Alright, and please take out your copy of God's Word.
Turn to the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 2.
I am thankful that I read the lyrics of the song, In the Beloved.
I actually had forgotten I had done that.
!
And when He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home.
And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.
And He was preaching the word to them.
And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men.
And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him.
When they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,
Son, your sins are forgiven.
Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts,
Why does this man speak like that?
He is blaspheming.
Who can forgive sins but God alone?
And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His Spirit that they thus questioned within themselves,
said to them,
Why do you question these things in your hearts?
Which is easier to say to the paralytic,
Your sins are forgiven?
Or to say, Rise, take up your bed, and walk.
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
He said to the paralytic,
I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.
And He rose and immediately picked up His bed and went out before them all,
so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying,
We never saw anything like this.
Join me in prayer.
Father, certainly this day we can praise You for Your mercy to us.
We were once dead, imprisoned by sin.
But because of Your loving kindness,
You bestowed such a great mercy that we might have the redemption of our souls in Christ.
And now You have given to us abounding grace.
We have been set adrift and float effortlessly on a sea of grace.
You have given us this church.
And I praise You for every precious soul in this room coming together to encourage and build up one another in love.
You have given us Your word that we might look at, behold, the One, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior.
And You have granted to us part of Yourself, Your Trinitarian Self, the Spirit that abides within us,
that we might understand and apply these truths to our hearts.
I pray, Father, You will accomplish much with us this day.
We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
So we come to a rather well-known story here at the beginning of chapter 2.
Before we get to that, I want to, by way of reminder, kind of bring us where we've been so far.
We come to this pretty intense place.
And in the next chapter, we're going to see Jesus actually confront the religious culture in a number of ways.
The next five stories specifically are aimed right at that.
He's flying in the face of religious culture in His day.
Up to this point, though, He's been working on establishing His authority.
That's what His ministry has been about.
And that is the way in which Mark has recorded this for us.
That we can see that He has authority over Satan.
That we see that He has authority over demons and over sicknesses.
Right?
That He teaches as one with authority.
But this is the first time in the Gospel of Mark that Christ proclaims His own deity.
That Christ says, I am God.
I and the Father are one.
Now to be sure, Mark has already said that.
He started the book out that way.
He wanted us to be very sure that we understood that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Son of God.
We see that right there at the very beginning.
Right?
But here we see Jesus for the very first time doing this.
Proclaiming His deity.
And we find Him back in the city of Capernaum.
Right?
Verse 1, chapter 2 says,
And when He returned to Capernaum after some days.
Now Capernaum was a city located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Recall in verse 16 of chapter 1, He was passing alongside the Sea of Galilee where He calls Simon, which most of us know as Peter, as well as His brother Andrew.
And following that, verse 21, and they went into Capernaum.
So they were fishing along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
And they went into the city located there on the coastline called Capernaum.
Here He heals a demon-possessed man.
Then in verse 29, He immediately, Mark's favorite word, leaves the synagogue and enters the house of Simon, Peter, and Andrew there in Capernaum where He heals all who were sick and oppressed that were brought to Him.
That's what happens there in verse 29.
In verse 38 and 39, He says to them, the disciples,
Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.
So they leave Capernaum to go to other towns, verse 39,
And He went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
We don't know where He goes exactly from there, but He goes and He travels around Galilee.
Luke chapter 5, verse 12, speaking of this activity of Jesus cleansing the leper, which we studied last week in verses 40 through 45,
Luke chapter 5, verse 12 says, while He was in one of the cities.
So we're not really sure which city He was in, but while He was in one of the cities.
We talked about last week how He healed a leper.
And in so doing, traded places with that leper.
The leper was welcomed once again back into the community of faith, could dwell amongst people.
And as a result, Jesus had to go out to desolate places and minister.
But when we get to chapter 2, verse 1, it's been some time, after some days, which in Greek just means some time.
We don't know exactly how long.
But it would seem that maybe the hubbub has died down.
That the fervency, these people were following Him around because He was doing healing, has died down a bit.
And He could enter back into a city.
And so He's back in Capernaum.
Now, you'll note that He is in a home.
And it's said He was at home.
But Jesus wasn't from Capernaum, was He?
Jesus was from Nazareth.
We know that's where He came out of.
He came out of Nazareth, of Galilee, to begin His ministry.
So it's believed that when He said He's at home, that He's at His home base in the area.
When He's in Capernaum, He stayed at, more than likely, Peter and Andrew's house.
This is the proposition I put before you, that when He's at home, this means He's at His home in Capernaum,
which would have been with Simon Peter and with Andrew.
And we see, once again, a great crowd gathering around Him.
A crowd so large, they're packing into the house and filling the doorway so that this paralytic cannot be brought in.
And they try. They try to get Him in, but it's such a packed audience that cannot be brought in.
But what is Jesus doing?
Let's look once again.
What is it that He's doing?
And He was preaching the Word to them.
There it is, at the end of verse 2.
And He was preaching the Word to them.
And remember last week, we talked about Jesus' activity as a healer, as a miracle worker.
And that this was simply meant to validate His message.
Jesus' primary purpose, His major goal as He traveled around during this time, was to preach the truth.
We see it recorded in chapter 1, verse 15.
He says,
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent and believe in the gospel.
He came to preach the coming of the kingdom.
We get to delve into so many wonderful parables in the Gospel of Mark.
I was flipping through them this week and just getting really excited about the coming chapters.
I can't wait to get to chapter 4.
We'll take our time to get there.
But I'm going to be really excited when we get to chapter 4.
We get to start talking about the parables of the kingdom.
This is the language that Jesus Christ used all the time.
And so I think it's important that we just pause for a moment to think about what is the kingdom of God.
A contemporary Old Testament scholar by the name of Graham Goldsworthy, which I would commend to you.
He wrote a wonderful book called According to Plan.
Said,
The kingdom of God is God's people in God's place under God's rule.
God's people in God's place under God's rule.
And I think that's a beautifully simple picture of what the kingdom of God is.
And this was what Jesus Christ came to preach.
The coming of the kingdom of God.
There's this massive crowd that's gathered around and he's preaching to them.
But a side note that I think is important to mention about crowds.
Numbers are not necessarily the measure of a successful ministry.
In fact, I would argue the largest church in America right now is led by a heretic.
Numbers are not necessarily the measure of a successful ministry.
In fact, in Acts chapter 1, after Christ has been crucified, we see together gathered 120 disciples.
120 disciples gathered together after the crucifixion of Christ.
This was the fruit in the flesh, in those days, measurable fruit of the work of Christ.
Not the 5,000 and the 4,000 that he fed.
Not the crowds that followed him everywhere, even into desolate places.
These are the folks that were disciples of Christ.
That had committed their lives to him.
Look around this room.
There are over 120 people in this room.
I'm going to take just a stab at 150.
I don't really know that.
I know there are more than 120 people because I counted.
I got to 120 and stopped.
Right?
This was the measure of his physical ministry.
Now we know that the ministry of Christ has expanded far beyond that.
That the ministry of Christ supersedes, stands over any ministry of any man.
Everything belongs to him.
Right?
His ministry is infinite in measure.
Right?
But the measurable impact of this.
We must not look at these crowds and assume that they were all followers of Christ.
The more proper thing to assume, and we're going to see it over and over and over again,
is that they just wanted what Christ could give them.
And that was healing.
Right?
They just wanted to become and be made better.
They wanted to behold something miraculous.
Look at what he did.
That was incredible.
Right?
We would do the same thing.
Would we not?
Anybody like illusions?
Pretty fun.
Right?
We know it's fake.
He was doing amazing things for real.
And people were gathering to see what he was going to do.
So this is the crowd that surrounds him.
Right?
Chapter 4, verses 10 through 12 says,
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
And he said to them,
To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.
But for those outside, everything is in parables.
And he quotes from Isaiah chapter 6, verses 9 through 10,
So that they may indeed see, but not perceive.
And may indeed hear, but not understand.
Lest they should turn and be forgiven.
The very reason that Jesus Christ spoke in parables,
So that these amassed crowds wouldn't understand what was being taught,
Unless it was revealed to them by the Spirit.
The very reason he used such complex languages,
And spoke in stories so often,
Was this, by his own account.
You can hate that all you want to,
But these are the words of Christ.
This is why he spoke in these ways,
To filter the crowds.
For those who had the working regeneration of the Spirit in their lives.
And so this is the scene that we see painted.
He's sitting in, more than likely,
Simon Peter and Andrew's home,
With a great crowd.
And he's preaching the gospel.
The coming of the kingdom of God.
