Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
How are you all doing this morning, good?
Man, it was great. Sorry, I'm having technical. There we go.
But it was great being away, but I'll tell you, it's great being back too.
You know, just being in the family, being in the house of the Lord,
and just enjoying one another's company, and the Holy Spirit just giving us a big hug here.
You feeling him this morning? I sure am. You know, it's great to be here.
And as we were away, I had an opportunity to watch the Mother's Day service by John Kratz.
What a great tribute to the women of God who are represented in this church,
the mothers, and spiritual mothers as well. So that was awesome.
And so it's tremendous. I have a couple of announcements also just about the upcoming
men's breakfast. Our friends over at Monaco Bible Fellowship,
we've been kind of back and forth sometimes going to theirs and them coming to ours.
But it's a great privilege to have Tony Hart, the pastor of Monaco Bible Fellowship,
sharing at men's breakfast. So make sure you make time to come on out,
because Tony Hart is just a tremendous man of God, and he has experience around the world.
He's been to so many different countries. So I don't know what he's going to speak about,
but I asked him to kind of share a little bit of missions in there because
that's always exciting. So he's going to be out the last Saturday of the month.
And also, I want to acknowledge the graduates of this church.
We have Maddie Freese. I don't know if she's actually in the house this morning,
because they're all out and about, and they're doing different things.
Some of them, if she's here, stand up so we can give you a big clap.
Also, we have Leo Wen. Is Leo here? No, he's not here. So he graduated nursing school.
So that's a great thing. I'm so proud of him. He wanted to be a missionary,
but he realized the Lord will use nursing in missions. So that's his goal someday to be
out on the field. But as a nurse, there's a great place because there's no better need
for health care than around the world, especially in these third world countries and so forth.
So we're looking forward to seeing what God does through that.
Aiden Schof graduated high school. Aiden in the house.
Devin Comitallo, which she is right now in nursery duty, I think right now. So she's
serving the Lord that way. And Olivia Currier. So I don't know if any of them are here this
morning because I know they're busy doing many things upon their graduation.
But so we just want to acknowledge you. Let's give them a big round of applause.
Praise the Lord. If you can open up your Bibles to Luke chapter five.
And this is going to be a topical message. We haven't gotten into a new book of the Bible
just yet. But we're going to discuss the fact that Jesus forgives sins. Now if you're sitting
here as a believer, you're like, well, no duh, he does. I've known that since I got saved.
It's only through Jesus Christ that I can be saved, that my sins can be forgiven. There's no one else
who anyone can call upon for the forgiveness of sins because it's his blood that washes away
our sins. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There is no other way except Jesus Christ. Amen.
So we're going to talk about this quite a bit this morning. And we're going to zoom in on
one particular passage in Luke chapter five, which will probably be familiar to you.
And it's a really cool passage. So the Lord is going to speak to us through his word this morning.
I have a feeling I was something else I needed to make an announcement.
Well, one thing I do want to mention, we should, during our prayer, pray for the Nelson's home.
Right now there's a tree with impending collapse upon their house. It fell down with it. It was
about to fall down in the storm. So it's been uprooted partially so we could pray that the
Lord continues to suspend that tree until it's taken down from hitting the house.
And let's pray for other things too. I know some of you need some healing in this house.
Some of you are sick. Some of you may have even a bad report from the doctors,
something that seems like, you know, possibly not even curable. Well, you know, the Lord says
that he can forgive, he can cleanse and heal anything. Do you believe that today?
So I think we just need to believe more in what God can do than what doctors can do.
Right? And maybe your finances are a wreck right now. And maybe, you know, you realize that, you
know, I'm having a negative balance in my bank account. I can't pay my bills. Maybe you need
some refresher there. Maybe you need some prosperity from the Lord with vision and the
opportunity to grow that bank account so you can bless others. Right? We can be praying for that
today. We can be praying about relationships that we wish were better, more Godly, more loving.
Let's pray for that today. You know? So I think we should just, all at once, just let's lift up
our voices to the Lord and pray what the Lord wants you in the spirit to pray for right now
that is going on in your life. Because you may think, oh no, that's going to sound like chaos,
confusion. All these voices at once pray for all different things. But don't you think the Lord can
hear each and every word that you are praying right now? Don't you think that he can decipher
every single word, not only your words, but your thoughts, the things that you're not saying,
right? He can determine those too. And I think we all need a miracle this morning, don't we?
