Desperate Times Desperate Men

Mark 2:1-12

2:1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.

2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)

11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.

12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

Introduction:

I have to start this sermon this morning by pointing out that when it was “noised that he was in the house” many gathered together, “straitway” or immediately.

The point is this. We can have programs on top of programs, activities on top of activities, but I still believe that what gathers people together is some sense that when they get there, He will be there.

So let me assure you this morning.

The wave walker is in the house.

The Chief Shepherd is on the scene.

Present in the building is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The earth maker and the earth shaker is here.

The star kindler is on site.

The deaf ear opener,

The blind eye healer,

The one that makes the lame walk and the dumb talk, is here.

If we are going to get a crowd, it is going to be because we let people know one simple fact. Jesus is in the house.

When Jesus is in the house, desperate people show up.

And desperate people do desperate things.

In a world that is increasingly searching for answers we need to let them know the name of the answer, Jesus Christ.

1. Desperate times demand unity:

You see this man being born of four.

In other words, it took all four of them working together to get the job done, to get this man to Jesus.

I think of the firefighters and the police officers that charged into the WTC on September 11th.

How many of them died that day, but I also think of how many that they saved by working together to get people out of the building.

Now I’ve got to think of the church of Jesus Christ.

We must stay unified if we are going to get the job done that Jesus wants us to do.

• We need to look out for each other.

• We need to love each other.

• We need to pray for each other.

• We need to encourage each other.

• We need to strengthen each other.

Gal. 6:2

2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Hebrews 10:25

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We must pull together at this time.

Unity means setting aside pettiness.

The times are too desperate, the need is too great, for us to focus on petty things.

It is not time for us to be at each others throats.

It is not time for us to be nit picking each other to death.

It is not time to be focused on everything that is negative.

It is time for us to lay aside pettiness and move forward in the kingdom of God.

2. Desperate Times require Desperate Measures

It is not time to play around.

Notice what these men did.

When they couldn’t get to Jesus through the door.

They climbed on top of the roof and began tearing a hole in it.