The gospel’s authority to forgive sin, Mark 2: 1-12

I’ve said it many times before, that every miracle of the gospels is a spiritual parable, meant to teach spiritual principles.  And we are looking at such a miracle today and the spiritual principles that we can learn from it.

Last time we talked about the gospel’s authority over the spiritual realm and the physical realm;  the spiritual realm was illustrated by Jesus casting out the demon of the man in Capernaum, and then the physical realm was illustrated by the healing of the leper.  Today, Mark is showing us the priority of the spiritual over the physical. The purpose of Christ coming to the earth, the purpose of the gospel, is to free men from sin. 1 John 3:8 says “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”  He came to set the captives free from the dominion of darkness, to proclaim liberty to the captives.  Christ’s authority over sin is the spiritual emancipation that delivers the physical from bondage.  Sin is the root cause of all of life’s ills.  The biggest problem in society is not lack of money or education, or resources.  The biggest problem in life is the need for forgiveness of one’s sins.

So as I said the purpose then of the miracle is to teach spiritual principles.  It is not to give us the idea that God intends for all people to be healed physically.  There are a lot of fake healers out there who purport that God doesn’t want anyone to remain in illness or any sort of malady.  And that it is a matter of faith to claim your healing. They say if you aren’t healed, it is due to a lack of faith.  I am here to tell you today that is not what the Bible teaches.  Paul had faith more than anyone, and he asked God three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed from him, and yet God told him that His power is made perfect in weakness, and His grace was sufficient for Him to endure his illness.  As I said a moment ago, God’s purpose in the gospel is to deliver men from sin, so that they might have spiritual life, that they might escape the second death, and that they might have fellowship with God.  Everyone is going to die sooner or later.  You may be healed from cancer, or some other sort of illness, but you will still die.  The million dollar question is whether you will die in your sins, or be forgiven and receive eternal life.

Now there are several principles that we can establish that are being taught through this miracle.  Let’s take them in order of appearance.  We left off last time with the leper being cleansed, and contrary to Jesus’s command, he broadcast it far and wide, so that Jesus could hardly preach or teach due to the crowds that came looking for a miracle.  We can determine from the gospel accounts, that the crowds were drawn to the miracles, but Jesus did not want them to come for that reason.  Thus he told the leper not to tell of his healing, except to the priests.  Jesus wanted him to follow the law’s requirements for healing of leprosy and present himself to the priests so that he would be declared clean and could return to society.  Jesus wasn’t interested in building a ministry based on sensationalism.  He wasn’t interested in drawing a crowd who were just interested in miracles. But Jesus’s main ministry was preaching the gospel.  His main ministry was preaching the word.  And so that is what we find Him doing in vs 1.  He’s come back to Capernaum after a long time away, and He is in His home or possibly Peter’s home, and He is preaching the word.  Jesus would say later, that the truth would make you free.  That is the purpose of preaching the gospel.  Only the truth will make you free from the captivity and dominion of sin.  

There are a lot of people out there teaching a mixture of man’s philosophy or psychology with a little bit of the gospel mixed in.  It has the appearance of godliness, but it is man’s wisdom. It is presented as self improvement.  I heard a Christian counseling program on the radio the other day, and they gave 5 points to some poor guy who was struggling.  The first step they recommended was to go to a psychiatrist and get some anti-depressant medicine, 2, see a counselor weekly, and so on.  Around #4 they said go to a men’s Bible study, and the last one was another secular program. It sounded like wise counsel according to man’s wisdom. But that is not the truth of the gospel. Paul said in 1Cor. 2:3-7, 13 “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,  and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.  Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;  but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; ... 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

So we need to be aware that the wisdom of God, the power of the gospel, is the the only thing that really has the power to save.  A lot of man’s wisdom sounds good, because it focuses on the physical.  But the root of all man’s troubles are spiritual, and the sin that causes death. Jesus was teaching the word in Capernaum.  That reveals the priority of the gospel.

The second principle I want to point out is the necessity for personal evangelism.  I don’t like to use the word evangelism though.  It sounds as if it’s some sort of revival crusade.  How about we substitute the phrase personal intervention. If we can agree that sin is the source of all problems, and that the gospel is the only cure for it, then it stands to reason that men and women must help those caught in sin to come to the One who can help them.  The problem with sin is that it is a trap.  Again and again in the gospels we see sin likened to death, to leprosy, to lameness, to blindness, and here in this text, to being paralyzed. The point being that such people are in many cases helpless to help themselves.  And as such they are a perfect picture of those who are trapped in sin.  Sin is a condition that blinds people to the truth, that traps people in addiction, that causes people to be so handicapped that they are unable to extricate themselves on their own.  And so their salvation many times is dependent upon a divine intervention.  And God uses people to intervene on their behalf.  That is what the Bible calls love.  To intervene on behalf of others is loving one another.

This principle  is such an integral part of the gospel. Jesus came not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.  So as His ambassadors, we too must be about saving the world.  In Zechariah 3 there is a vision of Joshua the High Priest, and he is standing in front of God in filthy garments.  And it says that Satan was standing next to him to accuse him.  But the Lord rebuked Satan saying, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” And the Lord removed Joshua’s filthy garments and clothed him in righteous garments.  And as Christians, our mission is not to accuse the world as Satan does, but to tell the world of the forgiveness that is made possible through Christ, to pluck them as a brand from the fire.

As people who have the mind of Christ (let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus) our reactions towards those caught in sin should be one of forgiveness, love, encouragement, esteeming their needs for salvation as worth any cost.  The devil stands at our side to accuse us and discourage us, to tell us to give up and give in.  But we are not of the devil, so we do not stand accusing, but rather forgiving, loving, helping and encouraging the weak. That is what I mean by intervention. And God has commissioned you to be that intervener.  It’s not the job of angels, it’s not the job of psychiatrists or professional counselors, but God has chosen you to go to the lost in love, by personal sacrifice, and help them to come to him.

So it’s the mission of all Christians, to go into the world and proclaim the good news to all people.  God wants to use  us to spread the gospel, so that all may be saved.  God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  So there is a great urgency in the gospel; people are perishing and the gospel is the antidote to sin and the death that is it’s consequence.  Not only is there an urgency, but there is a blessing.  James says in James 5:19-20 “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”  So there is a great blessing to those who answer that call of God to go to the lost and turn them to God.

Jesus illustrated this need for intervention by telling a parable about leaving the 99 who need no repentance and seeking out the one who is lost.  In another place He gave a parable about the Good Samaritan, which not only teaches us to love our neighbor, but shows us that real love reaches down even to the stranger with the saving news of the gospel, no matter the cost or inconvenience to ourselves. No matter how much we may think the poor sinner brought it upon themselves.  Realizing but for the grace of God so goes us all.

Now let’s look at this example in our text.  Note that this paralyzed man had four friends that were determined to bring him to Christ. Four interveners.  Oh that every sinner had four such friends that were determined to bring them to Christ.  So determined were these friends that nothing would stop them.  Here we see that the great crowds were actually a deterrent to the saving power of the gospel.  God is not always in great crowds.  Man seems to equate a large crowd with effective evangelism.  But that is not so with God. 

Nevertheless, they would not let the obstacles stop them.  They climbed on the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching, and tore off the roof.  These houses were built usually one story, with flat tiled roofs, and an exterior staircase.  But can you imagine the consternation of the crowd inside and crowded around the doorway, when the roof starts being torn apart during the service, and they lower a man down  on a  stretcher at the feet of Jesus.

I would to God that we would all have such determination to see the lost saved.  In this politically correct climate we live in today we are so afraid anymore of embarrassing anyone, of inconveniencing someone, least of all inconveniencing ourselves, that we dare not bother anyone with the gospel.  Eric Clapton wrote a song a few years ago called “Tears in Heaven.”  And he repeats the oft quoted adage that there are no tears in heaven. But my friends, I think many of us are going to be in tears in heaven.  The Bible says that Jesus will wipe away all tears.  But that is after we are in heaven.  And if I can make the suggestion without being too dogmatic, I think there are going to be tears in heaven for us when we see our loved ones, our friends, cast into outer darkness for eternity, knowing that we did not do all that we could have done to bring them to the Lord.  I think the problem is that most Christians don’t really believe the Bible.  Somehow, they think that though their loved one was not saved, yet somehow Hell does not really exist, and God will not actually keep His word.  Because if we truly believed the Bible, we would move heaven and earth to bring our loved ones to the Lord.

Well, moving on, Mark says in vs.5, “And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Now I want to point out something here that is going to surprise you perhaps.  But notice that Mark said, Jesus “seeing their faith….”  Now most commentators say that includes all five people.  But I tend to think that it is specifically speaking of the faith of the four friends.  I think there is a principle here that your faith, and your actions in faith, can contribute to another’s salvation.  Let me say that again.  Your faith, and your actions in faith, can contribute to another’s salvation.  Now you can’t be saved for them. But you can contend for them.  You can intercede for them.  You can intervene for them.  You can compel them to come to the Lord using every means at your disposal.

