Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Matthew chapter 9. We'll be looking at verses 1 through
2. And then the parallel passage for this is Mark chapter 2, verses
1 through 5. Turn to Matthew chapter 9 to
begin with. Matthew chapter 9, verses 1 and
2. The title of the message tonight,
Absolute Forgiveness. Absolute Forgiveness. Matthew chapter 9 and verses
1 and 2, and it says, And he entered into the ship and passed
over, and came to his own city. And behold, they brought unto
him a man sick of the palsy, lying on the bed. And Jesus,
seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be
of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now then, Jesus, as we
left off last week, Jesus had now left the city of Gadara,
and He had come all the way back across the sea where He left
off. Right where He left off, He came back to His own city,
which is Capernaum, where He had healed Peter's mother-in-law.
And He had healed those people who had came to Him in the evening
time. Now, before we go into our text,
I could not help but stop here and marvel at this that we see
in the Scriptures concerning these people of Gadara who rejected Christ, the Lord
of glory, from coming into their city. Christ came to them speaking
a message of deliverance, a message of setting the captives free,
by giving them a demonstration of His power, His deity, and
His Godhead, by pulling the demons out of this man, and sitting
that man before Him at His feet, clothed and in His right mind.
And there they were, they were more concerned. about the hogs. They were more concerned about
their living, about their jobs, than they were concerned about
the Lord of glory and His message. In Matthew 8, verse 34, it says,
And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they
saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their
coasts. And here's the sad thing, Christ
gave them exactly what they wanted. He left their city never to return. I tell you, men speak of free
will and have no idea what they're talking about. They say that God must honor
the desires of a man's heart, and they will not worship a sovereign
God who saves men, not according to their will, but according
to His own will. They desire this God to depart
from their homes, their schools, their cities, and their churches.
And I tell you, it's truly sad when God gives the natural man
exactly what He desires. They desire by nature to say,
we will not have this man rule over us. I tell you, praise God, He did
not give me what I desired. Praise God, He did not give us
what our natural man desired. But He gave us a heart that clothed
it with His own righteousness, and broke its will to set at
His feet." That's our testimony. That's the testimony of every
true believer of God. We know that our salvation is
not of Him that willeth or Him that runneth, but God that showeth
mercy. Friends, every soul in hell is
there because they would not believe on the Son of God. Because
God gave them the desires of their heart, separation. That's
what hell is. Hell is separation from God.
All of their life they desired to be separate from God. All
of their life they tried to get rid of God. And in the end, God
gives them exactly what they desire, separation. And so it is with every man that
enjoys the presence of God in heaven. must have his heart and
will changed. He must have it changed. If we
are to ever enjoy the presence of God, we must be conquered
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We must lay down our arms of
self-righteousness, our arms of religion, our arms of merit
before God and surrender at the feet of Christ. A man must see
his need of salvation, and these people saw no need of Christ. And Christ gave them exactly
what they want. I tell you, I heard today that
my brother is in very bad condition, my
older brother, not the one you've met. But his physical condition is
nowhere to be compared to his spiritual condition. This man
will have nothing to do with Christ. And it seems as though
God will give him exactly what he wants. A man needs forgiveness. Men need Christ. They need His salvation. And
we see such a man in our text tonight. These people at Gadara,
they said, we don't want Him. But I know this man was glad
when he saw Him. I know he was glad when he came
back to this city and he preached again in this city. I know this
man was glad in our text. We have such a man here described
in this text, this man that was sick of the palsy. This man was
paralyzed, having lost his ability of his limbs to walk or to move. This man was unable to feed himself,
to clothe himself, or even to clean himself. This man was in
great need and he could not heal himself. What a picture of man
by nature. He cannot heal himself. He cannot do anything. He cannot
come to Christ Himself. He must be delivered. And I'll
tell you what, this man had some good friends, didn't he? We read
in Mark that there were four. There were four of his friends.
And they saw this man had a need and this man knew he had a need.
