The Greatest Miracle // Matthew 9: 1-8

[Music] hey pastor josh here thanks so much for watching our videos if you'd like more information about legacy city church you can go to legacy citychurch.com please don't forget to like subscribe and hit the bell below god bless you matthew chapter 9 in our bibles and we are working through a series i have titled jesus worldview jesus worldview more than ever before i mean how could it be so prophetic this series my gosh i want jesus worldview more than ever before it seems as time goes on we need to look through the eyes of god and through the eyes of jesus and see how he interprets the world around us it gets more confusing more problems more things on the horizon it's very hard to navigate so we're working through the book of matthew together the story of jesus the most comprehensive story of jesus in the gospels and this is sermon number 40 through this book verse by verse chapter by chapter we will go we'll cover verses one to eight today if you're taking notes and the title of the message today is the greatest miracle the greatest miracle with that there was a story maybe you heard of it sort of a story one time john he got in line when it was his turn because they were having a service and thereafter the service there were people that wanted to be healed of different things miracles they wanted to happen they were looking for miracles well it was john's turn in line and the pastor asked john what do you want me to pray for you what's your miracle that you need and john replied pastor i need you to pray for help with my hearing the pastor taking a step of faith wet the end of his index finger and put it in john's ear you place the other hand on the top of john's head and then he prayed and prayed and the whole congregation joined in with much enthusiasm and after a few minutes the pastor moved his hands pulled his finger out of john's ear and stood back and said john how was your hearing now and john answered i don't know my hearing is actually next thursday in the local courthouse gave him a wet willie oh lord just a joke the world is looking for miracles that's for sure a lot more on the horizon seems to be more dosing of fear on the horizon from our media i find it better to take it in small doses or not at all i don't think we were made watch this talking with somebody the other day i don't think we're made to receive such high doses of darkness multiple times a week like if you lived in a small village growing up thousands of years ago you'd probably hear of like two or three catastrophic things in your entire life in that small town which it would shake you to the core and there would be a season there while you're in that town and you would mourn and you would work through it then you'd come out the other side and then it would be another five ten years before something like that happened again and we literally get it i mean you can get it all week every day if you want to you can just keep soaking in the darkest things on the planet happening at the touch of a finger it is not healthy it's messing us up and it puts us in a state where we are so scared to death all the time always worried about everything here we have on our horizon afghanistan and turmoil because of the us china looking to be their new allies i don't know if you've seen this i'm not even going to talk about what's going on with our cabinet but we have supposed problems all over the world and now of course we have new variants on the horizon we have more vaccines being pushed and now the biggest debate vaccine passports and people have to start arguing about these things again more things to worry about more things to fear it's scary to think that's why i take i'm just going to take 30 seconds to a minute to say this very important you have that we would have to have papers to go anywhere in this city in this state in this nation in this world one view seems to be allowed to push their view on another but the other is not allowed to push their view on the other doesn't matter what side of the coin you're on really doesn't matter to me i want to look at the principle it's a contradiction at the highest level america is on its way to not looking like america any longer unless we push against theological narrative the scariest thing that could ever happen to us family is one view gets to push their view upon everyone by force the danger is one day a view you don't agree with will be pushed upon you by force this is the blessing of america people can live and think and believe as they desire even if i fully disagree with you even if i think what you're doing is absolutely terrible and hurting other people you're free to believe that you want to be a satanist you can you want to be an atheist you can you want to be racist you have the opportunity to even do that in this nation crazy and hurt people in doing so people are allowed to believe and think as they want to and that's why everybody in the world wants to come here is a place of the most beautiful thinking and some of the darkest thinking on the planet as well and the ideas get to fight against each other but everyone gets to think and believe i remember when i was on the high school campuses on the college campuses there was something called a uh freedom of club act that they had put in place and we used to be bothered by it sometimes because the satanist could put up a club on campus and could be fully against the christian bible clubs on campus and attack us at the highest level but what i came to realize long term this this club freedom act that was put in place was a good thing because what it kept alive was our ability as christians to shout at the highest level that jesus is king and nobody could stop us either now if the act is put away guess what i can't speak about jesus anymore because what i'm saying is wrong and offensive and against what the world wants and thinks this is so dangerous this is why people love america they want freedom but it's slowly leaving us one group will not lose it all everyone will lose look at afghanistan why are all those people trying to get out of the country and get to america because the taliban is about to push their views upon everyone by force lord help them and lord help us we need a miracle don't we we need a miracle of the heart we need a miracle and a changing of the mind countries have never been able to think like this for thousands of years it is the first time we do not have dictator and king or queen rule on the planet no pharaoh here there never has been from the beginning of this country and that is the difference and that's why the whole world is constantly trying to come here they want to be able to believe freely as they want to express their ideas as they want to and even if i fully disagree with you a thousand percent my view should not overpower yours let's have a public discourse let's talk about it and let's let truth decide miracles needed everywhere and if jesus were walking the earth today where would his attention be you're about to watch jesus do the exact opposite of what everybody in the crowd wants him to do and i love it he challenges me again when i was reading through the text i want him to do something else too and he doesn't he challenges me where is his focus we're going to talk about today the greatest miracle we're in matthew chapter nine and we're gonna read verses one through nine can we stand for the reading of god's word you guys okay pastor you kind of like made us put on the four or five part harness seat belt here we're kind of nervous why are you doing that that's why i tried to go real funny on the joke you know so you guys are like okay he's not that serious and then i'm like then i gotta rope it in and get a little serious and please just journey with me okay it's not easy to walk this line and to navigate and i i want everyone to be in peace and at rest but i also want everyone including myself to be challenged we have to allow ourselves to be challenged by the lord jesus this is the most important thing look at verses one through nine it says getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city verse two and behold some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed and when jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic take heart my son your sins are forgiven and behold some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blaspheming but jesus knowing their thoughts said why do you think evil in your hearts for which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins then he said to the paralytic rise pick up your bed and go home and he rose and went home and when the crowd saw they were afraid the glorified god who had given such authority to men let's pray father we thank you for your word and lord we ask that please your words would somehow minister to each of our hearts whatever season we're at whatever whatever position we are in lord that you administer to all of us you would administer to me speak to us open our eyes open our ears to hear from you show us your word that we would follow we pray in jesus name amen you can be seated last time we saw the lord heal the demon-possessed man called legion do you remember what's your name he said legion for we are many he said he sent them into the pigs which ran into the sea of galilee and died and the herdsmen went and told everyone in town and they came out to jesus and begged him to leave when they saw the demon-possessed man clothed in his right mind they were afraid all the towns were like oh my gosh it's the guy who used to cut himself crazy guy but then they were more interested in their livestock than the man healed jesus revealing his messiahship and they begged jesus to leave town because they had money in those pigs and their herd was gone all their cash was gone the jesus get out of town man you're messing everything up messing up our business healing people and curing people of demon possession get out we ain't got time for that so we got money to make with pigs they begged jesus to leave this is key the lord won't stay in a place where he isn't wanted when people don't want the lord jesus he leaves them to themselves which brings the worst outcome for them hell on earth and and in eternity it's just simply the absence of him you want hell on earth get god far away from you just run full blast into rebellion away from god just take on every sin you possibly can just drown yourself in the sin and pleasures of this world then let's talk in a year watch depression and greed and hate and sickness of the heart overtake a person jesus says in revelation 3 20 behold i stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come in and eat with him and he with me so i stand at the door and knock be like i'm not answering the door okay you can have it your way matthew 23 37 jesus said oh jerusalem jerusalem the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it by god how often would i have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings but you're not willing los angeles los angeles how would love love love to walk with you and teach you what it looks like to love and serve one another oh i would love to walk with you and help you bring peace and rest to the city but do you not want it this people is more interested in money than they were seeing people with demon possession be healed more interested in success and status than the works of christ and so jesus left he left you shout loud enough in a city jesus we don't want you say okay i'm out verse 1 says and he gets into a boat and he crossed over and came to his own city so the lord gets back under the boat no storm this time sails across the lake which really isn't that far um you could probably hit a baseball uh from kersey to capernaum it's maybe a 20-minute ride back to his own town they're right on the boat the same side of the sea of galilee just right around the corner there but if you were to walk it would probably take you i don't know maybe an hour hour and a half to get around the corner there and so they get on the boat and they sail across the way and he goes back to capernaum capernaum was jesus hometown if you didn't know he was born in bethlehem he grew up in nazareth but his hometown where he hung out all the time is capernaum and it's a very small place you can still go there to this day it's not a it's there are no residential homes there it's an exhibit now it's an exhibit that you walk through it's just all stone old stone houses that were built and there's a giant flying saucer church over peter's home with the catholic the catholic church built it's absolutely hilarious like and here is peter's house and you see a flying saucer church and you're like where is it well it's under the flying saucer verse two it says and behold some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed so jesus is there in his hometown and he everybody knows him there and he sits down in a house and everybody comes to him and wants to hear him talk mark's gospel gives a little more insight into the scene mark chapter two verse one it says a few days later jesus went back to capernaum and when the people heard that he was home they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room not even outside the door as jesus spoke to them the word so i mean the crowds were big whatever that crowd even 100 people would be a very large crowd all crowding into one home just trying to see jesus he's back home he had become famous in the galilee and when he was home people wanted to see him and watch what he would do next matthew tells us a paralytic is brought to the lord and he is on a bed or a gurney of some type what is a paralytic someone who is paralyzed meaning they have no feeling in their body from the neck down so they can't walk or move their arms or legs they feel numbness in their whole body sometimes people are born this way sometimes an accident happens the person breaks their neck and severe nerves and that that breaks the feeling in their body they literally don't feel anymore they're in a wheelchair for the rest of their life and mark's gospel says in verse 3 that a paralytic was brought to him carried by four men so we get more detail and since they were unable to get jesus through the crowd they uncovered the roof above and made an opening and lowered the paralytic on his mat so this place is packed out they couldn't get into to see jesus but these guys were determined now you got to watch it so determined they they go up the steps of the side of the house which was was common in those days there would be staircase on the side of the outside of the house to get to the roof to make repairs and they go up the the steps on the side of the house with the paralyzed guy now watch this um have you ever carried somebody upstairs four of you on the outside of a house was there a banister i don't know this is crazy they're like we're getting up there what are you gonna do you're going up on the roof they drag him up on the roof with the bed they got a gurney or they got a bed of some type who knows what they did and they pulled the roof open probably made with straw or something similar and the owner was probably hey what are you guys doing on my roof the guys are just ripping the roof open they're standing there with a guy how do they lower them down all sudden they look down through the roof and there's a crowd of people down there and jesus is teaching in there and like they just start lowering him to be like oh wow they're bringing a paralyzed guy down here in the center of the bible study okay let's see what happens everybody was stoked to see a magic trick they lowered the paralyzed man before jesus the packed out audience is watching closely as to what jesus will do they probably thinking yes can i get a miracle we want a miracle and the paralyzed guy and the four men were hoping and praying and wishing for that miracle to see this lame man get up and walk for the first time in a long time maybe ever can i get a miracle people are all fired up they've heard about the miracles of the leper they heard about the miracles with the roman soldier the centurion they've heard the miracles it says in the text when jesus saw their faith look at verse 2 when jesus saw their what faith he said to the paralytic take heart my son get up and walk no get up and dance nope take heart my son your sins are forgiven what the crowd thought where's the magic sins are forgiven what about walking the guy's still laying there your sins are forgiven son take heart point number one if you're taking notes today don't worry there's only two points today forgiveness is greater than healing forgiveness is greater than healing jesus saw greater need a greater burden that no one else saw he needed to be forgiven of his sin and made right with god and i love what jesus says take heart my son your sins are forgiven he called him son jesus put himself into the position of spiritual father for this guy he saw the greatest need of his son forgiveness he saw the greater invisible need beyond the physical need everyone in the in the crowd saw physical need that's all they saw and that's all they wanted this is huge sometimes we forget the greatest miracle is not someone growing an arm or leg back being healed of leprosy or paralyzed man walking the greatest miracle of all is when someone is forgiven of their sins they go from death to life they go from no relationship with god wandering on the earth to eternity with the father forever they go from spiritual sickness and burden by their sin day and night to free in christ forgiven and set free from the bondage of sin and death they get to they get heaven and they get it forever this is a far greater miracle let me ask you would you rather would you rather be paralyzed your as you are paralyzed would you rather as jesus shows you two cards would you rather which card would you take one says a ticket to walk and be healed physically on the earth only the other card ticket number two a ticket to heaven forever to walk in eternity with god forever to walk to walk on earth but to be separated from god forever to be healed in your heart forgiven of your sin peace of mind you can sleep at night all the days of your life and be like nick vojcich who has no