The Amazing Authority of Jesus Part 2

Well, we've got a new president.

I'm not sure if you watched the swearing in, the inauguration ceremony this past Friday.

I did.

And essentially what happened was the people of the United States were authorizing Donald J. Trump

to make a variety of very important decisions for our nation.

So he was sworn in as our 45th president

and be given the authority to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States

against all threats, both foreign and domestic.

And one of the rights of the presidents we were reminded of at the end of President Obama's term

was the right for the president to grant clemency to federal prisoners.

And that clemency comes in one of two forms.

There is the pardon in which the president pardons a federal criminal of his crimes.

And then there's the commuting of a sentence in which the president reduces the penalty of a federal prisoner.

But what you need to understand is that whether a federal prisoner is pardoned or his sentence commuted,

it doesn't necessarily mean his offense has been expunged from his record.

That's a whole different legal proceeding.

This morning what I want just to point out is that the office of the President of the United States

has the authority, the right, to forgive criminals, federal criminals,

of crimes committed against the United States of America.

I've been wondering all week if there's people coming in here who feel imprisoned by the fear of their past sins.

And this morning we're going to see that Jesus Christ has the authority,

the right, to forgive crimes against God.

And not only forgive them, but to wipe clean our records.

And what you're going to see is that this right to forgive sin is the right of the Son of Man.

Jesus' favorite self-designation.

Last week we saw Jesus on the Sea of Galilee.

And we saw Him in the country of the Gadarenes.

And He exercised His authority.

He is the storm pacifier.

And He is the demon defeater.

And one of the things I wanted you to see last Sunday was that this same Jesus

who exercised authority over the storm and over demons,

that same Jesus is our Jesus.

He's with us today.

He is Emmanuel, God with us.

He promised at the end of Matthew 28 to,

Lo, I am with you always.

As the all-authoritative Son of Man.

And so this morning we're going to follow this passage.

These three episodes are going to be taken all together.

He's the storm pacifier.

He is the demon defeater.

And this morning we're going to see He's the all-authoritative sin forgiver.

So would you open up your Bibles to Matthew 9.

And I'm going to read verses 1-8.

And I pray that God would show you that Jesus is unique in His authority to forgive sins.

And getting into a boat, He crossed over and came to His own city.

And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.

And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,

Take heart, My son.

Your sins are forgiven.

And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves,

This man is blasphemy.

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,

Why do you think evil in your hearts?

For which is easier to say,

Your sins are forgiven, or to say,

Rise and walk.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

He then said to the paralytic,

Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

And he rose, and he went home.

When the crowd saw it, they were afraid.

And they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

So this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to walk through this passage.

I'm going to point out some things.

And then I want to help you see why this passage is in your Bible.

And then, we're going to help you bring the truth of this passage to bear on your life today in 2017.

So let's get back into the story.

We'll walk through it, and then bring it to bear.

So let's look at this situation in Capernaum in verse 1 of chapter 9.

Jesus got in the boat, and he crossed over and came to his own city.

So he was just in the country of the Gadarenes, Gentile country, right?

And he left there.

He was begged to leave by the residents of the country of the Gadarenes.

Remember, Jesus is with us, right?

But they did not want him with them.

And so he got in his boat, came back to Capernaum.

That's his own city.

And so what you need to know is that Jesus, the storm pacifier, the demon defeater,

has now crossed back to the Sea of Galilee and is back in his hometown, Capernaum.

And what you need to know about Capernaum, though it's not named, that's his present hometown.

So if Jesus had a mailing address, it would have been something like 7 Seaside Drive, Capernaum, Galilee.

And that's where he was living.

And there are a couple parallel accounts of this in Mark 2 and Luke 5.

And those accounts provide a little bit more vivid color to actually what happened.

Matthew has a tendency to keep things really lean to make his point,

where the other gospel writers, they're a little bit more expansive.

And so we're going to be looking to Mark 2 to provide a little color here as to actually what took place.

One of the things you need to know is, hey, Jesus moved.

He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum.

He knows what it's like to move.

But that's on the side.

So in verse 2 of chapter 9, we read this.

And behold, remember, and behold.

That's one of Matthew's favorite ways of saying to grab your attention, something's happening here.

And behold, some people brought to him, Jesus, a paralytic, lying on a bed.

Now, we're not told.

Matthew doesn't go into details about who's carrying him.

You know, where are they coming?

Where is Jesus?

And so in Mark 2 and Luke chapter 5, we learn that this is probably Jesus' own residence in Capernaum.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

And so they're bringing, they hear he's in town, he's at home, and they bring this paralytic to him.

A paralytic is someone who couldn't walk.

And if they couldn't walk, they're dependent on other people.

Their life is being made difficult because of that, to say the least.

We're not told how many people are carrying him.

From Mark 2 and Luke 5, we learn that there are four people, four friends of this paralytic carrying him to see Jesus.

And what we learn from Mark 2 and Luke 5 is that when these four carrying this paralytic show up to Jesus' house, they can't get in.

The place is packed.

Jesus is preaching.

He's got a crowd there.

And so if you open up the door and try to get in, it would have been like a fraternity house party.

The place was packed.

You probably would, some BO smell would have come out.

There's so many people in there.

And so these guys bring in the paralytic, go up, they open the door, this place is packed.

What are we going to do?

We can't get him in.

And so what they end up doing is they bring him up the side stair to the roof of the house.

And there wasn't much precipitation in this part of the world.

And so the houses were made out of kind of mud and straw.

And so what these four guys do who are carrying this paralyzed guy, they get the great idea.

Let's tear open a hole in the roof and we'll lower our friend down right in front of Jesus.

We learn this from Mark 2 and Luke 5.

Now if you're in the room, could you imagine all of a sudden debris falling from the ceiling?

A hole opening up?

And this kind of body descending down in front of Jesus?

Could you imagine that?

So Jesus sees them coming in.

In one sense, you've got to admire the creativity of this.

Jesus sees them and he sees their faith.

And the next thing we see at the second half of verse 2 is a really surprising pronouncement.

Jesus says to the paralytic, he sees their faith.

He says, take heart, my son.

Now, if you were one of the guys bringing the paralytic, let's say the paralytic weighs 120 pounds.

And so you're carrying 30 pounds across Capernaum, right?

I'm going to bring my friend to the healer guy.

And I bring him up to the door.

The place is packed.

We're like, what are we going to do?

Let's bring him up on the roof.

We'll make a hole.

We bring him up on the roof.

We make the hole.

We lower him down.

And we get him right in front of Jesus, the healer.

We know this guy is going to do something.

And we're like, okay, he's in position.

Do your thing, Jesus.

And so we hear Jesus say, take heart, my son.

And we're looking at each other, me and my three buddies.

And we're like, oh, yeah, here it comes.

And he says what?

Your sins are forgiven.

Amen.

If I were there, I would have been something like, what did he say?

What did he say?

Hold on.

Okay.

Let's shake him.

Maybe he doesn't realize that he's paralyzed.

Let's shake him to make sure he knows what the problem is.

And Jesus knew what the problem was.

I would have been a little disappointed myself.

It would be one of those things where you're expecting a really nice Christmas present.

And you get something else.

You're kind of like, aw.

What we don't realize is that Jesus is actually addressing this paralytic's greatest problem.

I mean, that's why Jesus came.

What we see happening in this house is Jesus, the Son of Man, on mission.

So we would all have been surprised if we were in there, whether on the roof or down below.

And it turns out there are some people in there that weren't just surprised.

They were offended.

Look at verse 3.

And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves.

Scribes and Pharisees were kind of running in the same pack.

Scribes would have been kind of the Old Testament experts.

If you had a question of how to live your life in a righteous way, you go to one of the scribes and they'll tell you what to do.

They were the religious professionals.

And so we had some religious professionals in the room who take issue with what Jesus just said.

In fact, they say this man is blasphemy.

This man being Jesus.

He just said blasphemy.

Now, here's what blasphemy is.

Blasphemy is when you attribute to a man something that only God himself can do.

And so what we read in Mark 2 and Luke 5 is that these men who said this man is blasphemy, they go on to say only God can forgive sins.

Only God can forgive sins.

The reason why Matthew doesn't include it is because he's writing to a Jewish audience.

They already know.

This is a serious charge.

Only God can forgive sins.

It's interesting.

The scribes bring up the sin issue.

Because sin is something that the scribes recognize that we all deal with.

We're all sinners.

Sin is a crime against divinity.

Crime against God.

We either disobey something he requires or we do something he forbids.

And what we know is that only God can forgive sin because our sin is against God.

And so what these scribes are saying is that this Galilean is claiming something that only God can do.

He's claiming to forgive sins.

Only God can do that.

And then Jesus responds.

In chapter 9 verse 4 we read, but Jesus knowing their thoughts, literally seeing their thoughts is what the original language writes.

He says, why do you think evil in your hearts?

Mark 2, Luke 5 both bring out Jesus is probably knowing what they're thinking.

He's got an insight that belongs to God.

And he says to them, why do you think evil in your hearts?

What's the evil?

The evil is this.

The evil is thinking that Jesus is blaspheming.

When in fact, he has full authority to pronounce forgiveness for this paralytic sins.

That's the evil.

Attributing to him something that's not true.

Saying that this claim is false.

And then he says something very interesting.

In verses 4 and 5.

He says, why do you think evil in your hearts?

And then he asks this which is easier question.

Notice he says, which is easier to say?

He's not saying which is easier to do.

He's asking which is easier to say.

Which is easier to say?

Your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk?

Which is easier to say?

If you were there, what would you have said?

I would have said, well it's easier to say your sins are forgiven.

Do you know why?

There's no need for visible verification of that.

If you say that, how do you know someone's actually forgiven or not?

It's easier to say that.

But we all know that only God can forgive sins, right?

It's harder to say get up and walk because immediately there is going to be proof in the pudding.

Either the person is going to get up and walk and show that this guy has authority to heal a paralytic or he's shown to be a fraud.

And so Jesus says, hey, what is easier to say?

Your sins are forgiven or get up and walk?

The obvious answer is it's easier to say your sins are forgiven.

In verse 6, he drops the boom.

What Jesus is about to say is that it reveals he's been in control of this thing the whole time.

This is a messianic setup.

This is, he is on mission.

He's looking to get something done.

He says to these people, these scribes,

verse 6, but that you may know.

It's a purpose statement.

So that you know.

So that you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.

So that you know that what I just did actually resulted in his immediate and complete forgiveness.

Just so that you know that, that I have the authority for that.

Just so that you know.

He does what?

He turns to the paralytic and tells the paralytic,

get up and walk.

Go home.

Do you see what Jesus is doing?

Jesus is using the visible healing miracle to verify the invisible forgiveness miracle.

He's saying the harder thing to say is going to prove the easier thing to say that only God can do.

So, he says this to the paralytic.

And now we're all in suspense.

Because if the paralytic doesn't get up and walk away,

it reveals Jesus doesn't have authority to heal this guy of his paralysis.

And it points further to the fact that he's a sham.

That he doesn't have the authority to forgive sins.

Which really means that he is blaspheming.

Which should result then in dragging him out of the house, picking up stones, and killing him.

But if he does stand up and walk,

not only does that show that he has authority over the paralysis,

it starts to evidence, verify that his other claim to forgive sins is legit.

Which points to the fact that he's not blaspheming.

That he is the Son of Man.

He's God in the flesh.

And he can.

Forgive sins.

So what is the immediate result in verse 7?

And he rose and he went home.

The physical healing evidences the spiritual healing.

Jesus has authority to not only heal paralysis,

he has authority to forgive sins.

An authority only God possesses.

It shows him to be the Son of Man.

He's not blaspheming.

He's speaking authoritatively for God.

Because he is God.

God in the flesh.

Just think about it this way.

