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[0:00] We turn back to that passage we read in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2.! We'll read again at 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.

[0:24] But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority. Now, you may be able to recall in your own experience, you may have had a conversation with someone, maybe you've been in the likes of sitting in your own house, and you've been speaking about your house, and maybe you've said, oh, well, I built this with my own hands, and the person might doubt you, and go, well, there's no way you built this.

[0:52] Did you do all of this yourself? And you go, yeah, I did it all myself. And the person might not be convinced by what you're saying, and thinking, there's no way you did this yourself. And you might think, well, yes, I built all of this.

[1:04] Maybe try and argue your point and try and prove your point. Maybe you take out your phone and maybe show photos of it being built. Or maybe you've met someone famous.

[1:15] Maybe you've met someone like Ronaldo. Maybe you've met someone like Taylor Swift. And you've been speaking to someone like Murdo Campbell, the old minister here. You've been speaking to someone, and they've said, no way.

[1:28] There's no way you met them. I don't believe you. And you go, well, I've got my phone here. I'll prove it to you. I've got a photo here. But even then, they might say, that's a made-up photo.

[1:42] That's Photoshop. That's AI. It's so difficult to tell nowadays. It's getting so refined and so clear. And you try and argue your point and prove your point and show them the evidence.

[1:55] And they think, do they believe you or not? It just comes down to your word. Are they going to believe you or not? Now, in the passage here, we've got Jesus.

[2:07] He's in this home. And what he's doing is he's proving to the people who he is. He's proving that he is the Son of Man.

[2:23] Now, that term's a messianic term. It comes from Daniel, chapter 7. It speaks of a heavenly figure that would come from God. And Jesus would use this title of himself, the Son of Man.

[2:38] Explaining to the people, I am the Son of Man. Proving that he has authority from God.

[2:52] But people are doubting. People are doubting his authority. Can he do it? So, to displace all these doubts, he shows them the second act of healing a paralytic man.

[3:14] Proving A by B almost. I've said A, I've said I can forgive sins. I'll prove it to you. I'll give you something that you can see with your eyes.

[3:26] Some clear proof. I'll do B. And the two things will go together. So, as we look at this passage, I want to picture the scene first.

[3:40] And we'll do that by looking at those who followed. Those who followed this authority. And then we'll look at those who came to this authority with faith.

[3:54] Faithful to authority. And then lastly, we'll look at Jesus' authority to forgive. Forgiving with authority.

[4:05] So, followers of authority. Faithful to authority. And forgiving with authority. So, firstly, we look at the followers of this authority.

[4:17] Followers of Jesus. You look at verse 1. Verse 1, 2, 3. It pictures the scene for us. Jesus tells us he's returned from Capernaum. People have heard that he's come home.

[4:31] And many people have gathered around him to hear what he's saying. And so many have gathered that the whole house is filled. And there's not even room at the door.

[4:42] They're all wanting to hear what Jesus is saying. So, as of the places burst in at the seams. And Kena, in his commentary, helps us kind of picture what this would be like.

[4:58] He says that these homes would likely hold about 50 people inside. And if you're then to account for those who are outside, maybe 20-ish or approximately, you've probably got about 70 people here that have gathered for this impromptu sermon.

[5:14] And it's consisting of just the common people, but actually the scribes that have come to hear what Jesus is saying too.

[5:26] The first thing is, well, the people want to hear Jesus. There's a desire to hear what Jesus is saying. They might not necessarily be believers, or they're Jews or not, but they're inquisitive.

[5:45] They want to hear what this man is saying. This man is worth dropping their daily duty to come and listen to.

[5:58] The tasks that they would have had for that day. It's worth going to listen to Jesus. Change days, isn't it?

[6:10] There's little desire to hear of this authority.

[6:40] And why is that? People consumed by the world, people chasing gold and silver, all the things of this world.

[6:53] Maybe we think that the message we have, we can't portray it in the same way. Maybe we look at the man that preaches the word.

[7:03] But we know we're not to follow the man. We've learned that following the man can lead us into error.

[7:18] Elevating the man can lead us into error. But if there was ever a time to elevate the man and to listen to the man and to follow the man, it's allowed here.

[7:32] Because they're following Jesus. It is Jesus that we follow today. It's the same man that we follow.

[7:47] Jesus Christ. Because he is the man that can teach simply, instruct us plainly, directly address our hearts in a way that no other man can.

[8:04] It is his voice we hear through his sermon. And it is his voice that should leave us in astonishment at his authority.

[8:19] Matthew records that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, all those people who had gathered at the Sermon on this mountain, it says that the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as someone who had authority, not as their scribes.

[8:36] They saw something different in the words of Jesus Christ. It did not compare with the men of their day.

[8:49] They saw an authority. An authority worth hearing. An authority worth following. So we follow Jesus.

[9:07] We follow his authority. We follow his word. We don't follow the man.

[9:19] I've seen a quote pop up on my Facebook page. And it said something like, The danger of ministry is success without God.

[9:34] Having a church that looks successful, but if God's not in it, it's a dangerous place to be. And so we look to Jesus.

[9:48] We look to God to direct us in the ministry of the church and our own ministry.

[9:59] not to be successful in our own ways, but to be successful in God's ways, in his word and under his authority.

[10:14] So we come to follow Jesus. But we have some late arrivals to this meeting. That takes us to our second point, faithful to authority.

[10:32] Look at verse 3 there. It says, And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. The four men carried this man who could not walk to Jesus.

[10:51] They had heard, obviously, of Jesus being home. They had heard of Jesus' word. They had heard of all the stories of Jesus' authoritative word, healing.

[11:04] And so they brought their friend to Jesus. But when they reached, they couldn't get him in. He wouldn't fit. They're crowding outside the door, so they're forced to consider alternative methods.

[11:21] They're forced to think outside the box, how can we get our friend to Jesus? You can also imagine them deliberating. One suggestion, we can make a hole in the roof.

[11:37] Make a hole in the roof, Les. Let's make a hole in the roof. Why not? Let's make a hole in the roof. Making a hole in the roof, again, Keener in his commentary kind of helps us understand what that means.

[11:49] He said that these houses would have had external staircases on the side of them, and the roofs would have consisted, they would have had their main beams on their roofs. And then it would have been overlaid with branches and reeds, and then almost covered with mud, like a plaster.

[12:05] So if any of you are familiar with buildings, it's almost like having lath and plaster walls, where all these fine bits of wood cover up the big holes, and then the plaster will sit in it.

[12:18] But if anyone's ever cut a hole in a lath and plaster wall, you know you can't do it without making a mess. You can't do it without dust going everywhere.

[12:31] So you can imagine the men, footsteps on the roof, you're hearing a commotion, and you're hearing them breaking up the roof, and then the dust must have filled the place, the twigs and branches falling down, a beam of light coming through as they opened up a hole, wondering what on earth is going on.

[12:53] and they're keeping it bigger and bigger and bigger, enough to fit this man on his bed down through the hole. there would have been a cost involved for the men in doing this.

[13:12] They knew they had to get, they knew they had to get their friend to Jesus. Most important thing was getting their friend to Jesus, but it probably meant they would have had to fix the hole themselves.

[13:24] It probably meant that there was a cost involved, but it didn't matter. They wanted just to get their friends to Jesus. And what the gospel here records in verse 5, when Jesus saw this action, he calls it faith.

[13:47] When Jesus saw their faith. Faith of the four. Surely faith of the five.

[14:02] Surely the paralytic himself knew that he had to get to Jesus. Hearing of these words of authority, they didn't just stand back and listen.

[14:20] They didn't spectate they placed their faith in these words. They placed their faith in that person.

[14:35] They knew his words had the power to heal. To heal their friend's disability. And for the paralytic himself to say, to heal even me.

[14:50] These words may call the difference. Faith is trusting in the word.

[15:02] Acting upon it. Not just sitting back and listening. So let me first ask you. Are you so considerate of your friends?

[15:18] Would you, do you have the desire to do all you can to bring them to Jesus? Maybe it requires thinking outside the box.

[15:28] Maybe your friends are silently seeking Jesus. Maybe your friend knows in their hearts that they need Jesus. Maybe it's physically actually coming to church.

[15:40] It's a thing that can be an obstacle for them. In that case, the best thing is simply to take them with you and to invite them with you.

[15:53] But don't let ourselves as a church be the obstacle that stops them from coming to Jesus.

[16:07] Coming to church. You know, sometimes it would be easier just to physically carry them if we could. But we know that's not possible.

[16:20] We desire with all our hearts we could take them to Jesus ourselves. We can do it spiritually in the means of prayer.

[16:38] We pray for one another. It's our only option for our friends we pray and we pray and we pray like these men with undeterred determination praying and praying and praying and doing all they can even suffering the cost of giving your time to pray for your friend.

[17:14] are you putting time aside? Are you willing to pay the cost of praying? It's the greatest thing we can do for someone.

[17:29] The greatest thing we can do for anyone is to pray for them whether they're seeking whether they're struggling whether they feel they cannot come whether they feel they're unable whether they feel they're so distant from Jesus we pray and maybe it'll take four people praying to carry that person to the Lord praying together for someone.

[18:11] But as we pray together and as we come together and as we endeavour together we must come ourselves we must have a desire to come ourselves to be faithful to the authority of Jesus to act according to his word that's what faith is acting according to the word trusting in this word believing in this word Jesus can heal me Jesus is my only hope the paralytic knew it he knew himself he had to come to Jesus faith on behalf of the friends personal faith on behalf of the man and faith pleases

[19:16] God Jesus asks us for faith and he rewards faithful believers well done my good and faithful servant isn't it Jesus rewards faith do you need a specialist this morning we're saying to the do you see the sin in your heart do you see the problem that you need to come to Jesus yourself that you need to put your faith in his word that he tells us that if we believe in him he is faithful to forgive if we come and confess our sins he's faithful to forgive who else can you go to if no one else you can go to maybe there's a cost to coming do all you can he is your only hope be in prayer be in the word come to

[20:47] Jesus humbly as an injured man or woman or boy or girl knowing the effects of sin in your heart knowing that even sometimes you cannot hide it from the crowd we say I need a specialist I need the man that can fix me so we come to that man trusting in his word that he will forgive us our sins forgiveness because he has authority to forgive to the last point forgiveness by authority when the friends take the paralytic to Jesus they were probably expecting

[21:57] Jesus just to say I'll heal your legs and you're good to go that's not what happened it's not they didn't get what they expected as someone once said they brought him to Jesus to heal his pins as it were his legs to heal his pins and not his sins the first thing that Jesus did was to heal his sin now Jesus can sometimes work in unexpected ways in our own experience maybe you know that yourself maybe you've been praying for someone pleading with God that they would come and you see them coming and you see them responding to the word of God but you think well it's not quite the way I thought

[22:57] Jesus would have done it or the word would have had worked it's not the same as my experience and it's not the same as maybe you've seen in the lives of others but Jesus in this account does it for a reason he's teaching the scribes a lesson and so likewise in our experience we may not fully understand why God works the way he does but the interesting thing is that when they bring this man who could not walk to Jesus it's almost as if it's almost as if the glaring problem is his sin to Jesus if someone that was disabled was brought into this room we would see the obvious problem that they could not walk like this man that would be the first thing we would see and that would be the main concern it's almost as if that's not what

[24:06] Jesus is seeing if you're wanting to help someone and they come in with this problem the first thing that Jesus sees is the greatest problem which is the sin in his life the legs the paralysis secondary and this is what caused all the controversy your sins are forgiven verse 5 and the scribes questioned how can you forgive sins who are you to forgive sins why does he speak like this only God can forgive sins which they're right doubting in their heart who Jesus was they're doubting his ability and what he can do doubting his authority to forgive sin for them to be forgiven of sin meant coming to the temple with your sacrifice coming to the priest going through these rituals but

[25:29] Jesus forgives the sin without word here in this building not even the temple Jesus is opening up this new way showing them this new direction as it were because he is the temple he is the priest and he is the sacrifice all these things are fulfilled in him so all authority is in him understanding who Jesus is makes all the difference understanding Jesus is a great high priest understanding Jesus is a sacrifice it makes all the difference understanding that he is the son of man and the scribes here they doubt we ourselves are liable to doubt so

[26:33] Jesus reveals and makes it as simply plain as possible your doubt and your question that I have authority to forgive sins that I am the son of man that I am the Messiah that I have the authority and earth to do the such things he says it will be easy is it easier to tell him to rise take up your bed and walk and so he does so they understand revealing who he is showing that he is A by doing B giving them something that they can see something they can lay a hold of almost they couldn't see that his sins were forgiven but they could certainly see the man pick up his bed and go home he shows that he definitively had that power to silence all their doubts he showed he had the power to forgive their sin what a great story faith and action and these friends and the man picking up his bed and walking out

[28:22] I don't know if he wanted to walk out I thought he wanted to remain there but he followed the word of God and the authority that he knew was in it and knew in a new way he picked up his bed and he went home to do you have a story about how Jesus has healed your sin have you come to this specialist to the man that we need have you heard others reporting back about this man speaking about everything that has happened in their life hearing the testimony of others hearing how the word of God has guided them hearing how they've placed their trust in this word of

[29:27] God acknowledging the authority of it have you heard someone speaking to you and saying to you this is the man this is the man and I wouldn't go past this man I couldn't go past this man for all the things in this world he has healed me from my sin he directs me in my life and is that not clarity to the dout this morning you doubt if Jesus is our savior well you look at the lives of those who he's healed who he's given new life to who he's given new legs to almost you see in their life what a change even the way they speak is that not proof to displace your doubts

[30:38] Jesus can do that for me and for you this word tells us do you acknowledge that word with authority are you following this authority the greatest thing we can do is follow Jesus follow his authority this morning but we need to put our faith in him we need to live in faith trusting in his word each and every day he is the only one that can forgive you your sins he can heal your greatest problem

[31:46] Jesus looks out and he sees your sin and his desire to heal you from it sent him to the cross to die come to this man I point you to him who can heal you and give you a new life that we stand as the crowd did when we see it all out worked in amazement and praise to God I pray these thoughts to be a blessing to us this morning so we'll sing firstly and then

[32:48] I'll conclude with prayer we'll sing in sing psalms sing psalms 30 find that on page 34 we'll sing the three stanzas from the beginning of that psalm verse 1 to verse 4 oh lord i will exalt your name for you have rescued me you did not let my foes rejoice and gloat triumphantly lord god in need i cried to you and you restored my health oh lord you brought me from the grave and saved my soul from death you holy ones sing to the lord sing out with joyful noise when you recall his holy name then praise him and rejoice!

[33:45] we'll stand to sing these words to god's praise o lord i will exalt your name for you have rescued me o lord i will exalt your name for you have rescued me you did not let my force rejoice and glow triumphantly!

[34:23] and glow triumphantly! and glow triumphantly!

[34:38] you did not let my force rejoice and glow triumphantly!

[34:55] Lord God in need I cry to you and you restored my health O Lord you brought me from the grave and saved my soul from death and saved my soul from death!

[35:34] and saved my soul from death O Lord you brought me from the grave and saved my soul from death!

[35:57] you holy ones sing to the Lord sing out with joyful voice when you we call his holy name then praise him and rejoice then praise him and rejoice then praise him and rejoice when you we call him holy name then praise him and rejoice our father in heaven may we each come under the authority of your word today lord we pray you would bless us in our gathering and bless us as we part we ask in

[37:14]  Jesus name amen