I invite you to take your Bibles
this morning and turn with me to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. The lesson this morning is in
the form of a question. Who can forgive sins? Who can forgive sins? Let's begin
reading here in Matthew chapter 9 verse 1. 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, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing
their face, said unto the sick of palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
For whither is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or
to say, arise and walk? But that you may know that the
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he
to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto
thine house. And he arose, and departed to
his house. But when the multitude saw it,
they marveled, and glorified God, which had given such power
unto men. They saw a man. who could affectionately
forgive sins. And they marveled. Now there
is but two men in the world and throughout our history into which
God divides all humanity. Just two men. This was one of
them standing there that day. And Adam is the other. If you look at these two men,
the way they're set forth in the Scriptures, they're just
two men. And all the rest are just fragments
of these two. These two men, as they are proclaimed
in the Scripture, are representative of the whole of our race, the
whole of mankind, and without some understanding of these two
men and what their relationship is to us. It's impossible for
us to understand the subject of the forgiveness of sins. There's
no point in even talking about those things. You'll never get
to first base talking to anybody about these things until God
gives them some understanding of their relationship to Adam
or Christ. In Adam, all die. In Christ,
all are made alive. These two men, they're paramount
when it comes to teaching and preaching the gospel. Now, Adam
is the federal head and representative of all men, universally, and
without any distinction in sex or race or dispensation or religion. It doesn't matter. No matter
on what era you lived or what point in history that you lived,
men like to go back and separate Old Testament saints from New
Testament saints and Old Testament sinners from New Testament sinners.
And they like to go back before the flood and talk about that
antediluvian world and talk about those sinners in that dispensation
and in that era. And then they talk about a coming
dispensation. toward the end of the world,
another dispensation. And in that dispensation, they
have other relative values and things. But that's not what the
Scripture said. The Scripture says there's two
men, Adam and Christ. And everybody in between is a
fragment of one of these two. Adam tells the story of the fall
of man. The Scripture says by one man,
sin entered into the world. And death by sin, and so death
passed. It passed through Adam. It passed
upon all men. What is the evidence of that
passing? All have sinned. All have sinned. If that death, if that judgment
hadn't passed upon all men, then all would not sin. Would they?
They'd each one sin the same way Adam did in the garden, if
they were on the same footing. But they're not on the same footing.
We're not born into this world a perfect man like Adam was.
We're not born into this world bearing the image of God as Adam
was. But we come forth from the womb
speaking lies. And the reason we do is because
we're sons and daughters of Adam. Now that's what the Scripture
teaches. By one man's offense, death reigned by one. By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. And by one man's disobedience,
the many were made sinners." And then in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, he arrives at this summation. He says, as in Adam, all die. All die. Christ, on the other
hand, is the representative of God's elect. He's pictured in
Israel of old who were chosen in one man by God and delivered
on the basis of His covenant that He made with that man. You
know, we've been studying in Genesis and Exodus, I've showed
you this, that when Israel was down in Egypt in bondage,
and the Lord appeared to Moses and began to talk to him about
their deliverance, what did He tell Moses? He said, I have remembered
my covenant that I made with Abraham. The basis of their deliverance
was the covenant that God made with this one man. And even so
it is with the deliverance of the saints. He's the representative
of God's elect. As the offense of Adam brought
about the judgment of God on all, all he represented, Even
so, by the righteousness of Christ, the free gift of justification
came upon all He represented. And if you'll read through Romans
chapter 5, He just gives you verse after verse after verse
comparing these two men. What happened in this representative?
What is the sure result of being in this representative? All the
way through Romans chapter 5. And then again in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, where he says, as in Adam all die, he also adds,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now let me give you
three things this morning in the lesson about the healing
of the palsied man, which I believe teach us how God saves chosen
sinners. First of all, I see in this man
the great want of men. The great want of men. Because
of Adam's fall, man has a debilitating disease of the soul. His disease
is his sin. It's pictured in all these diseases
which the Lord heals. He healeth all our diseases. That's what the Scripture says.
When He comes, He'll heal us of all our diseases. But the
diseases that He healed were all pictures of the one disease
of which every man is plagued, and that is the disease of sin.
Of sin. That's what Paul says in Romans
chapter 3. He makes this thing of sin very
clear. It don't matter if you're Jew
or Gentile, because we're all under sin. And then he describes
the disease. None righteous. None that seeketh
after God. None that understandeth. None
good. No, not one. And so on, all through
Romans chapter 3. The palsy of which this man was
stricken was a horrible disease. And it left its subjects in a
state of paralysis, the palsy. They jerk and wince around and
have convulsions, and they were left paralyzed wherever this
palsy struck them. And it's a very striking picture
of the dead and helpless state of man in his falling condition.
Every sinner, until he's healed by Christ, is palsied in all
his faculties. He's palsy. He's paralyzed. He's
paralyzed. He literally and spiritually
has lost all control of his mind, his affections, and his will,
so that if he is to be healed, somebody must either bring him
to Christ, as they did in this particular story, or Christ must
come to him as He did the man who was lying there in that paralytic
state at the Pool of Bethesda. Christ either has to come to
him or he has to be brought to Christ. Man is palsied in all
of his faculties. And he's lost all control of
his mind and his will and his reasoning. And all you need do
is select any of Adam's race, religious or heathen, and you
have before your eyes the living evidence of both original and
actual sin. You don't have to pick somebody
out way over here. That's what the Pharisees would
do. They picked out, you remember
that blind man, and they asked the Lord, they said, who sinned
that this man was born blind? They want to pick somebody out.
Or the woman in adultery that they brought and threw her down
at his feet. And so on. But you don't have
to do that. Just select any of Adam's race.
Select yourself. Look through the looking glass
of God's Word at yourself. And you'll see living evidence
of both original and actual sin. A sinner is no more able in himself
to give health and life to his soul than a man of palsy to rise
up out of his own paralysis. He can't do it. You remember
that paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda? And the Lord came
down and spoke to him and he said, I have no man to put me
into the pool. If there was a pool here this
morning, you couldn't put yourself in it. And there is a pool, but
you can't put yourself in it. That's the great want of man
is to be free from his disease. And sin is not just something
we do. You know, that's how we think
about sin. I've thought of it that way since I was in grade
school. And I was told that. I think about you do something,
you tell a lie, you steal something, whatever it is that you do, and
that's a sin. And then there's a compilation
of that. I do something else, and now
I've got that sin and another and so on. But that's not what
sin is. Sin is what causes you to do
these things. Sin is the potential in you to
do these things. The disease, like leprosy, you
look at that rotting of the skin on the outside and you think,
oh, how horrible this leprosy is. But that's not the leprosy.
The leprosy is inside, in the blood. The leprosy of sin is
in the heart. That's what our Lord told the
Pharisees. He said, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, and so on. That's where it comes
from, out of the heart. And so when we talk about this
palsy, we're not talking about what you see on the outside.
Those are just the effects of it. The shaking, the convulsing,
the being paralyzed, those are all the outward signs of the
inward disease. But the disease was in the man. It was in the man. So the great
want of man is to be free from this disease. If he had no corruption
within, he'd had no paralysis without. And then the second
thing I want you to see in this healing of the palsied man is
the blessedness of the faith of God's elect. Faith is a blessed
thing. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. It's God that worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It's a blessed
thing to have faith. A blessed thing. And every man
who's ever experienced the saving operations of God's Holy Spirit
has a keen desire to see others experience the same. That's what
he wants. He's not trying to build an organization. He's not trying to build a big
church. He's not trying to make a name for himself. He's trying
to bring you to Christ. so that you can experience in
your heart what he experienced in his. And he don't care if
you come to this church, or one in Ashland, or one in Lexington,
or where it is you go, as long as you get to Christ. That's
the thing. That's the thing. The goal was
not so much to teach their friends some things, or to merely educate
them. If that were the case, they could
have left him at home. But those things aren't going
to do any good for his paralysis. Those things are not going to
have anything to do with this inward state of this disease.
But to get him to the only one who could do for him what he
could not do for himself and what they could not do for him.
Now, I believe the basic and fundamental doctrine of Calvinism. I believe those things. I wouldn't
teach them if I didn't believe those things. I believe in the
total depravity of man, and that's what I'm going to teach until
I'm proven wrong. Man's totally depraved. I believe
that. I understand and believe unconditional
election, that God chose a people. Why did he choose them? I don't
know. Said he loved them. Why did he choose? Why did he
set his love on Jacob and not Esau? Well, I don't even find
that the question. What bothers me is why did he
love Jacob? I don't understand why he hated
Esau. What I don't understand is why
he didn't hate Jacob. He loved Jacob. I believe these things. I believe
in particular redemption. I believe when Christ died, he
died for a specific people. And He put away their sins. He
didn't make it possible for them to be saved. He saved them. He
justified them. That's what the Scripture said. I believe in irresistible grace
and the perseverance of the saints. But the first thing that I'm
concerned about is getting this man to Christ. You need to get
him to Christ. You can't teach him anything
until he gets life. You can't lead him anywhere until
you bring him to Christ. He's not going to be led. He's
not going to be led. And I can't teach him, I can't
comfort him, I can't correct him, I can't exhort him until
God relieves his palsy. Faith understands this. Faith
may not always be able to conduct a seminar on Bible doctrine,
but it does know this. Once I was blind, now I see.
