chapter 9. Beginning in verse 1. Matthew, he
writes, speaking of our Lord, that he got into
a boat and he crossed over, again that's the
Sea of Galilee, And he came, and we should say
he came back to his own city. Then behold, they
brought him a paralytic lying on a bed. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven
you. And at once some of the scribes said within
themselves, This man blasphemes. But Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in
your hearts? For which is easier to say, Your
sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise and walk?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has
power on earth to forgive sins. Then he said
to the paralytic, Arise, take up your bed, and
go to your house. And he arose and departed to
his house. Now when the multitude saw it, they
marveled, and they glorified God, or I should
say authority to men. Let's pray. Our God and
Father, we would see your son this morning. Lord,
we know through the pages of Holy Scripture,
he is veiled in flesh. And Lord, we don't see
the full orbed glory that belongs to him as the
living God. But Lord God, this morning, would
you help us by your spirit to point to your son
and we're to see the hope. to see the help, to
see the forgiveness, to see the salvation that's
found in him. God, would you help me this morning
to preach Christ? Lord, this is the task of the
preachers, to preach Jesus. And Lord God, would
you give me grace to do so, I pray now in his
blessed name. Amen. It's interesting, we're reading
in Matthew, but John, in his epistle, the epistle
of 1 John, there's an interesting verse there,
1 John chapter 3, and it's found in verse 8.
And it says, the reason the Son of God appeared.
Now that's an important statement. Because if
John's writing there, he said, now I'm going
to tell you the reason Jesus came. The reason
the Son of God appeared was to destroy, to annihilate,
if you will, the works of the devil. So John's
telling us here that the reason Christ came was
to destroy the works of Satan. So what does that
mean? Christ came to undo all the damage that
Satan had inflicted and caused. He came to redeem
what Satan had stolen. But he said he came to
destroy the works of the devil, plural. What
are the works of the devil? Well, it's easy to
say sin, and of course that's not wrong. But
what are the works that John is referring to?
When we talk about sin, even if we just use the
word sin, sin, even scripturally, is multifaceted.
The Bible used different terms. We see the word
sin or transgression and iniquity. So, for example,
when you see the word sin, these are all different
Greek words. When you see the word for sin in
Scripture, it's anything that violates God's
law. It's anything that falls short of God's
standard or God's righteousness. So sin, then,
is to miss the mark. There's a bullseye of God's
perfect standard, God's perfection. And anything
that would fall outside of that bullseye, regardless
how close or how far, is sin. Now, the word transgression.
This means you violate a known command or boundary.
Often, not necessarily, but it often implies
a deliberate disobedience. You knew what the
standard was. This I see with my children. Don't
do that, and they do it. That's what we do as
well. God said don't, and we did. Or God said
do. And we didn't. That's a transgression. Then
we come to the word iniquity. Iniquity, it's
describing a persistent or ingrained pattern
of wrongdoing. This is a state. It's a state
of moral corruption. So when you think about
repeated sin, iniquity is going to be the consequences
of repetitive sin. It's more a settled pattern.
Someone living in iniquity. Now when Satan, when
he tempted Adam and Adam fell into sin, there
was a disruption in God's good creation. For
the first time ever, man was now alienated from
our creator. We're alienated from God. And when
we are alienated from God, chaos is going to
ensue. So you find chaos in the created order
and you see that all around, even in weather
patterns. Then you also have disease introduced
into the human species for the first time. Death
begins to take place, and not just death for
man, but death for all creatures. So when we
talk about the works, John, the works of Satan,
he's referring to his spiritual deception, his
ability to deceive, moral corruption, the disruption
of all creation, and Jesus came to destroy those
works. Now you look at the word destroy, the
Greek word is luo, and it means to loosen. to
untie, to set free. So what do we mean that Jesus
came to set free? It's the idea of liberation
day, friends. This is freedom day. Jesus came
to liberate, to set free both his people and
all of creation from the bondage of Satan. So
that means where there once was going to be deception
and where there's darkness, Jesus is bringing
revelation. He's bringing light. Where there's
now moral corruption, Jesus came to bring holiness.
That's why we're a holy people. Where there's
brokenness, Jesus came to bring wholeness. And
you start to see that in the miracles. Look at
the broken people, and Jesus is restoring back
to health and wholeness. And where there was
a disruption of the created order, Jesus came
to bring shalom. Now, shalom is a greeting. It
simply means peace. But when we talk about peace,
we think of absence of conflict. But that's a
different Greek word. That's erene. When we're
talking about shalom, it's the idea of harmony
everywhere. Wholeness. It's life as God intended
it to be. And lastly, where there was death,
Jesus came to bring life. How could that possibly
happen? How is he going to do that? This is the
divine mystery, church. This is the wonder. It's
the mystery of the incarnation. What do we mean
by that? The Son of God, the second person of
the Godhead, would take on flesh. He would become
a man. Why? In order to redeem mankind and defeat
Satan. He's going to enter purposely into enemy
territory. And what he's going to do, he's going
to reclaim it. He's going to stake it for his
own. He's coming to reclaim all the ground that
was lost now for the glory of God. So Jesus is
going to defeat Satan. He's going to redeem his
sinful people. He's going to restore creation
by becoming a man. But you're like, well, how
does that work? Through his life, death, resurrection,
and ascension, Jesus will redeem and he will
restore all that Satan sought to destroy. Now
we come to Matthew's gospel. Matthew has been
showing us precisely what I've been saying, the
restoration. We see Jesus conquering Satan, little
by little. He's taking back... all things from
enemy territory. Just look at the miracles. The
miracles are not ostentatious displays. They're
signs. What is he doing? He's healing people
where they were broken and diseased. There's
life and wholeness where people were bound by
demons. He's now setting them free through those
exorcisms. He's basically saying, Satan no more.
This is mine. Matthew opened this gospel. Jesus
is the promised Messiah. He's the king of the
Jews. Son of David, son of Abraham, son of God.
He's the one who has power, but not just power,
but he has authority to accomplish this great
task that the Father had given to him. Now, if
you're in the King James, there's two words,
and they're both translated power. Other translations
will differentiate them because they're two different
words. There's power and authority. This is an
important point. Power, if you just look at the
word power, it's the word dunamis. Think dynamite.
This means you have the ability, you have the
strength, the ability to carry out the commission.
But then you have the word authority, also translated
power in King James and sometimes in the New
King James. It's the word exousia. And it means
you have the right to do it. You have the jurisdiction
to do it. So not only do you have the power to
carry it out, but you have the right to carry
it out. That's what they're fighting about in
California. We know that the Marines can go in
and squelch that rebellion in California. They
have the power to do it. Governor Newsom's saying
they don't have the right to do it. And what
we're seeing here in this gospel, though, is
that Jesus both has the power, he has the ability,
and the authority, he has the jurisdiction, over
what? Everything you've seen. Sickness? He did
it. Nature, he calmed the wind and the seas.
Hell itself, he's casting out demons. Why? He
is the superior and everyone must obey his voice.
Now today we even get a clearer picture of this.
I love this passage. I love what we're getting
ready to look at this morning. You see that Jesus
has the authority, the power, the jurisdiction
over sin. And he has the divine prerogative,
the authority. To forgive. Now let's get our
bearings about us. Last week we were crossing
over from Capernaum and we were going to the
Gentile side, remember? Jesus and his disciples
had left Capernaum because the crowds were too
large and they would not even give him a moment's
break. So he and his disciples, they get into
the boat and they sail to the other side. But
in the meantime, a violent storm arose that threatened
to sink the boat. And of course, Jesus, what's
he do? He wakes up and he simply speaks to the
wind and the waves and they obey him. So they
arrive safely in that area known as the Decapolis.
That's on the western side, and that's more the
Gentile area where Jesus healed 2 ,000, excuse
me, not 2 ,000, he healed two severely demon
-possessed men by casting out thousands of demons
from them who then entered into that herd of
swine nearby. Now think about this. All these
demons were in these two men. We know then these
demons, they leave, they go into, 2 ,000 pigs,
we are told. These 2 ,000 pigs rushed down the
cliff into the sea, and they drowned themselves.
