Well, hello, and welcome to our
continuing study in the Gospel of Luke, and we're in chapter
5. And this will be our third message in chapter 5. We looked at the first part, Launch
into the Deep was the name of that lesson, and we plumbed the
depths of the unsearchable riches of Christ. And then we looked
at the Law of the Leper. He healed the leper and then
told him to go and present himself to the priest for a testimony
unto them and how that was a chance for them to look into that gospel
of Leviticus and see the things concerning Christ in that block
of scripture there. And today we're looking at verses
15 through 26, and it deals with the man that was taken with a
palsy. And as we look at how all these
scriptures combine, they're here for a purpose, and they're here
in an order that we might gain some insight and knowledge about
the gospel and the Lord. This portion of the gospel of
Luke in chapter 5 can, I think, can best be understand if we
remember what is written, and we'll skip down to verse 24 there.
It says, but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power
upon earth to forgive sins. So, He only has power to do this. He only can forgive based on
His own blood being shed on behalf of those for whom He died. A couple of scriptures that we
might look at that call this to our attention about Him. He
has power to do this in Matthew 28, 18. Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. And they were commanded then
to go out and preach the gospel everywhere based on that. And
John 17, 2, where he's praying, to the Father, and he says, as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And then in Psalm
110, verse 3, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. When he exercises his power,
he makes his people willing, and they come to him. And then
when we were in chapter 4 of Luke, In verse 36, they were all amazed
and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! For with
authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they
come out. So we're caused to pause on Verse
16 here, before we move deeper, where it's written about him
retiring into the wilderness and praying. So let's read this
block of scripture first off, beginning in verse 15. And he
had just healed this leper, cleansed this leper. In verse 15, but
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 into
the wilderness and prayed. And it came to pass on a certain
day, as he was teaching, 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
present to heal them. And behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means
to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could
not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went up upon the housetop and led him down through the
tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when
he saw their faith, he said unto him, 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? But when Jesus perceived
their thoughts, he answering said unto them, what reason you
in your hearts, whether it's easier to say thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say rise up and walk? but that you may know that the
Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. And he saith
unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise, and 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 unto his
own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed And
they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We
have seen strange things today. So as we look at this block of
scripture, and I wanted to kind of focus on a little bit on verse
16 first as we begin this. was pressed on by the crowd.
They were just thronging him. And it says he withdrew himself
into the wilderness and prayed. And the context here is this
word pray is kind of an interesting word here. And it's another one
of those words in which the translators supply the same word prayed or
prayer in the place of several words which are individual and
succinct in the scriptures. They each have kind of a little
different meaning. And in other uses, prey might be
in, as we looked at Luke chapter five, verse three, he saw two
ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of
them and washing their nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, And prayed him that he would thrust
out a little from the land and so it's it's a Rick in that that
Greek word is a means I request he asked him if he would launch
out and to the lake a little bit He wasn't praying to him
like we would pray to The father but they use the same word Excuse
me and in Luke 22 31 this is an interesting in Luke
22 31 and 32. This is an interesting Word in the Greek And it's where
Jesus tells Peter where remember what he said Satan wishes to
sift you like wheat and And he says, but I have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not. I have prayed for thee that your
total reliance on Christ for salvation fails not. And this
word here, in this instance, is translated from the Greek
word diomai, which indicates a petition coupled with a binding
of oneself. He was bound to pray for him. He was bound to petition the
Lord for him that his strength, that his faith fail not. He was
under obligation of eternal love and sovereign possession, under
obligation of keeping them whom God had given him from before
the foundation of the world, kept by the power of God unto
salvation in 1 Peter 1.5. And the usage that we're concerned
with here in Luke 5.16 has to do with prayer. as used in the
worship of God the Father, coupled with an earnest and humble supplication
or asking. That's according to Strong's
Concordance. And this is the same usage that
Jesus brought out in his instruction to us on prayer in Matthew chapter
six in that sermon. Remember in our text from verse
16, it says, he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.
He was not a hypocrite who would give us one kind of instruction
and then do something else himself. In Matthew 6, verse 5, he says,
when you pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. And
it's not you shouldn't be, but the people that are truly regenerated,
they're not going to do it like the hypocrites do. They love to pray standing in
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so everybody
can hear them. And they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto
you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet. He withdrew himself into the
wilderness to be alone with God. And he says, you enter into your
closet. And when thou has shut the door,
When you're alone with God, then pray to thy Father which is in
secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly. and not a reward like we would
think of, oh, if I pray correctly, I'll get a check in the mail
or some prosperity gospel stuff. It's not that. And remember that
you're praying to God Almighty who knows all. Remember in Hebrews
4.13, we mentioned this, I think, in the last lesson. Neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all
things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we
have to do." And so he says regarding prayer in Matthew 6 verse 7,
the next verse here, when you pray, use not vain repetitions
as the heathens do. For they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking." If I just say it over, and over,
and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over,
and over again, God will respond favorably to my request. He knows
what you have need of before you ask Him. That's what it says
in the very next word. He says, so don't be like those
guys. He already knows. And He's pleased that you come
to Him in prayer and make your requests known to Him. But He
already knows. And He knows. The interesting
thing is He utilizes the Holy Spirit to make our prayers consistent
with His will. That's what it says in Romans
8 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we
know not what we should pray for as we ought. We might pray
something that seems perfectly reasonable and logical to us
but the end might be miles away from accomplishing the purpose
that God has already set in line. Well we might We might pray for
a certain thing to happen because we think it would be good, but
maybe not. And so the Holy Spirit takes
our prayer and says, makes it consistent with the will of God,
which he is one with. And so Jesus teaches us to come to
prayer, to worship. coupled with supplication, recognizing
who and what God is. And so now he says, here's how
you ought to pray. Before, he dealt with the mechanics
of it. Don't do it in the open and do
it so people can hear you and say, oh, what a good prayer he
is. And oh, he's so concerned about this. Or he's so concerned
about that. And so on. And then he says,
go into your closet and make your requests known to God in
secret. And be aware that the Holy Spirit is in the business
of converting those to making intercession for us according
to the will of God. So he says, after this manner
in verse 9 of Matthew 6, therefore pray ye. Our Father which art
in heaven. This is not a just repeat after
me prayer like we hear on TV all the time. Just say these
words and then sign here and then you're saved. He's saying
recognize certain things in your prayer. Our Father which art
in heaven. That's who God is and where God
is. Hallowed be thy name. Have some
respect, have some reverence. Holy. He's holy. He is the Holy
One. He says, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done. So our prayers are to be concerned
with the will of God being accomplished. He says, Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven, recognizing that He is sovereign and that
His will is perfect. And so we're to kind of couch
our prayers consistent with the will of God. And we know what
that is. Our Savior prays to the Father which is in heaven,
most holy, that His will would indeed be done here on earth
as it is in heaven, because it cannot be any other way. In John
6, verse 39, He says, This is the will, this is the Father's
will which is sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day, And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every
one which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day." So we see Jesus. He's praying. And He's about
to encounter one of these ones that we just talked about. One
of these, all which the Father has given me is coming to Him.
And He's going to have a meeting with this person. And he prays
as he's about to encounter this man taken with a palsy, and as
he confronts those whose goal it is to have him killed according
to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. All these
things are in the will of God. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you have taken them with wicked hands of slain from Acts. So as he prays, He's not praying,
well, I hope I have a good day. Hope everything goes okay. Hope
the people that I heal stay healed and all that kind of nonsense. Or, oh, I'm praying for world
peace here and praying that the Romans would go home. He's praying
specifically for the people that God gave him and that he would
accomplish this purpose. So as we examine the circumstances
that were shown in this block of Scripture with that prayer
in mind, let's look at the pieces which go together to form a whole
and remember what is written in verse 17, and the power of
the Lord was present to heal them. So let's look at those
that are in attendance here. First, verse 15 tells us, there
was a great multitude that came together to hear and to be healed
by Him of their infirmities. Now some of these, as we learn
in all the other scriptures, some just came for the spectacle,
like when he fed the 5,000. And as long as he was just doing
miracles, everything was fine. But as soon as he gave them some
truth, some gospel truth, many of them went away and walked
with him no more, it says. And even his disciples said that.
This is a hard saying. No man can come to the Father
but by me. No man can come unless the Father
which sent me draw him." That's a hard saying. Why can't we come? We seem like we can come. So,
some only came for the spectacle and they didn't really want the
Gospel of Truth. They just wanted to see Him do a trick and heal
somebody or perform some miracle. Some came who were drawn by the
Father for His purpose. Remember, all the Father giveth
me, shall come to me. And there were a number of Pharisees. Those were legalists. Religious
separatists who thought themselves above the rest. Remember the
Pharisee that said, I'm sure glad I'm not like that publican.
I'm way better than him. I pray where everybody can hear
me. I do all the things that it says
not to do in Matthew 6. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. And there were doctors of the
law, and it's interesting, those doctors of the law, that just
means they were instructors, they were teachers, and it was
their duty, their job to have taught and expounded in Moses
and the prophets and the Psalms, all the things concerning Christ.
They should have taught as in the Law of the Leopard. Here's
a picture of Christ shedding His blood on behalf of you for
your sin, and rising again for your justification. And not just
to say, you shall do this, you shall do this, you shall do this,
and you shall not do this, you shall not do that, etc. and be
sure to send in your tithe. And it's noted that the multitude,
they pressed on him to hear the word of God, it said in Luke
5.1. And as he, as Jesus was teaching the Pharisees, this
is an interesting note here that the Holy Spirit puts in. The
Pharisees and the doctors were sitting by. And we see when Jesus
worked a miracle for that certain man, they found him sitting at
the feet of Jesus. And these people who thought
they were above the rest, these people who should have been instructing,
instead of listening to the one who it was all about, they were
sitting by, it says. So the Pharisees and the doctors
of the law sitting by verse 17, which were come out of every
town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the
Lord was present to heal them. Not specifically these doctors
and these Pharisees, although there could have been some like
Nicodemus that were there and were in response to the Lord
having drawn them, but mostly not. I think mostly that refers
to the multitude that was thronging them to hear the Word of God
and to be healed of their infirmities. Well, we might look at them as
sitting by and ask ourselves, were they really interested in
the teaching of the gospel? And even though there might have
been some, but largely they were there for really nefarious purposes. And as noted in our pastor's
Wednesday night study regarding false prophets, they were just
there to find fault. They were just there to catch
something by which they may lay a trap or a subterfuge. In Luke chapter 6 verse 7, turn
over one chapter if you would real quickly there. the scribes and the Pharisees
watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that
they might find an accusation against him. They just wanted
to catch him doing something that violated their law. They
didn't care if he did a miracle or he healed somebody. They were
just saying, well, you can't do that on the Sabbath day. And
so we can find these examples of their purposes a little further
on in Luke 5. Why do you eat with sinners? We're so happy to see the Son
of God dwelling among us. We're so happy that you're here.
We're humbled to be in your presence. Why do your disciples not fast?
Why do you do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath days?"
And he was about to heal that man on the Sabbath day. They took issue with that. They
just took issue with anything that they didn't like, and that
was pretty much everything. The scribes and the Pharisees
watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that
they might find an accusation against him. That's all they
were really interested in, most of them. So it's important to
remember that these were all brought together at this one
point in time, this one intersection in time, they were all brought
together for the furtherance of the Gospels. And some were
really drawn of God for healing of soul and body, and some were
there according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God for the purpose of carrying out His justice, that He might
be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
They were there And they were bent on having Him killed, and
they would eventually have their way with God being the determining
factor there. Acts 2.23, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Acts chapter
4 verse 26 or 28 the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers
were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ
for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou has anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles the people of
Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determine before it to be done." Remember, later
on he'll be telling his disciple, I must go to Jerusalem, I must
be betrayed, I must be turned over to the elders and the chief
priests and then be crucified and slain. So now, with this
in mind, a particular person is brought to our attention among
those who were in attendance. They're in verse 18. And behold,
men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy. And a man taken with a palsy is brought
in by others because he couldn't bring himself. And it kind of
brings to our mind Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel chapter 9. Our pastor brought that sermon
to us where Mephibosheth was lame in his feet and David commanded
him to be brought to him. He sent and fetched him. And
then he took care of him. This palsy is an interesting
word. It's where we get a word that's common in our language
today. In the Greek, it's paraluo, and
the effects of which are called paralusis, which is translated
into Latin as paralysis. So that's where we get that word
paralysis. And so this man who we don't
know the circumstances regarding his paralysis, yet we do know
certain immutable things. And it's interesting that it's
part of the nature of man to attribute misfortune or illness
to punishment for sin and to believe that we're paying for
our sins in some way or Or if we have no issues, that we're
in favor with God and being rewarded in some way. I'd like to read
two scriptures that might shed some light on that belief. In John chapter 9 verse 1, As
Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples, his very disciples, ones that were with him, said
unto him, and they asked him, saying, Master, who did sin,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind? That's just
our typical response. Well, that guy must have been
a bad sinner. Look at him. Jesus said, neither
hath this man sin, nor his parents, that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man
can work." So he said this person wasn't born blind because he
committed some heinous sin or his parents committed some heinous
sin. It was because for the furtherance of the gospel that we might meet
on this very day and that We might intersect and that I should
heal him And then this next verse from Philippians chapter 1 verse
12 with regarding Paul the Apostle And he's writing to them from
prison and he's been shipwrecked. He's a bitten by a snake. He's
been stoned. He's been beat up and Treated
terribly and suffered many, many things. But he says, I would
have you understand, brethren, that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out. rather unto the furtherance of
the gospel." It just takes total reliance on Christ for salvation
to say, well, that was bad, but I know that somehow God is using
this to further the gospel. That's just hard. That's a hard
truth for us to get our hands around. And we like it when everything's
going smooth. And then when things are contrary
seemingly, then we think, oh, did I do something wrong? You
know we have to remember Christ died for all of our sins according
to the scriptures And and he paid the punishment for him and
God is not in the business of punishing his son and then punishing
us secondarily on top of that and so This man with a palsy
Even though it may have seemed to him a Terrible plight It doesn't say
how long he had that or if there was an accident or an injury
that caused it or whether he was born that way or some illness.
But it said, Thy sins be forgiven. There was a greater thing there
than just a, I think Paul said, you know, the things of this
life are not worthy to be thought of or mentioned and compared
to the glory that will be happening. So anyway, this man there for
the express purposes of God and declaring his power and his purpose. This man was there and Jesus
was said, whether it's easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee
or to say, rise up and walk. It wasn't the abracadabra words
that were effective, but it was the words that Jesus chose to
let them know that He was the Son of Man, the Son of God, and
that He was the one in charge of forgiving sins. He could have
healed him in any manner. He could have just thought it. He could have said anything.
But his purpose, though, was to cause them to know that the
Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, verse 24. All
power is given Him, like we read in several Scriptures there from
Matthew and John and Psalms. And to some, these words, thy
sins are forgiven thee, were the savor of life unto life,
and to others a savor of death unto death. And only Jesus is
sufficient unto these things. He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Now to those whom the words spoken
here were a saver of death unto death, Jesus used the wrong words. They said, who can say they can forgive
sins but God alone? They were kind of whispering
to themselves, these Pharisees and these doctors of the law.
They began to reason among themselves saying, who is this that speaketh
blasphemies? So it was okay for him to heal.
Certainly this wasn't the first person. It says that a lot of
people came to him and he healed them all. It wasn't the first
one that he healed. But he just did it in a different
way here and said things that were out of their religious system that they were used to. And he must use their opinion,
use their accepted religious terms. Jesus purposely chose
to use words which clearly identified who He was and what was His purpose.
So He said, whether it's easier to say, for the Son of God Almighty,
the Holy One of God, whether it's easier for me to say, thy
sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk. There's
only a few syllables difference in the words. When God Almighty
says them, His purpose will be accomplished. And he says, but
I say that that way that you may know that the son of man
have power on earth to forgive sins. I'm not here just to do
miracles. I'm not here just to heal the
people with infirmities. I'm here to heal their souls.
And so that is our lesson today. that with that you may know the
Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. Take up thy
couch and go into thine house." So, my friends, go to Christ
who only has power to forgive sins and be free as always.