The Gospel of Mark: Mark 2:1-12

Ja un friend Nathan can you hear me can you hear me am I coming through okay there we go we have some new speakers in the sanctuary this morning and so if there are any technical difficulties it's because it's our first time having them here on this Sunday morning and so I know they were up here pretty late on Monday night and new subwoofers everything like that so thankful for all those AV guys thank you Austin for putting that all together at this time I want to invite Connie LOL to come up here to give an announcement about what's going on in women on Mission so if youall would welcome her to the platform please [Applause] okay do you hear me yes ma'am okay good well today is focus on Wu Sunday and for those of you that have attended a Southern Baptist Church in the past or now you know what those initials stand for but for the rest of you Wu stands for the women's missionary Union and it's an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist convention back in 1888 during the Southern Baptist convention in Richmond Virginia a group of women from 12 States they gathered at the Broad Street United Methodist Church and organized the women's Mission societies and I just think that's so funny every time I hear that these Baptist women are gathering at the Methodist Church to form this organization but I'm assuming that the convention was probably taking up the other buildings and they didn't have rooms so they probably the Methodist Church was across the street or down the block or something I don't know that's my imagination so but as an auxiliary or a helper to the southern babst convention it means that

Wu is self-governing and self-supporting and their purpose was to pray and raise money for Missions at the present time their headquarters is in Birmingham Alabama and since its beginning the Wu has become the largest Protestant women's missions organization in the world they've helped lead southern baptist churches to raise more several billion dollars for the lmon Christmas offering and the l Annie Armstrong Easter offering I'll say that in a minute and their main purpose is to educate and involve adults children in the of Christian missions although it originally was geared toward women and girls now that both genders are involved in those organizations and there is much more I could tell you about the history or about the different Ministries but I want to tell you about what's happening here at First Baptist Under the Umbrella of Wu are several organizations and you've probably heard of some of those women on Mission act tees G raas Mission friends and there's several more but here at First Baptist we have women on Mission and gas gaas is a girl is an organization for girls first through sixth grade it may have been a ga girl that handed you a piece of candy when you came in the door or they may have disappeared and it may have been a somebody that's part of the women on Mission I'm not sure which but they meet weekly and they follow the school schedule they meet on Tuesdays about 3:30 their leaders are nandas Bogart Nancy McKenna and Cindy war and those who participate soon realize were all called to the Great Commission right here in our own Community as well as around the world these girls often make cards and deliver them to the nursing home they are in charge of sending the

Cure packages to the college students and you probably know some of these GA girls that have gone on to participate in missions some of them have been North American missions some have been International missions some's been short-term missions and some of the ones that I could think of are got help thinking of it's Kristen ban Abby Brock Julia Blount Christy wut Lisa waren Mara Edwards Susan Houston and just last Sumer Margo Dutton went to Mexico with the eyeglass Ministry so you can tell that G have had an influence on missions especially in this church and now for women on Mission you may have heard some of the ladies say wam well that's w m women on Mission so if you hear wam or w m same thing here in our church but it's Guided by the principles of learning about missions praying for Missions giving to and offering opportunities to participate in different Ministries and if you got this little brochure when you came in you can see that we have a different program each month and we participate in several Ministries and we invite you all to participate with us many times some of those Operation Christmas Child if you've helped pack a shoe box we have bags for the youth when they go to camp we do cook for shut inss and U most recently W came alongside the Weare team when they prepared Valentine bags for the Weare parents we also are the group that recommends the goal for the lty moon Christmas offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter offering and some of the other things we do each year we take a road trip in support of missions in the state and P past trips have been to the Baptist Senior Living in Ashland and we went to U the Baptist Children's Home fundraiser in Branson So today we're inviting you to participate in a project with us for the

Local Pregnancy Help Center anything you would get normally give to a baby shower you could give and I believe there's a list in the bulletin and that cradle over there if you want to bring your items and drop them in there that will be sent on to the Pregnancy Help Center by the way that cradle was constructed by one of our W ladies Cindy waren not Steve but Cindy she made that cradle and if you look at this brochure again you'll see the different programs that we have or have had and we meet 11 times a year on the first Monday after the first Sunday and we'd like to ask you to join Jo us and it's okay if you can't attend every meeting and I know some of you say well you meet at night or you meet in the daytime and I'm busy well we've got you covered this year because we're meeting part of the year in the daytime and part of the year at night that daylight savings time will meet at night and the rest of the time we'll meet at 2 o'l in the afternoon so if you're a member of w would you raise your hand and keep it up for just a little bit I see a few of you around here now if the rest of you will just look around and see who they are and if you have any questions you like to attend or you have questions about what we do that's the people to ask and Nanda nandas Bogart is also the president so she'd be another good person to ask and I think that's all we have for this time is that short enough for you and we're very thankful for the women and their good work in w a couple of things before we before I introduce yall to next another lady that's very near and dear to me a couple of things real quick is next week is a busy week for our church as you guys know that the last Sunday of the month we're doing kind of a

Potluck with a Q&A and stuff like that where we talk about unity in our church it's a very big need in our church to talk about that and so we're talking about things like what is Unity how do we Define our terms what are the things that we can agree about on what are the things that we should be able to disagree about agreeably and things like that so we're going to be talking about that also we're we've got our special offering for a new hbac unit that's down in the gym it does not cover the one that's in here that's working really really hard this morning okay and I understand I see few of you out there going can we turn up the heat yes we have and so please be praying about how the Lord might be prompting you to give to this special project and there's information about that in your bulletin as well as all sorts of different things we got a bunch of different things that are happening one of them is the special call business meeting that'll take place before the Q&A to present PJ Garten as an elder at FBC camton you there will be a Q&A and all that kind of stuff so make sure that you are here for that at this time I want to ask Miss Cassie lobers shimer to come up she wanted to share a testimony about some of our upcoming mission trips and how you can be involved so if you would please welcome Miss Cass to [Applause] the good morning I don't know how many of you realize what a rich blessing we have here at this church in this area to have a Missionary Training Center right in our neighborhood we have missionaries that we can rub elbows with right here in our own church I've been a member of a church my whole life and I don't know that I've ever had that before when we moved here in the year 2000 we were blessed to have really special people ending their

Career here in Jean and Larry Johnson I got a chance to meet them Jean played the piano in our Sunday school class and Larry actually taught a class here I had a chance as the time progressed to sit with Jean when she was frail and needed that so last year we had Joshua christe W wouth in our Fellowship for a number of months while they were on Furlow and we also had Denny and Vern Johnson home now Jean and Larry were instrumental in the formation of new tribes which was is now ethnos and Christy wouth is their daughter and that makes Christy wouth is their granddaughter and Vern Johnson was their son so we had some time with them and I most of you probably remember that last year this year I am just so excited for the first time again in anytime that I've ever sat in a church I'm going to be part of sending I can watch and witness our sending people to the missionaries in Africa in on the Ivory Coast I think that's just beyond exciting we are the I think in your bulletin it says that the dates are August 25th through September 7th and they're going to be having a meeting all of this is in your bulletin so remember that but in the last of August we're going to be sitting this group think about what it could mean to this church to have this happening think about what it could mean to the wilgus to have us coming to them and also mean to those who go I just can't even imag what it would feel like to be able to go and do that sort of thing it's going to take a village I think it's going to take finances and excitement here within this CLA this church but I think we can do that so pray with me and again one of the most important things is prayer let's start that right now let's be praying about this group going and see this happen for this church thank

You all now at this time I see a lot of folks that are here and I'm very thankful for you why don't you just take a moment and just shake their hands say welcome to First Baptist Church [Music] for e you well good morning church it's good to see you all here this morning it's good to be in the house of the Lord today at this time I'd like to invite you to join me in asking the Lord to prepare us for corporate worship this morning so I invite you to Bow your heads and close your eyes and just ask God to prepare you for worship maybe this morning you had an argument with a spouse or with a child and that's just really Weighing on you ask the Lord to help you to work through that today so that you might be prepared to worship with his body many of us today are struggling or hurting for various reasons ask the Lord to help you to remember that he is in control despite our circumstances he is still God Lord I pray that you would help us to put aside the distractions this morning to turn over all of our worries and our hurts to you knowing that you are a good God who loves us and Lord help us to worship this morning in spirit and in truth with fellow Believers Lord help us to Proclaim your excellencies help us to worship as we sing together as we hear from your word and even as later we go from here into the world help us to worship you because you are worthy it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd like to read to you from Romans

Chapter 5 the last two verses of that chapter say now the law came to increase the trespass but where sin increased Grace abounded all the more so that as Sin reigned in death Grace also might re through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord I'd invite you to stand as we sing [Music] together praise the Lord his Mercy is [Music] more stronger than Darkness to every morning our they are his Mercy [Music] is he com us for are the Mery [Music] is every is they are ready [Music] is Us [Music] the his mer is PR the Lord [Music] is [Music] on us his was the pment his life was the we [Music] we [Music] never his [Music] Mery praise the [Music] [Applause] [Music] Lord [Music]

Mer praise the Lord hisy [Music] is every morning our sins they are many his Mercy is our they are many his Mercy is and that's why we are able to worship this morning because even though we were dead in our trespasses we have been made alive in Christ Jesus if we believe amen that's something to celebrate today right did we all just wake up on the wrong side of the bed today sounds sounds like we're still waking up but I think we can get there that's something to celebrate right amen this next song is still pretty new to us it's called Lord have mercy and it's a song of confession so as we sing this I ask that you not only just you know try to remember the words in the melody but actually take this time to ask the Lord to reveal to you what you need to confess to him today for what we have done and left undone we fall on your countless Mercy for sins that are known and we call on your name so holy for eny and Bri for closing our eyes for joing our very [Music] neor in thought word and deed we fail you our King how de we Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on [Music] us for what you have done your life of love you perfectly live we praise you though temped

Andy you think your eyes you fin the work God you and there on the tree a king among th you fed for a World's betrayal you go to the end our merciful friend how pure and [Music] forever Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on Lord Mercy Christ have mercy Lord have Merc on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have Merc mer [Music] all for hearts that are cold for seing control foring our [Music] very in word and we you our how deep we the [Music] Lord have mercy Christ have Mery Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ Mercy Lord have

Mercy on us Lord Mercy Christ have mercy Lord have Merc on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have Mery on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have [Music] mercy Church where would we be without Mercy today where would we be without Grace we're here to worship that person who gave us Grace and gave us Mercy we do that by singing we do that by the preaching of the word we also do that by our giving 2 Corinthians 9:7 says God loves a cheerful Giver so let's see some Smiles out there today as we go to the Lord in prayer Our Father father God we just thank you for the love you have shown to us you are the great Creator the author of salvation for us Lord and we just pray for the offering that we give back we pray as the Scripture says that we give cheerfully that it is used wisely for the furtherance of your ministry your word throughout the world we pray this in Christ's name amen also in the Book of Romans we read in the chapter what shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against God's elect it is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of God who indeed deed is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love

Of God shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor Heights nor depths nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord [Music] when peace like a river attend death my way when Sorrows like sea Billows R whatever my Lord thou has taugh me to say it is well It Is Well with My Soul It Is Well with My Soul with My Soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul though Satan should the TR I should come let this blessed [Music] ass that Christ ha bearded my heless state and have shed his own blood for my soul it is well [Music] with my soul my soul it is it Is Well with My Soul my S oh the Bliss of this glorious God my sin not in part but the whole [Music] is to the cross and I no more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul It Is Well with My Soul my soul it is well It Is Well with

My [Music] Soul and Lord the day when the F shall be the clouds be rolled back as us SC the drum shall ReSound and the our Lord shall be S even so it Is Well with My Soul It Is Well with My Soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul it Is Well with My Soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul we can rightly sing those words that though trials will come our way though things will happen to us that we don't like we know that we are secure we know that we have a Savior who is greater whose mercies are more than we can comprehend and it's all because of what he did on the cross what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood [Music] ofus what can make me whole nothing but the blood of Jesus oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow no other found I know nothing but the blood of Jesus Lord we plead the blood of Christ before your throne God I pray that today and every day you would remind us of the Cross you would remind us that's the reason why we can stand before you that is our confidence and our hope it's not in the things of this world it's not in the many Pleasures that life has to offer but Lord it is in you and in alone God I pray that you would help us to remember that to be filled up with that and to worship you because of that it's in Jesus name we pray

Amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to the Book of Mark chapter 2 we are through the first chapter in Mark and so I'm just very thankful to be in a the Gospel it's nice and it's refreshing today we're going to look at Five Points from the passage couple of years ago I re-enrolled at U Spurgeon College up in Kansas City it feeds into Midwestern Theological Seminary to try to wrap up my bachelor's degree and in that I had one of my theology classes I had to do a paper on something called the odssey and retribution theology The Odyssey not the Odyssey if you're a fan of Greek literature but the Odyssey is an attempt to defend God's omnipotence and his goodness while also facing the problem of evil in the world right why do bad things happen to good people that kind of stuff kind of along those same lines is a very popular belief of something called retribution theology pretty much you get what you deserve right some people might call it karma unbiblical some people might put it biblically as you reper so right so there is some Biblical truth to the idea of Retribution theology because people sometimes they do get what they deserve and sometimes they don't it's it's one of the questions that job asked in Job chapter 21 he asked this why do the wicked live reach old age grow Mighty in power their offspring are established in their presence and their descendants Before Their Eyes their houses are safe from fear and no Rod of God is upon them their bull breeds without fail and their cow Cales and does not miss carry they send out their little boys like a flock and their children dance they sing to the tambourine and the liar and rejoice to the sound of the pipe they spend

Their days in prosperity and in peace they go down to sheld that's place of the Dead they say to God depart from us we do not desire the knowledge of your ways what is the Almighty that we should serve him what profit do we get if we pray to him it's kind of comforting to know that things don't change behold is not their prosperity in their hand the counsel of the wicked is far from me in other words why do they receive all of these different blessings why do they get to live long why do they have the blessings of children why do they have all these different things and the disciples they believed in at least some way they believed in retribution Theology and it was something that Christ himself had to correct if we look over here in John chapter 9: 1-3 as Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him Rabbi who sin this man or his parents that he was born blind and Jesus answered it was not this man sinned or his parents but that the works of God might be displayed in him so what why was why did this terrible thing happened why was this man born blind well Christ had an answer for that elphas he accused job and job chap 4: 7-8 remember who that was innocent ever perished or where the upright cut off or where were the upright cut off as I have seen those who plow in iniquity and so trouble reap the same so anything bad that happened to people in that F first century Jewish World it was believed that was because of what either their parents did or what they themselves did and so when we read about lepers when we read about paralytics like we're going to talk about today or when we talk about those who are blind we must remember that in the first century there were a lot of people that viewed these people through the lens of well it's

Probably because they deserved it either their parents were unrighteous or they themselves did something to bring the just punishment of God down on them and so we're going to see how that plays an important role in the passage that we're going to study today please stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark 2 verses 1-12 God's word it says this and when he returned to capernium after some days it was reported that he was at home and many days were gathered together so that there was no more room not even at the door 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 and when they had made an opening they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay and when Jesus saw their face Faith he said to the paralytic son your sons are for your sins are forgiven now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts why does this man speak like this he is blaspheming who can forgive sins but God alone and immediately Jesus perceiving in a 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 for given 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 let's pray so God I just pray that the preaching of the word today would fall on our hearts that you would Pierce us that you would help us to know you

More and I pray that you would change souls and lives and Minds today Lord may we bring ourselves more in line with what you have to say to us through your word help me to communicate it clearly that we would be as a church and as just followers of Christ just more obedient more in love with you God day in and day out we thank you for your grace and for your mercy it's in Jesus name we pray amen you can have a seat last week we saw the Lord he was he cleansed a leper and we talked at length about that man he went from destitute unclean and dying to restored living just simply by the touch and the command of the Lord Jesus Christ and this was done while Jesus was in a town around the Sea of Galilee you guys if you're not familiar with the Middle East you got Jerusalem that's about 70 miles away from Nazareth up here Nazareth is just outside of that region of Galilee and the city of capernium is right up here right on that Northern shore of U of that Sea of Galilee and what Jesus would do you see there's all of these little cities all these little towns that are all around the Sea of Galilee well that's where Jesus just kind of pretty much did loops around for years just walking around preaching the Gospel healing people doing those things because that's what the father had for him and so Jesus he went on a series of visits to those synagogues and he preached in the wilderness and afterward Christ he comes back home to his to his town that city of capernium and shortly after Jesus returned he had a whole house full of people why is that because Jesus he slipped in he came back home and it's impossible to keep secrets in a small town and he comes in and IM immediately everyone in the city of capernium they come and they visit Jesus they're there and he uses that as an opportunity to preach the word to those those people hundreds of folks are packed into his home so much so that

