All right, take your Bibles now
and turn with me to Matthew, Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. We're going to be looking at verses
1 down through verse 8. And I ought to give you a title.
I didn't give you a title, did I? I'll give you a title. Faith
and a Five-Fold Forgiveness. Faith and a Five-Fold Forgiveness. Now, the scripture reads, And
he entered in his ship, and he passed over and came to his own
city. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the posy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their
faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer,
for thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, said, Wherefore think you evil in your hearts? For whether it is easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk, but that
you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins. Then saith he to the sick of
the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house. And he arose and departed to
his house. And when the multitude saw it,
they marveled, and they glorified God, which had given such power
unto man. Now in this text we have here
before us this man sick of the palsy. Palsy was a very horrible
disease. It was a paralysis. It was a
paralysis. This man had lost all ability,
at least all ability to walk. Most likely he had lost all other
abilities. This man was paralyzed, destitute. This man was totally dependent
upon others to feed and change him. This man was destitute. He had a great need, didn't he?
He had a great need. This man could not heal himself. But I'll tell you this, this
man had some good friends. Go over to Mark chapter 2, and
you can see this same account. And notice there's a little difference
here. In Mark chapter 2, these men that came to him, the scripture
says they didn't just bring him to Christ, this place was packed. This place was packed so much
that they couldn't even enter the door. It says, and straight
they were, verse 2, and straightway many were gathered together in
so much that there was no room to receive them. No, so not much
about the door, and he preached the word unto them, And they
came to him, bringing the sick of the palsy, which was born
of four. And they could not come nigh
to him for the press. They uncovered the roof where
he was. And when they had broken it up,
they let the bed down and the sick of the palsy where the sick
of the palsy lay." They let him down from the roof. They let
him down. This man had some good friends,
don't you think? This man, they knew his need. This man knew
his need and his friends knew his need, therefore his friends,
they got him, they hauled him up on top of the roof. This was not their house. It's
somebody else's house. But it was so urgent that they
tore open the roof and let this man down knowing this, that Jesus
was this man's only hope. and determined to help their
friend and bring him. They believed that Jesus was
there for them. You can see this by their faith,
and we're gonna see this, that they believed Christ was both
willing and able to do it. And that they took this man,
Jesus, they laid him down before him to be healed. But I'll tell
you this, this man received much more than they bargained for. This man received not only physical
healing, but much more than that. This man received something even
more precious. What is that? The forgiveness
of sins. The forgiveness of sins. Now,
tonight I got two things. First thing I want you to see
is the faith of these men. Now, when I say these men, I'm
not just talking about the four. I am going to talk about the
four. But I want you to know that the faith of these men They
didn't take this man unwillingly. This man wanted to go. So he's
talking about the faith of all five of these men. That's what
I want you to see, the faith of these men. And second of all,
I want you to see the forgiveness of Christ in a five-fold manner. There are five things about this
forgiveness that is true of this man and is true of every one
of us who believe on Christ. So first of all, their faith.
When these men arrived at this house where Jesus was, they couldn't
get in. But they would not be stopped.
They would not let this be an obstacle to them. It was an urgent
matter. It was an urgent matter. These
men violently tore open that roof. And they willingly let Him down
before Christ in this house. Now why? because it was important. I was thinking of an instance.
One time Cheryl sent me to the store and when I got there, that
line was out the door. It was out the door. You know
what I did? I turned around and went home.
Why? It wasn't that important. I was
not gonna wait in that line. It wasn't that important. But
I'll tell you this, you let one of my kids be sick. You let one
of my children be sick. And I tell you, there would be
no obstacle to stop me from getting them help. Why? Because that's
important. That's urgent. Even so, these
men, they knew the urgency of the matter. So they tore off
the roof and led him down to Christ. And these men believed
something about Christ. They would not go through all
of this trouble had they not believed that He was both willing
and able to help him. They would not have gone through
this. They believed that He was a willing and an able Savior. Let their faith in Christ be
an example of what our faith should be. Believer in Christ
Is not the disease of sin an urgent matter? Are not our friends and family
and loved ones sick with this disease? Is it not an urgent
need to bring them before Christ? If they were physically dying,
would we not help them? But much more, they're spiritually
dying. Do we believe, then, is Jesus
both a willing and an able Savior? Do we believe Him to be willing
and able to save them? If so, then why are we not longing
to bring our friends to the feet of Christ? Why are we not asking sinners
to come and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ? We should. It is
an urgent matter, friends. Let me ask you, believer in Christ,
is there any place you know of other than this that preaches
the gospel here in this place? I wish there were. I talked to
Brother David Edmondson. Now, he's in Madison, Kentucky,
three hours away. And we were trying to find, is
there anybody you know between us? We can't, I'm sure there
are, I hope there are, I pray there are, but I don't know of
any. If this is the place where God
has, the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, where Christ and
Him crucified is the sum and substance of our hope, if that's
being preached, are we not then To seek to bring men to hear
this message? We should. If this is the place where the
gospel is preached, is this not where Christ is? Did he not promise to be here?
