Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on June 2, 2024.
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Audio Transcript
Our mission team made it successfully to Guatemala. They are worshipping this morning and having some training. Pray that they have a great night of sleep because they wake up early in the morning hitting the road of ministry. Did I get that? All right, Tom?
Okay, I think that’s the text. And I will remind you that there is a tear out that you can continue to pray. Pray for health and safety and God’s work in people’s lives there. Pray for Tom. He didn’t get to go, so we’re sad about that.
But we know that God has purposes in all things. But you can pray for his health, but do remember to pray for them. If you take your Bibles now, we’re gonna be in Luke chapter five. We always invite you to turn in your Bibles. We do have it on the screen also for you, but I’ll begin reading in Luke, chapter 5, verses 17 through 26.
On one of those days, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him. Just then, some men came carrying on a stretcher, a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before him. Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.
Seeing their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven. And then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, who is this man who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but God alone? But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, why are you thinking this in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he told the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up, take your stretcher and go home immediately.
He got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, we have seen, seen incredible things today. May we pray? Heavenly Father, as we look at your word, thank you for giving it to us so that we understand the way to a right relationship with you.
A way to have forgiveness of our sins, Father. The release of guilt and shame, that we might have peace and have the hope and the Assurance of an eternal kingdom, Father, that we will celebrate with you and under your leadership. We also thank you that you teach us through your Word how to live. Let us respond accordingly today, Father, with ways that you may want to change our thoughts and or our actions toward you and your Word. In your Son’s name, we pray.
Amen. To this point in Luke, we. We’ve heard testimony over and over that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. We’ve heard it from the angels. We’ve heard it from godly people like Simeon and Anna.
We’ve heard it from John the Baptist. God the Father himself, at his Son’s baptism, said, this is my Son. And even Satan attributed the fact that he was the Son of God. But when we come now to chapter five, Jesus now claims for himself that he is God. He uses the Old Testament title Son of God, which was a claim of his deity.
He also pronounces that he is God by forgiving sin. And he provides evidence of this through the healing of a man. And the religious experts understand this claim in this text that Jesus is saying that he is God. And we are called to believe the same. We’re going to be looking at four things today, mainly that Jesus claims to be God.
Secondly, we’re going to be seeing that Jesus cures the deadly condition of this man. Jesus also cures the difficult condition of this man. And Jesus cures completely. Let’s go back to the text. In verse 20.
Seeing their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven. Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, who is this man who speaks blasphemies, who can forgive sins but God alone? Now you have to understand, these are the top notch, most educated people in the land. The scribes are like lawyers, but they’re also experts in the law. They were experts in the Hebrew law.
They were experts in all the Hebrew writings. They taught the law. They supplied copies of the Scriptures to the synagogues. They interpreted the laws as members of the Sanhedrin. They could also write a legal document for you if you needed that.
Contracts for marriage, contracts for divorce. If you wanted to take out a mortgage or a loan, you would go and see a scribe. If you had questions about your inheritance or you wanted to sell a piece of land, these were the people that you went to. They were very knowledgeable. And with them were the Pharisees, who were the most conservative religious leaders of Jesus day.
And they ask two questions here. Who is this man who speaks blasphemies and who can Forgive sins, but God alone. Now their questions are kind of unfair because they have a presupposition in them of what they expect the answer to be. It could be like you look at your daughter and you can say, are you going to wear that dress today? And that’s a very open ended question.
But if you said you’re not going to wear that dress dressed today, are you, you’re implying what you think the answer is supposed to be. And so it is these religious leaders, in spite of what they’ve seen of Jesus so far and seen him do and hear him teach, they’re not even open to listening to what he has to say. And they’re implying in their question that this man is a blasphemer. And they’re implying in their question that only God can forgive sin. This man cannot do that.
But what we want to point out is some people say that Jesus never claimed to be God. And it is very important, absolutely necessary to our faith that he is what he claimed to be. And if the religious leaders who understood scriptures most in his day understood him to be claiming to be God, then we should also accept that claim. But in the early church there were some other explanations for who Jesus was, if he was not God. And we want to talk about a heresy that arose in the 4th century.
