Salvation

 Salvation cannot be bought and it's not by good works or by good behavior. Salvation comes by responding favorably to the Gospel. That message is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 4. Everyone will spend eternity in one of 2 places. That is everyone's decision for themselves to make. Heaven or hell. Choose wisely. Don't make the choice depending on someone else's behavior or even your own behavior. Make the choice in light of who you are and who CHRIST is. Conviction of our sins comes by the HOLY GHOST leading to repentance and salvation. To look at our good behavior or the lack thereof in others leaves one in condemnation. Thankfully, we have a choice because of the cross of CHRIST and HIS resurrection. Choose wisely.

Paralytic mans friends

 In Matthew 9:8 the crowd chose to glorify God in response to Jesus' power. They glorified God who had given that kind of power to men. Scripture doesn't tell us but the people understood that he had this authority because He was the Son of God. Still, the crowd glorified God.

In response to your question about the paralytic man's friends: In Mark 2:5 we see that Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic man's friends. Keep in mind the man was paralyzed. He had to rely on his friends to get him to Jesus. The persistent effort and aggressiveness of his friends were evidence of their faith in Christ to heal. 

In the time of Christ, most homes in Israel had flat roofs. There would be a stairway outside that went up to the roof. The roof was made from dried-out slabs of clay. A uniform coat of fresh, wet clay was then put over the slabs of hardened clay to seal out the rain. The paralytic man's friends took him to the roof of the house and dug out the top coat of clay, then they removed several of the slabs until they had made enough room to lower him down in front of Jesus. 

The paralytic man's friends had a great love for their friend and showed great faith in Jesus. 

 Men have got the impression that God got a cowardly man to deliver His people. Is God going to use the most unfit person to deliver Israel from the Midianites, Amalekites and the children of the East? God doesn’t operate like that. God raises up men to do His work and He raises them up with the ability to do as He commands them. A lot of people assume because Gideon was threshing wheat by the winepress at night (Judges 6:11) he was afraid. The Midianites greatly oppressed Israel and had taken all they had (6:4-6). If anyone had any food they would have to use much caution and wisdom.

Judges 6:11 “And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which [was] in Ophrah, that [pertained] unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide [it] from the Midianites.”

Gideon is living in a time of strong oppression. The Midianites are taking everything the Israelites have. Gideon got wheat by threshing it at night so he could hide it from them. So, Gideon was cautious and wise.

In Judges 6:12 an angel of the Lord appeared to him calling him a mighty man of valor. That doesn’t sound like he is a coward.

Judges 6:13:13-16 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”

16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

It’s difficult to assume that Gideon was a coward from these verses. At first he didn’t question the angel regarding his courage but only about the Lord being with him. He reasoned that if the Lord was with him, he would not be oppressed. Next he said that he was the least in his house and that his family was poor. This doesn’t mean he was a coward, this shows that he was humble. Gideon didn’t see himself fit for such a big task.

People also bring up his reaction when he saw the angel. Who wasn’t afraid when they saw an Angel of the Lord. Balaam fell flat on his face (Numbers 22:31) so did David and the elders of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:16) and so did Sampson’s parent’s (Judges 13:20).

25 That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. 26 Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” A lot of people come down hard on Gideon because of how he obeyed this command.

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord had commanded. But he did it at night because he was afraid of the other members of his father’s household and the people of the town. Being brave doesn’t mean your stupid. Gideon had to go in and bring down his father’s altar of Baal, as well as cut the grove beside it then make an altar to God and make a burnt offering for Him. The men in that city, as well as his father,  were idol worshippers. He wasn’t going in there in broad daylight and do all that. He wasn’t afraid of what the men would do to him, rather he feared they would try to hinder him from doing what God wanted. I believe he done it at night so he wouldn’t have to deal with the men of the city.

Judges 7:2-3

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight. Gideon did not go home with the others.

4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.”5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream. It should be clear by now that Gideon was a mighty man of valor.,