All right, our text will be in
Mark chapter 2. Mark 2 and while you're turning
there, I'll just tell you I was talking to Jonathan Tate about
some insurance this week and he said, oh you're going to,
I told him, I was telling him I was going to Kingsport and
it was my first conference that I'd ever be speaking at and he
said, He said, let me tell you. He said, that's a good congregation
to go to. He said, they are sweet. Sweet. That was the testimony
that was given of you brethren. And that's a good testimony to
have because it shows that you're made sweet by the savor of Christ
unto God, who has called you by his son, Jesus Christ. That's
a sweet thing and you brethren have made a wise and a good investment
in setting aside your own pursuits in this world when you were just
meeting together as a little group and investing in a pastor. You made the wisest and best
investment you ever could have made. There's many that are investing
in their 401ks and making sure they have plenty of money laid
up and in gold and silver and cryptocurrencies and things like
that but You made the best investment because in that day when the
Lord comes to shake terribly the earth and He removes those
things that this world looks to and trusts in, you might see
those things. but you will have been strengthened
and nourished with Christ who shall be made effectual to you
all those things that are being removed from the wicked and they're
terrified and afraid but you shall be able to look to Christ
and rest in Him and be strengthened in Him so That was a very wise
investment you made six or seven years ago when you called this
man. Thank you both very much. It's been very good. It's been
good for me to be here and, and I've been very comforted and
taken care of by your pastor and his wife and bless your family
and a good family. Very sweet. All right. So Mark
chapter two, we have here an example of. a sick man who's sick with the
palsy. And it's a good example of what
we are by nature. We're sinners who are sick and
in need of a Savior, unable to help and save ourselves. And we'll see this morning how
that Christ alone is the Savior, both able and willing, a willing
Savior, so that you who are burdened and afraid because of your sin,
and you know yourself to be a sinner, But you see and hear and believe
that Christ is the Savior of sinners and all who come to Him
and seek Him for mercy, He's willing. And He's a gentle and
a humble Savior. And He is kind to all those who
come to Him, confessing their sin and trusting in Him. There's
nothing worthy in you or me to, you're not going to find any
peace in yourself. Just look to Him and He's a kind and faithful
and gentle Savior to save all those who come to Him. Acts 5
31 says, Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince
and a Savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. This is the very reason why Christ
was sent into this world, was to bear the burden of sin for
His people. All those who are hurting and
know that they are sinners, it's because He made you to know that.
If that's your confession, He's the one who gave you that. The
flesh doesn't know these things. The flesh doesn't confess that,
that they're completely shipwrecked and have no hope in themselves.
So if that's your confession, Fear no longer Christ is your
Savior He's called you because he's put that in you our title
this morning is Christ bears another man's burden and we'll
have three divisions today is the day of salvation then we'll
see the burden justly lifted because God is a just God so
he's going to lift that justly, that burden and then we'll see
assurance given meaning that we shall indeed be assured we'll
know that God has given us assurance that this indeed is the very
Christ whom he sent into the world to do this work and there
will be no no question about it alright so Christ hadn't come
to any town for quite some time. If you look in Mark chapter 1
verse 45, the end there, This is why he hadn't been in any
town for some time. Mark 1.45 says, But the healed
leper went out and began to publish what Christ had done much, and
to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly
enter into the city, but was without in desert places, and
they came to him from every quarter. So now he finally returns to
Capernaum in Mark chapter 2 verse 1. And we read again he entered
into Capernaum after some days and it was noised abroad that
he was in the house. And it says that, well we understand
that many were excited. There was a great buzz because
the Christ had returned. This man, the Lord Jesus had
returned to Capernaum. But look at verse 32 in chapter
1. Mark 1 verse 32. And at evening,
when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased,
and them that were possessed with devils. Now, Christ had already healed
a woman, Peter's mother-in-law, earlier, during the Sabbath day,
but many people, all the people, waited until the Sabbath had
ended. And that's just another example
of how religion prevents people from coming to Christ. They let
their religion and that law keep them from coming to Christ. And
they wasted a lot of time. And it says in Mark 1.33, And
all the city was gathered together at the door of Peter's house
there. And he healed many that were sick of diverse diseases
and cast out many devils. And so it got late, everyone
went home, and I guess they showed up early in the morning, and
the disciples are looking for Christ, because he went out to
pray. And they're all excited, and they said, all men seek for
thee. And he said, in verse 38, let
us go into the next towns that I may preach there also. For
therefore came I forth. So in the height of the fervor,
they're all excited about him. They want to bring all their
sick and diseased to see him. And he says, we're pulling out.
We're going. All that time they wasted letting
religion get in the way when they could have brought their
sick and diseased sooner to Christ. And now he's leaving. So here
in our text in Mark 2 verse 2, it says in straight way, many
were gathered together in so much that there was no room to
receive them. No, not so much as about the
door. And he preached the word unto
them. And they came unto him bringing
one sick of the palsy which was born of four So here come these
guys four guys bringing their friend or relative who's sick
with the palsy He can't bring himself there and they're carrying
him born of four These men were probably some that showed up
that next day when Christ wasn't there And so now they're not
gonna let anything prevent them from coming to Christ today It
says And verse four, 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. These men, they're not gonna
wait around hoping to see when Christ comes through the front
door, because he might go out the back door, and they would
have been left again, having missed that opportunity to get
their dear friend before the Lord. And that's our first point.
Today is the day of salvation. This day is the day of grace. Don't go out that door just thinking,
well, maybe tomorrow, you know, I'm more worried about what I
got to do in the garden after today's services. Don't, don't
wait another day. Pray and beg the Lord that he
show you Christ and reveal to you your need of him and that
he indeed is the precious Savior who's provided to lift the burden
of his people. Consider for a moment, turn to
Genesis 19. Genesis 19, just consider for
a moment Lot's wife. because the Lord had determined
to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot and his family lived.
And it says in Genesis 19 verse 16, And while Lot lingered, the
men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife,
and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful
unto him. and they brought him forth and
set him without the city. And I was thinking of all of
Lot's family, the one who was least prepared for what was coming
upon the city that day was Lot's wife, because everything that
she loved and cherished was there in that city and that very day. That very day, the Lord destroyed
that city. All her world was just taken
away. And it says in Genesis 19-25,
And the Lord overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and
all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the
ground. But Lot's wife looked back from behind him. And she
became a pillar of salt. She never weighed or thought
that God was going to overthrow the entire world that she knew.
Just destroy it all in one day. And she was turned to a pillar
of salt that day. The Word of God is very clear
that He is going to judge this world. Ephesians 5, 6 Paul said,
Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things,
the sin and corruption in our own heart, because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Be not ye therefore partakers with them. where to come out
from their ways, where to flee those things that the wrath of
God is coming upon this world because of those things, where
to flee from them. Ephesians 5, 14 says, Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are
evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is, that we would
come out from him. And that's what his will is,
is that we would look to the Savior who he's provided, get
to Christ, delay no longer. Today is the day of salvation. Peter tells us as well, the heavens
and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in
store, that same word that let loose the fountains of the water
and destroyed the world with a flood, wherein only eight souls
were saved in that ark, which is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says that same word is keeping this in store reserved
under fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men Therefore let us take heed of the warning given to us in
Revelation 18 for which says I heard another voice from heaven
saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her
sins and that you receive not of her plagues so let nothing
prevent you from coming to Christ today and He's a willing and
an able Savior and receives all those who he's shown and given
to them, showing them that they're sinners in need of Christ. That's
why he came to lift that burden of sin off his people. So these
men, just think about these men, they let nothing get in their
way so that they went and did a rude thing. They just ripped
open that guy's roof and then let this man down in front of
everybody as Christ is talking to the people. They didn't let
that stop them. They put him down there before
him. And so they took all risks and just did it, trusting that
Christ would receive their friend and heal him. It says in Matthew
11, 12, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the
kingdom of God suffereth violence. And the violent take it by force. If he's put in your breast, if
he's shown you what a sinner you are, don't let anything stop
you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is your heart today? Is it with Lot's wife, where
she had to be preserved in salt before she could run back and
flee back to that city that was destroyed? Or is it with these
men desperately seeking the Lord Jesus Christ? They got to get
in front of him. I pray that's where your heart
is today. All right. Now the burden justly
lifted. Let's reread verse 4, Mark 2,
4. And 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. With every person that we
see our lord healing because this is still fairly early in
his ministry And he's showing and demonstrating that that the
lord god has sent me He's bearing witness in every single healing
that I give to the people He's showing himself that this is
indeed the very christ who was sent into the world So we see
a picture though in these healings of our sin and our infirmities
and our iniquity that needs to be healed and lifted off of us. He did indeed literally heal
people in that day and he's still healing people because It's more
than just a physical ailment that we have. It's more than
just a physical disease. We have a sin sickness that we
cannot heal ourselves of. We need the Lord Jesus Christ
and the grace that God has provided in his son so that we must be
given life from the dead because each of us is bound in sin and
darkness and iniquity and we've got to be delivered from that
very thing, that very sickness. So The Lord is good too, and
he'll even use sicknesses. He'll use trouble and trials
and afflictions in this world to show us our need of him, to
break us down, to bring us low, to bring us to nothing in ourselves. And oftentimes, well, every time
a brother or sister knows who's had this experience where the
Lord brought them low. It always was a minister for
their good. It always worked good for them,
and it helped them because it drove them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because we, like Lot, would never
go. We would just linger and stay in it, so the Lord will
send a minister for our good to drive us to the Lord Jesus
Christ and to show us our need of Him. And when we come to Him,
He deals most graciously with us. He deals very kind. We think
he's going to destroy me. He's going to say, I told you
so. I warned you. But no, he softens us. He softens
that hard, stony heart and says, come here, my son. Come here,
my daughter. Come and receive the healing and the joy that
I have for you and my son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12.5 therefore
says, Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? And you might
think, well, how do I know if I'm enduring the chastening and
not going to be driven away from the Lord? You know it because
your prayers stop going from, Lord, take this from me. Lord,
please take this from me. Please deliver me from this.
So you see what the Lord is doing and how he's healing you in Christ. And your prayer becomes, Lord,
not my will be done. But thy will be done because
you see the healing and you see how the lord is using it for
your good. So the sickness and the diseases
and the trials and the afflictions that we go through, they're for
our good because it withers this flesh. It makes it weary and
it brings it down and breaks it apart and just destroys it
so that our prayers become little more than just a groan. Because
we don't even know what to pray anymore. We don't even know how
to pray and we see what sinners we are and how undeserving we
are and they become just a groan and the Lord is helping us. He's
helping us. He's bringing these things out.
As Paul said, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan,
being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed
upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. So he says,
don't despise the chastening, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. He means you well, because he's always He always fills us
with the oil and our lamps for that coming darker day and that
more miserable day for the wicked, but it's going to be well for
the righteous. It's going to be well for his people because
we will have the oil of Christ in us and we'll be filled and
rejoicing and overflowing because we see his hand and what is going
on in this world and we won't be swept away with the wicked
having made foolish foolish decisions in darkness. He'll bring us out
of that into the light of this kingdom of his Son. All right,
so we have one here, sick with the palsy, which was born of
four, which means that he's paralyzed. He's past feeling. He can't move
or take himself there. I mean, he needed, he couldn't
even roll over, it seems like. He's just laying there in the
sheet, and they're dropping him down there before the Lord. And that's a good picture of
us, isn't it, brethren? Because we don't move ourselves
to the Lord. We can't get any nearer to him. It takes him. Doing these things
and and bring all these things that we don't even see all these
events just that are coming together To bring us to the point where
here we are this very day to hear the gospel of his son Jesus
christ he said no man cometh to me except the father which
hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. So this man's brought to christ
They uncover the roof. They rip it up and they drop
him down believing that when Christ saw him, in spite of how
bizarre that it was, that when Christ saw their friend, He would
show mercy and heal that man. They were certain of it. They
believed it. And it says in Mark 2, 5, when Jesus saw their faith,
He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, He said, Son, Son,
Is this man a son of the Most High God? This man who can do
nothing to profit his society or the people around him. It
took four people to pick him up and to be kind to him and
to do everything for him. They had to feed him and cleanse
him and clothe him and carry him about everywhere he went.
It seems like this man was a burden. and unprofitable in so many ways. And yet the Lord says, son, son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. I love the way the order of scripture
is. It says in 2 Corinthians 6, 18,
Paul wrote of the Lord. He said, I will be a father unto
you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty. We think that we get ourselves
to Christ. We think that it's something
we've done to move ourselves to Him, but it always proves
to be the other way around. When He shows us, He brings us
to see it wasn't me, it was the Lord. It was the Lord's mercy
and grace and kindness that brought me here to this place. That I
might know my need of him and see that he is a faithful and
sufficient savior for all my need He is the only one that
can do this. So god is always the initiator of life. We don't
give life. We're dead flesh We're just a
hunk of dead flesh that's weak and poor and worthless. We can't
do anything it's it's god who gives life and When we hear that,
we realize, yeah, it's silly of me to think any other way.
It's got to be the Lord God who does this in us. It's according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children, sons and daughters. sons and daughters by Jesus Christ
to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. So that
in Christ we receive the inheritance of sons and daughters. He gives
us all that glory and the riches of the fellowship with him and
his son Jesus Christ. We're going to have that as sons
and daughters and see him as he is and be made like unto him
because we'll see him as he is. And I don't even understand that,
but I trust him. I believe his word, what he says.
God has established this covenant with his people in a just manner. God justly forgives his people
because he sent his son into this world to be faithful in
all things and to work all righteousness. He went about doing good and
healing all that were sick and diseased. All he did was speak
the truth and all he did was that which was right and glorified
his father so that he worked a perfect Righteousness and then
that perfect man as a lamb of God Boar took upon him our sin
the sin of his people in his own body Bearing us up in his
own body and taking us there to the cross and as an ark we
were hidden him in and the wrath of God was poured out upon him
so that he swallowed up the wrath of God. He bore it and took it
away forever. He carried it away so that it
is gone forever. Christ accomplished that by paying
the price that was demanded, that was owed to God because
of His holiness and His righteousness He paid that price in full, that
debt that was our burden, he took that burden and paid it
with the redemption of his own blood. He spilled his precious
blood for sinners like me and like you who hope in him, who
are the unjust ones. The just one did that for his
people. So brethren, it's a it's a just salvation. God didn't
wink and just say I'll let that one go No, that sin was laid
upon his son Jesus Christ He paid the price for that sin that
you and I commit by his own blood entered into he entered in once
into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. And then Paul said to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believe it in Jesus. So yeah, in a clear
conscience I can tell you this man was called the son Justly
he justly called him son because Christ would justly put away
his sin Forever and lead that man that that man there in the
sheep He would lead him into the beloved to be with him forever
and ever so all who come to this Jesus of Nazareth shall find
him to be a humble and a gracious Savior willing to save willing
to save all you, don't bear your burden of sin any longer. Look
to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's why he was sent. He said, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. And God, the Father, justly accepts
and receives all that come to him, not looking to their own
righteousness, having no righteousness of their own, but they come in
the blood of Christ. And he sees that, he sees his
son, and he says, oh, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Enter into thy rest, which was prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world. It'll be a good day for his people
when they come before Holy God and see him sitting the Ancient
of Days sitting on the throne to judge all the nations and
he says that word to them being ministered to by thousands upon
thousands and thousands and thousands of angels ministering to him
and all the Saints giving glory and praise to him and he says
Well done. Well done. Thank you Lord Jesus.
Thank you because that's that's his work. All right now assurance
given You who maybe are hearing me today and you're still doubting,
you got company. You got company in this very
chapter here in these verses. It speaks of you in our text
because it says that there were some there watching, watching
and waiting to see what Christ would do, to see if he would
commit some blasphemy and have something whereby they could
justify their unbelief in him. because they didn't believe.
They thought lightly of Christ. They didn't think very much of
Him and yet there was all this fervor and this craziness about
Him and they were just waiting for some excuse why they didn't
have to believe on Him that He was the Christ. And it says there
in verse 5, when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick
of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there, verse
6, but there was certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning
in their hearts, why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who
can forgive sins but God only? Yeah, who can forgive sins but
God only and that that tells you something about who is standing
before you and 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? 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 or So to man, the
easier thing to say would be, thy sins be forgiven thee, because
how can you verify that? Who can prove whether or not
you really have the authority to do that thing and whether
it's been done or not. And to man, the harder thing
to say is, arise and take up thy bed and walk, because then
we're going to know if you really are the Christ or not. We're
going to know if you have the power and the authority to do
and to say the things that you're saying. But Christ did the harder
thing. He lifted the heavier burden
for that man there by saying to him, your sins be forgiven
you. Because for him to say that meant
that he was stepping up to bear those sins for that man there
on the cross. That's exactly what he was saying
when he said that it wasn't that they were just disappearing and
going away He had to bear those things. He had to lift that burden
before his father who he loved that's holy and perfect and he
now is going to become spotted and and fouled and and and and
have that sin and that shame to stand before his father And
and and be abandoned by the father to be forsaken by the father
and left there to bear that burden All alone, so he did that he
knew exactly what he was doing for him to do. That was a heavy
Heavy burden and that's wow. That's what he does for his people
So he says in verse 10, But that ye may know that the Son of Man
hath power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the sick of
the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy
way into thine house. And 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. They were blown away because
that showed indeed that this man standing there before them
had the authority and the power to forgive sins. He was indeed
the Christ sent of God to do this very thing. Our Lord, He
alone forgives sins. He heals the sinner. He heals
those that are sick with sin. There's no other one that can
do that. And even if they thought they could, they're not willing.
They're not willing to do that. Jesus Christ is both able and
a willing Savior. Go to Him. Lay your burden down
before Him and say, Lord, please have mercy on me. Because if
you know that you're a sinner, He's given that to you. The flesh
doesn't know that. The flesh doesn't confess it.
The flesh always says, well, yeah, I'm pretty bad. I get it.
But I'm also pretty good. I do these things. And I do this
and that. And it looks to something else.
The one who's been burdened by Christ and given that by Christ
to know what they are, they're not looking to any excuse to
justify and find a way to feel good about themselves. Yeah,
they're just looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have assurance
though provided for us today. We know that this is indeed the
Christ, that he is the one sent of God to do these things. It
says in Acts 2.32, I guess it was Peter who said, This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. If Christ
didn't rise up from the grave, if they didn't see him after
he rose from the grave, they wouldn't have laid down their
lives for him. They wouldn't have had their
houses and their lands taken. They wouldn't have left their
good jobs and being able to take care of themselves. They would
have gone back to those things. When he said, I go fishing, they
would have stayed a fishing. That's where they would have
stayed. They wouldn't have come out of that if Christ hadn't come
to them and called them back to serve him and to preach this
word. So we have that testimony and
they gave their lives for these things. They had friends and
loved ones getting their heads taken off and being run through
with spears and burned at stakes for Christ because he rose from
the grave. We have that testimony that indeed
this is the Christ. And I leave this with you. They
said, you are still trembling and wondering, but did he die
for me? If that if that's your burden you got no other hope
but christ Yes, because it says to him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission Of sins, that's acts 10 43 peter speaking to
cornelius. So I pray the lord will bless
your hearts and and oh that'll cause his word to Find a good
ground ready and prepared by Him that He's showing you your
need of Him because He's that Savior who can save you. All
right. The Lord bless you.