Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: I want to ask you a question: what part of your life is crippled? What part of your life is crippled that you need healing from Jesus Christ today? When we find out that we have this part of our life that is crippled, what do we want? We want to be healed. We want a full body. We want a full life with Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. We're glad you've joined us today as we continue our series focused on the life-changing impact of forgiveness. As we take a closer look at the account of a paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus, Raul will urge you to pursue Jesus' power in your life.

You'll find that when you're honest about your sin and look to your Savior in faith, He's faithful to forgive and restore. Today's lesson is titled Amazing Forgiveness. In Mark chapter 2, here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: I was amazed as I read the story concerning forgiveness and faith. Forgiveness and faith. As a body of Christ, we need to remember how desperate we are to seek forgiveness in our lives. EB Manning says this: "A habit of devout fellowship with God is the spring of all our life and the strength of it." The strength of it when we think about life and fellowship with God.

Can we really have fellowship with God? Is the church so far gone that we really can't have fellowship with God as we read the scriptures? One of the tragedies that people are looking for is forgiveness. That condemnation where it says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Surely when I receive forgiveness, I feel peace in my life.

If you don't have peace in your life, maybe you haven't repented. You continue to live that life that God has forbidden you to live any longer. If we truly and desperately look for forgiveness, we'll find it in Christ Jesus. We'll find it in Christ Jesus. That's why He came and died on the cross, so that we could be forgiven for all of our sins.

On this lesson, I pray that you and I can learn about true forgiveness because we see the power of forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look at chapter 2 again, verse 1 and 2. Let's begin with this reputation spreading. Jesus wasn't looking for His reputation to spread, never.

Somehow, because of the power that He possessed and because He was the Son of God, He was God incarnate in the flesh, wherever He went, people followed Him. There was one reason they followed Him, and that was to get something from Jesus. There are people like that today. They want to get something from Jesus. Instead of us giving to Jesus, we want to get from Him.

When you look at the scriptures, it says here in verse 1, "And again He entered Capernaum, His headquarters, after some days. It was heard that He was in the house," Peter's house. "And immediately many gathered together so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door, as He preached the word to them."

This reminds me of our home and when we started Calvary Chapel. There were people outside, inside, all over. You couldn't get in our house. You couldn't get in the Kung Fu studio because people were really hungry. People really wanted to know about Christ. People were coming not only physically to receive healing on their bodies, but the greatest thing was healing concerning their sins.

Sin is more important than anything else, to be forgiven for my sins. He also had been gone for many months. It says days here, but many months He had been gone preaching around the Sea of Galilee. In Mark 1:39, it says, "And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all of Galilee and casting out demons." That was His ministry. Now He comes back to Peter's house, and already news had traveled. Jesus is back.

When they heard that, the multitudes came to Peter's house. We see that Jesus' primary mission was to preach the word to them, not heal them. That is a priority, the primary thing in the church today that we don't see: the preaching of the word of God. The Holy Spirit brings conviction to my life that I need to change my heart so that God can work in my life and through my life.

Secondly, look at the importance of God's word. In Hebrews 4:12, it says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart."

Among the crowd, there were people that were coming to be healed and others who just wanted to see what Jesus was doing. That's the way it is in churches. Let's go see at Calvary Chapel what's going on. They don't really have a commitment. They don't really want to get saved. They want to come and criticize. They want to come and judge you and judge the church.

We have to be careful of our motive why we come, why we serve, and why we tell people about Jesus. Jesus Christ came because He loved the people. He came to give His word to them because they were lost eternally. What is the purpose for any one of us here this morning? Why am I here in church?

I know many of you have been here for years. It is amazing. What is my motive? Even if it is not my first time, am I going to be here and finish well, or is something going to happen in my life that I won't finish well? What is my lifestyle today? What am I doing that I should not do? I want Jesus to touch my life, but I'm doing things that I'm not supposed to do.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:30, we grieve the Holy Spirit of God and He cannot work in my life. He gets hurt. We see Jesus here proclaiming that. Notice secondly His true friends in chapter 2, verses 3 to 4. The true friends of the person who is sick loved him and brought him to Jesus.

"And they came to Him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near the house because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So that when they broke through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying." Can you believe that? Think of your own friendships today. Do they really love you? Do they really care about you? Do you really love them and care about them?

It says they came to Him bringing a paralytic. Look at the world; it is paralyzed. These four men had a love for their friend and said, "We heard Jesus is here. We don't know Jesus, but we heard He's here. We've heard what He's done and we're going to bring our friend to Jesus." They could not come to the house and see the multitudes and say, "This is discouraging, let's go home." They were persistent.

Are you persistent in your life with Jesus, or do you just give up? Do you just give up like so many people give up? First of all, the men came to Jesus. They brought their friend because he was very sick. Secondly, they brought him on a cot, on a little pallet. They carried him a long ways.

Thirdly, we see four significant things. Number one, his friends were desperate and hopeful that Jesus would heal him, even though they didn't know Jesus. His friends loved him. Thirdly, his friends were persistent. They didn't stop by going to the front door and seeing the multitudes and the windows everywhere in Peter's house.

