Articles
Breakthrough Faith--Transcript
Good afternoon.
It's good to see everyone here.
If you're visiting with us, we're most appreciative of you coming and encouraging us tonight and worshiping with us.
And I hope you'll come back and be with us every chance that you get.
We'll be turning your Bibles to mark the second chapter.
That was our scripture reading.
Appreciate that earlier, and it focuses on one of the many miracles recorded to us by Jesus.
Have you ever been in a situation where you desperately needed help , but you could couldn't get there on your own.
Maybe it was a moment when life fell apart, a health crisis, or maybe it was a broken relationship or maybe just a time of depression or doubt that you had in your life.
You knew the answer was out there, but you just felt stuck and unable to move forward, unable to get what you really needed.
In March chapter 2, we meet a man who is completely paralyzed, unable to move, unable to reach Jesus on his own own.
And this describes really maybe how we have felt from time to time, maybe not physically, but maybe emotionally or spiritually.
His story doesn't end, though, in helplessness, because he had four friends who said, we're getting you to Jesus .
No matter what it takes, we're going to get you what you need.
The story isn't just about a miracle of healing, though.
It's about people.
A broken man in need of rescue , Friends full of faith and grit to get a job done, a crowd that stood in the way, critics who couldn't celebrate what Jesus was doing because of their critical thinking.
And then Jesus, the one who sees faith.
The one who forgives sins and restores what is broken.
And the question we all need to wrestle with, I guess, tonight is, who am I in this story? Am I the one lying on the mat in need? Am I the one that is carrying someone to Jesus? Am I part of the crowd that's in the way, maybe even unintentionally? Or have I let a critical spirit keep me from seeing what Jesus is really doing? Who am I? So let's take a look at the story.
Not just a miracle that was performed, over 2,000 years ago, but as a picture of what it looks like when faith breaks through against every barrier that there was set to get to Jesus.
So let's look at the different characters in the story.
We first see the man that was on the man.
In verse 3, it tells us they came bringing him a paralytic carried by four men.
He was physically broken.
He was unable to move on his own own .
He was dependent upon others.
He could not reach Jesus without help from other people.
His only hope to get was getting to Jesus to find what he needed, but he couldn't do it on his own.
The man needed Jesus to help with his physical condition, but what he gets to Jesus, we find out it wasn't just the physical condition that he needed help with.
Jesus helps him first with his spiritual condition, and we'll say more about that in a moment .
But he was in need.
He couldn't do it on his own, but he needed to get to Jesus.
That's the same with everyone.
Spiritually speaking, we all need to get to Jesus.
That's where we all need to be.
And that's where this man was.
In March chapter 2 of verse 17, it says, hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
He says, I did not come to call the the righteous, but I came to call sinners.
You see, this is the condition of everyone.
We all need Jesus.
We're all sick spiritually.
And he says, I didn't come to call the righteous.
I came to call the sinners.
I came for those who recognize that they need me.
I came to the ones who understand the condition that they're in, that they're helpingless without me.
Those are the ones that I came to help.
Charlotte Elliott was bedridden, a chronic illness for much of her life.
She often suffered from depression, feelings of inadequacy, while her family was involved in a charity bazar to raise funds for a school, she was unable to attend due to her illness .
And during that time, she just struggled with feelings of uselessness, loneliness.
She questioned her relationship with the Lord.
But it was in those times of struggle that she wrote these words, just as I am without one plea, but that th thy blood was shed for me.
And that thou bids me come to thee, O lamb of God I come, just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot.
To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O lamb of God, I come, just as I am thou tossed about, with many a conflict, many a doubt, Fightings and fears within, without , O Lamb of God, I come.
Just as I am thou wilt receive.
Wilt welcome pardon and cleanse relief, promise I believe, of God, I come.
We'll be singing that song in just a moment.
But now you know kind of the message or the background to it.
Like the paralyzed man, we all have a need to come to Jesus.
This man was helpless and broken, and so are we.
This man, both physically and spiritually, had needs that only Jesus could fulfill.
