Turn with me back to Mark chapter
2. This morning I want us to see
how God saves sinners. I am so glad that God saves sinners. I woke up this morning and I
got dressed to come over here and tell you that I'm so glad
God saved sinners. He didn't have to. He didn't have to, did he? He
did not have to leave glory, glory, and come down here to
this wicked place, did he? If you just think about that,
It's amazing grace. It is amazing grace. He didn't
have to do that. He did not have to give his life
for worms. He didn't have to do that. He
didn't have to lay down his life for a pile of worms. He didn't
have to do that. He did not have to give all the
riches of heaven. for a bunch of people who are
of no value. Absolutely no value. And He did
not have to raise us up and give us the same glory that is owed
to Him for all eternity. I am so glad God saved sinners. I'm just so glad God saved, because
I'm a sinner. And it's good news. Man, it's
good news. This story we just heard, I love
hearing this story. And this story is how God saved
me. This is how God saved me. And
if He has opened your eyes, this is how God saved you. Right here. This is how God saves sinners. Look at verse 1. And again, he entered into Capernaum. The name Capernaum means comfortable. It means a snorer. So comfortable you're snoring.
You know what you call that? A sleep. A sleep. There was a time in
every single one of us that we were asleep to the true and living
God, weren't we? Absolutely asleep, going about
life, going about our jobs, going about our relationships, going
about everything we thought was important, totally asleep to
the true God of heaven, a true and living God, asleep to the
fear of the Lord. Completely asleep. Asleep to
his holy law. People thought they were obeying
it. I know what the Bible says. Oh, I didn't. After all, I didn't. I was asleep to it. Asleep to
his eternal judgment and damnation. Doesn't everybody go to heaven?
I thought everybody went to heaven. asleep to our own selves. Yeah,
I'm a good person. Asleep to what we really are,
and that's our sin. Asleep to our sin. There was
a time when we were all asleep to our sin. We have the gospel
in the first line. It says, And again he entered
into Capernaum. And again he entered into Capernaum. And again, he entered into Capernaum. And again, he entered into Capernaum. And again, isn't he good? And
once again, he entered into Capernaum. I thank God he entered into Capernaum. Wake up. I am. Live. He entered into Capernaum. Ephesians
says, But God, but God. Verse 1 says, And again he entered
into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised that he was
in the house. And straightway many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them.
No, not so much as about the door. What that means is you
could not get in. You could not get in. None of us can come in to the
presence of God on our own. Can't do it. Cannot do it. Cannot come into the presence
of God on our own. None of us. It is God's mercy. And it's His grace, it's His
kindness. That's what it is. It's His kindness
that allows sinners to come into His presence without being killed,
immediately killed. He'll let them come into His
presence. And God showed kindness to a whole house of people right
here. So many you couldn't get in the front door. Verse 2 says,
And straightway 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." Now let me show you something
that Luke points out. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
5. This is the same account, the
same event, Luke 5 verse 17. And it came to pass on a certain
day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and doctors of
the law sitting by which were come out of every town of Galilee
and Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present
to heal them. That struck me when I read it. The power of the Lord was present
to heal them. That's God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit was there. I pray
that the power of God is in the presence of us this morning to
heal us. That's what I pray. Come Holy
Spirit, heavenly dove with all thy quickening power. The power
of the Lord was present to heal them. This is where salvation
begins. We're going to look at how God
saves sinners. This is where it begins, right
here. It does not begin with my decision. It begins with God Almighty and
His Holy Spirit. Now notice this back in our text.
Go with me back to Mark 2. Verse 2, And straightway 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. He preached the word unto them.
God Almighty was there, right? God's Holy Spirit was there. And what did God do for all those
people? He's going to do something for
all those people. What did He do? He preached the
Word to them. How important is the preaching
of the Word in the salvation of men's souls? How important
is it? It is the means that God uses. You know how we say it's the
means that God uses. It is also the means that God
uses. Isn't that something? He preached
the Word to them. He preached the Word to them.
How blessed are we to have heard the Word, had the Word preached
to us? Verse 3 says, and they come unto
Him. If a sinner is going to be saved,
then that sinner must come to Jesus Christ. That's it. If a sinner is going to be saved,
he must come to the only person who can save him. He must not
come to a knowledge of anything. He must come to the only person
who can save him. He must come to Christ. He is
going to be brought to the place where Christ is declared. He's
going to be. You can go into churches all
over this town. And Christ is not in them. He's
not in them. Christ is not their message.
