WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599
 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

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! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

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 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us

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 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

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 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

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 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

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 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

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 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian,

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 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

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 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

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 that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

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 Let's pray.

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 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight,

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 O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

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 Amen.

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 You may be seated.

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 So that gospel text I just read, we often call that story the healing of the paralytic.

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 And if you have, if your Bible has little headings, which are not part of the text, they're sort of

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 additions, which is fine. But if your Bible does have a heading like that, it's probably called

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 something like that, the healing of the paralytic. And that's an okay title. Jesus does do that. He

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 does heal a man who's paralyzed, whose legs don't work. He has to be carried in. But Jesus does a lot more

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 than that in this story. He does a lot more than healing that one man. And so we'll see as we go

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 through, I hope, that in this very brief but very powerful encounter, Jesus confronts not just one

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 form of paralysis, but in fact confronts three distinct forms of paralysis. These are three ways,

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 let's say, that our life gets immobilized or stuck or stalled out. Three distinct ways Jesus confronts

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 them all. And in doing so, in confronting them, Jesus reveals his unique divine authority to bring

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 healing and to bring wholeness when all human strategies and methods fail. So that's what this is

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 about. So it's a story about, above all, it's about the authority of Jesus. And so let's have a look.

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 Three forms of paralysis and we'll look at how Jesus confronts and resolves them. Okay, so paralysis number

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 one is, of course, the presenting problem, you could say. It's the paralysis of the body. Now this is obvious.

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 The story starts when some friends bring this man on a mat to Jesus. They bring him on a mat, of course,

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 because he can't walk. His legs aren't working for whatever reason. And so he is the paralytic

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 who gets brought in by his friends to Jesus. And he's defined by what he can't do. He's defined by

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 what his body does not do. And we have here in this man on a mat, we have here a picture of human futility,

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 a picture of a life stalled out, a situation where there's no human resolution in sight.

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 And it does no good to tell him to try harder. What good is that? He's laying on a mat. He can't try harder.

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 So it's human futility. It's a dead end. And we know forms of this kind of brokenness and futility.

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 Some of us may know first or second hand about physical ailments, illnesses that limit our lives.

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 Some of us feel like life gets caught in futility or life gets caught in a dead end, maybe in marriage or family or career or somewhere.

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 We know either first hand or second hand about grief that can paralyze you, leave you numb, leave you unable to function.

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 And I've seen a fair bit of that.

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 See, we see around us and we feel within us various kinds of human brokenness. And we know,

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 and if we don't know now, we learn pretty quick that human solutions can't break through that.

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 And these are all the man's paralysis of his body and all the different stalled out circumstances we find ourselves,

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 which have no human solution. These are all symptoms of a world that is groaning under the power of sin and death.

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 These are all manifestations of an underlying problem. They're symptoms.

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 They're symptoms.

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 Now, notice, though, that this man, look at how he gets to Jesus. He's carried there.

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 And I always find it striking in this story that Jesus sees their faith.

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 So whether he sees the, I mean, I assume he sees the faith of the friends who are carrying,

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 and maybe he discerns the faith of the man, presumably. Maybe the man has to be carried there, I guess.

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 But the point is, he sees, Jesus sees, men carrying someone to him, or friends carrying someone to him,

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 and that someone can't get there on his own. And Jesus looks at that, and he sees faith.

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 He sees real trust.

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 See, being a Christian, my friends, is not a solo endeavor.

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 Yes, we are responsible to God on our own. Yes, we have a relationship with Jesus.

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 But Jesus is calling us into a people. He's making us into a people.

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 I mean, there's been times in my own life where I have felt that my faith is so weak and so faltering

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 that I'm so grateful there were people there to come alongside me and to keep bringing me to Jesus.

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 Maybe that's you. Or maybe you're the one carrying.

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 And even if you're just carrying someone in your prayers, that counts a lot.

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 And so it's not something we do alone.

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 And so this man is carried by his friends because he can't get there on his own.

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 And what we see here unveiled before us is this first form of paralysis.

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 It's a paralysis of the body.

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 It's the body, the human body, human life, under the power of sin and death.

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 And that's the first paralysis.

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 Okay, second one.

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 Now we're getting to the root.

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 So everybody can see that first form of paralysis.

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 The man's body is broken.

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 But not everyone can see the next form.

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 It's deeper.

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 Jesus can.

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 And so Jesus, because Jesus always sees deeper.

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 He always sees everything.

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 Nothing is hidden from his sight.