I know we all need something from the Lord desperately, just like these men we're going
to read about, digging through a roof to drop a paralyzed man before Jesus. We all need something
here today that the Lord, we need him to do it in our lives. Whatever it is, whether it's relationships,
whether it's finances, whether it's our own mental condition, our apathy, our attitude,
whatever that is, our depression, perhaps unforgiveness, whatever it might be that we're
retaining right now. Don't you want that cleanse right here, right now? In the prayer room before
the service today, Ken said, Lord, send your cleansing fire, your cleansing fire, not your
torching fire, but your cleansing, to burn away the negativity, to burn away the unforgiveness,
to burn away the sickness in our lives. Don't you want him to bring that holy fire right here,
right now? So let's just lift up our voices in one voice. Just shout out to the Lord what you
want him to heal or change in your life right now. Let's lift it up to him because he can hear it.
So let's do it. Ready? One, two, three, pray. Father God, I just ask you for a brand new
opportunity to serve you, Lord God. I ask you, Lord God, to open up doors, Lord God,
to transform my thinking, Lord. I have transgressions that I'm working in, Lord God.
I ask you to heal us from that, Lord God. I ask you, Lord God, to give me clarity and wisdom
and truth, Lord God. I want to serve God. I want to love people who are, Lord God.
I want to live for you, Lord God.
Father God, we ask you in Jesus' name to heal all disease,
to heal all injuries. There's some injuries in the house today,
things that aren't working properly or that in pain. Lord God, we ask you to heal it
this morning, Lord. Lord, our relationships aren't what they should be.
They're unforgiveness. There'd be disappointment.
Whatever it might be, Lord God, we ask you to heal our relationships, Lord God. Help us be the active
ingredient that can bring your grace, your forgiveness, your healing into those
relationships, Lord God. Send us into these relationships to heal them, Lord.
Lord God, you say we are the head, not the tail. We are not the borrowers. We are the lenders,
Lord God. We are those who have dominion in this world. We're not supposed to be
poverty-stricken unless you've assigned us for a time and season. But, Lord God,
you are a good father, a great father, the father of lights, the giver of every good and perfect
gift that comes down from above where there is no shadow or turning, Lord God. We know that you
give gifts to men. You don't take, take, take. You give, give, give. And so, Lord God, we ask
you for prosperity today. Open up our wisdom and our mind. Make us more creative to think
outside the box, to see things, Lord God, that we're supposed to be adventuring into,
Lord God, so that we don't get hung up on the ways of the world, of the patterns of the world
that you would transform our minds, Lord God. Renew our minds so that we can prove the good,
acceptable, and perfect will of God, Lord God. We ask you to transform us within so you
flow out of us, Lord God. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's give the Lord a round
of applause. Hallelujah! Is he going to do that today? Yes. Amen. Yes and amen. His promises in
the Lord are amen. Hallelujah. He's so good, isn't he? All right. Well, let's, let's talk a little
bit about the forgiveness of the Lord. You know, aren't you glad that your sins are forgiven? When
you've given your life to Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are no longer imputed
into you. You're not stained by your sins. You're not going to bring them from the earth
into heaven. They've been washed away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. They're
no longer part of your destiny. So why do they need to cling on to us in this world, right?
They've been cleansed. Paul, when he was writing to the church of Ephesus, in Ephesus 1 verse 7,
he said, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
to the riches of his grace. He wrote to the Colossians in Colossians 1 13 and 14,
he said, the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins. Amen. So we have forgiveness of sins. You know, when we came into this world,
we inherited a problem, right? We inherited sin, the sins of our forefather Adam.
Eve had something to do with it too, but you see through the word, the primary responsibility
for our inherited sin is the first Adam, right? And so we have this condition of sin nature,
right? Coming into the world. And I was, I came across these two concepts, these themes or theories
or views of how we inherited sin. Because when you think about it, it doesn't seem quite right. Like,
why? Because Adam sinned in the garden. Do we have this curse against us? We weren't in the garden.
Were you in the garden? I wasn't in the garden. Why does this sin attach to me as soon as I come
out of that birthing canal, I have already inherited sin, right? And so in fact, even in
the womb, I inherited sin, right? So we're just going to talk about two quick theories.
One is the representative headship or federal headship. Okay. And this is the covenant of
work. So the Lord gave a conditional covenant with Adam. If you eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, you will have death. You will be cursed, right? And so, of course,
Adam broke that covenant. And in a sense, when he broke that covenant, he entered into that covenant
for all mankind. He was like our ambassador or representative, right? And it was the Edenic
covenant. And so we look at this and we say, okay, so he's our representative. He's like our
unelected official in a sense, right? And so he represented all mankind in that garden when he
sinned. And I was trying to think of like an example of how, you know, another example or
analogy to that. Now, of course, you know, we live according to a lot of laws that we didn't
personally vote on, right? But we voted in people who, officials who actually voted on our behalf
and we are their constituents, right? In the same sense, in a way, Adam represented us when he
entered into that or broke the covenant of God. So it's that federal or representation.
You know, another example I was kind of thinking through, you know, in real estate,
there's something called deed restrictions, right? You ever hear of them? So like,
so if you have a property, okay, a lot of time farmlands have these deed restrictions.
And so what they do is they sell the rights to build on this land to the township. Have you
ever seen those signs that say this land is preserved, you know? So no one can build on
there, right? Well, now they sell that land to somebody else and that new owner has to abide
by what the previous owner signed up for. So now they can't build on that land either,
sometimes for 99 years or even longer, right? So that's like a deed restriction. Another thing is
like an easement restriction. So you buy land, but you have to let someone else pass through
your land because it's something written into the deed. Well, in the same way, you and I,
when Adam broke that covenant, he made an agreement with Satan in a sense. And as a result,
all of us who come behind him are held to the same restriction or easement or curse
of sin. Does that make any sense? So that's kind of like that representation.
The other one that to me makes a little more sense, but maybe it's a combination of the two,
is the natural headship or seminal view. Okay. And that's the fact that you and I inherited
genes, that sin, we got contaminated genes, right? So when Adam was in the garden and he decided to
eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he created in his, in a sense, in his seed,
this, this, this curse that he would pass on to every generation after that, right?
If you ever been to the doctors and the doctor says, do you have any family history of heart
disease, right? And you're like, what does that have to do with me? Well, someone, if, if, if
you know that your grandfather and father and so on had this heart disease, they assume perhaps
that flaw is also in you. In other words, you carried on that flaw. Now, I know many people have
been redeemed from that curse of their forefathers, right? In a biological sense, even, you know,
but a lot of times, you know, if people live a long time, like, Dan, you're going to live to
that 105, right? I mean, your mom's what, how old is she? 90? 99. How about that, right?
So we're going to have you for a long time, Dan, I'm just telling you that, right? But that's a good,
that's a good gene, right? But like a lot of people are born with these genes that were passed on
from their forefathers, right? Well, in this sense, it's a spiritual thing, but it's a flaw
that we've inherited because we come from the gene pool of Adam and Eve and they curse.
Does that make sense? So we have this inherited corrupted curse to sin. We love sinning, right?
Until Jesus comes along. And now we have a new covenant of grace. Jesus Christ has cleansed us
really of that dirty gene that we inherited from Adam, right? And so no, we're no longer
held to that seminal curse or that seminal representation or inheritance from Adam. We've
been cleansed from that. Amen. That's why I believe the Lord when in Numbers, we read Numbers
14, 18, when the Lord appeared before Moses and Moses said, show me your glory. And he
appeared before him and he couldn't see his face, but he passed by Moses. And he said these words,
the Lord is slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love, forgiving iniquity
and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty. But then he says, but visiting,
that means shepherding, overseeing, pastoring, pastoring the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generation. When I read that, I know I brought this up a few weeks
ago, but it ties right in with this because a lot of times we think, well, my dad was an alcoholic,
his dad was an alcoholic, he was a womanizer, this, that, and the other thing,
I inherited all this debauchery in my genes. No, no, the Lord visits every generation and says,
I will not only visit, but I will shepherd you out of that past lineage from your forefathers.
Does that make sense? So he's saying, no, you're not held to all the curse of the past.
I have set you free. I have cleansed you of that gene. So the Lord wants to visit every
single generation and say, no, your parents didn't do it right, but I do it right.
I am your heavenly father. Amen. And so just a couple other things about this.
Paul wrote to the Romans about this in Romans 5, 12, which we just came out of the book of
Romans. So you remember this verse. Therefore, just as through one man's sin entered the world,
the death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sin. So this inherited,
but it goes on and says, but through Jesus Christ, we have now a new covenant of grace,
redemption from our sins. Amen. Hebrews 11. No, no, I'm sorry. Psalm 51 five. You know,
David understood this idea of inherited sin. He wrote two songs. Remember when he sinned by
committing adultery with Bathsheba and then he arranged the death of Uriah the Hittite,
her husband. And when David finally came clean and confessed his sins and asked to be forgiven
and he realized, man, this is, you know, and he gradually felt the Lord's hand lift from him
because when he was keeping silent, he said his bones were like crushing. Like he just felt the
hand of the Lord saying, you haven't confessed. You are living a lie, David. Right. And so he was
feeling the pressure of condemnation of guilt because he hasn't confessed it yet. And then
finally, when Nathan approached him and said, you are that man, he said, really, I'm him. I sinned
against the Lord. And Nathan immediately said, the Lord has forgiven you. You know, there's
going to be some consequences, but he has forgiven you. Right. And so as he, when he was
finally came out of that whole thing, probably after the first son died, and then he was
living with Bathsheba and he realized that I am actually, when he was married to Bathsheba,
and he realized that I am forgiven. Do you remember the time when you just felt so dirty inside
because of this sin that was just perpetuating in your life, whatever it might be, even an
attitude or a hatred towards someone or an unforgiveness or whatever it might be or a habit
or something. And, and you're just always condemned by it. But finally, the Lord lifts you up,
you know, the word says, if you humble yourself beneath the mighty hand of the Lord,
he will lift you up and he will exalt you. And I just picture the Lord lifting you up and saying,
listen, we can get out of this. I love you. Will you just let me get you out of this mess in your
life? Let me take you out of your past and into your future. Let me do it for you. You know, his,
his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He will give us rest. If we let him do it,
he will take us out of it. Right. And so he's saying, no, trust me. And finally,
when you start to see that the cloud, the sky clear, you know, like, don't you love this
sunny weather the last two days, you know, finally, right? There is a sun. Well,
when the Lord finally just clears the clouds of your, of your darkness and says, no, no,
I haven't forsaken you. I'm still right here. Come on, let's do this thing. And finally,
you feel like I could just trust him. I could trust him because he already forgave me.
I can trust him to get me out of this mess and transform my life. Do you remember that time?
If you're in something right now, I'm telling you, he forgives you. He died for that sin.
His grace is far greater than any sins that you have committed. Do you believe that?
When he died on the cross, your sins were nailed to the cross with him. He became your sin
on the cross, right? And so that is a greater grace than any sin that you can continue to try
to take back, right? So he forgives you. And when you suddenly let the Lord take you out of that,
and suddenly you see the reality of your life and say, wait a minute, I don't have to do this.
God will do this for me, the spirit of God. He's the one who empowers us to live like him.
We can't do it. It's his Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to walk in the Holy Spirit and live a
righteous and perfect life. We're not going to be perfect, but we can live that image of
perfection in Jesus Christ. The more we trust him to do it. Amen. And so when we trust him to do this,
and so when David finally realized this, and he was saying, you know, I was just so trapped,
but finally he realized he was forgiven. Psalm 51.5, he writes this, this Psalm and Psalm 32 were
both written just after he finally realized I'm forgiven of adultery. I'm forgiven of
basically murder, and not just Uriah, those other ones who died along with him in that battle, right?
But I'm forgiven? Who can do that? I would never forgive me. But God forgives me. And he wrote,
blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Isn't that awesome?
Your sins are not imputed into you. His righteousness is. Isn't that great? That's
the thing you're taking with you to heaven, the righteousness of Christ. Everything else falls
behind and it doesn't enter heaven. It's forgotten, you know, as far as the north is to the south,
east is to the west. I will remember your sins no more, right? So you are forgiven. Why? Because
Jesus Christ forgives sins. He spilled his blood to forgive and wash away your sins. Amen.
So let's dive into Luke chapter five. And this was such a significant story that all three of the
synoptic gospels make mention of this. John is always the quirky one that likes to be a little
different. I don't know, but it's a great gospel. So let's start in verse 17.
Now it happened on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers
of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And then behold, men brought on a bed,
a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before him, meaning Jesus.
And verse 19, and when they could not find how they might bring him in, because the crowd,
they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst
before Jesus. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, man, your sins are forgiven.
So, you know, just picture it. These guys are carrying this, their friend on a stretcher,
and they come up and this house is just packed, not only inside, but outside, right? I mean,
it's just all around. We're like, how in the world are we going to get in there?
The only way in is up, up and over. And so they found a way to climb up and bring him up on the
rooftop. There's a picture of it just to kind of get our mind around it. Thank you, Natasha.
And they start peeling off whatever fabric, whatever straw and the stuff that was on the
top. And they're peeling that off. Imagine being in that house, right? And you're like,
listening to Jesus and you're like, what is that? I hear footsteps, right? And you're like,
yeah, I hear squirrels on my roof. I don't know about you, right? I hear what in the world is on
that roof, right? And yet these are people walking, okay? And these are little houses
and they're low ceilings. So like, they're looking up and they're like,
you know, hearing all this noise, right? And all of a sudden they're, you know,
whatever they're doing up there, pulling things apart. I doubt they had any saws with them,
but they were pulling things apart. Imagine being the guy who owned the house, okay?
I heard stories that it was Peter's house. I haven't really been able to confirm that, but
imagine you're in there, it's your house. And I'll say, what in the, what do they think they're
doing? You know? And he's hearing his roof being torn apart, right? And so they rip apart the roof
and all of a sudden there's guys up there. Like, what in the world is happening? And they start
lowering this guy on a stretcher in a packed room. Imagine that, you know? I mean, it's a sweaty,
smelly room, okay? And all of a sudden the door, the roof opens up and this guy is being lowered
down in their presence. It's such a strange phenomena, right? And then as they're lowering
them down and they're before Jesus, Jesus is probably saying like, I could imagine them
like giggling, like laughing like, are you kidding me? This is like great. This is great.
Like this is, this is what I want. I want people to be so desperate to touch me, to feel me,
to receive from me. That's what I want. Remember the woman who was unclean because
she was bleeding for 12 years and she's walking up and like, this is a crowd packed around Jesus.
How can I ever get through there? Some of them know that I have a problem, right? And I'm unclean,
right? I'm not even supposed to be here. And guess what? She just, however she did it,
crawled, climbed, you know, she got through to Jesus just to touch his hem, to be instantly
healed. Isn't that a great picture, you know? And then what I think is so cool is Jesus felt
power coming out of him. Isn't that the coolest thing? Like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
something just left me, you know? Like, you know, it's like he realized someone took something from
him, but he wasn't angry. He was like, who just did that? I want to, I want to see this person.
Like wow, that's a stealthy thing she just did, right? And all of a sudden he turns around,
she's trembling, realizing that like she didn't get it far to do this. And what did he say?
Your faith has made you well go in peace, right? He loves desperate desire for him. It pleases him
to see these guys that are just going over and above to reach him because they are that certain
that when this paralyzed friend gets in the presence of Jesus, he's going to be healed.
I want faith like that. I just want to have faith that like no matter what Jesus will accomplish
this. It might not be the way I saw it. It might not be the way I predicted it. It might not be
exactly what I wanted, but it's going to be better because the Lord, he works all things for the good
of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. He does above and beyond,
exceedingly above and beyond, all that you could ask or think, right? That's what he does. It's
always better. Anyways, yeah, but I still have this limp. It's better. It's better, you know?
We were talking about the chosen on the way in this morning. I'm finally getting hooked, okay?
I know some of you are, where you been? Like chosen? Are you kidding me? Well, we couldn't,
you know, it's a long story, but I'm finally getting like, you know, I'm really embracing it.
I got through those first couple of slow episodes. Thank you. And now it's like, it's really cool,
you know? But I remember that one disciple when he was like, Lord, how can I heal people if I'm not
healed yet? Did you see that episode? He says, you know what? And you know what? It was so
well played that, you know, you see Jesus almost welling up saying, it's not time,
but it's going to be better because you're in this condition. How would it be if you were perfect
and you were laying hands on people, this is even better that you're not because it shows
even more, it's not about you. It's about what the Lord is going to do. You're content
in your condition. Some of us have to learn to be content for now because it's a season of life or
a season of eternity that we're in this condition. And maybe it's not here and now that he's going
to do this, but he's saying, you know what? You can accomplish great things in that condition.
Just like, just like Paul, you know, the foreign wouldn't be removed from his side
and whatever that was probably blindness or something else. But the Lord said, no,
my strength is made perfect through weakness, right? So anyway, they lower him down. He's
in front of Jesus and then they heard your sins are forgiven. That's not why we came here.
Okay. We came here to see our friend jumping off that stretcher and high five and everyone and
bolting out the door, running and dancing. That's why we're here, right? But Jesus says that.
What they didn't realize is that was the greater miracle.
The fact that his sins were forgiven. That is the greatest miracle of all, isn't it?
That our sins are forgiven. This flesh is going to come and go. It's a slither on the
measurement of eternity. It's like a line that we, the further we go, we won't even see it
anymore. Where was my life? I can't find it anywhere. It's like a hair on this whole
continuum, right? Because it's such a slither of time, but eternity, forgiveness of sins,
guarantees eternity with the Lord. Isn't that something to be just so thankful for, right?
So they didn't realize he was getting the greatest miracle of all. Okay.
And so the first point I just want to bring up here in this is that, you know, the Lord,
the Lord responds to faith, doesn't he? Like when he sees these guys going out of their way
to break through this roof and to with full confidence, no, he's going to walk. He's going
to lower them down. Like, you know, just the fines that are involved with that.