It’s called Arianism. And it was presented by a man named Arius. And it was a false teaching that taught that Jesus is not God, but instead a created being. Arianism taught that Jesus was truly a man, but he was not equal with God the Father in power, in glory, or in essence. This group attacked Jesus divine status.
And they said, how could God himself have such immediate contact with mankind? So in order to deal with what they couldn’t accept, they attempted to strip Jesus of his eternal nature. Arianism therefore undermines the Bible’s teaching on God being one in essence and three in persons. Because only God himself could rescue people from their sin. No created being could.
Now this led to two problems. And the first problem is that it actually was reintroducing what we call polytheism back into the Christian church. Polytheism says that there are many gods out there. And this had been what was taught by the Greeks and the Romans and many centuries of people before them. Because what they were saying is, we’re going to worship Jesus, but he’s not really God, He’s a lesser God and we’re going to worship God the Father.
So instead of saying they’re one and we’re worshiping them as One, they’re saying we’re worshiping Jesus, a created being, and we’re worshiping God. So you see why that was polytheism. They were worshiping two separate beings. So we want to look at this today, going back to Genesis chapter one. What we espouse, what we teach, what the Bible teaches is monotheism, that there is only one God.
But we also believe from scriptures that he exists in in three persons. Let’s go back to Genesis chapter one. We read. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty.
Darkness covered the surface of the watery depths. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, let there be light. And there was light. God saw that the light was good.
And God saw separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. Before the beginning of everything that we know, before there was any matter, before there was any time, before there was any space, there was God. Because he has eternally existed and God was alone with Himself eternally. And that’s what we see here.
It’s this singular nature. It doesn’t say gods plural. It mentions that there is one God over and over, and he is the One that created the world as we know it. Let’s go now to Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 4 through 5. And we see part of what here is called the Shema.
And the Jews recite the Shema twice a day, morning and evening, because they, their theology, everything they believe is founded upon this, that God is one. Let’s just read part of it here. Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. And Jesus, who claimed to be God, affirmed this.
In Luke chapter 4, Jesus answered him. It is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only. So I’ve got singular in there all the way through. There is no plural reference here to God, because God is one. The Lord our God singular the Lord singular love the Lord singular love your God singular God is one.
We are monotheist. But it’s also emphasized there when it says, not only by making it singular, but it says the Lord the Lord is. What’s the word there? He is one. And then we have this.
Worship the singular God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. If we believe what Arianism taught, that is God the Father is here and God the Son is here. And we’re worshiping both of them because they’re separate. It is impossible to give all that you have to two people. If I want to give all that I have to person A, I have to give them how much of it?
All of it. I can’t give them all and then turn around and give this person over here. All right, so when we give our all to God, we’re giving our all to God as one, and also God as the Trinity. And Jesus affirmed this. Even though he claimed to be God, he still said that the Lord your God serve him only.
Is singular, singular nouns. An is one declaration, a singular commitment, the all emphasis, it all points to the fact that God is one. But we go to Matthew 28, 19, 20 and we see, but within God being one, there is still the Trinity go. Therefore Jesus said, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name. And it’s very important.
It doesn’t say baptizing them in the name, names plural. It’s just one name for God, because God is one. But what is that name? The singular name is the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. If they were completely separate, it would say baptizing them in the names plural.
But again, it’s putting together the idea that God is one, but he exists in three persons. Now, there are some other ideas, There are other teachings today that kind of carry on this train of thought. And we find it in Jehovah’s Witness doctrine, and we find it in the doctrine of Mormonism. So we want to just talk about that briefly. Let’s go to Romans 8, 37, 39 before we do that.
And what we read here is in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Through him who loved us, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s a tremendous promise that we claim over and over. There isn’t anything out there that can separate us from God. Not death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth.
And as if that doesn’t complete the list, it says nor any other created thing. Now let’s go back to the idea of Arianism. It says that Jesus was a created person. Person. But what the text is telling us here, I’ve got a dividing line down there, because on one side it says nor any other created thing, and all the things listed before that are created.
But in the last phrase we find opposite to all of the created things is God and his Son, Jesus Christ, not created eternal from all times. What do Jehovah’s Witness say about this? Jehovah’s Witness say that Jesus is Michael the Archangel. If we look back up there in verse 38, angels are created things. Jesus Christ is on the other side of the equation.
He is not Michael the Archangel or any angel. Jehovah’s Witness will also say, and you have to listen very closely. It’s just a matter of three different letters. They say he is a created son of God. Can you say that with me?
A created son of God? What scripture says is he is the Son of God. Just a small little twist there to Jehovah’s Witness. There are many sons of God and Jesus just happens to be one of them. But what the Bible teaches that he, he’s not a son of God, he is the Son of God.
But Jehovah’s Witness, therefore don’t believe that Jesus is God. Mormons, on the other hand, teach something completely different. You have to understand that they believe in God the Father, but God the Father had a father, God, that is their grandfather God. And then that grandfather God had a great grandfather God, and that great grandfather God had a great great grandfather God, because they believe that Gods have children and they create their own worlds. And that’s how they populate those worlds.
And so to Mormons, they worship a God. He is the God for them, but there’s a God beyond that. So in their cosmology, God had children and he had two specific brothers, Jesus and. And Lucifer. So they believe that God that they worship had two sons.
One was Jesus and one was Lucifer, also known as Satan, that they were equal. And when sin entered into the world, the Father God came to his two sons and he said, so what’s your ideas, guy? How are we going to win the world back? Because there’s a sin problem there. And Satan said, well, let’s just force them and coerce them to be obedient to you.
And Jesus said, no, let’s offer them salvation and they can choose to love you. We won’t force it on them. And God the Father, in the way they believe, chose what Jesus wanted to do. And it set up a rivalry between the two that we have in the world today. They believe that Jesus was preferred over Lucifer by their father God, because he had a better plan to save the world.
Both of these groups deny that Jesus is the God. Both believe that he is a created being. Once again, the two sides of this scripture are Everything created on this side cannot separate us from Jesus Christ and from God the Father, who are not created. Remember we said there are two problems with Arianism. Those that believed this teaching were worshiping two different gods.
It was polytheism. But there was another problem here. The problem it created is that no created being can truly withstand the full wrath of God. That Jesus had to bear on the cross for our sins. He took upon him the wrath of God that was meant for all of us as sinners.
No human being can withstand the wrath of God. No angel can withstand the wrath of God. Nothing created, only God himself is strong enough to withstand that wrath. Let’s go to John 3:36. We read about the wrath of God.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him. When we talk about our Gospel presentation, that’s the deadly condition that we have. We all, because of sin, deserve the wrath of God. And there’s no possibility that we can do anything to see life.
But praise the Lord. In 1st Peter 2:24 we read Hebrew. He himself, being Jesus Christ, bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. And by his wounds you have been healed. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, took the punishment, the wrath that was meant for us upon Himself.
Romans 5, verses 6:11 we read while we were still helpless. Again, it’s accentuating the fact that we can’t do anything to help ourselves with the sin problem. And at just the right time. Christ died for not people that were good, but he died for the ungodly, which means everyone. Rarely will someone die for a just person, though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die.
But God proves His own love for us in this. While we were helpless, while we were his enemies, while we were still sinners and opposed and against Him, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through Him? And what are we saved from? We’re saved from the wrath of God, justified by his blood.
We’re made legally right before God the Father. The penalty is removed from us that we deserve. But we’re also saved from the total destructive wrath of God. Verse 10 goes on to say, for while we were enemies, while we were against God, he reconciled us to Himself. He did this through the death of His Son.
Then how much more have you been reconciled? Or will you be saved by his life? Praise the Lord Jesus didn’t just die on the cross and stay in the grave. He was raised from the grave. And we too have this life that is given to us.
And not not only that, but we also boast not in ourselves, but in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. Jesus Christ claimed to be God. And because he did that, he was able to bear the wrath of God in our place that we might have eternal salvation. Let’s go now to Hebrews chapter one, verses one through three and just see the reiteration that Jesus is the uncreated, eternal Son of God. He is not an angel.
He is not anything but God in the flesh. In Hebrews 1 we read long ago, God spoke to the ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. And in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son. What does God say about His Son? God has appointed him as heir of all things and he actually made the universe through him.
Remember in Genesis 1 it says that God created everything. And what we hear here is that the Son was there because it’s through him that all was created. The sun is the radiance of God’s glory and he’s the exact expression of his nature. You might think that my children look a little like me and Mary. Maybe they reflect some things about us, but they are not either one of us.
Jesus didn’t just reflect God’s glory. He was God. So he’s the exact same representation and expression of his nature. And not only does he make the universe, but it tells us that he continues to sustain all things by his powerful word. And after making purification for sin, after dying on the cross and bearing the wrath of God, it says that he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, where he claimed his position as God.
With God the Father. Scripture is clear. Jesus is unique. There is none other like Him. Let’s go on.
In Hebrews chapter one, in verse five, we read, for to which of the angels did he ever say so? Here it’s going to go over these things that show how Jesus is far above the angels. He is not an angel. You are my son. Today I have become your Father.
That was never said to any angels. In Scripture. Verse 6, God said, Let all God’s angels worship him. Separating Jesus Christ from the angels completely. And about the angels, on the other hand, he makes his angels winds.
And his servants are a fiery flame. The angels are servants. But on the other hand, to the Son, he says, your throne. And he calls the Son God. Here God the Father calls his Son God your throne.
God is forever and ever. And the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. Verse 10. And in the beginning, God the Father says to Jesus, to the Lord, you establish the earth and the heavens are the works of your hands. Creation is attributed to the son.
Then verse 11, they will perish, but you remain speaking of Jesus eternality. They will all wear out like clothing. You will roll them up like a cloak and they will be changed like clothing. But here you are the same and your years will never end. Once again emphasizing that Jesus Christ is God, always eternally the same, having years that never end.
Then verse 13. Now, to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstools? And the answer is none. Jesus Christ is unique. And then verse 14.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation? Tell us. Angels are ministering spirits. They’re different than God the Son. Jesus claimed to be God.
He is the uncreated, eternal Son of God. He is God in the flesh. So that leaves us with the decision about Jesus Christ. Here he makes the claim. And C.S.
lewis, as hunter mentioned a couple weeks ago, pointed out that there are only three possible responses to Jesus claims When he says I’m God, you can either say, well, you’re a liar. And if you believe that Jesus is a liar and he isn’t God, there is no reason to be involved in Christ Christianity because it has to be a false religion. If it was established by a liar. You could say that Jesus was crazy, he was a lunatic. And I certainly would not want to base my eternal state on someone that I think is crazy.
So it only leaves us with one answer that is possible. Is he Lord? And. And the answer is yes. Let’s read John 5, 17 and 18.
Jesus responded to them. My Father is still working and I am working also.
And this is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him. The Jews recognized that Jesus claimed to be God. He is God. We cannot allow anyone to see, say that he is anything different than God. And it was not only because he was breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
Our understanding of Christianity, our faith has to stand on this, that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. You cannot say he is not God in the flesh and be a Christian. According to Scripture, Jesus claimed to be God, but he also, in this passage, he cures the deadly condition. Remember these Men had brought their friend and they brought him there because he was a paralytic and they’re wanting his physical condition to be healed. But Jesus looks beyond that temporary condition to what his real need is.
And we see this in verse 20. Seeing their faith, they didn’t even have to say anything. They didn’t have to pay any money, they didn’t have to do any good works. All they had to do was show up in their actions, displayed their faith. And because of that, Jesus cures the man’s deadly condition.
He says, friend, your sins are forgiven.
