see you here. I want to start
by thanking everyone who was so helpful to make the conference
what it was. God was gracious to give us the
pastors and the messages were all of them outstanding because they all
spoke of Christ who is outstanding. You speak of him at Surely that's
going to be the result. So thankful that God gave these
men to preach the gospel to us. And I beg your prayers tonight
that God give me the liberty of His Spirit. Just have one
of those days where your mind don't seem to be operating on
all cylinders. This is it. I need the Spirit of God every
single time I preach, but I'm more aware of it tonight. So
pray that God would give me the words that you need to hear. So thankful God has brought Joanne
back. It's been a long time, and so
thankful for his healing hand. Thankful for his healing hand
in that. And pray for those, some others, I guess, desires
to be here, not able. So pray for them. God, bring them back together.
Any other requests need to be mentioned? I know Mariah's kids
are going into surgery this week or next week. They had to reschedule
because I don't know when. OK. And also, Mariah's heart
is bleeding. One of them is not working. So
we have to figure that out. OK. All right.
Pray for Mariah. difficult thing, and her children
now. Rick, thank you. Pray for these that are sick,
and remember Angela as well. Let's go to God in prayer. Our
gracious Heavenly Father, we bow ourselves before you because
we need your mercy. We need your grace. We need your
strength. We need your wisdom. We need your spirit. We pray, Father, that you would
send your spirit into every heart, into every mind, so as to make the word effectual
to the hearts of those that hear it. I confess my need of you. I've come to the time, Father,
and find I have no strength in myself. And I plead that you
would give me the ability, the mind, the heart, to preach the
word faithfully. And let all the praise and glory
belong to you. Those we have mentioned who are
sick, we do pray that you would heal, that you would touch the
bodies of your children, that you would heal their hearts,
their minds and their bodies according to your mercy and grace. And that's what we're asking
for tonight, mercy. Every one of us here confesses
we need mercy. And I pray you would give it
according to the abundance of mercy that you have. You tell
us in your word that you delight in mercy, and we know that's
true. We see that because of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We
pray that you would bless us tonight with the message. I thank you, Father, for what
you've done for this congregation. I thank you for the benefits
that you've given us, the unity that we have in Christ. All of
this is your doing. I want to give you praise and
thanksgiving for it. And I do ask, even now, that
you would forgive us our sins. cleanse us of our unrighteousness,
that we may serve you. And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. I take your Bibles, turn back
with me to Mark. Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2. I've entitled this message, and a
fourfold forgiveness." Faith and a fourfold forgiveness. Now, this text begins, and again
he entered into Capernaum after some days. And it was noise that
he was in the house, and straightway many were gathered together,
insomuch as there was no room to receive them, no, not so much
as about the door, And he preached the word unto them. Now, what had taken place, this
is another passage is found, I believe, in Matthew chapter
9 is the passage here. And we read there that the Lord
had healed that demoniac of Gadara. And they had desired him to leave
the coast. And when he did, he came back
here to Capernaum. And the scripture says when they
heard this, They all swarmed the house. There was a multitude
of people around the house where Christ was in. And this is what
He did in every occasion. He preached the Word to them. And then we see this, that there
were some who heard this Word. Verse 3, and they, who? They that heard the Word. He
preached it to them, and the Scripture says, and they come
unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy born of four And when
they could not come nigh they come they bring this man their
friend to the Lord Jesus Christ, but there was something here
Said they could not come nigh unto him for the press what they
do they uncovered the roof They took this man They were so intent
so Vigorous and zealous in their
attempt to get this man before the Lord that they climbed on
top of the roof of this house and tore open the ceiling and
Let this man down Who was sick of the palsy in his bed? When
the Lord saw their faith He said in the sick of the palsy had
something that nobody Thought he would say I don't really know the intention
of this man. I don't know if he came to be
forgiven or he came to be healed. Most likely he came to be healed.
That was the main concern. But the Lord Jesus Christ in
mercy went infinitely farther than what they were asking. They
were asking for a very physical thing. But our Lord went deeper. He went to the root of it. And
He said to this man, He said, Thy sins be forgiven me. Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. And you know what happened next?
