Anyone can claim to forgive your sins, but how do you know for sure that they really can? How can you know that your sins are REALLY forgiven? The Bible tells us that only God can forgive sins, so if somebody says to you that they can forgive your sins, they must be God, or at least they must be claiming to be God.

But if that person also does something else that only God can do...something that we can see...such as heal a person’s disease, then their claim that they can forgive your sins seems more believable.

This story is told in the book of Mark and Luke, but I will use Mark’s version for today’s study.

In Mark 2:1-12, we see that Jesus verifies His ability to forgive sins by performing another miracle that only God can do. In this way, people could see that Jesus really is God.

The story is told in this way in the New Living Translation of Mark 2:1-12:

Several days later Jesus returned to Capernaum, and the news of His arrival spread quickly through the town. Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was not room for one more person, not even outside the door. And He preached the word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They could not get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above His head. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there said to themselves, “What? This is blasphemy! Who but God can forgive sins?!”

Jesus knew what they were discussing among themselves, so He said to them, “Why do you think this is blasphemy? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? I will prove that I, the Son of Man, have the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, take your mat, and go on home, because you are healed.”

The man jumped up, took the mat, and pushed his way through the stunned onlookers. Then they all praised God. “We have never seen anything like this before!” they exclaimed.

Jesus is returning to His home base in Capernaum, from His ministry tour in Galilee. He was teaching in a home. So many people from Capernaum came that they filled the house to overflowing. They were very interested in hearing Jesus teach. In Luke’s record of this event, we find an interesting note not present in Mark’s account. Luke says that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law there, from all over Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem (Luke 5:17). These were interested religious scholars, probably skeptical of what Jesus had to say. They were there to trap Jesus in saying things that went against their religious views. They wanted to punish Jesus. And they finally killed Jesus for what He said.

So this was a mixed group of common people and high-ranking religious scholars...all packed tightly into a house to listen to Jesus preach the Word of God.

As Jesus was teaching, a very unusual thing happened. Four men made a hole in the roof in order to lower a mat carrying their paralyzed friend down into the room. The houses of that day had low, flat roofs, reached by a stairway built onto one of the outside walls of the house. The roof served as another living area of the house where various chores were performed or where things were stored. The men carrying the paralytic’s mat went up the outside stairs onto the roof, removed a part of the roof, and lowered the man into the room. Because of the low roof, it would not have been a long “drop” to get the man from the roof to a position in front of Jesus.

And then, Jesus did something that astonished the crowd. He pronounced the man’s sins forgiven (Mark 2:5). This was a most unusual event in Jesus’ ministry.

While the healing of the paralytic by Jesus is the miracle that is most well-known in this story, there were really three miracles that happened that day in Capernaum.

MIRACLE: 1: THE MIRACLE OF WHAT JESUS SAW
Mark 2:1-10

Jesus saw what was going on in the hearts of all the people who were there. The Bible tells us that we can only see on the outside of a person, but that Jesus can see into a person’s heart; into their deepest, innermost thoughts.

1 Chronicles 28:9 says: The Lord sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought.

God knows your thoughts and mine. Our hearts are an open book to Him, because He sees every heart.

Jesus saw into the hearts of the four faithful men; into the hearts of the Paralytic man; and into the hearts of the Pharisees.

JESUS SAW THE HEARTS OF THE FOUR FAITHFUL MEN: Mark 2:5.

The first thing that Jesus saw was:

In the hearts of the four faithful men, Jesus saw the faith that was required for them to go to all the trouble of bringing their friend to be healed. The paralytic man was not healed on the basis of his own faith but because of the faith of his friends. As the four faithful men were lowering their paralyzed friend down, Mark 2:5 says that when Jesus saw THEIR faith, He forgave the paralyzed man’s sins. When Jesus saw their actions, He knew they were acting by faith. Everyone else in the house just saw a man being lowered by his friends. But Jesus saw their faith. The men believed that Jesus could make a difference in their friend’s life and they were willing to base their actions on this belief.

The strength of your faith is demonstrated by your actions. The Bible assures us that faith without works (action) is dead.

Jesus still sees faith in human hearts today. He looks beyond what we see or what anyone else sees in a person. Jesus sees what is really there, deep within their heart. He knows if we are just play-acting at being a Christian or if we have genuine faith, just as these four men did. When we bring others to Jesus, He sees if we truly believe He can heal them.

JESUS SAW THE HEART OF THE PARALYTIC: Mark 2:5.

The next thing Jesus saw was:

Jesus saw the heart of the paralyzed man. Notice that the first thing that Jesus said to the man was NOT, “Get up and walk.” Instead, Jesus saw the man’s spiritual condition and Jesus focused on that. Jesus saw beyond the physical problem. He saw a much more important problem. Jesus stopped his normal teaching and immediately said to the man coming down through a hole in the roof, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” That statement caused a great shock among the people who were gathered in the house---especially among the Pharisees and other religious leaders. You can imagine the silence! Oh, my! Now Jesus has gotten Himself in trouble with the leaders of the established religion!

JESUS SAW THE HEARTS OF THE PHARISEES: Mark 2:6-9.

Then Jesus saw two things in the Pharisees’ hearts.

The FIRST THING that Jesus saw was their faulty reasoning (Mark 2:6-8). The Pharisees “said to themselves” that Jesus committed blasphemy. They were wondering silently how Jesus could say such a thing, thinking, “Who but God can forgive sins?”

They should have thought, “Well, this proves that Jesus is God.” Instead the thought, “This proves that Jesus is a liar because he is claiming to be God.”

The Pharisees were making the same mistake as the scribes made in John 5:18, where they accused Jesus of blaspheming; making Himself to be equal with God. The Pharisees in Capernaum that day believed Jesus was doing this very same thing since God alone can forgive sins. Therefore, Jesus was claiming to be God and that is blasphemy.

The Pharisees were on the right track with their thinking, but they came to the wrong conclusion. Instead of recognizing Jesus as God, they said He was an impostor, a phony, a blasphemer. Just because someone says another person’s sins are forgiven does not make it true, and Jesus recognized this. That is why He did something to prove He had the power to forgive sins. We will discuss this power a little later in this story.

Each believer here today should be reminded that God knows the reasoning of our hearts. When we try to reason in our hearts against God’s will, we will meet with failure.

The SECOND THING that Jesus saw was their foolish logic.

(Mark 2:9-11). When Jesus replied out loud to the silent reasoning of the Pharisees, He was going from the unseen to the seen. The forgiveness of sins is an unseen act which takes place in the spiritual realm. It cannot be verified by human observations. If I walk up to you and say your sins are forgiven, no earthly test can prove whether they are or are not forgiven. But when the paralytic is healed, it is a different matter altogether. That is an act which can be verified in the human, physical world. If a paralytic who has been lame all his life gets up, takes up his bed, and walks off, it can be safely said that he was healed.

Both healing and forgiveness are divine acts; neither is possible apart from the power of God. Because of the fact that both miraculous healing and forgiveness of sin are from God alone, Jesus is saying, “If I can heal, I can forgive. Neither can be done without the power of God.” Jesus did a verifiable act to validate a non-verifiable act. The paralytic man came into the room un-forgiven and paralyzed and left forgiven and whole, both accomplished by the diving power of God.

You see, Jesus does not ask us to have “Blind faith”. He offers everyone evidence to assist us to have faith and belief in Him. Faith is still required; I cannot prove to you with 100% certainty, beyond the shadow of a doubt, with no margin of error, that Jesus is God. But, there is plenty of evidence to any reasonable person that we can have faith in Jesus.

MIRACLE: 2: THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST’S POWER
Mark 2:11-12

The first of the 3 miracles that day was Jesus knowing everything about everyone who was there. The second miracle was His healing of the man’s paralysis by His power.

THE POWER DEMONSTRATED: Mark 2:11-12a.

The paralyzed man came on a bed, and left by walking. That was a clear demonstration of power, and that power validates Jesus’ words about forgiveness.

THE PROOF DISPLAYED: Mark 2:12b.

There is clear evidence that Jesus’ power was observed by all who were there. This was not a magic trick. It was not some sort of fraud done with an actor pretending to be paralyzed.
First, we know this because the crowd’s reaction was amazement. The man rose up, and the crowd moving aside to let him out of the house. He then walked off and went on his way. Everyone saw it up close, even the Pharisees, with their own eyes and ears. There was no doubt that the man was healed.

Second, the crowd’s response was to praise and glorify God (Well, not the Pharisees). Verse 12 says, “They all praised God”. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 that we, you and me, are to do good works so those who see them would glorify God in heaven. That is exactly what happened when Jesus healed this man. Only God deserves glory for a miracle such as this.

Third, their reply was, “We have never seen anything like this before.” In Luke’s gospel, he records that they also said, “We have seen strange things today.” (Luke 5:26). This means strange in the human realm. But that is exactly what a miracle is - God crossing over from His spiritual realm into our human physical realm and doing something powerful that nobody else can do.

Whenever anyone asks me if I believe God still heals, I always say, “Yes, I know He does!” Whether God heals through medicine and doctors or just by His spoken word, the answer is “Yes”; God indeed heals today.

MIRACLE: 3: THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST’S PARDON
Mark 2:5

A stranger to the Bible might read this story and think Jesus had His priorities wrong...that He should have addressed the man’s physical problems first and then talked about forgiveness later. But Jesus knew this man’s greatest need was not physical healing.

He saw the burden that was pressing on the man’s heart. Jesus saw into his heart and gave him true spiritual relief. Jesus pardoned the man first - not to provoke a discussion with the Pharisees but to address his greatest need first. Both of the man’s needs were met that day -spiritual healing and physical healing. He had no idea when he woke up that morning what was in store for him that day. But an encounter with Jesus changed the spiritual and physical parts of his life. And Jesus is still working the same miracle of forgiveness today for anyone who asks.

God will take a person who is spiritually paralyzed and stand them up on the solid rock of salvation of Christ. Their lives are turned around and transformed by the power of God. Behind every physical miracle that Christ worked is an inner miracle that is the greatest miracle of all.

THE PARALYTIC AND THE PROBLEM OF SIN.

These miracle stories are important for us because we see ourselves in the people that Jesus touched by His power. We are touched more spiritually than we are touched physically. The paralytic man was completely helpless; he could do nothing for himself. That is the condition we are in before we meet Jesus. We have no strength or ability to come to God. He has to do something in our hearts that is similar to what Jesus did for the paralytic. There was no human cure available for him and he was without hope. We learn from his story to see ourselves the same way. We have no hope unless Jesus comes to live within us and changes us from the inside out. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us this when it says:

Those people who become Christians become new persons.
They are not the same anymore,
For the old is gone.
A new life has begun.

THE PRIORITY OF THE ETERNAL AND OF THE SPIRITUAL.

The world teaches us to focus first on the physical. We make the outside look good and do not worry about the inside. Because we are in the habit of looking at things on the outside, it is a very big challenge to us when we study the miracles of God...to focus on the spiritual. We have to change our thinking to view the miracles the way God views them, putting the priority on the eternal and spiritual, instead of on the temporary and the physical.

Someone said that the unbeliever’s attitude is to live, live, and live - and then you die. But the believer’s attitude is we are dying, dying, and dying - and then we live! And that is exactly right. The miracles teach us that the reality of life is not in the outward person who is perishing and fading away, but in the inner spiritual man or woman who lives forever.

There is a doctor who is involved in medical missionary work who is a deeply committed Christian. He does surgery under some very primitive conditions. Because of the sanitary conditions, lack of instruments and surgical facilities, he is not highly confident about whether a patient will survive surgery. So he never operates on anyone without sharing the Gospel with them first. If the person survives the surgery, they have a new life in Christ. If they do not survive, and they have received Jesus, they go to be with the Lord. That is a modern example of keeping priorities straight.

THE PRIVILEGE OF BRINGING OUR FRIENDS TO JESUS.

As we conclude this study, we see that it teaches us that while we can not save anyone, we can to bring them to Jesus and He can save them. We can be like the four men in the story who recognized their limitations, but had faith that Jesus had unlimited power and ability.

We can bring our friends and family members to Jesus in at least 3 ways:

First, we can bring them by praying for them. God’s Holy Spirit will do His work through our prayers.

Second, we can bring them by talking with them...sharing the Gospel with them.

Third, we can bring them by invitation. We can invite friends to church or Bible study where they can hear the Gospel and be saved.

This story is an example for us. Is there someone you know who needs to be taken to Jesus? Let them know that you love them enough to bring them to Jesus. Do not let them remain paralyzed spiritually. A true friend will bring them to Jesus. Many people want to be brought to Jesus; they are just waiting for someone like you to bring them. Do not wait any longer; today take your friend to a miracle.

God will bless you when you do, and your friend or family-member will be eternally grateful that you did.