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[0:00] We've been talking about how Jesus is trying to really tell us a bigger story. And of course through the book of Luke, he's been going through this journey as he starts! this ministry, and now he's starting to perform miracles. And we talked about miracles. Why! Does he do miracles? He doesn't do miracles just because he said, hey, I can do all these party tricks. He's doing miracles because he's trying to reveal something. And actually last week we talked about the young people with Johnny, but the week before we were talking about how he heals the leper. And why does he heal people? Because Jesus heals because healings preach. Because the whole point isn't just to show you I have the power, it's to actually show you something about me, is what he's really trying to do here. And so actually the story of the leper was just this beautiful one. Maybe the gospel summed up into this short story where Jesus reaches out to the outcast, touches the one who is unclean, and in doing so becomes unclean himself, and includes this person, brings connection to this person, and in doing so is disconnected himself. And maybe that leper story was just this wonderful, wonderful depiction of the gospel. We're moving to the second one now, and actually he raises the stakes here. Because first he heals the leper, and now he heals the paralytic. And this one, actually this whole scene, you've heard this scene before, but if you have a look at the scene, there is mayhem. There's a crowd, there is chaos, there is confusion, and ultimately there is celebration. And what he's doing here, he's actually saying, I'm not here just to teach you, but I also have the power to heal you. The one who heals is the one who teaches, and he's basically merging doctrine and healing together. And chapter 5 verse 17 says this, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. It shows us that it's the Holy Spirit that is the one who's giving him the power to do this. And this whole scene, as we unpack it verse by verse, I found it completely just mind-blowing as to how it shows who Jesus really is. So verse 17, if you've got a Bible follow along, we'll begin fairly quickly today.

[2:01] On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. So a couple of weeks ago, we talked about cloud chasing.

[2:15] He doesn't want to be cloud chasing. He doesn't want it. He doesn't want the crowds. He doesn't want the hype. Why? Because it's going to start attaching, well, attracting bad attention. What is that bad attention? It's the Pharisees and the scribes and the teachers of the law who were saying, who is this guy? Why is everyone going to him? Is he a fraudster? Is he a con artist? We need to find out. And so we know the Pharisees. We know who they are. And they pop up in these stories, and they often get trashed quite quickly in these stories. And we paint them as kind of these villains of the Bible story almost. But actually, I find myself with a ton of sympathy and empathy for the Pharisees. Now, at that time, there were about 6,000 of these Pharisees. And what they were, basically, they were the self-proclaimed and declared guardians of the law. That's what they would do. And actually, the word Pharisee means the separated ones. And I have a lot of sympathy and empathy for them. Why? Because actually, their initial heart and original intention was good. It was right. If you think about it, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there were 400 years. 400 years of nothing.

[3:20] That the Israelites were just waiting. And they're like, wait, what are we waiting for? I don't know. And generation after generation happens, and generations pass away, and everyone was just waiting. But then there were a group of people called the Pharisees, the separated ones who said, hey, you know what? We need to make sure that we keep following the law. We've got to be patient.

[3:37] And actually, let's not violate the law of Moses. So what they did was they basically built a fence around a lot of the Mosaic laws and a lot of the traditions, basically to help people, well, prevent people from violating the law. So this was a good thing. If we're going to be waiting for that long, we need to somehow help people stay on this path. And I actually thought, wow, that's actually an admirable thing to do. To be able to go, hey, look, the human heart is one that will sin. These people will sin if we don't help them. So let's put these things in place. Look, the Mosaic laws may be hard to understand. Many people are illiterate. Why don't we just put things in place so that people won't stray away? And that was the initial heart. And they kept it together. They kept it going for 400 years. So actually, I give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt when they hear this random guy come out who's starting to do different things, attract attention. He's like, well, we need to go check him out. Is he the real thing? Or is he going to lead a whole bunch of people astray? Is he going to break down this fort that we've built for 400 years to try and protect our people? So they go and they check him out. And I wonder actually where there, maybe I'm speaking mostly as a pastor myself. I wonder how much religion has really seeped into my own mindset.