But his friends, they saw he had a need and they took him
to Christ. And in Mark's Gospel we read
that the house was so full they couldn't make it in the door.
But that didn't stop these friends. They went up to the roof and
tore off the roof and let this man down in front of Christ and
He healed him. I'll tell you what, there's something
about these friends. They believed that Christ was
willing and able to save their friend. They believed that. Otherwise, they wouldn't have
gone to such trouble, do you think? They wouldn't have gone
to such trouble if they did not believe that Christ was both
willing and able to save. And that's the first thing I
want us to see. I want to see two things tonight. I know there's
so much more here, but I don't have time but just for two things.
I want us to look first of all at their faith. And when I say
their faith, I want to say the faith of His friends as well
as the faith of the man. All five of these men had faith.
All five of these men had faith. And then I want us to look at
Christ's forgiveness. We're going to look at specific
things about Christ's forgiveness that should bring each one of
us who are saved great cheer, great joy, great joy concerning
this forgiveness. First of all, let's look at their
faith. When they arrived at this house, it was full. Mark said
that they couldn't even get past the front door. But I'll tell you what, these
friends would not be stopped, they would not let this obstacle
get in their way. They climbed to that roof, made
a hole and let him down. What vigilance! What determination
these friends showed to this man! Why were they so determined
to get their friend before Christ? Why do you think they were so
vigilant? Because they knew this was an
important issue. This was important. Otherwise,
they wouldn't have done it. If it was not important, they
would have not taken the time to deliver this man to Jesus.
Cheryl asked me a few weeks ago to go to the store. And I went
to the store and there was a line. I don't know what was going on.
There was a line and I didn't think it was worth it. So I turned
around and went home. I said, I'm going to wait and
come back later. It wasn't important enough for me to wait or to go
through that line. But I'll tell you this, if my
son were hurt, if my son were injured, there would be nothing
to stop me. Speed limit signs would not be
an obstacle for me. I would not care about them.
I would have to get him to get help at the hospital if he was
injured. And you wouldn't be able to stop me and nobody else
would either. I'd wait to pay the consequences later. Why? Because there was an issue. There
was an urgency in that. These friends had an urgent matter
to attend with. And they tore off a roof to let
this man down in a house. This was not their house. This
was not their roof. But I'll tell you what, they
didn't care about the roof. They cared about their friend.
They knew it was an urgent matter that he be brought before Christ. These men had faith in Christ. Our Lord said, the Scripture
says, when the Lord saw their faith, they had faith. They believed. I tell you, believer, let their
faith be an example to us. This should be our faith. Every one of us who are believers
in Christ, this should be our faith. Faith always acts, and
this is how it acts. It acts with urgency. Let me ask you this, is not the
disease of sin an urgent matter? Are not our friends, family,
and loved ones sick with sin and in need of salvation? If they're physically dying,
would we not give them urgent care? Absolutely, we would. But why do we think nothing of
them dying spiritually? Do we believe that Jesus is both
a willing and able Savior? If so, why are we not longing
to bring our friends at the feet of the Master? Why are we not
asking sinners to come and hear the preaching of the gospel of
God's grace? Let me ask you, believer in Christ,
are there many churches that preach the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in this city? Do you know of any? In your town,
I know many of you don't live in this city, but in your town,
do you know of any churches that preach the sovereign grace of
God, that salvation is by Jesus Christ and Him crucified alone,
apart from will and works? Are there any? If this is the only church we
know that preaches the gospel, If this is the only place that
preaches the gospel, then I'll tell you the truth, this is the
only place Christ will be. And I'll tell you, those men
could have took their friend to any house in that city, but
they wouldn't have found relief for their friend because Christ
wasn't there. He was only in that house. And friend, Christ is only in
the place where His Word is preached. He's not anywhere else. And if
this is the only place that Christ can be found, should we not bring
all that we can to the feet of Christ? We should. We should. Robert Hawker says this, we should
feel somewhat the same earnestness for the salvation of others.
Methinks that I would bring ordinances and also private approaches to
the mercy seat, the whole of my carnal, graceless relations,
and do as they did to this man, lay them before the presence
of Jesus. More than this we are not able
to do, but this we are encouraged to do." No, friends. We cannot and should not force
people to come. I'm not saying go and twist their
arms and push them down. That does nothing. I'm talking
about people who have a need. This man had a need, didn't he?
This man had something that he needed. He needed Christ. He had an issue. And friends,
when we find our friends or family with issues, bring them to the
feet of Christ. This is the only hope for them.
This is the only hope for them, is that they hear the Word of
Christ and believe. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. We would not force somebody unless
they have a need. And friends, I know my children
have a need, and they're here. They, as long as they are under
my authority and my roof, they'll be here. Because they have a
need. They have a need. And I know
this is the only place that God can satisfy that need. And not only bring them to Christ,
but let us also believe Christ to save them. How many times
have we brought people expecting Christ to do nothing? Well, I know God can't save this
fool. All the while bringing, hey,
come into church! Come with us! Well, I don't know if God's going
to save that man or not. No, we should know that Christ
is a willing and able Savior. A willing and able Savior. I
am so convicted in my own heart, when somebody comes to faith
in Christ, I'm surprised. Why? Why would I be surprised? Is not He a precious Savior?
Is He not kind and gentle? Absolutely. And He is willing
to save. And we should have the faith
of these men. We should not only have the faith of urgency to
bring our needy friends, but we should also believe Christ
to be able and willing to save. I'll tell you, Christ will not
call self-righteous people Those who trust in their will, their
merit, their church, their priest, or their pope. I understand Christ
will not save them. That's evident. It's evident. But weren't we in that category
one time? Were we not self-righteous? Of course we were. I was covered
with it. And yet Christ in His mercy saved
me. And we should know that if Christ
saved me, He could save anyone. He can save anyone He pleases. But we know Christ did not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And sinners He
will receive. I don't know about you, but I
know a lot of sinners. Do you? It's sinners He came to save. And we should compel men to come. Isn't that what the gospel says
about the laborers? He said, go and compel them. Bring them in. Compel them to
come. Notice this also, that the faith
of these friends, though it were given by God, though it was used
of God for the good of this elect man, it had no power to save. Friends, our faith, although
necessary, our faith, although used of God and given to us of
God concerning these things, cannot save anyone we bring. It cannot. These men's faith did not save
this man. Even so, if we bring men to hear
Christ to be saved, it is not our faith that saves Him. We
bring our children, and I long for my children to believe on
Christ. I believe that Christ is willing and able to save them. But my faith cannot save them. And I want to take this time,
and I understand I'm taking a little bit more time on this, but I
think you need to hear this. The difference in what we preach
and what you would hear in Reformed theology is greatly different
on that point. I want to read to you what John
Calvin wrote concerning this matter of faith extended to children. Calvin said, we must believe
with regard to these believers that by their faith, the grace
of God is extended to their children and their children's children
before they are born. The same thing takes place in
infants who are not yet of the age as to be capable of faith. You see, Calvin does not believe
that faith saves them. I'm not saying that he does.
But he says that our faith gives them advantages to the grace
of God. And that's not true. That's not
true. This is why the Presbyterian
Reform use infant baptism. They believe that the parent's
faith extends to the child up until the time he is capable
to believe. And this is not mentioned nowhere
in Scripture. That is not Scriptural at all.
There is not one account of such a thing in all of Scripture. And we should not, for a moment,
entertain such a thought. You see, although my children
have every advantage of being in the church, they do. They're
an advantage in many different ways. They hear the gospel constantly. But I'll tell you this, it takes
the same grace of God to save my children as it does anyone
else's children who have never heard the gospel of God's grace.
And my faith had nothing to do with that grace. Nothing. Nothing. My faith Had nothing to do. If God saves them, He saves them
by His own grace and not because of me in any way, shape or form.
