Sin Forgiving Power (Mark 2:1-12, Tim Robinson)

Good morning. Good morning. How's everybody doing today? Good. I'll open the way we did at the nine o 'clock. This is the day the Lord has made. All right, let's try it again. This is the day the Lord has made.

Awesome. So, as you can tell, I'm not Pastor John. He has better gray hair, I guess. And he's taller. I'm also not Jeff or Drew. But Pastor Jeff and Pastor John are away at TruthScript, at the TruthScript conference, where Pastor Jeff, I believe, is speaking today.

But I wanted to open with some announcements. There's a lot of them. It's funny, because I watch other people do announcements here, and you think, oh, yeah, they're just kind of going through the announcements.

But when you actually sit down to write them down, you're like, wow, there's a lot of stuff going on at the church. Like, a number of things. I was even reminded of one that I neglected to mention this morning.

It just wasn't on the calendar, so I didn't list it. But the men's breakfast, which is tomorrow here, I believe at 6 a .m. But there's also tomorrow evening a men's Bible study at 7 p .m. here. There's a women's study on Tuesday at 9 .30 a .m.

They're going through Revelation. At the men's study tomorrow night, we're going through a book called The Ten. It's on the Ten Commandments. There's also a Wednesday Bible study at lunchtime on Galatians at 12, lunchtime.

There are community groups on Thursday nights. There's one that meets here. Actually, I'm not sure where both of them meet, but you can talk to Tim McCormick about one and Drew Deegan about the other.

There's youth group on Friday nights that Tim and most recently the superstar Jacob, our guest speaker, has been leading some of those. There's the young adults ministry, which is for 18 to 35s. I'm not sure how strict you are on that, but it's not super strict.

So if you're a little over 35, that's okay. But the young adults ministry as well. There is a baptism coming up on June 9th, and that is going to be here on church property using our inflatable baptismal that we use outside over here.

And if you're interested in that, there's a Sunday, May 12th baptism class that runs from 1045 to 1145. It'll be in the classroom at the front of the church, that back classroom. There is a youth Sunday school coming up that Kevin Lindeberry is going to be teaching, and the subject is going to be the case for Christ, that book.

The next congregational meeting will be on June 23rd, right after second service. So if you're a member, plan to be here for that. And then there's a fundraiser that's going on for King's Christian Track.

If you're interested in the fundraiser, you can go to Panera Bread in Marlton on Route 73 on Tuesday, May 14th. And if you use the code FUND4U, which is F-U-N-D, the number 4, and the letter U, at checkout, then 20 of the proceeds will go to King's Christian Track.

There will be Sunday night prayer, even though I am not Drew. Drew said he'll be back, and there will be Sunday night prayer tonight. So plan to be here for that. And that, I believe, is it. So let's open with a word of prayer and then get to worship.

Lord God, I thank you for this day. I thank you for the church, this church, these people, Lord God. Thank you so much for the sacrifice of your son on the cross. I pray, Lord God, that your spirit would be in this place, that you would fill the worship team with your spirit, Lord God, and help them lead us in worship of you, Lord God.

Just bless this time and be with us all. In Christ's name I pray.

Amen.

Worship, Psalm 27, and the Beauty of Christ

Let's all stand. While we're standing, Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.

And as we just said, our focus, Elliot is going to be leading us in a beautiful song, a hymn. Fairest Lord Jesus. And just, if we could put into human words how beautiful the Lord is, how beautiful Jesus is, it would be impossible.

But we just wait for the day where we could stand in his presence and see him and encounter his beauty. And so if you don't know this ancient hymn, it's just beautiful. And just read the words as to this mortal man just tries to put into words just the captivating beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen?

Amen.

Christ the Deliverer and the Call to Communion

And Matthew 11, 28. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That is just one promise that Jesus makes of many. He is all sufficient for everything that you need. He is our deliverer.

And to deliver means he needs to deliver us from something. So if you're here this morning, he is a delivering God. He is an all-powerful God. And if you call on him, he is faithful and just to deliver you from your darkest need.

He comforts the widow, cries for injustice, feels every sorrow, carries the pain of his children. Jesus does.

We sing praise to the Father who gave us the Son. Praise to the understanding of a sinner. Calvary's disgrace over all our mistakes. Sing this song.

Come to the foot of the cross this morning if you need. He will provide. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

As we prepare for communion this morning, just reflect on how he has taken your sins as far as the east is from the west. Someone always said, you notice he didn't say as far as the north is from the south.

Because when you get to the North Pole, you've reached the North Pole and then you start going south. But if you go as far as from the east to the west, there's no end. It is a limitless distance that he removes our sins from us.

He calls us clean because he has cleansed us. He calls us righteous because he has made us righteous through his righteousness. That's the wrong timing. Could remember.

No.

Let's all be seated.

Let me just ask you, while we're all being seated and while Matt comes up, if you don't know that you know that you know that your phone is on silent or turned off, reach into your pocket or your purse.

Take it out. Take a look at it. Make sure it's on silent. If you don't know how to make it silent, hand it to a teenager. They can help you.

But thank you very much.

An incident in the first certain. I'm kidding. But it wasn't while I was up here. It was when Tim was up here. So that's fine. So we're here to celebrate communion. We celebrate this table in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

So when Jesus gathered for the last supper with his disciples, it was during the Jewish Passover. And this was a time where Jews remembered how God had saved them from judgment in Egypt back when they were slaves.

And he freed them from that. So, you know, they were in captivity in Egypt. And God provided a way for them to be rescued from that. We believers today know that the Passover is actually a foreshadowing of our own salvation.

So during the Passover, they were instructed to take a spotless lamb, to sacrifice it, and to paint the doorposts and lintel of their homes with the blood of that lamb, that sacrificed lamb. And on those doorposts, what that did was that protected them from the coming judgment when God sent the angel of death to come through and kill the firstborn of those who weren't protected by the blood of that lamb.

And so God then executed his judgment on Egypt. And that resulted in the freeing of the Jews from captivity, from the bondage that they were under. And this mirrors our own salvation in that we are also spared from the judgment, the coming judgment of God through the blood of a spotless lamb, in this case, the spotless lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Where Jesus came, condescended, took on human flesh, and then sacrificed himself in a once-for-all sacrifice for our sins. And his blood now protects us from that coming judgment. And so we celebrate this table because of what Christ did for us through it.

It does seem weird to celebrate the death of our Lord. But however, we know that he's no longer dead, that he is alive. He was risen from the dead. And that that sacrifice does protect us. It forgives us of our sins and protects us from the coming judgment.

It granted us freedom from sin and eternal life with Christ in heaven. But Jesus instituted this particular ordinance for us so that we could remember that sacrifice and sort of count the cost of it for our own salvation.

He instituted this, though, for believers. So if you're here and you're not a believer, we're thrilled that you're here. But don't feel obligated to partake because this is really for believers to remember the sacrifice of our Lord, those of us who already believe and put our faith and trust in him.

And I know I do say this when I come up here, but I think it's important because Jesus also told us that we're not to take this ordinance lightly. So it is a remembrance of his sacrifice, but it is a serious thing and something that we ought not take lightly.

It says in 1 Corinthians 11, 27 through 29, whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. So again, discerning the body, thinking about the actual sacrifice, what the cost was for our salvation, and then examining ourselves, repenting of our sins, asking for forgiveness, and remembering the sacrifice of Christ.

So we should thank him for his sacrifice, for the grace and mercy he's shown us, freeing us from the bondage of sin just as he freed his people from the bondage in Egypt. So in a few moments, I'm going to ask the men to come forward and we're going to pass out the elements.

And right now, I would just ask that you would all bow your heads while I pray and reflect on your own sin and ask for forgiveness for that. So guys, if you could come down. Lord God, I just thank you for this day.

I thank you again for this church, for these people, Lord God. I thank you most of all, though, for the sacrifice of your son on the cross, that he loved us so much that he put on human flesh, suffered an agonizing and horrendous death, and poured out his blood for the salvation of many.

Lord God, that you chose us, that you have saved us. Lord God, we just thank you so much for that sacrifice and for providing a way for us to be reconciled to you and spend eternity in heaven worshiping you.

So God, I just ask that you would forgive me of my sins, cleanse me of all the unrighteousness in my life, Lord God, and forgive me for all the things that I've done, Lord. And I pray, God, that we would constantly keep an eye on you and that not just at this time but throughout our daily lives that we would remember the sacrifice that you paid for our salvation.

In Christ's name I pray, amen. Receive from the Lord. You've given thanks, you've broken, and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Joy in the Gospel and a Prayer for Truth

Morning, church. Today is the day that the Lord has made. So we will rejoice and be glad, right? Christians should rejoice when? Always, right? And when people on the street ask you why you're so happy or why you're rejoicing or why you're so glad, you can tell them that it's because you have eternal life and all your sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus.

That's what keeps Christians very happy. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for the gospel that has saved us. Thank you for your son who shed blood for us. Thank you for raising him from the dead, giving us this amazing life and this hope that we can have you forever, this hope that we will have entrance into your kingdom, this hope that you're with us.

We thank you for your spirit. We thank you for your truth. We thank you for your word. We pray for Jeff who's preaching truth today at TruthScript. We pray that we would be people of the book, people of truth, and people preaching all over the world today at churches would be proclaiming truth.

We thank you for truth. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, some of you may not know, but this season of life for me has been eventful lately. Last week I wasn't here. I was in Pittsburgh in prison. I wasn't locked up, but I was playing basketball for a saint's prison ministry, and praise God, 28 men, 28 inmates, gave their lives to Christ and accepted Jesus Christ.

That's something to rejoice about. And then some of you may know on Monday, I, believe it or not, turned 30 years old. And then just yesterday I walked for graduation from Cairn University. I got my bachelor's degree and my master's degree in arts of religion, and I was able to cram a five-year program into, like, 12 years.

So I'm happy for that. But I'm very content. I know a lot of you guys probably did that quicker, but I'm very content with my own race that I'm running and the plan that God has for me. So there's something else that I have coming up.

Oh, yeah.

I get...

It is important. I get to marry the most beautiful creature that walks the earth later this month. And today I get to preach one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It is Mark chapter 2. So open up your Bibles to Mark chapter 2.

We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 12. Verse 1. And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home and many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.

And 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 faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his 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 forgiven? 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. All right. So we're going to take this verse by verse today.

Verse 1. And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. All right. So how is Capernaum Jesus' home? Some of you may know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth. So Nazareth is his hometown.

Some of you might be thinking, I thought he was born in Bethlehem. And Bethlehem is his own town. Some of you might be thinking like, didn't he live in Egypt for a little bit? That's all true. All of those were his home.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem to fulfill scripture. According to Micah 5 .2, the Christ needed to be born in Bethlehem. And then he fled Bethlehem to go to Egypt for a little bit. And then out of Egypt, God called his son to fulfill Hosea 11 .1.

And then he grew up in Nazareth. And the scriptures talk about in Matthew 2 .23 that the Christ was a Nazarene fulfilling what the prophets say. You might wonder where that says in the Old Testament, but throughout the prophets and throughout the Old Testament, there's this idea of a branch from the shoot of Jesse, from the root of David, this branch that's coming.

And the word Nazareth is the Hebrew word nitzer that means branch. So Jesus grew up in Branchville, which is another name for Nazareth, Branchville. So Jesus fulfilled all of these things just by being born and living where he's living.

But now he's in Capernaum and Capernaum is his home base for ministry. Now he's in his thirties and he's preaching around the Galilee area and it's Capernaum. So that is his ministry headquarters. It's kind of like I grew up, well, I was born in Penzalkan area that I moved to St. Amundsen and grew up there.

And now like my home base headquarters where I do most of my ministry is Mount Laurel, New Jersey. So Jesus lived all these places and fulfilled scripture, but he's probably most likely maybe at Zebedee's house.

He himself had nowhere to lay his head. So probably staying at a friend's house, maybe John and James's house. Verse two, And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.

And he was preaching the word to them. So something you may or may not know about Jesus, Jesus was the most popular man on the earth at time. Sure, he's still the most popular guy today. He's still alive.

Jesus is the most famous man who's ever lived. But even when he was doing his ministry, he drew crowds. He was very, very famous. The most famous man to ever live. At the end of his life, when he was crucified, he didn't have many people with him, but when he was doing his ministry, he was very popular.

And it wasn't because they believed that he was the Christ. It wasn't because they really believed that he was the son of the living God, that he was very popular. It was the amazing works that he was doing, the amazing miracles he was performing, the vast number of miracles he was performing.

Even in chapter one of Mark, we learn about a lot of the miracles he was doing. He healed Simon's Peter's mom, his mother-in-law. She was bedridden with a fever. And Jesus walked in the room and healed her.

And immediately she got up and started serving Jesus. And then later that night, the entire city was coming to that house and getting healed. If you had a disease, you came to Jesus and got healed. If you had demons, you came to Jesus and Jesus casted out the demons.

And there was a really nasty disease during that time called leprosy. And that was like the walking dead. And that person was unclean. And when someone had leprosy, everyone stayed away from that person.

But Jesus was able to heal this person with a touch because Jesus himself is clean. And when he touches things, he makes them well and clean. So it was a reverse effect. Jesus had that effect. Jesus was God.

Jesus was the ultimate healer. He was famous and they loved his miracles. So everyone came to Jesus to be healed. And then on this particular day in verse three, they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

Now I assume back then wheelchairs probably weren't really popular. They were carrying this man, probably with his bed, probably like a mat, four grown men, probably carrying another grown man. And they're trying to bring him to Jesus.

Now this story isn't mainly about the four men. Carrying their friend and bringing them to Jesus. But I do want to point out that these four men are very respectable people. They had faith. Jesus recognized their faith.

But they were also really, really good friends. I mean, they're hanging out with a paralytic man. They're bringing the paralytic to see Jesus. And you really don't have good friends unless they do whatever it takes to bring you to Jesus.

That's what these type of men were like. So I saw a post one time and it was like the paralytic man being let down by the roof. And it said on there, you ain't got real friends until they bring you to Jesus.

And I was like, yeah. So if you're wondering who your best friends are, it's the ones that care about your soul, that bring you to church, that bring you to Jesus. Your Christian friends are your best friends, or at least they should be.

So if you really care about someone's soul, you want to bring them to Jesus. And you want to care for them if they're a paralytic, help them out a little bit, carry them wherever they need to go. These are those type of men.

So they picked up their friend and took them to Jesus' home. There was only one problem though when they got there. Verse four, and when they could not get near him because of the crowd. So the crowd's the problem.

They removed the roof above him and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. So they brought the man and when they got there, they're thinking they're gonna see Jesus except there's only one problem.

The crowd is so big and Jesus is so famous, when he starts talking in a room, the entire room fills up and then the entire house fills up and then the front porch fills up and then the driveway fills up and you can't even get in the door.

You would think that the crowd, if they're following Jesus, they would be a little nicer and let the paralytic through, but they don't. They're more concerned with themselves and being able to see the miracles that Jesus is doing.

They're not totally loving people. They're usually, the crowds in the gospels are indifferent. They don't recognize spiritual truth all the time, but they are amazed by the way Jesus talks and they're amazed at the things that Jesus does.

So the paralytics is there with his friends. His friends are carrying him and they see this crowd and what do they do? They look at the crowd and they say, well, I guess we're not gonna see him today.

They turned back and went home. No, they didn't do that. They didn't see a way, so they made a way. They took this man up on the roof and ripped the roof out and lowered the man in the presence of Jesus.

What an amazing thing. What an amazing story. What an amazing work these men did. They didn't see a way, so they made a way to bring them to Jesus, to bring him to Jesus. So it's four grown men carrying another grown man onto the roof.

So these men were not walking just by sight, but walking by faith, including the paralytic. Verse five, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. Now, Jesus is really cool because he's preaching, right?

He's preaching the word. He's got a big crowd and then all of a sudden, he probably has the roof falling on top of him and maybe a branch hitting him or tiles of the roof and then this man is dropped into his presence and what does he say to him?

Son, you better fix this roof. No, he doesn't say that. He says, son, your sins are forgiven. And now he looks before that at the faith of these men who brought the paralytic and you can see the friend's faith was very strong.

You got to think, imagine the friend's faith. They risked the possibility of the crowds not liking them, right? They weren't afraid of the crowds. They went over the crowds and let them in. I mean, they weren't afraid.

I mean, you think the guy who owned the house was probably upset his roof was getting torn apart. They were probably afraid someone was going to get mad at them and then you got to imagine the level of embarrassment it must have been if Jesus didn't heal him to go through all that trouble not to get healed but they knew Jesus.

They were confident in who Jesus was and they went and by faith dropped this man through the roof. That's amazing faith. So what did Jesus say to the paralytic that was dropped right in front of him? He said, son, your sins are forgiven.

And if you're reading this for the first time or you're following along or if you're in that crowd that day what are you waiting for? If you know Jesus, a miracle worker you're waiting for this guy to get new legs.

You're waiting for this guy's legs to be healed. You're waiting for this guy to get up and walk. That's what people want to see. But Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven. Why does Jesus say that? If everyone's waiting for him to heal his legs.

Well, Jesus is obedient to God and Jesus is God so Jesus isn't thinking about what the crowd wants. He's doing what the will of the Lord is and he says your sins are forgiven. Why did he heal the sins of this paralytic man?

Because the paralytic man needed his sins forgiven way more than he needed his legs to work. He needed his sins to be forgiven. The thing keeping the paralytic from entering into the kingdom of God was not that he was unable to walk.

It was that he needed his sins forgiven. If you sin against God, you will pay even if you're a paralytic. Everyone who has been born is a sinner that needs forgiveness. So Jesus healed his deepest need and it was that he needed his sins forgiven.

Jesus had sin forgiving power. And now sin by itself does not send people to hell. I mean the wages of sin is death. But it's the unforgiven sin that still sends people to hell today. So either Jesus paid the sin debt that you owe on the cross or you will have to pay for your sins for eternity in hell.

And Jesus is rescuing this man and anyone who asks for forgiveness and calls on the name of Jesus, he rescues and grants faith to those who believe. So Jesus sees the faith of the paralytic and he sees the faith of the men and he heals the paralytic.

Jesus is able to know the thoughts of a person. He's able to know all of our thoughts right now. If we pray to him silently, he hears us. He knows what we're thinking. He knows what we want. And he will hear us when we talk to him.

So he knows what kind of faith is inside the paralytic and it's life-saving faith. He has some sort of faith in Jesus that he will be forgiven. And the paralytic really didn't do anything to be forgiven.

The paralytic couldn't even walk there. The paralytic got carried there. There wasn't any good work the paralytic could have done to be saved because it's by grace you were saved through faith. It's a gift of God.

So Jesus showed mercy on this paralytic and granted him faith and granted him forgiveness. And that's what we all need as Christians. That's what we all need as people. We need our sins forgiven more than anything else.

The prisoners in the jail, they needed their sins forgiven more than they needed their freedom in America. Whether they knew it or not. They will find out one day. You need your sins forgiven more than you need your next car.

You need your sins forgiven more than you need your next house. You need your sins forgiven more than anything else in the world. And Jesus is able to give you that and grant you that. Now in verse 6, some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts.

Now a scribe was someone who was like legalistic. They kept the word. They knew the word. They wrote the word. They were teachers of the word. And yet they're questioning in their hearts. They question in their hearts but not out loud.

But just like Jesus saw the faith in the paralytic, Jesus can see the doubt in the scribes. So Jesus knows thoughts. He has that ability because he's God. Verse 7, Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone? This is what they're saying in their heart. And now some people in life, you're going to find out that they're not listening to you to get to know you because they've already decided in their heart that they hate you.

And they've already decided in their heart that they're listening to you not to get to know you but they're listening to you that they can use whatever you say against you. Maybe some of you guys know people like that.

And what I've come to learn is when there's a lot of heavy.

Arrogance,.

Spiritual pride, self-righteousness, and heavy amounts of sin, there's a lack of logic in people. Maybe you guys know people like this. It's like you try to tell them, no, two and two, it equals four.

But they're convinced, no, it's five. And there's nothing that you can say to them for them to understand. Some people have their own mind made up. No, I know it's five. It's five in my world and I'm not accepting anything else.

The scribes are kind of like that. They already hate Jesus before they even got to know him. They are rooting for his downfall before they even know who he is. They didn't even take the time to see that everything about Jesus is lovable.

So the scribes and the religious leaders throughout the Gospels are antagonists. And Jesus is the ultimate protagonist. When you read the Gospels, you fall in love with who Jesus is. He always wins. He's always good.

He always does the right thing. He always comes out on top. Even when they kill him, he rises from the dead and he wins. But people like the scribes, they like to accuse just like the devil likes to accuse.

The devil is someone like this. You think that the devil, he knows the end, right? He knows that God wins, but he's still rageful and he still continues to try to bring down as many people as possible.

And the devil is like an accuser just like the scribes. The scribes accuse him of blasphemy. Now this is ridiculous, right? Because they're accusing the living God of blasphemy. Now what's blasphemy? The crime of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God.

Who's doing that? Is that Jesus or is that the scribes? So people like this, they will call you out for something that's really the exact thing that they're doing. It's ironic. They're mad at Jesus for blaspheming, but they didn't consider that Jesus really is God.

They didn't consider that he really was the Christ. They didn't consider that Jesus is telling the truth. Now some of you might have heard before, Jeff has said this before, C .S. Lewis, he has an argument that when you look at Jesus, you should know that he's either the Lord, you should know that he's either the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic.

Have you guys heard that before?

Yeah.

Now I have a problem with that only because if you say to me that Jesus is a lunatic, I think you're a liar. And if you say to me that Jesus is a liar, I think you're a lunatic. So the only right conclusion to come to is that Jesus is the Lord.

And the scribes didn't come to that conclusion. They didn't think that maybe Jesus really is claiming who he is and he's right. Verse eight, and immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves said to them, why do you question these things in your heart?

And then Jesus continues to say in verse nine, which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed, and walk. Now on the surface, it's way easier to say your sins are forgiven.

Why is that?

Because if I say to someone your sins are forgiven, there's no physical evidence to prove that they're really forgiven. Maybe you guys know some Catholic leaders or people out there that try to give you false assurance that your sins are really forgiven,.

And they're not.

Now, why is it easier? Because it's much harder to say to someone, take up your bed and walk. Because they actually have to get up, take up their bed and walk, right? So saying to someone that your sins are forgiven is a lot easier because you don't have to prove anything.

That's on the surface. But if you really look deeper, it is harder to say your sins are forgiven if you actually mean it. Because who am I to say that? Who are you guys to say that? But Jesus can say that because Jesus is God.

Jesus is claiming to be God. The Pharisees and the scribes rightly see that Jesus is claiming to be God. That's why they're saying He's committing blasphemy. The only problem is they're not getting the full logic and the reasoning and considering the idea that Jesus really is God.

That's what they should be coming to find out, that Jesus really is God. So he says, which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk? Verse 10, 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. This is what we were waiting for the whole time for the paralytic to get his legs. Jesus is so in control and Jesus is so loving and Jesus is sovereign that He knew this is how it was going to plan out.

And He forgave the sin first knowing that the scribes were going to have a problem with it. But just to prove to them that He really is God and He is who He says He is, He says, rise, take up your bed and walk.