They said, "There has to be some way we can take our friend and bring him into the house where Jesus is." In those days, they had flat roofs. These guys were coming because they really loved their friend and they wanted to see him. The friends were venturing in faith. They couldn't get into the house, so they went up on top of the roof.

In Hebrews 11:1, it says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." I like that, not seen. I've never seen Satan or his demons. I've never seen anything when God does something in my life. I go, "Lord, you blow my mind." We are the ones that don't have full obedience in our lives.

When we come to Jesus Christ, He says the reason you don't have faith is because of what your life is like. We remember John 3:16. Everybody knows God's love that He has for you and me. The love He had for this crippled person. Five people were coming to Jesus, while all the others were inside the house, watching.

Then you had that group of people like the Pharisees that were criticizing and hated Jesus. They wanted to get Him somehow so they could kill Him, but His time was not yet. I want to ask you a question: what part of your life is crippled? What part of your life is crippled that you need healing from Jesus Christ today?

When we find out that we have this part of our life that is crippled, what do we want? We want to be healed. We want a full body. We want a full life with Jesus Christ. These little things in our lives keep us in a different way, like all the people that came to see Jesus. Imagine how many of them were there with great sins.

Remember the woman caught in the very act of adultery? They brought her out, threw her on the ground, and said, "This woman was caught in the very act of adultery." Jesus got on His knees and started writing on the ground. These guys had stones already to stone her. Jesus wrote on the ground, and one by one, they dropped the stones and walked away.

Probably Jesus was writing their sins. "That's me, I'm out of here." Jesus said, "Woman, where are your accusers?" "They are gone, Lord." "Neither do I accuse you. Sin no more. You can go your way; you're healed." Sin no more. Why do we sin? Jesus has touched you and He's healed you spiritually speaking.

I think of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 8. He says, because I try to figure God out all the time, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Psalm 18:30 says, "As for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in Him." These four men and the cripple were trusting God to do something in their lives.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit SomebodyLovesYou.com to access our full range of faith-building resources. You can also email Raul for a personal response to your Bible questions and prayer needs. His direct address is pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. Now back to more of our study, Amazing Forgiveness.

Raul Ries: Look at the third point, verse 5. His priority in healing. "And when Jesus saw their faith," underline that, memorize that, "He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" Wait a minute, Lord. I didn't come here for my sins. I came here to get healed. But what's the priority? Sins, not healing. Sins.

Sins is the most important factor. He said, "Your sins are forgiven you." A persistent effort on the paralytic's friends was visible evidence of their faith in Jesus Christ to heal him. He had not expected that their sins would be forgiven first. That's what happened to me and that's what happened to you.

Jesus had the awareness of their faith. Secondly, the observation of the crippled coming from the top shows that persistency. Jesus is sitting there as debris is falling down. The Pharisees and the people are looking up. All of a sudden, there is this big hole and a pallet is lowering down in front of Jesus.

He gives the command for forgiveness. He says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." The Greek verb for "are forgiven" refers to sending or driven away. Your sins are driven away. They're no longer there. They're gone. The Psalmist says that He takes our sins and He casts them as far as the east from the west and buries them in the deepest part of the ocean.

Transgression means a willful sinning against God. Jeremiah 31:34, "No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all they shall know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more." Quit reminding yourself about your sin.

Micah 7:19 says, "He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Jesus dismisses this man's sins and his guilt. First John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Look at verse 6 through 9. His enemies questioning His authority. Some of the scribes were sitting there reasoning in their hearts. You have to remember they reasoned in their hearts, and Jesus can read their hearts. They didn't have to say anything out loud.

They thought, "Why does this man speak blasphemies like this?" He says, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Wake up, I am God. They could not see that Jesus was God. 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?"

He confronts them. He says, "Which is easier? To say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and take up your bed and walk'?" He blows them away. He forgave their sins first. Then He says, "Okay man, get up and take your bed and walk out of here and don't look back."

The Pharisees and the people were amazed. Jesus forgives him, cleanses him, and heals him. As he's walking out, His enemies, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, were the two groups constantly coming against Jesus. They were the professional scholars who specialized in explaining the application of the law, and yet they couldn't understand that this is Jesus.

Let me give you a couple of facts that God forgives sin. Number one, the Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin."

Psalm 32:5 says, "I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and you forgave the iniquity of my sin." Pause there. Then look at the meritorious ground on which God forgives. Number one, in Christ Jesus, Colossians 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Secondly, what Jesus has done to forgive all of our sins for His sake. Hebrews 9:22 says, "According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these."

Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Have you forsaken your sin? Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, but he who is perverse in all his ways will suddenly fall.

Your sins are blotted out. Isaiah 44:22 says, "I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you," saith the Lord. Sins are totally forgiven forever. Acts 3:19 says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."

That is exactly what's happening to this man on the pallet. He was brought down and Jesus forgave his sins. He was free, but He was also healing him because he needed healing. Lastly, look at verse 10 to 12. The demonstration and the power of God.

"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, and go into your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God. We never saw anything like this. Praise God for that.