Would you turn back to Luke chapter
5? Dave Parker called this morning and
John is in the hospital. He's very ill. He's got double
pneumonia and some kind of staph infection in his blood. So everybody
remember them. And tonight I'm going to be speaking
on the subject, Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the
pure in heart. And also next week, beginning
Sunday evening, I'm going to go to a Baptist church in Casey
County, Sunday evening through Wednesday evening. They've asked
me to preach there and I'm excited about that. I trust the Lord
will bless that. I'll be here Sunday morning. Let's read verse 26 once again. And they were all amazed And
they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen
strange things today." I've entitled this message, Strange Things. The word strange is where we
get the word paradox from. It means contrary to received
opinion. Strange, and this is the only
time this word is found in the Bible. We've seen strange things
today. Now, what was it that they saw
that was so strange? Well, let's begin in verse 16
of Luke chapter 5. And he withdrew himself into
the wilderness and prayed. And it came to pass on a certain
day as he was teaching, that there were 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. Now here's something strange.
The Son of God is teaching and the religious experts The Pharisees,
the doctors of the law, are sitting by. They're not there with a hungry
heart to hear the Word of God. They're not hungering for the
Word of God. They're sitting by. They're not entering in to what
is being said. They're sitting by. sitting in judgment upon the
Son of God as he preaches and teaches." Now that's strange,
isn't it? That these men could be so arrogant that as the Son
of God teaches, they merely sit by as a judge of the Son of God. These worms of the dust And that's
really too high of a title for them. Filled with self-conceit,
not being needy, sitting by as he taught. Now that's strange,
isn't it? I pray that we don't have anybody like that here this
morning. Somebody sitting by. Now I read what Charles Spurgeon
said about this passage of Scripture. He said they are in every congregation.
And he said, I suppose we should be happy that they're here because
they will not hear if they're not here, but how chilling they
can be sitting by. And this is strange, isn't it?
The son of God, his word, and all they do is sit by. And the scripture also says,
the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Now, Christ is
the power of God. I love saying that. Christ himself
is the power of God. And the power of God was present
to heal them. You know, that's what takes place
in the preaching of the gospel. The power of God is present to
heal. And our Lord came to heal. He came to heal men's bodies.
He did do that. And he came to heal men's souls. Now, whatever physical or spiritual
disease we may have, he has power to heal. Isn't that exciting?
I don't care what our condition is. He has power to heal. Look over in Luke chapter nine. Verse 11, And the people, when
they knew it, followed him, and he received them, and spake unto
them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of
healing. Now would that be me? Would that
be you? He healed them that had need
of healing. You know the Lord Jesus Christ
did not come to condemn men. He came to heal them. They're
already condemned. Already condemned. Already disease
ridden. He didn't come to condemn them.
He came to heal and the power of the Lord was present to heal. Verse 18. Now while the power
of the Lord was present to heal, Luke chapter 5 verse 18, And
behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a
palsy. This man was paralytic. He could
not walk. And they sought means to bring
him in and to lay him before. Now, we know from Mark's account
that the Lord was teaching in a jam-packed house. There wasn't
any room for anybody else to get in as he was teaching. Wouldn't
you have loved to have been there at that time? And here the Lord,
as he taught in this jam-packed house, And these men could not
get their paralytic friend into the house. And they wanted to
bring this man to the Lord, but they couldn't get him in. And
the scripture says they sought means to bring him in. They knew only the Lord could
do something for their friend. Verse 19, And when they could
not find by what way they might bring him in, the house was so
full because of the multitude, They went up on the housetop,
they went up on the roof, and they broke up the ceiling and
led him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst
before Jesus. Now can you imagine that? What if the Lord's preaching?
Everybody's listening, and all of a sudden there's a commotion,
and the ceiling starts breaking up, and there's a hole in the
ceiling, and all of a sudden a paralyzed man let down by ropes
on a cot right before the Lord. Can you imagine seeing that?