arms and no legs he's on the earth now has preached to millions of people the gospel of jesus christ they let him into muslim prisons that they won't let anybody into because they feel sorry for the guy and he gets in there with no arms and no legs and he gets on the loudspeaker and he yells the gospel to the prisoners in muslim countries why because he has no arms and legs he gets on an airplane he'll go to the stewardess hey i'd like to say something to everybody on the plane is that okay what's she going to say to the guy with no arms and no legs um okay i want to tell you that jesus loves you i want to tell you that he's the only way to god i want to tell you that god wants to forgive you of your sin now in jesus name raise up your hand if you want me to pray for you stewardess is looking i'm like would you want to take it from him i'm not going to take it from him and nick has said many times if you hear his testimony if god would have he prayed so many times as a child that god would grow his arms and legs but now he realizes that it is far better for him not to have the arms and legs because it's allowed him to minister the gospel the ends of the earth he has a voice that has reached millions my voice will never reach as many people as he had never i have arms and legs which is better ephesians 1 7 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding colossians 3 1 13 he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins no longer in the kingdom of darkness destroying life and destroying other people's lives but now walking in truth walking in the light we have people who can walk everywhere but are still hating and hurting each other we have people who are healthy and doing doing well but still destroying each other being able to walk and be healthy is not the gift or greatest thing we need as many people have that and they're still messing everything up the greatest need is forgiveness only this heals the heart only this changes the mind only this brings peace with god which is what every human being is longing for they need peace with their father they need peace with their creator they need peace with their god then they will have peace with human beings then they will have self-control not to hurt other people then they will have clarity of mind think in truth with wisdom once again i am shocked with how much christians are worried more about sickness in this day money and keeping their status and seeing people forgiven the equivalent would be jesus walking up to someone who is sick in the so-called pandemic are you ready and instead of healing them he says to them take heart my son your sins are forgiven and everyone else says but lord what about the healing he's going to die he says that's not the most important that's not important if that was the most important that is what i would do we've got it backwards and we're thinking like the world me too healing is easy jesus says i give life and take it i am the creator after all the real need is ripping out the heart of stone and giving this man a heart of flesh after all this guy gets healed physically then goes on his way but never spiritually he will continue to live in sin rebellious life against god hating and hurting people and will find himself in hell but if he is healed spiritually he will live forever and bring life to everyone around him paralyzed or not sick or not able to have a new heart as we've seen many people sitting there with cancer on their way to death they come to christ and they minister that doctrine they minister that nurse they start ministering to their family people come to salvation as they watch this person suffer and die that is so backwards from the way christ thinks when we are thinking the other way nervous about the physical and not thinking about the spiritual we've lost it that's what's happened we are so focused on the physical everything that's happened around us we're caught up in it it's our conversation all day every day nobody's talking about forgiveness of sins nobody's talking about the greatest miracle needed it's sad i'm guilty of it as well being so caught up in the physical that i forget the most important what's going on spiritually inside are they okay are they ready to die and meet the creator are their sins forgiven can they die in peace we as people are doing it again and we have to be careful this whole city doesn't know god and they're all going to end up in hell and here we are arguing about a variant let's get on preaching the gospel and living in faith not scared to preach the truth and love people we won't even give people hugs because we have been convinced everyone is sick this is bizarre we know everyone clearly is not and we we have to grow to see beyond the physical and start seeing with spiritual eyes as jesus does he was not scared of the leper he wasn't scared of the sick he was more concerned about them spiritually listen get healthy please if you feel sick stay home work on building your immunity then get on living before you miss the opportunity to glorify god with your whole life you're so busy on focus on all these other physical things you forgot spiritually what's most important if the apostles thought the way many christians are today we wouldn't have the gospel spread throughout the world if we go out we might die can you imagine peter or john or paul saying that that's what the apostles knew every day they knew that they might die preaching the gospel and they still went out and ministered regardless they didn't care they might get other people killed doing it bible studies in a city is illegal what are you doing starting a bible study are you not you're going to get everybody killed they said we're planting churches and we're raising up pastors and we're getting after it and you know what they actually all died for doing it every single one of them actually died every one of them still did it and died for it including jesus when we are so consumed by the physical and so in fear of the physical and all that's going around that we stop doing the spiritual we are in great danger jesus says the physical is not important the spiritual is the most important forgiveness over healing let's let that sink in and you see the church react this way literally just fall in line and the church falls apart i just heard a statistic today something like 3 700 churches a year are closing you know how many new churches are opening up 300 it's not sustainable christianity will evaporate off the face of america you just watch why is everybody scared nobody will go after the cultures take the stand and preach the gospel because we're scared of what will happen to us what if the apostles thought this way there would be no new testament church they would have never forged into the roman empire they would have never forged into any of these other cities that were putting the christians to death by our logic we should never go into afghanistan and try to love and serve people and start churches there it's dangerous you might die praise god there are people doing this how is our thinking gotten so backwards jesus healed the invisible this guy's spiritual heart and the crowd is scratching their heads lord he's still paralyzed you didn't do the magic he's like yeah i did i did the greatest magic anybody's ever seen you all missed it this guy will walk with me in eternity today you will be with me in paradise who cares about this physical body you're good but the scribes the intellectuals the academics the bible scholars were sitting right there and they were listening closely watch this they didn't miss what happened they were the only ones listening closely the rest of the crowd didn't get it they were tuned in jesus just forgave a man's sins and look what happens verse three behold some of the scribes said to themselves this man is blaspheming did you hear that they're like whispering amongst it he just said that guy's sins are forgiven you see the scribes knew the bible the old testament law of god and according to what they know there is no way a man's sins can be forgiven unless an animal sacrifice has been made and they're looking around saying i don't see any animal sacrifice made did you see one i didn't see one did he just say that man's sins are forgiven leviticus 17 11 says for the life of the flesh is in the blood and i have given it to you to make an atonement for your souls upon the altar for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul here you go more detail of what the scribe is thinking the intellectual leviticus 1 3 this text pops up in his mind if his offering is a burnt offering from the herd he shall make he shall offer a male without blemish he shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the lord he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him then he shall kill the bull before the lord and aaron's sons and priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is the entrance of the tent of meeting and he shall have atonement this is how someone would be forgiven before god it was through animal sacrifice and this is proper atonement and the scribe's scratching and says he just said that man's sins are forgiven there's no atonement been made what is he doing the scribes are ticked they see no sacrifice so how can jesus pronounce this man's sins are forgiven unless he is claiming to be god who is the only one who can forgive sins which they conclude is not possible because he is just a man sitting in front of them you can't just walk around saying to people your sins are forgiven these are claims only god makes and it is the highest level of insult and blasphemy in the religious person's mind a man claiming to be god and telling people they are forgiven unless he actually is the son of god the messiah god was skin on leviticus 24 16 whoever blasphemes the name of the lord shall surely be put to death and the congregation shall stone him the law says the sojourner as well as the native when he blasphemes the name shall be put to death so the scribes sitting back and saying did he just say your sins are forgiven blasphemy blasphemy we know that this is what actually got jesus killed now didn't it they accused him of blasphemy matthew 26 63 listen remember this is when jesus was being called to give testimony for what he was doing but jesus remained silent it says verse 63 and the high priest said to him i assure you by the living god tell us if you are the christ the son of god he's in handcuffs and jesus says to him you have said it so but i tell you from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven then the high priest tore his robe and said he is utterly blasphemed what further witness do we need you have now heard his blasphemy what is your judgment they answered he jesus deserves death and they spit in his face and they struck him and some slapped him saying prophesy to us you christ who is it that struck you if you're a prophet so it is true jesus was crossing the line at the highest level if he was only a man he was definitely blaspheming god taking the place of god and in deserve deserved death but if he was the god-man they were in the wrong they should have asked him for forgiveness of their sins c.s lewis the great writer writes in mere christianity listen to this i love this passage mere christianity c.s lewis he says i'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him jesus i'm ready to accept jesus as a great moral teacher but i don't accept him his claim to be god that is the one thing we must not say a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things jesus said would not be a great moral teacher he would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell you must make your choice either this man was and is the son of god or else a madman or something worse you can shut up you can shut him up for a fool you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him lord and god but let us not come with this patronizing nonsense about his being a great teacher he has not left us that option he did not intend to he's not a great teacher as the world says all the time he's a great teacher i know he's almighty god who forgives sins and who has come to rescue the earth from all this hatred and destruction verse 4 but jesus knowing their thoughts said why do you think evil in your heart this is great what jesus can hear them talking in their hearts and minds right he's sitting there your sins are forgiven and they're like you just sitting there saying this in their heart maybe they're over here on this side and jesus says take heart son your sins are forgiven they're over there blasphemy in their hearts saying this in their mindset jesus look straight at him why are you thinking evil in your hearts huh we didn't say anything jesus knowing their evil thoughts looks at them why do you think evil in your hearts they're like ah who me i didn't say anything evil jesus pulls the full jedi mind trick on these dudes and they are caught and he says you know what i'm talking about verse 5. jesus keeps talking to them for which is easier which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk i love this so he challenges them with a little philosophy and traps them of course it's easier as far as the physical matters of the earth to say your sins are forgiven because no one actually knows if that person's sins are actually forgiven or not so the person is just talking looking like an idiot but if he is able to do the more difficult and make the man rise and walk then he has proven he has also done the other the invisible work of forgiving sin which is easier forgive sins or rise and walk they of course are like well i mean if you want to do a magic trick of course the rising walking is more difficult and jesus has entrapped them because he knows that if he gets the man to rise and walk in the moment he has also proven that he's forgiven the man's sins beautiful do you know what you're messing with here this is the author and finisher of the whole earth they don't know but man i love jesus he is so good at getting them to think then he drops a bomb verse six he looks at them you i didn't say anything yes you did but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins then he said to the paralytic rise pick up your bed and go home boom the guy gets up rolls up his bed and goes home and the crowd is shocked and these guys are like oh jesus said but so that you will know who i am i am the son of man spoken about by the prophet daniel with all authority the scribes remember the text daniel chapter 7 he quoted the son of man in the old testament daniel he says i saw a vision in the night and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like the son of man and he came to the ancient he came to the ancient of days and was present before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed he said you remember that guy that daniel was speaking about that's me that they would know that he has authority to forgive sin and the authority on the planet i have a kingdom that will not be destroyed jesus is saying then jesus said to the paralytic rise pick up your bed go home i like that matthew points out that go home part is like thanks for coming to bible study today now it's time to go home here is your proof which is easier forgive sins or make a paralyzed man walk before your eyes they were dumbfounded their jaws dropped and they were speechless point number two and finally jesus alone has the authority to forgive your sins your sin now the next question are you forgiven are you forgiven the most important question in the universe is god forgiven you of your sins do you have peace with god acts 2 38 peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit isaiah 1 18 come now let us reason together says the lord though your sins are like scarlet red like scarlet i shall make them as white as snow these scribes had full brains but paralyzed hearts they were the paralyzed one they didn't have faith in jesus as the christ the crowds missed it too the final verse verse eight when the crowd saw it they were afraid and they glorified god who had given such authority to men they said wow praise god this is great but it doesn't say that everyone believed in jesus at that moment they were in awe of the miracle but they didn't believe we see this a lot today people are in awe of god they're in awe of the work of what god is doing on the earth but they don't submit themselves to him they don't have faith that saves judas hung out with jesus for three years and he never was converted he never believed on jesus with all of his heart that amazing this is scary they don't have faith that saves verse two again if you look back listen to what happened before the paralytic was healed when jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic take heart my son your sins are forgiven his faith was fully in jesus already and and that's what caused them to open the roof and to go up the stairs they said we just got to get to jesus we know that he can heal we know who he is we know he's the son of god we believe in him fully we just got to get to him and ask him if he'll heal he's got to get to him and ask him if he'll touch us that is why sins were forgiven faith faith is the currency of heaven scriptures tell us in romans 4 that abraham believed god and it was counted to him as righteousness because of his faith when people work their wages are not a gift but something that they have earned but people are counted as righteous not because of their work but because of their faith in god who forgives sinners david also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working look at what david said he was so stoked on that he was so blown away by it you mean i don't have to do anything to be saved except for believe on god with all of my heart and walk in his ways he said this oh what a joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven whose sins are put out of sight yes what a joy for those whose record the lord has cleared of sin why did he clear it because he loves you simply as you believe on the fact that he can actually forgive you of your sin that he is the lord that he is the savior he will do it this sounds too good to be true i know it's called grace undeserved favor nobody deserves it and god loves his people so much that he dumps it on his people is anyone hungry is anyone thirsty come and eat come and drink how much he says it's all free but it cost me everything but i give it to you for free why because i love you god demonstrated his love for us and that while we were sinners he died for us he is the sacrifice in the old testament he is the bull he is the cath he is the lamb that is sacrificed it is his blood that ran so that we can be atoned for so that we can be covered and we can be forgiven we sin before god greatly me too and we need god greatly to forgive us of our sins we're not pulling our we're not pulling up our bootstraps and getting out of hurting and hating people and being angry with people we're not going to do it we need god to save us that's all that he's calling us to do is to believe on him with all of our hearts and say lord i believe you at your word that you jesus came to the earth to die for my sins to make me right with god the father in heaven you took my punishment you are the lord you are the savior and i turn my life over to you everything that i have i stop following my ways i stop being the lord of my life i let you be my god you be my lord i give completely over to you this is salvation in that moment when a person believes that way they're saved with the mouth one confesses and with the heart one believes acts 3 19 i say to you today church repent therefore turn back that your sins may be blotted out and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of god let's be refreshed let's turn away from the ways of the world i'm sorry world i ain't got time for you anymore i'm walking with jesus i'm a follower of him not you he is my lord he is my god he is my king he is my savior he is my president he's the king i submit to his ways alone regardless of what the earth does to me we will walk with him amen let's go to him in prayer let's turn to him with all of our hearts father we we now lord you hear us we've read about you we saw what you did and now lord we come to you and don't want to be the ones in the crowd who miss the whole thing and just say praise god but forget to get our sins forgiven lord we ask that you would forgive us of sin now that you would cause us and allow us to have such great faith that we would turn away from the ways of the world and that we would walk in your ways our allegiance would be to you and you alone i pray lord that those who are confessing you as lord and savior now would you bless them would you keep them and would you cause full repentance to take place in their hearts i asked lord that you'd raise them from death to life i pray that you rip out the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh i pray that you would say to them oh father take heart my daughter my son your sins are forgiven they would know that they know that you've forgiven them that you've wiped away all of their sin their slate is made white as snow pure blameless a blank slate forgiven of everything that your grace would grow in our hearts your love would grow in our hearts it would cause us to walk with you even closer more than ever before we thank you lord that you do not hold a record against us but you allow jesus to take the punishment for us so that we can be forgiven and walk in newness of life lord give us peace give us rest raise us to life we pray in jesus name amen amen let's all stand up thank you for worshiping with us today the best thing that could ever happen to us family each week especially when we go to the word of god is that it would it would challenge us it would get into our hearts and minds we're so good at dodging things i love that the lord has a way of getting to our hearts that's what i want that's what i want most of it for legacy here in studio city in los angeles i want more than ever before is that we would be a people truly submitted to god and when people come in contact with us in the city they say man something different going on there there's peace man there's rest there's something real that's what i'm praying for that's what i'm hoping for and that's the life that i hope that we would walk in before we leave before we get on our way i want to let you know that any of you who've made any any move in the direction of god if it's a recommitment today or a brand new commitment you've never made one to god before but you did today as we were praying here at the end i want to encourage you please don't leave without seeing chris and chelsea here in the back they're raising up their hands with a bible we'd love to give you a bible if you need one and then we'd love to pray for you i'll be out there after the service as well i'd love to pray for you and encourage you if you need it please come look for me and of course you can stop by the table on the way out to answer any other questions you might have there at the info table okay i want to uh i want to sing and chant and then we'll pray we'll be on our way what do you say this is uh number 624 if you always wonder what this is a scripture that we chant each and every week it goes like this the lord bless thee and keep thee the lord cause his face to shine upon and be gracious unto us gracious unto us the lord lift up his countenance and give you peace you peace and be gracious and be gracious unto us gracious unto us lord lift up his countenance and give you peace [Music] father that is what we ask that's our prayer that your face would shine upon us that you would go with us you would cause us to love and serve you more and it would cause us to impact the neighbors of people around us for your glory we pray in jesus name amen amen love you guys god bless you we'll see you next sunday

Channel: • Legacy •

Views: 132

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Josh Thompson. Pastor Josh, Legacy City Church, Church in LA, Church in Los Angles, Church in Studio City, Christian Church Studio City, Christian Church Los Angles, Christian Church LA, Legacy, Legacy City Church

Id: IJ5-NLEsiME

Length: 53min 43sec (3223 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021