In our last study, we considered
the sheep of God hearing His voice. And this is basically
what I was talking about just now in our prayer, the end of
chapter 8, where the whole city had come out. The Lord had cast
the demons out of the two men in the tombs. and cast them and
sent them into a herd of swine, damaging, doing severe damage
to the populace and their means of income and their means of
survival. And they all came out. And then
behold, it says in verse 34, the whole city came out to meet
Jesus And when they saw him, they besought him that he would
depart out of their coast. Folks, that could be you and
I. We spoke about those who hear God's voice, and the rest don't. The rest won't and can't, not
because God stops them, but because it's against their nature. We
read, then came the Jews round about him and said unto him,
how long dost thou make us to doubt? We're in the first paragraph
of page one. If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered them, he says,
I told you, and ye believe not. The works I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep. And we talked about how God's
sheep hear his voice. Now, I don't believe I emphasize
strongly enough on how you and I were a part of that camp of
townsfolk. So I want to just bring it out
a little deeper before we move on. Folks, we come into this
world with the fallen nature of all men, dead in trespasses
and sin, unable, unwilling to come to God on His terms. I mention this, but we must never
keep it before us. If it were not for His grace,
we too would be lost to eternal damnation. Do you understand
that? Do you grasp a depth of that
at all? I mention this, but we must never... I'm sorry. Our choice, if left
in our natural state, is the choice of death. Our decision
would be to follow our will, our worldly desires, thinking
more of ourselves than we should, in rebellion against God. Rebellion
against His authority. Just as the crowd called out,
depart out of our coast, we too would be in on that song. In Ephesians 2, verses 4 through
5, here we go. You know how I love these words,
but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. And then in 2 Timothy
1 through 7 through 10, we see these words, for God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and
of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power
of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. Page
2. We're not ashamed. We looked
at these words and talked about this last week. Hearing who our
Savior is, we're not ashamed to tell the world about these
things. about who He is. He's God in
the flesh. We're not ashamed to tell you
that He laid down His life though He deserved, though He sinned
not. He knew no sin. He laid down
His life and died for my sins. That I would live in righteousness
in Him. We're not ashamed to call Him
Lord, our Lord. Sovereign over all that is, including
our will. Turn us, O Lord, as we read in
our scripture reading tonight. Turn us, O Lord, and we shall
be turned. Teach us, O Lord, thy ways and
thy will. Take the things of Christ and
show them to us. Now I want to look tonight, if
you would, with the first verse. First eight verses of Matthew
chapter 9. If you'd like to turn in your
Bibles and read along with me. In chapter 9, beginning at verse
1, and he entered, speaking of our Lord and Savior, he entered
into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought him
a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their
face, said unto the sick of the palsy, son, Be of good cheer,
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 ye evil in your hearts? For whether it is easier to say,
thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk, but that
ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth, to forgive
sins, then said he to the sick of the palsy, arise, take up
thy bed, and go into thine own house, into thine house. And
he arose and departed to his house. But when the multitude
saw, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power
unto men." Now we're back in our handout now for the rest
of tonight's study. The Gadarenes, now remember,
that was the land. Now, over in Mark and Luke, we
read about one man that was in the tombs. For those of you who
couldn't be with us last week, we read about one man. And it
doesn't mean that there's any discrepancy between Matthew,
Mark, and Luke. It just means that Matthew was
inspired by the Spirit to record both men that were there. Whereas
Mark and Luke were inspired by the Spirit to record what God
had done for the one man. We noticed last week in the book
of Matthew that in Matthew was not inspired to address what
happened to the two men, or either one, for that matter. His address
and his record, given to him by the Holy Spirit, was what
God had done with the devils, and casting them out into the
pigs, and then what the townsfolk had done. So there's no difference. We don't want to take a, there's
not a discrepancy in there. They are from the country of
the Gadareans. Now, the Gadareans, resenting
the loss of their hogs, cried unto the Son of God and urged
him to depart from their coast. So he did. He entered into a
ship, and he crossed over into the Sea of Galilee, and he came
into the city of Capernaum. which is called his own city
because at this time it was simply the principal place of his residence. It's where he did most of his
miracles. In fact, that's where he'll be
for the rest of Chapter 9 and the miracles that he does there.
