A.W. Tozer is famous for writing that what comes to our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.
Now that's immediately offensive to most people today.
In fact, the world around us, the day and age in which we live,
the assertion is that the most important thing that should come to your mind is you, yourself.
Self-care is what's most important.
Self-assurance is what's most important.
Self-confidence, putting your self first.
The mantra of young people today from what I understand is,
treat yourself is what they say.
A.W. Tozer was right.
The most important thing about you is what comes to your mind when you think of God.
And of course, we can change that statement just a little bit,
and it would be just as true when we say what is the most important thing about us
is what comes to our mind when we think of Christ.
That's the whole point of the Gospel of Mark.
All the Gospels, actually.
The writing of proclamation.
This is who Jesus is.
This is what he did.
And this is why it matters.
And when we get to the story of the first 12 verses of Mark chapter 2,
that purpose becomes abundantly clear.
It's the entire theme of the story.
There's so many different characters that we see,
so many different storylines that we can trace,
and we did that in our last study through the first four verses.
But the overarching theme of this story is not the men that brought the paralytic.
It's not the tension between Jesus and the scribes.
The overwhelming theme is the fact that Jesus is God,
and that since he is God, he has authority and power to forgive sins.
So we pick up in verse 5 today, really, is where we focus our attention.
Two weeks ago, we looked at the first four verses,
and we focused our time primarily on these four friends
that brought the paralytic man to Jesus.
The determination that they had, the focused attention that they had,
the sacrifice that they were willing to make in order to get this man to Jesus,
whom they believed was his only hope for any kind of healing.
And of course, the question that we pondered and examined was,
if these men were so determined to get their friend to Jesus for physical healing,
how much more concerned should we be to get our friends to Jesus for spiritual healing?
Which was the point Jesus was making in the reaction that he had with the man.
Today, we come to the heart of the text,
the point of the whole story and why it's here,
and why it's here not only in Mark's gospel, but in Matthew and Luke's as well.
What took place when this paralyzed man was lowered into the house
is monumentally important.
What was anticipated by these observers,
this massive crowd that's now packed into what we believe was Peter's house,
packed into the house, packed outside of the house,
what mattered here, what they expected to matter there,
was Jesus would look at this poor paralytic man
and that he would provide this spectacular miracle.
But what actually happened was not what they expected.
What came instead was a provocative statement from Jesus,
a claim of divinity,
which is exactly what that statement in verse 5 is.
When Jesus says,
your sins are forgiven,
Jesus was boldly saying,
I am capable of forgiving your sins,
which was Jesus' way of saying,
I am God.
That was provocative.
The opposition there quickly responded,
at least in their hearts,
and his claim was immediately opposed.
And then as we read through the story,
ultimately,
the claim was ignored.
This really monumental moment
ultimately is distorted
by everybody that's gathered there.
And that same distortion
has perpetuated itself through history,
even in the church,
where we would come to a story like this
and we would see the awesomeness
of all the different storylines
and the things that's happening
and the miracle of this man
being able to walk again.
And then we completely missed the point.
The point that Jesus made a bold claim,
but that he was also able to back up that claim.
Last time we looked at the four friends
and we're really just working through this exposition
by observing the various people
that are involved in the story.
Today, we'll look at the poor paralytic,
the scowling scribes,
the divine savior,
and then finally,
the curious crowd.
Let's look first at this poor paralytic.
I refer to him as poor,
not because of his financial circumstance,
though he probably was poor,
but because he had no hope.
The circumstances surrounding how this man
and when this man became paralyzed
is irrelevant to the story.
And some people have tried to guess
as to what that may have been
and whether or not this particular disability
was specifically related to sin in his life.
And of course,
the scripture doesn't tell us that.
So it's irrelevant.
What's relevant to this man
is the fact that he was crippled,
he had a devastating disability,
and he was totally dependent on others
just to survive.
His situation wasn't quite as severe
as the leprous man that we studied in chapter one,
but he still had an incurable disability
of which he hoped and believed
that Jesus could free him.
Fortunately, he had four friends
willing to go above and beyond
to get him to the help that he needed.
But all of this excitement,
all of this effort,
all this destruction
was really for the sole purpose
of him getting his legs back.
Think about this.
Everything that they're going through,
they've hurried.
As soon as they found out
that Jesus was back in Capernaum,
they've hurried themselves to Peter's house
where it would have been believed
for him to have been,
and they get there too late.
The masses have already arrived.
They can't even get to the door.
No one's letting him through.
No one cares that this man is paralyzed.
No one cares to get this man
to Jesus for healing.
They all cared about themselves
and what they maybe could get from Jesus.
They can't even get to the door,
so they get creative,
and they make their way up to the roof.
Someone makes a calculated
and sacrificial decision
to pay Peter back
for digging a hole in the roof,
and that's exactly what they did.
They create the distraction.
They create the destruction.
All of this effort
to get this man to Jesus,
and why were they doing that?
Not because they wanted
his sins forgiven.
They were getting this man to Jesus
because they wanted his legs healed,
and they knew that Jesus could do that.
They had heard.
They'd probably witnessed.
Maybe some of these four friends
had been healed
the last time Jesus was in Capernaum,
and now they're bringing this man
for the same thing.
So he must have been incredibly surprised,
maybe even confused,
when he heard what Jesus said.
Look with me at verse five.
They lowered the man down,
and when Jesus saw their faith,
he said unto the sick of the palsy,
Arise, take up your bed,
and walk.
No, that's not what he said.
That's what he wanted to hear,
but it's not what he heard.
Son, your sins are forgiven.
He heard something much more magnificent
than Arise, take up your bed, and walk.
He heard something of such greater import
than any kind of physical healing
that he might have hoped for that day,
and notice the endearment
that Jesus has in this phrase.
Son,
your sins are forgiven.
When you already know the rest of the story,
as all of us do,
this statement, my Jesus,
tends to lose a bit of its impact.
We know that he's going to be healed.
We just read it just a second ago.
When he came to have his legs healed,
Jesus' first action was to forgive his sins.
How confusing.
Maybe frustrating, even,
for his friends that had just gone
to such great lengths,
and Jesus wasn't doing anything
that they expected him to do.
What was Jesus doing here?
What was the whole point
of Jesus' statement?
Jesus was putting his finger
on what was the man's greatest need.
When he came to Jesus that day,
when his friends brought him that day,
they thought that his greatest need
was for his paralysis to be healed.
They thought that the thing
that he needed most in this world
was the ability to walk,
but Jesus teaches a powerful lesson here.
His greatest need was not the ability to walk.
His greatest need was the forgiveness of his sins.
It's not that Jesus was unconcerned
about his condition.
Of course he was.
He ultimately healed his physical condition too,
as he did many people that didn't believe.
Many people Jesus healed that he didn't forgive.
It's not that he didn't care
about his physical condition,
but he put a greater priority
on the man's spiritual condition.
More than the ability to walk
was his need to have his sins forgiven
and his relationship with God restored.
Jesus was committed to putting first things first.
People run to religion
for all kinds of different reasons, don't they?
But there's always some type of need
attached to people's decisions
when they would make these religious choices
in their life.
Some people may commit to a church
because they have a deep need
for friendship and community,
and so that's exactly why they try
to find a church to belong to.
It's not so much about hearing truth.
It's not so much about being exposed
to the word of God.
It's about,
I would like to have friends,
and I need companionship in life,
and I want community in life.
I need people around me
that will uplift me.
It's a need in my life,
and so that's why they pursue Christianity
or church or any religion for that matter.
It's camaraderie.
It's the same reason
some people would join the military,
or some people would join a fraternity
or a sorority in college.
It's to meet a need of companionship
and a friendship and community.
Others will find religion
capable of filling a need
of affirmation for them
or helping scratch a intellectual itch
that perhaps that they have.
Others come to Jesus
hoping that they may have a life
that is improved in some way,
that he will provide for them
some type of success in life
or some type of health in life
or benefit in life,
but how many people actually come to Jesus
or to church or religion
or anything for that matter
with their greatest need
actually as the focus of their life?
I don't know what brought you to Jesus.
I don't know why you are coming to Jesus
even today,
or what you hope
that the Christian religion
might do for you
or what need it might meet for you.
