Sermons & Studies

Mark 2:1-12 1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins …. He said to the paralytic, 11 I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this! I. Prayer A. Into your presence we come once again Lord to ask that you would grant your servant power to proclaim your word. We find ourselves in the aftermath of an evil and dastardly act this past Tuesday that has just grappling with a number of questions. May your word to us this morning instill comfort and assurance in our lives that no matter what we may encounter, you’ll never leave us nor forsake. May your Word soothe and save this morning in the precious name of Jesus, Amen. II. Introduction A. This morning finds us in the Lord's house following the devastating attacks on American soil this past Tuesday. We have seen all kinds of commentary on how the attack took place and what the American response should be. B. In the days following the attack there was a national outpouring of help and support for those participating in the rescue efforts. People have given blood and made donations to help the cause of those families struck by this disaster. C. During the memorial service held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Billy Graham raised a question, Why does God allow such evil to exist in the world? It is a question that he did not definitively answer and neither do I attempt this morning. D. But I do want to propose a response to that question based on the observations of Jesus and these men in our text this morning. E. Mark tells the story of these men hearing that Jesus was in town. They had heard that he was a great healer and thought that if they could get their friend in front of Jesus, their friend could be healed and restored to good health. And it is right here that my first point is before us. We have to . . . III. Recognize That There Are Sick Folks All Around Us A. These men saw that their friend was sick and needed some kind of attention if he was going to get better. The text does not share with us how long this man had been delegated to a sick bed. 1. These five men may have been boyhood friends and now this illness had robbed the group of one it's members. 2. The paralyzed man could have fallen into an accident that left him in this helpless condition. B. Whatever caused this man's illness, to these friends it was too long as far as they were concerned. He was sick and in need of some kind of medical help. C. We have been lulled into a false sense, here in the United States especially, of the condition of the human soul. We fail to see that there is sickness all around us. Or to be more blunt, we fail to see that we are drenched in sin in our world. D. We live in a world . . . 1. Where children are walking the halls of our schools with weapons. 2. Where movies are filled with foul mouthed 'heroes' who would rather settle their differences with a gun or a grenade than to talk something out. 3. Where politicians are more concerned with filling their campaign war chest and getting more perks for themselves than in doing anything meaningful for the country. 4. Where we are insensitive to the plights of others less fortunate than ourselves but want the world to hear our cry whenever we stub our toe. a. To be sure the loss of life this past Tuesday was horrible especially in light on watching the WTC collapse. b. But where was the sense of tragedy in Rwanda when thousands upon thousands of people were killed? c. Where was the sense of tragedy when we let genocide flow in Yugoslavia? d. Why did it take Pearl Harbor to get bombed before we took interest in the suffering happening in Europe during WWII? E. To be sure, God has blessed this nation in a most particular way but my brothers and sisters, let's not be blind to the evil that is right in our own yards. F. Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV) reminds us, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? G. In order though to see the evil around it we must be sensitive to it. And we get sensitive when we read the Word of God. God’s Word helps us to distinguish the real from the fake. 1. FBI Counterfeit agents don't study every type of counterfeit bill. What they do is study the dollar bill and then when they see something that doesn’t fit with what they know to be on a dollar, they know it's fake. 2. Likewise when we know God’s word and God's word is in us and working through us by means of the Holy Spirit, we'll see when something is a fake. a. Psalms 119:105 (KJV), Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. b. Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV), 37 Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. c. The 10 commandments are still good principles to live by in this day. H. If no one else can see evil and sickness in the world, God's people should be able to. The world might give the disease different names like 'affair' or 'behavior challenge' or 'disorder' or 'horrible condition' but we know it as SIN!! I. If we are going to bring others to Jesus, we must first see that there are people who are sick. If someone hasn’t accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, then they are sick and need of spiritual attention. J. But these men didn't just stop at seeing the need in the paralyzed man's life. They saw that he was sick but they also . . . IV. Recognize That Jesus Is The Cure For The Sin Sick Soul A. They realized that if their friend was going to be healed, that Jesus was the only one who could provide the cure for this malady. B. Like these men, we need to see and recognize that Jesus is the only cure for the sin sickness that exists in our community, nation and world. 1. Education can make us smarter but it can’t cure this disease. 2. Psychologists can give us new names for the ailment but they can't cure this disease. 3. Police and the courts and lock people up but they can’t cure this disease. 4. Legislators can enact new laws but they can’t cure the heart of those with this disease. C. If you want to cure this disease, you've got to have Jesus cure it. And in order to have Jesus cure what ails us, we have to get the sick to Jesus. D. The men in our text had a concern for their friend that moved them to action which was to get the man to Jesus and note that they didn't let anything keep them from completing their mission. 1. It must have been rough carrying this man around trying to get him to the place where Jesus was. 2. They didn't let the fact that the crowds wouldn’t let them through prevent them from getting their friend to Jesus. E. We have to have that same determination to get men and women, boys and girls into the light of salvation through Jesus. F. Sometime the traditional approaches won’t work. The traditional way for these men to see Jesus would have been going through the front door but when that didn’t work, they got creative in coming through the roof and we too have to go through some roofs at times. 1. We have to broadcast the Word of God on TV, radio and the internet to get the gospel in front of people. 2. We have to have settings where we can invite the lost to fellowship with us and where we can present the gospel to them. 3. We have to reach out to the homeless and less fortunate in new ways so that we can share the good news with them. G. Once we recognize that there are sick people around us, we have to get them to Jesus in order for Jesus to cure them. 1.It wasn't enough for my cousin Lynette and her co-workers to hear the explosion on the upper floors of the WTC and say well, that's upstairs and doesn't concern me. 2. No, when they heard the explosion, her boss urged them to start moving in a direction where they would be safe and out of harms way. H. And that's our job. As believers we can see that those outside the ark of safety are in danger. We can’t say 'Well, I got my ticket and they should have gotten theirs.' No we have to urge them to into the boat of salvation and find safe haven in Jesus. I. So these men took their sick brother to Jesus. But they took him to Jesus with some expectations. And likewise when we invite a brother or sister to our worship, we have to come with a sense of expectation. We need to, finally, . . . V. Recognize That Jesus Will Forgive & Heal A. These four men bring to Jesus the man who is paralyzed with the expectation that Jesus was going to be able to do something for the man. B. What are your expectations when you come to worship? I think that our response to worship is so low at times because we have not made an investment in the service. These men had made a huge investment in bringing their sick friend to Jesus and they were looking for a payoff. C. When you bring someone to worship for them to have an encounter with Jesus, your participation increases fourfold. 1. You are praying that the pastor will preach the most dynamic sermon of his life. 2. You are praying that the choir will sing such that heaven comes down to earth. 3. You are praying that the prayer offered by the pastor will touch the heart of your friend or loved one. 4. You are more involved in service because if that loved one is lost, you want the light of salvation to come on in their life. D. But notice that Jesus doesn’t respond to this sick man based on anything that the sick man says. v. 5 says that Jesus responded by the faith of the men who brought this brother to the temple. E. That says to me that Jesus will forgive and heal when he see’s that we are exercising our faith. So many times we think that God should just heal or forgive on principle alone with no involvement on our part but it doesn’t always work that way. F. We need to implement more faith in our own lives and then watch and see how God responds when we place our trust in God. G. Because of their faith, their friend had his sins forgiven. Now that might not seem like much when you are paralyzed but Jesus understood that it doesn’t make any difference if you body is whole and your soul is still spiritually paralyzed. 1. To be healed in a sinful condition is just to make a paralyzed sinner into a physically fit sinner. 2. Jesus was always more concerned about the soul first and then the physical. a. Matthew 10:28 (NIV), 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. b. Mark 8:36 (NIV), 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? H. So Jesus fixes the mans spiritual condition before he turns to the physical condition. And we have to be careful about how we minister today. 1. It’s okay to feed the homeless and those who are hungry but what good is it for them to have a full stomach on their way to hell? 2. It’s okay to build and provide affordable housing for those in need but what good is it for folks to have a house on this side and no reservation for a room in glory? 3. It’s okay to have a basketball and rec program in our Master’s gym what good is it if someone can sink a 3-pointer or spike a ball but can’t cross the goal line in that great celestial city of God? I. The good news this morning is that Jesus is still in the forgiving and healing business. 1. If you have a broken relationship, Jesus can heal it. 2. If you have a broken body, Jesus can heal it. 3. If you have a broken job, Jesus can heal your employment situation. 4. If you are just broke, Jesus can heal your finances. J. But not only can Jesus heal but Jesus can also forgive. Not the wishy washy kind of forgiveness that we dole out but permanent and everlasting forgiveness. 1. If you’ve done drugs and abused your body, Jesus can forgive you. 2. If you’ve had a foul mouth and verbally abused somebody, Jesus can forgive you. 3. If you’ve wasted your God given talents on things of the world, Jesus can forgive you. 4. If you've broken your marriage vows, Jesus can forgive you. 5. If you've stolen from another, Jesus can forgive you. 6. No matter what you may have done in your life, don't let any of that stop you from coming to Jesus because Jesus can forgive you. K. If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then forgiveness is available but there is something you have to do: 1. Romans 10:9-10 (NIV), That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 2. 1 John 1:9 (NIV), If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. L. Jesus can heal and save to the utmost if you will yield your broken and wound spirit to his healing touch. VI. Conclusion A. President Bush has vowed that he and his administration will hunt down the perpetrators of this week’s attack in New York and Washington, D.C. and bring them to justice. He may well succeed in his plans to find those responsible for the hijacking. B. But the real problem is the fact that evil still reigns in the hearts of human kind. The only solution is to 1. Recognize that the sickness of sin still exists in our world today. 2. Recognize that Jesus is the antidote to sin. 3. Recognize that Jesus does heal and forgive. C. Unless we continue to bring people to Jesus and allow Jesus to transform hearts, there will be continued attacks and all other kinds of evil done in our world. VII. Closing Prayer A. Dear Lord, we continue to live in a world in which evil continues to raise its ugly head. We never know when our own lives will be in jeopardy but we do know that You know everything Lord. We place our lives in your hands not only for protection but also so we might be used as transforming agents in the world. Empower us to bring others to Jesus through our speech and our actions. If there are some in our midst today that require your healing touch, please heal this morning in Jesus name. If there is one in our sanctuary who has not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, might they receive the free gift of salvation today. Thank you for healing our lives a long time ago. We offer these praises and petitions to you in Jesus Name. Amen.