 And so beginning at verse one, reading to verse 12, and we'll look at the subject of simply being forgiven, beginning at verse one, Mark chapter two, again, he entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house immediately. Many gathered together, said that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And he preached the word to them. Then they came to him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiving you, but some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiving you, or to say arise, take up your bed and walk. But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, go your way to your house and immediately he rose, took up the bed and went out in the presence of them all. So that all were amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this. Now let me give you some background, develop a context and then we'll flow from there because it's important for you to see the flow of Mark's gospel in this particular portion of scripture here in chapter 2. One beginning of verse 1 it simply says that he entered into a city and the city that he entered into is called Capernaum. Now Capernaum, there's still the ruins if you will of the city of Capernaum, we've been to the city of Capernaum every time we go to Israel. We've been there a number of times and it's there on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee and it was a fishing village. And this city Capernaum becomes the headquarters for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew tells us in chapter 4 verse 13, leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Napali. And so Jesus is entered into the city of Capernaum which has become his headquarters and while he's there he is ministering and he's ministering to great crowds of people. And the result will be that there's just a lot of attention that is being given to him so much so that the entire city comes to the house that he's staying at. Now that creates a situation because it's difficult for him to move around and that's why he has left. Now as he's entering into Capernaum he has become very popular and has been generally accepted. Mark has taken pains when you go through especially the first chapter to point out that people had become impressed with Jesus. And two basic reasons why was one was his power and the other was his authority. He's been teaching, he's been healing, casting out demons, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He's become very popular and multitudes of people are now following him. Now Jesus is about to be challenged. Many accept that he performs miracles but they're divided concerning how he does them. Some feel that his power is derived from Beelzebub, the prince of demons. You see that in Mark chapter 3 verse 22. There are others who are like Nicodemus who recognize that the works that Jesus is doing are works that come from God. You remember the story of Nicodemus, Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus by night. I used to say Nick at night but I guess that's kind of old now. But Nicodemus had come to Jesus by night and said we know that you are a teacher come from God. No one can do the works, the signs, the miracles that you're doing unless God is with him. And so Nicodemus recognized that and is actually speaking for a group of people because he said we know that you are a teacher come from God. And so on the one hand you have those who are enemies of Christ. Those who will see the things that he's doing and say well yeah we're not denying that things are done. We simply are saying that the things that are being done are really being empowered by Satan himself, Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. And then you have the others who say no I'm more fair minded in this. And my friends and I have gotten together, we've discussed this, we've looked at a variety of reasons as to why you could or could not be whom you claim you are. And we have come to the agreement that you are a teacher come from God. And that's what happens normally with the Lord Jesus Christ even in this day. There are those on the one hand who will say no this is a good man and there are those who will to this day say no he is not a good man. He's an evil man in one form or another or he's not who he says that he is. And so they're not disputing his ability to work miracles. What they're going to do here is dispute his right to forgive sins. And that's what we're looking at here in Mark chapter 2. Now it says in verse 1 that Jesus returns to Capernaum and after some days it's heard that he's in the house. So he can't move about freely because people are now following after him. And so it's heard that he's in the house and verse 2 immediately many gathered together. So that there's no longer room to receive them not even near the door. And he preached the word to them. Here's something for you to think I don't have it in my notes but it just hits me. I want you to think about this for just a minute just a moment. What do you think would happen if Jesus was actually known if it were even possible which of course it's not but it's hypothetical just a question. And people knew that Jesus Christ the real Jesus Christ was in a house. Do you think people would show up for that? Think about it. I'm serious. Think about it. Do you think that people from the entire city would show up? Jesus is in the