Jesus Has Authority to Forgive Sins

Good morning, turn with me in your Bibles this morning to the gospel of Mark. What we have been learning so far is that Jesus is the Messiah and that He is the Son of God. The gospel is all about Jesus and we saw that in Him we find repentance and forgiveness and God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. We saw as Jesus begins His ministry that when Jesus speaks things happen. ORDINARY PEOPLE FOLLOW HIM, AND TROUBLED PEOPLE ARE SET FREE. Not this morning were going to learn more about what happens when Jesus steps into a persons life, what difference will it make to your life, when Jesus Christ touches you. What difference will it make when you become a follower of Jesus Christ. Now were going to cover two stories from Mark’s gospel this morning, and were going over these two stories in reverse.

So if he was known as Simon the Leper and now is not we can gather that it is likely that Jesus healed him. Jesus healed thousands, the purpose of all these miracles was done in order to show that Jesus is the Son of God. It validated what He said after all the most important thing to Jesus was the message He preached, we saw this last wee

First in the proper order you have the account of the leper and then you have the story about a paralytic at the beginning of chapter 2 but I am going through them in reverse order because I think they will make more sense that way. .

The Setting:

Mark 1:38 NKJV

But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.”

:38

Remember Jesus has been surrounded by great crowds in Caperneaum, because many people had heard of His healing power and they were coming out to Him in droves bringing their various needs with them. If you’ll remember Jesus said in verse 38 “we’ve got to go to some other villages so that I can preach there also, for this is why I have come.” So Jesus went and so did the first disciples on this ministry trip, the first tour of the various villages of Galilee, and Mark records only one story from this time traveling throughout the towns of Galilee and that is the story of the leper as far as that time of traveling is concerned he tells us

He came to preach to sinners and lead them to repentance.

If you have teachers out there teaching alot of different things, how do you know who’s telling the truth?

Mark 1:39 NASB95

And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

But at the end of this little tour Jesus comes back to Capernaeum and as soon as He returns, the crowds are back again.

Well the one who is casting out demons, who is healing the multitudes, day after day, month after month, year after year. The one who has total control over life and death, who can raise people from the dead, that’s the guy you listen to. So the miracles were there only to point to the fact that Jesus is who He was claiming to be none other than the Messiah sent from God to save the world from their sins.

He puts on a massive display of divine power, which leaves the nation fully aware of who He is. They never denied His miracles or His power , only the religious leaders said that He did what He did by the power of satan, and Jesus rebuked them for that. So Jesus on the first day of His ministry walked into church and cast a demon out of a church member, then he went and healed Simon Peters

Mark 2:1 NASB95

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

It is a amazing thing when a leper appears in the Bible because the nature of the disease...

Mark 2:2 NASB95

And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

Now remember they were stationed at Simon Peters house, where Jesus had miraculously healed his mother in law. This was also the house where all the demoniacs and sick had come before and now Jesus has returned to the house and the crowds are back outside and inside again. Notice what Jesus did while they were there.

But before we get into that let’s read the account.

“He preached the word to them.”

(read)

That is Jesus’ priority, we will kept seeing this as we study the gospel of Mark. Right in the middle of Jesus’ teaching there was an unlikely interruption, imagine Jesus is sitting at the front of the room and He is preaching a message, and as He is preaching little particles begin to fall from the ceiling. At first I am sure people were wondering what it was but then larger pieces of thatch and straw began falling down into the crowd and it became so noticable people began looking upward and as they looked upward a whole appeared in the cieling. Dow through the whole comes this man who is paralyzed being lowered down into the house by some of his friends. His legs wouldn’t bear the weight of his body and being unable to move, he was confined to a mat on which he sat or slept, and he simply lay there.

The title of todays message is “Jesus trades places with a leper” just listening to the reading you can hear how this event caused the leper and Jesus to trade places. The leper an outcast was forced to stay in islolated places came into the city, met Jesus . Jesus in the city after healing the leper ended up in isolated places. Jesus

But this man was determined to get to Jesus. When they arrived at the place where Jesus is staying they immediately find that the house is swarming with people, not only crammed inside but the crowd spilling out the door already and they realize there is no way they are going to get a man on a mat through this crowd and to Jesus through the front door. So these 5 men had a problem and its a problem were going to address this morning, HOW DO YOU GET TO JESUS CHRIST?

They use their imagination beutifully here they can’t get through the door and so they decide to come in through the roof.... I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN THIS HAPPEN DONT YOU?

Now remember this was Simon Peter’s house so I wonder what Simon thought as he watched his own roof being opened up. I mean he had to be thinking is this what it means to be a follower of Jesus?

This is good… THE LESSON IS THIS IF WERE SERIOUS ABOUT MINISTRY, WE OUGHT TO EXPECT THAT THE BUILDING WILL NEED A FEW REPAIRS NOW AND THEN RIGHT lol

Now were going to come back and see what we can learn from the paralyzed man and his freinds but i want us to focus on what is the main point of the story. The friends lower the paralyzed man through the roof and he winds up laying looking up into the face of Jesus, and we read in verse 5 that when Jesus saw their faith he said:

Mark 2:5 NASB95

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

Now the question here is this: WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?

HOW IS THAT RELEVANT?

This is NOT why the paralyzed man has come, this man on his mat has clearly come to Jesus because .... He is paralyzed that is why he has come. But Jesus completely disregards the mans most obvious problem and talks to him about something else. SON YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN. OK Jesus well thank you but to talk to a man about forgiveness whose obvious need is healing seems to me to be disconnected, it seems off the point, it seems irrelevant doesn't it?

I imagine the paralyzed man there on his mat having made this great journey and being lowered into an enormous crowd and now hearing this word from Jesus had to be confused. He must have thought “Jesus that’s great but that’s not why Ive come.” More than that don't you think that at first sight that what Jesus says here might have seemed a little insensitive? IT’s often said you can’t preach to a man who has an empty stomach. If you're going effectively communicate to a man who has an obvious need you have to meet his obvious need before you can think that you can say what you want to say.

I was taught that at college, and there is some truth to that. But I want you to notice that Jesus does here the complete obvious doesn’t he? I mean He completely ignores the man’s obvious needs and says nothing about it, and goes straight to what He wants to say to the man which is “Son your sins are forgiven you.” I mean can you imagine what you would think if you were with me and you decided to come along one day and see what I did during a day of ministry and a man came into the office and was in dire need of food, and he was clearly starving and I looked at him and said Son your sins are forgiven you....

You would think I was an insensitive jerk, would you not? But think about these people in this time, they didn’t at this point know who Jesus was, they knew he had the power to heal and that was all and now this man clearly desperate gets lowered down through the roof of all places and Jesus tells him about His sins being forgiven. it would be strange.

Now let’s just pause for a moment and try to apply these things to ourselves in this congregation today, there is a vast array of need. Some of it known some of it hidden, but all of us have come and many of us are facing issues in our lives that really press in on us, and they are things that a very important, they are heavy, heavy burdens and we all carry them in. Some of us are really struggling with loss, some of us are battling depression, some of us are struggling with fear, or with anger, or with worry, or with lack of self esteem, or loss of confidence, or lonliness, we have issues that relate to money.

We have issues that relate to health, we have issues in our marriage, and other relationships and these things press in on us and they fill our minds and they are very real needs. So much is that the case that I would honestly be suprised if there was one in 100 people here who actually thinking conciously “my greatest need is forgiveness from Jesus Christ” probably not 1 of 100 has been thinking about that as we came to church this morning.

Now its for this reason that many people feel disconnected from the gospel because it doesnt seem to address the issues were facing. That is why there will always be pressur eon the church of jesus Christ to reposition the gospel to fit the needs that concern people today. So you shouldnt be suprised when you find in our country versions of the gospel, that are targeted to the concerns that people have.

This is where you find gospels mainly concerned about health, about properity, or personal fufillment. Why does that happen? Because there is always a pressure on the church to speak to me and my obvious need. If you find the preacher speaking about forgiveness to be disconnected from your life that probably means your in the same position as the man laying on his mat in front of Jesus.

“YES THATS GOOD, BUT THAT’S NOT WHY I CAME.”

But as we look at this account we can see clearly that as far as Jesus is concerned forgiveness, is a higher priority than any other need in this man’s life. That’s what matters to Jesus, and seeing that we can assume that forgiveness is a higher priority in your life than any other need that may be pressing in on you this morning. So Jesus, completely disregarding the mans most obvious problem, says YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU.

How is that relevant?

The second question is:

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

YOur sins are forgiven, notice that the teachers of the law pick up on this really quick in verse 6.

Mark 2:6 NKJV

And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

Mark 2:7 NKJV

“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Now these men were obviously good teachers of the law because they were absolutely right in what they are saying. The principle is that the only person who can forgive is the one who has been offended.

If you set my house on fire, I have the ability to forgive you. It is my house what you have done you have done to me. I have that authority. But if you set Cory’s house on fire there is no use coming to me for forgiveness there is nothing I can do about it. The only person who can forgive you if you do that is Cory, and He is not as loving as I am lol jk. The principle is the only person who can forgive is the person who has been offended.

Heres the one thing you need to know sin by definition is an offense against God! but of a study done throughout America’s churches only about 17% of church goers defined sin as an offense against God. What that means is, that at least according to this survey, published in the book “The day America told the truth, 83 % people in this country, 4 out of 5 people you meet in this country, do not know what sin is.

What they think it is acting against your own values or acting in a way that hurts another person. THERES ONLY ONE PROBLEM WITH THIS MINDSET, UNTIL WE REALIZE WHO OUR SINS ARE DIRECTED TOWARD, WE CANNOT FULLY EVER GRASP THE GOODNESS OF THE GOSPEL, NOR CAN WE BE SAVED. YOU WERE MADE BY GOD AND YOU WERE MADE FOR GOD AND WHEN YOU CHOOSE SIN OVER GLORIFYING HIS NAME THEN YOU ARE SPITTING IN THE FACE OF THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS THE POWER TO SAVE YOU FROM THE WRATH TO COME!

Jesus here is talking as God because these teachers know that only god can forgive sins! This is exactly what Mark is telling us from the very beginning of the gospel that Jesus is GOD HIMSELF, THAT HE IS GOD IN A BODY! Now Jesus knew what these religious teachers were thinking and so he responded in verse 8

Mark 2:8 NKJV

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?

Mark 2:9 NKJV

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?

Wy

It’s obviously easier to say YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN because no one has any way to know if those sins have been forgiven or not. But JEsus wants these men and the crowd to know that this man’s sins are really forgiven because He says so.

Mark 2:10 NKJV

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,

Mark 2:11 ESV

“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

and to the astonishment of everyone there that is exactly what this man does. The people are saying in amazement WE HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE.

So here we have Jesus giving this man 2 gifts the gift of forgiveness followed by healing.

I find it interesting that we call our relationship with Jesus a walk..... you see someone who is going to church that you love and you ask them “Hows your walk going?” When we ask this question we want to know how your relationship with the Lord is doing. It is always funny the answers to this question you get.

Heres the point:

JESUS DIDN’T FORGIVE YOU OF YOUR SINS AND EXPECT YOU TO LAY ON YOUR MAT UNABLE TO WALK WITH HIM!

WHEN JESUS FORGAVE YOUR SINS, HE GAVE YOU NEW LEGS!!!

Yet so many Christians are struggling to move struggling to walk with the Lord and like a paralyzed man they are down and they are unable to experience the freedom that comes from having fully functional legs. Think with me a minute the man in this story was dependent on his friends to get him to Jesus. How many in this room this morning desire a true and living walk with the Lord Jesus and yet you don’t experience the freedom of walking with him because of some sin which has you crippled, and so you have to piggy back of the experiences of others never enjoying the freedom the Lord.

This sin is besetting you, hatred, worry, guilt, shame… and you just cant find your footing with the Lord. I’M TELLING YOU IF YOU COME IN DESPERATION YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN DRAGGED IN HERE WITH A LIMP BUT YOU’LL LEAVE RUNNING IF YOU COME TO THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.

SOME OF YOU NEED TO COME GET FORGIVENESS AND TAKE UP YOUR MAT AND GO HOME.... CHANGED.

I don’t want you to go home convicted I want you to go home changed!

You see in light of eternity forgiveness is your greatest need, whatever it is crowding in on you in this world will pass, life is short and eternity is long. To be forgiven to have access into the presence of Jesus in paradise forever and ever.

FORGIVENESS IS MY GREATEST NEED AND JESUS HAS AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE MY SINS!

I want to share 5 encouragements and ways you can receive from the Lord JEsus Christ today.

1. Don’t let anything stop you from coming to Jesus.

When you have realized your greatest need, and you realize that the only hope you have is found in Jesus don’t let anyone or anything stop you from following Him. No matter what.

I mean isnt this what you learn from the paralized man and his freinds. They were desperate to get to Jesus and would not let anoyone *the crowd) or anything (the roof) stop them from getting to Jesus. I mean think about it, when they get there there is a massive crowd spilling out into the street, they could have easily as they were standing there holding this man on his man said: “Well there is no way were ever going to get to JEsus today let’s just go home and maybe come back another day.

They would not be denied

Whatever it takes to get to Jesus were ready to do that, and were going to do it today.

Let me ask this question: What might be stopping you from coming to Jesus?

Is it a Christian who has been a bad example and has left a bad taste in your mouth?

Is it a big request that you made to God and you did not get what you asked for and you never have made peace with that?

DONT LET ANYTHING STOP YOU FROM COMING TO JESUS CHRIST!

Maybe you have tried and you feel that your not any different…

Listen do you know the massive list of people who came to Jesus many times before something changed in their heart?

You keep coming, you come to Him and you show your desparation.

Some of you in this room need to come and accept Jesus this morning, you have been coming to church and thinking about it, you know deep down your sins have not been forgiven but you keep putting it off, Jesus stands ready to forgive, ready to wash you and make you clean, but you have to oush through whatever is hindering you from coming to Him.

