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Bro. Bill Nichols
Brother Blood, I guess it's going to be in just a second, but we'll go ahead and get started and we'll let him catch up. I'm just going to read part of Luke 5 first and then we will continue. Luke 5 beginning at verse 17,.
"...And it came to pass, that on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.".
Verse 18,. "...And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with palsy. And they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling, with his couch in the midst of Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemous? Who can forgive sin but God alone?
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering, said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Were it as easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye might know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins.
He said unto the sick of palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy couch, and go into thy house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up on that which he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
And they were all amazed, and they glorified God. And they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today. And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom.
And he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house. And there was a company, a great company of publicans, and of others that sat down with them.
But the scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answered and said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
And I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And they said unto him, Can you make the children... I'm sorry, I missed a verse. And he said to them, Can you make... Okay, now I've got the rest of it.
And he said unto them, Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the day will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in these days.
And he spake also a parable unto them, No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the old agreeth not with the old.
Taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine in old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put in new bottles, and both are preserved.
No man, also having drunk old wine straight away, desires the new, for he saith, The old is better. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us this time and this place where we might come together and study You and worship You by studying Your Holy Word.
Thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us, to teach us those things that we need to understand. And thank You most of all for Your Son that You gave to bear our sins for us, that we might bear His righteousness.
Praise You. Give You all the glory. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. So back to verse 17. And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
The power of the Lord, that is to say Jesus, was present to heal them. Now these Jewish leaders came as far away, from as far away as Jerusalem. They were not there because they believed. They were not there to observe and maybe come to believe, but they were there to critique and to criticize.
And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with palsy, and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. Now although the Pharisees and the doctors of the law were not there because they believed, some were there because they believed.
The man on the bed with palsy believed, and the two men carried him believed, and there were certainly others there that believed. We just don't know how many. The good thing is, John, we don't have to know how many.
Jesus knows how many. And that's sufficient. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and laid him down through the tiling with his couch in the midst before Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. Well, I wasn't going to say this, but I will. The buildings in those days were flat on top and connected one to another, so they didn't have to fight through the whole crowd.
They went to another building, climbed up on the roof, went across the roofs till they got to the proper house, and they took the tile off and laid him down through the roof to be in front of Jesus. So that's where he is.
And when he saw their faith, this is Jesus when he saw their faith, enough faith to find a way to the top, enough faith to tear off the roof, enough faith to let him down. He said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Now, I want you to notice something. Let me ask the question first. Dave, what was the man doing there? What did he come for? He came there to be healed. You might notice Jesus didn't say, Man, you're healed.
He said, Your sins are forgiven. You're very perceptive and that's exactly what this is all about. This is very little about the man and his healing, although it is about them. It's about some of, but not all of, the Pharisees and the lawyers.
The man was brought to Jesus to be healed, but he received something of far greater value. Something he did not ask for. Something he was not even looking for. Now, verse 21 is interesting. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies?
Who can forgive but God alone? Okay, if Jesus were not God, He would be speaking blasphemies. But since He is God, He is only speaking the truth. What Jesus has done is set them up for His question that He is soon going to lay before them.
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered, saying unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? He knows what they're thinking about. What are they thinking about? Who is this that says He can forgive sin?
Who is this that says He can forgive sin? Only God can forgive sin. And He says, What reason ye in your heart, whether it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven, or to say, Rise up and walk? Well, what's easier to say, John?
What's easier to say? Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven? Oh, you're perfect. You're a perfect man. Your sins are forgiven. John, get up and walk. Well, obviously I failed in my healing. It's easy.
It's much easier to say your sins are forgiven. Anybody can say that. But how is anyone to know? How does anyone know when I said your sins are forgiven that your sins were not forgiven? They can look at the pattern of your life and say over the course of time, He looks as if His sins have been forgiven and He's a changed man.
They can see that, but there's nothing dramatically that can happen. But if I say get up and walk, you either get up and walk or you don't. And everybody can see that. It's much easier to say your sins are forgiven, but much more difficult to do.
