In Matthew chapter 9, the first
eight verses we're going to look at today, Christ's power to forgive
sins. And that's an awesome power.
Only God can forgive sins. The psalmist wrote over in Psalm
130 verse 3, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? And then he went on to write,
But there is forgiveness with thee. that thou mayest be feared. The fact that there is forgiveness
with God is an awesome thought for sinners like us. We need the forgiveness of sins. Our justification before God,
our being declared right with God, involves the forgiveness
of our sins, our pardon, and the declaration of righteousness
that has been imputed to us. And both of those come on a just
ground. And that just ground is the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood, the blood
of Christ, cleanses from all sin. Aren't you glad? Don't you
rejoice in that? Well, In our lesson here today,
I started off here with chapters eight and nine of Matthew present
10 miracles of our Lord, all designed to show forth His deity,
His power, His sovereignty, His authority, and His preaching
was with authority. These miracles accompanied His
preaching. You remember back in Matthew
7, 29, they said, no man has spoken like this man. speaks
with authority. And the miracles that he performed
was a demonstration of this authority, his power over disease, over
nature, demons, I've got it listed here, over all things physical
and spiritual. And I think about that often
today because of what we're hearing on the news and the impending
war and the turmoil and the confusion. And as I said in that illustration,
we're looking at the bottom of the tapestry. And everything
feels like it's all confused and messed up and all that. But when we look at it from God's
point of view, that's what we're doing in Revelation 4 and Revelation
5. A view of this age from the throne
of God, we see that it's all a beautiful set pattern woven
together by the God of this universe. And not a thread is out of place. Not one thread. I was reading a couple of commentators
on these verses, and they said that there's somewhat of a progression
in the way the Spirit inspired Matthew to arrange the written
report of these miracles. Listen to this first Christ healed
a leper by putting his hand upon the one who was diseased Proving
his power over disease. He could heal that disease and
his impeccability The impeccability of Christ. I preached a message
on TV last week or this past week on our impeccable Savior
the impeccable Christ And impeccability means that he could not have
sinned. It was impossible for him to sin. As he put his hand
on that leopard, he didn't contract the disease. And just in the
same way as he stood in our place as our surety, our substitute,
and our redeemer, he was made sin, really, factually, not fake. God didn't treat him as if he
were sin, he was made sin, but only by the imputation, the legal
imputation, charging of our sins to him. And that's why we enjoy
and rest in the imputation of his righteousness to us. And
just like that psalmist wrote in Psalm 103, Lord, if thou shouldest
mark iniquities, If God were to hold our sins against us,
who would stand? None of us. The best of us, the
worst of us, and everybody in between, none of us would stand.
But God does not charge us with our sins. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Well, Christ was not, he was
not defiled by the disease. Though he bore our sins in his
own body on the cross, he did not and could not be contaminated
or corrupted by our sins. They were imputed to him. They
weren't imparted to him. Secondly, he cured the servant
of the centurion without a touch. He didn't even see the one he
healed. He just spoke a word and healed
that centurion's servant. All he had to do, and that shows
you the power of his word, his thoughts. He really didn't have
to speak it, but he did. All he has to do is think it.
It's there. And then thirdly, he healed Peter's
mother-in-law, who was sick with a fever, and he touched her hand.
Do you remember that? And she got up immediately and
began to serve them in the household there. And what a picture of
us when God heals, when He touches us by the Spirit in the new birth,
that's when we first begin to serve Him aright, motivated by
grace, love, and gratitude. That's when we come to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. He commanded the winds
and the waves to be calm and he saved his disciples from death. And I think about that in the
realm of our salvation from the wrath of God. On the cross, Christ
took the full winds and waves of the wrath of God upon himself
and saved us from that wrath. We're not condemned. We're not
under his wrath because our surety, our substitute, our redeemer,
calmed the winds. He said it's finished, and it
was. Fifthly, he showed his power
over evil spirits, casting out thousands of demons. Legion,
you remember legion. And when Christ sends his spirit
to make the gospel, the power of God unto salvation for us,
we're freed from Satan's power to deceive us. and to keep us
in the dark, keep us blind to the things of the glory of God
in Christ. Well, here we're going to see
another miracle here in Matthew 9 that shows not only his power
to heal physical ailments, but also his power to forgive sin.
