Okay, now we're turning in our
Bible to Luke, Luke chapter 5. Let's read one verse, Luke 5,
26. And they were all amazed, they
were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear,
saying, Now this is the title of the message. We have seen
strange things today. And they did. They saw some unusual
things happen that day. When this crowd of people saw
the miracle of the Lord's grace, the miracle of His power, the
miracle of His mercy come to this poor sinner, his paralyzed
body not only healed, but also his sins, all of his sins, completely,
eternally forgiven. His soul was healed. I love this
statement in verse 20. He said to this poor, crippled
man, thy sins are What better news can any sinner
hear than thy sins are completely put away. And the people were
all amazed with his power. The people glorified God, who
alone is worthy of all honor and glory, and they were filled
with fear, that is, reverence and worship of Almighty God,
saying, We have seen today strange and extraordinary things go on. This is no ordinary and common
day. This is the day of salvation.
that came to this man's house, didn't it? This man's house. Hold your place there. Remember
what the Lord said to another sinner about a certain day in
Luke 19? Luke 19. Verse 9, And the Lord Jesus said
to him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch
as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save the lost. This day is the day of salvation. I think of what David said, This
is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in
it. This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eye. We have seen strange things,
extraordinary things today. And they were amazed, and we
are amazed. That is our prayer today, is
it not, that we too may be amazed at His power, at His grace, at
His eternal love, that our hearts may be tuned to glorify God and
honor Him, and be filled with a heart of true spiritual worship
and reverence. I know this. The Lord Jesus Christ
is worthy, is he not, of all honor, glory, and praise, both
now and forever. Oh, that we might in our hearts
glorify God in the service and the rest of the day, and as a
matter of fact, the remaining part of our life on this earth
because our total occupation in glory will be to honor and
praise the Lord forever and ever and ever. Now this particular
story is given to us that we find here in Luke Chapter 5 about
the paralyzed man having sin forgiven, having his body healed
as given to us in Matthew Chapter 9, Mark Chapter 2, and in here,
here in Luke 5. We see in these verses at least
three distinct miracles that the Lord Jesus Christ performed
plainly declaring unto us His eternal power and Godhead. Did
you notice those three distinct miracles? First of all, sins
were forgiven. That's a miracle of God's grace. Totally, completely, and eternally
forgiven, and they were given justly because the Lord Jesus
Christ paid this sinner's debt with His own blood. The second
miracle we see in this story, the Lord's complete knowledge
of their hearts. Did you notice verse 22? But when the Lord Jesus Christ
perceived their thought, He knew what they were thinking. He knows
our very thoughts this morning. Thirdly, we see this miracle,
the total and complete healing of this man's crippled body. Did you notice verse 25, when
the Lord commanded him to arise and take up your bed and go into
your house? The Lord didn't invite him to
get up. He commanded him to get up, arise
and take up your couch. And immediately he arose up. before them. We see the total
and complete healing of this man's crippled body. And remember, all those physical
healings are all a picture of our spiritual healings in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the first point.
The first strange and extraordinary thing that we see are four faithful
friends bringing this man, carrying this man's paralyzed body before
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18, and behold
men, and there were four men, it says in Mark chapter 2, he
was born of four, brought in a bed a man which was taken with
palsy. They sought means to bring him
in and to lay him before Him, the Lord Jesus, and when they
could not find a way by what way they might bring Him in because
of the multitude. This house was jam-packed as
the Lord was there preaching the gospel and healing the multitude. They went up upon the housetop.
Somehow they commandeered a ladder, or somehow they skedaddled up
the ladder. and they pulled this friend of
theirs up with his couch, and they began taking off the roof,
and let him down through the tiling, with his bed, with his
couch, on this stretcher, into the midst of this crowd, and
before the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what an amazing, strange
thing! You imagine sitting here this
morning, and you start hearing a rumbling up there on the roof.
And sheetrock starts breaking loose. And then we see a man
being lowered down in the midst of us. We would think, this is
a strange thing. What is going on? That's exactly
the scene here today. Now, this man who was paralyzed,
he had some special friends, didn't he? Four faithful friends. I want to be a friend like that,
don't you? I want to be a friend like that. These faithful friends
sought out means to bring this man before the Lord. Why did
they do this? Taking off the rope and going
to these extreme measures to let this man down in front of
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I can think of several
reasons. They loved this friend of theirs that was paralyzed.
They loved this man. They wanted the best for this
man. You know, love is a very strong motivator, is it not?
Secondly, they knew they could not help this man. They could
not heal this man. They couldn't do anything for
this crippled man's legs other than maybe massage them or rub
them and give him encouraging words, but they could not heal
this man, could they? They loved him. They wanted the
best for him. They wanted him to be healed,
but they were helpless to do so. Thirdly, they knew this. They knew the Lord had all power
to heal their friend. He healed others. Why not me? Why not our friend? Notice verse
15, But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and
great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by
him of their infirmities. Verse 17, the last part of verse
17 in Luke 5. There came out of all the country
of Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem unto the Lord, and power, the
power of the Lord was present there to heal them. They knew
the Lord Jesus Christ had all power. Turn over here to Luke
chapter 9 verse 11. This is an amazing verse right
here. Luke 9, 11. And the people, when they knew
it, They followed Him, and He received them, and spake unto
them of the kingdom of God. There again the Lord is preaching
the word of God, and He healed them that had need of healing. All those that came to Him with
their need, their need was met. Our God is able to supply all
our need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. This crippled man had four faithful
friends, didn't he? And these men used good means,
they sought out good means to bring their friend to the gospel.
I want to be a faithful friend like those four men, to use the
good means God has given to us to bring the gospel to our family,
to our friends, to bring our friends to hear the gospel. You
see, the Lord has ordained the means of the preaching of the
gospel to call out His elect. Let us seek out means to bring
the gospel to our friends and our friends to hear the gospel. Now, we can't make them believe
the gospel, but we can give them a track, give them an encouraging
word, tell them to listen to this sermon, come to the service
and hear the preaching of the gospel, and maybe the Lord be
pleased to Justify them. You see, it pleased God through
the preaching of the gospel to call out His people. Therefore,
let us always seek opportunity to promote and preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ to our family, to our friends, to our
neighbors. Now, you might be sitting there
and thinking, well, I'm no preacher. Well, that might be a good thing. That might be a good thing. But
being a faithful witness of the gospel is not a complicated,
difficult thing. We don't have to be a preacher
of the gospel, but God's people can be, by the grace of God,
a faithful witness of the gospel. And it's not a complicated, difficult
thing. You don't need to be a theologian
to be a witness of the gospel. You don't need to be an orator
or a fine doctrine Being a faithful witness is simply telling one
beggar, one beggar simply telling another beggar where he found
bread. Notice verse 25, and immediately
he rose up before them and took up that whereon he lay, departed
to his own house, glorifying God. He told what he knew of
what the Lord had done to him. It reminded me of this story.
Turn back to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. You remember
the wild man in the cemetery that ran naked? Nobody could
tame him. They chained him up and he broke
the chains. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
crossed his path and put him in his right mind and clothed
him, remember what the Lord said to him? Verse 19 of Mark 5, Howbeit
Jesus suffered him not, But saith unto him, Go home to thy friends,
and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.
and hath shown compassion on thee." You see, it's just one
beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. That's
being a witness of the gospel. That's what I try to do every
day, every time I preach the gospel, is just declare what
God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want to be
a faithful friend like these four men, don't you? The second
point is this, our greater blessing How great a blessing afflictions
and sorrow and sickness may bring unto us. This man's affliction
put him right before the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how come he
was afflicted? God sent him this affliction.
This affliction was sent to him and turned out to be a great
blessing, didn't it? You see, our light affliction,
turn with me to this scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Our light afflictions, and we're
all, we all have trouble, we all have heartache. Our Lord
said, in this world you shall have tribulation. Man is born
of woman, few days and full of trouble. But you know that those
who believe the gospel of God and those who love Him, our trials
don't work against us, they work for us. Notice 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 15. For all things are for your sakes,
that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many,
redound to the glory of God. For the which cause we think
not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. for our light affliction which
is but for a moment." It's a moment. In the light of eternity, it's
a moment. It's a moment which worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Our affliction,
trial, heartache, and sickness, they don't work against us, they
work for us. Here in this story is one of
the Lord's elect, who was afflicted with great trial, great heartache,
he couldn't walk. He received great blessing, didn't
he? His sins were forgiven, that's
foremost, but his body was healed. Oftentimes, great trials are
forerunners of great blessings, are they not? It is not until
we know that we are great sinners, vile and guilty, that we'll seek
mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we'll seek mercy in the
Lord Jesus Christ, but not until we know we're great and guilty
sinners. It is not until we know that we have no ability or power,
no righteousness before God, that we will seek righteousness
in Christ, that we'll seek salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
crippled man, he knew he could do nothing to heal his body,
but he knew the Lord Jesus Christ had power to heal his body. Those who God wisely saves, He
first brings us to the end of ourselves. You see, the way up
is down. He brings us to the end of ourselves.
He strips us, convicts us of our sin. Then He clothes us with
His righteousness. He brings us down in the dust.
breaks our heart, and then He lifts us with His mercy, lifts
us with His grace. There is first the conviction
of sin, and then there's knowing the pardon of sin through the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Him there is redemption. In
Him there is the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. We've seen strange things this
day. Here's the third thing. The Lord
Jesus Christ has all power, not only to heal our body, but also,
and most importantly, to save our soul by forgiving and justly
forgiving our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin and He does so justly. Here is another strange and extraordinary
and marvelous thing as we read in verse 20, when He saw their
faith, He said unto these five men, Or He said unto this one
paralyzed man before these other four, Son or man, thy sins are
forgiven. It says in Matthew 9 of this
same story, Son, be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Thy sins are
forgiven. Now, who can forgive sin? Who
can forgive sin? Well, none but God only. We're
going to see that in a minute. No church. I can't forgive your
sin. No church can forgive sin. No
mere religious preacher can forgive sin, or priest, or council of
churches. No minister has any power to
forgive sin or to put away sin. That alone, God only can do. You know why? Sin is against
God. Only God can make atonement for
our sin. The Lord deals with this cripple's
greatest problem first, doesn't He? What was his greatest problem? It wasn't his paralyzed legs.
His greatest problem was his guilty heart, his sinful soul,
which is far worse than any paralyzed legs. Before he deals with our
physical need, the Lord deals with our spiritual need first. with our sin problem. No one
has power or authority to forgive sin but God alone. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Almighty God who has all power, all authority to justly forgive
the sin of his people based upon his satisfying atonement, based
upon his justifying righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the only one that can forgive sin. Sin is against God, and
the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from our sin with His own
blood. Turn to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter
1, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18. The Lord Jesus has all authority
and power to forgive sin by the power of His redeeming blood. 1 Peter 1.18, Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vein, conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb
without blemish and without spot, who was verily, truly foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you." You see, we only have redemption from
our sin through the power of His atonement. Turn to Hebrews
9. Verse 11 and 12, But Christ being
come a high priest did good things to come, Hebrews 9 and 11, by
a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, but by the blood of goats and
calves, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His
own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. with His own blood. In the same chapter, Hebrews
9, the last part of verse 26, But now once in the end of the
world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. Turn one page, Hebrews 10, 14. How well did He put away our
sin? How truly can He forgive our sin based upon a just payment
for our sin? Hebrews 10, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14,
14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14,
14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14 No more. When the Lord Jesus
Christ pronounces forgiveness of our sins, they are gone. They are to be remembered. No
more. He said, they do not even exist. I will remember them no more. That's one, the one and great
and only need that we desperately all need, and that is the forgiveness
of our sins. And it's only found in, through,
and by His blood, His grace, and His power. Now, there is
the forgiveness of sin in Christ Jesus, right? Scripture is clear
on that. Now, my question is this, how
can this sinner know my sins are all gone and my sins are
paid for and I had the forgiveness of sin? How can I know? By looking to Him. By faith alone. By looking to Him. By receiving
Him. By trusting Him. Turn to Acts
chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. You see, again, we get back to
this precious, precious thing of faith. Faith. Saving faith
looks to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
his shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Acts 13. Did I tell you to turn there?
Acts 13. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, 38, Acts 13, 38, that through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. Is there forgiveness
of sin in the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. How can I know I have forgiveness
of sin? And by him all that believe. are justified. Would you dare
look anywhere else but to Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness
of sin? God forbid. By Him all that believe
are justified from all things which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Over in Acts 15 verse 11, But
we believe through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved even as others. This salvation is received by
believing, not by doing. Faith is the marvelous gift of
God. It is a marvel of God's grace
to trust Him. We could say trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ for all of salvation is an extraordinary, marvelous,
strange thing. It doesn't happen naturally.
It only happens by the grace of God. Here's the fourth thing. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
has all power, but He has all power to forgive sin, but He
is also all-knowing. Verse 21, The scribes and the
Pharisees, when they heard the Lord Jesus pronounce the forgiveness
of sin based upon His atonement, began to reason, saying, Who
is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sin but God alone? And when the Lord Jesus perceived
their thoughts, He answering them, Why reason in your heart?
Whether it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or
to say, rise up and walk, but that you may know that the Son
of Man hath power. on the earth to forgive sin.
He said to the sick man, I say unto thee, arise, take up your
couch, and go into your house. And the deed was done immediately. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only all-powerful, but He is all-knowing. He knew their heart. He saw their thoughts, their
mind, what they were thinking. We read in Hebrews 4, neither
is there any creatures not manifest in His sight, but all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
All things are naked and open unto His heart. You remember
what Peter said, Lord, You know all things, You know that I love
Thee. The Pharisees were right in saying none can forgive sin
but God. But they were very wrong in charging
the Lord Jesus Christ with speaking blasphemy, which is speaking
evil against God. Now listen carefully. If the
Lord Jesus Christ is not God, then He is a blasphemer. He is
an imposter. and cannot save anyone, let alone
a guilty sinner like me. Great sinners need a great Savior
with great salvation who is able to forgive all my sins, not just
some of them, but all my sins. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
God alone. who can forgive our sin. This is a marvelous thing we
have seen this day. Fifthly, another marvelous, extraordinary,
and strange thing that happened that day, the Lord clearly demonstrated
that He is God. Whether it is easier to say,
verse 23, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to arise and walk, but
that you may know the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sin, He said, get up, take your bed and go home. And immediately
he rose up and went home, glorifying God. The Lord Jesus Christ clearly
demonstrates He is God. What is easier to say? Thy sins
be forgiven thee? Or to say, arise and take up
your bed and go to your house? Well, we could say, well, both
are easy to say. However, both would be impossible
to do apart from God. Saying and doing are two completely
different things. The Lord shows us again that
we may know, that we may understand that He has all power to forgive
all our sins and all power to heal all our diseases. Notice verse 25, And immediately
when the Lord speaks the command, It done. You remember Psalm 33?
He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.
And immediately he rose up before them, took up that whereon he
lay, and departed. He walked out of there, a new
man, carrying his bed, glorifying God. This is how, and this is a picture
of how God saves sinners. By His command, by His purpose,
and by His decree. This man was not invited to stand
up and walk, was he? What did the Lord say? Rise up
and walk. And this is exactly how God makes
dead sinners to live, by His purpose and by His command. The Lord commanded him to do
so. You see, with the Lord's command comes the command of
His Word, comes the will, the ability, the desire to obey Him. Now, we're going to see a good
example of that next week, but look over in Luke chapter 5,
and we call this the effectual call of God. With the command,
comes the following Luke chapter 5 after these things he went
forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of
customs and he said to him follow me and he left all and rose up
and followed him you see that's the effectual command of the
Lord Jesus Christ now let me show you a couple others turn
to Luke chapter 6 Verse 7 and 8, the man that had the withered
hand, Luke chapter 6, the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether
he would heal on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him.
And he knew their thoughts and said to the man which had the
withered hand, rise up and stand forth in the midst, and he rose
and stood forth. And then the Lord said, verse
9, I will ask you one thing, Is it lawful on the Sabbath day
to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy? And
looking around upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch
forth thy hand. And he did so. And his hand was
restored whole as the other. There was a command, Stretch
forth your hand. And he stretched it forth. Let
me give you another example. Turn to Luke 7 verse 15. Here was a widow, a widow woman. whose only son died. And as she's carrying the body
of her dead son out of the city, to bury him away, verse 13 of
Luke 7, And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her,
and said unto her, Don't weep. Now you know this woman was brokenhearted,
her only son. had died, her husband was gone,
and he came and he touched a coffin, and they that bear him stood
still, and he said to the young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak. and he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all,
and they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen
among us, and that God hath visited his people. Now you see there's
some more examples of how when the Lord speaks with his command,
it is done. Lazarus, come forth, he that
was dead, came forth. We call that the effectual irresistible
call of God. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. They saw strange things in that
day and we have seen some strange and unusual things in our day
as well. We have seen the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ call out His sheep and make them new creatures
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of you came here listening
to the gospel, had no interest until the Lord God Almighty affectionately
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now, one more thing in closing. Verse 26, one more time. And
they were all amazed, And they gave God the honor and glory,
and they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange
things today. All were amazed. Amazing grace,
how sweet to sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was
lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see." We have seen
strange things today. We have been, and are amazed
at God's grace. Secondly, they glorified God. This is the bottom line, and
all that God does is His glory. God forbid we should glory save
in the cross of Christ. And they were filled with reverence.
Fear came on their heart. The only place we'll truly worship
is for the throne of almighty God. They were filled with awe
and worship. Oh, may God bless His word to
our soul. What would really be strange
and unusual would be not to glorify God, not to be amazed at His
grace and His love for us. They were all amazed, filled
with fear, and glorified God.