Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Luke chapter 5 and Matthew chapter 9. And we'll read two
more narratives about the same scripture reading that I had
Brother Neil read. We're going to start after we
finished our series on the resurrection last week, so now we're going
to start on encounters in Christ again. We've taken a little bit
of a sabbatical from that, but I'd like to Look at those again,
a few more. Encounters with Christ, remember
we called them Divine Encounters with Christ. Divine Encounters
with Christ. Luke chapter five and Matthew
chapter nine. And keep your finger in Matthew
nine, because that's where we'll be after we go there. Our Lord, he went about doing
good, didn't he? He went about doing good. He healed the sick
and he healed the blind. cast out demons from people. My, he went about doing good.
He healed many who were sick. And you know, if all that was
written about the Lord was written down, this world couldn't contain
it. You know that? Listen to what John writes. John
25, 21, at the very end of the book of John. And there are also many other
things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. Amen. My, how much our Lord did
while he was here upon this earth. So let's read first Luke chapter
five, verses 17 to 22. Actually, we're gonna go a little
bit further than that. We're gonna go to 26. It came to pass
on certain day as he was teaching, here's Christ, he was teaching
that the 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 bought in a bed. a man which was taken with a
palsy. Well, this means he was a paralytic. He was paralyzed. Taken with the palsy. And they
sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And
when they could not find that way, so this, there were so many
people listening to the master in this house that you could
not fit another person in that house. And I imagine there was
probably people outside listening too. So these men are carrying this
man, this paralytic. He can't move himself. They're carrying him. And think
of this. I thought about this. What great love they must have
had for this man. What great love they must have had for this
man to carry him all the way from wherever they were to where
Jesus was. And watch what they do. To me,
this manifests their love for him, but it also manifests their
faith in Christ. their faith in Christ, look at
this. And when they could not find by what way they might bring
him in because of the multitude, they went upon the household
and led him down through the tiling with his couch in the
midst before Jesus. They went up on that roof and
they started pulling the tiling off that roof. Imagine, I could
see the owner, what in the world's going on in my house? They were
pulling tiles off there, beloved. making a hole, and they had a
reason to make a hole. Look at this, and let him down
to the time with his couch into the midst. Where do they put
him? Right before Jesus. Right before
the king, right before the savior of sinners. And look at this,
and when he saw their faith, now that was God-given faith,
beloved. They're taking their buddy, their friend, to the only
place they know where he can be healed. Look what our Lord
says to 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? But when Jesus perceived their
heart, he answered and 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? but that ye may know that the
Son of Man, now see that word there, those words, Son of Man?
That's a title for the Messiah. That's a title for the Messiah,
beloved. He's telling them who he is. They're already thinking
he's blossoming because he said, be a good cheer, your sins are
forgiven. And they said, only God can forgive
sins. And now, here again, Our Lord there, he's just turning
them into pretzels, isn't he? He's got them so twisted up,
they don't know what to say. But when Jesus received their
hearts, he answered and said to them, what reason are ye in
your hearts? Whether is it easy to say, thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, rise up and walk? But that ye may know that
the Son of Man hath power, that's authority in the Greek. Our King
has all authority. He has all authority over everything
in this world. I mean everything. Power or authority upon earth
to forgive sins. He said to the sick and the palsy,
I say unto thee, arise, take up thy couch, and go into the
lion house. And you know what? Now, when
we go in for an operation, right, it takes us weeks, sometimes
months, sometimes depending on how serious the operation or
the procedures are, years. to recover, right? You ever hear
them faith guys on TV, those false preachers? Say, oh, they
do all this supposed healing, right? Those, oh, I gotta watch
myself there. Those scoundrels and charlatans,
yeah. When you confront them and say,
why aren't you down, you know, if I had a gift like that, you
know where I'd be? Children's hospital. and in all
the cancer wards, right? And you would pour yourself out
until you were dead, all of us. But those charlatans, that's
what they are. Those fellas, oh, we can only
do it in the right setting, no. And notice this healing, notice
this healing, beloved? It didn't take weeks, right?
When God heals a person, and you'll notice this in these encounters,
when he heals, it's a complete healing. There's no physical
therapy needed. This man, look at this, marvel
at this too. So this man, he was a paralytic,
right? His muscles had probably shriveled
up. You all know I was in the cast for six months when I was
a kid. They took me out of that cast, I had to learn how to walk
again. My muscles were so weak, I had to walk on those walking
steps and do them bars, I forgot how to walk. That's why you have to go through
physical therapy and all this. This man, the muscles are all
repaired. This is amazing, beloved. This
is a miracle. He picks up his bed and he walks. And immediately he rose up before
them. He just got right up. Just like that. That's incredible.
and took up that wherein he lay. He even grabbed the thing that
he was laying upon. He picked that up, and he departed
to his own house, and what did he do? Glorifying God. He's probably
just praising the Lord all the way home. I'll tell you what,
he's a new creature in Christ. And they were all amazed, and
they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, we
have seen strange things today. Now turn, if you would, to Matthew,
chapter 9. And we're reading the narrative
here, too. And I love looking at all these different narratives,
the way these men write these things. Because sometimes they're
just little things that are a little different. And all that is is
them seeing it from their perspective. Luke's a physician. So he sees
those miracles from a physician's eyes. Matthew's a tax collector. My, oh my. And I imagine Luke
was amazed. being a physician. He is amazed
when that man jumped right up and just went right out the door.
Oh my goodness. Now looking here, Matthew chapter
9, verses 1 to 8. And this will be our text today.
And he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his
own city. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy,
laying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith,
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, This man blaspheme. Now look at that. They said it within themselves.
They didn't speak it out loud. They said it within themselves.
And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil
in your hearts? For whither is it easier to say,
thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk? But that
ye may know, again, he's called the Son of Man here, again, a
term of the Messiah, that the Son of Man hath power or authority
on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick and
the palsy, arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine own house. Oh my goodness, there's power
from the words of Christ. See, his words are not just words
like ours are words. But his words carry power and
authority with them. Right? That's why when the king says,
go and fetch him, there's power with those words. That's the
king's word. The king's decree, go and fetch
that Mephibosheth. Well, we're the Mephibosheth.
And the Holy Spirit comes with fetching grace, beloved. Power
and brings us back. So we stand before the king,
or we don't stand, we bow before the king, and he says, fear not. Oh my, it's wonderful, beloved.
I get so excited about this. This is amazing. Look at this.
Rise, take up thy bed, and go into thine own house. And he
arose and departed to his house. And we know from the narrative
in Luke, he went home glorifying God. But when the multitude saw,
they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto
men. Now take note, this man is a
paralytic. He cannot help himself. He can't
take himself to where Jesus is. He's paralyzed. He can't help
himself. His friends can't help him. They can't heal him from his
situation that he's in, can they? So what do they do? They bring
him to the one who they've heard can heal the sick. and heal the
sick, they bring them to, not just the one who can heal the
sick, they bring them to the great physician. See, do we not
by prayer bring our family members and friends to the great physician
and put them at the feet of Christ and say, Lord, please, if it's
your will, save them? Please, Lord, if it's your will, have
mercy upon them. Oh, we do, don't we? Oh, we do. But little did this man know.
He woke up that morning. He didn't know he was going to
have a divine appointment with God. He had no idea. Remember Zacchaeus? He woke up that morning. He didn't
know he was going to have a divine appointment with God, but he
sure did, didn't he? The gathering demoniac. He woke up that morning
when the Lord appeared to him or came to him. He had no idea.
