All right, let's turn to Luke
chapter five. Luke chapter five. We'll see
this man brought to the Lord this morning and the Lord saving
him. And that's, there's a lot of
resistance in this world to that. I talked to my sister, she's
a clinical psychologist. They have a new name for a mental
illness where people get duped, right? They had the wool pulled
over their eyes. And then afterwards, I call it the backburn effect.
They want to backburn everything. I'm never getting burned again.
And they just jump on any little conspiracy or nonsense. I mean,
just make-believe stuff. It's insane. They've labeled it. They give
a clinical name to it now. But I thought, isn't that so
with religion, too? Somebody just, I know people,
and you know people, I know people, your families, that's just had
religion just, I mean, just shoved down their throats their whole
lives. Not the truth, religion. And then they grow up, and I
said, I don't want nothing to do with it. I'm never getting
duped again. Well, now we have the truth. Come hear the truth. Uh-uh. I get it. It ain't right. I get it. And I thought about
this man. He got to where he's a paralytic.
He couldn't run. He couldn't fight them off. didn't
have enough choice. He was brought. That's what's
going to have to happen to those ones that we love. That's just
the sick of religion. They have to be brought. They
have to be made paralyzed. They have to be brought. A lot
of times because of the damage we did to them, right? The Lord
has to overcome us in spite of ourselves and them in spite of
their selves. He has to bring them to Christ. Word had gone out that Christ
had commanded these fishermen where to fish and that the nets
were busted. Nobody's ever done that. Word
had went out that Christ had went and healed a leper. That's never happened. They had
that law of Moses, you gotta take the turtle dust. I thought of that too for Eve.
The Lord said, I'm gonna multiply your sorrow in childbirth. What
do you think she thought? Karen, she's like, well, I don't
know. What's childbirth? I never had no babies. Okay. I guess
it's going to be, I got it coming. You really got to come. Word
had went out and he didn't just heal some leper and that leper
just took those offerings of Moses. He touched him. What? That's how you get it. He touched
him. Word had went out. Fame had went
abroad and multitudes came to hear Christ. most of them to
have their illnesses healed, most of them to get more fish
in their nets, to be freed from the law, or to not go to hell,
or to go to heaven, or to get something out of it, right? Verse
17, whole mess was there, wide variety of folks. Luke 5, 17,
and it came to pass on a certain day. This was a couple of days
after, a different day than those days the Lord had called the
fishermen, and those days he'd field the leper. This was a certain
day. Let me tell you a little secret. Today's a certain day. Today's a certain day. It came
to pass on a certain day as he was teaching, Mark told us he
was preaching the word, that there were Pharisees and doctors
of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of
Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was
to heal them. All these doctors came, and these
Pharisees came, and people that were fishermen, and maybe some
lepers, and those in need, and a whole wide variety of folks.
A hodgepodge was there, and the power of the Lord was present
to heal them. That's in italics. That means,
well, it was there if it had led them. No, take that out. It was
gonna heal them. His word, I want to have a ministry
of reconciliation. I would love it if I could preach
and tens of thousands of people every week. I had to get surgery
on my arm because I was baptizing so many folks. I would love that.
But if it's given to me to be a servant and to be faithful
to this word, it hits a mystery of condemnation. His word, it
ain't void. This ain't a labor that was for
nothing. It's so. This word's gonna go out, and
the power of the Lord was to heal them. That building was
packed, you couldn't even get in the entryway, and Christ was
teaching. He was preaching the word. Would I take notes? the God-man in human flesh. He doesn't just know all, he
is all. He chose that day to sit down, and this is his subject
and topic. Here's a proposition, I'm gonna
expound it to you. Exponentially, I'm gonna go through
the scriptures, experientially, this is the experience of all
believers, and evangelical, he's gonna call them to him. And he's
like, here's the message I come up with this week for you. Would
I pay attention to it? How would I treat it? Oh man,
would I hang on every word? I pray I would. I pray make me,
make me hang on every word. There were some believers in
that building, but there's a lot of scribes and Pharisees in that building.
And they came from all those surrounding towns, all the towns
from all over. And many of those scribes and
Pharisees, they were not there to be healed. They didn't show
up and be like, you know what? My back has been killing me.
I just, it shoots down this leg, or I had this cough for two months,
or, you know, I've had some real financial trouble lately, and
I need some good biblical advice. They weren't there for that.
