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Chapter 27
Four of the Most Important Men in the Bible
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.” (Luke 5:17-26)
We have before us four of the most important men in the Bible. So far as I know, not one of them was a preacher. None of them wrote a word of inspiration. These four men were not prophets or apostles. They appear to have been insignificant, if not totally unknown among their peers. The names, ages and birth places of these four men are not mentioned anywhere in the Word of God. Yet, these four men rank among the most important men in the Bible, because these four, unknown nobodies were instruments by which God brought one of his elect sheep to Christ. These four men had a friend who was paralyzed, both physically and spiritually; and they brought their friend to Christ; and the Lord Jesus both healed their friend and forgave his sin. The story of their remarkable faith and zeal is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Never in all the world did any mortals perform a more important work than these four men. Because of their labors, a sinner was saved and God was glorified.
Try to get a picture in your mind of the scene before us in Luke 5:17-26. It is a very remarkable story. These four men knew who Christ is and they knew the power of his grace. They knew a man who needed their Savior. They knew where the Lord Jesus was to be found. They resolved together to bring their friend to the Savior. And by thoughtful planning, labor and perseverance, these four men succeeded in getting their friend to Christ.
The work required much time and effort; but they were in dead earnest. They knew that Christ had the power to save their friend; and they knew that their friend needed his grace. They were determined to let nothing stand in their way. They were determined to get their friend to Christ. They could not heal his disease. They could not save his soul. They could not forgive his sin. And they did not know whether or not the Lord would do these things for him. But they could get their friend to Christ. And what they could do they were determined to do. And as a direct result of their diligent labors, a sinner was saved and God was glorified. Nothing in all the world could be more important. When the Lord Jesus saw their faith, he forgave that man’s sin.
God the Holy Spirit holds these four men up before our eyes as examples for us to follow. They show us the importance and the necessity of personal evangelism.
Five Facts
We know that “salvation is of the Lord.” No man can save himself; and we cannot save other men. It is not possible for us to create a new heart in another person. We cannot give them repentance and faith in Christ. We cannot reveal Christ to a man’s heart. But there are some things that we can do. And what we can do, we must do. — Here are five facts plainly revealed in the Word of God.
As he used the Hebrew maid to convince Naaman, used Andrew to find Peter, used the Samaritan woman to call his elect in Samaria, and used Philip to call the Ethiopian Eunuch, so the Lord God still uses saved sinners in his mighty operations of grace by which he saves chosen sinners.
It is God’s good pleasure to use sinful men to proclaim the gospel to sinful men. He could use angels. He could speak to men directly. But he has chosen to speak to men through us. What a privilege he has given us (2 Corinthians 4:7). This is no limitation to God’s sovereignty. It is the marvel of his sovereign grace that he is pleased to use us (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
Five Questions
I pray that God the Holy Spirit will kindle a fire in our hearts and inspire us to zealously give ourselves to the business of bringing sinners to Christ.[1]
I am not asking whether or not you are a religious person. I am not asking about your doctrinal beliefs, your denominational affiliation, or your works of morality. I am asking this one thing: — Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Has he been revealed in your heart? Have you seen his face, heard his voice and followed him? If you are truly united to Christ by faith, if you do love him, surely you want others to know him (Romans 10:1).
Do you know the gospel of the grace of God? Do you know how it is that God saves sinners by the substitutionary sacrifice of his own dear Son? (John 3:14-16; Romans 3:24-26).
The universal testimony of Holy Scripture is, “By grace ye are saved!” Salvation is by grace, because sinners need grace (Ephesians2:1-4). Totally depraved, spiritually dead sinners must be saved by grace, because they are totally incapable of saving themselves, or of assisting in the salvation of their souls. Salvation by grace excludes all boasting on the part of man (Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 4:7). — “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” Salvation by grace gives all the praise, honor and glory to the triune God for what he has done (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14): to God the Father for election and predestination, to God the Son for redemption and forgiveness, to God the Holy Spirit for regeneration and preservation. Salvation by grace is a door of hope for helpless, guilty sinners. If God required us to do something to be saved, none would ever be saved. But, since the whole of salvation is by grace, there is hope for sinners who are incapable of doing anything to please God. Salvation by grace is salvation from sin (Matthew 1:21). Grace saves us from both the penalty of sin and the dominion of sin. Grace is not a license to sin. Grace never justifies a life of sin. Grace makes sinners the servants of righteousness. But how does grace save?
Grace does not save us by overlooking our sins and pretending that they do not exist (Ezekiel 18:20), by enabling us to keep the law of God (Galatians 3:21), or by giving us religious ceremonies to observe (Galatians 5:2) and good works to perform (2 Timothy 1:9).