If He didn't save them because of them, He's definitely saved
them because of me. Our faith does not add to the
grace of God. You see, to believe on Jesus
Christ, you must believe on Jesus Christ. It is solely an act of
God's regeneration in spirit. The act of faith does not save
us, but rather, even the object of our faith is what saves us.
Christ. No one is saved without faith,
but faith itself is not the regenerating purpose, regenerating cause of
salvation. Faith is necessary. but rather
not faith that saves us, but rather the object of our faith
saves us. But what then are we to believe?
Spoke a lot about faith, but what are we to believe? What did this man believe? You
see, his friends had faith that Jesus would heal him, but I know
this, this man had faith that Jesus would heal him. The sick
man had faith. He had to have it himself. And
God had to give it to him personally, as He does to every one of us.
The faith in what? He believed Christ could and
would forgive him of his sins and heal his body. And that's
exactly what Christ had done. Now then, let's talk a minute
about the forgiveness of sins. I pray that my faith It's like
these men's faith, don't you? Urgent. That my faith rests in Christ
only. That He is a willing and able Savior to save sinners. And now then let's look at forgiveness,
Christ's forgiveness. When this man was lowered, I'm
sure that many people expected a miracle from Christ, don't
you? That He had already done miracles in His place. I'm sure
now everybody was ready for one. Everybody was just anticipating
Him to do some miracle. Now then, here was an opportunity.
What do you suppose they thought He would say? Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
Isn't that what people thought? I'm sure that these words were
what they were waiting for. But when they heard what He actually
said, I imagine that they were taken back a little bit. I bet
you no one expected these words. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
be forgiven. I don't think anybody expected
that. This man, he was tortured with
disease and sickness. He knew the root of his sickness
was his sin. This man knew that it was sin
that caused his ailment. And I know just as much as this
man wanted to be alleviated from the torture of his body, I know
that this man also desired to be alleviated from the torture
of his soul. This man desired to be forgiven
of his sins. And our Lord Jesus Christ here
struck at the root of this man's problem. I know this man had
physical trouble and physical pain and emotional anguish, but
he had a greater need, the need of forgiveness of sins before
God. And that is the need of every
one of us here tonight. That is my need. I need His forgiveness of my
sins. I tell you, people are so caught
up with the physical. They're so caught up with the
physical. I ran into a man the other day, and I know he's suffering. I know he's hurting. And he asked
for my prayer. He said, I need your prayers.
I'm going through a difficult time in my marriage, and I am
suffering. My wife is leaving me, and I'm
suffering, and I know he was hurting. This man was a stranger
to me, and he was crying out for his pain. I understand that. Friends, we have a greater need
than just our physical. And if men go to church just
for their physical needs, even if they get it, what good will
it do them? If the root is not taken care
of, if the root problem is not taken care of, what does it matter
if the outward man is taken care of? This man needed to be cleansed
so he can stand before God. I long for sinners to come to
Christ in need of salvation. I don't want sinners to come
to Christ to help them be saved. That won't do them no good. You
see, Christ is not going to be a co-helper in salvation. Friends, He is either going to
be all our salvation or none of it. Sinners need Him to be all their
salvation. They were religious people that
self-righteous people would be exposed and their garments removed
from them so that they can see the nakedness of their souls
before Christ and need forgiveness. Friends, this is the gospel message.
This is the gospel message in a word, forgiveness. Forgiveness. All who come to Christ as helpless
and believing as this man shall be forgiven of Christ. Friends,
God tells us in Micah chapter 7 and verse 18 that God delighteth
in mercy. Do you know God delights in mercy?
How do you know that? God said it. God said, I delight
in mercy. I wouldn't have believed it had
I not read it. God delights in mercy. And you know what? God is not pleased with the death
of the wicked. You know that? How do I know
that? God says it in Ezekiel 18.32, For I have no pleasure
in the death of him that dieth. Why? Hell is perpetual. It never pays for sin. It never
gets rid of sin. God is never going to be pleased
with them. But God is pleased in Christ.
