Mark chapter 2. Oh yes, thank you Johnny. We're
looking at the first 12 verses of the second chapter of the
Gospel of Mark. Now it is important to recognize
that this very encounter between our Savior and this man who is
paralyzed is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew 9 and
Luke chapter 5. I've read those three scripture
passages a bunch of times in the last few days. I believe this is where I'm supposed
to be. Now before we read, let's beg the Lord to help us. Help
us to worship Him, praise Him, honor Him, read His holy Word,
rejoice in the gospel that is all grace because it is all Christ. May we pray. Lord, here we are
again in this meeting house with our Bibles opened in front of
us. Lord, this is a strange book.
No man, apart from Your Spirit and Your grace, can read and
understand this book. Your gospel is indeed glorious,
but I have no natural eyes to see that glory until Christ reveals
Himself to me. Here we are this morning in Mark
chapter 2 in this book that you have put together over thousands
of years. You have preserved and watched
over it and kept it and brought it to us at this exact day. Lord, we are desirous this morning
of having our minds illuminated and our hearts that we might
enter in to this glorious passage in your book. We might have some
understanding and grasp of what it means by what it says. And
that we could put ourselves in this man's shoes, this poor man,
completely paralyzed, unable to move himself. and understand
what message and what lessons are being conveyed to us through
this means. And not only that, but you've
put this account in your book three times, giving us some idea
of its vast importance. Lord, if you do not come yourself
into our midst this day, we shall only read this book to our own
condemnation. Help us, we pray, to know you,
to love you, to serve you, to spend eternity in your presence
in eternal glory. We plead for your aid and help
in Christ's dear name. Amen. Verse 1 reads, And again he entered into Capernaum after having been away from Capernaum
for some days, and it was noised, it was talked about, that he
was in the house. Now, Capernaum, strange city. Mark's gospel called it his own
city, Capernaum. Not talking about Bethlehem,
Yet in Matthew chapter 11, the Lord told this city, it will
be better for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. No
telling how many days in three and a half years our Lord spent
in this city, how many people he healed, how many messages
he preached in their hearing, yet to no avail. But here is
a poor sinner whom the Lord Jesus has purposed to show mercy. And it's in the city of Capernaum. It's probable that Peter lived
in Capernaum with his wife and his wife's mother and I don't
know about children. And if that's the case, that
may be the house that is mentioned here in this passage. It's not
important whether it is or not. What is important is that Christ
was there, and this poor paralytic was there, and the Lord Jesus
has mercy for poor sinners. Verse 2, straightway, immediately,
many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room
to receive them. No, not so much as about the
door. Good thing they didn't have fire
marshals. And he preached the Word unto
them. Christ is the preacher of all
preachers. Compared to him, I'm a ditch
digger. I ain't a preacher. The Lord Jesus is the prince
of all preachers. Any other gospel preacher must
get from Christ what he needs in order to preach. Here's my problem. You and I are born believing. that if somebody can just come
and preach to a crowd the truth of the gospel, I mean virtually
the whole place will be converted. Here's the Lord Jesus preaching
to a whole crowd, no room left, and only one man converted. Anything wrong with his preaching?
