back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 2/20/2022
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Good morning Church family. Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin our service. 00:02:16.000 |
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me, praise Him. 00:02:29.000 |
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all He's done. 00:02:42.000 |
He forgives all your iniquities. He heals all your infirmities. 00:02:57.000 |
He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with mercy. 00:03:09.000 |
And as far, as far as the east is from the west, 00:03:25.000 |
And as high as the heavens are over the earth, 00:03:52.000 |
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me, praise Him. 00:04:08.000 |
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not who He is. 00:04:20.000 |
As a father shows compassion to his beloved children, 00:04:33.000 |
so the Lord shows compassion to us, to those who fear Him. 00:05:01.000 |
And as high as the heavens are over the earth, 00:05:28.000 |
And as high as the heavens are over the earth, 00:06:12.000 |
If you are visiting us for the very first time, 00:06:16.000 |
When the service is done, out in the parking lot, 00:06:22.000 |
You'll see our welcome team members with the blue lanyards. 00:06:24.000 |
And if you have any questions about the church, 00:06:26.000 |
we'd love to answer any questions you may have. 00:06:28.000 |
For this morning, we have just a few announcements to cover. 00:06:35.000 |
is going to be happening on Friday, the 25th. 00:06:38.000 |
Because our singles ministry is going to be away at a retreat, 00:06:42.000 |
I think everyone's going to be able to actually 00:06:44.000 |
fit in here comfortably and things like that. 00:06:47.000 |
So we're going to just have the indoor portion 00:07:05.000 |
It's taking place Saturday, March 5th, from 1 to 2 p.m. 00:07:11.000 |
like the Buena Park Source or the Irvine Spectrum. 00:07:14.000 |
It's a great opportunity to exercise that muscle of evangelism 00:07:19.000 |
and go out together with fellow brothers and sisters. 00:07:21.000 |
Make sure you go on the app and sign up for that 00:07:26.000 |
And then finally, for the seasoned fellowship lunch, 00:07:33.000 |
actually, that probably is Sunday--3, 6 at 1 p.m. 00:07:46.000 |
in fellowship and an opportunity to get to know one another. 00:07:53.000 |
please make sure you go on the app or the Facebook 00:07:58.000 |
Today, after we have our time of praise and worship, 00:08:13.000 |
underneath the large clock, there is a box in the back. 00:08:22.000 |
as we just took a moment to sing about how wonderful you are, 00:08:30.000 |
We recognize, God, that your work that's done for us, Lord, 00:08:46.000 |
this would be an expression and reflection of that heart. 00:09:06.000 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name we pray. 00:17:29.000 |
♪ The storms may howl and clouds may gather ♪ 00:20:13.000 |
I was born and raised in a Christian household. 00:20:15.000 |
Growing up, I participated in various youth group activities 00:20:23.000 |
Being exposed to God's word and memorizing scripture 00:20:28.000 |
However, I did not fully comprehend the concept of sin 00:20:34.000 |
In high school, I chased after the approval of others. 00:20:37.000 |
I was bullied by members of my drumline program, 00:20:40.000 |
and it incited a desire to please them at all costs. 00:20:59.000 |
Even during the time I sought after others' validation, 00:21:02.000 |
I understood it was wrong, but this was the first time 00:21:04.000 |
I saw that idolizing it was a sin and dishonoring God. 00:21:18.000 |
While I could confidently say that the gospel 00:21:23.000 |
it was clear that I didn't fully surrender my life to Him. 00:21:26.000 |
I thought having faith and believing was enough 00:21:33.000 |
a more stable community, I continued to live for myself 00:21:36.000 |
and not seek a personal relationship with Him. 00:21:47.000 |
I often justified this as well as my negligence 00:21:53.000 |
While I felt bad at times about the way I lived, 00:21:59.000 |
rather than feeling guilty as to how it was dishonoring God. 00:22:26.000 |
so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, 00:22:31.000 |
I'm truly grateful for how faithful God has been 00:22:35.000 |
He revealed Himself to me through the brothers 00:22:43.000 |
is not my own but one that He has graciously given me. 00:23:45.000 |
We know that we have a lot of brothers and sisters 00:23:47.000 |
who it's a blessing to grow up in the Christian home 00:23:56.000 |
versus having conviction and a personal relationship, 00:24:01.000 |
At this time, would you take your Bibles please 00:24:03.000 |
to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 2, Verses 1 through 12. 00:24:11.000 |
within the Gospel narrative about the healing 00:24:19.000 |
I'm personally going through the Gospel of Mark 00:24:21.000 |
for my devotions and I felt that I had certain things 00:24:28.000 |
and so I wanted to share those convictions with you. 00:24:31.000 |
Let's take a look here, starting from Verse 1 and it says, 00:24:35.000 |
"When he had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, 00:24:40.000 |
that many were gathered together so that there was no longer room, 00:24:43.000 |
not even near the door, and he was speaking the word to them. 00:24:51.000 |
Being unable to get to him because of the crowd, 00:24:56.000 |
And when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet 00:25:00.000 |
And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 00:25:19.000 |
that they were reasoning that way within themselves, 00:25:21.000 |
said to them, 'Why are you reasoning about these things 00:25:43.000 |
And he got up immediately, picked up the pallet, 00:25:47.000 |
so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, 00:25:50.000 |
saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.'" 00:25:57.000 |
Lord, I pray, Father God, that each Sunday we come in 00:26:02.000 |
to hear your Word, and we know this is a huge privilege 00:26:12.000 |
And today, as we think about your authority to forgive, 00:26:20.000 |
help us, Lord, to see more and more of your glory in that way. 00:26:27.000 |
This morning I think about kind of a cliché term 00:26:31.000 |
that I heard recently and then just kind of thought through it 00:26:35.000 |
and overthought it and then just kind of came back to, 00:26:39.000 |
you know, in life, God gives you what you need, 00:26:57.000 |
but it applies when you're just kind of dealing with life 00:27:08.000 |
where actually one of the focal point is God giving 00:27:18.000 |
And then the story builds to God also gives what was asked, 00:27:24.000 |
showing a greater sense of this is the God we have. 00:27:38.000 |
I want to both remind you of this famous story, 00:27:44.000 |
or in greater fashion can appreciate about that, 00:27:49.000 |
about Christ addressing the greatest needs that we have, 00:27:54.000 |
but also showing forth the kind of Savior He really is to us. 00:28:08.000 |
celebrity status, can't go anywhere, kind of famous, 00:28:17.000 |
"several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home." 00:28:28.000 |
"so that there was no longer room, not even near the door, 00:28:34.000 |
If you're thinking your house with a bunch of people, 00:28:38.000 |
or maybe some of you guys who participate in our home groups, 00:28:47.000 |
just in the very beginning portion of the Gospel of Mark 00:28:50.000 |
is that there was so much commotion and so much stir, 00:28:57.000 |
Because the spectacular works that Jesus was doing 00:29:00.000 |
was already heard throughout the land, so to speak. 00:29:03.000 |
If you scroll your eyes just a chapter before in Mark 1, 00:29:12.000 |
"Immediately after they came out of the synagogue, 00:29:15.000 |
"they came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. 00:29:18.000 |
"Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, 00:29:22.000 |
"and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her. 00:29:27.000 |
"taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, 00:29:38.000 |
"and the whole city had gathered at the door. 00:29:42.000 |
"And He healed many who were ill with various diseases 00:29:52.000 |
So if you think about it, in that city of Capernaum, 00:29:59.000 |
There were supposedly somewhere around 1,500, 2,000 people 00:30:15.000 |
people were bringing to Him everybody, right? 00:30:28.000 |
And just as a quick reminder, a leper was seen 00:30:36.000 |
And they were so afraid, but also they cast them out 00:30:44.000 |
And so the leper was the one who went to Jesus and said, 00:30:46.000 |
"Lord, if you're willing, you could make me clean." 00:31:09.000 |
"The leper," or he, "went out and began to proclaim it freely 00:31:20.000 |
in an unpopulated area because they were coming to him 00:31:30.000 |
When it says that the paralytic and his friends 00:31:34.000 |
this wasn't like, "Excuse me, I just kind of need 00:31:38.000 |
It wasn't like you trying to get through the cafe, okay? 00:31:47.000 |
maybe even thinking, "I'm going to camp out here 00:31:55.000 |
And you heard that this individual was doing epic things 00:32:03.000 |
And when the Messiah would come, the blind would see, 00:32:07.000 |
So what I'm talking about is you have this crowd, 00:32:16.000 |
You got to figure, like, there was a large amount of people. 00:32:20.000 |
This wasn't going to be just a nice tap on the shoulder. 00:32:23.000 |
So we move forward, and we do see these individuals coming, 00:32:32.000 |
Well, they act on faith, and they seek Christ. 00:32:36.000 |
Take a look at the passage in verse 3 through 5. 00:32:43.000 |
being unable to get to him because of the crowd, 00:32:49.000 |
they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying." 00:32:54.000 |
Take a moment with me to imagine what is happening here. 00:33:02.000 |
but I wish it did because that would be fun, right? 00:33:05.000 |
I mean, just deal alone that--whose idea was that? 00:33:11.000 |
Was it the individual who was the paralytic saying, 00:33:22.000 |
Or maybe there was--I'm guessing in the bunch, 00:33:25.000 |
if you'd imagine any scenario where you were kind of timid, 00:33:28.000 |
like, "There's a big crowd. He's teaching right now. 00:33:31.000 |
He's preaching the Word. What are we going to do?" 00:33:33.000 |
And then probably there's a scaredy cat saying, 00:33:39.000 |
And then the other one's saying, "No, no, no. 00:33:41.000 |
We're going to make sure--we're going to get all diplomatic 00:33:49.000 |
And so they say, "Let's take him to the roof." 00:33:51.000 |
What a story that would be to tell later on, right? 00:33:57.000 |
it was common in the kind of, like, housing that they had 00:34:01.000 |
that a lot of people would use their roofs like decks. 00:34:06.000 |
I'm just trying to help you envision the scene. 00:34:22.000 |
which is kind of like heavy straw with mud and layers of it. 00:34:28.000 |
Sometimes people wonder, was there already a big opening? 00:34:31.000 |
Kind of like when you walk into the entrance of a building 00:34:45.000 |
I'm guessing they had to make a bunch of noise. 00:34:47.000 |
It wasn't a synchronized, "Okay, on three, dig!" 00:34:56.000 |
And so what's the point that I'm trying to make is, 00:35:01.000 |
and a long time ago, I remember listening to sermons 00:35:03.000 |
about this passage, one of the kind of takeaways is, 00:35:13.000 |
What's more, you can imagine these guys understood, 00:35:16.000 |
"Look, they have a desperate need," it was clear, 00:35:19.000 |
"and nevertheless, even if they didn't have pure faith 00:35:22.000 |
"for things, they recognized that this individual, 00:35:25.000 |
"if we get before him, he can make these happen. 00:35:30.000 |
"He could heal." That's what I'm talking about. 00:35:33.000 |
Now, I want to make this point, yet at the same time, 00:35:36.000 |
I don't want to make this point. You know why? 00:35:38.000 |
It's not the main point. It's not the biggest drama 00:35:45.000 |
I remember a long time ago this amazing evangelism sermon. 00:35:49.000 |
"You and I need to be like these bold, determined, 00:35:52.000 |
"problem-solving individuals when it comes to carrying 00:36:04.000 |
Spurgeon would say, "You got to grab their leg 00:36:09.000 |
Well, here you're going to say, "You're going to carry them 00:36:13.000 |
And every time I heard sermons like that, I'd get hype, 00:36:17.000 |
Now, as I was preparing this sermon, I was going to say, 00:36:26.000 |
And if you hit a wall because people are in line, 00:36:32.000 |
But as you know, that may be something we have to think about 00:36:36.000 |
because, yes, is it true that we kind of live 00:36:42.000 |
and you have a burning question, you have a burning need, 00:36:46.000 |
you have some crisis situation in your heart, 00:36:52.000 |
Even in some of my classes that I teach with 20 people, 00:36:54.000 |
you can tell, it's like, "Do you have questions?" 00:36:57.000 |
I'll just wait for after the class is done, right? 00:37:02.000 |
I don't think Jesus always commends go-getters, 00:37:10.000 |
Because we know that Christ has at some time said 00:37:19.000 |
But at the same time, you think about this for a moment, 00:37:25.000 |
Christ does not have a great view of the crowds 00:37:34.000 |
Like, we're here for the samples kind of people. 00:37:47.000 |
We do kind of live in a very safe environment. 00:37:49.000 |
We live in a generation where we want securities. 00:37:58.000 |
Like, let me see how you do once you go place your faith in Christ. 00:38:03.000 |
when you risk your shame, you risk your reputation, 00:38:06.000 |
you risk your wants, you risk your privileges, 00:38:11.000 |
If anybody is in here thinking that, no, no, no. 00:38:19.000 |
Because Scripture does actually commend a kind of faith. 00:38:26.000 |
when we know that there is a treasure in a person, 00:38:35.000 |
but because I actually see the value in Christ, 00:38:44.000 |
"The kingdom of heaven is like this and like that." 00:38:47.000 |
And one of those examples in the parable was, 00:38:49.000 |
"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who has found an incredible treasure." 00:38:58.000 |
He will go sell all of his possessions and buy the land. 00:39:06.000 |
He's not looking for someone else to go first. 00:39:14.000 |
where they went against all the eyes that would turn to them. 00:39:19.000 |
They went against the first hurdle, second hurdle. 00:39:21.000 |
They went against the thoughts of, "Are we really going to do this? 00:39:25.000 |
We're going to rip open somebody else's house?" 00:39:29.000 |
All the hurdles that come to our own rational minds 00:39:43.000 |
God desires that kind of persevering, problem-solving persistence. 00:39:50.000 |
"When we seek God, we seek him with all our hearts." 00:39:56.000 |
Jesus gives another parable about how we ought to pray. 00:40:05.000 |
to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart, 00:40:12.000 |
who did not fear God and did not respect man. 00:40:15.000 |
There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, 00:40:18.000 |
saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.' 00:40:21.000 |
For a while he was unwilling, but after he said to himself, 00:40:24.000 |
'Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 00:40:27.000 |
because this widow bothers me, I will give her the legal protection. 00:40:30.000 |
Otherwise, by continually coming, she will wear me out.' 00:40:35.000 |
The Lord said, 'Hear what the unrighteous judge said. 00:40:38.000 |
Now will not God bring about justice for his elect 00:40:41.000 |
who cry to him day and night, and will he delay long over them? 00:40:45.000 |
I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. 00:40:48.000 |
However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?'" 00:40:59.000 |
But because you see the value that you have a desperate need for Christ 00:41:14.000 |
I know I'm just going to be banging on the door. 00:41:17.000 |
But I need his blessing. I need his protection. 00:41:26.000 |
For us, are there anything and patterns in your life 00:41:33.000 |
when it comes to seeking questions about, "How do I grow? 00:41:38.000 |
How do I have that deeper, more intimate relationship with Christ?" 00:41:44.000 |
You kind of want somebody else to just tell you, 00:41:52.000 |
We know this is going to be a struggle, a persevering struggle, 00:41:55.000 |
that we are going to see Christ in this fashion. 00:41:58.000 |
Now, again, this isn't necessarily the main drama, 00:42:02.000 |
but it sets up everything for what Christ is going to do. 00:42:05.000 |
The story commends the men for having at least some faith. 00:42:10.000 |
It doesn't explicitly or exhaustively describe everything that they saw. 00:42:15.000 |
But it notes their faith, and then look what Christ does. 00:42:27.000 |
"Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 00:42:37.000 |
For me, when I read this, I always thought of this passage as like 00:42:41.000 |
the Jesus is God passage, which is true, and we're going to get to. 00:42:45.000 |
But I don't think I appreciated how dramatic it is for Jesus, 00:42:49.000 |
who in the eyes of the crowd is still yet a miracle worker 00:42:55.000 |
And we kind of have to appreciate the scandal of it, 00:42:58.000 |
the "What did he say?" like that kind of moment. 00:43:02.000 |
Why? Because when you think about what Jesus is doing, 00:43:05.000 |
