#10 The Real Deal
Series: Mark
February 23, 2020
Chuck Sligh
NOTE: PowerPoint or ProPresenter presentations are available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.
TEXT: Mark 2:1-12 – "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
Don’t you hate a fake?
Illus. – The pop group Milli Vanilli became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with millions of records sold. However, their success turned to infamy when Morvan and Pilatus, and their agent Sergio Vendero confessed that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing any of the vocals heard on their music releases. The duo ended up giving back their Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Fans and music critics the world over were incensed, because…nobody likes a fake. [Wikipedia]
Illus. – Tim Cooper tells about going on vacation at their condo overlooking the ocean. Their condo is one of those beach-decorated places featuring coral colors and fake sea shells in each room. Their three-year old daughter Lilly wasn’t impressed at all. What did impress her was when they were at a little shop by the beach and Lily wandered off a short distance within eyesight. Suddenly, she came running back, shouting, “Wook! Dese are weal sea-sails. Weal sea-sails!” [Tim Cooper, Awestruck: Life-Transforming Encounters with Jesus]
We like things to be real (even at 3-years-old, apparently); we crave authenticity; we’re not big on fakes. In our text today, we see that Jesus is the “real deal” through His remarkable acts and words. Let’s dive in:
I. NOTE FIRST, FOUR MEN WITH INDOMITABLE FAITH – Verses 2:1-5 – “And again he entered into Capernaum after several days; and it was heard that he was at home. 2 And immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no room to receive them, not even outside the door: and he preached the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing a paralytic to him, carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near him because the crowds, they uncovered the roof above him: and when they had made an opening, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’”
Jesus and His disciples, you’ll recall, went out into the neighboring cities to preach. Now they return to their home base, Capernaum, where Peter lived. In all likelihood, the events in these verses occurred back at Peter’s house.
Verse 1 tells us that the news got around that Jesus was back in town. Immediately, the house was besieged by crowds again, as before. This time, there were so many packed into the house that the door was blocked. They were packed in like sardines such that no one could get in or out of the house.
Jesus was smart. He knew that people don’t always come for what they really need, so He uses their wrong motives to His own ends.
Illus. – We invite kids to VBS so that we can tell them about God and His love. I doubt that many would come on their own if we marketed to them that they should all come to hear the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. No, we tell them how much fun they’ll have and in between the fun, we fill their hearts with God’s Word and hope it eventually blossoms into faith!
Illus. – When I lived in Durham, North Carolina, we used to go and minister and serve and witness in a mission downtown. Every night the drunks and addicts came in for a free meal with one stipulation: they had to stay for a preaching service. Most ate the meal and ignored the sermon, but I cannot tell you how many found Christ and deliverance from addition in that mission through the preaching and teaching they heard in those services.
So look what Jesus did: The crowds had seen or heard by this time about the healings and exorcisms, and here they were, ready for the show! A miracle healing did happen later, but right now, while He had a captive audience packed into that house, verse 2 says Jesus preached the word to them.
Now that huge crowd presented a problem, because verse 3 says that an entourage was making its way down the streets of Capernaum to the house where Jesus was. Four men were carrying on a mat a man who was totally paralyzed, and their destination was wherever Jesus was! But when they got there, they realized that there was no way they could get into the house, packed as it was. They knew that if there were just a way to get him to Jesus, he would be healed, but how could they get him to Jesus?
Suddenly an idea form in their minds. Most houses in that day in Palestine had an exterior of stone with a flat roof on top with stairs on the outside to go up and rest and talk in the cool of evening. The roof consisted of ?at beams laid across from wall to wall, about three or so feet apart. The space in between the beams was filled with brushwood packed tight with clay, which was then made watertight. On top of that was a layer of earth where grass grew.
In other words, it was not hard to dig out a hole between two of the beams. So the four men carried the paralyzed man up to the roof, dug out the hole between two of the beams and let their friend down directly at Jesus’ feet.
Illus. – Their indomitable spirit reminds me of the kid who was playing in a sandlot baseball game. Playing third base, an onlooker walked up and said, “What’s the score?” The kid pounded his glove and said, “Forty-two to zero, their favor.” The man said, “Wow. You’re getting beat pretty badly, aren’t you?” The kid looked at him and smiled and said, “Nope, ‘cause we haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”
These four friends believed if they could SOMEHOW get their friend to Jesus that Jesus could make a difference in his life. And nothing could stop them.
Now remember that Jesus, knowing all things, knew what was going to happen. I can’t help but think a wry smile crossed Jesus’ face as, to Peter’s surprise and consternation, he began to hear blows above, with dust and dirt starting to dribble down until they dug the hole big enough. Even if he wanted to stop it early on, he couldn’t, because the same crowd that kept people out kept him in. And if he were hollering up to them, they were oblivious to his shouts with their tools hacking away at his roof! And they wouldn’t have cared anyway: they were GOING to get this man to Jesus. Poor peter had to stand there in disbelief as they dug a hole in his roof!
They lower the man down and verse 5 says that Jesus acted in the paralyzed man’s behalf when he saw their faith. Not the paralyzed man’s faith; THEIR faith—a faith that “laughed at barriers” as William Barclay described it.
Did it ever occur to you that sometimes God can work in mighty ways in OTHER people’s lives because of YOUR faith? That’s what we see here.
Jesus saw the faith of this man’s friends, but He saw more! He saw the underlying need the man had. He saw that though he needed healing from paralysis, MOST of all he needed healing from sin, which led to Jesus saying to everyone’s astonishment, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
II. NOTE NEXT, THE RELIGIOIUS LEADERS’ CONSTERNATION IN Verses 6-9
Look first verses 6-8 – “Now some of the scribes were sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone? 8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves, he said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?’”
For the first time, the scribes show up in Mark’s gospel. Oh, boy; that’s a bad sign. Now the plot begins to thicken in the book of Mark.
Jesus, as we’ve seen, had attracted great crowds, which caught the notice of the Jewish religious leaders. The Sanhedrin was the Jew’s supreme court and one of its duties was to deal with anyone who was a false prophet. So evidently, these scribes showed up for duty to check this miracle worker out. I can see them, arriving before the crowd had grown so big worming their way to the very front, as was customary of such high-ranking dignitaries. At that point, they probably had little information to determine whether Jesus was a false prophet or the “real deal.”
That suddenly changed when Jesus told this man that His sins were forgiven. That was like an arrow hitting the bull’s eye if He wanted to stir up the scribes! They reasoned in their hearts why this man spoke such blasphemies because only God can forgive sin. EXACTLY!
Remember from day one in our study through Mark I have pointed out that Jesus progressively did things to validate His bone fides as the Son of God, that is, God Himself. He healed, He commanded demons to do this or that and they instantly obeyed, He was able to heal a leper at a single command. All of these were signs of somebody truly spectacular, but they were not actions or claims reserved exclusively to God alone to do. Now, when the scribes are present, He spectacularly claims the authority to do something that clearly all agree only God has the authority to do.
Just as Jesus knew the four men would come to bring their friend to be healed, Jesus knew instantly the thoughts of the scribes. There’s an interesting interplay here: the scribes “reasoned in their hearts,” that is, their MINDS; but Jesus perceived their thoughts in His SPIRIT. Their questions were not based on spiritual discernment, but on human reasoning. Well, don’t judge them too harshly just yet, though. This was a legitimate question; they were just doing their jobs.
But then Jesus took the battle directly to these who would eventually be his enemies. Before they could say a word, Jesus flings a challenge to them in the form of a question in verse 9 – “Which is easier to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you;” or to say, “Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?””
Well, that was easy: You could SAY anything, and no one can see in the man’s heart whether he was truly forgiven or not, so it’s easy to say, “Your sins are forgiven you”; but to do a MIRACLE was much harder!
Here Jesus was prepared to put His reputation on the line. If the man continued to lay paralyzed after Jesus tried to heal Him, it was all over for Him. Jesus would be exposed to be a religious charlatan no matter how much He claimed to be the Son of God. So you can imagine the drama this scene must have created in the crowd. Jesus had no doubt about the outcome, but the crowd must have been watching with bated breath.
NOTE FINALLY THE PARALYZED MAN’S MIRACULOUS HEALING IN VERSES 10-12 – “But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the praralytic,) 11 ‘I say to you, Arise, and take up your mat, and go home.’ 12 And immediately he arose, took up his mat, and went out in the presence of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this.’”
Don’t you just love that? Jesus says, “Take your mat up and go home” and immediately he does just that in the presence of everyone—in a moment; in an instant; merely at Jesus’ command. Everyone was AWESTRUCK and right there an impromptu worship service erupted in the home. Peter didn’t care about the hole in his roof—for a little while at least! People were amazed at Jesus’ power, and they glorified God saying, “We never saw anything like this” or if this had happened back where I came from, they’d say, “Law’ have mercy! We ain’t NEVER seen nothin’ like THIS before!”
CONCLUSION
What does this passage in Mark’s Gospel teach us?—Three things come to mind:
1) First, don’t focus on you obstacles, just do what you can do to bring people to Jesus.
The four friends of the paralyzed man couldn’t heal their friend, but they knew to take him to the One who could.
I love this story because in it, I can see lots of men and women I have known down through the years. Down where I grew up in the South, I’ve met a lot of people who could not be deterred by obstacles. Down South, and I guess everywhere really, there are people who just get the job done one way or the other, by hook or by crook. They fix things up with duct tape, scraps of rope and a whole lot of ingenuity. These four men were “giter’ done” kind of folks. Can’t get through the front door?—No problem we’ll come through the roof. These were “can do” people. In other words, these people weren’t beset by obstacles in getting this man to Jesus; THEY JUST DID IT.