house. Didn't we used to say that he's in the house? What would happen? Tell me. What would happen? People would show up in droves. Would they not? Guess what? Jesus is in the house right now. The church doesn't show up in droves. Think about it. We've got other things to do. More important things to do. Listen every time God's word is open God is there. We just don't care. I'm telling you you're here. But there are a lot of people who aren't. Why? Because they don't know that Jesus is in the house. And it doesn't matter. Does it matter to you? Yes. Does it matter to me? Absolutely. And when Jesus shows up, people show up. And do you want to know something? When Jesus was there, people know he's there. Why are they showing up? Because his power is there. Because his authority is there. Because by coming close to him, their lives will be transformed. Please, please, please do not take Jesus for granted. Please don't. Don't think, oh yeah, I've tried that. I'll try something fresh. Please don't. Because that's the sickness of the church today. I was speaking to someone just this weekend. Check it out. I was in between second and third service. Why did I say check it out? I'm going back. Where did that come from? There's a blast from the past. Far out. But anyway, it trips me out, man. I was speaking to somebody. She's from Indonesia. Some of you perhaps were in third service. You might have heard me say this. And I shared, as you know, those who attend our fellowship and were with us on Sunday. I was sharing on blessed are the persecuted. And she approached me afterwards. She and her husband was speaking to me. She says, I'm from Indonesia. She says, do you know that Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world? And I said, yes, I do. There are 100 million people in Indonesia. I don't know if you knew that if not. And it is the largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia. She says, I am thankful that you spoke on persecution today. She said, that's something that people don't speak about. And it's good to hear that because in my country, now she's an Indonesian woman married to an American, lives in the States. She goes on missions, trips, solid lady. She says, they will put a knife in Indonesia. They will put a knife to your throat. And they will say, do you believe in Jesus Christ? She said, that kind of thing happens every day in Indonesia, every day. And this is what she said to me, just repeating. She said, American Christians are weak. She says, they are weak in this country because the littlest thing upsets them. Is that true? Yeah. I mean, God's putting me through a trial. I have to put air in my tires. Right? What a trial, what a trial. I am serious. We are wimps. We are wimps. What do you, and I'm not, I love you guys, you know that, right? I'm not, I'm not coming against anybody. I'm just, I'm just saying, we don't know what trials are. We don't. Man, you know, I've had to drive the same car for four years. God help us. When church members don't go to church on Sunday because of time changes. But I love Jesus. I'll die for him. I just attended church at, you know, the church of the living springs. I stayed in bed. There you go. You got that. It wasn't that bad. Shut up over on this side. That's an old joke too. Listen, when Jesus is in the house, would you come? Yes. Of course. Would you bring a friend? That's what we're looking at. Would you bring a friend? That's what we ought to do, right? Why? Because the one who forgives sins is there. That's why. What's the problem that we have in America? Economy? War? Lack of education? Ethnic riots? What's the problem? Sin. Sin. Sin is the problem. And it finds its expressions in various ways. But the root of our problems, well, you can't legislate morality. The root of our problem is sin. And when Jesus is in the house, Jesus forgives sin. That's why. We love him because he forgave ours. And that's why we ought to be encouraging our friends and family to the one who forgives sins. And that's what we're looking at in this passage right now. There's a mixed multitude that's present. It's as many gathered together. There was no longer room to receive them. Words spread quickly. A great crowd gathers. There's a mixed multitude. Undoubtedly, there would be one. There would be disciples of Jesus. They're present. They want to hear his word. They're hungry for his truth. But you would also have a second group. That would be what we'd call groupies. They come just to be part of the crowd. They come out of curiosity. There are groupies to this day. They will go to a church service because there's a crowd of people entering in. They're just showing up. They're not part of the church, really. They're just a group that come in for whatever it is that's free that's being done that day. And then you have Pharisees. And these are the ones who are filled with envy. And they are there looking to discredit the Lord Jesus Christ. It's interesting how it says there was no longer room to receive them. Comfort and inconvenience just didn't matter. You know, I speak of when I first got saved and I say it this way, not because I long for those old days because, frankly, I don't, but they're just the days that I came out of. And I can tell you that area of inconvenience and comfort, that didn't matter at all to us. You know, when I got saved, if you