Preaching And The Forgiveness of Sins

sins. Before our Lord cast out the unclean spirit and when He was in the synagogue He was preaching, He was preaching first and then He cast out that unclean spirit and saved that man. Our Lord preached, He's a preacher HE'S A PREACHER. You know, I don't want no one to call me REVEREND, because I'm not. REVEREND it says in the scriptures, REVEREND is HIS NAME. They can call me PASTOR, and they can call me PREACHER. There's some around here over at the golf course, one man over there, he always calls me PREACHER.

You know what? That's fine with me. Henry said to me once and he gave me, it was a high compliment. He came up to me after a message I preached there and he said, God made a preacher out of you. Christ was a preacher. And he's made a preacher out of me and many others. But what an honor to be called a preacher. I know this religious mess we got today, I don't call them preachers, I call them false preachers, false prophets. But what an honor to be called a preacher because our Lord was. But our Lord when HE preached HIS PREACHING WAS FLAWLESS.

Boy, that hit me today when I was thinking of this. HIS PREACHING WAS FLAWLESS. You know, some of the goofy things come off my mind. Nothing like that came out of his mind. HIS PREACHING WAS FLAWLESS. WHEN HE PREACHED, IT WAS ABSOLUTE TRUTH. EVERY WORD WAS TRUTH. EVERY WORD WAS TRUTH. NOW IF SINNERS ARE TO BE SAVED, IF THEY ARE TO KNOW FORGIVENESS, THEN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST MUST BE PREACHED.

AS HE PREACHED, YOU KNOW HE WAS THE SUBJECT OF HIS OWN PREACHING, WASN'T HE? HE PREACHED THE SCRIPTURES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. HE POINTED OUT THAT THEY SPEAK OF ME, HE SAID. MOSES AND THE PROPHETS SPEAK OF ME, THEY WROTE OF ME IN THE PSALMS. and today he's still the subject. He's still the subject of our preaching.

Christ must be preached if there is to be forgiveness of sins because if God's going to save someone, if He's going to save them and forgive them of their sins, I promise you they're going to hear Christ preached. They're going to hear the gospel. He is the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is the gospel. And they're gonna hear Him preached.

And then they'll experience, if He's pleased to save them, the forgiveness of sins. And that's what I want. Isn't that what you want? There's only one thing that separates me from God. My sins. That's it. Take that away and there's no barrier between me and God. NO BARRIER, IF HE TAKE AWAY MY SINS. And THAT is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did.

He died for my sins and for all the sins of all His elect, of all whom He will save, He died for every one of their sins. Every one of them. How many sins do you reckon you got? HOW MANY SECONDS ARE IN A DAY? I ASSURE YOU THAT'S HOW MANY SINS YOU'VE GOT. HE DIED FOR EACH ONE OF THEM. EACH ONE OF THEM. AND PUT THEM AWAY. AND THEY EXIST NO MORE. THEY EXIST NO MORE.

NOW, IN VERSES 1 AND 2, OUR LORD RETURNED TO CAPERNAUM WHERE HE HAD PREACHED AND DONE MANY MIGHTY WORKS. YET MOST OF THE PEOPLE this is scary now this is sobering let me put it that way this is very sobering he did many mighty works there they saw him they heard him preach they saw the miracles and yet for the most part they didn't believe they didn't believe they didn't believe on him at all they marveled at his works But marveling is not the same as believing, it's not the same.

You can marvel at His works all day and perish, but you can't believe God and perish. You can't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and perish. Matthew 11, verses 23 and 24, And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, because He lived there. When he left Nazareth, he came to Capernaum. There's pretty much where he had his headquarters.