Grace saves by substitution, by transferring the sins of God’s elect to Christ and punishing him for them as our Substitute (Romans3:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians1:7; 1 Peter 2:24). Substitutionary redemption upholds and satisfies the justice of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for his people so that our sins might be justly imputed and charged to him. When he was made sin for us, the Lord God poured out on him all the fury of his holy law and offended justice. Because he exhausted his wrath on our Substitute, the Lord Jesus, the Lord God declares, to all for whom Christ died, “Fury is not in me” (Isaiah 27:4). He is to every believing sinner both “a just God and a Savior” (Isaiah 45:20-22).
Grace saves us by making us the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), by imputing Christ’s righteousness to us and by making us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) in regeneration, giving us life and faith in Christ (Colossians 2:12). Grace saves by making Christ and his sin-atoning death precious to our hearts. The death of Christ is of absolutely no benefit to any sinner until he believes the gospel. — “Christ in you (is) the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). — “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned” (John 3:18).
Grace saves us by keeping and preserving us unto eternal glory (1 Peter 1:5). “The gifts and callings of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). That which grace begins, grace will complete (Philippians 1:6). Grace will not be frustrated. Grace can never fail!
If you know Christ, you ought to confess him. If you know the gospel, you ought to tell it. The Savior says, “Ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48; Acts 5:32; 10:39; 2 Timothy 2:2).
Do you know of a place where the power of God is present to heal the souls of men? Every gospel church is such a place. The church of Christ is to be a sounding board for the gospel. Our one purpose for existence in this world, our one business in life is to preach the gospel of Christ.
Every pastor, every gospel preacher is responsible to make it his business, every time he speaks to eternity bound sinners in God’s name, to preach the gospel to them (1 Corinthians 2:2; 9:16). The preacher must have but one real ambition in life; and that one ambition must be to hold Christ up and point men and women to him, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.” He alone is the Substitute for sinners. He alone is the Savior of men. There is hope for sinners in him. There is redemption in him. There is righteousness in him. There is life in him. There is salvation in him. There is safety in him.
The preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 24; 2:2-5). Bring sinners with you to the place where “the power of the Lord is present to heal them.” In that place where God speaks to your heart and reveals Christ to you, he may do the same for others.
Do you know anyone who needs healing? I know this: — That about which we are truly concerned, that which is really important to us is that about which we will be diligent and earnest. J.C. Ryle wrote…
“Why is it that so many people take no pains in religion? How is it that they can never find time for praying, Bible reading, and hearing the gospel? What is the secret of their continual string of excuses for neglecting the means of grace? How is it that the very same men who are full of zeal about money, business, pleasure or politics, will take no trouble about their souls? The answer to these questions is short and simple. These men are not in earnest about salvation.”
If the glory of Christ is important to you, the worship of Christ will be important to you. If the souls of your children are important to you, you will see to it that they hear the gospel. If the souls of men are important to you, you will do what you can to see to it that they hear the gospel.
Do you not know that this world is passing away? Do you not know that men are perishing? Do you not know that hell is real, heaven is real, eternal death is real, eternal life is real?
We cannot all become preachers and missionaries. We cannot all be Bible teachers. And I do not suggest that we all should be preachers, missionaries and teachers. But there are some things that you and I can and should do for the glory of God and the salvation of his elect.
We can adorn the gospel of the grace of God by our daily lives (Titus 2:10). Let us seek grace to live in accordance with what we profess, or it will be of no value to anyone for us to try to be witnesses of the gospel. See to it that your profession and your practice are in agreement.
We can all tell what we know. We do not have to be theologians to be faithful witnesses. A faithful witness is one who simply tells what he knows to be true. Do you know that Christ is precious? Tell it. Do you know that God forgives sin? Tell it. Do you know that salvation is by grace through faith? Tell it. Make it your business to talk to people about Christ and the gospel.
We can all distribute gospel literature to our friends and neighbors. We can all bring people with us to hear the gospel. We can give of our means for the furtherance of the gospel. We can all greet people who attend the house of worship with warmth and friendliness. We can all earnestly pray for the conversion of sinners.
I have been very plain and pointed in stating things we can and should do for the furtherance of the gospel and the conversion of sinners. May God the Holy Spirit give us grace to take these things to heart. We all have a terrible tendency to become slothful and negligent in the matter of witnessing to men. Let me make one last effort to stir our hearts and inspire our souls with zeal in this matter.
We should be faithful witnesses of the gospel, because men and women are perishing in unbelief and sin. Our Lord has commanded us to be his witnesses. The love of Christ constrains us to proclaim the good news of salvation and grace to others. This is the means which God has ordained for the conversion of sinners. And the work of evangelism is a glorious, soul-cheering work (James 5:20). Above all, let us give ourselves to this work for the glory of God. Nothing more glorifies God than the salvation of his elect.
So, let us dedicate ourselves to the glory of God. Let us be faithful in all that concerns the gospel of Christ. Let us give ourselves to the work of evangelism. Make it your business to be a faithful witness for Christ. Become Christ’s ambassador to your family. Be the Lord’s missionary in your community.
Don Fortner
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