in a way which in which his holiness is not compromised a way in which his justice is satisfied his wrath that we deserve is righteously removed from us you see the reason jesus as god the son has authority to forgive our sins to forgive your sins my friend if you come to him in faith in repentance is because god in his love sent his son into the world to suffer and to die on the cross in the sinner's place christ came into this world to receive in his own sinless body and soul the wrath and punishment that we deserve for our sins in order that we might be righteously and fully and freely forgiven all of god's forgiving grace freely given to believing sinners both before and after the incarnation of christ flows from calvary's cross jesus has authority to forgive sins but listen that authority was very costly very expensive it was at his own expense christ also has once suffered for sin the just for the unjust
[44:47] that he might bring us to god for god made him jesus to be sin he who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god in him ephesians 1 7 in christ we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace and think about surely as jesus spoke these words to this man these words of assurance and pardon to the paralytic his thoughts must have projected forward in his mind to that agony and that torment and that suffering and that deluge of divine wrath that he was about to endure so this poor man could be forgiven but he did not flinch he said man your sins are forgiven and he did the same thing for you and for me this morning for all who will come to him for mercy and salvation if you'll renounce your life of indifference to this blessed savior and simply come to him believing that he is able to save you trusting him to do so he will save you our lord jesus did not suffer on the cross the indecencies from wicked men and the attacks of satan and demons but most of all the very wrath of god his heavenly father being poured out upon him he did not suffer all of those agonies for the very purpose of saving sinners and then would he refuse any sinner who comes to him for that salvation perish the fall he would never do that for this reason he came into the world christ jesus came into the world to save sinners the only thing that's keeping you from being saved by him is your unwillingness there's nothing in the heart of christ that's keeping you from being saved he's able he's willing everything has been done that is necessary if you'll just be willing to leave your old life and come to him and all of your helplessness your spiritual paralysis throw yourself down at his feet come before him like the paralytic look up to him lord jesus save me have mercy upon me whatever your sins may be it doesn't matter what they are it doesn't matter how great they are it doesn't matter you say pastor you don't know about some of the things that i've done people here in this building think i'm a really good person a really nice person but you don't know pastor they don't know about some of the awful things that i've done god can never forgive me i can tell you this that your sins are great in fact all of us our sins are much greater than any of us even realize but none of our sins are greater than the worth and the value of the very blood of the son of god and his blood can wipe away our sins once and for all he is able he's willing to save you and he will save you could all of your sins together one great big mass though they be as the stars of heaven like a giant mountain of sin come to jesus christ and your sins will be forgiven and may god grant that that would be the case for someone to just imagine imagine the joy this man felt when he
[48:47] stood up and he took that bed and he walked away knowing his sins were forgiven when he heard those words from our lord's lips may god grant that someone here today would know that same joy and praise god let me just say this when jesus forgives us he doesn't leave us where we are the guy didn't he said he didn't say i forgive you and now he left him lying in the you know in the bed paralyzed no christ forgives us in order to transform us and to make us new men and women he raises us up by his spirit to walk in newness of life you know what the world says the world says you made your bed and now you must lie in it jesus says man your sins are forgiven rise up take your bed and walk praise his holy name you know something christians you know the gospel not just for unbelievers you know that right i need to hear this every day of my life and we need this and may god inspire us with a greater love and devotion to this savior who has loved us has saved us and may we be like those four friends go out and tell others and do what we can to bring them to jesus let's pray together our father we thank you this morning for your word we thank you for your spirit who brings your word to light and applies your word to our hearts we pray that your word preached today that it would not fall to the ground but that it would accomplish that for which you have sent it forth thank you for the lord jesus and it's in his name we pray amen for sorry