Before we begin, I just want to say, that a friend, a true friend, is one of the most valuable treasures in this life, because there are moments in life when having someone to talk to, listen to and be encouraged by is the only way to get through the day. We were not created to be alone but to enjoy the company and companionship of others that are dear to our heart, someone who will love us unconditionally and genuinely care like no other, who will rally around us in times of trouble, standing by our side during challenging times, to offer a helping hand, whether physical, emotional or financial, to help alleviate the weight of our burdens and and bring a sense of relief to our weary and troubled hearts. If you have been blessed enough to discover someone like that in your life, I strongly encourage you to cherish those relationships while you still have them.
In our passage today, Luke shares the account of a group of four friends, who saw the need of a man whom they called their friend who is suffering a great deal, they are not only ready and willing to help their friend, but are determined to go to any lengths to get him to Jesus, fueled by the belief and the hope that He would heal him. How far are you willing to go to assist someone in need? Frankly, it seems as though many Christians, often spend much more time condemning and finding fault with the immoral conduct of non-believers rather than focusing on guiding them towards salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. While others, appearing only to have outwardly cleaned up their life, have convinced themselves that they are righteous to roll up their sleeves and get their hands "dirty." Can you imagine the impact we would have on the world, if we as Christians, would faithfully commit ourselves to extending the same UNDESERVED love, grace and mercy we've received towards others?
Forgiveness is the greatest message that Jesus ever preached, emphasizing that regardless of your past or your present circumstances, your future can by completely transformed by the power of Jesus Christ, if you repent and ask Him to forgive all your sins. However, Jesus didn’t care about being popular with people, He wasn't willing to compromise the Truth. That's why He repeatedly warned about the terrifying expectation of judgment and the unquenchable fire which has been prepared for the enemies of God.
Therefore, it is crucial for people to have an understanding of sin and its consequences, before you preach about the forgiveness of sin. In other words, they must be made painfully aware that all men are sinners, and that God is angry with sin, realizing that their sinful condition alienates them from God, and inevitably leads them to face the wrath of God and bear the never-ending consequences for their sins in Hell. All sin offends God and is against God, that's why David said in Psalm 51, "Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your
lovingkindness; According to the abundance of Your compassion blot out
my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me
from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your
sight, so that You are justified when You speak and pure when You
judge." Nobody but God can forgive anybody an offense against God, and it is His immense love for us, that serves as the foundation of salvation, it's the very reason that Christ came to proclaim the message of forgiveness, then sacrificially die on the cross and bear the divine judgment of God, that we deserve, in order to extend the offer of forgiveness to sinners, a profound gift that forever changes your relationship with God. That is the heart of the Gospel message, however, salvation, much like any other gift, requires the recipients willingness to accept it.
Let's pray
Heavenly Father,
Today's Message: How Far Are You Willing To Go
"And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down before Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you." The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" But Jesus, knowing their reasonings, answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"—He said to the paralytic—"I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home." And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today."
Luke begins by saying "And it happened that one day He was teaching," without providing us with the specific details of time or location, not that we need to know that information, but its nice and thanks to Matthew and Mark, who both record the same incident, we're able to fill in some of the blanks and gain a more complete understanding. Matthew tells us the place in chapter 9, it happened in the city of Capernaum, early in His Galilean ministry, shortly after He returned from the region of the Gadarenes, where He encountered the two men who were possessed by demons as they were coming out of the tombs at the end of chapter 8, and at the demons request, He sent them into a herd of swine. Then, Luke tells us "and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem," who are now dogging His steps, trying to find some reason they can kill Him, because He claims to be the fulfillment of Isaiah 61, the Old Testament messianic prophecy, and you can bet the Jewish religious leaders were sitting up close, because they didn't want the law violated, but primarily because they enjoyed being in positions of prominence. In other words, they believed Jesus posed a serious threat to their damning religious system, so they were concerned with what He was saying and doing, and they were looking for a way to trap Him.
Despite their seemingly noble intentions, you will remember they replaced the commandments of God with hundreds of little man-made rules and regulation of their own creation, developed over hundreds and hundreds of years, that by the time of Christ were so demanding, they were impossible to keep. This resulted in a false religious system that is characterized by a sense of self-righteousness, spiritual pride, and moral superiority, yet lacking a genuine love and reverence for God, void of the essential attributes of God: grace, mercy, compassion and love. Mark indicates that many other people were gathered there as well, so this is pretty a large crowd. Notice Luke ends the verse with a very important statement, "and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing." Remember, He humbled Himself, taking the form of a man in His incarnation, willingly emptied Himself, setting aside the independent use of His own divine attributes, submitting to doing only the will of the Father, restricting Himself to the power of the Holy Spirit, its important to recognize that even in His human incarnation, He never ceased to be God. Which eventually lead the Pharisees to conclude that His actions were empowered by Satan, thus committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Verse 18, "And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down before Him." Scripture is unclear about the man who was paralyzed, so we can't be sure whether his paralysis was a chronic condition, the result of prolonged illness or if it was a relatively new development, all we really know about this man is that he is unable to move. And, that when his friends heard the news about the miraculous healing powers of Jesus, they wasted no time in bringing their friend to where Jesus was. We don’t know where they came from, or how far they traveled, just that they that they were determined to do whatever was necessary bring their friend to Jesus, Who was the only one who could do anything for their friend, but they couldn’t get him in front of Jesus because of the massive crowds. One might expect that any decent human being, anybody with a moral compass witnessing a paraplegic lying on a stretcher, being carried by four men, would have gladly stepped aside, allowing them to bring this handicapped man to the only one Who had the ability to heal him, but the heartless, self-seeking crowd remained unmoved.
Verse 19, "But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus." These folks are resourceful! We can imagine that these desperate men undoubtedly appealed to the crowd, begging and pleading to allow them to pass through with their friend. One thing is clear, these folks are determined, willing to do whatever it took to get him in front of Jesus. They obviously had the faith to believe Jesus could heal him, that's why they carried him up the exterior staircase to the roof and started taking the roof tiles apart, making an opening by digging through the mud and thatch, even though it meant tearing up somebody else’s house. Allow me to remind you of something, true faith is always visible, it refuses to be hidden, it is apparent to everyone, but particularly to God. If you are familiar with the challenge of speaking in public, faced with the daunting task of holding people's attention amidst a variety distractions then you certainly understand the difficulty of trying to maintain people’s attention with various interruptions going on. Let alone an attention-grabbing disturbance that is as great as this one! Can you even imagine? I believe it's safe to assume that none of us have encountered anything remotely similar to that.
Verse 20, "And seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you." Can you imagine what was going through the minds of his friends? "Uh hello Jesus, I know You're busy, but I just wanted to point out that sin isn't the issue here, you may not have noticed that when we carried him, he is unable to move, that's why we lowered him through the roof!" It's fascinating to me that even though there was no request made, without hesitation, Jesus knew exactly what was in this man's heart, He knew that even more than healing, he desperately needed forgiveness, that was his bigger problem! May I remind you that omniscience is a divine attribute possessed only by God. By the way, despite the widespread popularity of prosperity preachers, it is important to recognize that man's greatest need is not health, wealth or happiness; it's salvation and the forgiveness of sin. Jesus only forgive sins when the sinner comes recognizing their depraved sinful state, acknowledging they have absolutely nothing to offer Him but a faithful, believing, contrite heart, lamenting over their wretched sinful condition. Mark tells us that He said "Child, your sins are forgiven," I love that response! Even though Jesus is greatly offended by sin, He focuses on showing the repentant sinner love and compassion, an example that I believe we can all learn something from. So many today go about condemning others for their sin, rather than to show compassion and understanding, saying "I know you're a sinner, but don't be afraid, we've all made mistakes, let me introduce you to the One Who can help you with that."
This is a picture of salvation, this man may have come to Jesus in his paralyzed condition, but he left completely restored, a redeemed and righteousness man, his sin forgiven, justified and transformed. Isn't that the heart and soul of the Gospel, repent, and the God Whom you have sinned against will forgive your sins? Much like many in the church today, when they are confronted with the issue of sin, clinging to their self-righteousness, they quickly become irritated and defensive, and there is little doubt, that the hypocritical religious leaders were starting to feel the tremendous increasing pressure that Jesus was beginning to put on their inadequate religious system, as the news of His ability to heal continued to spread both far and wide.
Verse 21, "The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" The scribes and the Pharisees didn't say a word, at least out loud, they began to reason in their hearts, it's the Greek verb "dialogízomai," which means one
confused mind interacting with other confused minds that typically
leads to a confused conclusion. And, that's exactly what was happening here. Rather than to draw the conclusion that since only God can forgive sin; this man is obviously from God, they determine He is a blasphemer. They were exactly right, well, they were only half right, because all sin is against God, only God alone can forgive sin. That's why Jesus does both!But, instead, they drew a false conclusion which ultimately led them to have Him crucified, because they refused to acknowledge their own desperate need for forgiveness.
It's really not much today, you can preach a message on sin and forgiveness,
and because people refuse to acknowledge their sin, they won't recognize
that sin is the problem, the refuse to accept their need for forgiveness, ultimately rejecting Christ's offer for salvation. Others
want to believe that because they've prayed the prayer, they've been forgiven, giving them a
license to continue in habitual sin, a "Get out of Hell Free card. They only grasp hold of half of the message. They believe God doesn't require obedience. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus' message is clear, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." David says in Psalm 32, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man whose iniquity Yahweh will not take into account, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!"
Verse 22, "But Jesus, knowing their reasonings, answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?" Notice they offered no response to His question, it was clear Jesus possessed an unparalleled ability beyond human capability, allowing Him to expose the hearts of the religious leaders. This should also serve as a powerful reminder, that He is able to see into the depths in your heart and mine as well! It should come as no surprise that Jesus preferred the company of sinners, as opposed to the religious phonies. It was the hypocritical, self-righteous religious people who didn't think they were sinners that nauseated Him. In a 2022 survey by LifeWay Research, statistics revealed that more than half of evangelical Christians, a staggering 55 percent, agree that everyone sins a little, but by nature, most people are basically good.
In verses 23-24, He proves His ability to forgive sin and heal with a visible sign, "Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"—He said to the paralytic—"I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home." Jesus is assuming that nobody would know whether his sin were actually forgiven or not without some sort of validation, so He didn’t just treat this man's symptom, He cured his underlying cause, which is sin! In fact, it's important to understand that at the point that He forgave his sins He hadn't healed him yet. After all, you can say anything, but unless you're able to prove it, your claims are literally useless, right?
Notice Jesus deliberately chose to use the title Son of Man instead of Son of God to maintain a level of secrecy, this strategic move allowed Him to be able to peach the message of salvation, and the Kingdom, because it wasn’t necessarily a Messianic title, though it certainly carried a Messianic implication, therefore, allowing Him to fulfill His mission. If He had gone around referring to Himself as the Son of God, it would have been tied to Messianic expectation and aroused His enemies, inciting them to act even sooner. That's why He often warned people "Go and tell no one."
Then, Jesus gave the paralytic three unmistakable, very specific directives; "get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home." Is Christ truly Who He professes to be, or is He guilty of blasphemy of the worst kind.? If this man can get up, pick up his bed and go, then clearly He is God; because only God can forgive sin, man cannot! Remember, it’s not sin that sends the sinner to Hell, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; it’s unrepentant, unforgiven sin that sends them to Hell.
Verse 25, "And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God." Can you imagine the utter shock on the face of their faces when this man they witnessed being lowered through the roof of this house gets up and walks out the door? I can't speak for any of you, but I'd say that's serious confirmation in motion. This must have been quite a powerful scene, it would appear that He provided them with no escape of facing the truth, Jesus is the Messiah, yet they remained in denial, unwilling to acknowledge Him as the chosen One. Yet, in spite of the miraculous display of power, the religious leaders had nothing but contempt for Him, determining for themselves He’s a blasphemer, believing that God would never forgive the sins of this man, obviously paralyzed because of his sins, that's not how forgiveness works, it must be earned, rather than granted freely. Blinded by their self-righteousness, they went away, unforgiven sinners, while formerly paralyzed man, forgiven of his sin went home filled with praise, glorifying God. Remember, where there is no repentance, there is no salvation.
That brings us to verse 26, "And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today." We frequently see this reaction all the way through Jesus' ministry, the crowds are ecstatic, completely overcome with amazement, they are astonished and awe struck by His power, for which there's no human explanation and they too began glorifying God. Matthew adds they "glorified God, who had given such authority to men," indicating that not all the people believed Jesus was God. How can anyone witness the miracle of salvation and the incredible power of transformation and be so astonished as to glorify God and yet still come to the conclusion that Jesus is merely just a man? We can only hope that some of those individuals in that crowd that day truly began to grasp the essence of Who Christ is because of the miraculous display of power they had just seen, both physically and spiritually. At the end of the verse, Luke tells us "they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today." The word fear is the Greek noun "phóbos," commonly used in Scripture, from which we get the English word phobia, meaning fear or terrify, to frighten, like when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, and they were terrified, crying out, "It is a ghost!" But, it can also mean reverence, or respect, a healthy fear, used to describe the reaction of a person who has been confronted with divine presence and divine power of God, like when Jesus calmed the storm those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are truly God’s Son!"
Sadly, we know what the Pharisees and scribes were thinking, because they persistently continued to follow His every move, scrutinizing every word He spoke, until they finally trapped Him in what they believed was the ultimate blasphemy, "I and the Father are one," which is what lead to His crucifixion.
In this world, there are only three kinds of people, those of us who are going home glorifying God because we've been forgiven, those who are curious, but remain indifferent to Christ, they are kind of amazed not necessarily believing that He is God. And then unfortunately, there are those who reject the Truth, therefore, rejecting God, rejecting Christ, while actively doing everything within their power to suppress the Gospel, silence the message of the Gospel and the fact that Jesus is God.
Which one are you? I trust that you will join me in praising and glorifying God, because all of your sin have been forgiven. Are you ready and willing to go to great measures to get your friends to Jesus, especially those who may not know how much they desperately need Him?
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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