Open your Bible, if you will, to Mark chapter
2 and we are going to embark upon the opening twelve verses of this chapter, one of the
more wonderful and memorable stories of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. Before we look at the account of these twelve
verses, however, I want to get a little bit of a running start. It may seem like a question with an obvious
answer, but sometimes things aren't as obvious as they ought to be for some, so let me ask
it anyway. What is the most distinctive benefit that
Christianity has to offer the world? What is the most distinctive benefit that
Christianity has to offer the world? I suppose there would be a lot of suggested
answers. There are some people who think the great
legacy of Christianity is a kind of morality, a kind of ethical approach to life. There are others who think that the great
legacy of Christianity is that it provides a certain kind of love and sacrificial affection
for people, social responsibility. Others think that it provides a kind of tranquility
in life that they call peace. There are some who think that what Christianity
really offers people is fulfillment in life, or sense of satisfaction, or purpose. Summing it all up, there are folks who think
that Christianity's greatest benefit is to provide people a measure of religious happiness. Well, I would agree with you that there is
contained in the pages of Scripture a moral standard, an ethical standard. I agree with you that Christians are marked
by love and peace and happiness. I agree with you that Christians express social
responsibility based upon a higher motivation than any other people and there is amazing
fulfillment, purpose and satisfaction in Christianity. But none of those is the great benefit of
Christianity, those are simply by-products of the great benefit. There is one great benefit that the Christian
gospel offers that transcends all other benefits and leads to all other benefits. It is a benefit frankly that corresponds directly
to man's greatest need, and that is where Christianity marks itself out from all other
religions on the planet. It alone addresses man's greatest need. There are religions that offer ethics and
morality, and social responsibility, and family values, and a measure of love and peace, somewhat
a measure of fulfillment, satisfaction, maybe even a certain measure of happiness. But what is man's greatest need? The greatest need of man simply put is to
escape the wrath of God poured out on sinners eternally in hell. The greatest need of man is to escape the
wrath of God poured out eternally on sinners in hell. Only Christianity, only the Christian gospel
offers the benefit that meets that need. Only through the Christian gospel can anyone
escape the wrath of God poured out on sinners eternally in hell. What sends people to hell? You say sin. No. It's not sin alone that sends people to hell. It is unforgiven sin...it is unforgiven sin
that sends people to hell. Hell is only occupied by people whose sins
have never been and will never be forgiven. Heaven, on the other hand, is occupied by
people whose sins have all been forgiven, therefore what causes people to escape the
wrath of God in eternal hell is the forgiveness of their sins. That is man's greatest need, to move him from
hell to heaven. Christianity alone offers that very benefit,
the forgiveness of sins. The greatest need of every soul is divine
forgiveness of all sin and the greatest benefit of Christianity then is the provision of that
complete forgiveness. God uniquely presents Himself in Scripture
as a God who is willing to forgive, who is eager to forgive, who is by nature compassionate,
kind, loving, merciful and seeks to save sinners from His own wrath. This is the message of the Christian gospel. You have been assuming that the Christian
church, or the Christian gospel, or the Christian religion has any other message than that,
you've been wrong. That is the message. In Acts chapter 13 and verse 38 we read, "Therefore
let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you
and it is granted to all those who believe." When you believe the gospel, you receive forgiveness
of sins. In Ephesians chapter 1, that familiar statement
in verse 7, "In Him," that is in Christ, "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us." That is the message of Christianity, God will
forgive your sins. It is God's desire to forgive your sins. Forgiveness is consistent with His nature. Not just in the New Testament, but in the
Old as well. Back in Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7, God introduces
Himself...this is God speaking about Himself and He says, "The Lord, the Lord God compassionate
and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps loving
kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin." That is God introducing Himself. In Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 17 we read, "You
are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness." In Psalm 103:12, that memorable statement,
"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Isaiah 38:17 says, "You have cast all my sins
behind Your back." Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I," says God, "I am
the one that wipes out your transgressions for My own sake and I will not remember your
sins." That is amazing...that is amazing. There's nothing more offensive to God than