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst of them. When John saw in that book of
Revelation, where was Christ? When he saw Christ, he was walking
among the candlesticks. He was walking among his churches.
This is where Christ is. So if this is where Christ is,
why would we not bring men to hear Him? We should. if we believe
he is a willing and an able Savior. And I thought about that myself.
Listen, I preached to me before I preached to you, I promise. I believe oftentimes we believe
him to be an able Savior, but because we see very little of
his salvation, very few coming, I believe oftentimes we doubt
if he's willing. Robert Hawker said this, we should
feel somewhat the same earnestness as these men for the salvation
of others. He said, I think I would bring
them to the ordinances. I would bring them, what he means
by ordinances is preaching the gospel. I would bring them to
hear the gospel. And also private approaches to
the mercy seat, the whole of my carnal, graceless relations. And do as these men did, lay
them down before the presence of Jesus. More than this I cannot
do, but this I am encouraged to do. Listen, I should desire
to bring them to preach, to hear the preaching, but if that's
not possible, I am able to bring them before the throne of Christ.
I am to lay them as these men laid this man before Christ.
We too may lay them before Christ in prayer. We may lift them up
to Christ in prayer and lay them before him. We should. We are encouraged to do this.
So then let us bring them to hear the gospel if we are so
able. But if not, let us bring them by pleading before Christ
in prayer. Now, no one, you cannot and you
should not force people. I miss Brother Bob, Brother Rice. Now, he used to follow his wife
around with the tape recorder. He loved her. I know he did.
He wanted her to hear the gospel. But he seemed to try to force
her. We can't force people into this. We couldn't force ourselves into
this, much less anyone else. But when we see our friends and
our family like this man, when they feel their need, we should
really seek to bring them. This man that they brought to
Christ was not unwilling. This man was surely had in need. And when we see our friends,
we see our family with the need, we should then bring them to
the only place we know that can help, to the feet of Christ. And not only bring them to Christ,
but let us trust Christ to save sinners. Isn't this why he came into the
world? He said this, and the scripture says this is a faithful
saying. That's faithful. You mark it
down because it's true and it's faithful. It's a faithful saying
and worthy of all your acceptance. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save what class of people? Sinners. You know, if you find a sinner,
bring him. You know, that's what this world
is short of, sinners. There's some people done some
bad things, made some bad choices. One thing I'm having trouble
finding is a real sinner. I can look in the mirror and
see a real sinner. But most men, they don't have
a need because they're not sinners. Joseph Hart wrote that hymn.
He said a sinner is a sacred thing. For the Holy Ghost hath
made him one. And so then what do we do as
believers in Christ? We are to compel men to come. Not out of anger, but out of
love and compassion. Christ will not call the self-righteous,
that's true. He will not call those who trust
in their merit, trusting in their their church, their priest, their
preacher, their pope. If a man's trusting in those
things, no sense in bringing him. He don't have any need. If this man was not sick of the
palsy, do you think they would have needed to break open the
roof and lower him down? No. If this man could walk and
go on his own, what would they need to bring him for? But he did come to save those
with no marriage. He come to save those with no
hope, those with no righteousness of their own, those that are
lost in their sins, those who were deceived by false religion.
We compel them to come to us, come with us to the feet of Christ. Why? That's where we found salvation,
isn't it? That's where we found mercy.
That's where we found hope and healing. We found it at the feet
of Christ. And so we compel sinners to come.