They could get in some big trouble, at least maybe die, you know, but they went over and above
and the Lord saw that and said, you know what? I respect that type of faith in me.
He always does that, you know, the lepers, you know, if you have mercy for us, the blind man,
if you have mercy for us, the Canaanite woman, you know, like he respects endurance, perseverance,
and desperation. He says, now that's a heart that's ready to receive from me. Remember the
woman groveling, washing his feet, you know? And finally he says, your sins are forgiven.
Go in peace, you know? And they say, how this woman, how could you just let her touch you?
Those who have forgiven much love much, right? And I hope you realize how much you've been
forgiven of, right? Because it's all washed away. So anyway, so the Lord always does this.
He always sees intentional pursuing him and he responds to it. That Canaanite woman,
what a story that is, do you remember? So they're near Tyre and Sadan and he's in this house or
somewhere and this woman is coming up, begging him, begging him, my daughter is demon possessed,
please deliver her, please. And the disciples are like, Lord, you know,
she's not even one of us. She's a pagan, right? And it's like, tell her to go away. And they're like,
you know, almost like they're like disgusted by her, right? And then Jesus tests her.
He says, it's not for me to, I did not come except for the children of Israel. Okay?
And with that, you would think she would just say, oh man, I am really,
oh, I was hoping so much, you know, that this man was kind enough to do this and just walk away.
But what does she do? She's like, no, no, no. And he goes, she keeps begging him, please,
please, you can do this. And then he layers on the insults. Okay. I'm just saying read through
it yourself. You know, this was, I mean, if I wrote it down somewhere, but anyway,
you know, the Canaanite woman. So, so she doesn't give up. Okay. And then finally he says, look,
it's not right for me to give the bread of the children to the dogs. Ouch. Right? I mean,
imagine being her. So in other words, you're calling me a dog. And that was a common thing.
Gentiles called Jews dogs and Jews called Gentiles dogs. He, it was a test, right? He knew
what he was going to do. Right. She wasn't even offended with that. He just called me a dog.
Okay. I might not be pretty, but I'm not a dog. Okay. But, and what did he say? She said,
yeah, but even the dogs get the crumbs from the children. And I could just imagine he just
probably almost like, wow. Wow. He probably marveled. The Lord marveled at both unbelief and belief.
You know, he marveled when the Roman centurion believed enough, right? You don't even need to
come to my house. You just say the word, my servant will be healed. He marveled at that,
but he also marveled at the unbelief in his own hometown who did not have enough faith for
people to be healed. You know, he marvels at this, right? And he's like, you could just
imagine. He goes, you know what? It has been dead. It has been done as you have asked.
And that very minute that girl was delivered from the demon, right? It was a test. You know,
he, he responds to that type of desperation and that type of faith in what he can do.
You know, I'm not saying he requires us to be groveling on our hands and, you know,
knees and hands and just please Lord. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is when you go out
of your way with full confidence of what the Lord is going to do and trust that he has the perfect
solution, he responds kindly to that and he blesses you because of it. Amen. In fact, you know, hey,
Hebrews 11 6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone
who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him, right?
So he rewards your earnestly seeking. He says, ask, seek, and knock. That's who's going to receive
those who pursue me, right? In fact, Hebrews 4 16 says that boldly approach the throne of grace
where you will receive mercy and find grace in your time of need. Come forward boldly approach,
boldly approach me and you will receive from me. Isn't that awesome? So anyway, let's,
let's read on. We're going to finish up now. Verse 21 and the scribes and Pharisees began to
reason saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Hello,
God's in the house. But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered and said to them,
why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you
or to say rise up and walk, but that you may know that the son of man has power on
earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, arise, take up your bed
and go to your house. Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on
and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed and they glorify God
and were filled with fear saying, we have seen strange things today. Now your version may say
remarkable, amazing, extraordinary, incredible. That strange is where we get the word paradox,
paradoxos. And it's unexpected. You know, when the Lord is moving, it's always,
you can predict his character, but you can't predict exactly how he's going to do things,
right? So here the Lord says your sins are forgiven. Now to prove your sins are forgiven,
watch what I'm about to do. Because when he made that paralyzed man stand up and walk,
that was evidence that actually the first thing I said is also done, you know? And this leads
me to another point is that the Lord uses outward signs to prove inner truths, doesn't he?
A lot of times he does things that you can see so that you can believe the unseen, right? He does
things that you can obviously check out and say, wow, that was pretty cool. Well, if that happened
according to what he said, maybe he's also doing this. I was talking to a friend yesterday and he's
going to be getting married and he shared, he said, you know, I prayed that the Lord would bring
me like a Godly woman, a woman, and he had all these like criteria for God, right? And through
this person, you know, I would even meet in a bigger community and I'm paraphrasing, but,
and in this community, and he said, you know what? And the Lord just kept doing these things.
