WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.480 As we begin to consider this very dramatic event in the life of the Lord Jesus. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:19.440 ! Let me introduce it by quoting some words of Jesus that we find later on in Mark's Gospel. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:29.920 ! Jesus will later say, what does it profit a man or woman to gain the whole world but then lose their soul? 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:52.000 If you could ask God for one thing and know that he would give you that one thing, what would you ask him for? 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:02.000 Just think for a moment, one thing, you have the assurance that whatever it is you ask, God will give it to you. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:14.000 Maybe it's health, maybe it's a job, maybe it's a husband or a wife, a place to live. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:27.379 If you could ask God for but one thing and know that he would absolutely grant you that request, what is it you would ask him for? 00:01:27.379 --> 00:01:46.000 In this passage we find some friends obviously deeply concerned for another friend who is paralysed and incapable of moving or going anywhere under his own steam. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:57.620 They hear that Jesus has come to Capernaum and agree that they will take their friend that he might meet with Jesus. 00:01:58.460 --> 00:02:07.240 Most probably they've heard stories that the man from Nazareth can heal and make whole. 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:14.900 We don't know anything really of the background, we don't know anything really of the background, but we do know that they come to Jesus. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:36.139 And they are so determined and so resolved for their friend to meet with Jesus that they refuse to be hindered, they refuse to be put off by the fact that the crowd in the house where Jesus was was so large that they couldn't get in the front door. 00:02:36.139 --> 00:03:02.419 So what they do is they go round the outside of the house and I once spent two months in Israel as a student and you see these houses still, they were little stairs up to a flat balcony and they take their friend up, you can almost imagine the scene, each perhaps four, we're not told how many there were, each corner of the pallet lifting him up tenderly, gingerly. 00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:16.759 And then they reach the roof and then they reach the roof and then they begin to tear away at the roof and uncover a hole big enough for their friend to be lowered down into the presence of Jesus. 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:46.739 And you don't need much imagination. 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:56.040 To think what excitement there must have been for the man, the paralyzed man and his friends. 00:03:56.580 --> 00:04:01.840 They had come to Jesus and now they were actually in the presence of Jesus. 00:04:03.900 --> 00:04:08.640 I wonder if their excitement was just overwhelming them. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.199 And Jesus sees the paralyzed man. 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:13.699 Well you couldn't miss him. 00:04:15.859 --> 00:04:18.339 And he says to the paralyzed man, 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.759 Your sins are forgiven. 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:35.879 I've often wondered what the first reaction of the paralyzed man and his friends must have been when Jesus spoke those words. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.519 Your sins are forgiven. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.439 I wonder if they were thinking, 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:45.399 Well, yes, I'm glad to hear it. 00:04:45.599 --> 00:04:53.139 But, but, the reason why we've come is our friend is paralyzed. 00:04:53.899 --> 00:04:55.539 There was no social security. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:59.719 There was no social network to help a man like this. 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:01.599 He would be housebound. 00:05:01.779 --> 00:05:05.459 He would be at the mercy of friends taking him here and taking him there. 00:05:05.459 --> 00:05:10.180 They longed for him to be made whole. 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.079 Jesus was making him whole. 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:19.579 But perhaps at first they didn't realize it. 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:21.839 Jesus looked at the man. 00:05:21.939 --> 00:05:25.199 Jesus could see the man's physical problem. 00:05:25.699 --> 00:05:28.919 He could see that the man was incapable of walking. 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:34.919 He was utterly dependent on the kindness and generosity of others. 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:39.100 Jesus looks at him. 00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:41.420 And says to him, 00:05:41.960 --> 00:05:46.640 Your sins are forgiven. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:52.800 Some of you will have heard about the phrase referred pain. 00:05:53.899 --> 00:05:56.919 You know, you go to the doctor and you've got a pain in your knee. 00:05:57.479 --> 00:06:00.860 And you say, Doctor, I've been really struggling with this pain in my knee. 00:06:00.979 --> 00:06:01.719 Can you help me? 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:03.199 And the doctor examines you. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:07.180 And he says, Yes, I can really help you. 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:10.840 Here are exercises for your neck. 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:14.240 And you say, Excuse me, Doctor. 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:16.060 My neck's fine. 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:18.780 My neck's not the problem. 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:19.960 It's my knee. 00:06:20.400 --> 00:06:23.000 And the doctor says, Well, no. 00:06:24.100 --> 00:06:25.699 Your problem is your neck. 