Cheer Up!

Cheer Up!

Matthew 9:1-8

One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out.

So he called one of His best angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time.

When the angel returned she told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good. Well, God thought for a moment and said "Maybe I had better send down a second angel, to get another point of view."

So God called another angel and sent her to Earth for a time too.

When the angel returned she went to God and told Him yes, the Earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good. God said this was not good.

So He decided to E-mail the 5% that were good. He wanted to encourage them ............. give them a little something to help them keep going.

And… Do you know what that E-mail said?

* * * * pause  * * * * *

So…. You didn’t get one either, huh? 

Did that have you worried?  Even a little bit?

Today I'd like to ask you a question?  What is it that holds you back?  What is it that is keeping you from becoming all that you can be in Christ Jesus?

One man said to his friend: “Say, you look depressed. What are you thinking about?”

“My future,” was the quick answer.

“What makes that look so hopeless?”

“My past.”

Today we are going to read a portion of Matthew 9 and hear Jesus speaking to a paralyzed man.  He tells that fellow to "Cheer Up" 
As we read verses 1 -8 we discover  ...

Sin Paralyzes

Sin Blinds   and

Jesus Heals

Read Matthew 9:1-8

1. Body
1. Sin Paralyzes
1. Sin eventually renders us unable to move toward help
2. Dr. Ralph Sockman writes about an experience he had while standing on the edge of Niagara Falls one clear, cold March day. Wrapped in white winter garments, the falls glistened in the bright sun. As some birds swooped down to snatch a drink from the clear water, Sockman's companion told how he had seen birds carried over the edge of the precipice. As they dipped down for a drink, tiny droplets of ice would form on their wings. As they returned for additional drinks more ice would weigh down their bodies until they couldn't rise above the cascading waters. Flapping their wings, the birds would suddenly drop over the falls.
1. Some People Brought This Man To Jesus
1. The men in this story broke the rules; they went against the norms and expectations of society. They associated with a sinner. Their friend’s paralysis was seen by many as God’s judgment upon him for his unrighteousness. Quite possibly the paralytic himself believed that he had committed some grave sin against God—even though he couldn’t figure out what it was. His friends did not dessert him, though.
2. The men broke another rule—they got involved in their friend’s problem. The society in which they lived was similar to ours. People didn’t become involved in the lives and problems of others unless they were asked, and then only with great hesitation.
2. Jesus Saw Their Faith — Listen to these Words of God
1. "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves" (Romans 15:1).
2. "Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).
3. "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).
3. Jesus Spoke To That Man
1. He said, "Cheer Up!”
2. Listen to these verses:
3. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  --  John 10:10
4. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. -- John 15:11
5. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. -- John 17:13
6. Aren’t these words of Jesus encouraging?  Sixty one times in the New Testament God’s joy and its ability to flood your soul are mentioned.
   Sixty-one times!
7. This joy of Jesus makes it possible for the Apostle Paul to conclude his letter to the Romans with the words:
8. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -- Romans 15:13
9. IN OTHER WORDS — CHEER UP!

B. Sin Blinds

1. Sin will distort our understanding of God's truths
1. These Scribes See Wrongly
1. They look upon this man's condition to assign cause for his affliction
2. Jesus speaks to the cure to encourage this man's faith
2. They View Good as Evil
1. To them, forgiveness only comes from God and even then at the temple
2. This means Jesus blasphemes God
3. Illustration -  Sin
1. Sin is a blasting presence, and every fine power shrinks and withers in the destructive heat. Every spiritual delicacy succumbs to its malignant touch…
2. Sin impairs the sight, and works toward blindness.
3. Sin benumbs the hearing and tends to make men deaf.
4. Sin perverts the taste, causing men to confound the sweet with the bitter, and the bitter with the sweet.
5. Sin hardens the touch, and eventually renders a man "past feeling.”
4. All these are Scriptural analogies, and their common significance appears to be this--sin blocks and chokes the fine senses of the spirit; by sin we are desensitized, rendered imperceptive, and the range of our correspondence is diminished. Sin creates callousness. It mutes the spirit, and so reduces the area of our exposure to pain.

C. Jesus Heals

1. Our Lord removes the sin at the root of our afflictions
1. The Messiah Speaks Forgiveness of Sins
1. This is found in Jesus Christ -- "Son HAS power”
2. This is done to the glory of God
2. The Messiah Displays Healing Power
1. Jesus turned from the dispute and spoke to the disabled
2. This man, once unable to carry himself, is now able to carry his own bed.
3. Illustration -- Barking Dog  --  Rick Dellinger writes.... 
4. I encountered a mean, barking dog. He had the look that said, if I live long enough, sooner or later, I'm going to bite you! As is my habit, I tried to entice the dog to let me pet him, to which he of course, wanted no part, and became even more vicious. As I came close enough to see his teeth, I snatched him off his feet, and wrapped my arms completely around him, thus disabling his means of attack. As I examined him, he had this look of distress, almost desperation in his eyes, and it was then I noticed, the huge thorn he had in his front paw. I decided I must remove the thorn at once, and he decided at once I wouldn't. As the battle eventually I won, I put him down, and imagine my surprise, to find he wasn't near the snarling, mean dog I had imagined, but because of the miracle of the removal of the thorn, he now was a dancing, prancing, full of love puppy-dog, who seemingly had no care in the world. Thus is the sin in our lives. It becomes a thorn is our paws, which if allowed to, consumes our very being, and eventually, we become barking dogs. Christ says He can remove the sin, if we allow it. Many times we fight the cause, many times we fight the solution, but when it's finally removed, how sweet it is to know His grace.

II. Conclusion 

1. Illustration - Can't forget the duck
1. Richard Hoefler's book "Will Daylight Come?"  includes an illustration of how sin enslaves and forgiveness frees.  A little boy visiting his grandparents as given his first slingshot.  He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target.  As he came back to Grandma's back yard, he spied her pet duck.  On an impulse he took aim and let fly.  The stone hit, and the duck fell dead.
2. The boy panicked.  Desperately he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching.  Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.  After lunch that day, Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes."  But Sally said, "Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today.  Didn't you, Johnny?"  And she whispered to him, "Remember the duck!  So Johnny did the dishes.
3. Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing.´  Grandma said, "I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper."  Sally smiled and said, "That's all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it."  Again she whispered, "Remember the duck."  Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.  After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, finally he couldn't stand it.  He confessed to Grandma that he'd killed the duck.  "I know, Johnny," she said, giving him a hug.  "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing.  Because I love you, I forgave you.  I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you. 
2. What about you?  Do you have any "unconfessed duck" that's weighing heavily on you today?
3. Jesus sees how the guilt of that unconfessed sin is pressing on you -- paralyzing you.  He says, "Cheer up!  You can find healing and forgiveness in Him.”
4. Only in Christ will you find those things.  Only He can give spiritual healing and forgiveness.  Will you meet with Him today?
5. Will you rise up and be free today?