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[0:00] morning my name is Roy if you haven't met me before we're going to look at this passage now and ask God to help us understand well the things of his word so let's pray that let's pray our father in heaven thank you for your word and we pray this morning as we delve into it that the things of Christ might become absolutely clear to us and we might respond appropriately we ask in Jesus name amen well let me tell you a bit about sin I'll tell you a bit about it because I'm well qualified I've been at it over 50 years now and sin is a contagion that nothing in this world can contain law won't stop it rules won't stop it governments can't stop it sin is living in defiance of God that's what sin is living in defiance of God sin is take making myself out to be God and seeking to depose God from his rightful rule of my life and the world simply put sin is rebellion against God that's what it is sin is not so much law breaking sin is more like law making in 1 John chapter 3 verse 4 we're told that sin is lawlessness it's defying law and making our own sin ever since Adam and Eve decided to make themselves the lawmakers of what good and evil was sin has been in the world sin just so you know to be absolutely clear sin is the disease right and sins s-i-n-s are the symptoms of that disease sins like pride and lying and greed and envy and slander and so on are all symptoms of the disease called sin so when the science on the grass is don't walk on the grass it used to be on the QUT little kidney lawn I didn't have much grass there don't walk on the grass why is it that every fiber in my body wants to say who can tell me what to do I'll make up a new rule Roy can walk on the grass and so his foot automatically wants to go and walk on the grass in defiance of the rules that have been made

[2:27] I'm the one who wants to make the rules just like the very first sin in the Bible now sin is serious right the sting of death is sin 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 56 the bee stings and some people can have an anaphylactic reaction to it right sin stings and so injects a deadly poison and what it brings is death to everyone you get infected with sin and death is what follows sin leads to death we're told in Romans chapter 6 verse 16 and left unforgiven and remaining in my sin means facing the wrath of God and that's what makes forgiveness so fabulous and the gospel so glorious being forgiven should make us the most joyful people in the world on the planet and so that brings us to Mark chapter 2 now we continue our series in Mark and we've seen

[3:56] Jesus authority so far the topic verse of Mark's gospel is chapter 1 verse 15 the time has come the kingdom of God is near repent and believe the good news Jesus mission is to bring the kingdom of God and the way he would go about doing those in three sort of ways one is Jesus came to preach the kingdom of God is near and then chapter 2 verse 17 Jesus came to call sinners to himself that's what he came to do and chapter 10 verse 45 we see that Jesus came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many so he comes to preach he comes to call sinners and he comes to give his life as a sacrifice a ransom to save many in chapter 1 verse 16 we sang about it he's called fishermen from their job they've left their nets and they've come following him then he teaches in the synagogue and he teaches with authority in the kingdom even driving out evil spirits and so in God's kingdom there is no evil there is no opposition there is no liars in God's kingdom and then we saw he's got authority to heal he's healed every kind of sickness and disease in God's kingdom there is no sickness and in chapter 1 verse 35 to 39 we saw last week we noticed a priority on preaching when he preaches he drives out evil when the kingdom of God comes evil must go and he went on a preaching journey and then in chapter 1 verse 40 to 45 when the leper who'd been healed starts preaching that Jesus is a healer Jesus is actually hindered from his mission Jesus had to leave Capernaum and head out to the remote places deserted places all around Galilee preaching and driving out evil spirits and now chapter 2 verse 1 he's back in Capernaum here's a bit of a map for you you see there's the

[5:51] Sea of Galilee and then there's Galilee Capernaum's on the northern on the northern shore there that's where he is that's where he sort of sets up his ministry and he's there the news gets out he's back home and we find what's he doing again he's preaching the word to a crowd in a home the place is packed I mean who is this man what will he do next what will he say next and those who know their Old Testament will be absolutely hanging out those who expect the kingdom of God expected great things to come they expected the sick to be cured the the lame to walk the blind to see Isaiah 35 look at Isaiah 35 with me here Isaiah 35 verse 1 the wilderness in the dry land shall be glad the desert shall rejoice the blossom like a cocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon they shall see the glory of the

