 chapter 5 beginning at verse 12 and reading to verse 16 Luke writes it happened when he was in a certain city that behold a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus and and he fell on his face and implored him saying Lord if you are willing you can make me clean then he put out his hand and touched him saying I am willing be cleansed and immediately the leprosy left him and he charged him to tell no one but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as a testimony to them just as Moses commanded then the report went around concerning him all the more and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities and so he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed this miracle that we're going to be looking at this cleansing of the leper is found in mark chapter 1 as well as Matthew chapter 8 it's repeated in other gospels and we'll be looking at it here in Luke chapter 5 now what we're looking at is the cleansing of a leper now leprosy was regarded as a disease during the Lord Jesus Christ time a disease with moral implications it was the most feared disease in the ancient world during the time of Christ because it was recognized as being incurable in the Old Testament the the Bible actually in the book of Leviticus chapter 13 actually gives us specific commands that relate to this particular disease and among the 61 defilements in ancient Judaism it was second only to the touching of a dead body leprosy was a very serious disease and and so the Old Testament states that when leprosy is present that a leper was to do certain things if you take notes to the viticus 13 verses 45 and 46 tells us what the leper is to do it says that the person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothing because that's a symbol of mourning they must wear torn clothes let his hair be unkempt cover the lower part of his face and cry out unclean unclean as long as he has the infection he remains unclean he must live alone he must live outside the camp so leprosy in the nation of Israel is actually a symbol a symbol of sin and lepers were rejected because of that now it was a good symbol of sin because like sin it infects the entire person it's ugly it corrupts it contaminates it alienates and it's incurable outside of a touch from God the rabbis during that day knew of no prayer or offering or a ritual that could cleanse a leper they knew that only God was the one who cleans the leper now there's a writer by the name of hyzinga and he wrote a book called unclean unclean and this is how he describes leprosy he said leprosy generally begins with pain in certain areas of the body numbness follows soon the skin in such spots loses its original color it gets thick glossy and scaly as the sickness progresses the thickened spots become dirty sores and ulcers due to poor blood supply the skin especially around the eyes and ears begins to bunch with deep furrows between the swellings so that the face of the afflicted individual loses its all form and comeliness and so this person who had leprosy was an outcast now some of the rabbis were very harsh towards lepers they treated them unkindly some said that no less than six feet must be kept from a leper and a hundred feet is not sufficient in strong wind some rabbis even threw stones at them others would hide themselves when they heard the words unclean unclean now I say all of that to give you a background because this leper is doing something that is unheard of he's approaching somebody he's approaching Jesus Christ notice what it says in verse 12 again it happened when he was in a certain city behold he says behold a man who was full of leprosy says behold because this is unusual a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus and and he fell on his face and implored him saying lord if you are willing you can make me clean now I want you to see something this is extraordinary because normally when he saw a rabbi like Jesus walking down the street he would have run away you see Moses nor Elijah ever healed a leper but this is a man who believed that Jesus Christ could do something and notice what he says he says in verse 12 you are willing you can make me clean now he knew that Jesus had power he obviously had heard about this rabbi named Jesus but he didn't know if Jesus would use his power we need to remember that God's will must never be confused with God's power God has all power but his power always is operating through his will and so this man knows that Jesus Christ has the ability but he also knows that he has to trust in his will is he willing to reach out and do something on my behalf now there are four basic things that we can learn from this man that I think will help us in our own Christian lives four things that we can learn from him one we know that he senses a willingness on the part of Jesus to be near him and not reject him we know that he's willing to be near this man this man says that Jesus Christ was not like other people this is a man who sense that Jesus Christ was not going to reject him that is that Jesus was somebody that he could approach Jesus is the kind of person that he can have fellowship with this is the kind of man who isn't going to throw rocks at him isn't going to hide from him isn't going to reject him and that's an important thing for us to understand that Jesus Christ has come in order that he might have relationship with us an interesting story found in Matthew's gospel chapter nine verses 10 through 13 it's a place where the Lord Jesus Christ is seated amongst people who are regarded as sinners and and unclean spiritually unclean people and and in that particular passage of scripture there there are people who are making accusation concerning Jesus Christ because he eats with with these people and all and and Jesus makes a statement he said the Son of Man didn't come to save the righteous he said but sinners Jesus in other words a friend of sinners has come to minister to sinners he was a friend of sinners then and by way of application he's a friend of sinners now so one he senses a willingness on the part of the Lord to be near and not to reject him second we notice that he humbles himself he bows before the Lord Jesus Christ even calls him Lord and so we see in his humility that God is going to move in Proverbs 3 34 the Bible says surely God scorn scorners but gives grace to the lowly a third thing we see about him is that he's willing to submit himself to the will of God now in 1st John chapter 5 verse 14 John said this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and so that's why he said if you are willing you can make me clean he submits himself to the will of God and then finally he places his faith in him he says to him I know that you can make me clean and so he goes to the one who will not reject him he humbles himself shows him respect and reverence he knows that Jesus Christ is is capable of doing something he now prays that Jesus is willing now notice verse 13 what Jesus does he put out his hand and he touched him saying I am willing be cleansed and immediately the leprosy left him this was forbidden by the law of Moses it was forbidden to touch a leper you were not to reach out and touch somebody like that in Leviticus chapter 5 verse 3 the Bible says if he touches human uncleanness anything that would make him unclean even though he's even if he's unaware of it when he learns of it he will be guilty so when the Lord Jesus Christ actually reaches out to touch this man he's doing something that is really just an amazing thing now I want you to see how Jesus reaches out and physically touches this man and the way that he touches him is is gentle and it's loving and it is compassionate if there's anything that you can walk out of this room tonight knowing about the Lord Jesus Christ is that he is a gentle loving and compassionate man he was the kind of person and is the kind of person that you could get to know very easily if you want to he's the kind of person that if you were all alone in a house and though there's a group of people present also that when the Lord Jesus Christ walked in and would look at you you would not be threatened by him but actually would be attracted to him because though he would be the most incredibly popular person in that room he would treat you like you mattered he would treat you like you you had value and that's what the Lord does the Lord causes you to realize that you have value he loved this man he loved this rejected man that's something for us to learn from you see Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 53 verses 3 and 4 Messiah was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows familiar with suffering like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised we esteemed him not surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows yet we considered him stricken by God smitten by him and afflicted rejected by men a man of sorrows Jesus understood and not only does he understand he's moving he moves by compassion and what he has done he does as he releases this man from his pain now in order to understand we need to remember what kind of life this man was living as a leper because this this leprosy was the symbol of living death and it had to be dealt with when Jesus reaches down and touches him he's now being restored to community he's being restored to sacrifice and right relationship with God and that's what happens when the Lord reaches down and touches us you see at one time we were regarded as the living dead though we had physical life spiritually we were dead remember as we've been studying on Sunday mornings the book of Ephesians remember chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 I want Ephesians 2 1 and 2 it says as for you you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient you at one time it says we're dead in trespasses and sins we may have had physical life but spiritually we were dead we have an old nature that nature prior to us being converted was the dominant nature in our life and by nature we are sinners and spiritually we are cut off from God as leprosy has a tendency of causing isolation even so because of our sin we were isolated from the Lord but the Lord Jesus Christ reaches down and touches your life he does that through the preaching of the word of God through the communication of God's word through Bible study he does that through the through the communication of his ways to us as we read the word of God in here what he's all about and and so we read how the Lord Jesus Christ is a friend of sinners and and we're told that we are sinners without Christ we need to be forgiven we open our hearts to Christ and say God be merciful to me I am a sinner and I need a relationship with you and when that happens the Lord Jesus Christ in a sense is reaching down and touching our lives and as he reaches and touches our lives we who at one time were dead in trespasses and sins are now made alive by the Spirit of God who dwells within us we cried out we cried out to God in humility because it requires humility to be saved you know when I when I give invitations here I like to emphasize that it requires humility to be saved you know it is true yes you can be seated there in the congregation and and you can open your heart to Christ right there but it requires a humility of brokenness before God to say God be merciful to me and when I invite you to come forward and to stand here in front of in front of many witnesses it's because I want you to learn to walk for Jesus Christ in the open and this is a place that is safe for you to do that this is a place when you walk up and you say yes to Jesus that the people here actually will applaud that decision because they want that for you you see but it requires humility for us to say yes to God and it requires faith so that we might say God in Jesus name would you touch me and that's what's happening you see Jesus said I am willing be cleansed now notice verse 13 immediately the leprosy left him verse 14 and he charged him to tell no one but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as a testimony to them just as Moses commanded and so Jesus says listen you go and you make this offering because it's going to be a testimony you find that in Leviticus chapter 14 when a leper was cleansed he would make an offering and it would be a testimony that God had moved and and so he's saying listen seeing that you have been cleansed be willing to have it verified sometimes people will say and I see it on TV quite often well I've been healed of such and so disease I don't want to doubt that God heals I know that God does but I believe very strongly that when God is healed you can go to a doctor and the doctor will verify that the doctor will say you once had this disease and now it's gone we've had people in this fellowship who come and shared their testimonies with me more than one person who's been healed from cancer which to me is always an amazing thing anything that's being healed is a wonderful thing but I come to mind cancer where they've had x-rays that have been done and doctors have actually been amazed because they'll say you know this is the recent x-ray and and this is the old one and this shows cancer and and this one here shows that it's gone and we don't have an answer for this you know be willing to go to the doctor be willing to have it verified if the Lord has moved it can be verified Jesus said go and make that offering why it'll be a testimony to them now it says in verse 15 the report went around concerning him all the more and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities now Mark gives us more insight because in the gospel of Mark chapter 1 Jesus had told him say nothing to anyone but go so mark tells us in chapter 1 verse 45 that 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 quarter actually what he did is he he he disobeyed the Lord and as a result of that he's depriving other people of being ministered to and yet Jesus still ministers to any who come to him now in verse 16 so he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed now as I looked at this one verse and notice how it just stands out there all by itself you know you have the leopard cleansed in verses 12 through 15 and then you have a paralytic that is healed in verses 17 following but verse 16 is all by itself and as I was looking at this I was thinking that's something that we could all by ourselves look at we could take time tonight and look at the prayer life of Jesus Christ but I chose not to do that but I will allude to a couple things about that I want you to notice that Luke seems to casually mention that Jesus prayed alone and he prayed often when he would pray it was a time of fellowship it was a time of fellowship with his father in his prayer life he would be refreshed and strengthened for the tasks that were before him it's interesting to note that Jesus's prayer life was noted by his apostles as you read your New Testament you may note that they never ask him to instruct them concerning performing miracles and they never walk up to him you can read your Gospels very carefully and they never walk up to Jesus and say Jesus teach us how to preach you'll never find anything like that they didn't walk up to him and say teach us how to perform miracles they just went out and did the work of ministry they never said Jesus teaches how to preach and I'm guessing that they ought to have done that because these are people who are who are not rabbis these are people who are not used to proclamation they're not used to standing up before crowds they're not used to doing these kinds of things and so if I were reading the Bible and it said in a certain point and and Simon Peter said to Jesus teach me how to preach I would that would make sense to me but you want to know something read your Gospels you never find an instance where they ever walk up to Jesus and say Lord teach us to perform miracles the Lord teach us how to preach but you know what they do say Lord teach us how to pray now that's an interesting thing you find that in Luke chapter 11 verse 1 it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he sees one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples there was something about Jesus Christ in his prayer life that had been noticed by his disciples his disciples knew that Jesus would often get up early in the morning and spend time with a father you see that throughout the New Testament in Mark chapter 1 verses 35 through 38 in the morning having risen a long time before daylight he went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed and Simon and those who were with them searched for him when they found him they said to him everyone's looking for you but he said to them let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also because for this purpose I've come forth so he'd rise early and pray he prayed before he selected the 12 Luke will tell us that in chapter 6 verses 12 and 13 and he prays and they noticed that so it was a habit of the Lord Jesus Christ he would spend time with his father in fellowship and it was in prayer that he would receive directions that he might do those things or pleasing to the Lord his father and that's what it's like with us guys that's what I believe God is doing right now in our lives there are so many opportunities for us as a fellowship to get together and pray I don't know if you sense this perhaps you have many of you more than likely have already some perhaps have not or maybe your visitor and wouldn't have an inkling about this but I've been sensing the Holy Spirit moving in our fellowship in some really sweet ways but I don't know how many of you realize or know that every Sunday first and second and third service every Sunday when I come from the back and I walk in here there's a group of men who are in that back room there praying through the whole service they get into there and they're in a circle and they pray until I close the service in prayer this service our services are covered by people praying and I see the Lord move through prayer I see God answering prayer I see God doing tremendous things through prayer if Jesus himself would get up early in the morning and pray if Jesus Christ had such a prayer life that his disciples would say to him Lord teach us to pray John had disciples who learned to pray we're your disciples there's something about your life that we have connected with Lord teach us to do that well even so I think that is something that we can learn from and so as it says he himself often withdrew into the wilderness he'd spend time by himself with his father and he would pray first 17 now it happened on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every town in Galilee Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present to heal them then behold men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed and they sought to bring him in and lay him before him and when they could not find how they might bring him in because of the crowd they went up on the house top and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus so when he saw their faith he said to him man your sins are forgiven you and the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason saying who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but God alone but when Jesus perceived their thoughts he answered and said to them why are you reasoning in your hearts which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise up and walk but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the man who was paralyzed I say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house immediately he rose up before them took up what he had been lying on and departed to his own house glorifying God and they were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear saying we have seen strange things today now Jesus is about to heal a man a man who is paralyzed Mark tells us that Jesus is in the city of Capernaum we see here that he is ministering teaching and notice in verse 17 in front of religious leaders now these religious leaders who are there are obviously interested in what he has to say but it would not seem to me that they're interested so that they might observe it themselves I think that they're interested in order that they might see what this rabbi is saying because they're hearing things that he has been doing and all and so they want to hear with their own ears and notice with me that they come from every town in Galilee which is the north Judea which is in the south Jerusalem which is the key city and as this is taking place in Jesus is is their teaching verse 17 says the power the Lord was present to heal them meaning that God was doing works there and so what happens as the Lord is teaching is he has an opportunity to show the power that God is working in people's lives it says in verse 18 behold again and it's like an amazement notice this men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed and they sought to bring him in and lay him before him they could not find how they might bring him in because of the crowd they went up on the house top and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus and so what happens is these four men according to mark the four men come bring in a friend as they bring the friend to Jesus Christ the house that he's ministering in more than likely Simon Peters is too crowded it's too crowded to allow them access and so as he's entering into that house they're trying to enter into that house there's no way it's going to take place and so what do they do do they say well we'll come back some other time you know it's too crowded here you know do they get mad saying oh it's just too crowded man what a bummer no what do they do well the houses at that day many of the homes had rooftops that were flat and they were tiled and they actually would be used in the warm weather and so the family would go up and at the top of the of the the roof there there was a song a long time ago about this up on the roof anyway they would go on to the top and it was hot they would spend time with the family up there and so there were some steps on the side of the house and so they carried this man up and as they carried the man up on top of the roof they decided that they were going to do something to get their friend to Jesus Christ and so what did they do they begin to break up the roof and as they're tearing up the roof you can you can almost imagine for a moment as the Lord Jesus is teaching that he hears the sound and in the roof in the in the ceiling there's a crack that forms and dust is now starting to fall and filter through and and small openings are beginning to occur and they're ripping it opening you see their fingers as they're ripping it more and more and more until finally they've opened it up enough so that they can begin to lower their friend and as they're beginning to lower their friend and this man is coming down before the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus takes takes a look at him and he's about to do something there's a couple things that stand out that I'd like to point to you though and this is something I think applies one is this is a man who had friends who cared enough about him to bring him to Jesus Christ he had friends who cared enough