did not arrive on time, you didn't get in at Calvary Chapel Coastal Mesa. You just didn't get in. You would sit outside in a patio. Eventually, there were so many people that were coming that weren't able to get in that they took the wall. And it was just like this. That wall right there to my right, the south of me, that would have been removed. And what they had is glass there. And then they had a patio there. And they had speakers. And we would sit out there if we didn't arrive on time. There were people who were showing up for church an hour early because they didn't want to miss a minute of fellowship and worship and the Word of God. For them, those things mattered. And for me, those things matter to this day. Worshiping God, fellowship with God's people, the Word of God, those things matter. And so that's how it was and that's how it's supposed to be. So comfort, I sat on the carpet. As a matter of fact, I like doing that because you could get closer to the platform. So we sat on the carpet. We didn't even sit in the pews because those were already taken up by people. So comfort didn't matter. Inconvenience didn't matter because something here is so important that those things, in terms of their importance, the so low level, it doesn't really matter. So what's he do? He's got all of these people. They're crowding about him. Notice what he does in verse 2. He preached the Word to them. Why are you doing that? Because he's changing the crowds into converts. The center of the ministry of Jesus Christ is preaching the gospel of the kingdom. In John 5.24, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life. He preached the Word. Preaching is of utmost importance. Somebody said this about preaching. Our people are starving for God. They need someone, at least once a week, to lift up his voice and magnify the supremacy of God. One of the implications this has for preaching is that preachers who take their cue from the Bible and not from the world will always be wrestling with spiritual realities that our hearers do not even know exist or think essential. If we do not spread a banquet of God's beauty on Sunday morning, will not our people seek in vain to satisfy their inconsolable longing with the cotton candy pleasures of pastime and religious hype? If the fountain of living water does not flow from the mountain of God's sovereign grace on Sunday morning, will not the people hue for themselves cisterns on Monday, broken cisterns that can hold no water? That's what's taking place right now. In many churches where the pastor is not teaching the Word of God, the people don't want to hear it. What they want is something to tickle their ears. And we've used the standard of success, measured success, not by the spiritual maturity of the individuals who are growing in that ministry, but the numbers of people who show up. And we have said that this is success because it's so American. It's so American. Success is always going to be nickels and noses. It's always going to be budgets and it's always going to be bodies. And the fact is, when the Word of God is rightly divided, instead of it causing more to come, at first it actually divides because people hear and many times don't appreciate and then get upset. But the ones who hear and receive are the ones who believe and bring friends and then health begins to take over that church because the Word of God is rightly divided, applied and lived out. And so Jesus would preach the Word. Now notice what happens in verse 3. They came to him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. This man, obviously, he's paralyzed. He's incapable of moving about. So four friends or four family members carry him. This man is totally incapable of moving on his own. And what do they do? They bring him to the Lord. That is what followers of Jesus do. They bring people to Jesus. When you look in John's Gospel in chapter 1, you see that Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter. It says it in John 1.40 and 41. One of the two who heard him speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah which has translated the Christ. He first found his own brother Simon. Again in John 1, verses 45 and 46, Philip found Nathaniel, said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Chino? Come and see. Come and see. There's a woman at a well. Jesus needed to get into the... go through Samaria. His men take off to go and find food for him. He needed to go through Samaria because there's a woman who's going to come to that well at noon and he had an appointment with her, though she didn't know it. When she comes, he asks for a drink with her attitude. That's something I was mentioning to the ladies at the women's retreat. When you look at the women of Samaria, I never really pointed out this. This woman had attitude. A lot of times, you know, we like to... we like to think of all women as being soft-spoken and mild and sweet and all. And in many ways, most women are that, one form or another. But they aren't always that way. I'll let that settle for a while. And some women just have attitude. And I've never portrayed it, but this is what's happening. I was telling the ladies at the retreat the other day. I said, you know, I've never really clarified what was going on. Because you could almost see this woman with her hand on her hip, just with her head tossed back, looking