And verse 3 says,
That some men, four men,
Brought a paralytic to him.
We don't know exactly what degree this man was paralyzed,
But certainly paralyzed enough,
That he could not walk under his own strength.
Right?
He could have been a quadriplegic.
He could have been paralyzed for the neck down.
We do not know.
But they carried him in on a pallet,
And they could not make headway.
Verse 4 says,
When they could not get near him because of the crowd,
They removed the roof above him.
When they made an opening,
Let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
Now it's really important to understand,
That in this day,
There was a great association of illness with sin.
A great association between the two.
This culture,
This religious culture of this day,
Saw people who were infirmed,
And assumed that it was a punishment from God.
And God has certainly used illness to judge the world.
That is one of the effects of our fallenness.
Fallenness.
Right?
But it does not necessarily follow,
That because of sin,
We suffer.
Great example of this.
John chapter 9,
Verses 1 through 3,
Says,
Of Jesus,
As he passed by,
He saw a man blind from birth.
And his disciples asked him,
So here's the religious assumption.
His disciples asked him,
Rabbi,
Who sinned,
This man or his parents,
That he was born blind?
Jesus answered,
It was not this man who sinned,
Or his parents,
But that the works of God might be displayed in him.
So you have to catch clearly,
That the two are not mutually exclusive.
Right?
That they don't coexist together,
But the culture thought they did.
Right?
So even this paralyzed man
Would have believed that to be true of himself.
Right?
Anyone who was ill,
Knew they were sinners.
Right?
A great benefit of your illnesses,
Your suffering,
As you get uncomfortable in your chairs,
Even today,
Could be to remember the fallen state of this world,
And that you are a sinner.
Right?
This is evidence of that.
I share with you some of the pain
I experienced last week in depth.
Right?
A great reminder to me
That this world is fallen.
Right?
That I am being redeemed out of it.
And one day I will have a new glorious body
That will feel no pain.
Right?
Good thing to work into your mind
As you think about illness.
So this is this man,
And this is what people would have thought of him
As he was carried by his four friends.
And when they couldn't get in,
They went up onto the roof.
Now,
The typical house construction of this day
Would have been single story.
Would have been a very rare thing
That a home would ever have been
More than one story.
But,
The second story
Was a flat top patio.
Right?
A roof top place
That they could spend time.
Flat roofs,
And they spent time up on the roof
Would have had an external staircase.
So these men
Hiked him up the stairs
And got on the roof.
And the roofs,
The houses were built
Out of straw and mud.
And the roof would have been beamed.
Beams running across
To give strong structure.
With sticks running the other way.
And then thatch layered with mud.
That's the way this would have all taken place.
There would have been enough
Wooden structure to hold mud in place.
And then it would have been tiled
On top of that.
So they could have gone up on the roof
And visited,
Ate their meals,
Etc.
Up there on the roof.
Right?
And this was the structure
That they dug through.
Right?
That they destroyed the roof
Of
Simon Peter and Andrew's house,
Presumably,
To get this man
Into this room.
And as I was just musing about this
Because we see that Jesus is
Preaching.
He is sitting in the room
And he is preaching a message
And this is what's going on
Above him.
This could not have been a quiet thing.
Right?
It wasn't like they were picking away
Quietly at straw
And then suddenly there was a hole.
Right?
Stuff must have been raining down
From the mud ceiling
That would have been in this place.
Right?
I can't even,
I just don't even,
I wish I had the details.
Like Mark and his punctuality
Just moves us right through the process.
They dug a hole
And then they lowered him down.
Right?
But can you imagine
A bunch of years ago
A young girl
Who's not a member of our church
Any longer.
She's moved.
Brought her mother
Who's just a little odd.
And her cell phone went off
In the middle of preaching
One day.
And it was hilarious.
I can't remember.
I wish I could remember what it was now.
But it was like a hilarious
Like classic rock and roll guitar riff.
And so it went off the one time
And you're kind of like
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Poor person.
Oh gosh.
They forgot to silence their phone.
I think everybody's looking
At their phones right now.
Right?
But then it went off again.
And then it went off again.
She was clueless.
Oblivious to the fact
That it was her phone.
I don't know where her head was.
If she could even hear.
I'm not sure
Really what was going on.
But it went to voicemail.
Like it rang
All the way through to voicemail.
And then the voicemail alert
Went off too.
Were any of you here for that?
