Forgiveness leads to Worship

Listen to the Word of the Living God

English Standard Version Chapter 5

20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

May God bless the reading of His Word, You may be seated. Good morning everyone, it is great to be with again worshipping the living God. My name is Jason and I am one of the teaching pastors at Wayside. Thank you both church family and guests for being here. Today we will be back in the gospel according to Luke, looking again at the story of the paralytic and divine forgiveness specifically in ch. 5:20-26. If you were here last week, we had a great time discussing the power of evangelism for the glory of God, life of the church. We heard stories of how the gospel has and is changing lives all over the world, and We came to the conclusion that Jesus changes lives by the power of His Word, and it is essential for us as a church to pray for deeper trust in this great truth.

And now we pick up the 2nd half of the story, now for those of you not with us last week, here is where we have been in the story. Jesus is teaching in a house, Pharisees and teachers of the law are there observing what this miracle working rabbi is saying and doing, and along come four crazy friends who decide by Gods grace, that Jesus can change the the life of their friend who is paralyzed, yet when they drop him down through the roof on a mat, to their surprise Jesus does not immediately heal him, or does He? If you have a bible turn with me to .

English Standard Version Chapter 5

20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

English Standard Version Chapter 5

20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

This is a glorious and scandalous pronouncement from Jesus.

Glorious because

Scandalous because Jesus is claiming to do something that is reserved for Creator God alone. For example, psalm 103:1-5

1 Bless YHWH, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

2 Bless YHWH, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5 who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

English Standard Version Psalm 32

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 43

25“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,

And I will not remember your sins.

Jesus is claiming equal status and power with YHWH, the one true God and this does not sit well with the religious leaders of the day.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

You see, they knew what we just read. But, there view of what a Messiah should be differed from what Jesus is. They needed a Jesus that was like them, a Jesus who would not ask them to change their way of life. Remember, the pharisees and the scribes knew their hebrew bible. they knew the promises and predictions of the Messiahs unique nature, but why look for this Messiah, when we can create our own version. We do this very same thing. Some of us want a republican Jesus, or a white Jesus, or a social justice Jesus, or a pacifistic Jesus, or a Jesus who doesnt care about sin, or a Jesus who thinks little of grace. If we are honest it is usually a Jesus that already agrees with us. Friends, it is difficult to worship a being who we elevate ourselves above.

22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

Do you know the remedy to our pride, to our sinful desire to make Jesus agree with us, our pride and arrogance?

Let Jesus be Jesus. From this text we clearly see

Jesus is divine and worthy to be worshipped. He knows the thoughts of people

Jesus is the Son of Man, and worthy to be worshipped.

why does this matter?

Jesus takes this title for himself from

13 “I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

14 And to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

The Son of Man is the perfect title for Jesus as being both human and divine, our representative and redeemer.

Jesus has authority to forgive sins on earth, and proves it.

So, we must ask the question…Why do we question in our hearts?

Authority. We want the authority, because we think we know better. Jesus I know i need this way of life, my kids need this kind of education, or we need comfort or this kind of house, and if you cant see that then you dont really know me and so i will not give you authority over my life.

The hard and yet glorious truth is that giving Jesus authority over every part of your life is scary. C.S. Lewis describing Aslan the Jesus character in a famous book says, He is not safe, but He is good.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.

This is biblical irony at its finest. The paralytic, who has no authority even over his legs, much less over his life, comes to Jesus in the most perfect way.

Soley, wholey dependent on Jesus. Why is this such a great place to be?

When we come to Jesus wholly dependent on Him, soley under His authority, heart change happens, life change happens, and He gets the glory, as we swim deeply in pure joy of being a forgiven child of the living God.

Can I tell you the kind of trust in Jesus power and authority I want...

imagine not being able to walk for years, maybe you have tried every way to change your condition to no av-ale and so you have gotten comfortable with this way of life , and so when Jesus commands, Rise, pick up your bed and go home, by standing up your whole way of life is about to change, He stood up, what faith!

English Standard Version Chapter 5

26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Could this be the anthem our continually church sings ? Yes.

Here is the pattern to experiencing the awe of God. We can use the know, feel, do as a guide

know -

Jesus has the divine authority and power to forgive sin, now and forever.

Jesus will not reject you when you come to Him.

Forgiveness brings Worship.

Feel -

Set free from guilt, shame, control

Do -

Trust and Obey like the paralytic. Give God the credit.

Praise Him. Look for the extraordinary things He is doing.

and give the gift of forgiveness to someone you are controlling with guilt and shame. Do it today, if you need to forgive someone or ask for forgiveness do it today. There is no reason to live with these burdens when Jesus has set us free.