[0:00] And going into the gospel according to Mark. Mark chapter 2 is where we will be at Mark chapter 2. Very familiar set of scriptures to you. It is an account that is recorded for us in all three of the synoptic gospels.
[0:35] By synoptic we mean Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These are the three gospels that share a lot in common. They share a lot of the same information. This is one of those accounts that is in all three of them. But hopefully by the time we see it we will let our familiarity with the text blind us from the truth that it contains.
[0:52] So Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12. If you are physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God with one another. Found there in the second chapter of Mark.
[1:07] Mark writes for us. And when he came back to Capernaum several days afterward it was heard that he was at home. And many were gathered together so there was no longer room, not even near the door.
[1:19] 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.
[1:30] 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.
[1:43] 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?
[2:02] 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 the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, Get up, pick up your pallet and go home.
[2:20] 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.
[2:35] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We rejoice in the opportunity we have of gathering together. Lord, what a grand privilege it is to be able to open up the word of God with one another.
[2:48] Father, now we pray that as we have heard it, seen it, and read it, that by the power and presence of your spirit, you would speak to our hearts and minds. We pray that the truth of scripture would captivate our attention, that it would mold us and shape us more and more to your glory and image.
[3:08] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Again, we have a very familiar set of scriptures before us.
[3:18] The healing of the paralytic who was lowered down from the roof in front of Jesus as he was teaching within the house. We do not know if this was the house in which Jesus was staying or as some other gospels, the synoptics tell us, this could have been Peter's house.
[3:33] It could have been implied either way. We don't know. But we do know that it is a really instrumental time during the ministry of Christ. Now, much has transpired since the last time that he was in Capernaum.
[3:47] Much has happened in the life of Christ. And Mark, not being one to concern himself with many background details, but he is concerned about the way he writes his gospel. Now, again, we don't let the chronological events dictate us from the truth that Mark is trying to portray to his audience.
[4:08] We know that Mark is writing to the Roman believers, the non-Jewish believers. He doesn't give a lot of background information, but he writes things very pointed. He moves in a rapid procession. It is always immediately or straightway or right away.
[4:21] And things are happening very quickly. We also know that the theme of Mark can be found in Mark chapter 10, that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
[4:34] So we have within this gospel the servant of Christ giving himself to redeem and ransom man. But we have the bookends of Mark found in the very first chapter, the declaration of who he is.
[4:48] He is the son of God. And at the end of Mark, while he's hanging upon the cross, where the centurion who observed the way in which he died said, surely this is the son of God. So without a shadow of a doubt, contained within the pages of the gospel of Mark, in that he is the suffering servant, but he is also the son of God.
[5:07] He is the Messiah that we've longed for. Now, halfway through the first chapter, we begin, at least in Mark's gospel, the public ministry of Christ.
[5:17] That beginning happened the moment John the Baptist was imprisoned. Jesus came proclaiming a message. Now, I say this because when we open up this passage of scripture, we undoubtedly believe that the focus of this scripture is the healing of the paralytic.
[5:36] But hopefully you understand by now that the healing of the paralytic was to highlight the truth of the message. He came declaring a truth, and the signs and wonders were the affirmation of the truth declared.
[5:53] Much like when we get into the book of Acts. They came to Christ based on what they saw and heard. Many of us say, well, if we could only see the miraculous deeds that were done, if we could only see the work and the power, and we could be amazed, much like many of the believers were then, well, we fail to realize that many who beheld the miracles failed to give their hearts.
[6:20] That it is not the deeds which declare who he is, but rather it is the truth and the word in which he taught. And the deeds are there just to affirm the reality, to declare to us who he is.
[6:35] And within this passage, we have so much more than just a man being lowered down on a pallet, being healed by Christ, and then going home carrying the pallet. We have so much more than what we teach there.
[6:48] Here we have within this passage, one of the self-revelation names of Christ, that is how he declares himself to be. We have already seen that he has been declared as the Son of God.
[7:02] We see he has been declared as the Son of God. But now we see how Christ defines himself. And I will tell you that the passage before us should be read in context and in connection with the events in Mark chapter 1.
[7:21] And in Mark chapter 1, because understanding this, now I know we're getting a little scholarly on something, but it's okay. And I know we're getting a little technical, but it's okay that when Mark wrote the gospel, he did not write it with chapter and verse breaks.
[7:36] He was writing a letter that moved fluidly. And the breaks were put in there for our own sake. Man did that later. We took scripture and we broke it up into chapters and verses and we divided it so that we could comprehend it.
[7:51] But it was one long letter that was read in one sitting. So there was not this division between sections that we put in. But what we have in the first chapter is the introduction of the theme of the kingdom of heaven.
[8:07] And going into the second chapter, we have the continuation of that theme because until we can stand amazed at the one who is suffering as a servant, we need to really understand who he is and what he came for.
[8:25] So I want you to see this morning an established dominion. An established dominion. Now we need to define that word dominion because it's not a word in which we use very often in our own land or in our own conversation.
[8:40] Dominion means more than just a kingdom. Dominion means the right to rule sovereignly over the entirety of that kingdom. To have dominion is to be one who has the absolute say.
[8:52] To have dominion is to be the one who has all authority. To have dominion is not just to be the king on the throne. It is not a showpiece. It is to be the king on the throne who gets to establish everything that takes place within the kingdom of which is under that throne.
[9:10] Christ here establishes his dominion among the people of the world that he is sovereign. Now I have to say this and I say it with all respect and I say it without any judgment but in our day and time we try to make Christ more like us because we believe if we can make him more like us then he is more approachable by us.
[9:35] We have went to great lengths to make Christ accessible. We have went to great lengths even in our television to say he gets us.
[9:51] Friend, I don't need to realize that Christ endured much of what we do so that we can understand he gets us because he gets us because he created us. His getting us, becoming like us really is in olden days referred to as the humiliation of Christ that he humbled himself to became like unto us so that we would be able to get him not so that he could get us.
[10:19] So that we could rightfully understand the dominion he possesses that he is upon the throne that he is high and exalted above all that concerns us so that we would have a proper grasp of the reality of who he is not so that he would be able to come and understand who we are.
[10:39] This passage will declare for us that he perfectly knows everything about us. That he did not need to come and join us so that he could understand us because as we have declared elsewhere all things were created by him and through him and for him so that nothing which has been created came into existence without him.
[11:02] And the creator always gets or understands that which he created. He always comprehends it. So the revelations we find in scripture is not so that we could understand that Jesus gets us but so that we maybe could get him.
[11:22] We could understand exactly who this is that is before us. Who it is that's going to give his life a ransom for many. The first thing that we notice in our passage is a recognizable faith.
[11:36] It says and when he came back into Capernaum in which Christ had made it his geographic hometown if you will it is his location of ministry. We know that he is from Nazareth having been born in Bethlehem went to Egypt went and lived in Nazareth and now he has moved to Capernaum.
[11:53] Capernaum is a major trade hub right there on the coastline of the sea. He has made it his base of operations in his Galilean ministry. We can understand that and we can mark the life of Christ based on his movement back and forth between the regions of Galilee into the regions of Jerusalem.
[12:10] And we understand here it is from here in which he ministers and he goes out and it is there in which he had done his first healings and done his first casting out of demons.
[12:20] It is there in which he disrupted the faith in the synagogue and it is there from which he left and went and taught elsewhere. But when he came back and many were gathered together what does it say? And he was speaking the word to them.
[12:34] Now what is that word? He is speaking the word to them because if we understand what is going on then we need to understand what he is doing. And if we go back to the first chapter I'm not going to ask you to do that.
[12:47] You would see that the word he is declaring he is saying for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and it is now time to repent and believe in the gospel.
[12:57] Jesus came declaring the nearness and the readiness of the kingdom. He came declaring the necessity for man to repent and believe in the gospel of God as it is defined the good news of the kingdom.
[13:12] Surely this is the same word he is proclaiming. And many are gathered together. I love how Adrian Rogers defines this. Adrian Rogers says men may be opposed to the gospel men may even hate the gospel but men cannot help but listen to the gospel because they are drawn to the proclaimer of it.
[13:29] Men may not want anything to do with it in their life but lift up Christ on high and people will be gathered together. And we see here that those who opposed him when he left now are gathered around him while he's present and he's teaching.
[13:43] He's not doing anything miraculous save that he's teaching the gospel. He is proclaiming from the beginning he is the word and now the word has manifested itself dwelling among men lifting high the kingdom.
[13:56] And now we see these people come people gather around him and therefore men who come carrying a friend of theirs we know the account right? This man who could not go on his own this man who had no strength in his own ability we have them bringing him to Christ.
[14:14] They can't get in before him. So they climbed the stairs that are on the outside of the houses of that region. They began to take apart the roof the thatched roof that was put together and they lower him and Jesus does something amazing.
[14:31] It says and seeing their faith seeing their faith they had a recognizable faith which would not deter them and it was a faith that did not distract them.
[14:48] it was a faith that said we can count on the willingness and the ability of Jesus Christ to take care of the issue.
[15:00] It was not a faith declared. Notice that they didn't have to tell anyone they believed in Christ. Why? Because their life testified to the reality of their belief in Christ.
[15:12] They weren't hindered by the fact that we realize that some have said I believe it was Spurgeon who said it must be great faith to start taking apart a roof and the dust and the straw and everything falling on the head of Jesus.
[15:29] Faith realizing that though we open this gaping hole in this roof he will still be willing. Now the implication of the wording is that not only did he recognize the faith of the four who carried the man but he also recognized the faith of the man laying on the pallets.
[15:51] There is a recognizable faith. The man said I will need to be near Christ. We think well these men were taking him in spite of him.
[16:01] They were probably taking him because of him. He knew that Christ could take care of his problem. See the question is as we have many today who declare their faith but we have very few who display their faith.
[16:17] But Christ he doesn't need us to tell us how much we believe in him. He recognizes it within our hearts and our minds as we would see when we get to the gospel of John in the third chapter when Nicodemus comes to him by night immediately before Nicodemus comes to him there is this statement Jesus did not need anyone to tell him about the heart of man for he knew what was in the heart of every man.
[16:40] This is why when Nicodemus came asking him one question Jesus answered him something totally different. He knew the heart of the matter. He knew the heart of the question. And here when these people come he sees their faith.
[16:55] It is a confident assurance that Christ will respond. The question we ask ourselves is is that recognizable in our life?
[17:07] Do we have a recognizable faith? Secondly once we see this recognized faith we meet a released captive.
[17:20] We see in our text the released captive they lowered the man they set him at the feet of Christ and Jesus seeing their faith we would assume he would say get up be healed right?
[17:33] This is what we've seen him do with the demons this is what we've seen him do with the man who was moved by a wicked spirit this is what we've seen him do in a synagogue with a man with a withered hand but he doesn't he recognizes their faith so he says son your sins are forgiven you now make no mistake about it not every not every physical ailment sin is a result of sinful actions I mean we can read the book of Job and see that Jesus himself met a man who was blind the man that he sent to the pool of Siloam to wash and he came back seeing the disciples asked Jesus who sinned this man or his parents that he would be born this way and Jesus said he wasn't born that way for any kind of sin he's not blind because anybody he sinned he was born that way so that you may see the work of God right?
[18:31] so that man's ailment was there to be a testimonial sign to Christ's ability it was not a result of any of his sins it was not a result of any misdeed in which he has done but maybe quite possibly actually from this passage this man's condition was connected to sin for that's the very first thing that Christ addresses and physical healing without soul renewal means little if you can sin and not suffer the consequences you may think you're okay oh if I can sin and get away with it but there's this thing called the conviction of the soul or this tormenting conscience and even then if I know I'm forgiven if I know I'm restored if I know that I'm forgiven for all of my sins then the physical ailments are much easier to endure we sang a song we sang a hymn this morning
[19:39] I've highlighted it for you many times before very first hymn we sang written by Fanny J. Crosby she wrote many hymns Fanny J.
[19:51] Crosby lost her sight as a result of a misstep of a physician when she was early in life she was blind the rest of her life she ended up marrying a composer later on wrote a number of hymns and I don't know if you've noticed it and you can look through the hymn book at some time I've perused through there a little bit myself without fail in every one of her hymns she says something about seeing that I will behold his glory or I will see him or I will observe his splendor without fail there's a mentioning of this physical ailment which she does not enjoy in this life that is the ability to be able to see but the confident assurance because her sins have been forgiven there will be a day where she will be able to see see the great release comes not when the physical is taken care of but when the soul has been mended by the forgiveness of sins oh you can be physically fine
[20:59] Jesus releases the captive of guilt of shame and of every other ailment that really torments the soul he says son your sins are forgiven many in the congregation many among the crowd say well what good does that do the man I guarantee you the man knew what good it did him when you come before Christ you may leave walking out looking the same but on the inside it does good oh in my own testimony I can think of my own life I remember the night I met him as my Lord and Savior the next day no one would have ever no difference I've had many physical ailments since then I've had many things since then but it is the assurance of the soul before him that really brings the release because this body is but a broken vessel he releases the captive and sets him free number three we see a recognizable faith we see a released captive we see a rebuke to anyone to tell him of the faith of the men who came he also does not need anyone to tell him of the doubts before those who sit and listen when he said this it says when he looked at him and said son your sin are forgiven verse 6 says but some of the scribes who are they scribes now let's just look at our audience for just a moment but some of the scribes now scribes had it as their occupation to copy portions of scripture we didn't have printing presses then so they were copying portions of scripture writing over and over again so that we would have copies of scripture we have to praise
[23:04] God for the scribes for this their enduring legacy which led to the manuscripts that we have even found in recent times but keep that in mind because this is who Jesus talks to when he declares who he is those who would know the Old Testament writing it out day after day after day those who should know the truth those who were from but some of the scribes it says were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts oh see if this account was all about the paralytic we wouldn't go talking about the heart of the congregation we like to focus on the paralytic but I like to see the man that gets to get up and walk out but really he is being used to prick the hearts of the individuals that are there those whose hearts were reasoning those whose hearts were doubting and they were saying why does this man speak this way he is blaspheming who can forgive sins but God alone friend listen to me that is an accurate statement who can forgive sins but God alone that is good theology that's good truth that's a statement to be declared accurately the Bible tells us that you can't pay the ransom for anybody's sins because you can't even forgive your own sins man can't pay the price of his own sinful consequences brother who can forgive sins over and over again it tells us in the Old
[24:51] Testament only God can do that so they ask the right question they're reasoning but they're doubting this individual before them now look at this immediately Jesus aware in his spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves is that not a cutting telling phrase aware within himself that they were reasoning that way in their hearts that is this one who is about to establish his dominion knows within himself what's in our hearts not even what we're declaring but what we're reasoning within our hearts for Christ does not need anyone to tell him what's in the heart of man for he knows it full well and he's aware of it within himself this reasoning this doubting and much like we saw in the first chapter
[25:57] Jesus can confront the demonic because he doesn't let them go that way but what does it say 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 heart he calls them to question on the very doubts they have I love that about scripture by the way I even love that about the book of Job now I don't read the book of Job to make me feel good about myself but I love the book of Job because it reminds us that God is not so overwhelmed with our doubts and our questions and even our discomforts and even in our pain he'll listen but then there comes a time when he answers and when he answers we're like Job we put our hands over our mouth for we have nothing to say when God says were you there when I created the heavens and the earth were you there when
[26:59] I hung the earth on nothing and told it to stay there were you there when I spoke! it all into existence! if you have doubts within your heart that's okay but when he speaks then be quiet!
[27:18] Listen to what he has to say! Too often and it's kind of one of my annoyances I don't like to be asked a question and then interrupt it while I'm trying to give an answer that's just me in our house if you ask the question you're free to ask the question but then I'm free to answer which means you have to listen to the answer don't interrupt me while I'm asking you ask the question right when we go before our savior and we reason within our hearts and we have doubt why do you doubt and he wants to answer the very doubts of your heart don't dismiss!
[28:01] it and say well that's not what I was expecting! Now to us we say well it's easier to tell him his sins are forgiven no that's the harder one Jesus addressed the major issue first to tell a lame man to walk is nothing to declare a man that his sins are forgiven is magnificent and just in case we think we've learned that lesson how many of us rejoice more over the forgiveness of an individual sins than we do over the healing of someone who is sick we say oh God why don't you do the miraculous anymore anytime a lost individual comes to Christ as their Lord and Savior the greatest thing that could ever be done has just happened anytime you say father forgive me and he forgives you the most wonderful miracle that could ever exist has taken place anytime we sin and we confess that sin and say father
[29:15] I have sinned would you forgive me and cleanse me of all and righteousness and his spirit washes over you he says child your sins are forgiven rejoice glory hallelujah the greatest thing that could ever happen just did oh but we say well give me something I can see he said oh I want to do much more than that healing the physical it comes someday he comes someday someday we'll jump into his presence and glory hallelujah there'll never be sickness nor tears nor ailments anymore this robe of flesh will cast off and we'll be clothed with immortality but we're so held up on the temporary we say Lord we want to see it now when the grand thing we need now is the harder thing the forgiveness of our sins but he says look at what this says verse 10 don't miss verse 10 for it's the key that unlocks the entire section of verses now who is he speaking to the scribes he has rebuked their doubt why do you say now fourth and finally we have a reaffirmed truth a reaffirmed truth verse 10 but so that you may know talking to the scribes son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins now we have christ in a self revelation name men have already declared he's the son of god later on he will declare the centurion will say he is the son of god peter will declare you are the son of god the savior who is coming to the world jesus refers to him more by this title than any other title in all of scripture scripture we know what man has said about him but who does he declare himself to be he says but so that you may know the son of man some people say well this is just jesus saying that me as a man he's not using a generic term who's he speaking to speaking to the scribes what do the scribes occupation well they transcribe the old testament there's a very important book in the old testament i mean it's very important all of them are important but there's one very important to the jewish thinking and that is the book of daniel the book of daniel declares and displays the end times how things would come in the coming of the messiah the book of daniel introduces exactly when the messiah would come into and it is one surely that describes and pay attention to and right there in the book of daniel daniel chapter seven there's this vision that daniel has and he sees the most high sitting upon his throne like the ancient of days and he beholds the glory of god as his throne radiates with his glory in the ancient of days upon his throne and then in verse 43 of daniel chapter seven it says and as i beheld him one likened to the son of man came upon him oh it's the same wording coincidence no the son of man approached the ancient of days who was up on the throne and paid attention to that verse 44 says and it was given unto him listen to it dominion and glory and a kingdom that would last eternally so that every tongue and every tribe would bow down and worship him and declare the worthiness of the king who sits upon his throne but so that you may know the son of man has dominion on earth to forgive sins get up
[33:16] pick up your pallet and go home the whole reason the man was healed and carried his pallet home was so that they may know the one daniel saw getting glory and dominion and a kingdom was standing before them he was declaring his dominion upon the earth so that they would know that before them was the one who could forgive sins so that they would know that the one before them was the one who would rule eternally so that they would know that the one before them was the one that every nation would bow before that they would know that the one before them was not just a man but he was the son of man that he is the king of kings he is the one who has the kingdom And now because of his appearing, the earth has been absorbed into his kingdom.
[34:20] And he has dominion here too. He has the dominion to set the captives free. The whole reason the paralytic got up was so that they may know who he was.
[34:40] Friend, let's bring it to a close. The reason the one who has dominion in heaven and earth does anything in your life is so that those who watch may know who he is, not who you are.
[35:00] So that they may know about his rule, his authority, his dominion. For he's the one who's putting himself on display.
[35:11] And the greatest and grandest thing he could ever do is to look at us and say, Son or daughter, your sins are forgiven.
[35:22] Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. So thankful for the opportunity we have of gathering together.
[35:34] We rejoice in your word. We rejoice that when you choose, you can do the supernatural and the miraculous. Healing the sick. Causing the lame to walk and the blind to see.
[35:48] Lord Jesus, more than that, we rejoice that you have the ability and the authority to look at us and that by our faith to declare our sins are forgiven.
[36:07] For that is what we really need. The ailments and aches are just a temporary sign of our weakness. But the forgiveness of our sins is the restoration of our need.
[36:27] Lord Jesus, have your way each and every day among us. And we ask it all in Christ's name.