about him to bring him to the one who could do something for him this was a man who was paralyzed he could not bring himself and so he had four friends were willing to bring him mark chapter 2 verse 3 says he was carried by four of them and so one it's a blessing to have friends because friends bring you to Jesus Christ Proverbs 18 24 says there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother and when you have a friend who wants to bring you to Jesus not away from him you've got a real friend that's how I got saved I had a I had friends who cared enough about me in my life and they could see that I was crippled in sin I had friends who cared enough about me to bring me to Jesus at least here with the message of the gospel has to say and they didn't give up on me the first time they took me to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ I was rebellious they had no desire to hear none whatsoever my friends were constantly one in particular was constantly saying to me you need to come with us to Calvary Chapel Coast to Mesa this small church there in San Antioch to come and and I think you'll like it and and I would argue with them and I'd say no I don't want to go I don't need your religion I don't need your church and I would argue and I would tell him listen I was raising the Catholic Church if I want to go to church I go to my own why would I go to yours I have no desire to go to your church and they were constantly arguing with me and constantly telling me about the Lord and constantly telling me that I didn't know God and I was angry at them I didn't like them saying that to me I thought they were judging me I thought they were wrong for doing that I didn't know they loved me enough to tell me the truth I just thought that they were that they were just unkind why are you telling me things like that and they say David you don't know the Lord you need a relationship with God we want to take you to here and and see what God is doing in people's lives I can remember that fairly well that you've I've told you this before and so I'm 20 years old actually 19 it's during the summer of 1970 before I got saved I'm 19 my friend Bill says I want you to go with me to church tonight and it's a youth night at Calvary Chapel and I said I don't want to go he says look at give me a chance just one time just try it see if you might you might appreciate it and I said look at Bill if it'll get you off of my back I'll go one time I'll go one time and and it was during the hippie time so you know I I didn't have shoes and I I had ripped Levi's and t-shirt and my hair was shoulder length and I had granny glasses and big ol' lamb chop sideburns and and I went across the street and and I drank some beer with some friends and I smoked some pot and I went to church I mean I thought man when I walk in there and they see me in the way that I am you know eyes are all bloodshot my breath smelling like beer I know that they're just like the church I go to they're gonna get all uptight and they see I don't have any shoes they're gonna kick me out and so I can say you're all the same all of you Christian no different than what I'm used to and I've told you this before and they bring me in there and you know and I'm loaded and I've been drinking and and I go and and there are you know it's a place that was built for a couple hundred people and it's it's got about five hundred people seated in there the kids were on the aisle sitting all over even on the platform and I get come walking in there and they're all hippies and I'm thinking man this place wow it feels comfortable to me and and then here comes a guy his name was Lonnie Frisbee comes out to preach and I just freak out because he was even freaker than I was and I thought whoa you know I don't know I don't trust a church that makes me feel comfortable like this I fell at home I felt at home I thought these people are not any different than me but then I as I listened to the message and I heard the music and they said do you want to give your heart to Christ I rejected that message I said I'm already Christian my friends are saying going up they're asking you to get right with God I said I I told you I'm already a Christian I've been drinking smoking pot and I'm telling them I told you I'm already a Christian because for me Christianity was more cultured than than spiritual it was more what I was raised it was more my family is more my history is more just the way we are why would I want to turn my back on what my mom taught me and what I'd receive through training there's no way that I would do that but I had good friends because they kept on praying for me because they kept on praying for me and so finally in December after going through a few few things and all once again they're inviting me to church and that's the time December 27th that's when I went and that's when I heard the message clearly and that's when I gave my heart to Jesus Christ that's I thank God for friends I thank God for friends who bring you to the person who can say what Jesus Christ said now I want you to notice something this is a paralyzed man but when Jesus looks at verse 20 he sees something one verse 20 says he saw their faith that tells me that faith can be obvious now how did he see their faith he saw their faith in action as they were bringing this man and doing everything they could to present him to Jesus he saw their faith but he speaks to the man and what's he say to the man now this is interesting to me he says to him your sins are forgiving you know wait a minute this guy was crippled he was paralyzed you would think that Jesus would have raised him from his sick bed you would have thought that Jesus would have touched him and but you want to know thing he needed something more than healing he needed forgiveness he needed something deep within him more than being in perfect health he needed forgiveness he needed to be right with God Jesus saw through his physical and saw his spiritual need when he says man your sins are forgiven that word forgiven is a Greek word that means to drive away or to do away with Jesus was driving away his sins doing away with this man sins as he says your sins are forgiven Jesus in other words saw something in this man and knew what the man really wanted needed and more than likely was praying for it wasn't so that he might stand up and walk it was that he might have the guilt that he was living with that that was evidenced by his being crippled it was so that he could have his sin question answered what good would it be guys to die completely healthy and still go to hell what this man needed was more than the ability to walk what this man needed was a forgiveness a sense of forgiveness in his heart he needed to have a right relationship with God he needed to know that the question was answered and that's the way we are too we need to know that the sin question is answered the Bible in Psalm 103 verse 12 says as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us Lord Jesus we say healing would be great forgiveness is better when I first got saved I have a friend named George and I was in the military and I came home on leave and I went to Calvary Chapel on leave I went with George to church George was kind of like legally legally blind he wore thick glasses he had like 2200 vision 2300 vision I mean the boy needs glasses now we're driving together from Norwalk to Costa Mesa we're taking the five freeway and we're intersecting intersecting with the new port and I notice he didn't have his glasses on so I look at him and I said George where's your glasses I'm thinking he's wearing contacts and and I'm telling you when he's turning on the sweeping curve the tires are screaming slow down he says man God healed me I guess I really well praise God he healed you huh yeah God's a healing God God can do anything he wants so I figure yeah he'll George praise the Lord I write on the letter talk to him come back on leave the next time he's got his glasses on again I said what happened he says I was wrong he didn't heal me I'm thinking man this guy could have killed me but there are things that we need more than physical healings guys and you know what I'm talking about again I've got I've got I'm legally blind also 2200 or worse and I have to put on my glasses to see my dreams I mean I'm really blind and but you know what when I when I got saved I asked God would you heal my eyes I mean I would I would like to go without the discomfort of glasses you know because I was always breaking my glasses always breaking them I said I would I would really like it Lord and I would pray and I would claim and I would do all of that and and then put my glasses back on because I was never healed it just didn't happen I had cavities and so I'd say God in Jesus name would you heal my cavities you know I hate the dentist you know not that they're bad people but I just don't enjoy the pain so in Jesus name I claim did you please heal my teeth and no I got them all pulled he chose not to do that even though I heard Lonnie Frisbee one time say you know God can heal even cavities and that there are stories of of people who are Christians who had their cavities in their molars have been healed into the shape of a cross I'm good oh how cool is that and I got what I mean I could have a whole kinds of crosses in my mouth Jesus you know would you heal more than Jesus name and I was kind of waiting to feel and nothing ever happened I ended up getting them all pulled and I learned a long time ago that there's something more important than getting a physical healing though thank God he heals and that thing that is more important is to be forgiven of your sins that is the bottom line guys it is more important to know that your sins have been forgiven you and Jesus is looking at this man and the man has been crippled for some time his friends have brought him to the Lord his friends obviously intend for Jesus to touch him and cause him to walk that's why they brought him let's see you can have you can have this attitude that people look at you and they think you've got it all together that you have no needs that you're really courageous the way that you are and how you put up with so much and you've got this sunny disposition but God looks past the facade and straight into the heart and he knows exactly what you need and how many times we have had people say how you doing and we're in the midst of the blues or a great sorrow heart and what do we say oh man great doing good you know but you're dealing with something well you know what Jesus you weren't able to do that to him you can't Jesus looks right past even the need that is present and obvious to everybody which is a healing and he says man he said your sins are forgiven you because that's what the man really needed now as he does that verse 21 ascribes which are the experts in the law of Moses the religious lawyers and the Pharisees began to reason saying who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but God alone now they're saying Jesus Christ is claiming the power to forgive sins only God can forgive sins therefore this man Jesus is claiming to be God and in that the right because Isaiah 43 25 God says I even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more God says I'm the one who forgives sins so they immediately recognize that Jesus is claiming an authority that is really only God's the ability to forgive sins as Jesus just did and so they're saying he's blaspheming well verse 22 Jesus perceived their thoughts and he answered and said to them why are you reasoning in your hearts which is easier to say your sins are forgiving you or to say rise up and walk well what would be easy well obviously both are impossible without God but to say one is forgiven is easier than to heal someone because how are you gonna know somebody is forgiven there's no obvious thing that shows that but healing on the other hand you see that immediately but Jesus says but that you may know that the Son of man has power and I want you to see this too by the way on earth to forgive sins what do you mean on earth to forgive sins listen now is the time of salvation now while you're alive your sins can be forgiven you Jesus will forgive you on earth but if you die without forgiveness from God if you die in your sin you enter into eternity in that condition and there is no forgiveness of sins once you die on occasion people have approached me and have said could you pray for my father he died and my first question will be did he know the Lord and sometimes they'll say no what can I pray for it's appointed unto men to die once and after this the Bible says judgment I can't pray them into a relationship with God if they died without that relationship so what do I do I pray for family members those who remain alive and mourn and sorrow over the loss of the one whom they love because they're still alive they still can be touched but if I died in sin I enter into eternity in that condition so Jesus has the power on earth to forgive sins but it goes on to say you said to the man who was paralyzed I say to you arise take up your bed and go to your house immediately he rose up before them took up what he had been lying on and he parted to his own house glorifying God and so this demonstrates that by this healing that God has given to Jesus authority to forgive sin now the miracle silences his opponents that oppose his claim and the healing produces evidence that his claims are true there was nothing they could do they see this man doing that and so what happens verse 26 they're amazed they glorified God and were filled with fear saying we have seen strange things today they were filled with a reverential fear of Jesus Christ I can understand that and I guess you could too if you saw Jesus do something like that if you saw him do that if this guy is laying there on a mat and you know that he's been paralyzed in that condition for some time and Jesus is speaking to you matter of factly this is a conversation you know Jesus is speaking matter of factly which is easier he asked that question which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise take up your mat and walk gives him a moment this is a conversation gives him a moment let's them think for a moment let's it settle in picture that for just a moment if you were inside of a house and and all of this is taking place I mean sometimes it's so sterile and so sanitary when we we look at the passage we we don't realize what that would have been like if all of a sudden the ceiling burst open and somebody's being lowered down and everybody gets silent and the dust is flying in the dirt and debris is there and the excitement of people are wondering what's going on and the confusion and all and Jesus is just just remaining there quietly until all of this takes place and the man is laying there on the ground looking up at Christ and Jesus is looking back at him and people are wondering what's he gonna do what can he say what is gonna happen the scribes and the Pharisees who are there more than likely to judge Christ because they want to see what he's doing and what he's saying and they want to make judgment on him as they're watching this take place and and you can almost feel that silence in the air and the expectation and and then the silence is broken by Jesus's voice man your sins are forgiven you and immediately the buzz it's an internal buzz and Jesus can see them their reaction they're thinking who is this that forgive sins only God can forgive sins and they're right because the Bible teaches that can you imagine that for a minute that Jesus Christ is saying your sins are forgiven you imagine imagine what it would have been like the dust is still settling the debris is scattered all around and Jesus is looking down at the man nobody else exists in that room for that moment except for him his eyes are fixed on him your sins are forgiven you and the buzz the internal buzz starts and Jesus perceiving their thoughts which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise and take up your bed and walks but that you may note that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins he turns and says to the man I say and he rise take up your bed and walk what's the guy do no I'd rather lay here he gets up and he takes the thing that had carried him and he carries it out of the room and as he does that they're amazed they're looking like well what kind of man is this they forgive sins what kind of man is this that can cause a man whom we know was paralyzed to have the ability to stand up fold up that mat put it under his arm walk out that room what kind of man is this a man who can even forgive sins we have seen strange things today we have seen strange things today what do you think they did they walked out saying that man blows my mind that man blows my mind what kind of man is that the kind of man who can reach out and touch a leper nobody would get within 60 feet of 100 feet of he would reach out and immediately cleanse him a man that can see someone crippled and say rise and walk because the more important thing has taken place I've forgiven your sins what kind of man is this so we who spiritually have leprosy we who spiritually are crippled can actually come to or be brought to the one can heal us forgive us and send us on our way praising the Lord for the great things that he has done that's Jesus Christ that's who we worship that's who we follow because he can forgive sins and he can make you walk