Address—A. Roach
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So we turn to the Gospel of Mark.
The second chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
I will begin with verse one.
And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them, no not so much as about the door. And he preached a word unto them.
And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was, And when they had broken it up, they let down.
The bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay when Jesus.
Saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy sons, thy sins before given thee what they were certain of the scribes, sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man thus speak blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God only and immediately?
When Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves.
He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts, Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and take up thy bed, and walk, but that ye may know that the Son of man?
Power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the sick of the palsy. I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up his bed.
And went forth before them all in so much that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying we never saw it on this fashion.
We know that the purpose of this meeting is especially to take into consideration beyond, and in so doing we have to consider this thought that all of the young who are here.
Are not saved. We cannot speak to all of the young people as saved as belonging to Christ. We don't know them all. We want to bring the attention of all the young people. First of all, the importance of knowing Christ as their Savior. We're going to read here of the blessed Savior. Come very near to us. We're going to read. We've read about a man who received three blessings all at once.
Some people speak about waiting for the second blessing. This man got three wonderful blessings all in one package right directly from the blessed Savior blessings that we have now. We want to tell one story before we get into this chapter. Years ago in Cornwall, there was an Episcopal minister by the name of.
Has law, whom the Lord saved and used in a mighty way in the proclamation of the gospel of His grace. And he tells of a young boy, one of the young people, who attended his various services. But this boy became quite rude and rough, and finally, with great reluctance he had to ban them from coming to these particular young people's gatherings. But Mr. Haslam noticed when he preached in other places.
This boy would follow him. He would come, go to another town, and he would look down and see the boy, listening to the gospel message. There was something about this boy. He didn't want it, and he did want it, as it were. There was something working in his soul. But one day Mr. Haslam spoke, The boy came to him.
He noticed the boy looked very sad and downcast. And he said to the boys, what's the trouble all he said, I had an awful dream last night. What was it all He said I had a dream that I died and I went to hell. Mr. Hazel looked at the boy and he said that dream is going to come true. If you die without Christ, your dream will come true and you will land in hell. All the voices pray for me.
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What shall I pray for? He said. Pray that God will let me live a little longer. Oh, Mr. Haslam said, all you want to do is to live a little longer so you can live along here without Christ. And instead of praying that the boy would live longer, he prayed for the salvation of his soul.
What happened? God saved that young man. He got completely saved. He got to know Christ as his own personal savior. All dear young people. That happened about 100 years ago. But Christ is the same today and can save your soul this afternoon. The young man then became quite active in the things of the Lord.
And Mr. Haslam could count on him to round up some of the bad boys and he was mixing up with before and get them out to hear the word of God in the Sunday School and in the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is the same today as he was then. Now let us look at this precious portion. This is so personal and so close.
How nice it is to take up here this account of God's perfect servant at work. We see God's perfect servant at work in this chapter, and we're going to notice, as I said before, the three blessings that we possess as Christians now and which the Lord bestowed upon this man at that time.
We read that he entered again. He entered into Capernaum again, or the Lord Jesus never gives up again. He entered into caponium. Why does it say that? Because in the first chapter he entered there too. And what did he find in the first chapter? He found a man in the synagogue that was under the complete power of the devil. What did he do? He delivered them. He delivered that man from the power of the devil. Now the Lord Jesus goes back again into capiniums. We know from Matthews gospel.
Lord dwelt in Capernaum. He gave up his home in Nazareth, read it in the 4th of Matthew. He left Nazareth at the John the Baptist was put to death. He left Nazareth and he went and dwelt in Campanium. Think of having the son of God dwelling in your hometown.
Those people in Capernaum, having the blessed Son of God, come and live there, and they could see his mighty works and the blessings that he wrought, all to have. The person of Christ. If your Son save, you need Christ. If you are saved, you need Christ. We need Christ as a satisfying portion of our souls, even when we are already absolutely certain.
Of our eternal welfare. And we'll find nothing that will satisfy us as Christ and His blessed person. Now He comes into the house. It says it was noise that he was in the house. Now I like to think of it in this way. We're here from all different gatherings. We come from large ones and small ones, but we come from a place where the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of His gathered people.
Every time you and I attend an assembly meeting, Jesus is in the house. He's there. He's in the midst. Or are we attracted to that? These people heard that Jesus was in the house and they all came rushing. There are we. Is that what attracts us to the assembly meeting?
Come from a small gathering where there are very few. There may be very little teaching or very little activity, But do we value the basic principle that Jesus is in the house? Do we value the fact that Christ is in the midst of his gathered people? As we enter the door on Lords Day morning, are we conscious that we are stepping into the presence of the greatest king and monarch of the universe? We're not stepping reverently into the presence of the king of some great nation.
We are stepping into the very presence of the Son of God. Jesus is in the house. Or to be conscious of that in all our assembly meetings. Dear young people, I can remember. I've often repeated this when I first came to an assembly gathered to the Lords name to gather together to remember him in the breaking of bread. This was in Brooklyn.
Home and Rose Street. I remember it well. I've never been to such a meeting, and I was greatly impressed at the silent reverence with which each one came in and took his seat around that table in the midst. Yes, there was a sense that the Lord was there. Jesus was truly, verily, in the house. Now here he's seen in the house. And then it says, straightway. Many would gather together. So now they may have had other reasons for coming.
They might have wanted to see some miracles. They might have been curious, but nevertheless the crowd comes together and there was number room to receive them. No, not so much. As about the door. Oh, how wonderful that was. The Savior attracted them in one way or another. It was He that was in the house, and it was He that they heard about.
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And it was that lesson one had come to see and to hear and notice how graciously.
He turns to them and it says He preached the word unto them. He didn't work a miracle. He didn't perform some great deed. He did the very thing that you and I as Christians can do. When we meet people outside, we can preach the word unto them. The Savior was came down. We all know that that mark gives us the Savior in his capacity as servant. And here we see what the servant does. He doesn't get swayed by the popularity. He doesn't become a popular preacher carried away by the crowds. He preaches a word, the word of God. Notice those two things. The house. Jesus is in the house.
And we have the word of God preached. Those two things go together. Where were you? And I? Find the fullness of the truth of God maintain and presented, except where the Saints are gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not find it in the systems, in the systems they have.
Real believers, there may be a lot of knowledge of truth, but I say this and I say this. I'm sure it's factual. Where did they get it? CHMJND. Charles Stanley. Those godly men read the the writings of men who were outside the camp and they get the blessing. We're glad to see that. But beloved brethren, young people especially, we appeal to as gathered to the Lord's name where we are, whether it be a large assembly or a small we've got everything we need right there. There is nothing at the camp confineous to us. They cannot give us a better gospel. They cannot give us a clearer perception of what the church is or the hope of the Lords coming. Because whatever measure they have it, they got it from the gathered Saints in one form or another. Or let us remember.
That is gathered to the Lord's name. We have full provision in the house. We've got the word of God in all its fullness. Well, we find there's not wanting for those outside here. We find one that is sick. Now that brings another fact before us. We not only have the word of God.
For the Christian has gathered to the Lord's name and in the house, but the Lord through His grace, enables us to present the gospel. We may be in a very small gathering. We may not have a regular gospel meeting, as it's called, but we still can hold forth the gospel. As we meet sinners, we can invite them to the to the meetings. They can hear God's word in the form of the gospel.
There. We've got everything outside the camp that we need. So they bring one sick of the palsy, and there are four people carrying him. Here are four men, I presume, and these four men are interested. They're vitally interested that this man get blessed.
Now, I want you to say this, that every young person in this room who is in a Christian home, you haven't got four carrying you, perhaps, but you've got at least two. You've got father and mother carrying you to Jesus. They want you to know Jesus as your savior, and if you do know him, they still want you to know more about him. They want you to grow in grace and the knowledge of that Savior. If you've got a Christian father and mother, you're being born of two. You've got two people carrying you who are anxiously and lovingly.
To the feet of the Savior. These four were diligently exercised. See what they do. They bring you, they bring the man. And there's such a crowd they can't get into the house. So what do they do for those eastern houses? We've often seen pictures of them. They have a stairway going up on the outside up to the rule. Well, that wasn't be crowded. They'd be around the door on the other side. So these men carry this man up to the roof and they take the tiling away from the roof and open the hole and it says.
In verse 4, when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay they were. They were urgent in getting this man to Christ, and we can be that way in our prayers. We can pray for our children, We can bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Here they bring this man. And it says in verse 5, when Jesus saw their faith, he saw the energy of their faith. Now this man.
When we come to blessing, we got to have individual faith. But the Lord honors the faith of those who would bring others to himself. He particularly honors the faith of Christian parents. He says, Thou and thy house, thou and thy house, old children brought up in a Christian home and a privilege. What a blessing you have.
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I never had that. But you have a wonderful privilege to be there with The word of God is honored, read day by day. And there was prayer to God. Well, the Lord then the first blessing is mentioned now in verse five. Why didn't the Lord Jesus?
Say immediately to this man.
Rise up and walk. Why didn't he say that right away? I believe it was this. The Lord Jesus looked at the root of the matter. What caused the trouble? What? Why was there palsy in the world? Why is that disease and death and all these troubles? Sin is the cause of it by one man. Sin entered into war into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men in that all have sinned.
The Lord always deals with the root. You and I cannot walk for Christ. We cannot live for Christ until we are Christ. And when we are Christ, one of the first things He gives us to know is that our sins are forgiven, forgiven. So the Lord looks at the man and he says.
We get two blessings in this voice, he says. Son, son, relationship.
Here all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, we read as many as received him to them gave he power to become the children of God. One of the great blessings the Christian has is that he isn't born into God's family. Dear young people, if you're saved, you are one of God's children.
Not one of God's children by creation. That's a general term that applies to all. Judas Iscariot was one of God's children as the creation, or was he one of God's children spiritually? No. He was the son of perdition and he went to his own place now.
He says, Son, The Lord puts this man at ease immediately. Son, think of it. We are children of God.
Children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. Have you ever noticed in the book of Genesis the superior position that Jacob was in, in relation to the greatest monarch of the earth? He comes to Pharaoh, the greatest king and monarch of the earth. Here is a child of God, Jacob.
A wanderer, A nomad. Harry was coming into the presence of his great king who does the blessing. Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Why? Because he was morally on a higher elevated plane than Pharaoh was. He was in a higher position than Pharaoh. He could, as it were, looked down and blessed. Pharaoh, the child of God has a position of dignity. Do we realize, as we walk the streets of this world, that we are the children of God?
What dignity that gives. And then it also would bring before us the thought if I'm a child of God.
I ought to read the word of God to find out how God's Children Act, how they live, what they're to do. And so it becomes a very practical thing to know that God is my father and that I'm his child. So the Lord says he brings in the thought of relationship immediately. He says son.
And he says.
Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now if God had brought us into his family without giving us the assurance of sins forgiven, I don't think we'd be very happy in a way If God would give us a new nature and we didn't know our sins were forgiven while we'd be in a very unhappy state. But God now gives us that which we need. I really believe myself that according to the order of Scripture there may be a split minute or second here and there.
But God brings in faith and new life before before we can actually believe in the forgiveness of sins. He gives us that new that faith and that new life. And then we rest upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to the first Epistle of John.
And the second chapter.
Let's take the first chapter first. I enjoyed the way our brother gave us that verse this morning in first John 117. I I'd like to comment on that before we go in the second chapter.
In the seventh verse.
Of first John chapter one. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. Now our brother quoted that from the other translation cleanseth us from every sin and oh, I just love that you know, being cleansed from all sin, it's a wonderful blessing is all our sins will lump together in one bundle and we say.
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They're forgiven. The blood of Christ has washed them away. But when it says every sin, it's as though God took each of my sins individually and said this is under the blood, this is under the blood, took them individually, every sin and said the blood of Christ has taken them all away. Oh I think that's.
Lovely to see that other translation, but now turn to the second chapter of this book.
And verse 12.
I write on to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. Now later in this chapter he uses that word little children, where it's a question of growth, spiritual growth. But in this verse the word little words little children takes in the whole family of God, fathers, young men and babes. It is not a question of growth in the 12Th verse. It's a different word than the little children that are mentioned, for example in verse 18.
They are the babes in the family of God. And I'm making special stress on this because this is something that applies to every believer where all his children by faith in Christ Jesus. And what does he say? I write unto you, think of it. God has given us his book, this precious book in writing. So he got the assurance that we have this blessing. Suppose you bought a house and someone said, all right, I'll give you a verbal deed. Why? What would that? What good would that be in a court of law?
If you want to sell the house, you've got to have it in writing. You have it sealed now. God has given us this in writing, he says. I write unto you, little children, we've got it in God's precious word. And what does he write?
Big, he says. Because notice the two things again, little children. There's relationships like we have in our chapter, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake, this is in the abiding sense.
Every day of our lives, this verse reads the same. It doesn't say my your sins were forgiven. He doesn't say your sins will be forgiven. He says your sins are forgiven. It's in the present tense. And that's an eternal assurance that whenever we think of the question of our sins, we can say my sins are forgiven.
They were or will be. They are forgiven. As our brother mentioned this morning, when Christ died on the cross, all of our sins were future and Christ died for all of our sins. Those who trust the Savior can say all of my sins are gone. So coming back to our chapter, we have this man then.
He's drawn into the place of being a son and a sins forgiven.
But there are enemies. There are religious enemies. The greatest enemy to God's enemies, to God's grace, is not Tom paying the infidel.
For that kind of person, the greatest enemies to the grace of God are the religious unbelievers. They cannot take the grace of God, they must mix in their religious doings with it. So here we find the leaders in Israel in verse six that was taken of the scribe sitting there.
And reasoning in their hearts why that this man must speak blasphemies Who can forgive sins but God only. Now what they said there was true. Who can forgive sins but God only? But what was wrong about it? They had refused to recognize God in their midst. It was true that only God could forgive sins. Now you'll notice that these men were scribes. They knew what it said in 103rd Psalm and verse three, that Jehovah was the one.
Who healed all their diseases and forgave their iniquities. They should have known that those two things went together, that Jehovah the God of Israel did bowl, and now that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to demonstrate by healing the man that he was Jehovah over 103rd Psalm. But.
Didn't want to believe. Unbelief is invincible. They don't want to believe in a blind their hearts and their minds. So the Lord Jesus knew what they were thinking about. Notice in verse 8 the Lord knew what they were thinking about. They didn't have to tell him. You and I don't have to tell him what we're thinking about. Suppose you're here this afternoon thinking something like this. I wish this meeting was over. I'm not interested in those things about the Lord. I'd like to be out of here. Wouldn't that be terrible? How the Lord looked down from heaven? And read that thought in your mind and mind. On the other hand, suppose you're thinking. Isn't it wonderful to hear of Jesus, his blessed person, His wonderful work, what he has done?
Or how the Lord can look down in our hearts, and value that. But here he reads their hearts. They don't say a word in verse eight. He concede in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves. He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
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Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say arise and take up thy bed and walk that again, as I say, is the 103rd Psalm. The Lord links together the two things, the healing of their diseases, and the forgiveness of their sins, and He says to these scribes, which is easy.
Here was one who could do both. Here was one who could do both, and he did it. So we're leading now to the next blessing.
Notice in verse 10 but that ye may know that the son of man have power on earth to forgive sins. He sets to the sick of the palsy. I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house, and immediately he rolls. Now we noticed the other two blessings. There was relationship. We're brought into the family. Next we have the knowledge of sins forgiven.
Now what is the next thing God expects of us? Now He expects us to walk for him.
In this world, but we haven't got the power to do it in ourselves. So the law gives the manpower the wall. When you become a child of God and your sins are forgiven, then you can have those desires to please him and you'll have strength from him to walk well. Pleasing Let's time to Colossians chapter one.
Colossians Chapter One.
And verse 9.
For this 'cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, and all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. I want to call attention to three things here you'll notice in verse 9.
It's the.
That they might be filled with a knowledge of his will.
And in verse 10 it's walk and at the end of the verse work fruit being fruitful. I remember a dear brother long since for the Lord he said that he said ask the question. He said when the Lord told the disciples Toulouse Lazarus and let him go, he said, what would you say? Which bandages would they open first?
Well, the dear brother said he liked to think of it this way, connecting it with this scripture. Notice the first thing here was that they're understanding may be opened. So he said he likes to think the first thing the disciples would do would be to take the bandage from Lazarus eyes and then he could see the Savior and then they would. In verse 10 it says that he may walk.
So that they would take the bandages then from his feet, so now he could see and he could walk. And after that, being fruitful in every good work would be losing his hands. I thought that was a lovely connection and our brother expressed it in that way. Well, we can do the same thing. We can have ourselves loosed, let go and able to walk in a world that's displeasing to Christ. Years ago there was a brother who worked in AI believe he worked in a department store in Montreal.
And his boss asked him one day to tell a lie to one of his customers. And this young he was only a young brother and he didn't. He wanted to please the Lord. And so he said there was a boss. He said no, that's very strange. If you were to ask to say that the boss says why? Well, he said you want me to be honest to you and dishonest to your customers. It was an equal. Well, the brother was seeking to walk pleasing to the Lord.
Ordinary, coercive of his daily work. And so it is that we can walk for Christ, whether it's in school or it's at home. I remember a young boy. We were standing outside the Brooklyn Sunday School Brooklyn meeting room one Sunday afternoon many years ago. This young boy has long since grown up, married, I believe, as a family.
And he was standing outside the Brooklyn meeting room. And there were a couple of the other Sunday school boys. I guess they weren't quite as quiet and peaceful as Saundy was, and they begin to throw a few stones about. They weren't hurting anybody. But there wasn't quite the thing you'd expect in front of the Sunday School on Lords Day afternoon. So I said, Sunday, why aren't you throwing any stones? He says. Jesus wouldn't like it. Jesus wouldn't like it. Well, the boy was a testimony to Christ right there.
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Do we care whether Jesus likes it or whether the boss likes it?
Whether our playmates like us or Jesus likes it, are we leaning over backwards to please man, to please the unconverted rather than Christ? Well, these are questions that search the hearts of every one of us, Speaker, as well as here is. And so I believe we ought to lay hold as young people and older people too. These three blessings. I'm a child of God, my sins are forgiven, and I've got power to walk in a world that hates Christ. When you see a man carried in on a bed, he's weak and helpless.
But when he carries the bed, he's got power over that which formerly had power over him. And that's what we get here. He's carried in on the bed, but he carries the bed out himself. He shows power, and notice what it says there in verse 12. Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all.
In so much that they were all amazed and glorified God saying we never saw it on this fashion. When Jesus works, he does a good work. When Jesus works he does a good work. When a drunkard is converted to Lord, turns him inside out, gives him a new life within and he's a changed man without and people recognize it and they notice it. They say look at this man, he's not going on as he did before. It's a demonstration before them all.
That Christ can give the power to walk. So let us never fear, let us remember that Christ lives in the glory. He's watching us and He's given us his precious word and he values us as the children of God. And he would have us walk. And how much longer have we got to war? How much longer have we as Christians to walk in this world? How much longer? The whole horizon is darkened, the whole scene. It would be the political, the economical, the military.
The religious world, the social world, everything is heading up to a climax. And the world is afraid of the climax. They're afraid of the situation in which they are until a man will come on the scene and then they'll say a man that the devil will bring on the scene and they'll bring in a seeming time of peace and they'll say.
Peace and safety and sudden destruction will come upon them. We have it much longer to walk for Christ. Let's not put it off. Let's not put it off. Let us seek to glorify Him now in the days of our youth and as we move on.
132 him. 132 The person of the Christ, and folding every grace once slain but now alive again in heaven, demands our praise gladly of him. We sing. Since we with him are dead, our life is hit with Christ, in God, in Christ, the church's head.
The heavens are opened now sounded through earth abroad, and we by faith in heaven, behold Jesus the Christ our Lord.