How Jesus Operates In This World | Matthew 9:1-8 |. Pastor Neil McClendon

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church


How Jesus Operates In This World
Matthew 9:1-8

1. What Jesus see informs what He does, v. 2 & 4
2 Chronicles 16:9
2. What Jesus does is in response to faith, v. 2
Faith is...
• characterized by assurance and conviction, v. 1
• produces a sacrificial lifestyle, v. 4
• causes me to believe in God’s existence, v. 6
• empowers me to act out of keeping with culture, v. 7
• allows me to obey without knowing all the details, v. 8
• makes me believe beyond my circumstances, v. 11
• makes delayed gratification doable, v. 13-16
• allows me to make hard sacrifices, v. 17
• means I can speak future blessings over my children now, v. 20
• makes me capable of worshipping until my last breath, v. 21
Luke 18:8

3. Jesus starts with the biggest need, v. 2
4. Jesus came to change what we know, v. 3-8
Two things Jesus wants us to know...
a) Who I am- “Son of Man”
• Daniel 7:13-14
b) What I have the authority to do- “forgive sins”

Mental worship...
1. Does Jesus see enough faith in you to speak into your situation?
2. Can you discern between your loudest need and your biggest need?
3. How can people know that you understand what it means for your sins to be forgiven?
4. Is what you know about Jesus changing? If so, how?
5. What did you hear this morning that you need to chew on some more this week?

Be sure to follow us:

