Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.29.20 Luke 5:12-26 Pastor Danny Gardner

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3.29.20 Luke 5:12-26 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  If you guys have your Bibles, you can open to Luke chapter 5. Our text this morning will be verses 12 through 26, Luke 5, 12 to 26. And I would ask you to stand in honor of God's word as I read our text this morning. It says, while he was in one of these cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him.
• 0:32
  And he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
• 1:02
  And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus. But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, Man, your sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?
• 1:30
  When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, rise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home. And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God.
• 1:59
  And we're filled with awe saying we have seen extraordinary things today. And church, would you pray with me? This morning I adapt a prayer from Douglas McKelvey. Heavenly Father, in a world so wired and interconnected, our anxious hearts are pummeled by an endless barrage of troubling news. We are daily aware of more grief than we can rightly consider, but you, O Jesus, are not disquieted by such news.
• 2:30
  You, Jesus, are neither anxious nor overwhelmed. You, Jesus, carried the full weight of the suffering of a broken world when you hung upon the cross. You carry it still. Give us discernment, Lord, in the face of troubling news reports. Give us discernment to know when to pray, when to speak out, when to act, and when to simply shut off our screens and our devices and to sit quietly in your presence, casting the burdens of this world upon the strong shoulders of the one who alone
• 3:01
  is able to bear them up and it's in jesus name we pray amen amen thank you you can be seated well church what would you say is your greatest need what would you say is essential to your well-being if you'd have asked me a month ago what my family would need if we were to be quarantined i'd have said something like netflix and wi-fi board games maybe a big stack of movies and video games
• 3:31
  But even with all of those things, our family is becoming a little stir-crazy at this point. Movies, board games, cell phones, lip-syncing videos, Xbox are all wearing thin. My boys are awesome. You know that I love them. They love one another. They're kind toward each other most of the time, but that Xbox makes them argue like nothing else. I told Hallie the other day, just this week actually, that the Xbox is a little bit like the Whisperer of Proverbs 16, 28.
• 4:02
  Proverbs 16, 28 says, a dishonest man spreads strife and a whisperer separates close friends. And in our house, that whisperer has a name. Its name is Xbox. I have considered after the quarantine is done, gathering all the dads together of Highland Baptist Church and having a big bonfire with nothing but Xboxes thrown onto the pile. Your greatest need is probably also what you would define as essential to your well-being.
• 4:32
  We are currently in the middle of a statewide order to shelter in place, and any businesses or personal outings that have been deemed, quote, non-essential by our county officers, by our state officers, are to be postponed for at least three weeks. And that got me to wondering, what do our government officials consider essential? I actually considered this week recording our services from our homes. In fact...
• 4:57
  Our church staff even has a plan in place to do that very thing if it comes to it. Until I read that the county had determined that liquor stores, marijuana dispensaries, and gun shops were considered essential business. Not only do I find those three to be an odd combination, but I'm actually a little bit offended at the notion that our government has determined that almost every other business in town, including schools and churches, are non-essential. As long as our citizens...
• 5:27
  suppose the thinking is, can get their booze and weed brownies and handguns, we will weather this storm. Our family was in need of good news this week. And so as faithful Dodger fans often do, we watched game one of the 1988 World Series. We needed a win. And that's always a Dodger fans go-to. That's the famous game where Kirk Gibson came in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning, won the whole thing with a walk-off home run to go up five to four on the Oakland.
• 5:57
  days and in all the times i've seen that game i have never noticed that it was nancy reagan the first lady of the united states who threw out the first pitch for that game those of you old enough to remember will recall that first the first lady's nationwide campaign nancy reagan's nationwide campaign what she will be remembered for is to keep kids away from drugs just say no was her whole thing and that was plastered all over the country for kids who were my age at the time
• 6:26
  to stay away from drugs. And it seems ironic to me that the very same government, only three decades later, is calling some of those same drugs now essential. And so I've decided, as long as the dispensaries stay open, so will we. We can't gather in mass until this whole thing is over, but they cannot say that the ministry that takes place at this church is not essential. Why? I think the answer is because Bible teaching
• 6:55
  Christ-exalting, disciple-making churches might be the only people on the planet still focused on mankind's greatest need. We have not become distracted. I think before last month, if you had asked the world what the world's greatest need was, it probably would have answered by saying an end to war, a cure for cancer,
• 7:24
  Maybe enough food to combat global starvation. But today, if you ask the world that same question, what is your greatest need? What would be your one wish? They would ask for a cure for corona. But is that actually our greatest need? Listen, church, corona has come. It's bad. But it will leave. Either by itself or because of eventual what they call herd immunity.
• 7:56
  Or because some brilliant doctor someplace, and we pray that it would be true, finds a vaccine, but it will leave. And when it does, will our greatest need have been met? Indeed, the world is sick. But the world is sick with something far more devastating than COVID-19. Our global sickness has a 100% infection rate and a 100% fatality rate. Did you catch that?
• 8:27
  Every human being on earth is infected with this sickness, and every single human being will die because of it. I refer, of course, to the problem of sin. Sin has the world on its heels, and there is no vaccination. Our text this morning puts on display the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ, but notice that although the healing that people came to the Lord seeking, and which he was very willing to give, did not distract the Lord from also meeting their greatest need, and that was a cure for sin.
• 8:57
  was not and is not distracted. And here is what is so profound. The people who came to Christ for healing perhaps did not even perceive sin to be their greatest need. The leper in our text and the paraplegic who come to Jesus, they didn't come to be forgiven. They came to be healed physically. But forgiveness is what Jesus came to provide and forgiveness is humanity's
• 9:26
  greatest need we've all read ephesians 3 many times but let's listen to it again with healing ears on in verse 20 it says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think even in terms of healing church far more abundantly than we could even ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in christ jesus throughout all generations forever and ever
• 9:51
  Amen. And church, we may come to the Lord asking for the healing of our bodies, but we leave with the healing of our souls. And so let's go to our text beginning in verse 12. Notice first, and let's just get this out of the way up front. Notice first, there is no such thing as an incurable disease. Look at verse 12. It says, while Jesus was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will.
• 10:20
  You can make me clean. With Christ, there is no such thing as a hopeless situation or an impossible circumstance. The angel's exclamation to Mary two millennia ago that nothing is impossible with God still rings true today, church. In that same Game 1 World Series game in 1988, Vin Scully, maybe the most famous and best, arguably the best broadcaster of all time,
• 10:52
  after Kurt Gibson hit that walk-off home run. He wasn't even supposed to play, wasn't even announced at the beginning of the game. He had two injured legs. He couldn't run. He could barely stand up. He hits that home run. And Vin Scully said this, and it's become a very famous phrase since then. Vin Scully said, in a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. The impossible has happened.
• 11:17
  God can create all things, ex nihilo, that means out of nothing. If God can create all things out of nothing, then he can also fix all things out of nothing as well. We are anxiously waiting for the one who will discover a COVID vaccine. But church, the Lord has never discovered anything. Can you imagine that? He's never learned. There's nothing he doesn't already know. He's never caught off guard.
• 11:48
  He never asks questions except maybe hypothetically or sarcastically like to Job. Where were you when I created the world? Right, he wasn't really asking the question. He already knew. Job wasn't even around. Truly, we serve a God who needs no advice and is never told what to do. Now, leprosy was considered a living death. It would rot the skin. It would corrupt the blood.
• 12:16
  It would even waste away the bones. It was considered the worst thing that could happen to a person in ancient times because it not only stole your physical life, but it also stole your relationships, your family and friends because of its extraordinary infectious nature. Leprosy still even plagues pockets of the world today, and it is still without a cure, but not with the Lord. There is no such thing as an incurable disease. Notice.
• 12:45
  In verse 13, the power of a single touch of the hand of God. Look at verse 13. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left. Now to touch a man afflicted with leprosy was unheard of because that was a good way to contract the disease. But Christ was not concerned with those things that we would consider to be hard rules. It is said that Mother Teresa,
• 13:17
  who became very famous, actually, for ministering to the lowest of the low in India, which was a leper colony. She became famous for her kindness toward and ministry toward lepers in India. Actually appealed for over a year to the Catholic Church to work with them. They said no. She wanted to go and work with them. Actually, she wanted to go and move in among them to work with them. And the Catholic Church said, no, you'll get leprosy if...
• 13:46
  you do she was repeatedly denied eventually she just went anyway and she never contracted leprosy now i am in no way saying that scripture's promise is that we will never get sick that's not what the bible says but what i am saying is that scripture's promise is that we never have to be afraid of being sick because god is always in control
• 14:16
  Now, verses 14 to 16, this is kind of weird. Why Jesus' prohibition not to speak to the public? And then why the commission to present himself to the priest? Look at verse 14. And Jesus charged this leprous man, right, the healed man, to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest. Make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them.
• 14:38
  But now even more the report about him went abroad and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and to pray. Now the public prohibition is simple to explain. It was simply to avoid what ended up happening anyway in verse 15. That Jesus was on a preaching and healing ministry tour. And he knew that if crowds in mass began to gather, he...
• 15:06
  would not be able to just logistically move around. And so he told him, don't go talk to the public about this healing because he needed to get to different cities and to spread the good news of the gospel. But it ended up happening anyway. Verse 15 says, great crowds gathered. So that one's easy to explain, this public prohibition. But what about the priestly commission? Fulfillment of the law and testimony to the priests were both important to Christ. He knew that he himself eventually, right, we know, would become the sacrifice.
• 15:36
  fulfilling every commandment in the law of Moses. He knew that that would happen eventually. But more than that, this offering particularly, this leprous man who would go as a testimony to the priests would serve as a reminder to those priests of an event that they had never experienced in their lifetimes, that their parents had never experienced, even their great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents had never experienced.
• 16:06
  Back even maybe 10 generations had never heard of a leprous man being miraculously cleansed. In fact, it had been 850 years since Naaman the Syrian was healed by Elisha the prophet in 2 Kings 5. 850 years since that offering was given. It can't be coincidence that...
• 16:33
  just a chapter ago in luke chapter 4 as jesus goes to his home town of nazareth one of the stories old testament stories that he quotes is in fact elisha the prophet healing naaman the syrian i think maybe even a little bit of foreshadowing when he quoted this text to his hometown 850 years which means it had been nearly nine centuries since a man had shown up at the temple and inquired about that offering
• 17:04
  You know, church, there are some things I do every single day as a pastor, but there are some things which I have to be reminded of. You know, in seminary, many moons ago, I took multiple semesters of Hebrew as a seminary student. I just have flashbacks and maybe even nightmarish flashbacks of flashcards with Hebrew.
• 17:28
  letters and Hebrew words and memorizing grammar, it was by far the most difficult seminary class that I took, the one that I worked the hardest at. And yet now, it's probably the one that I remember the least. In fact, I remember almost nothing of my graduate Hebrew courses. Why? Because I never use it.
• 17:50
  It never comes up in daily discussion. Never have I received an email from the church, and I'm not inviting them now, by the way, but never have I ever received an email from the church asking about some random point of grammar in the Hebrew, occasionally in Greek, but never in the Hebrew. And so when it comes up, I have to be reminded. Now try to imagine the priest on duty that day when a man shows up asking about that offering, the offering for a miraculous healing of a leper.
• 18:19
  You can imagine him walking in. I'm here to offer whatever's necessary for leprosy. I've been cleansed. The priest saying, wait, what? Yeah, leprosy. I mean, I was healed. I saw that man, Jesus of Nazareth. I asked him to heal me and he did just like that. He told me I had to come talk to you guys. I don't know. You can imagine him being put on hold. Leprosy. Yeah, just give us a second.
• 18:45
  We'll transfer you to the leprosy department. Quick, get the leprosy priest. We haven't had a leprosy priest in 100 years. We'll try to find somebody who knows what they're talking about. You can imagine those same priests scrambling over the book of Leviticus, the scroll opening up. What are we supposed to do? What's he supposed to offer? They had never offered this in their lives. Combine this event with a mere two years later.
• 19:10
  When maybe some of those same priests would be standing within the temple precincts, maybe even within the temple itself, when Jesus was crucified, and that massive veil separating the holy of holies within the temple from the people, the judgment of God, from that wrath being poured out. Imagine that veil being torn in two. Certainly this would be a testimony to the priests. In fact...
• 19:37
  With these types of testimonies, they should have believed by the thousand and church they eventually would. Listen to Acts chapter 6 and verse 7. Just a mere several years, maybe three years later, Acts chapter 6 verse 7 says the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests.
• 20:02
  became obedient to the faith they began to pile up these testimonies beginning with this very story the healing of the leprous man and they became followers of jesus let's conclude by looking at the physical and spiritual healing of the paraplegic man look at verses 17 to 19. it says on one of those days as he was teaching pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who would come from every village of galilee and judea
• 20:33
  and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof. And you can imagine these friends carrying this man who had been paralyzed his entire life, walk up on the roof to try to find a way to get him down to Jesus. They're digging through the roof and breaking away the beams and the tiles and lowering him down with his bed through the tiles.
• 21:03
  into the midst before jesus you can imagine jesus teaching the room being relatively dark and then little pieces of dust and dirt and mud and whatever start falling on his head he looks up he sees this skylight that wasn't there just moments before and now a paralyzed man being lowered down in front of him paralysis could also be considered a living death those who no longer have the use of their limbs or even their entire bodies are alive
• 21:33
  But they're trapped, in essence, in a dead body. Their minds work, but the connection between the head and the body has been severed. And I think there may even be an interesting parallel here with the church body and our head Christ himself. Church, no good comes. And I'll just say this as an aside. No good comes when the body loses connection with the head. No good comes.
• 21:59
  The head works, but the body does not, and no good comes. When the head, Jesus Christ, is alive, but the body is dead. We see in this passage that the Lord has the ability to restore. We know that He has the ability to restore. He can remake, He can reconnect the head and the body, but that's not what He chooses to do. Look at verse 20. When He saw their faith, He said, Man, your sins are forgiven you.
• 22:28
  What a disappointment. That's not what the man came for. Right? I didn't come to be forgiven. That's great, Jesus. That's great. I'm so glad. But I would really, if I could, I would like to walk. Man, your sins are forgiven. And listen, did Jesus know why the paraplegic man came? Yes, he knew why. Did he know what the man wanted? Yes. But Jesus didn't come to give mere physical healing.
• 22:56
  He came to give something much greater, and that's what he offers first, spiritual forgiveness. And look at the response of the religious leaders. Look at verse 21. The scribes, the Pharisees, began a question saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? They're going to get the answer to their question. The answer is nobody can. Nobody can forgive sins but God alone. And so this is absolutely a proclamation by Jesus himself of his own deity.
• 23:26
  He has the power to forgive sins. Verse 22 says, when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them. Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier? To say your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk? Now, church, let me ask you, which would be easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or rise and walk? Now, we know that it's actually, we know the truth of it. Our theology would dictate.
• 23:54
  that the more difficult thing to achieve is forgiveness of sin. That's actually more difficult than to heal a paralyzed man. But which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven? Listen, we don't know whether that's true or not. How do we know how we stand before the throne of God and stand in judgment? We don't know whether he actually forgave the man's sins or not, right? We would know for sure.
• 24:19
  If he would say, rise and walk, and the guy didn't rise and walk, we'd know he didn't have the power to do that. So which is easier to say? Well, it's easier to say, your sins are forgiven. That's what's easier to say. Look how Jesus follows up in verse 24. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed.
• 24:43
  and go home and immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home glorifying god and amazement seized them and they glorified god and were filled with awe saying we've seen extraordinary things today he says so that you know that i have the power also to forgive sins i will do what you believe to be impossible i'll fix him right now with a word and that's exactly what jesus did just to prove that he had the authority to forgive sins jesus
• 25:13
  performs the lesser, which is physical healing, to prove his power over the greater. That is spiritual forgiveness. And church, I would encourage us not to fall for or believe the hype. You know, COVID is here. It's bad. But salvation from the coronavirus is not our greatest need.
• 25:40
  We have a much worse sickness residing in our hearts, 100% infectious, 100% fatal. But the Lord is not distracted, church. If you know the Lord is Savior, then rejoice. Even in the midst of our trouble, no matter how COVID resolves, you have already been given salvation from sin. You have nothing but eternal life to look forward to where moth and rust and sickness are not allowed to enter.
• 26:13
  And listen, if you're listening to this now and you have not asked for this greater spiritual healing that the Lord offers, then I would encourage you to pray with me now. I'm going to lead you. And if your heart is feeling soft and you just think, you know what, I need to get right with the Lord, then you can just simply repeat this prayer after me. Commit it to your heart. And today can be the day of salvation for you. And allow me to pray. Just say, Heavenly Father.
• 26:44
  We thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank You that You are not distracted, that You have not given us healing only for our bodies, but also for our souls. And Lord, forgive me and make me clean. In the name of Jesus, take the punishment, take the judgment that I deserve, and make me whole. I commit my life to You in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
• 27:20
  Well, church, so thankful to be in God's word with you this morning. We are going to listen to one more song as we close. But listen, if you have given your life to Christ this morning, then I would ask you to do me a favor. In that bulletin, in that PDF that you can download, in the bulletin is contact information for all of our pastors. I would encourage you to email any one of our pastors. We'd be happy to field that. But we want to talk to you. We want to follow up. If you've committed your life to Christ today and have just prayed and asked the Lord into your heart,
• 27:49
  then please email one of us. We'd love to contact you and tell you kind of what next steps, what it means to be a follower of Jesus.