This paralytic who was carried into this house,

was carried in unable to walk,

and he leaves walking, right?

Miracle.

And this paralytic who was descended down before Jesus,

is called out by Jesus to rise up.

His sins had been forgiven.

It verifies who Jesus is claiming to be.

The Son of Man.

The crowds, they were afraid.

It's the Greek word phobia.

It's this kind of dread involved with this.

I mean, if you were there,

what you're seeing is an act of God forgiving this man.

Not just healing him.

They were astonished.

Dreadfully astonished.

And then they start glorifying God.

They start praising him for God to give such authority to men.

And not just any men.

This man.

And not just any man.

God with us man.

The Son of Man.

So why is this passage here?

Well, the demon defeater,

the storm pacifier,

he is also the sin forgiver.

And so what Matthew is helping us see here

is that Jesus has all authority to forgive sins.

And not just sins in Capernaum in the house.

In the first century.

He has authority to forgive sins today.

Here in this room.

And not just some of them.

All of them.

What I want you to see now is that

Jesus has the right to forgive all of your sins

because of who he is

and what he has done.

Let me just draw your gaze to that.

Who he is.

Jesus is the Son of Man.

Son of Man.

Billy started to explain this to us a couple weeks ago

that Son of Man is a title.

It's an authoritative title.

And it's Jesus' favorite title to refer to himself.

In the book of Matthew alone,

he references himself with Son of Man 30 times.

Titles communicate role.

I carry some titles.

I'm a husband.

I'm a father.

Jenny and I were at a dinner party this past Friday

and I was called the reverend.

Typically don't go by that.

I'm also assistant coach.

We're on my kids' teams.

Titles communicate roles.

You've got your own titles.

Packer fan?

The title that Jesus has right here

is this Son of Man.

It's a messianic title.

It's a title that belongs to the Christ.

Remember that the Gospel of Matthew

was written to a primarily Jewish audience.

And so in this house,

when Jesus starts talking about

the Son of Man,

I'm the Son of Man.

They're going to start thinking about something.

They're going to start thinking about

Daniel chapter 7,

Daniel 7:13–14

verses 13 through 14.

Daniel is given a vision.

Let me just read it to you, okay?

I saw in the night visions,

and behold,

with the clouds of heaven,

there came one like a Son of Man.

Bing!

That's it.

Now listen to how this Son of Man is described.

And He came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before Him.

And to Him,

the Son of Man

was given dominion

and glory

and a kingdom

that all peoples,

nations,

and languages

should serve Him.

His dominion

is an everlasting dominion

which shall not pass away,

and His kingdom

one that shall not be destroyed.

It is indestructible.

Do you know who He's talking about?

Does this ring a bell?

Does this sound familiar?

Jesus is the Son of Man.

And so when Jesus says

that you may know

the Son of Man

has authority to forgive sins,

these scribes are thinking,

beep, beep, beep, beep,

Daniel 7, 13, 14,

beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

The Son of Man

is a title

that carries

kingdom authority.

This is the coming King.

So when the Jews

in the room

would hear Son of Man

and they're familiar

with the Old Testament,

they'd be thinking

that this guy

is saying something

about establishing

the Messianic kingdom.

And as the Son of Man,

He's not blaspheming.

He's not blaspheming.

He's not blaspheming.

Now, the spin

of the Gospels is this.

The surprising twist

is that the Son of Man

would establish His kingdom

not by military might,

nor by political maneuvering,

nor by financial clout,

but the Son of Man

would establish His kingdom

through a humble,

servant-hearted act

of self-sacrifice

on a cross.

Jesus is the Son of Man,

the all-authoritative King

who's got a heart

of a servant.

He's the Son of Man

and He is on a mission.

Jesus has the authority

to forgive sins

because of who He is.

He's the Son of Man.

Earlier in the book of Matthew,

we learn that Jesus is Emmanuel.

Matthew 1.

Joseph is freaking out

because his fiancée

is pregnant.

An angel of the Lord

comes to him

and basically says,

don't freak out, Joseph.

The child in your lady,

she was conceived

by the Holy Spirit.

And by the way,

you should name Him

Jesus.

Jesus,

in chapter 1,

verse 21,

gives the reason,

for He shall save His people

from their sins.

Do you know,

do you know what

the name Jesus means?

The name Jesus

is a Greek form

of a Hebrew name,

Joshua.

Yeshua.

And Yeshua

literally means

God saves.

He will save His people

from His sins.

It's in His name.

When He was born,

His name was His mission.

God saves.

God saves sinners,

His people,

from their sins.

And so here in Matthew 9,

we see Jesus

exercising His authority

over paralysis

to prove His authority

over sin.

He came to rescue

His people

from their sins.

He's on mission.

And just to make

something clear here,

this forgiveness business

in Matthew 9,

this,

take heart, my son,

your sins are forgiven,

this isn't kind of

a fringe benefit.

This isn't some kind

of incidental thing.

It's not an appetizer

to get out of the way

for the main course

of healing.

The main reason

why Jesus came

was to forgive sinners

of their sins.

His teaching,

preaching,

and healing

serve His mission

to save sinners.

So at the heart

of His kingdom's mission

is a rescue mission

to save sinners

from their sins.

He's got the authority,

He's got the ability,

and He's got the desire

to rescue sinners.

His authority

is that He's the Son of Man,

God in the flesh.

That's why He came.

He's the authority

to forgive sins

because of who He is.

He's God on a mission.

And that is a mission

that is being carried forth

even to today.

He's alive,

and He's at work.

It's who He is.

Now,

what has He done?

He has the authority

to forgive sins

because of who He is.

He's the Son of Man, right?

But,

on what basis

does He exercise

that authority?

If He has the authority

to say,

your sins are forgiven,

on what basis

does the sin,

is that sin forgiven?

How can it be forgiven?

Well,

in Matthew 1,

remember we learn

that in the name Jesus,

God saves.

Matthew 9,

we see Jesus in this house

forgiving the paralytic

of His sins.

And then in Matthew 20,

Matthew 20:28

verse 28,

just before the triumphal entry,

Jesus says,

the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve.

The Son of Man,

Daniel 7,

13-14,

came not to be served,

but to serve.

Serve.

In what way?

To give His life

as a ransom for many.

How is Jesus going to save?

By giving His life

as a ransom for many.

A ransom is a kind of a payment

to rescue someone

from captivity.

And what Jesus is saying is,

my life is going to be

a ransom payment

to rescue sinners

from their sins.

Now fast forward

to Matthew 27.

Jesus,

Emmanuel,

the Son of Man,

God saves,

in person,

cries out,

Eli, Eli,

Lame Sebek Tani,

my God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

Three o'clock,

that first Good Friday afternoon,

darkness is all over the land.

And what is happening there

is Jesus

is bearing the wrath

of the Father

for all of the sins

of people

who would one day

believe in Him.

He's on mission.

The Son of Man

gave His life

as a ransom

for many.

And so He says,

my Father,

my Father,

my God,

my God,

why have you forsaken me?

And then moments later,

He says one last thing.

He says,

it is finished.

John 19, 30.

Payment done.

Ransom paid.

And then He gives up His Spirit.

He gives His life

for you and for me.

If there is any question

about the effectiveness

of His death

on behalf of sinners

to forgive their sins,

three days later,

Jesus is raised from the dead.

And it's like this stamp

that says,

payment for sin

sin accepted.

So what we see,

what I'm trying to show you here

is that Jesus has the authority

to forgive sins

because He is the Son of Man

and that authority

is the authority

to apply the power

of the finished work

of the cross

to a sinner

so that they're

completely forgiven.

sin.

Acts 4.12 says,

and there is salvation

in no one else.

There's no other name

under heaven

given among men

by which we must be saved.

There's no other person.

No,

no other option.

None.

He is the only one

that can save us

from our sins.

He's the only one

that can forgive us

of our sins.

Jesus exercises

His authority

as the Son of Man

to apply the forgiving power

of the cross

to pardon sinners

and wipe clean

our slate.

this passage

points to

the authority

of Jesus

to forgive sins

and His authority

is grounded

in who He is

and what He's done.

What's interesting

is that

this paralytic

is forgiven

of His sin

for what Jesus

is about to do

and for us

living on this side

of the cross

we're forgiven

for our sins

based on what Jesus

has done.

We're forgiven

So what?

So Jesus is the Son of Man.

So He gave His life

as a ransom for many.

He's on mission.

So what?

Well, let me ask you this.

Do you have regrets

over past sins?

Are you ever lying

in bed at night

and it's those moments

where past thoughts,

past sins,

past hurts,

they find their way

into your mind

and you just sit there

dwelling on it?

Maybe you're watching

a TV show,

you hear a song

and it stirs something up

and it reminds you

of something that you did

in the past

that hurt a lot of people.

Do you have regrets?

regrets?

One of the things

that unites us

is our regrets.

We all have regrets

for past sins

but this morning

I want to ask you

do you have the right

kind of regret?

Do you regret

that your sins

are first and foremost

a crime

against the living God?

There's no question

that when we sin

it's usually against

other people

and we can hurt

other people

and that's sad.

That's hurtful.

But sin is always

an offense

against God.

He is the one

you have offended.

Do you remember

King David

in 2 Samuel 11?

He committed adultery

with Bathsheba

and then he murdered

her husband Uriah

to cover it up.

And he didn't

repent of that.

It wasn't until

2 Samuel 12

when the prophet Nathan

says you're the man

that David

feels

his regret

towards God.

He recognizes

that this

adultery

and this murder

were sins

against God

and so he

penned Psalm 51

as a result.

And in Psalm 51

4 David writes

against you

and you alone

have I sinned.

Did he sin

against Bathsheba?

Oh yeah.

Sin against Uriah?

For sure.

But what he's saying

is first and foremost

I've sinned

against the living God.

Does your regret

over your past sin

does it move

Godward?

Do you recognize

that you've sinned

against him?

When you start

when you start

to realize

that your sins

are against God

you're going to

start realizing

your need

for God

to forgive you.

If you don't realize

your sins

are against God

you're not going to

see a need

for forgiveness.

When God

helps you

to realize

that your crimes

are not just

against others

but against him

the Bible

calls that

a gracious

kind

work of God.

It's a work

of his spirit

convicting you

of your wrongs

against him.

Showing your need

for a savior.

Maybe you walked

into this building

and you're realizing

now for the first time

that the wrongs

you've done

they're not against

just people

they're against

God himself.

that's God's

kindness to you.

He's showing you

your need

for the only one

that can forgive you

of your sins.

And that's Jesus.

That's why he came.

He's the son of man.

He's the authority

to forgive all of your sins

because of who he is

and what he's done.

That's the gospel.

When we proclaim

the gospel

the good news

it's the good news

to sinners.

And it's the good news

that Jesus

is who he is

and he did

what he did

and he makes it

available to all.

So this morning

do you need

to be saved

from your sins?

Do you need

forgiveness?

Maybe you're coming

in here like that

paralytic

who is more aware

of his physical needs

than his spiritual needs.

needs.

This morning

maybe you need

to hear Jesus

say to you

take heart my child

your sins are forgiven.

the way to access that

is you just confess it.

You confess to Jesus

who is alive

who is raised from the dead.

You confess to him

your sins

need forgiving

and that he alone

provides forgiveness.

He has authority

to do that.

So you go to him

and you say

I confess Lord Jesus

I have sinned

against God

and I can only

be forgiven

through the blood

of Jesus

I'm trusting

that you are

going to forgive me

now as I come

to you.

If

when you come

to Jesus

in light of who he is

and what he's done

and you seek

forgiveness from him

for your sins

you can be assured

that he's forgiven

it all.

He paid it all.

He promised

to not just

pardon your crime

against God

but to wipe

clean your slate.

To clear your record

of wrongs

done against God.

Only God can do that.

Jesus has the authority

to do that

because he's God.

In Colossians 2

Colossians 2:13

verses 13 and 14

we read this.

And you

who were dead

in your trespasses

and the uncircumcision

of your flesh

God made a lie

together with him

having forgiven us

all our trespasses

having forgiven us

all our trespasses

by canceling

the record of debt

that stood against us

with its legal demands

this he set aside

nailing to the cross.

If you come to Jesus

and ask him forgiveness

take heart

child

your sins

all of them

are forgiven.

I'm just going to

press into one

more thing here.

If you're a follower

of Jesus

and you have some

deep-seated regrets

over past sins

so much so

that you fear

that you're afraid

you're afraid

you ask a question

like this

well I'm

I'm pretty confident

God forgives

these sins

but this sin

this

secret sin

this

sin

at the very

back of the closet

if you're asking

that question

I want you to ask

this question

with it

did Jesus

ransom payment

on the cross

cover that too?

Have you murdered

someone?

I'm not joking

Maybe you've

aborted a baby

Maybe you were

part of aborting

a baby

Maybe you actually

took

an adult's life

Does the ransom

payment of Jesus

cover that?

Yes

Adultery?

Yes

God forgave

David

both his adultery

and his murder

Racism?

Yes

Homosexuality?

Yes

Pornography?

Yes

Drug addiction?

Yes

Stealing from

your family?

Yes

Stealing from

others?

Yes

Jesus pays

it all

Drunkenness?

Jesus pays

that too

Self-righteousness?

Jesus pays

for that on the cross

Pride?

Jesus paid

for that

Gossip?

He paid

for that too

Being harsh

with your kids?

He pays

for that

Anger?

He pays

for that

Every

sin

poured

out

on

Christ

in

full

on the cross

All of it

He paid

it all

Even

the stubborn

ones

that you

wonder about

He paid

for those

too

His

finished work

on the cross

has been

applied to

that

His grace

is amazing

If that's

you

listen

to Jesus

Take

heart

my child

Your sins

are forgiven

When we were

singing earlier

I jotted

these words

down

Rely

thee

on

His

precious

blood

Don't

fear

your

banishment

from

God

There

is

therefore

now

no

condemnation

for those

who are

in

Christ

Jesus

As a

church

His

mission

is our

mission

The

primary

reason

why

Jesus

came

was to

save

sinners

from

their

sins

Do you

know

how many

people

if you do

a half

mile

radius

sweep

of this

building

right now

do you

know

how many

people

are dead

in their

sins

We have

got the

message

that when

spoken

and believed

provides

full forgiveness

because it's

based

on the

authority

of the

Son of

Man

who

He

is

and what

He's

done

This

message

is called

the

gospel

and we're

going to

proclaim

the gospel

in this

city

in a

variety

of

ways

and when

people

respond

in faith

we're

going to

do our

best

to make

them

into

disciples

of

Jesus

those

who

follow

Him

and all

that

He

commands

that's

our

mission

His

mission

is

our

mission

which

means

this

your

neighborhood

that's

your

mission

field

your

apartment

complex

God's

put you

there

let them

know of

the forgiveness

God offers

in Christ

we've got

a new

president

we're

praying

for him

he's been

given

authority

to make

decisions

for the

good of

our

country

he can

forgive

federal

criminals

but he

can't

save

you

from

your

sins

against

God

no

man

can

only

the

son

of

man

can

Jesus

can

forgive

to the

uttermost

the crimes

that you

have

committed

against

him

he

has

authority

to

forgive

sins

he's

paid

for

it

all

let's

pray

God

we do

ask

that

today

would

be

the

day

of

salvation

for

people

who

come

into

this

building

and

they

did

not

know

that

they

were

sinning

against

you

and

that

you

provided

for

them

full

forgiveness

in the

finished

work

of

Jesus

God

would

you

do

a

work

now

that

only

you

can

do

for

the

glory

of

your

name

the

building

of

your

church

and

the

spreading

of

your

fame

among

the

nations

it's

in

your

name

we

pray

amen