I want you to look there in verse
26, and that's where you'll find my subject. Luke 5, 26. And they were all amazed, and
they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, and this is
what I want to talk about. We have seen strange things today. We have seen strange things today. My Lord here, In the scriptures
that I read, performed three miracles. Performed three miracles. First miracle he performed, he
forgave sin. He forgives a man of his sin.
That's a miracle. That's an absolute miracle that
God would forgive a man of his sin. Man that lived without God, lives
without Christ, uses his name in vain daily, uses the Lord
Jesus' name as a byword, lives in self-righteousness, self-will,
self-confidence, lives in his own goodness, lives in his own
morality. God doesn't have to forgive a man of his sins. But
here is a miracle. Everybody here that knows that
their sins have been forgiven knows what a miracle it was for
God to come and forgive you of your sins. Wash your sins away
in the blood of Christ. The second miracle that our Lord
performs here is He reads men's thoughts. He knows what you think
before you think it. You know ain't nothing here before
Him right now. He sees us as we are. Not like
we think we are, not like we hope we are, not like mama sees
us, but as we really are. He understands our thoughts.
He reads our minds. And third, the third miracle
He performed is He healed a paralyzed man. He healed a paralyzed man.
And no wonder it says they were all amazed and said, We have
seen strange things today. And this word strange here is
the only place in the New Testament where this word is used. And
it means paradoxes. And what that means is that strange
is contrary or paradox contrary to all common opinion. It's contrary
to men's opinions. that Christ can forgive men's
sins, and only He can. Contrary to men's opinions that
a paralyzed man can get up and walk. Contrary to men's opinion
and their ordinary experience of these things that Christ did. I'll tell you something, beloved,
about our Lord Jesus. But it's always strange and contrary
to human opinion and common opinion and ordinary experience when
the Lord Jesus does what He will and where He does it. When and
where and how the Lord Jesus works will always be considered
strange by the world. Men know how he's supposed to
act, and know how he's supposed to do. Preachers are telling
folks all the time that Jesus is just standing, waiting, begging
and pleading. With tears in his eyes, would
you please let me in your heart? Would you please let me have
my way with you? Would you please accept me? They know that, you know, if
we ask Him, He's got to do what we ask Him. He's not really,
you know, He don't have any power unless we give it to Him. He
don't have any ability unless we do. He can't do nothing for
us unless we do something for Him. But I'll tell you this,
our Lord Jesus does what He will, when He will, for whom He will,
and He always does it for the glory of God. And that suits me just fine,
don't you? Now look what happens here back up in verse 17. We'll
just go down through these verses and see these miracles and we'll
see why they said these are strange things we've seen today. It says
in verse 17, And it came to pass on a certain day. Just a certain
day. Today is a certain day. A certain
day. It came to pass on a certain
day. And our Lord Jesus, as He was teaching, now our Master
was in a house in Capernaum. You can look at it over in Mark
chapter 2 if you want to, but it says over there that He was
in a house in Capernaum, sitting and teaching. Now our Lord Jesus
Christ was sitting down in this house, and He began to teach
men. And as He was teaching men, The
great crowd was outside the house. The great crowd was inside the
house. People were all lined up, and you know, and they were
listening to the Master teach. And look what happened as he
was teaching. Look who was listening. There were Pharisees and doctors
of the law sitting by, which would come out of every town
of Judea and Jerusalem. And that's what happened. Here's
the kind of people that were listening to our Lord Jesus Christ.
They came out of all the villages and everything. First of all,
there were Pharisees. A Pharisee is a separatist. A
Pharisee is a person they separated themselves from everything that
they thought that was unclean, from ceremony, impurity, from
the heathen. A Pharisee would not come into
a service like this today. A Pharisee would feel unclean
to be in a group like this. A Pharisee would feel like that
they was being defiled to come in amongst people who claim to
be sinners. That's what they accused our
Lord. This man received the sinners. If he knew what kind of woman
this was, he wouldn't let her touch him. And oh beloved, they
separated themselves from heathens, from publicans, from sinners.