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:27.939 And the pain is coming out in your knee. 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:29.060 It's referred pain. 00:06:29.340 --> 00:06:33.500 What you think is the problem really isn't the problem. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:35.340 The problem is somewhere else. 00:06:35.339 --> 00:06:39.000 Here is this man. 00:06:40.679 --> 00:06:45.739 And he's coming to Jesus full of hope, no doubt. 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:47.699 Walking. 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:50.339 Walking. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:56.019 Would he be able to lead Jesus with new legs? 00:06:56.699 --> 00:06:59.219 Would the healer from Nazareth heal him? 00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:05.319 Jesus isn't oblivious, as we'll see in a moment. 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:06.879 To his physical needs. 00:07:08.339 --> 00:07:13.279 But Jesus goes to the root and heart of his deepest need. 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:18.899 And his deepest need was to be right with God. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:23.519 His deepest need was not to have new legs, but a new heart. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:33.039 His deepest need was to know that whether he lived or died. 00:07:36.039 --> 00:07:42.519 God would look upon him with grace, with mercy, with love. 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:48.819 That God would make him right with himself. 00:07:50.039 --> 00:07:52.199 And that's why Jesus came into the world. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:59.680 He came principally, primarily, to make us right with God. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:04.500 And so Jesus says to the man's son, your sins are forgiven. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:08.780 Now that was an astonishing statement for Jesus to make. 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:15.379 And it's so astonishing to the religious elite who are there, the scribes and the Pharisees, 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.699 that they're appalled at what they've heard, at what Jesus said. 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:24.579 They began to say, who does this man think he is? 00:08:26.159 --> 00:08:28.500 He's blaspheming God. 00:08:28.599 --> 00:08:31.680 Now that word blaspheme means to speak evil of God. 00:08:32.139 --> 00:08:38.819 He is taking to himself that which only God has the right to do. 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:41.720 Who can forgive sins but God alone? 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:46.040 Sin is against God primarily. 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:48.759 That's the heart and horror of sin. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:51.320 It is against God. 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:53.660 Against his nature. 00:08:54.300 --> 00:08:55.519 Against his will. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:57.340 Against his word. 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:00.820 Who does he think he is? 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:11.660 And Jesus looks around and he knows that these men, inwardly, if not yet outwardly, 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:14.160 are critiquing him. 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:21.660 And saying, who does this man dare to think that he is? 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.720 And so Jesus says to them, why do you question these things in your heart? 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:31.860 Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:37.300 Or to say, rise up, take up your bed and walk. 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:40.460 Now words are cheap, aren't they? 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:46.420 Anyone can make any claim about themselves. 00:09:49.300 --> 00:09:53.000 I could say to you, your sins are forgiven. 00:09:55.700 --> 00:09:56.700 Who am I? 00:09:57.860 --> 00:09:59.340 And nobody from nowhere. 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:01.080 Well I'm from somewhere, I'm from Scotland. 00:10:01.300 --> 00:10:03.540 And that's something to be thankful for. 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:05.879 But who am I? 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:14.320 And Jesus does something that must have absolutely dumbfounded. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:20.660 Not only the religious elite who were there, but everyone else who was there. 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:28.720 He turned to the man and he said, I say to you. 00:10:28.780 --> 00:10:30.840 Notice the emphasis. 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:34.640 There is an emphasis in the original text. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.480 I say to you. 00:10:39.419 --> 00:10:40.220 Rise up. 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:41.639 Take up your bed. 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:42.779 And walk. 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:46.740 In the Old Testament. 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:49.319 In the book of Isaiah chapter 35. 00:10:51.319 --> 00:10:54.459 God gives his people a picture. 00:10:54.659 --> 00:10:58.199 There are a number of pictures in the Old Testament of the coming Saviour. 00:10:58.839 --> 00:11:04.879 And the picture in Isaiah 35 is of one who will come and heal the sick. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:07.200 Give sight to the blind. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:09.580 And cure the lame. 00:11:11.419 --> 00:11:19.080 And Jesus says to the man, I say to you, pick up your bed and go home. 00:11:19.960 --> 00:11:32.940 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed, went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, 00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:36.100 We never saw anything like this. 00:11:37.380 --> 00:11:39.440 You see, Jesus' words weren't empty. 00:11:40.540 --> 00:11:41.760 They weren't vacuous. 00:11:41.900 --> 00:11:42.740 They weren't cheap. 