Message of Grace

Luke 5:17-26:

“One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
“The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
“Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.
“Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

The man had come seeking relief from physical paralysis, but God often grants to man more than he asks. The declaration of Jesus implies divine understanding of the human heart and of the deepest needs and possibilities of man, even as it implies possession of the highest authority and power of heaven.
Jesus knew that such a declaration would bring upon Him the fierce denunciation of His enemies seated in the midst. Controversy was sure to result from such an assumption of divine prerogatives by Jesus.

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

Jesus demonstrates his mission and his character in these actions: Make whole those who are broken: Physically and Spiritually; liberate those captives, set them free. Darrel Bock rightly notes, “Today we tend to leave sin out of the health equation, seeing it primarly as a matter of chemicals and biology.” But Jesus treats the entire person. Perhaps we should be even more concerned to announce in our messages the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name before we are ready to announce all the physical, biological stuff. I think it is imperative in our announcments of God’s grace that we announce to people that Jesus will deal with the sin our lives first. Grace deals with the whole person, starting from the inside and working its way to the outside.

Jesus Heals Many Sick at Evening

Luke 4:40-41:

40 When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ

Verse 40 tells us that once sunset occurred, those with sick friends or relatives arrived so that our Lord could heal them, too. Sunset is mentioned there because it signified the end of the Sabbath. Observant Jews then as now do not carry or operate anything on that day. Once the Sabbath is over, life resumes as normal for another week. Therefore, these Jews carrying the sick people to Jesus were observing Jewish law by doing so after the Sabbath had ended at sunset.

Note that Jesus healed all who were brought to Him (verse 40).
Some of these people had demons which came out when He laid hands on or spoke to them (verse 41). Once again, Jesus rebuked the shrieking demons; He wanted nothing to do with them. He also did not want to converse with them lest people get the idea that He was conspiring with them, although the Pharisees would later throw this accusation at Him

He cured all that were sick, poor as well as rich, and though they were sick of divers diseases; so that there was no room to suspect that he had only a specific for some one disease. He had a remedy for every malady. The sign he used in healing was laying his hands on the sick; not lifting up his hands for them, for he healed as having authority. He healed by his own power. And thus he would put honour upon that sign which was afterwards used in conferring the Holy Ghost.

 

In his sermon John MacArthur lists six characteristics of Jesus’s healings. These are sometimes referred to as ‘creative miracles’ because they fundamentally altered a person’s being. These characteristics are as follows (the sermon elaborates further on each):

First, Jesus healed with a word or a touch…on some occasions He did both …

Secondly, He healed instantly…

Thirdly, Jesus healed totally …

Fourthly, Jesus healed everybody…

Fifthly, He healed organic disease …

And sixthly, Jesus raised the dead …

Jesus Heals Peter's Mother-in-Law

Luke 4:38-39:

And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. [39] And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

What’s so significant about the words of Luke? To get the picture we must remember that Luke was a doctor.

Luke reports this with amazement. He writes that Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a (literally, mega fever) high fever. Luke knew what a high fever meant and the seriousness of it. No matter how high her fever was Jesus could cure her.

Then, only as a doctor could do, Luke goes on and shows Jesus taking a doctor’s position by standing over the patient. I wonder how long He stood there. I wonder what Jesus was thinking? We’re not told much except He spoke a word and the sickness left. With the command, the fever left.
The cure was sudden, the fever left her immediately. In other words, she didn’t lie in bed for hours as her fever became less and less, it left immediately.

The cure was also complete; she wasn’t totally exhausted after being bed ridden with a high fever. All her symptoms associated with a fever immediately vanished and her strength was returned to her.
I want to take a moment to look at what Jesus did here in this text. He rebuked the fever.

First of all, that sounds somewhat odd. I mean if someone is ill there is either a virus or some other biological cause for the sickness. Fever is a symptom of the fact that there is some sort of infection within the body causing the body to respond with a higher than normal temperature to rid itself of the virus or whatever.

Numerous times in the New Testament Jesus rebukes unclean spirits and they are cast out. With the rebuke in almost every case, the spirit is told to be silent and come out. Literally, be muzzled and come out. A muzzle, as you know, is something you put on a vicious dog so it can’t bark and won’t bite. Jesus was muzzling demons and causing them to be controllable. Luke places this account in the midst of Jesus’ work with demon possessed people to show that in the same way that He silences demons and removes them He also, silences the foreign substance in the people and cast it out. By the power of His Word the virus is rendered powerless and immediately removed and that same Word restores the sick person to health. They didn’t need a follow-up visit to the doctor, they were completely healed.

Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

Luke 4:31-36:

31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"35"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. 36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!"  

Jesus is ministering and is confronted with a person who has been affected by an evil spirit. Now, this person did not say that he had an evil sprit. It was the discernment of Jesus that made Him understand what He was dealing with. While demons still exist today, and still affect people today, evil appears in many more forms.

Evil can be experienced in the form of: self-destructive thought patterns, addictions, other people, difficult circumstances, heavy temptations, entertainment in its many forms and the list goes on and on.

Jesus teaches up that there is still hope in this world for defeating the evil in our world. Evil is real, and Satan doesn’t want you to know that: Jesus still conquers evil! The way Jesus conquered evil then is how Jesus conquers evil today.