953. Jesus’ Power to Save Men from Sin

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University today were continuing a study series based on the green students recited each day in chapel services, which is a summary of the doctrines of our Christian thing today.

Sermon will be preached by Mark Fells Prof. in the school of religion will be teaching us about the power that Jesus has to save men from sin creative cards valves both theologically as well as logically building on that the ideas are found at the beginning of Scripture with creation and then the certainty of Scripture and then going into the person of Christ. His virgin birth is identity as the son of God is vicarious atonement for our sins and then his resurrection from the dead and all of those things combined to make him enable to save men from sin. So Jesus power to save men from sin really is the culmination for us of all of these qualities and trues make him our Savior. I want us to focus our attention this morning on the fact that from the very beginning.

The idea of Jesus coming to this earth was for the purpose of saving sinners you see that, for example, in the announcement given to Joseph as Joseph was contemplating putting away Mary his espoused wife because she was pregnant and he wasn't the father and the angel Gabriel comes to him and explained to him that she is with child by the Holy Spirit and that Mary will bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus yet sure that the name means God saves. Yahweh saves for Jesus. This promised one. This Messiah, the son of God incarnate virgin born shall save his people from their sins and Jesus as he went about his earthly ministry explains, for example in Luke 1910, the son of God is come to seek and to save that which was lost. That was his purpose that was his mission to save us from our sin.

One of the places where this is very clearly seen as our greatest need are our greatest need in all of life to be delivered from our sin is in Matthew chapter 9 Jesus has been ministering in his home region of Galilee. He had delivered what we know as the sermon on the Mount and then in chapter 8 of Matthew. He goes about healing and delivering and showing his power in chapter 9 he's back in Capernaum, the city where he is living and he is teaching in a house and the fame of his power is beginning to spread and so people are coming from all directions, and I wanted to hear him in the house is filled to capacity is no room left in the house but there is a man who is Lehman unable to walk and he has some friends who have heard of Jesus power notably told her friend Jesus can heal you. Let's go to Jesus and see what he can do so, the God of this man up and they come to the house and not able to get in and you know the story the go up to the rooftop and they open up a whole new growth and they lower the man on a stretcher down into the house right in front of Jesus, and I wasn't quite the spectacle people looking at this like is reportedly doing in the man on the house is not ethically later in my house and here comes this time little by little down into the middle of the house and everybody sees this Jesus looked to the man and has compassion and he says that the Scripture says, behold, he brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying in a bed and Jesus seeing their faith, the faith of both the friends as well as the man who is a composite and he says to the second of the palsy, son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven. The I want to put yourself in your imagination for moment and that man's place during the man now lying on a stretcher, unable to walk. We don't know for how long he had been disabled but here is lying on a stretcher unable to get up unable to work, unable to play with his children unable to provide for his family and some friends come along.

Atonement this Jesus this this carpenter from Nazareth is going about doing powerful things. Maybe he can deliver you.

Maybe he can heal you and so the government retaken the house alone down to the ceiling and now you're the man laying there in front of Jesus, looking up into his eyes and Jesus looks down to insist son, be of good cheer and in your mind and your in your heart. You are so excited you got that there was any other day. It was just a normal day of being a lame man laying in bed unable to get up. Unable to do normal things, unable to take care of yourself and your friends come over and all excited with the community like one, but you go click here you enter you are and now you're lying in front of Jesus and your excitement has been building up to crescendo and you think this is this is the moment maybe right now I'm about to be healed, maybe right now I'm about to go back to my normal life. Jesus looks down and says great Ms. Beutler chair.

This is a wonderful day. Your sins are forgiven. I have to wonder if maybe that man looked up and said what Jesus I need to be PO in a sense, that's about the future.

That's about, and that's about it later but I need right now to be healed. But Jesus knows of the greatest need that any human being has his forgiveness of sins. Jesus knows of this man has a need far deeper than to be able to walk on the text goes on and tells us that certain of the Pharisees and scribes reason within themselves and they said this man blasphemer Jesus knowing their thoughts said wherefore think the evil in your heart, whether it is easier to say I sins be forgiven, or to say, arise in law, but that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins that he saith the circle palsy, arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house, and he rose departed to his house. So Jesus does go on to heal him.

But Jesus is making a point here is making a point both to this man as well as all of those were gathered around and especially to these unbelieving scribes. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 8 that Jesus going about that region had shown his power over disease and chapter 8 declines as a leper and then he hears a centurion's servant, and then he comes back to Capernaum and he heals Peter's mother who was sick with a fever and others, use them as well and then he gets about to cross over the sea of Galilee and a great storm comes up and the disciples are afraid. And there, like Jesus, don't you carry.

Jesus gets up and he takes control of the storm and he shows that the Son of Man has power over nature itself and then they land on the other side of at Dara and these two men with demons come out and and there it just wild and uncontrollable.

Jesus cast out the demons and everyone is astonished what kind of man heals diseases. What kind of man takes over nature.

What kind of a man can cast out demons and then Jesus goes back to Capernaum and is teaching in this house and the roof opens and the man comes down and now Jesus is proving to all who are there and for all time that he and he alone has power to save man from sin is to the reality is that only Jesus can forgive sin. Let's think of some other religions that claim to have a pathway to God blessing. For example, about Hinduism. Did you know that today in Hinduism is the Wally Dall is one of the high festivals of Hinduism. It's a beautiful ceremonial festival celebration of lights and colors and it really does look very happy and very wonderful Wally supposedly symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, of good over evil and knowledge over ignorance, but Hinduism offers no answer for sin.

Last semester I was teaching the class the gospel in a multicultural world.

In order for us to kind of have a sense of the multicultural world around us. I sent some of the students to the mosque and some of them to the Buddhist prayer house and some to the Hindu Temple. Did you know there's a Hindu temple and molding so I went with him to Hindu Temple at this refund.

We went into Temple and reset through the Pooch of the ceremony and it was very different and we didn't quite understand and fact we didn't really understand anything because was in Sanskrit and out and about you but I don't really speak Sanskrit and so we were respectful we watch a lesson and the whole point was for us to kind of see and then at the end we got to talk to some of the Hindu people and in particular talk to the priest and asking questions and interacting and just to try to understand okay how do you think what what makes you the way you are what what what is it about Hinduism that draws you what what is it you want us to know about Hinduism and what is it like to be a Hindu in Greenville, South Carolina, and the priest was very kind records on the answer questions and he tried to now promote Hinduism to this group of Bob Jones students and in one of our sins. Garrett Martin was in the class and Garrett asked the guy question. He says Mr. Priester.

Whatever the guys name was.

He said he said them what what what is Hinduism's answer for sin, you get forgiveness in Hinduism and the priest, looked at him with this look like what and Garrett asked the question again. The priest looked at him with a puzzled look and said well in Hinduism. There is no forgiveness and we were all taken aback like nothing you need to do all of this and there's no forgiveness and he said no there's no forgiveness is karma and you can work and you can try to get more, so that at the end of your life you be born into a better life in the next life you better, eventually, to keep doing it long enough maybe thousands of times your reach Brahman and become part of the whole.

But there's no forgiveness listening for a moment about Buddhism Buddhism because they so-called eightfold noble path and Buddhism. You don't really have an issue of sin, you have an issue of of suffering and suffering is caused by desire and the fact that you desire, whether good things are bad things, but any kind of desire leads to suffering all suffering is a result of desires.

If you can just stop having desire heal and all of your suffering.

This is the path to enlightenment.

And so you follow the eightfold noble path.

If you see on the screen. And if you follow that successfully and you reach a point of enlightenment you will escape the wheel of rebirth and you will eventually become enlightened and enter Nirvana and Nirvana does not have a neuron is not even Brahman is not oneness with all.

It is absence of life that is ceasing to exist.

The goal of a Buddhist is to cease to exist by downplaying all desire. Or we can think of Islam. Islam teaches that sin is real and people do sin, but sin is not really the fundamental issue. The fundamental issue is ignorance.

And so Adam and Eve in the garden. The problem was not sand. Their problem was ignorance so so God sends prophets throughout the ages, culminating with Mohammed and the Koran, which gives us the opportunity to know law and, therefore, be submissive and if we are adequately submissive by following the five pillars we will show submission allow we please and he will way are good with our bad and perhaps allow us to enter into paradise. Or maybe we can think of Roman Catholicism.

Some of you think Roman Catholicism is just another another denomination your baptism Presbyterians and Methodists and Roman Catholics but I assure you that Roman Catholicism is not in any sense. The same as what you understand to be Christianity that is Jesus forgiving your sins that the Catholic Church will talk about the death of Christ on the cross. No talk about salvation by grace. The question is how do you get the grace we understand that grace comes by faith we believe and what Jesus has already finished and accomplish for us in his vicarious atonement on the cross and his resurrection from the dead salad is great but grace is the commodity of the church. You don't get that by faith you get that from the church so the church, the Catholic Church can dispense grace to you through the sacraments, so you have seven sacraments. If you if you are faithful to the sacraments. You get great but you tend to lose great electric car you run out of gas so you come back and get more grace and keep going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth right, like getting rations ingratiating racial integration if when you die you have enough grace, you are good you have but if you don't brothers another plan.

