Luke 5:17-26
"And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Luke 5:20-21.
In our text, we have one man carried by four of his friends. Though they did not fully understand Who Christ is, they knew He was the One they needed to get to. Christ is the Object of their faith. They were not looking at the religious crowds, who would be rigid in their judgment upon a man who more than likely caught a sexually transmitted disease that caused this man to have the palsy. There was no hope and no help from the religious crowds or any religious ceremonies. If your sins were not like the religious leaders, then you would be alienated and mocked. It is easy and natural for us to be like the religious crowds in our judgment upon others who sin differently than we do. In no way am I trying to belittle sin or the consequences thereof, but it is real easy to find someone who is bound by their sins, and then kick them while they are down. The religious crowds would look at the guy taken with the palsy and say that he deserves to have the palsy. Again, there are consequences for sin, but what is missing in the religious crowds is compassion on those in sin.
Most of the people that attend a church service are dressed for the church service. What we do not see are the scars from sin in their lives. People make bad decisions, especially young people, and some decisions affect us for the rest of our lives. There are consequences that we will carry until the day we die, but how wonderful it is to know that we have forgiveness in and through Jesus Christ! When we understand this truth, we will have compassion on others, and we will want them to have the same forgiveness that we have, which means we will point them to the only One Who can forgive them, and that is Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). In John 4 we see a woman whose sins were exposed by Christ, and she called others to come meet Him. In John 8 we see a woman caught in a sinful act, whom Christ had compassion on and forgave her, while the religious crowds were ready and willing to stone her. I am eternally thankful that no one and nothing can stop Christ from saving sinners.
In Luke 5:20 Christ saw their faith. "Faith" in this verse is the Greek word "pistis" and means persuasion, credence, moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher). In our text it means faith in Christ to work miracles, to heal the sick, and as a technical term indicative of the means of appropriating what God in Christ has for man, resulting in the transformation of man's character and way of life. Such can be termed gospel faith or Christian faith. This is what Christ saw in them. Where did this faith come from, how did they get it? Let's turn to Ephesians 2:1-9. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast," Ephesians 2:8-9. According to the bible, faith comes from God. You do not earn faith, you do not muster it up, nor does it come from inside of you, faith is a gift from God. Faith produces works (Ephesians 2:10). The bible is clear that no one works to be saved, but as a result of salvation we produce good works. Good works are an evidence that the Lord has saved us, not that we are saving ourselves. Turn to Titus 3:1-8 and James 2:14-26. If someone says the Lord has saved them, but they do not produce good works, then the bible says they have deceived themselves. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance," Matthew 3:8.
In our text, this man and his friends came to Jesus Christ in faith. They came by the grace of God. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day," John 6:44. "And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father," John 6:65. Jesus Christ is the object of their faith. Christ saw their faith in Him.
"And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee," Luke 5:20. "Sins" in this verse is the Greek word "Hamartia, and means aberration from a prescribed law or rule of duty, whether in general or of particular sins. This man had a bigger problem than the palsy. This man had a sin problem. The palsy was having devastating effects on his body, but it doesn't compare to the wages of sin for eternity. Just like everyone else except Jesus Christ, this man was born with a sin nature. Turn to John 3:14-21. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil," John 3:19. This is where mankind is at until the Lord quickens them, saves them. Man lives his life in sinning how he is able to sin. Things may happen that will cause him to examine himself, and he may turn over a new leaf, but only God has the power to forgive him of his sins and make him a new creation in Christ Jesus. This man in our text had a greater need than to be healed of the palsy, and that was to be forgiven for all of his sins. "Forgiven" in our text means to send forth or away.
Christ tells this man that his sins are sent away from him. Where are his sins sent to? "the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us," Psalm 103:8-12. "I, even I, am he that bloteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins," Isaiah 43:25. "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy," Micah 7:18.
These are great Scriptures, and we like to shout and praise God for these Scriptures, but if God simply takes away the sinners sins and proclaims the guilty to be righteous without payment for those sins, we end up with a terrible dilemma. "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD," Proverbs 17:15. "Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked," Exodus 23:7. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right," Genesis 18:33. What a question. The Judge of all the earth always does right, and will always do right. This man in Luke 5 is able to be forgiven through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Lord willing, we will look more at this next time.
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