Greatest of All Miracles

 

Greatest of All Miracles

 

Matthew 9:2 NASB

 2   And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven."

 

Jesus’ ultimate words to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven,” represent the greatest of all divine miracles and definitely the most desirable for the one who hears them. This is the holy Son of God forgiving the sins of an unholy man. He could control nature with a word, and with these words, He dismissed the man’s sins and graciously made him right with God.

 

David declares,

 

Psalms 103:12 NASB

 12   As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

 

East and west can never meet. This is a picture of God's forgiveness: When he forgives our sin, he separates it from us and does not even remember it. We need never live in the past, for God forgives and forgets. We tend to pull up the ugly past, but God has wiped our record clean. If we are to follow God, we must show his forgiveness. When we forgive another, we must also forget the sin. Otherwise, we have not truly forgiven.

 

Micah 7:18-19 NASB

 18   Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love.

 19   He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

 

God delights to show his unfailing love! He does not forgive grudgingly but is glad when we repent, and he offers forgiveness to all who come back to him. Today we can confess our sins and receive his loving forgiveness. Do not be too proud to accept God's free offer.

 

Paul said,

 

1 Timothy 1:15-16 NASB

 15   It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

 16   Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

 

Jesus came to forgive sinners who trust in Him.

 

Sin is hostility and rebellion against God and His law.

 

1 Timothy 1:9-11 NASB

 9   realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers

 10   and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,

 11   according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

 

The false teachers wanted to become famous as teachers of God's law, but they did not even understand the law's purpose. The law was not meant to give believers a list of commands for every occasion but to show unbelievers their sin and bring them to God.

 

Romans 5:20-21 NASB

 20   The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

 21   so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Galatians 3:24-29 NASB

 24   Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.

 25   But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

 26   For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

 27   For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

 28   There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

 29   And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.

 

The picture of the law as a guardian is similar to a tutor giving young child supervision. We no longer need that kind of supervision. The law teaches us the need for salvation; God's grace gives us that salvation. The Old Testament still applies today. In it, God reveals his nature, his will for humanity, his moral laws, and his guidelines for living. However, we cannot be saved by keeping that law; we must trust in Jesus Christ.

 

Sin is incurable by human power and affects all people.

 

Romans 3:23-26 NASB

 23   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 24   being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

 25   whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

 26   for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

 

Ephesians 2:1-10 NASB

 1   And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 2   in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 3   Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

 4   But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 5   even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved,

 6   and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 7   so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 8   For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 9   not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 10   For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

 

Sin affects the total person and subjects people to hell if they do not repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

 

2 Thessalonians 1:9 NASB

 9   These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

 

Such a bleak portrait means the best news anyone can ever receive is the word that his or her “sins are forgiven.”

 

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"to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

 

Grove Oak Church