Of everything that Jesus Christ can do for us, of all the things that we ask of him, the most wonderful thing that he does is to forgive us of our sins. He meets not only our earthly need, but he meets our eternal need to be cured from the effects of sin in our life that lead to eternal damnation if they are not cured. Let’s go to Romans chapter 3. 23. We read that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
There is no one who does not have this deadly condition in their life that they need cured by Jesus. Romans 3, 9, 10. We have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. To the Jews, there were the us and there were the them. The us were the Jews, the them were the Greeks, everybody else in the world.
Scripture affirms that everyone has this problem of sin. And as it is written, there is no one righteous. Not even one. You might think you have a godly grandmother, she is not a righteous person, she is a sinner. There might be some man that you know that is just awesome.
And they’ve always said the right things and they do kind things and you’ve never seen any fault in them. That man still has a sin problem. There’s no unrighteous, there’s not even one. And the condition that we have has a problem that comes with us and that’s death. We read in Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin that we are all guilty of is death.
But praise the Lord, on the other hand, Jesus Christ offers the cure for us that the gift of God is now eternal life. And it comes in Christ Jesus Our Lord, verse 24. But so that you may know the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. The curing of the dead, deadly condition. He also told the man, I tell you, get up, take your stretcher and go home.
And immediately he got up before them. He picked up what he had been lying on, and he went home. Glorifying God. Jesus claimed to be God. He demonstrated that by curing the deadly condition.
But then they said, how can you do this? And he said, well, I’ll show you something that will prove it to you. You. And he cures the difficult condition of the man. He cures what is his temporary problem also.
And praise the Lord. This is what we talk about. The new creation. Jesus has the ability to cure not only our deadly condition, but all of our physical conditions that we have. And in this world, he didn’t heal every single person.
When he was at the pool that day, there were many there that were trying to get into the water, but he only healed one person. But it still shows us in all the healings that he has the capability to do that. And we look forward to the day when we will be in eternity that our deadly condition will be cured in all of our difficult conditions. The psalmist priests prophesied about this future time in Psalms 103. He forgives all your iniquities.
That’s the deadly condition. But he also heals all your diseases, the physical conditions that he can heal. He redeems your life from the pit. That’s the deadly condition that we need to be bought back from belonging to Satan so that we can serve the Lord in eternity. He crowns you with faithful love and compassion.
He satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like the eagle. It’s written in the present tense. Because when the Jews wrote prophecy down the way that God led it, sometimes they talk about something in the future and they word it as if it happened in the past, or they’re talking about the future and they word it as if it’s happening right now. And the reason why they say something in the future is worded in the past or the present is because in their mind, if God has promised it, they are absolutely certain. And the fact that it will happen someday is just as good as the fact that it’s already accomplished or it’s being done right now.
So it will be in the new creation. We will have all these things. Forgiveness, healing, redemption. We’ll have crowns. We will be satisfied with everything.
And we’re going to be renewed like the eagle. We’re going to end today. In Revelation, chapter one, which is a reiteration of what that day will be like, the new creation that we look forward to, John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven. And the first, first earth had passed away. And I heard a loud voice from the throne.
Look, God’s dwelling is with Humanity and He will live with them. They will be his people. God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more.
Grief, crying and pain will be no more. Because the previous things have passed away. We come to the end of the message and the question for you is, do you believe that God is Jesus, that Jesus is God and that the Father, the Son and the Spirit exist together as one? If you you don’t accept the deed of Jesus Christ, you need to re examine your heart and your mind so that it fits with scripture. The second thing is have you accepted Jesus cure for your deadly condition?
Have you placed your faith in him that he died on the cross, he was buried and he rose from the dead so that if you believe that you accept him, making him Lord of your life because scripture says says that you have to confess with your mouth that he is Lord, that you’re saying that he’s now my Master, because I understand that he’s God, then he takes care of that deadly sin condition. We also should rejoice and have hope and look forward to the promise of what things will be like. We’re going to do something a little different there. I’m going to ask you to bow your head. Mary’s going to come up and just play on the piano for a short time for you just to to think about the message and ask God, how do I need to respond to this today, Lord?
What do you want me to take away from this? Spend time in prayer, not only asking about it, but listen what he speaks to your heart.