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 And he can read, Jesus can, the deepest need in the heart of this man.

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 And the underlying question this text is asking us is this.

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 What if the man's greatest paralysis, what if his greatest problem isn't his body, isn't his legs?

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 Like what if his deepest, maybe even unexpressed, at least not with words, unexpressed cry is not just heal my body, but heal my soul.

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 In other words, a cry to God, a cry to Jesus, heal the root of my brokenness.

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 Yes, my body, yes.

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 Okay, but the root, the root, the sin beneath it all.

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 And Jesus goes there.

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 He goes right there.

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 He bypasses the obvious symptom, the legs, for now anyway, and addresses the root paralysis, the one no one sees.

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 Now, Jesus isn't saying the sin is the cause of the legs not working.

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 He's not making a causal relationship.

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 But there is a relationship in that both need to be healed.

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 Both need the healing word of Christ.

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 And so that's the man's deepest problem.

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 His legs don't work, yes, but there's sin, shame, and deep wounds that he has, that we have,

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 that paralyzes from the inside out, and that keep our life held back, stalled out.

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 Now, the Bible doesn't, when it talks about sin, it doesn't just talk about, like, a list of bad deeds we do.

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 I mean, that's part of it.

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 But it often actually presents sin as, like, a power, an enslaving power.

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 And so often talks about sin in the same way we nowadays talk about addiction.

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 So a sinner is not just a person who does bad things.

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 That's all of us, by the way.

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 It's not just that.

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 It's somebody who is a prisoner or under the power of various manifestations of sin,

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 like guilt or greed or lust or hate or anxiety or whatever.

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 I mean, the Bible speaks of these things as enslaving powers.

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 And so it's like we're addicted to these kinds of thought patterns and behaviors and ways of living.

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 And so, again, a try-harder kind of spirituality, a keep-trying kind of Christianity doesn't work.

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 It doesn't touch what we most need, which is the healing power of God.

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 I mean, it makes as much sense to tell a sinner to try harder as it does to tell a paralyzed person to try harder.

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 It's not the answer.

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 So that's the second paralysis.

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 So first paralysis is his body.

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 Okay?

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 Second paralysis is his soul under sin.

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 And the third now.

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 We'll look at the third.

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 And in confronting the third kind of paralysis in the story, Jesus turns.

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 He's not focused now on the guy on the mat.

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 He turns to the scribes, who are the religious leaders, Bible scholars, whatever you want to call them.

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 They're watching this whole thing happen.

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 Okay?

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 And these people, they're not paralyzed in their legs, but I'm going to say they're paralyzed in their minds.

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 And that leads to a paralysis of their system, their religious system.

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 Okay.

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 So before I say more about that, I just want to say this.

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 The temptation when we read the gospel stories and we read about Pharisees or scribes or different people, different Jewish religious leaders,

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 the temptation is to make them out to be almost like cartoonish bad guys.

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 Okay?

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 Like they're always just trying to resist Jesus and they're stuck and whatever.

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 Okay.

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 No, like that actually isn't fair to these.

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 These are real people.

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 And there are real people like this today.

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 And their goal is not, I mean, to be fair to them, let's just say this.

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 These are A students.

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 Okay?

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 These are people who know the written word of God well, but who have fallen into a mode where their whole way of engaging that is sort of protectionist.

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 It's to try to protect and control and manage.

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 How does it get there?

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 I don't know exactly.

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 I'm not sure.

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 But the problem isn't their sincerity.

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 These people are sincere.

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 The problem is, is the human effort they are expending to keep this whole system up and defended and airtight.

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 And so, they have no category for when the living incarnate word of God, Jesus Christ, shows up right in front of them.

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 They've got no category for that.

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 When they see it, their response is what?

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 Rejoicing?

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 No.

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 Praising God?

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 No.

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 Their response is to sort of get stuck in the paralysis of their own system.

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 And in a paralyzed system where you feel the need to protect it all the time and to manage it, the gut knee-jerk reaction is accusation.

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 It's defense.

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 And so, they accuse Jesus of blasphemy, which is like insulting or cursing God.

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 It's one of the worst things you can do.

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 They know that.

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 And usually, there's pretty stringent.

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 You have to, yeah, I mean, there's a trial and all that.

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 They don't, they don't, they're not interested in that.

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 They're interested in, boom, accusation.

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 Okay.

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 Okay.

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 They're stuck.

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 They're stuck in a paralyzed system.

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 Their minds are paralyzed.