What would that have been like to have been there? That's a
strange thing, isn't it? That's not something we see very
often. But these men knew that the only
one who could do anything for their friend was the Lord. They
knew that. And they sought means. They were
going to do whatever it took to get their friend to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's a strange thing. To
see men so committed to get their friend to Christ that they would
do whatever it took for that to take place. That's a strange
thing. Verse 20, and when he saw their faith,
the faith of these men, well, what was their faith? I know
exactly what their faith was. They knew that the Lord Jesus
Christ was the only one who could do anything for their paralytic
friend. Now that's faith, isn't it? They knew he was the only
one. They couldn't do anything, nor
could anybody else. They knew it was in his sovereign authority
as to whether or not he'd do it, but they were going to bring
their friend before the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever it took.
What did the owner of the house think at this time? You know,
they break up the roof and let the man down. And there he is
in front of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture says, when
the Lord solved their faith, the faith that they possessed,
knowing that only Christ could heal. Strange indeed. And when he saw their faith,
he said unto him, the man that was paralyzed, man, thy sins
are forgiven. Literally, thy sins have all
been forgiven. Even the ones you haven't yet
committed. They've all been forgiven. Now, that's not what we would
have expected. When that man is brought down
before the Lord, paralyzed, laying in that cot, you know what we'd
expect him to say? Rise, take up your bed and walk, you're
healed. That's what we would have expected. And I dare say
that's what these men expected out of the Lord. They didn't
expect him to say, thy sins be forgiven thee. But here it is. He says to this man, when they
let him down, thy sins be forgiven thee. He didn't heal him at this
time, which presumably is what his friends wanted, but he gave
him spiritual healing without this man doing a thing to get
it. We don't even know if he had
any faith. His friends had faith. He was just a paralyzed man.
Scripture doesn't say he had faith. These men brought him.
He didn't have any faith at all. But his friends did. They brought
him before the Lord, broke up the roof, let him down, and the
Lord looks at him and he says, Thy sins be forgiven thee, without
that man doing a thing, he simply pronounces him forgiven. Now
that's strange. That's strange. We've seen strange
things today. What's strange about it? Well,
we think that salvation ends with forgiveness. If you give
up your sins, and if you straighten up your life, And if you start
doing this and stop doing that, and if you believe on Christ,
then you'll be forgiven. I was listening to Billy Graham
last night. Turned on the TV, there he was. If you give up
all your sins, you'll be forgiven. Okay, go for it. Let's see you
do it. Give up every one of them. Don't
commit them again, and you'll be forgiven. Where do you find
anything like that in the Bible? Now understand this. Salvation
doesn't end with the forgiveness of sins. Salvation begins with
the full, free forgiveness of sins. He says to this man, Thy
sins be forgiven thee. And you know what? They were
all forgiven. And this is spoken in the language
that means, not just up to this point, but all your sins are
completely forgiven thee. Now this is certainly contrary
to the received opinion, isn't it? Isn't it strange? When Christ
said, it is finished, the sins of many who were not yet even
born were forgiven. Strange things today. Now, another strange thing we
see is a man doing what only God can do. Now this was a man. And this man said to this other
man, Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now look in verse 21. And the
scribes and the Pharisees, those fellows that were sitting by,
they began to reason. saying, who is this which speaketh
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? And their reasoning was right
reasoning. Only God can forgive sins. Now, as to whether or not our sins
are forgiven, or whether we stand before God in our sins, It's
wholly up to God. Now you have sins, don't you?
You have many sins. You have a whole lot more sins,
and I have a whole lot more sins than we're even aware of. Sin
upon sin upon sin. We have sins. And I need to be
forgiven. But as to whether or not I'm
forgiven, it's up to God. It's not up to me. It's up to
God. You know this notion. this notion
that God wants to forgive you, and He has done everything for
your forgiveness in the cross, but it's up to you as to whether
or not you'll accept this forgiveness. You won't be forgiven if you
don't accept this forgiveness. That's foolishness. That's all
that is. It's ridiculous. Now, won't you accept His forgiveness?
That's not the issue. Will He forgive you? Now, if I sin against you, if
I do you wrong, and then I come up to you and say, I'm gonna
let you forgive me. That doesn't work, does it? As
a matter of fact, that's offensive. Or if I say, you need to forgive
me. Christians forgive one another. You need to forgive me right
now. Now the Bible says if you don't, you won't be forgiven.
