WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.620 We're going to read this evening from Mark's Gospel. We're reading in Mark chapter 2, 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:14.480 ! and the first 12 verses of that chapter. Let's hear and read together from God's Word. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:21.199 And when He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home, 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:26.880 and many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:35.420 And He was preaching the Word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:42.019 men. And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him. 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:47.120 And when they'd made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.420 And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:59.820 My son, your sins are forgiven. Now, some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:08.659 hearts, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? 00:01:08.659 --> 00:01:16.879 And immediately, Jesus, perceiving in His Spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:26.920 said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:37.039 paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise, take up your bed, and walk? But you may know that 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:44.120 the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:55.020 Rise, pick up your bed, and go home. And He rose and immediately picked up His bed and went out before 00:01:55.019 --> 00:02:06.539 them all. So that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.719 This is the Word of God, and to His name be the praise and the glory. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:19.159 So as David said at the introduction, we are in the summer months working through a series 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:25.659 in the evenings called Questions Jesus Asked from the Gospels. And tonight we're in Mark's Gospel, 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:31.479 and a passage that, as David also said, raises lots of different questions. Questions that Jesus 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:38.639 asks, and questions that we ask of ourselves. Not just questions for the people who were in this 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:43.279 episode that we've got recorded for us, not just for the first readers, but for us today as we live 00:02:43.279 --> 00:02:48.000 our lives in Edinburgh. Well, David read the passage for us, and I wondered if one of the questions that 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:56.099 you asked yourself was, Do I have four friends who would carry me to healing if that's what it took? 00:02:56.139 --> 00:03:03.459 Because we live in a world that's inherently busy. We're always doing things. We're disconnected from 00:03:03.459 --> 00:03:08.579 one another. We want to be autonomous in our lives. Each one of us wants to take control for the 00:03:08.580 --> 00:03:14.640 things that we do. We want to have nobody to rule over us, tell us how we are to live our lives. We're 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:22.480 independent. We want to live apart from authorities outside of ourselves. But at the same time, we know 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:30.080 our frailty, and we know our weakness. We know that we are not people who can depend on ourselves. And this 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:37.520 passage exposes it for us. Because the man that we see here is not in any capacity for self-determination 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:43.280 and self-governance. This is a man who's got tremendous need, and he's got absolutely no way 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:51.240 of doing anything about it by himself. He's utterly reliant on others to help him. Or maybe we were 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:58.780 asking ourselves, okay, I've got four friends, but what do I need to learn from those four friends? What 00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:05.040 are the things that they do that I need to put into practice in my life? How can their example be a 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:09.939 lesson for me? Hey, can I be a better friend? So there are definitely things that we can learn from 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:18.439 these friends. Determination, perseverance, faith. But there's a bigger question at stake, an ultimate 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:24.740 question. And the question doesn't actually come from Jesus. It comes from those opposed to him. 00:04:25.599 --> 00:04:34.420 Who can give sins but God alone? And that is to ask, who is the one who can free me from my sickness, 00:04:34.420 --> 00:04:43.319 my suffering, my guilt, my shame, my hurt, my isolation, and loneliness, except God alone? 00:04:44.780 --> 00:04:53.639 What we read, what David read, was an account of a miracle, but it actually transforms into a story 00:04:53.639 --> 00:05:00.520 about identity. So if you're here tonight and you're looking for healing, you know that you need healing, 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:08.699 deep heart level healing that doesn't just heal your physical symptoms. It gets right to the source 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:14.859 of where all your worries and your pains and your fears begin. You need to know the one who has the 00:05:14.859 --> 00:05:20.620 power and the authority to bring that kind of healing. So we're going to look through the passage 00:05:20.620 --> 00:05:28.779 today together in three headings. And the first one is faith that breaks through. So just to set the 00:05:28.779 --> 00:05:34.579 scene for us a little bit, Jesus has been on a preaching tour. He's been around the Galilee, 00:05:35.479 --> 00:05:40.819 and he's come back home to Capernaum, which is where he set up as home base when he left Nazareth. 