Authority to Forgive Sins

Praise and Thanksgiving

Our reading comes from Psalm 65.

Praise is rightfully yours, God, in Zion; vows to you will be fulfilled. All humanity will come to you, the one who hears prayer. Iniquities overwhelm me; only you can atone for our rebellions. How happy is the one you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.

— Psalm 65:1-4 (CSB)

Amen. Join us this morning as we worship.

Praise the glory of Your presence, Jesus. That's all we want, is to be in Your glory, the glory of Your presence. We are here for Your rest. Jesus, now fill this place. As we seek Your face, fill this place. Amen.

Jesus Returns to Capernaum

Amen. You may be seated. We are the temple of the living God. 1 Peter says that we are living stones being built together as a temple, right? Where the Spirit dwells within us, and every time that we gather together, we get to witness to the great work of Christ in our lives—that He has transformed us, made us new, and brought us to life by His good grace.

My name is John Liam, one of the pastors here at First Baptist. It is a great joy to bring you God's word. If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2.

We looked last week at the end of Mark chapter 1, and we saw how Jesus had driven out an unclean spirit, how He healed Simon's mother, how He gets up early in the morning to pray, and Him cleansing a leper. Now this morning, we get to look at a passage of Scripture where Jesus heals a paralytic. So, we're going to be looking at Mark chapter 2. If this is the first time you've used the Bible, the big numbers are the chapter numbers, and the little numbers are the verse numbers. We'll be looking specifically at Mark chapter 2, verses 1 through 12, which says this:

When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them. They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic— “I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.” Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

— Mark 2:1-12 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, we are here this morning in Your presence, and we know that apart from Your strength, apart from Your encouragement, and apart from Your help, we are as helpless as this paralytic. So we ask, Lord, this morning that Your Spirit would come and help us to see Your glory in Your word. We can only do this by Your help. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I have a confession to make to all of you this morning: I am the strongest man in the world. When you look at me, you are probably thinking the same thing, which is, "We already knew that, John. You are a paragon of fitness." It began in the gym. I began putting weights on the bar, and I just never stopped. Eventually, I could lift the entire machine, rip carpet from the ground, and knock over trees. If you need help in the parking lot, I can help you right after the service.

Now, I can say all those things and continue rambling on all morning, but all of it won't matter, because if you ask me to pick up this pulpit, I'm probably going to fall over. I'm all talk and have no ability on my own. I can bark all day, but at the end of the day, my words have no bite. If you told me to prove it, I wouldn't be able to do anything.

I'm sure you and I all know people like this. They're all talk, no walk. "I could take you on in a fight!" They are like trolls on the internet who speak big words, but when you seek them out in person, they are nowhere to be found. See, your words are only as valuable as what you do at the end of the day. We can make audacious claims all day, but if we can't prove them, our words are utterly meaningless.

This morning, we see an example of Jesus having an encounter with the scribes as well as this paralytic man, and the scribes dare Jesus to prove it because they don't believe Him. This leads us to our main idea for this morning: believe Jesus's authority to forgive sins. Believe Jesus's authority to forgive sins.

There are going to be three parts to the sermon today: number one, faith; number two, questions; and number three, worship. These are three different responses that we see in light of who Jesus is and what He does.

Faith That Moves Barriers

Let's look at number one: faith. Read with me from verse 1. When He entered Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home. So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and He was speaking the word to them.

Capernaum is a central location in Jesus's ministry. You see Him coming in and out of the city throughout His life, even throughout the Book of Mark. And now Jesus, after leaving the city and going into the deserted places where people came to Him, comes back into the city. Once He has returned, He is big news. Word gets around that Jesus is back in town, and everyone gathers around to listen to Jesus speak the word.

Last week, we talked about how the thing that drew people near to Jesus wasn't just His healing, but primarily His teaching. We see a house here packed to the brim because people are eager to hear Jesus's words—not just what He does, but what He says—because when they hear Jesus's words, they hear the words of life. See, the word of God isn't just a place that we go to to hear amazing stories or basic instructions before leaving Earth. It's where we go to hear the living God speak to us.

If you want to hear God speak to you, you can read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak to you audibly, you could listen to an audiobook version of the Bible. If you want to value God's word, you want to take on the attitude that God's word teaches us to have as we approach it. Can you say the words of the psalmist in Psalm 119?

How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long. Your command makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. I have more insight than all my teachers because your decrees are my meditation. I understand more than the elders because I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path to follow your word. I have not turned from your judgments, for you yourself have instructed me. How sweet your word is to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth. I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.