All that is recorded in this chapter. It took place in Capernaum. In these opening verses of chapter
9, we see a clear display both of our Lord's justice and His
mercy. Now, first we want to address
His justice. When the Gadareans bid him depart
from their coast, he did. Not only did he depart, he departed
and he never returned, according to the commentators that I read
up on this. Brother Don Fortner wrote this. He said, the son
of God will not tarry where he is not wanted. In righteous judgment,
he forsakes those places and those people where he is neglected. Those who become weary of him
will not be bothered by him. Secondly, we see his mercy. The
Gadareans who spurned our Lord by their hardness of heart and
unbelief cried for the Savior of the world to leave them. So
he left them, and he went to Capernaum, where he performed
all of his mighty works that are described in this chapter.
He performed all of his mighty works upon chosen sinners for
the glory of God. The miracles performed by Christ
and the events recorded in this chapter are designed to teach
us who Jesus Christ is, And what he came to do, may God the Holy
Spirit be our teacher. And I pray that he will take
the things of Christ and show them to us. Now the first thing
clearly demonstrated in this ninth chapter is the fact that
the man Christ Jesus is the God of grace, the God of forgiveness. and everlasting salvation. Listen
to these words we read in verse 2 of Matthew chapter 9. And behold,
they brought him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith,
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven. Page 3. Now here the Lord Jesus plainly
and publicly declares Himself to be God by absolving sins of
a paralyzed man who lay before Him. It says, they brought him
a man sick of palsy lying on a bed. Here is a sick man with
caring friends. They could not heal their friend,
but they knew he could be healed. So they brought him to the master
in hopes that he would heal him and did what they had hoped he
would do. And he did what they hoped he
would do. Mark gives us this account. from Mark chapter 2,
verses 1 through 5. And again, he entered to Capernaum
after some days. And it was noise that he was
in the house. And straightaway, many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them.
No, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word
unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of palsy,
which was born of four. And when they could not come
nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof, and
where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the
bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith,
he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. What an encouragement. What an
encouragement this should be for you and I, to bring sinners
to hear the gospel. With regard to the souls of men,
the sphere of our ability is the sphere of our responsibility. We cannot save anyone, but we
can bring sinners to the place where the gospel is preached
and Christ is worshiped, laying them at the Savior's feet, praying
for him to have mercy upon them. Those standing by Lazarus' tomb
could not raise Lazarus from the dead, but they could take
the stone away from the tomb. Therefore, the Lord Jesus graciously
commanded them to do so and gave them the privilege of doing so,
as we read in John 11.39. So it is with us. We cannot perform
the miracle of grace, yet the Lord commands us to proclaim
His grace to poor, needy sinners, and He gives us the privilege
of being instruments in His hands, by which He calls us, by which
He calls out His own elect. Next, we read in our text, Jesus,
seeing their face, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be
of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee, page four. God honors faith. When the Lord Jesus saw their
faith, the faith of those four friends, and of the man who lay
before him, he granted forgiveness. Wherever there is faith in Christ,
there is assurance of adoption. The Savior called this man son. It is a word that implies sonship,
relationship, Here, the master publicly owned this sinner as
his own child. Listen to Galatians chapter 4,
verse 6. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts. Wow. Crying Abba, Father. In 1 John 3.1, we read these
words. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. In Romans 8, verses 16 and 17,
the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may also be glorified together. Wherever there is assurance
of sonship, there is cause for cheer. The Savior said, son,
be of good cheer, even before healing him, before giving any
indication that he would heal him. The Savior said, be of good
cheer. Folks, if I'm a child of God,
I have reason to be of good cheer, no matter what my earthly condition
is. Philippians 4.4, we read these
words, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Wherever
there is God-given faith, there is forgiveness. Thy sins be forgiven
thee, he said. All who trust Christ are forgiven
of all their sins. And this forgiveness is complete,
as we read in Colossians 2, 9 through 10. For in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, which
is the head of all principalities and powers. Folks, if God says
we're complete, we're complete. You can't add anything if you're
complete. Our cup is full of His grace,
of His mercy, of His love. How can we add anything to it?
And if I try to add anything into it, all I'm doing is tainting
it, tainting it with the sin of this flesh, with the sin of
this body. His forgiveness is complete.
It's immutable. That means it changes not. Listen to the words of Malachi
3.6. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, nothing can change
his desires, his purposes. He says, I change not. Therefore,
because of that, ye sons of Jacob, ye elect, those who I have loved
from before the world was, those who I have chosen in my son,
for my son to come to this world and lay down his life and shed
his blood, ye sons of Jacob are not what? Consumed. I want that
to sink in. Our unchanging God, because he
is God, because he changes not, we are not consumed who belong
to him. We who his son died on that cross
for shall not be consumed, because his son was consumed for us. He died in our stead. He received
the just. wrath of God upon him that you
and I have deserved. Therefore, God cannot punish
us twice. We've been punished in his son.
