“Faith in man opens the door to the power of Christ”
Matthew 9:1-17; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26
2:1 When He entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that He was at home. 2 So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and He was speaking the message to them.
Mark 2:1-12
17 On one of those days while He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in Him.
Luke 5:17-26
3 Then they came to Him bringing a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above where He was. And when they had broken through, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves: 7 “Why does He speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Mark 2:1-12
22 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today!”
Luke 5:17-26
This was an amazing event but the miracle was not the point. There are several lessons to be learned and the first one is that…
1. Jesus has the authority to forgive sins
We saw that the religious leaders were thinking it’s easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ than to say ‘Rise and walk’ because saying “your sins are forgiven” can’t be confirmed.
More importantly, a real prophet cannot commit blasphemy and then heal someone with the power of God, so when Jesus first forgave the sins and then healed the man it was proof for everyone so they couldn’t deny he had authority to do both.
This matters because Jesus called himself “the Son of Man” which the rabbis understood as a direct reference to Daniel where he said,
13 I continued watching in the night visions, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. 14 He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.
Dan 7:13–14
One of the debates among the rabbis was how to reconcile the messianic verses like this one which say the Messiah will come on the clouds and verses like Zechariah 9:9 which say he will come to us on earth riding a donkey. It seems these both can’t be true.
So, in this single event Jesus answered the question, he both came from the clouds of heaven and the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” We can now begin to see that the real issue is whether or not a person sees and accepts that Jesus has the authority of God himself.
In response to this knowledge,
2. Jesus wants to “see” your faith
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it.
Heb 11:1–2
Like Jesus said, we can’t see if your sins are forgiven but we can see if your life has changed. Of course people can pretend but Jesus is not fooled because he can also see your thoughts like he did the religious leaders. Jesus saw right through the lies and the deception.
You can pretend and fool those around you but you can’t fool God. This is why people have always been approved by living out their faith. This word means “to testify, bear witness, or give evidence.” As Hebrews explains, the lives of the faithful are approved by God because he recognizes the evidence of their faith. That’s why we have “heroes of the faith.”
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
Heb 11:6
Their faith was grounded in future certitude and it was because of this confidence in the promises of God that they were able to do amazing things. Just as important, our hope in Christ should guide everything we do: how we speak, live, love, and how we die. This is why the main focus of the text is the faith of the friends, not the miracle itself. Consider Hebrews 11,
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did…
7 By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family…and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Heb 11:4-7
23 By faith, after Moses was born, he was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin.
Heb 11:23–25
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being encircled by the Israelites for seven days.
Heb 11:30
Seeing your faith is proof of what you believe but the bible just calls it “obedience.”
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going.
Heb 11:8
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.
Heb 11:31
Over and over, we see the heroes of the faith put their faith to action and it helped, protected, and saved those just around them. As the love of Christ pours into your life, out of sheer gratitude and hope, you should obey by pouring that same love and sacrifice into the lives of others. This is the perfection of faith; to take what God has given you and sacrifice it for the sake of others.
3. People are blessed by your faith
So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
God is the one working in you, meaning the HS is enabling you and convicting you to give, help, serve, and sacrifice. This is why he says that once you start trying to live your faith,
Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world…But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
Php 2:12–17
This is called “vicarious faith.” Jesus’ faith was “vicarious,” meaning we benefited by his faithfulness. In the same way, we are called by faith to sacrifice ourselves for others. This means that if you are practicing your faith every day in little things, God will bless you with joy and gladness in the sacrifice and it will bless those around us.
Abraham prayed for Sodom and, because of Abraham’s faith, God agreed to spare Sodom if even ten righteous people could be found. Sadly, they could not be found but God still chose to honor Abraham’s faith by sparing Lot and his daughters. (Genesis 18:22–33; 19:29)
Aaron led God’s people into the worship of the Golden Calf but it was the faith of Moses that turned away God’s wrath (Exodus 32:9–14; Psalm 106:23).
Joseph was a slave of Potiphar but, because of Joseph’s faith, Potiphar’s household was blessed (Genesis 39:5).
Rahab’s Faithful obedience protected her entire household at the fall of Jericho (Joshua 2:12–13; 6:22–25)
And even after the harassment and ridicule that Job experienced at the hands of his friends, Job stepped in to protect those same men when God had decided to destroy them. God told the men to bring their sacrifices to Job so that Job could sacrifice and pray on their behalf (Job 42:7–10).
In the NT, we see the faith of the Roman Centurion intercede for His Servant (Matthew 8:5–13) and Jesus declared, "Go; let it be done for you as you have believed," and the servant was healed. A Canaanite woman petitioned Jesus for her daughter (Matthew 15:21–28) and Jesus said, "O woman, great is your faith!" and he heal her.
But this extends to complete strangers as we saw in the story of Paul. He was in the midst of a storm at sea but he and the entire crew survived because God had plans for Paul and a storm cannot stop the plans of God (Acts 27:21–44).
Finally, Jesus said he could see the faith of these four friends because they made the effort to break open the roof in order to bring their friend to Jesus (Mark 2:1–12).
Hebrews tells us it is God working through us and one theologian put it like this,
“Faith in man opens the door to the power of Christ. His authority working through human faith–that is the recurring motif [of scripture].”
Just last week, we witnessed the baptism of a mother and daughter and it all began with a brother’s love. And, just as the apostle Andrew ran to find his brother Peter and Philip ran to find Nathanael, David came to faith, grew through your ministry here, and he reached out to his sister, Rose.
This led to Rose just trying out church and that little step of faith led to her salvation and her daughter’s salvation and to a complete change in both of their lives. How many teenagers are willing to confess their sins to a crowd of people? How many mothers have you seen publicly beg their children for forgiveness?
God is still doing miracles and you, brothers and sisters, have that same potential and that same power to change lives by simply being faithful to God’s word.
What is God calling you to do? What is your next step? Is it becoming a member of this church? Is it finally time to make the decision to get baptized? Is it time to sign up and serve in the children’s church? Is it finally time to take the huge step and tithe so we can hire a youth pastor?
Faith in man opens the door to the power of Christ
The only thing holding back this church from doing bigger things and reaching more people is us. Pray and ask God to give you the same hope that has guided God’s people for 1000s of years. Make the decision to trust God’s word, don’t complain, persevere, and see how your service, your giving, your time, and your sacrifice will change your life and the lives of those around you.
pray
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