And they separated themselves from the common Jews. They said
one time, these people who know about the law, they're cursed.
They don't know what we know. They don't live like we live.
They don't live like they ought to. And all these people, and
let me show you, look over in Acts with me just a moment, Acts
chapter 26. Pharisees. Pharisees. Look at Acts 26 with
me. And oh, they just, oh, they were
so far above anybody and everybody. They loved to pray, they loved
to tell everybody how good they were, and how good a life they
lived, and how fine of men they were, and they bragged on one
another. They'd rather brag on one another and receive honor
from one another than to honor God. They loved the praise of
men more than they loved the praise of God. But look what
it says here. Now, Paul's before Agrippa. And he says now, he
says in verse 3, he said, Here I am, I'm before you, and I'm
happy to answer for myself. And he said in verse 3, especially
because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions
which are among the Jews, wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among
mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew
me from the beginning, if they would testify that after, now
watch it, after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived
a Pharisee. The straightest, strictest sect
among religions. That's what I lived. That's what
I was. And oh boy, you know, folks will
say, if anybody's going to heaven, that old boy's going to go. He's
the cleanest living man I ever know. Men are not saved by clean
living. Men are not saved by living the
straightest, strictest life. Men are saved by the grace of
God through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's why they hated Paul. So Paul just attacked them and
said, you know, you don't have no hope at all. I count my former religion but
done with garbage. And then look back over there
in our text, not only were there Pharisees, but then it says there
were doctors of the law. Oh, man, you were right when
you got your doctor's degree. Somebody was talking to Brother
Henry about being a doctor one time. He said, I wouldn't even
make a good nurse unless I was a doctor. The doctors of the law. Oh, boy. Oh, doctors do good. Oh, doctors
sound in brass. Oh, doctor, keep the law. Oh,
doctor, do the best you can. Here's this doctors of the law.
I mean, boy, everybody knew these fellas had a great education.
These fellas had been to the best school. And they were scribes,
these doctors of the law. They were sitting by. What did
these doctors and scribes, they studied and taught and interpreted
the Law of Moses. That was their responsibility. They'd take the Law of Moses
and the Jots and the Tittles, and they explained it to men
and women. And you know what they'd end up explaining? Not
the Scriptures. But they'd end up explaining
their traditions. and their interpretations of
the law. That's why the Lord said, you know, you have heard
it said, you have heard it said, but I say unto you, you've heard
it said, but I'm going to tell you what it means. You've heard
them interpret the law, I'm going to tell you what it really means.
And that's why they generally explained it by tradition. They
said, how come your disciples transgress the traditions of
the fathers and dare to eat with unworshipped hands? And oh, and it says here, they
came from everywhere. They were come out of every town
of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. I mean, these fellows came. And
oh, beloved, they came even from the city. They came from Jerusalem.
They came from all over to hear the Lord. Came from all over
to hear what He had to say. And then look what it says here.
And the power of the Lord. The power of the Lord. That Lord
there means the power of Jehovah, the power of God himself, the
power of Almighty God was present to heal. It was present to heal. And when
he talks about healing, he's talking about healing these men
there in verse 17. Pharisees need to be healed.
Doctors of divinity need to be healed. These doctors of the
law needed to be healed. They need to be healed from their
sin. They need to be healed from their self-righteousness. You
keep Luke 5 and look with me over in John 12. Let me show
you just exactly what I mean. You know, the Lord Jesus heals
them who have need of healing. Look in John 12 in verse 37 with
me just a moment. It says here in verse 37, But
though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who hath believed, I report, and to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed. Now listen to it, Therefore
they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He hath
blinded their eyes, hardened their heart, that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts,
and be converted. And what? I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his glory and spake of him. Now the Lord's power was
present to heal them. But they didn't need healing.
Now back over here to Luke. Look what a contrast here. You've
got the Pharisees and the doctors of the law, you've got the super-religious,
the envious, the closed-minded, the teachers of the law, who
think they know everything, and Christ Jesus the Lord, the very
wisdom and power of God sitting in their presence. The wisdom
of eternity in a man. The power of God in a man. The wisdom of God that can take
a man and make him understand just how foolish, the very wisdom
of God shows a man how foolish he is. The very power of God
shows a man how weak he is and impotent he is. And it all dwells in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And now look what happens in
verse 18. Here comes the paralyzed man. 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 what way they might bring him in because
of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and led him down
through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus."
Now look at this man's condition. He's paralyzed. He's paralyzed. He can't move. He don't have
any ability. He can't walk. He cannot come to Christ. He
can't do anything to help himself. If he's there, somebody's got
to bring him. No ability to move. He had to be carried. And this
tells us, and you know these men, as they carried him, this
tells us that the Holy Ghost has to carry us to Christ, has
to bring us to Christ. And here are these men, and Mark
says there was four men that carried him. Now let me say a
couple of things about that. He may have said, you know, I
hear that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I hear that Jesus of Nazareth,
I hear that the Christ, the son of David, is over there in a
house in Capernaum. I hear that he's over there and
that he's there right now. He must have lived around there
pretty close. And the word traveled. Because they didn't carry him
very far. And he says, well, I've heard him over there. Would
you all please take me over to him? Would you carry me over
there to where he's at? Would you carry me so I could
see him, so I could hear him? Or they might have themselves
described him and said, you know, they come to where he was. It
says, we're just over at this house in Capernaum, two blocks
over, and Jesus and Nazareth, the son of David, the Messiah,
is over there teaching. Right, man? He's over there. He's in our neighborhood. He's
over there. And listen, you want us to take
you over there to Him? Would you? Would you take me? Oh, if I had the power, if I
had the power right now, I'd bring you, I'd pick you up and
I'd do it. You know what? Look what it says
here. And they sought me to bring Him in. We seek every lawful
way we can to bring men to Christ. By the newspaper, by tapes, by
bulletins, by sermon audio, by preaching, by keeping this place
open, we seek ever witnessing to people, talking to people. Just the other day, a woman sitting
with a baby in her arms. And when she sat there with that
baby in her arms, I began to say, you know the word Jesus
said, except you become as little children, you shall in no wise
enter into the kingdom of God. And Jesus said, what is that?
And I said, that means that this, like this baby that's in your
arms, that's what you got to be like.
That baby came into this world naked. We're naked before God
outside of Christ. That baby can't do a thing in
the world for itself. Somebody has to feed it, clothe
it, love it. burp it, clean it, when it makes
a mess, cannot do anything whatsoever for a sin. And that's the way we are. And here's what has to happen.
These fellas sought means to pray, and we seek means. I used
that time with that baby to give a witness to what Christ has
to do for a person. And I told her, I said, except
you become like that little baby you got in your arms, you'll
not get into the kingdom of God. That's why our Lord said, I thank
you that you... He said, Father, I thank you that you hid these
things. Hid them. Put your hands over
them and hid them from the wise and the prudent. And what did
He reveal them to? Babies. And I'll tell you something about
the older you get in Christ, the more you'll understand how
little you know. And oh, they sought means to
bring Him in, and what's this? Now listen. And it says, to lay
Him before Christ. That's the place
He needs to be brought. They sought means to bring Him
in, lay Him, where at? Before Him. Not just coming to church before
Him. Not just getting a dose of religion,
laying it before Him. Not just saying a prayer after
the preacher, but laying it before Him. Not raising your hand and
making an excuse, laying it before Him. They understood that if
anything is going to be done for this fellow, And he understood
he's got to be brought before Christ. Oh, what a place to lay. And
you know, I'll tell you something, beloved, ain't that where we
lay right now? We lay before Christ. We lay before Him. Stay before Him. Want to live
before Him. Want to stay at His feet. And they could not for
the crowd. They couldn't get in there, such
a big crowd. Well, they say, well, what are we going to do?
Now, you think if you're talking about some fellows going to some
effort. They started up that, you know, a lot of people slept
on their houses over there in those mid-eastern countries.
Still do, because here they went up on the roof. And there's tiles
up there. And they devised a way. And here's
what happens, beloved. They devised a way, and the only
reason they devised this way, was to get this man into the
presence of Christ. And they devised a way to get
him into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says
there was a crowd. When they could not find a way
because of the multitude, they went up on to the housetop. Now,
beloved, let me tell you something about this, what men do when
there's a crowd around. You remember that woman with
the issue of blood? Great multitude around Christ. Crowds don't hinder
anybody who wants to get to Christ. It will not stop you. That woman,
she crawled through that crowd, and the scripture says, she said,
if I may but touch the hem of his garment. And I mean there's
a big multitude around him, and she crawled through all those
people, and she got in there, and she got low enough in that
crowd to touch the hem of his garment. And immediately she
is made whole. And the Lord said, who touched
me? Master, who touched you? Everybody's touching you. Not
like that woman touched me. Not like... and it says there
that healing virtue went out of him. Huh? He knowing that
he had been touched by somebody that had a need. And then there's
Zacchaeus. He wanted to see the Lord Jesus
Christ and he couldn't because there was a great big crowd and
he's too little. He couldn't see above the crowd.
Well, I said, I know what I'll do. I'll climb a tree and I'll
be able to see. Wherever, I don't care how big the crowd, if you're
one of Christ, that crowd don't hinder. Second! Why? Jesus is my name! Come down! I mean crowds don't hinder you. People say, well I'd be embarrassed
to come to Christ. I'd be embarrassed to confess
Christ. Zacchaeus wasn't ashamed to get up that tree. That woman
wasn't ashamed to get through that cross. And these men are
ashamed to get up on the housetop. They had to get this man to Christ.
And I tell you, beloved, you've got to get to Christ. You've
got to get to Him. Don't let nothing keep you, nothing
hinder you, nothing keep you from getting to Christ. Don't
let anybody in this building, don't let a husband, don't let
a wife, don't let a mama, don't let a daddy, don't let nobody
keep you from coming to Christ. And oh, and then look what it
says here. And they put him up on the housetop and led him down
through the tiling with his couch and washed his into the mist
before Jesus. And here's what's happening.
And when he saw their faith, here this man is hanging in the
air on a mat, on a bed. He's hanging in the air. He's
hanging. And there's four fellas up there,
one on each side of that roof. They got ahold of a rope or something,
and they're holding this man. And he's hanging down there.
He's laying in his bed, hanging there. And everybody says, what in the
world? Where'd this fella come from? What is going on here?
And he's hanging there, and he's laying in his bed. And he can't
move. He can't reach out his hands.
He can't get out of the bed. He can't get on his knees. He
can't do any kind of a work, he can't do anything to get Christ
to do something for him. He's laying there and he's just
hanging there. And everybody in that place is wondering, what
in the world is going on? Look what it says, and when he
saw their faith, he saw those four men's faith, he saw this
paralyzed man's faith. He saw their faith. And what was the Lord's response?
And this is, you know, and they have these healing campaigns.
Men lay hands on everybody, you know, and all these people are
supposed to be getting healed, throw away their crutches, get
out of their wheelchairs. And if this was today, this man
would be in a wheelchair, or they'd have wheeled him in there
in a hospital bed. But what is the Lord's response
to this man? Well, he's hanging there now.
Four people are holding him up. And what does the Lord say? He
said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." Oh, your sins, your sins are
forgiven you. And that tells us this, the first
thing our Lord deals with is sin. The greatest need of any man
that's ever drawn a breath on the topside of God's earth is
forgiveness of sins. Our Lord is teaching here that
the cleansing of the soul is more important than the healing
of the body. He could have stayed paralyzed, the Lord could have
left him paralyzed, and still yet, with his sins forgiven,
he wouldn't have been paralyzed in glory. There's lots of worse things
than being paralyzed. There's lots of worse things
than having sickness. There's lots of worse things
than having cancer. There's lots of worse... I mean,
to die without Christ and to die in your sin is the worst
thing that can happen to any soul on this earth. Our Lord said, My son... Man?
Man! It didn't tell us his name. Man! Why does man desire to find
one of Him? Man, your sins, I'm going to
take care of them for you. Oh, sin is the worst disease. Sin is the worst disease. You
can go to the doctor and get medicine for lots of things.
But you can't go to a doctor and get medicine for your sin.
You can't get the church to do it. You can't get the Pope to
do it. You can't get a priest to do it. You can't get a preacher
to do it. There's no place in the world you can get rid of
this disease called sin. By His stripes, we're healed. Sin is the very worst disease.
And look what happens now. These religious people, instead
of rejoicing, they began to reason. And the scribes and the Pharisees
began to reason. And their reasoning was correct.
They said, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins but God only? They're right about that. Only
God can forgive sins. Huh? Blessing is the man to whom
the Lord imputed moderniquity. Blessing is the man whose sins
are covered. Huh? Lord, if thou shouldst mark
iniquities, who should be able to stand? But thou hast forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared." And what they're saying
is, is this man is speaking blasphemy. He's just a man. And here he
is talking about forgiving somebody of their sins. Only God can forgive
sins. He must be an imposter. He must
be... He's a blasphemer. Who is this
that speaks blasphemy? You say sins are forgiven? And
oh, beloved, that's what has to be dealt with more than the
first thing in the world. You know, the reason people do
what they do is because they are what they are. People make
vows to themselves all the time. I'm going to stop doing this.
I'm going to quit doing that. I'm going to overcome this obstacle.
I'm going to overcome this particular fault of mine. I'm going to overcome
this. I'm going to stop this. I'm going to get my life together.
I'm going to get my mind together. I'm going to get my hands together.
I'm going to get everything together. I'm going to quit this. I'm going
to straighten up. But if you do, if you do change,
what good does that do? You're still a sinner. You've
still got your sin. You know, the thing is, you've
got to have a new heart. You've got to have a new will.
You've got to have a new mind. You've got to have a new spirit.
And only Christ can give that to you. And look what our Lord
says here in verse 22. But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts, He read their minds. He read their minds. Let me tell
you a little story. Clay Curtis told me this the other day. Him
and Melinda and the kids went out for Mother's Day to have
Mother's Day dinner, took Melinda out for Mother's Day dinner.
He got a little boy named Will. And the waiter came by and said,
Would you like to have some more Coke? He said, How'd you know
I wanted more Coke? Huh? You must be a A mind-bender. He thought he was reading his
mind. He said, how do you know I wanted more coke? You must
be a mind-bender. Mind-bender. You know, you understood
what I wanted before. How do you know? He read me.
He said, well, he's reading my mind. Because he knows I wanted
more coke. He knows what's going on. Well,
you know, here our Lord Jesus really did know what was in their
minds. Always does. He knew their hearts. All things
are open and naked before Him with whom we have to do. Look
over. You keep looking. Look in Psalm
139. Just a moment. Psalm 139. You know, that's why the Lord
said, Why reason ye in your hearts? And people will sit, and they'll
hear preaching, and they'll hear things heard, and they'll start
reasoning in their hearts. That's why Paul says, you know,
I didn't reason with, I didn't confer with flesh and blood.
Just stay with the scriptures. Just believe the scriptures.
You know, if a fellow, if you can follow along in the scriptures,
why are you reasoning in your hearts if it's in the Bible?
