I. Luke 5:17-26 - Today, I am preaching another sermon aimed at the children, from our series on people Jesus met and ministered to.
II. The story
A. Jesus came into the town of Capernaum. And He was invited to speak in someone’s big house. And people came from all around to hear him. So many people came that the house was full and people were standing in the doorway straining to hear what was being said inside.
B. One man couldn’t come to hear Jesus because he was lame.
C. But this man had four friends who carried him to the house where Jesus was on his mat, hoping that the Master would heal the man’s paralyzed legs.
D. But when they arrived at the big house where Jesus was, it was too crowed to get in. But there was an outdoor stairway to the flat roof, and so the man’s friends carried him up onto the roof. Then they began to lift the heavy tiles off, opening up a hole through which they could lower their friend.
E. And so, while Jesus is speaking to the large crowd, He looks up and someone is making a large hole in the ceiling, and then a man is being lowered down by rope on his mat. And so suddenly, this lame man is placed right in front of the Lord. How was He going to respond? What would He say?
1. Nice of you to drop in?
2. Why are you interrupting my teaching?
3. I can’t believe you just took this family’s roof apart?
4. I see you are lame, let Me heal your legs?
F. No, the Lord said none of these. What He said seems very strange. He looked at the man and said, “Your sins are forgiven.”
G. Now some of the people in the crowd got angry when Jesus said this. You see, they knew that only God could forgive sin. And now this teacher was declaring this man forgiven. This man is acting like He thinks He’s God!
H. Well, Jesus knew what they were thinking. And so He boldly challenges them. “Look, isn’t it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ than to say, ‘Get up and walk’? And now in order to prove that I have the authority to forgive sins”— and, turning to speak to the man who was paralyzed — “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
1. You see, it is easier to say "You're forgiven" but it is also harder to do it. Saying "you are forgiven" requires no visible result. But when you say, “Get up and walk!” people can tell whether you really have the power to do it.
I. And when Jesus said this, amazingly the man immediately jumped up and picked up his bed and went home praising God. And all the people in the house were filled with awe and began glorifying God, saying, “Wow! We have seen extraordinary things today.”
III. Let’s think about a few things from this story.
A. Disabilities
1. Did you choose to be able to see? Did you choose to have ears? Did you choose to be able to think? Did you choose to have good legs so you could walk?
2. People who are blind didn’t choose to be blind. Deaf, lame. (Exod. 4:11)
3. This fellow couldn’t walk, but he had four friends willing to carry him.
4. A lot of times people with disabilities don’t have many friends. But they need friends more than anyone, don’t they?
5. All of us need help sometimes. And all of us need to help others sometimes.
6. Some people need help more than others. Some need a lot of help. And some people need help from a lot of us.
7. God gave you the ability to do the things you can do, but it wasn’t just for you. It was so you could help others.
8. God gave these four friends strength not just for themselves, but for their friend.
9. He couldn’t get to Jesus on his own, but he could with a little help from his friends.
B. Healing and forgiveness
1. Strangely, though the man was lame, Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven” instead of healing him.
2. There’s something worse than being lame. Sin is the greatest disability of all. Jesus knew this fellow's heart and knew that the man's real crippler was guilt, that the man's most severe lameness was spiritual lameness, that not only his body but his soul was in bondage, in bondage to sin and guilt.
3. What sins can a lame man commit? Bitterness? Self-pity? All of us are sinners, even people with disabilities.
4. Isn't this the case with all of us? Our real problems are not physical ones, are they? Our real weaknesses are not physical weaknesses but spiritual weaknesses. Our real sicknesses are not physical sicknesses but spiritual sicknesses.
5. When Jesus heals our body, it just lasts for a few years, or decades. When Jesus heals our soul, it lasts forever.
C. Bringing people to Jesus
1. There were a lot of obstacles to get this man to Jesus.
a. His lameness
b. The crowded house
c. The roof tiles
d. But these men were determined to get to their friend to Jesus. They really went out of their way!
2. A lot of people need someone to bring them to Jesus.
3. There are always obstacles.
4. When I was your age, I was not a Christian, but then someone reached out to me, someone cared, someone spoke, someone prayed, it took a lot of work but someone brought me to Jesus.
5. Think about your friends and neighbors. Do any of them need to brought to Jesus?
6. What can you do as a child? There is a man in our church who didn’t grow up in a Christian family. But when he was a little boy, he had a friend who lived in his neighborhood who invited him to church. And his parents gave him permission, so he went. And then they invited him back the next week, and the next, and the next.
7. And he grew up in the church, even though his family didn’t go. Just because another little boy invited him.
8. He needed someone to bring him to Jesus, and a little boy helped do it.
9. You can't guarantee whether someone will come, of course. But you can try. You can try to help them get over the obstacles that prevent them from coming to Him. Wouldn’t it be sad if no one tried?
D. But the most amazing part of this story is not the love and faith of these four friends. It’s not even Jesus power to heal this man’s legs. The most amazing part is that there is Someone who can not only heal bodies but forgive sins.
1. How can Jesus do it? He did it by taking our place upon the cross. He was punished for our sins.
2. That’s why He was able to say to this man, “Your sins are forgiven.”
3. And that’s how He can say the same thing to you and me.