Listen, you may not know a lot about theology, but you can do what you can do.
• You may not know how to explain how to know Christ to unbelieving friends as well as you should, but you can bring them to church where they can hear about Jesus.
• You may not be schooled in the fine details of doctrine, but you can share your testimony of how you came to Christ.
• You may be unable to elaborate in depth on eschatology, soteriology, Christology or phremonology (I just made that last one up), but you can invite friends to your house and share your faith with them.
• Don’t worry about what you cannot do to bring people to Jesus; be resourceful and indomitable and do what you can do to bring people to Jesus.
2) Second, remember that teamwork makes the dream work.
Mark says in verse 3 that the paralyzed man was “carried by four men.” It took all four of the men—one at each corner of the mat—to get the man to the house; it took all four of them to the man up the stairs; it took all four of them to dig the hole in the roof; and it took all four of them to lower him down to Jesus. They had a dream to see their friend healed; it took teamwork to make the dream work.
Someone said T.E.A.M. stands for “Together Everyone Accomplishes More.
Illus. – In the 2014 Super Bowl the Broncos were playing the Seahawks. The bets were on Denver and their superstar, Payton Manning. Several of the Broncos had Super Bowl experience and rings to show for it, but not a single player on the Seahawks had ever play in a Super Bowl.
But the Seahawks won. What made the difference?—Teamwork!
MVP Malcolm Smith was interviewed after the game and asked the secret of the team’s success. He said it was the focus of every player to be a team, not an individual star. The Seahawks didn’t have a bunch of superstars. They had a group of players committed to play as a team.
Folks, the Christian’s work is a team sport; We do this TOGETHER. And we do the job of bringing people to Jesus and seeing them healed best as a team.
• Here at GBC, we have a team of people willing to serve in ministry in various areas to bring little boys and girls to Jesus by teaching in our K.I.D.S. Church just ONE Sunday every month.
• We have people who volunteer to keep the babies and toddlers just one Sunday a month in the nursery so their parents can worship and listen to the sermon unhindered, in order to hear the Gospel and be brought to Jesus or to be brought closer to Jesus through Bible preaching.
• Even cleaning upstairs or downstairs serve to enable us to gather together in a clean, tidy building for people to hear the Gospel to be brought to Jesus.
If you’re not a volunteer in some place of service in the church, JOIN THE TEAM! Teamwork makes the dream work! See Susan, my wife, or fill out a Next Step card on the back table and drop it in the tin bucket. We’ll put you on the team!
3) Last, in this healing, Jesus shows that He is the “real deal” who deals with what matters most.
All those in that house that day did not yet see it, but Mark records this story for us to remind us that Jesus was and is the Son of God, which is to say that Jesus IS God. He’s the “real deal.”—He’s not a fake, like Millie Vanilli; He’s not a charlatan. He was who He would eventually claim to be—God in human form.
And God in human form taught an important lesson that day in the home with a hole in the roof. As the crowds leaned in to witness the miracle, Jesus taught them that it was the message of ETERNITY that mattered most. This man wanted healing, and he got it, but first Jesus gave him eternity!
How many people spend their lives searching for a miracle, ignoring the gift of eternity? This paralyzed man could have left Peter’s home having only experienced a healing and although he would have been better off physically, his soul would be doomed for eternity. But those four men brought him to Jesus with what he thought was his main problem and left with two problems solved: His eternal soul’s destiny and his temporal body’s healing.
And because Jesus was the real deal—He was God as He was to claim to be, He had the authority to forgive this man’s sin. Are you tired of fake messiahs, fake paths to joy, fake pleasure, fake love, a fake life?
I invite you to come to Jesus, the real deal and experience genuine joy, real love, pure pleasure, life abundant.
• This real deal—God in human form—was born a virgin and without sin—no fake could do that.
• At His baptism God the Father proclaimed that Jesus was His beloved Son and the Holy Spirit anointed Him for service—something a charlatan could not claim.
• He was tempted in the most awfully tempting way by Satan for 40 days and resisted to the end—not something a fake Messiah could do.
• He healed all kinds of sicknessws, cast out demons, healed lepers and paralyzed people—totally IMPOSSIBLE for anyone who was a phony and a sham.
• He later will multiply 5 loaves and two fishes to feed 5,000 people, will calm a storm at His word, and will even raise people from the dead—NO false prophet could do that.
But here’s what else He did—He lived His life perfectly and without sin because He was the real deal; He obeyed God’s commandments to perfection because He was the real deal; and despite being perfect, He WILLINGLY gave His life on the cross in your place to save you from your sin. No counterfeit prophet would be able to live a life of perfection and obedience, and no one would give His life for others like Jesus did. Only GOD, with infinite love would do a thing like that!
Jesus is the real deal. He’s worthy of your devotion and your love and your worship. And He’s worthy to turn from your sin for and be saved.
