The Power to Forgive Sins

Introduction

As we enter chapter two of Mark we see Jesus return to Capernaum, the fishing town alongside the sea of Galilee. News about him being back spread quickly and before they knew it the house was once again packed out. The big thing that we are going to see in this passage is the healing of a paralytic man. There is so much more to this story than this though and we are going to dive into this through our time tonight.

Tonight I will outline this story in 5 points and this isn’t to intimidate you but I want to start by saying that the middle point is also at the heart of what Jesus is doing and is also the title of today’s message. The power to forgive sins. We will see the importance of preaching, good friends, a good attitude, and glorifying God but in the middle of it all is the gospel and that is true of the whole Bible. Jesus has the power to forgive all sins, you just have to let him.

Let’s begin by reading verses 1-12 then we can begin to break it down.

Mark 2:1–12 ESV

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!”

When these men came up to the house they did not let the fact that it was packed discourage them. In this time there was often stairs up the side of the house so that the roof was accessible. the roofs of the houses were usually long pieces of wood spanning across with bundles of grass positioned on top of that and usually a layer of dirt on top of that, sometimes grass even grew on top of the roof. As Jesus preached there was probably some dirt and debris starting to fall from the ceiling as these men prepared the hole to lower the friend down through. While everyone was standing around watching the scribes were sitting there judging all that was going on. They were stuck up and all they did was wait on the messiah and now that he was there they were just working to not like him. Jesus, as he always does, receives the man and he does something a bit different than usual here, he says your sins are forgiven. He then goes on to heal the man and everyone there began to glorify God.

If you have grown up in church you have probably heard this story many times and think man that’s cool they tore the roof apart for him and probably didn’t look much further than that. This story is significant because people have been missing the point of Jesus’s ministry and looking at him as a way to be healed but here he ties in the forgiveness of sins. This is the point were the message starts to come together and it becomes clear why he is there, the only problem now is the hardened hearts of the people all around. This turning point begins in the same place that I think all turning points begin in the people of God, the preaching of the word.

Preaching the Word

Mark 2:1–2 ESV

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.

Preaching is a foundational thing in our lives. God uses preaching to bring us to salvation and he uses preaching to guide us in the way we should go. God uses preaching to help us know what the Bible says. Preaching is something that I am very passionate about and have spent a lot of time learning and honing in. I still have plenty of room to improve though.

Preaching is what God has used to spark many great movements in the church throughout history. This isn’t just any preaching though, it is preaching the word. Preaching must be centered on the word of God, it must expound the word of God clearly and accurately. The thing is to that not all preaching is created equal. I will even say that the title of a baptist church makes the preaching good. There are churches in the network of baptist churches that have bad preaching. They focus on so many things and neglect the word. If a church is preaching anything that is not the Bible be warned. There are churches that try to preach things like movies and let me tell you that this is wrong. Sure a movie may have things that are good for us to do, that is a moral talk and lacks any part of the gospel.

I could go on about preaching but let me just leave you with this; Jesus preached the word, I promise to preach the word like him, you should only listen to preaching of the word.

The Best Type of Friends

Mark 2:3–4 ESV

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.

Do any of you in here have some good friends? These guys here are examples of good friends. Just imagine their excitement as they ran to their paralyzed friend thinking “we have found someone who might be able to make you better!”. These friends did something that they probably didn’t fully realize at the moment but on this side of the story we can see, they took their friend to the savior and the savior forgave him of his sins.

Good friends take their friends to Jesus. Notice I didn’t say to church or to falls creek, they took him to Jesus. While those other things are good and you should do them to, you need to take your friends to Jesus. What I mean by this is you need to share the gospel with your friends, you need to tell them that you have found the way to forgiveness. This is the most important thing in anyone’s life and you should want to share it with everyone, especially your friends.

These men took their friend to Jesus to be healed but he was also forgiven. They did everything in their power to do this, do you put in any effort to share Jesus with your friends?

The Power to Forgive Sins

Mark 2:5 ESV

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

This is the focal point of the story. Jesus forgave the man of his sins. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and he is doing it right here, Jesus has the power and authority to save. He still does today. This is at the heart of the message of the book of Mark, this is the heart of the message of the Bible. Jesus came to bring the forgiveness of sins, that is the main point and that is what so many people miss.

We need forgiveness because we have committed wrong against God. We have broken his law of perfection. You think that that is harsh, it isn’t because he is perfect and he can not be around anything that is not perfect. It is through the death of Jesus that we attain this. We will never be perfect of righteous as it is often called by our own power, it is only through Jesus bestowing his righteousness that we have the ability to enter heaven with God.

We are all sinners and need a savior, Jesus is that savior. He has the power to forgive sins. Will you accept the forgiveness that he offers?

The Wrong Attitude

Mark 2:6–11 ESV

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.”

How often do we have the wrong attitude about something? The scribes had a bad attitude about Jesus because he came in and was correcting them where they were wrong and doing things that they did not understand and they did not like him. Sometimes God is at work and we don’t like it, take Jonah for example. Jonah was called to go to a people and command them to repent and guess what they did! Only Jonah wasn’t happy because he did not like the people that repented. That too was the wrong attitude.

We must be open to the working of the Spirit. This section of the message is probably for me more than anyone because I have trouble going into something with an open mind. If I don’t like something before I go into it I will just spend the whole time trying to prove my dislike correct. In this I am not open to whatever it is.

We must still be decisive in what we are apart of and make these decisions but these guys had Jesus in front of them and they still had in their mind that they did not like him and they never changed. Don’t be so closed minded that you don’t allow God to work, if you are you will miss so much.

The Chief End

Mark 2:12 ESV

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!”

We finish this story by seeing the chief end of man on display. The purpose of existence is to glorify God and at the sight of this miraculous thing and the forgiveness of sins the people glorified God. We do this through our lives. I will be brief in this but never forget that it is God that deserves all of the glory for everything not any human. I have a lot of people tell me that I am doing a great job and I have to tell them that I am not doing anything, it is all God. May he alone get the glory.

Conclusion

Through this passage we have seen the importance of preaching the word, we have seen that the best type of friend shows their friends Jesus, we have seen that is is important to not have the wrong attitude about things, and we saw that we should give God the glory for everything. Above all though in the middle of it and woven throughout we saw that Jesus can forgive your sins.

Our sins are our transgressions against God and it is easy to live in them but that is the path to destruction. Jesus desires that we be forgiven and he made a way for that to happen and this is no doubt what he was preaching in the beginning. To be forgiven you must put your faith in Jesus alone for salvation and repent or turn away from your sins. This does not make you perfect but it makes you forgiven and you are perfect in God’s sight.

This is the message of the Bible, this is the message of Jesus. Where you spend eternity hinges on this because our sins are very serious. The world wants you to think that the things you do that go against God are not big deals but let me assure you that sin is a huge deal. It is something that you have to take care of. If you would like to know more about this that talk to me or one of the other adults after this, grab a friend if that makes you feel more comfortable just make sure you respond to what God is doing in your life.

For those of you that have been forgiven, contemplate how you fit in this story. Are you a good friend, do you often have the wrong attitude, to you give God the glory? All of these things are things that we should think about and contemplate in our own lives as we go and pursue spiritual growth.