“WHO NEEDS A DOCTOR?”
Mark 2:1-12,
15-17
Chapter
2 is another chapter filled with action.
It is really a continuation of chapter 1. Some translations in fact begins
it with the connective "and" that Mark uses so often.
Jesus
had moved His headquarters from
Chapter
1 indicates He withdrew into the desert because the leper didn't obey His
request but told everyone. The crowds
pushed upon Him and he couldn't do His work.
Jesus
did not come primarily as a wonder worker.
He didn't want that to be the thing to characterize Him. He came for a spiritual ministry - to die
upon the cross for the sins of the world.
This type of publicity obscures the gospel.
The
problem today when there is an emphasis on healing or tongues or things like
that is it is getting the cart before the horse. The first concern is preaching the
gospel? Why do people flock to these
preachers? To hear the gospel of
salvation, or is the emphasis upon healing or some other emotional experience?
Our
primary business is to preach the gospel.
It is an emphasis upon the Word of God; the integrity and inerrancy of
the Word of God. Our prayer should be,
"Father, give me more confidence in the Word." We see what it does in hearts and lives; we
know what it has done for us. As a
result, we should have even more confidence.
The
Word of God is powerful. Michael Billester visited eastern
Our
attention in Mark 2 is directed to another group, a delegation of five, coming
down the dusty road. One is sick with
the palsy. He needed a doctor. The four carry him on a stretcher looking for
Dr. Jesus. But they can't get in because
of the crowd.
One thing the church is good at is designating
committees. We depend on
committees. Someone has said a committee
is made up of those who take down minutes and waste hours. Another has said a committee is made up of a
group of people who individually can do nothing, but together they can decide
that nothing can be done. And that is
generally what they do.
If
they were like us, they had committees.
The door committee came, looked around and then went back and said, “You
can't get in the door." Then the
window committee went up and looked around and came back and said, "You
can't get in a window." Fortunately
the roof committee said, "We think we can get him down through the
roof." So, maybe, if you have
enough committees, there will be one that will function.
They
decided to let him down through the roof, and when they got him into the
presence of Christ, I wonder if they were embarrassed about interrupting the
meeting. We have no notion what the Lord
was teaching on this occasion, but it came to a sudden halt. But our Lord must have looked at them and
smiled.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the
paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven” [Mark 2:5]. By whose faith? It appears the faith of these men was
responsible for his being saved. But as
we study it, we realize that it was not their
faith that saved him.
It's
wonderful to have a godly mother, but you are not going to heaven tied to your
mamma's apron strings. It's wonderful to
have a godly father, but your godly father won't save you. You will have to exert faith yourself. You
must be the believing one.
On
closer examination we see it is not the faith of these men that saved him. Their faith brought him to the place where
Jesus could deal with him personally. "When Jesus saw their faith" means their faith to
bring the palsied man. He dealt
personally with the man and said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." It was His spiritual ministry.
What
we need in the church today is stretcher-bearers - men
and women with that kind of faith to go out and bring in the unsaved to hear
the gospel. Many are paralyzed with a
palsy of sin, of indifference, or of prejudice.
Many are not going to come into church where the gospel is preached
unless you take a corner of the stretcher and bring them in. That's what these men did. They had the faith to bring this poor man to
hear the Lord Jesus deal with him personally and say, "Son, your sins are
forgiven."
But there were certain of the scribes… Here's the
enemy and they don't speak out but just think their thoughts. They are wrong on the first question, but
right in the second. Jesus was not
speaking blasphemies. But it is true
only God can forgive sin.
A
judge has no right to let a criminal off.
He must enforce the law. God is
the moral ruler of this universe, and He must defend His laws. God cannot be lawless. He can't, because He is righteous. Having made the laws, He obeys them, and His
laws are inexorable. They are not
changed; by them, you and I are guilty before God. We need forgiveness and He does forgive. May we never make the mistake of thinking He
forgives because He is big-hearted. He forgives us because Christ paid the
penalty! Jesus was not speaking blasphemy
- He is God. He could forgive sins because He came to this
earth to provide a salvation for you and me and for the man with the palsy.
Jesus knew in His
spirit that this is what they were thinking… and he said to them, “Why are you
thinking these things?
These
men didn't speak out, but they thought this in their hearts. He tries to draw them out, but these men had
had a run-in with Him before and they had always come away with a bloody nose. They decided the best thing to do was to keep
quiet.
Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
Jesus
really puts them on the spot. Is it
easier to forgive this man’s sins or to make him arise and walk? Though they didn't answer, I'm sure they
would say one is as impossible as the other.
Only God could do either. That’s
right and that is why the Lord Jesus told the man to take up his bed and walk.
He
wouldn't be back on that bed, and he wouldn't be coming back to the
stretcher. He's going to walk from now
on. When our Lord healed, He did a good
job of it.
This is a gospel of action and here is one of the miracles
of action.
Next is the call of Levi, or Matthew. Matthew belonged to the tribe of Levi. Imagine that!
He belonged to the priestly tribe yet he has become a publican, of all
things. Matthew celebrated his calling
with a dinner.
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and
“sinners” were eating with him… When the teachers of the law… saw him eating
with the “sinners” and the tax collectors they asked… “Why does he eat with tax
collectors and sinners?“
Three
times the statement is made that the guests were sinners and tax collectors? Apparently not a good one
in the bunch. None of the elite
were there.
On hearing this,
Jesus said… “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners.“
That
is a tremendous answer. You don't call
for the doctor when everybody is well.
The Lord Jesus said that He hadn't come to call the righteous but to
call sinners. The reason He said that,
was because there were only sinners there, only one kind of folk. There was no
righteous person there, but the Pharisees thought they were!
The Lord gives two
illustrations about the new life in fellowship with Him. He did not come to polish up the Law. He came to do something new. Not to patch up an old garment but to give a
new garment. Under the Law men worked,
and their works were like an old moth-eaten garment. Jesus provides a new robe of righteousness for a sinner who will trust Him. This enables him to stand before Almighty
God. Jesus didn't come to extend the Law
of the Old Testament. He came to
introduce something new. That will be
the fact that He will die for the sins of the world. New wine goes into new wine skins. A new garment goes onto a new man. That robe of righteousness comes down on one
who through faith has become a son of God.
This is a tremendous thing!
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