Lesson 718

(Lesson 718)(08-07-13) Today's Lesson takes us to Matthew 9:1-2, "And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."

When Jesus recognized the demonstration of faith that was displayed by both the sick man and those who brought him ("Jesus seeing their faith") He said,"thy sins are forgiven thee", thereby healing the man.

There are two very important things we can learn from this text. The first is that sin is what causes all the problems in our daily lives here on earth, even our illnesses are brought on by sin. The second is that having FAITH in God through His Son Jesus Christ, accomplishes forgiveness of ALL sin, upon the exercise of that faith by merely asking.

There are those of us who say we have faith, but when push comes to shove, we rely on ourselves until it becomes overwhelmingly evident to us that we are not going to get the job done, then we turn to God as a last resort. That is not a demonstration of true faith!

Just as those disciples in Matt. 8:26, after walking along side Jesus on a day to day basis and being first hand witnesses to His awesome power, did not exercise faith during the storm prompting Jesus to ask, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"

Just as those scared disciples should have done, those of us who claim to believe and have faith in Jesus Christ should do, if what we are trying to do is within the perfect will of God, is to approach everything we confront KNOWING that we will get the job done because the power of God through Jesus Christ is behind us and WILL NOT allow us to fail.~