But notice also the faith of these friends was God-given faith. The faith of these men was not
something that they came up with. It's something that God had given
these men. We know that for by grace you
are saved through faith and that not of yourself. Faith is a gift of God and not
of works. Why? Lest any man should boast. And so we know these men had
no, uh, they had faith. They knew where to bring him,
but they also by their faith understood they had no power
to heal. They had no power to heal this
man. They desired their friend to be healed. They wanted their
friend to be healed. They knew where to take him,
but they could not heal him. They could not. He had no power. And even so it is when we bring
men to Christ, we must confess we have no power to heal. I can
bring men to Christ. I can bring them to hear the
gospel. I can pray for them, but I have no power to save them. I have no power. My faith does
not give me any power to save them. Matter of fact, my faith
doesn't save me. It is the object of my faith
that saves me, not my faith, but the object of my faith. And so what I do is I bring my
children before the feet of Christ. I constantly bring my children.
That's my hope for them, is that God would save them, that God
would take them, that God would bring them to himself. It is
my heart that God would save them. But no matter what I do,
I can't save them. But I know this, that Christ
is both a willing and able savior to those who need it. If my children,
listen, if my children ever need salvation, he is able and willing
to save them. If they ever need it. We cannot believe for our loved
ones. They must themselves believe. They must themselves believe.
Friends, faith for our loved ones. We believe that Christ is able
to save, we have faith in him. But we know this, God must bring
them and give them faith. He must give them faith. And so then I say to everyone
who needs salvation, you must believe. Mark 16, 16 tells us,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Faith, friends, is a very personal
thing. It's something that God has to
give each one of us. He has to give us this faith.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is an act of God to give us
faith. And so therefore, as I said before,
Our faith doesn't save us, but rather the object of it. We don't
have faith in our faith. Do you have faith in your faith?
Are you leaning on your faith? I don't lean on my faith. My
faith is weak, but the object of my faith is strong. Christ
is the object that we believe on Jesus Christ. But we know
this without faith, it is impossible to please God. But what then are we to believe?
We are to believe only on Jesus Christ. This is salvation. This is salvation. To say that, it seems so simple,
doesn't it? Cast away all of your works and
your merits and totally trust Christ's blood and righteousness.
Now to us who have seen our merits and seen our works, this is somewhat
easy because there's nothing that we could merit. You know
what Paul said about his religion and his works? He said, I do
count them but done that I may win Christ because that's all
they are is done. My hope is to be found in the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ.
I want His righteousness. I must have His righteousness.
I must have His blood. And so that's what faith does.
It totally leans upon Christ. He believed Christ could and
would. They believed He could and would heal him. But you know
what? In this text, one thing I don't
Really, it's not really concrete as to why this man was brought
to Christ. Now, we assume it's to be healed. That's what we assume. But I
believe by what the Lord first says, this man came to be forgiven. This man came to be forgiven.
He came because he had a spiritual need and Christ gave him that Have you ever, you've read of
any other man that came to Christ and the Lord said that first?
Everyone else came for healing. And you know what they got? They
got healing. But this man, he comes and Christ
said, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven. You know
what I think? I think he got what he wanted.
This man came for forgiveness. But either way, he knew that
Christ was able to both forgive him and to heal him. And so we
see their faith is a picture of the faith of everyone who
God gives life. We believe that Jesus Christ
is a willing and able Savior. And therefore, by faith, we should
compel others to come. We should see this as an example. Now then, I want us to spend
the rest of our time focused on what Christ gave him. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. When you and I are
brought to the end of ourselves, when we see our standing before
God, what is the first thing you want? Forgiveness. Isn't that what the penitent, that publican wanted? He said, Lord, be propitious
unto me. Be my mercy seat. Forgive me of my sins. That's what he needed. That's
what everyone who comes to Christ needs, is forgiveness. So when
this man was lowered down, many, I'm sure at that moment, when
he was lowered down, I'm sure everyone expected to hear this,
take up your bed and walk. That's what everyone expected.
Christ did that multiple times. They expected him to perform
a miracle. Oh, he performed a miracle all
right, it's just not the one they thought. He said, son, be
of good cheer. I don't care how crippled your
body is, listen, you can still be of good cheer. And this is
the cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. This man was tortured with
his disease, but we know this, that his disease was rooted,
the root of his disease was sin, wasn't it? Why was this man sick? Why are you sick? Why does others
get sick? It's because of sin, isn't it?