I’ll give you an Old Testament example of this principle. The Lord visited Abraham in human form one evening.  And as He was ready to leave, the Lord told Abraham what He was about to do.  He said the news of Sodom and Gomorrah’s debauchery had reached heaven, and He was going to see just how bad it was, and if it was as He had heard, He was going to destroy it.  (Gen.18)  But Abraham said, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”  He then began to negotiate with God for the deliverance of his nephew, Lot.  Abraham started by saying, what if there are 50 righteous, will you destroy the city? And God said “No, I won’t destroy it for the sake of 50.”  But as you are familiar with the story, Abraham negotiated with God down to 10 people.  Turns out there were not 10 righteous people either, but for the sake of righteous Lot, God did send two angels to take him out of the city before the destruction came.  

Now that’s not a perfect illustration perhaps, but it is evidence of our ability to intervene with God on another’s behalf.  James says in James 5:14-15 “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;  and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.”  Everyone likes to quote those verses to suggest the power of healing, but I would point to the last part, which says if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him based on the prayers of others.  I think it clearly teaches that we can pray for one another for spiritual healing, for sins to be forgiven, for their soul to be saved.  And I think we can be effective in that at least to some degree.  

You know if I were to ask a rhetorical question this morning, of how many of you have unsaved loved ones, I’m sure that 3/4 of you would raise your hands.  But I wonder if I said how many of you spent even an hour, 60 actual minutes, praying for that loved one this week, how many would still raise their hands?  There are 168 hours in a week. Is their soul not worth one hour to you?

John says something similar in 1John 5:1616 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.”  Again, the principle is that someone sees his brother sinning, and petitions God on his behalf.   God uses people to reach people, to bring them to God.  We have a mission, and a responsibility to reach the lost for Christ.

The next principle I want us to look at is the priority of the spiritual over the physical.  Now I have already alluded to this principle’s importance in my opening statements.  But let’s unpack this a bit more as I believe God has a lot to say on this subject.  First of all, we need to understand that in the Hebrew mind, the paralytic was obviously a terrible sinner whom God was judging in the flesh for everyone to witness.  That was their understanding of sickness; that God brought it about as judgment.  You will remember the disciples in John 9 asking Jesus about a blind man, saying, ““Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” That was the common perception.  Well, in that case, Jesus had answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”  

But that teaching comes later.  At this point, I think Jesus plays into their misconceptions in order to teach a couple of important lessons.  So Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Now there are a couple of things going on here.  I don’t think that it was that surprising that He would say that as far as the Pharisees were concerned, because they thought that sin was the reason this man was paralyzed.  However, from our perspective, we automatically think that it’s a strange thing to say, because we think that the obvious problem was the man’s paralysis.  

Jesus though answers all those problems with these words.  His insightfulness cuts right to the quick of the real problem. First He shows the Pharisees that He is God.  And He does that because of the principle that one cannot forgive someone of a sin against another.  One forgives a sin against himself.  I heard it illustrated this way.  Tom, Dick and Harry were hanging out together, and Tom punched Dick in the nose.  Harry went over and told Tom, I forgive you for punching Dick.  But Dick objected, and said you can’t forgive him, he didn’t punch you, he punched me.  The point being, the one injured is the one who has the power to forgive.  In forgiving the paralytic, Jesus was teaching that all sins were against God, and He was God.  He alone had the power to forgive sin.  

Secondly, He was teaching us, that the physical problem is not the primary problem.  It’s a symptom of a deeper problem.  Jesus, seeing the heart, goes to the root of the problem.  All sickness finds it’s root in sin.  Now I know that is not a popular thing to say in this day and age.  I might get stoned, or pelted with sand in this case, for saying such a thing.  I’m not saying that every illness is the result of an individual’s particular sin.  I am saying that sin is the result of living in a fallen world.  Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”  Sin is the cause of death, and death is the result of illness. The wages of sin is death.  It is appointed unto man once to die.  It is part of the curse that came upon the human race at the fall.

But in this modern world of healthcare and hospitals and luxury lifestyles, we suffer under the misconception that God wants everyone to be healthy, wealthy and happy.  So from our perspective, the most important thing is health.  But from God’s perspective, the most important thing is eternal life, undoing the curse of the fall.  Unfortunately, oftentimes today  even church leadership has the same short sided perspective.  I was at a pastor’s conference a few years ago, and about a 1000 pastors were there from all over the country.  A missionary was speaking about reaching one village after another with the gospel.  They had never heard it before.  And so entire villages were being saved and they had baptisms immediately afterwards before moving on the next village.  The missionary spoke of how dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of natives were saved in village after village.  And as he spoke, I heard a few Amens grunted here and there from the crowd.  But then he spoke of a baptism in which one woman’s baby died.  And she brought the baby to the pastor, and he said when it touched the water it came back to life, and he gave it back to the mother.  And the whole crowd of pastors gave him a standing ovation.  I found it incongruous that when 100’s of people were saved from the second death there were a few grunts of Amen.  But when one baby is saved from the first death, it results in a standing ovation.  That tells you where our theology is focused, ladies and gentlemen.  We are not focused on men’s souls, but on men’s health and prosperity.

