Matthew
9:1-13 “Forgiven”
Last week we
saw that Jesus touched the untouchable. Today we look at a situation that is
one of my favorites. In Luke and Mark we learn that four guys have brought
their friend to Jesus, but they can not get their friend into the house. Not to
be deterred they cut a hole in the roof and lower their friend into the room.
Can you
picture this event? Jesus is sitting and giving a parable when a noise is heard
above them. Then little pieces of dirt start falling, Jesus brushing them off
His lap. As big chunks of the roof are being removed, Jesus and his guest are
being covered with debris. I know what I would be thinking, “who is going to pay
for that roof!” now this guy is dangling in front of Jesus. This would be a
good time for a lesson on respect for other people’s property.
These four
guys brought their friend because they think he has a leg problem, but Jesus knows
he has a sin problem.
At this
point Jesus could have kicked the sinner out of the house. He could have listed
off the man’s sinful deeds, or reminded the man of the Ten Commandments. Jesus
could have just ignored the man’s sinfulness and just focused on the fact the
man was paralyzed. But Jesus does the one thing no one expects, He pronounces
forgiveness.
This does
not make sense. We have seen how Jesus preached a high moral standard yet here
He is forgiving this man’s sins. Should you not hold them accountable? Make him
pay or at least confess. Why would Jesus just forgive this guy? And Jesus does
this a lot. Luke 7:36-50 the woman who washed His feet with her hair, John
8:1-11 the woman caught in adultery, John 5:1-17 the lame man by the pool, in
every case Jesus pronounced forgiveness.
Jesus makes
this understandable when He says He came to save the world not condemn the
world. He came to seek and to save that which is lost.
In John
Bunyan’s “pilgrims Progress” the hero named Christian, is loaded down with a
burden of sin, guilt and rules which weigh him down to the point he can hardly walk,
until at the foot of the cross he lays those burdens down.
Jesus
forgives because He knows that the burden of past failures keeps people from having
success today. Only through forgiving the past can a person find hope for
today. Jesus is not as concerned with what you have done as He is with what you
are doing and will do.
Now consider
what Jesus says in John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are
forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”
Jesus has
given us the ability and the responsibility to proclaim forgiveness in His name,
first to ourselves and then to others.
Do you
proclaim God’s forgiveness to yourself? Can you say looking in the mirror, “You
are forgiven”. Lay that load of guilt down at the foot of the cross and stand
upright for the first time in a long time. You are forgiven.
Repeat after
me, “I AM FORGIVEN!”
Backpacking
Do you know
someone loaded with sin and guilt? Will you pronounce forgiveness upon them? Will
you help them set the burden of guilt shame and sin down at the feet of Jesus. Are
you willing to say, “my friend you are forgiven”? what a burden you could lift
from someone. You are not approving of their actions, but you are freeing them
to act differently.
Repeat after
me. “Friend You Are Forgiven.” Turn to the person on next to you and say, “Friend
You Are Forgiven.” Make sure no one is left out. Get up and move over to them
if you have to.
Hear those
words “YOU ARE FORGIVEN”, let them wash over you like a wave carrying your guilt,
shame, past failures, and all your burden away.
This is what
Jesus has done for you and what He calls us to do for others.
This is what
Jesus would do. This is who He is.
My Friend
Your Sins are Forgiven, Rise Up and Walk”
Matthew
9:1-8
And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold,
some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take
heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes
said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their
thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to
say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may
know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said
to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed
and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were
afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Luke 7:36-50
One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s
house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was
a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s
house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his
feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the
hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now
when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this
man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who
is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon,
I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” “A certain
moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will
love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the
larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning
toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your
house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in
she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but
she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves
little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at
table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives
sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
John 8:1-11
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him,
and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him,
“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law
Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to
test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent
down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him,
he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the
first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the
ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the
older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus
stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She
said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from
now on sin no more.”
John 5:1-17
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now
there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda,
which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind,
lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight
years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a
long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered
him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up,
and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up,
take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his
bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who
had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up
your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me,
‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you,
‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who
it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward
Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more,
that nothing worse may happen to you.”
Rom 3:21-26 for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
1 John 1:8 –
2.2 we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
