Mark 2 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00Mark 2:1
2. 0:03When he had come back to Capernaum
3. 0:05several days afterward, it was heard
4. 0:07that he was at home, and many [music]
5. 0:10were gathered together so that there was
6. 0:11no longer room, not even near the door,
7. 0:14and he was speaking the word to them.
8. 0:18And they came, bringing to him a
9. 0:20paralytic [music] carried by four men.
10. 0:23being unable to get to him because of
11. 0:26the crowd, they removed the [music] roof
12. 0:28above him.
13. 0:30And when they had dug an opening, they
14. 0:33let down the pallet on which the
15. 0:35paralytic was lying.
16. 0:39And Jesus,
17. 0:41seeing their faith, said to the
18. 0:44paralytic, "Son, your sins are
19. 0:47forgiven."
20. 0:50But some of the scribes were sitting
21. 0:51there reasoning in their hearts.
22. 0:56Why does this man speak that way? He is
23. 1:00blaspheing. Who can forgive sins but God
24. 1:03alone?
25. 1:05Immediately Jesus [music] aware in his
26. 1:08spirit that they were reasoning that way
27. 1:11within themselves said to them, "Why are
28. 1:14you reasoning about these things in your
29. 1:16hearts?
30. 1:18Which is easier?
31. 1:20To say to the paralytic, "Your sins are
32. 1:23forgiven." Or to say, "Get up and pick
33. 1:26up your pallet [music] and walk." But so
34. 1:30that you may know that the Son of Man
35. 1:33has authority on earth to forgive sins,
36. 1:37he said to the paralytic, "I say to you,
37. 1:41get up, pick up your pallet, and go
38. 1:44home."
39. 1:45And he got up immediately,
40. 1:48picked up the pallet, and went out in
41. 1:50the sight of everyone, so that they were
42. 1:53all amazed and were glorifying God,
43. 1:56saying, "We have never seen anything
44. 1:59like this."
45. 2:01And he went out again by the seashore,
46. 2:04and all the people were coming to him,
47. 2:06and he was teaching them.
48. 2:08So we have this scene in a house in
49. 2:10Capernaum
50. 2:12where people are so excited, people are
51. 2:16so full of expectation
52. 2:18that the house is jam-packed and nobody
53. 2:21can get inside.
54. 2:23And [music] so these four friends of a
55. 2:26paralytic man determine to lower him in
56. 2:31front of Jesus.
57. 2:32This is like symbolic of when you love
58. 2:36someone and you want them to be helped
59. 2:39and you don't have what they need and
60. 2:42you are determined to get them in front
61. 2:45of Jesus.
62. 2:47You're willing to climb up on the roof
63. 2:49carrying a paralytic on that roof and
64. 2:52then dig through the roof and lower him
65. 2:54down in front of Jesus. My favorite line
66. 2:58in the whole story is where it says,
67. 3:01"And Jesus seeing their faith."
68. 3:07They didn't say anything. They didn't
69. 3:09ask anything. They acted on the belief
70. 3:14that God was good, God was able, and God
71. 3:17would heal their friend. And when they
72. 3:20acted on this belief, their faith became
73. 3:23visible. Jesus saw their faith.
74. 3:28Is our faith visible or is our faith
75. 3:30merely intellectual? Do we want God to
76. 3:33say well thought or well done? True
77. 3:37faith expresses itself in actions.
78. 3:41And then he tells the man, "Son, your
79. 3:45sins are forgiven."
80. 3:48And as yet his audience doesn't
81. 3:50understand that that is the great
82. 3:52miracle that he has come to bring to
83. 3:55take away the sins of the people. This
84. 3:58is what John says when he first
85. 4:00introduces Jesus to the people. He says,
86. 4:03"Behold the lamb of God who takes away
87. 4:06the sins of the world." But as yet they
88. 4:09don't see that. They just see him as
89. 4:11coming to take away the sickness of the
90. 4:14world. But he's trying to open their
91. 4:16eyes to see that his miracles are merely
92. 4:20to show that he has the power to forgive
93. 4:23sins. So they said, "Nobody can forgive
94. 4:27sins but God alone." You're committing
95. 4:29blasphemy to forgive sins. By
96. 4:32implication, he's saying, "Well, nobody
97. 4:34can raise a paralytic but God alone." So
98. 4:37his implication is this is God who's
99. 4:40raising the paralytic. This is God who's
100. 4:42healing the sick. This is God who's
101. 4:45forgiving the sinner.
