Welcome to the Plenteous Redemption podcast, where the cross and the culture are on a collision course for discussion. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, here's your host, Thomas Ervin. Mark chapter two. We'll read verses one through 12, and then we will talk through this chapter, walk through this chapter. Lord willing, for those of you listening, I am a bit under the weather today, and I have a cough drop in my mouth, so I apologize for the distraction it may cause, but it will help my voice get through this. Verse one. Mark 2 verse 1, And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, He said, Under the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived that in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and take up thy bed and walk, but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion." And I'm sure they have not. Now, What's interesting is 13 out of 16 chapters in Mark begin with the word, and. And of course it adds to that, the narrative, to that idea that the Lord Jesus Christ is a servant and it just, he's being pushed and being tested and every way possible as a servant, not a moment of rest as he goes through his daily life, as you would expect of a servant. And it's interesting that the beginning of the chapter, it says, if you look back at verse 1, and again, he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised that he was in the house. What a blessing it'd be if everybody in your town made that kind of noise. telling people about Jesus Christ. And obviously that is deficient here. And, you know, it's, Losedale is a town full of, as far as we can tell, wonderful people, great place, no concern whatsoever for Jesus Christ. It's a bit frustrating and obvious that the people here, just like people everywhere, really have no concern for Jesus. Now, if they see you outside holding a sign, they'll honk and wave, and they think it's wonderful, but they're not going to get out and do anything. They're not even going to show up to church on Sunday. It really is kind of a problem. I don't understand. You know, it's no different than what the Lord said. They honor Him with their mouth, but their heart is far from them. Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" That just characterizes our country right now, or a large portion of it. When a large crowd gathered together before the Lord, he didn't talk about global warming or politics or gender confusion or any of that garbage. They came together and he preached God's Word to them. That's what people need. They need the Word of God. From the youngest age to the oldest and everything in between, they need God's Word. And without God's Word, there is no hope for this country. There's no hope for this nation. There's no hope for your family. There's no hope for you. There is nothing available to you in this world that is meaningful without the Word of God. In fact, all that you have means nothing. It's all empty. It's all vanity without Jesus Christ, without the Word of God. Jesus knew that. He was taking care of their physical needs. He would heal them and do all these wonderful things for them. But what they needed was the Word of God. And what you need is the Word of God. What I need is the Word of God. And so when Jesus had the opportunity to speak to the multitudes, he preached God's Word to them. And then you have this anomaly where four men bring a certain man who was sick of the palsy and unable to get to Jesus himself. which is amazing. This man can't get to Jesus, and yet four men get together and they are determined to get this man to Jesus Christ. They are determined to do whatever it takes for Jesus Christ to have an interaction with this man that they were certain would result in his healing. Now, it doesn't necessarily say it's going to result in his salvation, but it does result in in his healing. It's an incredible scene, what it must have looked like, what people must have been saying. People were probably complaining and whining and, you know, half the room might have been excited about their boldness, the other half complaining about their boldness and willingness to lift another man's roof and bring this man down inside. He has four friends willing to bring him to Jesus. How many people today exist in the world that have four friends who are willing to bring them to Jesus Christ? It doesn't seem like it's very many. As you look around the world, you look around this room, you look around our church, you look around our town, I don't see many people willing to bring other people to Jesus Christ. I see a lot of people who talk happy about the Lord Jesus Christ, but not willing to lift one finger to do a single thing for the Lord. And that's a bit hypocritical. People say they don't come to church because they're hypocrites there. And yet they claim to belong to Jesus Christ. who told you to go to church? Seems a bit hypocritical. Who have you brought to the Lord? When, how, why? Who do you know that needs to come to the Lord? When are you gonna bring them? These men uncovered another man's roof just to get this man to Jesus. I mean, that's a bit extreme. People in the room are probably saying, well, what a bunch of fanatics. When we stand out on a street corner, people look at it and they say, some say, I'm excited that you're standing here. Thank you for standing up for Jesus. And some are like, I wish you'd take that home, keep it in the church. Seems a bit fanatical to us. I don't know why you're doing that. They don't understand. But when the Lord saw their faith, the faith that these men had to bring this man to Jesus Christ moved the Lord. What a blessing. So I wonder what the Lord would think about your willingness to go out of your way to bring people to Jesus Christ. Do you go out of your way to bring people to Jesus Christ? It's amazing to me how people claim to belong to the Lord and yet do absolutely nothing, not even in the slightest, what he said to do. Then the man himself was healed and forgiven. The Lord said, thy sins be forgiven me. Of course, this stirs the room. The scribes and the Pharisees are there. And when they hear the Lord say, this man's sins are forgiven, that caused a bit of an uproar, at least in their minds. They didn't say it out loud. They all said it in their mind. But the unique thing about the Lord is that he is God and is able to see what's going on in your heart and mind if he so chooses. And so there's an incredible contrast here. There are men who brought a man to Jesus, and there are those who sit and whine about the man having his sins forgiven. I can't imagine being the person sitting and complaining that somebody just got their sins forgiven. Now, I have my criticisms of easy-believism and our brethren who have 10 people, 20 people saved every single day. You know, I hope it's all real. I hope it's all true. When it comes to genuine faith in Jesus Christ, that's something to get excited about, something to be happy about. And far too many people just complain, I don't think you should do it that way. I don't think you should have opened that man's roof. I don't think you should have brought him. I don't think you should have said your sins are forgiven. They have a number of complaints, and yet they were unwilling to do anything about any of it, which is quite amazing. These men begin criticizing Jesus, and then the Lord responds to them based on their reasoning in their hearts. That must have been a scary thought. The Lord turns to them and says, you know, what did you say? They didn't say anything. They were thinking it. And yet, based on their thoughts, the Lord responds to them. What an amazing thing that must have been. But praise the Lord, he's able to do it. Be careful what you're thinking, be careful what you say. Now the Lord helps them understand the connection between this man's faith, being healed, and having his sins forgiven. So the reason this man is in the condition he's in is because of Israel's disobedience to their God. When the Lord disconnects this man, he forgives this man's sins, it also restores his body, which directly informs us that sin is the reason you have cancer. Sin is the reason your body aches. Sin is the reason you got to go see a doctor repeatedly. Sin is the reason, is the cause of all our problems. One day, the Lord's gonna take care of that. He's gonna remove sin from your physical body, and that will restore you altogether. Praise the Lord for it. It's coming. Now, the scribes and the Pharisees immediately are uneasy about this encounter. And the reason there are men with the palsy in Israel, like I said, is because of their sin. And so the Lord disconnects this man from the sin that caused him to have the palsy. Then he tells them the Son of Man, which is Jesus Christ, the Son of Man is a reference to his humanity, has power to forgive sins. So he's saying, just because I am a man standing on the earth does not mean I don't have the ability to forgive sins. He has God manifest in the flesh. Just because he's in the flesh doesn't mean he lost this capability to forgive sins and to heal people and to do all these wonderful works that he's going to end up doing. He tells them, I am God. I can do that. They said, only God can forgive sins. He said, yeah, that's me. And so clearly that's what the Lord's trying to help them understand, but they don't want to understand it. They said, we never saw it on this fashion. They had not seen this, and now they have further proof that their Messiah is there with them, and yet they will still reject him. Now look at Mark 2, verses 13 through 17. Verse 13, And he went forth again by the seaside, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, He said, under them, they that are whole have no need of, this is interesting, the physician. Now the other gospels, I believe, say they have no need of a physician. And this time the Lord says they need the physician. But they that are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And the Lord is teaching his disciples by the sea, which must have been a blessing. Imagine sitting by the ocean, the wind blowing, the waves rolling, and Jesus Christ is teaching you the Word of God. What a blessing that must be. One day we'll sit by that glassy sea and worship the Lord. That'll be a blessing. Now, despite your secular work, the Lord wants you to follow Him. You know, people have all sorts of reasons for why they can't follow Jesus Christ, and yet there are people from every background and aspect of life in the Bible who gave up everything to follow Jesus Christ. You could, too. It's just a choice you have to make. You know, your work, your background is not a hindrance. Your refusal to give up that background is the hindrance. Jesus is worth it. You should give that up and trust Jesus. Now the Lord eats with publicans and sinners at Levi's house. Oh, how dare he? And the Lord can meet with them, that is publicans and sinners, and he can minister to them and not join them. It doesn't say the Lord's doing anything improper or wrong. He's not participating in sin. You know, he's not He's not out doing what they do. He's sitting with them, talking to them, ministering to them, preaching to them, trying to win their hearts over. And that is our responsibility as well. God reminds the people criticizing him that these people need the physician. Now, once again, the Lord said, if you are sick, you need a doctor. It would mean the doctors have all the answers. It would mean they're going to fix everything. You know, we talked about it when we went through this part in Matthew. In the same chapter, there was a woman who has an issue of blood. The same chapter where Jesus said, they that are sick need a physician. This woman with the issue of blood had seen doctors for years and they could do nothing to help her. So it's not that doctors have all the answers, but that's going to be your best chance of getting the help that you need. You need a physician. Go see a doctor. Find a good one. Find one you trust and see a doctor when you've got problems. Now, you want to take the natural remedy voodoo route? That's up to you. That's between you and the Lord. But the Lord said you need a doctor. Now, the reason the Lord is sitting with them and eating with them is just as sick people need a physician, lost souls need a savior. And he's trying to illustrate that just as you need a physician when you're sick, these publicans and sinners need me. I am that physician. And so he's going to spend time with them and minister to them in the hopes that they will trust in him. The Lord is calling sinners to repentance. You should repent of your sin. You need to stop living in sin. Stop excusing sin. Stop being so comfortable with sin. Repent of your sin. and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Repeatedly in the Bible, you're told to repent of your sin. It'd be silly to build an entire movement on the idea that repentance is wrong. Every