Authority Over Sin

He came running to Jesus. And yet Jesus looked at that young man and said, "Sir, there is one thing you lack." You see, you can have all the other things going on well in your physical life and still be dead spiritually because our greatest need is not a physical need this morning. It is a spiritual one. If you have a copy of God's word, if you don't take it and open it to Matthew chapter 9 this morning. And as you're turning there, I just want to take a little point of personal privilege and uh mention two things. First of all, uh I know last week it was announced across all of our collective churches uh the results of our Let's Go Capital Stewardship campaign and you guys just knocked it out of the park and I'm so thankful for you. over $6 million in gifts and pledges over the next two years. And uh I am I'm so stoked about that. One of the reasons I'm so excited about that because uh I've led numerous stewardship campaigns in churches uh across the years. This is the first one that I've ever done that didn't specifically personally benefit the people that are sitting in the room. And I think that speaks to your spiritual maturity and your willingness to be on mission for God to sacrificially give uh to that cause. So give it up for yourselves this morning once again as we celebrate that. And then secondly, I've been tracking along uh with uh Cross Church Surprise and other locations in this series uh the miracles of Jesus. And I'm so excited to get to preach on this topic. Uh, I love the fact that when you come to Cross Church, uh, we have always been and always will be, uh, the kind of church that wants to point you to no other person other than Jesus Christ. And the miracles of Jesus just cause us to fall in love with him and his compassion and his power in all that he does and says. And so we're going to dive in this morning to uh the story of the healing of the paralyzed man in Mark, excuse me, in Matthew chapter 9. And let's start reading just in verse one. It says, "Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town." Now, let's just stop there for just a moment if we could. Jesus came to his home town. Mark chapter 2 is the sister chapter to Matthew chapter 9. And in Mark chapter 2, we have the name of that hometown. It's Capernium. Uh you see Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We know that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. But Jesus spent most of his life as a young boy growing up in around the town of Capernium. I have in my hand a little piece of pottery that was given to me by uh some members of our church years ago that had visited Jesus's hometown. This piece of pottery I hold in my hand came from that town. Uh Jesus, I would suggest to you, is the ultimate hometown hero. Now, almost every place I've lived or every place I visit when I'm traveling, I always try to watch the evening news at different locations and hotels I may be in. Almost every news station in almost every city has a segment called Hometown Heroes. It's usually on the weekend. It's usually about a five-minute spot highlighting the the heroic efforts of a fireman or a police officer or a school teacher. Local hometown heroes. Uh if you think back to where you grew up, you could probably think of some people, some names and some faces come to your mind of people that were hometown heroes. Some of you been around here a while know that I grew up in a small, very, very small town in Oklahoma, Asher, Oklahoma. During my days of growing up in that small town, it was nationally known as the high school baseball capital of the world. That and about 50 cents in that day and time would get you a cup of coffee. All right, not that big a deal. We recently hosted one of our hometown baseball heroes in our home. Uh Jose Talentino played first base for us when I was in high school. He was good friends of my wife's family, a foreign exchange student from Mexico City. Jose uh later left our high school and played uh first base and won a national championship for the University of Texas along with a guy by the name of Roger Clemens and then spent some time with the Houston Astros as a major league player there and later became the manager one year for the Olympic team for the nation of Mexico. He's a hometown hero. Every time that we showed up to the park, there would be uh scouts from all over watching Jose. And not once did they ask to talk to me after a game. I was small but slow in high school and that didn't seem to be a great combination. Uh recently on the news, you've seen the picture of the guy that's on the screen right now, Kirk Moore. Kirk Moore was a high is the high school principal at Paul's Valley High School. Not far from Asher, Oklahoma is a small town called Paul's Valley. And Kirk Moore is the principal there. And recently, an armed gunman came into the lobby of the school. He saw that. He left his desk. He went into that lobby. He leaped on top of that armed gunman, receiving a bullet wound to his leg, but saving countless students that day. Kurt Moore. They just grow principles a little tougher in Oklahoma, let me tell you. Uh Kirk Moore later, this past week, actually, some of you have celebrate prom season here. I've seen the pictures on social media. Kirk was named the the king of the homecoming uh event there at Paul's Valley High School. He will go down in history as a hometown hero. But get this, Jesus would eventually do more than take a single bullet to a leg. He would take three spikes to his hands and to his feet and a spear to his side. And when he died, he saved countless millions, if not billions of people from eternity in hell. When Jesus stepped off the boat and his feet touched the shores of Capernium, whether they realized it or not at the time, he was the consumate, ultimate hometown hero. Now, there are several things you don't know about Pastor Andrew that I do. That's why you keep coming to church here every Sunday. For instance, uh you do know that Pastor Andrew is a a Cardinals fan. He texted me this past week after the third round of the NFL draft and said, "We got our quarterback." He also texted me that years ago when when Josh Rosen was selected with the hashtag chosen Rosen. Didn't work out too well for him. But one of the things you don't know or maybe not know about Pastor Andrew is he is a huge superhero fan. He is the kind of guy that when a new Marvel movie comes out, he buys tickets in advance for the movie to be there the night of the premiere in the local theater. Well, I've got good news for Andrew and good news for you. Superheroes are real and his name is Jesus Christ. So, I want us to check out the amazing miracle that we find here in Matthew chapter 9. And let's read the rest of the story. And let's just stand as we reverence the reading of God's word because you've been sitting too long and pastor Andrew is worried that you might go to sleep while I preach. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town. He's a hometown. Some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a mat. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son. Your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheing." Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?" Which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven." Or to say, "Get up and walk, but so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat, and go home." And the man got up and went home. And when the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe, and they praised God who had given such authority to men. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you might bless the preaching of and teaching of your word in the moments that we have left. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as we just work our way through this wonderful story, I want to ask several questions that apply to each and every one of us. First of all, I want to ask this question. What does this story tell us about us as sinners? Uh the Bible says in verse two that uh Jesus said, "Thy sins are forgiven." What does it tell us about us as sinners? I say us as sinners because we are all sinners. Can I get an amen? >> And the guy that didn't amen is just lying through his teeth. >> Because we are all sinners. Some of us in this room just happen to be saved sinners, living under the forgiveness of God's wonderful grace. Others in the room are not yet saved sinners, living under the condemnation of their sin. If you are the latter, living under the condemnation of your sin, have yet to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then I would suggest that you need to go on a little road trip with me this morning. How many of you like a good road trip? Yeah, I love a good road trip. Me and my wife are about to go back for Memorial Day weekend to be with my parents in Oklahoma and and we're driving all the way there. It's going to be a wonderful road trip. Now, I have to confess that I like road trips just a little bit better now that I don't have toddlers to take care of. But a road trip's great. I want to ask you if you're here today and you've yet to give your life to Jesus Christ to go on a little road trip with me, what we might call the Roman road. And here's what the Bible says about you in Romans. The first rest stop on the Roman road is Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That is true of absolutely everyone who has ever breathed a breath of this planet's air. Every single person is a sinner. Romans would go on and later say that our righteousness is as a filthy rag in the sight of the father. Even our very best is never good enough. And so we are all sinners in Romans 3:23. And we go down that Roman road. The next rest rest stop that we find is Romans 6:23. It says that the wages of that sin is death. Uh that's true. Every single person will die physically, but the meaning is much deeper that than that. It's not just physical death, but it's eternal and spiritual death. Eternally separated from God the Father in a place called hell. The wages of universal sin, and we've all sinned, is eternal death. But the verse doesn't end there. But it says, "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Isn't that good news today? save center say amen. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And don't miss the final rest stop on the Roman road. Romans 10:13 says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That means there hope for absolutely every person in this room. There's hope for you. No matter how dark and deep and desperate your sin is, that God will forgive you. God will save you. God can come into your heart today and eternally change your destiny. We are all sinners. But what does this story tell us about that as sinners? First of all, we're reminded of the story that our greatest need isn't physical, it's spiritual. Jesus could have just as easily started the conversation with the paralyzed man on the mat by saying, "Rise and walk." But he didn't start there. He would end there, but he didn't start there. He starts by saying, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." Why? Because he wanted to demonstrate that the greatest need any person has is a spiritual need, not a physical one. Now, I get it and I don't want to sound unsympathetic to those in the room today that come to this room with deep, intense physical problems. And I don't want to underestimate that or the effect of that. Some of you come to this room with problems of finances and problems at your job. Some have problems with relationships or problems in your home. Some of you have problems with your health. you've gotten a bad report from a doctor. And I do not mean to minimize those issues. We pray and we if you have those needs, we pray that you'll let us pray for them. Fill out that prayer card that Andrew spoke about a moment ago. And we pray that God allows you to find help in those times of need. But the greatest need you have is not a physical need. It is a spiritual need. You see, you can have all the other needs in perfect shape and still be empty here and spend eternity in hell over there. Jesus said these words in Matthew. He said, "What should it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose or forfeit his own soul?" He illustrates that with the story of the rich young ruler. Some of you are familiar with that story. There's a story in the New Testament where a rich young ruler comes running to Jesus and asks him, "Good master, what must I do to be saved?" And Jesus looked at that young man and and I think Jesus not only loved him, I think Jesus genuinely liked him. There was a lot to like about his life. First of all, he was very moral. The Bible says that he had kept all the commandments to the best of his ability. Uh we also know that he was wealthy. He had a a large bank account. His 401k was doing okay. And he was healthy. He came running to Jesus. And yet Jesus looked at that young man and said, "Sir, there is one thing you lack. You see, you can have all the other things going on well in your physical life and still be dead spiritually because our greatest need is not a physical need this morning. It is a spiritual one. Second, we learn from this story that if I can get my notes in the right order, that the most religious are many times the most judgmental. Did you catch that? Look at verse three again. At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheing." And I'm just amazed at this. They were not celebrating that he was being healed. They were worried that Jesus was not crossing every tea and dotting every eye in their theological journals. Don't mistake religious for righteous. You can be religious and not be saved. Jesus said, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he that do does the will of my father who is in heaven." As Vance Havner, the oldtime preacher, used to say, "Being in a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car." And that's true. That's why Billy Graham once famously said, "The greatest harvest fields in America are on our church rolls." You can be a member of a church. You can cross every tea and dot every eye for church membership and still not have a saving personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, I can tell you after 40 plus years of pastoring, the meanest people I've ever met, ever have met are unregenerate church members. You know who you are. They use their pseudo religious veneer to cover up their sin instead of confessing it and finding the joy of true forgiveness. Under this heading that we are all sinners, we also see that sometimes sickness and personal sin are connected. The Bible says in verse 5 of our text which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk. Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes sickness and disease and personal sin are connected. Like I said, not all the time. Jesus said specifically in John chapter nine in response to the disciples question about a man born blind. They asked him, "Who sinned? this man or his parents? And Jesus said, "Neither." You see, not all the time is sickness a result of personal sin, but sometimes it is. Jesus would also say concerning a man who was crippled for 38 years. He would say to him, "Sin no more, lest these things come unto you again." Doctors have for years talked to us about psychosomatic illnesses. Things that we do with our minds and our spirits that affect our bodies. For instance, you drink too much and it'll affect your health and you'll have relationship problems. You can eat too much, be guilty of gluttony, and it will kill you way too soon. You can have extrammarital sex and you could receive a venerial disease or worse. You could be a chronic worrier and suffer from headaches and stomach issues and sleepless nights. The bottom line is sin has consequences. Sometimes direct physical ones and other times and at all times eternal ones. So what does this story tell us about us as sinners? Secondly, what does this tell us about our savior? The Bible says in verse four, knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk, but so that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin. Now, let me just say this loud and clear. Jesus Christ is the son of God. >> He is 100% man. He is 100% God. He is the God man. I I like how CS Lewis puts it in his commentary on the sister passage of this in Mark chapter 2 in his work mere Christianity. He says among these Jews there certainly there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if he is God. What this man said was quite simply the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips. I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him. They will say, "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." Lewis says that is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sorts of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell himself. You must make your choice today. Either this man was and is the son of God or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord God. Let's make perfectly clear as we study through all of these miracles of Jesus that we are studying the miracles of the deity of Jesus Christ. His deity is on display in this passage. First of all, Jesus is God knows our hearts. Verse four, Jesus said, "Why do you knowing their thoughts?" It says, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts?" One true sign of the deity of Jesus is his all knowingness. Think about this. Jesus not only knows your name, uh the scripture says he has all of the hairs on your head numbered, but he knows what you're thinking. He knows some of you are thinking about lunch right now, where you're going, or if you left something in the crockpot and if it's going to burn. Jesus knows if some of you are thinking about the golf course or some other hobby that piques your interest. Even more revealing is he knows your heart. He knows if you love him or not. He knows if you are saved or not. But there's good news here. Jesus is God who forgives our sins. The the Bible says in verse 5 again, let's reread it. It says that um which is easier to say get up and walk but so that you may know the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Your greatest need is for your sins to be forgiven. My greatest need is for my sins to be forgiven. And would I could I suggest to you instead of making excuses for your sin? Instead of doing that, confessing our sins and asking forgiveness, because too often instead of doing that, we make excuses for our sin problem. I'm here today to tell you that no matter what you have done, you can be forgiven, but you must ask forgiveness. and repent of your sins. I wonder what your favorite Bible verse is. Any of you have favorite Bible verses? Uh my favorite Bible verses verse and it isn't close is 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We learn what this story tells us about us as sinners, about our savior, and then finally it tells us something about us as his servants. The Bible describes some men that have brought this paralyzed men man, their friend to Jesus. Now, we have a little better description of that story in Mark chapter 2. Let me just read it. It says a few days later when Jesus again entered Capernium, the people heard that he had come home. He's he's a hometown hero. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door. And he preached the word to them. And some men came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four of them. And since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus. And after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed, "Your son, your sins are forgiven." We have a mission in this world. First of all, our mission is to bring people to Jesus. That's job one. That's why the mission statement of this church is to make Jesus known. That is job one, not only for every church, but for every single individual Christian. And in Mark chapter 2, we we we read how this story actually happened. They they they cut a roof hole in the in the roof and they they lower Jesus on this stretcher. They lower this man, I should say, on this stretcher to the very feet of Jesus. Some have called this the miracle of the four stretcher bears. Other have called it the miracle of the hole in the roof gang. whatever you call it. >> There are four guys that love their friend enough to bring him to Jesus. >> We often ask the question around here, who's your one? For every single one of you that is a saved sinner, you should have at least one person on your heart, on your radar, on your prayer list that you're praying by name for that they come to faith in Jesus Christ. I have several people that are my ones, if you will. One is a young man by the name of Jason. I met Jason flying home from Albuquerque, New Mexico about four or five years ago. He was seated right next to me. It was not my habit and is not my habit to strike up a lot of conversations on an airplane, but I was in the middle seat back in the old days of Southwest. And I started talking to Jason and I found out that he lived just right around the corner from me in Sterling Grove, just south of here. And we stuck struck up a good enough relationship that we traded phone numbers and we met for coffee. And I began to share the gospel with Jason. Jason would soon let me know that he was a professed agnostic, just a wonderful young man. I've taken him dove hunting on at least two occasions. And I was driving through the parking lot of Safeway near our homes when Jason was crossing over and I honked my horn, rolled down my window and said, "Hey, what are you doing, big boy?" And he excitedly told me that he was expecting his second child. And I've just been praying for Jason, who's had his first child since we first met, and now is having his second. And I prayed just this past week with a group of friends. God, would you save Jason? Would you bring him to faith? And may there be generational change in his home. May his baby that is expecting and his young son that he just took fishing and he sent me a text picture of their first fishing trip. That Jason, would you pray for Jason today? There should be somebody like that in your heart, in your life that you're personally investing in and praying for. Jesus would end this chapter by saying, "The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest." He would send forth laborers into his harvest. He was praying for you way back in his hometown in Matthew chapter 9. Finally, we are commissioned to glorify God for all that he does for us. This story ends in verse 7. The man got up and went home. And when the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe and they praised God who had given such authority to men. Can I say to you that nothing brings more glory to God than changed lives? Nothing brings more glory to God than changed lives. And you may be sitting in this room today. Somebody has invited you. Maybe you saw an advertisement or for some reason inexplicably you just decided, man, I I ought to go to church and check it out. And you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. There's nothing that would bring any more glory to God than you giving your heart and life to him. Today I was leading a a prayer meeting for a group of staff for the North American Mission Board this past week and we were praying through Matthew chapter 9. And I told him the story of Leon Tanner. I haven't seen Leon this morning. He may be in the room. Leon's got severe back problems. He can't attend church as much as he once did. But years ago, it's 5, six, seven, eight years ago, we were at our Wednesday morning prayer meeting and Leon asked this request. Would you pray for my sister? She doesn't know Jesus and she's going to be visiting our home from out of town this weekend. And we prayed for his sister. And to be honest, I just sort of forgot about it. But I was on this stage preaching and preached the gospel as I'm preaching to you right now. And that morning, for some reason, we don't do this often, but sometimes we do. Uh, but that morning, I felt just led to give a come forward invitation. Bearman, I completely forgot about our prayer meeting on Wednesday morning. I forgot what I ate for breakfast this morning. Matter of fact, thinking about it, I didn't eat breakfast this morning. But I preached the end of the service like we're coming to the end of this one. I gave an invitation and people started coming forward. About eight or 10 people came forward professing faith in Christ that morning and I celebrated it, but I didn't think too much about it. And I walked out back toward the back door and Leon Tanner was standing there. He's a tall drink of water. If you know him, you know what I'm talking about. And Leon's eyes were wet with tears. And I said, "Everything all right, ma'am? What's going on?" He said that senior adult lady that walked down that she walked right down that aisle and came forward that morning this morning. He said that's my sister. We prayed for her Wednesday. You remember pastor? Well, maybe you're Leon Tanner sister this morning or brother and you need Jesus today. While we're not going to have a come forward invitation today, I do want to give you an opportunity right where you are to pray and ask Jesus Christ into your heart. Would you bow with me in prayer? Heads are bowed, eyes are closed for just a moment.