There's been a recent update to Charlotte Elliott's song as well.
A new chorus added that we often sing as well.
It says, I come broken to be mended.
I come wounded to be healed.
I come desperate to be rescued.
I come empty to be filled.
I come guilty to be pardoned by the blood of Christ the Lamb, and I'm welcomed with open arms.
Praise God, just as I am.
The paralyzed man represents every person who is powerless in sin and unable to save themselves.
He represents those who are broken, who need to be mended.
He represents everyone who is wounded and needs to be healed .
He represents those who are desperate and need to be rescued.
He represents those who are empty and are looking to be filled.
He represents the guilty who are looking to be pardoned by the blood of Christ.
And also, as we'll see later on in this story, Jesus is there with welcome to arms to take us just as we are.
In Romans the 5th chapter in verse 6, it tells us why we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare even to die, but God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Notice in that, while we were still helpless.
At the right time, Christ gave us what we need.
While fiscal healing was important, forgiveness is what was needed most.
And we are all, at some point, this man , broken, stuck, and needing to be carried.
Well, we also look at other characters in this story, and there's the faithful friends.
If you look in first three, so we we go back to our text, it says, they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men, being unable to get to him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.
These four unnamed heroes of the story, if you will, had deep compassion.
They carried their friend.
They helped him when he could not help himself, and they took him to Jesus.
They demonstrated cooperative faith.
It was all four of them that was needed to make this happen.
They were not going to let any obstacle get in their way.
They saw the roof not as something or they saw the roof as something to go through, not something to give up over.
Imagine kind of the details of what happens here, though.
Imagine Jesus is talking to this huge crowd of people, crammed into this house and even overflowing out of the house.
And suddenly they start hearing a loud noise, you would think, up on the roof.
And people probably start to look up to see what's going on.
And suddenly, probably parts of the roof maybe start to fall and come down.
And so people are looking up and they continue to hear this noise.
And then suddenly a hole appears in that roof.
And then it gets larger, and then maybe some light shines through.
And just when people are starting to say, well, what is happening here? Suddenly they see, you know, these four guys probably looking down at them.
And when they really wonder, what in the world are they doing? All of a sudden they start lowering this man down on a mat in front of Jesus.
I admire their determination to get to Jesus, to get their friend to Jesus.
You know, surely they probably had tried easier, maybe we would say more conventional ways to get their friend in front of Jesus.
When they got there, surely they tried to get to the door because that would be the most obvious way to get in to get to Jesus.
But they couldn't do it.
Just too many people.
Maybe they thought, well, maybe there's a window we could get around to, and maybe we could get through that.
That would be a little bit easier.
And maybe they tried that and they looked and there were still impossible .
Too many people.
We can't get through.
I think it would have been easy at that point for them to just say, you know what, what we tried.
We tried to do it, and it's just not meant to be.
And they could have went and just returned home and gone back, and told all their family and friends that, well, this is what we tried to do, but it just wasn't meant to be.
But that wasn't these four men.
They were determined that no matter what it takes, we're going to get our friend what he needs.
We're going to get him in front of Jesus.
And so they climb up on the roof, they get their friend.
And that was probably not easy getting him up onto the roof to start with and then to start digging through the roof so that they can create this hole in this opening to get him down to lower him in front of you Jesus.
Incredible story.
When you think about the faith that they had, it often requires sacrifice when we have fa faith.
And the faith that they had demonstrates this.
Faith also often requires inconvenience .
They were inconvenienced to what they were doing, but they were determined to do it any way.
It takes creativity sometimes to have faith, and they certainly found some creativity to figure out a way to get their friend in front of Jesus.
Faith that stops at the first obstacle isn't really a strong faith at all.
That breakthrough faith comes after digging through something.
In this case, it was a roof.
Maybe in our case, we have to dig through pride.
Maybe we have to dig through apathy.
Maybe we have to dig through fear.
There's often things that we have to dig through to have a strong faith.
That's what they were will willing to do.
The friends give us an example of faith and compassion and determination.
