HE SAVES TO THE UTTERMOST – Friday January 12^th 2018

Memorise: Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he never liveth to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

Read: Mark 2:1-12 (KJV)

2:1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.

^2:2And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

^2:3And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

^2:4And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

^2:5When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

^2:6But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

^2:7Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

^2:8And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

^2:9Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

^2:10But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)

^2:11I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.

^2:12And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

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Bible in one year: Genesis 27-28, Revelation 11, Hymnal: sing Hymn 3

Today’s Bible reading contains an interesting story that confirms Jesus Christ as the authentic Saviour of the body, soul and spirit of mankind. a four-man squad brought a paralytic man face to face with Jesus Christ while He was preaching in a house.open heavens 3 January 2018. Amazingly, in Mark 2:5^b, the first thing Jesus Christ said to the young man was,

“Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”

To the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, this was a strange and conceited statement, which should not be uttered by any man. OPEN HEAVENS 3 JANUARY 2018. As they reasoned in their hearts on how a man could proclaim another man’s sins to be forgiven, Jesus confronted them with the truth of sin as the origin of man’s troubles on earth. Hear what He said in Mark 2:9-11:

“Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy into thine house.”

On hearing this, the sick got healed; people were so happy for him, and they glorified God.

There are lots of lessons to be learnt from this story, one of which is that sin brings about physical and spiritual calamity. Open Heavens 3 January 2018. Another lesson is that to overcome physical calamity, the issue of sin must be dealt with first. It becomes easier for healing to take place when the issue of sin has been settled, because the spiritual controls the physical. Sometimes we fail to look beyond the physical in our bid to solve spiritual-inflicted problems, and so we remain in these problems perpetually. Beloved, have you found out the root cause of the problems you are confronted with? Are they spiritual or physical in nature? The good news is that whether they are spiritual or physical, Jesus Christ is more than able to solve them today. In Luke 4:18-19, the Bible says this concerning Him:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Beloved, do you want salvation in every facet of life? Jesus Christ is the one that you need. To receive His salvation, all He requires of you is a total surrender of your heart to His Lordship. If you can do this today, He will save you completely.

Action Point

Ask the Great Physician to heal you of any spiritual or physical infirmity challenging your life.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Lessons was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical Church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

Sing Hymn 3

1. WHAT CAN WASH AWAY

MY SINS

1. WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole

again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Chorus:

Oh! Precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

2. For my cleansing this I see