Which are exalted unto heaven and shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained till this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. Now, I think BACK IN THE DAYS OF NOAH I THINK THE WORST PLACE TO HAVE DIED THE WORST PLACE TO HAVE DROWNED IN THAT FLOOD WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT BESIDE THE ARK I DO I JUST WHEN I READ THAT STORY I THINK THERE'S MULTITUDES THAT DROWNED RIGHT THERE BY THE ARK THERE IS NO WORSE PLACE TO PERISH FROM THAN SITTING IN A PEW UNDER THE GOSPEL AND NEVER BELIEVE IT, NEVER BELIEVE IT. GREAT PRIVILEGES DO NOT GUARANTEE SALVATION, IT DOES NOT GUARANTEE SALVATION.

WE ARE AT THE MERCY OF THE LORD, WE ARE AT HIS MERCY. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? That's good because the scripture says he delights to show mercy. The Lord delights to show mercy. I was telling Mark this, we were talking as he was leaving last Sunday. I said the Lord delights to show mercy more than we delight to have it. And I know those of you whom the Lord has saved, you delight to have mercy, don't you? But the Lord delights way more to show it to you than you delight to have it. Great privileges do not guarantee salvation.

Many mighty works were done there. Peter and Andrew lived there. God's preachers lived there. Remember when he was preaching in the synagogue in Capernaum and they went from there right into Peter's house, Peter and Andrew's house, and Peter's mother-in-law was sick and he healed her. Well, here he is again. HE HAD PREACHERS IN THAT CITY!

And I believe this, and I mean this, God has, I don't, there might be some other preachers out here I don't know of, I don't know. But I know one, I know this one. I know I'm preaching the gospel, or there is, if I'm not preaching the gospel, there is no gospel. If the gospel I'm preaching is not the gospel, there is none. In fact, if it's not the gospel, there's no God. That's how I feel about it. I feel that strongly about it. But I'm preaching the gospel, and God is. God is.

Peter and Andrew were there, God placed His preachers there, and yet most remained in unbelief. You know one of my greatest fears, and I was talking to a pastor about this the other day, and it was this scripture here in Revelation 317. Church of Laodicea, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Isn't that a miserable way to be?

I was talking to someone today, I said, you know, this person is starting to make a lot of money. And I said, be careful, be careful. Solomon said, riches have wings and fly away. And they have a way, and I told him, I said, they have a way of putting you to sleep. They'll put you to sleep. You seek the Lord, just constantly seek the Lord to keep your heart. son give me that heart that's what solomon said keep your heart for out of it are the issues of life what is it is a strange way of putting you to sleep now god's preachers he had i said i said he had peter and andrew there god's preachers are either a blessing or a curse one of the others i know this i know right here tonight I know this. Here's what's going to happen.

Some hearts are going to be softened like wax in the sun. But you can take clay and put it in the sun. What happens? It doesn't melt, it hardens. Every time the gospel is preached, this is exactly what happens. There is either a softening or a hardening. It has an effect. It has its effect. The gospel message will either be a life unto life to some or death unto death to some. We can't just set that aside because it's sobering and troubling to say. It's so. It's so. It's the scriptures.

Now the word spread quickly that he was in the house. Just that statement's been on my mind all day. He's in the house. Oh, that he's in this house tonight. that he would prick our hearts. He's in Peter's house. And a crowd gathered out of curiosity for the most part. They were out of curiosity. The doorway was jammed. They couldn't even get into the door no more. It was jammed.

And most came because they had heard of the miracles. They either heard or some of them saw some of the miracles. That's why they were there. That's what they came for. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING GOING ON THERE AT THAT TIME IS THIS. HE PREACHED. HE PREACHED THE WORD UNTO THEM. THINK ABOUT THIS. GOD. GOD CAME INTO THIS WORLD. GOD TOOK UPON HIM FLESH. AND GOD WALKED INTO THAT HOUSE AND GOD PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO THEM. GOD DID. HE PREACHED THE WORD UNTO THEM.

Preaching Christ is CENTRAL in WORSHIP and SALVATION. Nobody is going to be saved and go to a song fest. They are going to get all excited but they are not going to be saved. God saves through the preaching of the gospel. I know that today people want entertainment I know that. They don't want preaching, they want entertainment. But preaching Christ is a chief part of our worship service, isn't it? Give unto Him the glory and the honor due unto His name. And God saves through preaching Christ and Him crucified. He pleased God by the foolishness of preaching what the world calls foolishness. To save them that believe, to save them I'm telling you the truth, I have to sit around, and I do sit around, and maybe because I'm 70, I don't know. But I sit around a lot now, and I think about the Lord saved me, Lord, you saved me.

It doesn't matter if I end up being the poorest person on this earth. That'll be over within a little while. I've lived long enough to tell you that whatever you're going through will be over within a little while. Paul said, I'll call them our light afflictions, which are but for what?

A moment. It's just for a moment. I mean, you know, a year doesn't seem like a moment. What Paul Godet, he had there for a few years, that wasn't a moment. But you ask, if you could ask Paul right now about his situation, he'd say, it was just a moment. It was just a moment. And it's over. It's over.

Please God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. Now we see what true friends are. We see what true friends are. Not like my friend who said, I wish you hadn't got saved, the way he put it. That's not a friend, is it? I wish you'd go to hell like with me. That's the opposite of it, isn't it? That's the hard truth of it. I wish you'd just kept running around with me until we both, we'd perish together. He wouldn't put that into words like that. And at that time I wouldn't have either, but I know now that's exactly what would happen. I know now that's what would happen. Verse three and four, and I'm not going to read through a little bit of it.

And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the posse, which was born of four. Four of his friends carried him. I THOUGHT OF HIS FOUR FRIENDS WHO CARRIED HIM AS FAITH, HOPE, LOVE AND PRAYER. I JUST KEPT THINKING OF THAT TODAY WHEN I WAS READING THAT. BORN OF FOUR. FAITH, THEY BELIEVED. IT SAYS THE LORD SAW THEIR FAITH. THEY BELIEVED THE LORD COULD DO THAT. LOVE, THEY LOVED THAT MAN. THEY LOVED THAT MAN. HOPE, THEY EXPECTED. THEY HAD AN EXPECTATION THAT THE LORD WOULD HEAL HIM. And prayer, they brought Him to the Lord.

Isn't that what prayer is? Prayer is bringing one another to Christ. That's what prayer is. What a blessing to have friends who will carry you to the throne of grace when you are down, when you can't do it yourself, and they bring you in prayer. They lift you up before the Lord. What friends? Oh, those are your friends. Those are your friends, not the ones who want you to go running around out there.

I started telling what you told me. I'm not going to. Can I? She was going to one of her friends, some of the friends that I think she takes Pilates with. They wanted her to go with them to this place. She said she's come to the service. They told her to take a Jeep. One of them said, take a Jesus break.

No, no, no, no. But what a blessing to have friends who will carry you to the throne of grace when you're down. They carried him because he could not come himself. And they said, Brother, and they put him on a, I'm going to call it, it's not a gurney, but they probably had two poles on each end and they grabbed hold of each end and they took him. They had a burden for him.

Are we not told to bear you one another's burdens if so fulfilled the law of Christ in Galatians 6.2? Bear one another's burden. They were bearing his burden. He couldn't do anything.

But they said, We're going to get you there, we're going to take you. You see, FAITH MOVED THEM TO ACTION! THEY BROUGHT HIM! It wasn't an easy journey, I don't know how far away he lived, but they made the journey, or trip, or however far it was. They BELIEVED CHRIST COULD HEAL HIM! It's like, HE SAVED ME, HE CAN SAVE OTHERS! He can save others, come on, I want you to hear about my Lord, I want you to hear about one who saves sinners.

Now we have a problem, his problem, we'll get to his problem now. We have his friends who took him there, but he has a problem, he's crippled. Paul C. is someone who has MS, Vicki and I and the boys, we moved in with a man named John Howson. He heard Henry on television living up in Ohio. And the Lord saved him. He sold everything out.

And this was, now you have to understand, this man's in a wheelchair. This man can not do, he can't do everything for himself. I mean, he can feed himself, but he could not stand, he couldn't stand. He packed everything up, left his family, his mother. His wife, when he got MS, his wife took their only daughter and moved back to England. He married a woman from England. They moved back from England. He didn't get to see her grow up at all.

But he was a faithful witness of Christ. He said to be once, though he was afflicted, he believed that the Lord used his condition to bring him to the gospel. He used his condition. He didn't complain about it. He didn't complain to us about that. We were there for four years. We lived with him. We took care of him so we could live in Ashland and be there where the gospel was. God may use even great suffering to bring his people to himself.

He'll use whatever means he purposes to use. All means are at his All right, his beck and call, every means, every means. He may, well, it's like this, the church, the early church, they were afflicted, tormented in afflicted difficulty, and they were scattered, and the book of Acts, it says, and they preached the word as they went. They preached the word as they went. Oh, sometimes God will send trials to scatter the sheep, but the sheep's going to spread the word. They're going to spread the word.

But what's the spiritual application here of this man's pulse? Because the Lord, He didn't come into this world just to show us He can heal. Of course He can heal, He created the heavens and the earth. These all have spiritual implications. When we read of Christ saving the leper, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the lame, the dead, we are reading of all those things that He saves us from.

All of these things are me. They were picturing me, all of them together were picturing me. I was a leper before God, full of sin. I was blind, deaf. I didn't hear God speak. I didn't hear Him speak, not until He gave me ears to hear and eyes to see that gives you understanding. I didn't know any of that stuff. I didn't know I was dead until He gave me life.

I was all these things. When we go through here and we read of Christ healing the lame and the blind, every one of them is just me. That's who I am. Now what's the root problem here of this man's paralysis? Sin. Sin. Every trouble, the root problem is SIN. This man's paralysis pictures our spiritual condition. Sin has paralyzed us spiritually.

We cannot come to God by our own strength. We will not come to God. Christ said, you will not come to me. You not only cannot come, you will not come. You will not come until God calls you and God saves you. That's the only time a sinner will come to Christ. Until then, they'll just leave and go away.

What we need is an able person to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit IS that able person. He's that able person. He's God. He's God. Being God, He's able to bring us to Christ through the preaching of the Word. He is able to take the Word that this clay pot tries to preach and make it effectual in your heart. He's able to bring us to Christ. He's able to reveal all that Christ is. Christ said, He'll take the things of mine and show them to you. He'll reveal them to you.

Someone sent me a text not long ago, and it was blessed by a message. And they said, I don't know how you have all this knowledge. Well, I don't have all this knowledge, first of all. But what knowledge I do have, Jesus Christ gave it to me. He revealed it to me. It's not like I studied and figured it out. This very day, almost 50 years later, I still need the Lord to open His Word. This morning, when I opened this book again, I ask the Lord, open your word to my heart. Give me understanding. I need him to open it up.

I need him to just make it clear. And he's the only one that can do it. Commentaries won't do it. They're helpful. I read some good men, but to really get a hold of it and understand it, to where it really has an effect on you, That comes from Him. That comes from Him. Now listen here, TRUTH-FAITH ACTS. It acts and it is responsive. Their faith was real.

It says they climbed, there in verses 4 and 5, they climbed onto the roof. It was so crowded, they didn't say, we can't get to Him, it's so crowded. You know, who knows how far back that crowd was. But they made their way to the house and they climbed up on the roof. And they tore up Peter's roof. I mean, you look up and all of a sudden there's a hole in the roof. And there's men up there. You know how big they had to tear that up? It's not a hole this big. It's a hole that's big as a grave. Because they had let this man down. These four men are standing up there letting this man down.