102. 4:48As he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of
103. 4:51Alfus, sitting in the tax booth. And he
104. 4:55said to him, "Follow me."
105. 4:58And he got up and followed him. And it
106. 5:00happened that he was reclining at the
107. 5:02table in his house, and many tax
108. 5:05collectors and sinners were dining with
109. 5:07Jesus and [clears throat] his disciples.
110. 5:10For there were many of them, and they
111. 5:12were following him. When the scribes of
112. 5:14the Pharisees saw that he was eating
113. 5:16with sinners and tax collectors, they
114. 5:18said to his disciples, "Why is he eating
115. 5:21and drinking with tax collectors and
116. 5:23sinners?"
117. 5:25And hearing this, Jesus said to them,
118. 5:27"It is not those who are healthy who
119. 5:30need a physician, but those who are
120. 5:32sick. I did not come to call the
121. 5:35righteous, but sinners."
122. 5:37John's disciples and the Pharisees were
123. 5:39fasting. And they came and said to him,
124. 5:42"Why do John's disciples and the
125. 5:44disciples of the Pharisees fast, but
126. 5:46your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus
127. 5:49said to them, "While the bridegroom is
128. 5:52with them, the attendants of the
129. 5:54bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So
130. 5:58long as they have the bridegroom with
131. 6:00them, they cannot fast. But the days
132. 6:03will come when the bridegroom is taken
133. 6:05away from them, and then they will fast
134. 6:07in that day." No one sews a patch of
135. 6:12unshrunk cloth on an old garment.
136. 6:16Otherwise, the patch pulls away from it.
137. 6:19The new from the old and a worse tear
138. 6:22results. No one puts new wine into old
139. 6:26wine skins. Otherwise, the wine will
140. 6:29burst the skins and the wine is lost and
141. 6:33the skins as well. But one puts new wine
142. 6:37into fresh wine skins.
143. 6:41Jesus is telling them that the new work
144. 6:44of God is not a patch for an old wine
145. 6:48skin or an old religious system. That it
146. 6:52needs a new way of doing and acting. And
147. 6:55if they try to clip out exciting
148. 6:59fragments from [music] what he's doing
149. 7:00and stitch it on to their old forms,
150. 7:03it's not going to work.
151. 7:06And it happened that he was passing
152. 7:09through the grain fields [music] on the
153. 7:11Sabbath, and his disciples began to make
154. 7:13their way along while picking the heads
155. 7:15of grain. The Pharisees were saying to
156. 7:18him, "Look, why are they doing what is
157. 7:20not lawful on the Sabbath?" And he said
158. 7:23to them, "Have you never read what David
159. 7:26did when he was in need and he [music]
160. 7:28and his companions became hungry? how he
161. 7:31entered the house of God in the time of
162. 7:33Abiathar the high priest and ate the
163. 7:36consecrated bread which is not lawful
164. 7:38for anyone to eat except the priests and
165. 7:41he also gave it to those who are with
166. 7:43him. Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath
167. 7:46was made for man and not man for the
168. 7:49Sabbath." So the Son of Man is Lord even
169. 7:53of the Sabbath.
170. 7:55He's saying there's nothing arbitrary
171. 7:57about the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to
172. 8:00help us walk in relationship with God.
173. 8:02The Sabbath was to help us cease from
174. 8:06our labors and remember the Lord [music]
175. 8:08and his day. And so if something else
176. 8:11helps us do that, then it's not in
177. 8:14conflict with the Sabbath. It's doing
178. 8:16what the Sabbath intended.
179. 8:18We weren't [music] made to fill this
180. 8:20rule. This rule was made to help us in
181. 8:23our relationship with God. And it's not
182. 8:25[music] dissimilar to their question
183. 8:27about fasting. They don't view fasting
184. 8:30[music] as a relationship with God. They
185. 8:32don't view it as an aid in their
186. 8:34relationship with God because God is
187. 8:37walking among them in Jesus Christ. So
188. 8:41why would you fast in order to have
189. 8:43better contact with the man you're
190. 8:45spending time with? You're only going to
191. 8:47fast when you don't have that contact.
192. 8:53>> [music]
193. 9:03[music]