WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.520 Matthew chapter 9. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:05.759 Let me read you our exchange here. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.080 Matthew 9, verse 1. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.560 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over and came to his own city. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.280 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:31.359 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:38.000 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blaspheming. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:44.079 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:50.479 For which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and walk. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:01:03.039 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, Rise, pick up your bed, and go home. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:09.840 And when he arose and went home, the crowd saw it, and they were afraid. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:16.480 And they glorified God who had given such authority to men. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:28.319 This miracle bridges the gap between the Sermon on the Mount and the Great Commission at the end of Matthew's gospel. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:30.079 And let me explain what I mean by that. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:35.680 And what we just read here, this miracle has a key word that's repeated in it, and the word is authority. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.200 This word is authority. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.319 It's what the scribes marveled at. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:43.760 Who is this person who thinks he has the authority to forgive sins? 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:56.640 It's what Jesus claims, so that he has demonstrated that he has that authority, and it's what the crowd is marveling at at the end of verse 8, that somebody somewhere has the authority to forgive sins. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:00.400 Now the word authority is a very key word in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:15.520 If you remember at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the most world-changing, life-altering sermon ever preached, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, it closes with the crowd astonished because of the authority of Jesus. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.280 They said, We've never seen anybody with this kind of authority. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:25.439 They didn't comment on his, you know, his colorful illustrations, although he had them in the sermon. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:35.039 They didn't comment on really even the way he delivered it, although it must have been impressive because thousands of people heard it outdoors in a place with no amplification. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:42.000 No, what they were struck with at the end of it is the kind of authority it took to say the things he said in that sermon. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.759 Remember, he turned the world upside down. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:48.960 He said, You've heard the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders say this, that, and the other thing about Moses. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:50.879 I'm telling you, they are all wrong. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:52.639 I mean, that's the Sermon on the Mount. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.199 They were they were gobsmacked about it. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:00.479 They didn't know how to comprehend that somebody could get away with saying those kind of things. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:07.680 And then you see the word authority again in Jesus' ministry the week before he dies. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.240 He cleanses out the temple. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:18.719 And the chief priests corner him after he does this, and they demand to know on whose authority do you do this? 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.960 And Jesus responds with a riddle to them. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:32.080 He says, I'll tell you if you tell me by what authority John the Baptist did his baptism, which you think that's out of left fields. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.960 I mean, John's been dead for a while by that point. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:37.360 And they couldn't answer that. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:39.120 And they conspired amongst themselves. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:44.479 They said, if we say that John did his ministry by the authority of God, they'll want to know why we didn't believe him. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:53.840 And if they say, if we say he did his authority by, or his ministry by the authority of man, they'll they'll they'll be mad at us because they love John and so they couldn't answer the question. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.879 So Jesus says, fine, you don't get to know my own authority. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:58.159 Take that. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:06.879 And then, of course, Matthew ends his gospel with probably the most famous verse in his gospel. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:16.000 He says, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, so go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:34.240 Notice how the gospel of Matthew then hinges together the Sermon on the Mount on the front of it, where Jesus demonstrates his world-changing, life-altering authority, and his authority at the end of it, where he demonstrates that he has the authority to send his disciples into the world, and he has authority to send us in the world. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:37.199 In fact, in my mind, right now is coming Matthew 10. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:44.720 In Matthew 10, if you remember, Jesus sends his disciples into the world, and he tells them, I'm giving you authority. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.040 In fact, that's what it says in Matthew 10, verse 1. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.879 He called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.439 And so notice how this gospel is fitting together. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:05.439 There's the authority that Jesus has that he demonstrates in his preaching, and then the authority at the end of the gospel, which he even delegates to us, imagine that, to go into the world preaching the gospel. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.079 But there's a hole in that argument. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:09.600 There's a logical hole there. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:12.959 It's like an if a then C thing, and we're missing B. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:25.600 If Jesus has this kind of world-changing, life-altering authority, and how does it follow that we then are supposed to go into the world with that message? 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:27.759 What's the missing part? 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:33.519 Why does Jesus' authority give us something compelling to share with other people? 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:47.759 What is so incredible about the authority of Jesus, as exalted and as high as it is, that compels us to be witnesses to our neighbors, that compels us to be evangelists, as the Gospel of Matthew is arguing us to be. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:51.680 And that is where this miracle in Matthew 9 fits in. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:54.160 I'm telling you, this is a key miracle. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:00.800 This miracle is kind of the joint on which the first half of Matthew works into the second half of Matthew. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:02.720 It's the transition here. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.040 And let me explain what I mean by that. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:11.360 All of the miracles in Matthew 8, which we looked at in the spring or whatever that last season was before summer, spring, right? 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:12.000 It happened. 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:13.680 I remember it clearly. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.680 We went through Matthew 8 then. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:23.759 All of those miracles, if you remember, I said every week were designed to show that Jesus had the authority to preach the Sermon on the Mount. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:31.360 That he had the authority to tell you, don't listen to the Pharisees, don't listen to the Jewish religious leaders, set them aside. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.439 He has the authority to upend them, to uproot that whole system. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:38.800 And all those miracles in Matthew 8 established that. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.120 We talked about how they fulfilled the Old Testament promises of the Messiah. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:56.399 The Messiah would come and cause the lame to walk, that the Messiah would come and heal people, the Messiah would have dominion over the weather and over the storms and over the demons and all of those things. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:57.839 And Jesus did all of that. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:05.360 He even fulfilled the song of the Savior from Isaiah, where he takes our sicknesses on himself as he heals Peter's mother-in-law. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:12.079 And these miraculous things happen in Matthew 8 to demonstrate that he is the Savior and He has that authority. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.920 But now there's a bit of a change coming. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:30.720 And from Matthew 9 and 10, it's going to be not just about the authority of Jesus to demonstrate he is who he says he is, but it's going to be about particularly the authority of Jesus to do one thing. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:46.639 And that one thing is not make the blind see, not make the lame walk, not bring the dead back to life, although all that's going to happen, the one thing that's going to dominate the next few chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, simple. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:51.040 That Jesus has the authority to forgive sins. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.319 That's going to be the driving force. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:56.879 That's the hinge on this. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.120 And if you think about it, it makes sense. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:05.199 If Jesus has all this miraculous authority, but he cannot forgive sins, how does that authority then transfer to us? 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.279 What does that authority mean to us? 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.680 Yes, he can walk on water, but that doesn't mean we can follow him. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:13.439 Just ask Peter. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.319 Yes, he can do these outrageous things. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:23.759 That means maybe we should pray to him and ask him for help and plead with him for our sick friends and our loved ones. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:24.560 Yes. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:30.000 But that's not the kind of authority that transfers down to us. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:41.279 No, the message of Matthew is that Jesus has a different category of authority than simply walking on water and healing people and raising the dead. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:47.840 Particularly, he has the authority to forgive sins, which has never been claimed by any other prophet ever. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:55.440 There's scores of verses in the Old Testament that make it clear only God can forgive sin. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.159 Only God can forgive sin. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:04.799 If you were to, let's say, punch the person next to you. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:05.600 No, don't know. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:06.399 I have to. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:10.799 Sometimes I talk to the high school and junior high kids, I have to make that point clear. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.320 Don't actually punch the person next to you, but pretend that you did. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.440 And the person is angry with you. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:19.919 And then I step in and say, whoa, whoa, it's okay. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:21.679 You guys are forgiven. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:24.960 Doesn't make a lot of sense. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.600 Because I'm not the one that was punched. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:32.159 Were I the one that was punched, then I could say, oh no, I don't want to press charges. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.000 I forgive my assailant. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.480 But I can't do that on behalf of somebody else. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:46.480 If your house is burglared and the police show up, your neighbor can't intervene and say, it's okay, officer, they don't want to press charges. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:47.840 Who are you? 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:56.399 So what does it mean when Jesus says that he has the authority to forgive sins? 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:00.559 What he's declaring is that all sin is against him. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.600 You understand this with David and Bathsheba? 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.200 That David had sins against Bathsheba. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:09.440 He had sinned against Uriah. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:14.080 He had sinned against his men, his soldiers, by depriving of their leader. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:18.720 He was an adulterer and a murderer and lazy and lustful and lying. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.000 I mean, all of those sins. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:24.399 And he's confronted by the prophet, and David says, I have sinned. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:26.639 And Nathan says, God forgives you. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:28.399 Yahweh forgives you. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.879 And you think, how is that true? 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:36.320 Well, it's true because of one verse tucked in that narrative where David says, I have sinned against the Lord. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.840 And you understand this that all sin is against God. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.600 All sin is against God. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:52.639 And so what Jesus is doing in the Gospel of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, he's telling you that he has authority, the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders can't even imagine. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:11:03.440 And he turns their whole world upside down and tells a nation of religious people, disregard the Jewish leaders, disregard the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, forget all that. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:08.799 They don't know what they're talking about, which itself is an insane amount of authority, and he claims that. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.399 And then he proves that he has that. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:16.559 At the end of the gospel, he says, go into all the world and make disciples, knowing that their sins can be forgiven. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:21.840 They're baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, knowing that his authority has been given to us to do that. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:35.600 This miracle here is kind of the connection between the two, to show you that because he has that world-changing, life-altering authority, he can also tell us that our sins are forgiven. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:41.440 Matthew 8 has shown us that Jesus has the authority to teach God's word because he's from God. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:46.639 That he has authority over demons and the devil, and he does that by demonstrating it, by casting out the demons. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.720 He has authority over the physical world. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:50.559 He has authority over leprosy. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:55.120 Remember, he touches the leper and he doesn't catch leprosy. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.360 The leper catches holiness. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:00.320 He has authority over the Old Testament law. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:07.440 And all of this leads to this exchange in Matthew 9, where Jesus gets back in the boat. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:11.840 We don't know how much time took place between the end of chapter 8 and the start of chapter 9. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:15.600 He went over to the other side where he cast demons out into the pigs. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.679 You remember the pigs launched off? 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:24.320 This is in the Gentile region of the Sea of Galilee over there in that corner down towards Jordan. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:27.679 He crosses back over to where he spent most of his ministry. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:31.919 Again, we don't know how long he was across the lake, but he he goes back over back towards Capernaum. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.480 That's his own city, it says at the end of verse 1. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:38.480 This is where he did most of the miracles in chapter 8. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.200 This is where he healed Peter's mother-in-law in that house there. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:42.960 This is the headquarters of his ministry. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.240 Jesus spent most of his ministry in this house. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:50.159 He's already done miracles in this house. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:51.360 He's back there. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:54.960 Mark fills in so many details that are missing here. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:58.399 Mark lets you know that Jesus had been trying to get away from the crowds at this point. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:03.600 That's why I say we don't know the amount of time that transpired here, because he goes back over and the crowds are just pressing in on him. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.720 They're bringing him the sick and the diseased from all over the place. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:08.080 They're just streaming in. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:09.360 Jesus is trying to teach. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:16.240 So remember, he keeps trying to sneak away so he has enough room to actually teach, like he did on the Sermon on the Mount, and the crowds won't let him. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.360 And so he finally settles in this pattern of teaching in a house. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.120 And you can see why that would be beneficial. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:25.200 Kind of the crowd reaches capacity and you can't get any more people in. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:28.559 Like it's it's you put a big guy in the door, and that's it. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.480 And so that's what he's settled in at. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:32.399 He's now teaching in the house. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:36.720 He also goes across the street to the synagogue, and if you go to Israel, you can walk this. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:42.879 I mean, it would take you one minute to walk from the house that Jesus has been doing these miracles in over to the synagogue where he's been teaching. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.000 They're right next to each other. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:45.039 So that's his pattern. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:52.960 From the house to the synagogue and back again, and kind of the crowd is rotating in and out, and sick people are brought in, and it's just how he's settled into his ministry now. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:14:02.240 Well, and one of those events in verse 2, the word, the phrase in the ESV, behold, it's an exclamatory phrase in the Greek, it just means like, check this out. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:03.679 Get a load of this. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:04.960 This is incredible. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:09.440 Some people brought him a paralytic lying on a bed. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:15.360 And if you know the story, you know that Matthew doesn't focus on the how the some people did it, but Mark does. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.679 Do you remember how the some people did it? 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:24.799 The house was packed, and so they climbed up onto the roof and they dug a hole in the roof. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.879 And a lot of these houses were two stories, and likely this one was. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.360 I mean, you know, this dude Jesus said, prepare the upper room. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:36.960 There's many of these houses have a great room on the top floor with their living quarters, reverse of the United States. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:45.200 Like in the U.S., our you know, our great room kind of thing would be on the ground floor and you know, bedrooms in the top floor, and the Jewish world they'd often flip that. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:50.000 And so Jesus, if they did, if it was two stories, would have been on the second story with a roof above him. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:15:00.240 And these people made it up to the roof, and of course, the roof is thatched with you know sticks and then uh kind of straw over the top of that and mud over the top of that and straw baked down on that, and they would tile it. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:05.200 And sometimes they tile the underside and sometimes the overside, sometimes both, depending how much money they had. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.960 And so uh the houses in Caperna, by the way, have been excavated, some of them with tiles in it. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:12.720 So this is likely the case here. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:16.480 They group gets on the roof because there's no room in the house, remember? 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:22.240 They get this paralytic on the roof, which cannot be easy. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:33.679 The most dangerous thing I do in my life is blow the leaves off of my roof, and I'm hauling the leaf blower up the ladder, and my wife is checking our life insurance policy while I'm doing it. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.360 It's a leaf blower. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:47.279 Could you imagine climbing up onto a two-story roof, lugging a paralytic in his mat with a house packed with people? 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.360 I mean, the whole thing is insane. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.320 That's why Matthew begins with behold in verse 2. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:53.759 You're not gonna believe this. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:07.840 Anyway, they get the dude on the roof, they chiseled a hole in the roof, and just imagine, I mean, they I don't know if they had a stethoscope, but they found where in the room Jesus was teaching, and they get right above him, and Jesus is teaching, and you can hear them on the roof. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:09.360 There are people on this roof you could hear it. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:18.639 I'm certain on that house you could hear people on the roof moving around up there, and then you hear the tiles getting pulled off. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:26.480 I don't know if they had power saws, but and they start chiseling a hole in the roof. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:33.759 Not just any kind of hole, a hole big enough to lower a hospital bed down. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:36.960 I imagine Jesus kept teaching too. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:38.080 That's in my mind. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.799 I imagine he kept teaching, just ignoring it. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.519 Sand starts falling, straw starts falling, daylight comes in. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:47.679 I bet he kept teaching even then. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.039 But then when the bed starts to come down, I bet he stopped at that point. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:52.159 Like, whoa. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.080 And they lower the bed down in front of them. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.639 And that's where Matthew picks this back up again. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:06.079 When Jesus saw their faith, there is third person plural, it's the faith of the friends. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:08.319 And so you really do have to wonder. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:14.160 The Bible doesn't fill in more of the details, but you really do have to wonder what is going on with these five people. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.960 You know, I'm the four friends and the paralytic. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.079 I mean, did the paralytic want to go to Jesus? 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.680 It seems that way because Jesus is going to see his faith in a second. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.279 Uh, did he want Jesus? 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.119 Did he think that Jesus could help him? 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.000 Did the friends know that Jesus was healing everybody? 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:30.799 Which seems likely. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:34.559 I mean, word would have traveled that illness is being driven out of Palestine at this point. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:38.480 I mean, people are bringing the sick from everywhere over to Jesus. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:44.559 So maybe they brought him and they thought, man, if he can just see Jesus. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:47.359 They get there and the house is packed, too crowded to get in. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.279 They lug this guy all the way out there. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:50.319 They're not going to give up. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:54.480 I mean, but Jesus looks at them and he sees their faith. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.079 It's even funny to picture Jesus looking at them because where are they? 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:11.599 So Jesus looks at them, sees their faith, then looks back at the paralytic, and he says, Take heart, my son. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:16.559 Your sins are forgiven. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:21.440 Now this is an incredible thing to say. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.400 It's incredible for all the reasons I mentioned earlier. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.400 Who can forgive sins except God? 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.720 It's also incredible because it's not what you were expecting to hear. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:37.440 They just lowered the guy through the roof, not because he was a sinner, but because he's a paralytic. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:42.799 So you are expecting Jesus to follow the same script he has followed before. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:47.440 He hugs the leper, he tells the centurion, I can heal your servant from a distance. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:48.880 That's what you're expecting. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:53.759 The guy comes running down the hills from the graves and he cast the demons out of him. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.319 Jesus is the problem solver, so to speak. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:57.759 That's what you're expecting. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.559 I see your faith, I see you're paralyzed. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:01.680 One plus one. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.279 Walk, I forgive you, and you can walk away with your mat. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.440 You're expecting it to go that way. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.759 But he doesn't go that way. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:10.799 He leaves the script. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:12.880 That's why I'm saying this miracle is so key. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:20.319 It's his transition from all the healing in chapter 8 into all the forgiveness of sins that's going to carry you through the rest of the gospel. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.480 Because here Jesus flips it. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:29.039 And he says, Because of your faith, your sins are forgiven. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.680 Now I think that this man would be acutely aware of his sin. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:38.079 He's living in a world where if you have problems, it's because you have sin. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:40.480 If you're blind, it's because you're a sinner. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.559 And maybe you aren't the one who sinned. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:43.839 Maybe it was your parents who sinned. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:47.599 Or if you're childless, it's because the Lord isn't showing you favor. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:48.960 Probably because you sinned. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:51.200 If your wife died, well, you must have really sinned. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.960 If your kids died, you're a sinner. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.640 That's this world's attitude. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.960 You have problems because you have sin. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:00.079 It's a total works righteousness kind of system. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:05.039 And so this man would have known his whole life, ever since he was paralyzed. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:06.319 We don't know if he was born this way. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:12.720 It's a the word, the Greek word there, it implies some kind of illness that has deprived him of his motor skills. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:15.359 So maybe he acquired this disability through his life. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.160 We don't know. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.039 But he would have been constantly reminded of his sin. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:22.559 People would have looked at him and thought, not, oh, that poor guy, he can't walk. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.000 They would have looked at him and said, Oh, that guy's sin must be awful. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:28.720 That's how he would have lived his life. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:33.680 And so to hear the words of Jesus, your sins are forgiven. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:39.680 While at first it sounds like Jesus is fighting the wrong illness here, he's the doctor that's misdiagnosed the problem. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:44.000 You know that in this guy's heart that would have been a relief. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.759 Jesus knows his sin. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:50.799 Jesus even personalizes it. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:52.079 Your sins. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:53.519 It's not general. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:56.319 It's not the sins in your life. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:02.880 It's not, oh, we've all made mistakes, we've all had mess ups and whatever, all the euphemisms we use for sin. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:04.240 Jesus doesn't use any of those. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:05.759 He doesn't generalize it. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:09.599 He says, no, your personal, your particular sins. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:11.440 They belong to you. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:12.160 They are yours. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:13.359 He is a sinner. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:15.279 And they are forgiven. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.400 And you can say it this way. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:22.720 Jesus, in doing this, meets this man's greatest need. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.880 And it is worth pausing right here. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:32.160 And you asking yourself if you believe that is true. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:45.440 Do you believe that this paralyzed person lowered to the roof, that his greatest needs are for his sins to be forgiven? 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.079 And you can ask yourself, you can diagnose that this way. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:22:09.440 You can ask yourself, what if I have somebody who is ill If I have a friend or a loved one who's dying of cancer and who's not a believer, what is his greatest need? 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:12.640 What do you believe his greatest need is? 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.559 How do you pray for him? 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:21.680 Jesus identifies here this man's greatest need is having his sins forgiven. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:24.880 This doesn't mean that you don't pray for somebody's physical healing. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.960 Of course you do, and of course God does heal people with physical ailments. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:33.279 He heals people who are sick and dying through the gospel of Matthew. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:37.839 He heals some with faith, he heals some without faith, he heals some that you don't know about their faith. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:43.920 So the New Testament doesn't say in order for your sins or in order for your illness to be healed, you have to have faith in Christ. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.160 Jesus heals people that don't have faith in him. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:52.160 But it is worth asking yourself, what do you think the person's greatest need is? 00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:01.839 And we often tell ourselves, we pray, you have a friend who's dying, and we pray, Lord, if you heal them, then they would know your power and then they would trust in you for forgiveness. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:04.319 And don't you pray that way sometimes? 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:09.920 But I don't know if I've ever seen a prayer answered that way. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:17.519 I'm sure there has been in the world people that have had their cancer miraculously taken away by God and then they're converted to faith as a result of it. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:18.480 I'm sure that's happened. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.400 But I've just never encountered it. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:27.680 I've seen way more people come to faith through cancer than come to faith because their cancer was taken from them. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:34.000 I've seen way more people come to faith because of suffering in their life than having their suffering removed. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:42.000 It seems that often suffering and illness is the means that God uses to bring somebody to faith more than miraculously healing them. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.599 Now pray for people's healing. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:47.200 You should pray for people's healing. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:54.880 I mean, if you love them, you you don't want them to suffer, and you know a God who does hear prayers, and so it is it is great to pray for people's healing. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:57.200 I would encourage you to do that. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.839 Weep with those who weep, suffer with those who suffer, take on their burdens on yourself. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.839 But at the same time, you can't deceive yourself. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.960 You have to remind yourself what is that person's greatest need. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:15.920 It is not the cancer to leave, their greatest need is for their sins to be forgiven. 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:18.559 And that's what Jesus does here. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:26.400 The scribes then in verse 3, the scribes, they're gonna speak. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:28.480 And we've seen them before in Matthew's gospel. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:34.000 We meet them at the beginning of Matthew's gospel when the wise men come and want to know where the Savior is born. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:37.599 Herod consults the scribes and they say, Oh, in Bethlehem. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:45.039 We see them again in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said, Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes, there's no hope for salvation for you. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:51.359 At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the crowd is astonished because Jesus teaches with authority, unlike the scribes. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:57.119 But we have not really had an encounter with the scribes yet in Jesus' ministry. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:01.200 This is Jesus' first encounter with the scribes in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:06.319 He's rebuked them already in the Sermon on the Mount, but this is where they it's almost like they meet for the first time. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:09.839 And here is what they say. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.759 They say to themselves, this is not an out loud conversation. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:15.599 This is in their hearts. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.200 They say, This man is blaspheming. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.839 That's what's going on in their thoughts. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:26.319 All the scribes in the room, and the room has several scribes, they probably have the best seats in the house. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:28.400 Typical scribe behavior. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:33.599 And in their heart they go, This man is blaspheming by forgiving sins. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:34.880 Because they're right. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:35.680 They're right. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:36.960 Only God can forgive sins. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:39.039 So there, I'm in there, they're halfway there. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:43.359 But Jesus, and I love this line, knowing their thoughts. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.519 Doesn't that make you smile? 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:48.400 They say only God can forgive sins. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.160 Alright, who can read thoughts? 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:52.319 Can only God read thoughts? 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.079 Because Jesus is doing it right now. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:58.799 Jesus reads their mail without opening the envelope. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:02.640 And he rebukes them. 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:04.960 He says, Hey, I know what you're thinking. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:08.400 I just love it when Jesus answers questions that weren't asked out loud. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:10.160 Rebuke secret thoughts, I love it. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:11.920 And you should take confidence in that. 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:17.599 You know, my kids will ask me, how do we know God hears our prayers when we were just, you know, on our bunk bed? 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:20.880 Geneva wants to know, how can God hear prayers from the bottom bunk? 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:25.920 God can hear prayers, you don't even say out loud. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:27.680 He does here. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:34.559 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:36.880 Jesus straight up rebukes them. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:39.359 Why do you think evil in your hearts? 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:44.480 What they're thinking, how they're acting, is indeed evil. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:46.559 It's evil. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:49.440 And the Lord rebukes them. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:51.359 He rebukes them. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:54.720 Which is it easier to say? 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:59.680 Your sins are forgiven, or to say rise and walk? 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:01.599 That is a great question. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:03.599 Which is easier to say? 00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:05.599 You can count off the number of syllables. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:07.920 In English, one is one syllable longer than the other. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:12.160 So vocally, like the stress on your vocal cords would be the same for both of them. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:13.119 If that's what they mean. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:14.960 Like which is actually physically easier to say? 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:16.640 They're both about the same. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.519 I don't think that's what they meant, though. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:23.279 Which is easier to say? 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:25.359 It's one of those Jesus riddles. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:29.359 You can tell someone, take up your mat and walk. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:34.880 And if you don't have the authority to make them walk, you'll be exposed as a liar immediately, right? 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.039 The guy can't walk. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:48.319 You could tell someone your sins are forgiven, and if you don't have the authority to forgive sins, it's not going to be evident immediately that you're lying. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:53.839 It'll take time, that person will have to die and stand before God for judgment before they figure out you're a liar. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:00.880 So, in that sense, it's easier to say your sins are forgiven than to take up your mountain walk because you won't be found out right now. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:12.480 But if you do have the authority, clearly, if you do have the authority, it's easier to heal someone from walking problems than it is to forgive their sins. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.319 Because sins are against God. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:16.400 Prophets have healed people before. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.039 So it's a very complex question. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:26.559 It seems simple on the surface, which is easier to do, but it is a question loaded with theological implications. 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:33.200 It just reminds me at the end of his ministry when he asked the same scribes whose authority did John the Baptist use. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.279 They weren't able to answer that question. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:37.839 There's no way they could answer this question. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:39.599 This is way above their pay grade. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:45.599 They're the scribes and chief priests, but they cannot, this is, they have to go to seminary for this question. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:56.079 Jesus tells them, so that you may know that the Son of Man, and here's this word again, has authority on earth to forgive sins. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:04.240 He said to the paralytic, Rise, pick up your bed, and go home. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:08.720 Well, this outs Jesus is the Savior, doesn't it? 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:15.200 The scribes are not able to tell somebody they can pick up their mountain walk, but you know what else the scribes can't do? 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:16.880