time you read about it in the Bible, Jesus, the apostles, John the Baptist, they're all constantly telling you to repent of your sin. There's no excuse for failing to do so. If you got sin in your life, you need to repent. Let's look at verses 18 through 22, verse 18. And Jesus said unto them, can the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. No man also soweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment, else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred. But new wine must be put into new bottles. And it came to pass that he went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day, and his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, let's go ahead and read down to the end of the chapter. Have you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry? He and they that were with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest, and did eat the show bread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him. And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Now, the Lord addresses fasting again in verses 18 through 22. There's no direct command in the Bible for us to fast, and yet people in the Bible fast often. And the Lord talks about it as though He just expects or assumes you're going to fast, and everybody should. You should fast on a regular basis. We all should. It would help you. First of all, it would help you get this body under control. We are far too willing to cater to ourselves. I'm just as guilty. And fasting would help you learn just how out of control your body is and how far it is willing to go to get what it wants. And so it'd be good for you to fast on a regular basis just to help get this body under control. Now, the Lord says to them, as long as they have the bridegroom with them, then they're not going to fast. Well, Jesus is that bridegroom. He is the bridegroom. And the men following Jesus are called in this passage, the children of the bride chamber. They're not the bride. We hadn't started the bride yet, so we're not there yet. It's coming. Israel is not the bride. Israel is the bride of the father, not the bride of the son. And right now, the father has separated himself from his bride, though he will restore that relationship at a later date. The Lord is pressing on toward a bride that is not Israel, but all saved men everywhere will be a part of it. This will be after the death of Jesus. The New Covenant, the New Testament begins with the death of Jesus Christ, and so this bride soon after begins as well. And so he goes into this idea about the new and the old. It was never the Lord's intent to mix Israel and the church. It was never the Lord's intent to, he's not going to mix the law and the gospel. Now they do complement each other in a certain way. The law brings you to Jesus Christ, but the idea is to leave the law and go, leave the old, the law, and come into the new, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel is not the bride, Israel is the bride of the Father, and so we got that. But when we go to this new bride, you can only be there, you can only become part of the bride by trusting in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord is not adding the New Testament onto the Old or the Old onto the New. He will fulfill the One and then begin the Other. So He's going to complete the prophecies of the Old Testament and then move from that to the New Testament. Now again, they complement each other. They help each other. We don't get rid of one for the other. We need both. But when it comes to this new thing he's doing, he's not adding one to the other. He's leaving one and going to the other. You don't put new wine in old bottles. The Lord's trying to illustrate all that and help make that clear to us. Let's jump down to verses 23 to 28. They're confused about the Sabbath, which is still a problem even today. People make so many claims about the Sabbath and say so much about the Sabbath and how they're keeping the Sabbath, and they do no such thing. They don't understand what they're saying. The Sabbath is extensive, it's multifaceted, it's complex. There's an aspect of the Sabbath that lasts for one year. I haven't met one person who claims to keep the law or claims to keep the Sabbath who takes an entire year off from work. I just haven't seen that. If you're gonna claim to keep the law, you're gonna claim to keep the Sabbath, try to be consistent, take a whole year off, let me know how that goes. The people who say they keep the Sabbath have no idea what they're talking about, and it's apparent. If they had read it, if they had gone back to the Old Testament and read about the Sabbath, which is the only place you're going to read about it is in the Old Testament, it came to an end with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of the Ten Commandments, it's the only one that doesn't get repeated in the New Testament. we don't keep the Sabbath. In the Old Testament, it was perfectly legal for the poor to reap in someone's field and take a small amount of crop, whatever was there, as needed. It was perfectly fine. Right now, we're studying the book of Ruth, and that's how Ruth meets Boaz. She's gleaning in his fields. It was perfectly law. These men had done nothing wrong. And so the scribes and the Pharisees had turned the law into this monstrosity. And so the Lord's telling them here, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. And so I am going to exercise the Sabbath according to the law of Moses properly. I am not going to partake of your perversion of it. And so they're angry that he was not adapting to their perverted idea of the law. Instead, they expected him to bow down and do what they wanted, and he just wasn't going to do that. The Lord kept every word of God perfectly. but he did not keep the scribes and the Pharisees' perversion of the word of God. He did whatever his father wanted him to do, exactly as he wanted him to do it, but he was not gonna participate in these silly games that the scribes and the Pharisees were playing. And that is Mark chapter two. We'll be back together at 10.30. We hope you enjoyed this podcast. You can learn more about our ministry by visiting www.plenteusredemption.com. You can hear more Plenteous Redemption podcast audio at www.plenteusredemption.media. Please comment below if this podcast has been a help to you. Also, inform us of future topics that would interest you. Thank you again for listening to the Plenteous Redemption podcast.