Alright brethren, if you will,
open your Bibles to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5. In the beginning of Luke, chapter
3, there Christ was baptized. Chapter 4, He was tempted in
the wilderness. He cast out unclean spirits.
Sick were healed, devils were cast out. And then he began to
call his first disciples. And he talked to Simon and spoke
to James and John, his partners. He said, he threw that net over
the side of the boat. And they had so many fish, broke
the net. He said, you're going to follow
me. I'm going to make you fishers of men. And it was effectual. They followed him. They straightway
left the boat. And he cleansed the leper. Here
in Luke chapter 5 and verse 12. says, And it came to pass, and
he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing
Jesus fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and
touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the
leprosy departed from him, and he charged him, charged him to
tell no man but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy
cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto
them. So much the more went there a
fame abroad of him and great multitudes came together to hear
and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew
himself to the wilderness and prayed. Word had gone out, Christ
had healed this man with leprosy. At the time, that's an incurable
disease. An incurable disease. And Moses
had a commandment as to what was to happen when someone was
cured of leprosy. What that offering was to be
brought to the priest in the temple. Can you imagine us? The Lord has a commandment, whenever
AIDS is cured, when cancer is cured, you're going to bring
two turtle doves, you're going to do this, you're going to do
that. Okay, that ain't never going to happen. His family was
cured, wasn't he? Cured. And it was a testimony
unto them, unto those priests in that temple. Look what the
Lord's done. Salvation's of the Lord. But
this word had gone out, this leper had been healed, and fame
went abroad. This word started traveling. This man talked to these men,
these fishers, and they was busting nets. He was telling them where
to fish. And then he cleansed this leper and all these things
started happening. And word got around and multitudes
came to Christ to hear Him and have their illnesses healed.
They came to Him. Now, this sets the stage for
what we're going to look at tonight. These multitudes are gathering.
It says there in Luke 5.17, And it came to pass on a certain
day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors
of the law setting by. These scribes were setting with
him, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and
Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was
present to heal them. You can take that word present
out. It's in italics and you can read
that as the power of the Lord was to heal them. We're going
to see that happen today. Now, this paralytic man we're
going to look at, his healing was recorded in Mark chapter
2 and in Matthew chapter 9. And Mark tells us, in his account
of it, that that building was so packed you couldn't even hardly
see through the door. The doorway, entryway, was blocked. It was out the door. They were
a packed house. And he also says that Christ
was preaching the word to them. Says here He was teaching them.
He was preaching to them. Wouldn't that be something? Could
you imagine if Christ was here tonight preaching to us? You
think we'd have a packed house? I pray He's here preaching to
us tonight. But there were a lot of scribes and Pharisees in this
building. They came out of all those surrounding
towns, all of them, and it was a packed house. That's who he
was speaking to. Now, many of these Pharisees and scribes,
they were about to be healed. They didn't know it. They were
about to be healed. It's highly doubtful that they
were there to get their hurt back fixed, that they were there
for a broken elbow, a broken bone, They were there to question
our Lord. They were there to observe Him,
to watch and see what He does, what day does He do it on. They
were there to object to Him. Anything come out of His mouth,
object to it. They were there to hinder Him.
But it says there that the power of the Lord was to heal them.
Now here these scribes and Pharisees are going to be healed. How are
they going to be healed? They're about to witness the salvation
of the Lord. They're about to be shown. One
thing to learn something, another thing to know it. They're about
to know it. Look here in verse 18, And behold,
men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they
sought means to bring him in, to lay him before him. This man
was paralyzed. And we don't know if he was a
quadriplegic or a paraplegic, but he couldn't move and he lived
on a bed. They had to carry him around.
He couldn't get up and walk for himself. Verse 19. 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 before Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said unto them, Man, thy sins
are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees
began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? And Jesus said, I'm about to
show you. Verse 22, But when Jesus perceived
their thoughts, He answered, answering said unto them, What
reason ye in your hearts, whether it is easier to say, Thy sins
be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk? Which one's
easier? For me to just say their sin is forgiven or make this
man get up out of that bed and walk? Which do you think is easier?
Verse 24, But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power
upon earth to forgive sins. And then he looked at the man
with the palsy, and he says, I say unto thee, arise, take
up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose
up before them and took up that whereon he lay, took his bed
with him, and he departed into his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed. And they glorified God. And they
were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today. That's the only place in Scripture
that strange things is listed. And that's one word in the Greek. It means paradox. We've seen
a paradox today. What was so strange about it?
What was the paradox? What seemed impossible to these
men? There was a sinner pardoned today. That was the true miracle. Yes,
it was unusual that they came through that roof. That was strange.
It was unusual that Christ perceived their thoughts. That was strange. It was very unusual that a paralyzed
man that they all probably knew, or the local people knew, he
stood for the first time, grabbed up his bed, he walked home. That
was very strange. But, sin was forgiven by God
Himself. That's something to be amazed
at. If we're going to marvel at something in this world, we
should marvel at the salvation of sinners. Isn't that something
that inspires awe? Salvation in Christ is truly
something that is awesome. I use that word too much. Whatever
I say, oh that's awesome. That doesn't inspire awe. Christ
saving sinners, that's something that inspires awe. That's a paradox. That's a strange thing to us.
But all of mankind, just like this man lowered through that
roof, were paralyzed in sin. Every one of us, we're born that
way. Just like this man on his couch, we're unable to approach
that great physician. We cannot come to God on our
own. Our great disease is sin. We're
paralyzed and moving from our deathbed. And what kills us?
We're stuck there. In John 6, verse 44, Christ told
him, No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me.
Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Unless the
Father draws us, we can't come to Him. How can we be drawn?
We're taught of God. He goes on to say that in John
6. We're brought to hear the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ by that mighty and unshakable hand of God. He brings us. The prophet Jeremiah
wrote, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, because he loved us. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. This helpless man with no strength
in himself was drawn to Christ. He was brought to Christ. We're
brought to Christ in His providence. Our Lord uses the daily providence
in our lives to bring us to hear of Christ. Isn't that so? Some
are born to parents who know the Lord. Others are married
to someone who knows the Lord. Some were driving by one day
and they decided to just stop in and check it out. Some were
invited by a co-worker, some were invited by a friend, some
were invited by a relative. But the Lord's providence in
each way brought us to hear this gospel. Some were trying to rob
a bank. I told one of the men that day,
I hope I didn't tell this from the pulpit. If not, act like I didn't say
it. But years ago, there was one clock in town, and that clock
was in the church. And there was a man there, and
there was a faithful gospel preacher in this church. He was telling
the truth about Christ, truth about God, truth about man. And
there's some men going to rob the bank. And one of the getaway
guys, he had to see what time it was so he could tell them
when to go into the bank. The sheriff would be on break or
something. So he's sitting in the window. They didn't have
air conditioning. Had all the windows open. He was sitting in the window
and he's watching that clock. He had to wait until it struck
a certain hour. And while he was waiting, he'd
listen a little bit and he'd go back to watching the clock. And the
next thing he knows, the Lord used that. Him there to rob a
bank, it taught him the gospel. Taught him the truth. Should
we encourage our loved ones, our friends and our neighbors
to come hear about our Savior? Absolutely. We should. We should make every effort to
bring eternity bound men and women to hear the person and
the work of our Redeemer. We should make that effort. But
our motivation is not for gain. Our motivation is not for our
merit and it's not for our reward. We are motivated by the love
God has first loved us with. We're driven by that forgiveness
found in Christ alone. And when we see what a great
and mighty Savior Christ is, we experience it, then we tell
people about it. Why? Because He's in all of our
thoughts. He's on our mind throughout the day when He reveals Himself
to us. If they was giving away free
hot dogs down at Albertsons, I would text every one of you.
Hey, they're giving away free hot dogs. I'm eager to share
that. Some of you all text when gas
prices are low. Oh, it's real cheap here today.
Tell people about it. Share the good news with them,
don't we? Eager to. Why don't I do that with the
gospel? Why don't I go to... What's such better news? I pray the Lord be with me when
there's times like that. But this paralytic man, just
like us, unable, sick, on a deathbed. He was brought by four. He was
carried. In our paralysis that's our sin
nature, we cannot and will not come to Christ. Through much
effort and personal sacrifice, we are brought to Christ by four
friends. I would say that these are exceptionally
good friends, wouldn't you? This verse is used horribly,
and that's true blasphemy, that you've got to get out and bring
more numbers, and bring more people to church, get more people
baptized. It's not what these friends are
doing. We do that out of a heart of love, out of our pure motivation,
out of that pure mind that we're given. But these four friends
that brought this man were true friends. Proverbs 18.24 says,
A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Turn over to
John 15. Who is Solomon talking about
there in Proverbs? John 15, look in verse 9. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye
keep my commandments, ye shall abide in love, even as I have
kept my Father's commandment and abide in His love. These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that
ye love one another as I have loved you. If we love someone,
we're friends with them, aren't we? It's what we've been looking
at Sunday mornings in 1 John. Believe on Christ, love your
brethren. If I believe on Christ and I love somebody that loves
the same God I have, I'm pretty friendly with them. I'm friends
with them. Look here at verse 13. John 15,
13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends. Thanks be to God, verse 14. Ye
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. That ye have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go forth
and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that
whatsoever ye shall ask of my Father in my name, he may give
it to you. These things I command you that you love one another."
What am I getting at? I started out with them four
friends carrying that man on a bed, didn't I? There are four
friends that love this paralyzed man greatly. They each hold a
corner of that dirty, smelly bed that he finds comfort in.
He then is securely carried through much trouble and much trial and
he's brought to the feet of Christ. Our salvation came at great personal
cost of Christ. He died on a cross. He laid down
his life for his sheep. But the corners of our resting
place, this filthy bed of sin and death that we live in, are
carried by our greatest of friends. The first corner, God the Father
chose a people before the foundation of the earth and put them in
Christ. He elected a people and he elected Christ as their elder
brother. He said, you're my first chosen.
The second corner, Christ as the son of man came to this sinful
earth and bore shame and divine punishment in our place. He bore all the wrath of God.
At third corner, God the Holy Spirit comes to us. Comes those
that Christ died for. He convicts us of sin and then
that great comforter gives us assurance that everything that
Christ has done satisfied the Father and it's complete. We
can rest in Him and we can rest there forever. Nothing's going
to change it. And that fourth corner is Christ
as the victorious Son of God. Seated at the right hand of the
Father, ruling and reigning and constantly making intercession
for us. It's perfect and it's secure all the way around. God's
holy high command saves his people thoroughly and completely. The
work is done by God alone and we will see shortly, here in
a minute, all praise for that, for a sinner being saved and
made whole goes to God alone. He receives all the glory. He
receives all the praise for it. Now Christ is mighty to forgive
sin. This unable man was brought by
his friends, and they could not get in the door. But the way
was made through much effort. They climbed up a roof, coming
through the ceiling tiles. Imagine carrying a crippled man
up a ladder onto a roof, a dead weight. Can't help himself, can't
assist. If I had to do that, I'd be scared
carrying him, and I'd be real scared if I was getting carried.
I wouldn't be happy about either side of that. Then they lowered
him down. That would be frightful for the
person laying there helpless. They went on the roof, took off
the tiles, and lowered him down to cross feet. They're on verse
19, Luke 5, 19. 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 led Him down through the
tiling with His couch into the midst before Jesus. And when
He saw their faith, He said unto them, Man, thy sins are forgiven
thee. When we have faith in Christ,
our sins are forgiven. When we were unable, we find
Him able. When we see our unworthiness,
we find Christ to be all worthy. When we see the chains of the
law that we were born under and bound to have been loosed, we've
been freed from that. We see that liberty that's in
our Master, our true liberty. Faith of the friends was seen. Christ saw the faith of the friends
and the man was healed. Where does our healing faith
come from? Christ our substitute. We have His faith, not our own. It's ours because He's given
it to us, but it's His. He's the originator of it. That
gift of faith comes from God and it's the faith of Christ.
And the Father looked at the faith of Christ and He said,
I am well pleased. And since the elect are given
the faith of Christ, the Father looks at those that Christ represented
on the cross. And he says, well done, my good
and faithful servant. Wonderful job. Notice too there that Christ
heals the worst infirmity first. He heals the most dangerous thing
to us first. Then he heals the physical infirmity. Imagine a man that's paralyzed
hanging through this ceiling. This drop ceiling got moved over
and all of a sudden somebody started coming out of the ceiling.
Somebody's paralyzed, hurt, wounded, dirty, about to die. What would we do? my medical background would kick
in and I'd start splinting wounded legs and probably get a c-collar
on him and patch his wounds up, clean him off, and make sure
physically he was okay. Make sure he's breathing, clear
his airway. And then once everything's okay, then we can preach to him
some. But my instinct would be to, oh, stop the bleeding, you
know. Find what's wrong and fix it first. God's thoughts are not our thoughts.
His ways are not our ways. The most debilitating and deadly
thing in that man wasn't that he was paralyzed, that he was
a sinner. That was the eternally deadly
disease that he had. Our loving master addresses that
first and foremost and he says to his sheep, your sins are forgiven. That is my experience. There were things in my life
that were not pleasant when the Lord saved me. But those exact
things were used to lower my heart through that roof of the
law and set me firmly at the feet of Christ. He brought me to that salvation.
You think I regret those things? You think that paralyzed man
regrets being paralyzed? Well, if you could have done
this now, why didn't you do it 30 years ago? He brought him right to Christ.
That was perfect, wasn't it? His providence was perfect. His
life was perfect. Everything that happened after
that day, everything that happened after was perfect. When Christ
held that impotent man by the pool in John 5, that man had
been unable to walk and to get down in waters and clean himself
for 38 years. 38 years, he said. But then he met God and his sins
were forgiven. And then he was given the ability
to walk. Is that worth it? If we had eternal life in Christ
and I had to not walk for 38 years, is that worth it? That puts into perspective what
we have to have to hear that gospel, don't it? Many people get angry if you
say that salvation is found in the grace of Christ only. That
His Word saves and not our words. That His works is what saves
people and not our works. Not man's works. Look there in
Luke 5 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? But when Jesus perceived
their thoughts, he answering, said unto them, What reason ye
in your hearts, whether it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, Rise up and walk? These Pharisees spoke truth
in their hearts. Did you catch that? They spoke truth. What came out
of their mouths, out of their hearts, was absolutely right. They said, who can forgive sins
but God alone? Just because they said something
true does not mean that they know the truth. They did not
believe on Christ. Did they love their brethren? Did they sing like the saints
in heaven when a sinner is called? No, they questioned it. What's
he doing? What day is it? Is it Sabbath?
Write this down. Watch everything he does. They're
questioning, wondering. Luke 15, 7 says, I will say unto
you, Christ is speaking, I will say unto you that likewise joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over
ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. The
heavens sing whenever one of God's saints come to knowledge
of Christ. And I have that privilege of speaking to someone that's
recently heard the gospel. My heart overflows. I have joy
for them, what's been done for them, and I have joy that my
God was pleased to save another saint in His infinite mercy.
What praise! What excitement! What a wonderful
and blessed thing. I rarely have true joy I'm happy
if somebody gets something. You got a new truck? Oh, that's
nice looking. I'm happy for you. I kind of want me a new truck
too, don't I? It's rare for me to be genuinely
and truly happy for somebody. But that new nature given to
us. Oh, we got a new brother. That's like a new baby brother
or baby sister being born. Yay! Celebrate! Bring out the
good one. It's a wonderful blessing. We
do not glory in the sinner that chooses God. We glory in God
that chooses the sinner. What a celebration it is. But
when sin is forgiven, there's something that happens. We are
not converted in the heart and then we stop sinning. We don't
stop sinning just because the Lord converts us, but there is
a change. People ask me several times what would happen as soon
as my ordination service was over, when I was flying out here
in December. They say, what's going to happen
afterwards? I say, oh, it's wonderful. I'll never cuss again. Really? No. I'll never be able to drink alcohol
again. I'll just throw up if I smell it. No, it ain't. I still walk
in this body. We'll see that here in a minute.
But when the Spirit quickens us, this body of sin is still
present. It's still with us, but our attitude
changes. Our praises change. Who we praise
changes. And our walk in this world changes.
It's different. We have a different master. We're
not mastered by sin anymore, we're mastered by Christ. Look
here in Luke 5, 24. But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power upon the earth to forgive us, he said
unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise, take up thy
couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. That primary illness of sin was
taken care of. It was forgiven. Now, to show
these scribes and Pharisees that were attending there, that were
listening to him preach, to allow them to see the salvation of
the Lord, this man was physically healed. The Lord showed him.
With the Word of God proclaimed, Christ spoke effectually in the
heart of his precious saint that was there. that paralyzed man
and he forgave sin. Now Christ speaks effectually
into the body and that man is physically healed. This was to
show the power and might of Christ the God-man to these people.
And the hearts of those religious men listening to the Master preach,
they assume that saying your sins are forgiven is much easier
than actually curing a physically disabled person. But Christ said
to these men sitting here, but that ye may know that the Son
of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. To the chosen
people of God, Christ will make himself known. He will reveal
Himself to a man or woman, and He will break that stony heart,
and that new creation placed in them will know that Christ
is God. Will know Him. Some may be carrying
someone to church. Some people may be being lowered
through a roof. Some may be sitting and listening.
Some may be fighting and questioning every word. But God meets us
where we are, He reveals our weakness, and He reveals His
strength and power in all things, wherever we are. If we're kicking
and screaming, if we think we're doing right, no matter where
we are, the Lord meets us where we are. He comes to us, and He
saves us. And then we say with Peter there
in Matthew 16, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. When
the Master speaks with power and efficacy in the hearts of
His children, we are given strength to walk in this world, serving
and worshiping our Master. But we still carry that old couch. That old, dirty, smelly, filthy
couch. That bed we was laying on. He
didn't leave it there, did He? He said, take that with you.
You're going to have to pack that thing around for a while,
until you're out of this world. We have to carry that with us.
But people who know God, who know Christ, they glorify Him
alone. Look there in verse 26. And they were all amazed. What
an amazing thing. And they glorified God and were
filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today. We've seen something unexplainable. We've seen a paradox today. What
a miracle we've seen. Are you amazed at the Lord saving
His people? Do you glory in God alone and
not in anything to do with man? Glorifying Christ alone? Are
you filled with honor, adoration, and fear to Christ the living
God? When you're made to see the salvation
of sinners in the person and work of Christ alone, is that
a paradox to you? Is that amazing to you? Is that
special to you? I pray it is. I pray the Lord
comes in His people's hearts and breaks them and lets them
see they're crippled and that He brought them to Himself and
He saves them and He says, take up your bedrock. Be free. Fear not. Go on. You'll be fine. I'll bring you home soon enough.
Amen. Heavenly Father, thank You Lord,
thank you for preserving your word. What a beautiful story
these miracles are of how you save us poor, wretched sinners.
Lord, we're unable. We have no ability in us to come
to you. We're so unworthy. Thanks be
to God that crossed us, saved us. Lord, forgive our sins. Give us for what we are. Sustain
us, keep us. Give us the ability to honor
You with fear and humbleness and walk through this world loving our Savior and loving
our brethren until the day we're able to go home. What a precious
day that'll be, Lord, to be made like Christ, to be able to see
Him, hear Him, hear His voice. What a comfort. Thank You for
Your Word. Be with our brothers and sisters
that are suffering. You know all their aches and
pains, Lord. We're paralyzed in this earth.
Bring them to Cross Feet. What a wonderful place that is
to be. It's in His name that we ask
it.