[4:50] I wonder how much religion has seeped into yours, where there are rituals that you've put in place and actually somewhere along the way, you've lost the main point. Because for these guys, they were actually, they knew that they needed to keep guard something. But what happened was they had put the program over the people. And they had focused on the compliance as opposed to connection.

[5:14] Don't we have that even as parents? Well, actually, we just want to keep our kids in order, like to behave well. And what does a well-behaved kid do? Sit quietly and not speak. And so they're complying, but there's no connection. And then we were trying to run all these programs and all these ministries and say, let's get these people and let's fill these seats. And so people will attend, but we're focusing on running the program and we're running around becoming poor event organizers where we've lost sight of the people. And I think this is what the Pharisees were doing. And they were trying. So again, again, sympathy and empathy for them. But I wonder for us, whether there is that moment where actually we have basically put compliance over connection, whether we have put program over people. And honestly, I find it 400 years of doing this, that means they would have had the ones who were still alive during Jesus's time, they would have had to come up through a system where maybe their parents and their parents' parents, they would have just been a whole thing in place about how you do religion and what a Pharisee is supposed to do. And so maybe they don't even, they've never had a chance to experience love.

[6:20] They've always been trying to keep people in a box by keeping themselves in a box. And so it's kind of easy to understand why they don't really feel that loving. They don't sound that loving.

[6:31] And so I come at this going, well, what about me? Is there anything in me that is rigid? Is there anything in me that is actually hypocrisy? Is there anything in me where I've actually focused on compliance and program and not people in connection? This is the heart. And we all have a bit of Pharisee in us. And then what happens here is verse 18. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed, a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus. So people are starting to hear that Jesus heals. And so they've all had this friend who's been paralyzed.

[7:03] We don't know how long he's been paralyzed. Well, but he's been paralyzed. And actually, I like the sensitivity that Luke, the physician has here, because he doesn't say the paralyzed man. He doesn't say the leper, as I said a couple of weeks ago, whatever you're dealing with, that is not your identity.

[7:18] The leprosy left the man. This guy was a man who was paralyzed. He wasn't a paralyzed man. Sometimes the things that we're struggling with, we have made them become our identity. When he's saying, this is just a man who is paralyzed. And we're about to see how that the paralysis leaves him. And so Luke is being fairly sensitive there. And again, what else does this tell you?

[7:37] Again, the outcast. Jesus is going for the outcast. He's going for the one who can't get to him himself. He's going for the ones who are weak. And actually, I want to say that this is actually unique to Christianity. This is unique to actually how the way of Jesus even caught fire was because the way that the people living following Jesus were living. If you think about society before, especially in the Roman times, whoever was weak, whoever was vulnerable, whoever was sick, they would be just cast away. Babies who were born with deformities would just be chucked in the bin because we don't want them. And it was during that time where suddenly there were a group of people who professed to live a different way, who were starting to care for the vulnerable, care for the weak. And I think right now we're like, hey, of course, of course, you've got to look after the people who need to be looked after. That was never the case. And in fact, if you're out of the history of mankind, that has rarely been the case. It has always been the strong survive, keep going, leave the weak behind. And yet it was Christianity that turned that. And it was Jesus, his mic drop moment in

[8:41] Luke four, where he says, I am here. The spirit of the Lord is on me to proclaim good news to the poor, the weak, the broken, the oppressed. And so you see Christianity was the one that started this care for the weak and care for the vulnerable. If you travel the world right now and you are looking for a place, a pharmacy or some kind of first aid, what sign are you looking for? The cross. It doesn't matter where you are, you are looking for the cross. The cross is the one that reaches the outcast, reaches the weak, reaches the sick. Through these miracles, Jesus is showing us that's what he really cares about. And, and so then you have these four guys. So the other accounts in the gospel say, there's four guys who have this friend who is paralyzed and they carry him into the house.

[9:29] Yes. At this moment, actually, and I was, I was talking to Ken a little bit about this. It's been actually one year since Ken had his, uh, injury. Uh, and there was this one scene and I'm looking at Gab's right now and I, I found the video of it and I dug it up and I shared it with Ken.