Instagram

Facebook

Youtube

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

If Jesus is really the Son of God, the Son of Man, He's the Messiah, think for a minute. If He really is, and He has authority on earth to forgive all the sins on earth, then why would you be forgiven and still feel guilty? That would be an insult to the sufficiency of the cross.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let me just acknowledge something. Sometimes we sing things and say things in church. Like, I don't think I would talk like that. Like Song of Ascent. What does that mean? In the Bible, there's a section in the book of Psalms there called their Psalms of Ascent, but they'd be climbing up a mountain, they would sing. And what we the Psalm we just sang basically says, God, sometimes we're climbing up a mountain, sometimes we're on the summit, we're on the peak of the mountain. It's a mountaintop experience. And look at me. And sometimes, God, we're walking through the valley. It's dark and there's not nobody's here with us. We feel alone. Today, Mother's Day is like that for a lot of women. Some are on the mountaintop. Woo! For some of you, it's the first Mother's Day without your mom. For some of you, it's just another day. Some of you, it's a reminder that your adult kids are off the reservation. And so wherever you are, I just want you to know that God says, Hey, I'm here with you. You're not alone. No one in this room may understand what it's like. And some of you may not want to be here. You're just here out of duty or obligation. I'm glad you're here. Some of you kids are here because your mom's, you ask your mom, what do you want for Mother's Day? And she said, I want you to go to church with me. And you're like, woo. How about a James Avery bracelet? I'm glad you're here. Look at me. God's not mad at you. Okay? He speaks a language you understand. Let me pray. Lord Jesus, thank you that you're not a God that wastes your life, your being going around being angry at people, but you are right. And you're merciful and you're graceful. And so uh condescend to us and help us to understand some things. We'll see in the Bible that you didn't come to flex up today on what you know and be a religious know-it-all. You came to say, Hey, I want to change what you know. I want you people to know some things about me because when you know things about me, it just increases that which you can enjoy in this life. And Lord, we want to enjoy more today as a result of having been here, been in your word. So, Holy Spirit, we need you to illuminate the scripture. Flip the light switch on today in our head and in our heart. Change what we think and what we feel. And as a result of that, may our capacity to enjoy God increase. This is our prayer, Lord. Comfort uh those who need comfort today and receive the joy of those who are celebrating. We're grateful on either end of the spectrum in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. You can have a seat. Have a seat. If you got a Bible, I'd like you to take it. Open up to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. If you're our guest, we're preachers in the book of Matthew. Uh, we leave it up to you to celebrate mom. We're gonna celebrate God here. Does that make sense? Say amen. Uh uh and so uh anyway, I want to talk to you about how Jesus operates in the world. How Jesus operates in the world. I told you that chapters, Matthew chapters eight, nine, and ten was about Jesus demonstrating all the things that he has authority over. And here in chapter nine, this first little part, he demonstrates the highest authority that he has, which belongs only to God, by the way, and that is the authority to forgive sin. So this highest authority, which belongs only to God, and that's gonna be the issue here. Uh, the story we're gonna read is in Matthew chapter 9, verses 1 to 8. It's also recorded in Luke's gospel and in Mark's gospel, and in those two, they they include the phrase that the people were like, who can forgive sins but God alone? And Jesus is like, that's a great point. I'm glad you brought that up because sometimes they couldn't see the forest before the trees, they couldn't see who was standing right in front of them. And so a lot of times we miss it because we do not understand how Jesus operates in this world. And so I want to read these eight verses and I'm gonna point to four things in the text. And so the Bible says this. Now, this is just what happened. Jesus kind of flexed up and exercised dominion and authority over some spiritual entities in the previous section. And the people were like, Okay, that's enough. Would you please leave this region? Don't leave this town. Get out of here, bro. You're freaking me out, all right? And so the Bible says this in verse 1, chapter 9, and getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought him a paralytic lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blasphemy. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, What do you think uh why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said, then said to the paralytic, Rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he rose and he went home. When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. Now that sounds great. The crowd saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. But that last part that who had given such authority to men, is one of the most insulting sentences in all of the Bible, okay? And we'll get to that towards the end. But I want to point to four things to help us better understand how Jesus operates in the world. And the first one is this what Jesus sees informs what he does. What Jesus sees informs what he does. Let me try to get at it like this. You ever pray for something and you're earnest and you say all the right things and you do all the right things and yet nothing happens? And you ever wonder why? Like, hey, what's up? I'm doing this and I'm doing that. It's not what you say that is the issue. What the issue is, is what does God see? Like you should ask yourself, does God see enough faith to really act in this situation? Does he see enough faith in me? Because it's very clear, Jesus, what Jesus sees informs what he does. And this is not a new thing that Jesus ushers in. God has always operated this way. Like there's a story in the Old Testament, in the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 16, where God sends a prophet to the king of Judah who is trusted in God, and they defeated these two huge armies, okay? And then the king of Judah was like, well, that would that was great back then. It's got kind of like people, hey, when I was nine, this whole God and Jesus thing was great, but I'm 22 now. I've kind of outgrown this. This is the way the king of Judah was. And God sent a prophet to say, Hey, bro, what are you doing? You trusted in God, okay? And now you're trusting in man. But here's the way I want you to see that this whole God looking and God seeing is not new. 2 Chronicles 16, 9 says it like this. He says, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. Hear that again. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support. See, what God is looking, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro about the whole earth. God is not looking to expose you, to find you doing something wrong. Oh, I know there's sinners here. Where are you? No, no. He's looking for people that he can support. He they to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards him. And what the prophet is saying to the king of Judah here in this context is hey, there was a point, there was a point when your heart was blameless towards God, but now you trusted in everybody and everything but God. And the eyes of the Lord are still running to and fro about the whole earth. And if we can just grasp what what the Bible says here. Now that there's there's two times, verses two and verses four, that the same Greek word is used, but it's used in a different context. The word is aura'o, or which means this. It means to see with the eyes or to see with the mind. You say, okay, I got the first one. I didn't get the second one. Let me show it to you. Look at verse 2. It says there, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. So Jesus sees their faith, and then what he does is in response to what he sees. And he says, Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. Here's this other part. This is seeing with the mind. And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blasphemy, but Jesus knowing their thoughts. That word it says, but Jesus uh uh knowing their thoughts, same Greek word, as he saw, or a ho. See, sometimes Jesus sees with his eyes and sometimes he sees with his mind. We'll come back to that later, but I just want you to understand, this is what I mean when I say what Jesus sees informs what he does. Now, uh sometimes we're praying and we're trying to get Jesus to do something, but but we're we're failing to acknowledge and recognize, hey, what Jesus does is in response to what he sees. So if you're praying prayers that are not being answered today, you should ask yourself, you should take, you know, Jesus, what do you see in me? And do you see enough faith in this situation to act in it in my circumstance? Because you can pray all day long. If you're not careful, you'll just give up and say this whole God thing isn't working. No, no, no. Maybe, just maybe, what Jesus is doing is he's kind of, hey, I'm looking. The Bible says right here, when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, okay? What Jesus sees informs what he does. So what did he see? He saw their faith, which brings us to the second thing I want you to see. What Jesus does is in response to faith. What Jesus does is in response to faith. Jesus sees it and he says what he says because of what he saw in these people. Oftentimes we ask God to do things, but we forget. He looks before anything, and if he doesn't see faith, he doesn't always act. This is why the text says, when he saw their faith. What sets God in motion is not our emotion, it's not our desperation, it's not even your unbelief. Uh I ask this question a lot in counseling with people. Uh and the question that I ask is real simple. Hey, what do you think motivates God? Especially if somebody is real emotive, which I'm not afraid of emotions. I think emotions are great, they're very expressive. But if somebody is angry or sad or crying or raising their voice or whatever, I just are there really expressing their unbelief. And it's sometimes some people think if I really express strong unbelief, then God's going to be obligated to come and do what I want because he wants me to believe in him. No, what what you when you misunderstand what motivates God, then you act out of a bad motive and you do not experience what you want to experience. So I just ask people, hey, what do you think kind of what motivates God? What sets God in motion? It's not your emotions, it's not our desperation, it's our faith. And to properly understand this, we have to realize that we can say what the Bible says. We can use the word faith and not mean what they mean. When a lot of people say faith, what they talk about is their their religious tradition or their or their preferred way of seeing the world. Uh, but they don't mean what the Bible says. And to understand this, here's a free homework assignment. About once a year, there's a chapter of the Bible called the kind of the hall of faith. It's Hebrews chapter 11 in the New Testament. And the reason it's called the Hall of Faith is it just lists all these things that people did because of their faith. It says, by faith, they did this. By faith, they did this, by faith, they did this. And so about once a year I go, I think there's 40 verses in there, and I try to just kind of write my own translation in modern-day language of what? I did it this past week. I didn't get to the I got to verse 21. I got so convicted I had to stop. And here's why, because I was like, man, I think their faith, if I'm calling my faith, because I got faith in the same God they do, why can I not do what they're doing? Does that make sense to anybody but me? Because I was just like, hello. I was like, I'm gonna get to all 40 verses. I got to 21. Now, by the way, I thought that was a really great accomplishment on my part until this weekend I met a young lady that said, Yeah, I'm writing down all the names in the Bible because I want to understand what they are and what they mean. And I'm like, excuse me? She said, Yeah, I'm writing down. Anytime I read in the Bible a name, I put it in my journal and I write out what it means. I said, How far have you gotten? She said, Genesis 5. I said, Pace yourself. You may be working on this when Jesus shows up. Be like, come on, we'll spend all eternity with this. I got 21 verses in, but here's the thing. I just write faith is, and then I kind of, in my own language, I transcribe what I think it means, what the verses mean from Hebrews 11, okay? Here's what I came up with. Faith is, first of all, it's characterized by assurance and conviction. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. It's characterized by assurance and conviction. So if I'm gonna say I'm a person of faith, I gotta have some assurance and I gotta have some conviction. It produces a sacrificial lifestyle. It causes me to believe in God's existence, it empowers me to act out of keeping with culture. This is where he talks about how Noah, warned by God, built the ark. And it hadn't rained. He's trying to, people are like, dude, what are you doing? He's like, well, God's gonna destroy the earth because humanity is so sinful. And I'm like, what do you mean it's gonna rain and flood? I don't know what you're talking about. And so this went on for a hundred years. He's building this thing. It's now on display in Kentucky if you haven't seen it, but no, okay. Anyway, and so it empowers me to act out of keeping with the culture. So, students, and everything, everything and everybody around you is moving on. You think you're you're missing out. No, you're not being punished, you're not missing out. Maybe you're not instead of being punished, you're being protected and you're being prepared. So you can act out of keeping with the culture. That's one of the things I wrote down. Here's another I wrote down, allows me to obey without knowing all the details. Makes me believe beyond my circumstances, makes me believe beyond my circumstances, makes delayed gratification doable. After I wrote that one down, I got mad at myself for writing it down because I love to get my way. Sure, it's just me. Allows me to make hard sacrifices. Here's one, it means I can speak future blessings over my children now. Yeah. It's talking about how Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. What do you mean, mom? Can you imagine this? This is a great Mother's Day gift. Speak future blessings over my children now. The next time your teenage daughter is just melting down and having an emotional fit and accusing you of being the worst mom in the world, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just go in her bedroom and say, Oh, babe, I am so excited. You're gonna be such a great mom when you remember all the dumb things you said to your mom. Or the next time your son comes home hammered drunk. I mean, your friends just dump him in the front, his friends dump him in the front yard, and dad, you gotta go out there and pick him up and take him upstairs in his bedroom and take his boots off. And he's like, Dad, I'm so sorry. You say, son, you're gonna be a great father because you're gonna understand depravity and sin in a way no one else does. Yes, you you got to change up your parenting game, okay? Stop giving lectures and just kind of speak a blessing over them and just say, hey, here's another one. Makes me capable of worshiping until my last breath. He talks about a man who worshiped leaning on his staff, and as he was dying, he blessed others. You see, what I want us to see this morning is that nothing moves Jesus to action like faith, but let's make sure not just the word faith, but the reality of faith, because sometimes what we call faith is just preference. For them, in the Bible, for us, a lot of times in America, faith is a noun. For them, faith was a verb. It acted upon them in such a way that it caused them to act upon the world around them in such a way that was really consequential. Here's the third thing I want us to see about how Jesus kind of moves in the world. Jesus starts with their biggest or what deepest need, their biggest or deepest need. Now get this in your mind. This is hard to envision, but here's a man who's paralytic, he's paralyzed. Okay? He he from best we can tell, he has never walked, okay? And so the Bible says this in verse 2. And so, and behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. And the paralytic said, Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right, right. What about me being able to walk, Jesus? Now, if you were paralyzed and Jesus said your friend, your sins are forgiven, wouldn't you be kind of offended? Some of you are like, this is a trick question. I'm not doing this. I would. If I'm duct taped to a stretcher and I hadn't walked, and Jesus is like, hey, your sins are forgiven. Thank you. How about breaking me off some legs, bro? Maybe that's just me. But see, here's the thing you gotta understand. Jesus comes to us and he relates to us out of our deepest need, not our loudest need. A lot of people relate to Jesus out of your loudest need, and it gets louder and louder and louder because you think by getting louder, Jesus is gonna answer you. And what Jesus is, the reason he's not answering you is because your loudest need is not your deepest need. And Jesus starts with your biggest or your deepest need. And when you confuse the two, you you kind of live in the state of confusion. It's not that Jesus can't or doesn't want to. Maybe you need to get still and just say, you know what? Jesus, is this really my deepest need? All right, because his from his perspective, the the the deepest need is spiritual, not physical. If you don't have things sorted spiritually, then getting healed physically, it's gonna be very destructive to you. It's important that you not miss what is happening. Jesus chooses to pronounce forgiveness before he performs restoration. It's kind of like an overview of all the eschatology of the Bible, the way this is gonna go down. Jesus comes, okay? He comes first to make an end to sin and then to restore all things. Uh and so oftentimes in counseling, I use this language, deepest need and loudest need. And people, whoo, people come in the door with their loudest need. I tell you what, my husband's not a spiritual leader. And if I could make the math work, I'd leave him and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Hear it a lot. Oh my, I tell you what, my wife, I did, I mean, she's not the same person I married, and blah, blah, blah. And I just say, hey, is this your deepest need or is this your loudest need? And they're like, what? Because here's how you know that something is your loudest need, and you're stuck there. Because you're really intense, but you don't really have long-lasting friendships because people can't stand to be around you. Because all you do is talk about your loudest need all the time. Like I work with a teenage girl right now. Pray for me.

unknown 18:13

Whoo!

SPEAKER_01 18:14

I mean, she comes guns ablaze. Last time I saw her, she walked in and sat down. I said, You want to fight? And she said, Excuse me. I said, You want to fight? You just want to go monoe mano. We start digging in. And she goes, I'm not scared of you. You better be. You better be. You don't know, you better ask somebody. That's not funny. And I said, Do you want to talk about your deepest need or your loudest need? And she goes, What do you mean my loudest need? Because if you get stuck in, and most people do, we get stuck in the realm of our loudest need. Here's how you know because people are drawn to you out of pity, and then they're repelled by you because they can't take it. Because it's all you talk about all the time. And it's like, for the love of God, would you shut up about this? And the reality is this is just your loudest need. Here's how you people begin to understand what their loudest needs are. Like, can you imagine your teenage daughter coming to you, mom, and just saying, hey, you know what? I was just up in my room texting my friends about a lie I was gonna come with come up with to manipulate you to get what I want. But that's my that's just my loudest need. My deepest need is to be trusted by you, mom. You women are like, Yeah, that's never gonna happen. But see, here's the thing when you get stuck in this place of your loudest need and you don't understand your deepest need, look at me, you always have this gnawing sense that something's missing. Because the paralyzed guy, Jesus could have said, Hey, bro, I see you're paralyzed, boom, get up and walk. And that guy could have still died and gone to hell. But Jesus always starts, he thinks and he moves on a deeper level. He starts with the biggest need or the deepest need. Because this is the this is the way everything's gonna come down. Jesus comes to make an end of sin, and then he's gonna restore all things, okay? Here's the last thing I want us to see in the text. Number four, Jesus came to change what we know. Now we're gonna pump the brakes and think a little bit here. I know it's Mother's Day. I should be talking about five ways to be an awesome mom. That's down the road somewhere. I'm sure you can get that. Uh but Jesus came to change what we know. Look at verse 3. He says, Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blaspheming. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Now, by the way, what do you mean he's blaspheming? He's professing to be able to do something, forgive sins that only God can do. Anybody that says to you, I don't care how what robe they wear, what religious tradition they're from, if they stand before you and say, I have the power to forgive you, that person's blasphemy. If it was true in the Bible, then it has to be true today. They said, This guy's blaspheming, but Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise and walk, but that you may know. Did you see the little twist there? Jesus, it says, knowing what was in their what was in their hearts. He sees with his mind, okay? And so they said, This man's blaspheming, but Jesus knowing their thoughts. Get that phrase. Look at verse 6. But that you may know that the Son of See, here's what I'm trying to get at. Look at me. Very simple. Jesus doesn't come to flex up on what he knows, he comes to increase what you know. Can you imagine having Jesus to your house for dinner tonight? He knows the mind of everybody in the room. You sit down and your kids are like, hey Jesus, read my mom's mail in front of all of us. He could do that. Because he knew things, he knew their mind. The Bible says right there, you're smart people. He said, They said, some of the scribes said to themselves, they just thought it. This guy's blasphemy. But Jesus, knowing, seeing with his mind their thoughts, he said, Why do you think evil in your heart? So at this point, they're like, Uh oh. Which is easier. To say do your sins are forgiven? By the way, that's the answer. Because you can say, how your sins are forgiven. Well, there's no outwardly identifiable. You should ask yourself today if you really want to think. How do the people around you know that you understand what it means that your sins are forgiven? Jesus says, Hey, which is easier, say your sins are forgiven, or say rise and walk, but that you may know. See, Jesus did not come just to demonstrate what he knows, he came to change what we know. And there's two things Jesus wants us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. And so, what what do what do you mean? I I don't understand this. Uh uh what he said, they this man. And they end in verse 8 by really insulting him. It ends with who uh they were afraid and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. Plural. It's it's anthropos, the Greek word. It means to human beings. So basically, they're glorifying God and insulting his son by calling him just a human being. You cannot be glorifying God and at the same time simultaneously insulting his son. Jesus says, Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. This is not set well with them because forgiveness is something that only God can do. Any man, any woman, any person who claims this capacity puts themselves in God's place and they commit blasphemy. That doesn't mean if it's the pastor, the pope, the priest, the imam, the rabbi, or the bishop. Did I cover all the realms? No man, any man that says, I have the authority, the capacity to forgive your sins. Now I can tell you the gospel and part of the gospel is that Christ died in your place for your sins. Therefore, you can be forgiven. That is the good news of Christianity. But look at me, I do not have the authority to say to you, oh, because if I do, I'm putting myself in God's place and I'm guilty of what the scribe said Jesus is guilty of. Does that make sense? Say amen. And so this is where people use religion to manipulate people since the 1400s. This is where so many people have a bad taste in their mouth. But there's basically just two things Jesus wants them and us to know. Number one, who I am. They called him a man, and he called himself the son of man. It's not a play on words. It's over 80 times in the