WHAT HAPPENS WHEN JESUS IS IN THE HOUSE Mark 2:1-12 ...

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN JESUS IS IN THE HOUSE
Mark 2:1-12
Feb. 27, 2011
INTRODUCTION: According to Matt. 9:1, Capernaum was “His own city.” This city is located on the N.W.
side of the Sea of Galilee and happens to be the hometown of Peter and Andrew. It was a city that knew much
of the activity of the Lord Jesus from first-hand experience. If you want to talk about a “town of opportunity,”
Capernaum was it. However, according to the Bible, this city for the most part remained very unresponsive to
the message of Jesus Christ. There was such rejection that Matthew records Jesus’ words of personal rebuke to
Capernaum and the neighboring towns.
Matthew 11:20-24, “Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been
done, because they did not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty
works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the
mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for
you.’"
This text causes me to beg the question: “When He works in our midst, do we still question His power and
authority to do mighty things?”
“What Happens When Jesus is in the House”
I. WORD IS PREACHED. 1-2
WHEN JESUS WAS PRESENT.
A. DRAWING POWER. 1
“it was heard that He was in the house” – Jesus was back, He had been there in the past and His
return drew the crowd.
The greatest thing that could happen in any church is for word to get out that, “Jesus Christ is in the
house.” There is a drawing power about Jesus.
John 12:32, “I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."
This small Palestinian home, usually a one-room structure with a flat roof. This may have been Jesus’
home but most believe it to be Simon Peter’s home.
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B. DYNAMIC PREACHING. 2
“He preached the word to them”
“laleo” - a conversational tone, in simple down-to-earth, easy to understand language, He was feeding
them the Word of God.
Mark 12:37, “the common people heard Him gladly”
When Jesus preached, He:
1. Drew a Crowd
2. Drew people of Confidence
3. Drew a Cripple
4. Drew Criticism
“Word” (logon), used here of the message of salvation, the good news, the gospel
1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to
you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold
fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you
first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”
II. FAITH WAS PERSISTENT. 3-4
What a passage on Determination!
So great was their love for the sick man and their faith in the power of Jesus to heal that they would not
take “No” for an answer. They were committed to going to any lengths to bring their problem to Jesus and
to ask Him to deal with it.
FAITH SAYS:
1. There are always many who will never reach Jesus unless someone takes them.
2. If there were more bringing believers, there would be more saved sinners.
3. They had faith to believe Jesus would meet his need.
4. They put feet to their prayers.
5. They did not permit the difficult circumstances to discourage them.
6. They worked together and dared to do something different.
Therefore, they dug up the compacted thatched roof and lowered the man through the exposed beams to
the floor below.
This is one of the greatest Bible stories on “Whatever It Takes”
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III. FORGIVENESS IS PRESENT. 5
The context leads us to believe that this is not the words any of the “5” were listening to hear.
Romans 2:16, “in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my
gospel.”
Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performed. It meets the greatest need, costs the greatest
price, and brings the greatest blessing and the most lasting results.
“Son, your sins are forgiven you”
1. The first word put the man in the family of God
2. The second word put the man in the fellowship of God
Note: 1 John 1:7-10
“forgiveness” – what a blessed word for a sin-hardened soul. The debt discharged, guilt gone, conscience
cleansed, past pardoned, record removed!
Psalms 103:12
“As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Micah 7:18-19
“Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.”
Isaiah 43:25
"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your
sins.”
Jeremiah 31:34, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the
Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
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IV. DOUBT IS ON THE PROWL. 6-11
The Jews integrally connected sin and suffering. They argued that if a man was suffering he must have
sinned.
Eliphaz comments to Job:
Job 4:7, "Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut
off?”
The Rabbis had a saying, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven
him.”
1. One statement is invisible in its demonstration; the other is visible in that it can be verified.
Forgiveness takes place in the heart, transformation is metamorphosis.
2. Jesus knew what the scribes were thinking while in His worship service.
3. Doubt will keep you unresponsive to your greatest need – JESUS!
V. DEITY (HE’S GOD) WAS PROVEN. 7-11
v.7 “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
“Why does this man speak blasphemies like this?”
Jesus is either Lord or a Lunatic
Jesus is either God or an Imposter
Jesus is either God or a Blasphemer
v.10-11 – “But that you may know that the Son of
Man has power on earth to forgive sins…”
SPECIAL NOTE: - “power on earth to forgive sins.”
If our sins are to be forgiven, it must be while we are still on earth; both character and destiny are fixed at
death. The Bible offers no hope of redemption beyond the grave.
ILLUSTRATION:
Rich man and Lazarus, “great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:19-31). “A path runs from earth to heaven; and a
path runs from earth to hell, but no path runs from hell to heaven. Purgatory is a myth; the endless
masses said for dead men’s souls are all full of vain hope.”
John Phillips
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VI. GOD WAS PRAISED. 12
“immediately” – on the spot
“amazed”
“glorified God”
“We never saw anything like this!” (“We never saw it
on this fashion”)
The salvation of a soul is the greatest Christian
apologetic.
Healing would allow this man to walk home.
Forgiveness would allow this man to walk into heaven.
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