Oh, absolutely not. My dear friend, it takes more
than truth to convert our souls. It takes a miracle of grace from
God. And every soul that He saves,
He does so on purpose. On purpose. It's not human eloquence. It's not argument. It's not a
person having all these things to throw at you that brings about
conversion. My friend, conversion is of God. not of men, for all men put together. A church can't convert you. My
soul, a whole council of churches can't convert you. God must save
us. I'll guarantee you when He does,
it is on purpose. He preached the Word unto them. Four people In verse 3, come
bringing one sick of the palsy. Can't walk, can't crawl. And he's born or carried by four
people and when they could not come near unto him for the press
of the crowd, they uncovered the roof. And Luke, I believe, is the one
that tells us that it is tiling. It is a roof like you can see
on certain places on Fort Bragg that have a tile roof where he
was. And when they had broken the
tile, made a hole in the roof, they let down the bed whereon
the sick of the palsy lay. And this man's sickness is put
in this book on purpose. to tell us our condition as a
sinner before God. We're paralyzed. Paralyzed. When Jesus, I'll confess to you
up front, I don't have a clue as to what this statement right
here means. When our Lord saw their faith, not the paralyzed
man, the four men that carried it, Now what did their faith
have to do with His being forgiven? I ain't figured that out. I don't
know if it can be figured out. I know one thing. Somebody's
going to have to open my eyes a lot wider than they are in
order for me to understand that. I don't understand it. But here
it is. I leave it exactly like I find
it. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the sick of the palsy,
Son, oh, that's a strange word. The Lord Jesus doesn't frequently
use that word when He's talking to a crowd of people. But He
singles this one man out and calls him a son. I'll come back
to that in a little while. Son, your sins are forgiven you. My word, they brought the man
to be healed in his body. And our Lord starts with his
soul. I wonder why? To show us that no matter how
bad off we are physically, there's no disease on earth comparable
to being a lost, helpless, dead sinner. That's the difference. Son, your sins be forgiven you, but... Now, oftentimes in the
Scripture, the word but is a conjunction that is full of wonderful delight. You'll find one like that in
the third verse, I believe it is, of Ephesians chapter 2. where
it talks about how we're dead in trespasses and sins, we're
under the devil just like the rest of the world, and on and
on it goes. And then, bang! But God! But here it's not but God. Here
it says, if I can find my place, but there were certain, verse
6, there were certain of the scribes sitting there. Matthew tells us there were scribes
and Pharisees. Mark tells us that there's another
name in this list of infamous people in the New Testament that
were against the Lord Jesus. He said doctors of the law. Doctors. That's really what scribes
were. They were doctors of the law. They've spent their whole lives
reading and studying and dividing and adding to and subtracting
from all the laws of the Old Testament. The Lord gave Moses ten on one
occasion, and they've been multiplied into something close to a million
by now, I suppose, in the use of smarter people than God. certain of the scribes," watch
this expression, "...sitting there and reasoning
in their hearts." They're there because they think
it is their duty to be there. They are there to find something
against this one, the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not there looking for
mercy. They don't think they need any. Here's what they said in their
own heart. We'll learn this in just a second
and it's brought out in the other two Gospels as well. They said
to these reasonings in their hearts, they said, why does this
man thus speak blasphemies? He told this man that his sins
were forgiven. Who can forgive sins but God
only? Amen. That's the truth. The problem
is they don't know who Christ is. He's not only a man, but
He's God. Do you believe that? If you don't, you're lost. And immediately when Jesus perceived
in His Spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason
you these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say? to the sick of the palsy. Your
sins be forgiven, or to say arise, take up your bed and walk." He
could say your sins are forgiven all day long, and they had no
way to prove that they were or they weren't. But the minute he said to this
man, rise, take up your bed and walk, my friend The acid test
is right in front of our faces. Which is the easiest to say to
the sick of the palsy, your sins be forgiven. Or to say, arise,
take up your bed and walk. Please look carefully at verse
10. I'm almost through reading. I
need to hurry. But that you may know, that the Son of Man, and
I call your attention to that fact, not the Son of God, though
He is, He said that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive
sins. He said to the sick of the palsy
to prove beyond a doubt that when He tells a man, your sins
are forgiven, they're gone. Gone for good and gone forever.
I say unto you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way into
your house.' And immediately he arose, rolled up his bed,
went forth before them all insomuch that they were all amazed, and
glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion." That's the understatement of
the century, isn't it? They didn't have room for this
guy to come into the door. I bet you they had room for him
going out. All right, we'll come back there
in just a little bit. I just got one point, but it has six
parts to it. That's the problem. Here's what I want to propose
to you. We must understand what a crippled, helpless, ruined
state we are by nature and by birth because of the fall of
Adam in the Garden of Eden. Now mind you, I did not say Adam
and Eve, for according to the Scriptures, Adam is the representative
man. That means, simply put, what
he did, I did. What he did, you did. When he
stuck his fist in God's face and tried to pull Him off His
throne, I did the very same thing. Just like when Christ was put
to death, what they did, I did. Now that ain't good news Unless
you're a sinner. That's what I'm getting at. We
are sinners. Lost. Ruined. Sinners. And that's not the half of it.
We're born that way. We start out that way. Nobody had to teach me to lie.
I figured it out on my own. except for some parents that
wouldn't mind beating me half to death, I'd probably be in a jail cell
or already put to death. So would some of you. All right. We're in a mess. This man, this paralyzed man,
is a picture of me and you. Now here's six quick things about
this. This is so vivid in this text,
in all three of the gospel accounts, it's hard to miss. Here it is. This man has no ability in himself
to come to Christ. You know what that means? We
don't either. Our soul is exactly in the condition
of this man's body. Except it's worse. We're dead
in trespasses and sins. People say, if you'll believe,
dead people don't do anything. I'm telling you, this book, this
passage, every book in these 66 books, Teach this very thing. This is man's native condition
in which he comes forth from the womb, David said, speaking
lies. So am I, so are you. One verse of Scripture, right
close to hand, John chapter 6. I could give you a dozen, but
time will not permit. John chapter 6, from the Savior's
own lips, verse 44. And I remind you that
later on in this chapter, when there's a mass defection of our
Lord's disciples, He restates this statement in slightly altered
terms with no appreciable difference in the two. Here it is, John
6, 40, 4. No man can come to me. Can is a verb having to do with
ability. No man is able of himself to
come to me. No man can come to me. And what's
the exception? Ain't but one. except the Father
who has sent me for all him." Case closed. That's enough, isn't
it? We cannot come to Christ. You
know why? Because we don't want to. Second thing. No difficulty, no obstructions
of any kind can keep these four people from putting this poor
paralytic at the feet of Christ. They couldn't get in the door.
They figure out a way to get in. Oh my soul, if you and I
had half that much initiative, to bring men to hear the gospel.
How come we don't? I can't answer that for you.
These fellows wouldn't take no for an answer. It doesn't talk about this man
making great efforts to come into the presence of Christ It
talks about theirs, just like that verse says, and when he
saw their faith. And I don't even know that if
their faith is even saving faith, it might have been their faith
in him being able to perform a miracle. I don't know. But
I'm telling you this, healing the body ain't the same thing
as healing the soul. You can have one without the other. Plenty
of God's children have got plenty of pains and ailments and sicknesses
of one kind and another. But in their soul, they're well, righteous, holy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, number three. We're
going to make it yet. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ
for poor sinners. outruns our desires for His favor. Look at this. When they put this
man at the feet of Christ, you tell me what they were expecting. Why did they put him there? For
Christ to heal him of his physical disease. Correct? Sure. That's what they did. The Lord didn't even start there. He outruns our expectations. They expected the physical. He
gave them the spiritual. The soul and the body. Number four, I need you to turn
to Hebrews chapter 12. I want to prove something to
you because it is vastly misunderstood. We are born thinking. I've thought
this way and I still sometimes find myself thinking this way.
You thought this way and you sometimes find yourself thinking
this way. If I'm faithful to the Lord,
if I give up my money to the kingdom of God, God will bless
me Spare me from untold problems and diseases and sicknesses.
And I tell you the truth, that just ain't so. And you tell me if people aren't
hearing this every Sunday that rolls by. Yes, they are. Because
they're trying to motivate people that have no motive in Christ.
Faith works by love, and the love of Christ constrains us.
But when a man doesn't know the Lord Jesus, he can't love the
Lord Jesus, and he's got no heart to serve Him. So you've got to
stoop to some other methods and means to get people to act like
they're Christians when they ain't Christian at all. That's
the whole problem in our generation. That's what's happened to religion.
That's why the true gospel has gone out the back door. Nobody
believes these things anymore. Let me tell you one thing God's
people do. Yes, they do. People are proud to say, if God
said it, I believe it, that settles it. Uh-uh. If God says it, that
settles it. My belief's got nothing to do
with it. Not anything at all. All right, you find Hebrews 12.
Here's my next point. Remember when I was reading,
the Lord Jesus used an unusual expression in front of the words,
your sins be forgiven you. What did He call him? Son. Son. Son. Look at these words, Hebrews
chapter 12, verses 6 through 8. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens. and scourges every son whom he
receives. If you endure chastening, that
word is also rendered affliction. If you endure affliction, God
deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father
chastens not? But if you be without chastisement,
if you be without affliction, whereof all, all of God's children
are partakers. You are bastards and not sons. Let me give you one other scripture.
Galatians chapter 4. I'm trying to tell you that that
word son, I tell you that means more than I can possibly convey
to you. Listen, if the Lord Jesus calls
us His sons, How long we been His sons? Forever and ever and ever. Well, how long are we going to
be His sons? Forever and ever and ever. That's just how it
is. I tell you, God doesn't throw
His sons back. He doesn't leave them to themselves to perish. Ah, He brings us to His Son.
just like this poor man. It took four men to get him there,
but he brought him. I tell you, the Lord Jesus is
behind it all. These men didn't figure this
thing out. There was a mysterious power working in them to get
this man to the feet of the Lord Jesus. Do you find Galatians
4? Let's start at verse 4 and read through verse 7. Talking
about those sons now. But when the fullness of the
time was come, Oh, I love that term. God sent forth His Son. Watch this now. Made of a woman,
not a man. Oh, we got our sin from Adam. We got our Savior from the woman
seed. How come we couldn't be the man
seed? He'd have been born a sinner just like you and me. Can't happen. Can't be. Oh goodness, no. Made of a woman. Look at this. Made under the law. The Lord Jesus is the lawgiver. Yet, He comes into this world
obligated to perfectly keep and honor every dot and tittle of
God's law from the cradle to the cross. And he did and earned
thereby perfect righteousness for his people. Verse 5, to redeem them that
were under the law. Who's under the law? Every son
and daughter of Adam. Look at this, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. The Lord Jesus came, took on
human flesh, came into this world the seed
of the woman, made of a woman, born under the law, under the
law, in order that His children, His people, in this case His
sons, might receive the adoption of sons. You've got to listen to this.
And because you are sons, not because you're going to be, because
you already are, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Why did
the Lord Jesus heal this man's soul? Because he's already a
son. He's not going to be one. It's
because he already is. Because you are sons, God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Father, Father. Wherefore, you are no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son than an heir of
God through Christ." I'll tell you, that's an important word,
that little word, son. And I'm telling you this, this
man in Mark chapter 2 did not know he was God's son until Christ
worked a miracle of grace on his soul. Now listen to me. Listen carefully. He could have
healed his body and the man be in hell today. Healing the body is one thing.
Healing the soul is something altogether different. Let's not
forget that. I have only got one point, number
six. And these old scribes here, they give me this straight off. Oh, they're hot. They're fuming.
They're burning up inside. What does this man think he's
doing? Nobody can forgive sin but God. Amen. That's right. Let me tell you, God became a
man. He's called the God-man, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus
is the Son of God and the Son of Man. But our Lord is demanding
of His hearers in this house that has no room for anybody
else. When we get down here to verse number 10, He said, But
that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to
forgive sins. He said, I'm going to cure this
man of his paralysis. To prove to you what? That on
this earth, Jesus Christ has power to heal us of our sins, set us free. I'm telling you, this is wonderful, wonderful. Son, your sins be forgiven you. And he's still in that business
this morning. Do you know what it is to be
a sinner? I mean a dead dog sinner. That's the only kind Christ saves. If we understand who we are to
any degree, it's because He has revealed it I want you to look
at a couple of Scriptures now in regard to this matter of none
but God can forgive sins. If you could, go back sometime
today and read the text again, especially verses 5 through 11.
But if you'll turn for just a moment to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. I can't get there fast enough.
Here we go. Romans 9 verse 5. Whose are the fathers? And of
whom concerning the flesh Christ came Christ, who is over all,
God, blessed forever. Amen. Now can you and me, can
we say amen to that? I tell you, if we can't, we've
got the wrong God. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. And He is, bless His name, He
is the Son of Man as well. Right now, this morning, in eternal
glory, sitting on His throne, ruling everything, He's wearing
human flesh. His wounds from the cross are
still visible in that body. The body they laid in that grave
is the same body that came out in three days. The very same. Hey, we've got a little bit of
time. Turn to an Old Testament scripture, the book of Micah. I cheated on you now, I marked
my place. But it's right after Jonah, if that will help you
any. I could even give you the page number, but it wouldn't
correspond to your Bible, so that wouldn't help you any. And
it's right in front of Habakkuk. Chapter 7, that's the last chapter
of Micah. But here's a verse in regard
to this matter of God forgiving us of our sins. Can you get a
hold of the fact that here the Lord Jesus stands in this, however
many crowded into this house, I've got no idea, maybe 50 or
100, I don't know, it doesn't matter. He's standing there in
front of this whole crowd and He looks down at this man at
his feet. And do you know what he said? He said, son, your sins be forgiven
you. And they were. His sins were gone. Gone for
good and gone forever. You must have found Micah 7.
I don't hear any pages turning. Look at verse number 18. Who is a God like unto you that
pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retains not his anger forever,
outcome, because he delights in mercy. Let me read it one
more time. Who is a God like unto you that
pardons iniquity passes by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage, he retains not his anger forever because he
delights in mercy." God delights in mercy in Christ, in the gospel. And this blessed man in Mark
chapter 2 found that out to his wonder and amazement. Oh, what
a passage of Scripture. Come back tonight, I might have
to work on it again.