Our Greates Need
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Thanksgiving to black Friday
What changes in hours
We are so thankful for what we have then just a few hours later our attention is turned towards what we want and what we need and what we can get on sale
What is going on
Maybe at the core we are humans who are ultimately selfish and as hard as we try we often think of ourselves first
Maybe we have a disease of selfishness or sinfulness
Maybe we need something far greater than a cheap tv or the newest gaming system or cool toy or some sweet grilling tools
And here we are on the only Sunday standing between Thanksgiving and the chaos that becomes the month of December
And as we transition into Christmas time I wanted to take this Sunday to not just remind us to be thankful for what we have
But to remind us to be thankful for the one and only thing we really need
As we transition into Christmas I know our minds will turn to...
Our minds turn they look to all the deals on black friday
All the gifts we would like for Christmas
All the gifts we get to give this Christmas
The holiday parties
The shopping
etc...
There is a busyness that is here and will continue to grow
So as I stand alone between
Expressions of thanksgiving
Christmas characters
I want to bridge the gap with this reminder
The reminder of the one thing that every human being on earth needs on Christmas and every other day
That one thing is forgiveness
Not just forgiveness from each other because we do need that
But most importantly forgiveness from God our heavenly father
And really his forgiveness is the only thing we need
The relationship between man and God has been broken and we all suffer from the same disease of sin
We need the vaccine of forgiveness
The vaccine that only God can give
And praise be to him that he give it to us free of charge
Read Mark 2:1-12
1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
What do we see here
What do we see here
We only have one need
Jesus is the only one who can fill that need
That should radically change our lives
We only have one need
We only have one need
Jesus knows exactly what that need
And he will give us exactly what we need
Those first verses set the scene
Much can be learned here
If this was the larger study on the book of Mark I would make much more of
The crowds
The teaching that Jesus is doing
The roof being picked apart
But for the purpose of our study this morning lets verses 1-4 be the verses that set the scene for us
We know Jesus is in at his “home” teaching to a very packed crowd of people
and from above a hole is opened in the roof and a paralyzed man is lowered down
Then something out of the ordinary happens
In the passages just before this we see a man with leprosy come to Jesus and beg to be healed
41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”
Here Jesus addresses this man physical malady not his spiritual condition
But in our passage today immediately following this passage Jesus’s response is very different
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Similar situations and Jesus responds differently why?
Because Jesus looking at this man sees a man who is need of much more than physical healing
We dont know nor is there any evidence that this man has committed a particular sin and that is why he is paralyzed
But Jesus looks at a man who allowed his friends cut a hole in a roof and lower him down in front of all the people there to be laid at his feet
And he sees a man whose need is much deeper than it seems at first glance
This is a man who is seeking one thing
He has a faith that this man is the only one who can save him
He believes what has been said in Mark 1:15
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
That the kingdom of heaven is at hand
That he must repent and believe the gospel
Jesus knows that no matter what the outward appearance of this man is he needs one thing
He needs forgiveness of sins
Because no matter what malady of inadequacy we suffer from
No matter how we look on the outside
All of mankind suffer from the very serious infirmity of sinfulness
We all have the same issue and need the same antidote
We all need forgiveness
Hell is littered with people
Rich and poor
Good and bad
Healthy and sick
Successful and failures
All with the same problem
UNFORGIVEN SIN
Hell is full people who were never treated for the one thing they really needed
FORGIVENESS
AND Forgiveness can only be given by the one who is offended GOD.
SO WE HAVE ONLY ONE NEED
And Jesus knows exactly what that need is and....
Jesus is the only one who can fill that need
Jesus is the only one who can fill that need
He has the power and authority to do so
The questions is raised how can this man speak like this
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
The statement that Jesus makes here is so profound and profoundly shocking to everyone in that room because they all know where forgiveness comes from
But the amazing part is that this shouldn’t be a shock to them
God himself is sitting there among them in human form
and he has just preformed the most divine miracle of all forgiving a sinner
Yet they dont recognize this
They dont realize who this man is and but what authority he does these things
Up to this point in the book of Mark he has preformed many miracles
He has healed the sick and cast out demon
He even healed a man of leprosy
They understand this mans teaching has authority
27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
But they havent put the pieces together to understand why this man can forgive sins
In the parallel passage in Matthew 9 he says this in verse 8
8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
They still thought he was man and God had delegated authority to him
But what does Jesus say in response to them
8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
In this passage there is more than one miraculous thing happening
Jesus knows their hearts
He knows the religious leaders doubt him they question his authority in their hearts
They didnt object to him loudly and to his face
They will do this later in chapter 2
But for now they look on astonished who can say these things that he is saying
But Jesus knows their hearts and he confronts their disbelief
He asks them why do you question these things in your heart Mark 2:8
They look on in disbelief of this man then they are called out for their hearts thoughts
must of caught their attention
Then he poses another question to them
What is easier in Mark 2:9
To these religious leaders both seem to be equally impossible
However one would have a visible result the other would be unverifiable
To say take up your mat and walk would be a claim that would be immediately validated by the man getting up and walking
But to say your sins are forgiven would be impossible to verify and impossible for a man to do in their eyes
So Jesus uses one to prove the other
Jesus makes clear his authority
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
But that you may know....
Jesus uses this statement to ensure they put it together and Mark leaves it here for us to put it together as well
Jesus heals this man so that we would understand the authority he welds over sin
Jesus has been accused of blaspheming and he says this
If I am a blasphemer than i wont be able to heal this man
But he does just that
Proving he is not blaspheming
So he must be who he claimed to be
He must have the authority he claimed
In all of this we are to recognize Jesus for who he is
The one who can give us the only thing we need forgiveness
He is the only one with the authority to forgive sins
The Scribes were right only God can forgive sins
And Jesus demonstrates to us that he is in fact the Son of Man
God come to earth in order to save us all from the eternal damnation
Because he is the one the only one who can forgive our sins
And we are forced to respond to this
We cant sit in the room and see Jesus claim to be God and have the power to forgive sins
And then watch him prove that by healing this man
and then walk out without our lives being changed forever
After this instance the scribes and pharisees looked at Jesus differently the people understood him differently
And the most astute recognized him to be the savior of the world
This truth should radically change our lives
This truth should radically change our lives
We will be radically changed when Jesus gives us the one thing we need most in our lives
We will not be the same when Jesus looks at us and says “Son/Daughter your sins our forgiven”
Our lives will be radically changed
For those of us in this room who have had that chance to have our guilty signs changed to ones that say innocent/redeemed bought with the initials signed JC
We know this life changing destiny altering truth when Jesus Christ gives us forgiveness we will never live the same
The people in that room that day know this too look at verse 12
12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
This man picked up his mat and walked out
Immediately he didnt hobble out because he needed to rebuild strength in his he probably had none
He didnt need to relearn how to walk
His healing was as immediate and as complete as his forgiveness of his sins
He just picked up his mat and walked out and people where amazed
The all were amazed
Everyone in that room was awestruck by what just happened
A man claimed to forgive sins proved he had the authority to do it and a man that was lowered in from the ceiling because he couldnt walk just walked out the front door
They all were amazed but had different reactions
Mark tells us that they all were amazed
Remember the scribes and the Pharisees were in that room as well
Mark doesnt say all except them
Everyone in that room realized what happened
And glorified God because of it
Everyone was amazed
They have never seen anything like this
For over 400 years they have not heard one word from God
And here comes this man Jesus claiming to be God
Claiming to have the authority to forgive sins
A task only God can do
And proving it
They cant help but stand in awe and wonder at what God had done
Clearly a divine thing has happened on this night
And even now to this day when Jesus forgives sins a divine thing happens
When a sinner is broken by their sin and repents and turns to Jesus
Its the most divine of all miracles
A sinful human being who has no hope of being found anything but guilty when he stands in the presence of a perfect holy God gets forgiven and is found righteous
Not because of anything he has done but because of what Jesus has done
I’ve heard it said that in Mark the shadow of the cross looms large of the book
This shadow is seen here in this passage
Jesus will be the perfect sacrifice that will be offered up for our sin
He will pay the debt for our sins
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
He will be covered in our sin and he will pay our debt so we may become the righteousness of God
We may be justified by him through his death
So we can receive the sign that says innocent/Redeemed bought with a price signed JC
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we turn the calendar into December and our focus shifts to all things Christmas
We think of our Christmas lists
What we want
What we want to give
We think of all the parties we are going to or hosting
We think of all the events we want to go to with our families
Let us not forget overlook and forget what we all need
That is the forgiveness of sins
This time of year is so special because of the hope and joy it brings because we get to celebrate the coming of our savior
We celebrate the coming of the only one who can forgive sins God to this earth in the form of Jesus Christ
We celebrate that this Jesus who is born will take on a cross and die a death he didnt deserve so that the punishment for our sins can be satisfied
We celebrate the birth of the one who can meet our greatest need forgiveness of our sins
And by meeting that need he will radically change our lives
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Let us live in this confidence that Jesus Christ has forgiven our sins nailing them to a cross canceling the debt we owed. Being the only one who accomplish such a feat let us look to him to transform our lives and let us live in daily obedience to him giving God the glory for this divine miracle he performs.