sin because He is absolutely holy and yet He finds glory in the forgiveness of sinners. Nothing is more godlike than forgiveness. Nothing is more foreign to human nature than
forgiveness. Nothing is more alien to us than forgiveness
because nothing is more consistent with being sinful than being vengeful. God understands that justice has to be met. God has actually said that it is an abomination
for men to justify a sinner. It is equal to the injustice of declaring
an innocent person guilty. In Proverbs 17:15 Scripture says, "He who
justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination
to the Lord. It is an abomination to me to justify those
who are wicked." And yet God does it and God alone does it
because God alone can forgive sin. It is God, according to Romans 4, who justifies
the ungodly. How can He do that? He can do that because His justice has been
satisfied in the death of Jesus Christ who is a substitute for the sinner, who dies in
the sinner's place. All the sins of all those who will ever repent
and believe were placed on Christ and He died in our place, therefore satisfying the justice
of God, God's justice being satisfied by a perfect substitutionary sacrifice, God can
forgive sinners who repent and believe. And thus those sinners escape hell and are
promised eternal heaven. This is the message of the Christian gospel,
that Jesus came to forgive sinners. Scripture is very clear that only God can
do this, that only God, the One who is the judge and the lawgiver, and the executioner,
God who is the One offended is the only One who can forgive. And He does and He will and He delights to
and He has and He will continue to do so. This story is about forgiveness. Let's read it. Follow your Bible along from verse 1 as I
read. "Speaking of Jesus, when He had come back
to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home and many were gathered
together so that there was no longer room, not even near the door, and He was speaking
the Word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic
carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the
crowd, they removed the roof above Him and when they had dug an opening, they let down
the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic,
'Son, your sins are forgiven.' Some of the scribes were sitting there and
reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?' Immediately Jesus aware in His Spirit that
they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, 'Why are you reasoning about
these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your
sins are forgiven? Or to say, Get up and pick up your pallet
and walk? But so 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, get
up, pick up your pallet and go home.' And he got up and immediately picked up the
pallet and went out in the sight of everyone so that they were all amazed and glorifying
God saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.'" Now, we're only in the second chapter of Mark,
but our Lord has already demonstrated His authority over disease, hasn't He? Over all kinds of diseases. He has demonstrated His authority over demons. They must obey Him. He has demonstrated His authority in teaching,
by proclaiming the truth and doing it in ways that had never been done before. He has authority over disease. He has authority over demons. He has authority over t he realm of truth. Now He wants us to understand that He has
authority to forgive sins...authority to forgiven sins. This is what is at the heart of this unforgettable
miracle. Now the story is full of people. It's all about people. So we're going to kind of look at it as though
we were looking at it through the characters that play roles in the story. There is the crowd. There is the paralytic. There is the Savior. There are the leaders and then we return to
the crowd at the end. Every story kind of breaks into three parts. You have a setting, you have action, and you
have reaction. As you go through the stories in the record
of the life of our Lord, that's kind of how it is. There's a certain setting which gives meaning
to the story. There's the action in the story. Then there's the response of the reaction
and that's what we're going to look at. The setting is the curious crowd. The action involves the believing paralytic,
the forgiving Savior, and the hostile leaders...the response again from the astonished crowd. Let's work our way through the story. Let's begin with the curious crowd and get
the setting. "When He had come back to Capernaum, several
days afterward, it was heard that He was at home and many were gathered together so that
there was no longer room, not even near the door, and He was speaking the Word to them. Now when He had come back to Capernaum indicates
to us that He had been somewhere. He had been somewhere for a period of time,
several days had passed. That is a very broad term. In fact, Luke is equally indefinite. Luke says, "And it came about one day," or
literally in the Greek, "And it happened." Now we know where Jesus has been. Go back to verse 45. He could not enter a city, it says in the
middle of the verse, because the man that He had healed from leprosy had been told not
to say anything, but to be quiet and go all the way to Jerusalem and show himself to the
priests and go through the necessary cleansing and sacrifice to reenter society from being
