Tim: We are in a series called The Miracles of Jesus. I just get to go through the gospels and just wait for the Holy Spirit to speak to me about which one to talk about. Today, we're going to go to the gospel according to Mark Chapter Number 2, the gospel according to Mark Chapter Number 2. I want to read the first 12 verses in your hearing. What's coincidental, I did not plan this, I read from Matthew last week the account of the lepers man that was healed. In Mark's gospel, literally the next event after the healing of this lepers man is the story I'm going to read you right now. Again, this is not my genius, just happens to be how the Holy Spirit led me.

Gospel according to Mark Chapter Number 2, starting at the first verse, here's what it says. When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors, that there was no more room. Even outside the door, while he was preaching God's word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat right down in front of Jesus.

Seeing their faith. Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "My child, your sins are forgiven," but some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, "What is he saying? This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins." Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man your sins are forgiven or stand up, pick up your mat, and walk? I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins."

Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat and go home." The man jumped up, grabbed his mat and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, "We've never seen anything like this before." This is the greatest house party of all time. The four words, no points, deal with it.

[laughter]

It's just something in the story that I couldn't even get points out of. I just think there's something in the story we all need to get. If you're taking notes, here are the four words that make up the title to this message, from the inside out, from the inside out. Bow your heads, let's pray over the word before we get started, shall we? Holy Spirit, heal is from the inside out. Amen.

Congregation: Amen.

[laughter]

Mark's continuing this narrative from seemingly where we left off last week. A lepers man would literally disobey Jesus' explicit instruction, "Don't tell anyone what I've done." The lepers man you'll remember from last week, goes, "Okay," and walks straight out of his presence. It's like, "Guess what he did?" That news spread. Not from just where that man was, but when Jesus got back to Capernaum, the word had already gone ahead of him. Jesus is the most viral person that's ever lived on the face of the planet before there was a bluebird to tweet, before there was a Zuckerberg to face, before there was an Instagram to click, Jesus is and continues to be the most viral person that has ever been on planet earth.

[applause]

In this space of grace that he is in during his earthly ministry, He comes back to Capernaum and He goes to a house. It's not specific whose house He was in. It didn't say that it was His. He said himself that the Son of Man doesn't have a place to lay his head. We don't know if it was Peter's house, but this is Jewish culture. In Jewish culture, everyone is hospitable. Somebody gives him a house and everybody shows up to that house.

Can you imagine if Jesus came to your house and then people found out about it? I don't know about you, but there's no one in here with enough square footage for Jesus to physically come to your house and everybody else know about it. All these people come into the house and they're packed in there. They are packed tight. It is something akin to like a concert, but just at an individual's house. All of these people have crowded into the house while Jesus is teaching.

There are five men, one who is paralyzed, four who are not, who have heard about Jesus' reputation, probably from this lepers man that could not keep his mouth shut, but they've heard about his reputation. They heard that he could heal, and so there are five guys that hear about this and they say to themselves, "Maybe we can get into Jesus' presence and maybe what was done for the lepers man can also be done for me." This man who was paralyzed is reliant upon his four friends to be navigated around, and so they pick him up.

I imagine that one took each corner of the mat that he was laying on, and they walk him to this house. Upon arrival, they find out that the house is sold out. Registration is closed. There are no more seats for anybody. People are literally standing outside. I can just imagine through the theater of my imagination that as Jesus was speaking on the inside, people that were on the outside could not readily hear him, and so you would need people to literally turn around and say the last thing he was saying, barely, barely. Barely, barely, tell them barely, barely. He just said barely, barely. I say unto you. I say unto you, I say unto you. Tell them in the back, he said unto them.

[laughter]

Seek He first, seek He first, seek He first, tell them in the back He says seek He first. What? Kingdom of God, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of God. All the other people that were outside of the house that couldn't get in made no fuss. They were fine with the accommodations, we can't get in, it's packed, I guess we're going to stay out here, but when you've been carrying somebody, for I don't know how long, you are not taking these accommodations lightly. They showed up with this paralyzed man and found out that this place was crowded and they did not say to themselves, "Well, I guess let's just see if He decides to hold a revival. Maybe He'll be back next week." The determination of these friends said, "We did not come this far to go back without an encounter with Jesus.

[applause]

I don't know if this resonates with at least 50 people in the room, but you did not come out here today to go back without an encounter with Jesus. You did not take time out your schedule to get into God's presence and not leave without getting a breakthrough. Sometimes you have to be so desperate on the inside that you don't care what the accommodations are on the outside. Your mind is set and you are focused to believe that I will get a breakthrough from Jesus.

[applause]

The person, how are we going to get in there? I don't know who thought about it first, but one of them said, "I have an idea." What's the idea?" "Sorry, man. We can get up on the roof, and then we can tear a hole through the roof, and then we can lower him down wherever Jesus is." Can we just-- I'm an empath, so I feel everybody thinks-- can we just allow ourselves to be the paralyzed man for a minute? On the mat, listening to his friends think this through.

They are going to get up on the roof, drag me up on the roof tied to this mat and then just plunk me down. Is it a one-story house?

[laughter]

How far is the drop?

[laughter]

Without a fuss, they come into agreement and I don't know who boosted who up on the roof first, I don't know how they propped this man up and dragged him up on the roof, but while Jesus was in there talking unbeknownst to anybody else that was in the house at the time, you just start hearing this. [makes noise] Trying to focus on Jesus, verily, verily. [makes noise]

Before you know it, the dried mud and the leaves and the tiles that made up this roof, some roof. As it got pulled back, you start seeing men poking their head through. "Hey, we so sorry, Jesus-- No." [makes noise] "Is he down there?" "He's down there. I just saw him." [makes noise] Then they pulled a guy and dropped him through the hole. Can you imagine if I'm preaching right now?

[laughter]

Jesus is unbothered? He doesn't go, "I'm in the middle of a sermon, Me." Because you can't say God. "I'll wait for you, I'll wait."

[laughter]

"I still got time." He doesn't get angry, He doesn't get bothered. This man is literally lowered right in front of Him, and Jesus is unbothered by the interruption that He received. I believe He's unbothered by the interruption because He sees so much of what He has had to do and what these men have done. For when He looks up and He sees the faith of these young men, I believe He's looking past them and He's being reminded of what He had to do to get down. That His father literally had to open up a hole between eternity and time to drop God into the earth in human form.

I literally believe He's not upset with this situation, for when He looks down, He's reminded of the assignment that He has on Earth. That the Son of Man did not come to destroy the world but to save the world from their sins. God is being reminded in this moment through His son Jesus of the purpose and the plan that He had on Earth. Imagine now that this paralytic man is right in front of Jesus and the entire people, all the people that are in the house are looking like, "What in the world is going on here?" The people that are looking through the roof are looking down like, "Yes, do it. Do the thing. Do the thing. The thing that-- you did the thing for the leper, you can do it for him, right? Go ahead and do it."

Jesus looking down at the lepers man, the lepers man is looking at Jesus like, "You know I didn't come up with this plan."

[laughter]

"You know I didn't tear the hole in the roof, but I'm here." The four friends are looking down at Jesus and Jesus looking down at the lepers man- I mean at the paralytic man, I get them confused.

[laughter]

The paralytic man is looking up at Jesus, probably up at his friends. Then there's this moment where the thing gets, I believe, a little intense because Jesus is looking at the paralytic man, the paralytic man is looking up at Jesus, Jesus is looking at the paralytic man, the paralytic man is looking up at Jesus. Jesus looking at the paralytic man, paralytic man is looking up at Jesus, and they both agree he's paralyzed, but they don't agree where. The friends are eager to see a miracle happen, "Do the thing, do the thing."

Jesus looking down at his paralysis, says something that I don't think his friends were prepared to hear, "My child, your sins are forgiven." "That's not what we brought him here for, right? We brought him here to have his paralysis healed. He's still paralyzed." This is where we need to realize what the greatest miracle Jesus does is. Jesus looking down at a man who's physically paralyzed, discerns that he's spiritually paralyzed as well. Given the option to heal either the external paralysis or the internal paralysis, He chooses to work first on the inside before He addresses anything that's on the outside.

[applause]

I'm going to take my time and preach this, because you need to understand that the greatest miracle that you've ever received in your life is to have your sins forgiven. It is not being healed from cancer, it is not being healed from a brain tumor, it is not being healed from a paralysis. The greatest miracle that any one of us can ever receive is to no longer have our sins counted against us so that we could be in a loving relationship with the God that created us before the foundations of the world.