No, as I think about them bringing their friend to Jesus.
There's another character that came to mind in the New Testament, one of the apostles.
And that is Andrew.
If you'll turn over to John chapter 1, and we read concerning Andrew, several things about what he did.
Andrew in John chapter 1 and verse 40, it says one of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother .
He found first his own brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which translated Christ.
He brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John.
Shall be called, which translates Peter.
When Andrew, the first thing he did, the first act that we see of him as an apostle was, I'm going to go find Peter, my brother, and I'm going to take him to Jesus.
Later on, we see, as well in John V chapter, if you'll flip over a few pages.
And it tells us concerning Andrew again.
It says, one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, this is the lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people? On this occasion, of course, was when there were the 5,000 were fed by Jesus, and they were all there thousands of people, no food to give them.
It was Andrew, who notices this little boy with a small amount of food, that probably seemed insignificant, but yet he said, I'm going to take this little boy and his food to Jesus.
And it occurred to me that sometimes we may not have the answers or know exactly how it's going to work out .
Andrew didn't know that, but what he did know is, I can take him to the one who does have the answers.
I can take him to the one who can work things out.
Later on in John 12 in verse 20, it's.
Says that there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast.
These then came to Philip, who was from Basa of Galilee and began to ask him, saying, sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Philip came and told Andrew , and Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
Some of the Greeks wanted to meet Jesus.
Andrew helped connect them to Jesus.
He valued all people, including Gentiles, and helped them find Jesus Jesus.
When I think about Andrew, he was not front and center like maybe Peter or John.
He didn't write epistles or preach at Pentecost, but he led Peter to Jesus, and Peter preached to thousands.
His ministry was taking people to Jesus.
And I think we need more Andrews, who will look for opportunities and quietly bring people to Jesus.
In Galatians, the 6th chapter, and verse 9, were told, let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time, we will reap , if we do not grow weary.
And then in 1 Coians 15, and verse 58, we're told,My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
When I think of the friends who carried this paralytic to Jesus, these were things that they live by.
The determination that they had.
They were steadfast.
They were immovable.
They were not going to grow weary in doing good.
They were determined to get their friend to Jesus.
What a great example for us.
So we continue to look at the people there that were there on this day when Jesus performs this miracle.
Let's look at the crowd of people and consider them.
These were what I call passive obstacles to this man finding Jesus.
If you go back up to verse 2, it says, many were gathered together, and that there was no longer room, not even near the door, and he was speaking the word to them.
These were people who were curious, but seemed to be rather inactive .
They did not intend to become a barrier to someone else's healing.
They didn't really know that they were a barrier to someone else's healing.
I think of other areas where well meaning people hindered some from coming to Jesus.
And Jesus's attitude toward that.
If you look in Mark the 10th chapter, you made me remember the disciples on this occasion.
And it says that they were bringing children to him so that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them .
But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, permit the children to come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all .
And he took them in his arms and began blessing them, laying his hands on them.
The disciples thought Jesus was too important or maybe too busy for the children.
They saw the children as a distraction, but Jesus rebukes them and says, let the children come to me.
Do not hinder them.
Those on the day that were there, hindering the paralytic from making it to Jesus.
They weren't outwardly trying to keep someone from Jesus.
They were just kind of unintentionally doing it.
The disciples here, I believe they meant well, even though they were keeping the children from coming to Jesus and hindering them from doing it.
I think they meant well.
They thought it was best for Jesus.
Perhaps they thought, no, the adults are the ones that need to hear .
They weren't outwardly opposing Jesus and opposing people coming to Jesus.
And sometimes maybe we mean well, but we can cause a hindrance to others finding Jesus.
In March chapter 10, and verse 46, if you'll look on down further on in that chapter, we see another occasion , where there was a blind man that the people were trying to keep from Jesus.
It says in verse 46, there came to Jerusalem to Jericho, and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples, a large crowd , a blind beggar named Bartemus, the son ofus, was sitting by the road.
When he heard that it was Jesus and Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more.
Son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stopped and said, call him here.
So they called the blind man saying to him, take courage, stand up.
He is calling for you.
Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus and answering him, Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, I want to regain my sight.
And Jesus said to him, go, your faith has made you well .
Immediately he regained his sight and began following him on the road.
Bus, a blind beggar, cries out to Jesus, and the crowd is like a shushing him.
Be quiet.
Stop doing that.
Stop interrupting.
But Jesus hears the cries.
And Jesus calls him to come.
And he heals him.
And we see from these examples that sometimes even well- meaninganing believers can be a hindrance to others coming to Jesus by underestimating what Jesus val values .
Jesus kind of flips the script on his disciples.
Children are not a nuisance.
They are actually an example of the kind of faith that we need is what Jesus tells them.
Jesus hears and answers the cries for mercy, even when others will ignore them or try to shut them down.
You see, we need to make sure that what Jesus values is what we value, and make sure that we're not a hindrance, even maybe unintentionally to others making it to Jesus.
We also see, though, in our story, we see there were the scribes.
And they were a hindrance as well, but there are a hindrance more outwardly, intentionally, if you will, against Jesus.
They were the critics of the grace and the power that Jesus shows.
In verse 6, it says, some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.
Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming .
Who could forgive sins, but God alone? I find it amazing that they just saw all this that happened.
These men that climbed up on a roof, created the hole.
Let this man down through the roof, and Jesus heals him.
And they're not excited.
They're not amazed.
All they are are critical that Jesus said, your sins are forgiven." And instead of looking at that and understanding that to be Jesus, because of the miracle, showing his authority, showing that he had that authority as the Son of God, and accepting him and believing him, instead , they missed it.
They missed the the whole point.
They were not offended.
They were offended.
They were not amazed.
They missed the miracle because they were not focused on what they should be focused on.
They saw Jesus as a threat, not as the Messiah, not as the Savior.
They could not dispute the miracle, but they would just try to dispute his authority.
And we often see scribes and Pharisees critical of Jesus.
They were the religious traditionalist of the time.
They felt threatened by the authority of Jesus, and by his popularity and by his teaching that often went against the traditions that they held so closely to.
Jesus.
Jesus, when he came disrupted their control, and they didn't want to give up that power that they had.
Jesus associated with sinners, and that kind of offended their sense of support superiority.
And so they didn't like Jesus for that either.
There was often that conflict and criticism of Jesus time and time again among the scribes and the Pharisees.
And when we think about it today, critics still exist in our culture, in our politics, even in churches, sometimes there's critics that are there.
And we have to respond like Jesus in the apostles with truth and grace and courage to stand up against the critics that go against the gospel.
We have to be careful that we do not become maybe subtle critics ourself by adding or subtracting from God's word, or ignoring parts of the gospel, or picking and choosing, as some may do, parts of the Bible that we want and leaving out others that we don't.
We see this story that, as we looked at, there are those who are unintentional barriers, the crowd, to Jesus.
But the scribes show us those who were an active resistance to Jesus.
And false teachers hinder some from getting to Jesus even today.
Back in the first century, Christians in Galatia, were being hindered from faithfully serving God.
If you'll turn over to that epistle in the Galatians that Paul wrote, we see that many times we see that he looks at what others were doing to deceive them and hinder them.
From the gospel.
Galatians 3 and verse 1.
He talks about that someone was bewitching them.
If you look back, actually in the first chapter in verse 7, he says that there were some that were disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel.
Some were troubling them, he says, in chapter 5 and verse 12.
And it causes them then in verse 7 of Galatians 5 to write, you were running well.
Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Can we be hindered today? Can we allow that to happen to us? Do you know anyone who was faithful, but they're no longer running well? Who could be a hindrance to us in coming to Jesus and following God's Word? It could be friends and family who apply pressure to us to maybe to conform to worldly ways or sinful practices.
It could be false teachers who deceive that those in this time were having problems with .
Those are things that can hinder us from being who who God wants us to be and doing what God wants us to do.
We have this warning in 1 Cothians chapter 15 and verse 33, to not be deceived because bad company corrupts good morals .
And oftentimes I think we see that we'll phrase, don't be deceived before a statement is made, and each time it's made, I think it's significantant because these are things that we will try to deceive ourselves of.
We think, oh, well, it doesn't really matter who I'm with.
It doesn't really matter who I hang out with.
You know, I'm not going to allow that person to have a bad influence on me .
I'm not going to let that happen.
It just can't.
That's the reason I think that do not be deceived as an important part of this verse, because when we have that type of attitude, we're probably in trouble.
Bad companies corrupts good morals.
Don't let others hinder you.
Don't let it be.
As I said, maybe even family or friends, or those who teach things that are against what the scriptures tell us, don't fall for those things.
We have to be strong enough not to give in to the critics.
But at the same time, when all is said and done, if I don't obey the truth and I have to take responsibilities for my own actions, I can't say, well, somebody hindered me.
Somebody kept me from doing it.
We have to take responsibility for our own actions.
Others may try to influence us, but in the end, it all comes down to the choicesices and the decisions that we make.
The last person that we want to look at then in our story tonight is Jesus.
He's the source of all healing.
Jesus, though, what's significant here is, he first forgave this man, then he healed him.
He used the miracle to prove his authority as God, while the scribes were critical of what he did.
And he shows his power not just to heal the physical body, but he shows his power to redeem the soul .
So we looked at earlier in March 2 and verse 17, but we'll look again.
It talks about that Jesus came for those as a physician, those who were sick.
He's the great physician that has come, and he's the one that we all need.
He's not just a healer of physical illness.
He is the great physician who diagnoses and heals the deeper disease of the soul, and that, of course, is sin.
That's what Jesus does for us.
In Isaiah chapter 53, the prophecy about Jesus, it says, by his wounds, we are healed.
The spiritual healing that comes because of Jesus and what he was willing to do and going to the cross and dying for us.
That's what Jesus did.
In Romans chapter 6 6 and verse 23, we see, though, that sin is a terminal disease.
The wages of sin is death.
But we also see in that verse that Jesus is the cure.
The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
What a great message that is, that when we come to Jesus, we can be curedured of the problem that we have with sin.
How do we respond to the great physician? Well, we have to come honestly.
We have to come to him admitting our need for him.
Healing starts when we realize, Lord, I need you.
That's when the healing begins.
We have to come desperately to him, like the friends who carried this man to Jesus.
They had determination to find the way to Jesus no matter what.
They were desperate to get to Jesus.
The man was desperate to get to Jesus, goes, Jesus was the only one that could help him with what he needed.
We have to come believing and trust in the authorityhority of Jesus to forgive, and then we must come to the great physysician in obedience in doing what He has commanded us to do.
Imagine a person who has a disease, and he goes to the doctor.
The doctor says, well, I have good news.
This is a treatable disease.
All you have to do is take this medicine.
That's all you have to do.
And that person says, well, you know, I just I don't think I want to take that medicine and refuses to do it.
We would think, well, how foolish.
Completely treatable disease, something easy to do, take a peill every morning, you're fine .
And the person refuses to do it.
While that seems foolish to us, it's even more foolish when people do that spiritually.
Jesus has diagnosed man's condition, has the great physician, and he offers himself as the cure for that.
How many people, though, refuse to take the cure? So that question I have for you this evening, who are you in the story? The paralyzed man needing healing, forgiveness, and maybe even unable to come on your own.
Are you the faithful friend, caring others, persisting through obstacles and serving the Lord? Are you the crowd, close to Jesus, but maybe blocking the way? The Pharisees more concerned with control than compassion.
The thing about it is we probably, throughout our life, at different times in our life, can identify with different people in this story, depending on where we are.
As then, though, Jesus will forgive and he will receive all who come.
So tonight, if something's been hindering you from coming to Jesus, we hope that you will not let that hinder you and you all longer.
Come believing in Jesus, repent of your sins, and be baptized, become his child.
Whatever is hindering you, put it behind you and come to him.
We invite you to come while we stand and see.