an outcast as a leper. He didn't do that, he went everywhere and
just told everybody about the healing and that just stirred up the excitement of the
crowds because leprosy was the worst of the worst. And so instead of obeying Jesus, he spread
it everywhere to the extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, stayed out
at an unpopular areas and they were coming to Him from everywhere. He couldn't go into a city because the crush
of the city was so overwhelming. Now remember, everywhere He went, He healed
everybody. And it just became totally debilitating to
Him because of the crush of the crowd of people with all their physical infirmities and needs. Jesus was certainly willing to heal, and He
did. But what was more important to Him, go back
to verse 38 of chapter 1, He said, "Desiring to leave Capernaum," He was in Capernaum when
He said this, "Let's go somewhere else. Let's leave Capernaum." Why? Because verse 37 says, "Everyone's looking
for You." After His healings there, healings of masses
of people, as well as Peter's wife's mother, there was just an innundation of people into
His life and it made it hard for Him to preach. Everybody was clamoring to be healed. And so, He said, "Let's go somewhere else,
for I have to preach for that is what I came for. And He went into their synagogues throughout
all Galilee, all around the Lake, preaching and casting out demons." So for weeks, stretching into months, He's
been away from Capernaum and He's been going all over and He's been healing and He's been
casting out demons and He has been preaching the glorious gospel of salvation, repentance
and faith in God's grace and forgiveness. Now, things have cooled down a little bit
because He's been out in the wilderness for so long, He feels He can reenter Capernaum
and He won't be completely stifled. So it's time to go back. So Mark says, "When He had come back to Capernaum
several days after completing this tour of the lake area, He comes back to essentially
end of the verse says, was home. The home for Jesus during His Galilean ministry
which lasted as long as a year and a half, was Capernaum And very likely, He stayed in
the home of Simon and Andrew, Peter and Andrew. That was His home base. He comes back to this, the largest town on
the Lake, trade center north and south, east and west, busy, busy place, Roman Garrison
there, tax office there...significant place. He comes back. What had He done while He had been gone? Cast out demons, preached. So He comes back. When He arrives at the home of Simon and Andrew,
which is where He was staying, verse 2 says, "Many were gathered together there." That's probably an understatement. It was a mob scene. There was no longer any room for anybody,
not even near the door. It was just completely jammed. Now you need to understand something, folks,
and this is going to be true through His ministry. Crowds were no measure of ministry success. Crowds were no measure of spiritual success. Never does Mark say the crowds were coming
to Jesus in repentance and faith. Never says that. Generally they are curious. That's why I called this first point, "The
curious crowd." They're spiritually passive. They're spiritually indifferent. They're spiritually uncommitted. They want the healing, like in John 6, they
want the food. But they really are not seeking anything spiritual
from Jesus in general. There are, of course, some true followers
and true believers, but they are a small minority. They are the few. The crowd really functions to obstruct Jesus
more than anything, to make it difficult for Him to teach because of the clamor of the
people who want their physical needs met, because of the crush. If He's on the shore, He has to get in a boat
and go offshore, just to get some breathing room from th e crowds. They make it hard for Him to minister, hard
for Him to teach. And even when He's teaching, the interruptions
must have been constant such as this amazing interruption where people start digging through
the roof in the middle of your lesson. It's really only in private with His disciples
that He explains truth inn detail. So crowds are no measure of His success. The curious crowds are drawn by the desire
for more miracles. They are generally indifferent to Jesus' teaching,
except they note the uniqueness of it, such as back in verse 27 where they say, "It's
a new teaching with authority." What is this? We've never heard anything like this. The similar response at the end of the Sermon
on the Mount, we never heard a man speak like this. He speaks with authority. They marked the uniqueness of it. But they were not particularly interested
in the truth of it. Nonetheless, He was speaking the Word to them. The Word means the Gospel, the Word from God,
the Word about salvation, the Word about the Kingdom, entering the Kingdom through repentance
and faith. It was the same message He gave at Nazareth. And You remember Luke 4 records that He went
to Nazareth, His own hometown. Gave one message there, told them it was the
favorable year of the Lord. He had come to preach the gospel to the poor,
the blind, the oppressed. He had come to set free t he captives. He had come to proclaim the glorious liberty
of salvation. At the end of that sermon, they try to throw
Him off a cliff and kill Him. They had no interest in the spiritual message,
