Repentance is a change of mind and heart which produces changes in a person’s life and lifestyle. I believe that genuine repentance is a gift of God, not something that sinners can create on their own. Nowhere in the scripture’s presentation of the gospel is there a statement like: “repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the language of the evangelist, and there may – or may not – be anything wrong with it, depending on what he means. Certainly there is no demand that the sinner must be sinless and Christlike before the Lord will save him. On the other hand, there are scriptures which command specific people or groups to repent of their sins. But those verses are not given in a gospel context. If you are living some lie and committing sins like fornication, theft, gossip, idolatry or hatred – repent. You need a change of heart about such things; you need to agree with God about such wickedness. The message of Christ and John the Baptist was “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” And towards the end of his life, Paul summarized his ministry as, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” I am persuaded that people who are truly born again, are given a change of heart towards God – towards the things God loves and towards the things that God hates – sin. I believe that if a person is not willing to make Christ the Lord of his life, with a willingness to give up his sins, then he is probably not saved. And if a person is does not display the fruit of repentance, then he shouldn’t be considered a Christian.
There are no scriptures which say, “Thy repentance hath saved thee, go and sin no more.” But there are several which read “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” Later here in Matthew 9, we read, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” There are several scriptures with Christ making declarations like this. I may be getting ahead of myself, because those words are not to be found in our text for this morning, but it is about faith that I’d like to speak this morning.
A couple months ago, I pointed out that FAITH SECURES THE PRAISE OF THE LORD.
Remember when the Roman Centurion sought the blessing of the Lord for his sick servant. Explaining his faith, he said that it was based on authority – and in this case – divine authority, Christ “marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” The word “marveled” means to “admire, or look with wonder at something.” When people looked on Christ they often marveled, admired and wondered. “Never man spake like this man” – because He was no mere man; He was God incarnate. Others said of Christ, “No man can do the works that thou doest except God be with him.” The disciples, more than anyone, else “marveled” at the Lord Jesus. Despite the fact that it is impossible to surprise deity, twice that word is used to describe Jesus’ opinion. And in both cases where Jesus marveled at people in reference to their faith.
There comes a time in the life of very little boy when he sees a little girl and wants to attract her attention. He used to employ feats of boyish daring – walk on top of a picket fence; balance a glass of water on his forehead. There once was day when it didn’t take much attract the attention of little girls. But sometimes little boys found that they earned disgust instead of admiration through such things. And let it be said – boys, if you have resort to sin or stupidity to draw the eyes of girls, the only girls you will attract are stupid sinners. If you want to draw the best – be the best; If want respect of righteous people – be righteous. The only person you’ll allure by acting like a fool is a fool.
So what might we do to attract the attention of the Son of God? If you say, “I’ll clean all the sin out of my life; I’ll live perfectly, righteously, sinlessly….” remember that there were hundreds of such people in Israel in Jesus’ day – the Pharisees – and He barely gave them a glance. Because the whole idea is a Satanic lie. There is no sinner, without the omnipotent, miraculous grace of God, who can cease to be sinful, or even to radically cut down on his sinfulness. Similarly, despite the importance of scriptural baptism, you will not find Christ praising or marveling at the fact that someone has been baptized. You might memorize a thousand verses of scripture, but you’ll not find Christ praising such a feat. It’s not that this a waste of time or an evil thing to do – it is highly praise-worthy. But the scriptures don’t speak of such things as really impressing God or earning the Lord’s praise. Similarly, God commends kindness, hospitality, generosity and such things, but never in a gospel context.
There is only one thing in a lost person which draws the interest and wonder of Christ – his faith.
If I might say so without blasphemy, FAITH ENCOURAGES THE LORD INTO ACTION.
Verse 2 – “And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”
Consider a silly question for a moment – Who made Jesus – the Christ? Was He elected to that office through the popular vote of the people of Israel? Was He appointed “Messiah” by the powers of the Sanhedrin? Jesus is the Christ – the anointed of God – by the authority of the Triune God. As such, even though the Son of God came into the world to accomplish some important things, He was indebted to no man on earth.