Jesus sees these people coming to him asking questions, 00:43:10.000 |
And rather than giving what they asked for, he says, 00:43:18.000 |
Remember that Jesus, in calling the individual son, already is strange. 00:43:23.000 |
Now, a lot of people respected him as a rabbi, so maybe. 00:43:28.000 |
But the thing of it is Jesus in this scenario is younger than me. 00:43:38.000 |
I meet a lot of people at church, but not a single person have I ever said, 00:43:42.000 |
"My son, thanks for coming and talking to your pastor. 00:43:45.000 |
And also, I know you've confessed your struggles, so I forgive you." 00:43:50.000 |
Can you just imagine how strange and how weird that scene would be? 00:43:56.000 |
Or something like that. "What just happened?" 00:43:59.000 |
"I confessed to you. Why would you say something like that?" 00:44:08.000 |
And the next question would be, "That sounds really arrogant. 00:44:12.000 |
That you would put yourself so above me to call me son, 00:44:16.000 |
and then that you had some kind of clout to just tell me I'm forgiven. 00:44:21.000 |
I didn't sin against you. That's what I would say." 00:44:28.000 |
I want you to think about how crazy this would be, 00:44:31.000 |
because even from the perspective of the four friends who brought the man, 00:44:44.000 |
Okay, I get it. In their culture at that time, it was very prevalent to say, 00:44:47.000 |
"If you see a man who is paralyzed, who sinned? 00:44:50.000 |
Him or his father, right? Him or his parents?" 00:44:53.000 |
And so maybe they're thinking, "I knew it. This guy is a flat-out sinner. 00:44:58.000 |
But they didn't actually come for that, right? 00:45:01.000 |
It would be strange. You'd almost have this feeling like, "Okay, but look. 00:45:12.000 |
But actually what's being recorded here is not so much that sentiment. 00:45:19.000 |
But the sentiment and the drama and the scandal is pointed out, 00:45:22.000 |
not by the crowd or the friends, but the scribes and the Pharisees, 00:45:26.000 |
the leaders of the day, the masters of the text, the elite of the Jews, 00:45:33.000 |
They look at Jesus and say, "What in the world did you just say?" Right? 00:45:38.000 |
They can't believe it. They can't believe what they just heard. 00:45:41.000 |
Verse 6, it says, "But some of the scribes are sitting there and reasoning in their heart, 00:45:45.000 |
'Why does this man speak that way? How dare he? 00:45:49.000 |
He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" 00:45:55.000 |
And the crazy thing about this is they're like, "What?" 00:46:09.000 |
How in the world can any human being, any individual, 00:46:12.000 |
put themselves so high as to think that they have the audacity 00:46:19.000 |
And the thing about it is every good Jew knew 00:46:28.000 |
And one of those verses that they rehearsed was the Great Shema. 00:46:31.000 |
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is one." 00:46:35.000 |
There's one God, and then the subsequent things about that is 00:46:41.000 |
Other passages I want to show you is like Isaiah 43. 00:46:47.000 |
"I am the one who blots out your transgression for my own sake, 00:46:54.000 |
If you look at various passages, that right, right, 00:46:58.000 |
the prerogative to forgive sins belongs to God. 00:47:04.000 |
But we need to appreciate that a little bit more 00:47:07.000 |
by thinking about how crazy and strange it would be 00:47:13.000 |
I just want you to have the same kind of like, "What?" experience 00:47:17.000 |
as the people who were listening at the time. 00:47:20.000 |
Can you imagine if you were sitting here on a Sunday 00:47:24.000 |
and you were hearing a sermon, let's say, from Pastor Peter Chung 00:47:27.000 |
recently about 1 Peter, how we need to be holy, 00:47:31.000 |
and in your conduct, right, you need to be holy, 00:47:37.000 |
And so there's this question like, "What sins do you have to work on? 00:47:47.000 |
And then so you go home, and the first thing your husband says to you is, 00:47:50.000 |
"There's a lot of sin there, huh? I forgive you." 00:48:00.000 |
After a convicting sermon about your sin, rather than saying, 00:48:05.000 |
They look at you and say, "Yeah, I forgive you." 00:48:10.000 |
Your immediate response would be like, "Bitter, are we? 00:48:18.000 |
Like, why would you say that, like that you forgive me?" 00:48:21.000 |
It naturally assumes that I have now offended you. 00:48:27.000 |
The party that needs to forgive is the individual and the party that was offended, 00:48:34.000 |
like the sins you commit now offends my laws, my identity, 00:48:38.000 |
who I am, my position, my relationship with you. 00:48:42.000 |
If you aren't that high, that would be such an arrogant thing. 00:48:47.000 |
Another just scenario that you have to think about is, 00:48:54.000 |
that would be him just like sticking and injecting himself, meddling into a scenario. 00:48:59.000 |
If you have an individual here next to me, and let's say his name is Bob, 00:49:03.000 |
and Bob is the sinner going around stealing all your stuff when you're not looking, 00:49:07.000 |
but what's more, when you confront him, he gets all defensive, 00:49:12.000 |
and even disrespecting your mom or something. 00:49:14.000 |
So now you're just upset as can be, and you're about to let him have it. 00:49:19.000 |
You disrespect me, disrespect my family, right? 00:49:24.000 |
And then I jump in there, and I say, "Whoa, sons, you calm down. 00:49:33.000 |
It's like a weird scenario that doesn't even make sense. 00:49:43.000 |
As awkward and strange as that analogy or that simple hypothetical scenario is, 00:49:49.000 |
if Jesus is not who he is, that's exactly what would be true. 00:49:53.000 |
A blaspheming, worse, completely fake, bombastic, arrogant man 00:50:00.000 |
who is claiming and doing things he should never, ever do because he has no right. 00:50:09.000 |
We know that the question that the Pharisees ask comes from a wrong heart, 00:50:14.000 |
but the standard and the question principle there is actually true, 00:50:17.000 |
and so we know what Christ is doing is actually so grand 00:50:21.000 |
because what he is doing is that which belongs to God. 00:50:25.000 |
And as you know, by the definition of sin, looking at a famous psalm that you guys know well, Psalm 51, 00:50:32.000 |
we know that by definition sin is an offense to God Almighty. 00:50:38.000 |
It says, "Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, 00:50:42.000 |
according to the greatness of your compassion. 00:50:45.000 |
Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 00:50:51.000 |
For I know my transgressions and my sins as ever before me against you. 00:50:56.000 |
You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight 00:50:59.000 |
so that you are justified when you speak, and what blameless when you judge." 00:51:05.000 |
King David has done horrendous crimes, right? 00:51:15.000 |
he abused his power to take a woman that is not his. 00:51:18.000 |
What he did to Uriah, he killed the man, scheming, deceiving. 00:51:28.000 |
How can he say that his sins is only against God? 00:51:34.000 |
But what we're talking about is by the pure definition of sin, 00:51:46.000 |
It has its dealing and direction against God. 00:51:49.000 |
And therefore, the only person who actually has a right to forgive that sin is God. 00:51:55.000 |
And so this passage 100% affirms that Christ, 00:51:59.000 |
in just the act of forgiving, is fully, fully divine. 00:52:04.000 |
In order to do what is only God's prerogative, 00:52:06.000 |
he must have God's power, his authority, his position, 00:52:14.000 |
So the reason why I'm thinking about this is because I wanted to appreciate 00:52:25.000 |
and the people around him are looking at him like, "What are you doing?" 00:52:31.000 |
From Jesus' perspective, being divine, doing his work, 00:52:34.000 |
the only that he can do, and the people questioning, "What is he doing?" 00:52:39.000 |
We, for one, believe that truly Christ is the one who can forgive and set us free. 00:52:46.000 |
We read in John 8 that Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, 00:52:52.000 |
The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son does remain forever. 00:52:56.000 |
So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed." 00:53:05.000 |
Now, we want to see the way that Jesus then responds. 00:53:11.000 |
The thing about it is these questions that the Pharisees and the scribes have, 00:53:21.000 |
So now turn back over to Mark 2, verse 8, and let's continue on with the story. 00:53:26.000 |
It says, "Immediately Jesus, aware in his spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, 00:53:33.000 |
said to them, 'Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 00:53:38.000 |
Which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' 00:53:42.000 |
or to say, 'Get up and pick up your pallet and walk?'" 00:53:48.000 |
So earlier I began this sermon saying, you know, there are things that are so clear and emphatic in this passage, 00:53:54.000 |
which is Jesus can forgive sins, and he has the authority to do it. 00:53:59.000 |
But I think some of the things I missed is Jesus' perspective on his rationale of how he's going to prove it. 00:54:09.000 |
If there was an epic moment, those moments in the Scriptures where it's just like, 00:54:17.000 |
And I know Jesus doesn't necessarily talk like that, but if there was any moment where it's like, 00:54:20.000 |
"You doubt me? Well, bam, let me show you," this is one of those moments, right? 00:54:28.000 |
Jesus asked this question, "Which is easier do you think to say?" 00:54:33.000 |
And I think I wanted to take time to meditate on that because the answer to that is actually kind of simple. 00:54:38.000 |
Because I have a mouth and I could speak, it's very easy to say, "I forgive you," right? 00:54:45.000 |
But the element that is behind that or what's the thought is, you can't verify that. 00:54:51.000 |
If I say, "I forgive you," there is no empirical evidence that's like, "That's not true. 00:55:00.000 |
But if I say, "Walk," immediately we're going to say, "Was his words consequential? 00:55:07.000 |
And the answer is going to be, "He better get up and walk," right? 00:55:13.000 |
But the other question actually you ask is, "But what's actually easier to do?" 00:55:20.000 |
Because the scenario isn't just talk of this and talk of that. 00:55:24.000 |
The scenario is, "Jesus just said, 'I forgive you.'" 00:55:29.000 |
And here's the problem I have with that is there is an argument typically from greater to lesser. 00:55:36.000 |
If we're following the logic, right, we're talking about two things and Jesus is making this comparison, 00:55:41.000 |
the logic goes, "If he is able to make this person be healed and walk, then of course he can forgive sin. 00:55:49.000 |
He's using this as a verification of this," right? 00:55:52.000 |
But sometimes the logic then is, "Man, if he can do this, heal, then of course he can forgive." 00:56:03.000 |
There is this question of what is more difficult, more profound, more valuable in the work of Christ? 00:56:12.000 |
And of course, for us we know that the forgiving of sin is not to be seen as he just gave a pass. 00:56:22.000 |
Because we could put it in other terms and we know the comparison doesn't even work. 00:56:27.000 |
Because what we're asking and put into other terms is, "What's easier to do? 00:56:31.000 |
To appease the wrath of God or make one man stand?" 00:56:36.000 |
For Jesus, one who is eternal, for Jesus, one whom we know through Colossians, that he created all things through him. 00:56:43.000 |
All things came into being and everything was made by him and for him. 00:56:57.000 |
And once I saw that, it kind of started to click, like, "Gosh, this is why he's able to say to a leper, 00:57:04.000 |
'I know that you were just cleansed and your skin now is clean and all the shame that came with it is you're released.'" 00:57:12.000 |
Now, granted, maybe it wasn't time for Jesus to be revealed. 00:57:15.000 |
Maybe it wasn't time for his suffering, all that kind of stuff. 00:57:19.000 |
Jesus expected a man who was healed to stay quiet. 00:57:27.000 |
Because by comparison, what is the greater work? 00:57:31.000 |
To say you're forgiven or to say get up and walk? 00:57:36.000 |
Today, I want to appreciate the kind of work that Christ is doing just in giving the forgiveness. 00:57:44.000 |
If in our minds, for some odd reason, the impossible is the walking and yet the granted is the forgiving, then we have it backwards. 00:57:53.000 |
And my challenging question to you now is as you observe the agenda of the world, the things that make you happy, 00:57:58.000 |
the things that are our actual legitimate goals and pursuits, are the things that are more impossible, the more difficult, the more valuable, 00:58:07.000 |
the more that it will make me happy when I see it come to fruition? 00:58:13.000 |
Is it in the bucket of, "But God, I've been asking to make me walk," or is it in the bucket of, "God, I was looking for forgiveness"? 00:58:22.000 |
We're talking about what is in this story, what is the ultimate need? 00:58:32.000 |
It is not physical. It is not what we've asked for. 00:58:35.000 |
And Christ knows that what we need is to have our sins dealt with because the greater problem we have on earth is not nations. 00:58:43.000 |
Right now, there's all talk of Russia, all talk of China and different powerful forces. 00:58:48.000 |
True, powerful forces. True, on earth, devastating things that could happen. 00:58:53.000 |
But what could be of greater threat to me is my undelt sin. 00:58:59.000 |
Why? Because my pride is the riskiest thing if the Scripture says God opposes the proud. 00:59:07.000 |
Right? My lust is the greatest threat when God says all of these perversions, 00:59:13.000 |
fornification, adultery, and lust is going to be judged to the T. 00:59:24.000 |
And so I want to ask this challenging thing right now. 00:59:30.000 |
And I'm going to be honest, I do now get very annoyed when Christians, when they talk of like, 00:59:35.000 |
"Oh, this is so beautiful. This is amazing. This is like the greatest thing we could do." 00:59:39.000 |
And you know what part of the mission of the church is too? 00:59:42.000 |
And then they end that sentence with something that, with a lot of hard work and just team play, 00:59:47.000 |
we could actually make it happen ourselves. Right? 00:59:52.000 |
I know right now there's a lot of controversy over things like fairness and equity, 00:59:56.000 |
but within that, we Christians have to dissect very carefully. 01:00:00.000 |
Justice, fairness, and righteousness is all in the will of God. 01:00:05.000 |
But if there's any agenda, pursuit, or end goal that is seen as so beautiful that I'm excited about, 01:00:13.000 |
but the forgiveness and salvation of the lost seems like a granted thing, 01:00:18.000 |
seems quite easy for Jesus to do, then yes, our perspective needs to change. 01:00:24.000 |
And we need to be asked again, "What is the easier thing?" Right? 01:00:32.000 |
And what's more, we think about Christ knowing the work that He's going to do, 01:00:37.000 |
saying what He's saying, and it continues to deepen our appreciation for Christ's humility and patience, 01:00:44.000 |
trying to show the people and reason with them. 01:00:48.000 |
I want you to know this. And it goes on to say that. 01:00:52.000 |
Take a look as we conclude the storyline over in verse 10, Mark chapter 2, verse 10. 01:01:00.000 |
"But so that you will know," pause there for a moment. 01:01:05.000 |
Jesus didn't have to give a case example. Jesus didn't have to give proof. 01:01:10.000 |
He could have said, "This is what I came to do. I've committed to preaching," 01:01:13.000 |
because through the preaching of the Word, you're going to have faith, 01:01:15.000 |
and through faith, you're going to request forgiveness and be saved. 01:01:20.000 |
"But so that you will know that the Son of Man," again, a messianic title. 01:01:25.000 |
"Son of Man" could just sometimes mean human being. You're the child of a man. 01:01:30.000 |
But when He says, "The Son of Man has authority," He's talking about Himself as a person. 01:01:39.000 |
"And He said to the paralytic, 'I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.' 01:01:45.000 |
And so immediately upon the words of Jesus," verse 12, "He got up, He immediately picked up the pallet, 01:01:51.000 |
and walked out in the sight of everyone." And I can only imagine. I wish we had the videotape. 01:01:58.000 |
The crowd, the masses that I said were so big, bounding up the door entrance, 01:02:02.000 |
probably looking through every window, "What did He say?" kind of stuff, right? 01:02:07.000 |
When this man gets up, everyone just, "Duh." And as he's walking out, just opens up like this. 01:02:15.000 |
That's one powerful scene. And so everybody were amazed. They were glorifying God, 01:02:22.000 |
and they were saying, "We've never seen anything like this." 01:02:29.000 |
The point here is refreshing our convictions. 01:02:34.000 |
I know you and I believe that Jesus has authority to forgive sin. 01:02:38.000 |
But let's take a moment to think about that authority. 01:02:42.000 |
What does that mean for Jesus to have authority, and how can we appreciate that? 01:02:47.000 |
Well, the fact of the matter is, we recognize that Jesus' authority is high on every scale and every category. 01:02:54.000 |
We know that Jesus has authority over creation, such that when He speaks, He speaks it into being. 01:03:01.000 |
