Paralyzed to Forgiven: Proving Jesus’ Authority Over Sin

Well, good morning, everyone.

It is just a wonderful thing whenever we can have an opportunity to preach at a different

church, a fellow church that has brothers and sisters in Christ, and it is a wonderful

reminder that Jesus is establishing His church all across the U.S. and the world.

And so, as we dive into Mark 2 today, I invite you to open up your Bibles.

It should be on the screen behind me, but we'll be kind of following the text pretty closely

today.

So if you have your Bibles, I invite you guys all to follow along.

And it's a passage that we tend to overlook sometimes, a passage that is a truth that

as Christians we sort of take for granted sometimes.

And so, it's my hope today that we can slow down and enjoy and smell the roses, so to

speak, as we sort of go into this passage that has a wonderful truth of Jesus' identity.

Let me pray first.

Dear Lord, I need your help this morning to proclaim your truth.

You have spoken.

We trust that you have spoken.

And it's contained in this wonderful word that you have given to us.

So we pray that you give me the ability to articulate my words and to articulate the message and

hone in on the message that you have for us today.

We ask and trust that you have been preparing the hearts of your people up until this point

and that we trust your timing of this passage.

We pray that it would affect your people deep into their soul.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So let us read from Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12.

Mark 2:1–12

Follow along with me.

It says,

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.

And he was preaching the word to them.

And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him.

And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,

Son, your sins are forgiven.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts,

Why does this man speak like that?

He's blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves,

said to them, Why do you question these things in your heart?

Which is easier to say to the paralytic?

Your sins are forgiven?

Or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,

he said to the paralytic,

I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed and go home.

And immediately, he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all.

So they were all amazed and glorified God, saying,

We never saw anything like this.

Now, I don't think I can start this sermon without first telling you that my beautiful wife gave birth to our first baby two weeks ago.

And she's absolutely beautiful.

Yeah, that deserves an amen.

God literally knit together a human being inside my wife.

So the last couple days have been stressful.

The last couple weeks have been stressful.

And especially because I've also had a few other life changes.

I recently just switched careers.

I used to be a geologist.

Now I work at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission in their drug and recovery program.

And so this is the first time that I've actually had to commute to work in probably a few years.

I don't think, since my wife and I have been married since 2020,

I don't think I've ever regularly commuted to work.

So there's been a lot of adjustment that's had to kind of go on.

But as you can expect with all these life changes,

you could also expect some tensions to arise in our household from time to time.

Take this hypothetical scenario, okay?

Say this week I come home.

It's been a long day.

I'm a little on edge because I know that as soon as I get home,

I'm going to have to start preparing a sermon for this upcoming Sunday.

And I can see as soon as I walk in that the baby's crying.

My wife Olivia is stressed.

And the first thing that she says to me,

Nick, can you please go down and grab the laundry?

And I'm thinking to myself, I just got home.

I deserve a second, right?

But being the loving, you know, the husband and father that I am,

I do it without any question.

And then shortly after dinner,

she asked me if I had remembered to call the insurance company

about an upcoming appointment to make sure that we had coverage.

And at that point, I just kind of snap because,

one, I think that perhaps she thinks that I've just been goofing off all day.

And two, because I didn't actually do it.

And so I snap and I finally say,

no, I haven't gotten around to it.

I have all this other stuff to do.

Stop bothering me about it.

And then instantly, I...

This is a hypothetical scenario, okay?

Instantly, I see her face sort of deflate,

her demeanor deflate.

I know that I'm in the wrong,

and I know that if I don't say something and go to her,

we're going to be at odds with one another for the next few hours.

But for some reason, I just can't do it.

It's this feeling inside me that I just can't do it.

I can't get myself to do it.

Perhaps I still blame her for maybe aggravating me,

that that's her fault.

That's her fault.

But also, perhaps there's a chance that I go to her

and she could just shove it right back in my face.

She doesn't accept my apology.

There's a part about asking forgiveness

that actually puts your heart on the chopping block.

It's vulnerable.

It takes humility.

So now I'm irritated that I can't even go to her.

So now I'm irritated at my own irritation.

And now I don't even have any time to focus on my sermon

that I so wanted to do so in the first place.

So something tells me that I'm not the only one

that's experienced this in this room.

And it doesn't have to be a spouse.

It could be a coworker.

It could be a family member.

But Christian, it is good news for us this morning

that God has not left us to drown, right?

And so a passage like Mark 2 can actually empower us

for obedience in situations like this.

And so this morning we're going to learn

a very important truth about this man, Jesus.

And that is that Jesus has divine authority

to forgive sins as shown by his divine authority

to heal the paralytic.

Jesus has divine authority to forgive sins

as shown by his divine authority to heal the paralytic.

So to see this this morning,

we're going to sort of just walk through the story

once again, slowly.

And as we do so,

I'm going to be adding a few things to the story

to colorize it, sort of bring it to life.

And we're not just going to do this just for fun.

Hopefully it is fun, right?

And hopefully it sort of gets your imagination going.

But the reason we're doing this

is because we want to see the climax of the story.

Because when we can do that,

we can hone in on the main point of the passage.

And that's actually a hard thing to do from time to time.

In fact, this last week,

a client of mine was telling me that he read a story on this,

a book on this story,

on this Mark 2 passage called The Stretcher.

And he said it was focusing on the four men

who carried the man to Jesus.

And it was talking about how,

when we're on the stretcher of life,

we need to find four friends.

Well, that might be a good truth,

but is that the truth of the passage?

That's what we want to hone in today.

So we're going to walk through the story

to get a better idea of what the main emphasis is.

So let's go ahead and do that.

Let's start with verse 1.

It says that he returned to Capernaum,

which means that this isn't the first time

that he's been there.

Last time he was there,

it was actually in chapter 1.

He preached in a synagogue with authority

and demonstrated authority over unclean spirits.

Chapter 1, verse 28 says that his fame spread

throughout all Galilee.

And so upon his return now,

everyone has heard of him

and now they want a glimpse of him, right?

They want to hear him speak.

There's this expectation now

in the very onset of the story

that Jesus is going to perform for them.

So in verse 2,

it's not surprising that we read

that many gathered together

so that there was no more room.

It says that they were packed in there

like sardines, basically.

It's hard to breathe.

There's not a single word being said, though,

because they're all trying to hear Jesus.

And the people outside the door

can't even see him.

Perhaps they're leaning in

just trying to grasp every other word or so.

That's how desperately they want to hear

what Jesus is preaching.

And Jesus is doing that.

He's preaching the word with them.

People are gathered to hear it.

It's a teaching with authority,

as it says back in chapter 1.

Now, if I was directing a movie

of this scene right now,

at this point,

I'd probably take a step back.

I'd cut to a different scene,

one that's a little more quiet.

There's a man, okay,

who hasn't arrived on the scene yet.

He, too, has heard that Jesus is in town,

but there is a fundamental problem.

He's paralyzed from the waist down.

He's sitting by the window.

He's waiting for these other men

to come and get him.

Perhaps it was an injury from birth,

or perhaps it was an injury

from a work-related injury

that he injured his spine,

and now he can't work anymore.

Maybe he had people caring for him.

Maybe he was being cared

for another family member.

Maybe he was ostracized by the community.

We don't really know.

It doesn't really show us that many details.

About this man.

But he seems to at least have

a few friends and family

because there are some men

who come and grab him, right?

And he, too, has heard

that Jesus has the authority

to cast out unclean spirits.

And one report from just a couple days ago

says that he actually healed a man

with leprosy.

So perhaps in his mind,

he's thinking,

this is my chance.

This is my chance to get within

just armed distance of this man.

Hopefully I can be healed.

But naturally, he's late to the party, right?

I mean, he needs to be carried.

Everyone else has gotten there first.

He's just showing up a few minutes after.

And as he gets there,

he can tell that he's not going to be able

to push through, right?

The crowds, like we saw,

are packed in there.

There's no way a man on a stretcher

and four others

are going to kind of weave their way

in between that group.

And at that point,

you can almost see his tears

start to run down his face.

He's beginning to feel

a little more desperate.

Perhaps this isn't going to work out

the way that he wanted.

So you see in this replay,

you see him raising his hand

to the roof,

to the people carrying him

in the stretcher.

Take me to the roof.

Take me to the roof.

I'm trying to imagine

what the four carrying him

would have been thinking.

They're probably looking around.

How long are we going

to entertain this?

I don't know what going

to the roof is really going to do.

But they don't find it

within themselves

to sort of break his heart.

So they oblige.

They carry him up

to the flat top roof

up the stairs.

At this time,

there would likely have been

some stairs going up

the outside of the house

to the top of the roof.

So the people inside

at this point,

they hear some footsteps

above them.

But Jesus is continuing

to teach.

Soon enough,

people are starting

to look upwards.

What's all the commotion

above?

There's a sound

of some muffled voices

and then all of a sudden,

wham!

Wham!

I mean,

I have to imagine

they get through the roof

somehow, right?

They begin pounding

at the roof.

Now, roofs during that time

were likely made of reeds

that were covered

with a mud plaster.

So it probably wasn't

hard to get through,

but probably wasn't easy either.

So mud and dust,

as you can kind of imagine it,

are falling on the people

inside.

Everyone's looking now,

but what is going on?

At this point,

Jesus has stopped teaching.

Everyone's just waiting.

And I'm not really

an expert in ancient

Israel roof break-ins,

but it's going to take

at least five to ten minutes,

right?

Finally,

sunlight breaks through.

You hear the count of three

in Hebrew.

Echad,

shenayim,

shalosh,

they let down the man

and lower him

to the ground.

And as the man

reaches the ground,

it's a small town.

Everyone probably knows

who this man is

at this point.

People are muttering,

is Jesus going to

heal this man?

Everyone is waiting

with anticipation.

I sort of picture it

like some of those movies

where the nerd

kind of goes in

for the kiss.

He's just kind of,

his lips are puckered,

his eyes are closed,

he's waiting for

the girl to kiss him.

I kind of think,

when I think of this story,

I imagine the paralyzed man,

he's on the stretcher,

he's waiting for the feeling

to return to his feet.

Everyone knows

he's got a big grin

on his face.

And then in verse 5,

Jesus says this.

He says,

esteem their faith.

He says,

your sins are forgiven.

Now,

imagine the man

kind of opens one eye,

he's like,

what?

No.

You misunderstand.

I'm here to be healed,

right?

For the modern reader,

this is actually surprising

as well.

Everyone is expecting

a miraculous healing,

and instead,

Jesus pronounces,

his sins are forgiven.

I mean,

it's obvious

why the man is there,

right?

And so what we have here

is sort of a false summit

of the story.

The issue of the man's paralysis

is still not resolved.

So,

pausing for a second,

I just want to say,

is it not good,

church,

that when we come to God

with our greatest felt need,

that he gives us

what we truly need,

right?

It can be a hard reality

at times,

but I personally,

I'm thankful that God knows

what I need more than I do,

and doesn't always give me

what I think I want,

because that would be bad

for me,

right?

But returning to the text,

now we have another problem

on our hands,

and that is that Jesus

has just pronounced

that this man's sin

has been forgiven.

And that's a big deal.

Jesus is claiming

to be God here,

and blasphemy,

blasphemy was punishable

by death,

so he better make sure

that he's telling

the truth here,

right?

And up to this point,

the Jewish leaders

may have been open

to Jesus' teaching,

and perhaps even curious

about his ability

to heal others,

but now,

now he's gone

way too far.

I think,

one thing that would have

upset these people

at this is that

he's claiming

to be God,

right?

And that's a big deal.

So let me give you

an example.

Let's just say that

Zach is up here,

and I just punch him

square in the face,

right?

Now,

would it make any sense

for me to go to my mom,

my mom,

and ask for forgiveness?

No.

Zach's the one

that I've offended.

He's the only one

who's going to offer

forgiveness towards me.

And so in the same way,

for Jesus to announce

your sins are forgiven,

he's proclaiming

that he is the one

who is offended.

Only God

can pronounce

forgiveness

of sins.

Now,

the scribes,

if you know

who the scribes were,

they were individuals

who were responsible

for copying

the Bible

over and over again.

They were very

detail-oriented.

They knew

the scriptures

pretty well.

And they knew it

front and back.

They probably even

taught it as well.

Now,

there's a part of me

that understands

their question,

right?

Not too long ago,

Israel was in exile

because of their idolatry.

And now here's this man

coming to proclaim

that he's God.

He's kind of leading

the people.

People are starting

to follow him,

right?

So now the scribes

are saying,

well,

we don't want this exile

to happen again.

We need to preserve

the scriptures.

So I understand.

It would be a good question

to ask,

is this guy really

who he proclaims to be?

Because if he's not,

we shouldn't follow him.

They're afraid

that Israel's going

to fall back

into idolatry.

But Jesus responds

in a very interesting way.

First he says to them,

why do you question

these things

in your hearts?

Like we said,

to question Jesus' authority

seems like a pretty

legit question.

But Jesus makes it seem

as if they shouldn't

even be surprised

at all at this point

that he can forgive sins.

The second question

is rhetorical.

He says,

which is easier

to say to the paralytic?

Your sins are forgiven

or to say,

rise,

take up your bed?

Now,

it's a rhetorical question

so it's almost assumed

that the original audience

was going to know

the answer to this.

For us,

it's not,

I don't think

it's quite as obvious.

So let's just take a second

to work through

the possibilities

of what he's actually

meaning here.

There's three main options.

One is that perhaps

it is more difficult

to say your sins

are forgiven

than to say

get up and walk.

He goes on to say,

though,

to prove to you

that I have the authority

to forgive sins,

I'm going to show you

that I have the authority

to heal

this man's paralysis.

So this first option,

that to say

your sins are forgiven

is more difficult,

doesn't actually fit

with the outcome

of the story.

because if forgiving sins

was more difficult,

then a demonstration

of something less difficult

probably wouldn't

prove anything, right?

It's like if I kick

a 30-yard field goal

and then say

that proves it,

I can kick

a 60-yard field goal.

Say no,

that doesn't prove anything.

You just did

what was easier.

The easier does not

prove what is more difficult.

That doesn't seem

to be what he's meaning there.

Second option

is that perhaps

it's easier to say

your sins are forgiven

than to say

get up and walk.

Now this option

is definitely plausible.

I would think of it

as sort of

flippantly saying

I love you to someone.

It's quite easy to say

but it's not quite

easily verifiable.

Something like that

takes some time

to verify

over the course of time.

It's kind of like

if I were to say

check your pocket,

there's $100.

That's easy for me to say

but it's very easy

to verify.

It's difficult

in the sense that

you could just check

your pocket right now

and see if there's $100.

If there's not,

I'm a liar.

If there is,

I was telling the truth.

So the same seems

to go for the situation here.

At the same time though,

to say your sins

are forgiven

without actually

being able to verify it

would be a very risky

thing to do.

So the text shows us

that they immediately

accused him of blasphemy,

proclaiming to be God

when he really wasn't.

This was punishable

by death

as we just said.

Don't dare say

these words.

So that option

is plausible.

I think the third option

is the best option.

Third option

and final option

is that it is

equally difficult

to say your sins

are forgiven

than to say,

as it is to say,

get up and walk.

And this seems

the most closely

fit the details

of this story.

And Jesus

is calling

to their attention

the fact that

they are upset

that he displays

divine authority

to forgive

the man's sins,

but yet they are

open to him

showing his divine

authority

to heal the man.

Jesus is asking

them this rhetorical

question,

which is easier

because both

are possible

only by God's power.

I was happy

that we read

Psalm 103

this morning

because that

gives us a glimpse

into this situation

where it says,

bless the Lord,

O my soul,

and forget not

all his benefits.

Who forgives

your iniquity

and who heals

all your diseases?

Who has the authority

to do both?

God alone.

So at this point

in the story,

it can go

one of two ways.

Either the man

gets up

and Jesus

demonstrates

that he has

the power

to heal

and to forgive sins,

or the man

doesn't get up

and Jesus

looks like a fool

and possibly

gets stoned

for claiming

to be God.

This is the

climax of the story,

the point

in which the story

could go either way.

So what does

the text say?

It says,

and he rose

and immediately

picked up his bed

and went out

before them all

so that they were

all amazed

and glorified God

saying,

we never saw

anything like this.

both the healing

of the incurable

medical conditions

and the forgiveness

of sins

are rooted

in the authority

of God

alone.

And so when Jesus

displays his authority

to heal this man's

paralysis,

he's demonstrating

that he has

the authority

to forgive

this man's sins.

Jesus is proclaiming

that he is God

and he proves it

by healing

the man.

Dozens of people

see this authority

on display

and the scribes

really have nothing

in response

to say.

So once again,

what do we learn

from this passage?

It is that Jesus

has divine authority

to forgive sins

as shown by his

divine authority

to heal

the paralytic.

So I want to focus

the rest of this time

now on what do we

actually do

with this passage?

Like I said

in the beginning,

sometimes this is

the passage we

just quickly

pass over.

It's a truth

that Christians

should know.

Yes, Jesus has

the authority

to forgive sins.

Well first,

I want to speak

to the non-believer

that could be here

this morning.

Because I don't think

I can preach

this passage

on the forgiveness

of sins

than to invite

the non-believer

to accept

this truth.

And when I say

non-believer,

I mean those

who are not

submitting their lives

under the authority

of Christ.

And I feel

that I need to

clarify this

unfortunately

in this American

church

because it's

unfortunately

common

that people

believe that God

exists,

that Jesus

is God,

but then they

don't submit

their lives

to his rule

and kingship.

So in other words,

they believe

that God exists,

but then they're

still living a life

of rebellion.

And so this only

offers a false

assurance that we

must be very weary

and cautious

of.

Because the Bible

doesn't have a

category for the

individual who has

one foot in the

world and one foot

in the gospel.

So either you are

a Christian

walking in step

in repentance

and in step

with the gospel,

or you are not.

And just to clarify,

that puts you

outside the grace

of God.

You don't have

forgiveness of sins.

And this is important

because as we find

out very early

in the book of

Genesis,

that the wages

of sin is death.

And any sin,

no matter how

small,

is worthy of

eternal punishment

before an infinitely

holy God.

And so in order

for God to

uphold his

justice,

he must carry

out sin's

sentence,

lest his own

character be

undermined.

But in his

loving kindness,

he made a way

for his creation

to be restored

in right relationship

to him.

We see in the

Old Testament

that the Old

Testament sacrifices,

the animal

sacrifices were

insufficient to

properly atone

for and give

any lasting

forgiveness of

sins.

And therefore,

those Old Testament

sacrifices always

looked forward

to a greater

and a better

sacrifice,

the Messiah,

Jesus Christ.

The book of

Hebrews says,

without the shedding

of blood,

there is no

forgiveness of

sins.

And so as this

passage shows,

he has the

authority to

forgive sins

because he is

God,

he is the one

offended,

and he is also

the sacrifice,

which we find

out later,

the unblemished

lamb who can

defeat death

once and for

all because

death has no

hold on him.

And so our

only hope,

therefore,

is to be united

to him,

to seek safety

underneath his

wing and that

death may pass

over us.

In Romans 2,

Paul warns

those who

confess Jesus

is Lord with

their mouths,

but they don't

repent.

They feel

convicted,

they even

confess their

sins,

even the

most heinous

criminals,

after they've

been convicted

in a court

of law,

you might

even see

them crying.

Most often

than not,

they're crying

because they

now have to

pay the

penalty for

their crimes,

right?

They're not

living in

repentant faith.

So we want

to be careful

that we're not

doing that as

well.

So,

Paul says

in Romans 2,

he says,

or do you

presume on

the riches

of his

kindness and

forbearance

and patience,

not knowing

that God's

kindness is

meant to

lead you

to repentance,

but because

of your

hard and

infinite heart,

you are

storing up

wrath for

yourselves on

the day of

wrath when

God's righteous

judgment will

be revealed.

And so here's

where a lot of

people go wrong.

They believe

God exists.

They know

that they are

a sinner.

They confess

that they have

done what is

wrong, but they

do not submit

themselves underneath

the authority

of God.

They're still

living in

open rebellion.

Now,

obviously,

perfection is

not required.

The gospel

assumes this.

But a growing

hatred of sin,

a continual

turning away

from sin

and turning

towards God

because they

delight in

obeying him

and seeing

his glory

and not

their own

being realized.

My former

boss once

told me that

he asked for

God's forgiveness

before he

sins.

That is

conviction

and confession

without repentance

because repentance,

like we just

said,

is turning away

from sin,

not turning

towards it.

And so

when in Mark

1.15,

Jesus says that

he begins his

ministry saying,

the time

is fulfilled

and the

kingdom of

God is

at hand,

repent and

believe in

the gospel.

So my

invitation for

the non-Christian

is will you

respond to the

truth of this

passage today

and place your

faith in the

one and only

person who

actually has

any ability

to forgive

sins.

Because only

by him can

you have any

hope of

reaching

eternal life.

at this

point I

turn to the

application for

the believer,

the one who

is prone to

forgetting this

truth.

For most of

us here,

Jesus'

authority to

forgive sins

seems like a

no-brainer to

us.

And as

Christians,

we have

repented of

our sins

and put our

faith in

Christ,

but functionally,

I think this

is a gospel

truth that we

all need

reminder of

on a daily

basis.

And trust

me,

I'm giving

a sermon

needing this

truth myself.

So as I

was reflecting

on the main

truth of this

passage,

I considered

a few ways

to actually

that we can

struggle to

believe this

truth.

The first

is this.

One way

that we can

show ourselves

not to trust

in the truth

of this

passage is

when we

don't actually

make a regular

habit of

repenting of

all of our

sin.

I have found

that I

prefer to

categorize

my sins

in those

of sort

of like a

tiered

system.

Some are

very grievous,

some are not

very grievous,

you don't need

to repent all

the time,

and that is

a dangerous

place to be.

Something like

maybe stealing

something,

that's under the

category of

always repent,

but then

simply getting

angry at my

wife,

that's maybe a

sometimes repentance

thing.

and like I

said,

it's a

dangerous

place to

be because

one,

I can't

be at

odds,

it's hard

for me to

be at

odds with

her,

for one,

but if I

don't go

to God,

the one

who is the

one offended

first and

foremost,

the one who

has commanded

me to love

my wife and

to live with

her in an

understanding

way,

if I'm

disobeying

him,

I've first

and foremost

disobeyed the

one and

true God.

Why should it

be then that I

can bear at

being at odds

with him and

not bear

with being at

odds with

my wife?

My sin is

first and

foremost a

rebellion against

his rule and

reign.

So we

undermine the

seriousness of

our sin when

we do not

live in the

goodness of

this truth,

that Jesus

has the

authority to

forgive sins.

And then

two,

the second

way that I

thought that

we can

sometimes

struggle to

believe this

truth,

is when we

try to pay

the fine for

an offense that

has already

been forgiven.

There's been a

number of times

over the last

few weeks as

I've led

worship at

Crossway

Milwaukee,

that immediately

after the

service is

done, I

turned to

all the

members and

I started

apologizing for

all the

mistakes that

I made,

and just for

them putting

up with me,

my horrible

performance.

And so

there's a

part of me

that does

this because

I want them

to see that

I am punishing

myself above

and beyond.

I'm doing

jail time for

my mistakes.

I want them

to know that

I see this

as serious.

What does

that do?

When we

have that

same mentality

towards our,

when we

approach God

with our sin.

Well, it

says that

while we need

to be

remorseful,

right?

Don't hear me

wrong.

But when

we cross

over to

unbelief,

it's when

we refuse

to let

Jesus pay

the fine.

So we

feel the

need to

punish

ourselves

beyond the

punishment

that's already

been paid.

And so

when we

approach God

this way,

we are not

declaring to

Him that

we believe

and trust

that His

death was

sufficient for

paying for

our sins.

And we're

suggesting that

perhaps there's

some debt

left to pay

that He

hasn't already

paid.

And so in

those moments

when we

don't believe

that Jesus

has the

authority to

forgive sins,

but Christian,

I assure you,

what a

rejoiceful thing

when we can

come to the

Lord Jesus

with our

greatest and

darkest,

deepest sins.

And He can

look at us in

the eye and

say,

go free.

Let sin

rule you

no longer.

Your sins

are forgiven.

There is no

fine left

to pay.

And then as

we proceed

throughout the

week to

wage war on

the flesh and

we stumble

once again,

we go to

the Lord and

He says,

go free

once again.

That too

I have

paid for.

Your sins

are forgiven.

Let sin

rule you

no more.

Christian,

God is

patient with

us.

Right?

He's gracious

to us.

It's actually

God's mercy

that He

reveals our

sin to us

slowly over

the course

of time

because if

He were to

show us

all of our

sin all at

once,

it would

crush us.

So He

peels it

slowly like

an onion

over the

course of

time.

One,

that we

would not

be crushed,

but two,

that we

might not

think that

there is

a single

day that

we can

go without

God's

ongoing

grace to

us.

We

depend on

Him fully

as we

continue to

be sanctified

by His

Word.

So then

what would

it actually

look like

for this

passage to

be helpful

for us

this week?

Let's

return to

the original

scenario that

I put forth

at the

beginning.

Remember,

I've just

responded

in simple

anger to

Olivia.

First thing

we observe

is that

there's a

rift between

me and

Olivia,

but there's

also a

rift between

me and

God vertically.

I've

disobeyed

Him in

a way that

I'm called

to love

my wife,

but Jesus

has the

authority to

forgive sins.

He has

paid my

fine.

He has

paid my

debt.

So

immediately,

what do I

do?

I run

to God

and I

say,

I've

sinned

against

you.

I've

sinned

against

Olivia.

You

have

called

me to

love

others,

but what

have I

done?

I've

shown her

unrighteous

that you

are rich

in

mercy.

I know

that the

blood of

Christ has

paid my

fine.

Please

forgive me

and help

me live

in obedience.

And so

at that

point,

the claim

of Mark

2 calls

back to

me,

dear child,

your sins

are forgiven.

That too

I have

paid for.

Let sin

reign no

longer.

Go and

sin no

more.

And so

when I am

made right

with God,

His promise

of forgiveness

empowers me

to live

in obedience.

My pride

has been

broken,

and now

I can

go to

Olivia

and display

the gospel

at work

with me.

Is that

not what

we want

as spouses

or as

co-workers

to show

the power

of the

gospel

at work

with us?

We all

know how

difficult

it is

to go

to someone

in forgiveness.

And when

someone does,

as a

Christian,

that is

evidence

that God,

the power

of the

gospel

is at

work

within them.

That's

how we

display

the truth

of the

gospel.

And I

tell my

clients this

all the

time.

We should

be discouraged

if it takes

some time

for this

to actually

take root

in ourselves.

It could be,

at first,

it could be a

day until I

realize my

sin and the

truth of the

gospel.

But over the

course of

time,

as we begin

to practice

the message

of this

passage,

as Romans

says,

be transformed

by the

renewal of

your mind,

that process

takes place

over the

course of

time.

And so

the goal

is that

the amount

of time

that it

takes me

to sin

against,

for instance,

Olivia,

and for me

to go to

her and

ask for

forgiveness,

that time

should be

decreasing

over the

course of

my Christian

walk.

Why?

Because God

is transforming

my mind.

I'm seeking

and actively

turning away

from my sin

and trying

to love

her and

show her

that the

power of

the gospel

is at

work within

me.

So don't

be discouraged

if it

takes a

day or

hours at

some point.

It may be

like that

for a

while,

but pretty

soon,

over the

course of

time,

as God

is working

in you,

which I

trust that

he will

be,

pretty

soon,

it can

almost be

instantaneous

that you're

remembering the

truths of

the gospel

and that it

would empower

you to

then,

go and

make things

right on

a horizontal

plane with

our earthly

relationships.

And then

perhaps it's

the other way

around.

Perhaps it's

Olivia that

has sinned

against me

or putting

myself in

Olivia's

shoes.

I've sinned

against her.

Perhaps she

has sinned

against me

and comes

to me asking

for forgiveness

and just as

Jesus forgives

me, so now

I can display

the gospel

at work

in me

and extend

to her

the offer

of complete

forgiveness.

And there

we have

her sin

against me

as an

opportunity

for me

to minister

the gospel

to her,

to minister

the gospel

to my

coworkers,

to my

family members.

God's

love.

It is

evidence of

the work

of God

in our

hearts when

we're able

to do

this.

Christian,

we are

fully

deserving

of God's

wrath.

And we

were a

people who

were dead

in our

sins.

But now,

what are

we?

We're a

people who

received the

forgiveness

of sin.

And so,

as I

close,

I want to

close with

Romans 6,

5-7,

which says

this,

and this

is for

believers only

when it

says,

for if we

have been

united with

him in a

death like

his,

we shall

certainly be

united with

him in a

resurrection

like his.

We know

that our

old selves

were crucified

with him

in order

that the

body of

sin might

be brought

to nothing.

So that we

are no longer

enslaved to

sin.

No,

for the

one who

has died

has been

set free

from sin.

It's my

prayer,

as we go

into this

week,

that this

would come

alive for

us.

As we

go into

our workplace,

into our

homes,

and our

interactions

with our

spouses,

and our

kids,

that the

truth that

Jesus has

the authority

to forgive

sins would

come alive

in our

hearts.

Let's

bow our

heads in

prayer.