at Jesus. But that's her attitude. It's there in Scripture. How do we know that? Because she says, how is it that you, being a Jew, have asked a drink of me, a woman of Samaria. That was attitude. That was what she was doing. She was just, because this is a woman who had been hurt by many men. And she didn't trust men. And so when Jesus says, give me a drink, she looks at him with that strong attitude. And she says, how is it that you being a Jew? That was very disrespectful the way she was speaking to him. That wasn't polite language. How is it that you, and you could almost see this attitude. And so this woman comes, Jesus has a meeting with her at the well. If you knew who it was who was speaking to you and what I could give you in terms of water, you'd ask me to give you this living water and you'd never, again, you'd never have to draw here. Oh, give me the water. As Jesus speaks and says, go get your husband. She says, I have none. And he says, well, in this you have spoken truly because you've had five. And the one you're with right now is not your husband. You're shacking up. She had started Jew. Then she said, sir, and now she says, you're a prophet. I perceive you're a prophet. Something's happening in the conversation. You're seeing me for what I am. But what does she do? This is something I wanted to point out. It says in John 428 through 30, the woman left her water pot, went her way into the city, said to the men, come see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came to him. Come see a man. Listen, when you encounter Jesus Christ, you invite people to encounter him also. That's what you do. Come see a man. Come see a man. Come see a man. And that's what the Lord does. These men, these four friends brought this man to the Lord. And by the way, that's what friends do. They bring you to Jesus. In Proverbs 17, verse 17, a friend loves at all times. A brother is born for adversity. Remember this. True friends are the ones who bring you to the Lord. They are not the ones who take you away from him. Choose your friends wisely. Choose your friends wisely because your friends have greater influence on you than your parents, than I as a pastor, your friends are really, in many ways, your pastor. Choose them wisely. I cannot say that with enough emphasis. Choose your friends wisely. Choose the ones who bring you closer to Christ. Not the ones who feed into your rejection of the things he calls you to. There have been people, I'll give you an example. I gave a message. It just so happened, I was teaching through Corinthians. I got to a point that spoke concerning sexual sin, spoke concerning homosexuality. There was a young woman who was in the church at that time. She had a girlfriend with her. She was a lesbian. She's listening to the message. She goes home. She speaks to her girlfriend and says the Bible says that our relationship isn't proper. Her friend says to her, oh, that's that pastor's opinion. It's not true. That's just his opinion. She looks in the Word of God. She starts doing her own research. Starts coming to Bible studies to hear what's being taught. And over the course of time, she commits herself to faith in Christ. She's one of my Facebook friends. I've known her for 20 some years now. She lives in another state. She's married. She has children. She's serving the Lord because God sets sinners free. God sets sinners free. And this woman in her life, no, no, that's his opinion. That's his opinion. Choose your friends wisely. They influence you. They influence you. 1 Corinthians 15 33. Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Proverbs 13 20. He who walks with the wise grows wise. But a companion of fools suffers harm. Choose your friends. Well, notice verse four. When they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. So the roof that they're speaking about was flat. It had beams that ran transversely. They were overlaid with brushwood, tree branches, covered with a thick blanket of mud or clay mixed with straw. They would use these roofs for, during the summer when it was warm or the warmer times, they actually had stairways on the side of the house that would you just climb up those and you'd be up there on top of the small homes. They're very small. And that way, because there's no such thing as air conditioning and all, you'd be out and it's a little cooler. And so these houses had these little patio covers that actually were over, you know, a living portion of the house that was a place that you live in. So what they did is they climbed up the top and they began to open up the roof. So there's four friends, each one with responsibility for one corner of the pallet. And they now have sweaty faces, dirty hands. They're doing their part. The four someone wrote were working as one, united in their effort to bring their friend to the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's this unity that's taking place. We're going to make every effort to bring this man to Jesus because Jesus can do a work in their life. And as all of this is taking place, verse five says Jesus saw their faith and he said to the paralytic son, your sins are forgiven you. Faith is evident. It's something that is seen. It's openly demonstrated. It's something that actually impacts and it doesn't have to be going on top of a roof and just tearing it open. It could be small