The Pharisees were right about that. Only God can forgive sins. And I've done a little search here. None of the examples so far as I can find ever claimed to be able to forgive sin. Did I say disciples or apostles?
I meant to say apostles, but it doesn't really make any difference. I never found any example of any apostle ever claiming to be able to forgive sin. There are many examples of them casting out demons.
And I listed two. One out of Acts 16 .6, casting out demons. This is Paul. Acts 16 .6, And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.
Paul's about to get in trouble with the soothsayers on her. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are servants of the Most High God, which show us the way to salvation. Now, you remember Jesus rebuked one of the demons, as we looked at a couple of weeks ago, for doing the same thing.
Well, Paul is going to rebuke this lady. Well, he doesn't rebuke her. He just does this. And this she did for many days. So she's following him around, announcing that these are servants of the Most High God that show us the way to salvation.
But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, not to the woman, to the spirit that was in her, I commend thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that same hour. That's why we know it's the demon.
It was a he, not a she. We have examples of them healing the sick. In Acts 3 .6, Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
There was a man, a crippled man, begging in the street. And he asked Paul and Peter and John for money. And Peter says, silver and gold I have none, but such as I have, I give to thee. He had the power to do what?
Heal him. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And they took him, and he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
And he's leaping up. He didn't just stand up, he leapt up. Leaping up, stood and walked. And entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
And they knew it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were all filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him. And as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's Greatly Wandering.
And when Peter saw it, he answered the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel you at this? Or why you look so earnestly upon us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus.
And he is what made him walk. The healing was done by the power of Jesus. We even have examples of apostles raising the dead. So we've had them casting out demons, healing the sick, or actually healing the lame.
Raising from the dead, Paul, Acts 20 verse 7. I put this one in to serve as a warning for Brother David. Be prepared, Brother David. And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.
And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together, and there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychius, being fallen into deep sleep. So he went to sleep during the sermon.
That's a warning to the audience, Brother David. And as Paul was and Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell from the third loft and was taken up dead. And Paul went down and fell upon him and embraced him and said, Trouble not yourself, for his life is in him.
Now there are those that argue that this man was not really dead. Well, okay. I will even say, maybe he wasn't dead. Maybe he just was stunned and maybe Paul just startled him out of his stupor. But the Lord never leaves anything to chance.
He puts another story in where the person that receives the raising from the dead is really dead. Peter also raises a dead person. He does it in Acts 9 36. Go ahead and go there. Acts 9 36. The reference before this one was, I'm sorry, it was Acts 20 verse 7.
And I can give you, I can get it to you again if you need it. Acts 9 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did.
And it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died. Now she died and they took her up and washed her and laid her in the upper chamber. She was certainly dead. She died. The people cleaned her up and put her in the upper chamber.
She was without doubt dead. And for as much as Lydia was nigh to Joppa, and nigh, I looked it up, is 11 miles away. Now that's 22 miles there and back. 22 miles there and back. For as much as Lydia was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to him.
Then Peter arose and went with them. And when he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas has made while she was with them.
Now I'm going to ask you a question. How long do you think it was from the time Tabitha died until she was laid at rest in the upper chamber? They had to find her. They had to clean her up. They had to do all the things they did to her to preserve her as they did.
Then they sent to Joppa two men 11 miles away. They come to Peter and ask him to come with them back to Joppa. Well that's 22 miles if they just go and turn around and come right back. That's a full day's journey.
So it's probably, my guess is total time three days. But that's just my guess. But Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed, turning him to the body said, Tabitha arise. And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter she sat up and he gave her his hand and lifted her up and when he had called the saints and the widows presented her alive.
And it was known throughout all of Joppa and many believed in the Lord. And it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon the Tanner. Now that's interesting. Simon Peter. Simon, surnamed Peter, is staying with Simon the Tanner in Joppa.
And I thought now would be a good time to go off on a rabbit trail, which will last about two Sundays, and look at what happened to Peter while he was at Joppa living with Simon the Tanner. But I thought I'd wait and do that later so we can finish loop five.
But that's kind of what I plan to do next Sunday, God willing. So we have examples of healing the sick, of casting out demons, and even raising the dead. We have examples of all of these. But I know of no case of an apostle forgiving sin.
Now I do want to add one other thing. This is a verse that is used, I think, improperly. Matthew 9 verse 8. It's not a big thing to us, but it is a big thing to the Catholic Church, and it's a big thing to a lot of churches.
You'll see what I'm talking about in just a minute. Matthew 9 verse 8. But when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. That was the power to forgive sins.
That's the power they're talking about. This is Matthew's account of the same thing that Luke is expressing. And when the multitude saw it, they saw him say to them, your sins are forgiven. They marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
But I got a question. Did He really give this power to men? Okay, the way I answered it is, in one sense, the answer is yes. But not in the sense that He gave men the ability to forgive sin. Misdirection.
And how is that? And you said, who will forgive us? Jesus. Not God? Because God's not the one. It was Jesus, the man, that had the power to forgive sins. Yes, this power was given to a man. It was given to the man, Jesus, while He was a man.
And while He wasn't a man, He had the power to forgive sin, just like He did to this man that was let down off the roof. What men got was the ability to receive that power. Jesus had the power. We get the forgiveness.
While the power to cast out demons was given to the apostles. The power to heal sick was given to the apostles. Even the power to raise the dead was given to the apostles and some of the early other disciples.
He quit doing that. He quit giving that power to us. I don't think that right now anybody can cure anybody by supernatural means. The power to forgive sin was given only to the man, Jesus Christ. So in that sense, the answer to the question is yes.
Men are on the receiving end of this forgiving power, not on the sending end. They don't give it, they receive it. Verse 24. Oh, I'm going to make it. Verse 24. You may know that, but that you may know that the Son of Man hath power upon the earth to forgive sin.
He says, okay now, you can't tell whether I can forgive sin or not, but here's something you can tell. He said unto the sick of palsy, I say unto thee arise and take up thy couch and go to thine house.
So not only were his sins forgiven, but something lesser was given as well. He was healed. For what purpose was he healed? So that the other people could see that Jesus had the power to forgive sins. Oh yes, so they could be healed by it.
You're absolutely right. So they could see it and some of them be healed. Not all of them. Which ones will be healed? Those that he has already decided will be healed. And immediately he rose before them and took up that where he lay and departed to his own house glorifying God.
That's the man that was sick. And of course, for what purpose? To God. To glorify God. And they were all amazed and they glorified God and they were filled with fear saying, we have seen strange things today.
They saw a man be forgiven of his sin. They're convinced of that now because they saw him get up and walk after Jesus said get up and walk. But that won't last long. It's getting ready to be tested right now.
And after these things he went forth, this is Jesus, and saw a publican, that's a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, follow me. And he left all and rose up and followed him.
Now what we have now are five disciples, four fishermen, and a tax collector. That's one bridge too far for the Pharisees. They haven't said anything yet but they're soon going to. And Levi made him a great feast at his own house.
And there was a great company of publicans and others that sat down with him. Well, after all, the only friend Matthew would have had would have been other tax collectors because they were among the most hated of all the Jews.
Well, Levi is Matthew. Levi was Matthew's name before he was Matthew. And Levi, or Matthew, made him a great feast of his own house. And there was a great company of publicans and others that sat down with him.
But with their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Well, the Pharisees had a serious self-image problem. You know what it was?
They thought they were righteous. They thought they were better than other people. So Jesus answers them this way, they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick. Now I said it this way, not that you're whole, but if you were you would not need a physician.
But since you do not even recognize your need, you need a physician even more than they who know that they are in need. So they needed the physician even more than the publicans and the sinners. They just didn't know it.
Now in Luke 18 9, Jesus addresses this problem again. Luke 18 verse 9. This is Jesus, and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. So this is who he's talking to.
Those that have this self-image problem, they think they're better than they are. Not if you're righteous, I didn't come talk to you. But I came to heal the sick. And so now he tells them how many all of them are sick.
And he spake this parable unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a publican. So you have a Pharisee and a tax collector.
