I want to speak from Mark chapter 2 verses 1 to 12. We're in the midst of a series on the Gospel of Mark and to remind you that these are evangelistic sermons. They are sermons which are trying to communicate the Gospel to us and where there are lessons that are applicable to us as Christians, and I will bring those out. But the main purpose is to preach the gospel through the gospel of Mark. The title of this morning's sermon is Jesus Forgives a Paralyzed Man. You might think, well, the title should be Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man. But the point of this story is more the fact that Jesus forgives a paralyzed man. He was paralyzed as a result of palsy. I'm not 100% sure what this disease was, but there is a modern form today, which is a rare neurological disorder. It may have been that. But a disease which led this man to be completely paralyzed. Mark communicates through this miracle, the way he accounts for this miracle, that man's spiritual need is even greater than his physical need. The Bible, we mustn't go too far the other way, the Bible does not dismiss man's physical needs. Indeed, during the Lord's earthly ministry and throughout history, through His body, the Church, much has been done to minister to the physical needs of man. But the main business of our Lord in His earthly ministry and through His people, the Church, is to preach the Kingdom of God, to preach the Gospel, And on a personal level, this is true of everyone in this world. Whatever your social, your economic, your psychological, your marital, your medical need, you have a need which is even deeper, more fundamental, and that is unforgiven sin. Unforgiven sin is the greatest problem that any man or woman in this world can face and that is a problem that by nature every one of us has until we come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Unforgiven sin separates a man from his God, separates men and women from their Creator and ultimately will lead to eternal separation in hell. The account here of Jesus and the paralytic man brought to Jesus by his four friends is a continuation of Mark's theme that Jesus the Messiah has inaugurated the restoration of fallen creation. And this includes, of course, the healing of sick minds and sick bodies. But in the whole revelation of God's plan of redemption, it is only in the kingdom of God proper, as we call it, the new heavens and the new earth, that disease and pain and death will be eradicated from the human body. The Kingdom of God, as we said at the beginning of this series, is the new creation. But it's inaugurated, it's begun through the coming of Christ. And the Kingdom of God is growing in this world. like a mustard seed in human history, but it will culminate in the glorious descent of that holy city, the new Jerusalem, the final state, the new heavens and the new earth, of which we read in the last chapters of Revelation. And there, then, there shall be no more death. neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, the scriptures tell us. So it is true to say that in Christian salvation there is full healing of the body. Jesus did die for our sin and he died to remove all the consequences of sin. Matthew records this in Matthew 9.16 that Jesus healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. But even, and this is what we need to understand, I just want to spend a little bit of time because this can be very damaging if we don't understand this aspect of Christian theology. Even in the days of Christ's earthly ministry, and certainly now in the time between Christ's coming and his second coming, The realization, the fulfillment, if you like, of disease-free, pain-free, death-free physical existence is not fulfilled until the Christian believer receives his resurrection body, his glorified body, at the end of time. That will be a body, Paul teaches, that will not be subject to death or pain or sorrow. It will be a glorified body fitted and suited for the environment, and not of this world, but of a new world, of a new creation, of the new heavens and the new earth, that final glorious kingdom of God. Ultimately, that is when we can say that a Christian in his new body will be in a body completely free of all suffering, of all pain, of all disease, and of all sin. Does that mean that no one can be healed in the meantime? Does that mean that no Christian can be healed in the meantime? Well, I believe that through his body, the church, sick believers can be healed now. James writes in chapter 5, 14, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. But what we must never do, what we must never do is to say that it is sinful or wrong for a Christian to be ill, for a Christian to have disability, or whatever it might be, to be in pain. Within the pages of the New Testament itself, we have records of holy and faithful Christians being sick. Paul has a thorn in the flesh. We don't know what that was, but he asked the Lord many times to remove it from his life, but the Lord didn't. Trophimus falls sick. Timothy is sick. Epaphroditus falls sick and almost dies of his illness. And so what I want to say is that those preachers who say that we should not be sick now are guilty of what reformed theologians often call an over-realized eschatology. They're jumping the gun. They are saying that what will be true when we are in our glorified resurrected bodies is true of the Christian now. That is false. There is truth to the message that Christ has dealt with our sin and our sickness, but the full realization of both of these aspects awaits for the new heavens and the new earth. In physical terms, Christians suffer from disease, pain, disability, even disaster. The Lord in his sovereignty may heal some. I don't believe it's his common practice, but it is possible, it happens. In terms of sin, the Christian is not completely free of the influence of sin, nor made perfect in applied holiness until they die and they go to heaven. That state of being between death and the new heavens and the new earth, which we call heaven. The intermediate state, as it is called. And so we have to be careful not to over-realize eschatology. It can be a very cruel, It can be a very damaging thing to do when people are ill or when they are struggling with sin. Going back more directly to our text, we noted last time, didn't we, the decision Jesus made to prioritise the preaching of the Word over his ministry of healing. In chapter 1, verse 38, we read, and we considered this, and we saw how Jesus began a preaching tour of the synagogues throughout Galilee. And we didn't really have time to cover this last time, and I won't say much now, The leper, and I think this is understandable to some extent, the leper disobeyed the Lord Jesus' instruction to keep quiet about his wonderful healing and he spread it abroad. This meant that in chapter 1 verse 45, that Jesus could no more enter into the city, that's Capernaum, and other towns, but was without in desert places and they came to him from every quarter. But in the first verse of chapter two, we notice that Jesus somehow is able to slip back into Capernaum after he had completed his tour of the synagogues. And the news of his return spread rapidly. It says here, and it was noised that he was in the house. Well, what was this house? It's probably the house, of Peter, where he lived with his mother-in-law. And it is believed that the Lord Jesus used this house as his base of operations while he was in Galilee. And verse 2 reminds us, doesn't it, of how popular at this stage, which is still a very early stage in Christ's ministry, of how popular he was with the crowds. He says, in a straight way, many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door. This wouldn't suit all of us, I don't think, but in those days in Palestine, life was very public. In the morning, the door of the house would be opened and left open for anyone to come in who wished to. The door was left unlocked and the culture was to have an open house. Most ordinary properties had doors which opened directly onto the street so that people could gather outside the house and enter the house as they wished. And in no time whatsoever, once it was heard that Jesus was present in the house, crowds had filled not only the house, they crowded around the house and the street outside the house. And thus they blocked all access to this house. So here we have this large crowd and this house packed to the rafters of people and Jesus is present. And no doubt all these people had all sorts of different problems and diseases of every type. And what does the Lord Jesus do? What does he do? Well, it says in verse two, this is what he did. In verse two it says, and he preached the word to them. And this is the first point in this sermon, if anyone's taking notes. Jesus begins with doctrine. Jesus begins with doctrine. The doctrine of the Word of God. The doctrine of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Once again, we see the Lord Jesus Christ prioritising the preaching of the Word of God. We've come across this a lot already in our studies, and we'll come across it more as we go on. This prioritization of preaching, we saw it in chapter 1, verse 14, where we read, now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. We saw it in chapter 1 and verse 21. And they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. We saw it in chapter 1, verse 38, last time. And he said unto them, let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. And we see it today in chapter 2, verse 2. And he preached the word unto them. And I think these verses underline a point that Mark is trying to get across, the priority and primacy of the preaching of the gospel in order to meet the desperate spiritual needs of man. Jesus knew that whatever griefs and burdens all these people had that were in the house and around the house, their main problem was to be made right with God. In fact, the whole account of this paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends emphasizes the primacy and power of the word of Christ. Because it's through the words, the word of Christ, the word of God, that this paralyzed man is healed. And it's through the word of God that his sins are forgiven. And in your life today, if I can make this a personal thing, in your life today, there is nothing more important than for you to hear and listen to the Word of the Lord, to what He's saying through the Bible about you and about your life. because the word of God is your only hope for salvation. It is the word of the gospel. It is the good news of the kingdom of God coming into this world and offering forgiveness of sins to guilty sinners. Jesus began with doctrine, but then in verses three and four, we observe a great disruption to the meeting. There's a great disruption to the meeting. Here they all were in the house, as I say, packed to the rafters, filled to capacity. The congregation eagerly listening to everything Jesus is saying. And a group of men bring one of their friends, a paralyzed man, in the hope that Jesus would heal him. But of course they couldn't get into the house. The door was blocked. There was no room in the house, even if they could have got through the door. And so these four friends carry him up the outside stairs to the flat roof. And then they begin to remove a large section of the roof and lower him down through the roof to where Jesus was preaching. And I want us to just notice the faith of these four friends, these four men, and indeed the faith of