Gospels Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. It's his favorite distinction. Like Mark 10, 45 says, For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So we've got to understand when Jesus says, Who I am, why does he call himself the Son of Man? Here's why. Way back in the Old Testament, book of Daniel, chapter 7, about verse 13, uh the Daniel had this prophet has a vision. He has a dream. And in this thing, he has a vision of what's going to come. I'll just read it to you. He says in Daniel 7, he says, I saw the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Sound familiar? And of the increase of his government there will be no end? His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed. And so what Jesus is saying when he refers to himself as the Son of Man, I know it's kind of egg-headed, and it'll just stay with me. Here's why Jesus calls himself the Son of Man. He's saying to these people, I'm the fulfillment of the promise God made way back in Daniel. I'm the Messiah. I'm not just a man. I'm going to take it up to the next level. I'm going to level up here. I am the son of man. And the Bible says, and they glorified God. Really? Can you glorify God by while at the same time insulting his son? So you got to understand something about the Trinity if you're not going to miss what's being said here. All right? Now let me give credit where credit is due. There's a guy, he grew up Muslim, his name is Nabil Quraishi. Nabil Quraishi, he wrote a book. He grew up Muslim. He wrote a book called Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Because what he wanted to do was, he said, I want to lean into my Muslim faith. I want to really understand who Allah is. What Allah is. And in that process, he came to faith because he discovered the Jesus of the Bible. Fascinating book. The price of the book is worth this one part here because in Muslim tradition, what he grew up in, he was told Christians believe in three gods: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And he looked into it and he started exploring that. He's like, How do I explain this? Okay. Now, here's why this is a big deal, okay? God is one in being and three in person. Just stay with me. God, because you will get asked this by a Muslim if they find out you're a Christian. They'll say, Well, why do you believe in three gods? And you'll be like, uh, because I went to church on Mother's Day, and I was expecting five steps to be a better mother, and I got something about the Trinity. Yes. Yes. See, God is one in being and three in person. Well, what's the difference? A being is that which makes you what you are. A being, say with me, is that which makes you what you are. A person is that which makes you whom you are. You say, what do you mean? What I am is a human being. Who I am is Neil McClendon. Like, for example, everybody in this room, every one of us in this room is a human being. Yes or no? But we're all different persons, yes or no? Yes. Look at the person next to you and be like, I'm so glad I'm not you. Yes. We're all human beings, but we are different people. God is one being, but three in person: Father, Son, and Spirit. And you cannot be glorifying the Father. You say, Well, why are you making a big deal out of this? Because it says, and he the paralyzed guys got up, went home, and the crowd saw it. They were afraid of the glorified God who had given such authority to human beings. You can't get it right about God and get it wrong about Jesus. They're one. We use the word Trinity, it's not in the Bible. It's just a word we use to help kind of explain. We don't have three different gods. It's one God. This God is one in being and three in persons. Now, why do you dwell so hard on that this morning? Because if you don't grasp who Jesus is, then you cannot grasp what he has the authority to do. So if he's not God, if he's not part of the Trinity, the Godhead, this God who is one in being and three in person, if Jesus is not that, then you've got a bigger problem. Where and how do you get forgiveness? Because verse 6, Jesus is really saying this simple thing. He says, But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Someone asked me recently, he said, Hey, I know you can't, um, what's that thing called? I said, What, where you can't like like like tell people stuff. Oh, yeah, it's called clergy lady confidence. Uh yeah, and I said, if I got subpoenaed into a courtroom, they could not make me testify about what I know about you. And then the guy goes, Have you ever been subpoenaed? I said, Actually, I have. I was in one yard one time, and the server got out and said, Excuse me, sir, I'm so sorry. I understand you're a pastor. I said, That's okay, I won't be there. And he said, You gotta be there tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. I said, I won't be there. I said, I'll I'm gonna invoke clergy lady confidence. And he's like, I'm so sorry, dude. I'm just I said, Hey, you're not doing anything wrong, okay? Let me pray for you. Come here. And he's like, the processor is like, You want to, yeah, I want to pray for you. I think you get cussed out, shot, I've been shot at. I said, Would you like something cold to drink? He's like, What do you got? So I prayed for him and seen him on his way. And he's getting in his car. He said, So you're not cut, I'm not coming. I uh I'm not coming. See, why? Because, see, Jesus says, if you understand who I am, then you understand what I have the authority to do. And when you you like one of the questions I ask people a lot in counsel when they're especially crying, they're real emotional, and they're like, I'm such a sin, there's no way God can forgive me. I'm like, tell me what you under what you believe to be true about Jesus Christ. What's it got to do with my situation? Because the way you act, the way you act and talk, it sounds like Jesus is not really God. He doesn't have the power and the authority to forgive you because he wasn't really God. He was like a high school guidance counselor who just gave you his best advice and said, good luck, wrote cheesy things in the back of your yearbook. Well, I'm not saying that, but you act like that. This kid says to me, he was