They began to murmur and complain within themselves saying, Who
does this man think he is? Only God can forgive sin. And
listen, they were right. Only God can forgive sin. The
difficulty was they didn't know that that was God standing there. Our Lord Jesus asked me, He says,
Well, which is easier to say? Now, everybody knows that, right?
It's easier to say it. Catholic priests say it all the
time. They just say, Son, your sins be forgiven you. They just
say it. Don't mean anything. It's easy
to say it. But how do we know that the Lord
Jesus Christ could say that and it was actually true? He said
this, That you may know. Now listen, these men, I love
this, the Lord is so sovereign, isn't he? You see the sovereignty
of God in this. Those men wanted their friend
to be healed. They heard Jesus Christ. They
heard his gospel. They heard his message. They took him up there. They opened the tiles of that
roof. They let him down. But who was
really doing all this? Our Lord Jesus Christ knew what
they were gonna do because he decreed it to happen. He decreed
that this man be sick of the palsy. He decreed that these
people should love Him so much to bring Him there and to tear
open that roof and to set Him down there. Our Lord knew exactly
what He was doing when He said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But that you may know that He
has power. He said to those sick of the
palsy, He said, Arise. This was not a suggestion, was
it? He said, arise. And what did that man do? He
didn't just roll around. That would have been a miracle,
wouldn't it? This guy's been paralyzed. He's paralyzed. Now imagine if
he said, roll around. And he just rolled around. Well,
that would be something. He didn't tell him just roll
around. He said, get up. He didn't need no physical therapy,
Joanne. He didn't need physical therapy to get up. Returned to
his bones and his muscles immediately the scriptures and immediately
he arose And you know what he did he had so much strength that
he could pick up his own bed and go to his own house So that's a story before us What is this but a picture of
God's salvation isn't it the man sick of the palsy is that
not easily seen as us This is not how we came to Christ helpless.
That man could not move. And yet, by the decree of God,
he had these men bring him. What happened to Mephibosheth?
Right? They went and fetched him. What happened to you? God,
by the Spirit, brought you to Christ. And I tell you, you found a lot
more than you were looking for. You found the same thing this
man found. You found forgiveness of sins. You found forgiveness
of sins. Now, tonight I want us to see
two things in this text. I want to see their faith. What is he talking about? Look
at this back in your text in verse 5. They tore off that roof,
they let him down, And then the scripture says, when Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. I want us to see the faith of
these men, all five of them. Now listen to me, all five had
faith. The four that brought him and
the one laying there had faith. And when Jesus said he saw their
faith, he wasn't just talking about the boys letting them down.
He's talking about the one laying there. They all had faith. And I want us to see what this
has to do with us, who believe. And then secondly, I want us
to see Christ's forgiveness. You that have faith, this is
to be a great comfort for you. Because the same forgiveness
that God gave this man, He gives you the same forgiveness. And I want to talk about four
things regarding forgiveness. Four things regarding forgiveness. First of all, their faith. Now
when these men arrived at the house where Jesus was, the first
thing we know about their faith is they heard the Word. You can't
have faith without it. Our Lord Jesus Christ preached
to them the word. They heard the word of God preached
to them. This is vital because without
the hearing of the word there would have been no faith. These
men would not have trusted Christ had he not preached to them. So we see the necessity of the
word. We see the necessity of the Word. Why? Because faith is a gift
of God, isn't it? These men did not have faith
on their own. Their faith was a gift of God. And I want you to see that their
faith, after hearing the Word of God, their faith was not just
passive, it was very active. When they heard the Word and
they believed on Christ, they heard His Word and they said,
yes, this one is the Christ. This one is the Son of God. They believed. But their faith
was not inactive. So believing, in believing in
Christ, they believed two things about Him that we know. They
believed that he was able to save. Why? Because he saved them. They heard
and they believed. They believed he was able to
save them. And they believed he was willing.
Why? Because he was willing to save
them, what did they do? They went to their friend. They
went to their friend. And listen, because they had
faith, they would not be stopped. They would not let any obstacle
get in their way. They climbed on top of the roof.
