There's always a way in

Luke 5:17-20

Many of those who came to Christ for help had brought disease upon themselves, yet He did not refuse to heal them. And when virtue from Him entered into these souls, they were convicted of sin, and many were healed of their spiritual disease as well as of their physical maladies. MH 73.1

Among these was the paralytic at Capernaum. Like the leper, this paralytic had lost all hope of recovery. His disease was the result of a sinful life, and his sufferings were embittered by remorse. In vain he had appealed to the Pharisees and doctors for relief; they pronounced him incurable, they denounced him as a sinner and declared that he would die under the wrath of God.

His great desire was relief from the burden of sin. He longed to see Jesus and receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with heaven. Then he would be content to live or to die, according to God's will. MH 74.1

There was no time to lose; already his wasted flesh bore signs of death. He besought his friends to carry him on his bed to Jesus, and this they gladly undertook to do. But so dense was the crowd that had assembled in and about the house where the Saviour was, that it was impossible for the sick man and his friends to reach Him, or even to come within hearing of His voice. Jesus was teaching in the home of Peter. According to their custom, His disciples sat close about Him, and “there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem.” Luke 5:17, A.R.V. Many of these had come as spies, seeking an accusation against Jesus. Beyond these thronged the promiscuous multitude, the eager, the reverent, the curious, and the unbelieving. Different nationalities and all grades of society were represented. “And the power of the Lord was present to heal.” Verse 17. The Spirit of life brooded over the assembly, but Pharisees and doctors did not discern His presence. They felt no sense of need, and the healing was not for them. “He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.” Luke 1:53. MH 74.2

Introduction: (Where are we)

The text places us as most theologians would agree in the home of Peter

John Mark in the gospel account according to Mark informs the reader that Jesus was in Capernaum, where Christ makes his home-base following his rejection at Nazareth where he came up

Now if you are an avid bible reader, or bible student, you know that there’s something unique about Capernaum. The bible tells us that it is at this location where Christ meets James, John, Peter, Andrew all fishermen and Matthew a tax collector, five of his future disciples

In fact, archaeologists uncovered an uncovered an early Christian Home in Capernaum thought to be Peter’s home where Christ heals peter’s mother in law and forgives the man who we’re reading about

Capernaum was a place that was familiar with Jesus, they heard and saw Jesus, Christ’s rebuked and woe’d the city in Matthew 11:23 saying And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

If I could give you a synopsis of today’s text and Capernaum’s sin, I would simply put it this way “Proximity does not mean intimacy.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, hearing a Pastor preach every Saturday or Sunday is not enough for you. The goal is to get you in your Word, reading, praying and seeking the Lord who is not hiding from any of us, but is readily available.

Body:

If you were to ask me my favorite Jesus moments in scripture, it would be this very moment and where Jesus turns the tables in the synagogue.

Jesus has now gained traction; following his temptations in the wilderness, He makes his way to the region of Galilee where he grows a large following from His teachings. He then makes His way to Nazareth and you know this, He comes and preaches a powerful word, states his mission, and his own people desire to kill him.

From then on Jesus decides to make Capernaum his base for public ministry. Up until this point, Jesus has cast out an unclean spirit, healed Peter’s mother, cleansed a leper and has spent time teaching others the Word of God.

The Bible then tells us that on this day, Jesus enters this Home, and from the onset there’s friction.

Jesus is at a home, but the Bible tells us that He is not alone, in facts the word tells us that teachers have come from all around to hear Jesus. Not only teachers, but spies are amongst them, unbelievers are amongst them, individuals who were depraved spiritually are amongst them, to literally hear the word of God. And let me pause here and say this, I don’t know a greater teacher than Jesus. I was at PELC sometime last week, and I heard great preacher after the next, but there ain’t one preacher who got anything on Jesus. I mean can you imagine Jesus coming to preach at our churches, you know we get happy when like five people get saved during a crusade; Jesus wouldn’t even have to speak a single word and people would be transformed.

Jesus has not invited these visitors, but the bible literally says that they came all over, to hear from Jesus. They decided that whatever that guy is preaching about I want to hear it. But not only are there people there who have a desire to hear his words, but there are also people there who have a desire to jot down what he says as a means of indicting him.