That's all you need to know. Huh? That's all you need to know. Once I was blind, and now I see. So where am I going to bring
you? Am I going to bring you to this
doctrine that I've developed down the road? Oh, no. I'm going
to bring you to Christ. I'm going to bring you to Christ.
Then I can teach you. Men of faith are busy from the
get-go with one ambition, and that is to get men to the saints.
You remember the woman at the well? Christ told her all kinds
of things. He taught her all kinds of doctrines. When she went home, what did
she tell him? She said, come and see a man who told me everything I ever
did. Come see him. Come see him. And there has to be an acknowledgment
of the disease. If there was no problem, there'd
be no bringing to Christ. Huh? There'd be no need. Now, the Savior on this particular
occasion was in a house. And to do this man any good,
his friends had to get him into the house. They had to get him
where Christ was. And a multitude was gathered
which prevented any kind of easy entrance into the house. But
they figured out a way and they lowered their friend from above.
They removed some tiles. Now you can read these accounts
in Mark and Luke. There's a running account of
this healing and more details are added to it. But they took some tiles out
of the roof and they climbed up there with this paralytic
man. Can you imagine dragging him up? This man couldn't move,
couldn't help him, couldn't do anything. They drawed him up
on ropes and got him up there, him and his bed, and they brought
it over, removed the tiles. Now meanwhile, the multitudes
are all around here. And then they lowered him right
down into the presence of the Lord. Faith sees no object too great
to overcome, and no situation too helpless to bring a needy
sinner to the Lord. Huh? That's right. Well, there's a crowd there tonight. I guess we'll put this off till
tomorrow night. Oh, no. Uh-uh. Well, maybe if we jump
up and down, wave our hand, maybe he'll see us back here, say something,
can do us some good. Now, I ain't going to get it.
They knew where the power was. They knew where the master was.
And that's where they had to get their friend. They had to
get him to Him. Get him to Him. And so they got
up on that roof and faith devised the way. So the great want of
man is forgiveness of his sins. And the blessedness of the faith
of God's elect is to take him where he can find it. Take him
where he can find it. He's not going to find it over
here on the river. He's not going to find it over
in the woods and he's not going to find it in this world's religion. What he'll get down there is
religion. He'll get a commitment. He'll get to join the church. He'll get to be a part of it.
His life. He may turn over a new leaf.
His habits may change. All these things may change.
But it's not going to affect his disease. You have to get
him where Christ is. And Christ is where two or more
are gathered in His name. In His name. The blessedness
of faith understands that. And they take these with a need.
And they bring them to Christ. Alright, now here's the third
thing. The forgiveness of sins is the
peculiar right of Christ. Isn't that what the scribes figured
this out? I don't know that the multitude
ever did. But the scribes understood what
this man said. And Christ said what he said
on purpose, so they would. But rather than rejoice in it,
they rejected it. And they made it a stumbling
block. But it was obvious to them. There's only one man to
whom you can go and find peace for your soul. He said, come
unto me. He didn't say, come unto them. He said, come unto me. Didn't
he? Come unto me. All you that are
weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Rest for your soul. He's the hope of man and the
hope of glory. Scripture said there's one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And He said that
you might know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, He saith to the sick of palsy. That's what this disease
was all about. That's what the bringing of the
man to Him was all about. So that the multitude might know. Those who saw might know. Those
who heard might know. that the Son of Man alone has
power to forgive sins. Huh? Oh, just come down here and shake
my hand. Oh no, don't shake my hand. It's got nothing to do
with the forgiveness of sins. I'm going to point you to Him.
He alone can speak the Word. He alone. That's what this healing was
all about. That's what all these other miracles were about and
whatever conversion since is all about to declare and demonstrate
His power to forgive sins. Now the scribes and Pharisees
reasoned things out and they asked this question. Who can
forgive sins but God alone? Only God can forgive sins. Now
Jesus Christ, who healed this palsied man, If he is not the
Christ of God, yea indeed, if he is not God, he cannot forgive
sins. Only God. God alone. Ain't that
what that says? Luke chapter 5 verse 21. Who
can forgive sins but God alone? Forgiveness of sins demands full
satisfaction of the law and the holy justice of God. Every sin
must and shall receive a due recompense of reward. And the law commands death to
the sinner. And if Jesus of Nazareth is not
God come into the flesh and has not by His own life and death
put away our sins, then He has no power to forgive our sins. If He does not provide us with
a righteousness, if He does not bear our sins away, that He cannot
be our Savior. Does that make sense? It does if you know God. If your
sins yet remain, even one of them, just one of them, don't
have to be a big sin, any sin. I don't even know why I said
that, big sins and little sins. Sin is sin. But if your sins yet remain,
even one of them, There's nothing left for you but a certain fearful
looking for judgment and fiery indignation. Only one man in
the history of men could look another man in the face and forgive
him his sins, this man. Folks say, well, you're just
too dogmatic. You just, you don't make room
for, there is no room. There was only one man on the
planet that could forgive this man's sins. That's God come into
the flesh. If He's not God come into the
flesh, then He, they're right, He blessed them. He blessed them. Forgiveness of sin lies in His
hands. Are you with me so far? In His
hands. In His hands. He could have just
as easily said, arise, take up your bed and walk. He told many
of them that. He could have just as easily said, what can I do
for you? Well, to be healed of my disease. Okay, you're healed.