They were there to question, to observe, to object, and to
hinder the master. And he got through preaching,
he said, well, have you ever thought about this? Have you ever thought about that?
He was patient and didn't kill one of them. But the power of
the Lord, out of parentheses, isn't there. The power of the
Lord was to heal them, and that's what's gonna happen, we'll see.
How are these scribes and Pharisees going to be healed? They're about
to witness the salvation of the Lord. They're gonna watch his
command with new eyes and a new heart. They're gonna watch one
of their brethren be saved, and say, I ain't no different than
that. That's me, that's me. He brought them there. Verse
18, and behold, men brought in a bed which was taken, men brought
in a bed, a man which was taken with the palsy. And they sought
means to bring him in and to lay him before him, before the
Lord. And when they could not find by what way they might bring
him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and
they let him down through the tiling with his couch into the
midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith,
He didn't see that man's faith on the mat, did he? He saw their
faith. And he said unto him, man, thy
sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees
began to reason, saying, they were reasoning, they were perceiving,
they were mulling this over in their heads. Who is this which
speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? That's the problem, isn't it?
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered, saying
unto them, What reason ye in your hearts, whether it's easier
to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and
walk? Rhetorical question. They didn't have to answer it
out loud. But that ye may know. You want to know. K-N-O-W, you're
gonna know that the Son of Man, capital S, hath power upon the
earth to forgive sins. He turned his head and he looked
to that man with the palsy on that mat that's lower down through
the ceiling. I saith unto thee, arise and take up thy couch and
go into thine house. And immediately, right then,
he rose up before them and he took up that whereon he lay and
departed into his own house, glorifying God. And they were,
A-double-L, all amazed. They were all amazed, and they
glorified God, and were filled with fear, and honor, and admiration,
saying, we have seen strange things today. Strange things. That Greek word there, strange
things, strange things is one word. It's the only place in
scripture it's recorded. It's paradox. Paradox we lose
use that real loose in our day, but this this this ain't that's
unheard of I Ain't never seen nothing like this now. I've been
I'm aged and I've been around the world and I ain't never seen
them Yes, I've been steeped in multiple types of Religion and
different Orthodoxies I never seen nothing like this That's
strange. This is new to me. It's a paradox.
It's new to us today. I pray it will be I What was
so strange? What was so impossible that came
to pass that our minds just can't get wrapped around? A sinner
was pardoned. What? That ought to be amazing. Is that amazing to us? It ought
to be. Some other things were amazing.
I find amazing. It was unusual, not paradoxical,
but it was unusual they came. Natural man has every excuse
not to come. I heard a guy say one time, can't
come cause my dog. He was teasing me. He's a faithful
man, a God. And his dog was dying. And then
I was joking with him. And you know what happened? He
showed up and I said, did your dog die? He goes, no, it's at the motel.
I'll probably put it down tomorrow. I did hear somebody say, cause
it's probably treating a child. That's called diapers. Get out
of here. But it's amazing. What was packed,
they can't get in. It's staying in room only and
you physically can't fit through the door. That's the best excuse
there is, isn't it? Well, I just can't do it. It's
a paradox that came anyway. Must be a need. Must be on a
mission. It was unusual they came through
the roof. That's not the normal means of ingress. That's not
the normal means of entry, is it? We walk through the door.
I know what that means. Would you cut and make it through
the door? I'll dig a hole. There's a need. That's paradoxical. They came no matter the opposition.
They came because they had to. It was unusual that Christ perceived
these men's thoughts. Wouldn't that be unusual? You
don't even say it out loud. You just think it. They said something
that was true. Only God can forgive sins. And
then he spoke to them on their thoughts. He sees the heart.
And it was unusual that that man was paralyzed. He came in
there paralyzed and he walked home. You think of the muscle
atrophy. That one fellow had been on that bed 38 years. Like,
if I sleep on my arm room for 38 minutes, I can't straighten
it out real fast. Much less get up and use it all the way to
home, you know. Legs asleep. That's paradox. That's a strange
thing. That's new. I've never seen nothing like
that. Those things are unusual, but sin was forgiven by God himself. I ought to captivate us, because
I have sin. That's all I am. That's me, the
noun, and I need saved. I need forgiven. If we're going
to marvel at the things of this world, we should marvel at the
salvation of sinners. That's an awe-inspiring paradox,
isn't it? This man was paralyzed, what's that symbolize? All of
mankind's paralyzed in sin. We can't do nothing. He could
not come to the Lord to be healed, just like we cannot. And he would
not, because we will not. He could not. That's what the
Lord said in John six, no man can come to me except the father
which has sent me draw him and I'll raise him up the last day.
How can we be drawn? There must be a means, a conduit,
by which we are drawn, and it's gonna have to be just. That prophet,
the weeping prophet wrote. I wonder how many people said,
Jeremiah, you just gotta have more faith. Probably punch him
in the head. The Lord hath appeared to me
unto old, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, because of that, because
of my love to you, With loving kindness have I drawn thee. Do
you know why that man was paralyzed his whole life? Because God loved
him. Do you know why that one man for 38 years couldn't get
up and do anything? He was given that because loving
kindness, physically in the body. loving kindness to draw him to
Christ. This helpless man had no strength in himself, and he
was drawn to Christ. How? He was brought. We looked
at the witnesses in the wagons. Has anything changed from Genesis
to here? Anything changed now? We are brought. We are brought. We are brought in the providence
The Lord's providence to the feet of Christ. There's a lot
of different stories. From the wagons of old, of Joseph,
to the saints here. This man was brought on a mat.
Four of his friends, each of them grabbed a corner, picked
him up, carried him, loaded him through a roof. The Lord did
the first one, the Lord did that one. I know a lot of different
stories of people now. That's why Henry used to say
the young ladies there at 13th Street was the best ambassadors
he'd ever seen, the best missionaries you've ever seen, bringing all
the boys in. Some people come because they're
dating a boy or a girl. Some people come because their
parents command them, because they command their house, they
believe God. and others come because of a friend, or a funeral,
or who knows what, I don't know what the means are. I'll tell
you what didn't happen. They did not find the gospel
and then find the preacher that happened to be preaching what
they already believed. That did not happen. God doesn't save
that way. They were brought in His providence,
in His power, in His wisdom, in His understanding. Not the
other way around. We're brought in providence.
We should encourage And believers do. Believers do. We should encourage
our loved ones and our friends and our neighbors to come hear
of Christ. We absolutely should, if we love
them. Now, now's where the rubber's
gonna meet the rope. People want it in shoe leather. Oh, I just
love all so-and-so. In word, I love my children. They're gonna be where the gospel
is. I don't care if they like me or not. They don't have to
like it. They're gonna be where I command them. I have to, because
I love him. I put that love in action. You
know why? The Lord loved us, and he put that love in action.
He sent his only begotten son to be a propitiation. Kill him,
be a bloody accepted sacrifice for us. What's my reasonable
service? If I value my own soul, and the
Lord saved me, and I truly love someone else, I will rip a roof
off a house to get them to where Christ is. Well, if they don't
like it, they might die and go to hell for eternity. If I care
for them, I'll act on it. Love does, it does. We are motivated
by the love of God that first loved us. And when we see what
a great and mighty savior, willing to pardon, delights to show mercy,
and not just that something that's on a piece of paper, mark that
we've experienced it. When we experience it, we tell
people about it. You can't keep from it. I could
talk about ice makers all day long, but Lord's going to come
out because he's in all my thoughts. I have a new creation in me.
I'm going to think about him at work. I'm going to think about
him when I'm pumping gas. I'm going to think about him
when I'm buying groceries. Because he's all. I ain't going to have homeowner's
insurance next year. I can't afford it. It's tripled last
year. It's doubled this year. I hope
y'alls don't double. I've been almost a full-time
job. I've neglected studying this week to try to find, because
I got to be Mr. Mom too, to try to find affordable
homeowners insurance. And I mean, I'm going to be an
insurance expert by the end of this. I've read law. I've done
all kinds. I'm good at research. Army taught
me well. If I find something, I told you the other day, if
I find a loophole, I'll tell you. If I found, like, buddy, I'll tell
you what, we can have fire insurance for a hundred bucks. You think
I'm gonna tell you? You think I'd call you? Well,
I'm your friend. I care for you. I'd call you,
wouldn't I? I'd let you know. I'd tell you them things. I'd call
everybody. I'd be handing out business cards.
They wouldn't even have to put me on the payroll. I'd be like,
hey, call this fella. Call them. They got it. Why don't I do the
same with the gospel? Why don't I, me, do the same
with a gospel? I wished I could. I wish the
Lord would give me the power to do that and proclaim him and
his work throughout this county. I wish he would. I wish he'd
give me employees. I wish I could make him employees,
come and do whatever I can. Be like, Dad, I'll put them all
on a payroll, pay you eight hours to come. Give me that. I want that. I don't want to
be a coward. Well, this man who was unable,
just like me, I enter into that, you enter into that, are you
unable? I won't and I can't and everything, however you cut it,
he's gonna have to do it. I just can't figure it out on
my own and then find the truth. He's gonna have to drag me, paralytic
to him. Well, this man was brought by
four. This is the work of the church.
This is what true believers do. They were sitting there one day,
these four, They might have been having breakfast together, because
they were a family, they mingled together. They went out to eat
together. And they said, you know what? The Lord's coming.
Master's coming to town. And old Ralph over there, that
poor fellow, he's paralyzed, but he's paralyzed in sin. He
don't even know it. He thinks everything he's doing
is good. He thinks handing out Bibles and singing gospel hymns
and all this other junk is saving him. And he ain't. He's going
to die and go to hell. But I care for him. to care for him, just
like that righteous man that regarded the life of his beast.
I was a beast, Lord saved me. I care for that beast. I like
him. He's my buddy. I have friends,
I tell them, I say, you want bread, you go to it. Go to where
it's handed out. Don't go to France, you go to
Egypt. Go to where there's corn. They're
probably sitting around talking, they said, the master's coming,
and buddy, I tell you what, if we could just, he needs mercy,
don't even have enough sense to know he needs it. If we could
just get him to where Christ is, he's going to be preaching.
He's going to be preaching. God might save him. He ain't
going to save him on his bed at the house. You get that? The
Lord ain't going to funnel through Zoom or smoke signals to save
that man. He's going to have to be where
the word's preached. We're gonna get him there, I care for him.
And I ain't gonna talk about doing it, I'm gonna do it. I
ain't gonna try to do it, I'm gonna do it. I ain't gonna wish
somebody else would do it. Pick up that corner, we're going.
That's four of them. That's our job, that's what we
do, isn't it? If we value our souls and we love those around
us, in truth, not in word, kicking or screaming, I don't care, you
need to come. Come church with me. Come hear about a man. Come
on, you're in need, you don't even know, that's all right,
come on. You ain't gotta get no better. He didn't have to
get to where he could move a pinky finger, and he didn't have to
do anything else, just come. Come. You need mercy, that's a person.
You need eternal life, that's a person, and that's where we're
gonna touch. Like that woman with the issue bluff, I can just touch him.
That's God. I'm gonna touch him. Well, you're
gonna get stepped on. Oh, well. You'll get kicked.
People's gonna make fun of you the whole way there. I don't
care. I'm gonna touch him. I wish they wouldn't. I wish they'd
come with me. Wish they'd touch him, too. And four friends. That's a good buddy, isn't it?
We'll take a roof off that place. I'll do anything I can to get
you underneath the sound of the gospel, because I care for your soul. You reckon that he was mad at
him? He might have. He might've looked at them four
and said, what was you thinking telling them to come down here
and get me? Who do you think you are? You mind your own business.
I'll tell you what, whenever he got up and walked home, I'll
tell you what he did and say, thank you, brother. Thank you. I love you. Oh, I'm thankful the Lord used
you because he saved me. Wasn't saved before. I was dead.
Now I'm alive. I would say that's an especially
good friend, isn't it? Wouldn't you? Solomon said, the
man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there is
a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. What was Solomon
talking about? Over in John 15, the Lord said,
I have many things I've spoken to you that my joy might remain
in you and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment.
Let's turn and look at John 15, we're close. Just one book over,
John 15. There in verse 11. John 15, 11. He said, these things I've spoken
unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy It's
my joy that's remaining and you might be full. This is my commandment
that you love one another as I have loved you." We have to
know his love before we know what love is. If we love someone,
we're friends with them, ain't we? Verse 13, greater love hath
no man in this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends. What a thought
that is. You are my friends, if you do
whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, but I have called
you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my father I have made known unto you. Our Lord picked his
friends. Sometimes we don't really get
to pick friends, do they? They just kind of show up and they hang around,
won't go away. Family. You can't pick your family. You can pick your friends. Some
people say you can pick your friends, you can't pick your family. The Lord picked
his friends and he picked his family. What a motley crew he
picked them from. This one anyway. He said, You've
not chosen me. You wouldn't and you couldn't.
