The Gospel of Jesus

Luke 5:17–26 ESV

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 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.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Many times you here a sermon, or at least something said in a sermon that sticks with you forever. This text I will be preaching tonight, is one of those text that I heard preached years ago that for whatever reason, and not necessarily a good reason the Lord has stamped in my memory that I may never forget. The reason I remember this sermon is because as I began to learn about preaching, expounding a text, and the necessity to preach the main point of a text I learned what I had remember about this passage of Scripture completely missed the point.

Years ago, I went to a revival at a small Baptist Church in back home in Florida. That week they had an evangelist from Jacksonville come and he was a zealous, passionate, fiery preacher that had the gift to grab your attention and hold it. He was one of those preachers who had the great stories, who gave great testimonies of him witnessing to people and seeing them come to Christ. But what I didn’t realize was what I would remember about his sermon on this amazing text of Jesus displaying his compassion, his power, and his authority for the glory of God was his sermon title.

Friend’s don’t let Friends Go To Hell.

Now as you consider that statement, as you consider what it does to put in your mind the main point of this text is that there is truth to it. We should do all we can do to keep our friend from going to hell. But this completely misses the main point of the text! How do I know you ask? Because Jesus Luke and Jesus point us to the main point of the text. The main point of this passage is not our evangelistic effort, but Jesus’ all encompassing authority!

Now, I don’t remember the evangelists name, I don’t remember much else about his sermon. I do remember what he did at the end of the sermon. Can you guess? “Everyone bow your heads and pray after me.” Then, “with every head bowed if you prayed that prayer, just lift up your hand, thank you brother, thank you sister, and so on.”

So here are the two things that sermon left in my mind, the fact that he missed the main point of the text, and then emotionally manipulated people into thinking praying a prayer and raising their hand would save them.

My prayer tonight is that I do the exact opposite.

First, that you leave hear knowing what the main point of this text is, that Jesus, the Son of Man is the only one who has the authority to forgive your sin and reconcile you to the Father.

Secondly, that you know that praying a prayer and raising your hand is not what saves you. The Scriptures are clear, your salvations comes as a gift from God as he grants you repentance and faith which causes you to be born again, made a new creation, and enables you to see your sin, repent of your sin and trust in Christ alone as the satisfactory, substitute who took on flesh, died in your place, and was raised from the dead so that you might be declared righteous!

My prayer is that you leave here tonight knowing, that Jesus Christ is the only person with the moral purity, and miraculous power, to be our propitiation, provide penal atonement, and pay the redemption price to purchase the salvation wretched sinners to the glory of God.