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If you will, turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9.

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From verse 1 through verse 8 is what we're going to be reading today.

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Once again, we look at the glory of Jesus Christ in the Bible.

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As you look in this Bible passage, I want you to keep in mind that we're going to have to unravel it a bit.

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Think of it this way. Whenever you are sick, there is the presenting problem, there is the outward symptom,

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but that outward symptom may not be the real issue. You've got to go deeper than skin deep.

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Well, same is true with this passage of a man who obviously needs to be healed,

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but there's more that's going on, and at the end of it, we see the glory of our Savior.

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Let me read it for you. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.

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Some men brought to him a paralyzed man laying on a mat, and when Jesus saw their faith,

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he said to the man, Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven.

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At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, This fellow is blasphemy.

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Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

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Which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven or to say, Get up and walk.

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But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

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So he said to the paralyzed man, Get up, take your mat, and go home.

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And then the man got up and went home. And when the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe,

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and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. Let's pray.

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Our Heavenly Father, help us to see what is going on in this passage this morning.

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And we say that there is a surface issue that is an issue that needs to be addressed by our Savior,

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but there is something deeper, deeper in all of us, which also needs to be dealt with.

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So give us inquiring minds to know your word.

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But most of all, may we leave here today glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Here are prayers, our Savior, amen.

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As humans, we're pretty good at glorifying things, aren't we?

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Think about it, throughout history, we have made monuments to those who we consider heroic.

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We build arches, we build statues. If you go to Florida State University,

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I think there's a Bobby Bowden statue outside Dope Campbell Stadium.

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Same is true for University of Alabama, where you have got, do they have a Nick Savin statue now?

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Well, if not, they're going to have one. They're going to have one soon.

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We, as a species, for whatever reason, we like to glorify those, and it is especially true today with sports.

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We buy the jerseys, we go to the games, we try to dress like our favorite athletes,

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and we give an awful lot of money, not only to sports, but to entertainment in general,

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because we worship those people who have been gifted by God.

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Now, when I went to the FSU football game several years ago, here's what impressed me.

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Yes, it was the football team, that impressed me.

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But before the game started, they would have a time where they would celebrate these people who had given

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millions to the athletic department at Florida State University.

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I mean, I'm talking like 50 million a shot, and I'm thinking,

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man, what kind of job do these people have that they've got 50 million dollars just to give away to athletics?

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But it shows you what's important.

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Glorifying something.

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Entertainment. Think of the ticket costs to go to some of these concerts.

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Here's the saying, take it to heart, what you give to is often what you glorify.

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But the real glory in this world should not be solely focused on sports and entertainment.

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The real glory goes to the true and living God who does things that no athlete or no entertainer can do.

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He is the God who created this world.

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And when we look at Jesus Christ, he is the one who does miracles.

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Such things as turning the water into very good wine, healing people, casting out demons,

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and certainly by his teachings about the kingdom of God.

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And it is no wonder that the very first catechism question says,

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what is the chief end of man?

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It is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

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It is no wonder it says that because it's in the Bible.

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Go to 1 Corinthians 10 31 and the Bible is clear.

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So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

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That is why we are here.

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Today in this last sermon on glorifying Christ,

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we are tempted to ignore a very deep issue,

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which should be a base reason we glorify God.

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It is not obvious at first, but it is there.

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So let's unwind this story about the healing ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ

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and see what it tells us about glorifying our Savior.

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And let's begin with the obvious reason for glorifying Him.

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A miracle is done.

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Now the story begins with Jesus going to his base of operations

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after he was run out of Nazareth.

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He's going to Caperna.

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That is a city in the northern part of the Sea of Galilee.

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And it is also probably the home of Peter.

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And so he is going there and he runs into some townspeople

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and it tells us that they have faith.

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So much faith that they bring a paralytic to him.

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He is stretched out on a mattress which probably resembles something like a stretcher.

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And they are concerned about this man and perhaps they have heard

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what Jesus Christ could do to those who need healing.

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And I want you to think about all that this man probably had to go through.

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He can't work.

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And perhaps he's lost any sense of dignity because he's got to rely on others

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and he can't be out with the other men making a living.

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He has to rely on other people for everything

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to bring him food, water, to just move him around.

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And I wonder at times if people got frustrated

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because they always had to look after this person.

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It's like a person who's at the end of their life

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where you've got to do an awful lot for them to keep them comfortable

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and to meet their basic needs.

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And also when you think about it, this is a guy,

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if nothing is done to his body he has no future.

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This is the way it's going to be day in and day out.

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And I would have hated to have been in this man's situation where he is paralyzed.

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And Jesus though comes on to the scene, he's done this before.

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If you go back to Matthew 4, chapter 24 or verse 24,

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we see that Jesus Christ healed other people who were paralyzed.

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Man's situation is a lot like our situation today for some people.

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People can be paralyzed from birth.

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They can get in an accident where they break their neck or their back.

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There can be a sporting accident in which they can't move around anymore.

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They become physically limited and other people will have to take care of them.

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If we don't have physical ailments, we can have psychological difficulties as well,

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which can in a sense paralyze us.

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But why? Why does that happen to us?

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It's because we live in a fallen world and gravity hurts.

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It can break our body, break our bones.

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And it's been that way since Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned.

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This world changed and it is no longer a world where we can escape from pain.

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But it is also true in part that sometimes our sins pay a role in our limitations.

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So if you are a drunk driver and you get in an accident and your back is broken,

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why did that happen?

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Well, it's because of your sin that it happened.

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And there are also evil people in this world who will do evil things.

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All of those reasons come into play why people are hurt.

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But Jesus is able to deal with it.

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What we see from his ministry is that he came into this world to reverse the curse.

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Part of the reason that Jesus does this miracle is his compassion on someone who is hurting and struggling.

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We know from other passages in the Bible that Christ had great compassion on his suffering creation.

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And the reason that Jesus came into this world was to restore us, to take away our brokenness.

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There's no wonder in Matthew's Gospel, but it is also drawn from Isaiah.

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He took up our infirmities and carried away our diseases.

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And Jesus says to that man, get up and walk.

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And by the power of his word, that is exactly what happened.

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And that mission of Jesus Christ has not changed.

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He is still full of compassion for broken people.

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He is still in the business of restoration.

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He has come into this world to restore.

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And one day he's going to come again.

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And we will see the total restoration of all things.

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His mission is to restore you. That is the big picture.

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Some have said that sin was a minor detour.

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Well, I don't know if it's a minor detour, but his overall ministry is to restore Eden to us.

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We are not made for doctors. We are not made for medicine.

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We are made to live freely, and that's what Jesus Christ came to do.

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But I want you to notice what else is going on here that is not so clear.

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There is something that is not so obvious.

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Forgiveness.

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If we were there, we'd be surprised and impressed because a guy who is a paralytic walks again.

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But I want you to think a little deeper here. What else Jesus needs to fix?

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Look at what upsets the teachers of the law in verse 3.

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At this, one of the teachers of the law said to themselves,

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This fellow is blasphemy.

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Now this is a passage I'd say that's about glorifying God, but the teachers of the law,

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he's blaspheming.

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He's not promoting God. He's mocking God. He's bringing God down.

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And the Jews, of course, did not like that.

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And what is the reason they're saying that he is blaspheming?

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Because he tells this man who's a cripple,

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Take heart, your sins are forgiven.

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He did not just say get up and walk.

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Before he even says that, he tells the man your sins are forgiven.

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Why?

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Well, there's a lot of ambiguity here I'd say in this verse,

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Sometimes we think that everybody's problem,

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and this is what the Jews thought came about because of sin.

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But you can't say that in every instance, can you?

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In fact, it was one miracle of a man who was born blind

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and the disciples ask him,

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Loose sin, this man or his parents in Jesus says,

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It was neither.

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It was to show the glory of God.

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But at other times, it is clear that the reason we physically suffer is because of sin.

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And perhaps there was sin in this particular instance.

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Perhaps there was a reason that was sinful that this man is suffering.

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And all of us, well, we're sinful.

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And we all need forgiveness, whether we have a disability or not.

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And the reason they're so upset is because the forgiveness of sin

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is a prerogative of God and God alone.

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Listen to what Scripture says in Isaiah.

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I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake

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and remembers your sin no more.

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But here, what do we have Jesus doing?

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Saying someone's sins are forgiven.

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What they're saying is Jesus, you are saying you're God.

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And he is.

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He's the Son of God.

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That is the tension.

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That's what's causing the problem.

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And Jesus here in verse 5 has a point.

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Listen to what he asks them.

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Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk?

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Well, which is easier to do?

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It's to say your sins are forgiven.

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Anybody can say that.

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Get up and walk?

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That's a bit different.

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So here's what Jesus does.

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He does both.

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He performs the miracle to prove he can forgive sins and that he is God.

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That is the deeper issue.

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Notice what he says in verse 6 which proves it.

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But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

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So he said to the paralyzed man, get up and walk.

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The deeper issue for this man and for all of us is not just our physical inabilities.

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It is not just our sickness.

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The deeper issue which we need to be healed of is our sin.

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That's the deeper issue.

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And it's here that Jesus says, I forgive.

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And what else does the Bible say?

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In John chapter 14, I, it says, whoever sees me sees the Father.

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Here we see the heart of God as he forgives sins.

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What is the heart of God that we should be glorifying for?

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He forgives sins.

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He forgives all our sins when we come and confess to him.

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So that's why Jesus should ultimately be glorified.

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In this life, you may have to suffer.

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And I don't know all the reasons why we may have to go through physical disabilities.

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But I do know this.

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One day they will be taken away.

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But the deeper issue is that I am safe with God because Jesus has forgiven me.

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And there is a popular view out there that says God is parsimonious with forgiveness.

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Somehow or another, he doesn't want to forgive you.

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But he does.

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He does.

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He does.

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He does.

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And the problem is we don't want to come to him for that forgiveness.

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I have talked to people and they have come to be mad and upset.

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The reason they come to me is they know I am the representative of God.

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And they will tell me about all of the bad things that they have done.

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They will tell me that their parents made them do it.

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They will tell me God made them that way.

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They will tell me even that the devil made themselves do it.

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They will not do one thing.

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Turn to Jesus for forgiveness.

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They will not do that.

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And one day there is going to be a lot of glorification going on.

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And they are going to be glorifying people because they are thankful that Jesus forgave them.

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But there will be others who have turned away from the greatest thing of all, forgiveness of sins.

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And that is at the heart of our problem with God.

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It is not our physical situation.

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It is not our economic situation.

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It is the fact that we are alienated from God and Jesus has come to take that away.

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So that brings us to the question, then what must I do to glorify Jesus Christ who forgives?

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Some of you are doing it now. You are in church worshiping the Lord.

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And that is what Jesus Christ wants.

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He wants you to recite the creeds.

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He wants you to pray the prayers.

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He wants you to sing the hymns which glorify His name.

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That is pleasing to the Lord.

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That is what He has created us for.

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He has come to church to sing the docksop, to praise His name.

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And also keep in mind another way we glorify God is what I said a little bit early.

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You glorify what you give to.

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People will bend over backwards to give to their sports teams.

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They will bend over backwards to spend time going to their favorite recording artist.

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But what about the church of Jesus Christ?

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Is He not much more glorious than this?

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And I think part of the message that people need to hear outside of the walls of the church

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is that if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, you will want to glorify Him.

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And you will want to come and you will want to give your time, your talents to the church of God

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because that's what God wants. That is what glorification is.

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What you give to is what you glorify.

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And another way that we glorify God is by living the life of a Christian.

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As Scripture says, this is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit.

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And I would say part of the fruit that we bear is our goodness and our forgiveness.

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And we glorify God when we forgive our friends and family and church members and anyone else

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who needs forgiveness.

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There's a lot to glorify God about.

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We can certainly give Him thanks for the miracles that He has done and that He is going to do.

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But the greater glory is the glory that you and I right now can stand in the presence of God

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because our sins are forgiven. That is the deeper reason for glorifying God

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in a world that is under a curse and is full of sin.

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Let's pray.

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Our Heavenly Father, fill us with a desire to glorify you and to enjoy you forever.

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Help us, our Lord, to see that that is the purpose for which you have called us here today.

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And we ask that your Holy Spirit will draw others to glorify you because it should not be an optional behavior.

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It is what you require and you are pleased with.

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Help us to keep in mind that we have to live to please you and to bring pleasure to you.

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And often we turn it around only thinking of what brings pleasure to our hearts.

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So be with us now.

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And may we glorify you.

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Hear our prayer.

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Amen.

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Our next Tim this morning.