The Leper and the Paralytic - Luke 5:12-26

Sunday June 21, 2026 

NASB

The Leper and the Paralytic

12 While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man [a]covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 15 But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away [b]to the [c]wilderness and pray.

17 [d]One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. 18 And some men were carrying on a [e]bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. 19 But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, He said, “[f]Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” 22 But Jesus, [g]aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” 25 Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 [h]They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Peter remain standing, please. We're going to look in the Gospel of Luke. If you have your Bibles with you, I encourage you to turn there with me. We're going to read it as we remain standing, honor of reading God's Word. If you don't have a copy of the Scripture, you're welcome to use the Bible and the Pew back in front of you. We're going to be in Luke chapter 5, beginning in verse 12. Luke chapter 5, verse 12. I apologize. There probably isn't going to be PowerPoint on this one because I forgot to get it together. No excuses, just reasons. I've been out of town, so I've been a little scattered, but we're still good. We're still good. It's going to be okay. Luke chapter 5, beginning in verse 12. And I'm going to be reading if you'll listen along and stand in honor of God's word. While he was one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored him, saying, Lord, if you're a willing, you can make me clean. And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to hold no one. But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded as a testimony to them. But the news about him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. One day he was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, and come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to bring him, bring him in and to set him down in front of him, but not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and led him down through the tiles with a stretcher and to into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, he said, Friend, your sins are forgiven you. The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins have been forgiven you, or to say, Get up and walk. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins? He said to the paralytic, I say to you, Get up and pick up your stretcher and go home. Immediately he got up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God, and they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen remarkable things today. Would you pray with me, please? Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for this opportunity to be in service and to praise you and to lift up our voices, to pray, uh, to read your word, to be together as your body. And Lord, as we as we open the word, we ask by your grace, show us what we don't know. Open our hearts, let yourself be known. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Please be seated. Well, happy Father's Day. I'm assuming, because there's so many uh men in this room that some of you, at least one or two of you, have got to be fathers. Are you having a good Father's Day? Are you being spoiled by your children and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren and all that? Funny thing about there's a lot of hype around Mother's Day. There's not as much hype around Father's Day. I'm just saying. I'm not bitter, I'm not angry, I'm not, I don't hold any grudges, but it just seems that there's a lot more attention. I don't know why I think I think mothers, I'm about to get into a stand-up comedian routine, but I think mothers have better publicity. I think they do a better job. I think the guilt trips and the subtle hints and the the intention, anyway, I think they do great anyway. But I hope I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day. And one of the things that we have been grappling with as a pastoral staff, um, as a as a church body, is how how do you how do you lead spiritually in your home? And some of you, uh your fathers, your you've got children at the home, some of the the your empty nesters, some of you are are single moms, and it it's not necessarily the same same criteria, but you still have that burden of how do you help your children learn about Jesus? How do you how do you train them up in the ways of the Lord? How do you how do you engage them? And there's so much that we are praying through and we're preparing and trying to kind of get our head around. But I I don't, I don't, I'm not superficially or simplistically saying praying through. That really is what we're doing right now. Trying to discern how do we do this as a congregation, have homes that submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I did a study years ago. I don't know if you're familiar with it, and I'm I'm not going to belabor the point. I don't I want to dig into Luke for just a few moments this morning, but I did a study a few years ago uh by Robert Lewis called Mince Fraternity, and he talked about authentic biblical manhood. And I'll never forget as we study Genesis 1, 2, and 3, the contrast between Jesus, who was a man's man, and between Jesus and Adam, and how there's so much disparity, there's so much difference between what the world calls a man versus what God calls and created man to be, and the things that are involved in that. So just to give you a little bit of teaser, and I'm not going to dig into it right now, but when you talk about biblical manhood, you're talking about someone who stands up, rejects passivity, wants to be aggressively seeking God and please God in his own life as well as the life of his family members and those within his church. He is someone who takes the responsibility. Unlike Adam, who stood silently by, he wants to stand up and say, I won't and I will not allow that sin. I will stand firm in terms of what is right and what is wrong, to take a stand for biblical faithfulness and fidelity, including the body of Christ and how that represents and coming together as the body. It's that leadership of saying that I'm a pastor in the home, and even though I may not have a title of pastor, that's my spiritual accountability, where I'm responsible for loving my wife with the love that Christ loves the church, that I'm responsible for training up my children and understanding what is involved in that and all that's involved, and knowing all along that this world is temporary, and that God is providing something much greater, and that we are investing in the truth of the righteousness that is going to bear fruit beyond our belief, beyond our understanding, beyond our imaginations, because that greater reward that we are anxious for, all of that, that was just a teaser, and it's no extra charge. But that's what I'm doing in the days to come, Lord willing, as we talk about what it means to be a biblical man and a spiritual leader in the home. Now, when we come back to Luke chapter 5, and if you you haven't been here over the last few months, we have we've been working through Luke this year. We have been uh attempting to kind of systematically, exegetically go through, expose the text as we go chapter by chapter. We've gotten up into chapter five. And I'm I'm grateful, by the way. Let me just say as a side note, I'm grateful for Pastor Dallas uh covering for me last week. My wife and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary, and I thought it'd be a good idea if I wasn't here to do that. So uh we were we were away for a few days, and I'm grateful for that. Um, and also uh past uh Pastor John uh got to be away for Father's Day uh today, and uh Dwight said he would fill in, and he just got sick. So then we had Mike who filled in for Dwight, who was filling in for John. So I'm so grateful for everybody who's stepping up. So this is definitely a day of fill-in, and I'm grateful for the the willingness to serve in our bodies. But now, Luke chapter 5, we get to the point where Jesus is continually fulfilling what he promised back in Nazareth in Luke chapter 4. So if you've got your Bibles with you, and I hope you do, and if you don't, please grab one or be real friendly to the one and look over the shoulder of your neighbor. But here in Luke chapter 4, let me just remind you as we dig into this passage, we're not gonna belabor it, we're not gonna spend hours. Um, it's gonna be okay, but you've got to see the context of what's happening in Luke chapter 5. Back in Luke chapter 4, Jesus begins his ministry going to the synagogue in Nazareth. He he explains in verse 17 as he gets up to read the book of Isaiah, it's not a coincidence, it's not faith, it's it's foreordained. God is doing all of this. As he opens the book, he he finds this in the scroll, the place where it was written, and he reads, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who were oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. This is a messianic promise, prophecy out of Isaiah. Jesus is reading it real time, real place in the synagogue. And the the beautiful thing is in verse 20, he closes the book, he gives it back to the attendant, sits down, the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he said this, this is beautiful. Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. All of the prophecies, all of the anticipation, all of the eagerness and the prayers and the hopes and the dreams and the oppression and the suffering, and now Jesus is saying, Today I am the fulfillment. Today, the Messiah, I am the Messiah, I am here. So, what Luke does, and this is why I wanted to show you this, as he's saying what Jesus said in verse 21, when he said, Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. What he's going to do over the next few chapters is he's going to use that same phrase, today, at this time, meanwhile, as he introduces episode and vignette after vignette and experience after experience. Because he's telling us through these stories, these real life events, he's saying, today is how Jesus is fulfilling being the Messiah. Numerous examples. As you continue in chapter 4, you go through the the rage of the people in Nazareth, didn't like what Jesus had to say. They were offended by him. Then he he uh Jesus um removes the demons, he's able to deal with the unclean demon. Uh then he he continues with uh going to Simon Peter's um mother and healing her. And then more demons are healed, and then the great catch of fish in chapter five, we talked about a few weeks ago. All of this, uh chapter four, verse thirty-six, says amazement came upon them all. They began talking with one another, saying, What is this message? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out. This is not a fairy tale. This is not one of many options. This is not this is not uh a buffet where you get to go through and decide what you want versus what you don't want. This is this is not fiction. This is the Messiah standing in front of us saying, I am the answer. The only question this morning, the only question this morning is whether or not you will allow Jesus to be Jesus for you. Now that doesn't that doesn't give you the power of him being Jesus. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. What I'm suggesting, what I'm what I'm advocating this morning, is that you don't get to choose who Jesus is. He is Jesus. You don't get to decide if he's the Messiah. You don't get to debate and and discuss and vote for quorum. You don't get to do any of that. The only question is whether or not you will let him be Lord, Savior for you. That's your choice. But in the sense of that, you don't get to decide whether he is God, he is. Whether he's Emmanuel, he is. Whether he can do what he says he can do because he does. The question for you, this is the question, is whether or not you will let Jesus be Jesus for you. And what he's doing in these two episodes, these two stories, their similarities, that's why I put them together. He's going to deal first with the leper and then the paralytic, and we're gonna we're gonna walk through this, but I love the way he does it. So follow along with me. Uh Luke chapter 5, verse 12. While he while he was there's the today, while he was in the midst of uh as he goes, while he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored him, saying, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. I need to I need to say a couple of things real quick before we jump into this. In that culture, in that country, in that context, to have leprosy, the skin disease, that was to be an outcast. It was to be it was to be rejected, it was to be um sanctioned, it was to be thrown out. If you were a leper, you were commanded by the law to to hide, cover your face, to stay a distance from other people, to yell out unclean, unclean. This was this was probably the best example in my mind, limited as it is, of what it means to be socially uh a piranha, to be outside, to be looking in, never able to really join, to wonder what it is to be included, to be loved, to be connected, to be a part of something. And this leper, he comes to Jesus, he sees Jesus, and if there and Luke, Dr. Luke is very clever uh uh clear about this. The man is covered. This is not a scab, this is not a pimple, this is a body, whole thing going on. He sees Jesus and he falls at Jesus' feet and he says, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. I believe that the reason that Luke is drawing out the leper, because there were many lepers, the reason that Luke is drawing out the leper, because there are many other examples in scripture of Jesus healing. But the reason Luke is drawing out the leper in this story is to show us something that maybe we would miss if we went over too quickly. I think he's talking about submission to the will of God. If you're following along your notes, submission to the will of God. And let me tell you what I mean. Look at the way the leper speaks to Jesus. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. Lord, if you're able, please. Stay on verse 11 verse 12. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. Lord, you're God. Lord, you're God. Just in case just in case I'm not clear. Lord, you are God. You don't come in front of a sovereign Lord and say, if you are able. I know your grace may not be enough. He is enough. He is God. The only question this leper had was not whether or not he could, but if he would. And the reason he would or would not was not because of a limit of Jesus' power, but it all contained, it all revolved around the will of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you have a Savior who is able to give you new life and is able to do anything and everything that he desires to do. But I guarantee you, take it to the bank. Bet on this. He will not, he will not go against his will just because you have a different idea, just because you want something other than what he wants. When the scripture talks about pleasing God, he's very clear. You don't get to start with I myself, you start with our Father who art in heaven. Thy will be done, thy kingdom come. Holy be your name. And when he's doing this, the leopard does this beautifully. This act of submission. Lord, I know you've got the power. And matter of fact, he's got the power right now, this very second, to heal anything and everything in your world. He could make you perfect in every fashion right now. There is no question about that. He created you in the old father kind of vernacular. I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it. So, but it's that whole idea. He's got all of it. That's not the issue. Many times our faith is limited upon our expectations, our understandings of God. And this leper does this beautifully. He says, I'm going to submit to your will. I know you can, but if you do, great. But if you don't, you're still God. If we die in the fire, we die in the fire. But we're not going to bow.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

If the storm continues, it's going to continue. But you're still God. If I perish, I perish. I'll praise him.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Not because of what he gives me, but because of who he is. Lord, I know who you are. See, sometimes we come to our Savior, Lord help us, with our hand out like a beggar instead of a co-op a co-heir, uh, instead of a child of the son, of the king. Okay, so he comes to him. Jesus sees him, verse 13, and Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher, the Messiah, risks being unclean by stretching out his hand and touches the leper. Oh, that doesn't bother Jesus at all. Jesus doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, literally. He says, I am willing to be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy leopard. Can you imagine? There, there's no there's no there's no margin here. There's no hedging. There's no there's no saying, well, maybe he just got better. Maybe, maybe he just he took the right medicine over the days to come. Immediately, everything that was the problem is gone. Immediately he is cleansed. Immediately, his body doesn't look like the body he's been living with for so long and causing so much grief in his life. Now he is healed. Now he is cleansed. But I want to show you this word when Jesus says it's just one word in the Greek. When he says, be cleansed, the word is catharitzo. And the reason I'm bringing this up, because I honestly, I'm not a Greek scholar. Um I I could make so many bad jokes about that. But anyway, I just want to show you this is the word that we transliterate the K and the alpha and the theta, catharitzo. It may sound similar because we get the word catharsis, we get the word cathartic, where everything is just released, everything is purged, everything is cleansed. And when Jesus is saying that, he's saying, You're clean. You're good. You came to me dirty, you're walking away clean. The passage continues in verse 14, he ordered him to tell no one, which is curious, but I like the way he's doing this. He says, But go and show yourselves to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Now, just for context, what that means according to the Levitical law is that the leper, the previous leper, the leper who used to be the leper, the leper who was otherwise known as a leper, who's no longer a leper, this guy, he goes back to the priest, and he has to stay there a week, and day after day after day, he has to go to the priest, and the priest has to look, and the priest has to declare, You are still clean, you are still clean, you are still clean, broken record, you are still clean. And you know, you know the priest is gonna ask, How? He continues. The news about him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. His ministry is increasing. Verse 16, Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. I love the way Luke puts these these passages together because what he's going to do later, he's gonna bring that to culmination in terms of Jesus also being submissive to the will of God. How he also is involved in seeking God's will and doing it God's way. So then we continue. We move from the leper to the paralytic. In verse 17, Matthew, uh, Luke chapter 5, verse 17, he says, one day he was teaching. There's the one day again. Today, in your healing, in your hearing, this has been fulfilled. One day he was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there. Now catch this. They came from everywhere, come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, everywhere. And the power of the Lord was present for Jesus to perform the healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went on the roof and led him down through the tiles with his stretcher into the middle of the crowd. In front of Jesus. Isn't it beautiful? So you have the leper first, who was unclean, and now you have the paralytic who is just as isolated, who is just as helpless, who is just as dependent. He is not able to participate in the temple. He's not able to do what others are able to do who are full bodied. And now he has friends who bring them, bring him to Jesus. I love the imagery here, but we're still talking about the same thing. We're talking about a God who is sovereign, who has a choice. Our job, our responsibility is to come to his feet, is to pray, to intercede, to petition, to praise the thanksgiving, and to let God be God and never negate, never dismiss, never diminish his sovereignty, his love, his wisdom, who he is, and what he is able to do in the midst of the praise, keep praising him. But what I love about this is in addition to the submission to the will of God, there is also this transparent sacrifice for the work of God. I'm sorry I had the alliterations of the Baptist working in me when I was putting this together. I just couldn't help myself. I'm so sorry. But the sacrifice for the work of God, it's uncomfortable. It means something. It takes some effort. You see, if you expect if you expect your relationship with Jesus Christ to be one of let go and let God, then you're reading the wrong Bible. When we talk about our our our long journey in the right direction, uh, when we talk about obedience, going as we're called to be obedient day after day into seeking his face, when we talk about wanting to be uh progressively growing in likeness and holiness with God, it isn't it isn't about just doing your own thing and then checking in with Jesus every once in a while. It means that you and I have to make a conscious decision day after day after day, we're going to get to this in a few chapters, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him day after day. It means that you and I have to give up so that we can get, so that we have to exchange what is temporary for eternal, what is seen for what is unseen, for what is of temporary value for what is eternal value. It means you're gonna have to get your hands dirty too. It means you're gonna have to actually pick up somebody on a stretcher. And I don't know about your back, but not all backs can make that back, back. Back, back, back, back. Anyway, you can't all do that without it hurting. And as you're doing that, as you're picking up the stretcher and as you're making your way through the crowd, and as you're spending the time and the energy emotional as well as physical, as you're going through the motions of sacrificing for the work of God, you're involved in something, and it means something because it costs something. See, if it doesn't cost anything, is it really, is it really a sacrifice? Is it really an offering? Is it really worship? Is it is it is it like when David wanted to to to to sacrifice, build the altar, and he went to the owner of the land and the owner was gonna give it to him, and he said, No, no, I can't give to God something that cost me nothing. This isn't tit for tat. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that that God's gonna give you 20 cents and you have to give him 20 cents back. I'm not saying you have to keep a record, a tally in your head and make sure that the the the ledger is is even and the debts equal the credits and the credits equal the debt. I'm not saying that. What I'm suggesting, what I'm what I'm preaching, is that you serve a sovereign God who deserves all of you. And sometimes you are so crippled, so defaced and deformed that you can't even get out of bed. And you gotta do something, you gotta give for his work to be done. Notice how he responds in in verse 20, seeing their faith, seeing their faith. So the four who were carrying the stretcher as well as the paralytic himself. And he says, Friend, your sins are forgiven you. I think I think part of what we're we're struggling with, what I'm struggling with, and what we as a church and as a congregation, as a culture, as a country, as a world, what we are struggling with is we're not really sure what our problem is. I I think I think we deal with symptoms really well. Your head hurts, your knee aches, uh, you've got a relative who's just not doing things the way you want them to do it, or whatever. And so you think to yourself, if this would just get fixed, then everything would be great. If I could just have this much money in the bank account, if I could just achieve this educational goal, if I could just do this or do that, then everything is going to be great, and all my problems are gonna be solved. You're not reading the scripture correctly. There is no after so what? Okay, let me tell you what I mean. You go to school, you go to the best school, and you get the best degree. Then what? Well, you get a good job and you make a name for yourself, a reputation. Then what? Well then then you you get married and you have kids, or you don't get married, you don't have kids. Either way, you got everything you want in this world, right? Right. Then what? Well then I guess I'll get older and I'll work more. Okay. Then what? Then I'll build a nest egg and I'll be able to retire from the work that I did most of my adult life. Uh-huh. Then what? Then I'll go to Florida for a few weeks every year. Then what? Then I'll have dinner? Then what? You understand? If you identify your problem as something as temporary as paralysis or leprosy, the very author of creation has the solutions, but we are so short-sighted we don't see the problem for what it really is. And what Jesus does here is he's transitioning from the physical pain and suffering and deformity. He's transitioning to the spiritual pain and suffering and deformity. He's not he's dealing with both, yes. But he's getting to the heart of it. He's helping you and me understand that, yeah, it'd be great if I didn't have to be in this wheelchair. Yeah, it'd be great if I didn't have this disease. Yes, it would be great if I didn't have to go to the doctor every day. But there's something greater. There's something more innate, more fundamental, more in need of healing than just my body. There's something that happens in the Gospel of John. If you'll turn there with me, I'm gonna do this real quick and then I'm gonna bring us back and finish this up. In John chapter 16. Can I show you this? Um you're kind of a captive audience because you're way too polite to just get up and leave, so I'm assuming you're gonna hang in there with me. John 16, verse 7. John 16, verse 7. This is one of the passages where Jesus is explaining, this is his final farewell discourse. He's about to do the prayer in chapter 17. He is explaining the role of the Holy Spirit in our world today. And this is what God does. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, this is God the Spirit, this is what he is doing right here and right now. John chapter 16, verse 7. But if I go, I will send him to you. Speaking of the Holy Spirit. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Now let me just pause there. God is the one who convicts. He is the one who brings things to light to expose, to set forth. He is the one who shows you when you're clean and when you're dirty, when you're right and when you're wrong. It's not my job. It's not your parents' job. The ultimate, the ultimate one, the ultimate voice is the voice of God. And he uses his word, and he comes, and it's like it's like a courtroom, and he is the one, and even now, this very moment, if you have conviction of sin, if you have conviction of righteousness, if you have conviction of judgment, those are coming about because the Spirit of the living God is working in your life right now. That's it. So when we this isn't lip service. When we talk about this is God's work, God's movement, from the from the private declaration of the word of God, biblical counseling to the public proclamation of the word of God, it's always about the Spirit of God working through the Word of God. It's always about God working through his word. Always. So here he is, and he's saying in verse verse 8, he's saying, he's going to come to the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. In verse 9, concerning sin, it's like in a trial. He's saying, I'm going to come up before you and I'm going to show you because you do not believe in me, and because of your lack of faith, because of your not understanding the guilt that you're under, he is going to show you the sin in your life, the sin in your worry. And then he's going to go even further, and he's going to say, in verse 10, concerning righteousness, because this is the standard. This is what God has called us to do. This is who he is concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. So it's like in a courtroom, you stand before the judge, and he says, here's the accusation against you. Here is the sin, anything you think, say, or do that breaks the holy will of God. As you're doing that, believing that, seeing that, he is going to hold you in contempt because you are not living up to the standard of the righteousness that Jesus Christ provides for us. So this is just another way of saying we need the gospel. We need Jesus to be our righteousness. And then in verse 11, he says, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. That there will be a verdict, there will be a day where we will all stand before God's judgment, where we will be held accountable. I gotta tell you, vast majority do not believe this. Vast majority live in such a way they think it's all about here and now. Just get out of life, what I can get out of right here. Just look out for number one. Don't worry about anything else. When you die, you're dead. There's just silence and blackness and darkness and nothingness, whatever. But the Spirit of Living God very well could be speaking to you right now. I love this. And he could be telling you that this is what I said. This is what Jesus said. And Jesus says that when he says a sin is a sin, it's sin. And when he is righteous, he is righteous, and there will be accountability, judgment for what he brings to life, what he exposes, what he sets forth. And so what Jesus is doing in the parable, and not the parable, but in this episode in Luke chapter 5, he's transitioning from leprosy and paralysis, and he's saying, I'm going to show you the heart of the matter. I'm going to show you the real problem is the sin in your life. And the thing that we need to be cleansed of more than a physical need is the spiritual need for salvation. So let's let's finish the passage in verse 21. Luke chapter 5, verse 21. The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who could forgive sins but God alone? But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, say to say your sins have been forgiven you, or to say, get up and walk. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home. Now hear me clearly, please. What Jesus is doing here is he is going from the greater to the lesser. And he's saying, This is piddly stuff. Leprosy, paralysis, blindness. He he talked about setting the captives free and what he did in Luke chapter 4, quoting Isaiah, all the things that he was going to do, the debtor, the year of the Lord's freedom, all of that. He's saying, I'm going to be doing this. But you understand, this is the small thing. Let me tell you about the great thing. The great thing that gives you not just life now, but for eternity. The great thing that gives you forgiveness, not just not just an understanding of a temporary reprieve where you don't feel bad for a little bit, but then you die again. I'm going to give you life forever and ever and ever. And this forgiveness, this real issue, this real problem, this is what Jesus is going to provide for us, this salvation by the word of God. This is the third and final blanks. Where Jesus says, This is what I'm going to be about. This is what I am going to give you. The will of God that all be saved, the work of God cleansing both the outer man and the inner man. The outer man, blind, hungry, thirsty, lame, dirty, unclean, corruption, defilement. Guess what? The inner man, blind, hungry, thirsty, lame, dirty, unclean, defilement. The same issues. The difference, the shame that the leper and the paralytic had, needing health, needing to be whole. The shame that you and I have. So I'm gonna pause. And I'm gonna I'm gonna give you really good news. It is the divine prerogative to heal, to forgive sin.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

You don't get to tell God what to do. But he gives us a promise that if we ask, we receive.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

I think it's very possible this morning, Father's Day of all days, that you could have some pretty rough skeletons going on in your closet right now. And others may not know, but you know God does. Others may not be aware, they they may know more than you think that you do they do, but but you know that you've got some serious dirt, some serious uncleanliness, some serious lack of righteousness that's standing in judgment, and you are helpless to do anything about it. Oh, this is good. Luke chapter 5, verse 25. Immediately he got up before them, the one who was paralyzed, picked up what he had been lying on, and he went home glorifying God. They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God. They did it as well. And they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen remarkable things today. There's the today again. I'm gonna finish with two passages. I'm gonna be brief because I want to give you an opportunity this morning to respond as the Lord leads. First and 1 John chapter 5. If you'll turn there with me, please. This is what he says, and it is true. This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? See, if you don't believe that, the conversation has to be finished. Because I can't done my job. But the Spirit of God can convict you. First, the fact that if you are walking in darkness and realizing that you don't belong there, as a child of God, you need to walk in the light, and realizing that the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. All sin. And then go with me to the passage we read earlier in the service, Psalm 51. David writing after his adultery and murder, after Nathan came to him and pointed in his face and said, You are the man. Psalm 51, be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only I have sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak, and blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in a sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom. Purify me with this, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, blot out all my iniquities, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Here's your responsibility. You have to believe this. And then as the Spirit of God gives you the faith to be able to believe that He could actually cleanse you from the sin, then you have to repent. You have to come and say, Lord, I confess I agree with what you're telling me, that I see what I'm doing, I see what's happening, I see the sin of omission or commission, I see how it's hurting, I see how it's killing, I see how it's destroying me. You've got to make this right. But I it's just it's just a mess. But if you come and you believe, what often happens, and I'll finish with this, what often happens in our struggle with sin as believers in Jesus Christ, I'm not even talking to those of you who don't know Jesus. If you know Jesus, don't know Jesus. I'd love to introduce you. We've got people who want to introduce you. You need to know this because this is salvation. But for those of us who do know and who have struggled with sin over the years, as you as you engage with your Savior and you try to do the right thing, and then you fall and you get up and you fall again, and you get up and you fall again. One of the things that happens is a pattern, it goes against the scriptural mandate, it goes against what we're supposed to be doing, but we get we get tied into this circle and this declining um uh slippery slope. Here's what happens you sin, you feel guilty, you ask forgiveness of that sin, and then you just stay in your guilt. You just wallow. It's like a baby with a dirty diaper and say, This is comfortable, I'm good. And all you think about is your sin.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

All you dwell on is your sin. All you focus on is your sin. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

You can cathartic, you can release. All you do is stay right there. And we we hinder the work of God because we don't have the faith to say, Lord, I believe according to your word, I confessed my sin, and you have forgiven me of that sin, as far as the east is from the west. And because you've done that, now Lord, I I need your grace, I need your grace to be made new. Create in me a clean heart so that I don't repeat this again. And you might, you might not. But the issue isn't your perfection, it's his. The issue isn't you being perfect, it's you his providing as God, as creator, as Lord, in your walk with him. See, the beautiful thing about stories, events, episodes like Luke chapter 5 is that I could take a consensus, a poll right now, right here, and I could ask every one of us anybody here ever been unclean? And only the truthful would say yes. Those who say they've never been unclean are deceived.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

And then I would ask, why stay that way?

SPEAKER_02 43:31

Why why stay dirty? When the blood of Jesus purifies you from every sin, why remain that way? What we're gonna do just for a few moments this morning is we're gonna transition. I'm gonna ask you if you'd stand with me, please. We're not dismissing yet. We've got a few moments before we're leaving. But if you would stand with me, please. I'm gonna lead us in a word of prayer. And I'm gonna ask some of our pastors. Pastor actually I only got one is actually in town. I'm gonna ask my pastor, other pastor, and some of the deacons to come forward and be here at the altar if anyone wants to pray with them. If you want to come to the altar and you want to spend time on your own, you're more than welcome to do that. If you want to pray where you are, you're more than welcome to do that. This is not a location geography thing, this is a heart thing. I'm gonna leave a word of prayer. As I'm leading in that prayer, I'm just gonna I'm gonna give us some time to respond to our savor. And it may be that you need you need to talk to somebody, you need to pray with somebody. We're here. Then after I pray, I'm gonna ask for just a few moments for you this is right where you are to give opportunity for people to respond as the music is playing. We can pray with it, please. Or thank you so much for who you are. And you promised us you were willing. And right now we have some very dirty heart that we really need to be clear. We need to be relieved. I pray for that burden to be lifted, for the neck to be removed, to roll down the hill to the ground. I pray that right now that there'd be a faith again. Forgive. I confess my friends, you're faithful and righteous to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. Pray, Lord, for our response over the next few moments, Lord. Let us ask and let us receive. Because you are a good, good Father. In Christ's name we pray.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

As you're standing here, I'm gonna ask you just out of reverence. If you don't have a decision to make, just please stay where you are. Pray for the people around you. I know that we need to deal with this. I know we have hearts that need confession and repentance and remorse and regeneration. We're just gonna give it a few moments, and then Pastor Evan will come and close this. But right now, as the music plays, please spend some time communion with your Lord.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

We are broken and we are having you can make it mind us in this morning. Not with the mindset of the can be coming. As we walk out of here, Lord, we help these truths and we've heard to sink deep into our hearts. Help us to meditate on them, to chew them over in our mind, to become realities and truths in our heart.