You see, faith produces action. Faith that works is dead. And true faith perseveres. Obstacles did not stop them. You can't stop a sinner in need of mercy, you can't do it. Obstacles didn't stop them from bringing their friend to Christ. But boy, this struck me, and it may just be me, it's just sometimes I get things out of it, you may not get out of it. even though this man's crippled he's laying on a bed that they've made that they and when they let him down through that roof I saw I thought as low as he was they still had to come down he still had to be brought down right to the right to the Lord's feet right to his feet and when Jesus saw their faith there verse 5 he saw he didn't just see their actions He saw their hearts. He saw their faith. The Lord sees every heart. He knows them that believe. He knows everyone that believes on Him. And He knows everyone that doesn't. And our Lord addressed the greatest need. The man came for physical healing, but what did Christ say?

Son, thy sins He dealt with the problem, didn't he? False religion deals with symptoms. Like most doctors do today, they deal with symptoms. Christ dealt with the problem. It's your sins. Oh my soul. Christ cures the disease. Sinners don't need, they don't need reform, they don't need to be having physical healing. They need forgiveness and they need to be saved. Spiritual healing is a greater need than any physical ailment we have, right? Even if you're Paul laying on the bed and can't walk. The greatest need is spiritual. Physical sickness affects the body for a time. Sin destroys the soul for eternity. We don't seem to really get a hold of that until we come to that time to die. And then reality sets in real hard. It sets in real hard. Mark 945.

If thy foot offend thee, cut it off. You know, you know that he doesn't mean for us to go to self-mutilation. You know that. I mean you can cut your foot off and your leg will still want to go dancing. It ain't going to stop the problem. It's not going to stop it. You can't even pluck your eye out. He said you take your eye out. That's not going to stop a thought. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off. It's better for thee to enter HALT into life. THEN HAVING TWO FEET TO BE CAST INTO HELL, AND TO THE FIRE THAT NEVER SHALL BE QUENCHED."

So what do you really want? Your body healed? That's what the TV evangelists for the most part sell. They sell this healing and wealth and health. I want my soul healed. Lord heal my soul. Because if I did get physical healing, I'll get sick again. I'll be sick again. Something else will come along.

What reason did Christ give him to be of good cheer? He didn't say to him, I'm going to heal you. You ought to be happy. You be of good cheer. I'm going to heal you. You're going to walk out of here. He never said that to him at first. He never said that to him anyway.

He said, Son. Now the Father is speaking. Not just the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Father is speaking. Christ said, As I hear, I speak. And the Father says, Son. You'll notice that's a capital S. Believers are sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God? I know this, I recognize this. I preach to sons of God, sons and daughters of God every week. Can you imagine that? I've preached to many sons of God, sons and daughters of God, and they've gone on home, and I've done their funerals. That weighs more and more on me than ever before.

And notice something else, I want to tell you something else about this matter of forgiveness. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. First of all, He didn't come for that. He didn't come for that. He got a lot more than He came for. He came to be healed, but He really was healed. forgiveness when christ forgives he forgives completely completely you are forgiven completely if if you live to be a hundred and whatever you're already those things are already taken care of they're they are already under the blood Now you're going to ask the Lord to forgive you.

You're going to ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins every day. But they are forgiven. And they've been taken care of. That's why God can forgive you. That's why He can forgive you. I want to show you something here in a minute. The scribes here in verse 6 say, The scribes reasoned in their hearts against Christ. They complained. They were not speaking out loud.

It says they reasoned in their hearts, but the Lord knows the heart, doesn't He? He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. He knows every thought. God's gonna judge the secrets of men by that man, Jesus Christ, it says. And they complained that that man whose sins were forgiven, he didn't complain. I've never heard anybody whom the Lord saved complain about it.

THEIR PROBLEM WAS IN THEIR HEART, HUMAN REASONING, NATURAL REASONING, OPPOSING GOD. THEY SAID HE BLASPHEMED. INSTEAD OF REJOICING, THEY BECAME ANGRY AND ENVIOUS. THEY WERE ENVIOUS BECAUSE OF THAT CROWD. THEY NEVER GOT A CROWD LIKE THAT. BUT THE LORD KNEW THEIR HEART. NOTHING HID FROM GOD. AND HE ASKED A SEARCHING QUESTION, WHY REASON YE THESE THINGS IN YOUR HEART? What evil had Christ done? He saved a sinner. And here's what they said. Who can forgive sins but God only? Well, that's a good question. That's a good question. Not the way they ask it, but that's a good question. And of course, that's true.

Only God can forgive sins. However, without a proper atonement GOD WILL NOT FORGIVE SIN AND JESUS CHRIST IS THE PROPER ATONEMENT. THE BLOOD RUNNING THROUGH HIS VEINS, HE HAS THE ATONEMENT RUNNING THROUGH HIS VEINS. THEREFORE, LISTEN, ONLY CHRIST HAS THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS, BECAUSE HE IS BLOOD THAT MAKES ATONEMENT FOR SIN.

And our Lord said to them, verse 9-10, I'm going to wind this up. Which is easier, whether it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk? Which of those are easier to say? Both of them. I just said it. Everybody in here can say it. You can read it. They're easy to say. They're easy to say, but only God, only God can do it. Only God in Christ can do it. And that's what he's saying. He said, what I said is easy to say, but now with me, it's impossible. But with God, nothing's impossible.

And he said to that man, take up your bed, rise up, take up your bed and walk. And he did, and he did it before them. He walked right in their presence. Right in their presence, and still most of them did not believe. They didn't believe. No one else believed at that time, but they did. And he said, rise, take up thy bed and walk, and go thy way into thine house.

Here's the power of His Word. If He speaks tonight, oh, you're going to believe. You're going to walk before God the rest of your life. You're going to walk before God. The same man walked once Christ dealt with his sins, and he said, Rise up and walk. And when God saves a sinner, that sinner can now walk with God. Enoch walked with God. Noah, it says, walked with God. And you who believe, you walk with God. You do it by faith, but you do walk with God. And salvation produces results. He arose, it said, immediately. He walked before men, and the people were amazed. He went forth, it says. He obeyed the Lord's command. He told him to do it, and he did it. On his command, he did it. Listen, the difference between marveling and believing is this, one saves, the other one doesn't. One saves, the other one doesn't. Many admired Christ's power, yet failed to recognize Him as the God of glory.

Now let me close. THIS MIRACLE TEACHES THAT OUR GREATEST NEED IS NOT PHYSICAL HEALING. I'M NOT DIMINISHING ANY PHYSICAL PROBLEMS. I MEAN I SAID TO YOU SUNDAYS SIN HAS MESSED US UP. IT'S MESSED UP OUR MIND, OUR EMOTIONS, OUR FEELINGS, OUR HEALTH. IT'S MESSED US UP FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. SIN HAS DONE THAT.

And I'm not gonna minimize any physical problems. But physical healing is not what I need. I need spiritual healing. Christ came not to merely heal bodies, but to save sinners. When Madison, and Cole did too, but when Madison made a profession of faith, I told Jeremy, I said, You can breathe now.

Everything's alright. Everything's alright. It don't matter what she'll have to go through. If the Lord has saved her, it doesn't matter. It's alright. Amen? You're talking about making you at ease. When the Lord has saved a loved one, it's alright. Whatever comes their way, it'll be alright. The Lord will carry them through it just like He has you. He'll do it. This paralytic COULD NOT COME ON HIS OWN, AND NEITHER CAN WE. LORD, BRING ME TO YOURSELF, SEND THY HOLY SPIRIT, AND BRING ME TO THEE. BRING ME TO THEE.

Here's the great question, here it is, HAVE I MARVELED AT CHRIST'S MIRACLES OR HAVE MY SINS BEEN FORGIVEN? Has the Lord forgiven me? Has He forgiven me of my sins? Has He forgiven you of your sins? Then it's alright. Whatever happens, it'll be alright. Because it'll be a little while, and it's over. And you'll be healed forever. You'll be healed forever. Alright.

Preaching And The Forgiveness of Sins

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Preaching And The Forgiveness of Sins

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