The most important principle taught here though is that of Christ’s authority to forgive sin. When Jesus said “your sins are forgiven,” the Pharisees started thinking “blasphemy!”  They thought that they had found something to pin on Jesus in order to condemn Him.  But Mark says that Jesus knew their hearts.  He knew what they were thinking in their minds.  I wish that we really believed that.  That God could read our minds.  If we truly believed that we would be down on our knees this morning asking for forgiveness for ourselves.  Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  Well, God knows your heart.

Mark 2:6-9 “But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,  "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"  Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?  "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'?

So we see that the Lord is willing to illustrate His authority over sin through physical healing.  But the question He asks bears some scrutiny.  The question of which is easier to say?  Well it is certainly easier to say your sins be forgiven you if you are a charlatan. Because it is virtually impossible in this life to know if they are forgiven or not.  So on the surface it would seem that Jesus is saying that it is harder to say “Get up and walk” because that requires results in real time.  Not in eternity out there some where, but right here, right now.  

But in actuality, Jesus may have been saying that it is harder to say “your sins are forgiven.”  Because Jesus was the truth personified.  He could not lie.  And so for Him to be able to say that your sins are forgiven, then He had to be willing to die on the cross for sins.  In that respect, it is immeasurably harder to forgive sins than to heal a physical handicap.  A doctor can in some cases heal, but only God can forgive sins.  

It’s interesting that the word used for “forgiven” means literally to be sent away.  I spoke a couple of weeks ago in chapter one about how after Jesus’s baptism the Holy Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.  And I said then that was a  picture of the Day of Atonement ceremony, when the scapegoat was laid upon symbolically with the sins of the people and then driven out into the wilderness to bear away their sins.  And how Christ, the sinless Lamb of God bore our sins away.  Here again we see that illustrated.  Jesus does not merely say “I will forget about your sins, they are not important,” but He illustrates the need to bear them away. God’s justice requires that sin be paid for.  And Christ came to take away our sins upon Himself  so that we might be made free.  So it was more difficult to say “your sins are forgiven.”

But again, Jesus knows their hearts, knows their misconceptions, and so He answers them in their ignorance.  He says in vs10, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”

Please understand this.  It is not that Jesus had the power to heal, therefore He has the power to forgive.  But He has the power to forgive, therefore He has the power to heal.  According to Hebrews 7:25, “He is able to save to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever lives to make intercession for them.” He is able to save not only physically, but eternally, because He is able to deal with the root cause of all infirmity, of all death. 

It’s interesting that the word that Jesus uses to say get up, or rise up, is the same word that is used by Mark to speak of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead.  So there is a sense in which as Jesus is healing him physically, He is also healing him spiritually, in raising him from his deadness, to walk in new life in Christ.

And that teaches us the final principle.  That the Christian life is not just believing in some sort of detached, theological or intellectual way.  But that in our sinful state we are incapacitated, unable to walk in the Spirit.  Unable to walk in fellowship with God.  Sin has paralyzed us spiritually, so that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.  But when the love of God appeared, we are saved not on the basis of our works, which was impossible being dead and in our sins.  But we were saved on the basis of Christ’s righteousness through the grace of God which is ` credited towards us.   Then being forgiven and clothed in His righteousness, we are made able to walk in new life through the power of the Holy Spirit who now dwells in us.  Faith is always tied to action in the Bible.  Rise up and walk.  Come and follow Me.  

Notice in vs.12  the result; “And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this.”  Let me say it this way, a life that is transformed, that walks out their faith by their actions in the community, will result in not only the amazement of your community, but it will also glorify God.  Our testimony is not necessarily our words, but our actions.  When we live a life that is radically different than before, when we take on the nature of the life of Christ, then we bring glory to God.  And that is our purpose.  That is why God leaves us on this earth, to be useful in service to Him.  But for the grace of God we should all be in the death grip of infirmity.  God has granted us life and health so that we might serve Him and bring glory to God.  And when we have fulfilled that purpose according to His will, He will take us home to be with Him.  Until that day, let us use wisely the stewardship of life that He has given us, and be about the business of our Father, building up the kingdom of God.