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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

Only God Can Forgive Sins

10/11/2021

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Picture
"The Palsied Man Let down through the Roof," James Tissot, 1886-94. Public Domain
Trinity 19 
Matthew 9:1-8 
Pastor James Preus 
Trinity Lutheran Church 
October 10, 2021 
 
“This man is blaspheming,” thought the scribes to themselves. Why do they accuse Jesus of blaspheming in their hearts? Because only God can forgive sins. Jesus has just told a paralytic that his sins are forgiven. Jesus, they thought, clearly was not God. So, this must be blasphemy.  


The scribes were right about one thing. Only God can forgive sins. This is why it is so ludicrous for a man to claim the authority to forgive. Imagine you are up to your eyeballs in debt, credit card, student loan, automobile loan debt, mortgage. Your friends may comfort you with kind words. Perhaps they can even share in your misery if they too are in debt. But unless they can give you the money to pay your debt so the debt-collectors stop calling and the bank doesn’t foreclose on your house, your debt will remain. Only a letter from the bank telling you your debt is paid will take away your anxiety.  


But sin is not like money, where if you work hard and long enough and limit your spending, you can eventually pay off your debt. You can’t pay back your sin. Even if you were able to stop sinning today, and live the rest of your life as a perfect saint, the sin of your past would still remain. There is no amount of money you can pay, or amount of time you can work, or valuable asset you can sell that will erase your debt of sin. Only God, the final judge, who will weigh the balances on the Last Day has the authority to forgive sin.  


Sin is your greatest problem. Sin is the source of all your sorrow. All sickness and pain, all conflicts and enmity, yes death and hell are the result of sin. Sin comes in two forms. First, is original sin, which is the sin that you inherited from your first father Adam. This original sin is the corruption of your human nature. It is what makes you a sinner. It is why your very heart desires to do what is wrong. The second form of sin is the actual sin you commit from day to day; when you fail to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; when you misuse his name and fail to call upon him in prayer; when you ignore his preaching and word and refuse to hear and learn it; when you fail to love your neighbor as yourself; when you hate and envy; when you lust and covet; when you speak ill against your neighbor. These sins can be committed in word and deed, but especially in the heart. And all sin, both the sins you commit, and original sin, which is the root of all sins you commit, are offenses against God. And unless God cancels the debt, you will be sentenced to hell forever.  


So, it is clear that none of us has a greater problem than our sin. The things that trouble us, our sickness and pain, our broken relationships, and poverty and want: these are all just symptoms of our sinful condition. The greater issue is what we cannot see. Our debt before our Father in heaven. No mere man can forgive this debt. Only God himself.  


For this reason, the forgiveness of sins is the greatest treasure you can possibly have! As sin is the source of all your sorrow and trouble, so the forgiveness of sins is the source of all joy and blessedness. The Psalmist declares, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity.” (Psalm 32) If you have forgiveness of sins, you have peace with God (Romans 5:1). More than that, if your sins are forgiven, you are God’s friend (John 15:15). The wages of sins is death, but the forgiveness of sins gives eternal life (Romans 6:23). If you have the forgiveness of sins, then you can be joyful even in sorrow. You have all that you need forever. This is why Jesus tells the young man to take heart, even as he lies in bed as a paralytic. Take heart! That is, be of good cheer! Why? Your sins are forgiven. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. Yours is friendship with God. Yours is eternal life and blessedness. What are a few more years or even decades of pain and sorrow, when you have waiting for you the bounties of the kingdom of God? Even if the man remained a paralytic the rest of his life, he still had reason to be exceedingly glad, because his sins were forgiven! 


And this brings us to why the scribes were wrong. Jesus had every right to forgive this man’s sins, because Jesus is God in the flesh. It is he against whom the debt of all sin stands. He alone has the right to forgive it.  


The scribes denied Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. They did not believe that he was God or that he had come from God. So, Jesus says to them, “What is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” before he commanded the man to pick up his bed and go home. When the paralyzed man became unparalyzed and walked home healthy as a horse, Jesus proved that he had the authority he claimed. God alone is the creator of all things. He created the cosmos with his word. And so, God alone can restore his broken creation with his word alone. In Jesus’ word alone is the power to forgive sins.  


There is a big difference between forgiving sins and denying that sin is a sin or that sin is a big deal. Often, to avoid the uncomfortable feeling that accompanies repenting of your own wrong doing, people will try comforting themselves with sayings like, “Everyone is a sinner.”, as if being in the company of sinners is any comfort (Psalm 1). Even more brazen, people seek comfort in denying that sin is sin. It is now tabu to claim that homosexuality is a sin. But does denying what God says do any good to those plagued with the temptation of same-sex attraction? Certainly not! Likewise, it is common to deny that fornication is a sin or at least that it is a big enough deal to mention. People justify divorce, gossip, slander, coveting, hatred, gambling, skipping church, laziness, and many other sins by simply denying that they are sins or finding some explanation for why their actions are not sins. But does this do you any good? If a well-meaning friend tells you that you are not in debt, will that keep the bank from foreclosing on your house?  


You know, there have been a number of people who have claimed that they did not have to pay taxes. They claimed that the federal government had no authority to tax income, saying it was unconstitutional or immoral. So, they refused to pay their income tax. And you know what, I think they were sincere! I think they actually convinced themselves of their arguments that they were not obligated to pay their taxes. But do you know what happened to them? They went to prison for not paying their taxes! Convincing someone that his sin is not actually a sin does not do him any good any more than convincing someone he doesn’t have to pay his bills does any good. Sin is what God calls sin, not what we decide is a sin or not. And unless those sins are forgiven, the debt will be required of us.  


But Jesus’ word is different from the empty words of those who deny the danger of sin. Jesus backs up his word with authority and action. Jesus said, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”, he said to the paralytic, “Rise, take up your bed and go home.” Well, what has Jesus done to show that he has the authority to forgive your sins? He has done much more than tell a paralyzed man to rise and take up his bed and go home. Jesus, who is God in the flesh, perfectly obeyed God’s Law so that he had no sin of his own, yet he took all your sin and the sin of the whole world upon himself and went to the cross. He suffered not only the physical pain of being scourged, beaten, nailed, and strangled on the cross. He suffered the anguish of God’s wrath against sin, which caused him to sweat blood even in the garden before a hand was laid upon him. Jesus endured the hell our sins have earned for us! And Jesus died. He was not just paralyzed. He didn’t have a spinal injury or palsy. He died. His blood coagulated in his veins. They laid him dead upon a slab of stone, and his body temperature became as cool as that stone.  


Yet, to show that he had the authority on earth to forgive your sins and the sins of the whole world, Jesus rose. He was seen alive by Mary and the disciples and by over five-hundred witnesses at one time. And he went home to his Father, sitting at his right hand of power with all things under his feet. Jesus defeated death, proving that he had once and for all washed your sins away in his blood. This means that Jesus’ word of forgiveness is a word you can trust. It means he has authority over your sins, over your death, and over hell itself.  


And because Jesus is God, he has the power to wash away as many sins as you have; your original sin and all the sins you have committed from the time of your youth until your old age. And he has the power to forgive your greatest sin. Scripture says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18)  


And Jesus has given the authority to forgive sins to his church, so that this forgiveness may remain on earth where sinners need it. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whosever sins you forgive, they are forgiven.” This means that your pastor has the authority to forgive your sins by the power of Jesus’ word and with the guarantee of Jesus’ death and resurrection for your sins.  


Forgiveness is given through God’s word. This means it can only be received through faith. Faith is the open hand that receives the gift. Faith is believing and trusting in the promise of forgiveness. Believe the word and you have the forgiveness.  


Faith is an act of the heart. Jesus, who is God can see our heart. That is why Jesus knew the evil in the scribes’ hearts, even though they kept their thoughts to themselves. You cannot hide your unbelief from Christ. Yet, faith does not only reveal itself to God in the secret heart, but to everyone, as Jesus says, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Jesus saw the faith in the heart of the paralytic and his friends who carried him. Yet, even the scribes saw their faith. Saints Mark and Luke tell us they made a hole in the ceiling to lower the man down to Jesus to be healed. This is what faith does. Faith causes parents to carry their babies to Jesus to be baptized and Christians to come and hear God’s word even when life is busy. Faith causes us to love our neighbor and be patient, helpful, and forgiving. We are saved through faith alone, because only faith can receive the forgiveness of sins. Yet, faith is never alone, because faith holds onto the forgiveness Christ won for you. This forgiveness not only gives you assurance of your heavenly home. This forgiveness changes you as a person here on this earth. Take heart, sons and daughters of the Lord, your sins are forgiven. May we live as forgiven children and love God and one another. Amen.  
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The Divine Teaching

10/3/2021

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Picture
James Tissot, "Pharisees Question Jesus," 1886-94. No Known Copyright Restrictions.
 Trinity 18 
Matthew 22:34-46 
Pastor James Preus 
Trinity Lutheran Church 

 

  The lawyer insincerely called Jesus, “teacher.” He had no intention of being taught by Jesus, but to catch him in a trap. But make no mistake about it. Jesus is a teacher. In fact, he is the Teacher everyone must be taught by. If you are to obtain eternal life, Jesus must be your teacher. Some people don’t like school. That’s fine. I have known very intelligent, hardworking, and successful people, who have not pursued advanced formal education. Students should work as hard as they can while they are in school, but it is not a sin to pursue other goals besides academic success. Yet, it is a sin to refuse to learn. That is laziness. A Christian cannot just decide that he doesn’t need to learn from Jesus, that he already knows enough. No, as long as you live, you are called to continue learning. And as long as you are a Christian, you are called to continue learning from Jesus.  


While the saving Gospel can be known and believed even by a little child, that does not mean that we should be content with the ignorance of a child. If you love Jesus, you want to learn from him. And it is impossible to be done learning from Jesus. Many wise men, have spent a lifetime studying the Scriptures, and yet remained mere pupils at the feet of Jesus. Yet, that is exactly what we should desire to be: Jesus’ students, eating up every word that comes from his mouth.   


It is also important for us to continue learning from Jesus, because as we grow our old sinful Adam grows stronger and more skilled, the world constantly entices and lures us away from Christ, and the devil grows bolder and more cunning. To combat our own sin and unbelief, we can do nothing else than learn from Jesus. To be a Christian means to be Jesus’ student.  


And how do we learn from Jesus? All of Jesus’ teaching comes from the Bible. You’ll notice when the lawyer tests him, Jesus answers the question by quoting the Bible. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, where it says we should love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And he quotes Leviticus 19:18, which says we should love our neighbor as ourselves. Then he quotes Psalm 110, where David calls the Christ his Lord. Furthermore, Jesus says of Psalm 110 that David spoke “in the Spirit,” that is, by means of the Holy Spirit. Jesus teaches us that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, meaning it is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). So, if you want to learn from Jesus, you need to learn from the Bible, which is God’s Word. And your pastor needs to preach to you from the Bible and not stray from it.  


There are two main teachings in the Bible: The Law and the Gospel. Both the Law and the Gospel are God’s teaching, yet they have very different results. The Law is what God commands of us, summarized in the Ten Commandments. The Law tells us what is good, but it does not give us the ability to do the good. So, the result of the Law is that we are exposed as sinners. The Gospel does not command anything of us, but rather promises forgiveness and eternal life for Christ’s sake. The Gospel is received through faith alone apart from works. If the Gospel is not preached, a person cannot be saved, because saving faith comes through Jesus’ word. If the Law is not preached, the Gospel will be rejected, because the Gospel is only for sinners.  


The lawyer, not interested in the Gospel, asks Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the Law. This is a trick. The Pharisees recognized 613 commandments in the Torah. And of course, for each of these commandments, there was someone who thought that it was the greatest. If Jesus chose one of these 613 commandments as the greatest, he would become embroiled in an unwinnable debate with enemies on every side. But Jesus does not fall for the trick. He uses Holy Scripture to teach the truth of God’s whole Law. All the commandments can be summed up into two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. Here Jesus teaches the heart of every commandment.  


When people argue over what is the greatest commandment, they always try to argue that the commandments they break are not great, but the commandments that others break are the greatest. This is not just true of Pharisees two thousand years ago, but of Christians today. Christians who go to church every Sunday think that the Third Commandment is the greatest commandment, while the commandments they break are minor. While those who skip church freely think that despising God’s preaching and word is just a minor offense, and point out hypocrisy, gossip, envy, and judging as worse sins. The more popular a sin becomes, the less serious of a sin people find it to be. Yet, it is not up to you to choose which commandment is insignificant and which one is important. And the purpose of the Law is not for you to point out other people’s sins, but for you to become aware of your own (Romans 3:20)!  


But Jesus doesn’t spare anyone in the preaching of the Law, but condemns all sin as failing to love God and the neighbor. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Why? Because you should love God with your whole heart. Out of the mouth the heart speaks. Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy, meaning, do not despise preaching and his word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Why? Because you should love God with all your mind and gladly hear and learn his word. You shall not murder, because you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall not commit adultery, because you wouldn’t want your spouse to cheat on you. You shall not steal, because you would not want someone to take your stuff away. You shall not bear false witness, because you don’t want people slandering you. All the commandments teach you to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and your neighbor as yourself. So, whichever commandment you have failed to keep, you have broken the greatest commandment in the Law.  


Having silenced the Pharisees by pinning them under the Law, Jesus asks a question about the Gospel. “What do you think about the Christ?”, Jesus asks, “Whose son is he?” The Pharisees answer, David’s. Every Jew knows that the Christ is David’s son. But he isn’t just David’s son. “Why then did David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’?” David said that the Lord spoke to his Lord. How can David have a lord? He is king of Israel. David is speaking of God, the Son. With these words, David teaches the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and of the divinity of Christ. There is only one God. Yet, the LORD spoke to the Lord and said, “sit at my right hand.” This shows that although there is only one God, there are multiple persons, namely, three: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This also shows that the Christ is God. The Christ, whom the Pharisees rightly say is David’s son, is also David’s Lord, David’s God. Christ Jesus is both God and man.  


The Pharisees were struck dumb by this teaching of Jesus. Yet, they have not remained silent. Rabbis today have a way of explaining this away and so deny that the Christ is divine and that Jesus is the Christ. The point out that there are two words for Lord used in Psalm 110. The first is the peculiar name for God, YHWH, which emphasizes God’s eternal being. The second is the word Adonai, which means Lord and certainly can be used as a title for God, but it can also be used to address a human being, like a king or earthly master. So, the Rabbis today teach that David wrote Psalm 110, not to be read from his perspective, but to be sung by the Levites in the temple about David. So, it is simply the temple singers singing, “The LORD (YHWH) said to my lord (David), sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” So, Psalm 110 is not calling the Christ, God. Psalm 110 isn’t even talking about the Christ!  


Yet, if this were true, then Psalm 110 would be a very disappointing and in fact false prophesy. Where is David now? He’s dead and has been for nearly three thousand years. Where is his kingdom? There is no kingdom of Israel, nor is there a man sitting on David’s throne in Jerusalem. And even when David died, he had to command his son Solomon to kill some of his enemies, whom he did not have the opportunity to vanquish. If Psalm 110 is only about a king of a minor middle eastern nation three thousand years ago, then it is of no value to us today at all, whether we are Jews or Gentiles.  


Furthermore, to sit at God’s right hand is to sit on God’s throne, to be made equal to God, as St. Paul says, “Therefore he has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, ever knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.” (Philippians 2:9-10) The LORD (YHWH) said to David’s Lord, who is the Christ, his son and his God, sit at my right hand. Jesus’ teaching remains true today, despite the grasping at straws of those who deny him.  


And what does it mean that Jesus Christ is both David’s son and David’s Lord? It means that Jesus our Redeemer is our God. This means that our salvation is sure! What did Jesus do to save you? He died on the cross. Well, how do you know that that’s enough? Because Jesus is not just David’s son, but David’s Lord. Jesus is at all times fully human and fully God. Whatever he does he does as both God and man. This means that when Jesus died on the cross for your sins, God died for you! But God cannot die! True. But Jesus, David’s son can. And Jesus is God. Therefore, St. Paul, when he took leave of the pastors of Ephesus, instructed them, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” With whose blood? With God’s own blood. That Christ is David’s son and David’s Lord means that your sins have been washed away in God’s blood. Christ has redeemed you with an insurmountable sum. Can your sins be greater than God? Is that not blasphemy to suggest? Then your sins are washed away in Jesus’ blood. Then death and Satan and hell, all David’s enemies and your enemies have been placed under Jesus’ feet, as surely as he is risen from the dead and risen to the Father’s right hand! 


Jesus does not demand that we understand how this can be. He is able to do far more than we can either ask or think. Jesus demands that you believe this. Those who reject Jesus’ teaching, because they do not understand it, inevitably rob themselves of comfort. When people try to explain their own teaching of Christ instead of believing the clear words of Scripture, they are left with someone who cannot conquer their sins or give them eternal life. But with Christ, we have victory over our enemies. We trust in him who has fulfilled the greatest command of the Law for us. Jesus, David’s son, is our God and Savior. Amen.  