And he manifests his deity by showing he has the power to forgive
sins. Only God now can forgive sins. Now what I'm talking about, we're
commanded to forgive one another as we have been forgiven. But
I'm talking about the forgiveness of sins that makes sinners right
with God, that gives sinners a communion with God, that legal
forgiveness that's based upon a right ground, which is the
blood of Christ. And all these physical miracles
were wonderful as he relieved miseries of the flesh. But in
curing the sick, the real problem, the real problem is sin. I put in your lesson here. Well,
we'll get to that in just a moment. Let's go on to verse one. He
says, he entered into a ship and passed over and came into
his own city. Now, Christ was born in Bethlehem,
he was raised and educated in Nazareth, but he established
his headquarters in Capernaum. And you can read about that in
the references that I cited. And I think about Capernaum,
you remember in Matthew chapter 11, Capernaum was one of the
cities that he mentioned that had been so privileged to see
the miracles and hear the word, but the people mainly remained
in unbelief. Remember he said it'll be better
for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you in the day of judgment because
you saw many miracles, you heard the word and you rejected it. And of course we know that's
all part of God's purpose. We know that because as he went
on to say in Matthew 11, he said, I thank thee, O Lord, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and you
revealed them unto babes. And he said, for so father, it
seemed good in thy sight. Well, when we read the accounts
of this, the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke, we get the
full story of this event. The Lord, he went back to Capernaum
and he was teaching in a private house and multitudes of people
began to gather around slowly. And they gathered around, look
at verse two. He says, And behold, they brought to 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 thee. Now if you read Mark and Luke
on this, you'll know that the multitudes was so pressing around
this private house, they took the man, several of his friends,
took the man on a stretcher up on the roof of the house and
bore a hole in the roof and led him down through the roof and
set him before Christ. And that's why he says, here
it says, Jesus seeing their faith. Couple of things I put in your
lesson. It should be noted that many
people back then, and even some today, attribute sickness and
adversity to some specific sin. Now you remember Job, when he
began to have his troubles, his three friends, whom he calls
his three miserable comforters, they came in and they sat down
and said, now Job, we gotta figure out what you've done to bring
this on you so that you can correct it. Now that's thinking naturally. And then even the disciples,
you remember back in the book of John, I think I put a reference
here, but it's the wrong reference. It's in... No, it's John 9, you're right,
I got the right reference. I was thinking of Matthew 9,
you're right. But it's in John 9 where they met that blind man
who'd been blind from birth and the disciples asked the question,
Lord, is this man blind because of what his parents did or because
of some sin that he committed? What's the problem? And they
were thinking wrongly. And a lot of people think that,
so in other words, my point is this, they equated Sickness with
sin. Well, in a sense that's true,
but the sickness of this body, the
aging of this body, the deterioration of this body is because of sin.
The body is dead because of sin. But you cannot always judge that
somebody is sick or growing old because of some specific sin
that they committed in life. Because sometimes God brings
us through chastisement and suffering over no specific sin at all,
like in the case of Job. But we're all sinners. And if
we suffered according to our sins, specifically, if it was
like equivocated, we wouldn't be able to hold up our heads.
Well, we'd probably be dead. So think about that. And this
is why we need the righteousness of Christ. This is why we need
his righteousness imputed. The body is dead because of sin,
Romans 18, but the spirit is life because of righteousness,
because of Christ. So understand that. And then
these men who took this guy up on this roof and let him down
through a hole, that such efforts to get a sick man to Christ prove
their faith in Christ to heal him. That showed that they believed
and it says, and Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick
of the palsy, son, be of good cheer. And we see in the gospel
narratives that faith was and is involved even in the physical
miracles that Christ performed. In fact, the Bible talks about
the faith of miracles. And even that faith is God given.
But we gotta ask the question, is that kind of faith always
saving faith? The faith of miracles. And I
want you to turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Now this is the chapter that
talks about love. And the love that it's talking
about is the love of God that comes in the gospel power by
the Holy Spirit that is shed abroad in our hearts that brings
us to faith in Christ. It's not just some general notion
of trying to love everybody. Now we're commanded to love our
neighbor. We're commanded to love one another. We're commanded
to love God. And we're commanded to be diligent
to do so in every area. We're to try, we're to put out
efforts to love our neighbor, to love our, especially our brethren. and to love God. But this is
that agape love that is love for Christ and love for his people
that only believers have, only those who are born again by the
Spirit have shed abroad in their hearts as God reveals his love
to us in sending Christ to be our propitiation. No unbeliever
has this kind of love that he's talking about in 1 Corinthians
13. But my point is, can a person have faith in miracles and not
have that love, not really believe in Christ? And look at verse
one of 1 Corinthians 13. He says, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, or that's
love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. So it's
possible to have the faith of miracles and not have faith in
Christ. So it seems that this is the
case. Go back to Matthew 9 now. But
here, when we look at Christ performing these miracles, We
know that not all that he healed physically had true faith in
Christ. And I've got listed in your lesson,
Luke chapter 17, verses 11 through 19. You remember that's where
he healed 10 lepers? And he healed them and they went
away and one returned to give glory to God. And he said, where's
the other ones? Did I not heal 10? So the other
ones were healed, but they didn't return to give glory to God.
So that indicates, to me anyway, that their faith was not true
saving faith. But in this miracle, look here,
he says, son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. He connects the healing of this
person physically with the forgiveness of sins. And that indicates to
me that their faith was true saving faith in Christ, not only
as a miracle worker, but as the Messiah, as God incarnate, the
one who forgives sins. Lord, forgive me. Now, the sovereign
grace of God is the source. The love of God is the cause.
The blood of Christ is the ground of the forgiveness of sins. Faith
evidences that one has already been forgiven by the blood of
Christ. Faith is the evidence. Faith is the way we receive in
our hearts and our consciences that reality of forgiveness which
comes by the blood of Christ. I am forgiven. How do I know
that? Because my hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And that pardon of sin, how can
God forgive me? He can't just on a whim forgive
us. There must be a just ground.
You see, this all goes back to the forgiveness of sin takes
us back to the question of questions. How can God be just and justify,
forgive, and declare righteous an ungodly sinner? And it's only
by the blood of Christ. It's only by his righteousness
imputed. And when he gives that forgiveness,
it's forever. Well, look at verse three. Behold,
certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphema. He said to themselves, they didn't
holler it out. They didn't cry it out. And it says in verse
four, and Jesus knowing their thoughts. How could he know their
thoughts except he were God? Only God knows our thoughts.
God knows our hearts. Man looks on the outward appearance,
but God looks on the heart. And God is only pleased with
a broken and contrite heart. And when these scribes, certain
of the scribes, the lawyers, the experts in the law, the law
that says love God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself,
they thought within themselves, This Jesus of Nazareth is a blasphemer. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, wherefore or why think you evil in your hearts? Well,
that's what we are by nature. A heart is deceitful, desperately
wicked. Who can know it? The evil that
we are and that we do begins in our hearts. It's not just
outward. Christ spoke of that in the Sermon
on the Mount. It's not what goes in you that
defiles you, it's what comes out of the heart. And that's
why we have to have a new heart. Not only do we have to have a
righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and justice
to be forgiven, we have to be given a new heart to realize
the reality of forgiveness based upon that right ground. Else
we'll be like that preacher who said that forgiveness is based
upon your confession, your repentance. Oh no, forgiveness is based on
the blood of Christ. And once God the Holy Spirit
brings us to see that, and to realize that, and to know it
within the deepest recesses of our hearts, what we are, Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared, that you may be believed, followed,
worshiped. The Holy Spirit reveals that
to us. What do we do? We look to Christ. We rest in His finished work
as the basis and ground and reality of the forgiveness of all of
our sins. But here they are, thinking evil
in their hearts. You can't hide it. Not from God
now. You can hide it from me or you
can hide it from yourself, but you can't hide it from God. And
he says in verse five, listen, for whether is easier to say
thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and walk. I put in your listener that question
confused them because both are impossible for men, but can only
be accomplished by God. God, who is the sovereign creator, what is it easier for him to
do? to say, get up and walk where thy sins are forgiven. Only he
can do it, man cannot do it. And they knew that. They knew
that if this man claimed to be able to forgive sins, he's claiming
to be God. And that's why they called it
blasphemy. This man blasphemeth, they said. And so in verse six,
but that you may know that the Son of Man, the Messiah, hath
power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of
the palsy, arise, take up thy bed and go unto thy house. And
look what happened. The man arose and departed to
his house. What's the Lord saying here?
He showed his power to heal once again. He proved he had power
on earth to heal. Only God can do that. Now I know
we go to doctors, we take medicines, we have operations and all of
that. But you know and I know that all that power is of God. If He heals you physically and
you get up and walk and go about your business, I thank God for
doctors who know what they're doing and who are willing to
give of themselves to do it. But it's God who gave that power
to them. It's God who gave him that mind,
that opportunity. And we know this, you can go
to the best doctors on earth, but if it's your time to leave
this world, you're gonna leave it, no matter what they do. So what about it? He has power
on earth to heal. He has power to forgive sins
on earth. The forgiveness of sins cannot
be seen. I can't look at you and say,
hey, you're forgiven. I can just tell it. Like one
old preacher said, I can see it in your eyes. Well, I can't
do that. I don't have that kind of power to see it in your eyes.
I don't know the thoughts of your heart except as you express
them, whether it's in preaching, testifying, or whatever. So the
forgiveness of sins cannot be seen. But now the healing of
the physical body, that can be seen. He said, he said, take
up your bed and go to your home. And the man got up, he went to
his home. They saw that. They saw that. Fully healed. And fully forgiven. Well look at verse eight. But
when the multitude saw it, they marveled. They were amazed and
glorified God, which had given such power unto men. They were
amazed. They gave credit to God. It seems
though they didn't recognize Christ, Jesus of Nazareth rather,
to be God manifest in the flesh. They wondered that God would
give such power unto men. You see? But they, so they still
view Jesus as a mere man. And here's what Luke wrote of
him in his version of it, Luke 5, 26. They were filled with
fear saying, we have seen strange things, things contrary to human
reason today. We've seen something strange.
We can't figure it out. How could God give that power
to a man? Well, he's more than man. He's the God man. And God has the power to forgive
sins. but only in a way that honors
his justice as well as his mercy, the blood, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay.