 That said, we're in chapter 1. We're going to look at verses 40 through 45 Then pick up at chapter 2. In fact, this is really going to be like two different studies that I compressed into a single one and Seeing that the first surface is always my guinea pig. Here we go beginning at verse 40 reading to verse 45 Now a lever came to him imploring him kneeling down to him and saying to him if you are willing to You can make me clean Then Jesus moved with compassion stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him I am willing be cleansed as Soon as he had spoken immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed and He strictly warned him and sent him away at once Said to him see that you say nothing to anyone but go your way show yourself to the priest and Offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded as a Testimony to them however, he went out and began to proclaim it freely and To spread the matter so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city But was outside in deserted places and they came to him from every direction So as we begin let me lay a foundation and remind you of something that we've already looked at We've seen that Jesus in his ministry here on earth Well, his ministry can be described by three words by preaching and by teaching and by miracles That's what Matthew told us in his gospel in Matthew 4 23 where Matthew said Jesus went about all Galilee Teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people So he told us that Jesus did these three things. He tells us that Jesus taught Jesus would teach in the synagogues and when he would teach in the synagogues I didn't share this with you so I'll fill this in now. He would teach the people concerning himself and what he had come to do For example Luke tells us that when he was in the synagogue in Nazareth that he stood up to read and He was handed the book or the scroll of Isaiah and he read from it to the people He read in Luke 4 18 through 21 the spirit of the Lord is on me Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners recovery of sight for the blind To set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor Then he rolled up the scroll gave it back to the attendant and sat down The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began by saying to them today This scripture is fulfilled in your hearing So when Jesus would speak and teach in the synagogue, he would point to himself. That's what he did He would he would point to himself as he expounded the scriptures in John 5 39 reading from the amplified Bible He said you search and keep on searching and examining the scriptures Because you think that in them you have eternal life and yet it is those very scriptures that testify about me So when you hear that Jesus would teach in the synagogue He was expounding the scriptures and he was pointing to himself as the scriptures prophesied related to him He also came preaching the kingdom Now that came in conjunction with the teaching because he was calling people according to mark 1 14 and 15 to repentance So we had preached the the scriptures preached the kingdom and finally he came healing all kinds of sickness and disease So part of the purpose of his miracles was to validate his claim that he was Messiah in Acts 10 38 it says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit in power He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him And so he said in John 5 36 Jesus said I have testimony Way dearer than that of john for the works that the father has given me to finish The very works that i'm doing testified that the father has sent me So he came preaching he came teaching and he came working miracles and these works were intended to draw people To faith in him because God had sent him to save them And so mark has already told us that Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases We saw that in verse 34. So in this portion of scripture, he records that Jesus is cleansing a leper Now We're going to see this in just a moment that that this is a very significant miracle because it causes his popularity to explode So many came streaming to him that he could no longer openly enter into the city Now there are other passages that speak to the fact that Jesus healed many lepers And that included that this incident rather is is given more detail because this particular incident is very significant And let me share something with you about leprosy. I'm laying foundations for you So that when you're reading your bible you have some insight into why these things are important In israel leprosy was a symbol of sin It was a type of sin because it began as a small spot But it would progress over time It's a picture of sin Because in at first leprosy is unseen being under the skin. It's under the surface But what began as something insignificant could continue to grow until it took over the body And the result would be in losing body parts fingers and hands Arms toes feet legs the nose the ear could be lost to leprosy And so it's a picture of sin because sin takes over the entire life And spiritual rot is the final result Now leprosy resulted in the loss of feeling The leper often would harm themselves without even knowing it They could step on something and they wouldn't feel it And so sin also numbs us It calluses our hearts to the point we no longer feel shame And we see that in the society that we live in today What at one time was done in secret is now done openly What at one time would be hidden from people is now posted on social media Opinions that we at one time felt were wrong But kept them to ourselves are now posted as opinions and so Sin has a way of of starting small almost well invisibly to the naked eye But eventually it takes over and eventually it rots our entire body Like sin leprosy resulted in isolation because the leper was separated from people A leper could not have community relationships A leper couldn't walk into a room like this They were to be in isolation in the Old Testament In the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament it it gives to us Directions related to leprosy and all and in Leviticus 1345 and 46 that says the leper On whom the sore is his clothes shall be torn his head bare He shall cover his mustache And so would the women and cry Unclean unclean He shall be unclean All the days he has a sore he shall be unclean He is unclean now notice and he shall dwell alone His dwelling shall be outside the camp So he had to proclaim his uncleanness in the event that somebody may be approaching him He had to he had to cover himself exclaimed that he was He was unclean and people would avoid him And he could not have any contact with people During the day of Christ some of the rabbis had become very harsh towards the leper Some said no less than six feet must be kept from a leper and he needs to wear a mask anyway That's interesting isn't it I didn't make that one up And the leper said and it is said some rabbis said 150 feet is not sufficient If there's a strong wind Others threw stones at them while others hid from them When they heard the words unclean The rabbis knew that no prayer no offering and no ritual Could cleanse a leper The law made it clear only God Cleanses lepers And all a rabbi could do was to examine them And declare what had been done by God And in the bible Once again leprosy is a dreaded disease That is a picture of sin You might find this interesting This is shown by the fact that He doesn't ask Jesus to heal him He asked Jesus to cleanse him And in these verses four times either the word clean Cleansed or cleansing Is used he wasn't asking for a healing He's asking for a cleansing Because he is ritually unclean and that's why they would say unclean unclean He couldn't go to a synagogue. He couldn't go to the temple He couldn't be involved with other people He couldn't have a life in the community He's unclean and now he comes to Jesus and notice in verse 40 Now it says a leper came to him imploring him kneeling down to him Saying to him if you are willing you can make me clean This is a man who's rejected. He's normally rejected by everybody Anybody who saw him Would immediately pull away from him He was he was used to this because it happened to him all the time And this is a case that even rabbis would withdraw from him While he had heard with the fame of Jesus and he came to a decision He believed that christ could make him clean and he had faith that he would So notice he comes to christ and even though he has been rejected by everybody He comes near to him Notice it says in verse 40 a leper came to him Imploring him kneeling down to him and saying to him When you look at the uh companion Uh volume that the gospel of luke that that speaks of the same incident in luke 512 It tells us luke says that he was full of or covered by leprosy His desperation had driven him to do what he wasn't allowed to do He approached christ in the city before a crowd of people And this is again totally unlawful for him to do He's not to be around people. He's not to be in the city And it was certainly isn't supposed to approach this rabbi But in numbers chapter 5 verse 2 another old testament book It says command the people of israel That they put out of the camp everyone who is leprosy and yet here he is He's inside the city. He's there in the community. He's approaching christ and he begins to speak And he's begging him cleanse me His need was so great his prayer was filled with passion It says in Jeremiah 29 13 you will seek me and find me when you seek for me With all of your heart And that's what he's doing He came and it didn't matter to him that that he wasn't supposed to be there Because the only thing that mattered to him at that moment was this rabbi Jesus I've heard that he's healing people I've heard that he has miraculous power I believe that he's able to cleanse me and so he comes and he speaks to him And he says please and he does so with a passion and with a faith and he says in verse 40 If you're willing you can make me clean. I believe one thing. I believe that you can heal me Now jews knew for absolute certainty that only god could cleanse a leper But this man recognized christ as having god's authority to heal and he cried out to him He said if you're willing you can make me clean You have the power, but I don't know if you're going to use it I know you're able. I just don't know if you'll do it for me You see somebody wrote god's will must never be confused with god's power I know you have the ability But what I am asking is is it your will for you to do this? and so God has all power But his opera is his power is always operated through his will and so it says in verse 41 Jesus moved with compassion Stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him no no. He said I am willing Be cleansed and as soon as he had spoken immediately the leprosy left him He was cleansed now. Can you imagine that for just a moment? Now? I want you to notice this. Jesus was moved To action by his compassion. He was touched by his pain In heber's 415 it says we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses But we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet was without sin And so jesus has compassion it speaks concerning him responding with it now imagine what the onlookers are thinking This was completely out of what was accepted during that day. This man couldn't go to temple. He couldn't go to synagogue He's unclean. He's completely cut off from family. He is cut off from his friends He's cut off from people in general. He's not supposed to be around people yet. There he is That would have outraged some of the people Some of them when they saw that would have been moving away from him others would have watched to see what jesus would do So in touching him jesus himself could have been declared unclean It says in leviticus 5 3 if he touches human uncleanness Whatever sort his uncleanness may be with with which he becomes unclean And is it is hidden from him and he comes to know he'll be guilty Yet jesus was making a simple point. He was willing to touch someone that others refused to touch Think about this for a moment. This man was covered with leprosy had taken time for his body to be filled with it And this man had not had a human touch for some time But jesus touched him In this recent covet outbreak and so much that's going on related to it You're not supposed to be coming near people. You're not supposed to be within, you know There's so many mixed messages. It's difficult to really know anymore But you're not supposed to have contact. You're not supposed to touch be near kiss old And all of that and that's For those who've been blessed to be able to have survived and recovered Which is the majority that Even the two weeks or so that you're in isolation that you're not with people Is very difficult Is it very difficult thing? Well, this man had gone through pretty much probably good portion of a life And hadn't had human touch That jesus reaches and jesus touches him and notice in verse 40 how the man had said if you're willing You can make me clean And so To the answer in the question or statement if you're willing jesus said i am willing To in answer to you can make me clean jesus said be cleansed And verse 41 again tells us that he was moved with compassion that word compassion It means to suffer with or show mercy to it speaks of showing pity to suffer with In other words somebody wrote compassion is someone else's pain becoming your pain It's what motivates someone to alleviate the pain of somebody else And compassion is something that god shows to his people In isaiah 49 13 shop for joy you heavens rejoice you earth burst into song you mountains for the lord comforts his people And will have compassion on his afflicted ones And so the lord is moved with compassion you might want to underscore that Because that's the heart of god towards you God is moved with compassion Your pain has become his pain He shows you mercy He shows you pity He suffers alongside of you And as the lord jesus christ shows him compassion Reaches and touches and cleanses him by his touch this leper is cleansed and notice the cleansing is immediate From a terrible condition He's totally healthy. I wonder what that looked like Even as i was reading my own notes I thought and i wonder what that looked like his body was covered with open wounds and sores I don't know if he lost any of his fingers or any any limbs or his nose or i don't know But could you imagine if you were there watching this take place to see the man's body right in front of you Transformed instantly from being so filled with with open wounds and all to perfect Skin condition i can't imagine that for a moment, but the cleansing was immediate And he's now totally healthy And the joy and the wonder must have been amazing as he watches his own hands as they clear up immediately That must have been immediate. It would have Overwhelming and and as that takes place I can't imagine the emotions that he's going through and that he probably won't look what he does Jesus speaks to him in verse 43. He says listen He strictly warns him. He sends him away at once and he says see that you say nothing to anyone Go your way show yourself to the priest offer for your cleansing those things which moses commanded as a testimony See that you say nothing to anyone, but he couldn't help himself He had to say something You see the cleansing being immediate was something that was so astounding that that All he could do was he had to say something. He knew that only god could cleanse a leper And he knew the requirements that existed because jesus says it in leviticus 14 There are requirements that had to be fulfilled So jesus tells him not to speak to anyone go show yourself to a priest See by going to a priest He's a witness that god is at work and that god has come to them and and that will be a testimony to them It'll show that that jesus is messiah because that's something messiah was going to do In matthew 11 verse 5 we have a verse. It says the blind receive sight the lame walk Those who have leprosy are cleansed the deaf fear the dead are raised the good news is proclaimed to the poor This is evidence that messiah is amongst us. And so he says go tell the priests As a as a witness to them so that they will know only god cleanses a leper Jesus christ cleansed a leper And they'll be able to see this witness but notice verse 45 he went out and began to proclaim it freely to spread the matter Now someone wrote we saw him earlier at his bass and now we see him at his worst His disobedience deprived others of the touch of jesus christ The man now can be in the city But jesus is no longer able to be in that city You see after cleansing him The man remains But jesus leaves he goes to deserted places because He can't minister anymore because The man had made such an issue over this That jesus is no longer able to minister sometimes when the lord says to you This is something i've done for you, but keep it to yourself for a while It's so that you don't steal a blessing from somebody else In this particular case he robbed a lot of people of blessings because he Making jesus known kept jesus from being able to minister to the so so many people who had need He was no longer able to to minister there. He went outside of the city So he literally traded places with this man because the man had been outside of the city and now he's in the city Jesus had been in the city, but now he has to go to deserted places like that man once had to Now that's part one part two chapter two Verse one again he entered capurnium after some days and it was heard that he was in the house immediately many gathered together So that there was no longer room to receive them not even near the door And he preached the word to them Then they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men And when they could not come near him because of the crowd They uncovered the roof where he was So when they had broken through they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying When jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic Son your sins are forgiven you And some of the scribes were sitting there reasoning in their hearts Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but god alone? But immediately when jesus perceived in his spirit That they reasoned thus within themselves he said to them Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic your sins are forgiven you or to say arise take up your bed and walk But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins He said to the paralytic if I I say to you arise take up your bed go to your house Immediately heroes took up the bed went out in the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified god saying We never saw anything like this And so jesus is ministering as we've seen throughout galilee It now becomes difficult for him to move about freely He had withdrawn for a time One commentator said it may have been more than weeks. It may have been several months that he had withdrawn But he's returned to cupurnium And after some days it says that people took notice that he was there The crowds are now following him Word has spread that he's returned to the city of cupurnium Once again he goes to the home of simon peter And it says in verse two that immediately many gathered together. There was no longer room to receive them So word has spread that christ is in town and again a crowd is gathered. They want to hear him Now there's a crowd Jesus has the ability to do miracles. We've already seen that in chapter one So what is he going to do? What is he going to do now that he has a large crowd of people? Remember earlier peter had told jesus that everyone is looking for you. Well, they still are It's packed so tightly. There's no room for them in the home There were so many that the doors were blocked by people Now in this crowd and and remember i mentioned to you that peter's home is into small home as was common during that day He more likely had what we today would refer to as a complex of homes because he had families living with him He's a wealthy man or at least well off. He is well off enough to have partners in business They would have built a larger home and all of that so this is a good sized place that peter lives But there are so many people there they can't even come in as a matter of fact the doors are blocked They're people sitting there at the doorways and they can't even walk in and so There are a lot of people there and and when you look at a crowd you always see this Because in that crowd there'll be followers of jesus But the majority of those people are not followers Jesus's miracles drew them They wanted to see his works And and and whenever they know that a miracle worker is in town, of course, they're going to want to go and see him Because even to this day there are those who advertise themselves as having a healing ministry and and crowds will gather So what does he do? Well verse 2 tells us he preached the word to them Again, there are curiosity seekers there But there are also people in need of forgiveness Now he had come to preach he had come to preach a gospel of salvation And so he takes the opportunity to preach and that's the center of his ministry preaching the gospel Again in john 524 jesus said i tell you the truth whoever here's my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life And will not be condemned is crossed over from death into life And so what he wants is these crowds to become his converts He doesn't want people only to be there because they're curious to hear him He doesn't want them there just because he may do a miracle He wants them to be saved and that's the reason why he preaches to them. That's why he ministers to them And so it says that jesus preached to them. He explained the scriptures He presented himself as found in these in these verses He drew people to himself and and and in the preaching it even caused people to reject him And this is what we'll see in a moment You see there are generally three Basic groups in gatherings like this. There are the followers of christ to come to hear the word because they're hungry for truth There are the curious who are part of a crowd, but they're not interested And then there are the religious people who come looking for something to disagree with every time you have a Good-sized crowd a group of people you're going to have those three here You're going to have those three types of people in there You're going to have the people who are hungry for truth You're going to have the curious the people who just go because they were invited And then you're going to have the critics the critics who are listening but finding something wrong I've had that many times here And that's why I don't let marie come to church anymore. I've had I've had so many times I I can still remember one conversation after church. I had with a woman who who was wondering why Why don't you have stained glass windows? I mean they come and they got kind of interesting ideas. Anyway, that just came to mind. I shouldn't have told you that but People come with different reasons. I'll put it that way Sometimes they come not because they're interested but because they want to criticize And so what happens verse three they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men This man's incapable of moving on his own so his friends bring him As much as they loved their friend they were incapable of healing him They couldn't bring him the freedom that he needed. All they knew was that Jesus was there And Jesus has the power to heal Now earlier we saw that Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases And that would have included those who were unable to walk It seems that the the man had not been able to see the Lord when he had been there before But Jesus is back in town and his friends bring him hoping for healing Now he couldn't come to Jesus without help But he had friends and they were there to help him In Proverbs 17 17 it says a friend loves at all times a brother is born for adversity And so true friends Will bring people to Christ As true friends they brought him Because he was physically unable to come Many people in this room were brought to Christ You were crippled in life incapable of having joy Life on a mat Incapable of feeding yourself Cleaning yourself taking care of your own basic needs Life on a mat would be a very lonely very lonely Very lonely life A very painful one when my mother went home to be with the Lord the last year That she was alive. She was confined to a bed for a year My sister Rebecca would feed her Would bathe her Would help her with their basic needs that she had every day And on top of that my mother had developed dementia very severe dementia And on one occasion my sister becky was speaking to me and she said to me David It's very hard. She says it's not just the physical ministry that I do with my mom. She said it's the emotional I said in what way honey, and she said well, she says mama has forgotten that daddy died She says for you you've had years to go on and to heal. She says but mama hasn't Every day she says mama asked me where's my husband? She said every day I have to relive the death of my father So there are things that we don't know about there are things we don't think about Can you imagine what it was like for this man to be on a mat with just his thoughts? He can't take care of himself And he has friends though what a blessing by the way To have friends he had four friends and these friends would would undoubtedly care for him undoubtedly were there for him What a blessing it is When you have someone who cares about you And they know that christ can do things because he had been in Capernaum. He had healed so many There were so many healings and even the cleansing of this lever and all of that Surely this man can do something for our friend And so it's it's it's noise about town christ is back. Jesus is in town And they're speaking to their friend and they said we need to get you to him. We need to bring you to him He can do something for you and uh I normally will concentrate on the faith of the friends, but this man had faith also And so there's no doubt in my mind that he says Take me take me. So here they come carrying him and as they're carrying him on this mat You know kind of like a stretcher of you well as they're bringing him they come to the door But they they can't come in because there's too many people they can't press in get past And so they don't know what to do. There's got to be something we can do and these friends will not take No for an answer. You see what they're going to do is they're going to get him somehow to jesus and and and they're going to They're going to they're going to ask god. Please do something for our friends So these men cared for one another And friends will always bring other friends to christ. They couldn't get near to him verse 4 tells us So what do they do? Well, they they climb the stairway that's next to the outside on the wall and they care They climb the stairway and they they reach the rooftop and they begin to uncover the roof Luke tells us that it was just too crowded to get in so they went up to the side and and they got to the roofing And it was just too hard for them to to to get in through the the doorway So they they they said to themselves we're not going to take no for an answer We're going to find out how we can do this and so they're there they're on top of this roof and the roof is flat It's overlaid with branches. It's covered with mud straw and tiles And so they determined where jesus was And they began to break break apart the roof Now imagine for just a moment as they're working this falling debris Creates a billowy cloud The particles begin to drift in the dust And people begin to look up and and the sunlight begins to filter in As they see these fingers ripping open And now there's an opening And now this man is being lowered from this roof And is being placed right at the feet of christ Well jesus it says saw their faith He saw the faith of this man And he saw the faith of his friends And their faith by the way is revealed by their hard work to get to him Genuine faith is always what is called a working faith Genuine faith is Is part of a life that that has been saved and therefore this genuine faith is a is a faith that works on behalf of the lord And so the man his faith is exposed and And his his friends bring him to jesus christ Now their faces would have been sweaty Their hands would have been dirty From breaking up the roof And they put in this hard work because they trusted that jesus would minister In james 2 17 james said even so faith if it has not works is dead being alone, but jesus saw their faith Well jesus sees their faith But the people in the room see a mess And a commotion And so in verse 5 when he saw this faith he said to the paralytic son Your sins are forgiven you Now what was outwardly obvious was that the man needed physical healing What was hidden was that the man needed forgiveness He needed to know that he could be forgiven of his sins Because his sins had internally crippled him There are so many people today who can physically walk but are paralyzed by sin Sin cripples people They become so guilty. They're depressed and unable to enjoy life It reminds me of the psalmist david in psalm 51 3 when he said i know my transgressions My sin is always before me You can be crippled in life because of something you've done many of you have experienced that perhaps some of you Are going through that right now you've done something and maybe few people Know about it But it's crippled you It's made you depressed It's caused sorrow in your heart It's taken the joy out of life This man couldn't walk But there was something worse in his life and jesus saw it What was obvious was the man couldn't walk what was not obvious was his heart And jesus could see what he was going through Because what he needed wasn't simply to be able to walk What he needed and jesus saw this was to be saved And that's why in verse 5 jesus said son your sins are forgiven you When he says forgiven you might find this interesting the greek word that is translated by the english word forgiven Means to drive away or send away Your sins have been driven away is what he's saying i'm sending your sins away In psalm 103 verse 12 as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us I am moving your sins away He needed forgiveness More than the ability to walk What was worse than his paralysis was his guilt In matthew 1626 jesus said what could will it be for a man if he gains a whole world that forfeits his soul What can a man give in exchange for his soul? You can have everything everything that you've ever desired You can have every material benefit you can even have perfect health this man obviously didn't but you can have perfect health everything But eventually you die and then what? You know they used to say the one who dies with the most toys wins And then somebody said no the man who dies with the most toys still dies You still die and then what jesus said you could gain the whole world and lose your soul What will you give in exchange for your soul? well this man Wanted to be forgiven and jesus sees it His need was not simply getting up and walking his need Was to be able to walk with god in his heart. That's where it all begins Well as this is taking place and the lord is speaking to him and all of all of that son Your sins are forgiven you verse 6 some of the scribes are sitting there and reasoning in their hearts Why does this man speak blasphemies like this who can forgive sins we got alone? The scribes react notice it's internal This man blasphemes who can forgive sins but god They know that mere men cannot forgive sins only god can isaia 43 25 god says i even i am he who blots out your Transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more i am the one who blots out your transgressions and i do it for my own sake Well they instantly understood that jesus was saying something and they connected he was claiming to be god And that gave these hostile religious leaders the information they wanted they can discredit him now as a sinful blasphemer Well jesus immediately verse 8 perceives in his spirit that they're reasoning like that within themselves And so he responds in a way that confirms his deity. He responds to their thoughts Which confirmed that he's god in the flesh It says in psalm 44 21 he knows the secrets of the heart And he performs a work that reveals his divine power and authority So he says in verse 9 which is easier to say to the paralytic your sins are forgiven or say to him Arise Which is going to be easier Your sins are forgiven you or arise take up your bed and walk which would be easier Well to say someone is forgiven is a lot easier than to heal that person physically When is an act that isn't obvious the other is immediate and visible Which is easier? Well, he says in verse 10, but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins He said to the paralytic i say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins Jesus forgives every manner of sin that occurs before you die i'm not going to ask you to rehearse in your own mind your secret sins But aren't you glad that he does forgive you of every sin? Aren't you glad that he cleanses you of all unrighteousness? Aren't you glad that the blood of jesus christ that was poured out for our behalf Is able to forgive every single sin that we have In first john chapter 1 verse 7 if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another and the blood of jesus christ His son cleanses us from some sin No cleanses us from all sin From all sin Every sin even that sin that you hate to remember you did Every stinking sin has been washed by the blood of jesus christ every One now some of you are young and you say well i'm not that bad grow up Grow older the list grows The list grows every day At 10 or 12 Maybe you don't have that many sins you're aware of i remember hearing of a little girl She was around seven years old and she came to christ and she said before i came to jesus i was a terrible sinner And you can't help but think really what did you do you didn't make your bed you you terrible little sinner you But when you see somebody who is in their 20s or in the 30s or 40s And sometimes i've seen people in their late 70s and they come forward and give their hearts to christ a lifetime of sin A lifetime of anger a lifetime of bitterness A lifetime filled with profanity perhaps immorality a lifetime of habits that that were so So so horrible that they were paralyzed that a lifetime of hurting other people a lifetime of destroying relationships a lifetime of sin And then they then they say god God can you What you can you and he's there's not a sin that i can't forgive there's not a sin i won't forgive But you need to turn from it you need to repent from it you need to desire my forgiveness and yes I can give it to you all you need to do is ask And repent that's all you need to do And this man's on this mat and and and this conversation though It's before so many yeah imagine that it's before so many people and it's a mess in there Because when you deal with sin often there's a mess and there's a mess in there. There's all these people sitting around There's a religious leader sitting more than likely in the front row just watching this reasoning amongst themselves Who is this man? Who is this man who forgives sin? Who is this man that blasphemes only god can forgive sins? Jesus knowing their thoughts looks at him. Can you imagine that you're sitting in the front? You're doing that thing And he looks at him and says which is easier Yeah, oh that's what i'd love to have been there I would have just to watch jesus's watch his face. Which is easier To say a man can rise up and walk or to say his sins are forgiven, which is easier But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. I stand to you rise And walk can you imagine that and have oh the the hush that would have taken place in that room the quietness As this man begins to rise up and they they know who he is And he begins to rise He arose and he went out in the presence of them all They watched him Undoubtedly he took that mat that he had been on And walked out of that room Invisible forgiveness was demonstrated by visible healing The crippled man was made to walk through faith and obedience Because jesus gave him a command that was impossible I say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house. That is impossible Let me remind you they just had to break a roof to let me in before you and you're telling me to get up and walk home Are you kidding me? But he did instantly can you imagine that? He got up And he walks out And the silence that would have taken place in that room the and then the murmuring that begins And it says immediately as he rose and he took up the bed He went out in the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified god saying we never saw anything like this The it would have been allowed Rockets it would have been noise. They would have been grabbing. Did you see that? Did you see that? I He gave this impossible command yet They responded in luke chapter 5 verse 25 and 26 immediately he rose up before them Took up what had he had been lying on Departed to his own house glorifying god. They were all amazed. They glorified god and were filled with fear saying we've seen strange things today They were all amazed The miracle brought glory to god drew people to jesus christ In mica 7 18 who is a god like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy When you came to the lord and you said god be merciful to me as sinner. He delighted to show you mercy Do you know that? He delighted to show you mercy. I want to show you mercy I want to show you mercy When my kids were growing up And they did something that was wrong More than once I said to him, please just repent Please repent. I don't want to kill you. Please repent I want to show you mercy I delight in showing mercy I want to I want you to be blessed. I want you to have joy. I want you to But when you do something that is wrong, I have to bring Uh discipline upon you I'd like to show mercy Every parent in this room does too God showed mercy to you Don't forget that God delights in showing mercy to you. He forgives every sin There's not a sin you've you've ever sinned that god isn't capable of forgiving If you turn from it and ask God be merciful to me I'm a sinner is one of the wisest prayers you could ever pray Because god delights to show his mercy And when you say god, I'll turn from it. I want to turn to you lord I'm crippled because my life has been messed up God says, you know, I can heal you There isn't a broken life. I can't repair There isn't a broken mind that I can't heal I can do that work if you come to me Thank you jesus for what you've done And then when that happens, what do you do? Well when you're made to walk You're a testimony of his power Because when People see what happened to you They will say I want that to happen to me And I've I as I've shared so many times And the very first person that I ever brought to faith in christ. I didn't even know I did I didn't even know I did bring them to faith in christ. It was my sister madeline Who when she saw me come home the day I got saved and was speaking to me She said to me later. She said, you know, david when you came home She says you wouldn't know this when you came home that day And you told me how you gave your heart to christ and he had saved you She said I put my head on the pillow when I went to bed and I said whatever you did for my brother Please do it for me. She said that's how I got saved She said it's what god did for you. I wanted it to be done for me And when that happened, that's what touched my father who told me I knew that I was better than you And yet I wasn't as good as your sister So I needed a savior The way you did and that's how my mother was touched And then a couple of years later two and a half years or so later That's how my sister led a girl named Marie to christ at a bible study. I was teaching Because this girl Marie was religious but didn't have a relationship with god And the chain keeps going and going and going Because one person's life was touched And that person's life touched others And it's all the same message You can't walk because you're a sinner, but jesus says I can make you walk You don't have community because you're a leper You're cut off from god, but jesus says I will I can make you clean What a savior that we serve What a savior And lord, we just bless you for these stories these snapshots of your life and mercy to us lord the cleansing of a leper And the healing of a of a crippled man and lord, there are those in this room right now Who are spiritually in those conditions. There are those watching right now Who are spiritually in that kind of condition I'm asking that you by your mighty holy spirit would touch our hearts and draw us to yourself today lord Lord, there are various countries. I'm familiar with that are right now watching online people in different places throughout the world Who couldn't be here, but they're watching right now. I pray that you would be with them And lord, I'm asking that you would speak to them right now That they might open their heart and say if you if you're willing you can make me clean If you're willing you can forgive me And I ask in jesus name that you would do that as their hearts are opening to you And even in this room or perhaps in the overflow if you have a need to get right with the lord right now In this room, I can see you if you need prayer. Would you raise your hand? Let me pray for you right now father You see these hands that are going up in this room You know the reason why each hand is being raised to you And I ask in jesus name that you would reach down and you would touch Every person who right now is opening their hearts to you Wash them and cleanse them lord for your willing and able And have your way in them. I would pray And jesus as we open up to you and say god be merciful I pray that you will show your abundant mercy And lord do we receive by faith and we will walk by faith from this point on cleansed by your blood and healed So lord as we leave this place in a moment Go with us. We will follow you the rest of our lives. Bless you and thank you You can put your hands down and I ask jesus you keep moving To your own glory in your name amen