Come And See His Miracles

Once it became clear that Jesus could heal sickness and infirmity. Word spread rapidly, one paralyzed man was fortunate in having able-bodied friends who could lower him from an open roof right in front of Jesus, their faith, and the subsequent miracle of healing that followed caused the fame of Jesus to spread even faster from Chicago.

This is The Moody Church. Our weekly service of worship and teaching with pastor Erwin Blitzer.

Today we continue our series on come and see Jesus pictures of the Savior that teach us about his mission on earth later in our broadcast Erwin Blitzer will speak on. Come and see his miracles. Pastor looks or comes now to open our service. I invite you to take your hymnals and turn to number 89.

Our great Savior, Jesus, what a friend of sinners and also our Scripture reading today is by pastor Charles Butler who will be substituting for Pastor Milko. Pastor Butler is our pastor of urban outreach and discipleship and will have an opportunity to participate in that Scripture reading and also him 88. Be prepared for that fairest Lord Jesus, and the chorus once we stand to single continue to stand until we have some worthy you are worthy participating with us in the service today little later on is Michael Mays who is an opera singer and that he and his wife Lauren attend the church year and were so glad that they are with us and Lauren sings also in the lyric Opera so we thank God for their talent and were looking forward to hearing Michael. I believe it's the first time he has sung here at The Moody Church as all of us know this month is Black history month, and as a reminder of the contribution that the African-American community has made both to music and to the gospel and its proclamation will be having two spirituals in our service this morning and our father. We are gratified today for the gifts that you have given us in Jesus. Open our minds and hearts to worship today we pray and grant us that great faith by which you can change the city and you can change us by the power of the cross that we pray in Jesus name, amen found in your bulletin join me on the bold print. The father has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loved, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. He is the end of the invisible God over all creation by him all things were created things in heaven and on her visible and invisible rulers all created by him all and he is the head of the body, the church, he is beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy of God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth, or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross and who is this this is Jesus. When we say come and see Jesus ever talking about come and see him in the manger now come and see Jesus for all that he is in fact of all the things you could say about anything on earth or in the heavens.

There are still is the Lord Jesus Christ flexing that from our hearts number 88 and then right after that missing worthy. You are worthy King of King Lord of lords. You and will will will the end of the day when it's time were living in a day.

Of course, when we are awash miracles.

Everybody's experience miracles. There is a book on miracles of course on miracles. You can do your own miracle doesn't matter much whether you believe in Jesus.

Whatever it is that you believe as long as you believe in a higher power were told out there that we can access the metaphysical world and do our own miracle so I read about miracles. Elephantine dog appears out of the fog to guide a family and miracle of silent hitchhiker leads Dr. to a school bus structure driving along. Here's something over the radio, but he does not have a CB radio. EEC is just but the message still, Sammy has to go to a family to help but to wait live in a time of miracles. In fact, and everyone can be touched by a miracle touched by an Angel doesn't matter what you believe the miracles in the New Testament were very different than that Jesus did miracles, but first of all, he did verifiable miracles almost always is. Miracles were done in the presence of other people who could check it out to see whether or not it was really happy. He loved to take people whom the whole community knew where the paralytic's were blind and heal those kinds of people. Those miracles are a little tougher to do than some of the others. Second thing is that Jesus always was using his miracles as a teaching point. They always illustrated something other than just the physical healing and that most assuredly is true in our story today you know that this is a series of messages titled comment see Jesus and today come and see his miracles will grow only going to talk about one miracle.

It's in the ninth chapter the book of Matthew.

But before you turn there. We are actually going to use Mark's account of the miracle in Mark chapter 2. Same story except that Mark add some details that Matthew doesn't. Both are accurate, but in this instance, Mark gives us more details. Mark chapter 2 in that culture. If you left your door open.

People could stop by.

It was like a welcome map stop by. So here Jesus is in Capernaum and he's in the house in the home.