[6:55] Lord the majesty of our God strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees say to those who have an anxious heart be strong fear not behold your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the deaf unstopped then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy that's just what's been happening that's just what's happening here the in breaking of the kingdom of God here's a bit of a slide we've been looking at recently we live now in the present evil age we're in the time of Mark's gospel where the kingdom of God is breaking in prior to the kingdom of God being here fully and finally unopposed when this evil age is done away with on that last day in this passage we read of a paralytic man comes in desperate for healing and as he's healed walking out perfectly restored in front of the huge crowd what we should see is that Jesus has the authority to forgive sin there is no sin in the kingdom of God let's have a look at the passage

[8:12] Jesus confounds the crowd he's a paralytic can't walk and so four of his friends carry him to Jesus and the problem is that everyone else in town's turned up as well there's no way in and what would you do if you can't get in the front door go around the back door back doors chock-a-block you can't get the side door the windows can't get in the windows what are you going to do next you go through the roof literally these four friends unroof the roof of the house it's not like a cyclone blew it off it wasn't like a roof we have today with steel beams and insulation and a tin roof and tiles and things like that no it would have been a flat roof made out of some kind of mud and so they dig through it and bits of mud come falling down on the crowd below maybe gets in Jesus hair you think he's got nits maybe he might have scratched his head thinking there's a bad does headlice running around how they how would you feel if somebody that to your house started pulling the roof off not like you just replaced the broken tile in a hurry but with the removing of the roof the light shines in and a shadow forms and as a man on some kind of bedding is lowered down and the man gets lowered in front of Jesus and what happens

[9:36] Jesus speaks to the paralytic there in verse 5 and if you are anything like me and the crowd there what you get is a shock for what does Jesus say in verse 5 when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven Jesus has a reputation as a man who can heal all kinds of sicknesses and diseases and we are told something here we get an insight into Jesus we learn something here this is a powerful teaching moment for Jesus he can see things that we can't see and he can know things that we can't know see what does Jesus Jesus sees their faith all those involved in this extraordinary mission have faith those who carry him and the paralytic himself have faith in Jesus that is they trust they rely they believe in Jesus sounds like it's a faith that Jesus can heal him sounds like it but it might be more than that it might be that they believe that the kingdom of God is near after all those are the words that Jesus has been repeating and saying and preaching all around the place and maybe they want to hear his teaching as well or more so and then Jesus speaks and says your sins are forgiven your sins are pardoned now if you were the man who'd just been lowered down on a mat in front of Jesus what would you want?

[11:33] healing or forgiveness of sins? let me put it to you that the most pressing issue is to have sins forgiven you see it doesn't matter if you're perfectly fit it doesn't matter if you can run a marathon in record time I mean the world record holder Kelvin Kipton age 24 was killed in a car accident this week my question is were his sins forgiven?

[12:14] one of the people that we know in our neighbourhood died recently I just heard about this week my question is were his sins forgiven?

[12:25] if our sins aren't forgiven our sins aren't forgiven if our sins aren't forgiven we're eternally lost if our sins aren't forgiven well then we're not in the kingdom of God we'll turn up in front of God one day and he will say depart from me you sinner there's no place for you in the kingdom you'll have a new body fit for the kingdom of heaven but live forever in hell shut out from it which is a horror too great to believe and to imagine and to experience remember sin is the disease that's what kills you that's what cuts us off from God sins are the symptoms of that disease there is no sin in the kingdom of God there is no rebellion against the king in the kingdom now seeing this man's faith

[13:32] Jesus forgives his sin the man doesn't deserve it the man hasn't done anything to deserve it Jesus doesn't ignore it Jesus doesn't excuse it he doesn't justify it he doesn't prescribe good deeds to go and do to say some particular chant to actually get over it Jesus forgives the man's sins Jesus simply declares it pronounces it your sins are forgiven now that is a whole new category of healing the question is can Jesus forgive sins is he really able to forgive sins I mean who can forgive sins verses 7 to 12 the scribes are the experts in the law the teachers question it's a right one I mean who can forgive sins but God alone they make a right statement only God can forgive sins

[14:36] Exodus chapter 32 verse 32 the only person who can forgive sins their sins is the one who has sinned against if I sin against you right Shem Fu can't forgive me it doesn't work that way does it only you can forgive me if I sin against you yeah if I sin against God only God can forgive me and by nature that is what all sin ultimately is sin against God I mean David even says it against you only you have I sinned in his adulterous affair with Bathsheba now verse 8 notice that Jesus knows their thoughts he knows their questions it's blasphemy to call yourself God if you're really not God he knows their hearts at one level that's a supernatural thing in and of itself you can't hold the truth from Jesus now if this man's sins are forgiven then Jesus must be God

[15:55] God the Son other beliefs acknowledge Jesus is a great person but here Jesus is claimed to be more than a wise and powerful man here Jesus is claiming to have all the authority of God himself and so Jesus sets up a criteria for clarifying whether he's blaspheming or not he answers their question with a question he questions those who accuse him of blasphemy and Jesus question is a crucial one we'll explore it a bit now which is easier verse 9 to say to the paralytic your sins are forgiven or to say get up take your mat and walk what do you think which is easier to say get up and walk your sins are forgiven what do you think tell the person next to you what do you think okay

[16:56] I know there's some medicos in the room and I know there's theologians in the room as well well it's probably easier to say your sins are forgiven but how do you know if they were and if you do say that and it's blasphemy well it's a pretty hard thing to say because you'll be under the wrath of God for doing it so you might not want to say it in the first place it seems like Jesus does amazing things he heals the sick drives out demons makes the lame walk here he's claiming the authority of God he's claiming the authority to forgive sins only God can forgive sins and Jesus demonstrates he's the authority to forgive sins so the answer to the question is Jesus does both right forgives the man's sins and makes him walk two things which are impossible for us to do right honestly

[18:09] I don't think you can do it I can't might be easier to say to forgive sins harder to prove how would you know but to say get up and walk all right Jesus can forgive sins and gives evidence of this by healing the man and making him walk again and see Jesus then disclosed a bit more about himself he says not only God he says about himself but he says he's the son of man that title picks up Daniel chapter 7 territory many of you will be familiar with it listen to it with me have a look at this on Daniel chapter 7 Jesus takes on the title son of man son of God now son of man the king of an eternal kingdom everlasting kingdom a kingdom that's all over the world over every person every nation every language son of man an eternal kingdom one that can't be destroyed and so with a word

[19:41] Jesus speaks again by a word from this man the universe was created and by a word from this man the paralyzed man is healed and who is this man they're stunned the crowd are stunned something unheard of something never seen before and that's what happens God is glorified God is exalted a glimpse a glimpse into the glory of God has been given into the kingdom of God I want to plunge into the idea of forgiveness now with you this is going to take us some time but it's worthwhile doing thinking about forgiveness forgiveness I want to push a bit deeper and consider what forgiveness is because at the center of this passage the truth that Jesus has the authority to forgive sins he's the one who can forgive sins let me talk about forgiveness forgiveness is the idea of having a debt cancelled might be a debt of money like you owe someone a hundred dollars they don't pay it back and you forgive them has that ever happened to you we owe God our very life because the penalty for rebellion against him is death

[21:00] Romans chapter 6 verse 23 the wages of sin is death no ifs no buts however instead God doesn't give us what we deserve he offers us forgiveness he pays a debt for us himself if we come to him in faith for it he promises us he will forgive us to be forgiven is to be pardoned is to be set free that's the idea of forgiveness forgiveness is costly if you give someone a hundred dollars it costs if you forgive someone a hundred dollars it costs you a hundred dollars to forgive them someone has to pay don't they if you forgive someone their debt you've got to wear it if I hurt you and say sorry right and you forgive me well then you have borne the pain you have been hurt it isn't easy someone has to bear the cost the hurt the pain and so it's costly to give forgiveness forgiveness to someone forgiveness isn't a formality either right we don't automatically get forgiveness it's not like being born in

[22:26] Australia and being given Australian citizenship right people can withhold forgiveness forgiveness and God can withhold forgiveness if he wants to you have to choose to forgive someone it's a choice and forgiveness cannot be demanded I cannot demand that you forgive me for a sinning against you it's something that you may or may not give that's the way it works you can forgive it or you can withhold forgiveness and while ever you withhold it from someone they are under your wrath in some way or another you are holding them in your debt and you're probably stewing over it over and over again how bad that person was how nasty that person was why they said that thing to me why they did that thing to me you're stewing over and over and over not letting it go it's eating you up inside and the relationship strained there's tensions all over the place all too often relationships it goes like this this is how it goes your sin and my pain that's how it goes your sin and my pain better the dynamic go like this right my sin and your pain how I have sinned against you and how I have caused you some kind of pain that is the

[24:24] Christian dynamic and with that with that there is some hope with that dynamic of moving forward a little bit in regaining relationship because let me tell you what I hope you dropped the notes down forgiveness is required by Jesus right Jesus tells us that we are as Christians as followers of him to forgive he tells us that Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 18 see Matthew chapter 6 at the end of the Lord's prayer he says unless you forgive other people their sins your heavenly father will not forgive you your sins either I'll read it out to you Matthew Mark 6 let's have a look at it

[25:24] Matthew chapter 6 have a look I want you to come look at it yourself not just Roy's singing here look at this Matthew chapter 6 pick it up at verse 14 it's after the Lord's prayer for if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but verse 15 if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses the very act of forgiving someone is good for you as well for it's a very God-like thing to do Jesus has a lot to say about it if we don't forgive those who sin against us our future with God is bleak it means being unforgiven by God himself and

[26:28] Matthew 18 ratchets up the requirement for us to forgive one another even further read it some other time our society has lost the ability to forgive and with it comes a cancerous culture of brutal and deadly hurt ongoing and ongoing this is how it works in our culture let me tell you how our culture has progressed you've wronged me and because you've wronged me you are now a wicked person you are a terrible person you are an oppressor and I am the victim and as a victim I demand that you confess your sin but not so I might forgive you no no but to humiliate you and prove to the world how wicked and bad you are and once you confess to the world how wicked and bad you are the rest of society can know how bad you are and how much of a victim

[27:38] I am and since I'm the victim and you're the villain then you are not deserving of forgiveness anymore you should be banished you should be cancelled you should be removed from any influence in the world see our society without the gospel staggers along without forgiveness there's no relief without forgiveness it's dog eat dog and cat eat rat and whatever else you want to say there is no restoration of relationships without forgiveness there's four promises of forgiveness that we learn in the peacemakers I'll just rattle them off for you first one is help me to remember these Roy first of all forgiveness is four promises I promise not to hold this against you I promise that I'll not bring this up in the future

[28:39] I promise I won't this affect our personal relationship and I promise that I won't tell anybody else about this thing you've done against me they're the kind of promises of forgiveness we make that's very godlike and forgiveness is made possible by Jesus how is forgiveness made possible it happens at the cross it happens when Jesus dies for sin forgiveness isn't cheap the punishment for our sin our treason is rightly death and God bears the punishment that cost the pain Jesus God the son the son of man dies in our place on the cross Jesus God the son the son of man will die on the cross for this man who is a paralytic in the passage it wasn't easy at all right it wasn't easy at all for Jesus to forgive this man's sins because he knows that he's on his way to one destination to give his life as a ransom for this man's sins and for the world it wasn't easy for

[30:04] Jesus to forgive us it did cost Jesus his life forgiveness is made possible at the cross where the sin is paid with a righteous one Jesus dies the guilty one for me and for you so who can forgive sins can Jesus forgive sins well the account of Mark 2 if there's anything going on says yes he is Jesus has the authority to forgive sins and so opens the door for anyone to enter the kingdom of God Jesus can forgive sins the man of Mark 2 is proof of it millions through history are proof of it I am proof of it and all those who trust in Jesus in this room here this morning are proof of it and those who don't yet trust in Jesus yet can be proof of it that's the good news there's a prayer in the back of the bulletin that's there every week it's there for anyone to pray so that they can be forgiven by it's not magic words it's just an appropriate prayer admitting I'm a sinner saying I don't deserve it and asking God to forgive me and finally once in the kingdom of God can I say this

[31:26] Jesus can forgive every sin I commit while I live in this present evil age I don't need to stay bound up in my sin I can approach the throne of grace each and every time I sin and find forgiveness from the one who has the authority to forgive sin now and always let's pray our father in heaven we thank you that you have sent your son the lord Jesus and you granted him the authority to forgive sins thank you for the length that he went to to bring that about please help us as we follow him to be more and more like him that we might be those who are quick to forgive slowly become angry and never hold resentments we pray in

[32:28]  Jesus name Amen