Let us turn this morning to Mark
chapter two. Mark chapter two. We'll be looking at the miracle
here that is recorded in the first 12 verses of this chapter. 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, insomuch 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 afore. 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, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the
scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts Why does 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, take up thy bed, and walk? But that
you 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, insomuch
that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, we never
saw it on this fashion. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all
three, and their gospel narratives record this miracle. In Luke's account, we learn that
the Lord healed many people that day. But out of the many miracles
that he wrought that day, this one particular miracle was chosen
by God the Holy Spirit for us to read about and to learn from
it. And I think of what John wrote
in the closing part of the Gospel of John. when he said, and many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples. And that word signs is the same
word which is translated miracles. John said the Lord did many other
signs other than the ones which he recorded in the Gospel of
John, which are not written in this book, but these are written. These are written, this is written,
this miracle, the account of this miracle that we've just
read, this is written, that we might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life
through his name. Isn't that a wonderful fact?
That we might believe, that you and I this morning, that we might
believe in our hearts Jesus is the Christ, the long-promised
Messiah, the Son of God. And that believing, we might
have life, eternal life, everlasting life through him, through his
name. I have four points to the message
this morning. Very simple, but we'll look at
everything that comes from this miracle. First, In verse one,
you see we read, the Lord came again to Capernaum. And again,
he entered into Capernaum. In the verses that relate this
miracle in Matthew, we are told he returned to his city, his
city. Now, Capernaum was a large city. It was located, at least at that
time, it was a rather large city. It was located on the shore of
the Lake of Galilee. Remember Peter, he was a fisherman,
and he lived on this lake. He had a house on this lake,
Peter did, and it was at Capernaum. And when our Lord ministered
in Galilee, and most of his ministry was in Galilee, he made Capernaum
his headquarters, you might say. But you know, today, men cannot
find where Capernaum was located. There's a couple of spots on
the lake that some say it was here, some say it was there,
some say it was over here. Think of that, a large city,
and yet today, on that lake, It's difficult for men, I mean
men who study these things, archeologists, biblical archeologists. It's
difficult to, impossible to determine where Capernaum was. Do you know
that fulfills one of our Lord's prophecies? It fulfills one of the prophecies
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look back here into Matthew
chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11, verses 23
and 24, these are the words of the Lord Jesus. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto
you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. Think about this, how was it?
How was it that Capernaum was exalted unto heaven? That's what
the Lord said, isn't it? thou Capernaum, which art exalted
unto heaven." How was this city, above other cities in Canaan
at that time, how was this city exalted unto heaven? Well, we
know it was because the Lord brought many miracles here. This
miracle we're looking at today, it took place in Capernaum. And
not only that, but there was a synagogue in Capernaum, of
course, and the Lord taught in that synagogue many different
times. His message on himself being
the bread of life. Remember where he taught that
message in John chapter six, it was in the synagogue in Capernaum. But it was exalted unto heaven,
but it's been brought down unto hell. It's been obliterated,
in other words. Now, what a lesson. What a lesson
here for you and I this morning. An example we have here of the
Lord's words in Proverbs chapter one, when God said, for they
hated knowledge. People there in this city, they
hated knowledge. They had the Son of God, their
teaching. They had the Son of God, their
working miracles. Did they believe Him? Did they
receive Him? Did they acknowledge Him? No,
no. For they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of His
counsel. They were none of his counsel.
They despised his reproof. Therefore, God speaking, therefore
they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with
their own devices." What I'm saying here this morning, what
I want to emphasize to everyone here today is all important. Capernaum missed the day of their
visitation. Capernaum missed the day of their
visitation. He was there, he was showing
himself to be God, he was teaching, and yet they did not believe. They did not seek him and follow
him. They squandered it. That's a strong word, isn't it?
The people of Capernaum, they squandered Their opportunity
when the word, the word, the living word of God was their
teaching and preaching and working miracles. They squandered that
opportunity. How many people today who hear
the gospel, you may be here this morning like this, and you've
heard the gospel not once, not twice, or maybe just once, but
you've heard the gospel and you've had Something in your inner being,
your conscience telling you, you know, I need to settle this
matter. But you say like Felix did to
Paul when Paul was preaching before him. You know, Felix said,
go thy way. Go thy way. For this time, when
I have a convenient season, I'll call for you. I'll call for you. That's what the people in Capernaum
did. Oh yeah, go your way. There'll
be another time. There'll be another day. There'll
be another opportunity. Doesn't the word of God say today
is the day of salvation? People squander their opportunity. They hear the gospel. But they
don't believe. They don't close with Christ.
They're looking for something. Maybe it's a feeling. Well, I
heard that so-and-so, when the Lord saved them, they experienced
this. Maybe they did. But do you find
that in the Word of God? Do you find that in the Word
of God where you have to experience this, that, or the other? Doesn't
the Word of God simply say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved? It does, doesn't it? What a lesson
here. This city of Capernaum, exalted
unto heaven. And how many places today, how
many churches all over the country and really around the world.
There was a time when the gospel was preached in those places,
many of those places. And today, there's no real gospel. There's a social gospel being
preached in so many places, a false gospel. But in a place where
the gospel of the grace of God is preached Sunday after Sunday,
oh, what a shame if someone sits here and squanders the opportunity. God speaking to you, maybe that's
still small voice, And you say, well, there'll be
another day, there'll be another opportunity. Maybe there will,
maybe there will not. I know this, that the day came
when Capernaum no longer heard the voice of the Son of God.
He no longer preached in their synagogues. Now that's the first
thing, the Lord came again to Capernaum. Secondly, the Lord
preached the word unto them. Notice that in verse two. And
straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there
was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the
door, and he preached the word unto them." Someone might say,
well, I wonder what he preached. Well, he preached the word. It
tells us clearly, doesn't it? It tells us what he preached.
He preached the Word. Now, what does that mean? Well,
it means the Old Testament part of our Bible, doesn't it? The
Word of God. The inspired Word of God. You know, the Apostle Paul writing
to Timothy, who was not a young man, but he was younger than
Paul. Paul speaks of him as his son in the faith. And in that
second letter that he wrote to Timothy, and Timothy was a pastor,
pastored the church at Ephesus at one time, at least, but he
wrote and he told, he charged Timothy, this is in second Timothy
chapter four. He charged Timothy, preach the
word. Now, why would you have to tell
a preacher to preach the word? What else is he going to preach?
The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. He came preaching repent for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And isn't he our example as a,
as a preacher, he's my example. What did he preach? He preached
the word, the word of God. Every time we come into this
place, that's what we're here for. It's to hear the word of
God, not the opinions of man. No. We're here to hear the word of
God. We're not here to hear the scientist's opinion on how the
earth was formed and how old the earth is and all those things
that people waste their time with. We're here this morning
to preach the word. And Paul told Timothy, preach
the word, because he said, now listen, he said, there's a day
coming when they, that is men and women, They will not endure
sound doctrine. They shall turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Now, when Paul wrote
that, that was future. Not future anymore. It's not
future anymore. No. Men have turned their ears
away from hearing the truth, and God turns them over to fables. And people love to hear fables.
It's very entertaining, fables. And that's what goes on in so
many places, rather than the preaching of the word of God. You say, well, preacher, I understand
he preached the word, but I'd just like to know what part of
the word he preached. Well, I'm going to show you.
I'm going to show you. Turn back with me to Psalm chapter
40. Psalm chapter 40, we're told what he preached. Beginning with verse eight, no
one can doubt that this is the Lord speaking here because This
is quoted in Hebrews chapter 10. Then said I, well, let's
read verse seven. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me. Now, what book is he talking
about? The book, the Bible. In the volume,
which means the head of the book. The head of the book, the beginning
of the book. You go all the way back to Genesis
chapter one, and who's it speaking of? In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. The word of God, the eternal
word of God. It is written of me in the volume
of the book. And all the book is written of
Christ. It all speaks to us about Christ. People can get sidetracked. Preachers
can get sidetracked. And that's a shame. And God help
me. You pray for me that I don't.
But my message is Christ and Him crucified. That's not just
a saying. That is the truth. And we preach
Christ. The Word of God is about Him.
He preached the Word. He preached about Himself. I delight to do thy will, O God,
yea, thy law is within my heart. Now, watch this. I have preached
righteousness in the great congregation. Do you remember in his Sermon
on the Mount, before we read further there, in Matthew chapter five, he said,
accept your righteousness. exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom
of heaven. He preached righteousness. He
preached that man must, man in order to be saved, he must have
a righteousness that we do not have by nature. Not only do we
not have it, But we cannot produce it, because that righteousness
is perfect holiness. Except your righteousness exceed
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into
the kingdom of heaven. This is what he preached. He
preached, as he said here, righteousness, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. Now notice, I have not hid thy
righteousness. Don't miss that. A lot of preachers
preach righteousness, but it's man's righteousness. You need
to do this, and you need to do the other, and you just better
yourself, clean your life up, and start doing this, that, and
the other. You produce your own. No, he preached his righteousness. That is Christ's righteousness.
That's the only righteousness that God will accept. His righteousness,
because His righteousness is perfect righteousness. I have declared thy faithfulness.
That's what he preached. God's faithful. When God says
something, you can count on it. You can take it to the bank.
He's not like man, like men. Our word sometimes changes with
the wind. Not his, not his. I preach, Christ preached his
faithfulness. He's faithful. And that's a message
in itself, isn't it? We were at the hospital the other
day in Methodist Hospital in Willowbrook and we left the doctor's
office for a break and came down into the the area there and there
was a man playing the piano. And he had a tag on and I could
see it said Methodist and I, we were sitting fairly close
to him and I said, do you work for Methodist Hospital? He said,
oh yeah, yeah. He told me a little bit about
that and where he came from and I said, they pay you to play
the piano? Oh yeah, they pay me. And then
he asked me, he said, what kind of songs do you like? or Pat
and I were there, y'all, what kind of songs do y'all like?
I said, well, really, we like hymns. He said, OK. And you know the first hymn he
started playing? Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father. What a blessing, right? What
a blessing just to hear the sound, knowing the words to that hymn,
that God, our God, is faithful. The Lord Jesus, he preached faithfully. And not only that, but his salvation. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
his salvation to give or to withhold. It's his salvation. We don't
earn it. We don't deserve it. We don't
merit it. It's his salvation. The wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And then notice, I have not concealed
thy lovingkindness. Oh, don't you love that? What
is that? Grace. God's lovingkindness. Grace. I was speaking with one
of the men at the picnic yesterday. He stepped outside now. I said,
you know, David, I just, I don't understand anybody who doesn't
believe that salvation is in any other way than by grace.
I said, I don't see how anybody could believe that. Knowing my
heart, knowing myself, how in the world could a person believe
that salvation is other than by grace? God's unmerited favor. Let's go on to the third point. The Lord Jesus saw their faith.
Do you see that? Verse five, the Lord Jesus saw
their faith. When I preach, and I have preached
from this miracle over the years, probably many times, but I remember
one time when Brother Walter Gruber and I drove from Medellin,
Yucatan, into the state of Campeche, Mexican state of Campeche. And
we came up on a new settlement there. And we stopped and spoke
to the people and asked for permission to have a service there. And
they said, sure. And we want you to have the service
in our schoolhouse. They were proud of their schoolhouse.
They had built an oval-shaped building, one room, of course,
and sticks about an inch in diameter, I guess, around it, all around
it. They hadn't put mud around it,
of course, and a thatched roof. And they wanted us to preach
inside that schoolhouse. And I remember preaching from
from this miracle. I don't know which may have been
from Matthew, may have been from Luke, may have been from Mark.
But I remember preaching from this miracle, and the people
were inside the schoolhouse. It wasn't that big, so it was
full, but I could see through the walls. And there was people
all outside listening. And I think of that when I think
of this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was preaching in this
house. And of course, it was a very
different kind of house. I understand that. But there
were so many in the house and I can imagine around the door
that here come these four men carrying their friend, this paralytic. and they couldn't get to him.
And we all know the story. That's one of the first stories
we remember, probably as children in Sunday school, how they opened
up the roof and let this man down before the Lord. The scriptures teach that salvation
comes to sinners by grace through faith. It is faith that is a
gift of God. in his faith which is the gift
of God by which men receive the forgiveness of their sins and
everlasting life. Now, why does a natural man hate
the message of sovereign grace? Why does a natural man, the lost
man, the religious lost man, I should say, why does he hate
the message of sovereign grace? I tell you why, men hate this
truth, at least one of the reasons, because the gospel puts all men
on the same level. The rich and the poor, the educated,
the uneducated, the black, the white, all of us on the same
level before God Almighty. There's no difference for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then we
read that God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy,
and he will have compassion upon whom he will have compassion.
And man, the hair stands up on the back of their neck and they
say, I won't have God. I won't have that kind of a God.
No. They hate this truth and they
accuse those of us who preach the truth about God's sovereign
grace that this message encourages people to live a sinful life. Well, we don't teach that. We
don't believe that. We speak of a faith that can
be seen. It's like the Lord saw the faith
of these men. Paul said, for by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man boast. For we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now,
the Lord Jesus saw their good works, and seeing their good
works, he saw their faith. Some people say, well, you know,
Paul said one thing, he wrote one thing, and James wrote another.
No, no, you've misunderstood both. Paul said being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. James wrote, you see then how
that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. There's
no difference between these two apostles. Paul spoke of faith
that lays hold upon Christ and God justifies us. Justifies us
by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. When we believe in
Christ, his righteousness becomes our righteousness. And not only
that, but God sees us as he sees his son. He sees us perfect,
complete in Christ, and we're justified by faith. James is
talking about our faith being justified. Here's a man says,
well, well, you know, I believe. I remember when I was six years
old, I walked down a church aisle, you know, it was a vacation Bible
school, and wasn't long they baptized me. Hadn't been in church
now in about 15 or 20 years, but you know, I'm saved. I'm
saved. I did what the preacher said.
He said, pray this prayer, repeat this prayer after me. Oh yeah. No. James is talking about a
faith that may be seen. And the Lord saw the faith of
these men. How did he see it? In their good
works. They were a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. That's what makes God's people
peculiar. It's not, we dress a certain
way, different from everybody else. I know some religious people,
they do that. They have their peculiarities.
They're still living back in the 19th century or something,
you know. No, that's not it. God's people are peculiar because
they have good works. They maintain good works. They're
zealous of good works. You don't have to promise them
a larger mansion in heaven if they'll do this, that, or the
other. No, the love of Christ constrains his people. He saw
their faith. He saw their faith when they
opened up that roof and let that man down, didn't he? They believed
that the Lord Jesus could help their friend. But here's my fourth
point. The Lord Jesus forgave this man's
sins. In verse five, we read, son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. What is this miracle intended
to teach? What is this miracle? We're familiar
with it. What is it intended to teach
us? Well, I know there's probably
several lessons, but The first lesson is that Jesus, the Son
of Man, is the Son of God. Now that's the first lesson we're
to take from this, that Jesus, who refers to himself as the
Son of Man, that he is the Son of God. The religious leaders
there, they reasoned correctly. Nobody can forgive sins but God. Well, he said, Thy sins be forgiven
thee. That's blasphemy. Nobody can
forgive sins but God. They reason correctly. How many do you think that day,
over 2,000 years ago now, house full of people, people outside
the house, How many of the people there that day learned that lesson? That the Son of Man, Jesus, is
the Son of God? Not many. Not many. You say, why do you say that?
Because if you read in Matthew's account, this is what you read.
He arose, that is the man, he arose and departed to his house."
Now listen, but when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified
God, listen, which had given such power to men. In other words, they were thankful,
they marveled, but they thought that God had given power to this
man, Jesus Christ. That's how the miracle was wrought.
They didn't realize He is God. He didn't ask the Father. He
didn't pray. He said, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Why? Because He's God. Not many learned that lesson.
And another lesson is, how does God forgive men their sins? There's only one way. There's
only one way. He does so only through the Lord
Jesus Christ, his person and his ministry satisfying the justice
of God and bringing in a perfect righteousness. I'm going to ask
you to turn to one other place, Romans chapter 3. I'm almost finished, but this
is important. Don't miss it. Romans chapter
three, beginning with verse 23. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation or atonement through faith in his blood. Now watch
this. To declare his righteousness. Whose righteousness? God's. To
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. How did the Lord forgive
this man his sins that day when he had not yet died? He had not
yet suffered the penalty of that broken law. He would do that
later in his life, yes. He had not brought in an everlasting
righteousness when he forgave this man his sins. The same way
that God forgave Abel, same way He forgave Abraham, Same way
forgave David and every other man who lived and had his sins
forgiven, the same way. Now it says through the forbearance
of God. In other words, in God's purpose,
it was done. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. Yes, he was forgiven like every
other man who is forgiven is forgiven for Christ's sake. Be ye therefore kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. That's the only way, for Christ's
sake. Well, let me mention this and
I'm finished. These four truths about forgiveness. This will bless you. It's free. It's free. Being justified freely
by his, it's free. Number two, it's full. He didn't
just forget, well, 95% of your sins are now forgiven. No, thy
sins, all of them. It's free, it's full. And it's
forever. It'll never bring these up against
you. No, they're removed as far as
the east is from the west. And it's only for Christ's sake
that men are forgiven their sins. May the Lord bless His word.