"When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they *came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—He *said to the paralytic, "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to come together to study rich awesome Truths in God's Word. We are so thankful that the Lord lead you join us today.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to come together to study rich awesome Truths in God's Word. We are so thankful that the Lord lead you join us today.
In the world in which we live., it's not uncommon to hear of a church
with hundreds or even thousands of people in attendance, I submit to you
the issue is not the number of those that are sitting in attendance,
but the condition of their hearts. Because a church is full of people, it doesn't mean those people are full of God! Large crowds followed Jesus, most of them were only interested in what He could do for them. They came expecting Jesus to meet their needs, I dare say that many people who come to church are no different. Our personal
blessings should be secondary to sharing our blessed salvation with
those who are outside the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation for the forgiveness of sin, is man's greatest need, a true
Christian must respond to that need.
Heavenly Father,
In His name we pray
Amen
Today's Message: Man's Greatest Need
If you have your Bibles, open them and turn with me to Mark chapter 2, verses 1-12. I'd like to encourage you follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds. I pray that the Lord
would help us to hear and apply what He has to say to each of us today and strengthen our faith. Mark 2:1-12.
"When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they *came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being
unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above
Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which
the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—He *said to the paralytic, "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And
he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the
sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God,
saying, "We have never seen anything like this."
Scripture doesn't give us much information about this paralyzed man, we don’t know whether if this man's paralysis was a long term paralysis or something new. All we know about this man is that he was paralyzed and he is unable to move. And when the friends had heard about the news about Jesus' miracles of healing, they immediately went to their friend, put him on a bed, and carried him to where Jesus was. We don’t know where they came from, or how far they carried him, just that they knew they needed to get their friend to Jesus, Who was the only one who could do anything for their friend. It's obvious, that distance and difficulty meant nothing to them, they're willing to go out of their way to get him to Jesus! It was concerted effort, they not only worked hard, but they worked hard together, moving in the same direction, otherwise this man would have never been able to get to Jesus. They were of like mind, moving in like motion and they had a like motive; to get their friend to Jesus.
People need Jesus and it is our great privilege to bring them to Him. However, like the man in our text, some people will never be able to get to Jesus without someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to get them to Him. Divisions in the church will only result in the loss of many
opportunities to bring the lost to the only One Who can help them, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers the forgiveness of sin that can ensure the sinner will escape the wrath of God that will be poured out on sinners eternally in Hell.
How far are you willing to go to bring someone to Jesus? Are you willing to overcome the obstacles both inside and outside of the church?
Our text today involves a paralytic man, Jesus the Savior, a curious crowd and the hostile false hearted religious fanatics looking to find fault with Jesus.
Let's begin with verses 1 and 2, "When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them." Mark begins with "When He had come back to Capernaum," after leaving Capernaum where He had healed Peter's mother in-law and the whole city had gathered at the door with all their physical infirmities and needs. And we know from chapter 1, He had been in Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out the demons, when a leper came to Him beseeching saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Jesus was willing to cleanse him, which He did. After Jesus cleansed him, He told him not to say anything to anyone but to show himself to the priest and offer for his cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. Rather than obeying Jesus, he freely spread the news about his cleansing everywhere, forcing Jesus to stay out of the nearby towns, having to keep His ministry to the unpopulated areas.
So He's back in Capernaum at the home of Simon and Andrew, where He had been staying, and Mark tells us that there were "many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door," as He was teaching. Nowhere does Mark tells us that they are coming to Jesus in repentance, seeking salvation. Evidence that large crowds are not the measure of a successful ministry, not even Jesus'. They were curious and looking for what Jesus could do for them. Luke adds "there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem." They were there because they saw Jesus as a threat to their damning religious system and they were concerned with what He was saying. In other words, they were looking for a way to trap Him. I love what Luke says, "And the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing." Remember, He emptied Himself and restricted Himself to the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 3, "And they *came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men." This is the only illustration we have recorded in Mark of Jesus healing a paralytic, though Matthew tells us He healed many paralytics. By the way, I love their determination to get him to Jesus. Luke adds they were trying to bring him in to Jesus, to set him down in front of Him. But they couldn’t get him in because of the crowds. Again this is a curious, self-indulgent crowd, but they were obviously without compassion. You would think that any decent human being standing in the doorway seeing a paraplegic lying on a pallet being carried by four men to get him to someone Who was able to heal him would step aside and move out of the way, but the self-seeking crowd didn't move.
Verse 4, "Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying." Their desperation is amazing! These folks are determined, they carried him up the exterior staircase to the roof and started taking the roof tiles apart, making an opening by digging through the mud and thatch, literally tearing up somebody else’s house. Luke adds that they "let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus." Can you imagine? "Hello everyone, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really need to see Jesus!"
If you've ever taught or spoken in public, then you certainly understand
the difficulty of trying to maintain people’s attention with
distractions going on. Let alone something this distracting! I can tell
you that I've never experienced anything even close to that. It's fascinating to me that they seemed to figure out exactly where Jesus was, perhaps once they started removing the roof, they were able to determine which direction they needed to continue to put him down right in front of Him. One thing is clear, they obviously had the faith to believe Jesus could heal him, that's why they were willing to do whatever it took to get him in front of Jesus. True faith is visible to God.
Look at Jesus' reaction in verse 5, "And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Even there was no request made, Jesus knew this was about more than just healing, or he probably wouldn't have gone through all of this. Knowing his heart, He knew what this man desperately wanted was forgiveness. Sometimes, it takes a major crisis or devastating situation to bring us to the realization of our true need before the Savior, it's not health, wealth or happiness; it's salvation and the forgiveness on sin. The is the greatest need of every man's soul.
And in a moment, without hesitation, Jesus says on His own Authority, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Jesus doesn’t forgive sins unless the sinner repents and believes, that's is the Gospel message. Isn't that what Jesus was driving at in Matthew 5, when He said "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." When you come to Jesus recognizing you have absolutely nothing to offer Him but your faithful believing broken heart, mourning over your wretched sinful condition, He will immediately forgive your sin. This paralytic man may have come to Jesus as a sinner, but he went home a healed and righteousness man. That's the Good News of the Gospel!
Certainly the scribes that were there became agitated by this, look at verse 6 "But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts." They reasoning in their hearts, it's the Greek verb "dialogízomai," which means one confused mind interacting with other confused minds that typically leads to a confused conclusion. And, that's exactly what was happening. It's interesting that didn't say anything, at least not out loud, they’re saying in their minds. He not only knew the heart of the paralytic man, He knew the hearts of the scribes. Verse 7 tells us they were thinking to themselves, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" They seen Him do miracle after miracle after miracle, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk and they come up with He's blaspheming? Blasphemers can't read minds. They’re were right about one thing, only God alone can forgive sins!
Verses 8-9, "Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?" Jesus is assuming that nobody would know whether his sin were actually forgiven or not without some sort of validation. You can say anything, forgiving sins is invisible, so it's not verifiable, unless you're able to prove it, like a paraplegic man who had to be carried in, getting up and walking. Now that's some serious verifiable affirmation. So, Jesus is saying if this paraplegic man can be completely well, enough to pick up his bed and walk, that evidence validates that He is God. Because only God has the forgive sins and reverse the effects of sin.
In verses 10 and 11, He explains that, "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—He *said to the paralytic, "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."
Why would Jesus choose to use the term Son of Man instead of Son of God? Because it wasn’t necessarily a Messianic title, though it certainly had a Messianic implication. Son of Man provided a certain level secrecy in His ministry allowing Him to be able to peach the message of salvation, and the Kingdom. If He went around referring to Himself as the Son of God, it would have been tied to Messianic expectation and incited His enemies sooner. That's why He often warned people "Go and tell no one."
Jesus gave him three unmistakable separate, very specific commands, "Get up, pick up, go home." Is Christ Who He claimed to be or is He a blasphemer? If he can get up, pick up and go, then He is God; and if He is God, then He can forgive sin. It’s not sin that sends the sinner to Hell, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; it’s unrepentant, unforgiven sin that sends them to Hell.
That brings us to verse 12, "And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this." The crowds were amazed, which is typically all we ever seem to see out of them, there's no repentance, no desire for salvation. How can they be so astonished as to glorify God and still think He's merely a man? Matthew 9:8, gives us the answer, "But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men." That's key verse to understanding the crowd’s reaction, He was still just a man to them.
The religious leaders had nothing but contempt for Him, determining for themselves He’s a blasphemer, in spite of the miraculous display of power; God would never forgive this paralytic man, paralyzed because of his sins, that's not how it works, you have to earn forgiveness. So they continued to dog His steps, scrutinizing every word He spoke, until they finally trapped Him in what they believed was the final straw, the ultimate blasphemy, "I and the Father are one," which is why they sent Him to His death. Every miracle that Jesus performed was to demonstrate that He was God, so that He could proclaim that He came to seek and forgive sinners. Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Jesus Christ, God's greatest gift is man's greatest need.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen