1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Matthew chapter 9 verses 1 to 8. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Some men brought him a paralysed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven. At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:34,000 This fellow is blaspheming. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:41,000 Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk. 6 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:47,000 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. 7 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:56,000 So he said to the paralysed man, Get up, take your mat and go home. Then the man got up and went home. 8 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:12,000 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe, and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. 9 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Well, let's pray before we go further into the passage. 10 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:28,000 Heavenly Father, we thank you for your kindness to us in sending your Son and giving us your Word. 11 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Thank you for filling us with your Spirit that we might know you. 12 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Heavenly Father, we pray that as we look at this passage, that you work amongst us by your Spirit, 13 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:48,000 that we might better know you, love you and serve you. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 14 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Well, do you like a good puzzle? 15 00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:00,000 In fact, probably I should ask the question differently and ask, What kind of puzzles do you like? 16 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Because I think that all of us like solving things in different ways. 17 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:15,000 In fact, I think human beings are kind of wired to solve puzzles or solve mysteries and work stuff out. 18 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,000 So whether that's kind of with hands-on projects, some of us kind of like that kind of thing, 19 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,000 like construction or renovation or a plumbing job or electrics. 20 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,000 And in those kind of jobs, you tend to have, like you've got your job to do, but in order to get that job done, 21 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 you've got a whole lot of steps along that. And each of those steps is kind of a puzzle. 22 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,000 And then you've got the puzzle of kind of sequencing those things, 23 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:44,000 like you take out this part here before you put that up against that. 24 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 And then so there's all kinds of thinking and ordering that. 25 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 And some crafts are pretty much the same, like sewing. 26 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,000 You're kind of working out, OK, I need a seam allowance here and I've got to flip this over and sew it. 27 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,000 I don't know what I'm talking about. 28 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:07,000 I think sewing is like construction, like in floppy stuff basically. 29 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Others of us like mathematical problems. 30 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:20,000 We like to solve logical things and do things like coding, put together a sequence in that way. 31 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:26,000 Other people like the tactile puzzles, like doing a cube or those bent-nail things 32 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 or where you've got to get the ring off the horseshoes or whatever, 33 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000 and kind of figuring out with your hands and with your eyes how to do that. 34 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:39,000 And then there's visual puzzles like jigsaws and word puzzles like crosswords. 35 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 And some of us like a story with our puzzle. 36 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:53,000 So we like a kind of a good mystery to solve, a good mystery novel or a detective show on the telly. 37 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:59,000 And there's something really kind of satisfying, isn't there, of nutting through a problem 38 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000 and then kind of getting to the end of that and seeing how it all kind of falls out. 39 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:13,000 So you're on site there and you've done the job and you're like, you know? 40 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Yeah, you know, and you're just like, yeah, before you leave. 41 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,000 And if no one's around too much, then you're like, yeah, you know? 42 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Because it's satisfying to get through that. We're kind of wired in that way. 43 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:35,000 And things have more meaning to us when we work through them and come to the end. 44 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,000 And this passage is kind of mysterious. 45 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:45,000 There's a whole lot of things in it that are kind of a bunch of problems that need working out. 46 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:51,000 And I think that what we do sometimes when we read the Gospel or when we read the Bible generally 47 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:57,000 is that we can get kind of feel a little bit intimidated by all the problems 48 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:03,000 and then we kind of skip over them and not really solve the problem and figure it out. 49 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:11,000 Or we kind of get to stuff and then we kind of leave it and file it in our brains under something like 50 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:15,000 weird stuff that Jesus said and kind of not worry about it too much. 51 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,000 But the problem with that is that when we do that, when we don't kind of solve the problems 52 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:26,000 and pay attention to the detail, it tends to be that each passage means the same thing 53 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,000 because we're not kind of getting what's different in this one. 54 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:35,000 And so what we need to do is we need to pay attention to the details 55 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,000 because Matthew doesn't tell the story in a straightforward way. 56 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:46,000 He doesn't just like come out and say, and this is the meaning, which he does in some places. 57 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000 He'll sort of point out meaning to you, but he doesn't. 58 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,000 And he hasn't been in this section. 59 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:58,000 And so what that does is it causes us to have to work through it. 60 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 It causes us to puzzle over it. 61 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And the reason I think that he does that is because that's how Jesus spoke 62 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,000 and that's how Jesus acted and taught. 63 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:14,000 So he kind of brings us into it as if we're in the crowds, 64 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:20,000 as if we're trying to kind of figure it out like they were trying to figure it out at the time. 65 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:26,000 And so we're kind of armchair detectives kind of working through the clues. 66 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:35,000 But at the same time that Matthew kind of invites us in to kind of look over his shoulder, if you like, 67 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:41,000 he's very careful to put it together in a way that allows us to get to the meaning. 68 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 He's focusing us on the meaning. 69 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 He doesn't want us to get it wrong. 70 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,000 He wants us to work it out, but he wants it all there. 71 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,000 He wants all the clues so that we get to the right place. 72 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,000 And so we should be confident that we're going to be able to get there 73 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,000 and get the meaning if we just do the work and get through it. 74 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:03,000 And that's what we're going to do with this passage. 75 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,000 We're going to kind of work through each little puzzle in it 76 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,000 and as much as possible to solve every piece 77 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:15,000 so that when we get to the end that we're going to see the meaning more clearly. 78 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 And I think that we can see the end or at least part of the end already. 79 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:27,000 We've been seeing in this section of Matthew since the end of the Sermon of the Mount 80 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:32,000 that we've been working through ideas about Jesus' authority. 81 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:36,000 We've seen his authority to teach, his authority to heal, 82 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,000 his authority over the natural world, over the demonic. 83 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:45,000 And now in this passage we see his authority to forgive sins. 84 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:51,000 So I'm sure that you got that when Lucy read through it. 85 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:57,000 But we need to think about what exactly does this authority mean for us 86 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,000 and what exactly does it teach us about Jesus. 87 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,000 So make sure that you have your Bible open. 88 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,000 We're going to be going verse by verse and you want it there in front of you. 89 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,000 So look at verse 1. 90 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:19,000 It says Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 91 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,000 Now maybe that doesn't mystify you at all. 92 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000 And if it doesn't, that's great. 93 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,000 It doesn't mystify Matt over here. 94 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:31,000 Gold star. 95 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:37,000 Or you can grab a Bickey at morning tea, if that's you, well done. 96 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,000 But for everybody else, I think there's one thing that is actually confusing in there 97 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:48,000 and that is where is his hometown? 98 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,000 Where is his hometown? 99 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,000 Now you might say well Jesus' hometown is in Nazareth 100 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:58,000 because we know that when he went down to Egypt he came out and moved to Nazareth. 101 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:03,000 Except that that would be an odd thing to say that he stepped into a boat, crossed over and went to Nazareth 102 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,000 because it's not on the water. 103 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,000 Nazareth is in the hills. 104 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,000 That would be like saying I stepped into a boat and went to Brookton. 105 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,000 You don't go to Brookton in a boat. 106 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,000 You don't go to Nazareth in a boat. 107 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:22,000 And the reason is that Jesus' hometown is Capernaum. 108 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:31,000 So if we went back in Matthew to chapter 4, verse 13 or 14, somewhere there, 109 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,000 he moves to Capernaum at the start of his ministry. 110 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,000 Now why is that important? 111 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Firstly so we don't get confused. 112 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Secondly because it was in Capernaum that Jesus said that the Son of Man has no place to rest his head. 113 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:53,000 And then he goes out and then he kind of moves out from Capernaum because of the crowds there. 114 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,000 He goes out, he goes in a boat. 115 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,000 That's where he calms the storm. 116 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,000 He doesn't even get to sleep in the boat. 117 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,000 Literally he gets woken up after saying that. 118 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:09,000 He goes across to the other side of the lake, is asked to leave there and comes back. 119 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:14,000 So he literally has no place to rest his head. 120 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,000 And he's back in the same place. 121 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 It's also important because it's his town. 122 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 That's been the centre of his ministry since he started it. 123 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,000 And so he's known there. 124 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:30,000 This isn't an event that just happens in kind of a place that he walks into and isn't known. 125 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:31,000 People know him. 126 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:37,000 Capernaum at this time has a population of about 1,500 people. 127 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,000 I've lived in a town that size. 128 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,000 When I lived in Fitzroy Crossing that's what the population was. 129 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 It's like a size of a town, 1,500. 130 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,000 I was only there for three years. 131 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,000 But even in that time you don't know every single person. 132 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,000 But you know of, like there's only one degree of separation between you and anybody else. 133 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:02,000 So back in Matthew 8 verse 16 it said, this is just before he left and went away. 134 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:07,000 It says, When evening came, many who were demon possessed were brought to him. 135 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:12,000 And he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 136 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:16,000 Like when there's 1,500 people you don't miss that. 137 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,000 We're going to come back to why that's important. 138 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:26,000 Okay, so in verse 2 some men bring Jesus a paralysed man who's lying on a mat. 139 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000 So it's on some kind of stretcher that they've brought him. 140 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,000 And there's a couple of hard things that's going on there. 141 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,000 So firstly it says that Jesus saw their faith. 142 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 So how do you see faith? 143 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,000 Well you see faith in action. 144 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:51,000 So they obviously by bringing this guy they believe that Jesus would heal him. 145 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000 And they've gone to trouble. 146 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:02,000 These aren't guys who just like a guy, he doesn't just happen to live on this bed 147 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,000 and he has friends that carry him about everywhere. 148 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,000 Like they've gone deliberately and put him on something so that they can bring him to Jesus. 149 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:17,000 So the words that Matthew used there, it's kind of like he's not just like on a mat where he hangs out. 150 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,000 They've put him on a mat. 151 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 So like in Australian terms it would sort of say something like they've chucked him on a mat. 152 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 Like they just chucked him on the mat, they've brought him to Jesus. 153 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:35,000 So their faith of all of them, including the paralysed man himself, is seen in the actions. 154 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:42,000 And just it's worth noting here because we'll come back to it that here and everywhere else in the New Testament 155 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:48,000 that there's a connection between faith and forgiveness. 156 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,000 Secondly, still in verse 2, Jesus says, 157 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Take heart son, your sins are forgiven. Which is a really odd thing to say, isn't it? 158 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:04,000 Because that's not what they were expecting. That's not the set up. 159 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:11,000 The set up is guy paralysed, friends went to trouble to get him there. 160 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,000 What are we expecting? We're expecting a healing. So why? 161 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:26,000 Why does Jesus say this? And why focus? Why do that? 162 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,000 And why say that his sins are forgiven? 163 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:35,000 It's not because what we may jump to, it's not because he, you know, 164 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,000 Jesus is saying that there's a sin behind the fact that he's lying on the mat. 165 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Like if we could just get rid of his sin, that would be okay. 166 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,000 That's not what's going on and Jesus has made that clear. 167 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:52,000 So in John 9 verse 3, there's a blind man and Jesus makes it very clear that the guy is not blind 168 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:57,000 because of a particular sin that's going on in his life or his parents life. 169 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:07,000 So that's not it. What Jesus is doing is Jesus is being deliberately provocative in the way he's speaking. 170 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:15,000 So in the face of such obvious physical need, obviously the guy wants healing, needs healing. 171 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:23,000 He makes an outrageous statement of saying, take out your sins are forgiven. 172 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:29,000 So he makes the issue forgiveness. 173 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:38,000 He shows that this guy, however obvious his problems are, the big issue for this guy is that he needs forgiveness. 174 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:47,000 And that's the bigger gift that Jesus can give the guy. 175 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,000 And that should cause us to take heart. That's what he says to the guy, to take heart. 176 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,000 So meaning to be confident in life, to be encouraged in life. 177 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:03,000 Because we can all get discouraged by the physical stuff that's going on. 178 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:10,000 We can get discouraged in our life because of our circumstances or our housing or our health or whatever it is. 179 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:15,000 But Jesus tells him to take heart and we should all take heart and encouragement in our lives 180 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:22,000 because we can know if we're Christians that our sins are forgiven. 181 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:30,000 It is a wonderful place to take heart but also to remember that in our own ministry. 182 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:35,000 It's that people have great physical needs and it's wonderful that we meet those needs. 183 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:41,000 That we meet the needs of people who are homeless or without food or who are sick. 184 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:48,000 And if we're able to help in those ways, to help in mission, to build those things for people, they are wonderful. 185 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,000 That reflects God's nature when we do it and we shouldn't stop doing it. 186 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,000 But we shouldn't get confused and stop at that point. That's not the mission. 187 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,000 The mission isn't that, to fix the physical needs. 188 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:08,000 We need to be like Jesus and go beyond and to be offering people the forgiveness of sins. 189 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:19,000 Moving to verse 3, we see that the teachers of the law are triggered, to use the modern saying. 190 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:24,000 So what are they triggered by and do they have it right? 191 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,000 So they take exception to what Jesus is saying. 192 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:37,000 So look again closely to work out verse 3. Just look back at verse 2 and what Jesus actually said. 193 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 So he didn't say, I forgive you. 194 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Like as if this guy has done something to him personally and the guy comes and Jesus says, well I forgive you. 195 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:55,000 What he says is, you are forgiven. Your sins have been forgiven. 196 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:03,000 So he is in saying that, he's declaring, not just that he forgives him personally for a personal wrong, 197 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:11,000 but his sins generally are forgiven and putting it that way implies, they are forgiven by God. 198 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,000 So these guys take exception to that. 199 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:27,000 In fact what he says, he says, afentaisu ha ha matiai, which is slightly different from saying, not afentaisu ha ha matiai. 200 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,000 And you say, what's the difference there? Well the difference is subtle. 201 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:41,000 And it's hard to kind of get into English, but what he's saying there, what Jesus is saying is he's suggesting that his own words are forgiving sins. 202 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:53,000 It's like saying, instead of just saying your sins are forgiven, it's like saying that but at the same time saying, I am forgiving your sins. 203 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:58,000 Or your sins are being forgiven as I say this. 204 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:07,000 So in other words, he's suggesting in that kind of subtlety of his language that it is him that is causing, 205 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:16,000 not him that is causing himself to forgive, but that he is causing God to forgive this person generally. 206 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:36,000 And in a sense, the scribes are kind of right. Kind of right. In the sense that if somebody is doing that and they do not have the authority, that is blasphemy. 207 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:46,000 But then look at verse 4 and look at how Jesus reacts to what they're saying. 208 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:58,000 First it says, knowing their thoughts. Now that seems like a mysterious thing that needs puzzling out, but it's actually the one not mysterious thing that's actually going on here. 209 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:06,000 So it's nothing kind of miraculous about knowing their thoughts. He doesn't do that in a miraculous way. 210 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:17,000 They're talking amongst themselves. He knows what's going on. He's reading their body language and he gets where they're going with this. 211 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:28,000 It's not that he can't know it miraculously. It's just that he doesn't need to in this point. There's nothing mysterious there. 212 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:38,000 The bigger question is why does Jesus tell them that they're entertaining evil thoughts? So they kind of call him out on this blasphemy charge. 213 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Jesus declares that their thoughts are evil. That's why the location is important. We're at the heart of Jesus' ministry here. 214 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:59,000 All around them they've been seeing Jesus' authority, incredible authority in healing sickness and casting out demons. 215 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:09,000 They're the teachers of the law. They should know. They should understand. They are guilty if they don't interpret these rightly. 216 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:22,000 In fact, as we kind of hear about as the chapters go on, they are rejecting. They are sinning against the Holy Spirit when they reject the signs that Jesus is performing. 217 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:31,000 This kind of drives at the heart of the passage. It's about authority. If Jesus has the authority to do this, then they're wrong. 218 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:43,000 It's not blasphemy. If they've rejected the signs and are calling blasphemy what isn't, then that is evil. 219 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,000 We're going to get into the significance of rejecting the signs in a moment. 220 00:20:49,000 --> 00:21:04,000 Verse 5 is a genuine head-scratcher. It comes across as a bit of a riddle, partly because we're just not really used to the rhetoric or the argument style that Jesus used 221 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:09,000 and would have been understood by the teachers of the law and his audience there. 222 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:22,000 He says, which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk? We've just been saying how hard it is to forgive sins. 223 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:34,000 Is that the hard one? Is it harder to forgive sins? We've just been saying that that's only God that can do that. Or is it harder to say which one is it? 224 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:42,000 What we've got to do is pay attention to what Jesus says. He says it's not which is harder to do or to have achieved for you. 225 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:52,000 It's which is harder to say. The harder one to say is to say that, to get up and walk. 226 00:21:52,000 --> 00:22:05,000 The reason for that is that anybody can walk along and say, son, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. 227 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:13,000 You can't do anything, can you? You're just like, that's kind of weird, dude. Keep going. 228 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:27,000 But if you call it out and you say that you're going to say, get up and walk, and you've implied that when you say that, he's going to get up and walk. 229 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:33,000 You're not saying, I'm going to pray for you. Wouldn't it be great if God healed you and you were able to get up and walk? 230 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:41,000 You're saying that on your command you're going to do it. Well, sooner or later someone's going to call you out and say, well, go on. 231 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:46,000 Do it then, right? So that's the harder one. 232 00:22:46,000 --> 00:23:02,000 After choosing to focus on forgiveness, Jesus focuses then or says that it's the harder one to tell him to get up and walk. 233 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Then he chooses to do it anyway. So he said we're going to focus on forgiveness and then he chooses to go ahead and heal the guy. 234 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,000 Of course, the answer to why he does that is tied up in what he says. 235 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:24,000 He says, but I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. 236 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:31,000 I want you to know. They ought to have known already, but he wants them to really know. He wants to demonstrate it. 237 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:42,000 So he wants to do something that they can see in front of them to demonstrate the authority that they can't see. 238 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:47,000 Notice that he tells the guy to take his mat and go home. 239 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:56,000 The point of that is that it proves his healing. He doesn't kind of stagger out of there. 240 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:03,000 He's able to pick up the stretcher, the bed that he's on, that they've carried him on. 241 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,000 He's able to carry that himself and walk all the way home. 242 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:25,000 So this is not some Benny Hinn miracle crusade where they get the guy to wheel him out in a wheelchair just so they can get the guy out of the wheelchair. 243 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:33,000 Or when they kind of lift the guy up and everyone's around him, seemingly cheering and hugging the guy, but actually they're holding the guy up. 244 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:39,000 That's not what's going on here. He demonstrates it in an irrefutable way. 245 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:47,000 This happens in a small town where people know. It didn't limp out of there. 246 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:52,000 So in bringing this together, what is it all focused on? 247 00:24:52,000 --> 00:25:02,000 All these little mysteries that we've been looking at and working through, none of it is focused on the paralytic. 248 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:08,000 None of it is focused on the man. We don't know why he was paralysed. Was this from birth? Did something happen to him? 249 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:13,000 Who were his friends? How did they know about Jesus? Why did they bring him? 250 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:20,000 What kind of sins did this guy have personally? Not important. 251 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:28,000 How far away was his house? What exactly was he lying on? We don't get a description of it. 252 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:33,000 How did he feel about being healed? How did he respond to Jesus? 253 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:41,000 In other passages, Matthew tells us how the people respond to getting healed or Jesus, but that gets cut out. 254 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:49,000 In fact, Matthew's cut out details, cut out every kind of little part other than the bits that he wants us to focus on. 255 00:25:49,000 --> 00:26:00,000 So what's that? All these mysteries point to one thing, and that is the issue that's raised by the scribes, by the teacher of the law, through their interaction with Jesus. 256 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:05,000 Is this blasphemy or is it legit? 257 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:12,000 In fact, it's like the whole thing is a set up for the last verse. 258 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:17,000 So let's not miss what it's set up for. 259 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:24,000 The last verse says, When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe. 260 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:30,000 Just imagine being there. 261 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:37,000 The amazement at this incredible show of authority. 262 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,000 You're in the house, you're in the crowd there. 263 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:48,000 The teachers of the law are calling a blasphemy. 264 00:26:48,000 --> 00:27:01,000 Jesus basically says, If I can get this guy to get up and walk, then I have authority to forgive sin. 265 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:11,000 That's what's going on. And the guy gets up and walks and goes home. 266 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:17,000 You are filled with awe. What on earth is going to happen in this moment? That is incredible. 267 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:23,000 And it says they praised God. So they're filled with awe and they praise God. 268 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:27,000 Notice that they don't praise Jesus. 269 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:32,000 That's not their immediate action. Say, Well done, mate. Thanks for moving here. 270 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:38,000 They praise God. They're filled with his reverent awe about what's going on. 271 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:43,000 And that is the right response to make. 272 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:48,000 The crowns have it right, especially given what gets said next. 273 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:56,000 They praised God who had given such authority to man. 274 00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:01,000 Notice that God has given this authority to Jesus. 275 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:10,000 The authority is not Jesus'. It has to be given to him. 276 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,000 So they gave such authority. It says, reading it again, 277 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:21,000 They praised God who had given such authority to man. 278 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:27,000 I'm not emphasizing the incredible amount of authority that's been given here. 279 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:33,000 So the crowds get it. They understand the proof that has been given. 280 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,000 Jesus has such authority. 281 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:45,000 Other people have done other miracles. God has given authority to others. 282 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:51,000 He gave authority to have signs to Moses. 283 00:28:51,000 --> 00:29:00,000 Moses was able to exercise that. He gave authority to heal to Elijah. 284 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:08,000 But such authority he has never given to somebody who can at a command heal, 285 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:15,000 demonstrating his authority to forgive sin. 286 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:22,000 And it says they praise God who had given such authority to man. 287 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:28,000 This incredible authority has been given to a man. 288 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,000 Let's not miss here what the crowds figured out. 289 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:37,000 We might jump too quickly and say that Jesus can heal these people because he's God. 290 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:45,000 And that's not quite it. That's not what Matthew gets us to focus on. 291 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,000 It says that God gave him that authority. 292 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,000 Now don't get too nervous here. I'm not about to deny Christ's divinity. 293 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:58,000 I just want to make sure that we get there in a biblical way. 294 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:06,000 And actually it's a constant witness of the New Testament that Jesus' authority, 295 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:14,000 in fact his ability to do miracles, are from God the Father. 296 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:21,000 It's not like Jesus has that in and of himself, but it's derived from God the Father. 297 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,000 So if you look at the end of this Gospel, Matthew 28, 18, 298 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:34,000 all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. He's given that authority. 299 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:40,000 Listen to this from John 5, verses 26 and 27 in John 5. 300 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:53,000 For as the Father has life in himself, so he granted the Son also to have life in himself. 301 00:30:53,000 --> 00:31:00,000 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of man. 302 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,000 And then in John 5, 36, so just a bit further on, he says, 303 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:15,000 For the works that the Father has given me to finish, the very works I am doing, testify that the Father has sent me. 304 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:26,000 So he does the miracles, but that indicates something, that teaches, that shows us something about the Son. 305 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,000 Now this may sound a little bit strange, I don't know, perhaps it does, 306 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:36,000 and if it sounds a little bit strange, then we need to revisit our understanding of the Trinity. 307 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:46,000 So when we say, when we confess the Trinity, and we say that the Father, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all fully divine, 308 00:31:46,000 --> 00:32:01,000 what we mean by saying that is that whatever makes God God, is true of the Father, it's true of the Son, and it's true of the Holy Spirit. 309 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:09,000 So if the Father has eternity, then the Son has eternity, and the Spirit has eternity. 310 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000 They share entirely in the divine essence. 311 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:18,000 If the Father is infinite, the Son is infinite, the Spirit is infinite, because they are the one God. 312 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:28,000 But this does not mean that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the same, or that they have the same relationship. 313 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:34,000 So one way that Muslims, you'll find plenty of clips on YouTube that do this, 314 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:38,000 the Muslims call out Christians and think they have a game set match, is they say, 315 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:46,000 you guys believe in the Trinity, and then they say, and then they point to a holodiverses where the Son is subservient to the Father. 316 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:53,000 And we should be saying, yeah, that is exactly what we believe about the Trinity. 317 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:59,000 The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. 318 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:05,000 They are separate persons within the Godhead. 319 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:13,000 And in saying that, we need to understand that the Father is eternally the Father. 320 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:19,000 And being eternally the Father means that He is eternally the Father of the Son. 321 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:24,000 And if the Son is eternally the Son, the Son is eternally a Son. 322 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,000 He is eternally the Son of the Father. 323 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:32,000 And the Son then eternally submits to the Father. 324 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,000 It didn't happen at some point in time. 325 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:44,000 That's the way they're derived eternally, that the Father will always and has always submitted to the Father. 326 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:51,000 And the Father has always been the source of the authority of the Son. 327 00:33:51,000 --> 00:34:00,000 He's the Son. And He's bestowed with the Father's authority from the Father. 328 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:08,000 And what this means for us is that authority and submission, 329 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:14,000 which are two ideas that are completely on the nose in our culture, right? 330 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:20,000 But authority and submission are eternally good things. 331 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:29,000 If it's good enough for the eternal Son to submit to the Father, then it's good enough for us. 332 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:41,000 And if submission is an eternally good thing, then it's good for us to submit in other right relationships when it's right to do so. 333 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:56,000 And if authority is something that is good and right, then it's good and right for us to act as authorities under God when it's appropriate for us to do so. 334 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:05,000 Furthermore, when it comes to miracle passages, we have a tendency to say that the miracle proves that Jesus is God. 335 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,000 So He does this and that proves that He's God. 336 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:14,000 And that's kind of true, right? So don't throw that out if that's what you've been heard. 337 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:22,000 That is kind of true, but it jumps too quickly to the answer and misses what's actually going on there. 338 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:30,000 So if you say that, it's a little bit too much like, or you could be misunderstood of saying that Jesus is God the Father. 339 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,000 So it shows that Jesus is God, meaning God the Father. 340 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,000 Or at least that He's somehow the same as God the Father. 341 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:48,000 Or there's this kind of number four thing that Jesus is, that is kind of God, not Father, Son or Spirit. 342 00:35:48,000 --> 00:36:02,000 But we want to see what's actually going on and we want to see that this God the Father is the source of the Son's authority and power and ability to do miracles. 343 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:07,000 So what we really mean is that Jesus is God the Son. 344 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:15,000 So the miracle shows that Jesus is God the Son, that is the Son that derives His authority and power from the Father. 345 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:29,000 So when we think about the miracles, we should think like the crowds do, who see this incredible authority that's been given to Jesus and then ask as they do, as they did, or the disciples back in the boat. 346 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:35,000 Remember back in the boat in 827 where they say, what kind of man is this? 347 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:41,000 What kind of man could be given such authority? 348 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:47,000 And the answer is that there's only one kind of man that could be given that authority. 349 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:59,000 And that is a divine human man, the second person of the Trinity, who has been granted this authority eternally by God the Father. 350 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:11,000 So when we see a miracle, we think, who could God have given that miracle to? Such authority in that miracle. 351 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:18,000 And the answer is only God the Son because it wouldn't be fitting for it to be given to anyone else. 352 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:30,000 So the miracles show that Jesus is God the Son, not because He has authority in Himself to do the miracles, but because God gives the miracle to Jesus. 353 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:36,000 And when we think about that, we conclude rightly who He is. 354 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:46,000 But the crowd can't be all the way there yet, can they? We have kind of the perspective of the whole of the Bible. 355 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:52,000 But what they might be puzzling over is what Jesus has said in verse 6. 356 00:37:52,000 --> 00:38:00,000 He said, but I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. 357 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:09,000 Now if they knew their Bible, which they generally did, they would be thinking of the Son of Man in Daniel chapter 7. 358 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:18,000 So if you're able to flip in your Bible, flip over to Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. 359 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:27,000 This is an incredibly kind of standout passage in the Old Testament because it doesn't quite make sense there. 360 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:35,000 So Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. So this is a vision and he says the vision's been going on. 361 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:40,000 We've seen all kinds of images of power and falsely used power. 362 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:52,000 And then he says in verse 13, in my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven. 363 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,000 He approached the ancient of days and was led into His presence. 364 00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:03,000 So there's a human being there being led into the presence of God, which doesn't entirely make sense. 365 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,000 How can a human being? 366 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:14,000 But that's a bit surprising, but the authority that's given in the next verse is the truly extraordinary thing. 367 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:18,000 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. 368 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:22,000 That's the kind of authority and glory that God has. 369 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,000 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. 370 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,000 All nations and people in every language worship Him. 371 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:36,000 His dominion is an everlasting dominion and will not pass away and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. 372 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:45,000 Notice that just like in our passage, this authority is given to the Son of Man. 373 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:52,000 So Daniel 7 gives us a taste of the authority that is given to Jesus. 374 00:39:52,000 --> 00:40:04,000 The man who is the incarnated eternal Son, who is given this authority of the Father or of the ancient of days. 375 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:09,000 And this authority is the Gospel. 376 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,000 That's the Gospel, that authority that's given to Jesus. 377 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:20,000 The kingdom is established, it's the Gospel of the kingdom and the kingdom has been established 378 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:29,000 when authority is given to the King Jesus to reign over all the earth, over all the heavens. 379 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:37,000 And you are invited into that through His death and resurrection. 380 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:45,000 And if the Gospel is about authority, then your response to it is about submission. 381 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:51,000 You can't have it both ways, you can't want a Jesus who has authority to forgive sins. 382 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:58,000 But you don't want Him to be the ultimate authority in your life. 383 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:06,000 And we said earlier when we were unraveling clues that Jesus forgives those who have faith. 384 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:15,000 And we saw there our need for forgiveness is greater than our need for physical things. 385 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,000 But our faith is our faith in who He is. 386 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:25,000 That is believing that He is the Son of Man who has, in Matthew's word, dominion. 387 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:33,000 That is an everlasting dominion, one that won't pass away, that His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. 388 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:41,000 Jesus is that person, He's not your Swiss army knife who jumps out to solve your problems when you have them. 389 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:52,000 He's not your tool in achieving your potential. It's not all about you, it's about His authority and glory. 390 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:55,000 And so we need to submit to that. 391 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,000 But this passage isn't just about our need to submit generally. 392 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:04,000 The whole section has seen His authority and therefore our need to submit to it. 393 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,000 But this passage has highlighted two things particularly. 394 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:13,000 That is what we've just said, our need for forgiveness. 395 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:18,000 Not a particular sin, we haven't focused on what this paralytic man needed forgiveness for. 396 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:23,000 But we all have sin that needs forgiveness. Every one of us. 397 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:29,000 That is our greater need, greater than all our physical things that we have. 398 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,000 So we need this. 399 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:40,000 But secondly, the second major idea that we have here is that Jesus can provide that forgiveness. 400 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:45,000 So if that's something that you have not experienced before, 401 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:53,000 then please see that this person, this Jesus is offering you forgiveness today. 402 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,000 And please accept that gift. Let me pray. 403 00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:07,000 Heavenly Father, you are awesome beyond our imagination and your Son has been given such authority that is beyond us. 404 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:16,000 Authority that we cannot comprehend and yet have little taste of in what we read in your Word. 405 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:25,000 Heavenly Father, please send us out inspired by this wonder, by this person who is our Lord. 406 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:36,000 And let us cling to this offer of forgiveness because it is so wonderfully gracious that you've done it. 407 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:37,000 Amen.