[9:44] So, uh, Ken and I, we were just, uh, part of the gathering basketball team and just, just reigning and dominating and becoming just champions. Uh, uh, I won't mention how old the team we were playing was, uh, they were well in double digits. I'll just say that their age.

[10:01] And then of course, Ken gets injured and shortly after I do. And then I got to see two of our strongest guys in our church, Cuban and Gab's carry Ken. Remember this? This is a, I thought it was a really touching moment. It was, I thought it was a touching moment because these two guys are strong, but Ken's a big guy. Uh, so carrying him out of the sports center was, was, was a big thing.

[10:23] And of course, meanwhile, Hillary is his loving wife was just filming him and laughing the whole time. Uh, ever the loving wife filled with sympathy. Uh, uh, but I was like, it's really hard to carry someone who has, who can't support themselves. Uh, and that we had, I mean, Ken, Ken may be big, but we had two of our guys and they were, they were struggling. Do you remember that gaps? It was, it was, if anyone wants to watch the video, I'll ask Ken, I send it to him.

[10:52] Uh, so you've got four guys now carrying their friend on a stretcher and they just imagine this, they head into the house and they're like, we can't get into the house. It's full. And these friends are so kind of keen to help their friend. Cause actually they could have just said, Hey guys, it's, it's full. It's, it's not going to work. Maybe we just, God, it's so heavy. Why don't we just, just lay wait here and maybe Jesus will come out and we'll figure it out. You've got these four friends who are just determined to help their friend and they carry him up the stairs and then they lower him down the roof. And those of us who have back problems, that that's, that's a back breaker. Uh, and so you can see the determination of the friends as they do this. And it tells me really one thing. We actually can never get to Jesus on our own. There are always people that we need to rely on to get there. And whether it was Ken, whether it was two, me two months later, whether it was just anyone, actually you might sit here thinking I'm here because of my own willpower. I'm here because of my own goodness and my own faithfulness. No, you're not. You're here because there were a set of circumstances that the Lord had dictated to put around you, where you were born, who you, which family you were born to, the people that you were around.

[12:04] And it was all those things and all those people contributed to you being where you are right now. I don't know about you, but that fills me with gratitude. That fills me with humility. I think about me, uh, as a, as a 17 year old, when my dad passed away, it was my pastor, Bert, who came to the hospital that night. If it wasn't for him coming to the hospital that night, I don't know if I'm stood here today. I'm thinking about my friend, why who was five years older than me, who after that whole incident, he came and moved into our house for about a month. He's just going to stay here with you. He had university at the time. And, and he, I don't know if I'd be stood here if why didn't move into my house.

[12:45] All of us, all of us have people who have carried us to the foot of the cross. All of us have required, needed people around us. We can't do it by ourselves. Now you might sit here and go, well, okay, that's nice for you. You had Christian people around you. I didn't have that. I wasn't in the Christian family. I wasn't, I don't have Christian friends, but actually even then I've seen the Lord work in such different ways amongst different people. Those who don't even know him, those who don't even follow him still have contributed to our journey to get to where we're at. If you think about Moses, Moses who grew up in Pharaoh's house and Pharaoh was not a godly person, but somehow God uses people around to do it. You think about Joseph, who was sold off by his brothers.

[13:29] Jesus, he ends up on his journey in his life still because of the people around him and all those things. So as you look back and you go, actually, who are the people who have contributed to your journey to taking you to Jesus? It might be people who have done it intentionally, consciously.

[13:48] There might be people who've done it completely just because they've shown you don't go this way. You don't want to follow this way. I'm curious for you, who is that? Who comes to mind? Who carried you to Jesus? I want you to just have a little thing and I want you to show just the person next to you.

[14:02] Who is that person? Whether good or bad, it really doesn't matter. Well, my point is someone has helped you on your journey to get you to where you're at. Quickly, 30 seconds, turn to the person next to you. Danny, tell Alex. Alex, tell Danny. Go.