Like, and it's an example of when he does these things, which we think are big,
are simple for him. Now we can believe what we can't see is actually happening too. We can now
believe in the unseen. We can believe that we do have an inheritance in heaven. We do,
we can believe all the things, the promises are yes and amen in him. We can believe it
because he does the other things that are tangibly visible. I don't know if you've ever
put the Lord to the test, but you know, a lot of times when you do, it's not testing him
in your unfaithfulness. It's saying, Lord, if you do this, this is another sign for me to do that.
So I'll give you a quick example. One time when I was getting an MRI for a knee surgery I had
and they found a tumor in about like between a whatever in a golf ball in a, in a nerve.
And I'm like, whoa, that's kind of weird. And, and I did remember several times when I bumped my leg
in a certain spot, it was like an electric shock. I'm like, ah, what the heck is that? You know,
it's like a funny bone, but in a weird spot, right? And I'm like, what is that? So all of a
sudden they say you have a tumor and you have to get that checked out because it's in a bed.
It's in your nerve. And, and then there's all these other complications. But the main thing
is it cancerous, you know? So, so we're, so I went down, I went in, took some out and,
and then they call me whenever, number of days later, you need to come downtown. I'm like,
well, what is it? Yet they can't talk, speak to you over the phone. You need to come downtown.
I'm like, like, that's weird. Like it's just, just tell me, is it or isn't it? Right.
So I'm driving down. Right. And I remember I was with Joe and I remember thinking, you know,
this is before we started this church. And as I was thinking through this, I'm like, man,
you know, time is really running out in my life. You know, like, maybe God really wanted
me to do these things. And what if this is cancer? What if I, you know, you start going
down this road and my friend, you know, Mike for share had brain cancer for a second time,
you know, and the Lord ended up taking him home. But like, and there's all these things I'm like,
Lord, you know, and I'm like, Lord, if this is, or if this isn't, I'm going to do exactly what
you told me to do. Cause I knew he was been telling Jill and I, you need to start a new work.
I feel like I'm in the meet and greet right now, but you know, you, you need to start
something new. You're comfortable over at Calvary chapel central bucks. You have plenty
of responsibility. You're respected. You're, I love, we loved it there. Why leave? But I knew
God was saying, no, no, there's something new for you, you know, and here, and here we are. Right.
And it was like, you know, he was saying, and, but I kept procrastinating. I didn't know what
I was supposed to do. And now with this, I'm starting to think, why have I been procrastinating?
Why have I been dragging my feet? But I started saying, Lord, whatever this is,
you know, I don't want it to be, but if it is, whatever it is, I'm going to do
exactly. If you, you're calling me to something new, I'm going to do it. It was like, it was it,
it was something that inspired me to do the thing, you know, and a lot of times he does that. If you
could say, Lord, you know, I, I don't know what to do with this situation, but I asked you to
show me through it what the next step for my life is. You know, the Lord uses signs in the, in the
word. Remember Gideon and the fleece, you know, Lord, if you've really called me to deliver Israel
from the Moabites and Midianites and the others, Lord, you know, just can you do this
silly little thing? You know, in fact, I have a picture of this, of him putting out his,
the fleece on the ground, you know, and saying, Lord, can you make, you know,
he went up on the threshing floor and he says, if you make the fleece wet and the ground dry,
then I'll believe you did call me to this. The Lord didn't get mad. He probably thought,
you're really silly here, but okay. Yeah. And he did it, you know, he went the next morning and
he wrung it out and he said, wow, all right, Lord, don't be mad. Okay. But do you mind
tonight that you wet the ground, but not the fleece, you know, can you imagine God saying,
really, you really want to do this? Okay. In fact, Gideon asked for a few other signs after that,
but, and so he gets it the next morning. There's the ground's wet. The fleece is dry. Like what?
Okay. Then that means I'm to deliver Israel from the Lord's enemies. Like how do you get from the
fleece to that? But because the Lord is saying, look, I'll do the little things. If you need
that to believe that I'm going to do the big things in your life. Right. And another example
of that is, do you remember when Hezekiah was sick and Isaiah was sent to him by God.
And when Isaiah went in there, see Hezekiah, he says, you know,
you're going to die. So put your house in order. You know, how is that hearing from Isaiah,
the prophet who always speaks on behalf of God. And he comes in the door and says,
you're going to die. Get your house in order. It says Hezekiah just rolled over to the wall
and just started weeping and crying. Lord, you know how much I've done for you. Lord,
you know how much like I led the people I've accomplished. And he was, he was a great king.
He was one of the few good Judah kings. Right. And he said, you know how much I did
have done for you. And he's crying, please, Lord. And here Isaiah already left the house.
He's walking through the courtyard and says, Isaiah, go back. I've changed my mind.
Right. So he goes back in, he says, you know what,
the Lord's going to give you 15 more years. He's like, wow.
And he said, can you show me a sign that that's going to happen? Right. And then Isaiah says,
here's the sign the Lord is going to give you that this sundial is actually going to go
backwards. So the day has already been spent, but now he's saying, no, I'm going to turn the
sun back or the earth back or whatever. This shadow is going to go backwards. In other words,
showing that you have more time in your life. And so can you imagine like, how can that happen?
I mean, the sun isn't going to move. The earth is going to go backwards, but the Lord did it
to show him that I've given you more time to serve me as the king of Israel. And so the Lord
wants us to see these things that are happening so that we can believe the things we don't see.
Amen. As the worship team comes up,
one last point is really that, you know, the forgiveness of sins, it is a miracle, isn't it?
I mean, the three points, Jesus responds to faith, right? In fact, we said he marvels
at faith. You know, even someone who wasn't supposed to get a miracle gets it because he's just so
enamored by the faith in him. Someone who isn't really justified for it, a Canaanite woman.
And yet she received from him. Jesus uses outward signs like we just talked about to prove things
that are not seen, to prove inner truths. And then finally, forgiveness of sins is a miracle.
It's the greatest miracle. We can pray for things in this world, tangible things. There's nothing
wrong with that, you know? But really what we want is his will in our lives. You know,
getting what you think you need might not be the best thing for you. It might be something
even better, but it's going to come through a few trials, but it's better. Do you believe that?
Like he's got your best, his will and your best good in mind. He can do two things at once.
You know, we sometimes can't chew gum and ride a bike or whatever. You know,
he could do a lot of things all at once. He's a multitasker. He can fulfill his will for your
life and actually also give you the greatest gift that you could ever have. That's what he does.
Amen. He gives gifts from heaven. That's what he does. He's a good,
good father who gives gifts, plenty of gifts. You know, as the Lord said to him,
take your mat and leave. You know, it's always a picture really of that. You know,
why did he say that? Maybe soon someone else didn't trip over the mat. You know,
sometimes the Lord says, don't, you know, look, you've been forgiven. Now sin no more.
This mat, it's no longer part of your life. Get rid of it. Perhaps sometimes we condemn ourselves
because we're holding onto the sins that we've already been forgiven of. The word says somewhere
that it's a fool who rebuilds the things that have already been demolished. Right? Why hold
onto the things that you've already been forgiven of? Just let it go. Right? And then this mat
could also be a testimony. When he brings that mat, look what I've been saved from. I used to
lay on this thing day in and day out. And look at it now. I'm spitting it like a pizza. Right?
It's no longer part of my existence. You know, a testimony of what God has delivered you from.
It's always a thing to remember and to share with others who are going through the same thing
that the Lord has delivered me out of that. He can do the same thing for you. Amen.
As everyone rises up, we're going to sing this last song. I don't know what it is,
but it's going to be a good one. And the Lord is just going to do so many amazing things for you.
I know it. You know, we are his evidence on earth that he's a good father.
We are the evidence on earth that he loves because he loves Ruas. Amen.
So Father God, we thank you, Lord, for just these brothers and sisters. Lord,
thank you for a good life, a great life in you, Lord God, the best life of all,
the abundant life, Lord, that you give us. Thank you for your love for us,
like we were singing earlier, Lord God. We just, we don't deserve this, Lord God,
but you just embellish upon us. You cherish us. You sing over us, Lord God. You love us
that much. Thank you, Lord. We just, we want to, we want to be a reflection of that love for us
to others so they would know how much you would love them too so that they can receive this gift
of love. So thank you, Lord. May the Lord bless us and keep us and be gracious to us.
May he lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's
give the Lord a round of applause. And please go, come on out to meet and greet if you've never
been to one. And even if you've been here a while, well, I'm not new. Okay. But if you haven't been
to one, you know, just to hear about our humble beginnings, it's going to be a short meeting, you
know, not a bunch of handouts. It's not a big novel, just a short thing, but just to know where
we've come from and where we're going. Amen. Love you guys. Thank you. Thanks for joining us at
Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss his word. Don't forget to join us for worship
live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube. Be blessed and have a great day!