But the two men were saved. So the whole town
there in the Decapolis, that whole area, got
word of what had happened, and they came out
to see for themselves exactly what had taken
place. And when they had ascertained all the
facts, they said, Jesus, please leave. Leave
us alone. We do not want you here any longer.
They asked Jesus to leave, so he did. He left.
Now today, Matthew 9, he's crossing back from
the Decapolis, back across the Sea of Galilee,
and he's entering back to Capernaum, where he
had previously left, where he had done many miracles,
and where the crowds had been grown so large
he had to leave. So look at verses 1 and 2, and
you see that. It says he arrived in his own city.
This is not Nazareth. Nazareth is a place where
he grew up. Born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth,
but from his whole public ministry, The city,
which would be his base of operations, would
be Capernaum. And that's where he is. He's back
in his own city, the base of operations. It says,
now notice, there's no antecedent here. It says,
they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.
Well, who? They. They brought to him. Who are
they? Matthew never tells us. Now, Mark and Luke
also wrote about this event. Mark chapter 2,
we read this. Then they came to him. bringing
a paralytic who was carried by four men. And
then it goes on to tell you what they did about
when they could not come near him because of
the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was,
so when they had broken through, they let down
the bed on which the paralytic was lying. It's
interesting. We're never told who these men are.
We're only told how many there were. There were
four men carrying a man who was paralyzed. Now
Jesus is back in Capernaum, so what's that mean?
Wildly popular, right? Wildly popular because
his fame had spread because of all the miracles
he had done. And so he gets back in Capernaum,
and guess what happens? Immediately, crowds begin
to form. Now, ironically, it was those same large
crowds that had driven him away because they
wouldn't even give him a moment's rest. But here's
four men. We don't know their names. We don't
know anything about them. But somehow they know
Jesus is back in town, and they had a very sick
friend, I assume. Could have been a loved one.
We don't know. But four men said, we've got to
get this guy to Jesus. Now, if you're in the
King James, it says the man had the palsy. If
you're in others, it's going to say he's paralyzed.
The palsy, it's the Greek word paralytikos, paralytic.
The man's paralyzed. So by the time they get
to the house where Jesus is now teaching, there
were so many people gathered, they couldn't enter.
They couldn't even get near the house. hordes
of people had gathered again to hear Jesus. We
read about that in Mark 2. And again, he entered
Capernaum after some days. It was heard that
he was in the house. Now look at verse 2. Immediately,
many gathered together so that there was no longer
room to receive them, not even near the door.
You couldn't even get near the door. And it says
Jesus preached the word to them. Okay, see, these
guys, they're desperate. What are we going to
do? And we can't get close to him. But these
men were undeterred. They were going to do whatever
it was necessary to get this man to Jesus. Desperate
times call for desperate measures. There was
no case more desperate than this paralyzed man.
So these men, they came up with an ingenious
idea. They said, hey, let's get him up on the
roof. And they began a radical demolition project.
Now they go up on the roof. They're not pitched
roof. Roofs in first century Palestine, these
were typically flat. They were made of local
materials. So you think of the trees, there'd
be cedar trees, sycamore trees, olive trees.
That would have served as the beams. And then
they're going to use smaller sticks, some reeds,
even palm branches or palm leaves. They would
use as cross beams. Then they would pack it together
with clay or mud and just let it harden. So these
four men, they go up to the top of the roof.
They get the paralyzed man up there as well,
and they begin to tear open a hole. They're just
digging away with their hands, just clawing away.
Now I was thinking about this. What if you were
in the house, okay? You're sitting there. Let's
say you're in the living room, and some clay
begins to fall on your head. And all of a sudden
you look up, and you're like, you see sunshine
peering through the living room ceiling. You're
like, that's not good when sunshine starts to
appear in your living room through the roof.
So they start to look up. And then suddenly,
you have a man being lowered before you into
your presence on a stretcher into the room where
you were seated. Now, surely these people, and
I think the paralyzed man, he never speaks, at
least not in this particular passage here. They
were wondering, all right, what's Jesus going
to do now? Verse 2, the latter part. Their faith.
