WHAT MANY IN THE BIBLE HAD TEN LEGS BUT USED ONLY EIGHT OF THEM?
He is the man in our text this morning. It is the man five times that our Bible calls “sick of the palsy.”
He was carried by four men to the feet of Jesus. Nothing could daunt these four men who were determined to get their friend to Jesus.
This man was saved through the efforts of four men. He was not only borne by them, but he was born through them as we shall see.
I. THE MAN WITH PROBLEMS
The man’s problem was two-fold.
This man had been stricken with the palsy, a disease
that causes paralysis and severe shaking of the body. It is a
disease that causes the muscles to lose their tone. This man
was stricken with palsy as the Bible tells us five times in our
text.
This man was crippled and bedridden. He was without hope.
A. Like all men this man was crippled
with sin spiritually
All men since Adam are born spiritually crippled by sin. When a newborn baby is born and brought to church you will hear things such as, "He’s so cute," "Isn’t he adorable," and such like. But the truth is every baby is born deformed......born with a depraved heart that will lead to hell unless they get saved.
B. Like some men this man was crippled
by sin physically
It does seem from the context of this story that this man’s sickness was the result of some past sin. Now this is not to say that everyone physical illness is because of their sin.
However, the bottom line is sin has consequences. Ask the drunk whose liver is shot and home is wrecked. Ask the smoker who is dying from cancer. Ask the prostitute who is dying with AIDS.
This man desired to be set free from this crippling disease.
He was helpless and hopeless without a miracle.
II. THE MEN WITH PERSERVANCE
This man could not walk. He could not get around on
his own.
"they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed."
Mark informs us that this man sick of the palsy had four friends who were responsible for bringing him to Jesus. The truth is most people will not come to Jesus unless we bring them.
The emphasis in this miracle was not on the full house but on the four of a kind.
A. The difficulties these men encountered
These men had a difficult time trying to get this man to Jesus. Mark tells us that they could not come nigh to Jesus for the press of people.
It is not the atheist, the agnostics, or even the humanist who are the greatest hinderers to the progress of the gospel.
If you ever attempt to get your friends and family to Jesus, you will face difficulties. The devil will do all he can to stop you.
But these four of kind shared the difficulties together.
B. The determination these men exhibited
They were not going to be denied. They were not going to fail. The crowd momentarily challenged them, but they were determined to find a way to get their friend to Jesus.
A drill officer was putting his men through some exercises. “Lie on your backs,” he barked. “Raise your legs. Now move then as riding a bicycle.”
However, there was one man who held his legs motionless, “What the big ideal?” asked the drill officer.
“I am coasting downhill,” answered the man. There are far too many like that today in the church.
Houses had flat roofs, and it would not be difficult to remove the tiles and grass that comprised the roof and make an opening large enough to fit their friend through on his mat.
However, they were determined because they were fully persuaded that Jesus was the answer to their friend’s need. The reason so often we are not persistence about getting others to Jesus is simply because we are not fully persuaded that Jesus is the only answer.
They did not care what anybody thought about them. Their only thought was this man must get to Jesus.
They went up, and before they let the man down. IF WE WANT TO BRING SOULS TO CHRIST, WE MUST FIRST GO UP TO GOD IN PRAYER AND EXPECTANT FAITH, AND THEN BRING THEM DOWN TO HIS FEET.
Notice that Jesus “saw their faith.” Whose faith? Was it the faith of these 4 men?
Whose faith did Jesus see—the four friends’ or the paralytic’s? “As Abraham’s intercession delivered Lot, as Paul in the shipwreck was the occasion of safety to all the crew, so one man’s faith may bring blessings on another. But if the sick man too had not had faith, he would not have let himself be brought at all, and would certainly not have consented to reach Christ’s presence by so strange and, to him, dangerous a way ...”
Jesus saw their faith displayed, depicted, and demonstrated by these 4 men. Their confidence and faith apparently impressed Jesus a great deal, because He “saw” it.
Their faith was compassionate faith. The word “borne,” in verse 3 is a word that carries the idea of “sympathizing, or sharing in the experience of another.” In other words, these 4 men hurt for the paralyzed man. They made his needs their own need.
One of the great tragedies of the modern church is that we just simply don’t care anymore. We have lost our tears. We have lost our burden. We have lost our compassion.
It no longer bothers us that people are dying and going to hell. It no longer disturbs us that people’s lives are filled with shattered hopes and broken dreams.
Condemnation, criticism, carelessness, callousness and coldness do not make a difference in people’s lives. Compassion is the only thing that makes a difference.
Their faith was a costly faith. They “uncovered the roof” of the house. They unroofed the roof. They climbed up a stairway, or ladder, to the flat tile roof, and dug out, or broke up the tiles of the roof. In the circles of modern Christianity, the actions of these 4 men are almost too hard to comprehend. They cared so greatly for this man and his need to get to Jesus, that they literally “raised the roof” to make it happened.
Have you ever considered WHO PAID FOR THE ROOF? The money for the damage to roof had to come from somewhere. Since there was not then homeowner’s insurance, someone had to pay the bill.
I don’t for sure if these 4 men footed the bill or not, but if they did, it would have been worth the cost just to get their friend to Jesus.
Does your faith cost you anything? Is your faith a faith of convenience, or a faith of commitment? Would you be willing to foot the bill, if need be, so that your family, friends, loved one, co-workers, classmates, or neighbors could get to Jesus?
Their faith was not only a compassionate faith and a costly faith, but it was a courageous faith. Jesus “SAW their faith.”
How could Jesus see their faith? Isn’t faith an inward matter?
People see our faith when we get up and come to church. People see our faith when we tithe. People see our faith when we endure troubles, trials and tribulations.
Inward faith that does not become outward faith is no faith at all “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
III. THE MASTER WITH POWER
In this miracle I noticed two things:
A. The priority of Jesus
Jesus looked at the man lying on the bed with the palsy and recognized that he had a far greater problem than others realized. Jesus knew that the man was lost, and more important than his walking was his being born again. The fact that he could walk again would have been of little value if he died lost.
Those that were gathered there that day were about to learn that the greatest problem of the palsied man was not his sickness, but the greatest problem was his sin. Sin had either directly or indirectly caused this man’s sickness. Sickness was a symptom, but sin was the problem. Sin was the root of his problem; sickness was the fruit of his problem. Jesus goes right to the root of the problem
This man’s sickness was not his most pressing problem; this man’s sin was his primary problem. The greatest need this man had was not the healing of his sickness; it was the healing of his soul.
Since sin is man’s greatest problem, forgiveness is man’s greatest need. Jesus cared for this man too much than to just deal with his symptom. He wanted to deal with his problem. More important than the healing of this man’s body was the cleansing of the heart.
Jesus put the emphasis on the spiritual first. Jesus dealt with the root of the man’s problem. The sin problem is always the greatest need.
Instead of fixing the leak under the sink first, our society just keeps mopping up the mess. Jobs are not the answer. Better environment is not the answer. JESUS IS THE ANSWER.
Men don’t need to be reformed, they needed to be redeemed.
B. The authority of Jesus
Jesus pronounced his sins forgiven. In so doing, He was claiming to be God. To back up his words that He was indeed very God, He heals the man with just His words. From a human standpoint, it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” since there’s no way to verify it. From God’s perspective, to forgive sins is more difficult, since it involved the sacrifice of His Son. Jesus took that which is humanly more difficult— healing the man—and used it to verify His claim to forgive his sins.
Which was easier to heal the man or to tell him he was forgiven?
“It costs God nothing to make a cripple man walk; but it cost Him everything to be able to forgive sins.”
What authority! The scribes and Pharisees could neither forgive sins nor heal the man.
IV. THE MUTTITUDE WITH PERPLEXITY
“they were all amazed”
A. They marveled at an altered life
"that ye may know" - that I have forgiven his sins...."Arise, and walk." It was his walk that proved his forgiveness of sins. Our walk proves the reality of our conversion.
A nervous young bride-to-be was counseled by her pastor: "When you enter church tomorrow, you will be walking down the aisle you have walked down many times before. Concentrate on the aisle. When you get halfway down the aisle, concentrate on the altar that you been to many times. When you near the end of the aisle concentrate on the groom who will be waiting on you. Concentrate on him."
The pastor’s counsel worked to perfection, but the people in the audience were a bit taken back when they heard her chanting all the way to the front, "I’ll, alter, him."
There may be more truth to that than we realize. A relationship with anyone as close as a spouse will alter each of us. By the same token, a genuine relationship with Jesus will alter us as well.
B. They marveled at the Almighty Lord
1. The power of Jesus was evidenced
2. The praise of Jesus was expressed
God received the glory. Our ultimate goal in all that we do ought to be bring glory to the Lord.
Conclusion
Four of kind beats a full house. A full house may get the attention of The Sword Of The Lord, but four of a kind gets the Lord’s attention.
An African proverb says, “There is only one crime worse than murder on the desert, and that is to know where the water is and not tell.” We who know Jesus know where the living water is.
Let’s tell our friends, so
