Friends Like These

Their Faith

10-09-2022

Luke 5:17-26

Welcome

As I was preparing for this sermon I was nervous in that we have been through a lot this past week

As a church family we have been through a lot

As families some of you have been through a lot

I don't want Sunday's to be just another Sunday's I and didn't want this Sunday to be just another Sunday

I also get nervous because I don't want to mess up the Word of God

Church we serve a big big God

This morning we will be looking at a time when Jesus healed someone

But we won't so much focus on the person being healed

Luke 5:17–18 NASB95

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. 18 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.

Jesus just happen to be teaching one day

There was nothing special about this particular day to most people

Some of the Pharisees and teachers from around the region who had come to hear Jesus teaching

Remember at this point Jesus had probably some hype to him because He was dong miricals and those people wanted to be a witness to it

There was such a crowd at this particualr house

We can guesstimate why

Most people just wanted to see Jesus

Some people wanted to hear Jesus speak

and fewer still needed healing, probably because like this man in the account were unable to get to Jesus

We sort of know this to be true because some men, Luke doesn't name them

They were carrying a man who was laying on a bed

This man like the guy carrying him we don't know much about

We can guess he didn't have a way to get to Jesus other than his friends

We could probably also guess this guy was paralyzed or had been for sometime

These guys come up with a plan knowing that Jesus was in the region to bring their friend to Jesus

This morning we want to high light these guys

They took time out of their day to take their friend to the Lord

They used their energy and strength to love on their friend

Church that is exactly what we as a church as believers in Jesus Christ as the family of God are to do

We are to lift up our friends who are hurting and carry them to Jesus

And might I say church I got to witness that time and time again at Marranatha

Personally my family has experienced that a few different times

When people have come and lifted me and my family and carried us to the Lord

And church that is what we are to do as a church

And church we have done that

We have done that this week

We have done that throughout the history of Maranatha

We have been those people

But something happens with these guys who are carrying their friend

They run into a road block of sorts

Luke 5:19 NASB95

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 guys were amazing in coming up with a plan to help get their friend to Jesus

They believed that Jesus was able to heal their friend

That is why they came up with a plan to help their friend

There friend could have very well believed that Jesus would save them and could have been part of the planning process

But something happens and they run into a road block

They must have got a late start, or broke a shoe on the way to see Jesus

Anyway they arrive and do not find a way to get into Jesus

They have a choice

We tried but no luck so lets go home

Or someone in the group probably said we could use the roof

They have a choice, do we continue to try and get our friend into see Jesus fully believing that Jesus will heal their friend or do we try again another time and go home

These guys are amazing friends

We should all have friends like that, and if you don’t might I suggest look for those friends in church

These guys take it upon themselves to carry their friend up to the roof and somehow dig or break or peel back part of the roof to get to Jesus

Maybe you can already imagine it but as Jesus is teaching there is commotion going on and I wonder how distracting it was or did Jesus stop to see what was going on

It doesn’t say

They have a hole big enough to lower their friend down through and then they lower their friend down through the hole to Jesus because church they believed Jesus could heal him

And to be honest church I have been on the receiving part of that and I have been part of the lowering my friend down in a hole

That is what we as brothers and sisters in Christ are to be doing and church well done

Well done church

We are to carry our brothers and sisters to Christ

Because we know that Jesus is the great physician

Maybe they are tired, maybe they are sick, or lets face it sometimes we have friends that don’t want to go to Jesus

So in Jesus Name we pick them up and carry them

ANd you know what church when we get there and there are bumps in the road and the room is full we go to the roof and we dig a hole in the roof to get them to Jesus

We carry them to Jesus

That is what we do for our brothers and sisters in Christ

Luke 5:20–26 NASB95

20 Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” 22 But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 “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.” 25 Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

This is the rest of the story

I don’t want us to get caught up in the man who was healed

But it was because of the men who brought him to Jesus’s faith that he was healed

Praise the Lord for the man being healed

And the Pharisees begin to question Jesus and so Jesus puts them in their place

To show them that Jesus is the great physician and that He does have the power to heal and to forgive sin all in one

Praise the Lord church we serve a God like that

Who is still in the healing business

Who is still in the sin forgiving business

I do however want to focus on the men who brought him to Jesus

Church that is where we are as a church right now

We have some people in our church right now who need to be carried to Jesus

They are tired and exhausted

And church that is our job right now

This is not a new concept

Exodus 17:8–13 NASB95

8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Notice what Aaron and Hur did

They found some stones to prop up Moses’s arms because they were getting heavy

And they didn’t stop there

I imagine they stood on either side and even held his hands up

Becasue as long as his hand were up they were winning and if they went down they were losing

Please lets not get caught up as long as we hold people up God will win

But Aaron and Hur held his hands up

That is our focus church

We are to be holding each other’s hands up during battles

There are people in a battle that maybe most of us don’t know about but if you do

I challenge you go and hold their hand

Church just hold their hands up

Church let me leave you with this passage this morning

Galatians 6:2 NASB95

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Church I would challenge you this morning to do just this

Maybe it is a visit

Maybe it is a phone call

Maybe it is a text or email or sending them a thinking of you card

Or maybe it is no communication right not but you are taking their name and their burden before God the Father who is Heaven

And church there is power when we take people to Jesus

So as we move into our time of invitation

I would invite you this morning to do business with Jesus

Maybe you don’t know who Jesus I would invite you to speak with someone up front

Or maybe you simply want to take someone to Jesus this morning

The altar is open