they were very deeply offended by it because it was predicated on them recognizing their
own wretchedness and sinfulness, spiritual poverty, blindness, lack of liberty, spiritual
oppression. And they didn't want to see themselves that
way, they thought they were the holy. And so, He preached that same message surely
in Capernaum As far as we can tell, there wasn't a reaction as there was in Nazareth,
they didn't try to kill Him in Capernaum, so He made it His home and stayed there. So there is the curious crowd. By the way, just as a footnote. Luke adds, "The Pharisees were mingled in...the
Pharisees were mingled in," it comes from a word meaning separated. These are the guardians of the populous form
of apostate Judaism. They're the fundamentalists, legalists, architects,
and promoters of salvation by works, salvation by self-righteousness. This is the system that dominated the people. Yeah, they believed in the Old Testament,
they believed in resurrection. They believed in angels. They believed in demons. They believed in predestination, human responsibility,
written Law, oral Law. They believed in the coming of Messiah, the
Messianic Kingdom. They were non-priests, they were lay people. They were devoted to keeping the people loyal
to the Old Testament Law, and more importantly, the tradition that a complex set of regulations
that they had developed that sort of became a wall around the Law with the idea that it
was protected and what it did was obscure it and put something else in its place. Couldn't see the Law anymore, all you could
see was the regulations that were around the law. And, of course, it was a damning system because
no one could be saved by keeping the Law. There were only about six thousand of them,
I understand, at this time, but they were pervasive in their influence in the synagogue
system throughout the land of Israel. They began after they returned from the Babylonian
captivity in the time of Ezra about 400 years before this and they had developed for 400
years this system of legalistic Judaism that was nothing but apostate. And the Pharisees were mingled in the crowd
that day in the house because they had started the dog steps of Jesus because they were already
so concerned with what He was saying. They saw Him as a threat. They wanted to trap Him in some blasphemy
so they'd have a reason to execute Him. Now, within the group of the Pharisees, there
was also a group called scribes. If you drop down to verse 6, you can see some
of the scribes are sitting there also. Now the scribes were the theologians that
belonged to the Pharisees' system. The Pharisees were the preachers and teachers
of the system, the theologians sort of put it together. They were the scholastics, they were the scholars. Not all scribes were Pharisees. Not all Pharisees were scribes. There were Pharisees that were not scribes,
there were scribes that were not Pharisees. There were scribes of the Sadducees, there
were independent scribes as well. Jesus would even have been considered a scribe,
who was completely independent of any of those orders or sects. But the New Testament makes a number of references
to the scribes of the Pharisees. Each religious system whether it was the Essenes
or the Sadducees, had their scholars that put their system together and certainly the
Pharisees had theirs. Some of them were sitting there, according
to Luke chapter 5 verse 17. It is the scribes whether scribes of the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, or independent scribes who were called rabbi, which means great one. It was a title of honor that they loved to
hear. Even Jesus, you remember, was called "rabbi." You find that at least five times in the gospel
of John. So they were the teachers and theologians
and they were there as well. They were all there wanting to trap Jesus. Luke 5:17 adds something that's not in Mark. Luke says, "The power of the Lord was present
for Him to perform healing." Now remember now, He had restricted Himself
to the Holy Spirit's power. The Holy Spirit was there in full power to
heal and so that's why the people were there, they were there for the healings. But Jesus was teaching the curious crowd. And we move from the setting to the action. The action begins with the believing sinner. Let's call him the believing sinner, verse
3, "And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men." This is a common scene, I think. According to Matthew's gospel, chapter 4 verse
24, He healed many paralytics. This is the only actual description of an
incident in which He heals a paralytic in the book of Mark, and I think...I don't think
there's one except this one in Luke, as well. But He healed many paralyzed people, paralyzed
by genetic reasons, paralyzed by accident. Paralyzed in some way by some disease. This is the only recorded healing of a paralyzed
man in Mark and Luke, though He did heal many. Luke tells us also that wanted to get the
man in to Christ. They couldn't get him in. They couldn't get him through the door because
it was jammed. So they have brought their friend, this paralyzed
man, might be a paraplegic, maybe a quadriplegic, verse 4 says, "Being unable to get to Him...to
Jesus...because of the crowd." Which reminds us again this is a curious crowd,
not a particularly sympathetic crowd. I would assume that if you had a healer in
there and you knew he was able to hear and you were an able-body person standing in the
doorway, you might move and let somebody who is a quadriplegic being carried through. But this is a very self-seeking, self-serving,
self-indulgent crowd and they didn't move. Being unable to get him in, and they tried. In Luke 5:18 and 19 it says, "The tried." A lot of different ways to do it. The crowd forms a barrier. The crowd is always seen as some kind obstructive
to what has to happen...unyielding, without compassion, indifferent. But these are pretty determined folks. So they removed the roof above Him. And when they had dug an opening, they let
down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. Now you've heard that story so many times,
it has a certain amount of familiarity. That is a shocking event. To say nothing of a very disturbing one if
you're trying to make a point if you're the teacher. Anybody who teaches in public knows that you
like as few distractions as possible. I'm always glad when I look up and see the
crying baby go out the door, you know. I t's just the way it is. You're trying to maintain people's attention
so that they can stay with you in the process. And here is Jesus and they have gone up on
the roof. Now let me tell you how houses were made in
those days, all a one-story house...one-story house. It would have a large center room, or great
room you might even call it today, maybe one story, flat roof, external staircase. That's the way they did it, not internal. Go up the external stairs. The roof was made out of...well what you would
expect...beams, large beams in the roof and then between the larger beams there would
be smaller pieces of wood sticks and then there would be thatch...it would be thatch
that was made, some kind of a grain, some kind of twigs, whatever it was to constitute
thatch, it would go in then there would be mud and mud after the thatch was really thick. Mud would be laid there as well. And on top of the mud would be some kind of
tiles. That's the roof. And that's why it says they dug through the
roof because they would have to remove the tiles and then start digging through the combination
of mud and thatch to find a place where they could pull some sticks apart and large enough
place to lower a man on a bed through the roof. So that's what's going on. They went up on the roof and first of all,
they had to determine examine where Jesus was because t hey didn't want to lower the
man somewhere else in the room. So they figured exactly where Jesus was. If they lowered the man anywhere else in the
room, then they would have to work their way through the immovable crowd so it made a good
assessment of where that was. So you can just see the Lord there, teaching
and He's preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and all of a sudden mud starts falling on
His head, thatch starts coming down all over the place. People are looking up. This is a horrible distraction. And these are such determined people to get
this guy through and it's just the hole keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I don't know how long it would take to dig
say a four-by-six hole in a roof but that's what they did, to lower the man down. It is certainly dangerous, if not dirty, a
major demolition. Luke says they calculated accurately and dropped
the man right in front of Jesus. Mark says, "And when they had dug an opening,
they let down the palate on which the paralytic was lying." Now the crowd has to be focusing on this,
transfixed by it, certainly agitated by it. We know this about those five men. They believed Jesus could heal. Would you agree with that? I mean, they went to some very extreme points
to get him down there. They had to believe that. They had to believe. Certainly the paralytic had to believe it. First of all, he would be embarrassed to be
seen in public anyway because any such kind of infirmity was deemed as a judgment of God
against the man and people like that didn't tend to go out in public. So this man really believed Jesus could heal
him and his four friends believed it to some degree and we know they did because in verse
5 Jesus sees their faith. Now that brings us to change our focus from
the curious crowd, to the believing sinner, to the forgiving Savior. The people coming through the roof say nothing...at
least nothing's recorded...not even, "Excuse me. Hate to interrupt your talk, but..." But Jesus speaks and this is so amazing in
verse 5. "Jesus seeing their faith...Jesus seeing their
faith said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" That is a really interesting statement. Now they all had faith. They all had faith that Jesus could heal. How could they have that faith? Was this some...some supernatural kind of
faith? No...no, they believed He could heal...why? Because He had been doing it. This is natural faith. This is human faith, the same faith that allows
you to go into the hospital and have surgery. Why do you do that? Why do you let somebody put you asleep? And then they wheel you into a room and somebody
slices you open and messes around...why do you do that? You don't know the guy, you don't know how
he treats his wife, his kids, his friends, his enemies. Well what do you think he's going to do to
you? Why do you do that? Because you...you have experienced, that hospitals
are designed to be safe places and doctors are designed to be safe people. And all the people that surround them like
nurses and anesthesiologists and everybody else are highly trained and highly experienced
and they've done this many times, and you can put yourself in their hands and you can
trust them. That's human faith...that's human faith. It's the same faith you exercise when you
go to eat in a restaurant. You've never been in the kitchen in your life
and probably shouldn't ever go to the kitchen. But there's something about human experience
that teaches you that this is something that could be counted upon and that's exactly why
these men did this. There is evidently faith that Jesus can heal. And it's such a strong faith because they
think He's going to heal this man or they wouldn't go through all of this, they're going
to have to pay for the repair of the whole roof. They're going to have to embarrass the man
if it doesn't happen. They have such confidence. Why? Because Jesus not only could heal, but He
healed everybody. We've already learned that. There's no hesitance. So obviously they had whatever that human
faith is that drew the masses to Him, confident that He could heal them. They all had that kind of faith. By the way, this is the first mention of faith
in Mark and it is linked to action. When it says, "Jesus seeing their faith,"
it means that. He could see that they had this kind of faith
in His healing ability because of what they did. It's that...it's the kind of faith you can
see. By the way, biblically faith is always linked
to action. James put it this way, "Faith without works
is dead." Faith acts. Faith overcomes. Faith pursues. Faith strives to its object. But there was something more with this paralytic
than just human faith because although Jesus saw the faith of all of them, He narrows His
statement down and He said specifically to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are...what?...forgiven." Not the rest, but yours. And He saw in him a faith that was not visible
to everybody else. Now Jesus doesn't forgive sins unless the
sinner repents and believes, right? So what did Jesus see in this man? What kind of faith? Not a natural faith, not a human faith, but
a spiritual faith. This is more. This is not just healing, this is salvation. This man's faith was not limited to believing
in Jesus' healing power. This man believed that Jesus was the One who
offered salvation to those who repent. Jesus saw the real deal. And, of course, according to John 2:25, Jesus
didn't need anybody to tell Him what was in the heart of a man because He knew what was
in the heart of the man. He saw the real kind of faith, the faith that
saves, the faith that doesn't come from experience but comes from conviction and that comes from
sovereign regeneration. And He said in a very endearing expression,
"Son." Luke adds that He also called Him, "Friend,"
which is endearing and sympathetic. "Your sins are forgiven." Jesus knew what he really wanted. He wanted healing, sure. But far more than that, he wanted forgiveness. The other guys didn't seem to care about that,
but then again maybe they hadn't really come to grips with their sin because they were
able bodied. The sinner who is paralyzed may have a different
view about his own wretchedness and may see that paralysis as a judgment. Certainly they did in that culture. They just connected those and so did the people
who were ill. But whatever the motivation, or whatever the
stimulation, the man knew himself to be wretched on the inside, as much as wretched on the
outside, and He wanted not just a healing, but he wanted forgiveness and he believed
that this was the one who could bring him forgiveness from God. And so, Jesus on this moment on the basis
of His own personal authority, absolved the man of all his sins. Listen carefully, "Apart from works, " right? He didn't do any works and He obliterated
the guilt and this man went from being sentenced to eternal hell to being given the privilege
of eternal heaven. The man's heart must have been like the Publican
in Luke 18 who said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." That man went home righteousness, Jesus said. Well, this is just what the hostile leaders
were looking for. So in verse 6, we meet them. "But some of the scribes were sitting there
and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak that way? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone.'" By the way, they were right...they were exactly
right. Now here is just the kind of blasphemy they
are looking for, a claim to do what only God can do, forgive sins...this...this is out
of bounds, this is blasphemy. Now what is fascinating about this, please,
it says in verse 6, they weren't saying this, they were just thinking it. The heart is equal to the mind in the Hebrew
thought. We talk about the heart, we usually think
about emotion, but they thought about thought. When they were talking about emotion, they
talked about splanchnon, the bowels or the gut. So He's reading their minds. And they're saying in their minds, not out
loud, why does this man speak that way? He's blaspheming. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And they're right. And so here's their conclusion. He's a blasphemer. He's a blasphemer and that is correct. He is either a blasphemer or He is God. Focus on that, will you, because that's the
point of the whole story. Either Jesus is a blasphemer or He is God. And, folks, that's it, there's no middle ground. Don't come to me that He was a nice-well-meaning
teacher. No. He is either the one who can forgive sin or
He is not. If He can, He's God. If He cannot, He is a blasphemer and He is
saying He can do something that He cannot do and is a fraud and a deceiver. There's no middle ground. Now in their minds, He's a blasphemer and
they knew what the Levitical Law said. Leviticus 24:10 to 16, later in verse 23,
"Kill the blasphemer...kill the blasphemer." We now have blasphemy out of His mouth. We have the Levitical Law which sentences
Him to death. We got what we want. Now Jesus knows they're thinking this, so
He speaks to them. Verse 8, "Immediately Jesus aware in His Spirit
that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, 'Why are you reasoning about
these things in your hearts?'" What a shock that must have been. He read their minds....He read their minds. He's aware of their thoughts. Now if you're debating whether Jesus is a
blasphemer or God, you can start here. Blasphemers don't know what people are thinking,
only God does. First Samuel 16:7, "The Lord looks on the
heart." First Kings 8:39, "For you know the hearts
of all men." First Chronicles 28:9, "For the Lord searches
all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts." Jeremiah 17:10, "I the Lord search the heart." Ezekiel 11:5, "I know t he things that come
into your mind, every one of them." So, if you're wondering whether He is a blasphemer
or whether He is God, those men had first-hand proof on the spot when He read their thoughts. Well then it moves to a second reality. Verse 9, "Which is easier to say to the paralytic? Your sins are forgiven, or to say get up and
pick up your pallet and walk?" Now on the surface you might say, "Well, it's
easier to say pick up your pallet and walk," but that's if you don't consider what it means
by "say." What it means is simply this, to say in the
sense of verifiable affirmation and truth. In other words, to say with conviction, "Because
it is evidently true," to say in a believable way, "Which is it easier to say, is it easier
to say believably so, your sins are forgiven?" Answer? No. Why, how do you prove it? How do you prove that? What's the evidence of that? How do you know when someone's sins have actually
been forgiven? That's not verifiable. You can't say it with evidence that it is
actually true. Now, on the other hand, Jesus says, "Is it
easier to say, 'Get up, pick up your pallet and walk?' and be believable?" It is because if He does it, then you have
proven it, prove you have the power to make it happen and everybody will affirm that what
you said is true. If a man does what Jesus tells him to do,
if he gets up, picks up his bed and walks out...guess what? He is God. Right? He's not a blasphemer. And if He is God who can create and cause
a quadriplegic or a paraplegic in a moment to be completely well, completely whole, completely
restored, He is God. And if He is God, then He can forgive sin,
something only God can do. If He displays the power to heal, if He displays
the power to do creation miracles, He has to be God. And if He is God, then He has the authority
to forgive sin. So, if He has said take up your bed and walk,
and the man takes up his bed and walks, that is evidence that He is God, and it validates
the fact that He said your sins are forgiven. That also becomes reality. Only God can do both. As the Savior/God, He forgives sin and He
also has the power to overrule the effects of sin. He has authority over the consequences of
sin, disease and He has authority over sin itself in terms of its power in the life of
an individual spiritually. He has power over sin's temporal effects and
eternal effects, physical effects and spiritual effects. He has power over demons. He has power over disease. He has power over death. All of that is power over the forces of evil
and the one who has power over the forces of evil also has power over the evil itself. The two are inseparable. By the way, later He delegated His power over
the effects of evil to His followers for a brief period of time, gave them healing power
and the ability to cast out demons, but never delegated to anybody the power and authority
to forgive sin. So He is proving that He can forgive sin by
proving He is God by doing this miracle. And that's what He explains in verses 10 and
11, "So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins
so that you may know that the Son of Man can forgive sin, He said to the paralytic, 'I
say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.' And he got up and immediately picked up t
he pallet and went out in the sight of everyone." Are you still asking the question? Is He God, or is He a blasphemer? Blasphemers don't read minds, blasphemers
don't create new limbs, new bodies. He has to be God. If He is God, it is not blasphemy for Him
to say, 'Your sins are forgiven.'" Three separate commands He gave them in verse
11. "Get up, pick up, go home." And He did it. He got up, picked up and went home...instant,
total, unmistakable display by the Creator/God. Luke adds that, "as he left, He was glorifying
God." He got the full package, right? A new body and a new heart, the whole deal. What a day. I'm sure he was eager to make any contribution
he needed to to the repair of the roof. Don't you think? By the way, the Lord refers to Himself here
in verse 10 as "Son of Man." It's quite interesting to think about that,
Son of Man. Why does He call Himself that? Why not Son of God? Why not Son of God, doesn't that make the
point? He was the Son of God, why not Messiah? Why not the anointed one? Why not Son of David? Why Son of Man? People say, "Well Son of Man is a messianic
title." Well it is in one place in the Old Testament,
Daniel 7:13 and 14, the only time the Son of Man ever refers to Messiah. Every other time you see Son of Man in the
Old Testament, it means man...just man, just plain man, like Psalm 8:4, Psalm 144:3, Psalm
145:12, Ezekiel chapter 2 about four times there. Ezekiel is referred to as Son of Man meaning
He's just human. Why would Jesus choose to use that term? And it's used 80 times in the New Testament,
14 times in Luke. It really was our Lord's favorite term for
Himself. Why...why did He not call Himself Son of God? Why did He not call Himself Son of David,
Messiah, Anointed One, Christ? Well some people say because He was humble. And it's true. It was a title of humility. But it was a title of humility because it
wasn't necessarily associated with being the Messiah. It wasn't necessarily a messianic title. So what does it do? It provides cover for Him, so as not to inflame
His followers, or inflame His enemies. If He went around constantly referring to
Himself as the Son of God, He really doesn't want to exacerbate the unnecessary, undesirable,
political elements tied to Messianic expectation. Now we're not surprised by that because you've
already learned in Mark that He told people, "Don't say anything about this, right?" And in chapter 3 verse 12, He earnestly warned
t hem not to tell who He was. There's a secrecy factor in His ministry and
Mark points it out again and again and again that Jesus is trying to slow down the stampeded,
the rush. He's trying to be able to do what He needs
to do to go to town to town to town to peach the message of salvation, the Kingdom. And the crowds, just as they get bigger and
bigger, become obstruction. And they get Messianic expectations out of
proportion out of reality and sometimes they even try to force Him to be a King and He
has to escape. So I think Son of Man was a title that certainly
had a Messianic indication in the seventh chapter of Daniel, but for the most part didn't
heighten the Messianic expectation and it did demonstrate His wonderful humility. So, we meet the curious crowd and the believing
sinner, the forgiving Savior, the hostile leaders...now back to the crowd, and we'll
get the reaction. We've seen the setting and the reaction, here's
the reaction, verse 12, middle of the verse, "The man walks outside in front of everybody
with his bed rolled up, his little pallet as a little soft, flat mat that you rolled
up, put it under his arm, walked out. They were all amazed, were glorifying God,
saying, 'We've never seen anything like this,' the astonished crowd." That's all we ever seem to get out of him. Luke 5 says they were filled with fear, phobeo,
from which we get phobia, panic...a combination of panic, confusion, awe, reverence. But it falls short of repentance and faith. It falls short of acknowledging Him for who
He really was. I think Matthew 9:8 is the key verse to understanding
the crowd's reaction. Matthew, who writes of this same miracle,
as we've seen in Luke 5, it's in Matthew 9. Matthew writes this at the end of the story. "Speaks to the crowd, they were awe-struck,
and glorified God...listen to this...who had given such authority to men." What's the operative word there? Men. He was still a man to them...He was still
a man. But how could He be a man. How could He be merely a man when He could
create? And they had seen it again and again and again
and again, and had authority over supernatural demons. How could He just be a man? How can they be so blind? How can they be awe-struck, amazed, astonished,
glorifying God, thanking God, if you will, for what they had seen and come to the conclusion
that somehow this is a man. Amazed, astonished, awestruck and never more...never
more. They would be better off to be like the demons
who were at least terrified cause they really knew who He was. They knew, as we heard from the demon in chapter
1, "You're the Holy One of God." Jesus did all these miracles in order to show
that He was God, so that he could say He came to forgive sinners. Not only to forgive sinners, but to provide
the sacrifice on which that forgiveness is based. And by the way, He's still doing it. He still says to spiritual paralytics, "Son,
your sins be forgiven." He'll say it to you if you'll repent and believe
in Him. Father, we thank You again this morning for
spending a part of a day with the Savior in the house of his friends in Capernaum and
having our hearts touched by the power of His life and teaching. We would pray now that You would in a powerful
and unique way touch every heart hee, look into every heart where You see something more
than just human faith, we see that real faith. Lord, reach down and forgive that sinner,
that penitent believing sinner and give him the greatest gift that the Christian gospel
has to offer, rescued from Your eternal wrath in hell, provide forgiveness. May no one in this place perish with unforgiven
sin. May all know the full, complete forgiveness
that You offer those who put their trust in Christ. Amen.