— Psalm 119:97-104 (CSB)

Can you say that the word of God is as sweet to you as honey in the mouth? When Jesus comes back, the people rushed to His teaching like a beggar to a warm meal in winter. I pray that all of us have that same appetite for God's word as we gather each Sunday morning to hear from it, as we go to the Bible throughout the week in our own personal devotions, and as we meet with one another to read the Bible together.

In a day where so many things compete for our attention, the most valuable currency that we possess is our focus. So thank you for being so faithful in coming each Sunday and devoting your attention to the word. Each time that you come on Sundays and listen to preaching like this, what you do is show the world that we value God's word and what Jesus has to say more than sports, more than concerts, and more than our own personal convenience. For these people, Jesus was their top priority, and they eagerly listened to everything He had to say. And they were about to see Jesus do something amazing. You see that starting in verse 3:

They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

— Mark 2:3-5 (CSB)

This paralytic needs to go see Jesus, so four men take the paralytic to Him. But the crowd is so packed—so densely packed into this house—that they can't get in. So what they do is they go onto the roof.

Now, I've heard stories about people who have fallen through the roof here. This is a different kind of roof, right? Roofs back then were flat. The way the roofs were designed was that you had a flat roof that could be used for different activities; it could actually hold quite a bit of weight. Think about it the same way that you might use your own patio or a balcony in your home; that's kind of the way that people would interact with the space that they had above their own home. These roofs would be designed with wooden beams that would cross over the ceiling, and then they would pack in mud mixed with straw or other kind of fibrous material so it could hold its own weight.

What these people do is take a ladder that takes you up on the roof, carry the paralytic, and literally dig through the roof. The word there is that they "unroof" the roof, right, so that they can lower this paralytic in to see Jesus. What we can see here from this example is that there is absolutely nothing this paralytic can do himself to make it to where Jesus is. He can't do anything; he's a quadriplegic. He is utterly dependent on others to help him. It says here that it's his friends who are able to assist him and bring him to where Jesus is.

I love the example of these friends here. If you look at verse 5, Jesus doesn't just see the paralytic's faith; He sees their faith. These men believed that Jesus could heal their friend, and they showed by their faith, by what they did, that they prioritized seeing Jesus so much that they were willing to break this other person's roof in order to take him to where Jesus is.

Sometimes when our friends are in need, sometimes when you see other people who are in need of Jesus, what they need is your help. Both Paul and Peter, in their letters to different churches, talk about wives ministering faithfully to their unbelieving spouses in the hope that they may be won over to Jesus. I wonder if you could think of family, friends, or co-workers that you're hesitant to talk about the gospel with. Why don't you talk to them?

Oftentimes, the biggest barrier to helping our friends isn't their own hard-heartedness, but our own unwillingness. Did you know that according to LifeWay Research, 82 percent of people said that they would come to church if a friend invited them, and yet only 2 percent of Christians actually do it? It's possible that the friend you think would never come to Jesus just needs an invitation. Paul says in Romans 10:

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

— Romans 10:14-15 (CSB)

In other words, you miss 100 percent of the shots that you don't take. How can they hear unless you speak? Could it be that there are those who are paralyzed around us because we're unwilling to bring them to Jesus? We know that we cannot cause regeneration in unbelieving hearts—that's a miracle that only God can do, and every person needs to repent of their own sins and trust in Jesus as their own personal Lord and Savior—but God often honors the faithfulness of those around unbelievers.

Do you remember the faithful Christians who ministered to you before you became a Christian? They had to put up with a lot, didn't they? Trust that the same God who saved us can also save others. My dad shared the gospel with his sister, my aunt, for decades before she came to know Jesus. And sometimes, as Charles Bridges says, the seed will lie in the ground until we die, then spring up. Share the gospel with others, invite them to church, and trust that God can do the impossible thing with their hearts.

These men believed that Jesus could heal their friend. Jesus sees their faith and tells the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Now, one last thing here. When Mark says that Jesus saw their faith, that doesn't mean their faith triggered the paralytic's health—like somehow, because they believed, that gave Jesus the "faith currency" to be able to exercise some kind of healing. Another word for that would be the Prosperity Gospel: a belief that God somehow promises you health, wealth, and prosperity in this life, and that the secret to unlocking those blessings is through your own faith.

The problem with that is that the Bible doesn't teach it. And there are three reasons why the Bible doesn't teach that.

First, it takes the blessings that God promises to us in the future and expects them in the present. It takes God's legitimate promises for the future and expects them in the now. God promises us eternal life, a true life with a new body where there's no pain, no tears, and no suffering. But by bringing it into the present, the Prosperity Gospel attempts to rush God's promises. Yet God doesn't promise us that there will be no suffering in this life; in fact, He promises the opposite. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, "If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone." That doesn't sound like the declaration of a guy who had his wildest dreams fulfilled in this life. Paul didn't have his "best life now."

Second, the Prosperity Gospel makes God's blessings contingent on what we do. Kate Bowler is a researcher who studied the Prosperity Gospel extensively, and she wrote this: "Prosperity preachers revolutionized prayer as an instrument for getting God to always say yes. It offers people a guarantee: follow these rules and God will reward you, He will heal you, and He will restore you." In other words, follow these simple rules and you will get whatever you want. But then what happens if it doesn't work? If you go to a Benny Hinn rally and you didn't get healed, well, then there must be something wrong with you and with your faith—that you just didn't believe enough.

But you don't need to look far in the Bible to see examples of faithful followers of Jesus who endured excruciating trials. Job lost everything and didn't sin. Jeremiah was called by God and he lived an excruciatingly miserable ministry, to the point where he tells God, "You seduced me." Church history teaches us that 10 of the 12 disciples were martyred for their faith.

So, to make this extremely clear: if you're sick or suffering in this life, it's not because you don't have enough faith. It's not because God has abandoned you. In fact, God promises and assures us in His word, in 2 Corinthians 12, that if you are enduring excruciating pain and you are still trusting in Jesus, you are exemplifying and displaying more of God's glory than the strongest men on the earth by your faith and by your endurance.

This leads us to the last, biggest problem with the Prosperity Gospel: it replaces God with His gifts. The good news of the gospel of Christianity is not that you can get your dream job, your dream family, or your dream house. The good news of the gospel is that you get God. You get Him, who is greater than the greatest wants of all of your life. A sign of true conversion isn't that all of your problems disappear, but that you've found your ultimate satisfaction in who Jesus is and what He's done for you, not the things that you get from Him.

Jesus isn't fixing the paralytic's greatest problem by enabling him to walk. In fact, at first, Jesus doesn't make reference to this paralytic's paralysis at all. Instead, He says, "Your sins are forgiven." Jesus declares forgiveness for the paralytic's soul. It is precisely this phrase, "your sins are forgiven," that triggers the scribes, because the scribes are absolutely livid.

Dismissive Cynicism vs. Honest Questions

Which brings us to point number two: questions. Look at verse 6:

But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

— Mark 2:6-7 (CSB)

The scribes see what Jesus does, and they have some questions. But their questioning isn't the innocent questions of a skeptic; it's the dismissive questions of a cynic.

See, questions aren't inherently bad; they're actually quite good. Sometimes we can treat doubts or curiosity about Christianity almost like a spiritual cancer that quickly spreads and affects everything, as though it's an inherently bad thing. That's not true. Good questions can help lead us into deeper questions, into the knowledge of God, knowledge of ourselves, and knowledge of the world around us. So, questions don't stifle faith; they actually foster curiosity. It can be quite good.

If you're here this morning and you're a skeptic, and you're wondering about Christianity, I just want to tell you: your questions are great. Have those questions, think about those things. Wondering about the reliability of the Bible, the divinity of Jesus, or the existence of God isn't inherently bad. It's actually okay for you to have questions about it and to explore those questions. I personally don't have every single answer to every single question that you probably have, but I think that you'd be surprised at all the answers that Christianity has.

But cynicism asks a different kind of question. Cynicism doesn't ask questions to discover, but to dismiss. It diminishes what's in front of you and closes you off to other possibilities. Cynicism assumes that you're right and is unwilling to consider alternatives.

The scribes are unwilling to entertain the possibility that Jesus is actually authorized to forgive sins, and the scribes' response reveals their own hearts. Their questions reveal their assumptions: "Why does he speak like this? He shouldn't really be speaking like this. He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Who does this guy think he is, that he presumes to be like God?"

The irony of their comments is that in terms of their theology—their knowledge of who God is—they're absolutely right. Only God can forgive sins. Isaiah 43:25 says, where God is speaking: "I am the one—I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more." So, in terms of their Bible knowledge of the Old Testament, they checked that box.

But their correct knowledge led to a wrong conclusion. See, Jesus isn't the one who's committing blasphemy here; it's actually the scribes who are committing blasphemy, because they see the work of the Son of God and they refuse to recognize Him. They deny who He is.

All of us should be willing to consider the possibility that we might be wrong. That's a good thing to do as a smart person. I wonder, if you're not a Christian here, what your objections to Christianity may be. I mean, when you read a story like this, or you see a paralytic raised from the ground, it can almost seem like a fairy tale—like these miracles might be a fun legend, but really have no basis in reality. After all, there's no such thing as miracles. No humans can disrupt the laws of nature, right?

And you'd be mostly right to think that. I don't think I can disrupt the laws of nature. That's why you laughed when I said I was strong. I will think about that later. There's no way you can disrupt the laws of nature as a human being—unless you're the One who made the laws of nature. Unless you're the One who made the laws of nature.

Think about it. If Jesus is who He said He is, if Jesus really is God made man, then all the other difficulties go away. This is the way that one theologian, J.I. Packer, describes this kind of puzzle that we have:

"If Jesus had been no more than a very remarkable, godly man, the difficulties in believing what the New Testament tells us about his life and work would be truly mountainous. But if Jesus was the same person as the Eternal Word, it is no wonder if fresh acts of creative power marked his coming into the world, his life in it, and his exit from the dead. Once you grant that Jesus was divine, it becomes unreasonable to find difficulty in any of this. It is all of a piece and hangs together completely."

The Incarnation, that God became a man, is in itself an unfathomable mystery, but it makes sense of everything else that the New Testament contains. In other words, the question isn't "can a human do this?" The question is, "is Jesus who He said He is? Is He God made man?" And the scribes will not entertain that possibility. They won't consider it. They closed their minds to the possibility that Jesus is God.

The Authority of the Son of Man

But Jesus already knows what they think, and He's about to prove them wrong. You see that in verse 8:

Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic— “I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.” Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone.

— Mark 2:8-12 (CSB)

Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Jesus can see the scribes' hearts, and He sees their cynical opposition, so He calls them out. What's easier: saying "your sins are forgiven" or "get up, take your mat, and walk"?

What kind of question is that? A lot of people try to parse out what Jesus means there in terms of convenience or easier versus more difficult. It's actually quite simple. Jesus is toying with the scribes here. He's playing with them, right? His point is actually pretty simple. "Your sins are forgiven" is four words long. "Get up, take your mat, and walk" is eight words long. It's easier to say four words than it is to say eight words. So saying "your sins are forgiven" is easier than saying "get up, take your mat, and walk." His point is so simple it's almost silly. It's a simple answer.

But Jesus's greater point is that He has the authority to forgive sins. His point is, "I do have that authority." It's more convenient for Him to say "your sins are forgiven" because it's easy for Him to say that because He has the authority to forgive sins. Jesus can do whatever He wants because He is God. To forgive sins for Jesus is as easy as giving this paralytic a tutorial on how to get up. And He proves the Son of Man's authority by commanding the paralytic to get up. And the paralytic gets up, takes his mat, and goes out.

And Jesus does this so that the scribes would know that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins. "The Son of Man"—that title, that's how Jesus describes Himself. That title goes all the way back to the Old Testament. It goes back to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14:

I continued watching in the night visions,and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

— Daniel 7:13-14 (CSB)

And it's that King, the King, the Son of Man, who is exercising His authority. When the Son of Man tells a paralytic to get up, synapses fire, muscles move, and the paralytic gets up from the dust. See, Jesus's miracle validates Jesus's authority. If Jesus was able to raise this paralytic up from the ground, then that means that He also has the authority to forgive sins. What Jesus does validates what Jesus says. What Jesus does validates what Jesus says.

It's the same way with all of us. See, because of our sin, we're all helpless and paralyzed before God. There's nothing that you and I can do to save ourselves, to be forgiven. But when the Son of Man, Jesus, comes, He brings a real, everlasting dominion. He conquered sin and death through His death on the cross, and on the third day, He rose from the dead. And what Jesus did in His resurrection validates His declaration of forgiveness of sinners. Because He rose from the dead, we can trust what He says. He proved Himself and reigns currently over all the earth.

Which means that if you turn from your sin and trust in this Jesus, if you go to Him for salvation and ask Him in faith to forgive you, the everlasting King with all authority under heaven and earth will look at you and declare, "Son, your sins are forgiven," because Jesus paid it all.

Don't let cynicism block you from being able to go to Christ. He's a willing Savior, He's an effective Savior, He's an authoritative Savior. And if you have any questions about what it looks like to follow Jesus, I'm going to stand right at that door after service. I'd be happy to talk to you more about what it looks like to follow Him, or talk to the friend who brought you this morning. There's nothing else that we'd rather talk about than the good news of Jesus Christ.

And while the scribes respond with cynicism, the crowd erupts in praise. Let's close by looking at our third point: worship.

Astounded by Grace

Let's look at the end of verse 12:

Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

— Mark 2:12 (CSB)

The people recognize that they have never seen anything like this before. This is something new. And as a result, they bring glory to God. That's exactly what we do as Christians: we are tasked with the joyful, happy duty of bringing glory to God.

And how do we do that? How do we bring glory to God? Yes, you bring glory to God by your obedience—that's absolutely true. But if you look here in this passage, the way that the crowd brings glory to God isn't by going out and doing good works, but by recognizing what God has done. By seeing Jesus's work on this paralytic and responding in amazement and praise.

And that's exactly what we get to do. Like the crowd, we get to see what Jesus has done in all of our lives in saving us, in forgiving us of our sin, bringing us from death to life, and we get to join the chorus and bring glory to our Savior.

Man of Sorrows! what a name For the Son of God, who came Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for the work that You've done for us on the cross. We thank You for the work that You've done in the life of this paralytic, and the work that You've done in our lives. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to be able to have a proactive faith, to quell cynicism in our hearts, and to bring You glory in our worship. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Bread of Freedom and Cup of Redemption

Somebody praise the Lord! Authoritative preaching. Anybody can preach on anything, but authoritative preaching is taking the word of God, preaching it, saying what it really means, and applying it where it needs to go. What you heard was authoritative preaching, and that is so very rare nowadays because normally people preach for what people want to hear as opposed to what God is actually saying. So praise God for that.

I'm going to ask the deacons if they would pass out the elements for going through the Lord's Supper right now, and as they do that, take the element and then we will partake together.

What's interesting about the Lord's Supper was that on the day that it was initiated, it was on Passover. And one of the things that we need to understand about Scripture and about God is that God doesn't just do things to do them; there's always a reason behind it. And so, you know, it was very purposeful that it was on Passover night that this was instituted. And so we know that Passover celebrates the coming out of slavery, coming out of bondage, and it tells that story. A Passover Seder, the whole night is dedicated to telling that story of coming out of bondage, coming out of slavery.

And Christ does what for us? We come out of a slavery to sin; we come out of that bondage. There is a correlation there. But most importantly, it brings the Old Testament and the New Testament together.

And what I mean by that is: if this side of the room was the Old Testament, and this side of the room is the New Testament, what brings them together is the cross. Paul's teaching, and Jesus's teaching, everyone's teaching, and even from the Old Testament—the Old Testament points to the cross. The New Testament says, "This is what the Scriptures are; we now understand them through the cross."

In other words, the New Testament doesn't change anything; it just brings Scripture through the cross. And this is what is going on on Passover night. They're celebrating the Old Testament custom that they've been doing for 1,500 or 1,600 years, and now Jesus is taking that element, and He's taking it to a new level, and He's going to be bringing it through the cross. So now we understand Passover through the cross. It's like Jews and Gentiles now becoming one.

The story doesn't change. We don't stop teaching the story. Scripture is very clear: the seven feasts of Israel, we're to teach them, we're to know them, we're to understand them because they tell God's story in that.

And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23, the Apostle Paul is saying:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

— 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 (CSB)

Now, understand what He's doing through the Passover service. It's Passover night. The supper has ended. He's taking this bread, and He is now saying, "Take this bread and do it in remembrance of me."

In a Passover Seder, the night begins when you take bread and you break it, and then part of it you actually bury. And what it is, is that now the children aren't looking when you do this. You bury the bread, and then you go hide it someplace, and then the children will come out later, and you integrate them into the story, and you have them go look for this bread that was buried. And so now when supper is over, you take this bread that has now been resurrected.

You're taking this bread that is now being resurrected, that was buried. Jesus said He is the what? He is the bread of life. And so He's taking this bread that was called the bread of affliction, because it talks about the fact that they left Egypt in such a hurry they weren't able to take any of the leaven to make any of the fluffy bread. And that's what unleavened bread is all about. But it's also about—if there's an analogy there—the sin in your life: take the sin out of your life. Nothing wrong with fluffy bread, but the story is that they left in such a hurry.

And so they break the bread, and that bread is called the bread of affliction when they bury it. But when it's resurrected, when the children bring it back, it now has a new name. And this is the bread that Jesus is holding when He initiates the Lord's Supper, and now that bread is called the bread of freedom.

You see, we are free in Christ. We are free from the bondage of sin, we are free from the chains of death through Jesus. He's taking the Old Testament through the cross. He says, "Do this in remembrance of me." So as we do this in remembrance of Him, remember what He did for us on the cross: that God so loved us, He sent His only begotten Son to die, to pay the price on the cross for our sins. We do this in remembrance that God is our deliverer. Christ is our deliverer. He delivers us from the chains of death. This is the bread of freedom. We are free in Christ. We are free from the chains and sorrow of death. We now have all eternity, we have a future, we have a hope because of the freedom that Christ has given us. And so, let us take the bread in Jesus's name.

In the same way, He took the cup also, after supper. See, we understand this is after supper. In the same way, He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

On Passover night, there are four cups that they do. The first cup is the cup of sanctification: they sanctify the night, they dedicate the night. Then the second cup is called the cup of plagues: you tell the story of bondage in Egypt. And what you would do is, you'd either take a piece of a napkin or sometimes you take your finger, and you would dip it into the wine or the grape juice, and then you would put it down on the cloth, and you would do it ten times, and you would talk about the plagues. You talk about how Pharaoh wouldn't let the people go. You're reliving the story; you're telling the story.

The third cup is the cup of redemption. The fourth cup is the cup of praise, or it's known as the cup of Elijah—that in Jewish understanding, in the Old Testament understanding, is that one day Elijah will come, and he will announce the coming of the Messiah. Well, when supper is ended, the cup that they take, and the cup that Jesus is holding, is the cup of redemption. We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You are holding, and He was holding, the cup of redemption.

And so we take this, remembering that we are redeemed in Christ. And just to kind of close this out, the cup of Elijah's cup—you know, devout Jews will make a plate for Elijah because of the idea that Elijah is going to come on that night and he is going to announce Messiah has come. Well, Messiah has come, and He did come, and He was holding the cup of redemption, and we are redeemed by the blood of Christ.

So as we take this, let us remember what God is doing. He's bringing us into the Scripture, He's bringing us into His story. He wants us to know His story. Everything points to the cross; everything comes through the cross. Salvation in Jesus Christ, we are set free, we are free of the bondage of sin, and we have redemption in the blood of Christ. Amen. Let us take. Somebody can say amen. Praise God.

Benediction and Sending

A couple of announcements: Bible study on Wednesday in the Bible study room, 7:00 to 8:00. We're doing the Pastoral Epistles: 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. So that's on Wednesday at 7:00.

This Thursday, we'll have the Men's Ministry meeting, 7:00 in the same room over there. It's for the men, 7:00 to 8:00.

And also, don't forget, on Sunday morning we have new members' class, but it's also a members' class because what it does is it teaches us and shows us: what does it mean to be a member of this church? What does it mean to be a member of the body of Christ? So it's a new members' class. Pastor John teaches that, but it's also a class that's good for members to just kind of come in and learn and remember what it means to be a member of our church.

Then we also have adult Bible study on Sunday morning as well.

And then don't forget—I have to be reminded—that there is a meeting for those of you who have talked to Billie about the anniversary that's coming up next month. She wants to have a meeting about that, a planning meeting. So Billie, raise your hand, raise your hand so we know who you are. Billie, you don't have to raise your hand, we know who you are anyway. And so you see Billie after service if you want to be a part of that; she has a quick meeting on all of that, and it's about our anniversary that's coming up: 75 years as a church. Amen.

Okay, as the praise team comes up, I'm going to lead us into our benediction from Numbers chapter 6, verse 22:

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. You should say to them, “May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”’ In this way they will pronounce my name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

— Numbers 6:22-27 (CSB)

In other words, He's saying to the priest, "you say this to the people." As John was pointing out, our faith is that we believe what God says, that we follow what God says. He says if you say this, if you apply your faith to this, your belief to this, God says, "I am going to do this." And this is what it is, in Hebrew then in English:

May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you, shalom, and give you peace.

May the Lord bless you, may He strengthen you, may He heal you, and may He guide you. And God bless all of you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.

Amazing Grace, my Savior and my Lord, His mercy and love, His unending love, Amazing Grace, He will be with us forever. Amen.