There wasn't any more room for them in fact it was a line that went out the door everyone's gathered at the door lines are going out the door everyone's listening in hushed silence trying to hang on every word that Jesus is preaching from his own home and he did this because it was the father's will now we don't learn about this until later on in the passage but it's not just the crowds that are there but the scribes and lukee also records the Pharisees are also there and they're sitting intently and they're listening very closely and instead of leading the crowds to adore the Messiah and leading people come on guys get in here what are they doing they are sitting there and they are listening with critical Hearts and Spirits of religiosity but he still continued to preach the word okay one of the reasons why he left capernium was because of the crowds and he wasn't able to preach the word and so he did that Ministry all around the Sea of gallilee and we learn about that in Mark chapter 139 now he's home and we are we don't know what he was preaching about here but can you imagine what it would have been like to sit at the foot of Jesus Christ to listen to him explain some of the mysterious Old Testament texts that we still wrestle with today to hear the Master to hear the very word of God preached by the word become flesh and you're listening and you're just astounded at what Jesus is saying and suddenly you hear footsteps on the roof now I think this is a good time for us to talk maybe a little bit about Galilee and Holmes here this is obviously an artist rendition of what a first century home would have looked like with the Sea of Galilee in the background you had these doorways pretty much one door that would go into a living area most of those

Homes they had an opening up top so it was almost twostory not quite and what they would have is these flat places up on the roof and they used that so that way they could cool off in the summertime it was really hot they didn't have air conditioning they would actually go out and just sleep on the roof of the house just to try to get some type of coolness and what that roof was made of was these board beams right that go all the way across stretching from end to end and then bundles of sticks and straw that they would pack in and then covered with about four to six inches of mud and that mud they had the special tool that they would use that would just roll out the mud to get it real nice and flat and that way it was rain resistant and all waterproof and all that kind of stuff and so that way people they could stay in a nice home now if you know you listen on YouTube you might come across critics of the Scriptures that might say well here's a contradiction for you and this is just a quick apologetic for you because I believe there are no contradictions in the word of God U Luke 5: 19 it says that they removed the tiles okay but in this and we know this according to AR iology that they didn't have tiles so people will go aha there's a contradiction two defenses one in u in capernium it was actually under a very heavy Greek influence it was a almost a helenistic culture that was permeating into that area tiles were actually used on roofs in surrounding Villages so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Jesus could have had a tiled roof but secondly and this one's far more Prov look and way cooler the word that Luke uses to describe tiles can be reference to any kind of hardened clay okay so it's not a contradiction it's just a different word for it so take that for what it's worth but let's go

Back to the situation at hand the way to the home is blocked and people they are listening intently it's standing room only and I want you to think about this that the way to Salvation for their friend was blocked there was no way for them to get through the crowds and aren't you glad that there is nothing that stands between you and Jesus aren't you glad that you have free access to the father in Christ you don't have to push through a crowd you don't have to go through a priest you don't have to say excuse me can I make my way to him no Christ the path to Christ is open there's one path it's Jesus and you have to take that and it's Narrow Path but there is a path and anyone who walks in it will not be put to shame and I want you to think about these four men that they found a pathway blocked and They Carried their friend on this pallet probably a c a cot or a bed and I want you to if you're taking notes write this down I want you to note the desperate man the desperate man we don't know if this man was paralyzed from birth whether it was from an accident we all know if he was paraplegic or a quadriplegic this man he is in dire straight though this man is dependent upon everyone for everything to being cleaned to having to being fed to getting water and this man is in a terrible situation and he believes that his biggest need is to be able to walk to be healed to be able to be independent he probably felt like he was an inconvenience to everyone around him he probably felt like he was a burden and so it's totally reasonable for us to believe that he would feel this way but secondly I want you to note the Dependable friends that he had this man had Faithful Friends that cared enough about him to trouble themselves to bring Jesus but I want you to think about the characteristics of those friends and

I don't have spots for these but I want you to write these down these are some good characteristics of his friends because firstly they were full of love they were full of love for their friend they weren't going to let a thousand people stand in the way of their friend's healing they were willing to do whatever it took to make sure that they could help their friend they were willing to put a hole through someone's roof in order to help their friend and the love of a friend does things like that a friend looks out for friends they don't gossip about each other they don't do violence to each other they don't neglect needs but they seek out what's for their friends benefit and they bend over backwards to help them and I'm thankful that I have friends like that my life I've said it often times especially over the last year or so that I haven't had as many friends as I do right now friends that encourage friends that confront friends that hang out and comfort and are genuine guys I'm telling you need to get in a community group if you're not in one amen can you imagine sitting in that room and you hear those that scraping sound maybe up top the heavy foot steps that are above you hear this scratching sound in the roof you see debris starting to fall you're trying to listen to Jesus but it's kind of hard to do that when there's debris falling from ceiling and then suddenly rays of light come shining through into that home and suddenly there's this bed being lowered from the ceiling and Jesus he doesn't get irritated he doesn't go my roof he's he is moved with compassion and I want you to note secondly about these friends is the concern the concern that they had the opposite of love is not hate the opposite of Love is apathy and for many in the church today that

Might be a contagious disease where apathy rules the roost instead of Christians being known by one another there's just a lack of care or concern but the evidence of their concern is not just worrying about their friend ringing their hands and oh man what are we going to do it's that there is action tied to their concern you see brothers sisters neighbors friends they don't need well-wishes they need prayer partnered with tangible action John he writes this in 1 John chap 3: 17 and 18 but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him how does God's love abide in him little children let us not love in word or Tong talk but in deed and in truth and thirdly if you're taking notes write this down this characteristic of these friends notice their faith this is the first time that the word faith is used in Mark's Gospel and it's not tied to a person's personal feelings but it is in direct relation to their actions James Edwards in his commentary he writes faith is first and foremost not knowledge about Jesus but active trust that Jesus is sufficient for one's deepest and most heartfelt needs faith is first and foremost not knowledge about Jesus but active trust that Jesus is sufficient for one's deepest and most heartfelt needs Jesus he is moved by their faith whose Faith well the faith of the friends perhaps even the faith of the paralytic but faith in Jesus is what ultimately heals our souls what would have happened if these men hadn't had Faith well they wouldn't have even loaded up their friend in the first place would they for many people they don't see God working in their lives because theyve stopped walking by faith you see they want the blessing of closeness and intimacy with Christ while also demanding salvation on their own terms you know

God I want all the blessings of Faith but I really don't want to walk by faith but Christians that's not the Christian walk we are called to walk by faith in accordance with God's word and to know him more and more by faith but we don't see that in this situation it's simply I'm here Jesus and I need help I need your help and God he works with that I mean we read this story in Luke 18 where there's this Pharisee that's talking about how righteous he is and how wonderful he is and then you've got this tax collector who won't even look up to heaven who just beats his chest and he says God be merciful to me as Sinner and Jesus said that man went away righteous Christ he was there to bring healing but he was also there to bring forgiveness and what was happening in the Earthly Ministry of Jesus Christ was the arrival of the kingdom of God this means that Christ he wasn't just handling the symptoms of sin things like blindness deafness muteness disease all that kind of stuff but Jesus was actually going to deal with the root cause of all those issues which is sin and healing is often times directly tied to the Forgiveness of God and I've known addicts where you know they've been you know walking through addiction and for years they've just been trying to battle it on their own terms but as soon as they invite God into the equation God he brings about complete deliverance from that and we say praise the Lord for that he doesn't always work that way but sometimes he does but look at what the Scriptures say in 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their Wicked Ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land notice the direct correlation between forgiveness and healing Psalm 103: 2 three bless the

Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your iniquity who heals all your diseases now this is not health wealth Prosperity kind of stuff I'm not saying that you come to Christ and Jesus is going to give you health and wonderful days and all that kind of stuff okay that's a false equation that I that you might be reading into but what I am saying is that we do see that and whenever healing does take place it's because of the Lord and whenever he doesn't allow for that to take place it's because he has a greater purpose third point that you should be writing down is the delivering Savior the delivering Savior Jesus he sees these sweaty and exasperated men looking down through this hole and they watch in Jesus he sees their faith he says to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven and you got to wonder if you've gone through all that trouble and what you want to see is your friend getting up and walking and then Jesus says son your sins are forgiven how would you feel about that disappointed would you feel confused flabbergasted offended I don't know Jesus he calls the paralytic son he's addressing him as an adult would to a child and what Jesus sees is that this man's greatest need is not healing of his body but healing of his soul this man he needs forgiveness and this is interesting because nowhere in the Old Testament does it say that the Messiah has the authority to forgive sins that Authority is given to God alone and it's given to God because sin that is done against your neighbor is ultimately against the Lord David he says this in Repentance in Psalm 51:3 against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight and since Jesus claims the authority to

Forgive sins for himself this is why the degenerate scribes come to the Forefront of the story you see they saw the faith Jesus saw the faith of the friends Jesus saw the greatest needs of the paralytic but he also saw the wicked hearts of the scribes and the Pharisees the scribes they are described as just sitting there most of the worst and most critical of ministers are also the ones that just sit there remember that Jesus is in this packed house in their standing room only and they have seats of honor and Jesus knows their hearts even better than they do in fact Jesus he provides and he Prov and he proves his authority over sickness and his ability to forgive sins but he also points out to them this is what your heart say says I know that this is what's in your heart he perceived it in his spirit and in instead of them saying yes Lord help me to believe help me to come alongside of you give me that gift they accused their creator of blasphemy according to levitical law blasphemy is a capital offense one that Christ would be convicted of later on in his ministry I mean many Cults they incorrectly believe that Jesus does not claim to be divine and right here we have implicit evidence that Jesus is taking on himself the role of God in saying son your sins are forgiven that is a role that was given not given explicitly in the Old Testament to the Messiah but was given explicitly only to God alone and so what Jesus does here is he gives him what's called an off fortiori argument an a fortiori argument which that means that you explain something difficult and then you describe something more difficult and if you can do the more difficult thing then the first must be true it's just like it's Jesus gave another one it is more difficult for a camel to go

Through the eye of an needle than for a rich man to get to heaven or in this example which is harder to say to someone that your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk and how would you respond to that what would you do if Jesus asked you that question which is more difficult remember that both are impossible for men to do but for Jesus he could do both but what's happening is that Jesus is giving everyone hard evidence that he has Authority both to heal paralysis and to forgive sins anyone can tell someone your sins are forgiven but to actually do it well that's way more difficult and so Christ he publicly invites everyone to see this miracle unlike the healing of the leper and in front of everyone this happens you know the most frequent title for Jesus in the New Testament is Christ the second one is Lord but number three is Son of Man and that's the one that Jesus uses of himself it's what he uses of himself far and above any other title the title son of man occurs more than 80 times in the New Testament in every case except for two Jesus uses that title of himself so who is the son of man look at the passage it says but that you may know that the son of man has Authority on Earth to forgive sins who is the son of man well if you guys remember back in August of 2022 we were talking about that in Daniel chapter 7 where the Ancient of Days appoints someone it was mis mystery back in the day but he would appoint someone to execute judgment and Justice on the earth here's what we said we said Christ existed eternally as the word with the father and the spirit but he came to Earth and was found in human form according to Philippians and he looked like a man he talked like a man he acted

Like a man he knew pain he knew sorrow he knew Joy he knew love yet he was fully God who fornew his purpose God's Plan of Redemption and the joy of communion with the Father the title of the son of man that is exactly why he uses it here was to point everyone to the fact that he is the Messiah and he is the one appointed by God to execute judgment and Justice on this Earth he is God Almighty and he executes that Authority right here he has the Divine authority to heal the sick and forgive sins finally look at the dumbfounded crowd this was a visible affirmation that they had to recognize that Jesus has authority over sickness and cleansing for sins people are just astounded never before had they seen God do such a miraculous thing before in their life I mean the cries and the shouts they must have traveled from the front to the back and the friends must have raised their hands around that hole hugged each other and the man who was paralyzed he picked up his bed and he walked out in the presence of everyone and this is undeniable proof to everyone that Jesus has authority to forgive sins that he is the God of doing the impossible things and even salvation for Sinners and we've seen over the past several weeks it's it's his authority that's being brought to the Forefront of The Book of Mark and the proof is in his power and his power was public and so what does all that mean for us today well it means that Christ is still powerful even now even now he rules and Reigns and sure we don't see him physically he is not here but he is here and we know the very presence of Christ those of us who know Jesus because he has given us his spirit in our hearts according to the book of First John but the greatest Miracle still is when a sinner is brought to Christ and

Jesus what he does is he still reaches out and he still says your sins are forgiven and you see that work because of the work of the Cross of Christ and through the power of his resurrection we still see tremendous healing for the most desperate and needy and so my question is are you one of them that still needs Jesus you see if you come to the Lord he will not turn you away you can be saved by the simplest of Faith even friends that drag you to church or moms or grandparents here's what the Bible says in Romans chapter 10 it says because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart One Believes and is Justified with the mouth one confesses and is saved for the Scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved and you want to be saved you come to Jesus with that Faith filled desperation of those friends of that paralytic and even the paralytic themselves he didn't know what Jesus was going to do he wasn't quite sure but he did have a little bit of faith and you can come to Jesus as well but you must confess that he is Lord believe that he is alive right now and you will be saved so how do we apply this to our lives well head heart hand head I want you to know that saving faith is always seen by the Lord okay he knew the friends hearts he saw the need of the paralytic he knows the heart and the wonderful thing about Jesus is that you go to God through him you don't need a priest you don't need a preacher you

Don't need any of that you know what you do need you need Jesus so you go you enter through Christ you go to him and you say Jesus can you take even me even in my most desperate estate yes and he will receive you he receives us and he forgives us as we declare him the Lord Of Our Lives heart I want you oh heart I want you to believe that true faith will always result in visible action true faith will always result in visible action perhaps you need to tell someone about the faith that you have in Christ it could be that you need to make it public maybe it's through baptism maybe it's you need to repent of some things maybe you're being disobedient to the Lord in something I don't know but whatever it is know that Faith moves us to action and action is always obedience when we're in Christ hand okay I want you to make your faith known to someone this week by loving them and telling them about Jesus you might not have a paralytic friend that you need to carry on a cot but I guarantee you that you do know someone that needs the Forgiveness of Christ and you are called to share that message with them W you stand with me and close your eyes and bow your heads I'll pray over us and then we're going to respond to the Lord in worship and so Lord we do thank you for this day that you've given to us we ask that you would help us to rightly apply this word to our lives we thank you for the story of the paralytic that serves as such a great example of us and our need and I pray that if there's anyone here maybe they need to know you I pray that today would be that day that they make it known to a friend a neighbor maybe they just need to come up after service say Pastor I know I'm saved or I know I need to be saved but I'm not sure how to do that I just

Pray that today would be that day I pray that you would prompt us to more and greater obedience God to open up our eyes to see the needs of people around us just like those friends saw their their friends needs they were willing to carry him from however far maybe across town it may have been from another city just to come to know Jesus I pray that we would inconvenience ourselves so that people that we know and that we love would know you help us God as we respond from during this time to go out of here equipped to share the Gospel and to be challenged God to make this faith that we have known let it be visible in Our Lives May it make a difference in the lives of people around us in Jesus name amen what gift of Grace is Jesus my redeem there is no more for heaven now to give he is my joy my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless peace to this I hold my hope is only Jesus oh my life is Holy bound to is oh how strange and divine I can sing all is mine yet not I but through Christ in me the night is dark but I am not forsen for by my side the Savior he will St I labor on in weakness and re joing for in my his power is display to this I hold my shepher will beend me through the deepest valley he will oh the night has been one and I shall

Overcome yet not I but through Christ in me no fate I dread I know I am forgi the future sure the price it has been paid for Jesus bled and suffered for my and he was raised to overthrow the gra to this I hold my sin has been defe Jesus now and never is my oh the chains are released I can sing I am free yet not I but through [Music] Christ with every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will renew me until I stand with joy to this I hold my hope is on Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my li shall repeat yet not I but through Christ in when the race when the race is coming still my lip shall repat yet not I but through Christ in [Music] me let's pray dear Lord thank you for the work that has been done for us on the cross thank you God for who you are thank you for revealing yourself to us through your word God I pray as we go from here we would continue to worship you by living the lives that you have called us to it's in Jesus name we pray amen