the paralyzed man himself. These men believed in Jesus. They believed that if somehow this man could be brought before Jesus, something amazing would happen. They had faith in their hearts. And when they saw that the way to Jesus was blocked, they didn't give up, did they? They didn't say, oh, maybe it's not God's will, or maybe this isn't the right time, as we so often say. No, they were determined to get this man to Jesus. The door is blocked, so we'll go through the roof. to get this man to the Messiah, the only man who can save our friend. You know, we sometimes talk about faith, don't we, in a very vague way. But true Christian faith, powerful faith, faith that makes a difference in the world, it is marked by determination and refusal to say no. that there is a knocking and an asking aspect to faith, isn't there? It was the importunate widow that finally got justice from the judge. The writer to the Hebrew says, but without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. You see, faith has a diligence, it has a seeking aspect. And these men, these friends, are a wonderful example to us in the matter of evangelism, aren't they? They modelled to us the faith and the patience and the determination needed to bring our unsaved friends, family and indeed the public to the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, ultimately, only the Lord can save a soul. We cannot save anyone, of course. But in his providence and in his wisdom, we often play a part in bringing a needy soul to Jesus. And often, don't we know this, I don't even need to say this, that there are many obstacles in the way. That the way is so often blocked. There is so much resistance to the gospel. But we somehow must have, we must be full of faith and full of determination. You see, the important thing for these friends was whatever it took, whatever the blockage is, was to get this man to Jesus. And that's what we, somehow, spiritually speaking, that's what we have to do. Because unless a man or a woman is before the Lord Jesus, there is no healing, there is no salvation. And the Lord saw their faith, in verse 5. The Lord saw their faith. It says when Jesus saw their faith. It was a faith that was so strong that Jesus saw it. It was a noticeable faith. I can imagine that the Lord Jesus there preaching away and being interrupted in this way. And then he looks up and he sees these four faces, all full of dust and thatch and dirt. But what he notices is their eagerness, their faith-filled expressions, their desire for him to heal their friend. as they lower him through the roof. He saw their faith in their faces. And you know, faith in the Word of God, faith in the power of Jesus and in his Gospel is not just a private individual thing. Churches have collective faith Paul, in reference to the Church of the Thessalonians, remembers without ceasing their work of faith. You see, our collective faith, our pooled faith, our corporate faith, matters in the world. It matters in Christian ministry, it matters in the work of the Kingdom. Does the Lord see our collective faith? Do we have faith that despite the obstacles, men and women will come to Christ through the ministries of this church and through whatever we individually do for the Lord? You see, without faith it is impossible to please God. Unbelief is a Unbelief quenches the Holy Spirit. Unbelief grieves the Holy Spirit. If there's a spirit of unbelief, nothing ever happens. It's why liberal churches are dead, because they don't believe in the Bible. Where there's belief, where there's faith, where there's true belief in Christ, things happen. Wonders are performed. We next observe in this account of Mark, we next observe the great declaration of forgiveness for this man's sins. Verse five, when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. I think it's personally that it's unlikely that this man was paralyzed as a result of any personal sin that he had committed. But in the culture of that time, that would be the common view, that this man was paralyzed because of something sinful that he had done in his past. In Jewish thought there was a connection between sin and suffering. The rabbis had a saying, there is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him. Of course that's a very old argument. It's the old argument of Eliphaz the Temanite in the book of Job, chapter 4, verse 7. Whoever perished being innocent, in other words, it's your fault, it's your personal sin. Well, this can be a very cruel and false doctrine. I'm not saying that sometimes suffering cannot be a direct consequence of our sinfulness. There is a principle that whatever we sow, that shall we also reap. So if you smoke 40 cigarettes a day, don't be surprised if you get lung cancer. Millions of people, millions of children are sick, not through anything they have directly done, nor from any personal sin they have committed. But we must say, as we read the Bible, that all disability, all sickness, all physical suffering ultimately is traced back to when sin entered into the world. And when sin entered into the world, the head of humanity, Adam, or through the head of humanity, Adam, so began suffering, so began sin, so began pain of every kind. And what Jesus is doing with this paralyzed man is He's dealing with the very root of this man's problem. You see, if he had just addressed his paralysis, just addressed his palsy, for a few days, for a few weeks, he would have leapt about with joy. I can now walk. I can now live a wonderful new life. But after a few weeks, other problems would come in. He'd get sick of something else, no doubt, in time. and he would die, and he would go to hell. And this, the Lord Jesus does something here, he gets to the root of the problem, and I say, as I said earlier, that the root of every, the problem in every unsaved life, every sinner's life, everyone who's outside of Christian salvation, the root of your problem is sin, an unforgiven sin. Jesus knew that this man's ultimate need was not physical, but spiritual. I emphasize that your greatest need this morning, dear friend, if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your saviour and Lord, your greatest need is to have your sins forgiven by Jesus Christ. Like this paralyzed man had his sins forgiven. The good news of the Gospel is greater than the healing of physical disease or disability. It is that Jesus will forgive you of all of your sins. That's all the sins you've committed in the past, all the sins you're committing at the moment, and all the sins you will commit. There can all be forgiven through Jesus Christ and His work upon the cross. And it's so urgent for everyone to have their sins forgiven before they die. It is often said that sin sends people to hell. Well, that's true, but it's not completely accurate. It's unforgiven sin. that sends people to hell. Hell is packed with millions and billions of people whose sins remain unforgiven. Heaven is packed with billions of people who have had their sins forgiven by Jesus Christ. That's the difference. Dear friend, are your sins forgiven this morning by Jesus Christ? Mark goes on, fourthly, to record the dismay, the dismay of the religious authorities present in verses 6 and 7. 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? We've already come across these scribes in the series, haven't we? The experts in the law. When we consider chapter 1 and verse 22, Jesus had authority in preaching and not as the scribes. And we can only assume that these scribes, these experts in the law, were present in the house on a kind of spying mission from the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the court of the Jews, and their role was to be the guardian of orthodoxy, of true doctrine, correct doctrine. In Luke's account of this story, it says in chapter 5, 17, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. That's an amazing thing. They traveled miles to get to Capernaum, to this house, to check up on Jesus and to see what he was saying. And no doubt, in typical fashion, these scribes had chosen the best seats in the house. And there they were. And when Jesus said to this man, son, your sins are forgiven, they were absolutely horrified. You see, the Bible teaches that only God can forgive sins. And here is this man. This carpenter from Nazareth, he's not acting like a prophet, he's not acting like a priest, he's not acting as a spokesman for God. He's claiming his own authority to forgive this man his sins. And for these scribes that was an act of blasphemy, because only God can forgive sins. And according to Leviticus 24 verse 16, the penalty for blasphemy is death by stoning. And the idea for these scribes that anyone can just announce forgiveness in this way was, well, not only was it blasphemy, it completely undermined their authority. that if anyone can just be forgiven without reference to the sacrifices and the cultic practices of the temple, well that would be unthinkable. Where would that leave the Pharisees and the priests and the scribes? If that were possible, what would be the point of all the atoning rituals? Well, it's been well said by many others, it's not my thought, but that there was nothing wrong with their theology, that there was something wrong with their logic. Because it is true to say that only God can forgive sins. But what if Jesus is God? Then it wouldn't be blasphemy. And that they had no conception that that might be an option. But you see, that their logic was faulty because the Lord Jesus is God, was God, was not committing blasphemy. And this leads to our last point in verses 8 to 12, where we see a great demonstration of the authority of Christ to forgive sins. Verses 8 to 12 are all about the authority of Jesus Christ as Messiah to forgive human sin. Our Lord has the power and authority to read what these scribes were thinking. When we say that these scribes were accusing the Lord Jesus of blasphemy, they hadn't actually said anything verbally. It's what they were thinking in their hearts. They were thinking. They were probably... I can imagine the knowing look between them. You know, what's going on here? But no words had been uttered. But deep within their hearts and in their minds, they had accused the Lord Jesus of being a blasphemer. And our Lord has the power and authority to read what these scribes were thinking. In my mind's eye as I was reading this for today, I can just think of the contrast between the faith-filled expressions of those four friends lowering their friend down to Jesus and the cynical, hateful expressions on the faces of the scribes. How much more educated How much more revered, how much more religious the scribes were than that dusty gang of four and their paralyzed friend. But how much nearer they were to the kingdom of God than the scribes and the Pharisees. These four friends were right about Jesus, and these educated scribes were wrong about Jesus. Not the first time that the intellectual can be wrong about Jesus and the simple believer is right. We see it all the time, don't we? How right they were about Jesus, and if only they knew This is a wonderful irony here in this account. At the very moment that in their hearts they're accusing Jesus of being a blasphemer, at that very moment Jesus is doing something only God can do. He's reading their minds. He's reading the thoughts and the intents of their hearts. And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these things in your heart? Do you know, if I can just, again, make this personal. You, as you sit here, and anyone who will listen to this on our website, Whatever is going on in your mind and in your heart and in your life, whatever secrets you have, whatever motives, whatever intents, you are like an open book to God. He can read you like a book. He knows your every evil thought. He knows your every jealous thought. He knows your every unkind thought. He knows your every lustful thought. Because none of us can hide from the Lord. Because He reads us. like he read these scribes. And there is no keeping of any secret from him. The writer to the Hebrews says, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." I find that a comforting verse now, You know, if I wasn't a Christian, that would be a terrifying verse. That every thought of mine is manifest to the God of heaven. Well, that's what these scribes hadn't understood. And Jesus then goes on to confound the so-called wisdom of the scribes by issuing them with indisputable evidence that he is not a blasphemer, but that he does have the authority to forgive sins. He does something which requires external proof. Verse 9, whether is it 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? Verse 10, 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." Well, of course, those of us who know the rest of the Bible, of course, the rest of the story, we know that in actual fact, Jesus, being who he was, healing a man was far easier than forgiving this man's sins. Because to forgive this man's sins, he had to go all the way to the cross and give his life at a ransom for many. But the scribes, of course, didn't know that. And for the Jew who always required a sign, Jesus says, OK. Effectively, there's no way to prove to you that a man is forgiven. But if I make this paralyzed man to walk, if I make him whole, surely this will evidence my authority to forgive sins as well. To the scribes, of course, it would seem, you know, anyone can just say your sins are forgiven. To heal a man, that's far more difficult. If by the same word of authority this man is healed, then it must mean that his word of authority to absolve this man of his sins must be equally effective. Well, Jesus, of course, did indeed heal this man. and he rose, took up his bed, and went home with his body made whole and a soul completely forgiven of all of his sins. And by this miracle, Jesus proved that he does have authority on earth, and he does today, dear friends. He has authority to forgive sins, your sins, He has authority and power to heal disease and disability, yes. But he also, more importantly, has power and authority to make us right with God, to deal with the very root of our separation from God, which is sin. And he can forgive us of all of our sins. That's the greatest news of all. That's the good news of the gospel, isn't it? because your deepest need is to have your sins forgiven. You may have physical needs. We mustn't underestimate the difficulty of that. You may have environmental problems and social problems, psychological problems. These can be terrible problems. And for some people the suffering is terrible, but the root of all these problems and tragedies is sin. And we should be very wary, we should be very slow to attribute human suffering to personal sin. But all human suffering is as a result of the effect of sin in creation. And only Christ can deal with the root and has dealt with the root of sin through going to the cross and dealing with sin by taking upon himself the just punishment for sin upon the cross. The Bible teaches that every single person is a sinner, guilty before God and under the wrath and personal anger of God. And it's because of sin that man's relationship with God is broken and that death is in the world. It's because of sin that the devil and the demons are in this world. And we all desperately need and needed someone with power and authority over sin and death, because we certainly don't. Someone who could deal with the root cause of all suffering. And there is only one who has the authority to deal with your greatest need today. It's the same Lord Jesus who healed this paralyzed man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Uniquely, Jesus has the authority to forgive your sins. His kingdom, his rule ensures that cancer will never have the last word. Alzheimer's will never have the last word. Pain will not have the last word. Death itself will not have the last word. And most importantly of all, sin will not have the last word. Forgiveness of sins is God's greatest gift to you today. because it meets your deepest need. The Lord Jesus had the authority to forgive this man because he was divine and because he had come to sacrifice himself for guilty sinners upon the cross to bring men and women and boys and girls true forgiveness of sins. And for all who come to Christ, to have their sins forgiven. There is the sure promise, one day, of a glorified body in the new heavens and the new earth. So to become a Christian is to become part of God's great restoration and renewal of creation through Christ. what Paul calls the great deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Well, how do I get there, you say? Well, Jesus teaches us here in Mark, there's only one way. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Turn to Jesus Christ. Leave your old life of sin. Repent. and trust in him as this paralyzed man, and as those four friends trusted in the power of Christ to forgive and to heal, turn to him. He will wash you from all of your sins. He will save your soul. May you do so in Jesus' name. Amen. Feel free to contact us at Sovereign Grace Church in Tiverton. Email us at grace2seekers at gmail.com. That's grace2seekers at gmail.com. Alternatively, you can visit our website at www.sovereigngracereformedchurch.co.uk. you