Sin is the root cause of all our maladies. And Christ here,
by this one statement, strikes at the root of this man's problem. Sin You see the Christ knew he had
a greater need than that of physical healing He needed to be cleansed
so that he could stand before God All that sinners would come
to Christ for such a need is this That Christ should be all their
salvation It is always my heart's desire that men would give up
their religious ambitions, forsake their self-righteousness, and
be totally exposed before God. You know, if God's ever going
to forgive a man, he has to expose him. He has to expose his need
of forgiveness. And I pray the Holy Spirit would
remove all false coverings so that we would seek forgiveness. And this is the gospel message.
All those who come to Christ as helpless as this man, as believing
as this man, shall receive forgiveness of all his sins. Why? Because the scripture declares
God delights in mercy. God delights in mercy. I know
that it is our nature to believe God begrudgingly gives mercy.
Why? Because that's how we do it.
Is this how we give mercy? Well, if I've got to. That's
not how God gives mercy. You see, God purposed to give
mercy and therefore he delights to give mercy. And so now look, And I want you
to see, the first thing I want you to see about forgiveness,
you that are forgiven, you that have come to Christ, I want you
to see that you have complete forgiveness. Absolute forgiveness. I remember this just occurred
to my mind. Someone was talking to me. I
think it was a brother David Pledger in Mexico. And he was
talking about Walter Gruber and they went to this Catholic church.
And they had this this altar down here. But he looked up up there and
you climb these steps and there's an altar up there. And so he
was asking, what's the difference? You got an altar here and then
there's an altar up there. He said, well, this is an altar
for the common people. And you gotta come back to this
altar every week. He said, oh, but you go to that
one and you don't have to come back for so long a time. You see, you got forgiveness,
but it's just for a little while. Then you gotta come back, get
more forgiveness. No, when Jesus Christ forgives
us our sins, listen to this, He forgave all his sins. This man sinned all his life. sins. Over in Isaiah, it says this,
that God says, I, even I have blotted out thy transgression
as a thick cloud. Now, this is how they used to
keep books. They used to write the debt in
a book, and when the debt was fully paid, they would take an
ink and they would just blot it so you couldn't see it anymore,
meaning the debt was totally removed. When we come to Christ,
I want you to know this, you that have come to Christ, your
debt is completely removed. All of it. All of it. This is one of those
benefits. Go to Psalm 103. Look at this. This is a benefit of coming to
Christ and being forgiven of Christ. Psalm 103. And look at verse 2. He says, bless the Lord. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And what's
the first one? What's the first benefit he names?
Oh, this is exciting to me. This is the one I need. Look,
who forgiveth some of thine iniquities. No, no, no, that's not a benefit,
is it? That's not a benefit. Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities. who healeth all thy diseases. And this is the cry of everyone
who has been forgiven. Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. And all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Why? He forgives all my sins. So then we might be of good cheer.
that no matter our circumstance, no matter our suffering in this
life, all our sins are gone. I think of that scapegoat. When
I think of pardon, when I think of forgiveness, that all our
sins are gone, I have to think of the scapegoat. The picture
there is clear. He is to confess all of the sins
of Israel on the head of this scapegoat. Then he kills the other one. Sheds his blood. Both are a picture
of Christ. Upon the head of Christ, God
confessed all of the sins of his people. God put all of our
sins upon him. And as God killed him, he also
carried that goat. That strong man then picked up
that goat after his blood was shed. He picked up that goat
with his arms and he carried him away into a land not inhabited.
And as he went further and further, you know, he became smaller and
smaller until what? You couldn't see him anymore. And then, when he came back,
he got larger and larger and what was missing? The goat! The
sins! They're gone! When Christ bore
our sins in His own body on the tree, He bore all our sins and
carried them all away. Carried them all away. I've jotted down a couple of
scriptures here that I thought were wonderful. And you could
mark them down if you want to. Isaiah 38, I'll read it to you.
38 verse 17, he says, Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. Isn't that true of Christ? For
peace. I had true bitterness. I had
bitterness. But thou hast, in love to my
soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption. Thou hast cast
all my sins behind thy back. Where's God's back? Where's that
at? I don't know, that's a place
that I don't have any clue. Nobody knows where it's at. That's where
my sins are. He cast him behind his back,
never to see him again. He says in Jeremiah, he says,
and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every
man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all
know me. From the least of them to the greatest, saith the Lord,
and I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sins
no more. So what's the benefit of this?
He has removed all our sins from us. Secondly, Christ's forgiveness
is immutable, unchangeable. In other words, when Christ said,
son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee, he would never
come back and say, oh, I made a mistake. They're not. Why? Because what God does is immutable. Everything God does is immutable. Believer in Christ, be of good
cheer and realize that our forgiveness is not rooted in us. That's why it's, if it was rooted
in us, it would be changeable, right? If it was rooted on your
merit, one day you might think you merit it, the next day you
might think you're not. But it's not rooted in you. The
forgiveness of God is rooted in the purpose of God. The reason
we are forgiven is because God purposed to forgive you. We read that in Ephesians 1,
we know that very clear. The scripture says that according
as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that you should be, what? Holy. Without sin. God purposed that you and I should
be without sin. Therefore, in love, He predestinated
us under the adoption of children and purpose that our sin should
be removed specifically by Jesus Christ, that we should be made
holy by Him. And so as the Father chose us
in election, He agreed in a covenant to make Christ the surety for
His people. And it was by His sovereign grace
alone that this happened. Not by seeing what we would do
for him, but in sovereign mercy, he chose us and was not willing
to charge our sins to us. Now, can you think of any other
reason why God would not charge your sin to you? Can you find
a reason in yourself they would not charge your sin to you? No,
the only reason is in himself. And therefore, if our forgiveness
is rooted in God, in His purpose, then know this, God's purpose
never changes. You that are loved of God, when
were you ever not loved of God? God says, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee." So this forgiveness that he gives is immutable. He
says, behold, I am the Lord. I change. His love doesn't change. His holy character doesn't change. And his purpose doesn't change. His purpose always was to forgive
you. You suppose this was an accident.
These two came together at that time. The Lord was in that certain
village at that certain time so that this man should be lowered
down before him. No, God had always purposed to
forgive this man. Just like you, he's always purposed
to forgive you, and that purpose is immutable. It doesn't change
with our circumstances. This is what I'm getting at.
Because this is how we feel. When our circumstances change,
we feel as though the forgiveness of God changes. No, he said, give thanks unto
the Lord for he is good. Why? His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore, his forgiveness
is immutable. Thirdly, his forgiveness is just. He's right to forgive you. This
forgiveness is not a whim. God's forgiveness is not a whim.
It's not something he does at the expense of his holy character. And we do this all the time.
We forgive each other without payment, don't we? Why? Because I've probably done the
same thing to you. We do this to each other, but we are not
just people. Friends, God can never, I want you to understand,
God can never be merciful at the expense of his justice. He
can never forgive you at the expense of his justice. The only
way he can forgive you is that his justice first be satisfied. So then how can God be just and
forgive guilty sinners? The only way is by the death
of Jesus Christ. This is the only way he could
forgive our sins. The only hope I have of eternal
life and forgiveness of my sins does
not rest in the work of my hand but in this truth that God made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin. This is my hope. I have
no other way that God could forgive me and be just except God take
my sins and make them to belong to Christ. Made him to be sin for us, who
in the process of this still knew no sin. It's amazing to
me. All I know is sin. Isn't that right? That's all
I've ever felt is sin. Everything I do is still mixed
with sin. But yet God says something about
me that I made righteous. See the paradox of that he who
knew no sin was made sin and yet you who only knew sin are
now made the righteousness of God. So all my forgiveness then depends
totally upon the success of Christ death. Did he satisfy the justice
of God? Was God pleased with his offering?
We know He was because Christ, when God's justice could demand
no more, said these words, it is finished, paid in full. God was forever satisfied with
the death of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are what? You who
are forgiven, you are justified. You know, we always used to say
that that meant just as if I never sinned. The word doesn't mean
that. It means I never sinned. It's not as if I never sinned.
He's not pretending, is he? God doesn't pretend. If you are
justified, then this in the eyes of God is true. You have never
sinned. How's that possible? Substitution. Substitution. That's the answer. And I want
you to know this. It says being justified freely. This is the fourth thing. You
that are forgiven, you're forgiven of all your sins. It's immutable
because it's the purpose of God. It is just because Christ actually
paid the justice of God for your sins and it was free. You are freely forgiven. How often do you think that you
got to do something to be forgiven? We feel that all the time, don't
we? We feel, well, you know, I'm just not praying hard enough. I just don't feel like I'm forgiven. Who cares? What does it matter
if he forgives you, whether you feel forgiven or you don't? It
has nothing to do with forgiveness, does it? And therefore, in Romans 3, being
justified freely, By His grace, how? Through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. So then this forgiveness did
cost something, but it cost me nothing. It cost Christ everything. He suffered the hail of God's
wrath for all my sins, and what did He leave for me? What was left for you to pay?
What could you pay? Nothing. Nothing. This forgiveness
is free. So then, when I ask forgiveness
of God, when I ask forgiveness of God, what does John say about
that? He said, if we confess our sins,
two things, he's faithful to forgiveness. I'm amazed at this. I'm amazed at this, that every
time I ask forgiveness, he's faithful. Every time I ask, I don't deserve
it. Yet every time I ask, he does
it. Why? Because he's faithful and just. I'm not asking him to sweep my
sins under the rug. I'm asking him to forgive me
because they are already paid. I printed this out just before
I came in the service, if I can find it. Here it is. This was a poem. It says, in
thy surety thou art free. His dear hands were pierced for
thee, with his spotless garments on, holy as the Holy One. Complete atonement thou hast
made, and to the utmost farthing paid. What heir thy people owed,
nor can God's wrath on me take place, if sheltered in thy righteousness
and sprinkled with thy blood. If thou hast my discharge procured,
and freely in my room endured, the whole of wrath divine, payment
God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand,
and then again at mine. God cannot demand twice payment.
Why, he's just. He's just. And he freely, and
the last thing is this, Perpetual forgiveness in this what you
need Don't you need perpetual forgiveness one because when
God saved us he did not remove the old man This is why we sin
still. We still have so much unbelief
and fear and doubt. Why? Because the old man did
not change. That which is born of flesh is
what? What is it? It's flesh. It didn't change. He said, These words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are truth. The flesh profiteth
nothing. Now when you were saved, what
did your flesh profit? What happened to it? Nothing. Nothing. What happened was that God gave
you a new nature. God gave you a new man that is
holy. Paul says that it was created
after God in the image of God in true holiness and righteousness. And I like this. Neither one
can affect the other. I say affect infect the other. The old man cannot infect the
new man, nor can the new man do anything to the old man. Therefore,
we have this struggle, and this is why we need perpetual forgiveness. Constant forgiveness. Paul said this in Romans 7, he
said, I find a law that when I do good, evil is present with
me. What about you? Is that right? When I would do
good. See, only a regenerated man wants
to do good. Evil is present with me. For
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Isn't that so?
Is there anything about the law that's bad? It's good, isn't
it? But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And his
hope is what? I thank God through Jesus Christ.
Go to Romans, here, go quickly, go to Romans 8. Go to Romans
8. See this. Romans chapter 8. Paul makes
this very clear about this perpetual pardon, this perpetual forgiveness.
Look what he says. He says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Wait a second, don't you lay
stuff to your charge? Don't you look in the mirror
and see a guilty sinner? Well, how dare you? God says, who's going to lay
anything to your charge? It's God that justified you.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather is risen again, who is even right now where? At the
right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. Do you not
see that the wounds of Christ are constantly pleading, what? Forgiveness. When Christ said
that, we mentioned that on Sunday when he said, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. He's
talking about you and me. And his wounds to this day still
plead for me. That is my only hope is his constant,
perpetual saving forgiveness. Therefore, I say with Micah,
who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, that retaineth
not his anger forever, but delighteth in mercy. Are you forgiven? Well, the question
is this. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you, like these men, believe he is both a willing
and able Savior? Do you come as a sinner in need
of forgiveness? If you need forgiveness, then
this is the only one who can forgive you. And when he forgives
you, listen, it's perfect. He forgives all your sins. It's immutable, it doesn't change
because he purposed to do it. It's immutable, it's unchangeable,
it's just. Christ actually died for my sins.
He forgives me because he died for them. It's free. It doesn't cost me anything.
I couldn't pay for it if it did. And then it's perpetual, constant. And I know this. I'm forgiven
because of the one who forgives me. You know, these people, they,
at the very end of that, they said, he blasphemed. Only God
can forgive sin. That's true. See, this is why
I'm comforted, because the one who forgave me is God. God manifest
in the flesh. And he said, just so you know
who I am, I'm gonna do this. He said to the sick of palsy,
rise and walk. I pray that God would comfort
you in this matter of forgiveness, because I know we need forgiveness. I like that word, and He cleanseth
us, John said, from all our sins. That ETH word is a very wonderful
thing. It means He did cleanse me, He
is right now cleansing me, and He shall forever cleanse me of
all my sins. I pray God will bless this to
you.