They cut a hole in the roof in order to let their friend down
to Him. They knew that this was the only
hope for their friend was Him. These men were vigilant, weren't
they? They were vigilant to get their friend there. Why were
they so determined to get the hymn to Christ? Because they
knew it was important. Didn't they? Can't you see that
these people who heard the word and believed the word desired
their friend also to benefit from it? So much so that when
they got to the house, they carried him on that, four of them, had
carried his bed. And they come to that house and
they couldn't get in. They said, oh, well, I'm so sorry.
I guess we'll just have to come back another day when it's more
convenient. No. They were so intent that
they knew their friend needed Christ that they climbed up on
top of the roof with the bed. In a house that was not their
own, they tore open the ceiling. And then with straps, they let
down his bed in front of the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember
one time, Cheryl asked me, she said, I need you to go to the
store and get something. I think it was on Black Friday. And it
was just some little something, I think we were out of sugar,
something like that. And I went to the store, and I saw that
line, and you know what I did? I went home. I went home. Why? It was not
vital. It was not vital. I tell you,
I remember when Andrew had his seizures. I tell you, there was
nothing going to stop me from getting that boy help. Why? Because I knew it was urgent. And so as we see these men believing
the gospel, believing Christ, they knew that their friend had
a great need and it was urgent. It couldn't wait till tomorrow. They went over there and they
opened that roof and they let him down. It was urgent. How
urgent is this matter of faith in Christ? How urgent Is it that men should hear the gospel?
How urgent? These men knew the urgency. They let nothing stand in their
way because they believed that the one inside that building
was both able and willing to save their friend. Now they wouldn't
have done it had they not believed that. Do you believe that they
would have took him, put him on that roof, and chopped that
roof up and let him down had they not believed that maybe
he was not able? Well, he might be able. You think
it's good enough for us to tear this roof open? No, they knew
he was able. And they knew something else.
They knew he was willing. That's two things they knew about
this. They would have never done that had they not known. And
let their faith then be the example to us who believe, to you and
I who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us understand
it is an urgent matter. It's a matter that should not
be put off. It's a matter that we should
take very seriously. Believer in Christ, is not the
disease of sin an urgent matter? Now this disease of this man
being paralyzed was an urgent matter. Is not the disease of
sin more urgent? Are not our friends and loved
ones sick of the palsy of sin? Do they not need salvation? Do
you know people that need salvation? Do you know any? You know of any who are dying
spiritually? If they were dying physically,
what would you do? Would it not be urgent? You would seek help as soon as
possible. Then why do we not think anything
of people dying spiritually? I ask this question to you that
believe. Do you believe that Christ is
able to heal sinners? Well, I know you do, because
you and I are healed. You and I know that He has the
ability to save. Now then, here's the question.
Do we believe He's willing? Now, our experience seems to
think otherwise, don't it? I mean, look. Look around you.
Not many. Not many. But I know this, that He is willing. Scripture said He is not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I know this. He is not willing that any of
His elect are going to perish. I told you this before. The church
is always full. You understand that? And I don't
mean just the local assembly. But I'm talking about the spiritual
body. The spiritual body is always
full. God always has the correct number
of believers at this given time tonight. Per adventure, He might
call one more. But I know this, He's willing
to do it. If He chose them, He's willing
to call them. He's willing to call them. I know this because He did it
with us. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Jesus Christ came to the world to save one group of people. Sinners. Sinners. So let me ask you, believer in
Christ, are there many places in this locale that preach the
gospel? Do you know of any? Besides here,
I mean, I know the gospel is preached here. I know that without
a doubt. But do you know of any other place? If you do, that
would be wonderful. Send them there. I'm not anxious
to just... I don't want fame, I don't want
prestige, I don't want... I'm not trying to get people
to come to this place, but wherever the gospel is preached, they
should go there. Word to God, there were many places they could
go. But I tell you this, you know
that the gospel is preached here. I know you know that because
you're here. You truly believe that. That the gospel is preached
here. If this is where the gospel is
preached, should we not then encourage our friends, our family
members, those who are lost and sick, that they should come and
hear the gospel? Now, are you going to be able
to make them? And that's not what I'm talking
about. This man who was sick of the palsy, when he heard what
these men said to him, we know that he was willing to go. Why? He had a need. Do you know anybody
who's got a need? That's what I'm asking. Talk
to your friends and family. Do you have a need? No. Okay. Go to somebody who's got a need.
Ask if anybody's got a need. Why? Because we know a Savior
who is both able and willing to save. And like these men, our faith
should be so active that we would not let any obstacle stand in
our way. If that person was willing to
come, there should be no obstacle which should stand in our way.
Do you think that that door was closed and that crowd was there
by accident? We know that the Lord purposed
that crowd to be there. That obstacle was designed by
God to testify of the faith that He gave these men. So it is with us. Robert Hawker
said this, he said, We should feel somewhat the same earnestness
for the salvation of others. I think I would bring to ordinances
and also private approaches to the mercy seat the whole of my
carnal, graceless relations. In other words, he's saying,
look, my whole being should be set forth to bring them to hear
the gospel and then pray for them. How much time do we spend
praying for ourselves versus those who are lost around us?
Now listen, I'm just telling you, I'm spilling out my own
soul here. Because I pray for me more than
anybody else. That's just... What's the first
thing that pops in my head is me. When you're sick, what's
the first thing that pops in your head? Somebody else? No. Ourselves. But our Lord is testifying
that we should be, we should lay, we should bring our friends.
If we can't bring them physically, then bring them by prayer before
the mercy seat. constantly praying for them. He said, Hawker said, and do
as these men did and lay them down before the presence of Jesus.
More than this I am not able to do. Now look, I can't make
them come. I made my children come for years.
Still do. Why? Because I still have it.
One day that thing's going to be gone, and I'm not going to
be able to do that. I'm going to do it as long as
I can. Because that's what they need.
They need Christ. We can't make them believe, can
we? Someone said you can't bring
a horse to water and make him drink, but you can drown him.
How am I going to try to drown people in this? Everybody here,
Bob Rice, remember Bob? Now Bob loved his wife so much. He wanted her so much to come
to hear the gospel. He'd follow around with a tape
recorder of a message, and he'd just follow around the house.
I said, Bob, I'd hit you on the head if you did that to me. No,
we're not here to force people, but we are to pray for them,
concern for their souls, and bring them at every opportunity. You cannot force them. But when we see our friends feel
their need. Now look, that paralyzed guy
had a need and he knew it. When a sinner has a need. Isn't
there anything more wonderful than that? When you see a sinner
struggling, you know that's a good thing. when a sinner struggles
and he feels his guilt and his nakedness before God. I remember
Donnie Bell talking about a farmer, a country boy who used to sit
in the back of his church all the time and he called him out
there to his farm and he said, Brother, he said, Man, I just
have this overwhelming guilt and fear and I'm struggling with
it and I don't know what to do. And he said, Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And he left. And as that
man was crying, Donny was smiling. Why? That man had a need. You
bring that man to Christ. That's what we do. We don't save
him. We bring him to the one who can.
Isn't that what we're doing? We ask men to come. You got a
need? Come and hear the gospel. What
are we doing? We are bringing them not to the
preacher, Not to the building, not to the congregation. They
don't need you and they don't need me. They need Him. I want
them to come to Him. I want sinners to lay out their
souls before Christ. That's what they need. They don't
need me. They need Him. And so what do
we do? We present Him. That's what we're
doing. So what do we do? We compel sinners
to come. Now we know this, that Christ
will not call the self-righteous. He said, I came not to call the
righteous. You ask a person to come, why
don't they come? Because they don't need righteousness,
they've already got it. They're content with their righteousness.
Christ said this, I didn't come to save them. I came to save
sinners. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. You know anybody that's
sick? Would to God any lost person
listening who is sick come to Christ? He is both able
and willing to save even you. How do I know that? He saved
even me. That's how I know. And so these friends, they were
given faith, they were given faith, for by grace you are saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. No faith comes by
self, does it? You and I have faith, that didn't
come from ourselves. These men had faith and it didn't
come from themselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And yet it was the faith of these
elect that God used to help their friends. God uses us, doesn't He? God
uses us. And what does He use us for?
For the calling of His elect. I know God still has elect people
because He hasn't come back yet. The moment that last one's called
in, He's coming. He's coming. But until then,
we still have many that are going to be called, that are going to be healed.
Even so, we are to bring men to hear of Christ because this
is the means God chose. This is the means God chose.
Now, I have their whole life brought my children to hear the
gospel and I do bring them in prayer before the feet of Christ
and long for them to believe. Cannot believe for them That's
the thing about faith isn't it it has to be personal? when God
gives a man faith he gives that man faith and That man cannot
give his faith to another This is the idea of infant baptism
Infant baptism has the idea that faith is somehow transferred
that you take the faith of the parents and they can convey it
to their children so much so that they can be baptized as
infants. There's one problem with that.
It's not in the book. I'm going to give you a big word.
It's called the doctrine of necessary consequence. Big words for foolish doctrines. It's the doctrine of what they
call inference. You see, Cornelius, they say, he and his whole house
was baptized. They said, well, there must have
been an infant in there. Well, did the book tell you there
was an infant in there? No, you just inferred it. That's
the doctrine of necessary consequence, and that's where infant baptism
comes from. Problem is, it's not in the scripture. It's not
in the scripture. Why? You can't transfer faith. You can't transfer faith. Although our children that are
raised on the gospel do derive benefits from it, we cannot give
them faith. So when it says Christ saw their
faith, He's not talking about their faith was conferred upon
the man sick of the palsy. He's talking about their faith
including the man sick of the palsy. Why? Because he believed. Now how
do you know that? When he was lowered down, what
were the first words of our Lord Jesus Christ? Son. Do you not suppose that Christ
had his eye on this son all along? Son. Here it is. Thy sins are forgiven thee. Can he do that without faith?
Can he confer? Confer forgiveness upon one who
does not believe. No. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Faith is necessary. But you know
this, He didn't forgive him because he believed. He forgave him because
of the one he believed. How many people have faith in
their faith? Well, I just believe. Okay, so
what? What does that have to do with
anything? It's not your faith that saves you, it is the object. When that man was being lowered
down and he looked up out of that bed, his faith, the object
of his faith was staring right at him. He believed, that guy, that's
the one I believed is able and willing to heal me. Our Lord
Jesus Christ He did much more than that. He
said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now this is a comforting
thing to all who believe. Our sins are forgiven. Our sins are forgiven. Now what did this man do to earn
that? What could he do? He was paralyzed. If our Lord gave that man one
thing to do, his sins would have never been forgiven. He could
not do it. What if Christ gave you one thing
to do? He said, I've done it all except
for this. Now you need to do this without
sin. Well, could you do it? No. Like this man. But you know what, this is the
gospel, isn't it? We come to Christ without any
merit or ability. He gives us life, He gives us
faith, and then says this to us, Son, my Son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. Now I've got four things about
forgiveness. If you believe these four things about Christ's forgiveness
are for every one of us who believe. Now listen, I identify with this
man and his friends. I long for everyone to hear the
gospel. Do you? If you know the gospel, you know
Christ, do you not desire that they should come? But yet you
recognize this, when you bring them, you can't do anything for
them. You can only lay them out there.
You can't do anything for them. But I know this. If they belong
to Christ, they'll believe. Without a doubt, they'll believe. They don't need you. That's one
thing. I remember this couple. They
wouldn't leave their home. They wouldn't go to a gospel
church. They'd be way out in the middle of nowhere. But every
time they preached the gospel, boy, they'd just fall all over
themselves. They'd love it so much. And I
just one day told them, I said, why don't you move? I said, well,
you know, we've got children, we've got grandchildren, and
they need us. That's probably why they don't
talk to me anymore. I said, no, they don't need you. If God won't
save them, he will. He don't need you to do that. I know it's your desire, and
that's good, there's nothing wrong with having a desire for
your children. Lay them out, pray for them, but you can't save
them. God has to give them faith. God
has to give them faith. But when he does, that's it.