But I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth
and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. That
whatsoever you ask of my father in my name, he may give it to
you. What fruits that, Lord? These things I command you, that
you love one another. Loves the fruit. That's what manifests. These
are friends that love this paralyzed man greatly. And they each had
a corner of that dirt. Just think of what that smelled
like. That mat. Especially back then, they didn't
have Maytag washers. That thing stunk, didn't it? Go to these
big cities and just open the door up to a bus and go downtown.
It smells bad. It don't smell good. It was worse
then. We got it made now. He was on
that bed. And he couldn't move, but he
was comfortable because that was his bed. And he found comfort
in it. And then each one of them grabbed
a corner and they securely carried him through all the trouble and
all the trial and all the opposition to the feet of Christ. That come
at a great cost, didn't it? Our salvation come at a great
personal cost to Christ. He laid down his life for the
sheep. And the corners of that resting place, the corners of
the place we were found and that we enjoyed so much, our filthy
bed of death and sin, were on that and were carried to our
greatest friend that laid down his life. That forgives sins. We touched on this years ago,
but those four corners, I thought of those four things needed.
One thing needful, but manifesting the one thing needful. God the
Father had to choose us. That's what our Lord said there
in John 15. Chose you. You wouldn't choose me, I chose
you. The Father chose a people and put them in his Son before
the world was. Another corner, Christ, the son of man, the Messiah,
he came to the sinful earth and he bore our shame and our guilt
and our nastiness, all in filthy thoughts of goodness we thought
was good. And he bore our punishment, divine punishment, in his body
on a tree. And then third, the Holy Spirit
came. God, the Holy Ghost, abounded
towards us. While we were yet in our sins
and we was playing church and he said, you're the man, you're
guilty, you're sin. I convicted us of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment. Pretty good. What we get after
that? Now there's one more corner right there. Intercession. We're interceded for. He's on
the right hand of his father making intercession for us forever.
Good blanket to be on if he's put it, huh? What a thought. God's holy high
command, he saves his people completely, and the work's done,
and he alone gets all the glory for it, period. Christ is mighty
to forgive. The friends knew that, in the
body, physically. When the Lord sees the faith
of those friends, of himself, he says, I see Christ's faithfulness.
No sin. Go home. That's what that's showing
spiritually. But physically, this took place. Those four buddies
that had another friend, the Lord worked in them. And they
said, he forgives sin. And my friend, he needs his sin
forgiven. The unable man was brought by his friends and they
could not get through the door. And so by much effort, they got
him there. You just imagine carrying so much paralyzed up a ladder
onto a roof. I won't carry some paralyzed,
but let's stand up, shake it out, okay? In your nose, out
your mouth. Let's wake up and get ahold, think about it. Think
about it. This guy's paralyzed. You had to get him on a roof.
And then you got to take the tiles off. They tore the roof
off. They ripped it all to pieces. And then you got to lower it.
Wouldn't you be nervous lowering him? Probably rope tied. Did I tie it not good
enough? Oh, I like you. Hold on, buddy. You need this. I don't want to land him on his
head. Just the physical going through it. That's hard, isn't
it? There's strife. There's effort that's put into
it. They might have been mocked the whole way. Y'all crazy. What
are you doing on that roof? You gonna fall off and get hurt?
They might have had to take the long way. Didn't matter. They
were long suffering for a friend because they loved him and they
knew the value of their own souls and the value of his soul. I
thought of this too, they were late to services. Lord taught
Freddie preaching and he blessed them anyway. That does not give
us an excuse to be late or show up to services in nick of time.
But in spite of themselves, he blessed it. Wagner texts are
in Luke 5, 19. Luke 5, verse 19. Says, and when they could not
find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling
with his couch into the midst of before Jesus. And when he
saw their faith, those four that carried him, he saw their faith,
he said unto him, man, thy sins are forgiven thee. We have faith
in Christ. When we have that, our sins are
forgiven. When we're unable, we find him only to be able.
When we see our unworthiness, just like we did last hour, we
ain't worth nothing, we see his ability to buy, he's worth all.
When all around us fails, when the money fails, the horses fails,
ourself, our land, everything fails, his promises never fail. And I know that. That's what
my friend called me and he said, well, he said, you're my spiritual
advisor. Oh, what a terrible thing. I wish you'd know better
than that. He said, if man's gonna go to church, where ought
I go? And immediately I had his address. I punched in the closest
place I thought on a map it was, and it was like a 45 minutes
away. That ain't nothing. And I said, God's got a prophet right
there. He speaks to his people through an earthen vessel that
ain't no different than us. And so he gets it. And he ain't gonna
think nothing less of you or nothing else. You go there. I
don't care if there's a toll, send a bill to me, I'll pay the
toll. You get there. That's where God's gonna speak
to his people and nowhere else. Go. The faith of a friend was seen
and that man was healed. Where does our healing faith
come from? Christ, our substitute, he's gave us that. Lord, if you
save me, you can save anybody. And our prayer, save my children,
save my friends, save my spouse. Lord, save them. Him living and
abiding in us, that new man is a righteous man. And James said,
we confess our faults to one another. Not all the stuff we
know, all the stuff we don't know. Not that we're sitting
down, here's a list of things I sinned this week. No, I'm a
sinner. Tell the truth. And we pray for one another.
He said, that you may be healed because the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Lord's heard me before,
maybe he'll hear me this time, I'm asking. What about you? We have his faith not our own,
that's a gift God gave, the faith of Christ. And the father looked
at the faith of Christ and he said, I'm well pleased. And since
the elect are given the faith of Christ, the father looks at
those Christ represented on that cross and he says, well done,
well done. Notice two, Christ heals the
worst infirmity first. He said, your sins are forgiven.
Your sins are forgiven. He saw their faith and he forgave
sins. What was it? Were they trying
to get their buddy to quit being a paralytic? They knew. No, I'd be nice. I'd be great. I wish you'd never
get sick again, buddy. Uh, but we need a heart worked on. That's
the need. And the Lord did that first.
His thoughts aren't our thoughts. What we say, we got to get him
good in the body to get him there. He said, your sins are forgiven.
That's my experience. Things in my life were not pleasant
and they're not now. But those exact things that were
not pleasant is what was used to bring me, to lower me, to
bring me down to the feet of Christ for him to save me. And
that's good. That's good. Do you think that
this man ever regretted being paralyzed his whole life? You
think he regretted it? He was grateful. He was great. You think he regretted his friends
bringing him? Like I said before, no, he's supposed to thank you,
brother, bless you. Probably cursed him the whole way there
and thanked him the whole way home. If you take mankind out of it
and salvation to the Lord, some hard ground, like we looked at
those grounds of the night, gets a little snarky, but the Lord's
still faithful to those two. Verse 21, and the scribes and
the Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? The Pharisees spoke truth. It's
in their heart. They did. They said, it's true,
isn't it? Who can forgive sins but God alone? That's it. Do
you see that? What came out of their mouths was absolutely right.
Who can forgive sins but God alone? But just because they
said something that's true doesn't mean they know Christ the truth.
They did not believe Christ. He's God. That's who he is. Did they love their brethren?
That's this great, this fella, he ain't a sinner no more. God
saved him. He has eternal life in him and
he's never going to perish. This is wonderful. Did they sing
like the saints in heaven when a sinner was called to repentance?
No, they questioned it, didn't they? Still fighting. But when
Jesus perceived their thoughts, verse 22, he answered and sang
unto them, what reason ye in your hearts? Whether it's easier
to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and
walk. We do not glory in the sinner that chooses God, we glory
in the God that chooses sinners. But when sin's forgiven, there's
something that happens. That's so. The Lord don't save them
when they go off into a monastery and hide. They don't go up in
their cave up on a hill and don't come down no more. They don't.
When the spirit quickens us, that body of sin's still present,
but some things change. We're still on that stinky old
map. We'll see in a second. Our attitude changes. God's got a
new heart in us. Our praise changes. What we used
to praise and who we used to praise changes. It ain't just
that preacher that used to be so wonderful, it's God that sent
that preacher. Do you see the difference? And our walk in this world changes.
Look at verse 24. But that ye may know, to those
scribes and Pharisees that question God in their hearts right there
looking at God, but that ye may know, look at the mercies, that
the Son of Man hath power upon the earth to forgive sins. I'm
gonna show you something. He said unto the sick of the
palsy, I say unto thee, rise, take up thy couch, and go into
thy house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took
up that whereon he lay, and departed into his own house, glorifying
God. That man, the main illness of
sin was taken care of, it was forgiven. Now, to show these
scribes in attendance, and these Pharisees in attendance, and
these lawyers and doctors, to allow them to see the salvation
of the Lord, that he is God. He is who he says he is. This
man was physically healed. He said, you're an adulterous
and evaporous generation. You're seeking signs and wonders.
And Thomas said, I want to see a sign. I ain't going to believe
unless I touch a sign. He said, come here, buddy. Put
your hand right here. That's something called sonship,
isn't it? These Pharisees said, who can forgive sin but God?
He said, hide and watch me. me. You're going to know it.
You're going to know he's God. That main illness of sin is taken
care of. Now they see him. The word of God proclaimed. Christ
spoke effectually in the heart of that paralyzed man, forgave
his sin, and then he spoke effectually in the body of that man and made
him get up to show his power and walk out of that place. just
to show who he was. To the chosen people of God,
Christ will make himself known. There's that crazy off the wall
stuff. Well, if the Lord saves somebody, elect them, they don't
ever have to hear him. They don't ever have to go to a church building.
They don't ever have to open a Bible and know who Christ is.
No, they're going to know. He's going to teach them. He
will. And like that blind man in John 8, somebody said one
time, well, the Lord came to him after and said, how'd you
get your sight, buddy? And he didn't bow to him, he
didn't know that was the Lord. Could you pick the Lord out of
a line of 10 people? What if your salvation was dependent
on that? To know what he physically looked like? How's your hat hanging
in on that day? We're gonna need him. He's gonna
have to do it. He's about to reveal himself
and make that known. And by saying that, he's already
made himself known to us, isn't he? We're gonna see him face
to face one day. I'm gonna know what he looks like. I won't be looking
at no lineup, I'll be looking at him. See just him. Christ will make himself known
to his people and draw them to him. He will reveal himself in
that man or woman and he's gonna break their stony heart and there's
gonna be a new creation in that place and they're gonna know
that he's Christ and he's the Lord, he's the king, he's the
master. not just some dude named Jesus. You watch who you're talking
about, that's the master, that's the king, my king. Some may be
carrying someone to church, someone may be lowering through a roof,
or some might just be sitting and listening, and some might
be fighting and questioning every word, but God meets us where
we are, and he reveals our weakness and our need of him, and he reveals
his power in all things. And we say with Peter, thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. When he speaks with power
and affection in the heart of his children, we're given strength
to get up and walk through this world, serving him and worshiping
our master. We do. But just like this man,
we still carry that old bed with us. That ain't changed. I still
got an old stinky mat that goes right everywhere I go. Old stinky
mattress. And I'm dragging it around until
I go to land of Goshen. He calls me home. The people
who know Christ, they glorify him alone. Look here in verse
26, I'll close. And they were all amazed. That's the Pharisees
and those doctors of the law. You reckon they, whenever they
got, they were amazed at Christ and they just glorified him alone.
And they went outside and they was like, Hey Ralph. He said,
you call me Dr. Ralph. I don't think so. I'm president
Ralph. I'm elder so-and-so. No, you
ain't. You're a nobody. Me too. And they were all amazed,
and they glorified God, and they were filled with fear for the
first time. That's the beginning of wisdom.
They just started getting smart. What Bill Keith used to tell
us when he was laying in block, he said, now you're getting smart. This is
getting smart. They were filled with fear, saying,
we've seen strange things today. I've seen something I hadn't
even thought how this is going to be. How can a man be just
with God? Him, he's it, isn't he? Are you amazed at that? Are
you amazed that they brought their friend, that they came
in through a roof against all opposition, that the Lord put
that in their hearts to do it, that he forgives sin, he delights
to show mercy, even to them old knucklehead Pharisees and everybody
else that's there, all alike, it wasn't no difference. Oh,
are you amazed that we know to glory in him now? That's a gift. That's a gift, isn't it? When
you're made to see the salvation of sinners as a person, and the
finished work of Christ alone, that's just an amazing thing
and a paradox. I ain't never seen nothing like
it. We ain't gonna see nothing like it again. The greatest thing
that would ever come across their ears, he saved sinners like me,
and he's worthy of all glory and praise. We praise him too,
don't we? All right, Brother Mike.