The text says, and it could be that this is Peter's house. If you've ever been to Capernaum, as some of us have you know that the synagogue is there and then also tradition says that Peter's houses close by, and it may or may not be authentic but we can visualize that happening there. Jesus is in the house is in the living room of people gather around them. Many people, and soon the door is so crowded and people are hanging on to his every word. Even on the other side of the door. There, straining to see whether not they can in the midst of this, something happens that really is this story and it's a remarkable story because it's the man was a paralytic that is to say, paralysis may be a quadriplegic. One thing is sure he's not able to bring himself to Jesus. He is too helpless to do that to bring himself to Jesus and so for men come up with an idea and you'll notice what it is first to and many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door and he was preaching the word to them. Would you like it if we had a tape recorder and could've picked up what Jesus preached, that would be marvelous indeed that we have some indications by other tech verse three and they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof from above him and when they had made an opening. They let down the bed on which the paralytic lay a while. I want you to do is to take three snapshots today. If you have your cameras take three snapshots of this incident, which I will describe and I want you to visualize. The first is that what the man did what did the man do I mean these were men.

I think first of all, who had a vision because they knew that they wanted to get this man to Jesus and they had to figure out how to get people to Jesus who don't have the strength or the ability to get there on their own so they said it's up to us to know how to get him to Jesus. Now I used to when I was a child I read this passage and I would visualize you know somebody running to get to get a ladder to climb on the roof. Probably not. In those days the roof was flat and there was a stairway that went up to the roof because people would do various things up there and they could not only get some sun they could bathe. They could do some things on the flat roof of their house and so and so the roof was there and done probably the stairs were already there and they thought to themselves, what we're going to do is were going to climb up the stairs and we are going to get this man to Jesus.

Now somebody opened the roof of your house. You may be very unhappy at the wise idea, but again, context and history in those days the roofs were made primarily of clay and grass which of course hardened and then they would have laughed sword beams across the roof and those beams went all the way to the walls so you have like a box structure that was strong and supportive, but the roof itself as it hung onto these beams. The roof itself was this clay and this grass so it doesn't take too much imagination to know that it wasn't really that difficult.

They began to dig through the roof and then they took this man and these beams by the way were about 3 feet across and so you can imagine that they take this caught and somehow they lower it and by that time they had Jesus Christ's attention. No question. Jesus was looking up, and then he was seeing what was happening and and in some way they they got him right in the presence of Jesus, talk about vision and creativity and ingenuity in getting somebody where he needs to be but can't get there on his own.

Something else about them. They honestly were compassionate. What they said is that if people can't get to Jesus on their own, working to help him.

We don't know whether this was a friend, possibly maybe just a complete stranger who is trying to figure out how to get to Jesus.

Thank God for their compassion. David Dykstra died of cancer at the age of 54. David Dykstra is the father-in-law to our daughter. He's Ben's dad who is now in heaven. That is, David is in heaven. The age of 54 when he got cancer and was told he had between six and nine months to live. He spoke to his congregation. A small church and said now all of your gonna wonder how you can help me and I always have that question. You know well you know you have cancer. How can we help he said one thing you can do, and this was his story. He loved this story in Mark chapter 2, he said they're going to be times when I can't bring myself to Jesus they're going to be times when I'm too weak to be brought to him and you're going to have to carry me. And in order to carry me send me verses of Scripture that you are using in your prayer time on my behalf. What a marvelous way to be remembered and to seek help, but David saw something else in this text, which we should not miss. You'll notice it says in verse five and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, my son, your sins are forgiven. So David said when there are times when I can no longer believe for myself.

Would you believe for me in your faith and in your prayers and in your health, and he died a death of suffering, but a victorious death and he is now in the presence of our Lord whom we love, and someday we shall be with him. But the point is we need one another. There are times when we can no longer believe for ourselves, the waters rush over us. The difficulties are so severe. There times when other people have to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and they need to be the ones to go to Jesus on our behalf and to believe for us and to trust for us this morning here at the church, I met a woman whom I've not met before, but she she told me how much he prays for the church and for our ministry. I thought how marvelous that a woman whose name I did not know is the gift of intercession because there times when we don't have the faith. Somebody has to come along and carry us to Jesus. Give a clear picture in your mind of what the men did. Now let's move on to what Jesus said okay. This man suddenly is right in his presence. It says in verse five, Jesus saw their faith, and said to the paralytic, my son, your sins are forgiven defect surprise you that that's what happened. It certainly surprises me when I read it because I'm thinking you know, he maybe didn't come for forgiveness. He was coming to be healed. He was he was paralyzed and after all he wanted to walk again. Jesus said, your sins are forgiven. Now you have to understand that in the Old Testament times, there was a belief that there is a typed relationship between sin and sickness.

