Services/Sermon in Monticello 02.02.2018

Yet, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Before I read this text, I want to make sure I bring the greetings, especially from my home, from Karen and the family, and then also my brother Tom, who many of you know. I talked to him yesterday, and he wanted me to bring his special greetings. He had just returned from Russia and Finland again, but he was home for a while.

And then also my cousin Pete Lever, he called today and wanted me to bring those greetings, and many, many others from the home congregation of Seattle. We had our annual meeting and many there last Sunday, and many sent the greetings also. It's nice to be here. I know that you, dear fellow travelers, have already remembered the servants, and I ask that you continue to do so, that God would give his word for our festive services.

And I think I need to also say it felt especially comfortable and heartwarming to hear the voices of the little children here. I kind of noticed it. It feels like home. Many, many little voices, and it's a reminder to me that we have the greatest in the kingdom with us here at these services.

For a text, we'll read several verses from the first part of chapter 9, the gospel according to Matthew. And we do so in the name of our Lord Jesus. And it says in his name: And he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed.

And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk?

But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then he said to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house. And he arose and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. Amen.

This is a brief incident, we could say, from the life of Jesus and his ministry, especially in this particular case, during the earlier part of his, say, three-year or so ministry, where many people had already heard him and gathered around him, multitudes, as a matter of fact.

And at this time, there were a number of others that witnessed this event, this teaching event in the life of Jesus. And I think probably even the Sunday school age kids here, and there's a lot of them, can see that there's a very comforting and a very important message in this teaching event in the life of Jesus.

Because we know that he was, of course, the greatest teacher that ever lived. He taught about eternal life. And there could be no greater gift. We think about all the cultures and peoples, nations, and so forth, that have existed throughout the ages. And all of them, everyone, every culture had some form of religion. Everyone. It's in the human experience that mankind finds a way to worship God.

Then on the other hand, we know that God also, according to his will, reveals unto man that way of living faith. Every society has some kind of a ritual or some kind of evidence left, even throughout ages, that they thought of the afterlife.

Think of, for example, think of ancient Egypt, you know, the huge pyramids. What are they for? Well, that was where they put, you know, the dead, and in that case, the kings. But what did they put in there with them? Well, they find all kinds of artifacts that were, had a specific purpose. They had to do with the afterlife.

Maybe they have some kind of, like the Northwest Indians, for example. They'd have a boat. They'd put them up in a tree. And in the boat, they'd put different things that the person could use in their afterlife. Man has it in him to consider such things.

Jesus, the greatest teacher, taught about everlasting life. And this incident where he entered this home or this building and they brought, some people brought this man that was ill, sick of the palsy, couldn't walk on his own. They carried him in on a stretcher.

The gospel writer Luke writes about it and said that these people brought him in on a, basically on a stretcher. They call it a bed in the Bible. It's a stretcher. That's how we would say it, you know, in modern day English. Because he couldn't walk. He actually had a physical ailment.

But there was something more important that this man needed than the ability to walk. And it had to do with eternal life and believing. And in this life, it's such that because of the condition we're in, which is we inherited corruption from the fall into sin of Adam and Eve, we carry that sin portion with us at all times.

We fall into sin. It's in our nature. And even though we often try not to, we find ourselves stumbling and falling. Well, it's pretty clear what the situation with this man was once we read the narrative about what happened.

Yeah, he had a physical ailment, but he also had something else that was bothering him. And it becomes crystal clear in this narrative what it was that was even a greater matter of more importance than the fact that he was sick of the palsy.

What was it? Well, we see very clearly what happened when they brought this man in. It says here, they brought him to him, a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed, and Jesus seeing their faith. They knew something of Jesus. Many, many people had heard Jesus, had seen Jesus, multitudes. Some believed.

It says here, they had the faith that Jesus could help. And certainly, they were thinking about the man's physical condition. They knew that Jesus could do miracles. He healed people that were blind, restored their sight, many, many other ailments. The deaf, the dumb. He was able to physically cure those people.

And that, of course, is a great miracle. But there's a greater miracle at the root of this one. And all those that he did. And they're teaching examples that we have.

Sometimes, I remember as a kid, I kind of wondered, why don't we have these kind of miracles anymore? I mean, we read about them in the Bible, and it'd be pretty amazing to see something like that. You kids probably think of the same thing.

Well, Luther had said, those miracles that Jesus did, they're enough. They show those teaching examples that he gives life. And he does yet today.

They brought him in, and Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy. And what did you think people were imagining? Nothing that Jesus would do. Say, okay, you're cured. Get up and walk.

Now, he said something entirely different, and we can be sure that probably to all of them, but certainly to those that were looking for fault in Jesus, and many were at that time. They were trying to find fault in his words and his deeds.

Of course, they couldn't find any because he was without sin or blemish. He was perfect. He fulfilled the law.

Well, he didn't say what they expected to hear. I'm sure that they were thinking that he would immediately say, get up and walk. He had a different message. And it was a much more powerful message.

I think it's a message that oftentimes in our lives we can forget how important and how powerful that message is. He said, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee.

This is the Lord of life. What a message. What a powerful message to this one who was ailing, who was sick. Yeah, he had a physical disease, but he had something deeper. It's quite clear. Sin was bothering. He wasn't able to take the free steps and walks on the journey.

You know, hey, I'll tell you something right now. I've experienced the same thing in my life at times. It wasn't even a physical ailment, but sin pressing.

And what a message it's been when brother or sister has said, Dear one, your sins are forgiven in His name, in Jesus' name, and through the drops of blood that He shed on our behalf. And it's brought new life.

And did it bring life and hope to this man? It did. It says here that those that were listening were talking about a whole bunch of different listeners now.

You had some that were there to see Jesus because they had believed in Him or they had heard these works and they believed in Him. They had others there that were looking for fault in Jesus because they were self-righteous.

They didn't have any needs. They didn't even need to hear the gospel. They didn't need a physician. They felt by their own works, their own deeds, they were fine.

Well, it says here in the third verse of this what their reaction was. It says, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemeth.

In other words, in their mind, they're thinking, how can anybody have this power to tell this man that his sins are forgiven?

Now, to the human mind, that kind of thinking makes sense. Who has that kind of power?

Well, we would have to say on our own, none of us, not one, with our own strength, our own power, our own intellect, our own understanding, has the power to preach one's sins forgiven.

But, it's also remarkable here, even though this is what they thought, they didn't stand up and say, wait a minute, hold on.

It says, certain of the scribes said within themselves their thoughts. Jesus knew their thoughts. He knows our thoughts.

Sometimes I thought, I hope he still holds me in his kingdom, because my thoughts are always, seems they're somewhere else. But he cares for us. He takes care of us.

These that had this thought where they were accusing Jesus, it says, Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, wherefore, think ye evil in your hearts? Why are you thinking these evil thoughts?

And then he says this, for whether is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk?

He leaves the question with them. What's easier? To say, your sins are forgiven, or say, get up and walk?

For Jesus, it's easier to say, your sins are forgiven. To the poor traveler, it's easy to preach the gospel. It was easy for Jesus to preach the gospel. He loves the sinner.

And then he does the miracle. He says, but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.

Then he turned to this one on the bed, stretcher. He said, arise, take up thy bed, and go in thy house.

Proving, showing, now, with his word, that he had the power to forgive sin and to heal the sick. And he did.

And it says here, and he arose and departed to his house.

Well, certainly, the ones that were self-righteous were offended at Jesus, even though a great miracle was done in their presence.

But it says here what the multitude thought when they saw this. And they witnessed the whole thing.

It says, when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

God, and we know from Holy Scripture that it teaches, that Jesus himself taught, in fact, he gave this lesson on the very night of the day when he rose from the dead.

It was Sunday night of that three-day weekend, Good Friday, and then kind of the darkest day, you might say, was the Saturday, when everybody lost hope. He's dead.

And then Sunday morning, he arose the third day. And through him, we have the promise of eternal life.

That which societies and cultures and people have sought out from the beginning of time through the ages. He accomplished that.

That through him, living faith in him, we have the promise of eternal life.

So, here, they marveled at that. That word which, yet today, those on the outside can't comprehend that God has given that power.

Jesus, on that Sunday night, gathered behind those locked, closed doors, with his own, the disciples and some of the apostles in that room. Thomas didn't happen to be there. He was one of the apostles. The others were.

And then he conferred that power. You probably recall even the Sunday school kids. He breathed on them. And what was he showing? That he gave, he gives the Holy Spirit to the believer.

He said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins you remit or forgive, they're forgiven. Whosoever sins you retain, they retain.

That remarkable word, that miraculous word, that gives through living faith the promise of eternal life.

I think in this life, that at least, if I think about myself, it's so easy for me to overlook the power of that word.

Dear parents, mother and father, grandma and grandpa, has that word been precious and comforting and important in your homes? I think it has. I know it has.

I think of my own home. How many times the little voices have said, Daddy, you can believe all your sins forgiven.

Maybe it's in the evening. We're putting the kids down to bed or whatever. We still got kids at home. You might think, well, he's pretty old. He doesn't have kids at home. We've got kids at home.

And it's a precious moment. When that living gospel, the same one that Jesus was teaching about in this example and so many other examples.

Jesus spoke probably most of anything in all his teaching about two things. He taught about children. Children.

He taught beautiful lessons about children. They're the greatest in the kingdom.

The other thing that he taught about and loved to teach about was forgiveness. Because we need forgiveness.

And I think it's easy to forget how important that word is.

I'll give you an example of how powerful that word is. There was a young, actually high school age girl from our area. She attended, of course, a local high school like you would here or anywhere else.

She had her Christian friends at school. And they also had other friends at school that were not believing, neighbor families or whatever.

And she had driven to school. As I recall, I think she was probably a senior at the time.

And then after school she went out to the parking lot. And she had these different friends there.

And she went out to her car and she got in the car and she tried to start the car. Well, the car wouldn't start.

And it's probably your dad's fault. It wasn't me. It wasn't my daughter. You can try to guess who it was if you want.

But it was probably partly the father's fault because he was known to drive beaters too.

Well, the car didn't start and so she became kind of frustrated with it and didn't really know what to do.

And there happened to be this unbelieving friend. One of the boys that was in the school and saw her, I think she probably popped open the hood and didn't really know what to do.

Well, he came over and said, well, what's going on? And she explained.

He had started. So he was poking around under the hood and he fiddled around with one of these, you know, the wires and stuff. I don't know what he was doing.

But anyway, he pushed really hard and he smashed his hand into something on the motor and it hurt.

And unfortunately, he used a word or two that wasn't very savory, wasn't very nice. It was a naughty word.

Well, he knew this girl was some kind of Christian girl. And in fact, he had earlier asked her about some kind of a dance and she explained that she didn't go.

So he knew that she had some kind of a Christian background. And, you know, when he let this word out, he felt pretty bad about it.

Here's this nice girl and he said, oh, he didn't really know what to say. He said, oh, can you forgive me?

And she didn't know what to say. She paused and I think she said probably what a believer would say. She said, well, do you want all your sins forgiven?

And he said, yes, I do. And she said, all your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and blood. Blood.

And this boy believed. He said later, two, three, four, five, maybe ten years later, he said when she preached the gospel that his sins were forgiven, he said he felt a great burden lifted off his life.

He's been believing ever since. The word, not our word, not her word, but that which is preached through the Holy Ghost is a powerful word.

And when one can believe, it holds the promise of eternal life. It is a powerful word.

The word is really, we would have to say, no different in the most important way than the word that Jesus preached to the man on the stretcher. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

I found in my life again and again how comforting it is to hear the reassurance of that word.

Why? Because, you know, on this journey, the feet become dirty. Why do you think Jesus would have even mentioned to wash each other's feet?

That was a few days earlier in the life of Jesus. It was on the Thursday of the same week when Jesus established the communion, the Lord's Holy Supper.

He transformed that Old Testament Passover meal into what we celebrate. And in that evening, he taught the same beautiful lesson about the gospel. Wash each other's feet.

And we also have had to pray this way that God would give us strength, like for some reason to that girl under the hood. Do you want all your sins forgiven?

And he did. God gives those kinds of words. They're not ours. That's the living gospel.

Jesus so beautifully taught about that lesson. And I think here this evening, even though it's a festive occasion, and it's really nice to be here with you even though I find myself weak and doubting and poor, it's nice to again, I think for you dear ones that come here at the festive occasion, perhaps feel your own weakness and your own poorness.

Some even think that I'm the poorest one here. Well, listen, you can believe this evening, yes, the young, the older ones, grandmas, the grandpas, the parents, the kids, little ones, all your sins are forgiven, in Jesus' name and precious blood, and I'm the most doubting of all, and I need to hear the gospel this evening.

Can you preach the gospel to me? I'm happy to believe with you, dear fellow travelers. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.