And the Pharisee stood thus with himself and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all I possess. That's the Pharisee speaking. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up but so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breath saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.
Here's what Jesus said, I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted. What Jesus is telling the Pharisees now is you are not as righteous as you think you are.
You have no righteousness. Your righteousness is as off dirty rags. You don't come to me as a righteous person. You don't come to me at all. If you come to me, you come to me as a humble person recognizing that your need for righteousness can only be met by taking upon yourself my righteousness which I give you.
Not by anything that you can do. It's me and me alone. So I'm going to repeat. I came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance. And one other thing I want to add on John 6 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye have seen me and believe not. Who's he talking to? He's talking to the Pharisees. You also have seen me and you don't believe me.
But all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Had you been given me, you would have seen me and you would have come to me. But you've seen me and you don't believe and you don't come because you can't.
And Jesus giveth and all that Jesus giveth me, all that the Father giveth me, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me that of all that he has given me I shall lose nothing but shall raise it again on the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day.
Well that made the Jews happy. And the Jews then murmured at him because he had said, I am the bread of light. I am the bread which came down from heaven. They won't have any part of it. Maybe we'll get far enough then we can see something.
Verse 33. Then they said unto him, this is back in Luke. Then they said to him, why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers and likewise the disciple of the Pharisees? But thine eat and drink.
And he said unto them, can you make the children of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? There's nothing to fast about. The bridegroom is still here. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them.
And then they shall fast in those days. There's a new day approaching, Jesus says, when I will be taken away from you. There will be plenty of time for fasting then. And he spake also a parable unto them.
No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old. If otherwise then both the new maketh a rent and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. He's saying there's a new and better covenant coming.
But the Pharisees are still clinging to the old. And he goes on to say, verse 32, and no man putteth new wine into old bottles. Else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled and the bottles shall perish.
But new wine must be put into new bottles and both are preserved. Now here's what's going on. The old wine, that's the old covenant. That's the law. The new wine is the new covenant. That's grace. And here's what verse 39 says, and I had to read this like 20 times before it finally dawned on me what he was saying.
No man also having drunk old wine straightaway desireth the new for he saith the old is better. I kept hung up on this, the old is better. I forgot this phrase. No man also having drunk the old wine straightaway desireth the new for he saith the old is better.
Is the old better? The new is better. They only think the old is better. They don't like change. They only think the law is better. If they are his, they will eventually come to terms with the fact that grace is better.
Not that law is better, that grace is better. And I'm going to put this in again. I had it already. John 6 39. And this is the father's will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I shall lose nothing but shall raise it again on the last day.
So how many will he lose? Zero. How many will get this grace? Those that he chose before the beginning of time. Who will not get the grace? All of those who cling to either the old way or no way at all.
It's not just the Pharisees that clung to the old that will miss out on the new. It's all those who are not called in the first place. Okay that's it for me and I made it almost in time. Any questions or comments?
I'm sorry that's right the the the bottles represented the people into which the new wine was going to be poured and a new system. And yeah and if you try to do that if you try to put if you have to try to mix this new wine this this grace with that old law then it's not going to work.
It's going to be like the new cloth and the old cloth they won't agree. They each will rend itself and tear a the bottle will burst and perish. That was an effective thing to and the bottle will perish.
So he doesn't put grace into the old law. He doesn't say do the law and I'll give you grace to pour in it. So you can't you can't put grace into the bottle that used to be holding old wine. The pharisaical is that right?
Pharisaical? Yeah that won't work. That won't work. I think I pronounced the word wrong. I had parasite didn't I in mind. But that's pretty good too. Anything else? Most gracious Heavenly Father thank you for this day and thank you for all our many blessings.
Go through with us through this church service today. Help us to learn those messages that you have stored up for us and for all who believe. Help us to believe. Help us to stay close to you. Help us to walk in the Spirit as often as we can and help us to understand when we're not walking in the Spirit so that we can quickly ask your forgiveness and you will be just and fair and you will grant us our pardon and lead us to where we ought to go.
Keep us hand in hand with you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.