Thank the Lord for his mercy
and kindness that brought us here today. I remember Brother Don, a lady
one time told him that she didn't believe what he was preaching,
because he had preached that everybody was right where the
Lord would have them to be. And she said, well, I don't believe
that. She says, I could have been anywhere I wanted to this
morning. And he said, well, why weren't
you? You know how foolish it is for
men to think that they are the ones who are controlling the
things that go on in this world. Now, we rejoice that the Lord
He is the Lord, he's the King of Kings. He is that one who
directs things to occur according to the good pleasure of his will.
And who among us can overturn that? Now, Nebuchadnezzar learned
that he couldn't. He said, the Most High ruleth
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and there's none that can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? The men often question God, or
they think they do, but see, a man can't even question God.
You can't. You might think you can, but
see, you gotta have a place of standing in order to bring somebody
into question, or to accuse somebody. Can you accuse God? Well, from
what platform would you accuse him? From what standard would
you use to bring forth the accusation? You have no standing. And apart
from the grace of God, we shall all perish apart from his mercy. Now, that's a place that when
the Lord is pleased to bring a man to by his grace, he rejoices
in that. But you know, when a man's a
rebel against God, there's nothing that he hates worse than to be
told that God is the one who is in charge of all things. and
that he can't move forward or no backwards apart from that
mercy. Now we've been looking in the
book of Mark, and I wanna look again there as we would consider
the, Lord's death till he comes again at all times. See, there's
never a time when we ought not to remember the Lord's death
till he comes again, because that's the whole purpose for
which the Lord created the world, set things in motion, created
all of the wondrous things that we see around us was to set the
stage for the redemption of his people. to bring glory to his
name. See, most people think that the
salvation of sinners is for them, and surely they are beneficiaries,
but all that the Lord has done, he's done for himself. He said,
I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. He said, thou shalt not
have any gods before me, that is, before my face. So he does
all things for himself. Some people say, well, that's
selfish. Well, he can be. Why? Because he made it all.
And again, what can you say about that? That's frustrating, is
it not? I had a friend of mine, he's
passed on now, but he wrote a tract one time, and the name of it
was The Frustrating God Who's Never Frustrated. And you know,
God, it is frustrating sometimes when you realize how little control
you have over anything. You know, the great psychologists
and philosophers of the world, they would tell us, well, that's
foolish. Because they believe that men are of such great worth
that they are the ones who are in control of all things. You
control your own destiny. Do you? How many people really believe
they control their own destiny? Your destiny is in the hands
of Almighty God. Oh, that you might tremble when
you think of that. Our God's a consuming fire. That
should cause us great concern. Some people say, well, you know,
the Lord looks on your heart. And they take comfort in that.
Well, brethren, if you think about that for a minute, the
Lord does look on your heart. What does he see? The scripture
says that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. If anything
ought to cause you great concern, it is that God does look on the
heart. He knows what you are. He knows
when you were in your secret place. He saw Philip when he
was under the fig tree. I don't know what he saw Philip
doing. I don't know what Philip was thinking. But the Lord did.
And so it is. And so today we come to the second
chapter of Mark. And course all of the gospels
you know all of these are the gospel of jesus christ they are
about jesus christ therefore the purpose of the exalting christ
as john said at the end of his book uh... he supposed that if
all of the things that christ had done had been recorded all
of the books in the world could not contain them so we come here and with a desire
to see those things that Christ has done. I can remember hearing
about this particular account here that we're gonna read about
when I was just a small lad going to Sunday school and being taught
with pictures, you know, that these people tearing a hole in
the roof and letting this man down. But it's more than just
a story. It's more than just a myth. It's the reality. But you see,
the glory that we're gonna see in this event here is not simply,
as I was taught as a young lad, about the faith of these men
that brought this man to the Lord, but it's about the Lord
who did a mighty work in Capernaum according to the good pleasure
of his will. And again, this is Mark chapter
two. And again, he entered into Capernaum
after some days and it was noise that he was in the house. 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. And they come unto him, bringing
one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they
could not come nine to 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, Son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. And 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 heart? whether it be
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
ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, he saith 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 in
so much that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, we
never saw it on this fashion. Now, this is an interesting account
and the Lord during what we might call the heyday of his ministry
upon the earth, which was lasted about his total ministry, if
you think of the shortness of time and the magnitude of his
work, covered a period of about three years. from the time of
his baptism until the time of his crucifixion. And many things
were in that. We don't know the things that
occurred before that. And he has revealed to us those
things which have occurred since that time and will occur and
yet in the future. But here he was in Capernaum
preaching And he was, there were many thrones of people in the
early days of his ministry that came to hear him. And we learn
by that that religion is a strong power in the earth. Multitudes
flock to religious things that they think they can get something
out of. That's the emphasis really on
preaching today and churches are built up in the eyes of men. Come and get something. We've
got something for everybody in the family. From the youngest
one to the oldest one. We've got it all. You can have
any kind of experience that you want. You can come and we've
even got coffee ready for you. And you know, you can get a tattoo
while you're here waiting for the meeting to start. I mean,
we've got everything. We got a gymnasium, and we got a swimming
pool, and we got just whatever you need. It's all for you. We want you to feel comfortable. We want you to feel happy. We
want you to go away saying, what a wonderful time that was. And many of the people, unfortunately,
that were here in this building, in this house, listening to the
Lord, they came here for that reason, because they wanted to
see what was going on. You can get something exciting
started up. I remember when I was growing
up and in the religious circles in which I traveled, we would
hear about somebody there was some excitement going on over
here. Oh, well, they got old brother so-and-so came in here,
and buddy, he's preaching a hell-firing damnation and making the shirt
tails run up and down people's backs like a wind of shade, and
he's really just shelling the corn. I mean, he can do it. We
wanna go over there and see what's going on, and people go, and
they flock, but you know, pretty soon, what happens? I mean, you know, after you've
seen a few people's legs lengthened, I mean, it kind of all fades
out. I mean, you know, one leg is
about the same as the other. And that goes away. So then,
you know, they've got to come up with something else. And then when we want to go see
somebody, they can just wave their hand and people just fall
down like a wave in the ocean. And it's just excitement. Oh,
what a wonderful thing. And so we see these people pressing
into this house to hear the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not some fly-by-night
preacher, is it? But I mean, this is the Lord. Yet the day would come when he
would look around and his disciples were left, and he would ask them,
because the scripture says that many walk no more with him, and
he would look at them, and he said, will you also go away? And we know what Peter said,
he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life. Now we see this house full of
folks, And that often is a, you know, it's an encouraging thing
when you have a meeting and folks show up. Because I've been in
some meetings where nobody showed up. And that's a lonely meeting. I mean, you can't have much of
a meeting when you're there by yourself. So it is a good thing. But many times it's nothing but
the satisfaction of the flesh. Because, I mean, where would
you rather go? Would you rather go somewhere where you got a
bunch of folks, or would you rather go where you got one or
two? Well, the Lord said that where there were one or two gathered
in his name, he was there in their midst. Not because they
gathered, but because he was in the midst of those who desired
to meet with him. Oh, what a glorious thing. Oh,
so it was noise abroad that he was in the house, and folks came.
I mean, they heard about this and they said, this man's gonna
be here, he's doing miracles. We wanna go see it. And there was no room to receive
them. I don't know how big of a place it was, probably not
a large room. I don't know how many were in
there, but these gentlemen had a friend who was sick of the
palsy. And they had heard that this
man could heal. sickness. And so they desired,
they believed that this man, you see, faith must have an object. Faith is not just some nebulous
thing. Oh, I've got faith. See, a lot
of people have faith. Well, you just didn't have enough
faith. Well, how much is enough? The Lord said that if a man had
faith as a grain of a mustard seed, he could say to a mountain,
be thou removed and cast into the sea and it would be done.
It's not about the amount of faith, dear brethren, it's about
what the faith is. See, and so these men came there
and the Lord is going to point this out. He said they came unto
him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four. They came to the meeting late. Now we can say something here
about that. When you come late, sometimes you miss out on things. See, they had to do a lot of
extra work. that if they'd have been early,
they wouldn't have had to have done, because they could have
just brought him in there and laid him down, and everything
would have been great. But they got there late, and
the house was full. But, you see, just like as Brother
Al pointed out, that the Lord sent those spies into Jericho,
not simply just to find out, now Joshua, he wanted to send
them in there to spy out the land, but the Lord sent them
in there. to rescue Rahab. See, and so,
these men, they came there to, for their friend's sake, to have
him healed. They wanted to see him healed.
But the Lord did far more for him than giving him the ability
to walk did not. I mean, he forgave his sins. Oh, what a glorious thing. And so anyway, they got there
and they couldn't get in. And the Lord was preaching and
so they come there. And when they could not come
nigh unto him, they couldn't get in there where he was. They
figured he wouldn't be able to know where they were. Now he
knew where they were. Because you see, they were there
at the exact appointed hour, even though they were late. See, even though they didn't
get there on time, they were right where the Lord would have
them to be, because he wanted to demonstrate something. And
so here they are, figuring, trying to figure, well, what are we
gonna do now? We can't get in there, but we know if we could
just get him in there, he could be healed. So they came up with
a plan, that they'd tear a hole in the roof. Now, if you'd have been the owner
of the house, you probably wouldn't have been very happy, would you?
What in the world's going on? You look up and there's a hole
being scratched out in the roof. Now, isn't it amazing how that,
this didn't just happen by chance, because what if they'd have got
there and this had been a reinforced concrete roof? I mean, what would
they have done? They wouldn't have been able
to get in there, would they? But you see the Lord designed
this whole thing and he made men at that point in time in
history not to know anything about pouring concrete and reinforcing
it. All they could do, I don't know
how the thing was built, probably with some mud and maybe some
tiles or something like that, but it was obviously fairly easy
for them to break through this thing and get in there. That
didn't just happen. That was because the Lord ordained
it, dear brethren. Because it was necessary that
the roof be able to have a hole tore in it because the Lord was
going to heal a man. Nobody there knew anything about
it. He didn't advertise it ahead
of time. You know, these preachers today,
if they had something like that, they'd be up there on the main
marquee, would they not? We're going to heal somebody
today. The Lord knew He was going to heal this man. When He went
in there and He saw the whole crowd fill up the room, He knew
that that was right according to what He designed for it to
be. because he knew that pretty soon
at the appointed hour, they were gonna tear a hole in the roof
and put this man down right where he needed to be, right in front
of all those people. And so they let down the bed.
Now, I'm not sure exactly how they did it, probably had some
old sheets or something and they let him down. They brought him
there where the Lord was. And when Jesus saw their faith,
He said to the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now what did they have faith
in? These men that brought him there, the scripture says when
he saw their faith. I don't know if the man sick
of the palsy, if he had talked them into carrying him down there
or they had decided to carry him down. I don't know how all
of that happened. But the scripture says when the Lord saw their
faith, maybe all of them, What was their faith? Their faith
was Christ. See, their faith was that Christ
could heal this man. See, they didn't know what Christ
would do. Now a lot of people think they
know what the Lord is going to do. A lot of people think they
can back the Lord into a corner and make Him do stuff. Well,
if you pray this prayer and you all agree, then the Lord will
have to honor it. No, the Lord doesn't have to
do anything. He does according to His purpose and His will.
And that often is at odds with ours. But He ordained these things
to occur that this man might be brought before Him, and He
saw their faith. He saw that they believed Him. And then He said something. that
shocked everybody there, especially the religious men. He said, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. Now who can forgive sin but God? See, the Pharisees were right
about that, were they not? The problem with the Pharisees
was they didn't believe he was God. They didn't think he had
any right to forgive sins. But he being God, he could forgive
sins, and this is the very thing that he would tell them here.
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. He didn't say, son, be healed,
because he would teach a lesson. This is because you see all of
the healing that the Lord does, and there is no other kind than
the healing that the Lord brings. There's no such thing as miraculous
healing, because all healing comes from the hand of God. Just
like all disease comes from the hand of God. Now see, you can
get by with saying all healing comes from God, but you get people
get nervous when you tell them all disease comes from the hand
of God as well. But he says, I kill and I make
alive. I, the Lord, do all these things.
What are you gonna do about it? But fall down and worship him.
But he said, son, thy sins be forgiven them. There were certain
of the scribes sitting there, reasoning in their hearts. So
they were thinking, what they were reasoning was they wanted
a way to accuse this man. They didn't like what he was
doing. They were suspicious that he was going to turn the people
against them. Now at this point in time, they
didn't know that yet. They were still kind of feeling
him out and trying to find out exactly what he was about. But
when he said, son, thy sins be forgiven, the light bulb popped
on. Aha, we got him now. He said, you're a blasphemer.
Only God can forgive sins. And he turned to them there and
he said, why reason ye these things in your hearts? Which
is easier to say? To the sick of the palsy be healed?
Or thy sins be forgiven thee? Which is easier? See, there's
nothing hard for God. Because he's the one that causes
all things to occur. And so there's no more difficulty
with him. But see, the thing the Pharisees
could not see was the deity of Christ. Oh, what we have before
us today, as we remember the Lord's death till he comes, is
not only a reminder of the deity of Christ, as he is the only
one who could forgive sins, Because he's the only one who would pay
the price necessary to form a basis for the forgiveness of sins.
Now the Lord could just forgive sins just off bat if he pleased
him to do so. But you see, he put us in the
world and he gave a law and he put men under the law. in order that the forgiveness
of sins might be demonstrated by the pouring out of the blood
of Jesus Christ in the behalf of sinners. I mean, the Lord
didn't have to do anything, did he? But he would be just and
the justifier. And therefore he gave a law.
And men broke the law. And he gave a redeemer to redeem
them from the curse of that same law. He could have done that
any way he wanted to do, but he did it according to the very
law that he set forth. And when he said to that man,
thy sins be forgiven thee, he wasn't doing it in an arbitrary
fashion, but he was doing it on the base of the fact for the
reason that he came into the world Even as the angel told
Joseph, he shall save his people from their sins. And so here
he is, one of his own, has been brought to him. And he said,
son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Just like the woman taken in
adultery. Neither do I condemn thee. See,
she wasn't condemned. Why was she not condemned? Just
because of some whim on the part of the Lord? No, because he came
as the sinner's substitute. He came as both the judge and
the sacrifice. Oh, what a glorious one he is.
Why did this man speak blasphemy, as they said? Well, it's easier
to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee, or
say, arise, take up thy bed and walk. But that ye may know that
the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, that you
might know this, he said. I'm gonna prove it to you. Because
which is easier to say? He said, son, take up thy bed
and walk. And the man took up his bed and he walked. Why? Because
the Lord would demonstrate that he came into the world to forgive
sin. What a glorious thing. Now this
went right over the head of the Pharisees because they were so
mad, they were so mad that he was talking about forgiving sins
that they didn't even see the truth of the whole situation
and they did not bow down and worship him. I don't know how
many people there did. You know, it's amazing. You often
think to yourself, and I've thought it all over myself, well, you
know, I think I would have really believed if I'd have been there.
I'd have seen him feed 5,000, and I'd have seen him do all
these things. Buddy, I'd have been right there
in the midst of it. No, you wouldn't have believed unless God, in
mercy, gave you heart to believe. Because these Pharisees, they
saw the same thing everybody else did. They didn't believe. And so it is. Immediately he
arose, took up his bed and went forth before them in so much
that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, we never
saw it on this fast. We've never seen anything like
this before. Oh, what a glorious thing when the Lord is pleased
to heal sinners. The greatest healing that can
ever be brought to a man is not something that's going to occur
in his physical body but it is when the Lord is pleased by his
mercy and his grace to say to a man as he looks upon Christ
as he has faith in that one who says neither do I condemn thee
thy sins be forgiven Oh, what a glorious Savior He is. He saves
those that call upon His name. He saved this man who was brought
to Him sick of the palsy because it pleased Him to do so. It pleases the Lord. He's pleased. The Scripture says for the joy
that was set before Him, the delight That's the reason Christ
went to the cross, because he loved his people. And he was
happy to lay down his life for their sake. The only struggle that he had
with laying down his life for his children as he prayed in
the garden was not that he was fearful of the death that he
would die but the fact that he would become sin because you see he came to do
the father's will he wanted to please the father and the one
thing that he must do in order to please the father was to become
displeasing in the father's sight to become an outcast, become
one cast away. Now think about that. The one
thing you want more than anything else in all the world is the
one thing that you must abandon in order to do the Father's will. That's what we call being between
a rock and a hard place. And when he cried, Father, You
know, let this cup pass from me. I mean, this is more than
I can bear as a man. This is crushing me. But he said, nevertheless, even
this, I will even be banished from your sight because of the
great love that I have for those people whom thou hast given me.
Thine they were, and thou hast given them to me, and I have
lost none. Oh, he's the savior of sinners.
He's that one who came to save sinners. And dear brethren, what
we've got before us here this morning is the evidence of the
fact that he has saved sinners. See, he's not hoping to save
sinners. He's not doing his best to save
as many as he can, but he came to die for sinners and pay the
price. And that's what we remember.
You see, when we come and we partake of this bread and drink
this wine, we come here to remember the Lord's death till he comes
again. May he give us a mind and heart
today to partake of these things in a right fashion. Now, Paul
warned the church at Corinth, not to take this lightly. He said because if a man takes
this lightly, that if he has no discernment of the body of
Christ, if he does this as a religious ritual, and he's just going through
the motions of doing this because everybody else is doing it, he
said he drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the body
of Christ. That is, he has no regard to
that which Christ did. And so we set forth the warning
to those that might take it lightly, don't do it. But to those who do, he said,
let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. Now the examination is not find
out if we're worthy to take it. Because if you examine yourself,
and the Spirit of God works in you, you're gonna say, well,
I'm not worthy to even touch this. That's not the worthiness. Do you regard Christ? Is that
why you're coming here? Because you discern the body
of Christ. And you say, I believe that the
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses his people from their sin. And
I desire, Lord, to have a part in that which you have done,
pouring out your life blood for my sake. And if you can say that, and
you have that desire, then let a man in, eat, and let him drink,
because he does so to the glory of God, giving thanksgiving,
remembering. See, that's why we come here,
to remember the Lord's death, till he comes again. May He give
us such a mind and heart today.