things. Keep that in mind. When God does something in your life, it's the small things that add up. It's the small things that people see. You get saved and you say, I want to do something for the Lord. Maybe I should go to a foreign country and give my life up serving Jesus there because you think that's the only way that you can actually make an impact in this world. That's not true. It's the small things that you do, that impact. I've told you my mom and dad came to faith in Christ through my witness. But some of you may have not ever heard me say this, how that worked in my mom's life. My mom watched me. Now she's my mom. She knew me. She knew the bad boy that I had become. She knew that. But one day I was in the kitchen after I'd gotten saved. Hadn't been saved more than a couple of weeks. And as I was there with my mom, I heard a sound of breaking glass. And I stood up and we had a bay window on the side of the house in the kitchen, in the corner of the kitchen. And I looked out the window. And a sparklet's truck, a water delivery truck, had made a left turn by our house. And one of the glass, it used to have big old glass bottles. The bottle flew out. And it hit the ground, hit the curb and broke. And I saw that. And I went into one of the rooms. I got a broom. I got a pan. And I got a bag. I walked outside, walked across the street, cleaned it up, put all the broken glass inside of the bag, rolled it up, took it and threw it in the trash. No big deal. That isn't like, you know, some super faith thing. No big deal. I'm just thinking there's big chunks of glass. Some kid could step on it. Some car could pull up and tear up. I'm just thinking practically that's all. No big deal. You know what my mom told me later on? After she got saved, she said, I knew something had happened to you when you went out and cleaned up that glass. Because she knew what I was like before. I wouldn't even have thought about it. I wouldn't have thought about it. I just said, that's his job. He broke it, let him clean it up. But he drove off down the road. Someone's got to do it, right? Someone's got to do it. I'm not going to do it. I didn't even think about it. But I'm telling you, it's not these huge things. It's the small things. The people who know you best. And they say, something happened to you. Because even that little thing you'd never done before. Keep that in mind. The works that you have of faith, they're noticed. James 2.17 says, faith if it has not works is dead being alone. Now Jesus' response is simple. He speaks to him and he says, son, your sins are forgiven you. The word forgiven. The word forgiven literally says, means to send or drive away. It speaks of doing away with. Your sins have been done away with. They have been driven away. Like Psalm 103.12, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. Micah 7.19, he will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. So Jesus is promising this sick man forgiveness of his sins. Because that's what he needed and that's what he desired. You see sins are forgiven, not excused. Jesus said in Matthew 16.26, what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul? And so sins need to be forgiven. Some of you have heard the name Carl Menenger. He had the very famous Menenger clinics. He was a psychologist. But Carl Menenger once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75% of them could walk out the next day. Think about that. If he could convince these people your sins are forgiven, he said they could be made well and leave the next day. 75% could leave. You want to know something, guys? Grab this. If you've come to Jesus Christ, grab hold of this. If you've come to Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. Some people are driven to try and be holy and righteous because they're trying to make up for all their past. Guess what? You can't. You can't even remember all the evil you've done. That's the truth. And the longer you live, the longer the list. I heard a little boy, seven years old, heard of a little boy, seven years old saying, I came to Christ and before I came to Christ I was a great sinner. Well, maybe you didn't feed your puppy a couple of times, son. I don't know how great a sin that really is. But when you hear a 70-year-old man say, I was a great sinner, long lives give great opportunities. And you have a long life of sin. But Jesus Christ washes you clean. 100%. If any man is in Christ, he's in new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. To confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Not some sin, all sin. And that's what this man needed. He was paralyzed, but he needed to be forgiven more than he needed to be able to walk. Because you can be perfectly whole and go to hell perfectly whole. But he needed his sins forgiven. And so Jesus saw through this. Well, verses 6 and 7, some of the scribes were sitting there reasoning in their hearts. Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins? But God alone. So Jesus pronounces forgiveness of sins for the man. And notice the scribes react, so internally. And they're thinking, this man is blaspheming. They're reasoning, this man claims the power to forgive sins. Somebody said, divine forgiveness is costly. God is love, but God is holiness. God will not break the great moral laws in which the universe is built. Sin must have its punishment for the very structure of life disintegrates. And God alone can pay the terrible price that is necessary before men can be forgiven. Forgiveness is never a case of saying it's all right, it doesn't matter. Forgiveness is the most costly thing in the world. And Jesus Christ forgives sins. But again, the fact is in Scripture it is God who forgives sins, Micah 718. So God like you who pardon sin forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. Isaiah 43.25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more. So God is the one who forgives sins. So since only God can forgive sins, Jesus must be claiming to be God. How can he forgive sins? Because sin primarily is against God. So how can you forgive sins that somebody committed when those sins weren't committed against you? It's a good question. I wanted to illustrate this in a Bible study 40 years ago. I was doing a Bible study teaching this passage and I had told Marie, my wife, she was my girl at that time, I said to her when I get to this point and the question is asked, who can forgive sins but God alone? I'm going to pause and I want you to get up, walk across the front room. There was a woman, I think her name was Helen, walk up to Helen, grab her Bible out of her hand, close it, take it with you and sit down. Are you sure I should do that? I said, yes woman, thou shalt obey. Would you please? Okay. So I get to this point. I read the scripture. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Marie looks at me like, are you sure? And I just, she gets up, walks across the room, grabs Helen's Bible, pulls it out of her hand, closes it. Now, Marie was 22, 23 years old. Helen was in her 40s, late 40s. She's an older woman. Re-showing tremendous disrespect to this woman. In a Bible study, it was great. Slams it, takes the Bible and sits down and just holds it. Helen's staring at Marie like, and I turned to Marie and she's sitting right here and I said, I forgive you and Helen's looking at me and I said, now does that make sense? That I forgave her for what she did to you? She goes, not at all. Now you get it. That's what they're saying. Who is this man to forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins. Why? Because man sins against God. He's making himself to be God. That's why they're saying he's blaspheming. He's blaspheming. Jesus knew their thoughts because as he looked at this man he said, your sins are forgiven you. Who can forgive sins? That's an immediate theological question that they have and immediately they come to the conclusion this man, how can he do that? But the fact is, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all need forgiveness from God. Well, verse 8, Jesus used in his spirit that they're reasoning thus within themselves. He responds, notice to their thoughts. Now Matthew gives us a little clearer understanding because in Matthew 9.4 it says but Jesus knowing their thoughts said why do you think evil in your hearts because the blasphemy that they were accusing him of is actually evil. And they're saying that he's blaspheming for declaring this man to be free of his sin. Well, Jesus' knowledge of their thoughts reveals that he is God in the flesh. He says, nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. And so Jesus is able to forgive sins because he knows what's in man's heart and he's God in the flesh. Now as this has taken place he asks the question in verse 9 which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven you or to say arise, take up your bed and walk. Obviously someone is forgiven is a lot easier it is than to heal. One is an act that isn't necessarily visible the other is obviously immediate. So which is easier? But he goes on and he says verse 10 but that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic I say to you arise, take up your bed go your way to your house. Immediately he arose, took up the bed went out in the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified gods and we never saw anything like this. That you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins you might want to remember that on earth. Listen when you come to faith in Christ the blood of Christ, God's Son cleanses you from all sin. But if you refuse to come to faith in Christ you die in your sins and those sins are not forgiven. So Jesus is making it clear sins are forgiven on earth they're not forgiven after you die. And so just to demonstrate his power he says to him verse 11 rise take up your bed, go to your house. He forgave the man his sins and the man immediately acts on his word. But verse 12 tells us he immediately he arose took up the bed in the presence of them all. Someone said the bed once carried the man but now the man carries the bed. This man's belief responded with behavior the cripple was made to walk by obeying. I want you to notice something and I'm going to close in a moment but I want you to notice something notice how Jesus gives an impossible command it was impossible the man's paralyzed but he gives him an impossible command rise take up your bed and walk that's an impossible command all of us have encountered people who are bedridden I'm sure my mom was bedridden for a year she could walk and if she tried to walk with a walker it was something she could do whenever she tried especially in her last few months out of the bed she would fall she would