Christ is not their glory. Christ is not their object. He's
just not in them. And there's no salvation there
because Christ is not there. If salvation is going to take
place, Christ must be there. They must come to Him. They must
come to the place where He has chosen to put His name and put
His word, His declaration of the gospel. Well, verse 3 says,
They come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which
was born of four. Four men had this bed. and their friend who was sick
of the palsy on it. And they carried him up. Verse
4 says, And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press,
they could not get to the Lord because there was too many people,
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. And verse 5 says, When Jesus
saw their faith. When he saw their faith. Faith
went to work. God's Holy Spirit came to the
one who was asleep. And then God's Word was declared. And faith went to work. It went
to work. Faith truly went to work. When faith goes to work, it does
not stop until it gets to Christ. You know that? When faith goes to work, it does
not stop until it gets to Christ. This man, he was carried by four
other men. And this man did not carry himself. There was no way he could have
gotten to Christ even if the house was empty. He was sick
of the palsy, completely lame. Faith is not of ourselves. It's
the gift of God, isn't it? It's the work of God. It overcomes
the impossible. It overcomes the impossible.
With me, this thing is impossible. Completely impossible. But James said, I'm gonna show
you my faith by my works. That's what he said, I'm gonna
show you my faith. They couldn't get in, so they climbed up on the
roof. And I love what Luke said about it. He said they ripped
the tiles off of the roof. They had these tiles on the roof.
They believed, these men believed God is able. God is able. That's what faith does. Faith
enters a person and he convinces that person there is one man
who is able. You're a cripple. You cannot
do this. You cannot come. You cannot enter
in. But there's one who's able. And
I'm going to bring you to him. So these four men, they took
their friend, they climbed up on that roof and they Started
ripping a hole in that roof. Can you imagine the effort it
took to rip a hole big enough to get a bed in there? It wasn't
just They had to let a man down in a bed We did a little construction
We do some every now and then it takes longer than you think
if you think it's gonna take you four hours It's gonna take
eight It takes a while. I Can picture our Lord standing
inside that house everybody in there starts? He gets, what's
going on? The Lord knows what's going on.
I can picture him standing there waiting on them. He brought all the people into
the house so they couldn't get in. And so he stands there and he
waits and they uncover the roof. Faith does not stop until it
reaches Christ. Let faith have his perfect work. When God sends faith, it lays
hold of the center that God sent it to. One man is singled out
here. And faith tells that man, you're
coming with me. The man who would not come. Our
Lord said, you will not come to me that you might have life.
Faith comes and says, you're coming with me. And that man
says, I don't have a choice. I'm coming with you. This thing
is irresistible, isn't it? You're coming with me and you're
going to believe God. You're going to believe God. That's
exactly what happened to me. That's exactly what happened
to you. I pray it would happen again. I pray that God would
send faith to a sinner who is asleep and wake him up and lay
hold of him and say, You're coming with me. You're going to believe
God. You're going to. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe that he's able. Believe He is the only one who
is able. Believe it. Trust Him. Trust Him that He's willing.
Don't only trust that He's able, trust that He's willing. If you have never come to Christ,
if I have never come to Christ, come today. If I've never come
to Christ, come today. If you've never come to Christ,
come today. Come today. Come right now. If
you have come to Christ, come again. Come again. Wouldn't you like to walk up
to Him again? I don't believe I'll ever get tired of that.
Where are you headed to Christ? Thankfully, I can't leave Him,
right? Come to Him again. Trust Him
more today than you trusted Him yesterday. When God sends faith, believing
is just not an option. It's not an option. I'm so glad
for that. Every sinner who is brought by
the power of God is going to believe, number one, that he
needs Christ. I believe I need Christ. I know
I'm a cripple. I know I'm a sinner. I know I
am. I know that I cannot come. I
know that if I do not come, I will die in my sins. I know that I
will go meet God. I know that God will judge me
in my sins, and I know He will put me in hell. I know that. I absolutely know that. But every
sinner who is brought to Christ by faith will also believe. that Jesus Christ is able to
save me from my sins. These awful, wretched sins. He is the only person who can
do something for me. He's the only one. I believe
He's able. I believe through His word that
He's willing. So I come. I come. I believe I'm a sinner, and I
believe that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
That's what I believe. Verse 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. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy. When God saves sinners, he comes,
he sends his spirit to the dead, to the asleep. He preaches his
word to them. He sends faith, and that faith
goes to work. And He preaches the message individually
to their heart, directly to that sinner. One by one, He speaks
to them. And they're brought to the place
where His Word is declared. And in that declaration, individually,
He calls them out. And this is what He says to them.
Verse five, when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick
of the palsy, son. Son. Don't you mean center? Don't you mean rich? Don't you mean wicked one? Son. Son. Our Lord gave this man a six-word
message. If you want to see what the gospel
is, if anybody has ever wondered in their life what the gospel
is, all you need are six words. You could preach the gospel in
six words. Verse 5 says, Son, thy sins Be
forgiven thee. That's the gospel message. Son,
adopted child of God, you're a son. You're a son. You're in the family. Thy, your. He didn't say mankind. He said
you. This gospel message comes to
you. You really mean me? Yes, you. Thy sins. Thy sins. We don't confess our
sins to anybody but Christ alone, do we? But do you have sins that
you wish they're a thorn in your flesh and you wish you could
forget they could be erased from your memory forever? Oh, I mean, you know, a lot of
times we think, well, I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have
done that, but then we think, oh, no. Thy sins, those low, deep,
vile, wretched sins be, be, not will be, B means they are. They are. Forgiven. He didn't say, son,
they're under review. Son, we're waiting for the results. We're waiting to hear back. He didn't say, thy sins are almost
forgiven thee. Most of thy sins are forgiven
thee. Wouldn't that be awful? He said, Thy sins be forgiven
thee. Verse 6, But there were 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? 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? But that
you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, he said something again to the sick of the palsy. He told these Pharisees, he's
talking to this child of his, he said, son. And then these
Pharisees came in and he had something to say to them. He
was going to condemn them for their unbelief. And they said in verse 6, why
does this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? Who can do that but God only?
They condemned themselves with their own blasphemy. That's the
truth if it was ever told. Who can forgive sins but God?
This is God Almighty. That's what happens to a sinner.
He becomes convinced this is not gentle Jesus meek and mild.
This is God Almighty. God Almighty. And then in verse
8, when they perceived in His Spirit that they so reasoned
with themselves, He said, Why do you reason these things in
your heart? Which one's easier? to say thy sins be forgiven thee,
or to say arise, that you may know that the Son has power on
earth to forgive sins." He says one more thing to his child.
He said something in verse 5, and he said something in verse
11. You hear that child? Let's acknowledge that little
crying child. I hope that's me spiritually.
I'd love for that to be me this morning. I'd love for God in
heaven to hear me cry and cry and cry and say, would you go
get my child? Bring him to me. He's about to say something to
his child. Okay. He said something in verse five.
He said something in verse 11. Let's read them back to back.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. I say unto thee, arise and take
up thy bed and go thy way into thy house. You're free. You're free. You are free from your sickness.
You are free from your sin. You are free from your bondage.
You are free from yourself. You're free. Everything that
has held you down on that bed, you're free from it. Arise, take
up thy bed, and go into thy house." When God saves sinners, He sets
them free. That's what He does. The Scripture
says He led captivity captive. Well, that sounds like I'm captive
again. Yes, I am. And when God takes a child captive,
He sets them free, free at last, free at last. You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I wish a sinner
in the bondage of religion would hear the truth, and all of a
sudden, free at last. Free at last. Verse 12 says,
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. We never saw
anything like this. This is almost too good to be
true. This is almost too good to be true. When God saves a
sinner, it changes that sinner. That man, he couldn't walk and
it was obvious, life was put in his legs. And he got up and
he walked. There's a result. There is. There is a regeneration. There
is. A reviving, there's a new man,
a new walk. And when God commands His people
to obey, He got up. He obeyed the commandment, He
started walking. And all the glory went to God
for it. Verse 12, the middle of it says, In so much that they
were all amazed and glorified, God saying, We never saw it on
this fashion. I love what Luke, again, says
about it. Go one more time to Luke 5. Luke 5 verse 24 says, But that
you may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to
forgive sins, he said unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto
thee, arise and take up thy couch and go into thy house. And immediately
he arose up before them and took up that whereon he lay, and departed
to his own house, glorifying God." That man, can you see?
He was glorifying God. They all glorified God and said,
we've never seen anything like this. Can you envision that man? Here he is, that man's been laying
there, and they carried him up on that thing, and he's laying
there while they're ripping it all off. He's not doing the work. He's just sitting there, and
their faith is doing all the work, all the work. He didn't
do anything. And then he's let down in this
bed and he's brought down. That's what sinners, that's what
happens to them. They're brought down and they're
brought down and they're brought down until finally Christ says,
get up. And that man all of a sudden
couldn't believe it, but he got up. And he said, pick up your
bed. Lord, I just barely, I just stood
up for the first time. Pick up your bed. Now start walking. Go to your house. Go anywhere
you want to. You're free. Absolutely free. I can just see that man glorifying
God as he walked out. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you. I'll be back. That's what we
do. I'll be back. If he'll bring
me, I'll be back. We give him all the glory and
all the thanks for all this, don't we? Okay, let's stand together.