Mark 2:1  And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
2  And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
3  And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
4  And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
6  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7  Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
8  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9  Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
10  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11  I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12  And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

Capernaum became the headquarters for Jesus during His earthly ministry. Jesus’ fame had been spreading and the people were desirous to see more miracles. As Jesus would point out, they were not that interested in the truth, but they wanted to be healed and they wanted to be fed material food.
In verse 2 we see that Jesus was more concerned about their souls than they were. He preached the word unto them. That is what they needed. Jesus did not deceive the people and lure them into a healing session. His pattern was to preach and teach the Word. Healing was done to prove that His Word was authentic and that He was the Messiah and thus the Saviour.
People today need the Word of God. It is not that many years ago where there would be Bible conferences that went for days. At those conferences, the main thing was true Bible preaching. We used to attend them. They were a blessing to our hearts. I remember at one of them the preacher was teaching on the role of husbands. There was a man at that conference who was not a good husband. The preacher did not know that, nor did most of those in attendance. After the service, that man wanted the preacher to step outside. He wanted to beat him up. That man did not want to accept the truth. Of course there was no fight. The preacher did not fall for that trap.
Godly preachers do not put their finger to the wind and see what is acceptable and what is popular. Godly preachers preach the Word. That is what Jesus did.
Certain news media are broadcasting about the large crowds that the Conservative leader is drawing in comparison to the smaller crowds for the other parties. They are showing that the other parties have mirrors up on the walls of some of their venues to try to make their crowds look larger.
It does not matter which party is out there speaking, their message is not really very important. None of them are addressing the real issues that affect us as people. None of them can address them because they are all lost and all they can think about is material things. They do not care about the moral issues that are the underpinnings of any society. A society that does not have the fear of God cannot survive.
We are thankful for the large number of people who are finding our site. The devil does not want people to know the truth, but God is greater than the devil. There are ways for people to receive the truth yet, and wicked humanity has not figured out how to silence the truth. We are currently not in the dark days of the Tribulation. We praise God for giving us a voice in the world today.
In verse 3 we see where the mind of the people was at. Jesus was feeding their souls. He was offering healing to their souls. They brought to Him a man sick of the palsy. He could not walk. He was dependent upon others. We read that four men were needed to carry this man to Jesus. However, we see that when they arrived at the house where He was, there was no way to get to Him with their burden. They were not deterred. They went up on the roof and uncovered the roof in order to let Him down right in front of Jesus.
Many of the roofs in Israel were flat roofs. This roof was not made of solid material. It was a roof that was like a thatched roof that could be taken apart if need be. These four men did not have permission to open that roof, but they did it anyway. They had a need and they wanted Jesus to heal this man so they would no longer need to look after him.
Jesus did not condemn them for lowering this man before Him. He saw their faith. They went to a lot of work to bring this man before Him. They trusted that their efforts would not be in vain. Jesus did not do as they expected. He knew this man was a sinner, just like all people are. This man was not bedridden because he was a worse sinner than others. However, his greatest need was to be forgiven of his sin.
As was usual wherever Jesus went, there were false teachers in the crowd. They were hardened people who were not interested in knowing the truth. They were just there to try to pick Jesus apart. They would never win, but they were too hardened to realize the futility of their actions. They were reasoning in their hearts regarding what Jesus had just done.
In verse 8 we read that Jesus knew what they were talking about. He confronted them with their foolishness. Why were they reasoning about this in their hearts? They should have been rejoicing that this man’s sins were forgiven. They had no concern over the forgiveness of sins.
We see that same pattern in the Charismatic camp today. They misquote verses like Isaiah 53:5:

Isaiah 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

The healing offered there is the spiritual healing that we so desperately need. It should be obvious as we study the life of Christ, that His primary concern for the people was their spiritual need. The Charismatics and many others who follow that false teaching are more concerned about showmanship. They claim to “heal” people and if the person does not get healed they blame it on that person’s lack of faith. Sometimes people at those meetings do “experience” healing. The devil is allowed to do things with people. We see that in the life of Job. Those alive at the time of the Antichrist will see that a lot.
God is still able to heal. He does not do that through heretics. We have already seen that He cast out devils and He did not allow them to speak. The truth is important.
In our text, Jesus saw the faith of the four men and He forgave the sins of this bedridden man. He knew what they wanted, but He also knew what this man needed. He gave the man what he needed.
In verse 9 Jesus challenged the scribes regarding their reasoning. They could not forgive sins. They knew they were guilty of sin. They had reclassified sin to try to justify themselves, but they knew they were guilty before God. They also could not make this man walk again. They could not do anything for this man, but they were quick to complain about Jesus.
In verses 10-11 Jesus would prove His deity once again. As the Son of man He did forgive this man’s sin. He would also raise him up and cause him to walk again. In verse 11 He commanded the man to take up his bed and walk.
In verse 12 we see that this sick man immediately arose, took up his bed and walked. There was no need for him to gain strength in his muscles first. He was immediately healed. He was carried in by four men. He walked out through the crowd on his own two feet with no assistance and he carried his bed roll with him. Jesus put the scribes to shame, but that would not stop them. The people that were present were amazed at what they had just witnessed. They glorified God. This was certainly not what the scribes wanted to happen. They wanted the people to condemn Jesus for what He had done.
The people admitted they had never seen anything like that before. Those self-righteous scribes could criticize Jesus, but they could not replace Him. They could not counter what He had done. All they could do was condemn.
It is important to have discernment. It is important to make sure you believe the truth. If you think someone is lying to you, you better be sure you can back that up. The Bible is God’s Word. Everything we hear needs to be examined in the Light of God’s Word. If people would do that, the Charismatics would be starving. They would be ashamed. They would not have any followers. Since most people reject the preservation of the Scriptures, they accept the lies of the perversions and they condemn those who follow the truth. That does not help them, but they are too hardened to realize they are in the wrong.
The wise person acknowledges the greatness of the true God, not because He heals the physically sick, but because He can and will forgive sins. That is the greatest need of mankind today. It has always been the greatest need of man. Be sure you are believing the truth, and not man-made heresy.
Pastor Bartel