But Jesus was clear
that your greatest need
is to have your sins forgiven
and your heart restored to God.
Greater than that promotion or job,
greater than that healing
of whatever disability or illness,
greater than that companionship
and community,
greater than any other need you may have,
your greatest need
is to have your sins forgiven,
your life restored,
and your fellowship with God restored.
We can find clubs to meet our need for community.
It won't ever match the community
that is offered in the church,
but we can meet that need in a different way.
We can find doctors
that will meet our need for healing
in most cases.
We can find other things in life
to help give us affirmation.
We can find mentors
that will meet our needs for success.
But your greatest need,
the forgiveness of your sin,
can only be met by Christ.
Fortunately,
Jesus' greatest desire
is to meet that need,
which is the other thing
that we see over and over
and over in the scripture.
As we study through the gospel of Mark
and any gospel for that matter,
what do we constantly see?
This heart of compassion,
not just a heart of compassion
to allow the man to walk again.
That could easily be taken right back away.
But what is something
Jesus could give this man
that could never be taken away?
Forgiveness, restoration,
that's the heart of Christ.
That's why he came.
We studied at Christmas,
Matthew chapter one,
call his name Jesus
for he will save his people
from their sins.
That's why he came.
As we studied that 24 hour period
in chapter one of the gospel of Mark
and what was Jesus doing?
He healed tons of people.
But when all the people
were trying to find him,
he told his disciples,
it's time to go somewhere else.
I got to preach the gospel.
That's why I came.
His greatest desire
is not to allow you to walk.
His greatest desire
is to forgive your sin.
And the good news of the gospel
really begins to take shape
when our greatest need
is then met by God's greatest desire
in the person of Christ Jesus.
And such joy and awesomeness
comes from that.
So few people
want to recognize
what their true need is.
Believers make this same mistake.
It's evidenced in our prayers.
Many of us pray through a prayer list.
I'm guilty of this every day.
We sit down
and we write out our prayer list
and we have this massive list
of things to pray for, don't we?
And I pray for our family members
that God would bless them
and provide for them
and provide security and success.
We pray for ourselves
in all kinds of different ways.
And we pray for all the things
that we had on this list.
And how much of that list
is balanced out by confession?
How much of our prayer
actually involves confession
to the Lord of our sin?
Or even just a desire for God
to continually reveal the sin
that is in our hearts
so that we may continually forsake it
in our lives
and follow after Christ.
We fall into this all the time.
Constantly looking for Christ
to do for us
and missing what is actually
our greatest need.
The forgiveness of our sins.
For some of us,
the statement that Jesus makes here
raises some questions.
What did this man do
to deserve forgiveness of sin?
And the answer is clearly
nothing.
Nothing at all.
He didn't deserve to be forgiven
of his sin.
Neither do you.
Neither do me.
Just like there was nothing
he could do
to heal his own paralysis,
there was nothing he could do
to find forgiveness
for his sin.
He had to rely in both cases
on the grace and power of Jesus.
He wasn't rewarded
for something that he did,
but Jesus did respond
to something that was clearly
in his heart.
It's interesting actually.
Look at it.
Son,
that's important.
Thy sins be
forgiven thee.
What was Jesus responding to?
The first part of the verse.
When he saw
their
faith.
The scripture is clear
that salvation
comes by God's grace
through faith
alone.
Ephesians chapter 2.
For by grace
are you saved
through faith
and this is not
your own doing,
it is the gift of God.
Not a result of works
lest any man
should boast.
John 3.16,
the most famous
verse in all the Bible
reemphasizes this.
For God
so loved the world
that he gave
his only son
that whosoever
believes in him
should not perish
but have everlasting life.
The Philippian jailer
after hearing
Paul and Silas
sing and pray
to the Lord
in the most difficult
part of their life
immediately runs
and says,
what must I do
to be saved
and what was their response?
Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ
and you will be saved.
How does salvation come?
By grace
through faith.
That's it.
This man did nothing
to deserve forgiveness
and neither one of us
can do anything
to deserve forgiveness either.
How does it come?
By God's grace.
Received through
our faith.
When the men
arrived to the house
Jesus had been preaching.
If you'll look back
at verse 2.
Straightway when
they were gathered together
in so much
that there was no room
to receive them
not so much
as about the door
Jesus preached
the word unto them.
We talked about
two weeks ago
what he was preaching.
The summary is given
in chapter 1
in verse 15.
He was preaching
the gospel of the kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
It is near.
Speaking of himself
he was the representative
of God's coming kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven
is near.
Repent
and believe the gospel.
Faith
and repentance.
And surely
as Jesus
is preaching this
maybe the four friends
are waiting outside
behind this massive crowd
trying to determine
what they're going to do
and maybe
as they're trying
to figure out
what they're going to do
the man's ears perk up
and he begins to listen
to what Jesus
is actually saying.
And he's preaching
this gospel message.
He's preaching
this message
of faith and repentance.
Believe me
the kingdom of heaven
is at hand
and as they
usher him up
onto the roof
and they begin
to dig their hole
maybe here's
just a little bit more.
And God begins
to do a work
on the man's heart
so that by the time
he is lowered
into the house
his faith that day
his belief
though not articulated
by himself
but not even capable
of being articulated
maybe at that point
by himself.
His faith
is about much more
than just receiving
healing for his legs.
His heart
was drawn to Jesus
in a different way
a way that he didn't expect
and Jesus knew
the faith of his heart.
You say
but he didn't
say a prayer.
He didn't have
to say a prayer.
You say
he didn't
even ask
for forgiveness.
He didn't have
to ask
for forgiveness.
Why was it
that Jesus
could respond
to this man
in this way?
Because Jesus
knew the faith
in his heart.
It's the only
explanation.
Jesus didn't
shortcut salvation
for this man.
He didn't decide
that repentance
was unnecessary
for this man's
sins to be forgiven.
He didn't determine
that faith
was unnecessary
for this man
that he was just
going to make a point.
Clearly Jesus
saw the faith
in his heart.
The faith
partnered with repentance
and Jesus responded
to such faith.
The good news
of the gospel
is that Jesus
came to meet
our greatest
need.
That greatest
need is forgiveness
of sins.
He sees it,
the reality
of it,
in our hearts.
We see the poor
paralytic.
Next,
we move on
to the scowling
scribes.
The scowling
scribes.
It's here
that Mark
introduces
a new layer
to his
proclamation
of the identity
and purpose
of Jesus.
This time,
it's the layer
of conflict.
We know
that Jesus
has already
had conflict
with Satan
and his
temptation.
He's had
conflict
with demonic
powers
and casting
out demons
everywhere that
he went.
But this is
the first time
that Mark
tells us
about the
conflict
between Jesus
and the
religious
establishment.
Luke's account
tells us
that there
were scribes
and Pharisees.
Mark just
mentioned
scribes.
Luke says
it was scribes
and Pharisees
and that they
had traveled
from all parts
of Galilee
to be there.
Maybe they
were trying
to search
for Jesus.
Perhaps
they had
heard him
teach before
or witnessed
some things
before.
They clearly
knew who
he was.
That's why
they were
there.
They knew
exactly what
he had been
doing,
at least
the rumors
of it,
if they
hadn't seen
it themselves
and heard
it themselves
and they
had found
their place
at Capernaum
when Jesus
had returned.
The religious
establishment
in the
Gospels
in the
New Testament
almost exclusively
is recorded
as enemies
of Jesus,
which is
surprising.
Right?
These people
knew the
Bible.
We would
expect,
and all
of Judaism
expected,
that if
the Messiah
was going
to come,
these would
be the
people to
know at
first.
But the
Messiah had
come,
and they
had rejected
who he
was.
This event
closes into
a little bit
of that
conflict,
and this
theme of
conflict
continues on
in Mark's
Gospel all
the way
through
chapter 3.
We'll see
it over
and over
again.
But look
with me
at what
the scribes
do.
Verse 6,
there were
certain of
the scribes
sitting there,
and they were
reasoning in
their hearts.
No one made
a public dispute
with Jesus
here.
They didn't
actually say
anything.
No one else
sitting there
maybe were
aware of
their opposition,
but they were
reasoning in
their hearts,
and this is what
they were
reasoning.
Verse 7,
why does this
man speak
blasphemy?
who can
forgive sin
but God
only?
Jesus'
shocking
statement
was immediately
met by this
silent
opposition.
But Jesus,
being God
incarnate,
knew exactly
what was in
the heart
of both
the paralytic
and the
scribe.
It's amazing,
isn't it?
When Jesus
looked at the
paralytic man
that had just
been lowered
down into
this room,
what he saw
was repentance
and faith,
and he responded
to that,
son,
your sins
are forgiven.
And then the
scribes didn't
even have to
say anything,
but he immediately
knew what they
were thinking.
He knew what
was in their
heart,
and what was
in their
heart was
not faith
and repentance.
What was
in their
heart was
self-righteousness
and doubt.
He perceived
that he knew
it.
These weren't
ignorant men.
When it came
to knowing
the scriptures,
no one knew
it better
than them.
The scribes
were considered
the scholars
of the day.
They were the
lawyers of the
day, so to
speak,
when it applied
to the Old
Testament
scriptures,
and then,
of course,
from there,
the oral law
that had been
passed down
by tradition.
They knew it
better than
anybody else.
And their
theology in this
case was
exactly right,
because no one
can forgive sin
except God
only.
The problem
wasn't their
theology.
The problem
was their
deduction of
what was actually
happening and
what Jesus is
actually saying.
When they heard
Jesus make the
statement of
forgiveness of
sins, they
immediately accused
him of blasphemy,
at least in their
hearts.
They accused him
of blasphemy.
Blasphemy was
worthy of death.
They couldn't
believe what they
were hearing.
This man's
saying that he
can forgive sins,
but they missed
the point.
They refused to
acknowledge the
alternative.
The alternative was
that the man
standing before
them, the man
teaching with such
authority, the man
healing with
miraculous powers,
this man, they
refused to believe,
was God incarnate,
and that he
therefore possessed
the authority to
forgive sin.
Their intellectual
grasp of the
Bible, as great
as it was, did
not equate to
salvation.
It never does.
Just because you
know the Bible
doesn't mean you're
a Christian.
Just because you
acknowledge it as
truth doesn't make
you a believer.
These men knew
their Bible.
What made the
difference for them
is how they
interpreted Jesus.
Jesus.
It's C.S.
Lewis who is
famous for saying
when you come to
the gospel, when you
come to study Jesus,
there's really three
options for you to
take.
Either he's a liar,
which is clear
here.
If Jesus wasn't
God, he was a
liar.
Because when this
man was lowered in,
he immediately said,
your sins are
forgiven.
If Jesus isn't
God, he's a liar.
Lewis said he's
either a liar, he's
a lunatic, he's
crazy.
Crazy to believe
that if he was just
a man, that he
actually had the
power to forgive
sins.
It's crazy, that's a
lunatic.
The third option is
that he's actually
Lord.
That he is indeed
who he said he
was.
That's the point of
this passage.
That's the point of
this story.
It's a decision
that you're all
going to have to
come to terms
with, every one
of us.
What are we going
to do with
Jesus?
We can't take an
indifferent approach.
It's not even
possible.
Indifference is
just rejection.
Either he's
Lord, or he's a
liar, or he's a
crazy man.
But the
scripture is clear.
He's Lord.
The issue wasn't
what they knew
about the Bible.
The issue was the
deduction that they
made about who
Jesus was, which
is why Jesus
responded in the
way that he did.
Salvation comes
neither by religious
performance or
vigorous study.
It's a heart-level
work of God's
grace that's
received through
repentance and
faith, and we see
that over and
over and over.
These men trusted
their religious
conformity, their
self-righteousness
for salvation.
That's not
enough.
Their knowledge
of the scripture
should have led
them to open
the way for
Jesus.
They should have
been directing
the traffic to
get people there.
But that's not
what they did.
Over and over, we
see this question
come up through the
gospel of Mark.
Who is Jesus?
Who is this man?
That's the question
he's answering.
When the scribes
responded to Jesus
in their hearts, it
was more of, who
does he think he is,
was the spirit of what
they were saying.
Thirdly, we see the
divine Savior.
How is it that Jesus
will respond to this
silent opposition?