It was so
It was not really funny at the time.
But after the fact
It was really, really funny.
But I just like
I had to like really focus.
Like I was
I was like at the edge of going
Really?
Come on.
Really?
Like it's in this area.
Silence the phone.
I don't know how Jesus did it.
I guess he was perfect.
And he pressed on through
In his preaching.
Don't come through our roof.
I'll have to stop.
This is this incredible scene.
Right?
And the boldness of these men
As they found a way.
We have a friend
Who is infirmed.
We desperately want him healed.
And they dug a hole
In the roof
In order to let him through
That roof.
And in verse 5
Jesus sees their faith.
Their faith.
The faith of these men.
And then he says
To the paralytic
Son, your sins are forgiven.
That's a really important thing
For us to fix our attention on.
It's a fascinating verse.
And when Jesus saw
Their faith
He said to the paralytic
Son, your sins are forgiven.
He goes from this
Broad sense of faith
To a very narrow
Forgiveness of sin.
Right?
What is meant here?
And here's what I believe
To be the case.
That he perceives
He can observe
Their faith.
Right?
They dug a hole in the ceiling
To let this man down.
But what he's referring to here
Is a natural faith.
Right?
A natural faith.
They had seen Jesus.
They had heard the telling
Of him healing people.
And therefore they believed
That he could also
Heal their friend.
Right?
The paralytic believed
That he could be healed.
Right?
Just like we trust
The structure of this floor.
We trust the structure
Of this floor.
If you've been here
For a while
You've seen the
Cattle trough baptismal
We've been bringing in.
Right?
I didn't have faith
In the floor
On that day.
I want you to know
That as your pastor
I jumped up and down
On the stage
Really really hard
Just to see if maybe
It would go through
The floor
So I would spare you all
From falling
A story
If the floor gave way.
Right?
But generally
We trust.
Right?
We have faith.
Like we've been in plenty
Of two story buildings
With floors
That hold up
That pass code
And they therefore
Will hold us up.
We trust the structure
Of this ceiling
Don't we?
We've got all kinds
Of things in here
That would get horribly ruined
If they got really wet.
Right?
We trust
That the guys
Who put the ceiling
In place
Put the metal roofing on
Did it right
And we're not going to get
Sopping wet
In here.
We trust those things
Naturally.
Right?
It's an easy thing
To do.
Right?
If you're going to go out
To eat this afternoon
You trust
That the people
Who prepare your food
Are going to do so
Appropriately.
Like none of you
At least I don't think
Will go and visit the kitchen
And inspect its cleanliness
Yourself.
Right?
You might
If you're a little OCD
Look at the rating
On the wall
Before you eat
Most of us don't do that
I usually notice the rating
When I'm paying
For the food I already ate
But you and I go
Oh, 88.
Right?
So we trust
That our food
That's natural faith
We can do
That kind of thing
Easily
And naturally
But that is not
The kind of faith
That saves.
So he narrows his focus
From this general faith
He sees their faith
And then he says
To the paralytic
He sees something else
In the paralytic
And he says to him
Son, your sins
Are forgiven
He sees in him
A saving faith
A supernatural faith
Right?
A faith that cannot be
His on his own
But that must be
Birthed in him
By the movement
Of the Spirit
Right?
Draw your mind
To John 6, 44a
No one can come to me
Unless the Father
Who sent me
Draws him
Right?
This is the work
Of the Spirit
The great ministry
To us in our lives
Is to draw us
To the Father
To work in us
Saving faith
To regenerate our hearts
So that we can
Believe
Right?
This is altogether
A biblical case
This is the way
That God works
In our lives
And this is what
Was happening
In this man's life
And he says to him
Son, your sins
Are forgiven
It's by faith
We're saved
But it's faith
That's worked
In us
Throughout time
This has been the case
Think about the fact
That what faith
Would be birthed
In this man
What is it
That he was
Believing in
If Christ himself
Is before him
Christ is before him
Has yet to die
Has yet to bear
The wrath
Of God's punishment
For his sin
What is it
That he believed?
Right?
What was it
That he had faith in?
He had faith
In the promise
Turn to Romans
Chapter 4
We're going to look
At the life
Of Abraham
How was it
That Abraham
Was justified
Was found
In right standing
Before God
Right?
I hope you're with me
On this
Abraham
In the presence
Of God right now
Right?
He's not in hell
He's in heaven
He's with the father
Now
Romans 4
1-3
What then shall we say
Was gained by Abraham
Our forefather
According to the flesh
For if Abraham
Was justified by works
He has something
To boast about
But not before God
For what does the scripture say?
Abraham believed God
And it was counted to him
As righteousness
Right?
Believed in the promise
Right?
He didn't even know
How it was going to work out
Exactly
But believed
What God had said
To him
Hebrews chapter 11
I invite you to turn there
Beginning in verse 8
You guys might have to
Tab your Bibles
Hebrews chapter 11
Beginning in verse 8
By faith
Abraham obeyed
When he was called
To go out
To a place
That he was
To receive
As an inheritance
And he went out
Not knowing
Where he was going
So here's the
Action of his faith
By faith
He went to live
In the land of promise
As in a foreign land
Living in tents
With Isaac and Jacob
Heirs with him
Of the same promise
For he was looking forward
To the city
That has foundations
Whose designer
And builder
Is God
Not talking about
Jerusalem in this case
An eternal city
The new Jerusalem
This is what
The writer of Hebrews
Says Abraham
Was looking forward to
Skip down to verse 13
Of chapter 11
These all died
Speaking of all these
Saints
That chapter 11
Is referred to
In faith
Not having received
The things promised
But having seen them
And greeted them
From afar
And having acknowledged
That they were strangers
And exiles on the earth
For people who speak thus
Make it clear
That they are seeking
A homeland
If they had been thinking
Of that land
From which they had gone out
They would have had
Opportunity to return
But as it is
They desire a better country
That is a heavenly one
Therefore God is not ashamed
To be called their God
For he has prepared
For them a city
Right
They saw the promise
From afar off
Right
Didn't even know
How it would be fulfilled
In Christ
But knew that God
Would accomplish
The things he said
He would accomplish
In the Abrahamic covenant
Right
By their faith
They were saved
A faith that was worked
In them
By the spirit
Of God
Right
So Jesus
Sees this work
And says to him
Son
Your sins
Are forgiven
Right
And in this action
This is one of two ways
He declares
His deity
Right
Because only God
Can forgive
The offenses
Committed against him
Right
It would be really silly
If you offended me
Personally
You came up to me
And you told me
That you did not like
My shirt today
And I was offended by that
And then later on
My wife said
It's okay
That you don't like
Nathan's shirt
It would make no sense
Would it
Right
I must forgive the offense
That's been given to me
Right
Only God
Can forgive the offense
Of the sin
That's committed against him
Right
Our sin
All of it
Is primarily
Vertical
In nature
Sins have horizontal effect
Absolutely
You tell me
You don't like my shirt
Right
It's going to hurt my feelings
This is not a sin
By the way
You can not like my shirt
It's okay
Right
But sin
Is primarily
It's firstly
Vertical
It's an offense
Against God
Right
Let's take a look at
The story
Of David
And Bathsheba
Remember the story
Of David and Bathsheba
He beholds
A woman bathing
On a roof
A roof
A tiled roof
Is the way
They would have done this
Right
He sees her
And he wants her
She's married
To a man named Uriah
Right
And what does he do
He sends off Uriah
To the front
To be killed
And he has Bathsheba
Prior to her husband
Being killed
Right
This great offense
Did he sin against Bathsheba
He certainly did
Did he sin against Uriah
He certainly did
Right
But listen to what he says
In Psalm 51
Verse 4
Against you
Speaking to God
Against you
You only
Have I sinned
And done what is evil
In your sight
Isn't that phenomenal
We should reflect upon that
Great offenses
Right
I mean I hope
I hope that
We don't have any
Adultering murderers
In the room today
Maybe
I hope
I hope not
Right
But this is a great weight
This is a great thing
That he did
And he says
Against you
You only
Have I sinned
Right
Is he saying
That he didn't
Offend them at all
Absolutely not
But in comparison
The vertical nature
Of his sin
Vastly outweighs
The horizontal nature
Of his sin
Charles Spurgeon
In speaking of
Psalm 51
Said
The virus of sin
Lies in its opposition
To God
The psalmist's sense
Of sin towards others
Rather tended to increase
The force of his feeling
Of sin
Against God
All his wrongdoing
Centered
Culminated
And came to a climax
At the foot
Of the divine throne
He put it in proper
Perspective
He saw how really
Weighty it was
How infinite it was
As he sinned
Against
An infinite
God
He got some
Clue of this
As the prophet
Nathan was sent to him
2 Samuel 12
Verse 9
Listen to what
The prophet Nathan
Said to David
His friend
Why have you
Despised the word
Of the Lord
This is in response
To the same activity
Why have you
Despised
The word of the Lord
To do what is evil
In his sight
You have struck down
Uriah the Hittite
With a sword
And have taken his wife
To be your wife
And have killed him
With the sword
Of the Ammonites
Why have you
Despised the word
Of the Lord
To do what is evil
In his sight
Why have you
Offended God
In this action
It's important
That we get this
Properly
That we get this
Right
Jesus declares
Himself
God
As he says
Son
Your sins
Are forgiven
Hebrews 9
Verse 22
Reads
Indeed
Under the law
Almost everything
Is purified
With blood
Some things
Were purified
By water
Almost everything
Is purified
With blood
And without
The shedding
Of blood
There is no
Forgiveness
Of sins
You have to see too
And you have to
Really understand
Right
That it's not that
That God
Forgives sin
The way we would
Forgive an offense
Against us
Where we just
Kind of pass it over
We just kind of
Say it's fine
Right
I'll deal
It's okay
But because God
Is all of who he is
At all times
It's actually a doctrine
Called the simplicity
Of God
Right
That he is always
Who he is
He's not bipolar
He's not wrath
One moment
And mercy another
But he's always
All of these things
Right
Because God
Is a just God
He must judge sin
And therefore
Punish it
Appropriately
This is the picture
Of our God
He must
Do this
And without blood
There is
No forgiveness
Of sins
He didn't say to you
When you placed your faith
In Christ
Yours is good
Right
What he said
Is I've already
Punished your sin
In Christ
Christ's blood
Covered
Your sin
Right
Christ's blood
Covered the sins
Of Abraham
Right
This work
That he completed
So many years
Later
Was the accomplishment
Of the promises
Given to Abraham
That he might have
This eternal life
This is why we believe
In Jesus Christ
He is the lamb
That was slain
On our behalf
Who bore our wrath
Who took our punishment
Gave us
His righteousness
The chorus
Of that song
In the beloved
God's marvelous grace
Calls me to dwell
In this wonderful place
God sees my savior
And then he sees me
In the beloved
Accepted
And free
And I just imagine
This paralytic
Right
Let's assume
He's a quadriplegic
That he can't move at all
And he's laying on a pallet
He's been lowered
Through the roof
And Luke it says
Right in front of Jesus too
Again the distraction
Right here
Right
He comes down
And he's laying on the floor
Right
And Jesus forgives
His sins
Right
That he would want to sing
Such a song
Still paralyzed
Right
Receiving the joy
That is granted to him
Because of the gospel
Of Jesus Christ
Right
What a picture
Then in verse 6
We see the scoffers
Sprinkled amongst the crowd
Right
The scribes
They were sitting there
And they were
Questioning in their hearts
Why does this man
Speak like that
He is blaspheming
Or saying he is God
Who can forgive sins
But God alone
And immediately
Jesus perceiving in his spirit
That they thus questioned
Within themselves
Said to them
Why do you question
These things in your hearts
Which is easier
To say to the paralytic
Your sins are forgiven
Or to say
Rise
Take up your bed
And walk
But that you may know
That the son of man
Has authority on earth
To forgive sins
He said to the paralytic
I say to you
Rise
Pick up your bed
And go home
So we see scribes
And we need to ask the question
Who were these scribes
In verse 16 of chapter 2
We see it recorded
The scribes of the Pharisees
That's a way it was recorded
So we see a number of sects
That exist
S-E-C-T-S
Sects that exist
In Judaism at this time
And Phariseeism
Was one of these things
Do you know
There were probably
Only about 6,000 Pharisees
In existence
In Jesus' time
But boy
Do they run rampant
Around Jerusalem
And the neighboring area
About 6,000 of them
And their sect
Actually
Arose during the time
Of Ezra
Remember we studied
Nehemiah together
Previously
At the
Babylonian return
When the sect
Arose about
400 years
Earlier
John MacArthur
Said this of them
These are the guardians
Of the populist form
Of apostate Judaism
Right
Love that sentence
These are the guardians
Of the populist form
The popular form
Of apostate Judaism
They're the fundamentalists
Legalists
Architects
And promoters of salvation
By works
Salvation
By self-righteousness
That's who these Pharisees were
They constructed laws
To protect people
From committing laws
They were called hedge laws
So much so
That people had lost
The very point
Of the law
To begin with
Jesus spends his time
In the Sermon on the Mount
Re-establishing
What he was trying to teach
To begin with
In the giving
Of the law
Right
These Pharisees
Were tearing down
Faith
Any of you know
People like that?
Any of you been
People like that?
And here we have
Scribes
Now the scribes
Would have been
Like the theologians
Of the day
Right
They were learned men
They were often called
Rabbis
Which means teacher
Not all scribes
Were Pharisees
And certainly not all
Pharisees
Were scribes
Right
But you get
There's an intermingling
Here of this
Self-righteous
Form of teaching
And these are the men
That we often see
Confronting Jesus
Hijacking
The conversation
And here we see him
Boldly
Confront them
Even as they haven't
Said anything
Out loud
They've simply
Thought in their hearts
This is blasphemy
Right
How is it that
This man
Can forgive sin
Only God
Can forgive sin
And they're right
In that
Right
Aren't they?
But they just
Didn't understand
That Jesus himself
Was in fact
God
That he
Was
Deity
Leviticus
Chapter 24
Verse 16
Says whoever
Blasphemes
The name of the
Lord
Shall surely
Be put to death
All the congregation
Shall stone him
This was a well
Understood
Jewish tradition
You did not
Call yourself
God
We will kill you
If you do
This is the very
Accusation that's
Brought to Jesus
That has him
Hung on a cross
And his response
To this
Is just
Phenomenal
Right
He says
Which is easier
To say
This was puzzling
To me
For a while
Because it seems
That he's actually
Saying that it's
Easier to say
Your sins are forgiven
Doesn't it read
That way
To you
Which is easier
To say to the
Paralytic
Your sins are forgiven
Or to say
Rise take up
Your bed and walk
And then he proves it
By telling him to
Rise take up
His bed and walk
It seems that he's
Saying it's harder
To heal
The body
Than to heal
The soul
Who would disagree
Agree with that
Would we not
I hope we would
I do
Interestingly though
When you look
At the original language
If you look at
The word in Greek
For say
It could also mean
To affirm
And I think
That would be
A much better
Translation here
Of the text
Which is easier
To affirm
Your sins are forgiven
Or easier to affirm
Rise take up your bed
And walk
Right
They could visually see
I say to this man
Rise take up your bed
Go home
And he does it
It has been affirmed
Or to say
Your sins are forgiven
Can you affirm that
With the seeing
With the senses
You certainly cannot
Right
So he does something
For them
That they can
Visually see
Right
He not only heals
The soul of this man
But then he heals
This body
Right
To display
His power
Right
He's affirming
His deity
In this way
He forgives sin
To affirm it
Right
Secondly
He affirms his deity
By searching
The hearts
Of men
It's a shame
That these scribes
Miss this
As they
Think these thoughts
Within themselves
And Jesus calls them out
On the very thing
Why are you thinking
These things
1 Chronicles 28
Verse 9
It says
The Lord searches
All hearts
And understands
Every plan
And thought
Jeremiah 17
10
I the Lord
Search the heart
And test the mind
Ezekiel 11
5
For I know
The things
That come into
Your mind
Jesus put on
His deity
In great display
As he draws
Out of them
The very things
That they were thinking
And he does this
Over and over
And over
Again
Throughout the gospel
Of Mark
And the other accounts
Of Jesus' life
Proclaims his deity
To this people
Right
And then we see
The response
Of the paralytic
He rises
Immediately
There's Mark's word
Again
And immediately
He picks up his bed
He goes out
Before them all
So that they were
All amazed
And glorified God
Saying we never
Saw anything
Like this
So the result of it
Seems to be
An amazing turning
To Christ
Does it not?
What a neat account
At the end
They were all amazed
And they glorified God
Saying we never
Saw anything
Like this
But the account
In Matthew
Chapter 9
Verse 8
Of the same story
Says
When the crowd
Saw it
They were afraid
And they glorified God
Who had given
Such authority
To men
You catch the difference there?
