FORGIVE OR BE CRIPPLED
Mk. 2:1-12
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: THE BASS BOAT
1. Boudreaux won a bass boat in a raffle drawing. He brought it home & his wife looked at him & said, “What you gonna do wit dat? There ain’t no water deep enough to float a boat within 75 mile of here”.
2. He says, “I won it and I’m gonna keep it.” Thibodeaux, his friend, came over to visit several days later. He saw the wife & asked where Boudreaux was.
3. She says, “He’s out there in his bass boat,” pointing to the field behind the house.
4. Thib headed out behind the house & saw Boud sitting in a bass boat with a fishin rod in the hand, down in the middle of a big field. There wasn’t a drop of water in sight.
5. Thib Yells out to him, “What do you think you’re doing?” Boud replied, “I’m fishing…What does it LOOK like I’m a doing?”
6. Thib yelled back, “You know, it’s people like you that give people from Louisiana a bad name, making everybody think we’re stupid. And if I could swim, I’d come out there & whip you!”
B. TEXT: Mark 2:1-12
“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
I. TASK UNDERTAKEN TOGETHER
A. THEIR UNSELFISH INTEREST
1. Their love for their friend was sacrificial. He would be a heavy load. How many of us have four such friends? The paralytic may not have had much, but he was rich. He who is loved by others has riches which the world cannot buy.
2. Unresting until their friend is healed.
3. Faith they had for their friend – “If we can just get him to Jesus, he’ll be healed!”
B. NEEDFUL TODAY
1. Many people only require one witness for them to be saved.
2. Many will never be won through the efforts of one; they require the combined efforts of several. Some plant, others water, etc.
3. I pray that little squads of soldiers of the cross will go out to bring them in. Someone’s got to bring them to Jesus!
II. DIFFICULTY IN GETTING TO JESUS
A. ATTEMPTS TO ENTER OBSTRUCTED
1. Even outside the door -- large crowd.
2. "Make way! Make way for the sick! Stand aside! For Mercy’s sake, let this sick man reach the healing prophet!"
3. In Vain were their entreaties. Many other sick were also trying to enter.
4. It was IMPOSSIBLE by ordinary means to get to Him.
B. WE ALSO FACE OBSTRUCTIONS TO JESUS
1. Trials cloud our faith.
2. Worldly crowd/thinking, hinders us.
3. Time to pray -- seems scarce.
4. The Bible says that Satan works harder today because he knows his time is short. Shouldn't we be working harder too?
C. BUT WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY
1. We must get our friend to Jesus! When they couldn’t get in through the door, they climbed on the roof and opened a hole in the roof of the house and let him down by ropes, right in front of Jesus.
2. “When Jesus saw their faith” he said [to the paralytic], “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Lk. 5:20. They’d brought this man to be healed, but here’s Jesus forgiving the man’s sins first. That’s a clue to God’s divine order of doing things.
3. The Pharisees’ immediate reaction was, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
III. CAN WE FORGIVE SINS?
A. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF I TOLD YOU THAT I CAN FORGIVE SINS?
1. You would probably tell me that no one can forgive sins but God alone. But that's not really true. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "Our Father in heaven ... forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." Matt. 6:12; Luke 11:4.
2. We can forgive sins ourselves, forgiving those who sin against us. When we do that, we too may be forgiven our own sins, for none of us are without sin.
3. But only those who exercise this power toward others can have it exercised toward themselves. "Forgive us, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
B. MIGHT THIS MAN BE CRIPPLED BECAUSE HE HARBORED UNFORGIVENESS?
1. A man who was a cattleman was driving home from town when another car came around the mountain side and ran his car off the road, down a steep bank where he crashed.
2. The driver of the other car came to the edge of the bank, saw that the cattleman was alive, and took off. The man spent several weeks in the hospital with a fractured pelvis.
3. After several months, the cattleman was still complaining of the pains in his back and down his legs, and that he couldn’t sit for any length of time.
4. X-rays confirmed that all these injuries had healed well. He saw several specialists -- orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, psychologist and chronic pain specialist -- none of whom could find any basis for his pain.
5. One day the cattleman met an Assembly of God pastor, whom he asked to pray for him. The Pastor asked how he felt toward the driver of the other car. He admitted he felt unforgiveness toward him.
6. But they prayed and he decided to forgive the man. When he did so, his own pains left.
7. In Mark 2, Jesus told the crippled man that his sins were forgiven. We aren’t told what sins the crippled man had done, nor in what way they crippled him, but we are told that those sins were forgiven and so he was healed and no longer crippled.
8. What if his continuing injuries -- like the cattleman's -- resulted from his refusal to forgive the person responsible for his injuries?
IV. 7 REASONS WE SHOULD FORGIVE:
A. WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN
1. 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." We don't realize what a blessing it is to be forgiven.
2. Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness. I have nobody to forgive me."
B. FORGIVING OTHERS PRECEDES BEING FORGIVEN BY GOD
1. Matt. 6:12, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Luke 6:37, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
2. If we refuse to forgive others, we destroy the bridge over which God must come to forgive us.
C. FORGIVING OTHERS IS A PREREQUISITE TO WORSHIP
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift." Matthew 5:23-24.
D. FORGIVING OTHERS REPRESENTS CHRIST
Colossians 3:13, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
E. FORGIVENESS SHOULD BE UNLIMITED
1. “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times." Matthew 18:21-22.
2. "So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, "I repent," forgive him." Luke 17:3-4.
F. LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS
1 Cor. 13:5, "Love... is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."
G. SATAN’S POISON IS UNFORGIVENESS
1. An unforgiving spirit devolves into other sins -- anger, critical spirit, bitterness, and indifference, not to mention the various illnesses associated with unforgiveness.
2. There was once a television series called “Amos and Andy.” In that show there was a big man who would slap Andy on the chest whenever they met.
3. Finally, Andy got enough of it and said to Amos, “I am sick & tired of his slapping me on the chest. The next time he tries it, I’m ready for him.”
4. Amos said, “What are you planning to do?” “I’m taping a stick of dynamite to my chest and the next time he slaps me he’s going to get his hand blown off!” (From God’s Psychiatry, Charles Allen, pg.116).
5. What Andy seemed to forget that the man may lose his hand, but Andy would lose his heart. The same kind of damage happens when we don’t forgive and let bitterness into our hearts.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. "I had a brother once, and I betrayed him." With those words, African writer Laurens Van der Post begins his wonderful book, "The Seed and the Sewer."
2. The story is of two brothers from a small South African village. The elder brother is tall, athletic, good student and a natural leader.
3. The younger brother was not. He had a back deformity and was very sensitive to the fact. He had a beautiful singing voice. They both attended the same private school.
4. One night some of the older boys dragged the younger brother out and stripped off his shirt and made fun of his deformity until he cried. They threw him into an abandoned water tank and forced him to sing.
5. The older brother was aware of what was going on but did nothing to rescue his younger brother. The younger brother survived but with a crushed spirit. He returned to the family farm and lived a reclusive life and never sang again.
6. Years later, after a war, the older brother had a dream in which he realized he had been Judas to his younger brother. So he made an incredibly difficult journey back to South Africa and asked his brother's forgiveness.
7. Later that night, in the dark of the night, he heard a beautiful sound -- it was his brother singing a song that the older brother and he had written when they were boys.
8. Who do you need to forgive today? Perhaps you need to forgive your fellow church member, your parents, your siblings, your co-workers, your spouse, or your relatives.
9. Release yourself from the prison of an unforgiving heart and from the curse of sin. How do we forgive?
Do you want to forgive or be crippled?
B. THE CALL
1. University of Illinois researcher, Dr. Ed Diener, discovered that forgiveness was the trait most strongly linked to happiness. USA Today, Dec. 9, 2002.
2. Do you have someone you need to forgive? Is there someone that disturbs your peace? Do you feel resentment or bitterness toward someone?
3. Do you need forgiveness from God for some area of failure? Do you need healing and something may be holding it up?
