Here now the word of the Lord from Matthew chapter nine, verses one through 13.

"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 blaspheming. 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 went home. When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, follow me. And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? But when he heard it, he said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth the Second a few months ago, a number of people who knew her well began to share stories from her life. Though the Queen was a a very public figure, she was a very private person, and so it was enjoyable to hear a lot of stories about what she was like. One of my favourite stories was related by one of her bodyguards, uh, that the Queen at one point was on holiday in Scotland at Balmoral, and she was with her bodyguard on on a walk. And as she was walking, a couple of Americans came and encountered her on this walk. And as Americans do, they quickly engaged her. They began to talk to her. They told her who they were, where they were from, where they had been, where they were going. And then, as Americans do, they asked, uh, and so where do you live? To the Queen. And the Queen said, well, I live in London. And the bodyguard is realizing that they have no idea who they're talking to. And so they said, well, how? Well, the Queen said, I live in London, but I come here for a vacation every once in a while.

And she says, oh, well, how long have you been coming here? And she said, well, I've been coming here since I was a little girl. And they said, well, boy, then have you ever had a chance to meet the Queen? And the Queen said, I've never met her, but, uh, this this man meets with her regularly and pointing to her bodyguard, and they were just astonished to get to meet someone who had met the Queen. And so they asked the Queen well, or the bodyguard? Well, what's the Queen like? And he said, well, knowing her and knowing her sense of humor, he he knew he could pull her leg a little bit. And so he said, well, she can be a quite cantankerous person, but she has a lovely sense of humor. Now, these Americans were so excited to get to talk to this person who had met the Queen that they quickly, as again, Americans do, threw their arms around this bodyguard. And if you know British people, they're weird about that sort of thing. But they then thrust the camera into the hands of Her Majesty and asked her to take a picture of them with her bodyguard. And so excited to have met someone who knew the Queen. And now the Queen graciously did this. And then the bodyguard graciously took the camera and insisted that they take a picture with this little old lady who they had no idea who her identity was.

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And as they went off, so happy to have met a person who had met the Queen. Uh, the Queen turned to her bodyguard and said, bird, I wish I could be a fly on the wall. When these people get home and look at their pictures and realize who they were talking to. Now, this question of mistaken identities, of of not knowing who we're talking to, this is something that always captures our imagination. The Bible even says, uh uh, be sure to show hospitality for some unaware have entertained angels. And when we talk about Jesus, and especially when we go through the Gospels, that's the constant dynamic. People don't know who they're talking to. You know, these two Americans didn't realize they were in the presence of royalty, talking to royalty. They were obviously interested in royalty, but didn't know the Queen to whom they were speaking. So when we see Jesus in the Gospels. People don't know who they're talking to. Matthew has continued to show us one scene after another, to continue to sort of explore the question of the nature of Jesus's authority. And it's very interesting all the ways that we've seen aspects of Jesus authority. We saw his authority as a teacher in Matthew seven verses 28 and 29. He taught them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. We saw his authority to cleanse lepers and to heal the centurion's servants and many other people.

We saw his authority to call disciples. We saw his authority to calm the storm. We saw his authority to cast out demons. But all of these instances really could be the authority of a human being. Certainly he would have to be using divine power or relying upon God's power to bring about these miracles. But even in calling on a storm in the Old Testament, we have a story in the in Joshua chapter ten, where Joshua spoke to the sun and said, sun, stand still. And and God listened to the voice of man and caused the sun to stand still so the Israelites could have a great victory that day. And prophets heal people in the Old Testament. These are things that humans could do, provided that God is blessing them and giving them his power. But when we come to this particular story, we're no longer in an in an area, a realm where we could be dealing with the authority of of a very special human alone. When Jesus declares the authority to forgive sins, he is clearly stepping into what is absolutely, unmistakably the realm of God's authority. You see, I don't have the authority to forgive sins that have been forgiven against you, and you don't have the authority to forgive sins that have been forgiven or committed against me. And neither of us have authority to forgive the sins committed against God. God alone can forgive the ways that other people have sinned against him.

But Jesus here declares that he has the authority to forgive sinners. It's an unmistakable, a categorical claim that he speaks with the authority of God Himself. Our big idea, then, is this Jesus has the authority to forgive sinners. Jesus has the authority to forgive sinners. And and two parts to our sermon today. Number one,

1. Jesus has authority to forgive sins (Matt. 9:1-8)
2. Jesus' assignment to call sinners (Matt. 9:9-13)

Jesus has authority to forgive sins (Matt. 9:1-8)

In verses nine through 13, Jesus is authority to forgive sins. And then Jesus' assignment to call sinners. So we'll start in verses one through eight with Jesus, his authority to forgive sins. And in verse one we read that Jesus gets into a boat to cross over the Sea of Galilee, uh, to come to his own city. Now, it's kind of interesting to look back up the page a little bit, to see that Jesus had been crossing over to get to this side, and now he immediately gets back into his boat to go back to the other side. Look at verse 18 of chapter eight. In verse 18 of chapter eight, we read, Jesus saw a crowd around him, and so he gave orders to go to the other side. And then in verse 23 we read, when he got into the boat, his disciples follow him. So now he's in a boat, and he crosses and there's a storm, and he calms that.

And then in 28, when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, that's when he meets these two demon possessed men, and he casts out the demons and those demons, then, according to his permission, go into a herd of pigs, and they drown themselves in the sea. And when the people who were shepherding or herding these pigs, I should say rather, uh, they were terrified of Jesus, and they begged him to leave their region in chapter eight, verse 34. And so Jesus had only just arrived on this side of the lake, and now he's getting back into the boat to cross back over to his own city. So what's his own city? Well, the parallel passage in the gospel of Mark, chapter two, verse one, um, very clearly identifies where Jesus is at the city of Capernaum. Capernaum is his own city. And in fact, if you flip back briefly to Matthew four, verse 13, we read that Jesus leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea. So Jesus lived in Capernaum for a time. Capernaum is his city. That's where he is as he performs this miracle with the paralytic. So in verse two we read about this story. In other gospels, we know that they were cutting into the roof to, to to get this paralytic down to Jesus. We don't have any of those details here. In the Gospel of Matthew in verse two we simply read, behold, sort of an attention catching word.

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. But this is so interesting. There's no preliminary conversation. There's no discussion. Certainly this man did not come to Jesus to confess his sins. He came to be healed. But nevertheless, Jesus saw their faith. And the first thing he does is to forgive the sins of this paralytic. Now, why does he do this? Well, there's no sense in this that the paralytic is suffering paralysis because of some personal sin that he'd committed. He did something, and after that he was struck with paralysis. And now he needs Jesus to forgive him so that he can walk again. It's not that kind of a logic. We're never told anything about this paralytic personal history. But we do know that while personal sin is not always behind specific ailments, we do know that all sickness, all disability, all suffering comes from sin. Generally, if sin had never entered into this world, none of us would ever suffer in any way. But because sin entered the world through our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of this sickness, disability, suffering, including the paralysis of this man, suffers from, has entered into this world. So it's not necessarily his sin that has caused this paralysis.

But nevertheless, Jesus recognizes that sin and suffering are interwoven. But not only is he suffering physically, but this is also a man who spiritually needs healing. And so Jesus acts first not to solve the issue that everyone can see, but the issue that no one can see. The first thing he does is to heal this man spiritually by forgiving his sins. Now notice the clear connection to this man's faith. Jesus saw their faith and some people say, well, maybe that only refers to his friends, but there's no reason to exclude the paralytic from the faith. Clearly this was a a cohort, a small group, a disciple group of people who were coming to Jesus by faith for their friend to be healed. And so his faith is a part of their faith. And on the basis of his faith, Jesus forgives his sins. He says, take heart, my son. Your sins are forgiven. Now the scribes recognize this exactly for what it is that Jesus has not simply acknowledged that he is more authoritative than most. Jesus has taken a step into the authority of God Himself. And so we see in verse three that the scribes said to themselves, this man is blaspheming. Now here's the thing. If Jesus is a mere human being, if he's just a really great man, then they're exactly right. Anyone who presumes to speak for God by proclaiming that someone's sins are forgiven. Apart from the direct Word of God, apart from the direct authority of God, that person is blaspheming.

And so if Jesus is just a human being, merely a human being, then they are correct. He would be blaspheming. But it's so interesting in verse four that though they clearly don't believe that Jesus is God, Jesus immediately proves that he is God because in verse four, Jesus knowing their thoughts, God alone knows our thoughts. Jesus knows their thoughts and says, why do you think evil in your hearts? He confronts them, he rebukes them for the sin that they have not recognized his divine authority. They haven't recognized that he's God. In fact, they're charging him with sin in the way that he forgives the sins of this man. But Jesus goes on and gives them what seems like a simple test. They don't believe him. So Jesus is going to go and prove his authority. And so in verse five he says, for which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise and walk. Now, this is such an interesting question, because if you think about it, and the longer you think about it, you realize it's not an easy question to answer. And Jesus is just a master of asking simple questions that are so difficult to answer because on the one hand, it's a very easy thing for me to say to you, oh, your sins are forgiven. Done. That was easy because again, no one can see this.

This is invisible. No one can verify whether or not your sins actually have been forgiven. You don't have a counter on the wall that someone can sort of see. Your your demerits and your guilt sort of vanish somewhere, right? So no one can see and verify that this is in fact happened. So I can say that. And that's a very easy thing for me to say. And at the same time, it's not an easy thing to actually accomplish. It's not an easy thing to actually bring about. Again, God alone is the one who forgives sins. And for Jesus, this is going to require him going to the cross. This is going to require him to be rejected, mocked, beaten, crucified, pierced, died, and buried. And on the third day raised again for our justification. This will in no way be easy for Jesus to say your sins are forgiven. So maybe that's not the right answer, but what about is it easy, then, to say rise up and walk? Well, if a man came paralyzed in here today, I could certainly say it. But very quickly you would see right away that I don't have the power, the authority to cause a paralytic to walk. So neither is easy to say. It's not easy to say rise and walk. It's not easy to say your sins are forgiven. So how does Jesus work his way out of this impasse? As the scribes minds are just spinning, thinking, how should we answer this? Jesus goes on in verse six and says this, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

There's that word authority. Again, Matthew keeps bringing this idea of authority up that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, that you may know that I speak with the voice of God and the authority of God. He then said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed and go home. Notice what he does. Again, there's not a counter on the wall that sort of you see, the the sins just vanish, just sort of trickle down. You don't see that. But what Jesus does to prove what is invisible is he does something visible. He heals the man physically so that they know that he has the authority to heal invisibly and spiritually. We read in verse seven that the man rose and went home. And when the crowd saw it, they were afraid. And they glorified God who had given such authority to men. There's that word authority. Again, the crowds recognize his authority in teaching. And now, once again, they are recognizing his authority as God to forgive sins even though they don't understand because they're glorifying God for giving such authority to men. They don't totally have it worked out. Who are they talking to? You know, in life, I think we're always running up against questions of rightful, lawful authority.

You think about politics. You think about most of the stories in the news about what's happening in the government. Many of them involve, did this government official have the authority to do what he or she did? Or you think about business, you think about employees of a particular company. Do I have the authority to sign off on this? Do I have the authority to make this decision, or do I have to run this up the chain? Do I have to get a sign off an authorization from someone above me? Certainly. This is the case in the military. It's the case in the church. Where is the rightful authority in the church. And certainly it's the cases in our families. I think about the first time as a pastor that I prepared to preside over a wedding, and I didn't really know how it worked. Maybe you don't know how it worked. Maybe you just sort of showed up at yours. And and as soon as the pastor knew what he was doing. Well, the first time your pastor does it, he probably didn't know what he was doing because I certainly didn't. And so I called the county clerk and I said, what am I supposed to do here? I'm a pastor. Am I supposed to sign up to be an official merrier somewhere? And the lady responded to me and she said, well, are you ordained? And I said, yes.

And then she asked me what I thought was a hilarious question. She said, did you get your ordination online? Apparently you can go online to the First Church of the internet and print out an ordination certificate so that you too can perform weddings? I'm not recommending this. I'm simply saying it's an option. And apparently she's received a number of these phone calls because she was so annoyed as she asked me this question. And then I began to scramble. No, no, I had a real seminary degree and I was ordained by a real church. And so then she said, well, then it's okay. Just make sure you fill in the right paperwork. She was questioning there whether I had the qualifications to have the right authority, according to the law of the state of Nebraska, to perform a wedding. Well, that's what's happening here. Jesus is being questioned and he is proving that he has the authority to do something that only God can do to forgive sins. But it's interesting as you think about this. Okay, so Jesus can forgive sins. That's astonishing. We need to pay attention to that. But it's also interesting to ask yourself, does he want to? Is he willing to? He may be able, but is he ready and willing to save? Is this merely a discretionary activity? Oh, certainly as the authority. But good luck getting him to sign off on that.

Or is Jesus desiring to save sinners? And in fact, the next thing that Jesus says is that he has come with a mission and a mandate from his father to forgive sinners. Jesus is forgiving is not blasphemous to God the Father. God the father sent Jesus in this world precisely to forgive sinners.

Jesus' assignment to call sinners (Matt. 9:9-13)

And so the second section, in verses nine through 13, we see Jesus's assignment to call sinners first his authority to call sinners, and now his assignment to call sinners. In verse nine we read about the call of Matthew, the author of this gospel, and I'm certain as he was writing it, he must have taken a special pleasure in thinking back to the day that Jesus walked into his life and called him to follow him. We don't know what may have come before this. We don't know if Matthew was aware of Jesus previously, or to what degree he was aware of him. If he had seen him speak, perhaps had listened to the sermon on the Mount. We don't know any of this. Well, it's interesting that in the three gospels that have both of these stories, the first one and the second one that we're considering today, Jesus is healing of the paralytic and his calling of Matthew. Matthew, Mark and Luke, all those three Gospels carry that story. And in each of those gospels, both of these stories are put side by side.

There is something connected between Jesus's healing of the paralytic and his forgiving of the sins of the paralytic. And Jesus is calling of Matthew. Now, what's the connection? I think the connection has to do with the question of Jesus's authority to really, truly forgive sins. Now, you children, I want to ask you a question. Do any of you have a toy lawnmower? You have a toy lawnmower that you run. I know I had one as a kid. I remember I'd run that behind my dad. My kids have had one and they run it behind me. Isn't that kind of fun to take the lawnmower out and and mow behind it, dad, when he's mowing. And at the end of the day, both of you have contributed to that job, right? You've done your part. Dad's done his part. That's really a lot of fun. Well, the the question I think, that Matthew is trying to get at here is Jesus's authority to forgive sins real or is it a toy? Is it symbolic? Is he children, even though you you're out there working with dad, you probably realize that your toy mower isn't actually accomplishing anything. If you try to take your toy mower out on a different day when dad isn't mowing, you probably realize that it's not working. The grass is. Just as long as it was, nothing has changed as when you brought your toy first out. Is that the kind of authority, sort of a fake authority, that Jesus has to forgive sins? Is this hollow? Is it symbolic? Is it imaginary? Is this like a placebo, a sugar pill that maybe makes us feel better but doesn't actually do anything? But Jesus to prove the fullness and the reality of his authority to forgive.

He then calls a sinner to follow him. When Jesus calls Matthew, this is the test. If Jesus has authority, then Matthew, who is a great sinner as a tax collector, can lawfully follow Jesus, this great teacher. But if Jesus doesn't have authority to call Matthew, then it's all a sham and a active sinner. Is following Jesus. You see, tax collectors in those days, unlike ours, obviously were despised. We love tax collectors today, right? Well, in those days, tax collectors were truly despised because they were selling out their own people to work for the Romans. The Romans were the oppressors. They had conquered them. And the Jews who served as tax collectors were traitors, who served the Romans to steal money from the Jewish people, to give to the Romans. But on top of that, these tax collectors were often thieves. If the Romans charged so much, then they would ask for maybe twice that amount, and they would charge those taxes to people and they would pocket the difference. And so Matthew was in this position where he is the least likely of all people. He is his.

His sin is on absolute display to all people. He's the least likely one to be called. And yet Jesus walks up to him and says, follow me. And he rose and followed Jesus. Well, then immediately after in verse ten, we read as Jesus reclined at table in the house, maybe Matthew's house. Behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Now think about what they're saying. They are making an assumption that Jesus doesn't have authority to forgive sins, and therefore when he eats with these people, he is eating with thoroughly unclean people who are still in their sins and in their filth. But Jesus in verse 12 through 13. Again, hearing their thoughts, hearing them actually speak this out loud as they went to talk to his disciples, not just their internal conversations. When Jesus heard it, he said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but to call sinners. The Pharisees are horrified that Jesus would dine with these tax collectors and sinners because they don't know who they're talking to. They don't know who they are talking about. But what Jesus says is, it's not that he simply may call sinners.

It's not that he is the one who is going to sign off on this and has the authority to do so, but good luck getting to him. What he demonstrates is that he came for this very purpose. He not only is able to forgive sins, he came to call sinners. And what's interesting is he distinguishes what he has come to do. He says he's the physician who came not to call the healthy but the sick. He's the one who didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners who therefore will forgive those sinners. And so what Jesus is doing in part, is he's identifying his mission. But in another way, he is trying to confront the Pharisees with how they see themselves. They see themselves as the well ones, the healthy ones. They see themselves as the righteous. But do you notice how Jesus challenges that? He says, go and learn what this means. Now these are the teachers of the law. If anyone knew what this meant, it's the Pharisees. But Jesus says, you don't know what this means. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, but not sacrifice. You have shown no mercy to those who need mercy because you think yourself righteous, but God the righteous one. Has sent me, his son, into the world, so that I, his righteous son, who speaks with his authority because I share of his divine nature. I have come to show you what righteousness looks like, and it looks like showing mercy to sinners.

They therefore not who they thought they were. They thought they were righteous. But Jesus shows that they are in fact sinners. Which means that Jesus is there and he's come to save them. But they don't actually want it. Well, how then do we apply this? Jesus is giving us this great word that he has the authority to forgive sins. We have two applications today. The first is for you sinners out there. In the last few weeks, we have seen that Jesus deals with our sin in a couple of ways. The first thing is that he forgives our guilt. We are not innocent. We are guilty. Jesus forgives our guilt. But the second part is that Jesus cleanses and carries away our pollution. And so the question is, do you know your guilt? Do you recognize the ways that you have wronged others, the ways that you have sinned against God? Does your conscience bear witness to condemn you before God? Do you see that ultimately you have sinned against a righteous God? But also, do you know your uncleanness? Do you feel your filthiness? Does your impurity defile your spirituality like leprosy defiles your body? Do you carry the weight of your shame like a heavy burden? The big pack on the back of Christian and Pilgrim's Progress. Who will relieve me from this burden? The scriptures tell us infinitely.

Good news. Jesus came with authority to forgive sins, and with a mission to call sinners and to heal those who are not well, who are sick, who are sinners. He came to do this. And what hope would we have if Jesus did not come to save sinners? For there's no other name under heaven by which we could be saved. If we don't have authority in Jesus to find forgiveness for our sins, then where will we find it in this world? It is not anywhere else in this world. But Jesus does have the authority to forgive sinners. He can forgive you. What keeps you from coming to him? What keeps you from returning to him? What keeps you to throw from throwing yourself upon him and seeking his mercy? Because the day is coming when you will stand before his tribunal as the judge of all the earth, and he will ask you. You knew of my mercy. You knew of my forgiveness. Why then did you not seek it? And the day when I could be found. And what answer will you give to him? How will you justify the fact that you knew he was willing and able to save, but you did not ask? Oh, sinner turned to Christ. But if the first application is for the sinners here today. The second application is for the righteous here today. You may not be convinced that you need forgiveness from your sins, and maybe you wouldn't say it.

Maybe you know enough of the christianese game to say, oh, that's oh, certainly I'm a sinner. But. But in your heart of hearts, you don't really think you're like those people. You may think, perhaps, that you've done genuinely good works. You're in a different category. You may think that you have kept yourself from the category of sinners by refraining from entering into certain kinds of sins. Here. The Pharisees are proud. They're so proud that they even despise Jesus for spending his time with sinners. But Jesus confronts them with the same word that he confronts us today. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Does your heart recognize the desire of God to save sinners? Earlier, if you think in your heart of hearts that you're righteous, you have to remember what Jesus confronted us with in Matthew five verse 20. Jesus said, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Does your righteousness reach infinitely as high as heaven itself? This requires that you must be perfect in every way. And as James two verse ten says, whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point, at even one point becomes guilty of all of it. It simply will not do to try to bring God's righteous standard to a level where where you're able to step over it. That's not enough.

Your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. And if you fall short of it, the only way that you can be saved is by receiving the righteousness that comes by faith in Christ. God requires infinite perfection, and all of us fall short. And if you fall short, God's law condemns you as a sinner. And if you are a sinner, then we have to go back to the first application. The gospel is for sinners. Don't cling to your filthy rags of righteousness. Cling to Christ who is able and willing to save. I heard a story this week that's captured my imagination. About a Puritan, a Puritan. The Puritans were these great men who lived in the 17th century. They there was a period of revival in the church where the people knew deeply. The Word of God, the scriptures, the gospel. These are people who loved the Lord. They were so fruitful. We were still reading their works because they so intimately knew God. And there was a great Puritan minister whose life had been fruitful. He had written things. He had preached things. People had come to saving faith in Christ through his fruitful ministry. And as he was coming to the end of his life and was on his deathbed, his friends sitting at the foot of his bed was encouraging him, saying, oh, you're about to go enter into your reward. And this great Puritan man, righteous beyond what I will never know in this life.

He cut his friend off and said, I'm not going to get a reward. I'm going for mercy. I need mercy. Brothers and sisters. Friends, we need to know what this means. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. Because God provided his own sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world to give himself for us as an act of great mercy and grace to sinners like you and me. Do you feel your need of mercy? Do you know your sin, your guilt, your uncleanness? Well. Jesus. Has authority to forgive sins, and the good news is that he wants to. Jesus desires. He comes with a mission to save sinners. Will you look to him and faith? Let's pray. Heavenly father, we pray that you would help us. To do the same thing you've required in every generation, which is to look to your son, Jesus, our Messiah, the Christ, by faith. We pray, father, that by Your Holy Spirit you would bring us to an awareness of a keen sense of our sin, our guilt, our defilement. And that we would fly to Jesus, our only Savior. Our only refuge, the only place of protection. As your wrath beats all around us, we pray that we would come under the wing of Jesus and be saved. And we pray that he alone would be our hope and our joy and our confidence, both in this life and the next. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.