[14:19] I was just about to ask you, Alex. I guess you're moving on. Okay. Nathan, who carried Rocky to Jesus? He said when he first came to call from church, there was a lady that asked him to make a girl. A girl that asked you to join the fellowship when you first came.

[14:42] Was her name Adrienne? That's where you met Adrienne? Oh, praise the Lord. That was good. Okay. I'm going to keep flying around. Aaron, how did Rebecca get here? Who was in her life that was?

[15:03] One of her high school principals. High school principals. Wow. Can you tell us a little bit about that? He kind of reminds me a lot of Gabe, actually. He had the 9 to 5 job.

[15:18] He was good looking as well. He had the 9 to 5 job, but he also put in so much extra time. And so there was a group of us that struggled and he took time to invest and connect and allowed us to explore faith as we struggled. Wow. Yeah. I'm here today because of a lot of this contribution.

[15:43] That's just heartwarming. That's just, just to be able to hear that there's people like that who give themselves in such a way. Um, it's incredible. Really good. Uh, I'm gonna fly over here. Jackie, uh, just tell us about you. Like, how did you get to Jesus?

[15:56] Yeah. Uh, I got here. Uh, I just tell you that, like, one of the big life changers in my life has always been, like, church community. Yeah.

[16:10] And my first church community, they taught me, uh, I always kept saying this one thing. I felt like I was going into a cult. And it was, it was always saying, like, my ceiling is your floor.

[16:24] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I guess is that, I mean, one of my favorite things is just when you hear someone say that we, we just stand on the shoulders of giants and we only see more because we're standing on top of them and on everything that they've done. Uh, no, that's, that's huge. Just again, just reemphasizing the need, uh, for people need, need, need for people. Uh, Julian, you're waving your hands.

[16:57] Why don't you want to, I guess you were just trying to, Oh, okay. Okay. Well, why don't you, why don't you tell us, uh, who are the people that carried? Oh, Sigmund.

[17:08] Well, Sigmund's story is very closely tied up with our community. Oh, his, uh, his, uh, his classmate, our dear Eunice had a big role in, in, in, in introducing him to church. Yeah.

[17:23] And then my dear wife was one of the first people we had a sort of serious conversation. Yeah. Wow. So yeah, his, his story is tied up in ours. So you didn't really contribute in any way. I mean, I, I, I, I did my thing of sweeping it at the end.

[17:40] Taking the credit. Okay. Yeah. So you had Eunice, uh, as a, as a classmate and then you got, uh, Flo helping. We all need people. We all need to be carried by people. Um, maybe flip it another way.

[17:53] Who are you carrying? Who are you carrying now? Who around you is paralyzed who actually, they need carrying and you're just impatient with them because you're just like, come on, get on your feet. Well, that's the whole point. They can't.

[18:07] Who are the people that actually need that bit of a help? And can we be the ones that recognize that actually we needed help? It reminds me of Romans 15 where it says, we welcome others. Why?

[18:19] Because we first were welcomed. Can we have that heart inside us? Man, there are people around me that I need to help carry. And just like these friends and, you know, Timothy, uh, one of the early church leaders, he had his grandmother, Lois and, uh, and, and Eunice and, and Paul himself had Barnabas and Ananias. We all need people around us. Who are those people for us? And who can, who can we be that person for as well? Cause you see here something fascinating happened. Verse 20, it says this, and when he saw their faith, so they take him to Jesus, they lower him down from the roof, which would have really hurt. And through this house into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, man, your sins are forgiven you. When he saw their faith, whose faith did they see? Did he see? Not the paralyzed man's, his friends. So he saw their faith. And so you see here that actually our faith affects the faith of other people. That paralyzed man could not get there by himself, but his friends had faith. And so they carried him and Jesus saw their faith and everyone who was expecting, you know, they, they know at this point that Jesus is healing people.

[19:28] So they're like, okay, we've got him there finally. Oh my goodness. They high five each other. We thought we did it. And now we can kind of just walk out to the ground floor. We don't need to do this whole thing again. And then I just heal him, please heal him, please. We've only got four of us. We need the fifth man to have our basketball team. Uh, and then Jesus just throws a curve ball. He should, he could say you're healed and get up, run job. But he says, your sins are forgiven. Again, once again, you see Jesus Christ cannot be contained in a box. You cannot guess what he's going to do. You cannot predict how he's going to act. And you see him completely raising the stakes in a whole different way. Remember the Pharisees and the teachers of the law are here. They're here to test, to see whether he's legit. And maybe if he had just kept with just the healings, they would hit, it would have been okay. He wouldn't have gotten in trouble because you can't argue with a healing, but actually know the parts of scripture they do, but you can't argue with someone who was paralyzed, who suddenly walks off, they'd keep quiet. But Jesus, knowing that they're there, raises the stakes and say something completely different. And he shocks the friends. Honestly,

[20:31] I can imagine this. What we carried you all the way here. And all we get is that now your sins are forgiven. That's it. We need you to walk. But Jesus shows something else and he leads to us into a different topic. Now, just a little bit of context here. The Jews back in those times believed very strongly that if someone is sick, that person is a sinner, that that person did something wrong that caused them to be sick. Now, in a theological sense, maybe on a macro sense, that is, yes, true.

[21:03] Universal sin is what led to the fall, which is what led to mankind kind of falling in this way. So we get it. But on the other hand, we also now know that just because you've got a cold today doesn't mean it's because you sinned yesterday. That actually, not every sickness is associated with sin. And so what we see here is that that's what everyone believes. So they would have looked to this paralyzed man in a very different way to what we look at him with sympathy, but they would have looked at him with maybe pity. You are, you're a sinner. Sucks to be you. Shouldn't have sinned.

[21:36] Shouldn't have sinned. That's why you can't walk. There would have been that kind of spirit in this. And so Jesus actually comes at him at a very different level. And he says, your sins are forgiven.

[21:47] What does this tell me about this point? That actually, Jesus is less interested in just our physical healing, but he's here for something much deeper. There is something much bigger that he's going. Tim Keller says this, your sickness is not your fundamental problem, is what he says here.

[22:02] You come at me, you come at Jesus with your cancer, you come at him with your paralysis, you come at him with any sickness that you can imagine. The gospel, the message of the gospel is even that, even that terrifying disease is not your fundamental problem. Your fundamental problem is your sin. Your fundamental problem is that you are disconnected, alienated from God himself.

[22:24] That is the biggest thing. And that's the thing that Jesus is actually coming to try and heal. So he's trying to bring a deeper holistic healing, a restoration that is more than just us. Hey, Jesus, can you help me get rid of this cold? Oh, this COVID sucks. There is so much more that Jesus is wanting to do for us that goes beyond just the healing of our physical bodies. He's saying, it's not your most fundamental problem. And your sickness is not the thing that's fatal. It is your sin. That's a big one for us. Because if we are honest, most of our times when we're looking to Jesus, going to Jesus, we're just wanting him. Can you just help me just be healthy again? And can you give me health and wealth? And just so I can be just, just so I can be happy. Jesus here shows something completely different. He shows that he has the authority to heal, but also to forgive. And this is where he gets into some real trouble. And this is where if you're watching, if you're just, you're not a Pharisee, you're not the friends who carried your friend who was paralyzed, and you just sat there because you're just nosy. You'd be like, just hand me the popcorn because this is about to get even worse because now the Pharisees are angry. And this is what happens. Verse 21, and the scribes and Pharisees began to question. So you suddenly start hearing murmuring. People are like, what's going on? I thought he was just supposed to heal this guy. Now he's saying that he can actually forgive him. Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?

[23:54] Interestingly here, they actually get their theology right. They just get his identity wrong. Because actually, they are right. Only God can forgive. They just don't know who Jesus is. Well, they're here to kind of figure out who he is. Because they're saying, only God can forgive.

[24:11] You can't forgive this paralyzed man. He did something really bad, and that's why he can't walk. It's kind of like Julian punching Sigmund, and then Wesley going, hey, you're forgiven, Julian.

[24:23] Julian. That doesn't make sense. The only person who has the power to forgive Julian is Sigmund, because he was the one that was punched. Does that make sense? And it's kind of like Nathan owes Danny money, and then I go to Nathan, don't worry about it. You don't need to pay him.

[24:42] It's all good. It's all good. Danny's a banker. He'll be fine. That doesn't work. So in some ways, the Pharisees are actually on, they're thinking in the right direction.

[24:55] They're like, this guy, who does he think he is? Not knowing his identity. It reminds me of Psalm 51, where David, when he sins, he says, against you, God, only you have I sinned. Do you realize that the mistakes that you make, yes, it might upset someone else. It might hurt someone else. And yes, you have sinned, and you have to go apologize and seek forgiveness from the other person. But first and foremost, you have you have upset him. Every time we make any kind of action that isn't of him, we sin against him.

[25:27] And of course, Jesus here is revealing himself to be the son of God. And here, he actually, it's the first time he refers to himself as the son of man. So he truly is raising the stakes. So what he's really saying is, my authority starts with my ability to forgive sins.

[25:42] That actually, the one who heals is the one who forgives. The one who forgives is the one who heals. I am the same person. This is much bigger than you realize. And I am not who you think I am. I am much bigger than that. And this is where, again, you see Jesus isn't, isn't, isn't, he is interested in our health. He is interested in our well-being, but he is interested in far much more.

[26:02] It is not a partial salvation he's going for. It's a complete one of the body, soul, mind, and heart. And that's what he's trying to bring about. His words are forgiveness and healing coming together.

[26:15] It's funny, verse 22 says this. When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, why do you question in your hearts? I mean, Jesus would be the most, would be the worst person to have an argument with.

[26:28] Because he just knows the thoughts. I mean, that would be terrible. And so he's like, I know what you're thinking. Why are you worried about that? Why are you asking such a stupid question? But again, just standing on the Pharisee side, we've been doing this for 400 years, mate.

[26:43] Like, there's been people like you who have come. You're going to have to really show us something different. Because actually, otherwise, we will guard this with our lives. Our whole livelihood has been put on this.

[26:55] Of course, we have the benefit of hindsight. Oh, you guys are stupid. Of course he's Jesus. No, no, I don't know. If I was sat there, I wouldn't be sure. I will be after this event. But up until that point, actually, I wouldn't have known.

[27:08] And so Jesus knows what's in their heart. And I see here the compassion and patience of Jesus. He knows what's going to happen. He knows how they're going to be frustrated and angry about what he's going to do. He knows later that actually this will end up with him on the cross.

[27:21] That actually their frustration and their pride is going to lead to him being crucified. But in this moment, he's just patient. And he's still trying to teach. This is not what I would have done. And so he says, hey, tell me, which one is easier?

[27:35] To tell him to get up and walk or to tell him that his sins are forgiven? Honestly, this is a bit of a strange question. People struggle to understand this because the truth is both are hard. If someone who can't walk, if you're told, hey, someone is paralyzed, can you tell him to get up?

[27:48] Well, that's a pretty hard thing. And of course, it's equally hard to be able to forgive someone's sins. What he's really saying is actually both are impossible with man and both are equally possible with God.

[27:59] It's ironic, actually, because there is another element. Maybe if you really go for it, maybe it is actually harder to say, get up and walk. Why? Because you have to then have the evidence of it. Right. So Jesus is saying, hey, look, both are hard.

[28:13] You can't do either of those. But if we're just entertaining the conversation here, then actually me telling this person to get up and walk is pretty hard because it either works or it doesn't. Whereas at least if sins are forgiven, I can say, Jay, your sins are forgiven.

[28:26] You're going to have a huge house in heaven. You're going to be just fine. There is no way to verify that. That's actually an easier statement to make. And so Jesus is saying, you guys can't make either. And that's really what's happening here.

[28:37] And really, this really points to the mystery when it comes to bondage and affliction and sin and sickness. And yet we don't truly understand because we know that there is spiritual warfare, that there are people who are suffering from long term sickness because of spiritual warfare and because of sin.

[28:53] Maybe not their sin, but maybe their generation, their family's sin, or maybe just the just universal sin in the world. So we're not saying that those don't exist. So the mystery still remains. But what he does do is he points us to a solution.

[29:06] He says, I'm not going to answer that question necessarily, but I will answer the whole thing. And the answer is me. And the answer is me. And this is where he comes out with this big line, which really ultimately gets him into a lot of trouble and ultimately gets him killed.

[29:18] And that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. So this is crunch time.

[29:31] This is Jesus has to come up clutch here or it's going to just be pretty lame because he says, rise, get up and go. In that moment, you're going to know.

[29:43] You're going to know whether he's the son of man. You're going to know whether he has authority on this earth. You're going to know whether he has the ability to forgive sins, because in this moment, God will either vindicate him or he won't. And so what we see here is just this just this powerful moment where it happens.

[29:58] And it tells you that the man does immediately rise up, pick up his mat and go home, glorifying God. And so in that one moment, you see the Paris Lines man walks.

[30:11] This moment is key, because if you're sat there as someone, a part of the crowd who just wanted to be nosy. In that moment, you actually have a very simple decision that you have to make.

[30:25] The paralyzed man walks. Do you walk with him and acknowledge that Jesus is truly Lord? Or do you stay put and ignore what he just did? There is there is no sitting on the fence.

[30:39] Do you understand what happens here? That what Jesus does is force people into a decision. Do you believe me or do you not? Do you believe who I say I am or do you not? You cannot kind of sit halfway.

[30:53] It's either one or the other. And so this man walks. And I love it because actually the attention isn't on Jesus even after this. What happens? And he glorifies God and everyone else glorifies God. So everyone knows that just Jesus is God himself.

[31:06] And so the big announcement has come. And you see that Jesus isn't necessarily focused on orthodoxy. He's focused on human need. He's not focused on just theology. He's focusing on can people know who I truly am?

[31:19] He's not focused just on physical healing, but he's focused on complete healing. He's not just focused on compliance, but he's focused on connection. He's not just focused on the program and the events. He's focused on the people.

[31:32] And you see Jesus is just completely outside of the box. And I pray that there would have been Pharisees there who would be like, you know what? This is it. The empty religion that I've had, the traditions that I followed, I can see the one who fulfills all of it.

[31:48] I can see the one who has authority over all of it. Just one final thing to note here before I conclude. This man is healed. And so he gets up and he goes, but not once do we hear a confession.

[32:03] Not once do we hear Jesus saying, hey, can I lead you in the sinner's prayer? I, Clive, have sinned and made a mistake.

[32:15] And I confess. No, I've just. This is a scandalous demonstration of the mercy and grace of God. When someone who hasn't even said sorry yet is healed, is forgiven.

[32:31] It is outrageous. It is reckless. And yet that is the very gospel that we're talking about. And so you have all these Pharisees and teachers of the law here who are teaching people to follow all these traditions and laws, building a fence so that they won't violate them.

[32:48] And yet you see this man, this ridiculous man who dares to come and forgive. Someone who hasn't even repented yet. Now, I think we have reason to believe that this man had a hunger for healing.

[33:02] That's pretty obvious. That's not a stretch. And because honestly, again, I'm not even saying that the Achilles injury that we had is anything like this.

[33:14] Please, that is not what I'm trying to say here. But at least what Ken and I got a glimpse of was the helplessness that you experience. When you can't do what you want to do.

[33:26] I remember sitting in the wheelchair, being pushed by my son, walking, pushing to church here, and just looking at all these human beings with two legs, walking with disgust.

[33:37] Like, you know not what you have. Right? It's like, you guys have no idea.

[33:47] And now, you have no clue. So I have reason to believe that the man who was paralyzed knew of his deep need. And had a hunger for him.

[34:00] And so in that moment, Jesus seeing his heart, heals him. Reminds me of Romans where it says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And you might say, that doesn't make sense. Well, that's exactly the point.

[34:11] It doesn't make sense. That's why we're all here. Because it doesn't make sense. Someone did something that doesn't make sense. And it sent ripples through mankind.

[34:23] That is it. While we were still sinners, while we didn't deserve it, he died for us. And I think this is a demonstration of that. Where does that leave us with?

[34:33] I'm just going to quickly conclude now. First of all, we are the paralytic. We are the one who is paralyzed. We are the one who needs to get to Jesus. But we are the one who cannot get there ourselves. So if you're sat here thinking, I got here myself.

[34:46] I've clawed my way here. You've just missed the gospel. You may have got a half the gospel. Kind of right. But Charles Persian was the one to say that it's pretty dangerous to be almost right.

[34:58] We recognize that we are broken. That we are paralytic. The paralytic. The second thing that we need to understand, of course, that we need others to bring us to Jesus. We need help. And are we that person to other people as well?

[35:14] Let the spirit give us the wisdom to see who he wants us to bring to him. The third thing is, we know we need help, but we need more help than we realize. It's the Keller quote that I always love saying.

[35:25] The gospel is that you are far worse than you ever imagined. Far worse. You think you need healing just from your sickness? There is so much more. You think you just need help with just reading the Bible better?

[35:37] You need so much more help. You need a savior. You need far much more help than you realize. You are far worse than you imagined, but you are far more loved than you ever dare dream. So one, we are the paralytic.

[35:50] Two, we need others to help us. Three, we need more help than we realize. And then four, there is someone who can help. The son of man who has authority to forgive.

[36:02] The son of man who has authority to heal. The one who became immobile for us on the cross. The one who moved into humanity and then put himself on a cross where he was stuck.

[36:17] So that we would not be paralyzed anymore by our fears, by our sins. That we would be free to move towards him. The one who was mobile became immobile for us.

[36:28] We who were paralyzed had become free to walk towards him. The beauty. The scandalous demonstration of the gospel there.

[36:40] So why won't you give him all that you have? Why won't you give he who gave all that he was? And trust him.

[36:53] It's in those moments of need when you recognize you are the person with paralysis. Either physical or spiritual or emotional. It's in that moment when you realize that you are in need.

[37:04] And there's that, again, another quote I love. That you only realize that Jesus is all you need when Jesus is all you have. And I can imagine the desperation of that man would be like, you're my last chance.

[37:16] This is all I have. If you don't heal me, that's it. We don't realize that Jesus is all we need until he is all we have. May we recognize our depravity, our need for a savior.

[37:29] And recognize that this savior is good. And he gave all of himself to us. So would we give all of ourselves to him? I'm going to invite Ellie and the team up and then we'll finish with one final response.

[37:40] Thank you. Jesus, we come to you.

[37:54] Recognizing that we come to you only because you've put people around us to allow us to come to you. And we need your help.

[38:10] But I think we need your help more than we realize. So Lord, we come to you as a person who is just lying on a stretcher.

[38:34] Carried by friends to you. Just desperate for healing. Desperate Lord to being restored.

[38:56] We come to you with some of our requests for healing, especially for our physical body. But like the man here, we pray that we will come out getting so much more than we asked for.

[39:06] The deep, holistic, complete restoration and healing of the body, mind and soul. Lord, would you shake up any religion and any tradition that isn't of you?

[39:26] Any reliance on compliance or programs? Any pride in us? We come to you.

[39:38] You are all we need. And in truth, you are all we have. So would you have it all? Would you have it all? So Jesus, have it all.

[39:59] In truth, it all belongs to you anyway. We take on the heart and the spirit of the man on the stretcher, on the mat.

[40:11] And desperately cry out to you. Would you have it all? Would you have it all? Would you have it all? Would you have it all? Would you bring healing into areas of our lives that we didn't even realize needed healing?

[40:26] Would you bring forgiveness in the place where we don't even realize that we need forgiving? But through it all, after it all, would we leave here just glorifying you?

[40:42] Grateful for who you are. Grateful for what you've done. And grateful for what you are doing. We trust you. So have it all. We love you.

[40:55]  With all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.