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and then covered with hardened clay or sometimes they were kind of like clay blocks that were then covered with another layer of clay this is the layer that they decide to dig through and make a hole I imagine this would have been a little distracting to those listening to Jesus word inside not only because the noise that perhaps pieces of the roof actually falling in but not only do the men make an opening that then lower the paralytic through the rather large opening through the roof right into Jesus presence now how did they lower him do they have some cloth or some ropes did they just use their hands they get help from inside we don’t know text doesn’t say but they do lower him and notice Jesus reaction Jesus doesn’t say hey that’s my roof or that’s Peters roof you better pay for that or hey I was teaching here fact there’s no indignity or rebuke from Jesus at all rather the text says that first Jesus saw their faith he saw their faith interestingly it’s not that he saw the paralytics faith but he saw their faith but then notice and this is quite unexpected Jesus says to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven and notice this is a passive verb expression the subject receives the action your sins are forgiven Emily by Jesus Jesus is the one who’s declaring this and he claims a few verses later that he has authority to forgive sins but that soon they are against against God so how can anyone forgive the sins against God except God himself and this is what some of the scribes President Jesus’s house are wondering and remember a scribe is an expert in the law that is the Torah describes silent conclusion is that Jesus must be blasphemy if only God can first forgive sins done against him and Jesus is claiming the ability to forgive sins then Jesus must be claiming to be God not a God but the God only Yahweh can forgive sins committed against Yahweh and this is a pretty logical conclusion right the scribes to some extent get what is happening and they conclude blasphemy but there’s one detail they’ve not considered which is what Jesus is going to show them notice that Jesus is immediately and supernaturally aware of the scribe silent condemnation of him and he puts a question to his accusers which is easier well first he asked them why are you wondering but then he says which is easier to tell a paralytic that his sins are forgiven or tell him to get up pick up his pallet and go home well what is the answer to that question it’s to say exactly Steve you’re exactly right it’s easier to say your sins are forgiven because it can’t be verified now truly accomplishing forgiveness is not necessarily easy but telling someone that his sins are absolved is very easy there’s no way to tell whether that statement is true or false and isn’t this what the Catholic Church and the Pope still do today do this many acts of penance to pay for your sin and your sin will be absolved and you’ll be back in a state of grace oh to say that’s pretty easy there’s no way to check or to contradict there Matt who can really tell if God forgave your sins or if the penance over is overdoing it or under doing it you don’t know there’s no way to tell but you can tell pretty easily whether a paralyzed man suddenly walks most people would find it pretty hard to with authority and with genuine expectation to tell a lame man to walk pronouncing forgiveness is way easier than pronouncing healed paralysis but Jesus goes on he has his rhetorical question hanging in the air then he says but so that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins and notice the with a word but indicating contrast Jesus is saying in contrast to what I just said about something being easier or harder here’s something else but notice also that this is not a complete sentence it’s expecting another part so that you may know and then what what’s going to cause his accusers to know that the son of man remember that’s a messianic title that Jesus claimed for himself how are they gonna know that the Son of Man indeed has authority to forgive sins trailing off Jesus then turns to the paralytic and tells the man to do exactly what Jesus pointed out was more difficult than saying your sins are forgiven and you can see the emphatic nature of Jesus command he says I say to you this is based on my authority I say to you and how long does it take for the paralyzed man to do what Jesus says it’s pretty quick says he gets up and immediately picks up his pallet now this is not possible under normal circumstances even with modern medical technology and surgery if there was surgery even possible in this situation it would take this lame man weeks or more to learn how to walk and to build up his muscles his first steps would be extremely shaky you probably fall immediately in this if this man was lame beyond his legs if he was quadriplegic he certainly would not be able to pick up his pallet but the man does just this he gets up picks up his pallet and then just leaves in the side of everyone jesus healed the man totally but how what was the method that Jesus used to heal him in he spoke he simply spoke it was healing by command healing by a word now note the crowds response they are all amazed they glorify God and they say we’ve never seen anything like this let’s think more about interpretation questions on this passage by healing the paralytic and considering what he said what did Jesus prove to the scribes and to everyone there jesus has authority to do forgive sins Jesus has the authority to forgive sins he says this is so that you may know I’m gonna do the harder thing he had to be if he can do the healing that shows that he has power and authority and that verifies what he said earlier and if Jesus the Son of man has the authority to forgive sins and only God can forgive sins and who must Jesus be he’s God he’s Yahweh he has to be it doesn’t make any other sense it doesn’t make sense any other way now though Jesus is God and has authority to forgive sin what does Jesus observe that was part of his pronouncing forgiveness to this man in particular what did he see he saw faith and he said he saw their faith I’m gonna assume that the paralytics faith is part of that I wasn’t just that he saw the people carrying the paralytics faith though they were exercising faith the reason he’s able to say what he does to the man is that the man himself had faith he had faith in Jesus now how did this man and the men who carried him demonstrate this safe how could Jesus have seen their faith that’s right they came they came for healing and when there was a crowd they didn’t stop their faith was demonstrated by bringing the paralytic and stopping at nothing to put the man in Jesus presence these men rudely interrupted Jesus teaching session also made a large and inconvenient hole in the roof of this house if were these men not only had faith in Jesus power but also in Jesus what his compassion his goodness his mercy these men believed that Jesus would be willing to heal this paralytic even in the middle of his teaching session even if they had made a hole in the roof if they could just get this man before Jesus he would heal him he would have compassion because Jesus is good they must have believed that Jesus is good now it’s striking that Jesus does not address this man’s paralysis first what does this show us about the man’s physical need it’s not the most his paralysis as debilitating as tragic and as a trial of this man’s life as it was it wasn’t the most important nor else the compassionate Christ would certainly have dealt with it now something else was more important and it was forgiveness of sins in fact the man’s physical Pennock benefit is not the ultimate point of this miracle certainly Jesus was demonstrating love and compassion to this man but why really did Jesus do this miracle and why didn’t mark record it for his readers it was to show Jesus had the authority to forgive sins which means Jesus must be one must be God and Messiah this miracle is presented both by Jesus and by Mark our gospel writer to show that Jesus is the Messiah and God and if Jesus is the Messiah and God how ought men to react to such a revelation by repenting by believing by trusting in am i following Christ that’s why these Gospels were written weren’t they bring the readers to believe and then encourage them to obey and follow they’re powerful and good Savior even through trials suffering and death so yes this miracle is a sign of compassion and the power of Jesus but ultimately it’s so that we would believe in Jesus as Messiah and as the Son of God we’re gonna notice a similar set of truths in play in our second account we won’t talk about application for this passage just yet let’s move over to John chapter 9 now where we’re gonna look at another example of Jesus healing John chapter 9 verses 1 to 40 the whole chapter what’s the context for this miracle well now or later in Jesus ministry Jesus is in Jerusalem the feast of tabernacles and many Jews it says in the previous chapter have believed in Jesus as Jesus teaches on the temple grounds however these same believers do uh they do an about-face because as Jesus continues to teach they actually seek to stone Jesus because Jesus asserts that Jews are still slaves to sin and that Jesus himself is God the conclusion of chapter 8 jesus says before Abraham was born I am they sought to stone him but he escaped their attempted lynching as John 9 begins he leaves the temple and then here’s the next thing that happens John chapter 9 verse 1 we’ll read to the end of the chapter as he passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he would be born blind jesus answered it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him we must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day night is coming when no one can work while I am in the world I am the light of the world when he had said this he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and applied the clay to his eyes that is the blind man and said to him go wash in the pool of Siloam which is translated sent so he went away and washed and came back seeing therefore the neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying is this the one who used to sit and beg others were saying this is he still others were saying no but he is like him he kept saying I am the one so they were saying to him how then were your eyes opened he answered the man who was called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me go to Siloam and wash so I went away and washed and I received site they said to him where is he he said I don’t know they brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes if then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight and he said to them he applied clay to my eyes and I washed and I see therefore some of the Pharisees were saying this man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath but others were saying how can a man who was a sinner perform such signs and there is a division among them so they said to the blind man again what do you say about him since he opened your eyes and he said he is a prophet the Jews then did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received sight until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight and questioned them saying is this your son who you say was born blind then how does he now see his parents answered them and said we know that this is our son and that he was born blind but now but how he now sees we do not know or who open his eyes we do not know ask him he is of age he will speak for himself his parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews but the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue for this reason his parents said he is of age ask him so a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him give glory to God we know that this man is a sinner he that answered whether he is a sinner I do not know one thing I do know that though I was blind now I see so they said to him what did he do to you how did he open your eyes he answered them I told you already and you did not listen why do you want to hear it again you do not want to become his disciples too do you a reviled him and said you are his disciple but we are disciples of Moses we know that God has spoken to Moses but as for this man we do not know where he is from my man answered and said to him to them well here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from yeah and yet he opened my eyes we know that God does not hear sinner’s but if anyone is god-fearing and does his will he hears him since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind if this man were not from God he could do nothing they answered him you were born entirely in sins and are you teaching us so they put him out Jesus heard that they put him out and finding him he said do you believe in the Son of Man he answered who is he Lord that I may believe in him jesus said to him you have both seen him and he is the one who was talking with you and he said Lord I believe and he worshiped him and Jesus said for judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see and that those who see may become blind those are the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him we’re not blind too are we jesus said to them if you were blind you would have no sin but since you say we see your sin remains right this is a much larger section we won’t be able to observe everything that we could in this passage but let’s note some main things note that Jesus and the disciples see a man blind from birth total blindness is a severe affliction even today and disciples ask a question question that demonstrates a viewpoint consistent with Jewish thinking at the time where did this affliction come from was it a result of this man sinned or was it the result of his parents sin I know the disciples only give these two choices but notice Jesus answer this man is not born blind because of sin but why so that the word God might be displayed in him and notice Jesus does not heal with a word here nor is there specific mention of faith Jesus spits he makes clay and he puts the clay mud on the man’s eyes and has the man find his way to the pool of Siloam and wash now the pool of Siloam was a large pool in the southern part of Jerusalem Jesus has probably still close to the temple more in the eastern side now normally does putting mud on someone’s eyes and then having it washed off cure congenital blindness obviously not how could putting mud on anybody’s eyes ever be helpful in helping their eye condition indeed the steps of this healing might sound a little random even counterproductive but they’re not think back have we ever seen a creative act of God involving dirt they’re clearly in Genesis right well the way man was originally made he was made from the dust the ground in Genesis 2 moreover some of you may know spitting and making clay was considered what according to the tradition of the Jews it counted as work I was considered work and what day is it it’s the Sabbath so as we see in the passage in the view of the Pharisees by healing the man in this way what has Jesus done he’s by he’s broken the Sabbath he’s violated the Sabbath he’s broken the law God and if Jesus if Jesus violates the Sabbath what can he not be according to the Pharisees he can’t be from God he can’t be the Son of God he can’t be messiah he’s cooked because clearly Messiah is gonna be a righteous one he’s gonna keep the law of God and Jesus is breaking the law at least their view but there’s a problem with this conclusion as either even other Pharisees in the text point out problem is if he is a lawbreaker and if he’s not really from God then how did he do this miracle how did it heal this man so he got a problem the Pharisees mostly referred to as a juice here they can’t figure out how to make sense of this situation how can this blind man be healed by a Sabbath breaker and sinner they eventually hit on a potential solution maybe this healed man wasn’t really healed at all maybe he wasn’t actually born blind they bring in the man’s parents for corroborating testimony the parents are scared to testify because notice the Pharisees have already determined that if you confess Jesus to be Messiah you’ll be kicked out of the synagogue that is you’ll be excommunicated from polite Jewish society if you confess Jesus to be Messiah you’re gonna be put out so the parents don’t go that far parents verified that the healed man is their son and that he was formerly blind so the Pharisees need another loophole clearly this man seems have been healed but what are they gonna do so they bring the healed man back in and they try to get the man to denounced Jesus as a sinner someone ironically they say give glory to God but that’s a that’s basically a call for the man to tell the truth to confess as if the man had been lying before but the man refuses to give in to their browbeating rather what does the formerly blind man assert the miracle proves about Jesus Jesus has to be he has to be from God God doesn’t listen to sinner’s no one’s heard of a man being born blind and then healed clearly Jesus is from God but notice what the man received for such a reasonable and bold confession he was reviled by the assembly and ejected he was put out probably this was this represented the excommunication from Jewish society hearing of this expulsion Jesus soon found the man again and revealed to the man that Jesus is the Son of Man the Messiah and notice what the man does in response he confesses his faith in Jesus and he worships him the section concludes with a declaration from Jesus for why Jesus came into the world to open the eyes of the blind and to blind the eyes of the seeing and Jesus specifically says the Pharisees are part of the group that we’re going to receive the latter half they claimed sight and for doing such their sin remained on them alright now let’s interpret some questions based on what we’ve observed here’s some interpretation questions what was the disciples understanding regarding the origin of disease that’s right the sin had to be based on one’s own actions or the actions of the parents potentially is this not simply that sin rather disease is the result of sin back in the fall this is personal sin what you have done or what your parents have done that’s why you have this sickness by the way this thinking is not uncommon today even among Christians sometimes we are tempted to think we might even hear people say why did this bad thing happen to me is it because there’s some sin in my life that I don’t know about or why is my child born with a defect is God punishing me for something now do L miss an injury come from sin they do sometimes just one second see sometimes the connection between sin and illness is obvious take liver damage due to alcoholism or venereal disease as exam those clearly result from personal sin choices for their some of the Old Testament curses on Israel for disobedience included disease even in the New Testament Paul warns that some in the Corinthian church had become sick or died for eating or drinking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy way even using the occasion for sin but notice and Calamity are not necessarily due to sin and which Old Testament Saints is an obvious example of this man who was covered with boils Joe he was a righteous man he experienced incredible calamity including physical disease and he had not done anything wrong and as it is with this man born blind God created this man blind from birth not because of sin but in order that Jesus might later do mighty works and this man’s life Steve are you gonna say something yes yeah that’s a great question there’s a logical problem here how could the man himself have done any sin if he was born blind yeah I don’t know what they would have said maybe they pocky had sinned in the womb or if they’re just groping in the dark for an answer if it wasn’t the parents it had to be him somehow yeah that definitely is a problem but they were looking for a solution but Jesus had to say look the way you’ve been thinking and really this was consistent with Jewish thinking at the time the way you’ve been thinking about the origin of disease is not quite right yes sometimes it’s the result of sin but don’t assume that it always is this man was actually born this way for God’s glory now why did Jesus heal this man the way that he did because it’s very different from the other one we looked at makes the clay all that why did Jesus do it that way yeah Roy yeah I think great explanation really both those things that you said yeah Jesus did this knowing that it was the Sabbath knowing that the Pharisees would go nuts over this you’re breaking the Sabbath but he’s exposing them he’s exposing their false view of the Sabbath their false view of God their man-made traditions that violate the long-gone by refusing by forbidding people from doing good on the Sabbath if you look at the times of Jesus heels throughout his ministry he often does it specifically on the Sabbath and in a way that exposes the Pharisees they hate it they hate seeing him here on this on the Sabbath they are so it’s one of the things that that sets them off the most but he’s showing them you are all wrong you’re totally wrong in your understanding and by bringing it to sharp focus they think he’s violated the Sabbath but this man was clearly healed he’s giving them clear evidence that he is the Messiah he is from God and that their rejection of him is totally unwarranted dwyane are you gonna say something yeah wow that’s a that’s a good way to put it I didn’t even think about it in those terms but yeah by healing the man more blind he’s doing exactly what he said at the end of the passage I’m keeping sight to the blind but I’m showing that you who say you see you’re clearly blood in a way by exposing it he’s causing them maybe causing them their heart they harden their hearts in response they’re not willing to consider the evidence they can’t accept the evidence of this man tealing in the evidence that Jesus really is God in Messiah because they’ve already concluded he’s not the Messiah they’re ready to put anybody out of the synagogue who confesses though so this is another one of those examples of they don’t need more evidence they need their fundamental assumptions change because they’re not willing to accept the implications of the evidence that there is now Jesus healing on the man as we said did prove Jesus to be the Messiah and the blind man’s confession and worship at the end of the passage and proves that Jesus is not only Messiah but he’s God he’s worthy of worship and faith now Jesus he makes that statement the brienne what does he mean when he says I came to open the eyes of the blind but to make those who see blind well we kind of already began to explain it the idea is that Jesus came to save the repentant elect and to condemn and judge the blind self righteous answers in genesis puts it this way the man who acknowledged his blindness both physical and spiritual was healed of both the Pharisees would not acknowledge their spiritual blindness even though they were physically able to see and therefore they could not find forgiveness for their sins Jesus says your sin remains on you but the man who confessed faith in Jesus by extension his sin was forgiven notice again here Jesus firstly mission is not ultimately about doing miracles or ending physical blindness Jesus mission primarily focuses on spiritual eyesight that is for salvation from sin so we could also save this miracle why did Jesus do it and why did John the Apostle record it for us how was the audience meant to respond yeah Roy that’s right so that those reading the account that was hearing it would believe in Jesus I mean John says so explicitly as you’re neutered Roy Daniels gospel these signs were recorded and John is very selective about the miracles he’s chosen he doesn’t give all them you couldn’t give all them it says I chose these I reported these shoes that you might believe and Jesus is Messiah and Son of God and that in him you would have eternal life and it’s the same for us today look at these miracles we see Jesus claims we say he is Messiah and Son of God I have to believe in him he is my he is the way of salvation this is not to say that Jesus was dispassionate towards the man he healed no other passages stressed that Jesus had great compassion and this compassion motivated the healing that he did for various people and also it motivated his teaching but Jesus mission was not to make people’s lives more comfortable it was to save people from sin over Jesus miracles were miracles were not done merely to alleviate pain Jesus miracles were bold assertions of who Jesus really is the miracles were signs signs pointing people to their necessary belief in their trust in and their obedience to Jesus as Messiah and Son of God now that we’ve done these first two steps of steady on both of these passages let’s now go to step three and consider application I have a couple questions here for us to consider number one should Christians expect healing from their infirmities as part of a new life privilege brought about by Christ well the answer is no seeing the true purpose of Jesus healing miracles we can already see how many Christians go astray today when it comes to expecting or searching for miraculous healing of Christian illnesses some today claim God doesn’t want you to suffer believe in the Lord and He will heal you he will make you walk again he will cure your cancer you will end your infertility you just have to have faith but such assertions profoundly misunderstand the Bible’s words on Jesus healing ministry on illness in general and on suffering as we’ve already seen especially in John 9 some affirmative are actually for the display of God’s glory and part of God’s doing mighty works in for and through a person moreover there are several examples the New Testament in the New Testament of godly men becoming sick remaining sick and not being miraculously healed even though they were with people who did miraculous healings in the past consider second Timothy 4:20 second Timothy 4:20 pol says that he left his companion trophimus sick at my Letus you mean an apostle who did various miracles including healing didn’t just heal trophimus or in Philippians 2 25 to 30 Lubin’s to 25 to 30 Paul relates how faithful a Pafford itís got sick and nearly died in service to Paul and to God again no healing no healing from God no healing from Paul no miraculous healing what’s up with that and Paul himself suffered serious illness as he reports to the Galatians in Galatians 4 12 to 15 this man who healed others got really sick but Paul interestingly confesses that it was due to his illness that he got to preach to the Galatians talk about illness to the glory of God and there was no miraculous healing there this is not to say though that God cannot or does not bring about healing in response to prayer offered in faith James 5 even gives instructions for prayer along these lines God can and sometimes does heal disease and pain either miraculously or through more common means of medicine and life change but healing and good health are not promised to believers sometimes many times even it is necessary that we as Christians remain in trials of infirmity that we might glorify God and wasn’t this the reason for Paul’s thorn in the flesh this thorn whenever it was physical emotional spiritual this thorn was a great trial of suffering for Paul and Paul prayed for its release but when God told Paul that the Lord’s grace was sufficient for Paul and that God’s power is manifest in weakness Paul took courage and he sought to use his alot of suffering to glorify God Paul understood that when I am weak then I am strong that is to say when God humbles me and lays me low in suffering and I simply cling to him in faith that’s when I’m able to enjoy him and to minister powerfully and effectively for his name’s sake and is not the same true for us this truth about the real purpose of physical infirmity and suffering it ought to inform the way we pray about illness and physical infirmity let’s not simply pray for anyone and everyone to be healed of sickness immediately I mean that is a compassionate thing to pray for and we can pray for healing but let’s remember that God has important purposes in illness so while we can pray for healing let us also pray for the effectiveness of illness or the effectiveness of God’s purposes in illness I’ll just pray that our brothers and sisters will be able to stand up under the trials of illness and pain however long those trials may last and God’s good providence and that those brethren will be powerful testimonies to others of God through their weakness and let us pray most of all that God’s good will will be accomplished in that situation in contrast to the faith-healing charlatans that we sometimes see or hear today we know that God has not promised health and healing to all his followers but he has promised perfect provision in these short days and an internal inheritance that will not fade away a kingdom in which there will be no disease crying pain or death our bodies truly groan for this Redemption and it is coming one day if you know Christ you will see it a related question number two when calamity or illness appears in your life from the lives of your children or of your loved ones should you assume it is because of sin in light of our passage today no no you shouldn’t have assumed that my brothers and sisters that there’s one false belief that we must be ourselves from it’s that a person’s life circumstances necessarily correspond with God’s attitude toward them or their own faithfulness to God if things are going well for you that does not mean that everything is right between you and God and if life seems to be falling apart that does not mean that God is against you really circumstances cannot definitively tell you God’s attitude towards you but what can the only revelation we really have from God the Scriptures the Bible if you really want to know what God’s appetit toward you is read the scriptures now if you know if you know that you’re in unrepentant sin and the calamity falls upon you do not be surprised especially if that calamity is a direct consequence of your sin this is God’s gracious hand of discipline on you don’t let it go to waste as Jesus says to one man that he healed repent before something worse happens to you but apart from these situations of known sin we should treat life calamities the way that the Bible mostly describes them that is they are testings of faith meant to refine us meant to glorify God meant to display Christ worth to the world if you really want to know whether you’re walking faithfully before God don’t look to your circumstances or even your own health look to the word and to the counsel of others in the church who know the word it can help explain it to you as a corollary to this let us refrain from judging others based on their life circumstances don’t assume that your brother your sister suffers trials due to his or her unfaithfulness to God perhaps they do in some instances but you won’t know simply based on the circumstances you will need to get to know that brother or sister and hear and see how they’re actually living in order to come to a fair conclusion let us not make the mistake of job’s friends and Paul’s opponents don’t mistake suffering for God’s disfavor sometimes suffering is actually a result of God’s favor that God gives an opportunity to enjoy him or join in suffering with and for Christ and to make God known in a greater way in the world so that’s a second thing for us to think about and then number three this really hits that the main point of our passages today if these miracles were recorded so that you might believe in Jesus has Messiah and Son of God do you believe do you acknowledge Jesus as Lord have you surrendered all to him it’s no wonder that many today like the Pharisees refused to accept Jesus miracles they say oh that never happened since doing so would necessitate the acknowledgment of Jesus as Messiah but these miracles did happen they were faithfully faithfully recorded by eyewitnesses who were later martyred and had no reason to lie they were further these miracles were part of a scriptural testimony that accurately describes the world in man’s condition our hearts know this word to be true but do you believe it do you believe in Jesus has son of God Messiah Savior there is salvation in no one else you’ve not done so yet repent and give everything to Jesus let him heal your most pressing disease escape from the wrath of God turn from your sins take Jesus good yoke upon you trust in his righteous life alone to make you right before God don’t hide behind suppose a good works don’t hide in your Christian culture Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind admit confess your blindness Jesus knows your heart don’t hide it from him take up your cross follow Jesus to the very end and you’ll be healed if you come to Jesus you have no reason to fear since he is both powerful and good he came to save the sick and heal the spiritually blind what’s his purpose it was a compassionate purpose if you do not come do you insist that you see and that you’re not blind that you are righteous without surrendering everything to Christ you have much reason to fear since Jesus himself said you will be judged you will be blinded you’ll be punished forever in hell I just remember that it is not those who call Jesus Lord Lord who will enter the kingdom of God but those whose faith results in obedience they are the ones who will enter comments or questions before we close today yes right right yeah yeah and I affirm both of those things as well I’ll repeat what you mentioned certainly we do know in a general way in in terms of ultimate causation disease illness pain they are the result of sin those things did not exist in the world before the fall they came as part of the curse on mankind the consequences of sin and you’re right to point out this is actually a strangely strong apologetic for why the earth is young and why man scientific claims today about the origins of the earth art are not accurate because they don’t are those who want to combine evolution or combine some of the claims about Old Earth with the Bible because you see disease you see cancer you see things like that in the fossils that supposedly are part of God’s very good creation and I think we can whole readily acknowledge that disease is not good illness is not good it did come in the world because of sin but as you also said bill we also want to affirm that in the specific person’s life the fact that he has an illness with the fact that he has a particular injury or infirmity that’s not necessarily the result of his own sin something that he did to merit God’s disfavor and punishment yeah so out of from both those things other questions or comments yes tea yeah yeah yeah I would agree with agree with that as well just to repeat your comment James the passage in James 5 that mentions healing and praying for healing and having the elders come and anoint someone who is sick it does mention that there’s the possibility of sin there and that we should be confessing our sins to one another so on the one hand we want to acknowledge yes sometimes illness is the result of sin but we don’t want to make that assumption whenever an illness appears in someone’s life or appears in our own lives regardless whether sin makes us sick or not as you were also saying Steve we do want to confess sin we don’t want to hide sin and we don’t want to live in a live in a false wait before one another because we deny ourselves the healing that’s more important and we we do injury to ourselves well if you have other questions or comments come on you can’t come see me afterwards because I’m over here in California but you can’t email me NICUs you could come to California to Bellevue that’d be pretty fun next week we will spend one more lesson talking about Jesus displayed authority via miracles we’ve seen Jesus authority over nature we’ve seen Jesus authority over disease the next week we see the greatest display of divine authority perhaps the greatest display yeah I think the red grace display and that is Jesus power over death Jesus has power over death itself let’s close in prayer how do we thank you thank you that you are the healer there is salvation in no one else there’s no other Savior there’s no other healer but you’ve made your major healing available to us you open our eyes you’ve made known your beauty and your salvation to us so that we turn to you we thank you for that God cuz we were so blind we were so lost we were so committed to our own sin and self-righteousness but you opened our eyes thank you thank you Jesus thank you Holy Spirit thank you a father for sovereignly ranging those things I pray God if there’s anybody here anybody who listens this message who has not yet been healed he’s not yet confessed his blindness it’s not yet repented God that you would accomplish that I pray God that you would continue to build up the body of Calvary courage them fill them with joy as they worship you today and Jesus name Amen all right Thank You Calvary I will see you next week you’re welcome
