Through the Roof 6.30.19

“Through the Roof”

7/30/19

Mark 2:1-12 NKJV “And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even about the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 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.

5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 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?

9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 12 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!”

_________________

Now...Mark tells us this miraculous healing of a paralyzed man took place in Capernaum.

The Bible informs us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, but made Capernaum his ministry headquarters....

He performed more miracles in and around Capernaum than anywhere else.

Capernaum was also the home town of Peter, James, Andrew and John, and the tax collector Matthew.

_________________

Mark 1 reveals that Jesus had already been to this house once before, when He healed Simon Peter’s mother in law of a fever—So the house was Simon Peter’s.

Jesus has returned to Peter’s house after going from town to town ministering throughout the region.

When He entered the house, word got out and the little place was quickly jammed with so many people there was not room enough to squeeze one more in, not even around the door.

_______________

Now, while Jesus was teaching, a deeply touching scene was unfolding outside at the edge of the gathered crowd.

Four men were seen approaching carrying a paralyzed man on some kind of a makeshift stretcher.

We don’t know his name, their names, or how long he had been paralyzed.

We also don’t how far they had come, but to carry a full grown man any distance at all would be no small feat.

We assume the four were the paralyzed man’s friends.

Their hearts were broken over his plight...unable to move, walk, function, have a normal life.

________________

And this story illustrates an important spiritual truth.

The paralyzed man is a picture of the lost—paralyzed in sin, unable to function as God intended, unable to get to Jesus without the assistance of others with a burden for their soul.

It is a picture of holding someone up to God in intercessory prayer, carrying them into Jesus’s presence that they might be saved!

_________________

Now, somehow these four friends had heard that Jesus the miracle worker was in a certain house in Capernaum...And when they heard it, FAITH arose in their hearts.

“Maybe, if we can just get our friend to Jesus, He can be healed!”

So they laid him in a stretcher, picked him up, and set out on their mission of compassion.

_________________

Their journey has many lessons for us today regarding the way faith operates, so let’s look at a few:

The most effective faith is love-driven

These men had great faith as we’re about to see, but working along with their faith was GREAT LOVE.

They loved this paralyzed man enough to carry him all the way to Jesus!

—Love is the channel faith flows through best.

Paul writes, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6 NKJV).

Notice, “faith WORKS through love.”

The word “WORKS” is from the word “to energize.”

This means that, Like electricity energizes a light bulb making it shine, faith is energized, lit up, by love!

We’re told of Jesus’ ministry that He was “moved with compassion” before performing many of His greatest miracles.

When Jesus saw the widow who had lost her only son, He was moved with compassion.

When He saw the crowds as sheep w/o a shepherd, He was moved with compassion.

So the faith of these 4 men was energized and maximized by love for their friend!

_________________

Second,

II. Their faith was unmoved by obstacles

Mark records that as soon as they arrived at the house they encountered a major obstacle: “They could not come near Him because of the crowd...” (2:4)

Not only was the house packed, but the crowd outside was so thick you couldn’t squeeze through, much less four men carrying a paralyzed man in a stretcher!

This was a moment of testing!

LISTEN: On the way to a miracle your faith will always be tested!

1 Pet 1:6-8 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”

These four men could then and there have decided they’d done their best, and turned around to go back home.

But no...their faith HELD STEADY in testing.

Always remember—Faith’s favorite direction is FORWARD!

__________________

Then the THIRD thing we see is...

III. Their faith pushed through the obstacles

We see that their faith had a DESPERATE edge to it—they were desperate to see their friend healed!

DESPERATE FAITH reaches the ears of God like nothing else!

The Bible is filled with stories of desperate people, with desperate needs, in desperate times, and desperate trials, who cried out to God with desperate faith and were answered!

—In the OT we see barren Hannah praying desperately for a child, and God heard her.

—The children of Israel cried out to God in desperate prayer for deliverance from slavery, and God sent Moses.

When these 4 men saw that they could not get to Jesus by conventional means, they made a desperate move out of desperate faith.

They climbed up to the flat roof of the house, probably by a flight of steps outside.

Once up there, They began tearing through the roof by digging through tiles, wood, plaster....whatever it took!

The Bible says, “When they had broken through, they let down the bed” and the man descended to eye level with Jesus Christ!

_________________

Imagine the scene: Jesus is teaching the Word of God to a spellbound crowd.

Suddenly, noise is heard from above, followed by dust, pieces of plaster, wood, broken tiles falling to the ground.

All eyes look up.

The sunlight begins to shine through as a hole appears and grows larger and larger.

Finally, four men’s faces are seen peering down, eyes filled with desperate hope, as they lower their friend down by ropes to place him squarely in front of Jesus!

The man in the stretcher says nothing.

His four friends say nothing.

Nothing needs to be said! The scene says it all!

_______________

I can imagine the mixed crowd watching all this:

The religious rabbis sitting there likely thought it was outrageously intrusive.

Peter might have been struggling with the damage to his roof.

Some of the listeners resented the interruption to His teaching.

But Jesus was immediately moved by their faith!

________________

It’s interesting that the first thing Jesus does is forgive the man’s sins.

“He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (2:5 NKJV).

Even though he was paralyzed, his GREATEST NEED was forgiveness!

________________

Then Jesus healed him, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house” (2:11).

It says, “Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out...and all were amazed and glorified God, saying ‘We never saw anything like this!” (2:12)

_______________

So we learn here that the best faith is love-driven, is unmoved by obstacles, and pushes through obstacles on its way to an answer!

Do you have a desperate need today?

Do you need a “through the roof” breakthrough?