Hit The Bottom (5_of_12)
HIT THE BOTTOM? (5 of 12)
Meet Jesus
Mark 2:1-12
We are talking around the general theme of "Meet
Jesus." Talking about people in the Bible who had
problems and they brought their problems to Jesus.
When you bring your problems to Jesus then you are on
your way to getting your problems solved.
This morning the question is—Hit the Bottom? Meet
Jesus.
I went to graduate school in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Among the other things that we did there—every week we
had a mission project. During the years that I was a
student at the New Orleans Seminary I did a variety of
things. Sometimes I would go into the ghetto areas of
New Orleans and conduct a Bible study at night in a
home. On other occasions we would go to the City
Rescue Mission and preach. We would see people come to
know the Lord as their Savior.
Another thing that I did for a number of months was
preach on the streets in the French Quarter. If you
have ever been to the French Quarter, you know what a
place that is. So, for about nine months, at one time,
I preached right off of Bourbon Street in the French
Quarter on a corner. We would move in there with our
little van and take out a portable organ. We had a guy
who would play the piano and we would sing a little
music and gather up a crowd on that corner. Then I
would preach.
I had some rather unusual experiences there. I
remember one time a guy threatened to kill me if I
didn't quit preaching. That got my attention. I
remember another time I was preaching a police car
drove up and six policemen circled me while I was
preaching. That will get your attention also.
During those months as I was preaching on the street,
I encountered a lot of people who had hit the bottom
in life. You might be surprised some of the people who
were there who had hit the bottom. It was not your
normal homeless crowd. We talk about the problems and
the needs of the homeless today, but I encountered
some people that would be beyond what you would
normally expect—people who had hit the bottom. I found
medical doctors there who had hit the bottom. I found
lawyers there who had hit the bottom. I even found
preachers there who had hit the bottom. When you think
about it there are many people in life who have hit
the bottom. Now, they may not be on a Bourbon Street.
They may not be categorized or listed as the homeless,
but the truth of the matter is—they have hit the
bottom. They have done it either physically or they
have done it financially or they have done it
emotionally. They have done it in their marriage. They
have done it in their marital life. They have done it
in their career. But through a variety of
circumstances and situations you have individuals who
have hit the bottom.
I have read you some verses today about a man who had
hit the bottom. This man did what everybody who has
hit the bottom needs to do—this man meets the Lord
Jesus Christ. You may be here this morning and you
may have hit the bottom. Or you may know someone who
has hit the bottom. What you need is to have a saving
experience with the Lord Jesus Christ or a renewing
experience with the Lord Jesus Christ.
You will notice we are given the setting beginning in
verse 1 where it says that Jesus entered into
Capernaum. We know from other accounts that Capernaum,
located on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee,
is where Jesus made His official headquarters during
His ministry. He was born in Bethlehem, brought up in
Nazareth, but during His ministry, Capernaum became
His headquarters.
The Bible says that after some days it was noised—that
is, word got out, a report got out, a rumor got out
that Jesus Christ was in the house. It didn't take
long when the word got out that Jesus was in the house
that people began to come from everywhere. Before it
is over you have a packed crowd. You have people who
are lining the walls. They are looking through the
windows. They are standing at the door. When the word
got out that Jesus was around, He always attracted
people to Him.
Jesus said one time, "If I be lifted up from the
earth, I will draw all men unto me." There is a
tremendous drawing power about Jesus.
I have often said that the greatest rumor that could
get out on our church is that Jesus is here. If the
word just gets out that Jesus is here, there's
something drawing about the Lord Jesus Christ. So it
was noised that Jesus was in the house and a huge
crowd of people came.
We are told in verse 2 that when Jesus got the crowd
there was no room to receive them. They were totally
packed out. Then it says He preached the word unto
them. It's not all that hard to get a crowd. All kinds
of folks can get a crowd. Anything from burly
wrestlers to twangy, nasal singers can get a crowd.
The question is not—can you get a crowd? The question
is—what do you do when get your crowd?
The Bible says that Jesus, drawing the crowd, preached
the word unto them. It is a word that really carries
the idea of speaking in a conversational tone. In
simple, down-to-earth easy to understand language the
Lord Jesus Christ preached to the multitudes of the
people.
I have always tried to preach that way myself. I've
tried to put it on a level where anybody can
understand it. One of the greatest compliments I ever
get is when parents tell me that their boys and girls
can understand what I have to say. You would be amazed
at some of the little letters and pictures I get. Our
kids sometimes draw pictures and give them to me. But
I consider it a compliment when I'm told that the boys
and girls can understand what I have to say.
So Jesus in a simple, conversational, down-to-earth,
easy-to-understand way begins to speak the word to
these people. That's the background.
Now I want to sketch some of the characters for you in
these verses of Scripture. The first character is what
I will call—
I. The SUFFERING Man.
As you look at this passage of Scripture you will see
a group of men coming down the road on the way to the
house and these four men are carrying another man. The
King James Bible says that this man was sick of the
palsy.
That should be what gets our attention. That should be
the first thing we see in these verses of Scripture.
We ought to see this suffering man. We ought to see
this man that has a need in his life. It's very
important what you see and where you see and who you
see. I want you to notice that here is a man who has a
serious problem. In fact, five times in these verses
it says that this man was sick of the palsy.
It is where we get our word, paralytic, or even a word
used more today—paraplegic. This man was a paraplegic.
The word is a Greek word that means to loose along
side. The indicate is that one side of this man's body
has some problems—a problem evidently in the motor
area of the brain or the spinal column so that the
nerves collapse and the muscles malfunction. This man
becomes a cripple. He can't walk anymore. He is
confined. He is at the mercy of other people. He has
hit the bottom physically. He has a physical illness.
Totally dependent upon someone else.
I told you a week or so ago that when you read in the
Bible about different diseases, though these diseases
actually occurred, many times diseases are used as
illustrations of what sin does. This is certainly true
in this instance. Here is a man who a paraplegic. He
is a cripple. It is a reminder to us that sin also is
a crippler. Sin has a crippling affect on people.
You see that man working on one of these buildings. He
doesn't look like a cripple. He has a handsome,
vigorous body. He has a good mind. He has a top job.
But what you don't see is that this man is a spiritual
cripple. He opens his mouth and he spews filth. He
cuts his eyes and gazes at pornography. He stretches
out his hand and it's to grab a cocktail. This man
doesn't know it but he is a spiritual and a moral
cripple. It's just a matter of time—he may not hit the
streets, but sooner or later he's going to hit the
bottom. Sin always is a crippler.
The Bible says in the book of Romans that as lost
people we are without strength. All of us are
spiritual cripples because of our sin nature. In the
Old Testament we are told about Mephibosheth who was
the son of Saul. He was a cripple man. He was crippled
because of a fall. The nursemaid picked him up and
rushed him away when there was an invasion and she
dropped him. Because of a fall, he was crippled.
That is a picture of what has happened to every one of
us in this building today. All of us have been
crippled by a fall. The Bible says, "In Adam all
sinned." When Adam sinned and fell, the whole human
race fell into sin.
So, here is a man who has a very severe condition. He
is a paraplegic illustration of how sin puts us all on
the bottom.
Now, notice the source of this particular man's
problem. It is a deeper problem than merely a physical
problem. Did you notice what Jesus said to this man in
verse 5? "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." The
indication is that this man is a paraplegic because of
sin.
That does not mean that everybody who has a physical
malady because of sin. It does not mean that every
time somebody gets sick it is because there is sin in
their life. Sometimes it is.
When I was a boy I used to like green apples. You can
get real sick eating green apples. I would get real
sick if I wasn't careful and it was all my fault. I
caused it. There are some sicknesses that we do cause.
We do create some of our own sickness. But it is also
true that not everybody who gets sick it is because of
sin.
I told you the other day about the man who was born
blind. They asked Jesus, "Jesus, who did sin, this man
or his parents"? Jesus basically said—neither one of
them but that the glory of God might be manifested in
this man. Not all sickness is due directly to sin.
But here is an instance where it is. We have some
evidence that this man has a psychosomatic illness.
Somehow his spiritual condition has affected his
physical condition. Doctors tell us that as many as
50% of all physical ailments have as their root
emotional and spiritual problems.
When people get a bitter spirit or have an unforgiving
spirit in your heart. Or have hatred and hostility and
animosity toward someone else can make you sick
physically. Think about an ulcer. We know that ulcers
are not caused so much by what you are eating as by
what's eating you. So emotional and spiritual things
can have an impact on you.
One writer put it this way. He said, "God may forgive
your sins, but your nervous system won't."
So here is a man who has a sickness and evidently it
is because of some sin in his life.
Jesus said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." Here is
a man who evidently is a young man. He calls him son.
Many people believe that this man was suffering from a
sexually transmitted disease. That as a young man
perhaps smooth lips and soft words had bequeathed to
him this dreaded disease so that what you have here
now is a paralyzed playboy.
Some of you may sowing the seeds of physical problems
later on by the sin you are allowing to gnaw away and
eat away at the vitals of your life. Sin takes a
terrible toll on your life down the road.
We have first of all this suffering man. Let's sketch
some more characters.
II. The SERVING Men.
Focus attention away from the paralyzed man and look
at these four men. Do you see them? They are coming
down the street. That's where you and I come in. Here
is a man who has a need that can be met by the Lord
Jesus Christ. But I have a feeling that the man would
never have gotten to the Lord Jesus Christ if these
four men had not taken an interest in getting this man
to Jesus.
That's where you and I come in. We are sitting right
here in the midst of a city that is filled with people
who are moral and spiritual cripples and they need to
meet Jesus. But they will never meet Him if you and I
don't get interested. There would be more saved
sinners if there were more bringing saints. We have a
responsibility to bring folks and to invite folks and
to get folks to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can't help but admire these four guys. Look at
their determination. In verse 3 the Bible tells us
they are coming now. They are bringing the paraplegic.
He is borne of these four. They each had a corner
maybe. He was on a pallet or a bedroll. Maybe they
each had a corner. In verse 4 it says they couldn't
come near unto him for the press. There was a huge
crowd.
When I read that I couldn't help but think about a
number of years ago I went to Jamaica with the young
people in our church (in another place, not here). we
were having services up in the mountain country above
Nigel in Jamaica every evening. We go up there and our
kids would sing and I would preach in those mountain
Jamaican churches. We would start before dark. When
we started it was kind of like the 8:00 service. I
didn't think anybody was going to show up. We would
start the singing and all of a sudden, as it began to
get dark, here they would come. When darkness finally
settled over the building and I got up to preach, that
building was jammed and people were standing at the
door and they were peering in through the windows.
That's the picture you get here.
This place where Jesus is absolutely jammed pack. Here
comes these guys and they have this man they are
trying to get to Jesus. "Make way for the sick. Make
way for the sick." They go over to the Door Committee
and the Door Committee says, "You can't come through
here. There's no room here. They go over to the Window
Committee and the Window Committee says, "The windows
are too small, you can't jamb him through here. Why
don't you try the roof?"
If they had been Baptist, they would have gone home
and said, "No way you can get there. It can't be
done." But these men are determined. Nothing is going
to stop these men from getting this man to Jesus.
If you are going to get people to Jesus you can't let
obstacles hinder you. You can't let things get in your
way. You have to be determined. You can't give up too
easily. So they decide they will go up on the roof. As
the homes and houses were normally built in those
days, they had a stair on the outside of the house
that led up to the roof. So they go up there and
there's the Roof Committee. The Roof Committee says,
"What are you doing up here?" They say, "We want to
get this man to Jesus."
Roofs, in those days, were not built like ours. They
had beams from wall to wall and then they would put
brushwood and clay on top of that. Then they would put
grass and tile on top of that.
Get the picture now. If you can just live this for a
little while. There these guys are up on the roof.
They are wanting to get the man to Jesus. The Bible
says in verse 4 that they uncovered the roof. The
word, uncovered, really means they digged up the roof.
All of a sudden they start digging in this roof.
Get the picture on the inside. Jesus is teaching the
word. They are jammed around and all of a sudden dirt
and debris start falling down on them. Maybe it woke
up some of those sleeping disciples.
You heard about the boy who was asleep in church one
Sunday morning. The preacher had preached and the old
boy had dropped off to sleep. About that time a big
chunk from the ceiling fell and hit the old boy right
on the head and he fell out in the floor. The pastor
was alarmed and he ran down from the pulpit, reached
down and shook him and said, "Are you alright?" The
guy said, "Hit me again, Lord, I can still hear him."
You might ask, "Do you mind when folks sleep while you
preach?" No I don't mind. I want to do them some good
one way or the other if I can help them catch up on
their sleep and wake them up just in time to know that
they need to meet Jesus.
All of a sudden the roof starts tearing up and they
make hole in the roof and they let that man down. Dear
ones, we have to break up some things to get people to
Jesus Christ. We get so fixed into our little systems
and our little plans. You have to do some different
things today if you want to win people to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We had a Wild Game Fest and Sportsman
Expo yesterday. It was one of the finest things we've
ever had in our church. If you men didn't hear Paige
Patterson yesterday you missed one of the finest
presentations of the gospel I ever heard in my life.
He had the dart in their hearts and they were still
running and didn't know it. It was wonderful. It was
unusual. There are all kinds of things we have to do
to get people to Christ. We have to tear up some roofs
and remove some of our comfort zones and get out to
reach people for Christ in new and innovative and
different ways.
These men are determined. Nothing is going to stop
them from getting people to Jesus.
I have done some deep research and I have uncovered
some archeological evidence for the names of these
four guys who brought this man to Jesus. The first
man's name was Frank Faith. Someone asked him, "Are
you ever going to get that man to Jesus?" Frank Faith
says, "I believe we can get him to Jesus and I believe
that when he meets Jesus Christ, Jesus can meet the
deepest needs of his life." Frank Faith has one side
of that pallet.
On the other side is Larry Love. Larry Love says,
"Man, I really love this old boy. I love him and I
want to see him meet the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
him so much, let's get him to Jesus."
On another one of those corners was Harry Hope. Harry
Hope says, "I hope Jesus can do something for him. He
did something for me. If there was any hope for me,
there's hope for him."
There's a fourth man over there and it's Dan
Determination. Dan says, "While we are talking about
it, let's get busy and do something about it."
The first picture is the suffering man. The second
picture is these serving men. Now, let's paint the
main picture.
III. The SAVING Man.
Look at verse 5. It says, "When Jesus saw their
faith." They had a faith which laughed at barriers.
They had a faith which refused to give up. They had a
faith which understood what really was important and
what really mattered. Some people believe that this
house belonged to Simon Peter. Can you imagine when
the roof started caving in on him what old Simon Peter
must have thought? Can you see his eyes popping open?
I can almost see Simon now as he gets out his
calculator and begins calculating up how much it's
going to cost him to repair that thing. I can see him
as he goes into his office and gets out his homeowners
policy to make sure he's covered by the insurance.
Are you more interested in your place or are you
interested in people? Are you more interested in your
loveliness of your facility or are you interested in
the lostness of people? Jesus saw their faith. Jesus
said to him, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."
Jesus always deals with the spiritual first. With all
due appreciation for everything that's done in the way
of social work, one of the reasons sometimes social
work fails is because it does not understand that
man's deepest need is spiritual. You can clean a man
up. You can put a brand new suit on him, but if
something doesn't happen to change his heart he'll be
right back on the bottom.
Now, there they are. You were expecting them, weren't
you? There they are - the critics are on the scene.
The Scribes were sitting there. You know who the
scribes were, don't you? They were the guardians of
orthodoxy. They were the maintainers of the status
quo. Their theme song was, "Come weal or come woe, our
status is quo." They were the critics. They were the
faultfinders. They were the wart collectors. They were
the carbuncle inspectors.
You know what a critic is, don't you? A critic is a
legless man who teaches running. There's somebody who
is always going to criticize how you do something.
D. L. Moody was a layman, never ordained as a
preacher. God used this man to shake two continents
for Christ. After one of his crusades somebody came up
and said, "Mr. Moody, I don't like the way you'll did
that tonight." He said, "Well, you tell me how you do
it." He said, "Well, we don't do it." Mr. Moody
said, "I like the way I do it better than the way you
don't do it."
They are saying, "This man blasphemes. Who can forgive
sin but God?" They had the right question; they just
got the wrong answer. They came to the fork in the
road and they took the wrong turn.
Jesus Christ was God in human flesh. There he sits in
front of them teaching. He's God and they miss it
altogether.
Jesus is going to propose a test. By the way He proves
He is God in verse 8. "Why reason these things in your
hearts?" He's reading the hearts. He knows what is
going on in my heart and in your heart. He reads the
hearts. "Whether is easier to say; your sins be
forgiven or to say rise, take up your bed and walk."
He is saying which is the easiest to do—the spiritual
or the physical?
You can't see the spiritual. Forgiveness is a
spiritual matter. It's invisible. It takes place in
the heart. On the other hand the healing of those
cripple limbs would be visible. That would be an
outward matter. Forgiveness is invisible—it's in the
heart. Healing of his body was visible—out in the
life. So Jesus said, "I want to show you that I can do
the invisible by doing the visible." He turns to the
man and says, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk."
There's only one person who can make that kind of
statement and make it stick—God Himself. Only God can
forgive sin.
I heard about a man who was in the hospital. A person
of a particular persuasion came in and said to this
man, "I absolve you of your sins." The man said, "Let
me see your hands." The visitor held out his hands.
The man said, "I'm sorry, but the only man who can
forgive my sins has nail prints in his hands."
There's only one basis of forgiveness. It's because
Jesus Christ paid the price for your sins when He died
on the cross of Calvary. You have hit the bottom? You
need forgiveness of your sins. You need to meet Jesus
Christ. He alone in the universe can forgive sins.
Immediately. Instantaneous. Right on the spot. "He
arose, took up his bed." That's not a king size bed he
picked up. It's a pallet. He rolls up his pallet, puts
it under his arm and starts walking away. He is not
only healed, he is forgiven.
A little boy had misbehaved and felt badly about it.
You know how bad you feel when you mess up. His momma
had a slate on the refrigerator. While she was away
the little boy had scribbled this message on the slate
and when mom came in she read it. "Dear mom, I'm sorry
I acted ugly. If you will forgive me, wipe this." Of
course, you know what momma did. She wiped the slate
clean.
If you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ, when Jesus
forgives you, He doesn't rub it in; He rubs it out.
You can be forgiven.
I can almost see those four boys. If you really want
some happiness in life, you get involved in bringing
people to Jesus.
Old Frank Faith said, "I believed it." Larry Love
said, "I loved him enough to get him there." Harry
Hope said, All my hope has been realized." Dan
Determination said, "I told you if we would get him to
Jesus something would happen."
The Bible says in verse 12 that he arose, took up his
bed and "went forth before them all publicly." He had
been forgiven and he walks before them all as a public
testimony.
Have your been forgiven?
Have you received Christ as your Savior? Then you need
to publicly make it known.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this database is protected by copyright and International Law, and is solely owned by its authors. The reproduction, or distribution of this product, or any portion of it, without the expressed written authorization from the contributing authors is forbidden. Remember, this database is to inspire the development of new messages to further the Kingdom's work.