Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-03-21
CHRIST F0RGIVING SIN.
LESSON XII, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH %.

init Verses 24-26-Golden Text, Luke v,
21-Commentary by the Rev. ID. NJ.
Stearns.
! Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per
mission of II. S. Hoffman, publisher Philadel-
phia
H. And it came to pass on a certain day
| as He was teaching" Our last lesson, con-
corning the miraculous draught of fishes, is
recorded only in Luke: then follows the heal
ing of the leper recorded by Matthew, Mark
and Luke, as a result of which there came
great multitudes to hear and be healed, inso-
much that Jesus could no more openly enter
into the city, but was without in desert
places. Then Luke says that He Withdrew
Himself into the wilderness and prayed
| Verse l6. Notice the seven other occasions
recorded by Luke on which Jesus prays wi,
II, 10; tx, Is, 20; XII, l, q xxi, 81, A. A. and
let us all sincerely ask ourselves how much
we know of the power of prayer
"There were Pharisees and doctors of the
law sitting by, which were come out of every
town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem"
So that here was gathered convention of
all the leading and influential religious peo-
pie of the land, and they were being address
ed by this humble carpenter of Nazareth up
on topics with which they ought to be very
| familiar and of which the wonder in their
eyes was that He should know anything
IS And, behold, men brought in a bed
man which was taken with a palsy" Mark
says that four men carried him. His trouble
was paralysis he was utterly helpless, all I'M
| done, not a thing could he do for himself
! Other cases of this disease are recorded in
Matt. iv, PA viii, q; Acts viii, I; tx, So the last
case being that of a man who had kept his bed
for eight years. This mans ply steal condition
was an illustration of the condition of all men
spiritually Rom. V, 6. s, 10, to describe it as
without strength ungodly sinners, enemies
| and that was just the condition of those Phar-
isees and doctors of the law who were sit
ting by, but they knew it not.
10. They went upon the housetop, and let
him down through the thing, with his couch,
into the midst before Jesus" The discourage
ments were many and great 1t seemed sim
ply impossible to get their friend to Jesus.
90. And when He saw their faith, He said
unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee {"
| The great people present may have felt like
objecting very decidedly to this rude inter
ruption; or some hateful ones may have
laughed in their hearts at the meeting being
thus disturbed; but the quiet calmness and
dignity of Jesus would overawe them and as
all was still again, the helpless man lying on
his couch in their midst, these most unex
pected words fell from the preachers lips:
Man, thy sins are forgiven thee!" AS the
skillful physician seeks carefully the source of
the more manifest symptoms, the seat of the
disease, and attends to that, knowing that if
the cause is removed all will be WELL so Jesus
goes at once to the cause of all sickness and
suffering and DEATH and in the case of this
man grants him first his greatest need, the
forgiveness of his sins. At the same time He
indicates to the Pharisees their need.
81. "Who is this which speaketh blasphe-
mics! Who can forgive sins but God alonel"
Thus these sin sick Scribes and Pharisees be-
gan to reason in their hearts, not knowing
that God Himself stood in their midst and
uttered these words.
%. Jesus perceived their thoughts (R. ",
reasoningsl said unto them, What reason We
in your heartsf' They must have been
startled at having the thoughts of their
hearts thus told out before all, and one would
think that this would convince them that
Jesus was more than man. If they were
well versed in their own Scriptures, as they
should have been, such words as these would
have come to mind, Il know the things that
come into your mind, every one of them
The Lord searcheth all hearts, and under
standeth all the imaginations of the thoughts -
Thou understandest my thoughts afar off ~
% whether is easier, to say, Thy sins
be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and
Walk Each was equally easy to God mani
fest in the flesh, but from their standpoint
simply to heal the man of his sickness would
not imply the same power of God as to grant
forgiveness of sins, and would not have led
them to accuse Him of basphemy.
"a. The Son of Man hath power upon earth
to forgive sins" And He will have them to
know it. But who is this Son of Man. Thi;
is the first time we find the title in this Gospel
but we shall find it about twenty -fve times
as we go on. 1t is Mt least thirty times in
Matthew, fourteen times in Mark and ten
times in John. 1t seems to be our Lords
favorite title of Himself, and is found outside
of the Gospels only in Acts vii, So; Heb. ii, g.
Rev. i, 49, xiv, II. OF the eighty times He
uses it in the four Gospels, He uses it in refer
ence to His resurrection and future glory
about thirty times, and that reminds us of
Ps. viii, 4; xxx, II; Dan VIII ID, where the
Son OF Man Is the one TO whom dominion on
earth is given. He has power to remove sin
and sickness, and does it even now in the case
of individuals He removes sin as to its con
sequences and power from every one who
truly seeks Him. He removes sickness and
suffering whenever it is for our good and His
glory, but not until the resurrection will He
give His people bodies forever free from all
infirmity. The time will come when He shall
have removed from the earth forever all
traces of sin and the curse; and He shall do il
as Son of Man, David's Son, Abrahams Son,
in association with redeemed Israel and the
gloritied church.
%. And Immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that whereou he lay, and
departed to his own house, clarifying God II
The Word of the Son of Man. God manifest
in the flesh did it. He forgave his sins, He
healed his body. We would, as rule, have
healthier bodies if we had healthier souls
purer hearts, hearts in which the Word OF
God dwelt richly. If our bodies were tenn
Piles filled with the Holy Spirit, who can tell
what lie, the Quickener Teacher, Comforter,
would do for us, in us, through us, to the
glory of God. By the Word of the Lord
were the heavens made, and all the host OF
them by the breath of His mouth (Ps xxxiii,
6), and that Word in which the Spirit dwells
John vi, G3l has lost none of its power Turn
a moment to the man and his friends as they
return home in triumph, clarifying God.
hot ia.o1 r Ill