The crowd glorified God
But they missed
The fact
That Jesus
Himself
Was God
Right
They were afraid
They glorified God
For giving such authority
To a man
But they missed
That he himself
Was God
Philippians
Chapter 2
Verse 9
States that
God
Has exalted
Jesus Christ
It's not enough
For us just to believe
In God
But we must believe
In the Son
Of God
The One
The Person
Jesus Christ
Has accomplished
Work on our behalf
Another text
Exalting
Christ
Revelation
Chapter 5
Turn there
Verse 11
John's account
Of his vision
Beginning in verse 11
Then I looked
And I heard around the throne
The living creatures
And the elders
The voice of many angels
Numbering myriads
And myriads
And thousands
Of thousands
Saying with a loud voice
Worthy is the Lamb
Who was slain
To receive power
And wealth
And wisdom
And might
And honor
And glory
And blessing
And I heard
Every creature
In heaven
On earth
And under the earth
And the sea
And all that is in them
Saying to him
Who sits on the throne
And to the Lamb
Be blessing
And honor
And glory
And might
Forever and ever
And the four living creatures
Said amen
And the elders
Fell down
And worship
The Lamb
You can see
Is the one
Who is exalted
In heaven
Ephesians chapter 1
Beginning in verse 19
You can try to get there
I'm going to keep reading though
Paul prays the Ephesians
Will know
The immeasurable greatness
Of Jesus' power
Toward us who believe
According to the working
Of his great might
That he worked in Christ
When he raised him
From the dead
And seated him
At his right hand
In the heavenly places
Far above all rule
And authority
And power
And dominion
And above every name
That is named
Not only in this age
But also in the one to come
And he put all things
Under his feet
And gave him as head
Over all things
To the church
Which is his body
The fullness of him
Who fills all in all
We see this picture
That's repeated
Throughout the scriptures
Of Jesus now seated
At the right hand of the Father
Which is the place
Of honor
The Father
Exalts
Christ
These people
Exalted
God
They missed
That Christ himself
Was part of the Trinity
Was God
In flesh
Not us
We exalt
Jesus Christ
This is our faith
The one who has power
To forgive
Sins
The one who by grace
Freely bestows
Forgiveness
Of sins
We don't work
This is unique
For the world religions
Right
We don't work
Our salvation out
We cannot
We are incapable
Of accomplishing this
On our own
Praise God
That he works it in us
That he gives us
This gift
Of faith
Fall on your knees
And praise him
For that
You have no
Thing good
To boast in yourself
Paul said
Far be it for me
To boast in anything
But the cross
Of Christ
Right
That's what we have
To boast in
His work
On our behalf
As a church
We exist
To exalt Christ
I don't know if
Yeah
It's up there
Christ's only church
Exists
To glorify God
Right
To lift him up
By experiencing
Proclaiming
And displaying
The supremacy
Of Jesus Christ
In all things
To all people
I don't have time
This morning
To break that
All down for you
Right
Do you see that
We as genuine
Believers
Right
I hope that if
We were standing
In this crowd
Right
We would have
Seen Jesus
As the son of God
Right
We would have
Experienced
His supremacy
Right
Then we would have
Spent the rest
Of our lives
Proclaiming
And displaying
That very truth
In all things
To all
Peoples
That's what we
Have been called
To
To exalt him
Amongst
The nations
Jesus Christ
The son of God
Who is himself
God
Establishes here
His deity
His authority
Over sin
I hope this morning
That you can
Revel in that
With me
You can rejoice
In the fact
That your sins
Have been forgiven
In Christ
That you can say
With confidence
That when he
Hung on that
Cross
And bore
The wrath
Of God
That he
Was bearing
The wrath
For your
Sin
That you
Know
That it
Was
Stricken
From the
Record
Because
Of his
Work
That you
Know
That your
Name
Was written
In the
Lamb's
Book of
Life
Before the
Foundation
Of the
World
Because
Of this
Work
That Christ
Would
Accomplish
One
Day
That you
Can say
That with
Confidence
That the
Spirit of
God
Has worked
In you
A new
Heart
So that
You can
Believe
And you
Have
Believed
And many
People get
Perplexed
At that
Point
But what
If I
Don't
Know
Don't
Overcomplicate
It
Just believe
Repent
And believe
It's a
Simple
Gospel
Call
If you
Don't
Live your
Life
In light
Of that
Truth
The
Same
Is for
You
Repent
And believe
Turn
From your
Sin
And turn
To God
Let's
Pray
Together