There's mercy. I delight in Christ, my Son.
I delight in mercy. Mercy. Now, I want us to look
at four things hurriedly. about this matter of forgiveness.
He says to this man, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven
thee. Son, don't worry about your physical
condition, because your spiritual condition is all well. Don't worry about what the circumstance
may seem like, my son. Be of good cheer, for thy sins
have been forgiven thee. Four things about this matter
of forgiveness that should give every believer a heart of cheer
no matter what. No matter what. This should cheer
your heart no matter what is happening to your body. Number
one, Christ's forgiveness is complete. Complete, absolute,
Forgiveness. When Jesus forgave this man,
He forgave this man all his sins. And not one was left unforgiving. Not one. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all of His benefits. And what's the first one? who
forgiveth all thine iniquities." He forgiveth all our iniquities. Believer in Christ, be of good
cheer. No matter your circumstance, Christ has forgiven all of your
sins and none is left unforgiven. None of them. Not one. Just as the sins of the people
were taken and imputed, put on that scapegoat, confessed on
him, and the strong men carried that goat into a far land, never
to be seen again, so it is that God imputed our sins to Christ. And as He suffered for them,
He was the scapegoat and He took them away, never to be seen by
God again, ever. How does God see you? I didn't ask you how you saw
you. I know how you see you because that's how I see me. How does God see you? What does
God think of you? Go to Song of Solomon, chapter
four. Song of Solomon, chapter four. Psalm 4, verse 1. This is God
speaking to His church. Don't interpret this book any
other way. This is God, Christ, and His church. This is not a
man and a woman. There's too much analogies here
that never fits with a man and a woman. This is Christ speaking
to His church. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, just in case you missed
it, thou art fair. That's how God sees us. Verse 7, thou art all fair. My love, there is no spot in
thee. What does that mean? Well, that means there's no spot
in you. That means there's no spot! No wrinkle! No blemish! No sin whatsoever! That's how God sees us. Forgiven of all our sins. Verse 10, How fair is my love,
my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than
wine, and the smell of thine ointments than spices. All that come to Christ seeking
forgiveness of sins, not by merit, not by will, not by religion,
but come and surrender themselves before Him as sinners, Christ
will forgive all their sins, and they stand before God even
as Christ stands before God. John says, as He is, so are we
in this world. right now. That's how God sees
you. Because you're completely forgiven.
Number two, immutable forgiveness. Believer in Christ, be of good
cheer and let us realize that our forgiveness has never been
nor never shall be rooted in time or in us. Our forgiveness
was rooted in eternity. Oh, the thought that God forgave
us our sins before there was sin. Before there was a world
of sin, God purposed to forgive us our sin. Scripture says that
Jesus Christ was as a lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world, Our Father chose us in election. The Son agreed to
be our surety and Redeemer, our Savior. And this is by the sovereign
grace of God alone, not by seeing what we would do. But according
to His sovereign grace, He chose us and was not willing to impute
our sins to us. But rather, He chose to impute
them to His only begotten Son. so that we might be set free.
And this was not rooted in time. It happened in time, didn't it? Christ did come to fulfill the
will and purpose of God that He purposed in eternity, and
even so us by experience. We know that when we were born,
we were born sinners. And Christ sends His Spirit by
His Word, and we heard the Word, and we believe the Word that
says, I have forgiven thee of all thy sins. Friends, this is
immutable because it's rooted in God who is immutable. Bob,
if God can forgive you today and not forgive you tomorrow,
He's mutable. His forgiveness is rooted in
you. Thank God that's not the case.
Thank God that's not the case. Our salvation is rooted in Christ. Has there ever been a time that
God is not delighted in Christ? Has there ever been a time that
God did not love His Son? No. Then there was never a time
that God did not love me. There was never a time. I'll
tell you, in my experience, there was a time that His anger seemed
to be kindled on me. But when I found out Christ had
accomplished my salvation, what a joy! What a joy! And therefore,
my salvation is rooted in Christ and it never shall be taken away.
Number three, our forgiveness is a just forgiveness. We forgive each other all the
time without payment, don't we? Don't we? Sometimes you do something
to me and I say, no, I forgive you. Why? Because I've probably
done it to somebody else. I did it to somebody else. I'm sure
I can understand why you did it. And so I really don't need
justice to forgive you, do I? No, but God does. You see, God
cannot forgive without justice, you know that? He cannot show
mercy at the expense of His justice. If I get pulled over by a cop,
I hope he'll forgive without justice. Don't you? I hope he'll
just give me a warning when he should have given me a ticket.
It would have been just for him to give me a ticket. I don't
want justice. I want mercy. But if God did it that way, friend,
there would be no assurance of our forgiveness, would there? If someone was guilty of a crime
and he got a mix-up and he was set free, don't you think he
would always look over his shoulder? Of course he would. Why? Because justice wasn't served. And if God did not justly forgive
us our sins, we have every reason to look over our shoulder. Believer, God forgives our sin only because
His justice has been satisfied by the blood of Christ. The only
hope I have of eternal life and forgiveness of my sins does not
rest in me, but it rests in this, that Christ was made sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. That's where my hope of forgiveness rests. It rests
in justice being served. Now friends, we are freely forgiven. Am I right? Therefore being justified
freely. Justified freely. You see, our
forgiveness did not cost us anything. You see, we could not pay anything
to God that would merit forgiveness, could we? And so therefore, by
His grace, He gave us forgiveness. But friends, our forgiveness
was not free. It cost God a lot. The forgiveness that God gives
us costs the Son of God His life. He suffered hell of God's wrath
for all my sins. And guess what's left for me?
Nothing. None of them are left for me.
Why? Justice is satisfied. How could
God be angry with me? Justice is satisfied. Christ
took all my sins on Himself and paid for them all. How then could
God demand twice payment and be just? He couldn't. He cannot
demand my satisfaction at the hand of my surety and then at
mine. He can't. And He won't. God is just and
He freely forgives us by His justice. John says this, if we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just. Now this should cause
you great cheer. This should cause your heart
great cheer no matter what. Justice is satisfied. He saw
the travail of Christ's soul and He was satisfied. And He
has given freely. Forgiveness freely to me. And
lastly, we have perpetual forgiveness. When God saved you, did He take
away the old nature? Or is that still there? Mine is still around. I have two natures inside of
one man. I am one man with two natures.
A holy nature, and a sinful nature. And neither one of these can
infect the other. Neither one of these can infect
the other. The holy nature cannot make the old nature holy. Nor
can the old nature that is all sin make the holy nature sin. They are two separate natures
constantly at war, constantly struggling within my own breast. And so, I like Paul, he says,
I find a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into the captivity of 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? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, because sin is still
around, we feel guilt for sin. When we sin, we feel the weight
of that sin on our conscience. We feel the guilt and the more
that we feel, the more that we know we've sinned. And we sin,
we don't even know how many times a day we sin. There's many times
that we just sin without even thinking about it and we forget
about it. But all the sins that we are cognizant of, they begin
to build and to weigh on us heavy. Well, Christ said, I am a just
God. and I perpetually forgive your
sins." That means constantly, moment by moment, second by second,
Christ is forgiving our sins. Micah chapter 7 and verse 18,
"...who is a God likened to Thee, that pardoneth There's a present
perfect tense, isn't it? He has pardoned, He is pardoning,
and He shall pardon. Iniquity. "...and passeth by
the transgression of the remnant of His heritage. He retaineth
not His anger forever, because He delighteth in mercy." Friends,
our forgiveness is complete. Our forgiveness is immutable.
Our forgiveness is just. And our forgiveness is perpetual.
Is that not absolute forgiveness? If that's not absolute forgiveness,
I don't know what is. Oh, I'm so thankful for that
forgiveness. I pray that God would bless the
word to your heart. This stand will be dismissed
in prayer.