He had a divine appointment. We had no idea that we had a
divine appointment with God when he saved us, did we? We had no
idea at all. But it was all planned and purposed
by God. So as we look at this, this is all planned and purposed
by God. This is all part of the grand
scheme, the great plan of salvation. My oh my, that God planned and
purposed in eternity. This man did not know at the
beginning of the day that he'd be walking home with his bed
under his arm. That thought probably never even
entered into his mind. He probably thought he'd be in
this state for the rest of his life. But God had appointed that his
friends, that this day, his friends would bring him and lower him
down to be at the feet of Christ. And we can see in our text, we
can see in our text that these men, they've been given God-given
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. These men who bought
their friend because the Lord says here, Jesus, verse two,
and Jesus see in their faith. See, God honors the faith that
he's given. Look at that. My oh my. And I want us to go through five
biblical facts to keep in mind as we look at these studies,
these encounters in Christ, these divine appointments that we'll
look at. I want us to keep five things
in our minds, and most importantly, we need to keep in our minds
the salvations of the Lord, right? and that no man or woman can
save themselves. We can't save anyone else. We
can't save ourselves. It's not possible for us to create
a new heart in another person, and we can't even create a new
heart in our own heart. We can't give anyone faith. We
can't give anyone repentance. We can't even believe unless
God grants us faith to believe. We can't even repent unless God
gives us repentance. And when we have faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, when that's given to us by God, remember
what I've said many times, faith and repentance is like a piece
of paper. On one side is faith and on the
other side is repentance. If God gives you faith, you will
repent. You know why though? Because
you're born again first. You must be born again. And that's,
again, all the work of the Spirit. So here's five facts plainly
revealed in the Word of God as we go through these divine encounters.
All men by nature are totally depraved. Totally depraved. Helpless, lost, spiritually dead.
And no man or woman of their own accord or by their own free
will seek the Lord and come to Christ. That's just so plainly
stated. Number two, God has elect people in this world whom he
has chosen for himself in eternal love, and he has determined to
save them, and they will be saved, and not one of them will be lost.
Number three, the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed those chosen
of God by his own precious blood, and by the merit and efficacy
of his blood, and he shall bring them into eternal glory. to be
with himself forever. Number four, God the Holy Spirit
shall effectually quicken, regenerate, and preserve all those who were
chosen by God the Father and redeemed by God the Son, calling
them to faith with irresistible grace, or I like to say invincible
grace. You cannot resist it. God will bring one of his sheep,
and they cannot resist it. People say, well, you can use
your free will. Have fun with that. Oh, my. Our will is in bondage
to our nature. If you're not born again, you
have a dead nature. And all you're going to do is
choose him. But if you're born again, you're going to run to
Christ. You're gonna run to him. And
you're gonna be drawn by irresistible grace. Invincible grace. No man can stop it. When Christ
is drawn in one of his sheep, no man can stop it. No man. And number five, God uses saved
sinful men to reach the hearts of men and women with the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He used the Hebrew maid to convince
Nahum, didn't he? He used Andrew to find Peter.
He used the Samaritan woman, remember the woman who talked
at the well with Christ? We looked at that divine encounter.
What she'd do afterwards, she went and told the people in the
city all, come see this man who's told me all that I've done. And
it wasn't just her as the lost sheep there, there was a whole,
we found out there was a whole multitude of people there in
that city who the Lord saved. He used Philip to call the Ethiopian
eunuch. By telling him who it was, he
preached Christ to him from the book of Isaiah. And the Lord still uses saved
sinners in his mighty operations of grace by which he saves chosen
sinners through the preaching of the gospel. And it's God's
good pleasure to use sinful men to proclaim the gospel. Two sinful
men. See, I'm a sinful man. a saved
sinner, preaching the gospel to some who are saved and to
some who are lost. And I just preach the gospel.
And it goes forth from here, right? And God does with it whatever
he's pleased to do. My hope is that it will bless
your heart. And if you do not know him, that he give you faith
to believe on him. And that he'd regenerate you
by the power of his Holy Spirit. and give you faith to believe
on him, then you'd be a safe sinner too. My, then you'd be
like this man who picked up his bed and glorified God and went
home. Oh my. Oh, it's God's good pleasure to use
sinful men to preach the gospel of his grace. He could use angels.
He could speak to men directly if he chose, but he's chosen
to speak to men through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the
preaching of his word. And he uses sinful men to preach
that gospel. What a privilege. I'll tell you
what, there's no limitation to God's sovereignty. He's not limited
at all. We're limited. We're limited
by our strength. We're sometimes even limited
by our intellect sometimes. Sometimes we want to do something,
but we don't have the power to do something. God don't have
that problem. There's no limitation to his
sovereignty. Listen to what Paul wrote about
believers in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 to 29, that he's pleased
to use Pleased to use the foolish things
of the world. That's me. You know what foolish
means there? It doesn't mean we're stupid.
It means we're common people. That's what God uses, the common
people of the world. Common folks like you and I.
Listen to this. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. Remember young David, his big
strapping brothers? They're all lined up. Samuel went all the way down
and God said, that one's mine. The smallest and the weakest
one. Oh my. But God had chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. That's why our friends look at
us, Dave, and say, what happened? And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things of the world. Yeah, he does, doesn't he? And
things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which
are not to bring to naught things that are. Why? That no flesh
should glory in his presence. I got nothing to glory in with
myself, but I can glory in my king, and so can you. We can
glory in him, can't we? Look what he's done for us. He
saved us from our sins. My, oh my. We see in today's
text that God used these four friends of this man to bring
him to Christ. And this is brought forth again in the Gospel of
Mark, In Mark chapter two verse three, you don't have to turn
there, I'll read it to you if you want. And they came unto him bringing
one sick of the palsy which was born of four. So there was four
of them. Four of them bringing this man to our great king. And again, they must have loved
this man. They must have loved this man to do this. They climbed
up to that roof, they took that roof apart just to get him to
the feet of Christ. They must have really loved this
man. My, oh my. And he got them to the feet of Christ.
And our Lord looks, and then he speaks of their faith. Look
again at verse 2. And behold, they brought to him a man sick
of the palsy, laying on a bed, and Jesus seeing their faith.
Seeing that God had given them faith. Who are they bringing
them to? Who's the object of our faith?
They're bringing them to Christ. That faith that God had given
them will always take them to Christ. Look at that. They're lying on the bed and
Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
be a good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Oh,
here are four of the Lord's sheep bringing a lost sheep and putting
them down by rope. And I bet you they were real
gentle with them. and bought him and put him right at the
feet of Christ. And this, this paralytic, he didn't know he
was one of the lost sheep. He had no idea. He had no idea. Oh my. And oh, they lowered this lost
sheep, these four sheep, lowered this lost sheep before our great
king. And they believed that the Lord
could heal them. He says they had faith, faith in Christ. Oh, they believed it. They believed
that they could get him to the feet of Christ. He could heal
them. And this miracle is among the
many. Now this miracle is a confirmation
of the Godhead and of his mission as a Messiah. The prophet Isaiah,
turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 35. We'll read this here. Listen
to it. And we're going to see that what we see in our text
today was prophesied in the book of Isaiah. Look at this. This is absolutely
wonderful. Our dear brother Isaiah, he prophesied
about the great Redeemer, the Messiah. And look what he says
in Isaiah 35 verses 4 to 8. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, fearful heart, be strong, fear not. There's that word,
those two words again, beautiful words. Behold, your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come,
and look at this, and save you. Who came and saved us, beloved?
Our God. The word of God, the second person
of the Trinity came and saved us. And then look at this, the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a heart. The
tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched ground
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.
In the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass,
and reeds, and rushes, And a highway shall be there. Oh, there'll
be a highway there. Look at this. And a way, notice,
notice, and there shall, and a highway, singular, and a highway,
singular, shall be there, and a way, singular, right? And it shall be called the way
of what? Holiness. How are we made holy? Only in
Christ. Who's the way of the truth and
the life? Who's the way? Christ. We're on the straight
path, aren't we? The king's highway. Oh, this
is speaking of Christ. The unclean shall not pass over,
but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, the fools shall
not err therein. Well, look at this back in, look
in verse six there. It says, then shall the lame
man leap as an heart, Marvel again at the scripture here.
It says in our scriptures in Matthew 9, 7, and he arose and
departed to his house. The lame man got up and walked
out. So that prophecy is being fulfilled right in this text
before our eyes. And Luke, it says, and immediately
he rose up before them and took up that wherein he lay and departed
to his own house, glorifying God. He was lame and he's out
there walking right out the door. Oh, what a miracle of grace,
beloved. Now let us observe two acts in this text which are proof
of the Lord Jesus Christ deity. Two things in this text that
are absolute proof of the Lord's deity. This is incredible here. Proof
of his eternal power. in Godhead, which he manifest
towards this man. The first proof of the Lord Jesus
Christ's deity was to pardon this man's sins. He pardoned this man's sins.
The scribes knew from the scripture that only God can forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. And
they had come with malice. They came to entrap our Savior.
They came to entrap our Redeemer, beloved. And our Lord manifested
the fact that he was God in the flesh by forgiving this man of
all his sins. Our Lord, think of this, think
of this. Our Lord, when they lowered that man to his feet,
our Lord was gazing on one of his sheep that had been given
to him for maternity by God. He was looking, there's one of
my lost sheep. And that man had no clue, did
he? Did we have any clue we were the Lord's sheep? None at all,
did we? And he's gazing at this man with
love, just like he does to all his sheep, every one of us. Oh, my. The scribes and the pharisees
didn't know this man was one of the Lord's sheep. They had
no idea. The paralytic didn't know, but Christ did. And beloved,
this man is brought before Him. This man who's brought before
Him, He's put down before Him, He's one of those who Christ
has loved with an eternal love. Think of that. He's looked upon
us when we were enemies in our minds to Him. And He looked at us with an eternal
love. This is one of his sheep. Oh my, it's wonderful. This is
one who he'll soon shed his blood for. This is one who will be
with him in glory forever. Look at verse two again and marvel
at the words of our great Redeemer to this man. This man could not
help himself in any way, could he? No way, there's no way for
him to help himself. He couldn't change the state
that he was in? His friends couldn't change the
state that he was in? But look at this, verse 2. And
behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a
bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith,
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, look at that, Son, Be of good cheer, thy sins be
forgiven thee. Now, none but God can forgive
sins, beloved. None but God can forgive sins.
And in this text, we see our Lord Jesus Christ proclaiming
his deity. He doesn't have to say, I'm God.
He's proclaiming it by saying, son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. Just with those words, he's proclaiming
his deity. That's why the Jews said, this
man's blasphemy. They didn't say it out loud,
though. They said it within their hearts. This is the word of God proclaiming
these words. This is the word of God incarnate.
This is no mere man. This is the word of God incarnate.
He's proclaiming these wondrous words. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
by the exercise of his authority, proclaimed to this man that his
sins were forgiven. And note, he proclaimed this
even before he healed him physically. He hasn't healed him physically
yet. But he looks at this man and says, son, Be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee. One may ask, why? Why has he forgiven him for his
sins before he's healing him, his physical state? Well, he was bought to the Lord
by his four friends. The crowd was so large that they
climbed up on the roof and they opened up a hole in that man's
roof. The roof of that building And they lowered him down, and
that'd have to be a pretty big hole. That'd have to be a pretty,
my oh my, that's a good size hole. And they let him down in front
of the Savior, and we see that the first words, the first words
that the Lord speaks to this man is, son, be of good cheer,
thy sins are forgiven thee. The first words that he speaks
to him, Now if he healed this man physically
without his sins forgiven, this man would still be in a tragic
state, wouldn't he? He'd still be dead in trespasses and sins. So he does that which is most
needful first. What's the need of every man,
woman, and child upon this earth? To have their sins forgiven,
right? Whether they think it or not, it's the most desperate
need of mankind. Think of this, how would you
like to have a healthy body and a dead soul? There's so many
that we rub shoulders with that are like that. We were like that. Until God, by his grace and his
mercy, regenerated us. He found us dead in trespasses
and sins, didn't he? He quickened us. He gave us faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we sing glory
to his name. And look at this. Our Lord is
proclaiming to this man that his sins are forgiven. And then
he uses the word son in verse two. This is a wonderful title,
beloved. This is a wonderful title. He gives this title to the sinsick
sinner lying on the bed waiting to be healed. And oh, the tenderness
of our Lord and Savior, the tenderness of our King to sinners in misery. Because of our sinfulness, we're in misery. But look at
the kindness that he shows to this man calling him son. He's one of those who God gave
him in eternity. He's one of the lords. He's one who's soon going to
cry, I have a father. And how do we know that? Well,
he went home glorifying God, didn't he? He's going to have a new song
on his lips and his tongue. I bet you he couldn't keep his
mouth shut for weeks after that. I bet you, I bet you he just,
he just, anybody he could talk to, he probably, he probably,
for the rest of his life, he probably told them about what
Christ did for him. Oh my. Oh, it's amazing. And look in verse, Verse two again, let's read it.
And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying
on bed, and Jesus, seeing their face, said unto the sick of the
palsy, Son, be a good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Only
God can forgive sin. So this is a manifestation of
his deity, beloved. This is a manifestation of who
he is. He's proclaiming to them. By saying those words to that
paralytic man, he's proclaiming, I'm God. I'm the Messiah. We know that, too, because later
on he calls himself the Son of Man, which again is a title of
the Messiah. But look at these words. Look
at these remarkable words. Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. What a remarkable statement.
God honors the faith of those men. God honors God-given faith,
beloved. My, it's amazing. And when he
saw the faith of these four friends and the man who lay before him
on the ground, he granted him forgiveness. Look at that. Thy sins be forgiven thee. How
many? All of them. All of them. That's God saying
that to this man. That's not no mere man saying
that. We know that no man can forgive our sins, right? And they can't make their own
sins go away. Why do people go to some man
that tells them to go and do this and do that? Gospel preachers, we point you
to Christ. You go to Christ. He's the only mediator between
God and man. He's the only one who's got the power to forgive
sins. He's the only one who's got the authority. Oh, wherever there is faith in Christ,
there is assurance of adoption. Look at that, son. It's one of
his. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
be forgiven thee. It's a word that implies sonship.
Sonship in the mouth. Think of this too. Think of this.
The master publicly announces that he owns a sinner. Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
are forgiven. Oh my! No wonder we rejoice. No wonder
We sing God's praises since he saved us. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 4, and we'll see where this is bought out. Where this is bought out, Galatians
chapter 4, verses 4 to 6. He publicly owned this sinner
as his own child. So this man's mine. He's mine. Look at this, Galatians
4, verses 4 to 6. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And what he said to this man?
Son. He's identifying them. He's his. Oh. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts.
Crying what? Abba, Father. Never used to do
that. Oh, praise be to God. This is
cause for, just that, if the Lord hadn't even healed that
man, that is cause for great joy, beloved. Son, be of good
cheer. Thy sins are forgiven. That is
cause for great joy right there. And that's what he said to we
who are the redeemed, isn't he? Our sins are all forgiven, beloved.
That's cause for great joy. This poor, helpless sinner before
him, he tells him his sins are forgiven. And then, they heal
him further on down in the text. Again, but he proclaims that
he's one of his sheep. Son, be of good cheer. He publicly
proclaims that this man's sins are all forgiven. Oh, what a
manifestation of his deity. And he says, be of good cheer.
Well, that's something to make you cheerful, isn't it? Oh, my. If we are a child of
God, we have reason to be filled with good cheer. My, no matter
what our earthly condition is, we're forgiven. Let us be of
good cheer. And wherever there's God-given
faith, there's forgiveness. Again, marvel at these words.
Thy sins be forgiven thee. All who trust in Christ are forgiven
of all our sins, washed in the precious blood of Christ. And that forgiveness is complete.
That forgiveness is perpetual. That forgiveness cannot be taken
away. God never changes. And the believing sinner, with
all his sins paid for, can be of good cheer then, can't we?
The second point I'd like us to see in this text is, which
is proof of the Godhead of Christ, was Jesus knew their thoughts.
He knew their thoughts. Now we can speak to each other
and know each other's thoughts by what we speak, but we can't
ever know what one's thinking in their mind. But you know,
God knows our thoughts. He knows everything we think.
Oh my. Look what it says here in Matthew
chapter 9, verses 4 to 7. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? They hadn't even
spoken a word. They hadn't come out and said,
this is blasphemy. But they thought it. For whither is it easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or arise and walk? But that ye might know that the
Son of Man, there again, There's a proclamation of who he is,
God, the Messiah. Hath power on earth to forgive
sins, then saith he to the sick of the palsy, arise, take up
thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose and departed to
his house. And marvel at that. Our Lord Jesus knew their thoughts. He knew their thoughts. This
proved that he was the God man. So he's twice in this portion
proved that he's the God man. By saying, all your sins are
forgiven to that man. And now, by reading their thoughts. And think of this too. Again,
he first forgave this man of all his sins. That's the one
needful thing for every human being, whether they believe it
or not. Must be forgiven of our sins. This is why Christ came,
right? To save his people from their
sins, to save sinners from their sins. Now, we cannot know the thoughts
of any man or woman. Only God and God alone knows
the thoughts. Listen to what it says in Genesis
6, 5. It says this, and God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. I don't know your thoughts, but
God knows them all. Every one of them. My. So first of all, our Lord heals
this man spiritually, right? By saying, son, be a good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee. And now our Lord, he's gonna
exercise his power and authority by healing this man physically. So he's proclaimed who he is,
right? By saying, son, be of good cheer,
thy sins are forgiven thee. So he's proclaimed there by saying
those words that he's God. Then he's showing again that
he's God by reading their thoughts. And then he said, son, he called
himself the son of man again, saying he's the Messiah. And look at this, now he's going
to exercise his power. This man is laying on that bed. He can't even help himself. He's paralyzed. You think that a miracle performed
right before their eyes. You think that they just go,
this man must be God. You know? But think of all the
things that God did for us in our life before we were saved.
Protecting us. Taking care of us. Guiding us. Directing us. And we didn't see
it at all. Now we look back, don't we, and
go, oh my goodness. The old-timers used to call it,
it's called, prevenient grace. Grace before grace. My, it's amazing. Look at here,
he's gonna exercise his power. Look at verse six again, he says,
but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power, that's
authority again on earth, to forgive sins. Then saith he to
the sick and the palsy, arise, take up thy bed, and go unto
thine house. Now, when God speaks the commandment,
there's always power that comes with it. When Christ speaks this,
there's always power, because look what it says. He has all
power. Son of man hath power, authority
on earth. And you know what? Those demons knew who he was.
Remember again, the Gadarene demoniac? We know who thou art,
thou holy one of God. And they were fearful. Scripture
says, you know the devils and the demons are smarter than most
men? Says the demons, they believe and they tremble. Now they don't
believe we're saving grace, they just know who he is. They tremble. They tremble. What great power
is displayed here. What great powers on display!
Only God can forgive sins, and only God can read the thoughts
of the men, and only God can heal this lost sheep. Just with
a command. but that you may know that the
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Again, truly
the words, turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 61. Truly,
again, the words of Isaiah are fulfilled right here before our
eyes in Isaiah 61, verses one to three. Scripture declares,
the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. He had all power, beloved. Because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
freedom, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance. of our God, to comfort all that
mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Look at that. That's
what we are. That he might be glorified. Now these scribes found fault
with the words of Christ. which Christ spoke to this man
who was sick of the palsy, and they secretly said among themselves,
in their own minds, this man speaketh blasphemy. They probably supposed that no
one knew what they were thinking. No one knew what they were thinking.
Well, I'll tell you why. They had yet to learn that the
Son of God could read hearts and discern spirits. Their malicious thought was publicly
exposed. Publicly exposed, and they were
put to open shame, beloved. This is an important lesson for
us. This is an important lesson for we who are God's people.
Nothing can be concealed from the Lord. Nothing we think is
concealed from Him. Nothing. What we What do we think
of in private when no one sees? What do we think of in church
when we seem grave and serious? What are we thinking at of this
moment? We hear these words. God knows
them all. God knows all our thoughts. All
of them. And this should humble us, eh?
It's humbling to know that. But you know what we ought to
thank God for daily? the blood of Christ that cleanses all our
sins, even our thought sins. Praise be to God for the precious
blood of Christ. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior. His blood cleanses
us from all sin, even the sins of thought. Oh, praise be to God for His
mercy. Lastly, let's see again how our dear brother in Christ
reacted when he was forgiven of all his sins. He was healed
from his paralytic state. Matthew 7, 9, 7 brings forth,
and he arose and departed to his house. Up he went. The Lord said, arise. And he got up, took his bed,
and went right out the door. What a miracle, beloved. And
Luke says in verse 25, and immediately he rose up before them and took
up that whereon he laid, and departed to his house, glorifying
God. Wow, he is so full of joy, beloved. He's glorifying God. May we leave
this place knowing today that all our sins are forgiven. May
we leave this place glorified.