If you will, turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9.
From verse 1 through verse 8 is what we're going to be reading today.
Once again, we look at the glory of Jesus Christ in the Bible.
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.
Think of it this way. Whenever you are sick, there is the presenting problem, there is the outward symptom,
but that outward symptom may not be the real issue. You've got to go deeper than skin deep.
Well, same is true with this passage of a man who obviously needs to be healed,
but there's more that's going on, and at the end of it, we see the glory of our Savior.
Let me read it for you. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.
Some men brought to him a paralyzed man laying on a mat, and when Jesus saw their faith,
he said to the man, Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven.
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, This fellow is blasphemy.
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
Which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven or to say, Get up and walk.
But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
So he said to the paralyzed man, Get up, take your mat, and go home.
And then the man got up and went home. And when the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe,
and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, help us to see what is going on in this passage this morning.
And we say that there is a surface issue that is an issue that needs to be addressed by our Savior,
but there is something deeper, deeper in all of us, which also needs to be dealt with.
So give us inquiring minds to know your word.
But most of all, may we leave here today glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here are prayers, our Savior, amen.
As humans, we're pretty good at glorifying things, aren't we?
Think about it, throughout history, we have made monuments to those who we consider heroic.
We build arches, we build statues. If you go to Florida State University,
I think there's a Bobby Bowden statue outside Dope Campbell Stadium.
Same is true for University of Alabama, where you have got, do they have a Nick Savin statue now?
Well, if not, they're going to have one. They're going to have one soon.
We, as a species, for whatever reason, we like to glorify those, and it is especially true today with sports.
We buy the jerseys, we go to the games, we try to dress like our favorite athletes,
and we give an awful lot of money, not only to sports, but to entertainment in general,
because we worship those people who have been gifted by God.
Now, when I went to the FSU football game several years ago, here's what impressed me.
Yes, it was the football team, that impressed me.
But before the game started, they would have a time where they would celebrate these people who had given
millions to the athletic department at Florida State University.
I mean, I'm talking like 50 million a shot, and I'm thinking,
man, what kind of job do these people have that they've got 50 million dollars just to give away to athletics?
But it shows you what's important.
Glorifying something.
Entertainment. Think of the ticket costs to go to some of these concerts.
Here's the saying, take it to heart, what you give to is often what you glorify.
But the real glory in this world should not be solely focused on sports and entertainment.
The real glory goes to the true and living God who does things that no athlete or no entertainer can do.
He is the God who created this world.
And when we look at Jesus Christ, he is the one who does miracles.
Such things as turning the water into very good wine, healing people, casting out demons,
and certainly by his teachings about the kingdom of God.
And it is no wonder that the very first catechism question says,
what is the chief end of man?
It is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
It is no wonder it says that because it's in the Bible.
Go to 1 Corinthians 10 31 and the Bible is clear.
So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
That is why we are here.
Today in this last sermon on glorifying Christ,
we are tempted to ignore a very deep issue,
which should be a base reason we glorify God.
It is not obvious at first, but it is there.
So let's unwind this story about the healing ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ
and see what it tells us about glorifying our Savior.
And let's begin with the obvious reason for glorifying Him.
A miracle is done.
Now the story begins with Jesus going to his base of operations
after he was run out of Nazareth.
He's going to Caperna.
That is a city in the northern part of the Sea of Galilee.
And it is also probably the home of Peter.
And so he is going there and he runs into some townspeople
and it tells us that they have faith.
So much faith that they bring a paralytic to him.
He is stretched out on a mattress which probably resembles something like a stretcher.
And they are concerned about this man and perhaps they have heard
what Jesus Christ could do to those who need healing.
And I want you to think about all that this man probably had to go through.
He can't work.
And perhaps he's lost any sense of dignity because he's got to rely on others
and he can't be out with the other men making a living.
He has to rely on other people for everything
to bring him food, water, to just move him around.
And I wonder at times if people got frustrated
because they always had to look after this person.
It's like a person who's at the end of their life
where you've got to do an awful lot for them to keep them comfortable
and to meet their basic needs.
And also when you think about it, this is a guy,
if nothing is done to his body he has no future.
This is the way it's going to be day in and day out.
And I would have hated to have been in this man's situation where he is paralyzed.
And Jesus though comes on to the scene, he's done this before.
If you go back to Matthew 4, chapter 24 or verse 24,
we see that Jesus Christ healed other people who were paralyzed.
Man's situation is a lot like our situation today for some people.
People can be paralyzed from birth.
They can get in an accident where they break their neck or their back.
There can be a sporting accident in which they can't move around anymore.
They become physically limited and other people will have to take care of them.
If we don't have physical ailments, we can have psychological difficulties as well,
which can in a sense paralyze us.
But why? Why does that happen to us?
It's because we live in a fallen world and gravity hurts.
It can break our body, break our bones.
And it's been that way since Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned.
This world changed and it is no longer a world where we can escape from pain.
But it is also true in part that sometimes our sins pay a role in our limitations.
So if you are a drunk driver and you get in an accident and your back is broken,
why did that happen?
Well, it's because of your sin that it happened.
And there are also evil people in this world who will do evil things.
All of those reasons come into play why people are hurt.
But Jesus is able to deal with it.
What we see from his ministry is that he came into this world to reverse the curse.
Part of the reason that Jesus does this miracle is his compassion on someone who is hurting and struggling.
We know from other passages in the Bible that Christ had great compassion on his suffering creation.
And the reason that Jesus came into this world was to restore us, to take away our brokenness.
There's no wonder in Matthew's Gospel, but it is also drawn from Isaiah.
He took up our infirmities and carried away our diseases.
And Jesus says to that man, get up and walk.
And by the power of his word, that is exactly what happened.
And that mission of Jesus Christ has not changed.
He is still full of compassion for broken people.
He is still in the business of restoration.
He has come into this world to restore.
And one day he's going to come again.
And we will see the total restoration of all things.
His mission is to restore you. That is the big picture.
Some have said that sin was a minor detour.
Well, I don't know if it's a minor detour, but his overall ministry is to restore Eden to us.
We are not made for doctors. We are not made for medicine.
We are made to live freely, and that's what Jesus Christ came to do.
But I want you to notice what else is going on here that is not so clear.
There is something that is not so obvious.
Forgiveness.
If we were there, we'd be surprised and impressed because a guy who is a paralytic walks again.
But I want you to think a little deeper here. What else Jesus needs to fix?
Look at what upsets the teachers of the law in verse 3.
At this, one of the teachers of the law said to themselves,
This fellow is blasphemy.
Now this is a passage I'd say that's about glorifying God, but the teachers of the law,
he's blaspheming.
He's not promoting God. He's mocking God. He's bringing God down.
And the Jews, of course, did not like that.
And what is the reason they're saying that he is blaspheming?
Because he tells this man who's a cripple,
Take heart, your sins are forgiven.
He did not just say get up and walk.
Before he even says that, he tells the man your sins are forgiven.
Why?
Well, there's a lot of ambiguity here I'd say in this verse,
Sometimes we think that everybody's problem,
and this is what the Jews thought came about because of sin.
But you can't say that in every instance, can you?
In fact, it was one miracle of a man who was born blind
and the disciples ask him,
Loose sin, this man or his parents in Jesus says,
It was neither.
It was to show the glory of God.
But at other times, it is clear that the reason we physically suffer is because of sin.
And perhaps there was sin in this particular instance.
Perhaps there was a reason that was sinful that this man is suffering.
And all of us, well, we're sinful.
And we all need forgiveness, whether we have a disability or not.
And the reason they're so upset is because the forgiveness of sin
is a prerogative of God and God alone.
Listen to what Scripture says in Isaiah.
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake
and remembers your sin no more.
But here, what do we have Jesus doing?
Saying someone's sins are forgiven.
What they're saying is Jesus, you are saying you're God.
And he is.
He's the Son of God.
That is the tension.
That's what's causing the problem.
And Jesus here in verse 5 has a point.
Listen to what he asks them.
Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk?
Well, which is easier to do?
It's to say your sins are forgiven.
Anybody can say that.
Get up and walk?
That's a bit different.
So here's what Jesus does.
He does both.
He performs the miracle to prove he can forgive sins and that he is God.
That is the deeper issue.
Notice what he says in verse 6 which proves it.
But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
So he said to the paralyzed man, get up and walk.
The deeper issue for this man and for all of us is not just our physical inabilities.
It is not just our sickness.
The deeper issue which we need to be healed of is our sin.
That's the deeper issue.
And it's here that Jesus says, I forgive.
And what else does the Bible say?
In John chapter 14, I, it says, whoever sees me sees the Father.
Here we see the heart of God as he forgives sins.
What is the heart of God that we should be glorifying for?
He forgives sins.
He forgives all our sins when we come and confess to him.
So that's why Jesus should ultimately be glorified.
In this life, you may have to suffer.
And I don't know all the reasons why we may have to go through physical disabilities.
But I do know this.
One day they will be taken away.
But the deeper issue is that I am safe with God because Jesus has forgiven me.
And there is a popular view out there that says God is parsimonious with forgiveness.
Somehow or another, he doesn't want to forgive you.
But he does.
He does.
And the problem is we don't want to come to him for that forgiveness.
I have talked to people and they have come to be mad and upset.
The reason they come to me is they know I am the representative of God.
And they will tell me about all of the bad things that they have done.
They will tell me that their parents made them do it.
They will tell me God made them that way.
They will tell me even that the devil made themselves do it.
They will not do one thing.
Turn to Jesus for forgiveness.
They will not do that.
And one day there is going to be a lot of glorification going on.
And they are going to be glorifying people because they are thankful that Jesus forgave them.
But there will be others who have turned away from the greatest thing of all, forgiveness of sins.
And that is at the heart of our problem with God.
It is not our physical situation.
It is not our economic situation.
It is the fact that we are alienated from God and Jesus has come to take that away.
So that brings us to the question, then what must I do to glorify Jesus Christ who forgives?
Some of you are doing it now. You are in church worshiping the Lord.
And that is what Jesus Christ wants.
He wants you to recite the creeds.
He wants you to pray the prayers.
He wants you to sing the hymns which glorify His name.
That is pleasing to the Lord.
That is what He has created us for.
He has come to church to sing the docksop, to praise His name.
And also keep in mind another way we glorify God is what I said a little bit early.
You glorify what you give to.
People will bend over backwards to give to their sports teams.
They will bend over backwards to spend time going to their favorite recording artist.
But what about the church of Jesus Christ?
Is He not much more glorious than this?
And I think part of the message that people need to hear outside of the walls of the church
is that if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, you will want to glorify Him.
And you will want to come and you will want to give your time, your talents to the church of God
because that's what God wants. That is what glorification is.
What you give to is what you glorify.
And another way that we glorify God is by living the life of a Christian.
As Scripture says, this is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit.
And I would say part of the fruit that we bear is our goodness and our forgiveness.
And we glorify God when we forgive our friends and family and church members and anyone else
who needs forgiveness.
There's a lot to glorify God about.
We can certainly give Him thanks for the miracles that He has done and that He is going to do.
But the greater glory is the glory that you and I right now can stand in the presence of God
because our sins are forgiven. That is the deeper reason for glorifying God
in a world that is under a curse and is full of sin.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, fill us with a desire to glorify you and to enjoy you forever.
Help us, our Lord, to see that that is the purpose for which you have called us here today.
And we ask that your Holy Spirit will draw others to glorify you because it should not be an optional behavior.
It is what you require and you are pleased with.
Help us to keep in mind that we have to live to please you and to bring pleasure to you.
And often we turn it around only thinking of what brings pleasure to our hearts.
So be with us now.
And may we glorify you.
Hear our prayer.
Amen.
Our next Tim this morning.