Send him on his way. But he didn't do that. And the
reason he didn't do it is that we might know that this man alone
can forgive sins. And then last of all, let me
show you something here about the enemies of your soul. Religion is not your friend. Now they had the disciples themselves
convinced that they were. That they were just in error
about a few things. They had a few points of doctrine
and they were in error of those few points of doctrine. That's
why the disciples questioned the Lord about how He spoke to
them. They were always making allowances
for Him. Always trying to give them the
benefit of the doubt. Always trying to to leave them
at least in their mind and justify them in their mind as godly men
and women. They weren't. They were the enemies
of Christ. Religion is not your friend.
And this was traditional religion in its highest form, the scribes
and the Pharisees. They had a zeal of God unlike
anything in our generation. There's nobody in our generation
that you can look at and say, boy, they're just like the Pharisees.
Oh, no. They couldn't hold a light to
those Pharisees. These were religious men. They
read and studied the Scriptures. You could just mention a verse
of Scripture, John. They say, oh, that's in Micah,
chapter 2. We can't even find Micah in the Bible. Huh? We can't
hold a light to these men. They went to the synagogues and
prayed, and they gave to the support of the ministry, and
they were missionary-minded. They compassed sea and earth
to make one prophet like unto themselves. And they were not
outwardly like other men. They were clean as a hound, too. You could come up, and these
guys could give a resume, and buddy, I'm telling you, as clean
as a hound. Paul said, as touching the law,
he said, I was blameless. Boy, I can't say that, can you?
No. Blameless. And they looked and
hoped in a coming Christ, this promised Messiah. But their idea
of the Messiah was wrong. Their concept of His appearance
was wrong. They thought their righteousness
would prompt His coming. Well, that's not right. Is it? Is that what brought Christ into
this world? An uprising of righteousness? Is that what brought on the revival?
Is that what brought Him into this world? They thought if they'd
reformed their lives and get their people to obey the law,
that God would send the Messiah and again return Israel to her
former glory. That's what they thought. But
when Christ came, He said to them, I'm not come to call the
righteous. That's not why I come. You see
what I'm saying? Their concept was totally wrong. He said, I come to call sinners
to repentance. The well need not a physician,
but the sick. He told them over and over. He
said, go learn what this means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice.
That's not why I came. And then secondly, they had a
wrong concept of His work. They thought He'd establish an
earthly kingdom. They thought He was there to
make their life on this earth better. That's not why He came. They thought He would establish
an earthly kingdom and deliver Israel and lead Israel and establish
Israel in this world. But the Lord said to Pilate,
My kingdom is not of this world. If it was, I'd buy it. But it's
not. Listen to this, Luke 17, verse
20. I'm trying to show you here that
their concept of the Messiah was wrong. Luke 17, verse 20, And when he
was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should
come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here,
or lo there. But the Kingdom of God, he said,
is within you. It's within you. I don't have
time this morning to go into all the differences, but just
suffice it to say this, that the concepts of the coming Messiah
were so twisted that no matter how much Scripture was called
to their attention being fulfilled by this man, and no matter how
many miracles God did through him, they would not receive him
as the Christ of God. He was so opposite to their ideas
of the Messiah that they just backed off immediately and wouldn't
even consider what they heard and seen. Now what does that
sound like to you today? The man stands up and he preaches
the sovereign Christ and the electing Christ, and the Christ
who redeems, the Redeemer, the Savior that saves, and this world
backs off. Why? Because he don't fit their
concepts of the Messiah. The work of Christ goes unseen
by this world and unrecognized by worldly religion. The Christ
of God healed this palsied man from the inside out, and the
greatest religious leaders of the day didn't even take notice
of what he did, but challenged him on what he said on a point
of doctrine. May God give us the true understanding
of His gospel that brings us to Christ and leaves us at His
feet.