SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2021 8:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Forgiveness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 9:2b
Message of the
verse: “Jesus
said to the paralytic, "Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.’”
As we look at this small section
from verse two we can see some very encouraging words from our Lord to this “paralytic”
which are “Take courage.” We have stated
that we believe that this man’s heart was fearful because of his sins, and
therefore the words “take courage” had to mean a lot to this man. We see that Jesus spoke tender words of
comfort and encouragement, and I have to believe that these tender words from
the Holy one who knew his sin, grief, and humiliation were of great comfort and
gave courage to him.
MacArthur writes “Tharseo (‘take courage’) refers to subjective courage, that which
is deep and genuine—in contrast to tolmao,
which refers to outward boldness. Tolmao
would be characterized by gritting the teeth to help endure pain or
whistling in the dark to stave off fear.
It is the kind of courage that tries to master fear by sheer willpower
and determination. But Tharseo represents courage that
eliminates fear. Jesus was saying, ‘Don’t
be afraid, because you no longer have anything to be afraid of.’ It was not that the man’s fears had not been
real and well founded. An unrepentant
sinner is separated from God and under divine judgment. But when he repents in faith, he no longer
has reason to fear, because he is no longer under judgment. Knowing the paralytic’s faith, Jesus
therefore said to him ‘take courage.’”
Now we must look at how Jesus
addresses this man, and He does it by saying “My son,’ and I am sure that also
brought comfort to this man. MacArthur
writes Teknon (‘son’) refers to a
child of any age or sex. It is here translated
‘son’ because Jesus was speaking to a man.
‘Son’ was used in that day as it often is in our own, as a term of
friendship and identity—sometimes even with a person just met. Because the paralytic repentantly identified
himself with Jesus, Jesus lovingly identified Himself with the paralytic.”
Now we want to move into look at
what we could call Jesus’ supreme words that He spoke to this man which are “your
sins are forgiven.” Having Jesus say
this to anyone is what I believe to be a divine miracle, as it is only Jesus
who can say these words to a person that have real meaning because He is the
One who paid the penalty for all men’s sins, therefore He is the only One who
can forgive sin. This has to be the most
desirable words that a sinful person can here, and this is exactly what Jesus
spoke to this man. MacArthur adds “Just
as with a word Jesus stilled the storm, with a word He dismissed the paralytic’s
sins and gave him His most gracious gift to meet his greatest need.
“Aphiemi,
the verb behind ‘all forgiven,’ has the basic idea of sending or driving away,
of doing away with. ‘As far as the east
is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.’ David
declared (Ps. 103:12). When God forgives
sins He casts them ‘into the depths of the sea’ (Mic. 7:19). Paul rejoiced that, even though he ‘was formerly
a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor,’ he was yet ‘shown mercy’
(1 Tim. 1:13). ‘It is a trustworthy
statement, deserving full acceptance,’ he goes on to say, ‘that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all’ (v. 15).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Looking
back on when the Lord called me to salvation on the 26th of January
of 1974, I certainly did know all of what that entailed, but now I do know that
the greatest thing that happened to me was to be forgiven of my sins. I have mentioned that taking the Lord’s name
in vain was the chief sin that caused me so much distress, and I tried to stop
on my own, but could not. God graciously
not only forgave me of all my sins including that one, but also stopped my
desire to sin in that fashion, and for that I am ever thankful to Him. There was another sin that I had so much
trouble with and this took me on a journey of many ups and downs, conquering it
for a while and then falling into it from time to time. It was not until I began to fast on Wednesday’s
a couple of months ago that I got relief from it and the same feeling came over
me that came over me once God took the swearing problem away, and for that I
can only praise the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As long as I
am able I desire to continue to fast on Wednesdays, to fast over that sin problem,
and too fast for revival in my life and
in my families lives and in our churches life.
5/5/2021 8:43
AM
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