collapse she hurt herself she couldn't get out of the bed and don't think for a moment that I never wished that I could do what Jesus did that I could walk up to him and say mama get up and walk I can't do that but he can he can but here's something this is practical he gives us impossible commands but he also supplies the power for us to carry them out keep that in mind he'll never command you to do something with the intent for you to fail here's a little story anecdote time when our church was young we were going through some struggles here so many things that were going on in terms of like we need we need some finances to do this and lord we don't have that and I was crying out to the lord and I still remember this very so very real so very powerful in my life I was crying out to the lord about something and as I was driving home and I was just crying out saying god we just don't have we can't do this I need your help lord I don't know what to do like many of you have done lord I don't know what to do I still remember the holy spirit speaking to my heart and gave me a word I've never forgotten he said this I did not raise you up to let you fall that was a personal word to my heart from the lord that I have hung on to now for 30 some years I didn't raise you up to let you fall and he didn't raise you up to let you fall either never forget that he does not enjoy watching you fail I was 17 I was at a friend's house his older brother had a little boy little boy was learning to walk little boy was walking past his daddy he was probably a year 13 months old at the time just a little guy in his diapers I still remember this as he walked by his dad his dad hit him with the back of his hand in his chest and knocked him down and the baby hit the ground and started crying and I'm 17 I'm not a believer in Christ at all but I think this guy's crazy and he looks at me and I looked at him this guy was a brawler to be honest with you he was just a brawler and I looked at him and he looks back at me and he says life is tough and I'm going to make him tough enough for life that's how he thought he'd raise his son by knocking him down hey your heavenly father doesn't knock you down your heavenly father lifts you up never forget that never forget that and he doesn't want to see you fail he wants you to stand and he can make you stand you trust him that's worth clapping for amen that is God will give to you a command and supply the power to fulfill it if you were to look at it you don't need to there's a man with a withered hand Jesus sees the man and he says to him stretch out your hand it's impossible in Matthew chapter 14 Jesus sees the apostle Peter and the apostle Peter is in a boat and Jesus is walking by and Peter says if it is you Lord command that I should come out of this boat and walk to you and Jesus gives him an impossible command to walk to me and he does there's a man at a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda crippled for 38 years and Jesus is there ministering and he says to the man rise take up your bed and walk once again it's impossible I can't help but wonder if God may be telling us today to trust him that we might be able to do the impossible too so that he gets all the glory because I want you to notice something here while he arose took up the bed went out in the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified God saying we never saw anything like this listen when you are made to walk people will say we've never seen anything like this some of us in this room have some amazingly powerful testimonies where you were so messed up you were so messed up you don't even give your full testimony because if people heard it they wouldn't want to be around you we have sanitized versions of our stories don't we we do we only show enough for people to realize the grace of God but some of our stories are hugely evil because that's what we were and the Lord washed us and cleansed us and then somebody who knew us a little bit in the testimony they say within themselves I never saw anything like this that's what happened when I got saved that's how my mom got saved that's how my dad got saved that's how my sister Madeline got saved ultimately that's how my sister Rebecca got saved my brother Frankie saw what the Lord did that's how he got saved we never saw anything like this we know what you were and we see what you are there's got to be a God and you cannot do a thing and then God makes you to stand and people look at you and say you know you can't even be the same person listen I've had this happen twice now on Easter of all things where people have come and it's happened twice now over the years where they've walked up to me after service and said this two different people two different times Pastor David I brought a friend of mine to church today to Easter service and when you came out to preach they said I know him I went to school with him he's a con he's conning you guys he's ripping you off because I know him I went to school with him now I'm not a con I'm just transformed God can do that can't he God can change your life in an instant with his power he can make the cripple to walk and maybe we have some the Lord says I can make you to walk rise take up that bed and walk and I'll go with you every step of the way he never leaves you nor does he ever forsake you he walks with you