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:49.800 He backed up his declaration of divine pardon. 00:11:51.640 --> 00:11:56.260 With the evidence of his divine power. 00:11:56.259 --> 00:12:03.759 And the man was never the same man again. 00:12:05.379 --> 00:12:06.840 He picked up his bed. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:12.139 Perhaps wondering if he was living out a dream. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:14.319 Is this for real? 00:12:15.139 --> 00:12:16.899 Is this really happening to me? 00:12:16.899 --> 00:12:24.000 I've often wondered, and probably often is the right word. 00:12:24.059 --> 00:12:32.939 I've often wondered, whether when Jesus said to this man, son, your sins are forgiven. 00:12:32.939 --> 00:12:36.740 I've often wondered if his train of thought went something like this. 00:12:38.579 --> 00:12:39.779 Well, that's fine, Jesus. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.120 Thank you very much. 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.679 But, but, do you realise why I've come? 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:53.560 Do you see my real need? 00:12:55.720 --> 00:13:04.860 But then I've wondered if the very words of Jesus, your sins are forgiven, began to penetrate. 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:14.360 And the man began to realise, I came to Jesus thinking, my greatest need was new legs. 00:13:16.680 --> 00:13:21.759 But now I see that my deepest need was a new heart. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:33.860 I wonder if the man, before Jesus, actually cures him, heals him, raises him up. 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:40.659 I wonder if the man could have left the presence of Jesus. 00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:43.519 Still a paralysed man. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:49.319 But now a new man, in Jesus Christ. 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:54.919 Knowing that he had come to the Son of God. 00:13:56.519 --> 00:14:05.000 And that God in his Son had met his deepest, most urgent, most pressing, most vital need. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:11.600 What's true for that man is true for all of us. 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:13.600 Whatever our needs are. 00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:24.539 And we live in a world where people have needs that are unimaginable in their, in their awfulness. 00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:30.459 There isn't a day I don't read in the newspapers or read reports of this or that. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.240 And I think, Lord, I can hardly read these reports. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:36.879 They're just so, so awful. 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:46.059 The poverty, the, the dereliction, the, the sufferings that many people are enduring in this world. 00:14:46.059 --> 00:15:05.839 And yet, the good news of God, in Jesus Christ, is that our greatest need, towering above all other physical, social, even psychological needs, 00:15:05.959 --> 00:15:15.539 our greatest need, is that God deals with the sin that would ultimately separate us from him for eternity. 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:25.839 That God would reach into our lives and through his Son, Jesus Christ, wash us clean from the inside out. 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:37.299 I wonder how many people there will be in heaven who will bless God that he loved them enough, 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:46.019 not first to cure them of their ills, to heal them of their diseases, 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:54.819 but that God came and had mercy on them, forgave their sins. 00:15:54.820 --> 00:16:02.400 You see, what Jesus spoke here so simply, son, your sins are forgiven you. 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:10.660 Actually, as you read through Mark's Gospel, you realise now, what does this actually mean? 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:16.299 And it takes to the 15th chapter, the penultimate chapter of Mark's Gospel, 00:16:16.459 --> 00:16:20.039 to realise what it would cost Jesus Christ himself. 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:31.879 In order for him, in order for him, effectively, to forgive and put away our sin and reconcile us to God, 00:16:33.319 --> 00:16:40.319 it would take him himself, becoming the sin bearer of the world, 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:51.500 taking all the estrangement, the rebellion that lurks and lies deep within us, 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:56.100 taking it upon himself, paying God's righteous judgment in our place. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.940 It would cost Jesus to speak those words. 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:04.820 And so the last thing I want to say, just for a moment, is, 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:11.680 I wonder if the Lord Jesus Christ, when he spoke those words to that man, 00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:13.600 your sins are forgiven, 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.220 I wonder if the Lord Jesus Christ was thinking, 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:22.080 it's going to cost me everything. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:29.159 So that that declaration of mine to you, 00:17:31.379 --> 00:17:37.559 will actually, and truly, be real for you. 00:17:39.139 --> 00:17:43.539 So what is our greatest, deepest, most pressing and urgent need? 00:17:43.539 --> 00:17:49.899 It's to know that our sin, not in part, but the whole, 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:52.619 is nailed to his cross, 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:55.079 and we bear it no more. 00:17:56.339 --> 00:18:00.220 It's to know that all my sin 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:06.859 has been fully and freely and finally forgiven 00:18:06.859 --> 00:18:09.759 by the mercy of God 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:13.259 in the giving of his Son, Jesus Christ. 00:18:13.539 --> 00:18:16.859 Thank you for listening.