What do I know with Isaac Carroll
What do I know with Isaac Carroll
Today's Bible Reading: Matthew 9 - Faith's Transformative Power and the Heart of Compassionate Service
Faith, forgiveness, and healing are not just ancient ideals but powerful forces that can transform lives today. Join me, Isaac Carroll, as we unravel the gripping narrative of Jesus healing the paralytic man in Matthew chapter 9. What can we learn from the unwavering determination of the paralytic's friends, and how does their faith reflect on us today? We'll explore the stark contrast between the rigid traditions of the scribes and Jesus' revolutionary acts of divine authority, showcasing a profound lesson in faith's transformative power. Together, we'll navigate these timeless themes and their implications for our contemporary lives.
In the second part, we turn our focus to the core of compassionate service. True service, driven by a heartfelt desire to manifest Christ's love, transcends mere duty. We'll delve into how compassion and mercy can create profound connections and bring about real change. By examining scriptural references, we'll highlight how these virtues elevate the essence of service. Join us for an uplifting journey that challenges conventional perspectives and encourages you to carry these lessons into your daily life, fostering love and encouragement until we meet again.
May God bless you and lead you always.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll, and this is what Do I Know? All right, in the last Bible study we finished up chapter 8, and today we are going to start chapter 9. If you have a Bible, then you'd like to follow along, starting at verse 1.
Speaker 1:Getting into the boat, jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee and he came to his own city. They brought to him a paralytic man lying on a stretcher and seeing their faith, jesus said to the man who was paralyzed Take courage, son, your sins are forgiven. Some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blaspheming. And Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said why are you thinking evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk, but so that you know that the Son of man has authority on the earth to forgive sins, that he says to the paralytic man get up and pick up your stretcher and go home. And he got up and he went home. But the crowd saw this. They were awestruck and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. Now let's talk about this for a second. We find a profound teaching in this transaction between the paralytic man and Jesus. Many times in our reading of the gospel we hear about Jesus healing the sick. Sometimes we may even hear him say go and sin no more.
Speaker 1:In the book of Matthew, in chapter 13, jesus goes to his own hometown. It says that he couldn't do very many miracles there because of their lack of belief. Here we find that because of their belief, because of their faith in Jesus, that his sins were forgiven. Now this has given us a truth that we may not have saw before. When he tells a person go and sin no more, he's showing that he has addressed the root of their problem before addressing their physical problem. The root of every problem is always sin and because of faith and belief, jesus is forgiving them of their sins because he has the authority to do so. I think this is the first teachings of the forgiveness of sin through faith and belief.
Speaker 1:Let me point out a couple other things that I see when I read this. We see that faith has a certain look to it. If we read the book of Mark and we're discussing this story, we find that four men carrying the stretcher of the paralytic man and the way was blocked. There was crowds around the house of Peter and they couldn't get the paralytic man to Jesus. And they had a desire to get him to Jesus, to get him healed, and they didn't let that stop them. They found their way to get onto the roof and they pulled up the roof tiles and they lowered this man to Jesus. They wouldn't let anything stop them and get in the way of their faith. So we see that faith has a look.
Speaker 1:It also teaches us that love covers over a multitude of sins. For how much love would I have to have to carry someone to Jesus in such a way that you wouldn't let anything stop you? It teaches us something else that it's important who your friends are teaches us we should find brothers and sisters in Christ who will do anything to intercede for us with God, pray for us, petition for us in every way, and this is important. I want as many people praying for me as I can get. All right, let's talk about verse 3.
Speaker 1:And some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blaspheming. And some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blaspheming. In the book of Leviticus, 24.16 says Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him the stranger as well as the native. When he blasphemes the name, he shall be put to death, all right.
Speaker 1:So we need to understand what blasphemy is and why it's such a great sin that God would call the people to stone them. Blasphemy in Hebrew is godaph and it basically means to defame, to show contempt for God as if he was nothing. And why was it such a great sin that God would have the people stone him? And why was it such a great sin that God would have the people stone him? God was showing his love for his people because a person who was willing to blaspheme God is like a cancer and if allowed to spread, it could kill the body. So it's better to cut the cancer away than have it affect other parts of the body, than have it affect other parts of the body. Now we have to understand that God's trying to save people from separation from Him hell Because God's a just God. He can't very well put Satan and his angels in hell for their disobedience and not do the same for us when we do the same thing. Because God is just, he has to allow us the same fate when we choose to separate ourselves from him that they got and he's trying to save us from that. And when someone comes along and they're defaming God, making him as nothing, he can draw somebody. They might draw some people away from God. Take desire for God away from people and mislead them and you can see how bad this would be and that's why God said get rid of that person, do not let them be among you.
Speaker 1:We find here that the scribes were more concerned about their idea and understanding of God's word than the actual out point of God in the works of Jesus. The scribes were the teachers of God's word. They were the authority among the people because they were priests and Levites. They took the judgment seat of Moses and they believed that their word was the authority. Jesus, being the son of God, was a direct threat to that authority. That he would claim the authority of God was to them a heinous crime. Jesus, knowing that they were harboring this idea in their heart, confronted them Because this would be a cancer heart confronted them because this would be a cancer. He wanted to show them that the power to heal proved that he was from God. He says which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk, but so that you know the Son of man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. He says to the paralytic man get up, pick up your stretcher and go home. And he got up and he went home.
Speaker 1:You would think it would be obvious for someone to understand that, to be able to speak and heal someone in this way, that they had to be connected to God. This reminds me of the verse that we read about the blind man, the man who was born blind. Jesus opened his eyes and afterward he was confronted by the jewish leaders. We can read about this exchange between him and them in john 9, verse 29. They said we know that god has spoke to moses, but we do not know where this man is from. That is remarkable. Indeed. The man said you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to those who worship him and does his will. Never before has anyone ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. This man were not from God, he could not do such a thing. Amazing, right, wouldn't you think it would be obvious? I mean, it's obviously obvious to us because we're looking behind, we're looking in hindsight, but you would think it would be obvious to them in that moment.
Speaker 1:Jesus said this in John 10, 37. If I'm not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me, but if I'm doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. Now they still chose not to believe. Did you know that you can choose not to believe that Jesus forgives you of your sin? Verse 9.
Speaker 1:And Jesus went on from there and he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax collector's office and he said to him Follow me. And he got up and he followed him. Then it happened that Jesus was reclining at the table in the house. Behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and began dining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples why is your teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners? But when Jesus heard this, he said it is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. Now go and learn what this means. I desire compassion rather than sacrifice. Here we find that Matthew. He adds where he was called by Christ to follow him. I love to hear people's testimonies and Matthew adds his here, on the time he was called to follow Christ. This goes into that night when Jesus dines at Matthew's house.
Speaker 1:We get this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees when the Pharisees were questioning why Jesus was dining with sinners and tax collectors. A lot of people take this lesson out of context and they use it to justify hanging out with the world, and that's not the case at all. Jesus was going out to the sick and the sinful because he wished for them to be saved. He had what they needed and he was making it available to them. When we go out to the world, are we doing the same thing? Are we bringing to them that which they need, or are we just hanging out with the world? There's a difference, and this difference is magnified in the teachings between Jesus and the Pharisees. He said I require mercy or compassion, not sacrifice. Did I require mercy or compassion, not sacrifice? There's so many profound teachings we've had in this one little small section of Matthew 9.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you, what is piety? Well, if you look up the definition, it's somebody who's really religious. It is everything in reverence to God, their charitable acts, their services. Can piety be bad? Let me first say this Reverence to God is their charitable acts, their services. Can piety be bad? Let me first say this Reverence to God is always good in every way. We should always be in reverence of God. But God requires mercy of the heart, compassion for our fellow man. God had mercy and compassion on us. He wants us to have the same for others, and our joy and thankfulness to God over his mercy to us should allow us, or should compel us, to be merciful and compassionate to others.
Speaker 1:Why do we do what we do? When we go out and we serve, we should have a heart of compassion. When we go out and we serve, we should have a heart of compassion. It would be because we want to bring Christ to others, the way Christ brought salvation to us. We should have compassion on those. We should have a desire to bring that which saves into their life, not as an act of service, not as an act of service, not as an act of sacrifice, because it's duty. And I'm trying to say that we shouldn't do our duty because we should. Duty is an important thing, but mercy and compassion is more important. I'm going to end this one here in verse 13. Next time we'll pick up in verse 14. Until then, love you guys. Have a great day, goodbye.