a young man, he's like 22. He goes, So what's the worst thing you've ever heard? I said, I can't tell you. Because it's been in the news. I said, but I could tell you stories that people are just like, hey, never use my name, but yeah. And he's like, oh man, come on, tell me something. I said, here's what I'll tell you. Everything I've heard, Jesus took upon himself on the cross. He goes, Well, that's not very exciting. I said, You don't understand the cross. Everything I've heard. That's why I said, here's the beauty of that. That's why I'm not judgmental, believe it or not. Look at me. I'm passionate, but I'm not judgmental. There's nothing you can tell me in confidence that's going to change my mind about you. Here's why. I believe Jesus was the Son of God. And I think He has the authority to forgive sins. This is what verse 6 is about. That's why Jesus says, but that you may know. Again, Jesus didn't come to flex up and say, look at all I know. He says, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority. Jesus is the Messiah, and he has the authority on earth to forgive sins. And you say, Well, I don't get the big deal. Let me tell you this and we'll be done, okay? Because there's only one God in this world, and he alone has the authority to forgive sins, this is why we're always talking about having a relationship with this God. Not just believing in, but knowing in a personal way. It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of experience. So you have to ask yourself today, do I have a relationship with my guilt, or do I have a relationship with Jesus? Because apparently I say crazy things in counseling. Because somebody said to me, like last was it, yeah, last month, they said, you know, I'm just super guilty. You know what I mean? I said, actually, I don't. And the person said, excuse me, come again. You kept saying, you're kind of making these inferences, like, hey, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? Like, and you said, you know, like guilt, you know what I mean? I said, I I don't. I I don't have I don't have guilt. I don't feel guilt. I don't live in guilt. I have conviction, which prompts me to do something, but if you're living in guilt, it's because you've not followed up on conviction. And she's like, can you write that on the board? I said, sure. This is a little diagram. Yes. Because if Jesus, and think of your smart people, I know it's Mother's Day and you're gonna go to brunch at the Golden Corral. Because you're cheap and you hate your mother, why don't you just sneak in a 40 of malt liquor and have chicken wings while you're there? But enough about my high school experience. Anyway, look at me. If Jesus is really the Son of God, the Son of Man, he's the Messiah, think for a minute. If he really is, and he has authority on earth to forgive all the sins on earth, then why would you be forgiven and still feel guilty? That would be an insult to the sufficiency of the cross. This lady looked at me and she goes, So you're telling me. I'm like, what is this? Are you a gymnast? We're gonna have a source. You're telling me that you do not feel guilt. If I feel guilt, it's because I've not followed through on conviction. And if you feel guilt today, it's either because you don't have a relationship with God, you're just trying to be more religious. Either you don't have a relationship with God, or you've not followed through when God's convicted you. But I will tell you this, and I'm done. Jesus did not do everything he did just so you could be a more religious person. The last thing the world needs is more religion and religious people. The one thing the world needs is people who have a relationship with God where they understand. Because this is what Jesus says in verse 6. You're smart people, but that you may know. Jesus did not come just to flex up on what he knows, he came to change what you and I know. And when you know these things, you live in freedom. This is what Christianity is all about. It's not about trying harder, being more religious, being more miserable. A lady said to me, So, I mean, I just give me, I just, oh my gosh. She started digging in her purse. I said, What are you doing? She goes, I'm looking for a gummy. Well, fine two, and I'll go with you on this little trip. She goes, Are you serious? I said, I'm just kidding. How powerful are they? Uh and she's like, So, you do not feel guilt. I said, God, I took it the next level. I said, God loves me way too much to just stick me in guilt for the rest of my life. He convicts me so I can walk in freedom. And she's like, I want to follow up this next. I said, absolutely. And here's why. Because right here, verse 6, so you may know Jesus is the Son of Man, that the Son of Man, He's the fulfillment of, he's the Messiah, has authority on earth to forgive sins. That means that everyone in this room, regardless of what you've ever done, you can be forgiven because Jesus is the Son of God. Okay? Let's pray together. If you're our guest today, relax. We just like to teach the Bible what it actually says, and we give you some space to think about it. So just take a minute and just Clyde's gonna play for like a minute. We want to get you out of here, let you get on the rest of your day. So questions come on the screen. You can take a picture of your phone or whatever. But right now, just ask yourself, God, what I have my name on this morning. What do I walk away and think about? Let's just think about that. God, we're so thankful we have songs like that to sing to remind us that we're not here in this world to win arguments. We don't need another argument. We don't need another plea. Because what we know is that it's enough that Jesus died and he died for me. I don't have to live in guilt. I can be forgiven, I can be free. Holy Spirit, would you just press that in on us today? This is our prayer. Make it our experience in Jesus' name, what everyone said. Amen, amen, amen.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Thank you for listening to this message. Be sure to give us a five-star rating in review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our circling back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.