The bible then says that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, were sitting. Now I’m not sure if you can see this scene literally unfold, you got Jesus sitting on one side of the house, and you have the teachers of the law along with these pharisees, sitting on the other side, the tension is rising, Jesus is teaching, Jesus is instructing, I mean there’s literal transformative power that is oozing from his pores, God incarnate is in the middle of this tiny home, ready to cast down every stronghold, sickness, illness, disease, impoverished person, and the bible tells us (I’m jumping ahead, that yo 1 person got the help they needed)

Here’s the very person of God, incarnate, in the flesh, in the midst of many people, yet we are only told about ONE person, being saved!

And let me pause parenthetically here and say this, it is possible to be in the presence of a healing God, and not be healed not because God doesn’t want to heal you but because your heart isn’t in the right place. It’s possible to sit in the ambiance of all of God’s glory and yet miss out on your healing, simply because your heart is not in the correct place. When David says create in me a clean heart, it is not a cute song to sing randomly. but it’s crying out to the Lord asking Him to fix what is not right, create in me o God, a clean heart, so that I!

Watch this watch this, they’re sitting there, aware of His presence, acknowledging what He’s already done, and yet not even feeling moved in their spirit to be healed, simply because they have a facade of being holier than thou, and let me say this, if you care more about your image, than getting on your face in front of a people and coming humbly before your God, you ought to ask for forgiveness, I need to get to Jesus I want to get to Jesus!

Body II:

Here’s the problem, while they’re sitting around, acting better than everybody, acting brand new, acting like they’re some untouchable folks, they’re taking up space, that somebody else is dying to be apart of.

Because of some people on the inside, like this paralyzed man, they’re stuck on the outside watching an ungrateful people, sitting in the presence of God, sitting in the presence of Jesus, with an attitude, with a bad spirit, with a spiteful heart, with bad intentions, watching all these no good ungrateful folks taking up the very space where in a moment their life would be transformed, and oh boy don’t this sound like church. Now I know it ain’t Tamarind because we’re perfect, but the truth is we got too many people comfortable taking up spaces in sanctuaries that don’t want to be here, and my question to that person is why take somebody else’s space?

You don’t want to be here, you hate everything about the church, you hate everything about everything and you’re missing out on what Jesus wants to do in your life! And my best advice is if you don’t want Jesus to change your life or heal you, let somebody who does take your seat.

Can you still see the scene, the men can’t get to where Jesus is, the crowds are pressed in on every side, and then somebody gets the idea to lower Christ through the roof. Now when you read this text, you should ask, WHY? Why did they decide to lower them in that way. The next question you ought to ask is HOW? How did they come up with the idea to lower Him through the roof. A commentator on this text, makes this point that I never saw before, “The Palestinian house was flat-roofed. The roof had only the slightest tilt, sufficient to make the rain water run off. It was composed of beams laid from wall to wall and quite a short distance apart. The space between the beams was filled with close packed twigs, compacted together with mortar and then marled over. It was the easiest thing in the world to take out the packing between two beams. In fact coffins were very often taken in and out of a house via the roof.”

The implication here, is that these men did something that other’s have done, but not in the way that they were about to see. (Stay with me), this was not something completely unbeknownst to them, it just didn’t look the exact same way that they were about to watch it unfold. And might I suggest to somebody today, that not everybody will understand your vision, not everybody will get your plans, not everybody will get your aspirations, but it’s not their dream it’s yours. It’s not their vision it’s yours, God gave you the assignment not them. Even if they haven’t seen it before, the word for somebody is do it anyway!

I wish i could end the sermon right now but there’s so much meat in the text; it’s incredible, we can assume that these weren’t the only people who needed healing at the home, this paralyzed man is the only person we hear about because he got healed. And if I can give you my own guess of what happened to the other people who weren’t healed, because they weren’t able to get inside, I believe, that like these men, they saw the crowd surrounding Jesus, they saw it was impossible to get in through the front, and they left hopeless because the crowd stopped them from getting inside.

And If I can be very transparent, a little while ago I felt the Lord impress upon my heart, spiritual stamina. You see some of us, got forget about it faith, I believe the Lord is looking for people with SO WHAT faith (expound on this)

The problem is many of us are persistent with everything but spiritual things (Expound on this)

Watch the text, they get to the top of the rough, can you see it now, the discussion in the house begins dimming as they hear noise surrounding the vicinity, then the bible says that the men begin to do some construction work.

Elder first they remove the dirt layer hanging over the tiles, they dig, making a hole, then as they remove the tile, and suddenly these four men are now in the living room with Jesus, and then Jesus the bible says sees “THEIR FAITH” and tells the man your sins are forgiven.

Body III.)

I promise I’m almost done (explain the importance of community here)

It was because of the communal faith that this man was healed.