Jesus vs. Sin (Matthew 9:1-8)
Jesus vs. Sin
Matthew 9:1-8
You are aware of the point in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus is Messiah
And you are aware of Matthew is currently doing.
Matthew is revealing the power of Jesus.
• Power over sickness
• Power over fallen creation
• Power over Satan’s army
And the reason is because Matthew wants you to see a greater picture.
All of these things Jesus has defeated share one thing in common.
THE ARE ALL THE EFFECTS OF SIN
• Without sin there would be no sickness.
• Without sin there would be no unruly creation.
• Without sin there would be no demons.
(it was sin that caused Satan to fall)
And so Matthew is doing a very thorough job of detailing Jesus’ power,
And he is pointed about it.
Showing us that Jesus is the only One
Who can deal with a problem as big as sin.
And this morning Matthew gets straight to the point.
We see the miracle of Jesus healing the paralytic.
BUT PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT THE MAIN PURPOSE.
Jesus didn’t come to defeat sickness
Jesus came to defeat sin.
Defeating sickness was how He proved He could defeat sin.
Beyond that, Jesus wasn’t even looking to heal on this day.
Luke records, “The power of God was present to perform healing.”
But both Mark & Luke reveal it was a preaching service.
Mark 2:2 “And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.”
His miracles were for the present, His teaching is for eternity.
He was preaching to save sinners.
Jesus is now doing what He came to do. “SAVE SINNERS”
HE WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL!
This story is famous for Jesus healing a paralytic,
But that is not what this story is about.
THIS STORY IS ABOUT JESUS POWER TO FORGIVE SIN.
Forgiveness is indeed a hot commodity.
Anyone who understands God’s assessment of humanity
Understands the need for forgiveness.
Romans 3:10-18 “ 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.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
When looked on in that light,
Our need for healing doesn’t compare to our need for forgiveness.
No one will spend eternity in hell because they are sick.
They will spend eternity in hell because of sin.
There is nothing more needed in our lives than forgiveness.
But it’s not just those who know the truth who understand this.
Woody Allen, the adamant atheist was once asked,
“If there is a God, what would you most like to hear Him say?”
To which Allen responded, “You are forgiven”.
Even the wicked who claim God is a myth
Understand the need for humanity to be forgiven.
WHY DO THEY FEEL THAT WAY?
Because something inside them tells them they are in trouble.
Listen to what Paul said to the Romans.
Romans 2:14-15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”
Paul is talking about the conscience.
Every man has one
Every man has violated it
GUILT IS THE RESULT
And so even those without God’s Law know they need forgiveness.
In short, forgiveness is a universal need.
• And while we need a cure for cancer…
• And while we need a cure for AIDS…
• And while we need to make the world safer…
• And while we need to strengthen the economy…
All of those needs are dwarfed by our need for forgiveness.
This morning, we study the One who has the power to offer forgiveness.
As we look at this story, we will see four things
that will teach us both the author and power of forgiveness.
#1 THE PLEA FOR FORGIVENESS
Matthew 9:1-2a
“Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city and they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.”
MATTHEW LEAVES PART OF THE STORY OUT.
Mark 2:1-4 “When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.”
One of the things that is becoming increasingly obvious
Is that we are dealing with needy people.
It was a crowd that pushed Him across the sea of Galilee earlier,
And as soon as He returns so does the crowd.
But that wasn’t all that came.
Luke 5:17 “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.”
The religious big-wigs didn’t like all the attention He was getting
So they come to scout Him out.
And what we have here is a mass preaching service.
• Some want to condemn Him
• Some want to obey Him
• And everyone has all eyes on Him.
And that is when we get this paralyzed man showing up.
Now, I said this point was, “A Plea for forgiveness”.
Some would say, “That’s not why they came”
But you must understand the mindset of the day.
Even as far back as Job, it is obvious that
People equated suffering with sinfulness.
In short, they didn’t believe that the righteous could suffer.
In fact, one of the purposes behind the book of Job
Is to show that the righteous can indeed suffer.
You remember the grief Job’s friends gave him.
Eliphaz told Job
Job 4:7-8 “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? “According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it.”
Later he says:
Job 5:17-18 “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.”
It is obvious that Eliphaz thought that pain and wounds
Were a direct punishment for a person’s sin.
They did not comprehend that the righteous could suffer.
This mindset had carried into the New Testament.
John 9:1-2 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”
Later, Jesus heals the blind man, and the Pharisees get angry,
because he won’t lie about Jesus. So they say:
John 9:34 “They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”
During Jesus day, it was common thought,
that if you had a sickness or a disease, you had a double problem.
SICKNESS & SIN
THIS MAN MAY HAVE BEEN LOOKING TO BE HEALED.
BUT EVERYONE KNEW,
THAT COULD ONLY HAPPEN WITH FORGIVENESS.
These men were crying out to Jesus for forgiveness and healing.
We look at their plea for forgiveness,
Such great faith that they cut a hole in the roof.
With that being said, let me remind you how forgiveness works.
1) Someone has to pay the price for the forgiveness.
FORGIVENESS IS NEVER FREE,
IT ALWAYS COSTS SOMEBODY SOMETHING.
If you aren’t forgiven, then you will pay the price yourself.
If you are forgiven, then the offended is paying the price.
(If someone breaks your window. ONE OF YOU WILL PAY FOR IT.)
Someone always must pay for forgiveness, it isn’t free.
Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’”
Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Matthew 26:28 “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
YOU UNDERSTAND, FORGIVENESS ALWAYS COMES WITH A PRICE,
AND SOMEONE MUST PAY IT.
John MacArthur wrote,
“When Jesus spoke those words to the paralytic, He must have tasted the bitterness and agony of Calvary, knowing that the words could be effective only because He would take the man’s sins upon Himself. Every time He forgave sin He knew and anticipated the cost.”
(MacArthur, John: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 8-15; Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1987, pg. 52)
The first requirement of forgiveness
Is finding someone to pay the price
2) The sinner must come to the offended in repentance and faith
If someone throws a ball through your window, and they come to you and say,
“I’m not sorry, you had that coming.”
Would you be inclined to forgive them? NO.
THE REASON IS BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.
Well we know that Jesus is fully ready to forgive our sin,
But you must seek Him in true repentance, and faith.
Mark 1:4 “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 10:43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Forgiveness has requirements.
Those requirements are met here in the story of the paralytic.
They found the one who would pay the price.
They approached him in humility and faith.
Our plea for forgiveness is the same.
#2 THE PRESENTATION OF FORGIVENESS
Matthew 9:2b
“seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
The humble approach in faith, and Jesus agrees to forgive.
If the story stopped here, it would be no less of a miracle.
This is the miracle of the story,
And the main purpose of why Jesus came to this earth.
HERE WITH THE PARALYTIC.
THE MOST IMPORTANT MIRACLE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED.
WE ALSO SEE THE RESULT OF BEING FORGIVEN.
Jesus says, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
There are two words for courage in the New Testament.
One is (TALMAO) – which refers to outward boldness.
This person is scared, but charges into the fear.
It is being afraid, and going through with it anyway.
That is not the word Jesus uses.
The second is (THARSEO). Courage that eliminates fear.
It represents the courage that eliminates fear,
Not the courage that perseveres through it.
Jesus doesn’t tell this man to be tough in the midst of danger.
He tells the man what you were afraid of is now gone.
Forgiveness wipes out our fear, because it wipes out our enemy.
1 John 4:15-18 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
When we truly receive the forgiveness of Jesus, that love casts out fear.
It doesn’t just give is the guts to endure, it takes away the enemy.
Now with nothing to be afraid of, we also have no fear.
However, a person without forgiveness,
Who hasn’t turned to God will very much live in fear.
Hebrews 10:26-27, 31
“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES…It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
And that is why Jesus told this man to “take courage”
No longer do you have to be afraid.
No longer do you have to dread.
I love that song “In Christ Alone” that we sing.
“No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life’s first cry to final breathe, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand. ‘Til He returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I’ll stand.”
Jesus performed the miracle on this man, and fear was gone!
First, the plea for forgiveness, second, the presentation of forgiveness.
#3 THE PROOF OF FORGIVENESS
Matthew 9:3-7
This is one of the tragedies of our world.
Regardless of how wonderful Jesus is. There will always be skeptics.
As soon as Jesus says this, that little mob
Who came to accuse Him found what they were looking for.
“This fellow blasphemes”
Mark 2:7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”
You see, they knew what an ordeal forgiveness was.
Furthermore it is yet another claim by Jesus that He is indeed God.
The theology of the Scribes was correct.
Only God could forgive sin.
It was the discernment of the Scribes that was lacking.
God was in front of them, and they couldn’t see Him.
They didn’t believe that the man had actually been forgiven.
Because they didn’t believe Jesus was God
AND SO JESUS SETS OUT TO PROVE HIS POWER.
(Not His power over paralysis, but His power over sin)
(4-5) “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?”
You answer that question, but make sure you answer the exact question.
Because if you say that it is easier to forgive sin
Than it is to heal a paralytic then you are wrong.
You and I would come much closer to healing a paralytic
Than we ever will to forgiving a sinner.
It took a word from Jesus to heal the sick.
It required the death of Jesus to forgive sin.
So forgiveness is much more difficult.
But Jesus didn’t ask which is more difficult.
Jesus asked which is easier “to say”
And the answer to that question is that
Anyone can say you are forgiven, because it is invisible.
(6-7) “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins – then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home.”
Jesus main miracle was forgiveness of sin,
The other miracles only served as validity.
John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
Jesus offered unmistakable proof that He had the power to forgive sin.
JESUS CAN FORGIVE
What that means for us, is that when we come to Jesus
In true repentance in faith,
Then we can be confident that our sins are indeed paid in full.
Colossians 2:13-14 “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
That is what Jesus meant on the cross when He said, “It is finished!”
And not only that, but based upon that sacrifice
He gave great authority to the apostles.
John 20:22-23 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
This didn’t mean they could forgive,
But rather that they could authoritatively offer forgiveness through Christ.
That is why Peter preached at Pentecost:
Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Because of Jesus, forgiveness is real.
You really can be clean before God.
BECAUSE JESUS PAID THE PRICE FOR FORGIVENESS
First, the plea for forgiveness, The presentation of forgiveness,
The proof of forgiveness.
#4 THE PRAISE FOR FORGIVENESS
Matthew 9:8
When the people saw this, the were “awestruck”.
And they began glorifying God.
We are told why they glorified God.
Because He “had given such authority to men.”
They worshiped because finally there was One
Who had the authority to forgive sin.
There was finally One who could fix our biggest problem.
If there ever was a reason to worship, this is it.
Psalm 32:1 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!”
Psalm 130:3-4 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”
Charles Spurgeon
1) He Forgave it All
2) He Forgave it Fully
3) He Forgave it Freely
4) He Forgave it For ever
FORGIVENESS IS THE BEST REASON TO WORSHIP GOD.
We couldn’t earn it,
We couldn’t afford it,
We didn’t deserve to receive it,
We could never live up to it,
BUT THANKS TO JESUS WE’LL NEVER BE WITHOUT IT.
THIS MORNING LET ME OFFER THIS FORGIVENESS TO YOU.
• Jesus came in the form of man and lived a perfectly sinless life.
• He then was crucified for sins He did not commit.
• And His blood became an acceptable offering to God on behalf of all who will trust in Christ.
If you will repent of your sin, and give your life to Jesus Christ,
He will forgive you of all your sin and make you clean before God.
THIS MORNING LET ME ALSO SAY.
If you have turned from your sin, and trusted in Christ,
There is no reason for you to live in fear or guilt any more.
Jesus really did settle it all, and there is nothing more you need done.
Keith Getty wrote a song called “The Power of the Cross”
(some have heard it, Peggy will sing it soon)
“Oh to see the dawn, of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary. Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then, nailed to a cross of wood.
This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.
“Oh to see the pain written on Your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin. Every bitter thought, every evil deed, crowning your blood-stained brow.
This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.
“Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath, quakes as its Maker bows His head; curtain torn into, dead are raised to life, “Finished!” the victory cry!
This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.
“Oh to see my name, written in the wounds, for through Your suffering I am free; death is crushed to death, life is mine to live, bought through your selfless love.
This the power of the cross, Son of God slain for us, what a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-14 “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
