The authority of Jesus to forgive sins 02/12/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Jason will come and read for us Hebrews 9, so let's turn there. In this chapter we have the

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Lord Jesus set forth as the finality and really the destiny of everything in the

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Old Testament. It points to Jesus Christ as the true high priest and it speaks about what he accomplished through his death.

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And I might just add this personal note, when I came to the doctrines of grace,

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Reformed Theology back in 1982, I'm like a lot of people, you know those five points of Calvinism, that middle point was a struggle for me, the teaching of limited atonement or better definite or particular redemption.

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I thought that Christ, Jesus Christ, died for every human being equally throughout all the world, all of history.

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But then Hebrews 9 showed me otherwise, because that teaching about universal atonement really declares that Jesus Christ did not accomplish anything on the cross, he only made possible salvation.

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But Hebrews 9 says no, he accomplished salvation when he sat down.

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He accomplished the salvation of the people that the Father had given him from eternity. And it was

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Hebrews 9 that convinced me of this way back in 1982. Hebrews chapter 9.

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Hebrews chapter 9. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship in an earthly place of holiness, for a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence.

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It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place, having the golden altar of incense and the

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Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant.

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Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

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These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes and he but once a year and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

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By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.

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According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink in various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation.

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But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

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For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

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God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

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For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

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Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded you.

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And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.

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Indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

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Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

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For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

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Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own.

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For then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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And just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment, so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the work of Jesus Christ, thankful for what he accomplished on our behalf.

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Lord God, he accomplished and secured eternal redemption. We stood before you as slaves and you bought us from the slave market by payment of ransom, by the payment of Christ's own body and blood.

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And Lord, we rejoice that we are now found in him and we have a tremendous inheritance and tremendous blessing and tremendous purpose in life.

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And so, Lord, we pray that we would live in the light of who we are in Christ Jesus, that we would reflect upon his perfect work.

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And Lord, we pray that you would help us now as we proclaim your word. Help us to hear the truth, help us to apply the truth, and we pray,

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Lord, that we would walk in obedience to it as we surrender our will to yours. Thank you,

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God. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles to Luke chapter 5 once again, and today we'll give attention to verses 17 through 26 in which we see the authority of Jesus to forgive sins is set before us.

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Let's read these verses. Now, it happened on a certain day as he was teaching that they were

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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

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Lord was present to heal them. And then, behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before him.

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And when they could not find how they might bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.

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And when he saw their faith, he said to him, man, your sins are forgiven you.

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And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies?

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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?

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Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you, or to say rise up and walk, but that you may know that the

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Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who is paralyzed,

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I say to you arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Immediately he rose up.

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Before them took up what he had been lying on and departed to his own house, glorified

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God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today.

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In the section, larger section of Luke's Gospel in which this episode is recorded, our

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Lord is shown to have great authority. That's the emphasis. Luke has set forth

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Jesus as having authority over demonic forces, back in chapter 4, and authority over nature.

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Last time we were in Luke's Gospel, two weeks ago, we considered that Jesus has authority over disease.

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And now, here in chapter 5, verse 17 and following, we see our

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Lord has authority to forgive sins. This incident placed last in this section suggests that this is the supreme revelation of divine authority, forgiving sins.

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Here's Jesus, a man, even the promised Son of Man, the Messiah, who is able to forgive sinners of their sins.

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Sins which bar them from the blessing, the presence and blessing of God. Sins which exclude people from the hope of attaining eternal life.

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And with a word, Jesus is able to forgive sins.

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This Jesus must truly be God's agent on earth, must indeed be God himself. We know that.

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And so we may learn much of our Lord in this account, which will strengthen our faith in him and the authority that he has.

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But there are other persons involved here, too, from which we can learn. There's Pharisees and teachers of the law who are sitting by,

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Luke says, who seem bent on finding fault with Jesus. There is a crowd of eager listeners and observers who desire to hear and to see

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Jesus, verse 19. And then there was this paralyzed man, of course, who desperately needed to get to Jesus to receive healing and pardon.

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And there were these four noble, persistent men who would get this man to Jesus, overcoming all obstacles in order to do so.

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They were great friends. And I'd like to say a word about each of these persons or groups and trust by considering them will temper our own thinking and adjust our actions, perhaps, so that we are more conformed to the will of God.

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So we'll examine this passage by first considering the details of the passage itself. And in doing so, we'll reflect upon the

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Lord, the attitude of the crowds, as well as the Pharisees and teachers of the law. But then we'll consider, secondly, some principles and lessons that will enable us to better understand how we might know

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God better and serve God and his people in a more biblical fashion. And so let's consider, first of all, the details.

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We have the occasion of this event set forth in verse 17. Now it happened on a certain day as he,

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Jesus, 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.

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And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Notice it's a certain day, probably not a

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Sabbath day, Luke would have said so. And there they gathered before Jesus, a large crowd, as he was teaching.

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Once again, you have this emphasis brought forward. Wherever Jesus was with the people, his primary effort was to teach them the

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Word of God, and Luke has been emphasizing this fact. It's also a major emphasis of Mark in his record of this as well.

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But not all present listening to Jesus were teachable, for there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.

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They had already determined, we know from the other Gospels, they had already determined that Jesus was a threat to their standing and their authority over the people.

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And so we can assume their motives were not good in observing and listening to Jesus teach.

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They were fault -finding and resistant to Jesus and what he taught. It's significant that these detractors of Jesus are listed here first in the episode, and that for several reasons.

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First, Luke is beginning to set forth the conflict between Jesus and the religious Jewish leaders, which would of course eventually result in Jesus's crucifixion.

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It's been famously said that the Gospels are basically passion narratives with extended introductions.

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Everything leads up to the arrest, crucifixion of Jesus, and his resurrection.

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It would seem that Luke is also building a case against these religious leaders due to their unbelief.

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And here they were, present, and apparently many of these Pharisees and teachers of the law were present.

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And the authority to forgive and heal was clearly demonstrated before them. Yet in spite of this, they not only refused to respond to Jesus in faith, but they became forthright and active in their antagonism toward him from this moment on, really.

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And so consider their posture in the episode. Luke describes them as sitting there in the

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SV, or sitting by. I like the way the New King James Version expresses it. And so it would seem through this description,

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Luke portrays them as ones with a different kind of attitude than that which characterized the crowd. They were neither needy or earnest or expectant.

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Rather, their posture depicts them as suspicious, scrutinizing, self -sufficient, and fault -finding.

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Again, I like the New King James Version. They were sitting by. It's clear these

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Jewish leaders were not humble. They were not teachable. They were sitting by, dissecting his words, listening carefully, attributing false motives, dismissing the words they were hearing.

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They would not give the benefit of the doubt to Jesus, but rather they would doubt every benefit that might be available to them.

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But the bottom line is this. By their attitude and actions, they betrayed themselves as having no love of God or man.

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For had they truly loved God, they would have loved him who is begotten of God, as John writes in his first epistle.

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These men were sitting by, bent on preventing needy persons from coming to him.

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There were quite a number of these Pharisees and teachers of the law. Josephus says that there may have been as many as 6 ,000

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Pharisees among the Jews. There were

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Pharisees in just about every village in Galilee. This suggests this, doesn't it? They were Pharisees and teachers from all of Galilee, from every village of Galilee, and they were even from the region of Judea, and even from Jerusalem.

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So there must have been many of them present on this occasion, but sadly they were really doing nothing more than taking up space.

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If they really loved the Lord and they loved their people, they would be as these four men, doing everything they could to bring others into the presence of Jesus.

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But not only would they, you know, refuse to enter the door themselves, but they would close the door to anyone else to prevent their entering.

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There were so many of them there that these four men couldn't get this man to Jesus in an easy manner.

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And so in the same way there are modern -day Pharisees and doctors of the law who not only fail to pursue people to bring them to Jesus, but by their attitudes and actions they prevent people from coming to Jesus, as it were.

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And the world is able and quick to point out the hypocrites. If there's one thing the world can do, it can spot a hypocrite.

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And that's often the accusation against preachers as well as churches.

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And so through their cynical attitude, their absence of genuine love and concern for their fellow men and women, they do nothing to bring needy ones before Jesus.

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How careful and cautious we ought to be so we not find ourselves as obstacles to souls coming to Christ.

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We read that the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Matthew Henry wrote, no, those who receive the word of Christ in faith will find a divine power going along with that word to heal them.

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For Christ came with his comforts to heal the brokenhearted, Luke 4 18. And the power of the

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Lord is present with the word, present to those that pray for it, submit to it, present to heal them.

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The power of the Lord is present with us, with you and me, right now because the word is before us.

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Or it may be meant, or so it's generally taken, of the healing of those who are diseased and body who came to Jesus for cures.

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Whenever there was occasion Christ had not to seek for his power, it was present to heal.

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Notice the pronoun carefully. We read that the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

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Every pronoun has an antecedent, usually the noun stated just before the pronoun or sometimes it's an implied antecedent.

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These words suggest the willingness and ability of Jesus to heal all that came to him for this purpose, including the sick, the disabled, and those who were demon -possessed.

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But again actually the pronoun them would seem to include all there, even the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

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Once their mention is declared that the power to heal was with them, everyone who is present, all who were there could have received the great blessing of experiencing the life -giving authority of Jesus Christ, for the power of the

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Lord was present to heal them. What a privilege, what an opportunity.

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Of course the Lord Jesus always had the power to heal because as the Son of God, being God himself, his authority is inherent in his person.

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But as we've sought to point out on other occasions, the Lord did not directly use the authority of his divine nature to affect his works, but rather all that he did was through the power of the

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Holy Spirit who had anointed him, who had equipped and empowered him for his ministry.

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And so on this occasion the power of the Lord was present to heal because the power of the Spirit of God was upon him.

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Now we didn't read verse 16 which immediately precedes the passage we read, but if you look back at Luke 5 16 we read this.

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There we read, so he, Jesus himself, often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Jesus had been prayed.

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First he was prayed in verse 16 and then he exhibited his power to heal in verse 17. It does not say in verse 16 what he was prayed for, but the fact that we read immediately afterward that God's power is upon him to heal suggests that our

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Lord sought his Father in prayer for the power and direction to perform his ministry of teaching and healing.

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If our Lord would make this his practice, how much more should we? We should often withdraw and pray as was the custom of our

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Lord. We should always be on our knees praying, Lord Jesus give us your Spirit, fill us with your

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Spirit so that we might boldly speak on your behalf and that our words may have impact on our hearers, that healing might come to those for whom we pray.

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While Jesus was teaching he also had the authority to heal sickness and no doubt many were coming to him so that they might be healed of their physical infirmities.

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But Jesus did not want physical healings to be his primary mission. His real purpose for coming was to reconcile estranged people to a holy

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God. He came to accomplish redemption of his people as we read back in Luke 1.

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And so Jesus not only had the power to heal people of their physical infirmities but he had authority to forgive people of their sins, reconciling them to God.

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And that was most preeminent. We read of four men who brought a paralyzed man to Jesus to be healed.

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And then behold men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed whom they sought to bring in and lay before him and when they could not find how they might bring him in because of the crowd they went up on the housetop let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.

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These men could do nothing to heal this man but they could together make an effort to bring him unto

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Jesus. They were committed, persistent, and they were innovative men.

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They intended to get this man to Jesus and it would seem that they would allow nothing to deter them from their desire and design.

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These were good dedicated friends of this man. They cared for this man. They even carried the man onto the flat roof of the building which was common in that day.

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No doubt using the exterior stairs and then loosened and lifted the tile so that they could lower the man to Jesus.

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Perhaps it was an overhang over the courtyard they lowered him we don't know maybe into the house itself.

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These four men and the paralyzed man himself were ones who had faith in Jesus's ability and willingness to heal this man of his paralytic condition.

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Our Lord's reputation and notoriety had spread widely in that region of Galilee. Perhaps these men had seen

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Jesus heal others and were then moved to bring their friend to Jesus or maybe this man himself had heard of the miracle working of Jesus and he requested these men to take him to him.

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The details are not given to us but it's clear they all had faith in Jesus that he would heal this man if they could but get him to Jesus.

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And so these men were five in number, one born by four, all possessed faith in Jesus.

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Jesus saw their faith which the Lord saw in them all. Their ingenuity and persistence to get this man to him revealed their faith in him.

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Our Lord takes great delight when he sees people believe him for who he is, the Christ of God. But he has greatest delight when people act upon their faith.

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They didn't just believe, they believed and they were committed and they acted upon their faith.

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Do you believe him for who he is? Well act upon that faith in him. Present impossible situations for him to deal with we ought to bring to him for only he can he can deal with those can't he?

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Bring those lost ones before him, place them in his presence just as these four

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Lord, these men, this man did with this one, these men did with this one. Let's see what we can do bringing people to Jesus and doing whatever we have to do to bring them to encounter

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Jesus Christ. Jesus first pronounced to this man that his sins were forgiven him.

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We read in verse 20, when he saw their faith he said to them man your sins are forgiven you.

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Incredible. Jesus came to break the power of sin, remove the penalty of sin with all its damning, defiling, dispiriting, disabling effects and so to accomplish this task not only was

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Jesus given authority to heal sickness but as the prominent Messiah of the Son of Man he had authority to forgive the sins of people before God.

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And this was the most important work for him to do. I think this is important.

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For people to be only healed of sickness but not saved from their sins would be a distraction and a detraction from his primary purpose.

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That forgiveness of sins is more important than physical healing is seen in that Jesus first forgives the man of his sins only then was granted physical healing.

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You see the priority there? Matthew Henry rightly wrote Christ and what he said to this man taught us when we seek to God for health to begin with seeking to him for pardon.

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The health and wealth guys should learn a lesson from here. The gospel ought to be preached first and primarily.

