Authority To Forgive
Luke 5:17-26
February 18, 2018
OK, by now you know what’s going on here in Luke’s gospel.
• Luke introduced Jesus to us
• Luke showed us the type of people Jesus came to save
• Luke showed us how Jesus has been traveling around offering that salvation.
I really think the central passage of Luke’s gospel thus far
Is when Jesus returned home to Nazareth.
Matthew and Mark both record the event
Matthew and Mark both record His rejection there
But only Luke records the powerful sermon Jesus preached.
Luke 4:17-21 “And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
I really think that passage is the central theme to the message Luke is preaching to us about Jesus.
Jesus claimed to be the One whom God sent to:
• Give grace to spiritual beggars who had nothing to offer God.
• Give forgiveness to sinful criminals who awaited punishment.
• Give sight to spiritually blind men who had no knowledge of God.
• Give relief to spiritually burdened men who had labored to try and please God.
• Give salvation to sinners and grant them access into God’s kingdom
And of course Luke also recorded how Jesus began to quickly validate that claim.
• We saw the demon cast out
• We saw Peter’s mother-in-law healed of her fever
• We saw all the sick in Capernaum healed
• We saw Peter’s great catch of fish
• We saw the leper cleansed
Luke is making it obvious that Jesus can do what He said.
However LAST WEEK WE REALIZED that
Luke was starting to prepare us for ANOTHER ARGUMENT.
At first people just thought Jesus was crazy for making such claims.
Once they saw His power, they realized that His authority was not joke.
HE REALLY DOES HAVE POWER.
But we also noted that the next question is going to be:
Sure He has power, but where did He get it from?
And you have read enough of the gospels to know that
They are going to attribute His power to the devil and seek to discredit Him that way.
Luke has already begun to challenge that faulty notion
By revealing that Jesus routinely returns to God in prayer,
Even if He has to leave the crowd to do it.
Jesus seeks the Father; that is where His authority comes from.
It is just as Jesus quoted when in Nazareth,
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me…He anointed Me to preach…
He sent Me to proclaim”
Jesus has authority and this authority came from God.
And we saw that last time.
But that is the next battle He is going to fight.
They are about to start challenging Jesus commitment to the Father in order to try and discredit His ministry.
The marvelous thing is that Jesus foils them at every turn.
Not just because He is smarter than them.
But because He really did come from the Father.
5 points
#1 THE SCENE
Luke 5:17
Now pay special attention here to this verse because Luke is giving you information that no one else gave, and he is doing so for a purpose.
First we have Jesus in the ministry.
“One day He was teaching”
This ISN’T NEW information, nor is it exclusive to Luke.
Mark’s gospel also reveals what Jesus is doing here.
• He came to teach.
• He came to preach the gospel.
• He came to offer access into the kingdom.
• That’s what He always does.
• This day was no different.
EXCEPT: on this day He got a new crowd.
(And only Luke reveals this)
“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;”
Certainly the other gospel writers tell us that
There were some scribes there who would later question Jesus,
But no one told us they had shown up to this extent.
This wasn’t some coincidental congregation.
• This was pre-meditated.
• It’s obvious that word about Him has gotten out.
As I told you, by this point He’s already been to Jerusalem and back.
He’s already cleared the temple once.
And now He’s causing quite a commotion throughout Galilee
And the Pharisees and lawyers have decided
To pay a little closer attention to this traveling teacher.
This isn’t a normal crowd, they’re scouting Him out.
And then Luke reveals one more piece of information.
“and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.”
NOW DON’T MISUNDERSTAND LUKE HERE.
He is NOT insinuating that Jesus’ power was only available intermittently.
There is no time in Scripture recorded where Jesus wanted to work a miracle, or heal someone and had to say, “Sorry, there’s no power available today.”
Luke is NOT insinuating that sometimes He had it and sometimes He didn’t.
Luke is merely setting the scene of what’s about go down here
By reminding you that all of these religious big-wigs had showed up
And don’t forget, Jesus has the power to work miracles.
Luke’s intent is that you will evaluate the scene.
• On one hand Jesus is teaching the crowd like He always did.
• But in walks a large group of skeptics here to evaluate and challenge Him, mostly looking for dirt on Him.
• And then we have Jesus who has proven by now that He has the power to back up everything He says.
Can you see that the stage is set for an explosion?
If you have any ability to read a room at all you should be able to see that
THIS SCENE COULD GET VERY INTERESTING VERY QUICKLY.
I show you that because I simply want you to know that
The miracle coming is not Luke’s only purpose in writing.
Certainly he wants you to see that, but it is also clear that he is very interested in making sure you understand the battle that is underway.
This isn’t just Jesus vs Sin
This is also shaping up to be Jesus vs The Religious Establishment
The Scene
#2 THE SPARK
Luke 5:18-19
Well we already saw that the room was rather tense.
PEOPLE HAD TO KNOW what was going down there.
I mean if a group of seminary professors or an anti-religious group showed up in mass form this morning and sat down in church you’d all be curious what was going on.
What is more, you’d also be wondering how I would handle it.
That’s got to be running through the mind of the crowd here as well.
• Will Jesus do anything brass with all of these guys watching?
• Will He make any of those outlandish claims with these guys here?
• Will He try and work some miracle with a Pharisee right in front of Him?
It was a room tense and ready to blow, all it needed was a spark.
And boy was one provided.
(18-19) “And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of 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.”
Well, it was bound to happen.
• Jesus is in town and everyone knows the word has spread.
• No doubt this paralytic heard about it, or perhaps one of his friends heard about it, but one thing is certain, the plan was to get this man to Jesus.
In many ways, this is no different than what has happened for many years in America when a prominent faith-healer comes to town.
• People with illnesses and infirmities go to see them.
• People who have loved ones with illnesses and infirmities take them to see
them.
• Sometimes even people who are skeptical still go because the hope of being
healed is a massive urge.
This man is just fortunate to have 4 friends
Who cared about him enough to take him.
And the goal was just to go and set this man down in front of Jesus.
BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM.
They were “not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd”
• There they are again, that selfish group of people that we most recently saw driving Jesus into the sea because they were all jockeying for position.
And here they are at it again, unwilling to yield or move
To let an obvious afflicted man get through.
It’s probably important to note at this time as well, that while we are sure that this paralytic wasn’t the only sick man in the crowd, we do know there was a rather large group of spiritual leaders there who weren’t willing to let this man through either.
But this man did not have any ordinary friends.
“they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, in the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.”
That’s what you call making an entrance.
I certainly sense a little “Red Neck” gitt-er-done,
In your face, brashness here.
But can you imagine what it must have been like to all of a sudden have someone poke a hole in the roof and start tearing away the sod?
• You know people were at first startled,
• And then probably a little irritated as the dirt fell on them.
• I know the deacon in that room that was running the sound was mad because all he was thinking about was having to fix that roof.
And then to have that paralytic lowered down
As Luke says, “in the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.”
That’s what you call a show-stopper.
And there’s your spark.
If there was any hope of just preaching a nice little message without offending that group of Pharisees all of that is now out the window.
That’s just not going to happen now.
You realize that Jesus now has to deal with this issue.
This isn’t like many of those modern day faith-healers who do a good job of catching the wheel chairs at the door and ushering them into the private room where they watch the whole thing on a TV screen.
Well, someone just dropped a paralytic right on stage.
Jesus has to deal with him.
And He has to deal with him with the Pharisees watching.
SO WHAT ARE HIS OPTIONS?
Well, He can just heal the man and put His power on display.
But that’s not the move He’s after
Because physical healing is not the goal.
His miracles of healing are strictly for reinforcing His message,
But His message isn’t finished yet, it has been interrupted in the middle.
To heal this man now is just going to start the healing frenzy
Before the message is finished.
The other option is to not heal the man and just move him out of the way,
But that is just going to play right into the hands of the Pharisees
Who are there to discredit Him.
This is an interesting situation.
Rest assured there are some people over in the corner looking at Jesus and then looking at the Pharisees who are a little curious how this whole thing is going to play out.
The Scene, The Spark
#3 THE STATEMENT
Luke 5:20
This is remarkable on a number of levels.
First, I think we have to ask the obvious.
WHY DID JESUS START WITH FORGIVENESS?
The obvious issue at hand is that this man’s paralysis, not his sin.
Now, I’m well-aware of the stigma of the day which assumed all sickness to be the result of a person’s sin, so certainly there were people in that room who thought he was a paralytic because he was a sinner.
SO IT’S NOT LIKE FORGIVENESS IS TOTALLY FOREIGN.
It’s just that when a paralytic gets lowered through the ceiling
I think the request is obvious.
He wants to be healed.
(Luke already reminded us that the power for healing was there)
BUT JESUS GIVES FORGIVENESS.
WHY?
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT JESUS CAME TO DO.
We know what Jesus has been preaching,
Luke has made sure we are aware of the gospel He is preaching.
Jesus has been talking about giving freedom to captives
And when this man comes down through the roof,
Jesus sees the opportunity for the ultimate illustration.
He forgives this man.
AND THAT PERFECTLY HANDLES THE CROWD AS WELL.
• Now if anyone wants to rush Jesus for their own benefit, they also have to
acknowledge their sin
• Because presently Jesus isn’t handing out healing, He’s handing out
forgiveness.
It also reveals the priority of Jesus
To recognize and treat the most urgent needs first.
If you set up a triage center after an earthquake and they bring a man to you who is bleeding extensively, you don’t first go to work on his in grown toe nail.
He won’t die from the toe nail, he will die from the bleeding.
Well Jesus understands that too.
If it seems bizarre to us that
He would skip the paralysis and start with the forgiveness
It is only because we don’t have a correct understanding
Of what the real problem of humanity is.
Paralytics can go to heaven, unforgiven sinners can’t.
It may look like his real problem is paralysis, but it only looks that way.
This man’s real problem is that he has offended the God of the universe
And he stands condemned facing eternal torment.
Paralysis is nothing compared to hell.
Jesus fixes the right problem first.
In fact, this man’s sin problem is so much more severe than his paralysis problem that Jesus isn’t even urgent to fix that one.
But beyond that, don’t miss the remarkable reality here.
JESUS JUST FORGAVE THIS MAN OF ALL HIS SINS
How could Jesus do that?
Jesus just agreed to pay for them Himself.
You should all know that forgiveness is never free.
If you forgive someone then you agree to basically eat the debt they owe you.
You agree to pay the cost yourself.
That’s what makes forgiveness so difficult.
But Jesus didn’t just forgive this man for tearing a hole in the roof,
He forgave this man for a lifetime of offending God.
For that to occur God would have to appeased.
Jesus was agreeing to be that man’s appeasement.
Remember when Paul wrote that letter to Philemon about forgiving Onesimus?
He wrote:
Philemon 17-19 “If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I will repay it…”
That is the cost of forgiveness and that is the offer of Jesus.
Jesus just worked the most amazing miracle any person ever received.
He agreed to satisfy this man’s debt before God.
And so, just for a moment stop and contemplate that.
• Not only is forgiveness your biggest need,
• But it is also a need that is only satisfied in Jesus.
Don’t miss that.
The Scene, The Spark, The Statement
#4 THE SCORN
Luke 5:21
WELL, THERE IT IS.
These religious leaders came in to this room with one agenda; they were looking for dirt on this traveling teacher.
• They’d heard all about Him.
• They’d even seen some of what He had done.
• What they needed was some video footage on YouTube that could be used to discredit His ministry.
They needed something that was so awful and so unbiblical
That the world would know that this man could not possibly be from God.
That’s all they were out to prove, and here they think they have it.
When Jesus says this man is forgiven,
They all start making eye contact with each other.
Some even leaned over to one another and “began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
Incidentally, that’s not a new response.
• This is not the first time the crowd has thought His message was absurd.
• This is not the first time the crowd has responded by saying, “Who does He think He is?”
And again I remind you that you cannot simply call Jesus
A “good man” or a “moral teacher”.
If this guy isn’t God then He is a lunatic.
If He isn’t God then He is absolutely a blasphemer.
And what you need to know about these Pharisees
Is that their theology was spot on.
“Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” – absolutely no one.
Their theology was right.
It was their discernment that was lacking.
Only God can forgive sins,
What they couldn’t see was that God was standing right in front of them.
But because He has made such an outlandish claim,
They think they have Him dead to rights.
They are about to take this little statement
And use it to undermine His entire ministry…so they think.
#5 THE SIGN
Luke 5:21-26
Now notice that THESE MEN DID NOT CONFRONT Jesus.
• None of those Pharisees raised their hand and said, “You sir are out of order!”
• None of those Pharisees ripped their garments or made a spectacle.
They weren’t looking for a debate,
They were just looking for dirt and now they had it.
Their problem was that Jesus WAS looking for a debate.
“But Jesus, aware of 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’?”
They didn’t have to confront Jesus in verbal debate,
He could read their minds.
He knew what they were thinking and He brought the battle to them.
And after exposing their skepticism
He then asks them a very easy question to answer.
“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?”
Now, don’t misread the question.
HE DID NOT ASK:
Which is easier to forgive this man or to heal him?
Because I can tell you that healing this man is much easier than forgiving Him.
• Even to our day there are many forms of paralysis that are beyond the human ability to heal,
• But I promise you that humanity would come much closer to healing every single paralytic than they ever will absolving their sin debt before God.
• You might pull off healing this man, but none of us can forgive Him.
JESUS DIDN’T ASK IF FORGIVENESS OR HEALING WAS EASIER.
Jesus asked, which is easier “to say”?
And that is an easy question to answer.
• Anyone can say you’re forgiven.
• Anyone can say God is no longer angry at you.
• Anyone can say you are going to heaven when you die.
We’ve got false prophets all over the world
Who say that kind of stuff all the time.
And anyone can say it because it’s absolutely unverifiable.
It’s not like you can go have a cat scan done
And see if there is still wrath aimed at you.
Saying that is easy.
If this paralytic is forgiven, no one can tell it.
• That was actually the point of the Pharisees.
• Jesus told the man he was forgiven and the Pharisees scoffed as if to say, “Yeah right! Only God can do that.”
But saying to this man “Get up and walk”,
Now that’s a whole different story.
Jesus is here using His miracles as He always used His miracles.
To verify His preaching.
He wasn’t healing this man because
He wanted to rid the world of paralysis.
He was healing this man because
He wanted to prove He could forgive sin.
(24-25) “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 pick up your stretcher and go home.” Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.”
That is remarkable!
Jesus didn’t lay a finger on that man.
He didn’t pop his back…
He didn’t push on a pressure point…
He didn’t even prop him up…
He just told him to get up and walk and the man did!
And I love that the man didn’t even hang around,
He just cut through the crowd and went home.
If you think the tension in the room was intense before,
I’m telling you this whole place is crawling now.
(26) “They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
FIRST “they were all struck with astonishment”
“astonishment” translates EKSTASIS
It is a transcendent, out of reality experience.
The first thing that happened is
They realized they weren’t in Kansas anymore.
This is not normal.
AND THEN it says they “began glorifying God”
Because they realized that
This Jesus standing in front of them was no ordinary man.
If only God could forgive sins…
And Jesus just forgave this man…
Then God must me be standing right here in front of us.
AND THEN it says “they were filled with fear”
“fear” there translates PHOBOS, it’s where we get our word for phobia.
THEY ARE TERRIFIED.
Why?
Listen to what they say, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
And they aren’t just talking about the miracle.
These people are struck with fear because they’ve just seen God.
Remember when Peter saw God?
Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
That is this crowd.
And at this point the Pharisees have been silenced.
Now that silence is short-lived, they are about to come after Jesus with everything they have, but they certainly lost the battle on this day.
BUT THE MAIN POINT HAS BEEN MADE.
• This Jesus is God in human flesh.
• He has been commissioned by God Himself to come offer grace to beggars
and forgiveness to captives, to open blind eyes, and give relief to the
burdened.
• And what He says He can do. He can do.
• Including forgive you of your sin.
If you don’t understand the value of forgiveness (most of our world doesn’t)
Then let me explain it to you.
The reason our world doesn’t understand the value of forgiveness
Is because they don’t understand the consequence of sin.
But God has a lot to say in His word about what will happen to sinners.
Called “the wicked” throughout the Bible.
Psalms 1:4-6 “The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”
Psalms 11:5-7 “The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.”
Psalms 75:8 “For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine foams; It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.”
Psalms 145:20 “The LORD keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.”
Psalms 146:9 “The LORD protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked.”
Psalms 147:6 “The LORD supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground.”
And look, we could go on and on and on.
God will destroy the wicked.
And here’s the reality – YOU AND I ARE WICKED
• We have offended God.
• We have broken His commands.
• We have done what He said we should not do, and we have failed to do what He said we must do.
Romans 3:10-12 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
The greatest need of every single human is that of forgiveness.
• It’s not some ailment you have…
• It’s not some financial problem…
• It’s not some social dilemma…
• It’s not some deadline…
• IT’S THE FACT THAT OUR SIN HAS LANDED US UNDER THE TERRIBLE WRATH OF GOD.
But here is the good news that Luke is trying to pound in to our brains.
JESUS CAN PROVIDE THAT FORGIVENESS
We’ve looked at this verse a lot recently on Sunday nights, but what a glorious reality.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
And that is the very basis for forgiveness
For every person that has ever been forgiven.
In our story this morning.
BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS PROMISED THIS MAN
• Even though Jesus was perfectly righteous, God treated him as though He had
lived that paralytic’s life.
• God poured out the full fury of hell upon Jesus.
• And then God treated that paralytic like He had lived Jesus’ life.
That was the transaction Jesus worked on this man.
And that is the transaction Jesus works
On behalf of all of those who come to Him in faith.
That is why Paul said this:
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
That is my plea this morning too.
I also beg you to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
• Leave your sin, leave your pride, leave your notion of “goodness”
• Own what you are, own what you have done
• Understand how you have offended God and see His fury.
• And run to Jesus that He might forgive you and reconcile you to God.