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 They want to manage God.

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 They can't receive him.

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 And here's the irony of it all.

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 The irony of it all.

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 That system that they're defending and upholding, it has no real power.

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 It can't forgive sins.

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 It can't heal bodies.

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 It can't do anything on its own.

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 A religious system on its own can just propagate itself and defend itself.

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 Without the power of God, it's powerless.

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 All right.

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 So those are three kinds of paralysis in the text.

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 Body, soul, and sin, and a paralyzed system.

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 And Jesus is going to confront all of them.

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 And he's going to begin a reversal with all of these.

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 All right.

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 So here we go.

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 So here's how he, here's how Jesus does this.

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 He acts very decisively.

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 And it's very important that any of this gets reversed only when Jesus speaks his word of authority.

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 In other words, they don't start to change any of these things by human effort.

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 That's the key here.

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 So Jesus, from sort of outside the system, speaks a word of authority to our bodies, to our souls, to our systems, to whatever.

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 And first, Jesus, here's what he does.

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 He speaks to the root.

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 He knows what the man's true brokenness is.

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 And he speaks directly to that and says, take heart, son.

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 Your sins are forgiven.

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 Take heart, son.

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 Your sins are forgiven.

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 When was the last time that guy got called son?

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 I don't know.

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 Who knows?

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 But it's not just like an impersonal thing.

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 Jesus is entering into his life and struggle in a very deep way.

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 Take heart.

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 Your sins are forgiven.

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 It's an authoritative declaration from God to him.

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 And so by forgiving his sins, absolving him of what's binding him at the deepest level,

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 Jesus is resolving that deepest enslavement first.

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 Letting him free in the deepest way first.

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 Now, we don't ask the man, we don't, we don't, he's here the man asking for forgiveness.

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 But Jesus read the minds of the scribes.

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 He knows what's inside us.

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 And so I think what's happening here is he is answering the man's deepest cry.

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 And forgives him in an act of pure grace.

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 Okay.

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 So it goes right to what's the ultimate problem is.

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 Forgives the man.

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 And then he turns to the paralyzed system.

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 The scribes knows their thoughts, of course, and confronts their powerless, defensive kind of religion.

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 And then he asks them a question.

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 He says, which is easier?

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 Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven?

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 Or is it easier to say rise and walk?

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 Which is easier?

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 I mean, I think on one level, it's probably easier to say your sins are forgiven.

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 Because if you say rise and walk, you've got to show physical proof that it worked.

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 Right?

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 But actually, actually, it's harder.

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 I mean, it's harder in the sense that only God can forgive sins.

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 Hypothetically, a human healer could maybe help somebody's body.

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 But only God can forgive sins.

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 But, but, the point is, the scribes' religious system can't do either.

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 And Jesus, with his word, can do both in a second.

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 Just like that.

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 Your sins are forgiven.

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 Rise up and walk.

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 And so Jesus brings this all together in a kind of embodied wholeness or embodied healing.

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 And so, he declares forgiveness.

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 Yes.

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 And then he says to the scribes, so that you'll know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.

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 Then he asks the man to stand up and walk.

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 In other words, the standing up and walking, the authority over his body, is the proof that he has authority over his soul.

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 Is proof that he has authority to forgive sins.

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 The healing of the body is the proof of the healing of the soul.

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 And the man gets up.

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 And he goes.

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 Forgiven and healed.

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 And so, in doing this, all three of these forms of paralysis are resolved.

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 All three forms.

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 The root paralysis, the sin, is the man's deepest unseen brokenness.

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 And how is that healed?

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 By the authoritative, by Jesus simply declaring that his sins are forgiven.

00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:08.079
 He's released.

00:19:09.719 --> 00:19:10.679
 The body?

00:19:11.059 --> 00:19:11.279
 Yeah.

00:19:11.459 --> 00:19:12.000
 Same thing.

00:19:12.779 --> 00:19:13.559
 The symptom?

00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:15.279
 It's healed too.

00:19:16.099 --> 00:19:18.719
 And the man doesn't have to strive anxiously.

00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:18.839
 See?

00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:24.480
 Jesus just, again, with a declaration of his word, heals him.

00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.799
 And the man, it's a picture of rest.

00:19:28.120 --> 00:19:29.240
 He can just get up.

00:19:30.360 --> 00:19:33.400
 In resting in God's authoritative word.

00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:34.960
 And he can go.

00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.700
 And he didn't have to earn that.

00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:42.420
 The man receives.

00:19:42.860 --> 00:19:45.559
 In the declaration that his sins are forgiven.

00:19:46.100 --> 00:19:47.980
 And the invitation to stand up and walk.

00:19:48.100 --> 00:19:53.900
 He receives Jesus' word as an authoritative word for him.

00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:55.460
 That heals him.

00:19:55.460 --> 00:20:03.480
 There are some churches and preachers that are going to tell you that if you have enough faith, God will always heal you.

00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:04.160
 Your body.

00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:08.519
 It's the wrong way to think about it.

00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:11.759
 This story is not about amount of faith.

00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:13.220
 That's not the point of the story.

00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:15.299
 The story is the power of God.

00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:19.940
 So you keep your eyes fixed on the power of God.

00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:24.700
 And will you be healed in this life?

00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:25.380
 I don't know.

00:20:25.860 --> 00:20:26.620
 God knows.

00:20:27.420 --> 00:20:28.740
 Does God have the power to do it?

00:20:28.819 --> 00:20:29.120
 Yes.

00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:31.640
 But you look to Jesus.

00:20:31.860 --> 00:20:33.759
 He'll forgive your sins in this life.

00:20:33.840 --> 00:20:34.460
 That's for sure.

00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:36.860
 Will he heal your body in this life?

00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:38.000
 Maybe, maybe not.

00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:43.220
 But see, your destiny, if you are in Christ, is to have all of that resolved in him.

00:20:44.059 --> 00:20:45.299
 All of that fixed.

00:20:45.840 --> 00:20:47.400
 All of that completed one day.

00:20:48.580 --> 00:20:54.160
 And the third kind of paralysis, Jesus resolves by silencing them.

00:20:54.700 --> 00:21:04.019
 By revealing the powerlessness of any system, any kind of religion that doesn't have him at the center.

00:21:04.580 --> 00:21:05.279
 It's powerless.

00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:12.460
 And the people who are watching this, this is kind of interesting at the end.

00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:20.339
 So people are watching Jesus confront these three kinds of paralysis, resolve them all right before their eyes.

00:21:20.339 --> 00:21:22.819
 And they're filled with awe.

00:21:23.399 --> 00:21:24.779
 And they glorify God.

00:21:24.859 --> 00:21:25.559
 These are the crowd.

00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:29.639
 Who has given such authority to men.

00:21:30.059 --> 00:21:30.799
 To Jesus.

00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:33.159
 And so they see it.

00:21:33.259 --> 00:21:35.519
 They see the healing of what God can do.

00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:37.759
 They see the wholeness that the word of Jesus can bring.

00:21:38.439 --> 00:21:39.939
 And they glorify God.

00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:42.580
 It's about the authority of God's word.

00:21:43.860 --> 00:21:47.420
 And so, I think this is a word for us.

00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:50.400
 I mean, all of God's word is for us today.

00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:54.799
 But we see these different forms of paralysis around us.

00:21:55.360 --> 00:21:56.700
 I mean, we can feel it in our bodies.

00:21:56.820 --> 00:21:58.380
 We can see it in the bodies of others.

00:21:59.140 --> 00:22:00.380
 We can feel it in our souls.

00:22:00.380 --> 00:22:01.960
 The way sin weighs us down.

00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:04.140
 We can see evidence of that around us.

00:22:04.140 --> 00:22:12.240
 We can see systems that get paralyzed by human effort, by human striving, by anxiety, by defensiveness.

00:22:12.380 --> 00:22:13.140
 We see all that.

00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:20.080
 But see, the good news is that the word of God unlocks, releases all of that.

00:22:22.060 --> 00:22:24.900
 And the resolution is not just a word.

00:22:25.100 --> 00:22:26.120
 It's a person.

00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:28.620
 It's the word made flesh.

00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:29.720
 Jesus the Christ.

00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:37.000
 And he is the only one, friends, that has the ability to know what we need and to answer it with authority.

00:22:37.100 --> 00:22:37.759
 He's the only one.

00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:46.039
 And so, through all these words, take heart, your sins are forgiven, rise and walk.

00:22:46.519 --> 00:22:47.740
 I mean, these are for us.

00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:53.960
 And they're for us because we, too, need the authoritative word of God to speak to us.

00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:55.360
 That's all we've got.

00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:56.779
 That's all we've got.

00:22:57.720 --> 00:22:58.039
 Amen.

00:22:58.539 --> 00:22:58.799
 Amen.

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00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:30.140
 Thank you.