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Now some look at this episode and upon being informed of additional details from the parallel accounts and Mark and should be

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Matthew's Gospels not Luke's conclude that the episode is designed to display the fact that Jesus is

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God. After all only God can forgive sins and some would argue therefore the story reveals the deity of Jesus Christ as the eternal

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Son of God. They'd assert and we would acknowledge it certainly does that. But the reason for this is the rhetorical question that the

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Jewish leaders ask of Jesus that's recorded for us. Upon Jesus' pronouncement that the sins of the man are forgiven some sitting by say this man is blaspheming and all synoptic

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Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke record these words. But then Mark and Luke include these details and the scribes and the

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Pharisees began to question saying who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but God alone?

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And so it's reasoned that when Jesus healed the paralytic he was proving before them that he is God for only

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God can forgive sins. Because Jesus forgave this man his sins and proved it by his ability by healing the man of his paralysis therefore

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Jesus is God and of course we acknowledge that's a truism but this is not really what the episode is emphasizing.

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It's emphasizing that God had given this man the Messiah the Son of Man the authority to forgive sins.

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They didn't immediately conclude that Jesus was God they concluded

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God didn't give this man authority to forgive sins but he's the

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Son of Man the Messiah and in fact this is what Matthew records.

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The account in Matthew concludes with this statement now when the multitude saw it they marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men.

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They didn't think this was possible only God can forgive sins and yet this man forgives sins.

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It stymied them. How can this be? We know that he's God of course he can forgive sins but the fact is that God enabled gave the authority to Christ the

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Messiah in his human nature as well as divine nature to pardon sins.

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And so to us Christians of course the episode confirms our faith and understanding that Jesus Christ is

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God incarnate but those present Jesus was proving that God had given to him the Son of Man the prominent

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Messiah the authority to forgive people of their sins and this would have dumbfounded them.

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Jesus did not first and immediately heal the man but he first pardoned him of his sins. This is quite amazing and it's instructive.

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It shows us that forgiveness of sins is the primary and premier blessing that God can confirm to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

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It would be preferable to remain paralyzed throughout life if we could only be forgiven of our sins.

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It would not be ultimately a blessing from God if he were to heal us of some significant infirmity such as paralysis if we were to remain unforgiven of our sins.

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You live a life of health and wealth prosperity die and go to hell. For in our paralysis we would probably desire and seek the mercy and grace of God in Christ but if we were suddenly alleviated to this condition if we were restored to health and vitality we may not necessarily have the desire and earnestness to seek him.

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And it's sad to watch a soul seem to seek the Lord earnestly when some need is greatly felt but when that crisis is over that one no longer seeks the

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Lord and we've seen this play out in church life for decades.

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There are many temporary believers who show themselves to be apostates in time by ceasing to seek after Jesus and follow him in life after the crisis is over they don't need him anymore or so they think.

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That Christ first forgave this man his sins may also suggest that his paralysis had been a result of his sin.

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That's a possible connection. Now certainly although all sickness can be ultimately attributed to the sinful state of mankind or a fallen race in a fallen world not any one sickness may be easily attributed directly to one's own sin.

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Jesus made this clear in John chapter 9 there we read a question posed to Jesus by his disciples regarding a blind man.

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As Jesus passed by he saw a man who was blind from birth and his disciples asked him saying rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind and Jesus answered said basically his blindness was not the result of sin.

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Neither this man nor his parents sinned so as to cause his blindness but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

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But some sickness can be attributed to one's own sin. We reap what we sow and this was intimated by Jesus when he interacted with the man that he healed beside the pool of Bethesda as recorded in John 5.

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Jesus healed him then departed the man didn't really know who Jesus was but later Jesus found this man and we read in John 5 him telling this man after Jesus found him in the temple said to him see you've made you've been made well sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.

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A worse thing due to the sin if he continued to sin and so there may be some sicknesses or infirmities that we incur due to our sin.

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In fact maybe even in most cases our sicknesses may be attributed to some sin or sinfulness on our part that's resulted in our infirmities.

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This was one of the reasons that led D. Martin Lloyd -Jones to leave the medical profession as a young man and enter the gospel ministry.

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As a young man he had been the assistant to Lord Hoarder the physician to the royal family of Great Britain.

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Hoarder gave Lloyd -Jones the assignment to review all his patients and classify them according to their ailments and causes.

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And here Ian Murray's he wrote the wonderful two -volume biography of Ian Murray and he commented on Lloyd -Jones the physician and what he learned.

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The most powerful influence of all in Dr. Lloyd -Jones complete change of direction has still to be stated.

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It was the fact of sin the evidence that something is profoundly wrong with man himself.

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He observed it among London's poor with whom he had often to mix well at Bart's. In particular while undertaking his training in obstetrics in some of the roughest areas of Islington he met with conditions of godliness of which he had no content should be probably ungodliness in which he had no conception in rural

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Carlingonshire that be in Wales. And yet what he saw in Islington was by no means decisive in affecting his thinking as was the close contact that he came to have in the 1920s with people at the opposite end of the social life.

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After all wrongdoing among the poorer classes was so it was said really explicable, explainable.

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It was merely a problem of education, housing, economic improvement. Sounds like today's social workers.

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Change their conditions and their environment and all would be well. Precisely the same philosophy taken up by politicians and by the

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League of Nations. This was right after World War One. Was going to reconstruct the world prevent any future war but if that theory were correct that is that man is morally neutral and only needs help and education in order to be good it ought to have been demonstrated among horrors patients who often represented the best of the land among the wealthy and the great.

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Certainly the patients of the King's physician who came to hoarders rooms at Harley Street were neither depraved nor uneducated.

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Three prime ministers were to be numbered among them and many of the leading intellectuals writers and musicians of the day.

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And as Lloyd -Jones moved with his chief Lord Hoarder in these circles he found such people altogether as needy as any whom he had seen in Ellington.

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Their basic need was still untreated for once. Hoarder's diagnoses did not go far enough and this lesson never came home to Lloyd -Jones more forcibly than it did in 1923 when as mentioned earlier he had to spend a number of weeks reclassified his chief's case histories under their respective diseases.

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Hoarder's notes revealed that perhaps as many as 70 % of his private cases could not be classified under recognized medical criteria at all.

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Eats too much, drinks too much and similar comments points to signs and symptoms with origins normally outside the province of medicine.

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Strange though it may sound it was in a temple of scientific humanism. Hoarder's clinic that Lloyd -Jones was helped to see the fallacy of the argument that modern man is so different from his forebearers that historic

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Christianity is no longer relevant. He discovered that man in his fundamental need of a changed relation to God had not changed at all.

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All the changes about which men boast as much are externally observed. They're not changes in man himself but merely in his mode of activity in his environment.

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The real problem which he now saw written large on Hoarder's case notes was neither medical nor intellectual it was one of moral emptiness and spiritual hollowness.

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Hoarder's card index was to him almost what the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones was to the prophet

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Ezekiel. He saw himself why do I patch up this people so enable them to go on in their sin.

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He went into the ministry and became one of the leading reformed men pastors and evangelists of the 20th century.

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And so that Jesus Christ first forgave this man his sins was the greatest need this man had which is far greater than his physical paralysis as significant a trial of hardship that was to him.

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Now it may have been the case that this man's paralysis was a consequence of sin. Some have argued that Jesus first gave this man or forgave this man his sins indicating the sin was the cause.

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In fact one commentator wrote the Lord through his perfect insight into human life realized immediately that the sickness of the paralytic was closely connected with the sin of which he was guilty and for this reason he first comes down to the root of the problem and says man thy sins are forgiven thee.

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He went too far. I don't think there's sufficient information in our passage to draw that kind of conclusion.

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Nevertheless when we've contracted an illness or encountered some adverse event in our lives we should give sincere and prayerful consideration whether or not our own sin has resulted in the consequences of which we are now suffering.

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Whenever we get sick we ought to go through that consideration. And actually the elders of the local church are to aid their members in this assessment.

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We read in James 5, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the

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Lord. Notice and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven.

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I don't believe that the oil which the elders with which the elders anoint the sick is some kind of magical ordinance in which a miracle of God's healings is affected rather applied of oil is medicinal in nature.

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As a physician would prescribe or apply a medicine this is what the elders would do if the sickness called for it.

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Remember a friend of mine Tony and I young associate pastors in Texas this was in 1974 to 76 we visited a large

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Church of God in Christ Church in South Dallas an all -black church we went in and met the pastor we were sitting there in the pew and he got a phone call it was one from one of his church members and you know pastor pastor

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I've got this terrible terrible stomachache pray for me and I remember very vividly go down to the pharmacy buy some

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Pepto -Bismol and your prayers will be answered you know their medicines do the common grace of God thankfully although it can be abused.

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But the elders are to assist in assessing whether or not the sickness is a result of sin and they are to make this clearly known to the sick person leading him or her to repent be forgiven of God of that sin that's resulted in sickness as God's chastisement.

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John Calvin was so wise and pastoral he gave this application Christ appears here to promise to the paralytic something different from what he requested he wanted to be healed of his paralysis instead he gets his sins forgiven but as that Jesus intends to bestow health of body he begins with removing the cause of the disease and at the same time reminds the paralytic of the origin of his disease and of the manner in which he ought to arrange his prayers as men usually do not consider that the afflictions which they endure are

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God's chastisements they desire nothing more than some alleviation in the flesh isn't that true isn't that what we generally pray for and in the meantime feel no concern about their sins just as if a sick man were to disregard his disease and to seek only relief from present pain but the only way of obtaining deliverance from all evils is to have

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God reconciled to us it does sometimes happen that wicked men are freed from their distresses

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God in his mercy and common grace while God is still their enemy they're not

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Christians but when they think that they have completely escaped the same evils immediately return or more numerous and heavier calamities overwhelm them which make it manifest that they will not be mitigated or terminated until the wrath of God be appeased as God declared by the prophet

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Amos if thou escape a lion a bear shall meet thee if thou shut thyself up at home a serpent shall bite thee no escaping

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God's justice and thus it appears that this is a frequent and ordinary way of speaking in the scriptures to promise the pardon of sin when the mitigation of punishment is sought it is proper to attend this order in your prayers our prayers when the feeling of afflictions reminds us of our sins let us first of all be careful to obtain pardon that when

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God is reconciled to us he may withdraw his hand from punishing many times sickness and afflictions are the

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Lord chastening us because of something defective sin sin in our life perhaps and so whenever we have a physical ailment we should examine ourselves carefully determine to determine if the

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Lord is chastening us for our sin thereby leading us to repentance and holiness but here's a word of caution and concern we should not conclude that this indicates that one is less spiritual or less holy than he or she should be if he or she is afflicted that is one of the areas of the word of faith movement they assume of course that somebody is afflicted is not right or blessed of God or they don't have faith rather that Christian who suffers continuously without relief may be very diligent in his or her self -assessment through which the

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Lord has sanctified that soul and so the Christian who suffers most among us may be the most holy among us because they seek the

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Lord perhaps more earnestly than we do or have and they may be very close to the

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Lord even in their affliction the Lord pronounced forgiveness of this man's sin due to their faith that is the faith of the four men who carried him and the paralyzed man himself faith is the means by which

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God forgives sinners as the Apostle Paul preached therefore let it be known to you brethren that through this man

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Jesus is preached you the forgiveness of sins and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses justification by God of course is foundational to our salvation through faith it involves two great blessings of God's grace first there is free and full pardon of all the sins of the true believer in Christ and second there is a gift of Christ righteousness granted freely to the believing sinner and so the true believer is as righteous as Jesus Christ himself in God's sight and will be found to be so on the day of judgment on the day of judgment

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Christian you can no more be condemned than Jesus Christ himself could be condemned because you're standing in his righteousness through faith in him alone faith is the instrument by which

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God saves us by his grace justification is received through faith alone in God and in Christ our good works do not bring us into this state of justification that is heresy

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Romans 330 seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision the

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Jews by faith and the uncircumcision Gentiles through faith God justifies the ungodly the only thing that prevents you from becoming justified if you're a sinner is your refusal to recognize and acknowledge that you're a sinner that you're ungodly and unrighteous and that you're in need of the righteousness of another father

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I need the righteousness of Jesus Christ or I'm a goner I believe on him justifying faith is the simple trusting by the sinner in God's provision in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for a righteousness that that sinner is in need of to stand before a holy

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God faith in Christ faith alone and a sinner may be easily justified by a simple turning from sin toward God petitioning

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God the father to receive him on the basis and merit of Christ's life and death father

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I know that I'm not able to do or fit to be received by you I'm a sinner please forgive me for Christ's sake and that kind of faith justifies all your sins are forgiven

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God thereafter regards you as righteous as Jesus Christ himself because his righteousness is counted as if it were yours that's the faith that justifies and that's what results in one becoming a true

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Christian notice upon Jesus' declaration of forgiveness of sins his detractors rejected him we read in verse 21 scribed and Pharisees began to reason saying who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but God alone apparently not all the

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Pharisees and teachers of the law accused Jesus of blasphemy interestingly in Matthew's account we read these words some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blasphemy not all did by the way probably all the scribes were

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Pharisees perhaps most of the Pharisees were scribes now it's true there were some noble souls who are numbered among this group of Jewish leaders

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Pharisees even preach Jewish priests who believed we read of that in the book of Acts there were many of them many priests who believed but here in the gospel

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Pharisees and scribes teachers of the law are presented really as a monolithic group who were opposed to Jesus and his disciples now we should recognize that of course as teachers of the law scribes as Pharisees they had a responsibility to consider carefully and examine closely any teaching to determine whether it's of God or not they had a responsible role sitting there and each of us to particularly those in church leadership are to watch out for wolves and sheep don't recognize them all the time because they're in sheep's clothing