00:05:41.359 --> 00:05:48.699 In Mark chapter one, he told us that Jesus has cast out an unclean spirit in the synagogue. He's healed 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:55.139 loads of people, including one of his best pals, Peter's mother-in-law. And the word is out, 00:05:55.139 --> 00:06:00.579 and people are following Jesus. They're coming to him for his teaching and for his healing. Crowds are 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:06.639 flocking around him. They're maybe in Jesus's own house, but I think it's more likely that they're 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:12.860 gathered in Peter's house. And Mark explains that the house is so full that the doorway is jammed with 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:19.479 people. It's standing room only. People are spilling out onto the street, desperate to just catch a 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:30.400 fragment of Jesus's message. And into this jostling arrive four friends bringing a paralyzed man on a 00:06:30.400 --> 00:06:37.960 stretcher to Jesus. But because of the crowds that are all around him, they can't get to him. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:47.680 Mark talks about crowds 40 times in the first 10 chapters of Mark. So crowds are the audience that 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:55.079 hear Jesus speak. But Jesus has, while Jesus does have compassion for the crowds, we don't really 00:06:55.079 --> 00:07:01.639 read about the crowds coming to believe in Jesus. In terms of their faith and their understanding, 00:07:02.900 --> 00:07:10.680 crowds in Mark tend to be pretty passive. The one thing that crowds do regularly do in Mark 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:15.660 is obstruct people from getting to Jesus. And that's what's happening here. 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:21.060 I think it's quite interesting in the original languages, the words for crowd and the word for 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:29.860 house are alliterative. That is, they start with the same sound. Oikos is house and ochlos is crowd. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:35.540 So you can see how they kind of sound similar. And I think that this is a literary tool that Mark's 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:41.920 using to set up insiders and outsiders. You've got the crowd who are outside, who are gathered, 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.900 who are passive. And then you've got the insiders, the people who are in the house, who are close to 00:07:46.900 --> 00:07:54.540 Jesus, who understand who he is and what he's come to do. Not just physically inside the house, 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.460 but are part of the group who really know him or know something of him. So these four friends, 00:08:01.520 --> 00:08:08.040 they can't get near to Jesus because the crowd is blocking the entrance. But these four, 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:17.480 five people have got eyes of faith and they see a way to Jesus that those without faith just can't see. 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:25.140 Palestinian homes at the time typically would have had a flat roof and there would have been 00:08:25.140 --> 00:08:30.759 kind of brick buildings with cross beams. And then there'd be like kind of crisscrossed sticks. 00:08:31.020 --> 00:08:35.860 Then there'd be thatch on top of that. And then they'd put like a kind of hard mud stuff on top of it. 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:40.860 And they'd compact it really hard down. So you'd get this flat roof that kind of doubled up like a 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:45.519 terrace. So in the summertime, when it was really hot and stuffy inside, you'd come up in the evening to 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:53.580 the terrace and catch some fresh air. And they also had typically a stone staircase or maybe a ladder 00:08:53.580 --> 00:09:00.539 on the outside for access to the roof. And that's what these friends do. They start climbing onto the 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:09.779 roof and breaking through. And the roof's really hard packed with dried mud and sticks and everything 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:14.759 else holding it together. It's strong enough for people to walk on. So it's not like they could just 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:21.599 stand up there and lift the hatch. That's why Mark describes it as digging through it. They're digging 00:09:21.599 --> 00:09:28.860 through the roof to get to Jesus. But they do. And they dig a hole big enough to lower down a man 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:35.840 on a stretcher. And they lower the paralyzed man down. And he lands in front of Jesus. 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:46.039 This is determination. An incredible display of strength from all the parties on the roof. 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:51.980 The four friends, they're willing to rip somebody's house apart. I kind of imagine Peter looking at Jesus 00:09:51.980 --> 00:09:56.580 and looking at the roof and then looking at Jesus again, as if to say, this is my ceiling that's coming 00:09:56.580 --> 00:10:01.360 in. But also the man who's being Lord shows incredible faith to be carried and to be Lord. 