Now, when I say that, again, what is true of God was attributed to Christ in so many parts of Scripture, 01:03:07.000 |
that everything came. There is nothing that exists apart from Christ, right? 01:03:12.000 |
But by the authority of God, of Jesus Christ, by His Word, we know that the winds and the waves obey. 01:03:19.000 |
By the authority of His Word, we know that demons beg for mercy and ask, "Please don't destroy us. Please don't destroy us." 01:03:26.000 |
By the authority of His Word, nations will crumble. 01:03:30.000 |
To that kind of extent of power, Jesus has authority over sin and death. 01:03:39.000 |
Now, for me, this reminded me of my salvation because I am so thankful that when I got saved, 01:03:48.000 |
I was in San Diego as a young high school student, and thankfully this pastor, his name is Pastor Ken, 01:03:54.000 |
he took an interest in me and asked me this question, "Mark, do you have any regrets?" 01:04:01.000 |
And I almost chuckled. "Any?" More like "many," right? 01:04:06.000 |
There's so many. I have so many regrets. So many guilty feelings. 01:04:11.000 |
So many guilty feelings about the sense of messing up my life. 01:04:15.000 |
So many guilty feelings about breaking my parents' trust. So many guilty feelings. 01:04:20.000 |
And he specifically asked me, "What do you do with the guilt?" 01:04:25.000 |
And I told him, "You put your head down and you just keep going. You just live with it." 01:04:31.000 |
I'm so thankful he told me, "No, you need someone powerful." 01:04:40.000 |
In hindsight, I realized what he was saying. You don't need me. 01:04:43.000 |
Like, you don't need a pastor to tell you, "It's going to be alright, son. It's going to be okay." 01:04:51.000 |
I need someone with authority and power and the right to tell me, "I forgive you." 01:05:00.000 |
And that pastor told me, "Do you understand the power of Jesus when He forgives?" 01:05:04.000 |
You see, power and authority are quite overlapping. 01:05:08.000 |
When you think about authority, you're talking about somebody with the right, the legal obligation. 01:05:13.000 |
You're talking about somebody with the prerogative, but you're also talking about somebody with power. 01:05:19.000 |
Right? Because you can talk all you want. You can scream like I'm yelling right now. 01:05:23.000 |
But if I have no ability to enforce something, I actually don't have authority with you. 01:05:35.000 |
And what that pastor told me, he said, "Mark, you see, when we forgive, we kind of forgive." 01:05:42.000 |
We say, "I forgive you, but I'm watching you." 01:05:45.000 |
We say, "I forgive you, but I still have this feeling of like, 'Eh, look at you and your selfishness, and I'm still judging.'" 01:05:54.000 |
What he told me was, "Jesus, when He forgives, is so thorough. You're clean. 01:06:02.000 |
There is no, 'I kind of, sort of forgive you until the next time.'" 01:06:05.000 |
There is a thoroughness that the sin that He forgives you is done. 01:06:11.000 |
When the scripture says, and we sing that it moves from as far as the east and to the west, it's done. 01:06:18.000 |
And he also told me, "When Jesus forgives, it is so powerful." 01:06:23.000 |
Are we talking about one sin? Two sins? Three sins? Four? 01:06:28.000 |
We're talking about every single sin you have ever committed. 01:06:32.000 |
We're talking about all the stuff in the past that you even forgot about. 01:06:36.000 |
All the stuff in the past that you're so ashamed, you're so caring. 01:06:39.000 |
All the sins that you commit now, Christ has authority to forgive every single sin. 01:06:47.000 |
You know, right when I finished college, there was this kind of moment of crisis for me. 01:06:52.000 |
Do I go into seminary? Do I not? I needed time to think. 01:06:59.000 |
And one of those silly things is, as a young man, I wrestled with lust. 01:07:04.000 |
I got out a piece of paper that I started writing each time I lusted and sinned. 01:07:09.000 |
Started in, okay, senior year in college, I started working my way back. 01:07:13.000 |
Junior year in college, I don't recommend you do that, okay? 01:07:17.000 |
I started writing like sophomore year in college, freshman year in college, senior year in high school, and I started writing it down. 01:07:28.000 |
Because the end conclusion is, "Mark, you're filthy. 01:07:33.000 |
You're out of control. You have no restraint. 01:07:42.000 |
To that kind of sentiment, we have to know the authority of Christ is there. 01:07:48.000 |
And now I think from Jesus' perspective, he has come committed and devoted to give you a kind of forgiveness that's perfect. 01:08:05.000 |
And it can be given to you in such a way it's so secure. 01:08:12.000 |
And when he gives us forgiveness, the first response and the thoughts of the people are, "What are you doing? 01:08:23.000 |
For us, if there are those of you who are wrestling with this strange passivity, 01:08:29.000 |
I don't know, you know, that you think it's more noble for you to sit in the back, wait, bite your tongue, and not say anything, 01:08:37.000 |
because Jesus entered this world and appeared to give us this forgiveness, 01:08:47.000 |
For those of us who are a bit too hard and resisting, 01:08:50.000 |
"Oh, but maybe I can do some things on my own. 01:08:54.000 |
Maybe I can learn to better because, honestly speaking, I feel guilty. 01:09:02.000 |
Jesus has authority to give you his perfect forgiveness. 01:09:19.000 |
It is the greatest need of our lives, more than anything we can imagine or ask for. 01:09:24.000 |
And we know that because he has the authority, not only does he have the right, 01:09:30.000 |
but by his character, he has a heart and intent to give that to us. 01:09:35.000 |
And so I conclude, for any of you feeling a sense of guilt, 01:09:40.000 |
and the guilt is when we are made aware that we have transgressed God's law, 01:09:47.000 |
And then when we're made aware that that guilt is actually visible, we're going to feel shame. 01:09:52.000 |
It's visible to Christ and it's visible to the brothers and sisters around us. 01:09:56.000 |
If we allow our passivity, our scaredness, our weird sense of uncertainty 01:10:03.000 |
to let that reside in your soul, you and I know that will decay us to the bones. 01:10:10.000 |
Like being underneath scorching sun, his bones are going to go dry. 01:10:17.000 |
And so, knowing this power of Christ, we must come. 01:10:21.000 |
I leave you with this amazing passage in Nehemiah 9, verse 17. 01:10:25.000 |
It was referenced because the people, after seeing and hearing all this, 01:10:29.000 |
they were like, "Wow! We've never seen this stuff!" 01:10:34.000 |
But actually, I mean, there are people who are supposed to rehearse God's wondrous miracles 01:10:40.000 |
and saving grace over and over again every year, at bare minimum at the Passover, 01:10:46.000 |
remembering the miracles that God performed on their escape from Egypt. 01:10:51.000 |
But look at what this passage says as it reveals what Christ's character is 01:10:59.000 |
"They refused to listen and did not remember your wondrous deeds which you had performed among them. 01:11:04.000 |
So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. 01:11:08.000 |
But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, 01:11:24.000 |
We think about the story, there are swaths of people disappointing. 01:11:28.000 |
I'm pretty sure Jesus, like, there was a temptation to be skeptical and sarcastic. 01:11:34.000 |
"Y'all come for the food, I get it!" And there's hordes of them. 01:11:41.000 |
But here, the paralytic and his humble friends feel this desperate need, 01:11:49.000 |
They dig the hole, they come down, and rather than scolding them and pushing them away, 01:11:59.000 |
That's to us the gospel. And I pray you'll be encouraged. Let's pray. 01:12:15.000 |
And God, we remember the simple truth that God, while we live on this earth, 01:12:20.000 |
it is not time to build for ourselves our fortresses. 01:12:24.000 |
It is not time to build for ourselves our great ambitions, 01:12:28.000 |
but rather, you gave us time to repent and reconcile with you. 01:12:33.000 |
I pray, Father God, that we would see by faith what is more important, 01:12:39.000 |
what is greater, what is the weightier, more valuable thing that we receive from you. 01:12:44.000 |
So that God, our pure joy and excitement would be reserved for the things that you do in our hearts, 01:12:51.000 |
when you wash us, when you sanctify us, and you lead us in your righteousness. 01:12:57.000 |
I pray, Father God, that every single one of us would grow in such appreciation, 01:13:02.000 |
that God, you were so patient with the people from long ago, 01:13:07.000 |
and Christ, when he appeared, he was so patient, 01:13:10.000 |
that God, even in the midst of giving grace, he was being questioned, 01:13:16.000 |
And Lord, in his desire to show, in his desire to convince and to reason, 01:13:23.000 |
he also gave us the manifestation of his power. 01:13:26.000 |
And so for all of that, Lord, we can do none other than to thank you. 01:13:30.000 |
And so we pray to you this morning, it's in Christ's name. Amen. 01:13:33.000 |
Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise. 01:14:00.000 |
You pierced through our iniquities as you hung upon the cross. 01:14:14.000 |
He gave to you the right to bear the name above all names. 01:14:35.000 |
And when you come in glory for the world to see, 01:15:01.000 |
hail to the King of Kings, Lord Jesus our God. 01:15:31.000 |
The glory of the risen King will shine upon the earth. 01:15:38.000 |
The rival thrones will fall before the Lord of all. 01:15:45.000 |
And hail supreme authority and the true and living God. 01:16:06.000 |
And when you come in glory for the world to see, 01:16:32.000 |
hail to the King of Kings, Lord Jesus our God. 01:16:59.000 |
hail to the King of Kings, Lord Jesus our God. 01:17:30.000 |
Our God, we do continue just to pray that our strength would be in the faith. 01:17:37.000 |
Lord God, just being able to see with the lens that the things that are truly important are not the things that we see with our eyes. 01:17:46.000 |
That God, the weightier things are the things that you tell us according to your word. 01:17:50.000 |
And what's more, today we're reminded that the forgiveness of sinners, this is the greatest thing to us, our greatest treasure, and the greatest thing we can share. 01:18:03.000 |
And with that kind of simple thought and faith, I pray, it would really move us in the week. 01:18:08.000 |
I also pray, God, anybody here who wrestles with guilt, wrestles with fear, and a shyness of coming to you because they're ashamed, 01:18:18.000 |
I ask, Father God, that you would open our eyes to realize, God, it has been your intention to give us this forgiveness. 01:18:25.000 |
And it has been your intention for us to respond to you with absolute glee and thanksgiving. 01:18:31.000 |
And so, Lord, I pray that even just during the week when we fail, Lord God, when we sin, 01:18:36.000 |
that our hearts would long for you to receive your grace. 01:18:39.000 |
And what's more, God, to return all things to you in praise and thanksgiving. 01:18:44.000 |
Now to him who was able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, 01:18:51.000 |
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. 01:19:34.000 |
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. 01:20:17.000 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives. 01:20:46.000 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives. 01:21:02.000 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives.