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| Matthew 9:2-8 |
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Lesson # Matt. 9:2-8 Study Material - Matt. 9:2-8 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Matt. 9:2-8 2 And behold, they were bringing to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, 'Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven.' 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, 'This fellow blasphemes.' 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, 'Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 'For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, and walk'? 6 'But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins'-- then He said to the paralytic-- 'Rise, take up your bed, and go home.' 7 And he rose, and went home. 8 But when the multitudes saw this, they were filled with awe, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men. Three things should always be in your mind. The focus on the soul is the first. The soul is the vessel of your human life (not your physical body). That is important to note. Many people concentrate on their physical being. Of course that is not hard to understand. After all we have to live with what we look like or are capable of doing. And too, doing pushup's daily, running, jogging, or watching TV (whatever your favorite form of exercise is) may or may not contribute to how you feel (physically). As you know, you get older one day at a time. If you are in your 50's or above then you probably know that your energy levels are not the same as when you were 20. Sooner or later the old body just gives up and then gives out and where are you then? The soul is your vessel of life. It goes on to another sphere of life. Those who have believed in Christ have a human spirit which carries the soul into eternity in a relationship with God. Those who have not believed in Christ (unbelievers) have no form of relationship with God. Their destiny is eternal separation and eternal misery to the max. The soul is the first order of business. Its destiny and its needs. The first need is salvation and a relationship with God. That comes through faith in Christ. The second thing we all need to think about is the focus on the source of our salvation, Jesus Christ. He is the only gateway to a relationship with God. There is no other means by which we can gain a relationship with God. Not through Allah, not through Buddhism, not Hinduism, not through wearing a beaded necklace, not through any form of ritual of any type, not through the worship of mans abilities (technology), not through any form of meditation or just thinking your way into peace and heaven. None of these will help you at all. Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation. Further, Jesus Christ is the only means of spiritual growth. Christ is the living Word. We do not have access to Him in person these days. But we do have access to the written Word - the Bible. These two are the same. Having the written word gives us access to Christ within the content of our souls. These things we all probably already know. The third thing we should realize is the focus on the result of the first two things - the soul and Christ. The result is our third focus. The result if freedom. Freedom gives us options and opportunities. These in turn give us more blessings and a fuller life. Anyone who is concerned for others should be interested in having everyone obtaining all three of these things - eternal life, spiritual growth, and the resultant blessings resulting from the first two. But what do we have in these verses? The Pharisees could care less about the happiness of the paralytic. They were more interested in catching Jesus in some fault (a fault of their own design) than in the blessings or improvement of life for the man who was handicapped. Jesus came to heal not only the body, but the soul. They are inter-linked in life even though one day we will discard the physical body and replace it with a resurrection body. Jesus Christ is the King of kings. Here is His authority. He refers to Himself as the Son of Man, emphasizing His humanity, but that humanity is united and inseparable with deity making Him the unique person of the universe - both God and man in one person. The paralytic could not get around himself. He had to be carried by others. But there is no such thing as isolation from God unless one chooses to reject God and in that case as we already saw, Jesus simply leaves you to your own chosen devices. Where there is positive volition, then God provides a way for the positive person to get to doctrine. This man had friends who carried him to Christ. All of them had faith. Unlike the Gadarenes, who rejected Christ and retained their relationship with the demons and dead things, these people overcame their hardships to get to where Jesus was, then they climbed up on the roof and let the paralytic down through the courtyard roof opening to where Jesus was speaking. We saw this in Mark and Luke. Where there is positive volition there is always a way to get to God. Not crowds, not rituals, not popular thought of society, nothing can prevent one from getting with a spiritual life. Where some go through many hoops to get to Christ, there are others who see with open eyes but they do not see spiritually. Jesus forgave the man and that brought hostile criticism from the self righteous folks. Then Jesus healed the man and that brought praise of God (undefined deity) or a superficial praise of something that these people knew nothing about. God was standing right in front of them. Jesus performed these two miracles yet the crowd (the greater part of the crowd) gave credit to God above for giving this power to a 'man'. They missed the whole point. Their praise was for some unknown concept, another deity, another ambiguous power to whom the people looked. They were looking right at God and should have fallen down on their faces in the dust and worshipped Jesus Christ. Too often you will meet people, I am sure, that know the words of religion, and say them with some presentation implying their knowledge, but they are totally lost. What they know is meant only to impress others who are ignorant. They lack the three principle focuses in life - Christ, doctrine and the resultant wisdom that accompanies a growing spiritual life. It is not enough to be merely impressed with circus acts and to sensationalize extraordinary events in history. Emotions will not carry you through life. Singing gospel music is fine, but so is jazz, and neither of these will carry you through life either. The paralytic rose and left and resumed his life with greater freedom. He could now walk. He did not go immediately to heaven but resumed his life here on earth within the jungle environment we all live in. We presume that since his faith brought him to Christ, that he continued in his spiritual growth and is in the new paradise today, or perhaps in heaven as a member of the Royal family, depending on when in history he died. As for the Pharisees, they represent the attitude which attends the rejection of Christ. They care nothing for people. They care only for their own image. They are liberal minded and therefore phony. They speak words of encouragement and promise, but place shackles of prevention on all who listen to them. Don't get caught up in the popular thought of public opinion, but learn the truth of doctrine and that will give you greater insight in life and freedom and therefore greater opportunity. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