He is immutable. His grace is, His forgiveness
is complete. His forgiveness is immutable.
It's just, as we read in 1 John 1 verse 9, if we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. These are words, next, that bless
my heart. It never ends. His forgiveness
never ends. My little children, it says,
These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. And he is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. The sins for all of his people
throughout all time, throughout all nations, throughout all peoples. Page 5. The Lord will never charge
the believing sinner with his sins. We read in Romans 4, 8,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He
who forgives sin is God our Savior. The Jews said, this man blasphemeth. And any mere man who pronounces
the forgiveness and the absolution of sins is a blasphemer. And this is talking about the
Catholics. They think that you can be absolved
of your sin if you go into a little box with one of their priests
and tell them all about your sins. Folks, we have one priest. God's ministers are not priests. Well, we're priests and kings
in the sight of God. But to you, we're not. We have
one priest, and that is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
one you go to and confess your sins. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. He forgives sin. And the Jews
said he was a blasphemer. And a mere man who pronounces
forgiveness and absolution of sin is a blasphemer. But it matters
not whether that man is a pope, or an imaginary priest or a Baptist
preacher. But this man, this one who did,
is God. He forgave the sins of men while
on this earth, and he forgives the sins of men on earth from
his throne in heaven today. It is significant that by which
the Lord Jesus demonstrated his eternal power and Godhead was
to pardon this man's sins, showing that he's the one who has the
power to do it. Isn't that what he's done to us through the preaching
of his gospel? Shown us that he has the power,
not only the power to do so, but willing to do so. He is able. Robert Hawker wrote these words.
He said, the reasoning of the scribes, though formed in malice,
was well founded. None but God himself can forgive
sins. The Lord Jesus, by the exercise
of this authority and in the cure of the body, which immediately
followed, proved that he was God. Another demonstration of
our Redeemer's divinity is the fact that he knew their thoughts
and acted upon that knowledge by telling them what they thought.
Again, no one knows the thoughts of a man but God. Is that not
what we read in Jeremiah 1710? I, the Lord, search the heart.
I try the rains even to give every man according to his ways
and according to the fruit of his doings. And then in Revelation
2.23, we read these words. And all the churches shall know
that I am he which searches the rains and hearts. The Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God
of all grace and forgiveness, also demonstrated himself to
be God of perfect and total omniscience, knowing all things, from whom
nothing can be hidden. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, this man blasphemeth in Jesus knowing
their thoughts, said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? That's verses three and four.
This is he of whom David, the great psalmist, wrote in Psalm
139, verses 1 through 6. O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting,
my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Page 6. Thou compass my path
and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto
it. The Lord Jesus is the omniscient,
all-seeing, all-knowing God. Listen to Hebrews 4, 12 through
13. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints
and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him of whom we have to do. What you
think in private when no man sees you, what you think in the
church when you are most solemn in appearance, what you're thinking
at this very moment, the Son of God hears it perfectly. So
strict. is his justice, that God will
judge the very thoughts of men. We read in Romans 2.16, in the
day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
according to my gospel. To the unbeliever, the Lord's
omniscience is terrifying. To the believer, the Lord's omniscience
is most comforting. Speaking to Peter, recorded in
John 21.17, the Lord says, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me? Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And
he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest
that I love thee. We thank God for the blood of
Christ that cleanseth us from all sin and hold that blood as
precious, more precious than silver or gold. Just as Peter
wrote in his first epistle, chapter 1, verses 18 through 20, for
as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. Page seven. Let us ever pray
then for grace to reign even over the thoughts of our minds.
Psalms 1914, we read these words, let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in the sight, O Lord,
in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And the last
part for us to consider tonight is this, for whether is it easier
to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk,
but that ye 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. But when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto
men." Did you catch that? They didn't glory in God for
the one who is the man, the son of God, the son of man standing
before them. They marveled and gloried God,
which had given such power unto men. After speaking forgiveness
to this man who was sick of the palsy and demonstrating that
he knew the thoughts of the Pharisees, the Lord Jesus demonstrated his
eternal Godhead by healing the man of the palsy, by performing
this miracle. The Lord Jesus asserted plainly
that he was and is the Messiah, the Christ, by calling himself
the Son of Man. The title Son of Man was perhaps
the most common title by which the Jews referred to the Messiah. When John sent his disciples
to ask the master whether he was the Christ who should come,
the Lord Jesus referred to John's disciples to those things by
which it was unquestionably demonstrated that he was and is the very Son
of Man. Listen to these words if you
would. Isaiah 61.1, the Spirit of the Lord The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim the liberty to the captives, and
the opening to the prison to them that are bound. to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of your
God." Now, you'll recall, he was in the temple with the Jews,
and he was reading these various words. And then after he was
finished reading those very words, he set the book down, the scroll
down, and he looked all at all of them in astonishment. He said,
today, this day, this prophecy is fulfilled. Christ wasn't beating
around the bush about who he was at all. He declared himself
the Son of Man, which he knew all of those who talked about
the Messiah knew what that one meant. Let us not forget what
we read in Matthew 2 verses 2 through 6 in some of our earlier studies,
saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have
seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. When
Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled in all
Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all
the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded
of them, the wise men that had come from the east, where Christ
should be born. And they said unto him in Bethlehem
of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou, Bethlehem,
and the land of Judea are not the least among the princes of
Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel. Page 8. When the Jews attacked
him for healing on the Sabbath day, our Savior declared that
all authority was given to him to execute judgment because he
was the son of man. In all the miracles of mercy
performed by our great Savior, he acted both as our God and
our Savior, as the God-man, our mediator, and thereby manifesting
both who he is and the great mission upon which he came into
the world to do. It says, and she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He who is our Savior is God and
man in one person. John 17, verse 2 through 3, we
read these words. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. In Colossians 2 verses 9 and
10 we read these words, For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is
the head of all principality and power. In 1 Timothy 3.16,
and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received up into glory. Folks, our Lord and Savior is
not dead in the grave. God accepted the sacrifice of
his son for our sins, and he said, this is my son in whom
I'm well pleased. He accepted his sacrifice, and
he sits now on the throne at the right hand of God the Father,
on the throne of grace, ruling all things according to his purpose.
Again, I quote from Brother Don Fortner's, he writes, take joyful
notice of our Savior's tenderness and compassion as it is set before
us here. Though unasked, he pardoned this
man's sins and healed his body. No one can be surprised that
the astonished crowd expressed thankfulness to God, but this
is or should be surprising to all who read this inspired record
that after such a great public demonstration of divine grace,
omniscience, and power, there appears to have been no saving
faith in those who saw and heard these things. Those who are taught
of God know this. Faith in Christ is a gift in
the operation of God the Holy Spirit. Spiritually dead sinners
cannot believe except God the Holy Spirit give them life and
faith in Christ. Page 9. In Isaiah 6, 9 through
10, we read these words, and he said, go. And tell this people,
hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive
not. Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Matthew 13, verses
13 through 14, we read this. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand. In seeing ye shall see, and shall
not perceive. Luke 8, verse 10, we read this. And he said unto you, it is given
And to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God, but to others in parables that seeing they may not see,
and hearing they might not understand. Our Lord said in the book of
John, he says, I thank thee, Father. I thank thee, Father,
for thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent,
revealed them unto babes. In John 12, 40, we read this,
he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they
should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart
and be converted and I should heal them. Romans 11, 8, according
as it is written, God has given them a spirit of slumber, eyes
that they should not see and ears that they should not hear
until this day. Are you getting a picture of
God's grace to you and I? that we see and hear the truth,
we see and hear this one who is the God-man, healing a man,
forgiving him of his sins, not for his sake, but because of
Christ and what he would do? Let us never read such passages
as this without lifting our hearts in praise and thanksgiving to
our God for his great grace in giving us faith in his darling
Son. Philippians 1 verse 29 for unto
you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe
on him But also to suffer for his sake That is to say He proved. Oh, let's see. Oh, I skipped
a paragraph second paragraph from the bottom This man proved
himself to be born of God by his unhesitating obedience To
his master's word. What was his master's word? His
master's word was, arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine
house. And he arose and departed to
his house. No if. He went and did what he
was told to do. This man proved his obedience.
of being born of God by his unhesitating obedience to his master's word,
he who was justified freely by his grace through redemption,
that is in Christ Jesus, was like Abraham, our father, justified
by works. What did Abraham do? He believed
God. People want to take these words
and they want to use them to say, see there? See there? You have to preach practical
godliness and teach people what they're supposed to be doing.
I'm telling you, our Lord says, believe on me and you shall be
saved. Abraham was accounted righteous
for God's sake because he believed God. Not because of what he did
in taking his son up into the mountain to be sacrificed, but
because he believed God when God said, your son will live.
Your son will have a great amount of people, more people than you
can count. Abraham, our father, was justified
by his works, James 2.21. This is to say that he proved
his faith by his works. Obedience is always the fruit
of faith. Believers are men and women who
are obedient to Christ. That is the tenor and the character
of their lives.