He perceived in his
heart what they were
believing, what they
were thinking.
But up until this
point, all Jesus has
done is preach the
gospel and tell a man
that his sins are
forgiven.
It's at this point in
the story that we see
the reality of his
divinity clearly
displayed.
Three ways he
displays it.
Number one, he read
their minds.
He read their minds.
It's as simple as
that.
Look at verse 8.
And immediately,
Jesus perceived in
his spirit that they
so reasoned within
themselves.
And he said unto
them, why reason you
these things in your
hearts?
Why question this in
your heart?
The first display of
his divinity is the
fact that he literally
read their minds.
Jesus was not assuming
what they thought.
He wasn't sitting
there and thinking, I
bet they're thinking
this over here.
I can just read it on
their face.
And he just launched
into this statement as
a response to that.
No, he knew exactly
what they were thinking.
He knew what was on
their heart.
Imagine being those
men.
You ever have that
feeling that somebody
can read your mind?
Our wives are good at
that.
You ever, imagine
you're sitting there
you're full of doubt.
You believe that this
man is blasphemous and
therefore worthy of
death.
Who can forgive sins
but God only?
His back is to you.
He's looking at the
paralytic and then all
of a sudden he turns
around and he looks
you in the eye and he
says, why are you
thinking that?
What?
That's exactly what
Jesus does.
What is that?
It's a display of his
divinity.
He knew exactly what
was in the paralytic's
heart.
He knew exactly what
was in the scribe's
heart as well.
And just like we can
be encouraged that
Jesus knows the faith
of our hearts even
though we continually
fail him, that's an
encouragement, we can
also be just as certain
that Jesus knows the
true condition of our
hearts when it's filled
with doubt, when it's
filled with wickedness,
when it's filled with
sin, when it's filled
with hypocrisy and we're
only pretending to be a
believer.
forever.
We're only pretending to
be what we have put this
mask on about.
We're only pretending to
follow Christ.
We're only pretending to
know Christ just as we can
take assurance that Jesus
knows the reality of our
hearts when we fail, we can
be absolutely certain that
he knows the reality of
the heart when you're just
a pretender.
That was true here.
He read their minds.
He knew exactly what they
thought.
Secondly, he engaged with
their minds.
This is our favorite part,
isn't it?
Anytime we see this
conflict between Jesus and
the scribes and the
Pharisees and the
Sadducees and the
Herodians and all these
people, they were
constantly trying to trap
him, weren't they?
They were constantly
questioning him, trying to
find a reason that they
could accuse him in some
way.
And Jesus was just so
fantastic at responding
to these people.
And so he turns to these
men and he begins to
engage with their minds
and he asks them a
question, an interesting
question.
Look at verse
nine.
Jesus says, is it
easier to say to the
sick of the palsy, thy
sins be forgiven thee, or
to say arise and take up
thy bed and walk?
Now I want you to think
about that question.
What is easier?
Is it easier to say your
sins are forgiven or to
say arise and take up your
bed and walk?
That's the question he's
asking.
He's engaging their minds.
And of course, for us, the
answer is clear.
Both are impossible.
I can't do either one of
those things.
I might forgive something
that you have done to me,
but I can't ultimately
forgive your sin because
sin is ultimately an
offense against God.
That's what actually makes
it sin.
I can't forgive that.
I certainly can't look at
you if you're a paralytic
and paralyzed and say, get
up and walk.
That's the question he's
dealing with.
Now Jesus is setting the
men up.
He's setting them up to
think through, to think
through this question
when he actually performs
the miracle.
But it's still an
interesting question.
The emphasis here is on
the word say.
Jesus asked, what's easier
to say?
Your sins are forgiven
or to say, arise, take
up your bed and walk?
Now that's a different
question.
And of course, it's easier
to say your sins are
forgiven.
Why?
Because I don't have to
prove it.
You can come to me today
and say, I really need my
sins to be forgiven.
And I could say, you're
forgiven.
And depending on if I'm
good enough at selling it,
you might believe it.
And others might too.
I don't have to provide
any kind of proof for
that.
But if you're paralyzed
and you come to me and
say, Jared, I'd really
like for you to heal me.
And I say, okay, arise
and take up your bed and
walk.
Nothing about that
statement matters unless
you actually get up off
your bed or heal of your
paralysis and go home
from it.
The point here is that
Jesus' word is action.
That's the point he's
getting across to these
men.
It's another reflection of
the display of his
divinity, his deity.
And so Jesus says,
whatever I say is true.
All of his words, his
words were never empty.
They were never misleading.
They were never lies.
His promises were always
fulfilled.
His word is always backed
up by truth and action.
So when we get to chapter
one and there's the demon
possessed man and Jesus
says that he's going to
cast him out, he immediately
backs it up with action and
the demon is cast out.
When we get to the end of
chapter one and we see the
leper that comes to Jesus
and Jesus says he wants him
to be cleansed, immediately
Jesus backs that up with
action and the man was
cleansed.
And then when the
paralytic comes and he's
seeking to be healed of
his paralysis, Jesus says
arise and take up your
bed and walk.
And then immediately it's
backed up with action and
Jesus actually does the
healing.
So when Jesus says your
sins are forgiven, he
fully intends to back that
up with action.
Because his words are
never empty.
They're never fruitless.
Now think about this.
While sin is forgiven by
God, no sin, no sin,
ever goes unpunished by God.
All sin is punished.
When Jesus told the man that
his sins were forgiven, he
did so knowing fully what he
would have to do in order for
that to be true.
His word is action.
God doesn't ignore our sins to
forgive them.
You realize that, right?
If your sins are forgiven, it's
not because you came to the
Lord and you just said, Lord,
I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have
done this.
And he just pretends to
ignore it, passes over you as
far as punishment is concerned
and just moves on.
The past is behind us, water
under the bridge.
That's not the way this
forgiveness works.
God in his grace will forgive
sin, but God in his justice
must punish sin.
What happens in salvation is not
that God turns a blind eye to
your sin and just decides to
forget about it.
He takes your sin and he puts it
on his son.
That's what's happening with
forgiveness.
How does that happen?
The cross.
Paul writing the Colossians said
it this way, that God has taken
the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us.
In other words, there's this,
there's this writing against us,
this legal justification for us to
be condemned.
We've broken the law.
And he wipes it clean.
How does he do that?
Paul says by nailing it to the
cross of Christ.
It's not that God ignores your sin.
It's that he puts your sin on
Christ.
He's our substitute.
Why did Jesus come?
Not to heal the man of his
paralysis.
He came to die the punishment
that that man deserved to die.
There's plenty of scripture for
this.
It's a substitution.
He took our place.
Second Corinthians chapter five,
Paul said, for our sake, God
made him to be sin.
Who knew no sin?
Why?
That we might be made the
righteousness of Christ.
He made him to be sin.
What sin?
Our sin.
Why?
So we could be declared
righteous.
First Corinthians 15, Christ
Jesus died for our sins.
Not that he ignored our sins in
order to forgive them.
No, he actually took the
punishment for them so that we
could be declared righteousness.
First John chapter two.
He's the propitiation for our sins.
He has assuaged God's wrath,
satisfied it for all of eternity.
Not for our sins only, John writes.
The sins of the whole world.
So great is the love of God that he
suffered at the hands of men to pay the
price for the sins of men in order that
men could then be declared righteous.
That's the whole point of this passage.
Jesus is God.
That he has the authority to forgive sins.
And that sins can be forgiven because he paid the
price for them.
Not only did he read their minds and engage with their
minds, but then he blew their minds.
Look at verse 10.
Immediately, or excuse me, but
Jesus says, but that you may know the son of man have power on
earth to forgive sins.
And he said to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and
take up thy bed and go thy way into thy house.
And immediately he arose, took up the bed and went forth before
them all.
This is ultimately the purpose of Jesus's healings.
Jesus didn't use this man as a pawn.
That's not what it was.
There was real compassion in his heart for his condition.
It's just there was a priority of purpose here.
Priority was his sin.
The man had faith and repentance.
Jesus dealt with that first.
And then he came to the healing.
And it worked perfectly in the point that he was trying to make to the
scribes and to the others that were gathered that day.
He's speaking to these scribes who haven't said a word according to
the passage.
He reads their minds, engages, makes them think for a moment.
