The Holy One of God

There is also an extraordinary demonstration of faith about to happen (vv. 18-19). I love this scene. Many people today get upset if someone spills a little something on their carpet or favorite tablecloth. Can you imagine someone coming through the roof of your house making a hole big enough to let a paralyzed grown man through? State Farm ain’t covering that! Can you imagine the homeowner’s reaction?

The act of letting their friend down through the roof was an unusual demonstration of faith. We know this because of what Jesus says next. “Seeing their faith he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’” (v. 20). That stuns me. Jesus says nothing about the man’s legs or paralysis. He focused on the man’s soul. He forgives the man’s sins. Listen, you can be paralyzed, unable to get around without your friends, lying motionless on your sickbed, and yet still be full of sin!

See how Jesus thinks. Our main need is not physical healing. Our main need is spiritual forgiveness. That why Jesus says things like,

If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. (Matt 18:8)

Better to limp into heaven than run into hell! Paralysis is nothing compared to God’s punishment. Our main need is spiritual forgiveness. So Jesus forgives the man’s sin.

The scribes and Pharisees, the “holy men” of Israel, have a theological objection (v. 21). They say that Jesus blasphemes by claiming to do what only God can do. They have a proper theology of forgiveness—only God can ultimately forgive sins. That theology is correct as far as it goes. But they do not know God. They do not recognize the day of their visitation.

What they get wrong is not their assumption about God forgiving sin. What they get wrong is their assumption that Jesus is not God.

Pause for a moment. If you were Jesus, how would you answer their objection? Some few of us would call down thunder and lightning. It is good we are not Jesus. Most of us would likely give an argument of some sort. We would correct their theology with the use of words.

But that is not what Jesus does. In verses 22-24 our Lord responds to their objection with an object lesson, a parable by way of a miracle. He first raises the stakes in verse 23 with the question, “Which is easier . . . ?” It is easy for people to walk around just saying things like, “Your sins are forgiven.” Anyone can do that. But then, so there is no argument about mere words, the Lord decides to visibly demonstrate that he is God who legitimately forgives sin. He proves that by doing the harder thing. He turns to the paralyzed man and says, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home” (v. 24). Immediately the paralyzed man obeys and begins to walk!

The phrase I tell you is emphatic. It stresses that Jesus is doing this miracle in his own authority. The religious leaders stumble at the notion that Jesus can do what God does in forgiving sin. The Lord essentially says, I will prove to you that I’m God by this miracle. Verse 25 provides miraculous proof that the Holy One of God can, in fact, do just that. The point was not ultimately the man miraculously walking but the Son forgiving sins.

In his holiness Christ does not chase away our sin. Nor does the Savior crush the sinner. The Lord of love does not hate the sinner. Instead, our Holy Lord forgives the sinner. Forgiveness is one of the holiest acts of all.

Look at the people’s reaction in verse 26. Do you know what I find extraordinary? They watched Jesus forgive a man’s sin. Then they watched Jesus prove he could forgive sin by healing a paralyzed man. But not one of them then said to Jesus, “Since you can forgive sins, please forgive my sins, too!” They experienced general amazement and gave general praise to God, but they did not worship Jesus or seek forgiveness for their sin. That is amazing and tragic. Having eyes, they do not see. Having ears, they do not hear.

How often in our day is the gospel preached and sinners will not hear? How often do people say, “We heard a good sermon today,” but no one says, “Forgive me my sins, Lord”?

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He lived in our flesh to offer God the righteous obedience we owed. He died in our place as an offering to satisfy the wrath of God against our sin. God raised him from the grave to prove his sacrifice was accepted. Now God calls men everywhere to repent of their sin and seek his forgiveness by placing their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. All God requires is that we admit our sin and trust in Jesus. How often do men tragically turn away!

Beloved, I don’t know what condition you are in. I don’t know if you’re a Christian with full assurance of faith who continually flees to Christ, if you’ve never heard that Jesus saves the unclean and the sinner, or if you’ve heard the message before and not yet believed. Oh, do not make the mistake of these persons in the Bible. Do not go away having heard the word of life only to leave it unaccepted. Today is the day of salvation. Do not harden your hearts. Confess your sins like Peter. Call on Jesus to cleanse you of your sin like the leper. Believe in Jesus and be saved.

Jesus makes things clear. He does not multiply words. He doesn’t give verbal proofs. He does the harder thing, the greater thing. He demonstrates that he is the God who forgives sins—even a holy God who forgives sins.

There are at least three applications we could make based on this text. First, vague notions of “God” and even being in “awe” of God are not the same thing as knowing God. These Jewish religious leaders have a good general theology, but they do not know Jesus. We meet people all the time who say, “I believe in God,” but when you examine the claim you find their understanding of God is murky and misty, and they do not know Jesus. John 17:3 tells us eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

Second, vague worship of God is not the same as worshiping God the way he requires us. It is God who determines what is satisfactory worship from his followers. From accepting Abel’s offering and rejecting Cain’s, to the detailed law of the Old Testament, to his seeking those who will worship him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24), God determines what worship pleases him and what does not.

Third, when people are confused about the true God and Jesus Christ, when gospel clarity is at stake, the proper response is plain statement of the truth (2 Cor 4:2). Our Lord does that here. The apostles leave us the same example. Since we live in a society increasingly confused about almost everything, it’s important that Christians speak plainly and simply about the truth.

When we get to know Jesus as the Holy One of God, his holiness exposes our sin to us, cleanses us before God, and brings forgiveness of sin.

Luke 5:27-32

Verse 27 begins with “after this.” After the “holy men” failed to ask for forgiveness, Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi. In Jesus’s day tax collectors were known sinners. They had a reputation for cheating people on their taxes. And remember for whom they collected taxes: Rome. So they were seen as oppressors of their own nation. People generally despised tax collectors.

Jesus sees Levi and calls Levi to follow him, to become one of his disciples. Levi does exactly that. Like Peter, Levi immediately leaves everything and follows Jesus (v. 28). Levi’s response illustrates true repentance and entrance into discipleship.

When a man finds acceptance with the Lord, he naturally wants to celebrate. A person who finds acceptance with God wants his friends to find in Jesus what he found. So Levi throws a dinner party for “a large crowd of tax collectors and others” with Jesus as the featured guest (v. 29). Apparently Levi tries to reach his friends, and Jesus is willing to hang out with them.

But the Pharisees and scribes continue grumbling (v. 30). They apparently think eating with sinners is “unclean.” They hold an idea of holiness that requires total separation from sinners. Also, they apparently think they themselves are not sinners! They ought to take a place at the table as sinners needing to be with Christ, but they remain blind to their own condition before God.

Religious people often struggle to know how to engage sinners. We ask, “Is it okay to go out with them after work? Can we go to their weddings? Can we have a drink with them? What about the club?” Those questions come from a good, godly concern for holiness and for Christian witness.

Our Lord’s activities challenge our notions of holiness. If we think of holiness only or primarily as separation, we end up isolating ourselves from the very people we hope to reach. We find ourselves at odds with Jesus’s example here. And we find ourselves attempting something the Bible actually says is impossible. Do you remember how the Bible addresses this issue in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13?

The apostle Paul notes,

I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. (Emphasis added.)

If we aim to separate ourselves completely from sinners, where will we go? We would have to start a colony on the moon—a colony of one because some other sinners are coming! To be holy by having no contact with sinners means we “would have to leave the world.”

Then Paul continues,

But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you. (1 Cor 5:11-13)

Do you see how the Bible says our instinct is upside down? The Christian church has too often been afraid to engage the lost world of sinners outside while being complacent about unrepentant sin on the inside! The Bible says to be concerned about “anyone who claims to be a brother or sister” but lives an unrepentant, immoral life. With that one, do not even eat; put him out of your fellowship. Practice church discipline. But regarding the outsiders, go to them; eat with them; drink with them, that you might be able to reach them. We cannot reach people with whom we have no contact.

Keep in mind the Lord’s purpose in Luke 5. “Jesus replied to them, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (vv. 31-32; emphasis added).

We cannot call people to repentance if we are never with them. We cannot reach sinners without going where sinners are. They are not likely to come where we are. They find our parties boring. They find our fun boring. That’s okay. We expect them to. They have tastes for this world, while we have tastes for heaven. Those differing tastes are not easily joined together, so it creates a burden for us to cross a bridge to reach them without adopting their tastes.

That is what the Lord does here. The Lord Jesus attends Levi’s party with the spiritual well-being of sinners in mind. The Lord does not sin with them; rather, he seeks to save them. We must follow his example while also remembering that we are not the Savior. We do not possess the Lord’s invincible purity, so we need some safeguards:

The Lord Jesus has a preference among people. The Lord prefers those who know they are sick with sin. The righteous, those who think of themselves as “well,” do not see their need of the Great Physician. In their self-righteousness they are blind. They imagine themselves to be good enough or holy enough for God to accept them like they are. Because they trust themselves, there is no room in their hearts to trust God’s Son. Offer them salvation through faith in Christ and they say, “No, I’m good.”

John Calvin rightly observed,

Such is our innate pride, we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord also—He being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced. For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. (Institutes, 37)

The sick know they need the Lord’s healing. The sick are closer to the kingdom of heaven. All they need in order to receive the kingdom of God is to hear the call to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a call especially for sinners. The greater the sinner, the greater the Savior.

As we close, consider what this text lays out before us. We get to know the holiness of Christ the Lord. It’s a holiness that exposes our sin. It’s a holiness that cleanses us before God. It’s a holiness that legitimately forgives sin. It’s a holiness especially for sinners who know their sinful state.

As we get to know Jesus in this passage, we learn something about how to respond to him. We should, like Peter, confess our sin. We should, like the leper, cry out to God to be made clean. We should, like the paralyzed man and his friends, put our faith in the Lord. We should, like Levi and the tax collectors, repent of our sin.

Notice something about the mass of people, the crowds in our text. The crowd presses in on the Lord so much they make it hard for him to carry on his ministry (v. 1). They make it hard for the paralyzed man and his friends to get to him. The crowds in Levi’s house are amazed at the miracle but later grumble about Jesus. The crowds grumble about the Savior seeking to save sinners. Beloved, rarely do the crowds know the Lord or do the Lord’s will. Rarely do crowds know the mind of the Lord. Rarely do the crowds follow Jesus.

So don’t follow the crowd. Even if you must do it alone, drop everything and follow the Lord. If we would have eternal life in God’s kingdom, we have to follow the one who knows the path to the kingdom. We have to forget the crowds and sing, “I have decided to follow Jesus.”

Today is the day of salvation. Today the Lord calls sinners to repent. Forget about everyone else. Think of your own sins. Do you not need to be forgiven? Do you not need to be cleansed? If so, then you need to believe in Jesus and follow him as your Lord. Do it today. Decide to follow Jesus. Do not turn back.