Luke 5:17-20

Luke chapter 5, verses 17 through 20 for our text and study this morning. And it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And behold, man brought in a bed, a man which was taken with palsy. And they sought means to bring him in and lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tallying with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto them, unto him, man, thy sins are forgiven thee. God bless to us, his sacred. and holy word this morning. The Puritan Thomas Manton was usually very clear and full as a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, once he preached before the Lord Mayor, decided he would give the Lord Mayor something a cut above his normal teaching. And so while the common people heard he, his sermon, the poorer folks, Mr. Portion. After he was done preaching, an aged woman came up to him and cried out, Mr. Manton, I came here this morning under concern of soul, wanting a blessing, and I’m not got it, for I could not understand you. Manton meekly replied, Lord forgive me, I will not so offend again. He had overlooked the common people and had mainly focused on the Lord Mayor. And so he regretted it afterwards. Unlike Manton, our Lord was never awed or phased by the elite audience of the Pharisees and the scribes, the scribes, the doctors of the Pharisees and the scribes, the doctors of the prophets, that came to hear what he had to say. Verse 17 indicates their presence. He didn’t alter his message, but he preached in such a common manner that would benefit the everyday man, all the common people who came to hear him. And so the common people we read in scripture heard him gladly and flocked around him as he taught. Now, as we look at this passage of scripture, obviously there’s a whole section here, and we can’t cover it all this morning. The paralytic man is going to be healed by Christ. But I want to draw some thoughts from the first part of this section, and we’ll look at Lord Willing, the second part in another study. But let me begin by saying this. You find the power of Christ to heal is a source. associated with the gospel. In verse 17, it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. The power of Christ is put forth when the gospel is proclaimed. Now the gospel is Christ’s common thing. He never deviates from it because he has already told us, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he have to anointing me to preach the gospel to the poor. Luke 418. And so his focus is on the gospel. The gospel of Christ is the power of God under salvation to everyone who believes. believes. And therefore, Jesus Christ came into the world with the purpose of preaching the gospel in order to save sinners. So he was always proclaiming to sinners their need of him as the Savior. That’s the key message of the gospel that he proclaimed. Now, since sin is the origin of all sickness, both in body and in soul. Christ’s power to heal here. We must see this. Extends beyond just the body to the spirit or the soul of man as well. He heals both, as this passage indicates to us. As you read the account here of the man with the palsy or the man is a paralytic, this word means to be disabled, weak of limb. you see Christ’s power to completely heal this man. You’ll notice in verse 20, he says, man, thy sins be forgiven thee. That’s soul healing, isn’t it? And yet later in verse 24, he says, arise, take up by couch and go into thine house. That’s bodily healing. So he heals them both body and soul. This is a familiar thought that we have talked about before. As usually the case in Scripture, Jesus doesn’t heal just the body and leave the soul untouched. He is concerned about the whole man. And therefore, Jesus Christ is the great physician. He heals both body and soul. Now, normally, when we talk about Christ is the great physician, we do focus on the fact that. that the references primarily to spiritual sickness, the state of the soul. But we cannot eliminate the fact that he also is a great physician in the healing of the body. He heals all manner of bodily illness. So there is an intertwining here, isn’t there, of the healing of the body and the soul that we should take note of in this man with the palsy being healed. You know, when the gospel was proclaimed, the church, chief healing relates to your soul. Christ removes the guilt, the sorrow, the power of sin, and you are forgiven, and your soul is renewed, regenerate. Our text indicates there are special periods when the power to heal is clearly displayed. Now, this doesn’t mean that Jesus Christ doesn’t always have the power to heal. power to heal. After always God manifested in the flesh, he can always heal. It’s just that he did not always do so to such a degree. There were certain times when he was pleased to put forth his power, his divine energy, in an unusual manner in the healing of not only the sick, but also of souls. There are periods in history when people are brought to salvation in great numbers. When the gospel was preached, Christ puts forth his healing power. Notice that the soul’s healing takes precedence over the body’s healing. Verse 20 precedes verse 24. The primary concern is the soul. But God is in Christ is not, he’s not unsympathetic to man’s plight in his body and his body. his sickness in that concern. So the power of Christ is put forth when the gospel is proclaimed. This man has his sins forgiven, and he’s healed and bought. Now let me ask you something. Have you ever been healed by the gospel? Those who receive the word of Christ in faith will find a divine power goes along with the word as it is preached. And so it heals the soul. When you heard the gospel, did Christ’s power go out and touch your soul? Were you drawn to the Savior? We read in scripture in Ephesians 119 about those who believe according to the working of his mighty power. Has God, for Christ’s sake, forgiven you? Have you ever seen yourself as a person in need of forgiveness? I once spoke to a woman who didn’t see herself as a sinner, who didn’t see herself as a need and need of forgiveness. I was talking to her about you know, Christ and how he came to save sinners and I asked her, did you see yourself as a sinner? She said, no. She didn’t see herself as a violator of the law. A person under its Gilden penalty. She looked at sinners as the worst people of society, you know, the bad, bad people. But she didn’t see herself in that category. Perhaps you might feel the same way. Maybe you look at yourself, say, well, I’m a pretty good person. Shouldn’t I be acceptable to God the way I am? My indiscretions are small. Friends, Jesus Christ never He a soul who was never brought to a humble state before him by a sense of their guilt. This man had his sins forgiven. Isaac Newton, the renowned English astronomer at the end of his life lay upon his deathbed. And as he contemplated his life and the work he had done, his mind was fully occupied at the last time there with his immediate future. And he confessed at this point, I have learned two great facts. One is that I am a great sinner. And two, that Jesus Christ is a greater Savior. Those are the two facts that we need to know. We need to know who we are in God’s sight. and we need to know that Christ is the one who can heal us. Do you know these truths? Have you learned these two great truths? Have you ever been healed by the power of Christ upon hearing the gospel? So you find the power of Christ to heal is associated with the gospel here. The second thing we learned from this text is this. You find many people hear the gospel in verse. in vain and never receive a hearing. Because in verse 17, we read here about the Jewish religious leaders merely stood by watching. There’s no healing for them. The Pharisees here were the most popular, most numerous sect among the Jews. The word Pharisee in the Hebrew actually has to do with separation. It speaks of them as a sect. people that were separated from the rest. They claim to be superior in knowledge and sanctity, separate from others. They lived rather strict lives, supposedly, closely adhering to the law and the Jewish traditions. The Sadducees were a sect that were the more liberal of the Jews in leadership. Jesus, however, called the Pharisees, you recall, hypocrites. Called them whitewashed sepulchers because they look clean on the outside, but inside they’re full of dead man bones. They are corrupt within. And he said that they made void the law by following their own traditions, even above the law of God itself. They were self-righteous. they perverted the law by false interpretations. And they followed an endless variety of trifling observances, and they ended up making religion a very heavy burden for anybody to bear. The doctors of the law were the scribes, were the law experts. These were people who not only made copies of the law, but they studied it. Supposedly were the experts. experts in its contents. Usually they were Levites. They were schooled in all the ecclesiastical affairs, and they purported to be men, they were purported to be men of great learning. They greatly abused their position, and they could not be trusted to give you the real interpretation of the law of God. You remember how often, Jesus said on the sermon of the Mount, you have heard. This is what the law experts tell you, but I say unto you, this is what the law actually means. This is what the law actually teaches. They’re not dealing with the spirit of the law, only the letter. Jesus also said, verily I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes of the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. So these people are outside the kingdom of heaven. They need to be saved, but they’re self-righteous people. Now the Pharisees and the doctors of the law, we read, merely stood by watching Christ in order to condemn him. These people were habitually found opposing Christ by all means in their power. So they. certainly didn’t go to Christ to be healed by him. They’ll lov you of Christ. By the way, the word heal them does not refer to the nearest antecedent here to the scribes and Pharisees, but it goes back to verse 15 to the multitudes. I think that’s the antecedon that it’s referring to. But the point is they were there. And they came from every town of Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, to know what the excitement was all about. Why are all these people following Christ? And what are we going to do about it? They heard of the great fame of Christ. They couldn’t deny the miracles of Christ, so they were curious. But they were not concerned with regard to their own souls. They figured they were righteous. They were acceptable to God on their own. So here they are. They’re merely sitting by observing Christ, watching him careful, looking for something to criticize, a fault, an error of some sort in which they could condemn the Savior. You can imagine them sitting there taking notes. Well, I’m going to write this down, because he said this. And you can imagine how disturbed they must have been. And we see it revealed to us in Scripture because Jesus reads their thoughts. When he said, man, thy sins are forgiven thee in verse 20. And as we read the rest of the passage, we see they’re all up in arms over that that Christ could forgive sin. So they got notes on that. So now they’re ready to charge him with blasphemy and try to discredit him before the people since only God can forgive sins. How dare this man claim that he can. and so they’re ready to put him to death and discredit him. They were like a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse, eagerly awaiting any opportunity, sadly. However, here they are. They’re sitting under the greatest preacher that ever walked the face of the earth. The purest teacher of God’s law. And yet, it didn’t benefit them. One iota. So the Pharisees and the doctors of the law are merely stood by watching, stood by watching him. Let me ask you this. Are you merely standing by when the gospel was preached? Wouldn’t that be a sad commentary on the day of judgment? You merely sat by. Never took it to heart. I read a story about a minister. He was asked to speak in a large city. It was a city. And so the church put him up in a hotel nearby, and the church decided they better hire a limo driver to drive him from the hotel to the church lest he’d get lost in navigating the streets of Chicago. So they had a limos driver that would pick him up, bring him to the church, and then he would speak. And the limo driver would wait. sit there in the back fiddling around and waiting for him to get done and then he would drive him back to his hotel. And he had to do that all week while the minister was preaching here at this church. But he was just sitting by. He wasn’t paying any attention to what the minister was saying. He had no interest in spiritual things. He was just there by obligation. Just completing his work. You can imagine someone, you know, maybe filling around with their phone, you know, looking up something or doing something else while he’s up there preaching and teaching the Word of God. But he wasn’t paying attention. He was just present. You know, there are many people who attend church. And they attend a church service for various reasons, but they’re merely sitting by. I can testify to the fact that there are people who have sat in this church in the past. And they’ve heard me preach. They’ve heard me preach for a while. And yet when I bring out these truths to them, it’s like they never heard them before, and I’ve been preaching them all along. What were you doing while you were here? I’ve had people that dozed off the whole time they were here at church. People just sitting behind. You can sit among the people of God, but not be part of them. You can hear a sermon with your ears. But your mind be far away. I once had a woman who sat in the back of the church. And she was a family member of someone who attended the church for a period of time. And she sat in the back of the church and I saw her writing. I’m thinking, well, that’s good. She’s taking notes while I’m preaching. Only later later did I find out she was writing letters to her friends, the whole time while I was preaching. She wasn’t taking notes. She wasn’t even paying attention. That’s the way people are. Sitting by. These people sit by. What do they care about the doctrine of the fall? What do they care about the depravity of man? Or the good news of the gospel, or the substitutionary death of Christ, or the regeneration work of the Holy Spirit, or the doctrine of justification, they could care less. You know, people don’t have an interest in these things. sometimes. They mean nothing. You have no sense of personal need. You can sit there and not perceive that you’re utterly wretched and in a hopeless state before God. How sad that would be. You may see yourself, as I said, a respectable person, a good of good reputation. This gospel stuff is beneath you. This is for religious fanatics. I had people that come to the church and they evidently have been attending liberal churches. And they came in here and they were not too happy with what I had to say. It made them uncomfortable. Perhaps you have a critical spirit. Maybe you come just look for flaws in the minister. Find problems with him. You’re indifferent to the message itself. You’re just looking for things to point out to condemn the person. Are you hard to unbelief that you could be totally indifferent to any pleas to repent and believe on Christ. If you are that way, how are you any different than the Pharisees or the scribes that we read about in this passage of scripture? How sad? How sad that would be. Just sitting by. Sitting by many. Hear the gospel in vain. They never receive your healing. Thirdly, you find great diligence. employed to bring someone to Christ for a healing. In verses 18 to 20. We read here, Behold men brought in a bed, a man which was taken with palsy, with a palsy. And they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop. Let down through the tally with his couch into the midst before Jesus. Let him down through the towing with his couch into the midst of Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins be forgiven thee. Here’s a man that was totally disabled. He needed to be carried by four men upon some type of couch or stretcher or something of this nature. This was a very kind act on their part, very commendable. Their purpose was if we could get him to Christ, Christ could heal this man, and he would no longer be a paralytic. He’d be able to walk. He’d be able to function again. However, when they get here, and evidently at this point, Christ is in a house that is just surrounded and it’s cramped there are some type of larger building and they can’t get to him. They can’t even get this man close enough to Christ. But ingeniously, they decided they’re going to get this man near to Christ one way or another. And so they take him, evidently, up on the roof of the building, and they remove the roofing towels, make a hole in the roof, and evidently with ropes, they let him down in his couch, right in front of Christ. That’s pretty creative. Jesus took note of their faith. Now, you’ll notice it says it’s in the plural. Not just the faith of the man, but the four who brought the man as well. Their faith. The Lord heals the man in soul first and then in body, as I’ve already mentioned. First beginning with the spiritual healing, 20, verse 20, and then the bodily healing. verse 24 the parallect man would never have been healed without the diligence of these four friends who were just not going to be denied. They were going to get this man before Christ, knowing that he could heal them, heal this man. So the four men come. Now, you should bring people to Christ for healing. What a level? Listen, the determination of these four men teaches. Let no obstacle keep you from bringing the spiritually sick to the great physician. And now it’s obvious that these four men took a lively interest in this man’s welfare. Friends, we must take an interest in the lost condition of those around us and desire to see them healed by Christ. Not just in body, because often we will lift up those who are sick. But remember, they also may need a soul healing as well. Do your best to bring the spiritually sick to Christ. And that may require great effort on your part. You know, we diligently will seek to pray for those who are in need of salvation by Christ. That’s bringing them before Christ to be healed. be determined to witness to the loss that they may hear the gospel. We should invite people to church so that they may hear the word of God proclaimed. We should judiciously use Christian literature in order to help and aid our outreach efforts to these people. Fully realize it may take several Christian witnesses to bring this person to Christ. It took four men. to bring this man to Christ. It may take more than one of one Christian to reach out to someone in order for them to be saved. One of the reasons we bring people before the church and pray about their salvation is that we’re asking other people to get involved in praying for this person. Your witness may be the one that breaks the ground that plows the earth, so to speak. someone else may have to come along and water it. Someone else may come along and finally reap the harvest. And so it may take more than one Christian. But each step is important in bringing this person to Christ. So you find great diligence employed here to bring someone to Christ free healing. Thomas Manton once, when speaking before the Lord Mayor, decided that he would elevate his message. the point where it was more of the high-faluting style above the common people of the congregation. And that was a mistake. He said, I shouldn’t have done that. And he vowed never to do that again. Jesus often had the Pharisees and the scribes in his audience. He never did that. He always kept it down to earth and straightforward. And the Pharisees and the scribes could understand exactly what. he was saying as well as the common people. Our text relates the healing power of the gospel. We should always realize when the gospel was preached, it’s not just the healing of the body that we’re talking about, but the healing of the soul. This passage makes that clear. Sadly, you can hear the gospel and never be faced by it. Just sit by, as we see these Pharisees and scribes were doing. And we see great diligence in to bring this man to Christ for a healing. Now this is the setting. And we’re going to get to the meat of this healing in just in the next study. Because there’s more to this healing that Jesus is going to bring out. But this is the setting of it. And it has a lot of, I think, good beneficial, practical thoughts in it for us as well. Let us stop at this point. point at this time. Now, this morning, we are going to come to the Lord before him at the table. And to that end, I would like to invite you to turn with me the Song of Solomon. I don’t wish to weary you with our studies here in the Song of Solomon, but it’s a book it’s rarely spoken taught on or spoken about. And I thought it would be useful for us to draw some practical implications. I want to read verses 5 and 6. We’ll be looking at the second part of verse 6. I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon, look not upon me because I am black. because the son have looked upon me. My mother’s children were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. That was chapter 1 if I didn’t mention that. Chapter 1, verses 5 and 6. You know, communion is a time when we draw near to Christ to enjoy fellowship with him, as verse 4 indicates to us in this passage. Part of our duty, I said, in partaking of the Lord’s supper is self-examination. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, as 1. Corinthians 10, 28 tells us. Versus 5 and 6 give us a self-examination here. In the first part of verse 6, we talked about the fact that the bride states, look not on me because I’m black. Don’t look negatively upon me. Because of this, judge yourself. We talked about having a scornful look or a prying look or a gleeful look or an astonished look or a one-sided look and not seeing the comeliness that Christ has given us as the people of God. But at this point, the bride carefully considers her state. Self-examination is good for all of God’s people. And that’s what takes place here. First, your blackness may be due to suffering and persecution because the sun hath looked upon me. That’s one of the reasons I’m black. The seed, which fell on stony places, was scorched when the sun came up in Matthew 13, verse 6, which Christ declares represented the tribulations and persecution, which arises because of the word. all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If not by the hands of men, by the tongue of men. The church, bearing the heat and the burden of the day, suffers for her faith and her testimony as it goes through this world. You and I, as members of the church, suffer because of our faith. our faith in Christ. It’s not a reason to be ashamed, but it may take its toll on you as you go through this life. Let us bear persecution and patiently and accept it as the lot of those who follow Christ, but it might be one reason, or the sorrow and the sadness and the struggle that we have. Your blackness may be due to sufferings and persecutions. Secondly, your blackness may be due to falling under the anger of your mother’s children. My mother’s children were angry with me, and they made me the keeper of the vineyards. This is a little bit more complex and difficult section. Someone understand this passage as referring to your natural family. Often your worst enemies can be those of your natural family, and they become a great hindrance to your faith. family may keep you occupied with various duties so that your life is miserable. Others understand this of your religious family. In particular, the carnal professors, who may be part of the church, the visible church. Second John I, we read about the elect lady and her children, and so we could have the idea of the mother and children here. These false ones, we read about the elect lady and her children. professors have a form of godliness, but actually they end up hating the true believer. They hate the true believer because the true believer defends the pure doctrine of the gospel. The true believer is faithful in giving reproofs and admonition when he or she sees sin, and their holy walk exposes the sham faith of those who are just hypocrites. So these people will keep you. busy with all sorts of church activities and obligations, which ultimately is no benefit spiritually to your soul. Many Christians have faced this problem in churches they have attended. It’s a hard thing not to find relief and comfort in the church you attend. You know, to have people against you for holding to the truth that you believe the gospel or the Word of God teaches. And they’m so concerned about it. social programs and things of this nature, they’re not really focused on the building up and edifying of your soul. So your blackness may be due to falling under the anger of your mother’s children. Thirdly, your blackness may be due to failing to keep your own vineyard. But my own vineyard, have I not kept? Boy, the danger is that we can be involved in all kinds of intense activity, both secular and religious, that may lead to the neglect of our own soul and our own spiritual well-being. While engaged in all sorts of religious activities, your own vineyard may be overgrown with nettles and thorns. It can’t be much use of others if your own soul is drifting away from Christ. So let a man examine himself. Do you love the Savior? Are you willing to suffer for the cause of Christ and be looked down upon? Be assured, Christ welcomes you to the table. You’re a faithful servant. Have you fallen under the anger of your natural family or false professors for your faith? Rest assured, this is a sign of your separation from the world and your commitment to Christ. Be assured, you will be welcomed at his table. Do you confess, you? you have not kept your own vineyard. Well, self-examination is to be taken seriously. That’s what it’s for, to see where we stand. It’s not to say, oh, I’m a great person. I deserve to be here. It’s to say, you know, I need to work on this, and I need to see that I confess this sin, and I need to work on this area. It’s sort of a look-in-the-mirre situation. Let me see where I am. And so it’s good to do. do that. It’s good for the people of God to look at themselves, self-examine themselves, before they come to the table, to confess their known sin. They come to the table with an idea of being in fellowship with Christ when I worship here. And then as we come to the table to be in fellowship with him as we enjoy the communion. So your sinfulness, as you consider it and you weigh it and you confess it, is not the something that should keep you from the table, but it should be something that we consider before coming to the table. And so let us confess our sin and then let us come because we’re still welcome to the table after we’ve examined ourselves. And so I think we can draw these thoughts from this passage this morning. At this time, I’m going to have Mark come forward, and we are going to observe the Lord’s table.