And then he says, the reason I'm doing this is so that you may know,
know for certain that I have power and authority to forgive sin.
That's the point of his miracles, folks.
To point to who he is, to what he can do.
It's not about the miracle itself.
And then as he says that, he turns back to the paralytic.
And there's this compassionate heart again.
And he looks at the man and he says, arise, take up your bed and walk.
And immediately, just like always happens, when Jesus cast out the demon,
it happened immediately.
When Jesus healed the leper, it happened immediately.
When Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, it happened immediately.
And again here, he says, arise, take up your bed and walk.
And immediately, the man's legs are healed.
He immediately stands up.
Maybe he'd never even done that before.
We have no idea how long he was paralyzed.
And he picks up his bed.
And before everybody there, he walks out of the house and he goes home.
What's that about?
It's not so that we know that Jesus has the power to heal his legs.
It's so that we know that Jesus actually has power to forgive his sins.
Because the only person that could heal his legs is the person that could also forgive his sins.
Because Jesus read their minds, he engaged with their minds, then he blew their minds.
And then finally, we'll wrap it up with the curious crowd.
The curious crowd.
Look back with me at verse 12.
After the man is healed and he walks away.
It says, insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified God.
Saying, we never saw it on this fashion.
We never saw it happen like this.
Never seen anything like this before.
They were incredibly amazed.
They got what they had come for.
That's why most of them had gathered.
They did exactly what we might expect to do if this happened in our church today.
They rejoiced.
Why wouldn't they?
They even praised God for it.
And they rejoiced at what they had seen.
They were amazed.
They were awestruck.
But like so many people today, they missed the point.
And we know that because of what Matthew said in Matthew chapter 9 when he wrote about this.
Here's what Matthew wrote.
When the crowd saw this, they were amazed.
And they glorified God who had given such authority to men.
They were amazed by what Jesus had done.
But they had refused to accept who Jesus was.
That was the problem.
The entire exchange between Jesus and the scribes was meant to demonstrate that Jesus is God.
That's exactly what he said.
I am doing this so that you will know that I am God and I can forgive sins.
And he turns around and he does it.
And everybody completely forgets about it.
They're so amazed by the miracle.
They even praised God for the miracle.
But they did not believe Jesus.
It's as if they completely ignored the fact that Jesus had forgiven the man's sin.
It's as if they completely missed the fact that his greatest need was forgiveness.
The truth is they didn't care anything about forgiveness of sins.
That's not why they came there that day.
They couldn't have cared less that Jesus forgave that man's sins.
Even if they thought he had power to do it.
They didn't care.
That's not why they were there.
They were there to see something spectacular.
They wanted to be amazed by Jesus' powerful works.
They were curious about Jesus, but they did not believe Jesus.
That's the difference between people that are enamored with the Christian religion,
but don't actually make it to heaven.
They're curious about Jesus.
They're curious about his teaching.
They're curious about what he might or might not have done
as far as these miraculous works are concerned,
but they never actually believe him.
They missed the point.
A lot of people today, it's the same thing.
They just missed the point.
I mentioned earlier that when you know the entire story,
Jesus' statement about forgiveness of sin loses a bit of its impact.
For some of us, it loses its impact
because we ultimately don't really care about forgiveness.
We don't really see a need for it, for one.
And even if we recognize that we've done some bad things,
it's not really that bad.
And so it's not at the forefront of our mind.
We don't really care about that.
We want to see the spectacular.
We want to experience the power.
But a lot of us, we don't actually care about the forgiveness.
We're amazed by Jesus.
But we don't actually believe him.
What about you?
Are you just amazed by Jesus?
Are you enamored by him for one reason or another?
What's the need that you're hoping that he needs?
Is it physical?
Is it just supernatural in some way?
Or have you come to realize that Jesus is not just a man?
There's more to him than this.
This is God incarnate.
And this whole thing is not just to record for us the awesome things that he did.
This is to tell us how he came to redeem us from our sin.
And the difference between a person that claims to be a Christian and goes to hell
and a person that claims to be a Christian and actually is restored to God for eternity
is what they end up doing with Jesus.
Do you believe him?
Or are you just curious about it?