He said to the paralytic, son, be of good cheer.
Okay, I'll just stop there for a minute. Jesus
saw their faith. He did not see his faith. He's
not talking about the paralyzed man's faith.
He's talking about the four men. He saw their
faith. You say, well, how did he see it? Now,
some of you are saying, well, he's God in the
flesh. He's omniscient. He knows all things.
And therefore, he knew these men had faith. But
it didn't say Jesus knew their faith. It said
he saw their faith. How did he see it? The answer
lies in what just took place. These four men
were so convinced that if they brought this paralyzed
man to Jesus, then he would be healed. This is
why they were desperate enough to go up on top
of a roof to get this broken man to Jesus. They
believed that Jesus was this man's answer, and
their actions proved it. Well, how do you know
they believed? Look at what they did. Faith shows
itself in works. These men believed and their
actions, well, it demonstrated, it proved they
did believe. Because this is the point. Faith
is internal. I can't see faith. You can't see
faith. It is unseen. But what is internal? What
is in us? What is not seen within us? If it is
genuine, folks, it will show itself externally
and visibly in our lives. And that's exactly
what we see with these guys. James wrote about
that in James chapter 2. Someone will say, you
have faith or you say you have faith and I have
works. James poses this question. He says, okay,
let's do a project here. You show me your faith
without your works. I will show you my faith
by my works. Works are not faith. They're not
the same. Works are the... consequence of faith.
They demonstrate it. Now, Jesus seeing these
men's faith, he said to the paralytic, son, be
of good cheer. That's a good word. Be of good
cheer. Son, don't be afraid. Something good is
coming your way. That's what it means. Don't
be afraid, son. Something good is headed right
now. Now, once you hear... Son, be of good cheer.
What do you think everyone in the house, including
this paralyzed man, is expecting to hear next?
Be healed. Instead, we hear, be of good cheer.
Something good's coming your way. Your sins are
forgiven you. What did he just say? I mean, did
we hear him correctly? Did we hear him what we
think he said? Did he say that your sins are
forgiven? Now, these men had brought this man
to Jesus. To be healed, not to be forgiven. Jesus
said, no, no, no. Be of good cheer. Take heart,
young man. Your sins are forgiven. Now, let's
be honest. Let's stop here before we go any further.
If Jesus looks at you and he tells you your sins
are forgiven, that is reason enough to be happy
and rejoice. That's a very good day, by the way.
If nothing else would have happened on that day,
it would have been reason enough. for this paralyzed
man to be carried home and to rejoice for the
rest of his life. His sins had been forgiven.
But we read more. Why did Jesus forgive the man
before he healed him? Well, this is speculation.
Perhaps to show the priority of spiritual healing
over physical healing. Now let me explain that.
Because this is what we need to see today. This
man's greatest wound, this man's greatest need
was not his paralysis, but rather his sin. That
is the greatest need of mankind. He is estranged
from God and he needs forgiveness. Now that's
not denying the man is in a very broken condition.
But the greatest need he had was to be reconciled
to God, forgiven by God. before he ever was able
to regain use of his limbs. Sin lies at the root
of all human suffering. That does not mean that
this man's paralysis was directly caused by a
sin. But all disease, all brokenness has at its
root, at its core, sin. All disease does. Because
Adam fell, we fell with him in his first sin,
and disease entered in the world. R .C. Sproul
said this, When people came to Jesus, it did
not matter whether they came on stretchers or
they walked in under their own power, whether
they were blind, deaf, crippled, or completely
healthy. All of them came into his presence carrying
a burden of guilt. To have that burden removed
was far more important ultimately than to receive
physical healing of their bodies. Amen. This
is why our greatest job and mission of the church
is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. It reconciles
sinful man back to God. Now, secondly, you're
saying, why do you do this? I'm giving you speculation
here. Secondly, and I think this is a reason
why, and I think I can show you from the text,
we know from Luke's gospel that the scribes and
Pharisees, remember those religious leaders,
they also had heard about Jesus' fame, and they
came up to see what was going on. We read about
that in Luke chapter 5, same event. Now it happened
on a certain day as he was teaching that there
were Pharisees and teachers of the law, that's
scribes, sitting by who had come out of every
town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. Now they
left Jerusalem and came all the way up to northern
Israel into Capernaum, and the power of the Lord
is present to heal. So Jesus was healing a lot
of people. Now we know it's the same event because
look at verse 18. Then behold, men brought on
a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought
to bring in and lay before him. Same event here.
So now Jesus knows who's gathered, right? He
knew that the religious leaders, scribes and
Pharisees, are there. You would have known that
by the way they were dressed also, by the way.
But he knows their thoughts. He knows their hearts.
He knows they're cold -hearted. He knows that
they're unbelieving, and he's going to confront
them, and he's going to demonstrate his own divine
authority. So these men are present. Jesus hooked
up this man, and he says, your sins are forgiven.
And the scribes, who were the Jewish theologians,
were outraged. Look at verse 3. And at once some
of the scribes said within themselves, this ain't
blasphemes. You've got to be kidding me. This
isn't of God. He's a blasphemer. Now what's it
mean to blaspheme? To blaspheme is to speak ill
of God or to show great disrespect or contempt
for him. So blasphemy, you can say God is majestic.
Any violation of God's majesty is blasphemy.
It's to rob him of the honor due unto him. Now
in the scribes and Pharisees' minds, you've got
a man, they say just a man, Jesus, who is taking
to himself a divine prerogative to forgive sin.
In Luke, we read in chapter 5, verse 21, the
scribes and Pharisees began to reason, saying,
Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive
sins but God alone? That last question, excellent.
Who can forgive sins but God alone? And you know
what their answer was? No one. And you know what
our answer is? No one. They're correct there.
Only God can forgive sin. But Jesus just said
he forgave this man's sin. What was Jesus saying?
He was saying that he was God in the flesh. These
religious leaders were right. Only God has the
authority to forgive sin. And Jesus, by his own
authority, just forgave a man his sins. It is
clear Jesus is claiming to be divine. There's
no doubt. There's no ambiguity in this claim
whatsoever. But we go on. But Jesus, knowing
their thoughts, he said, why do you think evil
in your hearts? He is God in the flesh. He knows
the thoughts of these men. So you ask him a question.
Why do you think evil in your hearts? He says,
basically, why are you assuming that I am blaspheming?
Now, can I tell you here an irony? The very fact
that the scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus
of blasphemy is causing them to blaspheme. They're
speaking ill of God. Jesus is God in the flesh.
They're the ones guilty of blasphemy. So Jesus
then asked him a question. He said, listen, Let
me ask you this question. Which is easier? To
say to this man, be healed, or to say to him,
your sins are forgiven? Which is easier? Now,
what's Jesus doing? He's masterful in the way
that he just gets these guys and pins them against
the wall. Anyone, anyone can say your sins are
forgiven, but how do you prove that? I can say,
oh, your sins are forgiven, but I have no way
of proving that in a tangible way, indeed, your
sins are forgiven. I can't prove it. But if there's
a man that comes before him and he's paralyzed,
and I say to him, be healed, there would have
to be some tangible evidence, some proof, that
the healing actually took place. Look at verse
6. But so that you may know that the Son of Man
has power. Now this is, if you look here in verse
6, it should be on the wall behind me here. Go
to the next slide, guys. No, I didn't put it
there. He has the power. It's the word authority.
Exousia. So that the Son of Man has the right
on earth to forgive sins. So he looks over and
he says to this young man, Arise, take up your
bed and go home. Okay, he's going to show these
religious leaders, You think I'm guilty of blasphemy?
I will prove to you I have the authority to forgive
sin. So he told the paralytic, Get up, take up
your mat, which you won't be needing anymore,
and go home. Look at verse 7. And he arose and
departed to his house. I love this. Jesus said,
get up and go home. He got up and went home.
But he went for the first time. Notice, no one's
assisting him. No one is carrying him. He can
do it himself. Jesus spoke, and his word brought
life. Jesus spoke, his word brought healing.
Jesus spoke, and his word brought forgiveness.
God's word is attached to God's power. Just as
it was in the beginning, so it is with Jesus.
He speaks, friends, and it's done. What does
this miracle prove? It's a sign, right? It proved
Jesus, he calls himself the son of man, he has
authority to heal and he has authority to forgive.
Matthew puts this in his gospel. He's letting
his readers understand who Jesus is. Remember,
he's talking about the kingdom. What's Christ's
kingdom going to look like? Look at this miracle.
Jesus is the king. He's the long -awaited son
of David. He's finally come, and he brings both
physical healing and spiritual healing or divine
forgiveness. The Lord Jesus has come to bring
shalom. wholeness, harmony, destroying the works
of the devil. He's taking back everything that
Satan stole incrementally, piece by piece, and
he's giving it and restoring it back to his father.
He's come to make all things new. Amen? And we're
seeing that. Healings. Where there's brokenness,
there's now wholeness. But notice that when Jesus
looked at these scribes and Pharisees, He spoke
of himself as the Son of Man. Now, Son of Man,
I don't want to go into a real long excursus
here, but the Son of Man is a messianic title
found in the book of Daniel. It is also a title
given to just a Son of Man. But if you're talking
about the Son of Man, it's a messianic title
you find in Daniel 7. Now, notice this is so
important, and I love what Jesus is doing here.
Because he's always subtle. He's letting the
light bulbs click in their own minds. Now, Daniel
has this vision. He says, I, Daniel, was watching
the night visions, and behold, one like the Son
of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven, that's
usually judgment, he came to the Ancient of Days,
and they brought him, Son of Man, near before
him. Ancient of Days. Now, if you look at Ancient
Days, he's sitting on a throne, full of white,
eyes like fire. This is God, okay? Then to him,
son of man, now notice verse 14, was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and
nations and languages should serve him. His dominion,
the son of man, is an everlasting dominion which
shall not pass away. His kingdom, that's the
son of man's kingdom, is the one which shall
not be destroyed. Awesome here. All right, so
now you have something. Daniel has a vision.
It's a vision, folks. We know that God the Father
and God the Son are ontologically one, meaning
they're not separate. You don't have God on this
throne, Jesus on this throne talking to each
other. It's a vision. It's helping us understand.
You have an ancient of days representing God
the Father. You have the Son of Man representing
the Messiah. The Son of Man is given. He's bequeathed
dominion, authority. He's also given glory, and
he's given a kingdom. Now, what's the glory?
This is the glory. That all peoples, nations,
and language groups should serve him. What does
Philippians 2 tell us? Every single knee is going
to bow and every tongue is going to confess that
that man named Jesus is Lord. That's what it
means right there. This kingdom, though, he's
given a kingdom, and this kingdom will never
be destroyed. His dominion, his authority, Jesus,
it's everlasting. The Son of Man. will rule as
king forever over all people. Now, Jesus looks
at these religious leaders and he's talking about
himself and he uses this title, son of man. They're
experts in the law, folks. They immediately know
what he would have meant. Jesus is looking directly
at these religious leaders and saying this, I
am the Messiah. I am your king. I am the one
sent from God. By the way, by his miracles, he
proved it to them. Think how cold hearted you
have to be. Think of all that they had seen.
They knew, they can see that Jesus is proving,
I am your king. But we go to the end of Matthew
and just before Jesus is crucified, what do these
religious leaders cause all of Israel to cry
out? We have no king. But Caesar. They understood
what Jesus meant. He was claiming to be their
king. Even Pilate said this is the king of the
Jews. Don't say that. Say he said I'm the king
of the Jews. We have no king but Caesar. The
king had come and they rejected him. The kingdom
of God was offered to them. They shut themselves
out. The healing of this paralyzed man, it's
a foretaste, friends. It's a foretaste of the
kingdom to come. It demonstrated the kingdom
of Christ. If you are in Christ and you're a
part of this kingdom, here's what you can look
forward to. The restoration of all creation.
We sung how long, oh Lord, how long till your
glory fills our eyes. When that kingdom in its
fullness arrives, all that is broken, your broken
body, your broken heart. All that is corrupt
and all that is sinful will be done away with.
Not another tear shed, not another painful moment,
not another sorrow or sadness at all. The miracles
that Jesus are doing right now are pointing to
the renewal of all things. This is what it's
going to be like. Now, there's a crowd gathered.
What was their response to this man? Look at
verse 8. When the multitude saw it, they marveled
and glorified God. who had given such power to
men. Remember that five solas of the Reformation,
that fifth sola, Soli Deo Gloria. God alone be
the glory. To God alone. This is the people marveled.
They're amazed. They're amazed at what they've
just witnessed. Now, let's be honest. They did
not yet know that Jesus was God incarnate. They
didn't figure it out yet. But they knew for certain
that God was among them and that God was the
one that had granted this miracle. That's why
they glorified him. Now, friends, what are the
takeaways for us today? First of all, the easy,
low -hanging fruit. I want you to see this every
week, every week, every Lord's Day. Matthew is
showing us, continuing to show us, Jesus is the
Christ. There should be no doubt in your minds,
friends. He's the one who can both heal you.
He's the one who can forgive you. He can do so
because he is God in flesh. He's the promised
Messiah. And to enter into his kingdom because
he was given a kingdom, that means you must trust
him and you must own him as your own king. See,
by and large, when you talk about the people
of Israel, they shut themselves out of the kingdom
of God. Why? They rejected the king. The kingdom
is about the king. You don't get the kingdom
without the king. Whoever has the king has the
kingdom. Whoever has a son has life. So that
means you receive him. If you want to receive
him, you have to own him as your own. Bow your
knee, confessing your sins, repenting of it,
and receiving him. But secondly, church, I want
you to notice this. Jesus responded not to the
paralyzed man's faith, but to the faith of his
poor friends. Do you see your role? Do you see
the importance of intercession? Do you think
your prayers don't matter? We need each other.
Friends, we're a body. We need each other's prayers.
Don't ever, ever underestimate your part or the
part of your parents. Grandparents, you may say,
my children aren't serving the Lord. I'm concerned
for my grandparents or my grandchildren. underestimate
your part here. Look, friends and loved ones,
you also are helpful in bringing people to Christ.
Christianity, folks, it's not private. It's communal.
We're an interdependent body. And lastly, this
passage shows us that Christ has the authority
to forgive sins. It's so sad that many people
go through life burdened by not feeling they
are forgiven. They doubt it. They walk under
a cloud of condemnation, not sure that God really
has forgiven them. Has he? I hope he has. I want
it to be sure, but I don't feel it. What's John
say in 1 John 1 .9? If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Believer,
friend, you may not feel forgiven. But if you
have confessed your sin, then he has promised
to forgive you, and he's promised to cleanse
you. He's not just going to wipe you down, man.
He's going to cleanse you, head to toe, from
all unrighteousness. See, it's not a feeling
of forgiveness. It really is a fact of forgiveness.
He said he would, and he will. What did he tell
the paralytic that day? Son, your sins were forgiven,
and they were. How do you know? He told the man,
get up and go home, and he got up and went home.
And he looks to the church, he looks to his bride,
he looks to you and me today, and he says, you
are forgiven if you confess your sins. Have you
confessed? Have you owned your sin? Have you
brought it to him? Why? Because he has the power
and the authority to forgive you. He has promised
to forgive you, friend. Stand on that glorious
promise today. You want more proof? Come to the
table of the Lord and hold in your hand those
precious promises. Look at the crucified body
and the shed blood of Christ and know that you
have been forgiven because of God's promises
given to us in him. It's glorious. It's far greater
than you can imagine. Let this, friend, let this
day. Be a day of worship and honor and glory
unto Christ. May your eyes be open to see him.
Do you see him? I want so bad. That's what I
pray, Lord. Let him see him. Do you see him?
Are you growing in your confidence of Jesus and
Jesus alone and Jesus only? That's my prayer
this morning. Let's pray. Father, help us, Lord.
God, save those who are lost, Lord. Save the
lost, Lord. the lost in this building, the lost
in this sanctuary. Father, who are assembled
among us, Lord, who can't worship because they're
away from Christ, but Lord God, you can reach
them.