Authority to Forgive
Notes
Transcript
The Problem
The Problem
paralysis is not to be assumed as the direct result of a person’s sin, it may be for the glory of God. However, all illness, disease, handicap, is a result of living in a fallen world with a fallen condition. - Job’s friends related disease and death to sin, so did Jesus’ disciples
this is the obvious problem, but its not the one Jesus first addresses - why?
why did He come here? - Matthew 1:21
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
“saw their faith” - perceived by sight that they were acting in accordance with faith in Him. see Mark 2 & Luke 5 for same story
they unearth and lower him through the roof. Throwing themselves and their friend at the mercy of Jesus.
Jesus’ response to this act of faith perplexes everyone. The paralytic was sure to live a life of great shame and guilt due to his condition - now he is put before God in the flesh.
Fear, terrible fear, is the immediate response - Heb. 10:31
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
but then he hears a comforting word of forgiveness and to remove fear in his heart - he is no longer under condemnation - Romans 8:1 “1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The Solution
The Solution
the Gospel - the good news that sinners can be forgiven by a holy God and come to live forever in right relationship with Him.
The prophecy fulfilled when Jesus conception is told to Joseph is that the one coming to save His people from their sins is Immanuel, God with us.
Leviticus 4&5 describe how to be forgiven for unintentional sin. it involves bringing a goat or ram to the priest, spilling its blood, etc. Then sin is atoned for and the offering is a pleasing aroma to God, you can be confident that that particular sin is atoned for. Whats the problem? How practical is this for people who sin all the time, especially unintentionally? you would quickly be destitute of all livestock
Hebrews 9:22 “22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,
26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
therefore Jesus, standing as God in the flesh, pronounces forgiveness based on the sufficiency of His sacrifice
Psalm 103:8–13 “8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
we see this description of God in Exodus, Numbers, Nehemiah, Psalms, Isaiah, Micah - etc. In fact, I think you will find God’s mercy and compassion in every OT book. Why? Because this is who He is.
The Response
The Response
25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
1 Samuel 16:7 “7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.””
1 Chronicles 28:9 “9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.”
Jeremiah 17:10 “10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.””
Jeremiah 17:9 “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
the Logic - what statement is easier to say without having to prove? they do not think He has the authority to pronounce forgiveness and therefore consider it blasphemy, dishonoring God.
“rise” - if his handicap was a result of sin, the miracle confirms that forgiveness has actually come to him. More importantly, the miracle confirms that Jesus has all authority to make pronouncements over all spheres of existence.
response - reverential awe. They are struck by the fact they are in the presence of someone with godly authority. it is not like terror, it is more of weighty amazement, like seeing Him walk on water, seeing an empty tomb, appearance of angels, etc.