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:07.480 He's put trust in his friends. But more than that, he's got faith, real faith. They all do that Jesus 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:13.600 can heal him. Well, if all the people inside are put off by the dust and the debris, Jesus 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:19.639 isn't put out at all. Despite all the clattering, verse five says, when Jesus saw their faith, 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:28.379 he said to the paralytic, son or child, your sins are forgiven. Well, first of all, if you were in that 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:35.819 room on that day, when everyone's crowded around to hear Jesus preaching, this might be the funniest 00:10:35.819 --> 00:10:43.819 thing, the strangest thing that Jesus might say, or that you might expect Jesus to say. Why? Because 00:10:43.820 --> 00:10:48.640 everyone knows, everyone's got eyes. They can see that this man came about his legs and yet Jesus 00:10:48.640 --> 00:10:55.200 has started on his soul. Jesus doesn't see what's on the outside. Jesus sees what's on the inside. 00:10:56.700 --> 00:11:02.700 Verse five tells us that Jesus saw their faith. Now it's tempting, I think, to presume that the man 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:09.780 in the stretcher is so completely disempowered that he's kind of got no choice in what happens. 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:15.600 But I don't think that's the case at all. We see the faith of the four stretcher bearers, 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:23.419 they carry this friend to be healed. But you think about it, the paralyzed man must have had faith too. 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:33.579 He is, he's been willing to lie on his bed, on his mat, been paraded through the streets, 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:39.759 carried onto a roof, precariously lowered through the ceiling in front of a massive, 00:11:39.779 --> 00:11:47.399 crowd of people with the real risk of falling or slipping and the physical pain, but also the 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:56.620 embarrassment that that might bring. Someone doesn't submit to that sort of risk unless they're really 00:11:56.620 --> 00:12:04.539 sure that they're going to find what they're looking for. And that makes sense because all over 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:10.799 scripture, we know that no one can be forgiven for their sins on the account of somebody else's 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:19.639 faith. We must each come to a saving faith in Jesus by ourselves in order to be saved. 00:12:20.439 --> 00:12:25.339 It's not that these, Jesus looked at the four men and said, these four men who've carried this are 00:12:25.339 --> 00:12:30.240 so faithful, I'm going to forgive the sins of the man in the stretcher. That's not how the Bible works. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:37.100 John 3, 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him 00:12:37.100 --> 00:12:43.860 should not perish, but have everlasting life. Those who believe are saved to everlasting life. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:48.720 Romans chapter 14 says, so then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:55.379 No one else can give account on your behalf. So we know that it's not only the four carriers 00:12:55.379 --> 00:13:02.679 who have faith, but the paralytic man has faith in Jesus to save him as well. And that's evidenced 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:09.700 also, I think, in the way that Jesus addresses him. Jesus calls him child, which is a term that a 00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:16.120 person of authority over somebody would use in an affectionate way, in a caring way for somebody 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:23.559 who's under them. Jesus declares this man's sins forgiven on the basis of his faith in Christ, 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:30.919 his own faith. I think we've got here a warning and a comfort for the church. The warning is, 00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:39.119 of course, none of us can rely on the faith of anybody else to be saved. Not your godly grandmother 00:13:39.119 --> 00:13:44.599 who prays for you every night. Not your loving parents who bring you to church every week. Not 00:13:44.599 --> 00:13:52.119 your pastor, no matter how many times you come to hear him preach. You must come to your own 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:58.899 saving faith in Jesus. You must be brought to see the reality of your own particular sin, 00:13:59.620 --> 00:14:07.000 to repent of your own particular sin, and put your trust in Jesus as the one who is able and who will 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:13.480 forgive you of your sin. Nobody else can do that for you. And then at the same time, there's real comfort 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:19.919 here also, especially, I think, for people who haven't been brought up in church, who don't come 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:27.179 from prayerful parents, examples of what it means to live by the gospel. People who don't have, 00:14:27.339 --> 00:14:33.240 didn't grow up with church communities around them to guide them. Jesus doesn't need you to have a 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:38.459 particular kind of background. He doesn't need you to come from a certain kind of community. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:44.480 He wants you. And all you need to do is believe that that's true. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:51.920 So we've seen that it's by faith that any of us are to come to Jesus. And as we go on, we see 00:14:51.920 --> 00:14:59.840 that when we do, Jesus will give us exactly what we need, which is point two, healing for the heart. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:06.920 At this point, the man is still lying on a mat at Jesus' feet. He wanted Jesus to heal his legs. 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:15.579 Jesus starts instead by forgiving his sins. And Jesus isn't getting things mixed up. Jesus has not misread 00:15:15.579 --> 00:15:24.319 what the man's intentions were. This from Jesus is a sign of a true physician. Jesus sees past the 00:15:24.319 --> 00:15:32.000 patient's presenting symptoms in order to treat the underlying cause. Jesus can see the man's physical 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:39.559 needs. Everybody can. But he also knows that the man's real condition, the man's spiritual condition 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:47.659 is much more serious than the condition of his legs. Jesus knows that all are brokenness. Every disease, 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:54.080 disorder, degeneration of our body and our minds is downstream of something else. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:02.139 Ever since Genesis chapter three, when Adam and Eve took the fruit they were forbidden to take, 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:13.060 they sinned and mankind broke a relationship with God, a closeness with God. And the world is not the 00:16:13.060 --> 00:16:21.300 way that it was originally designed to be. It's been corrupted. It's under curse. Sin is fractured 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:30.019 right through the entire created order. There's not a chasm that exists. Sin is the reason that bodies 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:40.159 fall apart. Why hearts break. Why crops fail. Why roofs fall in and need repaired. This man's paralysis 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:50.459 is one expression of a world ruined by sin. And like every sickness, every disease, every funeral that you've 00:16:50.460 --> 00:16:59.139 been to. These are all symptoms of a world rocking from Genesis three and sin in the world. And it 00:16:59.139 --> 00:17:05.319 points us back, doesn't it? To our deepest problem. No matter what our physical ailments are that we came 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:12.079 here with tonight. Our real problem is a heart problem. It's a sin problem. It's our rebellion against 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:19.340 God. You're suffering your loneliness, your shattered relationships, the jealousy that lives inside you and 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:27.379 eats away. These are all the result of sin in the world. But Jesus doesn't just heal the symptoms of 00:17:27.379 --> 00:17:34.259 sin. He heals sin itself. There's a Dutch theologian called Herman Bavinck, you might have heard mentioned 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:41.459 from this pulpit before. And he says, in Christ there appears divine, a divine power that's stronger than all 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:49.319 the corrupting and destructive power. This latter power he attacks, not only peripherally by healing 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:57.259 diseases and performing all kinds of miracles, but centrally by penetrating the core, breaking and 00:17:57.259 --> 00:18:06.259 overcoming them. Jesus heals diseases. He performs miracles, but he also penetrates to your very core, 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:13.819 healing you from the sin that sickness and disease and suffering and loneliness are symptoms of. 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:21.539 Jesus can treat your most visible need. He's just the right to do that for this man. He's capable of 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:29.119 that. He has all the power. But he's much more concerned with your sin-sick heart because it's your 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:36.240 heart, your sin in your heart that will keep you from receiving his richest, purest, truest blessing. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:44.299 Now it's fair to say not everybody who is in the house is happy with Jesus's words. The scribes in 00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:51.660 particular, they think to themselves, this man is blaspheming. And they ask the question, which 00:18:51.660 --> 00:19:01.660 transforms this passage from being about a man coming to Jesus for healing to being one about identity. 00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:12.380 Jesus is true identity. So thirdly, finally, authority to forgive. So Jesus knows the murmurings in the 00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:19.259 heart of the scribes, these religious experts, these guys trained in Bible law. And the thing is, 00:19:19.620 --> 00:19:27.540 they're not wrong. They ask who can forgive sin but God alone. And they're right. These guys were 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:34.759 paying attention when they did their doctrine of God class in seminary. It's God alone who can forgive 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:43.440 sin. God's the one who has power and the authority to forgive sin. God's the maker of heaven and earth. 00:19:43.940 --> 00:19:52.720 He holds all power over sin and death. But also, God's the one who can forgive sin because God is the one 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:58.759 who's being sinned against. This morning, you guys are going to think that we coordinated this in some way. 00:19:59.120 --> 00:20:01.759 I can assure you that there's not a lot of coordination goes on between me and David. 00:20:02.779 --> 00:20:08.539 David preached from Psalm 51. And in it, King David is repenting of his sins. 00:20:10.180 --> 00:20:14.279 Obvious sins that we read about in the Old Testament. We know what he's done 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:23.240 against other people. But David's words are, against you and you only have I sinned, Lord. 00:20:23.980 --> 00:20:28.680 The Psalm is repenting of sins that he's committed. And he's repenting to God because he knows that 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:36.200 ultimately God is the one that he sinned against. This is unfair on my children, but they're not here. 00:20:36.339 --> 00:20:43.460 But if you're a parent, you know this because one kid will thump the other kids and they'll come running 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:50.700 in and they'll say, I'm sorry, dad. And you say, you don't say sorry to me. You don't thump me. 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:54.180 Say sorry to your sister. She's the one that you've wronged. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:03.039 You have to apologize to the one. You have to be forgiven for your sins, for the things you've done 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:09.100 wrong by the one that you've done wrong against. The one who's felt the loss. The one who's bore 00:21:09.099 --> 00:21:16.219 the cost. As the maker of the whole world, the creator of all human beings, every sin that we 00:21:16.219 --> 00:21:23.599 commit is a sin against God. So the scribes know this, and they've got two options open to them. 00:21:24.619 --> 00:21:31.740 Either this is blasphemy, Jesus is saying that he's equal to God, and he's guilty of breaking a law 00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:39.700 which is punishable by death. Or Jesus is God. But the thing is, one of those options simply doesn't 00:21:39.700 --> 00:21:47.000 fit with their worldview. They're so ingrained in their position in society, their collective 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:54.900 interpretation of scripture. They just can't see a miracle as a miracle, but they see it as a challenge 00:21:54.900 --> 00:22:03.300 to their authority. In the Brothers Karamazov, there's not enough Dostoevsky in this pulpit. 00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:09.380 Dostoevsky imagines Christ returning to earth at the time of the Spanish Inquisition in the 16th 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:14.400 century. The people recognize him. Jesus performs a miracle on the street. People know who he is. 00:22:15.560 --> 00:22:20.920 And the grand inquisitor, the one, the cardinal, who is running the Inquisition, 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:28.860 immediately has him arrested and put in prison. Why? Because the presence of the real Christ 00:22:28.860 --> 00:22:35.019 threatens the religious system that they've built. That's exactly what the scribes are doing here. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:40.220 They don't rejoice that sins are forgiven. They're afraid of losing control. 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:50.840 This isn't scribe bashing just because they're an easy target. It's a reminder to anyone who wants 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:56.079 to live by theological competence, which should be all of us. We all want to know what the Bible teaches, 00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:06.859 why it's important. But we must not let ourselves build ourselves into theological blind spots or hold 00:23:06.859 --> 00:23:15.240 so tight to learning and intellectual pursuit with our minds that we fail to cling on to Jesus 00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:23.400 in our hearts. The scribes of all the doctrine. It was our hearts that were wrong. And that combination 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:32.480 is open to any of us. Jesus doesn't dodge this accusation of blasphemy. He asks him a question 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:39.640 about which is easier. And the easiest thing for Jesus to have said would have said, 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:44.080 look, don't get me wrong, guys, I'm not claiming to be God here. 00:23:46.080 --> 00:23:50.160 I'm speaking metaphorically, of course. But he doesn't do that, does he? 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:59.880 He says, which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk? 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:08.860 So on the face of it, forgiving sins is harder. There's only one person that can do that. 00:24:10.060 --> 00:24:18.000 It deals with the state of our eternal soul for all of eternity. Much more serious than physical illness. 00:24:19.580 --> 00:24:27.240 But saying your sins are forgiven is in a sense easier because there's nobody in the room who can 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:33.400 ratify that. Nobody in the room that can prove it. There's no visible test that they can run. 00:24:35.120 --> 00:24:41.960 You could say it, be a fraud, and no one would really know. But saying get up and walk, 00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:47.400 like Jesus does to this man lying in front of him who's been paralyzed and carried through a roof 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:53.759 by his friends because he was so helpless, that's something that you can verify in about three seconds. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:25:02.619 Does the man get up or does he not? Jesus, of course, heals the man, and immediately he arises. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:13.279 Jesus performs the harder to fake thing publicly, verifiably, to prove that he really did do the 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:20.440 thing that they couldn't verify. The visible miracle is like the receipt for the invisible one. 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:27.840 But notice something else that Jesus says. In verse 10, Jesus doesn't just simply say, 00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:35.960 I've got the authority to do this. He says, the son of man. He calls himself the son of man. 00:25:36.580 --> 00:25:42.039 And to us, when we read that, it might sound quite humble, like Jesus is saying, I'm just a man. 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:50.700 But that's not at all what first century Jews heard. It's definitely not what every scribe in the room 00:25:50.700 --> 00:25:56.279 heard either. They knew exactly where it came from. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, 00:25:57.420 --> 00:26:05.180 there's a prophecy. Daniel saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:12.440 the ancient of days and to him was given dominion, glory, and everlasting kingdom so that all peoples 00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:19.019 and nations should worship him. You see, the son of man isn't merely human. The son of man is the 00:26:19.019 --> 00:26:26.180 coming heavenly king. He comes with God's own authority. He receives worship that belongs to God 00:26:26.180 --> 00:26:34.400 alone. His kingdom never ends. So when Jesus says, the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:44.300 what he's saying is utterly astounding. He is saying, I am Daniel's son of man, the eternal king, 00:26:45.060 --> 00:26:53.540 the ruler to whom God has entrusted all authority, the one before whom all the world will one day stand. 00:26:55.040 --> 00:27:01.460 Suddenly the question changes. It's not about, can Jesus forgive sins? The scribes are now have to ask 00:27:01.460 --> 00:27:07.539 themselves, if Daniel's son of man is standing here, who else can forgive sins? 00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:17.519 And here's a surprise. Daniel's glorious king is the same son of man who appears later in Mark's gospel. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:23.079 In chapter 10, it says the son of man, Jesus says about himself, the son of man came not to be served, 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:34.119 but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. This king who possesses all authority, 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:44.319 uses authority not to condemn sinners, but to save them. The judge takes the judgment. The king carries 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:54.299 the cross. The one who forgives sin pays for sin. Look, we read this story and we ask ourselves all 00:27:54.299 --> 00:28:02.819 sorts of questions. Maybe we ask ourselves, am I a good friend to carry my brother or sister who needs 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:07.700 healing in whatever circumstances they are? No matter what it takes, no matter the cost to me, 00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:16.180 no matter how much effort it is, am I a faithful friend? But here's the truth. You're not the faithful 00:28:16.180 --> 00:28:23.019 friend carrying the stretcher. In this story, spiritually, you're the one lying on the mat, 00:28:24.620 --> 00:28:31.620 helpless, desperate, desperately in need of healing, completely unable to help yourself, 00:28:31.619 --> 00:28:41.459 utterly reliant on the kindness of someone else. Sin has left you paralyzed, not just with broken legs. 00:28:42.739 --> 00:28:49.000 It's ravished your whole being, your body, your mind, and your soul. And yet, in Jesus, 00:28:50.199 --> 00:28:56.939 Jesus is the one who's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He's the one with all the power and 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:03.980 all authority to heal, not just our presenting symptoms, but the very source of all our brokenness, 00:29:04.519 --> 00:29:11.620 all our hurt, all our pain, all our suffering, all our lostness. When Jesus went to his death, 00:29:12.259 --> 00:29:20.559 he took on himself the wrath, God's righteous wrath that was justly deserving of us for our sin. 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:29.379 On the way to the cross, Jesus had been so badly physically hurt that he couldn't even carry the 00:29:29.379 --> 00:29:37.000 cross that he was given to carry up the hill. But he did carry your sin and my sin. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:44.759 And when Jesus was carried up, it wasn't by his friends, it was by his enemies who nailed him to a 00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:52.220 cross in the most cruel and excruciating death. The one with all a power and authority over sin. 00:29:53.039 --> 00:30:00.599 The power to forgive sin became sin for you. So that by faith in him, you can be healed from your most 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:08.420 urgent disease. So that you can be forgiven for your sins. So that you can live today free from the guilt 00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:16.420 and the shame that sin brings. So that the fault line that was created that separates you from your heavenly 00:30:16.420 --> 00:30:24.519 father, it can be restored. So that you can be reconciled with the true God of heaven. Let's pray. 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:35.100 Our loving God, you have the power and authority over all things. You're the creator of the whole world. 00:30:35.099 --> 00:30:42.779 And despite our sinful rebellion against you, you provide for us salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, 00:30:43.459 --> 00:30:49.179 the God man. Father, we thank you for Jesus. He walked the same earth we walked, breathed the same 00:30:49.179 --> 00:30:56.859 air that we breathe, ate and slept, worked like we do, yet has the power and authority over sin and death. 00:30:57.919 --> 00:31:03.159 Lord, help us tonight to see our need for Jesus more clearly. Show us our helplessness apart from him. 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:09.720 But show us to the forgiveness that's offered through him. Help us to cling to him by faith, 00:31:10.120 --> 00:31:15.460 no matter the individual circumstances of our lives. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.