In Matthew's Gospel it says this, Son, be of good cheer. There
he is, he's laying there, paralyzed. Believing Christ to heal him. But instead of healing, he says,
your sins are forgiven. I want you to see this, Christ
strikes Not at the branches of sin, but the root. You see, the
effect of sin was his paralysis. So what does Christ do? He doesn't
just heal the paralysis, He does that. But He strikes at the very
root of it. Why? He takes away this man's
sin. Now, four things about His forgiveness.
Listen to this. The forgiveness of Christ is
complete. Itís absolute. When Christ says
this to you, ìSon, thy sins be forgiven thee.î He is saying
this, ìSon, all thy sins are forgiven thee.î How do I know
that? In Psalm 103, in verse 3, this
is the benefit. The psalmist says, ìBless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.î Whatís the
first benefit that the psalmist sings about? who forgiveth all
thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." When Christ
Jesus forgives sin, He forgives all your sins, all your iniquities. It's perfect. Do you know how many sins you
have? Today. Ok, let's just count today. You know all the sins that you've
committed today. Ok, just in the service, can
you count all of the sins that you've committed in this place? And yet, listen, those sins you
know nothing of. Those sins you can't confess
because you didn't even know you did it. Those sins before
you came to Christ, those sins after you came to Christ, and
listen, those sins that you have not yet committed, they are all forgiven. I'll tell you what, that takes
faith to believe that. But remember, your object is
not your faith, it's Him. Is He able to forgive all your
sins? The Jews had it right. Only God
can forgive sins. Well, is He God? Did you not
sin against Him? Is He alone not the only one
capable of forgiving your sins? And what does He say? Son, be
of good cheer. Thy sins. How many? All of them. are forgiven. So much so that God sees us in
His Son as without sin. Listen to what the Song of Solomon
says when the Lord's speaking to His bride. He said, Thou art
fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. You that believe, listen to me.
According to the Lord, you are fair. I know that breaks your heart.
Because that's not what you see. That's not what I see. It doesn't
matter what I see. It only matters what He sees.
And He said, I have forgiven all thine iniquities. all thine iniquities. Therefore,
there's a hymn written a long time ago, it says, with his holy
garments on, I am holy as the holy one. Why? Because he forgiveth all thine
iniquities. He's pardoned them. They're done. Second of all, I want you to
understand that this forgiveness is immutable. You say, well,
he forgave me of all my sins. What about tomorrow? What if my sins are so great
tomorrow that he will cease to forgive me? No, because his forgiveness
is immutable. It's unchangeable. Let us realize
that this forgiveness is immutable because it's not rooted in us.
You see why it's immutable? It's not rooted in you. It's
not based on you. His forgiveness is not based
on any merit in you. Now, if it was, it would change,
right? Because you and I change. But you see that this forgiveness
is rooted in eternity. That this forgiveness of sins
took place before there was ever sin. Over in 2 Timothy chapter 1 it
says, And He saved us and called us with an holy calling. Not
according to our works. Isn't that great? This forgiveness
is not according to your works. You don't earn it today and screw
it up tomorrow. You don't mess it up. It's not
according to your works. but according to His purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began. That's how immutable this forgiveness
is. It began in eternity. It began when God chose us to
be His sons, having predestinated us according to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ Himself. When did He do that? When did
He adopt you as His Holy Son? Before the world began. That's when He did it. Our Father chose us in election
and our Savior, the One forgiving us, agreed to be our surety. He agreed to be our representative. To be our Redeemer. our Savior,
our High Priest, our Sacrifice. And this by His sovereign grace
alone, not seeing anything in us, but by His grace He chose
us and was not willing that any of our sins should be charged
to us. Instead, He charged them to His
Son. The scripture tells us that Christ
in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 19, it
tells us, To wit, God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath
committed to us the word of reconciliation. Then are we ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us, be you reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. When was all this done? When
was your forgiveness, when did it occur? It occurred when Christ
died. That's when it was effectual.
It was purposed of God. But when Christ died for your
sins, He was bearing your sins in His own body on the tree. And because of this, God has
sent His Holy Spirit to us to testify of what He's done. So
when He said this, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. It was then
the Spirit was testifying of something that already happened.
Something that already took place. His sins was forgiven. You realize
His sins was forgiven even before Christ went to the cross though?
Even before? It was as though it was already
done. That's why He said He is the Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world. His forgiveness is immutable
because God is immutable. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. When He changes, then you can
be afraid. You can be afraid your sins will
not be forgiven. When? When He changes. When is
that? When will He change? He said,
I know my thoughts towards you, thoughts of peace and not evil.
Son, thy sins are immutably, unchangeably, The third thing about this forgiveness
is this. It is just and free. Just and free. God does not willy-nilly
forgive you of your sins. He's not like you and me. You
and I forgive people. We bear the hatchet with the
handle sticking out. You say, I forgive you, until
when? Until they do something bad to us again and we just pull
that out and slug them over the head with it again. No. No. God immutably forgives our
sins because He justly forgives our sins. He justly forgives
our sins. Believer, our forgiveness is
not a whim of God. It is something It is not something
he does at the expense of his holy character. God never, ever
can be merciful at the expense of his justice. If that were
true, we'd have no hope, right? We'd have no real assurance. You know, there was a man in
prison, and they let him out. He don't know why. They just
let him out. One day, they opened the cell, said, go home. And
the guys looking around said, what? What happened? I was in prison. I was guilty.
You know what he was going to be doing? He was staring over
his shoulder the rest of his life until they came and picked
him up again. Why? Justice wasn't satisfied and he knew it. But you don't have to look over
your shoulder. Why? Because when God forgave
you, He did it according to His holy justice. This is what Christ
did when he shed his blood at Calvary. He actually died for
our sins. My sin didn't go unpunished.
So when he said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee, it's not like
he just ignored them. Christ knew that he must pay
for those sins. Our brother preached the message,
I'll just reveal my heart, when he was preaching the message
on Gethsemane. And he said the term Gethsemane
was an olive press. Christ was being pressed. And
he began to describe in great detail the pain and the anguish
of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what I felt? I felt
like those disciples asleep. I can't enter into that. I can't
fully wrap my mind around that. But you know what? You don't
have to. You know that's true. You know He was pressed without
measure. I don't know how much He was pressed to you. Do you
know what the justice of God feels like? We've got pictures of it. Mount
Sinai is a good picture of it, isn't it? thunders and lightnings
and a voice of sound like trumpets and everybody quaking and falling
to the earth. I mean, that's some scary stuff. But I really don't have any experience
in it, do you? How much did it cost him to forgive
you of your sins? What did he have to pay for you
and I to have forgiveness. It's not a light thing, is it?
He said in Lamentations, is it nothing to you that passed by? When you pass by the cross, is
it nothing? He said, is it nothing to you
I have suffered at the Lord's hand? That's what he did. He suffered at the Lord's hand
for my sin. My sin was not swept under the
rug. I love to think of that great
day of atonement, don't you? How that the sins were totally
confessed on the head of that goat. and how that strong man
picked up that goat and took them far away, but there was
another goat that must be killed. Justice must be satisfied. In order for my sins to be removed
from me, He had to be killed. Our Lord Jesus Christ died. And what happened? He satisfied
God's justice forever. He satisfied it. Isn't this a relief that you
don't have to satisfy the justice of God to be forgiven? What do you need to do to be
forgiven? What? You that believe, what do you
need to do? Nothing. Why? He already bore my sins
in His own body. Therefore, He not only does it
justly, He gives it freely. He gives it freely. Paul said, being justified freely. You that are forgiven, how are
you forgiven? Freely. Tonight, when you go
to the Lord in prayer and you ask, Lord, forgive me of my sins,
you know what He's going to do? He is freely going to forgive
you. Why? Because He can justly forgive
you. Your sin has already been paid.
I like to think of that in Luke 7, when He talked about those
two people owing the debt. One owed a million dollars and
one owed fifty dollars. You know what they had in common?
They didn't have anything! And the scripture says, He frankly,
freely forgave them both. Is there any sinner that needs
to be freely forgiven? That's the only kind of forgiveness
He gives. If you try to earn it, only then will you be rejected. If you try to add anything to
it, only then will you be rejected. But those who have nothing, come
on. He says, come to Me. I'm going to freely forgive you
because I can justly forgive you. And listen, He does it freely
for His own namesake. He said, I, even I, am He that
blotteth out thy sin. for my own namesake. That's why he does it. Why you
and not everyone else? Have you thought of that? Why
you? How many people in that house,
the day the Lord preached, and we only know of four? Five. We only know of five. Because God does forgiving for
his own namesake. And he forgives whomsoever he
will. And lastly, I want you to see
this. It is a perpetual forgiveness.
It's perpetual. In 1 John chapter 1, look at
this. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 7. Scripture says if we walk in
the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, what's that word? Cleanseth us from all sin. That word has the idea of past
cleansing, present cleansing, and future It is a perpetual
cleansing, isn't it? Why? Because we who are born
again of the Spirit, God did not eradicate the old nature,
He gave us a holy nature, a new nature that cannot sin, and we
have an old nature that can never be holy. These two are constantly
at warfare, so what do you constantly need? You need constant cleansing. Perpetual forgiveness! That's
what the word here says. You that walk in the light. What
is that? You who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
it is to walk in the light. Listen. He said He cleanseth
us from all our sins. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to what? Forgive us our sins. Forgive us our sins. Now listen,
I know you as a believer, because of this warfare, we like the
Apostle Paul know that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Are you more or less aware of
that now? You that believe for a while, is it more apparent
now than it was yesterday that in your flesh dwelleth no good
thing? Are you getting better? If you're
getting better, something's wrong. We call that self-righteousness
if you think you're getting better. Just not so. Paul said, at the
end of his life, now he was getting ready to die when he wrote this
in Romans, O wretched man, that I am. What was his question? Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death, this old man of sin? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. There is therefore now, even
when I say, O wretched man that I am now, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And
listen, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. And there is therefore now, and
now, and now, and now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Why? Because His forgiveness is perpetual. His forgiveness is perpetual. His forgiveness is complete,
isn't it? All thy sins. How many of your
sins are forgiven? All of them. You believe? All your sins are
forgiven. They're immutable. It doesn't change. Who's going
to pluck you out of His hand? Who shall stand in his presence
and match omnipotence, unfold the grasp of thy right hand,
and pluck the sinner thence? Who? Who's going to do it? No
one. It's immutable forgiveness. It's just forgiveness. Your sins
are actually paid for. They didn't get swept under the
rug, they were paid for. He can say you're forgiven because I
paid for it. And he does this not by merit,
but freely. And when he does it freely, it's
perpetual, it's forever. That's what forgiveness is. Who
does it belong to? Only those that believe. Only
those who come like this paraplegic with nothing. When you come like that, listen,
this is a person, this is the only person who's able and willing,
Christ. He is the only one able and willing
to save sinners. When He forgives, He forgives. Absolute forgiveness. That's
what you have. I don't feel that way. Does it
matter? Does it matter how you feel?
Do your feelings have anything to do with forgiveness? What about your lack of faith?
Oftentimes you fail to believe in Him. Well, don't worry. That's
part of the forgiveness, isn't it? In unbelief of sin? Don't you need that forgiven?
All your sins are forgiven. All your sins are forgiven. Because
Christ paid the price. And God's satisfied. God's satisfied. Son, be of good cheer. Regardless
of what happens. Listen, regardless of what happens,
be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. I pray God will bless us, so
stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our most holy Father, thank you
for this day in blessings. Thank you for giving us what
we ask. I do pray that you take the word and make it effectual.
There is no power in me. There is no way for this to come
across to the hearts and souls of the lost, except you open
their eyes and give them life. There is no way that believers
are comforted except you comfort them. We are dependent on you,
Father, for everything, especially the forgiveness of our sins. We pray you will, in Christ's
name, forgive us our sins. In his name, amen.