So forgive me. What if I came up to you like that? Why? Be hard to forgive me, wouldn't
it? Be very hard under those circumstances. That's not the
way forgiveness works. As to whether or not my sins
are forgiven, and I spend eternity in heaven, or whether or not
my sins are not forgiven, and I stand before God in my sins,
and I have to spend eternity in hell because of them, that's
totally up to God. Only God can forgive sins. If I forgive you of your sins,
but He doesn't, what difference does it make? My forgiveness
means nothing. But oh, if God forgives you, Only God can forgive
sins. They were right. Verse 22. But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts... Now here's something strange.
A man reading somebody else's mind and thoughts. One of the great burdens of my
life is Lynn can read my mind. And she's pretty much spot on
most of the time. She gets mad at me for things
I think. I didn't say them, but she knows what I'm thinking and
she gets mad at me. That's a burden. But she doesn't know all the
time. She doesn't, thankful for that. She doesn't know all the
time, but he does. He knows what's going on in your
mind right now. He can read my thoughts. He can
read your thoughts. He knows everything that's there.
So there's no use trying to fool him. You know, we try to fool
ourselves. We try to fool others. But we
can't fool him. He knows the very thoughts that
are passing through your heart and mind right now. A man that
can read thoughts. Now that's a strange thing, isn't
it? A man that can read thoughts. But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts, O the glories of this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, He
answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Don't
you think that freaked him out when he told them what was going
on in their hearts? He didn't hear it audibly, but he knew
exactly what was going on. in their hearts. And Matthew's
account says, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts, in your
thoughts. You see, any thought of Christ
that is less than God Almighty is evil. Now, they saw this man,
and that's all they saw him as. Who can forgive sins but God
only? Now, they were right about that,
but this one standing before them is God himself. Jesus Christ is God. Verse 23, now he asks them a
question after they were reasoning the way they were. He said, what
is easier to say, thy sin be forgiven thee, or rise up and
walk? Now what is easier to say? What
is easier? Thy sins be forgiven thee. You
know, priests, people go into the confessional, they confess
their sins, and he tells them some things to do, and he says,
your sins are forgiven. That's easy to say. Preachers do it
all the time. If you do this, and if you do
that, your sins will be forgiven. If you follow this formula, if
you do this, your sins will be forgiven. It's easy to say. We
do it, your sins are forgiven. It's easy to say that. I can
say to anybody, your sins are forgiven. I can say that so easy,
it comes up, it's not hard. But does that mean they are forgiven? Is that any proof? If I say your
sins are forgiven, it's easy for me to say that. Preachers
and priests and religionists say it all the time, but that
doesn't mean it's so. It's easy to say it. But what's
easier to say? Thy sins be forgiven thee, or
rise, take up your bed, and walk. Now, it's a whole lot harder
to say, rise, take up your bed, and walk, because you can see
whether or not it happens. I think of Geraldine. She'd been dead
two or three months. I miss her. I know you all do,
too. But she was in that wheelchair. Couldn't get up in that wheelchair.
What if I said to her, rise up and walk? I believe she is walking
now. But what if I would say to her, rise up and walk, and
up she got and walked around, wouldn't that be amazing? What's
easier, to say your sins be forgiven thee, or rise, take up thy bed,
and walk? Well, you know the answer to
that question. It's a whole lot easier to say
your sins are forgiven. So look what he says next in
verse 24. But that you may know that the
Son of Man hath power, hath authority upon the earth to forgive sins. He saith unto the sick of palsy,
I say unto thee, arise, Take up thy couch, and go into thy
house. And immediately he arose up before
them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. Now Christ has the authority
that only God has. He has the authority to forgive
you and to forgive me of all of my sins. And there's something
different about his forgiveness. You see, he forgives and he forgets. He said their sins and their
iniquities, I will remember no more. So that when I'm in heaven,
in the very presence of Christ, he will not remember those things
that I did. Now, if I sin against you, I hope
you'll forgive me. And I believe if you're a believer,
you will. If you sin against me, I'll forgive you. I mean,
if I don't forgive, I've never been forgiven. That's what the
Lord says. It's also true that back in my
mind, it's still going to be there. It shouldn't be It shouldn't
be, but it is. Maybe time will erase it, but
back in my mind, that's human forgiveness. But when God forgives,
He embraces me as one who has never sinned. He doesn't remember
my sins. Their sins and their iniquities,
which are so vast and many, I will remember no more. Now, how in the world is it that
he can remember them no more? I mean, God's got a better memory
than you and I do. He can remember real well. I hesitate to say, you know how
women can remember things real well? I shouldn't say that, I'm
sorry. The Lord has an infinite memory
that he doesn't forget anything. And the only reason why he will
remember our sins no more is this, there's nothing there to
remember. That's what the Lord did. He
put away my sin, so there's no sin there. It's what the Bible
calls justification. I say unto thee. I love the way
he says that. I say unto thee. Oh, when the
Lord says it, there's the authority. There's the power. When the Lord
says, I say unto thee, rise, take up your bed and walk. Look
over in Luke chapter 18. Verse 9, And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. Now there's what self-righteousness
is. If you have any righteousness of your own, you are what is
called a self-righteous person. And what does the self-righteous
person do? Invariably, he despises others. He can always find someone that
he feels like he's better than, and he feels good about himself
because he's better than that individual. He despises others. Now, verse 10. Two men went up
into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other
a publican. The Pharisee stood, and prayed
thus with himself. He thought he was praying to
God, but he wasn't. He was praying to himself. God, I thank Thee. He gave God the credit, so he
thought. But he doesn't say anything about the blood of Christ or
the mercy of God. He says, I thank Thee that I'm
not as other men are. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. Now, what this man was doing
at this time, he was lying. Because everything that he said
he did not do, he did do. Did he know that? I don't know,
but that doesn't make any difference. He did do everything he said
he did not do. It was all a lie. Then in verse 12, he starts talking
about what he did do. I fast twice in the week. I suppose
he did do that. But where in the Bible does it
ever say you must fast twice a week? And he said, I pay tithes
of all that I possess. I'm sure he did do that. I'm
sure it was 10% gross income. I mean, this guy was right down
the line, 10%. If he made $113, he gave $10.13. I mean, this
guy was, he gave tithes of all that he possessed. If somebody gave him something
extra, he'd pay tithes on that too. I'm not as other men, extortors,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off. would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now here the Lord speaks again,
just like he did in Luke 5. I tell you, I tell you, this
is the Lord speaking. I tell you, this man, this Publican
self-condemned Lord says he went down to his house Justified You
like it I'd like to preach on this passage scripture every
time I preach I love this he went down to his house justified
Not merely forgiven But justified you see the reason the Lord forgives
people is because he justifies them And when you're justified,
that means you have no guilt. And then he says, your sins and
iniquities, I will remember no more. And somehow the Lord looks
at me and he remembers no sin because there's nothing there
to remember. Now that is the way he forgives. There's nothing there to remember.
Isn't that wonderful? I love the way the Lord forgives.
And I want to imitate him in that. You're the closest you
and I can come to being like the Lord is being forgiving.
from our hearts, remembering it no more. Now he backed our text in Luke 5. What's easier to say? Rise, take
up your walk, your bed and walk, or your sins are forgiven. What
is easier to say? Now, verse 24, but that you may
know that the son of man hath authority upon the earth to forgive
sins. Now, forgiveness of sins lies
in his authority, doesn't it? He's got the power. He's got
the authority to forgive me of my sins or to say depart from
me. I never knew you. That's all in his authority. Now, somebody who demands forgiveness. You know what's going to happen to
him? They're going to be turned away. He will not forgive you. He will not forgive me if I come
and barter for forgiveness or demand forgiveness. You know,
you've got to forgive me because I'm asking for it. I'm asking
you to forgive me, therefore you've got to forgive me. You don't come for forgiveness
like that. If you come demanding it, you're going to be turned
away. He's not going to have anything to do with you. He's
not going to forgive you of your sins. But if somebody comes like the
leper did in this chapter, look in verse 12. And it came to pass, when he
was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who, seeing
Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Now this is the way I
come for forgiveness of sins. Lord, if you will. You can grant
me forgiveness. It's all up to you. But if you
will, if you're pleased to do so, you can forgive me of all
my sins. There's nothing I can get you.
There's nothing I can do to get you to do it. It's all in your
way. If you will, you can blot out,
you can forgive me of all my sins. Now, can you come to the
Lord like that? Not demanding forgiveness, not thinking forgiveness
is an entitlement to you. But you come, Lord, if you will,
if you can be pleased. I love that scripture, Ephesians
4, 32. If you understand forgiveness, you understand this. Be kind,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. You see, the reason for forgiveness
is found not in you, not in me, not in the fact that we asked
for it, Not in the fact that we long for it, but He forgives
for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Now that's
the gospel. Everything God does, He does for Christ's sake. Oh, the authority of Jesus of
Nazareth, Oh, I love this. That you may know that the Son
of Man hath power, hath authority. It's up to Him. He's got authority
upon the earth to forgive sins. Then He says to the sick of the
palsy, I say unto thee, arise, take up thy couch, and go into
thy house. And immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that whereon he lay. and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. Now, this is what is called irresistible,
invincible grace. You know, if the Lord says to you,
your sins are forgiven, rise up and walk in the gospel. Walk
in the liberty of the light of the gospel. You know what? You're
going to do it. You're going to do it. When the Lord said to that paralyzed
man, rise up and walk, could he have said no? Could he have said, I can't?
No, he did what the Lord told him to do. Because you see, the
power to do comes with the command. The Lord tells you to rise up
and walk, you rise up and walk. The Lord tells you to believe,
you believe. You see, you don't believe because
you choose to believe. You believe because He tells
you to believe. And when He tells you to believe,
you believe. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And He did it. Now to the natural
man, this is strange. He departed to his own house,
glorifying God. Now here's something strange,
you don't see this very often, a man glorifying God. A man giving
God all the glory. A man giving Christ all the glory. Oh, that's strange to the... We've seen strange things today
and that is contrary to the received opinion. Verse 26, and they were all amazed. And they glorified God and they
were filled with fear after seeing this, saying, we've seen strange
things today. We've seen a man pronounce forgiveness. We've seen a man tell a paralytic,
rise up and walk. We've seen strange things. But you know what the strangest
thing would be in all of this? Here's the strangest thing. If
after hearing this message, somebody doesn't come to the Lord and
say, Lord, forgive me of all my sins. Now that would be strange. If after hearing of this one
who has authority to forgive you of all of your sins, and
he has authority to forgive me of all of my sins, it would be
really strange for someone to leave this service. without saying from their hearts
to him who has the authority to do it, Lord, forgive me of
all my sins for Christ's sake. Do you know everybody who asked
for forgiveness like that? He forgives. Now, if you come
demanding forgiveness, thinking you got it coming because you
asked, he'll pass you by. But if you hear this, this one
has the authority to forgive all your sins, even the ones
you haven't even committed yet. Isn't that a glorious thing?
You know, if all the Lord did was forgive me of all the sins
that I've committed up to this point, it wouldn't do me any
good. None at all. But all sin, sins of your past,
sins of right now, sins you've not yet committed. He has authority
to forgive you of all your sins. And He has the authority to say
to you, rise, take up your bed and walk. Believe the gospel. And what would be really strange
if somebody heard that and they didn't ask Him to forgive them.
May God give everybody in this room the grace to confess our
sin before God. To confess, if we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We confess our sin before God. That doesn't mean confess all
of them individually, because you don't know what they all
are. And as far as that goes, there's not enough time in the
day for you to do that. If you had to confess all your sins, It's taking sides
with God against yourself. Whatever you say is right. You
confess your sins. And I pray, Lord, for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake, not for my sake, not because of anything
in me, but for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, would you
be pleased to forgive me and cleanse me from all my sins? You know what? You're going to
find out your sins have been forgiven. That's what happens when you're
forgiven. You find out your sins have all
been forgiven already. May the Lord enable all of us
to confess and to ask the Lord for forgiveness for Christ's
sake. Let's pray.