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Christian leaders are to recognize them identify them we are to keep our eye on those who cause dissension and hindrances contrary to the doctrine is what scriptures say and away from such we are to examine all things we're to be on guard for false teaching false teachers who slip in unawares and the

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Pharisees and teachers of the law had that responsibility but on the other hand we should have as a healthy skepticism toward ourselves as we have of others the

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Bereans were noble more noble than the Thessalonians and so they heard what

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Paul said and then they went to the scriptures to determine whether what Paul was saying was true they didn't go to the scriptures to prove what

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Paul was saying was false as how these were they went to the scriptures to see if they had been wrong or ignorant to determine if what

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Paul was saying was true that ought to be the attitude that we have we ought to be as skeptical about our own souls as we are of others and may the

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Lord reveal his truth to us we're to be discerning and scrutinizing but we're to be teachable as well humbly seeking guidance from God as we examine the scriptures to determine if the things are true we're sure always be careful that we not find ourselves resisting the work of God himself as these

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Pharisees and teachers of the law well in verses 22 through 25

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Jesus declared and then demonstrated the ease in which he can forgive sins when

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Jesus perceived their thoughts notice he could understand what they were thinking the

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Lord knows your thoughts he knows what you're thinking right now he knows what you're thinking he knows what your attitude is toward him toward the word toward me toward the church when

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Jesus perceived their thoughts he answered said to them why are you reasoning in your hearts which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or say rise up and walk but that you may know the

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Son of Man the Messiah has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the man who's paralyzed I say to you a ride take up your bed and go to your home and immediately he rose up before them took up what he had been lying on departed to his own house glorifying

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God and so Jesus healed the man of his paralysis to prove they'd forgiven this man his sins we read in Luke 5 23 our

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Lord dismissed his detractors accusation Jesus said what is easier to say your sins are forgiven you would rise up and walk take note what an easy thing it is for Jesus to pardon sins it was just as easy for him to command the man to be healed and to take up his bed and walk as it was to forgive sins there is some thing

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I'm too far gone to be forgiven most people in the world when they're unaffected by the

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Holy Spirit they don't see a problem with that why not why sure God forgives me he loves me they don't have a problem with forgiveness of sins but when you come under conviction of the

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Holy Spirit the Word of God you begin to have a problem how can God forgive me and that's that's usually a pretty good evidence that the

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Holy Spirit's at work first the person's unconcerned unaware of his sin then he comes under great conviction and he's so overwhelmed with his sin why would

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God ever receive me and sometimes it takes a lot of work and prayer to convince a sinner that the

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Lord will receive him they think my sins are past the point of forgiveness my crimes are too great but here's the marvelous thing

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God has given all authority to his son to remit all manner of sin all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven you

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Jesus said he has that kind of authority a mere pronouncement your sins are removed from your account never again to cause condemnation there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ he has declared to you this pronouncement when you believe on Jesus has he declared this on your case as the

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Spirit of God born witness in your heart giving you assurance that peace exists between yourself and him and just as there was great opportunity in that day to receive freely from Jesus pardon for sin there's that same opportunity today right now

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Jesus sits today on his father's throne having all authority to declare pardon to the chief of sinners that comes to him on his terms humble repentant believing that he has this kind of authority that's an amazing he is greater than your sin as great as it is now let's wrap things up here with a few lessons from our passage first let us seek

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Jesus with hopeful expectation of him blessing us with his presence and power that he will give us grace to live for him and bear witness of him in the world in which he's placed us as J .C.

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Ryle wrote let us thoroughly understand that pains and diligence are just as essential to the well -being and prosperity of our souls as our bodies what he's emphasizing here is that we should use means whatever is available to us employ it in the work of God just as these men brought this paralyzed man to Jesus let us be active and work at bringing people to Christ in all our endeavors to draw near to God and all our approaches to Christ there ought to be the same determined earnestness which was shown by this sick man's friends we must allow no difficulties to check us no obstacle to keep us back from anything which is really for our spiritual good especially must we bear this in bear this in mind in the matter of regularly reading the

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Bible hearing the gospel keeping the Sabbath holy private prayer on all these points we must beware of laziness and an excuse -making spirit necessity must be the mother of invention if we cannot find means of keeping up these habits in one way we must up we must in another but we must settle in our minds that the thing shall be done the health of our souls is at stake let the crowd of difficulties be what it may we must get through it if the children of this world take such pains about a corruptible crowd we ought to take far more pains about one that is incorruptible may the

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Lord give us a diligent spirit not a lazy spirit help us to be disciplined that's what disciples are to be disciplined disciplined learners secondly the

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Lord will often use person personal difficulties in life even sickness and disease in order to initially draw us to himself in faith and many can testify that their initial interest and desire in seeking out a church or to learn from God's Word the

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Bible is not out of concern to have their sins forgiven or to become right with God the

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Lord used other matters uses other matters to lead us to seek him sometimes it's marriage problems sometimes it is the parents concern for their children and they want their children to have spiritual instruction they don't care about themselves

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I've seen that many times over the years they start coming to church because they're concerned about their kids sometimes there may have been an initial intention to explore and listen as these

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Pharisees and teachers of the law in order to discredit these Christian people and believe and teach and then the

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Lord arrests their hearts but in time that which initially drew us to seek him is used by God to seek us and reveal himself savingly to us and so our calamities are often used by the

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Lord to that very end third we read in verse 22 of our

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Lord Jesus when his distractors reacted to his declaration that this men's sins had been forgiven him but when

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Jesus perceived their thoughts he answered said to them why are you reasoning in your hearts you have no secrets that are undisclosed to Jesus Christ he knows your thoughts he knows whether you love him he knows whether you really want to know his word and to follow him obey him and so knowing your thoughts that can either be comforting or condemning depending on what you're thinking we read of his all -searching ability to know our thoughts and intentions from Hebrews 4 this is true of the scriptures it's true of Jesus Christ for the

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Word of God is living and powerful sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit or the distinguishing of them and of joints and marrow he's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart oftentimes we think the heart is just emotions and affection no in the

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Bible the heart is also our mind our thinking he knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart and there's no creature hidden from his sight all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account he sees he knows he knows you he knows me thankfully however the

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Word immediately follows these verses they contain a promise for the Lord's people saying that then we have such a great high priest who passed through the heavens

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Jesus is out of God let us hold fast our confession that we know he sees us and examines us in his way in our attitudes and our motivations thankfully we have a high priest who will intervene for us

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Jesus Christ and then forth let us use all the means available to us to bring people to Christ if people are going to come to Jesus someone must bring them this paralyzed man wasn't going to get there himself was he and sinners aren't going to get there themselves somebody has to bring them that you find that always in the scriptures

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Andrew first came to Christ and then he went and found his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus that's the way that God wants us to work he uses human instrumentality and we have no doubt it was

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God's will for this man to be healed of his paralysis on this day in this manner he was healed that the works of God should be made manifest in him

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God had decreed in eternity the events of this day for he works all things after the counsel of his own will known unto

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God are all his works from the beginning of the world but the scriptures also teach us this man would not have been healed or forgiven of his sins if it had not been for the concern the persistence and the ingenuity and the faith of these four friends who brought him to Jesus and so we see a very appropriate corrective to the arid tendency of some reform people to be too passive in their approach to the work of God we ought to be creative innovative and active not sitting back you know if it's

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God's will it's going to be done we don't have to do anything we just watch and wait that's that's hyper -Calvinist error that's what was said to William Carey when he was so burdened reading

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Captain Cook's journals about those two Moravians who went to the South Pacific to take the gospel to some islanders

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Captain Cook let them get out and go to the shore and as soon as they got to shore the natives came out and killed them on the beach and Captain Cook wrote in his journals it was not a

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Christian the saddest thing of all this is these two people came all the way from Europe to bring the gospel to these to these natives and they died and the sad thing is nobody cares and William Carey read that and he was burdened and he brought his concern for missions foreign missions before the

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Baptist gathering of pastors and he challenged them let's get a missions program going it never been done this is around 1800 1795 and the one hyper -Calvinist pastor sit down William God wants to save the heathen he'll do it without the likes of you and he went home he drew a map world map he prayed on it daily and he wrote a transformative track which circulated became widely read attempt great things for God expect great things from God and he went off it of course became a missionary at India and became the father of modern missions the whole 19th century missionary movement really began with him faith exhibited by these men and bringing this one to Jesus were commended for it he saw their faith and it would do us well to consider their actions and examine their faith exhibited

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I'm not going to go into detail you have it there in your notes faith has hope for the hopeless in Jesus Christ this paralyzed man who's gonna heal him

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Jesus faith is active not passive let's get him to him faith works in love is persistent and persevering overcoming all obstacles and then faith sees its reward and so may the

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Lord increase our faith that it might be seen and how we think act feel our concern for others bringing them to Christ savingly amen may the

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Lord help us do so as a church let's pray thank you father for your word and we thank you

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God for the blessed promises and assurances that you give us in so many ways thank you

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God for this illustration of we have of this these four men and this this man to whom you declared his sins were forgiven help us our

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God go forth with this glorious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we might see you

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Lord Jesus declaring the forgiveness of sins of many who come in faith to you help us to direct people to you