But that's what they've reasoned in their hearts. And look what
it says here. Our Lord reads men's minds. He
knows their thoughts. He knows the intents of their
hearts. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. You remember
in these cities, any of y'all who have seen them great big
spotlights that run across the skies in the big cities and things
like that? Remember when you used to do that? They would put
that spotlight right on you, you know, in their yard. Nobody
but you could. That's what God does. He got
this light, puts it right on you, and you can see all the
way through you. And look what it says now. Thou
knowest my down setting? And you know my uprising. Now
listen, thou understandest my thought afar off before I thank
it. You know it. And that's why our
Lord said back over here, says, But Jesus perceived their thoughts,
and he answered, he said unto them, What reason ye in your
hearts? Why are you reasoning in your
hearts? And oh, look what he goes on. You need proof that
I'm God? You need proof that I can forgive sin? Look what
he says in verse 23. And Jesus perceived the thoughts,
and he says, What is easier to say? What is easier to say? You know what he's just talking
about? I'm just using words here. That's what one man said. All
you have to do is send your word, and my servant shall be healed.
Just speak the word. And that's what the Lord did.
He just used words. He says, Son, man, be of good cheer. Thy
sins are forgiven you. That's the words. But there's
such power in Christ's words that his sins were gone. They
were gone. When Christ says your sins are
forgiven you, that man, that pen and that moment in time,
his sins were gone. They'd never be held against
him again. God will say, your sins and iniquities will never
be remembered against you again. When God forgives you a sin,
they're forgiven for all eternity. I mean, He don't bring them back
up. When that man laid there, Peter carried him back out of
there, pulled him back up through the roof and took him home paralyzed,
that man would have went to glory with no sin against him whatsoever
from that day on. But this fella said, that's not
right, this man can't do this. He's a blasphemer, he's an imposter. Ain't nobody, God's not here.
God's in our synagogue. God's in our box, and we know
how he acts. God does not forgive sins of
a man because he don't have the right to say that. Oh, you need proof that I'm God?
Proof that I can forgive sins? He says, which is easier to say?
God says, Be forgiven, or say, Rise up and walk. Which is the
easiest one to say? He says, Which is easier to say? Not to do. He's not talking about doing
here. All I got to do is speak the Word. And this man says,
Forgiven, or Rise up and walk. Which is which? Is it going to
take me any more effort to say, God says, Be forgiven, or any
more effort to say, Rise up and take your bed and walk? And all they would have said,
boy, ain't that something, that fella can probably stand to walk.
But oh my, and I tell you, beloved, but that you may know, that you
may know, that you may know, I know, do you know, I know,
but that you may know that the Son of Man has power.
Power, authority, right. Power, authority, all the right
that the Son of Man has power upon earth to forgive sins. Oh,
he says to the sick of the palsy, he says to that paralyzed man,
he's still hanging there in the air now. Now watch what he says,
I say unto thee arise, And that fella just flipped both
feet out of that couch he was on, that bed he was on, and his
feet touched the ground, and he got up and stood up. He just landed and rised, and
he just got out of there. He just rolled out of there,
stood up. They said he was paralyzed. His
arm paralyzed, legs paralyzed, back paralyzed. How paralyzed
was he? They just said he was paralyzed.
And, oh my, rise up, and not only do that, but walk. I believe
people got out of the way, and that fellow took his first step.
People, get back, watch out there. He took his first step. And he
took another one. He said, oh, And the first steps he took walking
was before the Lord Jesus Christ to make us understand that we
walk before Him wherever we're at, we're walking before Him.
He took his first step in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And oh, they carried him in, but he walked out. And I say unto thee, arise and
watch what happens. Take up your caps. I mean, beloved,
them fellas turned loose of them ropes. They fell down there in
those ladies' bed in the middle of all them. He rolled that thing
up and put it on his shoulder. And go to your own house. And
oh, he said, and watch what happens. And immediately, he rolls up before them. Before
everybody there. Before the four. Before Christ.
Before everybody in that house. Before the Pharisees. Before
the doctors of the law. He rose up before all of them.
And took out that worry on Elaine. And oh beloved, watch what happens.
He departed to his own house. And here's what he was doing
when he was going. Glorifying God. That's what everybody does. One of the things that Scott
Richardson said, and he said this all the time, the heart
cry and the cry of every believer is, let the Lord be magnified. Let God be magnified. To God
be the glory. Great things He hath done. Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.
And our beloved in need departed to his own house, glorifying
God. When there's something going
our way to our houses, we glorify God. On our way back to the meeting,
we glorify God. To glorify God in your own house,
what a blessed thing it is. To glorify God back where you
live. If you don't glorify Him there, you can't go glorifying
Him here. If you don't worship Him there and honor Him there,
and glorify Him there. When he got back in his house,
I don't know if he was married, I don't know if his mom and daddy
was there, brothers and sisters or what. But when he walked in,
he says, You know what happened? Look at me. What happened? He began to tell them. They let
me down and I'm laying there on the couch and I can't move.
And the first thing this man told me, my sins was forgiven.
That made my heart leap with joy or attack. To know that now
my sins are gone, my heart is clean, my soul's been washed
in the blood of Christ. Christ Himself told me my sins
are gone. And not only that, but He told
me to get up, take out my bed and go to the house. And here
I am! And He began to tell them about Him. Oh my! And that's what happens. And
they were all amazed. I'm still amazed. I'm amazed. And you know what the most amazing
thing is? That He forgave me my sins. That He gave me the ability to
walk. To walk before Him. Gave me a
desire to glorify Him. To magnify His name. To bless
His holy name. And they were all amazed. And
oh beloved, what happens now? They glorified God too. Whenever
somebody here, how many times have we seen folks make confessions
of faith? Come forth and say, you know, Christ, I want to be
baptized. Boy, don't we all start glorifying God and say, thank
the Lord, bless the Lord? You know, get tears in our eyes
and our hearts leap for joy? Because Christ forgives them
by their sins and made them whole. And oh, they ascribed to God
the honor and splendor to do Him, and they were filled with
fear. Fear of what? Fear of awe and reverence for
God, reverence for Christ. This man has such power and glory
and majesty and honor that he can do such glorious things. And two things I want to show
you in close. And oh, and it says, and we have seen strange
things today. They've seen strange things.
First of all, they saw a man forgiven of his sins by another
man. There's a man in glory, and he's
the only one who can forgive you of your sins. Secondly, they saw a man rise up and take
up his bed and walk. And they saw him glorify his
name. And no wonder they said, boy,
we've... And they saw their, and this is what I was going
to say, they saw their own minds and hearts red. They saw Christ
look right dead into the depths of their heart and soul. And
everybody says, them fellas wasn't saying nothing. He told them
what they was thinking. And then they began to say, and oh beloved,
we see our Lord's omniscience. He reads men's thoughts and intents
of their hearts. What we think, what we say, what
we do, everything about us is open and naked before Him with
whom we ever do. And secondly, we seize omnipotence. Two ways. First of all, forgiving sins.
He's the only one. He's got the prerogative to do
that. And secondly, healing that man's body. We see our Lord's
omniscience. He reads men's hearts. Seize
power. Forgiving sins and healing a
man's body. And let me tell you, it all goes back to this. Those
fellows sought means to lay that man before Christ. And I bring you right now, I
bring you right now, by the grace of God, by the power of the gospel,
and tell you, you're before Christ. Whether you're laying before
Him or not, that's another story. But you're before Him. You're
before Him. And I hope and pray that by God's
grace, you'll lay before Him. And hear them words, thy sins
are forgiven. Amen. Our Father, our gracious, gracious,
eternal God, how blessed, how glorious, how wondrous is your
ways. They're past finding out. And
we bless you that you work the way you work and do the things
you do. And I pray that you today speak to some heart and say,
man, man, thy sins are forgiven you. I pray that you do that today.
And they would get up and begin to glorify you. Father, save your people in this
place. Bless you, dear saints. Bring glory to yourself in the
preaching And in the hearing, we ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amen.