Title: Seeing Their Faith / Luke 5:18-26
Look at the belief in the content
Luke 5:18-26, Hebrews 11:6
Today's sermon is the story of Jesus healing a paralytic. Some people hear about Jesus and bring a paralytic to them. But there were so many people that they could not come to Jesus. At that time, they did not give up, but went up to the roof, pierced the roof, put the paralyzed man on a bed, and lowered him down in front of Jesus. This is the story of Jesus seeing their faith and healing the sick man.
The most important word in this verse is 'look at their faith'. I didn't say I saw their dedication. You didn't say that you saw their hard work. I did not say that I saw their zeal. There was devotion, hard work, and zeal in their actions. But Jesus did not see it. You saw their faith that made it so.
There is a misconception that faith is not works. Of course, salvation does not come by works. Receive by faith. But true faith must have works. Therefore, faith without works is dead faith, and dead faith is without faith.
Living in a busy world has created the illusion of modern Christians. If you hear good things, you are mistaken for being a good person. When you hear the gracious word, you are mistaken for being a gracious person. When you hear the word of God, you are mistaken for becoming a man of God. Of course, faith begins by hearing the Word. However, 'to hear' means 'to obey', not to hear with the ear. Listening and not doing is the same as not listening. In fact, it can be worse than not hearing. Faith is an action, not a hearing. So, faith without works is dead faith.
What is 'their faith' that Jesus saw? Faith in action. The four people (Mark 2:3) work together to bring a man who is unable to move because of an incurable disease and decides to bring him to Jesus. They come running with the patient on a stretcher, cooperating with each other. But because there are so many people, we cannot come to Jesus. They seem to give up here, but they make a new decision again. It was decided to go up on the roof and drill through the roof. It looks amazing.
People want to have faith, and even those who have faith cannot act because they cannot break through the walls that block that faith. In the face of obstacles, problems, temptations, and greed that stand in the way, we sink helplessly. There are some people who are not courageous because of their face. Others are hurt by the bad image of a believer and quit. Others give up without breaking through the wall of laziness. These are all walls of people. You must have the courage to break through the walls of these people before you can meet Jesus.
You will also encounter walls of the environment. If you try to start a life of faith in a family without faith, persecution may come. In some cases, work or economic conditions are not suitable for a religious life. The weakness of the body can become a wall. But any wall will fall down like Jericho if you have faith to go to the Lord.
There is also a wall of sin. There are people who have a willing heart, but are weak in the flesh, unable to make a decision and fall into the temptation of sin. This sin eventually builds up a high wall with God, making it impossible to meet the Lord. If you make up your mind and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit while praying, you will surely fall apart.
In the text, these five men with the sick ran in faith, but people blocked them and walls blocked them, so they could not come to Jesus. However, no wall could stop this paralyzed man's earnestness and the zeal of the servants who wanted to help him. They went up to the roof and pierced the roof.
Suddenly, debris began to fall from the top of Jesus' head, who was speaking, and gradually cracked, small holes were drilled, and the holes gradually widened, and people began to appear on them. At that time, the roof of a Jewish house was a type of roof that was made of large wooden beams, cut down a calm tree, and then covered with earth. That's why it was possible to break through the roof. A stretcher runs down from an ever-widening hole in the ceiling. From above, four people are sweating profusely and pulling the rope down. Finally, the paralytic was placed before Jesus.
In fact, even Jesus must have been surprised. Was it common for the roof to be punctured? But their appearance touched the heart of Jesus. That's why he said, 'He saw their faith'. Because without faith, these actions cannot occur. In fact, this miracle is more precious and greater in the faith of the four men who brought him than the faith of the sick man himself. It was these people who heard the news, and it was these people who brought the sick. The zeal to climb to the roof belonged to them, and the devotion that worked together through the roof belonged to the four people. He became one with faith and devoted himself to his brother.
I hope that you will become saints who live a life of service in the name of the Lord in any way. The service of the saints is not an act of giving something back. I don't do it because I have spare time, or because I have a little more, or because I feel pity for those in need. Serving of faith is for Jesus' sake and toward Jesus.
?촇 love my brother because of Jesus.
I love my sisters because of Jesus.
Because of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. ??
We do it not because we have time, but because of Jesus. I do it because Jesus is my Lord. Serving is to be grateful for the grace I received from the Lord and to use my little devotion to do things that please the Lord. It is the service of faith that we do while apologizing for not being able to do more to God. It is the service of faith to do while being ashamed of being able to do only this. If you don't serve like that, you will do things that you shouldn't be doing as if you were doing it with all your heart. If you are arrogant after working, quit if you have time, or do less work if you have time, you do it because you do not know the service of faith. This kind of behavior occurs because we act as if we have compassion for God. God doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. In the service of the four men who break through the roof, we see true devotion.
Jesus said to the sick man who came down through the ceiling.
"Your sins are forgiven."
How did you say this? Are you saying that you came to Jesus after a lot of hard work to heal the paralytic, and that he did not heal you, but that your sins were forgiven? At that time, there was a trend in which people with incurable diseases were condemned by God, so the sick were experiencing double suffering. It was the pain of being physically ill, the mental pain of being paid the price for sin. This is the word that unlocks it. Perhaps, in fact, this person has been in a bad sin for a long time and then has become ill with an incurable disease. He may have felt remorse for the sins this man had committed in the past and feared that Jesus might turn away from a bad man like him. However, the forgiveness of sins that Jesus 'seeing their faith' may have been a gift of grace. But in any case, Jesus took the burden of this man's sins away. Seeing that faith, He proclaimed grace, 'Your sins are forgiven.'
If Jesus stopped there, people might think he was just talking empty words. Jesus said.
?쏧 tell you, get up, take your bed and go home.??
The word of the Lord is power. That power goes out through the channel of faith. The paralyzed man jumped out of his bed at the command to get up, take your bed and go home. He was amazed, the people next to him, and the people who served the four were astonished. He came by faith, but the miracle surprised everyone. It was the first time I'd seen anything like this, and I was amazed (26).
There are two kinds of grace we receive from the Lord in our faith life. The first is the grace of the forgiveness of sins. This grace is the most fundamental grace. When we pray for forgiveness for the sins of disobeying God, the sins of not living according to the Word, and the weaknesses of not acting according to our faith, we experience the profound grace of forgiveness. Without this experience of grace, all other beliefs and actions are empty. It is from such an empty faith that a kind devotion to God comes out. True worship, service, devotion, and hard work come out of this experience of the grace of forgiveness of sins.
The second is the grace of life. There are various necessities in our life, there are problems to be solved, and there are burdens to bear. Sometimes it's clogged, sometimes it's difficult. So we desperately need the Lord's guidance and help. This is why we always pray. When we pray, we believe that the Lord gives us abundant grace even in this kind of life.
These two graces are the Lord's grace to this paralytic. The first is, 'Your sins are forgiven.' The second is, 'Get up, take your bed and go home.' The first is that the problem of the soul has been solved, and the second is that the problem of the body has been solved. And the key word of that grace is 'Looking at their faith'.
Without faith it is impossible to please God
He who comes to God must know that he is
He must also believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6
I bless you that you will become blessed saints who always come to the Lord with true faith in the presence of God who sees faith.
.