So the Lord healed several people during his few months of earthly ministry. We know very little about most of the crippled people whom He healed. All we know about the man who was dropped into Christ’s presence that day was that he had been crippled by palsy. I hope that I’m not putting too much stress on the language, but it appears that some specific disease had taken away his ability to walk – a terrible, yet a God-permitted disease. Has there ever been anyone who became angry with God for a disease, or an accident, or an “act of God” which took his health, or his wealth, or the life of a loved one? There have been millions of such people. But this man who was brought to Christ by his friends apparently held no animosity toward Jehovah. And there is no indication that he believed that God owed him anything more than what he had.
It is true – God owes us nothing; God owes you absolutely nothing. If you had a brain aneurism this afternoon and you instantly died, such a tragedy wouldn’t give you a free pass to Heaven because your believe that God could have spared you. If your son was born with epilepsy, the Lord certainly could have prevented it, but just because He didn’t that doesn’t mean that He owes you blessings to offset that curse. If during that snowy winter of 2008-09 the roof over your business caved in and brought you into bankruptcy, it was not the fault of God. God created our first Father, Adam as an innocent individual, and so was Eve when she came along. When those two chose sin over sinless fellowship with the Lord, God’s entire creation became cursed. All the sad, bad, evil and devilish things which take place in this world are the result of sin or the curse which sin has brought upon us. And then there is the fact that man has been choosing sin almost constantly every day since. God owes us nothing but His wrath for sin – and our sins.
When this man’s friends lowered him down before the Lord, it was in the hopes – not the demand – of a blessing. Earlier, that man might have tried many things to overcome his paralysis, but nothing had worked. He might have visited doctors and witch-doctors. He might have sent ambassadors to the Temple on his behalf – or to heathen high places. He might have tried different things to impress the Lord – certainly a lot of people attempt such things. He might have sent special offerings to the priests, or letters to the Sanhedrin. He might have tried religious bribery and made religious promises as so many others have done. Whatever might have been done in the past, when the Lord Jesus was in town, he and his friends came to him with nothing in their hands or hearts but faith. As we saw last week, it was a faith which passed the test of delay and obstruction.
And what was it that he received? It was what we all need – grace. If Christ had said, “Go home you’ll find your barrel of meal and your pot of oil perpetually full,” that would have been a gift of grace. If the Lord had promised that this man’s children would grow up to become great, it would have been a gracious thing to do. Did that man deserve to be healer, or more importantly, to have his sins forgiven? There is not a man on the face of the earth who deserves such a thing. But the Lord, for reasons entirely His own, responded to the faith of these five men, and both healed and forgave that man of his sins. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.” Were there also special blessings on the man’s four friends? I don’t know.
What does faith do? IT OPENS SOME VERY SPECIAL DOORS.
Please listen to Ephesians 3:14-17 – “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…”
There are a lot people in this world who have no place in my heart. There are some powerful political leaders for whom I have no affection whatsoever. And there are a great many religious leaders who are just as excluded. There are billions of people whom I have never met. Ah, but there are others who reside there, and who have for many years. I can say that of most of you, because I have known you for years – you have grown on me. And of course, my children and grandchildren reside there in my heart. Judy Lynn Price took up residence there nearly fifty years ago. How did my family earn that spot in my life? They dwell in my heart by love. Nothing that they can do can extricate them from that warm abode within me. But it must be understood that it is not by faith that they reside there. I’ve learned that they are sinners just like I am, and not always completely reliable. Although I have a kind of faith in them, it’s not pure faith or Biblical faith. Love granted them entrance into my heart.
But Christ Jesus dwells there along with them – and He is there first by faith. It is not that I don’t love the Lord Jesus, because I most certainly do. He who has been forgiven much, usually loves much as well. But there is a sense in which Jesus refuses to enter just any heart – it is His choice not ours. He has never said that if he finds enough love in a man’s heart, He will make some kind of royal entry. This is because every human love is tainted by sin, and Christ hates sin. You are a sinner and that is ease to prove by your love. Ask yourself what sort things have you loved throughout the years. Has there ever been anything that you’d be ashamed to say that you once loved? Beer, marijuana, Playboy magazines, partying, gambling, whatever? Even love is tainted by sin, until Christ cleanses it with His blood.
No, the Lord doesn’t look for love before He enters a human heart – faith is key which unlocks that door.
Faith puts people into VERY SPECIAL COMPANY.
How many people did the Lord miraculously heal during his forty-two month ministry? There are quite a few mentioned in God’s Word, and undoubtedly there are a lot more not mentioned. “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Notice that these verses from John 20 take us right back to our original theme – faith in Christ. “That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Christ healed many people – but only a few dozen are mentioned in the Bible. You could say that they became a part of a very elite group of people – they were very special.
Each of those people, whether directly true or not, illustrate an even more important group. When Paul was describing his salvation and call to the ministry in Acts 26, he quoted the Lord Jesus – “Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are SANCTIFIED by faith that is in me.” The word “sanctified,” which Jesus used, means “to set apart unto God, to sanctify, to consecrate, to make holy.” In one way the formerly paralyzed man became part of a select, set apart group of people. And I believe that in another way, he became one of the saints of God – sanctified and made holy by the grace and power of God. Please notice that in both Acts 26 and Matthew 9 faith played a pivotal part of that sanctification. “Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”
In Philippians 3 Paul describes himself and his Jewish heritage. “I have much to commend me. I am of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I was a Pharisee, zealous, self-righteous, as touching the law – blameless.” “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the RIGHTEOUSNESS which is of God by faith.”
Please listen to me this morning, the Bible says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. There is a sense in which holiness and Paul’s use of the term “righteousness” are closely related. We might say that the Bible teaches that without the right kind of “righteousness” no man shall see God. But it also says that all our own personal righteousnesses are as filthy rags before the holy God. They are nothing but filthy, puss-filled, stench drenched rags before the Lord. We must, we must have a righteousness which can cover our sinfulness and even our self-righteousness. Clearly that righteousness can be found no where else but in Jesus Christ the Saviour. “HE is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” These things are found in Him and not us.
How and where can I ever receive this gift of grace – this righteousness? What did Paul say? “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” There is no such thing as earning grace – for then the gift becomes a debt. There is no buying grace, embezzling it, or stealing it or even borrowing it. We cannot repent ourselves enough to earn the gift of God’s righteousness. In fact, for most people, the more they repent the more self-righteous they become. If Ray Comfort teaches that sinners must completely give up their sins before they can be saved, then he is indeed an heretic.
On the other hand, there is no forgiveness of sins in naked faith. All the faith in the world could not have healed this man of his paralysis. Faith in itself alone is nothing. But by faith, the man and his friends reached out toward the Saviour. There was the key – the Saviour. To be healed of your spiritual palsy, your wicked sinfulness before God, you must reach out toward Christ Jesus – by faith. You must trust that Christ died on the cross, bearing your sins as He bled and died. From our human perspective, to become a Christian, a child of God, a saint of the Lord is as simple as scriptural faith. There are no required feats of magic, no conquering of Everest or going over Niagra in a kayak. It takes nothing more than simple – humble – repentant – faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever lasting life.” “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live.”
To receive forgiveness of sin and to become a new Creature in Christ all that is required is scriptural faith. Ah, but the subject of faith has been as abused as the person of Jesus Christ himself. “His visage was so marred more than any man” – Isaiah 52:14. He was beaten bloody; there was blood and bruises covering his face. His eyes were swollen, his hair disheveled and in places yanked out. “He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Just as the Saviour was beaten almost beyond recognition, faith in the Saviour been abused as well. Faith has been stripped of its shadow – in the light of God’s word everything has a shadow. Faith and repentance are indivisibly linked. Scriptural faith involves scriptural repentance as much as there are both heads and tails on a coin. When a sinner is saved, there will be an empty brokenness, a humble emptiness, a change of heart about God coupled to that person’s faith in Christ. If the Holy Spirit hasn’t broken your wicked spirit, then I believe that your faith is not of the Biblical variety. Sinners, to be saved, must repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. These things are illustrated in coming of this palsied man to Christ – helpless and completely hopeless – without any leg to stand on.
Have you come to Christ in this way?