But the public, but the reality is that the Bible doesn't teach that the Bible doesn't teach that our salvation is dependent on what we do know it's up and anoint Jesus. Because salvation is through GSS who is able to save man from sin. I knew a lady years ago and and Maria. Some of you had cross with me. I love to talk about Maria because she was such an example of Jesus power to save people from sin. Maria was a human lady. We had a Spanish-speaking ministry in Tampa Florida and Maria's rear was from Miami she was Cuban's was in exile she was living in Miami and during her many years in Miami. She was executive assistant for the Archbishop of the diocese of Miami, Maria October and one time I said Maria I think you're more Catholic than the Pope was Catholic person on the planet and she was very proud of her Catholicism. She was very deeply steeped in Roman Catholicism but Murray had a problem.

She was a drug addict and she was an alcoholic and she knew it and she couldn't seem to break it and she went to psychiatrist and she went to mass every day and she got the Archbishop himself.

The prayer of her and she couldn't get freedom from her thin and so she at the urging of one of her son. She moved to Tampa to start a new life and she came and we met her and her son who had become a Christian, said mom wanted to go to this church and visit these people and she's like I'm not going to church. Eventually, she conceded. She came I remember the first time she came and Rick traverse into our little son. His whole class. She comes in she looks at it she looks down her long nose at all of us takes a long time, she says my name is Malia and I have come here today is a special emissary of the holy father in order to free you poor ignorant Protestants from your delusions and I would you say is thank you very much sorry please have a safe summer going through a Sunday school lesson. Whatever was in really short feet and she would say. The catechism says, and she would quote the catechism she had it down word for word and she was so and she's starting the catechism.

This went on to income every week. She came on and off about six months. Every time she came it was this battle we give the Scripture, and she give the catechism we get the Scripture to give catechism. One Saturday afternoon, Rick calls up on the 44 30 in afternoon she calls and she's annoyed about the microsystem. Maria hello Maria she said I made dinner and it will be served at 6 o'clock and you and Kari will be there.

My wife and my license was Isaac Maria to see what she made dinner and it's at 60 Maria invited us to dinner. I said, not exactly. She summoned us so we went and we had dinner and after dinner we had the docket for they have consent given people can people can be very animated and this was a very animated very close in your face and if you saw you think you're having a big fight wasn't the credit was a discussion right but is very animated.

You can't do the sitting down on your feet and you're just going out a grant for three hours were going at it like you giving Scripture over and over and over and over and over and over and finally after three hours, militant, and she said okay when you get the string. If everything you're saying is true that I'm not really a Christian at all, MI massive Maria all I've ever done to her with you is give you the Bible. The Bible says I've never told you what to think or how to think I'm telling you this is what the Bible says. With tears in her eyes. She felt her nieces said I want to be a Christian. I want to have my sins forgiven and she prayed a beautiful prayer of repentance and that woman was transform transform member come to church one morning and Maria's our hands and knees in the bathroom scrubbing the floor. I said Reno somebody's already done that and should accept with tears® now, but I wanted to camp. I want to do something to serve Jesus who took away my sin and she became a glorious sister in Christ Jesus and Jesus only has power to say is that while clouds are putting up all the stuff about all these other religions are promising just intolerant at a guy one time tell me you know it's like climbing a mountain does matter where you start what path you follow. You still reach the top of the mountain and I said to mankind's and I'm not climbing the mountains. I'm putting my faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible says there is no salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be say it was a processor said this to the Jewish Council. The counselor had power over life and death. The counselor had crucified Jesus and his apostles boldly look at them and say. But here's the deal you are not right with God, and you cannot be right with God except you come to Jesus because he has power to save man from sin. Well, all that is wonderful. All that is doctrinal.

All that is true, but I want to ask another question.

Does Jesus have power to save you from sin.

On a practical level.

Can you say Jesus has power to save me from sin in your life and your experience today is Jesus saving you from sin.

It's been a while ago.

Some years now. Those teaching Bible here about guns to commissions and I was frustrated to be completely honest, I was sort of absurd, bitter and angry about some things in life things and not turn out the way I expected and I wasn't happy and maybe was a midlife crisis I could. But I looked at my life and I said to myself okay well since the reality you have the same stupid sin habits and same stupid sin problems that you had when you were in high school.

Where's the power to save you from sin where's deliverance and not just weighed on me and I wrestled with that and my sin was affecting me. It was affecting my family. My wife, my children and I finally came to the conclusion I can't, as a former pastor as a missions Chiesa is a professor project. If I can understand and experience his power to save me from sin, then what's the point of this because like you. Many of you, at least, Guba right.

Some who grew up born again, this is all of ever known. I started wondering maybe if I'd been born a Muslim, I would believe all that, or I was born a Buddhist or Hindu, whatever.

Maybe I only believes that because it's what I've been taught what I've been told and maybe maybe maybe none of this is even real, and I know some of you think that because some of you come to my office and told me that I cannot crisis and I made up my mind if I couldn't get to this crisis. I was gonna quit. I was nominally quick Bob Jones. I was in a quick everything church is a quick trying to pretend because I was in Iraq and live my life for whatever I could get out of it and stop following any of the stem here I am teaching Bible Bob Jones and this was going through my mind so I decided okay let me see if I can really come to experience his power to save me from sin. So I went to Romans, because Romans any place in the Bible. There's an answer for this effort had been rooms are starting Romans and started working my way through Romans very slowly very carefully. I came to certain truths and only very quickly summarize for you here today, but I can understand that the crucifixion that vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind of the death by his death and across the crucifixion freezing from the slavery of sin because I was enslaved to sin flat-out enslaved Roman sixes and sevens is knowing this at old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin and that's it.

That's what I want to be free from sin. I came to really wrestle with listening to reckon yourselves dead in the sin and then I also can understand the justification freezing from the turn of the law from 614 says sin shall not have dominion over you can be free. You can be free today why because you are not under the law under grace.

I stopped trying to do everything that was expected of me and just try to be a good Christian and try to fit all the norms and fulfill all the obligations and I go to my whole life knowing how to do that and I said enough. I turned to Jesus and I said, give me grace. I can understand what it was to live by grace and not by the law and II can't even begin to take time to explain it to you. But there are lots of people here would love to have that conversation with you more in depth when you come to understand the power of grace every day every day every day in Niagara Falls of grace that is absolutely endless and abundant and more than you could ever need. You can stop living for the law and trying to do things in order to be right, and understand that you are right because Jesus saves, and then I can understand that sanctification frees me from the misery of the flesh. Paul wrestled with his flashy, says a wretched man that I am crucial delivery for the body.

The step I think God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God with the flesh the law of sin. Paul understood that this this battle. The struggle is never going to go away. I'm always have the flesh, but I'm 57 years old I was seven I was four years old and I can understand. I'm never going to stop having this battle is not come a time when I don't wrestle with my flesh. I wrestled my flesh every day and in many days on those. But it doesn't change the fact that Jesus frees me from sin. His death his resurrection has the power to save me from sin and then understand that the spirit filling empowers me for righteousness.

What we been looking at your on Mondays in Galatians Romans eight, three and four pulses with the law could never do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and forcing condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. I came to realize that if I was going to experience his power to save me from sin and a daily one day at a time walk with him was going to because every day I needed to be filled with the spirit and the reality is you are either filled with the spirit, or you're not.

Galatians tells Galatians 516 tells us if we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, so the spirit filling empowers us for righteousness, so that we can say I believe in his power not only to save men from sin as a general doctrinal creedal truth that we would agree with you. So yes I agree yes I believe he has power to save men from sin, but can you say I believe his power to save me from sin and I going to try to change the creator of the net go very far but I will confess that most days, as we say the Queen Chapel. This is what I said his power to save me from sin. Nothing more important than anybody else in the room, but if he doesn't have time to save me from sin and what's the point I'm I'm here to tell you today that he has power to save me from sin has power save you from sin. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and he will save you and continue saving you from sin as you trust him and walk in the spirit living in the power of grace. Let's pray father thank you today for each of these folks we do pray that you will give us faith to believe in confidence in your word and a wall with your spirit. We pray in order to make us messengers to the people around us as we experience your power in our lives as we walk in the freedom from sin and deliverance from darkness that you will make us messengers that good news that we can be of good cheer, because our sins are forgiven. We pray in Jesus name you been listening to a sermon preached by Mark vowels. The professor in the Bob Jones University school of religion 22nd tomorrow as we continue the series summarizing the doctrines of our Christian faith here on The Daily Platform