TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Are Your Sins Forgiven?
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC, 10.30 am service, 27 May 2001)
Text: Matt 9:1-8
This is a most wonderful story of saving faith. A paralysed man was brought to the Lord Jesus Christ for healing. In Mark chapter 2 it is stated this paralysed man was carried by four men. As the house in which Jesus was was so crowded with people that it was impossible for them to enter, the four men went up, apparently by an outside staircase to the roof top. There they opened up the roof and lowered the sick man into the presence of Jesus. Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralysed man, "Your sins be forgiven you."
Right there were some scribes (Jewish theologians) who heard these words. Immediately they criticised our Lord in their hearts, "This man blasphemes. Who can forgive sins but God only?" Seeing through their hearts, Jesus replied, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose and took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion" (Mk 2:7-12).
Matthew 9:8 climaxes, "But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men." Did the scribes, seeing the ensuing miracle, also glorify God? From the silence that follows the scribes gave not God the glory. Their sins were doubly unforgiven.
Today we have Christian scribes, modern bishops and pastors, theological professors, who preach not the saving grace of our Lord Jesus but instead the social gospel. They are liberals and modernists who are wolves in sheep's clothing. They try to take away the wonderful works of God. They deny the miracles recorded in the Bible.
An American bishop who taught us English at the senior class of the Anglo-Chinese School said sarcastically, "If you can believe that Jonah was swallowed by the whale, then you can also believe that Jonah swallowed the whale." This statement runs counter to Jesus' reference to Jonah. "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt 12:40). Jesus believed what Scripture says literally.
What is your attitude to our Lord Jesus Christ? Can He forgive sins? Possibly there may be one or two in our midst who believe Jesus was a mere man, a prophet at most. Jesus was not God so He could not forgive sins.
I had a very good friend who was supposedly converted in the John Sung Revival in Singapore in 1935. When I paid him a visit 7 or 8 years after, during the Japanese Occupation, he told me he did not believe Jesus was God. At most He was a prophet. This friend is an old man now and lives a most miserable life because He rejects believing in Jesus.
If having heard the Gospel time and again and you reject Jesus the Son of God to be your Saviour, watch out what will become of your future! Do you know if Jesus has forgiven you of your sins?
While there are those whose sins are never forgiven because like the Jewish scribes they reject Jesus, there are others who are not sure because they have not come face to face with Jesus.
The paralysed man is a case in point. Helped by the faith of his four friends who brought him before the Lord, he also believed. He sincerely believed He is God's Son who can save him. Many of us, as we read from testimonies published in Life Church Weekly, are also brought by friends to Life Church. Here we hear the preaching of the Gospel. We believe with our heart He is the appointed Saviour of God. In believing we experience the joyous salvation we find in Him. We are saved. Our sins are forgiven.
It is therefore every Christian's duty to lead non-Christians to Christ. The pastor has his part in proclaiming the Word. We have our duty to bring people to Church or Gospel Rally and even counsel them that they may receive Christ. The four men who brought the paralytic are our good example.
There are also old-timers who come regularly to Church. But the Word seems to come to them, ear in and ear out. Once I asked the wife of an old elder. I asked her when the time comes for her to depart this life whether she would go to heaven or to hell. She closed her eyes to think for a moment. She replied, "I am not sure." I had to indoctrinate her on the forgiveness of sins. She was afraid if she sinned just before she died, then it would be a precarious situation. I assured her her sins were forgiven when she first believed, and God would be forgiving her all the time because the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing her of her sins. The trouble with many Christians is they have never been told, "Once saved, always saved."
I was also in such a nebulous situation. To make it very sure, you must be born again. You receive the new life that gives you strength to rise up and walk spiritually. When you have the joy of the new birth you automatically experience the forgiveness of sin. On the day I was born again I joined in the singing of "In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever, All my sins are washed away, in the Blood of Jesus." I truly experienced the forgiveness of my sins by singing that chorus.
How can we be born again? Simply believe. Like the paralysed man. His four friends' faith helped him. But above all it was his personal faith in Jesus that make him whole. His sins were forgiven because he believed and repented. Repentance confirms the saving faith which leads to forgiveness. If you are not sure if your sins are forgiven, look to Jesus as the paralysed man had looked. He walked immediately at Jesus' Word. When we are born again we receive new life that we might walk. Our sins are also forgiven. Can you now say, "All my sins are forgiven"?
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