Healing and Forgiveness (Mark 2:1-12) - Christopher G. Brenyo

Mark’s Account of the Healing and Forgiveness of the Paralytic

Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12. This is God's holy and infallible word. And again he entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house. Immediately many gathered together so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.

And he preached the word to them. Then they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was.

So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man speak blasphemies like this?

Who can forgive sins but God alone? But immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise, take up your bed and walk?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this.

Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we thank you for your miraculous power. Oh Lord, we thank you that you've demonstrated this and the healing of the paralytic. But oh Lord, today I rejoice that you are the one who forgives sins.

Thank you for lifting that deadly, heavy burden off our shoulders. I pray that we would respond appropriately with great love and thanksgiving and the fullness of joy knowing this great work you have done.

And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. The title of the message today is Healing and Forgiveness. Healing and Forgiveness. This is the first of five controversy stories in Mark's Gospel.

And this makes up most of the text of chapter 2 going into the beginning of chapter 3. The controversy in our text that rises out of Jesus preaching the word and performing this miracle is this. Who has the authority to forgive sins?

Who has the authority to forgive sins? Of course the answer is Christ has the authority to forgive sins. Another important part of this is the faith of the paralytic's friends. The four men who lowered him down through the roof.

It's particularly noteworthy these four men brought their friend in need to Jesus. There's a lesson there for us. You're taking notes today. I have a few points for you to write down to build your structure.

It follows kind of a chronology of the text. First, Christ preached the word to them. It's been the practice here in Mark to see that Jesus is executing a very effective, very important preaching ministry.

Christ preached the word to them. Number two, the faith of the paralytic's friends. The faith of the paralytic's friends. Number three, Christ forgives the sins of the paralytic. Number four, Jesus heals the paralytic.

Three, Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic. Number four, Jesus heals the paralytic. My final point is five, they glorified God. They glorified God. I have three very brief words of application at the end.

Christ Preaches the Word in Capernaum

Healing and righteousness. Jesus has returned to his home base of ministry, Capernaum. He's there preaching. He's in a house. And the people begin to clamor to get near to Jesus. He's in a small house, apparently.

And they can't even get into the door to hear his teaching. This is not likely a synagogue meeting. It is likely that this is an unofficial meeting of God's people wanting to hear the preaching of the word from Jesus.

But it's important to see that Christ starts with the proclamation of his word. All of our efforts as churches, as Christians, should start with the proclamation of the word. No doubt Jesus was expounding texts like Isaiah 40 and Isaiah 45, and all of these messianic passages talking about who he was and all of that expectation being fulfilled and coming to pass, being realized now in the person of Christ.

There is a heavy burden upon modern evangelicalism today to get away from the preaching of the word, to shorten it, to make it a smaller part of the service, to make it less central to all that we are.

The people of God, historically, in all of those seasons of blessing, have been a people of the book and a people of the proclamation of the word. Become, if you're not today, a lover of the preaching of the word of God.

Listen to many sermons. Read ancient sermons. Read old Puritan sermons. Read as much as you can about the proclaimed word of God. This is the method of Jesus. This is the method of the disciples. It will be the method that ushers in the next reformation.

The proclamation of God's word is essential. Boldly, courageously, unashamedly. No apologies about what it speaks to, to the wickedness of the culture. We will never apologize for what the word of God says.

Whatever it says, we believe, we act upon. That's our position. That's the historic, reformed, and Protestant position. Christ proclaimed the word to them. Can you imagine what that sermon, those messages, must have sounded like?

The preaching of the word is Christ's first priority, and it's our first priority. And in doing so, the crowds assemble. Today, the crowds have not assembled here, but the word will be preached. Maybe someday the crowds will assemble here because the word is preached.

Maybe today they don't come because the word is preached here. But we keep preaching the word, praying that the Lord will assemble his crowd. Jesus preaching, the crowd assembles, and a few men show up.

The Faith of the Paralytic’s Friends

Second point, the faith of the friend is evident. Immediately, in verse 2, it says, There's no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And he preached this word. Then they came to him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.

Now, the best I can tell, they didn't have wheelchairs like we do. This man is paralyzed. I don't know if he's a paraplegic or a quadriplegic. He has some form of paralysis. He's not able on his own to get around.

So there is four men who are carrying him to see Jesus. Now, there's a couple things I'd like to point out here. It's important to see that there's not a federal agency caring for this man. There are friends caring for this man.

The church has abdicated its responsibility in not being merciful and reaching out to those who are in need. We're trusting the state or someone else to care for people in need. The church, the people of God, should be the chief caregivers of the culture around us.

We should be the ones rushing to the aid to help someone who's paralyzed, who's in need, who can't help or fend for themselves. Many times, these individuals would be left in horrible conditions to suffer very hard things.

What a blessing that there are four friends very eager to reach out and help this paralytic. Four friends who want to do something to bless their brother. So where else do you go? There's only one place to go.

Do you have any need today? Is there any need that you or your family or your friends or your coworkers bear? You better take them to Jesus. Where else are we going to go? Where else are we going to go to find help in our time of need?

Where else can we go for salvation? There's nowhere to go but to Christ. So what about the wisdom of these four friends who know that they've got to get their paralyzed friend into the presence of Jesus?

They had to bring their friend to Christ. They believe that Jesus could heal the paralytic and the paralytic here receives something greater than healing of paralysis. If we were to look at our lives and identify all of the troubles that we have, no doubt there would be many things that we are concerned about.

Some here are battling health problems. Some are having emotional challenges. Some are having financial challenges. Some are having hard times at work. Some are having relationship problems. But if you're a child of God, you're not having the biggest problem today.

Your sins have been forgiven. So whatever ails you, the biggest thing, the biggest problem, the biggest challenge, the biggest obstacle to your happiness and joy is taken away in Christ. So let's put our problems in perspective.

If you believe in Christ today, you will spend eternity with Him. If you believe in Christ today, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling with you. God has made His home in you. He wants to dwell with you forever.

We have many problems, but our sin is no longer one of our problems in Christ. You can imagine the paralytic. His hope is that he's going to be relieved of paralysis. He's going to be able to walk, maybe be able to work, maybe be able to provide for his family, help his family.

But something bigger happens to the paralytic. His sins are forgiven. Today, in your hearts, is there something that you prefer God do in your life? Would you prefer He gave you what you wanted? That He would prosper you in some way?

Isn't it true that we always seem to sink those secondary blessings, those things that aren't as essential or as important? In our prayers, are our prayers filled with thanksgiving that our sins are forgiven?

Your sin is a complete barrier to a holy God. God cannot look upon sin. So your friend and family member who is still in their sins, they cannot come into the presence of God. They'll be destroyed. They have no communion with God.

They have no hope apart from Christ of having heaven or having salvation or dwelling in God's presence in a favorable way. And today, as we read the story of the paralytic, the paralytic comes hoping for some relief from paralysis, and he gets something far better.

Today, there's nothing more desirous or should be more desirous of you in your heart than knowing Christ and Him crucified, to have union with Him. If you have some other higher desire, you've got it wrong.

There's nothing better than knowing Christ and having your sins forgiven. And it transforms everything. I walk around with greater courage, greater boldness, greater hope for the future. I can enter into whatever challenges I face, whatever work has to be done, knowing I'm a child of God, knowing the love of God rests on me.

It's true for every one of you who are in Christ. What a beautiful picture. They had to bring their friend to Christ. Do you still have that burning compulsion to bring your friends and family members to Christ?

And that's this funny thing about we just talked about in Sunday school, the doctrine of effectual calling. Why is it that our evangelism is stifled? There's nothing in that teaching that would say, you don't have to worry about evangelism, nothing in there that says, oh, don't worry about your friends and neighbors because of election.

And in fact, wouldn't it seem right that if we believe that God used his word as the means, the ordinary way in which he converted sinners, doesn't it follow that we would be very eager to proclaim that word to everyone we came in contact with, to preach it to every creature under heaven?

All these four friends, they knew to take their friend, the paralytic, to Jesus.

Do we know that?

What kind of advice are you offering? Worldly wisdom? Psychological wisdom of this age? Is that where you're going to get your source? Are you going to the culture and its way of thinking to give people advice on how to live?

We need to take people to Jesus. We need to take people to his word and show them this is how God operates. This is the path of blessing. This is the means of reconciliation. Do we take our friends to Jesus?

Christ Forgives Sins and the Son of Man’s Authority

Third and fourth, Jesus does something that causes a great controversy. In verse 5, he said to the paralytic, after they broke through the roof, what an amazing scene, let down on four cords of some kind, bringing him before the face of Jesus, and Jesus sees their faith, and he says to the paralytic, sons, your sins are forgiven you.

Instead of being in awe of what's happened, the scribes begin to say, hang on a second, there's a theological problem. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43. We begin reading in verse 16 of 43. He just said here through Isaiah, I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king.

Thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters. Of course, this is referring to the great act of redemption and bringing Israel out of slavery and Egyptian bondage.

Verse 17, who brings forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power, they shall lie down together, they shall not rise, they are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick. Do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. And the beasts of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen.

This people I have formed for myself, they shall declare my praise. But you have not called upon me, O Jacob, and you have been weary of me, O Israel. You have not brought me the sheep for your burnt offerings, you have not honored me with your sacrifices, I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings, nor wearied you with incense.

You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities. I want you to just think about this for a moment.

At the proclamation of forgiveness of a sinner, the scribes, the Pharisees who are there say, this man is a blasphemer. The great problem is men are sinners, and Christ has declared that man's forgiveness.

He's declared his salvation, and their thought immediately says, this guy cannot be the Messiah. That's how they respond to him. And it seems fitting here in Isaiah 43, that the people of God have this tendency to forget and to ignore clear teaching.

We just forget, we get distracted. He says here in 43, you've not brought me the worship, you've not honored me as you ought, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

Does it give you pause for a moment to think that what should be offered up to God with our lives is the sweet incense of our worship and our holiness and our obedience? And a lot of what we send up, even as the people of God, is our sinfulness.

That's what we send up to the Lord. It makes you pause, it makes you squirm a little to think about. The people of God who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ throwing up our sins. But God is loving and compassionate and gracious and long-suffering with us.

In verse 25 it says, it's again God speaking, Isaiah recording, I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Doesn't it cause you to say hallelujah, praise God in your heart?

You're the people of God, the promises are with you, the words are with you, the spirit's with you, and you sin, and you don't love God as you ought, you don't worship him as you should. And again he returns to you and says, I'm the God who blots out all of your transgressions.

I do it for my own sake, I will not remember your sins. Verse 26, incredible doctrine and theology here. Put me in remembrance, let us contend together, state your case that you may be acquitted or justified.

Your first father sinned, and your mediators have transgressed against me. Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, I will give Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. And it's going to continue this cycle of rebellion, and ignoring God's law, failing to worship him, failing to honor him, until Christ comes.

And everything changes when Christ comes. Sins are going to be forgiven. So the scribes hear Jesus say, I declare you to be forgiven. And they say, Isaiah 43. Only God can declare someone to be forgiven in this manner.

So Jesus is effectively saying, I am God in the flesh, I am the Son of God, I am the Son of Man, I am the Messiah, I am the King of Glory, I have come, and I'm going to forgive sins. Let's go back to our text, Mark.

The scribes are sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, arise, take up your bed, and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.

The purpose of the healing of the paralytic is not primarily the paralytic's comfort. The purpose is Jesus establishing his absolute authority. I am the one who forgives sins. I am the one who on this earth, now, in your presence, I can forgive sins.

I am the Son of Man who has power on earth to forgive. One other quick cross-reference, I'd like you to see it with your own eyes. Turn to Daniel 7. Daniel chapter 7. He invokes the language of the Son of Man.

It's important for us to understand something here. Son of Man is easily Jesus' favorite self-designation in the Gospels. One way we think about this, we think about it as, this is something that he wants to show how humble he is.

He wants to identify himself with man in doing this. It's actually not true. By saying he's the Son of Man, he's saying, I'm the Ancient of Days from Daniel 7 and places like that. I am the one who was promised.

I am the one who actually holds this world together. I am the Son of Man. It's a title. It's a very important title. Let's look at Daniel 7, beginning at verse 9. I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated.

His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him.

Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. Do the math on that one. That's a lot of people. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. And I watched them because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking.

I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

Now listen carefully. I was watching in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. Jesus was saying, do you remember Daniel 7? That's me. I'm the Ancient of Days.

My kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. My dominion will never end. I have a little problem.

Some horns.

What an amazing statement. Jesus refers to himself in the third person. I'm the Son of Man. The Son of Man has the power to forgive sins. All right, let's go back to Mark, and we'll conclude with this.

Mark 2. Verse 10, but that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Who has more authority than the King of Kings?

Who has more authority than the Lord of Lords? Who has an everlasting kingdom? Who has a comprehensive entire reign and rule over all of the dominion? Who has that? Who possesses that?

Jesus.

The man healing and talking to the paralytic in front of this crowd. And what happens? This pattern happens again. Jesus speaks, Jesus acts, and immediately, verse 12, he arose. He takes up his bed, and he goes out in the presence of them all, so that they all were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this.

The Crowd Glorifies God and the Call to Run to Jesus

The response to the miracle, probably not by the scribes and Pharisees, but the people assembled, was that they glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this. Today, I have a question for you.

It's a very hard question. Do you have a burning zeal for the Lord? Does your face light up at the discussion or talk about the Lord? Is he the greatest object of your affection, or is it someone or something else?

Friends, there's a tremendous amount of apathy in the church when it comes to loving and worshiping God. It's just not very important to us. These people saw one of Jesus' earthly miracles, and they were amazed, and they glorified him.

We have his indwelling spirit. We have the whole inscripturated, inspired word of every one of the acts that was important for us to know about Christ, and we are unimpressed. We're more zealous for our football team, for the movie that came out, for the latest fads, latest craze, latest makeup, latest jewelry, latest whatever.

And you've got to help me understand why. I'm thinking about my own heart. How can I look at anything and make it a rival with God? Do you have a burning zeal for God? Do you live knowing that you're dwelling in God's presence?

Do you have a sense of God, the nearness of God? And I think if we were to reorient our lives where God really was first in our lives, through the mediating work of Christ, the filling of his spirit, I think our lives would be filled with tremendous joy, be filled with thanksgiving.

Our issues of sanctification would be, we'd make progress. Our work, our business, all of it would be more enjoyable, pleasing. Friends, I don't think we're glorifying God because there are other things that attract our attention, the object of our affections.

I can make your face light up and you smile actually with your eyes when I talk about your favorite things. But when I talk about God, your face is blank. Talk about the greatness of God. Say, well, you're being kind of hard on us.

I'm not. I'm actually saying we're nuts because we're not availing ourselves of dwelling in God's presence in the fullness of joy. That's the irony of this whole thing. The thing that would be most blessing for us, the thing that would be most satisfying for us, we're not doing it and it's all available to us because of what Christ has done.

There is no amazement. There's very little reverence. There's no awe in the presence of God. Shame on us. When's the last time you worshiped God on your face? You fell on your face before a holy God. Can't be bothered with crazy things like that.

Again, we feel the sting of this. We recognize that we're not worshiping God as we ought. We're violating the first table of the law incessantly. And yet, there's great hope for us because of what Christ has done.

The paralytic just wants to get healed and he walks out of there a forgiven man. He just wants relief from his physical problems. That's often how we come to the Lord. We just want relief from our circumstances.

And we've left having our sins forgiven and the only proper response is to glorify God. We've never seen anything like this. There's something else. The reason men and I talked about it, strangely, I didn't know.

Ladies, I heard that you talked about worship on Tuesday night as well. I didn't know that was a subject matter. Maybe the Lord's getting our attention on the issue. And one of the things that was very insightful when the men and I were talking about the first commandment was we don't want to come into God's presence because we know that God is holy.

And so we're following the pattern of our first parents. After they sin, we're hiding from God. Intuitively, we know that we're exposed in our unholiness. And so that maybe is keeping us away from dwelling in God's presence in our mind.

But this is when we have to remember what Christ has done. We are profane, idolatrous people, but we've been sanctified and consecrated and made right by Jesus Christ. We can stand in God's presence, even as sinners because of the efficacious nature of Christ's redeeming work.

So we think sin is a barrier to our worship of God and we feel sheepish about coming in His presence. And even that is taken away by Christ. What a mighty God we serve. What a Savior. What great love the Father would have for us to invite sinners like us into His presence and to make it possible for us to stand in His glorious presence.

Why are we not filled with joy at that prospect? Why would we find satisfaction anywhere else? Let's consider some words of application. In this one instance, the assembled crowd shouts and exclaims, we've never seen anything like this.

They brought glory to God. And we have more evidence, more material to work with than they do. So our life should be filled with doxology and giving glory to God. We should be praising His holy name for all that He's done.

So what's the application of the healing of the paralytic? Well, first, run to Jesus. At every turn of your life, run to Jesus. What about your sin? Run to Jesus. What about your marriage? Run to Jesus.

What about your disobedient children? Run to Jesus. What about your extended family and all the trouble there? Run to Jesus. Take them to Jesus. The friends of the paralytic have instructed us well. They went to the source again.

A couple of times this happened already in Mark. And people have been very wise and say, we're going to go to Jesus. We're going to take Him to Jesus. That's the only place we can go for deliverance, for salvation.

First application today, at every turn, run to Jesus. Second, we need to remember that Christ has the power to forgive sins. Your sin doesn't have to be a burden or a noose around your neck any longer.

Christ has forgiven you. You need to believe, if you're a child of God, that your sins are forgiven. You are unencumbered any longer by your sin. You can come into God's presence and worship Him. Experience the fullness of joy.

We also need to bring other sinners to Him. Kind of a common theme. If Christ has the power to forgive sins, we should run to Him. If Christ has the power to forgive sins, we should take other people in need and we should run with them to Him.

Finally, we should give thanks. Our hearts should be filled with thanksgiving and joy. The Ancient of Days, the King of Glory, something because of His great love, He cares for you. He wants to reconcile you to God.

He wants you to be His bride. He's taken you as His bride. He wants you to dwell with Him forever and ever. Give thanks today. The first controversy, vignette, little story in Mark, is over the question, who has the authority to forgive sins?

May we be like the paralytic and his friends who ran to Jesus, knowing that only Christ has the authority to forgive sins. And Christ has forgiven us, and now all of the obstacles, all of the obstructions, all of the prohibitions, all of the things that would keep us out of God's presence have been lifted, have been removed, have been taken away.

Now we can dwell in perfect communion with God forever. Surely this is the cause of our joy and our thanksgiving and great hope for us in Christ. Please pray with me. Lord, it would seem that bringing glory to Your name would be the most satisfying, most fulfilling thing that we could do in our lives.

And Lord, we're just not very interested in that. We confess it. Lord, we know that we do it momentarily, temporally. We strive occasionally to bring You glory, but we just forget. We're like sheep who've gone astray.

Oh, Lord, we thank You for the great love and the great shepherding care You have for us, Your people. We wish to run into fires and fall down in streams and fall off of rocky cliffs, but You lead us beside still waters, take us to green pastures.

Oh, Lord, would You help us to see today in the power of Your Holy Spirit there's nothing like knowing You and communing with You, being a child of God. Would You convince us, Lord, because we believe the lies of Satan and the world.

We listen to the impulses of our flesh, and we think there's something out there better for us. Oh, Lord, convince us that You are our greatest good. Convince us like You did to Your servant Abraham, saying, You could have had all of the booty, all of the riches and wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, but instead You take me as Your reward.

Help us to be wise to see, Lord, that You are our greatest reward. Not the benefits, not the things that You can help us accomplish for our own ends, but You personally, God, You are our great reward.

It's not what You do for us, it's who You are and how You've loved us. Lord, help us to love You in a way that's consistent with Your gospel and reflective of the love You have for us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen.