Sermon Tone Analysis

Dr. David Platt April 3, 2019

Paralysis & Forgiveness – The Gospel Coalition 2019 National Conference

Introduction: Good morning.

When I think about the word “intensity,” I think of John Piper.

Not David Platt.

John Piper is the most intense guy, not just about the Bible.

True story.

We were talking about the skin on dog’s paws and why they can stay out in the cold.

When I think about the word “earnestness,” I think of David.

I think he has a seriousness and earnestness about the gospel that is not just admirable, it’s contagious.

I think, brother, your ministry in my life and in so many others’ lives has been bitter-sweet.

I say that because I can recall four years ago a talk you gave that some of my best friends in the world who were miles apart streamed and the Lord used you to call both of them into missions.

Three years ago, it was bitter, because I had to say goodbyes to some people I loved very dearly.

One of the things that makes is sweet is that I know that for every goodbye I’ve said to them, I’ll say hello to countless people in eternity.

So I’m grateful every time I hear this brother preach God’s Word.

I’m reminded that when we give God everything that we lose absolutely nothing.

So we’re going to pray for him right now and I would say, “Watch your friends closely,” because you may just have to say goodbye to a few of them.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we come to You and we’re thankful for our brother David.

We ask that You would do what You’ve done in and through him countless times.

You are a faithful God and what You’ve done in the past is the best indicator of what You’ll do in the future.

So I pray that he would rest, not on his preparation, not on his notes, but that he would rest completely and utterly on Your Spirit.

Would You speak through him and transfer some of that earnestness for Your glory through him to us? It’s in Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

David: If you have a Bible—and I hope you do—let me invite you to open with me to .

That was humbling and it made me want to listen to John Piper preach.

I also want to thank Dr. Carson for the invitation to stand before you today.

Like many of you, I have for decades had a high esteem for him from a distance.

He’s ministered to me in countless ways through his preaching and writing, as well

© David Platt 2019 1

as on a daily basis through his devotionals “For the Love of God.”

But over the last year or two, when I was walking through some personal and ministry challenges, he was so kind to reach out to me and pray for me, encouraging me in ways that made all the more clear to me that what he preaches and what he writes is how he lives.

He genuinely loves pastors and I praise God for his leadership in this Gospel Coalition Conference.

With that said, I know I’m the least deserving pastor and person to be on the stage right now and I need God’s help to honor Jesus and hopefully encourage you.

Before we journey into this remarkable text, I want to invite you to journey with me into the heights of the Himalayas where, Lord willing, I’ll be a month from now.

Imagine landing via helicopter at around 12,000 feet and hiking out many miles over the course of the next week.

During that week, you come face to face with what I can only describe is a collision of urgent spiritual and physical need.

Regarding urgent physical need, a study was done in these villages about ten years ago that found half the children were dying before their eighth birthday.

I have four kids and we’re in the process of adopting number five.

Losing one of my kids is one of my greatest fears.

I can’t imagine that being an expectation for half of them.

One mom had 14 children—only two made it to adulthood.

They’re dying of things like diarrhea or simple infections for which you and I can get an antibiotic over the counter.

Poverty is rampant and one of the worst byproducts of that poverty is sex trafficking.

Traffickers prey on families in these villages.

The trafficker meets with the mom or dad and promises their daughter a better life if she will go with him into the city.

With the village conditions they live in, it doesn’t take a lot of convincing before they send her off.

These young girls are taken into the city and put into brothels, where they are broken and abused by numerous so-called “customers” each day.

Others are taken to other countries.

Thousands of girls are taken from these villages.

This urgent physical need is accompanied by urgent spiritual need.

These mountains are the birthplace of Buddhism and the hometown of Hinduism.

There are about nine million people in the region with maybe a hundred followers of Jesus.

Most have never even heard of Him.

When you mention Jesus, people have a puzzled look on their faces, as if you’re talking about somebody in a nearby village with a bizarre name.

This collision of need is evident in the individual faces of men, women and children.

Just see the face of a man whose eye has fallen out because infection has overtaken his head.

He’ll likely die soon but has never heard of Jesus.

See the face of an eight-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, physically chained to a barn outside because the village leader said this son was a curse in his home.

See the face of a young girl in a brothel, motioning for you to come over to her, because she thinks you want what so many other men want from her.

Then see, not the faces, but the bodies of men, women and children burning on funeral pyres, as their ashes fall down into a river that their families hope will transport them to a better life in a new incarnation.

© David Platt 2019 2

So I ask how do you respond to this collision of urgent spiritual and physical need?

Do you only share the gospel?

What if they’re starving?

Do you do anything about that?

What if they don’t have water or medicine?

Do you do anything about the reality that this child is chained to a barn?

That this girl is enslaved in that city and raped every day?

It’s one thing to ponder questions about evangelism, mercy ministry, justice and the gospel in the halls of our conferences, in the confines of our classrooms, in the comforts of our homes, behind our computer screens, or even behind our pulpits on Sunday mornings.

But it’s a whole ‘nother thing to consider these questions when you’re face to face with that starving family, when you’re looking into the eyes of that chained child, that trafficked girl, or watching that body burn right in front of you.

The reality is the Himalayas are not the only place where this collision of need exists.

In the city where I live or in the city or community where you live, we are surrounded by physical and spiritual need.

This makes a particularly applicable text for us.

It’s an amazing story that I think, because of its familiarity , may have lost its luster for many of us.

So I invite you to listen to it and try to imagine this is the first time you’ve ever heard it.

The Bible says:

When [Jesus] entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them. 3 They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them.

4 Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

5 Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: 7 “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming!

Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

8 Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?

9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic— 11 “I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.”

12 Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone.

As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

What an understatement.

Get the picture.

Capernaum, which was Jesus’ base of operations in His Galilean ministry, was situated on the north shore of that famous sea.

A crowd is crammed into the house and flowing out the door.

Inside Jesus is preaching to eager listeners, including scribes, who are trying to figure out Who this disease-healing, demon-delivering Teacher is.

Suddenly, four men show up with a paralyzed man on a mat.

They want to get in the house, but no one will let them.

Just imagine people at the door, looking back, making eye contact with the man on the mat, his friends around him, and then

© David Platt 2019 3

turning back without budging.

When pushing and prodding don’t work, the friends get resourceful, scrappy.

We can only imagine the conversation, as the first friend says, “Why don’t we climb up on the roof?”

The second responds, “A lot of good that will do, genius.

Jesus is inside, not outside.”