The name of the message is, thy
sins are forgiven. Thy sins are forgiven. Now this
same healing of which we just read about in Matthew 9 is also
spoken of over in Mark chapter 2. Turn, if you would, over to
Mark chapter 2. Let's take a look over there. And we see that this man's friends
go to great lengths They go to great lengths to bring their
paraplegic friend to the feet of Christ. Great lengths. That's
not mentioned over there in the Matthew narrative in Matthew
chapter 9. Mark chapter 2 verses 1 to 5. And the same narrative again
is the one we just read. And again he entered into Capernaum
after some days and it was noise that he was in the house. In
straight way, many were gathered together in so much that there
was no room to receive them. No, not so much about the door. And he preached the word unto
them. So the crowd was so great that no one could even come into
the door. No one could even come into the room where he was. The
crowd was so great. And we see he preached the word
to them. He preached the scriptures, we know that is. And the scriptures
there is the Old Testament. There was no New Testament there.
So he's preaching the Old Testament to them. Look at this. And they
came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born
of four. Four men carried this man. Carried the paraplegic,
the man with palsy. They carried him to bring him
to the feet of Christ. And when they could not come
nigh unto him, they couldn't get close to him. Why? For the
press they uncovered the roof. They went to such great lengths
that they went up on the roof and they opened a hole in the
roof. They opened a hole in the roof.
So why? We'll see why. Look at this.
They uncovered the roof where he was, and when they had broken
it up, they made a hole, they leapt down the bed where in the
sick of the palsy lay. So they took, they climbed on
the roof, they took him somehow up with them, they opened a hole
in the roof of the house that he was in, and they lowered this
man so that he would be at the feet of Christ. My, my. Look at what Jesus says about
this. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the
palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now let's go back to Matthew
chapter 9. Now in this chapter right before
this one, our Lord had, in chapter 8, our Lord had just cast out
the demons, the legion of demons from the gathering demoniac.
That's what he had just did. just cast out the legion of demons
from the Gadarene demoniac. And the Gadarenes, right, resenting
the loss of their hogs, they didn't care about the man being
healed. They were mad because their hogs died. They were mad
because it affected their pocketbook. Oh my! They were disgusted with the
Son of God and they urged him to depart from their coast. And
so what does he do? He did it. That's judgment, isn't it? He
just left them where they were. Fine. My, oh my. Look at verse 1 then. This is
what happens after that. Our Lord departed by a ship and
came into his own city, which we saw in Mark chapter 2 was
Capernaum. The scripture says here, and
he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. Now, Capernaum here is called
his own city because at present it was the principal place of
his residence and the principal place of his ministry, the principal
city of his ministry. All that is recorded in this
chapter, if you read this chapter, it's all recorded in Capernaum. Now, in the casting out of the
legions of demons, again from the Gadarene demoniac, We saw
a clear picture, if you read that narrative in chapter 8,
you will see a clear picture of the power of God. A clear
picture. No one could help this man. They
had chained him, right? They had bound him, which shows
religion. Religion tries to cure people
by binding them. And it doesn't do them any good,
does it? No good at all. But oh, if one has an encounter
with the king of glory, you'll never be the same again. You'll
never be the same again. And so was that man. And the
Lord, remember he wanted to go with the Lord? And the Lord said,
you go and tell the great things that I've done for you. My. And that's what God's people
do. We proclaim the great things that God has done for us. So
God's great power and his mercy was on full display. This Gadarene
demoniac was delivered from the power of the devil and the power
of sin. And the legion of demons within
him were cast out. Cast out. And again, the people
in that land cared more for their pocketbooks than anything else.
They cared about their gain, because they saw their hope of
gain destroyed when those hogs went right into the water. Oh,
my. They were not happy at all. They
were not happy at all. And they drowned. And then they
asked again our Lord to leave. So we see here again in verse
1, and he entered into a ship and passed over and came into
his own city. Now let's read verse 2. And behold,
they bought 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, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. So we see here in this verse,
Our Lord manifests his deity. He manifests his deity here. In Mark chapter two, which we
read, we saw that this man was bought by four of his friends
to the Lord. They climbed a roof, they made
a hole, and they lowered their friend down to be at the feet
of Christ. And we know that they had faith
in Christ because our Lord says, seeing their faith. They believed
that Christ could heal him. They believed that. And so they opened a hole in
the roof and they let him down in front of the Savior. Now this
miracle before us is just one of many which confirms that Jesus
Christ is God. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
And we'll see as we study this tonight, it confirms who he is. And we'll see too, it confirms
that he's the Messiah. With a statement that he'll make
in these verses. And those Jews knew what he was
saying when he said those words. So this is one of the many miracles
which confirms again Christ is God, it confirms his Godhead,
and it confirms his mission as the Messiah. He came to save
his people from their sins. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 35. Isaiah chapter 35. We'll look at what's recorded
over here in Isaiah chapter 35. In this portion in Isaiah 35,
we're going to see, speaks of the Messiah. Now remember, this
man is sick of the policy. He's a paraplegic. He's lame. He can't do anything. He can't
move. Obviously, he's being carried
about on the bed. He can't even bring himself to where Christ
is. He doesn't have any ability. Oh, what a picture, eh? And he
doesn't have any power to come where Christ is. Look at this in Isaiah chapter
35. This is the prophet Isaiah speaking of the Messiah. And
we have evidence in our passage in Matthew chapter 9 that this
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll see that later. Look
at this, Isaiah 35, verses 4 to 8. Say to them that are of a
fearful heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your God, that's
Elohim, will come with vengeance. even Elohim with recompense.
He will come and save you. What has Christ done for His
people? Amen. He came to save His people from
their sins, didn't He? He saved us. He saved God's people. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened. What were we before the Lord
saved us, we who are believers? We were blind. Spiritually blind. We had no clue. In the ears of
the deaf, she'll be unstopped. We didn't, we heard the things
of scripture, but we didn't hear them, did we? No, we didn't. Oh, my. But one day, for those of us
who are born again, for those of us who are the blood washed
children of God, our eyes were opened and our ears were unstopped. Now, this is also speaking about
people who are physically blind when the Messiah comes, though.
But we see also a picture of us spiritually. Then shall the
lame man leap as in heart. Well, we're going to see this
man tonight. After the Lord heals him, he's going to pick up his
bed, and he's going to walk away. The lame. What happened to that
man at the gate called Beautiful, do you remember? He was leaping
and praising God after he was healed. Oh, it's wonderful. So this speaks of the Messiah
here. Look at this, too. Then shall the lame man leap
as an heart and the tongue of a dumb sing. Oh, now we sing
of the praises of our Lord, we who are the people of God. For
in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool. The parched
ground pictures us in our natural state. The pool pictures us born again
of the Holy Spirit God. And the thirsty land springs
of water, springs of everlasting water. In the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. It'll
be fertile. by the fruit of the Spirit, beloved.
Look at this, I love this, verse eight. And a highway shall be
there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of what? Holiness. Holiness. The unclean shall not
pass over, shall not pass over it. but it shall be for those,
the wayfaring man, the fool shall not err therein. Now look what
it says there, and highway, one highway, and highway, shall be
there, and a way, one way, and it shall be called the way of
holiness. Who's the way, the truth, and
the life? The Lord Jesus Christ. This is
speaking of the Messiah, This is speaking of the Messiah. And it shall be for those, the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. We who
are the people of God are poor wayfaring strangers, aren't we,
traveling through this world of woe. Oh, my. So here in this passage here
is spoken of the Messiah. And we know it's the Lord Jesus
Christ, he who is the way, the truth, and the life. The one
spoken of in Isaiah chapter 35a called the way of holiness, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's go back to Matthew 9 too. And remember it said the
lame shall leap as an heart, right? Well this man, he's sick
of the palsy. He's paraplegic, can't move. Look at what it says. And behold,
they bought him, a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. Matthew 9, 2. And Jesus, seeing
their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good
cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. So we see in this verse that
this man was so sick of the palsy that all he could do was lay
upon the bed. That's all he could do. He could
just lay upon the bed. His nerves were so weak that
he was not able to walk for himself. And he wasn't even able to be
carried by others like this. He had to lay on a bed to be
carried. And four men had to carry him. Remember the stretcher
bearers during World War I and World War II? Well, instead of there being
one man on each end holding two, this fellow, they had to have
a man on each stick, each corner to carry him. And notice our Lord brings forth
the faith that the four men who carried their friend to Christ,
he brings this forth. It says, Jesus, seeing their
faith, said unto the sick and the palsy, son, be of good cheer.
Thy sins be forgiven thee. God honors God-given faith. God honors God-given faith. He
doesn't honor faith that man musters up, which is not faith
at all. But he does honor God-given faith. And our Lord sees the faith of
these four friends of this man who they laid before him. And
he grants this man forgiveness, which we will see next. Think
of this. This man could not heal himself.
He couldn't heal himself. This man had no power and no
ability to heal himself. So what do we see here? We see
a picture of natural man. We see a picture of natural man
with no hope to heal themselves, no power to heal themselves,
no ability to heal themselves. So we see a picture of natural
man's hopeless, helpless estate before God. And who do these
men take their dear friend to? The same person that we take
our dear friends to and our family members, don't we? They take him to the only one
who is the hope of the hopeless. They take him to the only one
who is the help of the helpless, they take him to the Lord Jesus
Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. And wherever there is
faith in Christ, there is assurance of adoption as well. And we see
the first word, look at the first word the Lord spoke to this man.
This is the beginning of good things, beloved, because look
what he says, son, Son. The Savior called this man son.
This implies sonship. This is one of those sheep that
are lost that the Father gave in love to Christ in eternity. And God knows his sheep, doesn't
he? Because we know because he said to those men in John 10,
he says, you're not my sheep. But he calls this man son. Son. Oh, this implies sonship. Here the master publicly owns
this sinner as his own child. He publicly owns him as his own
child. Galatians says this, and what
I mean by that is he's one of his elect. Scripture says this
in Galatians chapter 4 verse 6, and because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit
of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, because
you're sons. He doesn't call everyone sons. But he calls this man son. Scripture says in 1 John 3, 1,
behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us,
being God's people, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore
the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Romans 8, 15
to 17, the scripture says this. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So the born-again
believer cries out to God, Abba, Father. He's my Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him. that we may be also glorified
together. So he calls this man son. This
is one of his lost sheep. This is one of his lost sheep.
This is one in whom Christ would be glorified. This is one in whom Christ would
be glorified, and we're gonna see he's glorified through this
man, through healing this man. One commentator said this, and
I love this. This is one who's been given
to Christ in eternity, and one who had been put among the children
of men to bring him glory. Isn't that amazing? And whom
he should bring glory to is the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of that. Think of that if you're a born-again
child of God. You are placed among the children
of man to bring glory to God. That's incredible. That's just
incredible. As I said this morning, that's
mercy unbounded. There's no bounds to that mercy,
is there? None. You can't measure it. You can't measure that mercy.
And then look what the topic he brings up here in Matthew
9 too. Look at the topic he brings up is the forgiveness of sins.
Let's read verse two again. And behold, they bought him a
man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed, hopeless, helpless,
can't do anything about his condition. And Jesus, seeing their face,
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. Those are sweet words to sinners. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Listen
to what one grace preacher of old said about how the Lord spoke
to this man. If he had healed this man physically
without his sins being forgiven, the man is still in a tragic
shape because he'd be dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus, seeing
their faith, again said to the sick and the palsy, son, be of
good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. How would you like to have
a healthy body and a dead soul? So the Lord, this is one of his
sheep, and he says, thy sins are forgiven. This is one who he's going to
go to Calvary's cross to purchase him with his precious, precious
blood. This is one who his love has
been set upon from eternity. And then he bids him to be of
good cheer. Oh, yeah. When you know your
sins are forgiven, it's not hard to be full of good cheer, is
it? Oh, my. My, oh, my. Now, we go through trials, and
we do, and they bring us down, and they beat on us and all that,
but remember, we always have the Lord with us as we, right?
He'll never leave us nor forsake us. But be a good cheerer if
you're a believer. Your sins are forgiven. Remember, this is a picture of
us in our natural state, too. Oh, my. This is why we say, flee
to Christ. There is nowhere else you can
find the forgiveness of all your sins but Christ. Nowhere else. In Christ, all our sins are forgiven. Outside of Christ, There's no
forgiveness, and the wrath of God will fall upon us. And it's the goodness of God
that brings us to repentance, isn't it? When we read these
narratives, it's like, oh my, this is wonderful. Is it any wonder, then, that
the born-again, blood-washed believer glorifies God? There's
no wonder, is there? No wonder. Be of good cheer. So he was under a sense of sin
and his soul was distressed and now the Lord Jesus Christ tells
him, son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. Nothing could be more cheering,
nothing could be more reviving for this man to hear these sweet
words from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, from God incarnate in
the flesh. And this man has good reason
to be cheerful and to rejoice, to rejoice in his heart. The
son of God, God incarnate in the flesh, has just told him,
son, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven. My. Thy sins be forgiven thee. So here before us, we have a
wonderful instance of the grace of Christ to bestow a blessing
unasked for. This man didn't ask for this
blessing. No, he was carried by his friends
who broke, hauled him up to that roof. I couldn't even imagine
what that'd be like. Hauled him up onto the roof,
broke a hole in the roof, and lowered this man down. No wonder
the Lord said about their faith, oh my goodness. And then for him to hear this,
son be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. He's a sinner
from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. To hear these
wonderful words, son be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.
My. Isn't that how we feel when we
first got a glimpse of Christ, we who are God's people? When
he was revealing himself to us? When we're born again of the
Holy Spirit of God and he's drawn us to Christ and gives us faith
to believe on Christ, to look to him. And now, we listened
to Brother Norm this afternoon and Norm said, we just keep coming
to the Lord, don't we? We never stop. We keep rejoicing in the wonder
of salvation God's people do of what we have in Christ. Is
it any wonder we tell others about it when we get the chance
to, if the Lord opens the door for us? Well, it's no wonder
we do. My, oh my, he's glorious. So
we see here also before us the first act here in proof of Christ's
deity. We see his eternal power to pardon
sin. To pardon sin. With these wondrous words here,
our Lord has manifested that he is God incarnate in the flesh.
And we see God's mercy, which we looked at this morning, we
see God's mercy here on display, don't we, towards this man. When
he says to him, he's sick with a palsy, he's paraplegic, he
can't help himself, he's hopeless, he's helpless. And then we see
these words, our Lord speaks to him, son be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee. Now let's look at verse 3. Now
here comes the religious fault finders. Here they come. Here they come. And note what they said within
themselves. Now note this, this is important.
They did not verbalize these words. They did not verbalize these
words. And here's these religious fault
finders. And they're thinking within themselves these thoughts.
And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this
man blasphemeth. It says within themselves. They
didn't verbalize it. Now, we see here the malice and the hatred
that the scribes had for the Lord Jesus Christ. Right away, these religious fault
finders say in themselves, they say, this man blasphemeth. Now, it's true that only God
can forgive sins. That's true, isn't it? That's
a truth. But these scribes, these religious
hypocrites, they had no idea that Christ was God in flesh.
They had no idea that he was God in the flesh. And their hatred
of Christ had so blinded them, their hatred of Christ had so
blinded them that all they can do is find fault with Christ. If you ever get to a point with
someone where you feel like all they can say, all they say, whether
it be true or not, and you find fault with what they're saying,
then you need to pray about things. And these scribes, they hated
him. The Pharisees hated our Lord.
Everything he said, they found fault with. And we know he's
the truth. He's speaking the truth, isn't
he? All they can do is find fault. And our great king had just told
this man that his sins are forgiven. Look in the next verse, so we
see again our Lord's deity bought forth even more in this portion
of scripture. Look at this. This is marvelous.
This is incredible. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts. So they didn't speak a word verbally. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? My, oh my. We see here that the thoughts
and intents of men and women are laid bare before our great
Savior. Laid bare before our great God. We may not verbalize our thoughts. We may not verbalize our thoughts.
We may not verbalize our intents. But the Lord sees right through
our hearts. Right through our hearts. whether
we're saved or lost. And we see this truth brought
forth in these words in Jesus knowing their thoughts. Knowing
their thoughts. So what we see here in verse
three is that which is spoken of in the scriptures out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. So they thought about
this within themselves. They didn't verbalize it, but
it was inside. And the scripture says that when
we speak out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Whether we speak blasphemy or whether we speak blessings. Look at verse three again. They
never spoke these words that this man blasphemeth. But we
see that our Lord brings forth, again in verse four, that he
knows the thoughts and the intents of all hearts with these words.
Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts. So we see here again
proof before us of our great Savior's deity. Here is proof
of his deity. We see very clearly that our
Lord knows the thoughts and intents
of man. And there were certain of the
scribes that found fault with the words of Christ. They found fault with the words
that Christ spoke to this man sick of the palsy. And they secretly
said within themselves, this man speaketh blasphemy. And I
imagine they said it with proud hearts. They probably supposed that no
one knew what was going on in their minds, did they? That's
what they thought. They thought no one knows what's
going on in my mind. But they have yet to learn that
the Son of God could read hearts and discern
spirits. We see here that their malicious
thoughts were publicly exposed, and they were put to open shame. The Lord knew their thoughts.
Here's an important lesson for us, for we who are the people
of God. We who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Here's
an important lesson for us that nothing we think can be concealed
from Christ. Nothing. What do we think of in private
when no one sees us? What do we think in church when
we seem grave and serious? What are we thinking of at this
moment as we hear these words? The Lord Jesus Christ knows and
he sees the thoughts and intents of our hearts and this should
humble us before our great God. This should humble us before
our great God. And we ought to be, we who are
the people of God ought to rejoice, aren't we? We ought to rejoice. And we ought to thank God daily
that the blood of Christ cleanses us from every sin, even all our
thought sins, all our heart sins, and all the sins we do indeed. Oh, my, it ought to put a spring
in our step. Son, be of good cheer. It ought
to make us of good cheer, isn't it? to know that all our sins
are forgiven. But never forget, though, the
Lord knows everything about us. Everything. We ought to cry to the Lord often
and praise and thanksgiving. Shouldn't we? We should. Often. Praise and thank him for his
mercy. We who are the people of God. So we see the second
proof here in our text of our Lord's Godhead is that Jesus
knew their thoughts. The first proof was he said,
thy sins be forgiven. And only God can forgive sins.
So the second point we see is here, he knew their thoughts.
And notice he acted upon that knowledge of knowing their thoughts
by telling them what they thought. You see that? He says to them
here. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? So he knew it, and he acted upon
it, putting them to open shame. My. This is also the sole prerogative
of the Godhead, that God knows everything. He's over all. Listen to this, these two scriptures
that speak of this. Jeremiah 17.10, I, the Lord,
search the heart. I, the Lord, search the heart.
I try the rains, even to give every man according to his ways
and according to the fruit of his doings. That's Jeremiah 17,
10. And then in the New Testament,
in Revelation 2, verse 23, it says this, and all the churches
shall know that I am he which searches the reins and the hearts. That's in Revelation 2, verse
23. And I will give unto every one
of you according to your works. My. With this in mind, let's
go back to Matthew 9, let's read verses 4 to 6. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether it is easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk, but that
ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, then saith he to the sick and the palsy, Arise, take up
thy bed, and go unto thine house. So we see here before us that
the Lord Jesus Christ, by the exercise of his authority, cures
this man who was in a hopeless, helpless state. No ability again,
no power to change the state that he was in. Here again, our
Lord proves, and we will see what happens in the next couple
verses, he proves that he's God. So we see in these few verses,
the Lord Jesus Christ proving who he is. It's incredible. We know that only God has the
power to forgive sins. Only God has the ability to make
a lame man walk. Only God has the power to heal. And this miracle gives evidence
of his great power. It's on full display. Remember
in Isaiah 35 when I read, then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame man leap as in heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.
For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert. In this miracle, the Lord Jesus
Christ has set forth that he is the Messiah. That he is the
Messiah. You know how we know that? You
see this phrase here in verse 6, son of man? It says here, but that ye may
know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.
Then saith he to the sick and the palsy, Arise, take up thy
bed, go unto thine house. Son of man there was perhaps
the most common title by which the Jews referred to the Messiah. And the Lord calls himself that. He's proclaiming. that he's the
Messiah. In this miracle, the Lord Jesus
Christ brings forth that he is the Messiah when he calls himself
the Son of Man. And then he says he's the one
who has power on earth to forgive sins. We know that all power is being
given to Christ, right? God has given Christ all power. all power, all authority. He
has it all. It's in no one but him. No one
but him. Turn, if you would, to Luke.
Luke, chapter 4. I'll read Isaiah 61, which speaks
of the Messiah, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the sent one
of God. Isaiah 61.1 says, the spirit
of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound." Now, look here
in Luke chapter 4, verses 17 to 21. Look at this. This is marvelous. And there was delivered unto
him, unto Christ, the book of Isaiah. And when he had opened
the book, he found the place where it is written, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, that's a reference to the
Messiah. He's reading in Isaiah, again
it says in Isaiah 61.1, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach glad tidings unto the
meek. Well, he's appointed, the Lord says here, because he hath
appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. In verse, in Isaiah
61.1, it says, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
proclaim liberty to the captives. Oh, look at Luke 8, 4.18. He
has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set them at
liberty. To set them at liberty, them that are blind, Bruce. My,
and then look what the Lord says to them here in Luke chapter
four, verse 20. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and sat down, and the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogues were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, this day is the scripture fulfilled
in your ears. My. Oh, that's incredible, isn't
it? So marvel. Let's go back to Matthew
chapter 9, verse 6. Marvel at verse 6. With that
in mind, marvel at verse 6. The Lord Jesus Christ declares
again that he is the Messiah. with these words. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. He's come to save his people
from their sins. And he says this in Matthew 9,
6. But that ye may know that the Son of Man, and that's him,
that's Christ, hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith
he to the sick of the palsy, rise, take up thy bed, and go
unto thine house. We see that our great Savior
and Redeemer has power on earth to forgive sins, not only in
ability as God, but in authority, but in authority as our mediator. He's our mediator between God
and man. We are saved by him, by the shedding
of his precious blood. And we see that even when he
was here on earth in a state of humiliation, because this
is a state of humiliation when he was here on this earth. He
left the glories of heaven. Even when he was here on earth
in a state of humiliation in a fashion as a man and in the
form of the servant, while he was conversing with sinful humans, he has all power. all power even then, to forgive sins. And not only
does he have all power, he has the ability. He has the ability. And he turns away from those
religious hypocrites, those religious fault finders, and he speaks
to this man, the one who is sick of the palsy, and he says to
him, without putting up any prayer. Notice he didn't put any prayer
up to God either, because he's God incarnate in the flesh, without
putting up any prayer to God, but just by the word of his power,
by his own lips. He says, arise, take up thy bed,
and go unto thine house. He ordered this man from his
bed. This man is ordered by the Son
of God. Remember, he was carried by four
men, to this place, taken up on a roof. A hole's ripped in
the roof. They lower him down. And he's
still in the same state when he's lowered down to be at the feet of Christ as
when they bought him. And he is hopeless to help himself.
He's helpless. But he's put at the feet of the
one who the helpless hope in, who the needful look to. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, with the command of God incarnate in the flesh, we will
see here that there's power. There's power with this command
that our Lord gives. There's power, and there's the
ability to heal, and to forgive one's sins. Because he told this
man, arise, carry your bed by yourself, and go to your home.
And remember, this is the very bed that he's been carried there
on. Oh, my. This is the very bed
that he's been carried on there. And notice, too, when we see
this, this is a complete healing. You know, I went through some
operations when I was about 12 years old. And I was in a cast
from my tiptoes here, my toes all the way up to here with a
bar in between my legs for six months. Six months I was in that
cast. And when they cut that cast off,
I had to learn to walk just like the guys in the forces when they're
on those bars and you have to learn how to walk again, I had
to learn how to walk. My legs were like jello. There was no
muscle. And that was only after six months.
So I had to learn how to walk all over again. This man is,
we don't know if he could walk before, but if he could, okay. But he's in a state now where
he can't move. He can't, he's on a bed. He probably
had to be carried onto the bed. And this healing is so complete,
so complete. Look what happens. In Matthew
9, verse 7, and he arose and departed to his house. He got right up. This is a complete
healing. He got right up, and he went right to his house.
My, he was justified freely by God's grace, and he who was justified freely
by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, was
like Abraham. He proved his faith, right, by
his works. And obedience is always the fruit
of faith. This man obeyed what Christ said. He obeyed what Christ said. Believers
are men and women who are obedient to Christ. We're obedient to
Christ. This is our desire. This is the
character of the believer's life. To live a life that's obedient
to our Savior. And look what verse eight brings
forth here. But when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified
God, which had given such power unto men. So marvel at what you've
seen tonight. Marvel at what we've looked at
in the scriptures tonight. You who are the born-again, blood-washed
saints of God, marvel at how we've seen Christ's deity manifested. Marvel at his eternal Godhead.
Marvel at his power. Marvel at how he declared himself
the Messiah, the Son of Man. And there's one more point that
I'd like us to leave with tonight. One more point that I'd like
us to think upon that we've seen in God's word. We've seen the
tenderness and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ to his
people, haven't we? He forgave this man all his sins. He healed him completely. And he forgave him of all his
sins, the tenderness and the compassion of Christ to his people.
He pardoned this man's sin. It was unasked for. Unasked for by this man who had
the palsy. And again, we see that this healing
of this man was his whole body. Think of this. Our Lord pardons
all the sins of his people. And the scripture declares we
are complete in him. Complete in him. all according
to his mercy and all according to his grace. So be astonished,
you who are the people of God. We have a picture here with this
man of our natural state, of our natural state, hopeless,
helpless before God and incompletely forgiven and in our right mind. Complete in Christ. And then
think of this. Obediently walking to our home. Pilgrimaging through this world.
Pilgrimaging through this world. And one day, one day we'll be
home. We'll be home. Praise is mighty. Heavenly Father,
we thank you for your mercy and grace. In Christ Jesus, our Lord,
we who are your people, we are so thankful that you sent your
Son. And Lord Jesus, we are so thankful
that you came to this world to redeem your people from their
sins, to pardon all our iniquity by the sacrifice of yourself. The sinless one dying for sinners. May we think upon this this week
May you bring to mind the things that we've learned tonight. Lord,
help us to meditate upon these things through the week, and
marvel, and we who are the people of God, help us to be of good
cheer when we think about this wondrous salvation that we have
in thee. And Lord, we also pray that you'd
use the message for your glory, and if it be your will, O Lord,
to open the eyes of one of your lost sheep, or to give them ears
to hear thee, Lord, oh, we pray that you'd use the message for
your glory and for the furtherance of thy kingdom, oh Lord, in Jesus'
name, amen.