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Our Most Pressing Need

10/18/2020

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Picture
Le paralytique descendu du toit, James Tissot, 1886-94, Brooklyn Museum, No Known Copyright Restrictions
Trinity 19 
Matthew 9:1-8   
October 18, 2020 
 
Four men bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus on a bed to be healed by him. To be paralyzed is one of the worst ailments you can suffer in this life. He could not move his limbs. He could not work. He depended on others to provide for his most basic needs. He couldn’t feed himself, dress himself, or use the toilet by himself. He likely developed bed soars from lying down all day. This man had great need to be healed. Yet, what does Jesus say to this poor guy in such misery? “Take heart, my son! Your sins are forgiven!” This might sound disappointing to some. “He didn’t come to have his sins forgiven. He came to be healed by the great healer!” Yet, Jesus performed the most important task first. He forgave the man’s sins. That was his greatest need.  
Indeed, the forgiveness of sins is always our most pressing need, because without the forgiveness of sins we remain enemies of God, separated from Christ, doomed to death and hell. But with the forgiveness of sins, we have life and salvation, peace with God, and a certain home in heaven! And Jesus demonstrates by first forgiving the sins of this paralytic before he healed him that the forgiveness of sins is always our greatest need, no matter how great our other needs are. I’ve prayed at the bedside of many sick people, from broken bones to cancer. Some have gotten better. Some have not. But the most important need we prayed for was always answered, the prayer for forgiveness.  
2020 has been a rather difficult year. The spread of the coronavirus has caused panic in governments and among civilians around the world. People fear for their loved ones and even for themselves, because of this virus. And the response to the virus has added all sorts of other difficulties to our lives. Many lost their jobs and continue to suffer from lower wages. Many still fear the loss of their income. People couldn’t see their family and friends in nursing homes and hospitals for months at a time. Many churches were closed. Besides all that, our state was hit by a freak storm, that has ruined many farms and properties over a third of our state. Rising violence, riots, looting, and arson in many of our cities have wreaked havoc and raised stress around the country. And the tense election has set many on edge as we fear for our children’s and our nation’s future. Of course, all these added difficulties have not taken away all the other sorrows that hits us in any given year. People are still getting cancer, having strokes and heart attacks, falling and breaking bones. Our loved ones continue to get sick and die. Marriages continue to struggle; children continue to stray. And throughout this tumultuous year, through the sickness and fear, the storms and fires, the violence and chaos, the loneliness and frustration, our greatest need remained the same. Forgiveness of sins. And so, our greatest need has continued to be to hear our Savior’s word and believe his promise of forgiveness and salvation.  
Some of the Scribes were offended that Jesus forgave the man’s sins, because only God can forgive sins. Jesus proved his authority to forgive sins by demonstrating that he is not only a man, but also true God. He did this first, by reading the Scribe’s hearts, as the Scribes had only spoken to themselves and not out loud. As Jesus could see the faith in the paralyzed man’s heart, so he could see the hatred in the hearts of these Scribes, something only God can do. Secondly, Jesus proved himself to be God by curing the paralyzed man from his paralysis. The crowd then glorified God that he had given such authority to men.  
And yes, it is a wonderful thing that God gave the authority to forgive sins to men. This is the greatest authority one can wield, the authority to raise from the dead, to rescue from hell and bring to heaven. Yet, this fact that man has the authority to forgive sins, which amazed the crowd and angered the Scribes, was the only way it could be!  
God does not forgive sins according to absolute grace. That is, God does not just decide that our sins are not a big deal and that he will just forget about them. Our God is a just God. Sins must be atoned for. This is why the Prophet Isaiah prophesied that “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” and “by his stripes we are healed.” In order for our sins to be forgiven, our sins needed to be paid for. The only one, who could pay for our sins is God. So, God needed to become man.  
Yes, it is a marvel that a man forgave sins. Yet, it was indeed the only way. Jesus prayed in the Garden to this Father, that if it were possible, to take the cup of suffering away. Yet, it was the will of the Father for Christ to bear our sins with bitter suffering and death. Not, because he is cruel. Not, because he wanted his Son to suffer. But because he desired our salvation. Our salvation could only be obtained by our sins being atoned for. Only Jesus, true God and man, could atone for our sins in our place.  
Because of Jesus’ atonement for our sins on the cross, forgiveness is freely given. Note, forgiveness is not free! It came at the cost of Jesus’ bitter, suffering and death! Yet, Jesus freely grants us forgiveness. This is also why the authority to forgive sins is given to men. Not only to the God-man Jesus, but to men. Yes, the authority to forgive sins is given to sinful men! Jesus said, “Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.” and “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them, if you withhold forgiveness from any it is withheld.” Jesus is able to give this authority to men, 1. because he is God. If he commands people to relay a message from him, that message is as true whether it’s coming from a donkey or an angel. And 2, because Jesus has already purchased the forgiveness of our sins. When the minister forgives your sins in the stead of Christ, he is relaying the fact that Christ Jesus has purchased your release from hell and your entrance into heaven. Jesus has given his church on earth the authority to forgive all sins by the merits of his own suffering and death.  
This necessarily means that forgiveness of sins is received through faith. Since it is only Christ, who paid the price for our sins. We cannot do anything to deserve forgiveness. Forgiveness is given as a gift. And those who relay this gift do so through words, words given by God himself. So, those who receive this forgiveness do so, not by their works, but by believing the words of Christ. This is why Christ, after seeing their faith, said, “Your sins are forgiven.”  
Now, this man truly was paralyzed and was suffering greatly. And Jesus truly did heal the man, so that he took up his bed and walked in the sight of many witnesses. Yet, the fact that the man was paralyzed and then walked after his sins were forgiven, signifies something to us about the forgiveness of sins and faith.  
The man was paralyzed. That is as close to being dead you can be while still being alive. The man could not do anything for himself! He was living almost like he was dead, waiting to die! This is how St. Paul describes our spiritual condition before faith in the forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit caused St. Paul to write in Ephesians chapter 2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”  
So, you see the spiritual condition illustrated by the paralyzed man. He could not work. He could not walk. He could not follow Jesus. And so, in our sin, without faith, before we receive forgiveness, we are spiritually paralyzed. We’re dead to any good work. We cannot please God. We cannot love God. We can't believe in God.  Yet, when Jesus speaks words of forgiveness to us, he makes us alive. First, he forgives our sins. Then, our arms and legs start working. Our heart loves God. We walk not in darkness, but light. We do good works, which were prepared beforehand for us to walk in them.  
This also helps us understand our Epistle lesson from Ephesians 4, where St. Paul tells us to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self is spiritually paralyzed, incapable of doing good or loving God and rather follows the course of sin in this world. Our new self is renewed by the forgiveness of sins and made alive by God’s grace, like that paralyzed man, who rose and walked after his sins were taken away from him.  
In order to be empowered to put off the old self and put on the new self, you need to be forgiven. Satan has deceived many to believe that since the forgiveness of sins is given freely apart from our works that we can continue in sin without any consequences. Yet, as St. Paul says, “That is not the way you learned Christ!” Christ made us alive by forgiving our sins! He freed us from the bondage of sin, that left us spiritually paralyzed by taking those bonds off of us. How can we respond to such freedom by returning to sin and spiritual paralysis and then claim to be free and alive! No, if we return to sin, we return to death and slavery, we return to being a spiritual paralytic, who cannot even lift his arm to Jesus.  
Therefore, we must avoid lying, which comes from the father of lies, the devil, who seeks to murder our souls. Instead, we must always confess the truth, from the truth of our own sinful condition to the truth of Christ’s forgiveness and Lordship over us. We must avoid anger and wrath, and instead have a zeal for the Lord, his truth, and love. We must not steal or cheat in any way, but rather work hard so to provide for those in need and support what is good. Yes, these are works that Christians ought to do. Yet, you do not do them in order to be forgiven, but you do them because you are forgiven. You find the power to do these good works by receiving the forgiveness of sins through faith, just as the paralytic found the strength to carry his bed and walk home by first receiving the forgiveness of sins.  
Our most pressing need at all times remains the forgiveness of sins, because without the forgiveness of sins, we cannot please God. We can only continue in sin. Our most pressing need at all times is the forgiveness of sins, because we still live in sinful bodies in a sinful world where we may encounter death any day. Our most pressing need at all times is the forgiveness of sins, because only through the forgiveness of sins can we enter heaven. Our most pressing need is the forgiveness of sins, because only through the forgiveness of sins can we speak the truth in love and love our neighbor rightly. And God richly provides us with this most pressing need through his word and through the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood. May God awaken in us an awareness of this most pressing need, so that we never despise it. Amen.  
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

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