DONT LET ANYTHING STOP YOU! Nothing is more important than this!

2. Fix Your Faith on Jesus Christ Alone.

Fix your trust and allow your life to be rooted upon Christ and His truth alone.

YOU ARE NOT DEFINED BY WHAT YOU DO, YOU ARE DEFINED BY WHAT JESUS CHRIS HAS DONE FOR YOU.

IT IS HIS AUTHORITY THAT HAS CALLED YOU REDEEMED, CHILDREN OF GOD, RIGHTEOUS, BLESSED.....

WHATEVER CHRIST IN HIS WORD SAYS ABOUT YOU IS TRUE

Let God be true and every other man a liar. YOU MUST ALLOW YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST AND HIS GOSPEL TO TRANSFORM YOUR THINKING.

With that being said I want to shift briefly to the other story in Mark but it is found in chapter 1 and it tells us the story of another man who comes to Jesus. One thing that ties these two stories together is what we learn about the way they appraoch JEsus.

Mark 1:40 NKJV

Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Now notice how all of this man’s hope is set on Jesus Christ. If YOU are willing then YOU can make me clean. He is on his knees when he says this he is begging Jesus he is speaking directly to Jesus.

IMPORTANT POINT: The YOU is singular, now remember He has Simon, James, Andrew and John with him they have been ministering with him on this journey, and this strikes me as important that when this leper came he ignores the disciples completely. I mean it would have been likely that when people mentioned Jesus they didnt just mention Jesus but his band of brothers as well.

I mean they were living at Simon Peter’s house so they would have known Jesus’ close friends. I mean you would expect this leper would have been kept outside the city because he was considered unclean so he wold have heard about this man Jesus and his crew preaching and healing people.

You would expect him to come in and say “I hear you guys perform healings...”

but he doesn’t do that HE FIXES HIS EYES UPON JESUS ALONE NOT THE DISCIPLES and he says IF YOU ARE WILLING YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN.

** DON’T MISTAKE CHRIST FOR HIS CHURCH***

Dont make the mistake of confusing what Jesus can do for you and what His followers can do for you.

DONT PUT YOUR HOPE IN CHRISTIANS PUT YOUR HOPE IN CHRIST

So people say I aint going down there to that church because it is filled with sinners..... YOUR DANG RIGHT AND WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH THE DOOR WE WILL HAVE ONE MORE!!

BUT I AM NOT INVITING YOU TO CHURCH TO MEET THE SINNERS ON THE INSIDE, IM INVITING YOU TO MEET THE SAVIOR INSIDE THE SINNERS!

Do you believe Jesus is alive?

Do you believe He can change you?

Then come meet Him today and forget the people who are sitting around you do business with Him!

other Christians can do nothing for you, but the Christ within the Christian can.

You have got to get yor eyes off of other Christians and what they do and get your eyes fixed on JESUS AND WHAT HE IS WILLING AND ABLE TO DO FOR YOU RIGHT NOW TODAY!

Here is the danger we face today, you know that you can become a part of the church by a statement of faith. Simply by saying that you believe you can become a part of the local church because were not God and we have no way of knowing what the contents of your heart is.

But listen if you receive acceptance into a church without ever recieving from Jesus you are in real danger. This is probably the most serious spiritual dangers we face in our world today.

IF YOUR GREATEST NEED IS GOING TO BE MET IT MUST BE MET BY JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!

Oh you don’t know me you dont know what I have done, you dont know what I did this morning, last night.... IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT HAPPENED THEN

But Jesus will never be willing, I am too dirty look at the response given by Jesus to the most unclean of all

Mark 1:41 NKJV

Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

Mark 1:41

JESUS IS WILLING RIGHT NOW TO CLEANSE YOU AND MAKE YOU WHOLE!

Do you know the one complaint Jesus levied against religious people?

That they would not come to Him and recieve life.

YOu’ll go to your friends, you’ll go to your preist, you’ll go to your rabbi, you’ll go to your pastor, you’ll go to your church, you’ll go to your Sunday School class or small group, you’ll go to your therapist, BUT YOU WILL NOT COME TO ME, THAT YOU MAY RECEIVE LIFE!

How do we receive from Christ:

DONT LET ANYTHING STOP YOU FROM COMING

FIX YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST ALONE

3. Come With the Faith That You Have.

Notice what the man says here:

“IF you are willing You can make me clean”

If

I believe that you are able to make me clean” That’s faith, but I’m not sure that that’s the sort of thing you would want to do. That’s unbelief he has this mixture of unbelief and the faith that he has.

You can’t ocme to Jesus with what you dont have, you have to come to Jesus with what you do have.

(FINISH THE STORY)

(PREACH SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT)