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Before I begin this morning, I'd like to say once again how much I appreciate your invitation to be with me this weekend. I have thoroughly enjoyed uh our worship together and also our fellowship not only with the folks here at Snyder Church, but those who have uh attended the meeting. And uh your invitation may proved a blessing beyond just uh our time here at Snyder, but to be able to see folks like Brother Cleveland with his wife, Brother Elton with his wife, and uh uh folks from Abilene that I've had long relationships with uh I don't get to see. And so I very much appreciate the extension of the blessing that I had by being here and uh very much enjoy all the messages that I've been blessed to hear while uh uh here with you this weekend as well, and thank God for the ministers here in Texas that continue to uphold the word of God. I'd like to turn your attention this uh morning to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter five. We find in this chapter three major miracles performed by the Lord Jesus. The first one, it's when he calls Simon and James and John, presumably Andrew as well as you read the other accounts. It's very interesting how and it's important to read all four Gospels, and to compare, especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Uh they're called the synoptic of the gospels, meaning they uh uh tell many of the same stories, but from a different perspective. Sometimes when you're reading, you may think this seems to contradict it does not contradict, it's just from another's viewpoint. And uh when you add those three in particular together, because John is a very distinct gospel from the first three, but when you compare them and combine them together, I believe we get a more complete picture of what is transpiring. Here in Luke 5, we find that the Lord now he's already met Simon because in the chapter before he goes to Simon's home and heals his mother-in-law who had a fever. But now we find that Simon and um James and John. Andrew's not mentioned here, but Simon, but James, and John they're they're fishing. Jesus comes upon them and he enters the ship. We were talking this morning about when y'all were meeting at Brother Thomas's house as you were remodeling the building and how a makeshift pulpit was uh set forth. And we got to talking about different ways in which I've had to preach, and others have preached. I've preached from pulpits, I've preached from a rocking chair, I've preached sitting at my desk on Zoom services and so forth. Uh the Lord didn't all well, in fact, most of the time Jesus did not use a pulpit. Uh uh I know in Luke 4 he was in a synagogue and he stood up to read, but in Matthew, when he was uh preaching the Sermon on the Mount, he sat down on the side of a mountain. Well, this time his pulpit will be in a boat. He tells these men to launch out into the deep, or launch out, and there a little, he says, and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. So the people were on the land. Jesus is speaking from the ship. After he's done speaking, he says to Simon, launch into the deep and let down your nets for a drop, meaning a great gathering of fish. Simon or Peter, he says, Master, we have taught all the night. We've taken nothing. Nevertheless, I love this. Nevertheless, I don't see the point, but nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. That ought to be our approach. Sometimes it is true that we have tried something that we believe the Lord has uh commanded us to do, and we've seen no success. And the Lord impresses us to do it again. Say, well, I've already tried that, it didn't work. Well, do it again. That's what's happening here. They've they've fished all night long, captured nothing. Jesus says, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. Peter says, We did this all night long. We didn't take a thing. Nevertheless, at thy word I'll let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, which would be James and John, and they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. The first time they're in a ship with Jesus that is full of water, for this time it's the fish. But anyway, when Simon Peter saw it, notice this, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon, and Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not. Here's one of those Fear not, why? From henceforth thou shalt catch men. Later in John's gospel, when Jesus had been crucified, what does he say? In that period of time where the Lord is not, he says, I go fishing. Jesus had told them basically right here, this is no longer your focus. This is no longer your business. Your business now is to be fishers of men, not fishers of fish. So when Peter said, I go a fishing, it's almost as though Peter's saying, Well, this was enjoyable why it lasted, but it's apparently over, so let's just go back to what we know. And that's of course when the more the Lord met them on the side of the sea and they recognized him, came, and he asked Peter three times if he loved him. Well, anyway, here the Lord says, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all. Imagine that, they forsook all. As you read other accounts, James and John's fathers, Zebedee, he was actually there, and they left their father along with the ship and the nets, and uh left not only their business enterprise, but also left their father to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible commands that of us that if it be necessary that we would forsake father, mother, brother, sister, houses, and lands, but he also promises that in so doing he will give us there's a little mothers, brothers, sisters, houses, lands a hundredfold. Um here in a few days, in fact, on Wednesday of this week, we were going to St. Augustine for a few days, and uh as I was uh working out the plans to go to St. Augustine, one of the things that I had to be concerned about was lodging. I'm not we're not going there for uh uh serving the Lord. We're going there just for a little respite. And so I had to think about lodging. So I got on Airbnb and VRB or whatever you call it, and I'm looking at places for uh booking to stay for several days with my family. As I was coming to Snyder, though, I did not even give thought about where would I stay. I knew that the church here would take care of that. Why? Because Jesus promised that if I would be willing to forsake these things, he would provide that in his kingdom a hundredfold, and that's been true in my experience. I have alms literally from coast to coast in the United States of America among the kingdom of God that have been provided by God through the kindness of his people, and I'm very grateful that many of his people have been tender towards me and others to show such great hospitality. Jesus promised that he would see to that, and he does so through the hearts of his people, and I'm so grateful. And it's so rich. You know, it's a custom that I see kind of falling off. Not as many of our people host company as they once did, and you lose something when you don't do that. And a lot of our folks prefer to stay in hotels as they travel to church meetings, and they lose something as well. There's something that transpires when you can sit in the home of someone. There's a comfort that you find, you go deeper in a relationship, and that's a reason that uh the Word of God commands us that we're to be given to hospitality. It builds the bonds of fellowship when you and I spend time not only in the worship of the master, but also in fellowship together about the things of the kingdom of God. So I would encourage us all to be faithful, to uh discharge that command to, or fulfill that command that He's given us that we would be given to hospitality. So the first uh the first miracle here that is performed is really for the disciples' sake, so that they can see the great power that the Savior has. And then we come to the second one, and I want to spend more time on the next two. It says, It came to pass when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy. Understand, leprosy was an unhealable disease in the day of Jesus, it was a death sentence. They were called the walking dead. They had to live apart from all us because it was a very contagious disease. It was a disease that was a picture of sin itself. Because it was a disease that was on the inside, but it would show itself externally. It was a disease that would spread within the body, but also spread to others, and that's exactly how sin is. Sin is an issue that starts inward, but it works outward. But also, as Paul would say to the church at Corinth, uh, be not deceived. Uh evil communications corrupt good manners. In other words, when we're around uh sinful individuals, and I mean people who do not attempt to restrain and pull in their sinfulness before long, that will rub off. So leprosy in the Bible is used as a picture of sin, and it's very uh pertinent to do so because, again, sin is an issue that starts at the core of who we are, but it works itself out in how we behave and what we do, and before long it becomes visible uh in uh our lives, and then it will transfer and begin to impact others. So in that day, the law was if you were a leper, you had to stay apart. You did not live among the company of others unless they were lepers also. And then if you were to go into a city and began to come close to a clean individual, you had to use your hand covering your mouth so that hopefully the spread of that disease would not go forth and cry, unclean, unclean. So those who were considered clean would not come into danger of contact with that death sentence. And so imagine here are the disciples who have just seen Jesus command them to cast out their uh nets, and in so doing they bring in this great draught. So they know there's something uh different about this Jewish man who's walking with them, and now here comes a leper approaching him. Now, I don't know that the leper, it doesn't appear that he cries out, unclean, unclean. He does come to Jesus, notice when he saw him, he fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canest make me clean. Lord, if thou wilt. That means if you're willing. This man didn't question God's ability. He had full confidence in the ability of Jesus to take care of his leprosy. He said, Now, how many times in history up to this point has a leper been cleansed of leprosy? I only know of two accounts prior to this that it's ever happened in human history. Miriam was made a leper because she and her brother Aaron tried to take on authority from Moses that God did not give them. And so she was leprous for seven days, and then the Lord restored her from her leprosy. Then I find in the book of Kings that there's a Gentile uh soldier, a captain of the host of Syria, that was healed of his leprosy by Elisha, by the grace of God. So I, now there may be others you can recall, but those are the only two examples I can think of in the historical record of the Word of God that were ever cleansed from their leprosy. I suspect there were others because if you read the book of Leviticus, there was a prescription for the priest in the law to detect leprosy and then also to detect if one had been healed from it. But I find no examples except two, and that was a supernatural healing, both of Naaman and of Miriam. And I believe the reason there's only two recorded and both are supernatural is because is because our sin issue had to be healed by a supernatural power. It could not be healed by any physician on this earth. It would take the Son of God to heal the sin issue. So he says, Lord, if thou wilt, if you're willing, thou canest make me clean. I want to turn for a moment to the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. In the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, you find a man who has a son who has possessed. This man comes to the Lord with a different issue. This man comes to the Lord, and well, first he goes to the disciples, and the disciples, they're not able to heal this man's son, and Jesus comes upon a scene of a multitude who are questioning the disciples, presumably, about their inability to heal this young man. And so this man comes to Jesus when he comes on the scene and says, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. Wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away, and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. Jesus answered him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. You know, there were times that Jesus was somewhat incredulous with the faithlessness of men. And we mentioned last night or sometime yesterday about how Jesus marveled twice in the scriptures, once at the unbelief and another time at the belief of some. But here they bring this man to the Lord Jesus, and he asked this question How long is it ago since this child, or this came unto him, and he says, of a child? And he describes what happens. And then this father says, This if thou canest do anything, have compassion on us and help us. The leper believed Jesus could. He just didn't know if he would. This man wasn't sure if Jesus could. I've told people many times, my struggle with the Lord is not about his ability. I believe when it says in Genesis 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. I believe it just like it says it. As I read Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2, I believe it just as it's recorded for us. I believe in the literal creation by the expression of the word of the power of God, and everything that we see was made just simply by God's breath, God breathing, and it was here. The power of God has touched to do so. I believe that in the sixth chapter, God told Noah to build an ark to the saving of his house, and that ark was built, and eight souls were saved when a worldwide flood came upon this earth, wiping out all that God of the many, except for those eight souls and the animals there upon the ark. I believe in the account of the parting of the Red Sea, the parting of the Jordan River, I believe that Jonah was cast into the belly of a women that God prepared. I have no trouble believing those things because I believe in a God who is sovereign and over all things and before all things, and by him all things consist. So I don't have a struggle believing in God's ability to help me when I'm going through a struggle. That's not my problem. I'm like the leper. My struggle is this. Is he willing? I'm like the disciples, I'm like Peter was, I am unworthy. Depart from me. This man in Mark 9, he struggled with could Jesus do it? I love how Jesus responded. It's a little humorous in it. He says, If thou canest do anything, Jesus said, if thou canest believe. He just turns the tables on him. Jesus, if you can do anything, Jesus, well, if you can believe. He says, All things are possible to him that believeth. I love the honesty of this father. He says, as he cried out with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Something in the voice of Christ, you know, in John 7, when those soldiers went out to rest him, they came back and they said, when they were questioned, why have you not arrested? He says, Never man spake like this man. There was, you know, when the followers and those around Jesus, they said, He's not like the scribes. He doesn't teach us, he teaches as one with authority. There's something different about this man than anyone else we've ever encountered. And so something about how Jesus responded, if thou canst believe. Again he says, Lord, if thou canest do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus says, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him. That was enough to strengthen this man to a point, but he's honest. He said, Lord, I believe. But it falls short. So where it falls short, I need you to step in and help. You know, I never find Jesus when someone is honest in their inabilities where he's harsh. When we are honest in our inabilities, and we are not arrogant and egotistical, but we will humble ourselves and just be honest with him about what we cannot do and how we need his help, his assistance, his undergirding. He's merciful to display his compassion toward us. And so the Lord healed that child. This man at first questioned the ability of Jesus to even do this. And Jesus turns it around and says, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believed. He says, Well, Lord, I do believe, but I'm struggling to fully believe. So would you please uh undergird me in my unbelief so that I can believe to the extent necessary that all things will be possible to the one that believeth? And so the Lord gave him mercy. He was compassionate, and that man was delivered. But back in Luke 5, again, the the leper, he didn't struggle about whether Jesus was able. That's amazing. I mean, Jesus is not widely known yet. It's just back in Luke 4 that he really begins to open his public ministry. There's something in this leper that knows there's something something supernatural about Jesus. And so as he approaches him, notice again what he says, Lord. Again, that word means Adonai Master. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canest make me clean. I know you're my master, and I believe you're the master over sin. And so I am uh beseeching you, if you would be willing, in my case, would you make me clean? And I love uh what Jesus does. Jesus does something that no priest was allowed to do. He put forth his hand and touched him. Now, did Jesus break the law? No. He's the lawgiver. But he how long had it been since this man had felt the compassion of the human touch? Who knows? One of the things, as a leper, you were apart. I'm not the most uh uh uh warm individual. I I realize that. Um, and human touch is not to me what it is for others, but there are times that it is something I I need. And some people need it more uh than others, but I do believe it's something that is part of our makeup that we and so just imagine that here this man comes to Jesus, says, I know you can, I don't know if you will, but if thou wilt, thou canest make me clean. And Jesus, hearing the faith of this individual, knowing that Jesus was able, Jesus put forth his hand and touches this man that no one else had the right by law to touch. But Jesus, he is the lawgiver, he is the savior, he is the one who came to eat with publicans and sinners. And so Jesus touched him, and he said, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed. He charged him to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. So that's the second miracle of Luke 5. A man that came to Jesus believing that he could and found out that he was willing. Again, I often struggle. I know myself. I don't know myself as well as the Lord knows me, but I know myself well enough that I struggle with would God be willing to help me. I know I don't merit it. I know I don't deserve it. I know I've done so much, I've said things, I've thought things, I've done things that ought to separate me from the mercy and compassion of the Savior. I know that. And so there are times that I fail to seek him and his assistance and his help because I don't believe that he will do it. But yet he's told us over and over that he will. And so this man found that out. We move to the third miracle. We mentioned this one sometime during the meeting. He says in verse 18, Behold, men brought in a bed, in a bed, a man which was taken with palsy. And they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop. I said, ingenious men, crafty men. They let him down through the tiling. Now, if I'd have been that homeowner, I'd have been a little aggravated. Taken off my roof. I mean, I live in Florida and we're very particular about that because hurricanes are bad to take them off. I wouldn't have been so happy if I'd have been that homeowner, but I guess he just stood by and watched as all this unfolds. But anyway, they take the tiles off the roof and they just put that couch down in the presence of Jesus. Notice what it says in verse 20 of Luke 5. When he saw their faith, not the faith of the man on the bed or the couch, but the faith of his four friends. How many times have you been blessed because the faith of people around you? I couldn't even begin to count that. I don't know how many blessings that I've experienced, not because of me, but because I've been surrounded by people of faith. But that does tell me that it's wise to surround ourselves with people who are strong in faith. There are extended blessings because of others and their faithfulness and their confidence and assurance in the power and the blessings and the willingness of our master to assist. So it says, when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Notice what he says, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. Now these friends didn't bring this man for that reason. Now I'm very I want to be very careful about what I say now. Every sickness that we have, its root cause is sin. Now that does not mean that every time you get sick, it's because some act of sin in your life. There's a difference, okay? John 9, the Lord taught that. When there was a man born blind, they asked, is it his sin or the sins of his parents? Jesus said neither. Now, was it because sin was coursing through their nature? Yes. But his particular issue was not because of a particular sin. And so when you find somebody that gets a diagnosis of cancer or something, we should not automatically presume, like Job's friends did, they've done something wrong and they're just hiding it from us. But we should understand that all sickness, its root cause is sin. That's why we say that when heaven comes, there'll be no sorrow, there'll be no sickness. Why? Because there's no sin. The root cause of all that is taken away. So Jesus is going to deal with the root cause of this man's palsy. Because the root issue is sin. And so as he's now remember earlier he's made clear with this leper, now he's cleansed of leprosy. That was an outward sickness from an inward problem, but they haven't maybe connected the dots yet that this man, Jesus, is actually able to take care of the core problem, not just the side effects of the problem. And thank God we serve a God who's able to reach down to the core matter that we deal with, not just the ancillary issues that are brought about because of the core problem. And the core problem is that we have the nature of sin within us because of Adam's sin, and then that being passed down. That's the reality. But Jesus, so he heals the leper, but they still haven't put the dots together that Jesus has the power over sin. So in this case, this man's let down. Jesus sees the faith of his friends and he says to the man, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. Now, I would hope that if I was in that man's situation, I'd have been very grateful, whether I have the palsy or not, still remaining with the minimum. Thank the Lord, my sins have been declared by the Son of God to be forgiven. What greater thing can there be than to hear from Jesus, your sins are forgiven? There's no greater thing that you and I can ever hear expressed from it. That's why John 19, 30 is so precious to us. When he said at the Lath, it is finished. You know what he's saying? Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. That's what Jesus is there declaring in his dying breath when he lets us know it is finished. So it says the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Now this is all reasoning going on in their hearts and minds. They're not saying it out loud, but who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Now they were right. Only God alone could forgive sins. They just didn't realize that God was here. Emmanuel, God with us. So Jesus, I love when Jesus does this. He does this a number of times in the Bible. And Jesus just answers the questions they won't say. I love when he just calls men out and they it had to be a shock to their system. You would think that would have gotten their attention, you know? But here he perceives what they're thinking. So Jesus perceived their thoughts, and answering said unto them, Why or what reason ye in your hearts? Weather is easier to say. Notice how Jesus says that. He says, What's easier? The Bible says nothing is too hard for the Lord. Think about it, nothing's too hard. Forgiving our sins was not too hard. That doesn't mean it wasn't hard. It just wasn't too hard. There's things that I can do that my son cannot do. It's too hard for him. It's not too hard for me. There's some things ten years ago I could do that I can't do because now it's too hard. And I suspect as I age that'll continue on. But I can do things my son cannot because I have strength and abilities he does not yet possess. There'll come a day when I'm going to need my son to do some things for me because that strength will dissipate. That's not God. God has all power, all strength, and it never dissipates with God. You don't have to worry about God wearing out, God growing old. That doesn't happen. And so nothing is too hard for the Lord. And so when Jesus asked the question, he doesn't say like we would, well, which is harder? He turns it around, he says, which is easier? That's an interesting way to put it. What weather is easier, or which is easier to say? Thy sins be forgiven thee? Or to say, rise up and walk. Well, my response to that would have been, well, it's easy to say either. You can say thy sins be forgiven thee. You can say take up your bed and walk. Which one, though, can you more readily see? They could more readily see this man who was brought in on a couch go out with the couch on him. But the Lord knew the more difficult task was not dealing with the palsy, it was going to be dealing with the core issue of the palsy, which was the sins of this man. But Jesus has already taken care of that. Do you think when Jesus said, Man, thy sins are forgiven me, that now he's gonna uh take that back and say they're back upon you? Now I realize that it would take him legally putting them away on the cross. But he knew he was going to do that. That's just one more. When he says that to that man, Jesus knew he was going to the cross. There was no, as we mentioned last night, there was never a moment that Jesus was trying to get out of it. Because if he was going to try to get out of it, then he's just lied to this man. And Jesus is no liar. So the scribes, they reason. So Jesus says, What's easier to say? Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk. Jesus says that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon the earth to forgive sins. This man is going to be blessed doubly this day. And part of that is so that these that are round about, these scribes and Pharisees, will know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. So his sins have been forgiven as far as Jesus is concerned. So he has that blessing that he is justified in his heart. He knows that his sin has been proclaimed by the God of heaven to be forgiven. He has that blessing. And now Jesus says, For your sakes that don't believe that I have the power on earth to forgive sins, I'm going to say, Arise, take up thy couch and go into thy house. And immediately he rose up before them and took up that whereon he lay and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today. They certainly did see some strange things. Strange in the sense of something that hadn't been seen before. Peter, James, and John, they saw fish come into a boat after they'd been fishing all night, and they caught nothing and said, Well, if you say so, Lord, we'll do it. A leper. They saw Jesus touch him out of compassion, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately that leprosy, that sin, that picture of sin was gone. And then this man, and I I love that leper, Lord, if that I know you can, if thou wilt. Now, when I say that, he was in a little well, maybe not. I was gonna say he's maybe in a little stronger position than the man in Mark 9 who wasn't sure about Jesus' ability, but both are questioning the Lord, and neither are right. I shouldn't question his ability to do something, nor should I question his willingness to do for his people. He has shown himself merciful, he has shown himself gracious, he has shown himself to love us as we spoke on Friday night. He's for us, and he proved that by the fact that he was with us, and so we ought to have confidence not only in his willingness, but also his ability to help in our situation, whatever it may be. You know, James says, ye have not because ye ask not. A lot of our problem is not the Lord's lack of doing, it's our lack of asking. I uh I love a good deal. In fact, I hate paying full price for anything. Uh, it's against my nature to pay full price. And so anytime I'm purchasing something, I always try to negotiate a lower price, and it drives my wife crazy. Uh, she, for whatever reason, doesn't want to ever barter, but I always try it. I mean, most stores, if you ask for a discount, they'll most of the time I found they'll give me a 10 or 20% discount just by me asking. I'll tell her, she said, Why do you do this? Save money, that's why I do it. She doesn't comprehend that, and I don't understand why she doesn't comprehend that because that's more money left in the bank account, and so that's something that I can buy down the road on what I saved. And I tell her, I said, all it does, I asked. They can say no. But I'm gonna ask. And I said, and most of the time I receive because I asked. But you know what? As much as I do that in the world of merchandise, how often I fail to do it with the Savior. If I were to ask you, how often do you spend time in prayer petitioning for the needs not only of yourself but those around you, the needs for this congregation, the needs for this church body, the needs for this community, the needs of the thing. How often do we spend in that? I suspect all of us, if we were honest, would say, not nearly enough, not as much as I should. Why? Sometimes we're not mindful. And then sometimes we may be like the man with leprosy, I just don't think he'll be willing. Or we may be like the man who had a son that was possessed, I just don't think he can. The Lord showed both that he can and that he will. I love what Paul says in Hebrews 11, verse 6. He says, Without faith, it is impossible to please him. But he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So Paul makes it clear, God is a rewarder. God, I think, I truly believe God delights in rewarding his children who strive to be faithful. Again, he says, without faith, it's impossible. Well, we know where faith derives from. It comes from the Spirit of God. When we're born, it's dealt to every man. We understand that, but now we must exercise, he said, if you're going to come to God, you must believe that he is. That's elementary, I would think. But also he says we must believe he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Don't question his ability. Don't question his willingness. You may not get the answer that you're seeking, but I do believe you'll always receive an answer. I've told a lot of folks there's three answers God gives to prayer yes or no, or not yet. So maybe the thing I'm asking for, he's gonna say no to, and he has good reason for doing so. He may say yes immediately, or he may just say, it's not time. Not yet. But never discount that he cares and that he's able to make all bless you.