That's why, in the book of Job, you know, when Job had a his life could totally come unraveled. You know his three friends but friends." They gathered together, and they kept saying Job what Senate you committed cough it up. Job come on Telus now and Job keeps justifying himself, and they become angry and by the time they're finished. They aren't friends anymore applicants because they believe that if you're sick there's some sin that you committed and so there's a tight relationship in the Old Testament. It was believed that there was a tight relationship so you can see here what Jesus is doing.

Don't miss the logic Jesus is saying in effect on your own premises.

This man cannot be healed unless he is forgiven first. If sin caused his sickness, then he must be forgiven before I can heal him. What I say is a parenthesis that in the New Testament, you find that there isn't a tight relationship between sin and sickness.

There is a relationship but it's not tight and could I say that it is really not up to us. It is really mean for you to look at somebody was going through some physical calamity and to look at them and say it is because of your sin.

Sin in your life could I say this I asked that question, but of course I'm going to say that I'm not looking for your permission to say whatever you want.

Thank God. Thank God that's right. I was like the front ventures, not the backbencher.

Some of the most holy people I know have suffered the most.

So you be careful you be careful here. There is not a tight relationship all sicknesses because of sin, but but is not one on one correspondence now sitting there and seeing the in the SN hearing these words are the scribes there sitting there should they be there absolutely. They were the gatekeepers of Israel. They should check Jesus out. They had a responsibility to check teachers out to make sure that they were teaching the right thing and so forth.

Their problem was they were really reticent to grant Jesus. What seems obvious to us, so the scribes are sitting there and they're saying to themselves why does this man speak like that he is blaspheming who can forgive sins but God alone. They say this is blasphemy because when Jesus said to him, son, your sins are forgiven. It almost sounds as if as if Jesus was saying I'm forgiving your sin is not simply declaring that God in heaven has forgiven sins by saying more than that it seems to imply that he has the right to speak and sins are forgiven and they said this is blasphemy and Leviticus chapter 24 says that if you blaspheme God, you should be stoned. You can imagine what's going on in their minds here Jesus picks up on this end. Verse eight.

Immediately he's perceiving in his spirit that they thus question within themselves to use here.

His divine knowledge, or was it an intuition in the Scripture sometimes you see Jesus exercising both but he knows in their hearts that this is what they are saying.

So he has a question for them.

Another parenthesis you get lots of parentheses today. Jesus is recorded in the New Testament is having asked more than 100 questions. He was always asking questions. One of the best ways to teach somebody's question question question question question because you make them think. So Jesus is asking them why do you question these things in your hearts.

Now here's my question for you which is it easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say rise and take up your bed and walk which is it easier to say how many of you think that it is easier to say rise, take up your bed and walk.

How many of you say it's easier to say your sins be forgiven. How many of you are not with me at all time to think folks time to think it is. Let me begin by saying that to forgive sins, and to heal.

The paralytic most of both of those are impossible.

I can't do either, and when you're in the realm of impossibility doesn't really matter how big the impossibility is just impossible. But what Jesus is trying to get them to see is this, it is easier to say your sins be forgiven because talk is cheap and you can't prove whether the sins of been forgiven are not. When you have somebody who sins are forgiven you lead them to the Lord, you don't notice the sins just flow to the window, he saw you and I lead somebody to Christ, and yet so many sins you should have seen them all. When they left now anybody can say to you, your sins are forgiven because it is non-verifiable.

But to say rise and take up your pallet and walk for somebody who's been quadriplegic for the last 10 or 15 years now that that you had better produce.

If you say that or else you'll be seen to be fake which you'd be now. Let's follow Jesus logic a little bit more here Jesus goes on to say that you might know that the Son of Man have power on earth to forgive sins I say to you. Rise, take up your bed and walk hang onto that what Jesus is saying is on the basis of your own logic because you are saying that this person cannot be shielded unless he is first forgiven.

If I heal him, that proves that he has been forgiven because unless he is forgiven, he cannot be healed so that you might know that the Son of Man has power on and authority to forgive sins, he says rise up your bed and walk and what did this man do.

He arose immediately.

Verse 12 picked up his bed and went out before the mall so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, never saw anything like this and that, by the way, leads us to the third to the third picture. The discussion that Jesus had with the scribes and then the third picture is of course Jesus speaking and the man is healed.

So Jesus is saying all right.

You think that I don't have power to forgive sins but also think that you can't possibly be healed. Unless you are forgiven. I forgave him and now I heal him.

Jesus is saying in light of the fact that you can see that I can heal him physically. You should believe that I can also heal him spiritually. In light of the fact that I have authority over the material realm that should give you faith to believe that I have authority also over the metaphysical realm where issues of sin and forgiveness and all of these matters, and so Jesus was saying to these scribes. If you are thinking clearly. You have to come to the conclusion that I am God. They themselves said who can forgive sins but God alone. The answer is nobody can and Jesus is saying please realize a logic of your own theology. I am God. I forgave the sins I cause the paralytic to walk to transforming lessons from this passage. First of all a lesson for us regarding getting people to Jesus, we have to be creative to do that don't way. Here you have for men who figure out here somebody who can't help himself.

How can I help those who can't help themselves bound by the paralysis of sin, incapable of making a rational decision regarding Jesus. How can I get them where they need to be namely in the presence of Jesus. That's a good question to ask when you think about that creatively.

This past week have colleague here at the church and I were at the National religious broadcasters meeting and we stop by a new facility of the one of our partners in radio ministry and the man in charge is 70 years old, but I have never seen anyone with such a nimble mind and such a focused desire to use technology to win people to Christ is on the cutting edge of all technology because he believes that technology has been raised up to share the gospel. So one day he and his son-in-law were at a computer and they decided to enter into a chat room and I have to tell you that I have a computer I write books on the computer.

I have never entered a chat room always figure good night. I don't know what in the world happens in those chat rooms, but what they will do is go into an atheistic chat room and then will type into the computer.

Of course, God is alive. I talked to him this morning. Thank immediately you know you got all these emails all the running will even waken atheist up. I mean no and then they begin dialogue and asked these dialogues develop. I guess I don't know. You can somehow spin off and have a private chat with somebody and and so they end up the end of praying with people and leading them to Christ will go into into a room, a chat room of say a different religion. I'll just choose one arbitrarily without naming the one that he gave us an healed type into the computer unless you believe in Jesus Christ are going to hell.

Everybody wakes up at that point and and and you have some people you know who get angry and then they they get off, but there are others who dialogue and so his vision is if you can get this in his new facility.

He pointed us to an area. Perhaps I don't know how many will have five or six people whose full-time job is to enter chat rooms to share the gospel and I thought to myself. Now you know that's creativity. That's creativity. I mean, that's that's awesome because there are people out there who don't know about Jesus. They're not able to make a rational decision about Jesus and we have to try to figure out how do we get this person confronted with the only person who can speak him clean and grant them the forgiveness that you and I know he desperately needs.

What about you, maybe it's giving somebody a book and asking them to read it and then telling them you read it and will have a discussion about it later. You know that there are so many different creative way.

Send and we don't have to do it all in the same way because what were saying is there people who need to get to Jesus and they're never going to get there on their own as the first lesson second lesson is what we really need at the end of the day is of course the miracle of forgiveness. It is a much greater miracle than saying, rise, take up your pallet and go home.

The gift of forgiveness which Jesus gives us as a gift that that is that is great. Now when you watch television and you see these healing services.

I watch my share of them to glean characteristics of false teachers, and as you see many of these. What would you notice is everybody supposed to come forward for a miracle. Everybody supposed to be healed. There's never anything seldom seldom said about the need for repentance and forgiveness and everything is just come one come all be healed but we don't care exactly what you believe and healing is for you is nonsense nonsense and assaults on biblical, which makes it nonsense. By the way, so what you have is this great emphasis on healing but no emphasis on holiness. What you have is is this idea that that all these miracles are going to be performed. The power of an evangelist to be able to touch someone and have them collapsed on the platform you heard me say from this platform that that is not of God. We can show that and and so what you have is is this great emphasis on on that. Listen, it is much more important that you be forgiven and that you be healed and I say that with sensitivity because is no fun being sick or being in pain, but there was a young woman, something like Johnny Erickson, Todd, who became paralyzed for life, who in that paralysis came to know Christ as Savior and said it was worth.

This just to know Jesus it's worth this just to know that it is the contrast between time and eternity time and eternity.

Your body can be healed in this life, but the question is your soul forever. Where will it be now listen carefully. One of the things that you and I cannot do is we can't forgive ourselves. Oh yes, there's a sense in which we can say yeah you know I did this and this and I have to come to terms with what I've done and so I forgive myself. But ultimately, these scribes were theologically accurate, totally accurate when they said no one can forgive sin, except God alone. Your postmodern person you think that you hold within your heart, your future and your fate. I want you to hear me carefully when I say that your sin is sin against God and only God can speak you clean and to say your sins are forgiven. What beautiful words for sinners. Now if you're not a sinner don't need to hear them. But if you think that you're not come up to me later and I'll try to straighten out your theology or talk to your wife. Same Nietzsche who died in the year 1900 proclaimed the death of God and though he lived. Obviously, before the time of Hitler and the Holocaust.

In effect, predicted it because he says once God is dead.

Everything will be permissible.

But one thing that he said about God was this, he said regarding God.

We have killed him. He proclaimed the death of God.

He said we have killed him. Then he asked this question, but now who will wipe the blood from our hands.

We've done away with God and if we've done away with God.

There's no one to say nice sins be forgiven want you to know today that neither Nietzsche nor no one else did away with God. They only thought so today.

Jesus, Jesus, who has the power of life and death can look you in the eye, figuratively speaking and say to you, thy sins be forgiven. Some of you need desperately to hear those words would you bow as we pray our father, we want to thank you today that Jesus could both heal this man physically, but especially we want to thank you that he could heal him spiritually and that he had authority to say your sins be forgiven today. I'm speaking to people whose consciences are polluted with moral failure.

People whose consciences have a a great sense of dullness and emptiness.

Because of sins that plague them all. Father we pray today.

May they hear the words of Jesus. And for those of us who know him as Savior. Thank you that we can keep coming to be clans to be forgiven and we pray that in our culture and in our day. Give us the creativity to take this world and bring them to Jesus. Now what do you have to say to Jesus today in light of this message, let's just have a moment of silence you've never received and you can receive them right now.

See this forgiveness as a Christian is your heart gone cold. As he wandered away from him say Jesus. I come home today to your forgiveness and love. Father whatever work you begun in us continue it in Jesus name, amen. Let's sing two stances of 436, whiter than the snow. When Jesus speaks the word we are whiter than the snow 436 that's how clean we can be made Christ's presence, but stand to sing Jerry on today's Moody Church.

Our pastor looks or Mr. John come and see his miracles before the eight pictures of the life of Christ in a series entitled come and see Jesus not everyone was happy with the man from Galilee. Some saw their influence waning as the crowds sought out Jesus and began plotting to do him in next week. Join us as Dr. Luther speaks on come and see his enemies are eight part series on come and see Jesus can be yours on CD for a gift of any amount Moody Church. Our our thank you to you will be a set of eight messages, you can hear and then pass on to others. Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. Let us know you'd like to support Moody Churches ministry, call 1-800-215-5001 or you can write to us at Moody Church media 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614. Mention the series come and see Jesus when you write or call online, go to moody offeror.com that's moody offeror.com. Join us next time for another Moody Church. Our with pastor Erwin looks or in the congregation of historic Moody Church in Chicago