Is there anybody besides me that is happy that your sins have been forgiven? Is there anybody besides me that can celebrate just for a moment that you knew who you were before you gave your life to Jesus and you knew that you cannot get those sins forgiven by your good deeds, by your church attendance record, by how much money you gave in tithes and offering? We needed a savior.

Now, I got to tell you, it blows my mind theologically that Jesus would do this so pre-emptively. It messes with my brain a little bit because scripture says very, very clearly that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins, except Jesus decides to just do it anyway. He hasn't shed one drop of blood, yet He forgives the sins here and now. How does He do this?

Well, you have to understand that He is apostle, and prophet, and evangelist, and pastor, and teacher. Pastor Robert shared this with us a few months ago that He is apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. He has to be all those things or He could not give them as gifts to anybody else. If He was one or four, He couldn't give those gifts. If He was two or three, He couldn't give those gifts. He is all of them at the same time, so the apostle turns into the prophet and declares his sins forgiven even before he sheds His blood because He was going to keep His word and shed that blood anyway. Oh, that's juicy.

It's also anti-climactic to the friends that brought him because they wanted something a little more tangible. I honestly don't believe that the way the scripture reads, I actually don't believe that Jesus was going to heal this man's paralysis. I think that Jesus was going to prove a point and just go, I've forgiven the guy and we're done.

Even though it would've been disappointing for the friends, it wouldn't have been disappointing to the man, because why would Jesus heal a man externally and not heal him internally and let the man walk out never to be seen again for eternity? He works from the inside out and decides to start with forgiveness, and He forgives. I don't know if the man fail a change, but it's a fact, it's not a feeling. His sins are forgiven.

I think the episode ends here or was supposed to until these haters started talking to themselves in their minds. This is one of the most embarrassing moments that the Pharisees have recorded on record, because the scripture says that they thought to themselves, not out loud, as they're watching this episode, they think to themselves, "Who is this man think he is that he can forgive sins? That's blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. Can't believe this guy." They said all of that without ever moving their mouth or ever-changing their faith. You got to see it the way I see it.

[laughter]

They never said anything out loud, and Jesus turns and says, "Why do you have a problem with what I said?" This has to be the most embarrassing day for the Pharisees ever. They never opened their mouth, but Jesus heard their hearts. This should sober all of us, because what you were thinking last week on 6:35 during traffic. You know how you feel driving on 114 at 5 32 in the afternoon being cut off while praising music, worship music is playing, and you still feel something else rise up on the inside of you. It doesn't come out of your mouth because you have a bumper sticker, but on the inside, you're not the only one listening to what you're saying.

Jesus literally turns to the Pharisees and he says, "Do you have a problem with what I said?" Can you imagine how exposing this is for them? After saying this in their heart, he confronts them out loud. "Why did you just say what you said?" Their response was nothing, as would mine would be. He says, "What do you think is easier? Do you think it's easier for me to say your sins are forgiven or do you think it's easier for me to say, stand, pick up your mat and walk?" Now, when Jesus asks this question, He is addressing two things at once, His authority and His ability.

You see, with his authority, when He says your sins are forgiven, truly, I understand the position of the Pharisees. Who can prove that? There's no way that you can prove that His sins are forgiven. "How do we know? Just because you said so?" Jesus says, "Okay, duly noted. You don't think that this is something that is actually happened. What do you think is easier for me? To forgive someone's sins or to say, stand up, pick up your mat and walk?" Still no answer. He goes, "I'll settle it myself so that you can know and I can prove my authority, let me show you my ability, because obviously, the leper hasn't made it to y'all's house. Obviously, the leper that I told to shut up hasn't made it to this region to tell you what I've done in His life."

He turns to the paralytic man, who has no idea what's going on. This is the best part of the story. This whole conversation He starts having with the Pharisees. The paralytic man was just like, "I have no idea. That man just told me my sins are forgiven. The next thing you know, He started checking these dudes over here. I didn't hear Him say nothing, but then He started having a conversation with them, but they wouldn't talk back." Then he turns to the paralytic man and He goes, "Stand up, pick up your mat and walk." Now, you all know I be acting stuff out.

[laughter]

This dude is on the flow, looking at a hole through the roof, listening to Jesus talk to some people that won't talk back, and then he's told, pick up your mat and walk. Now, can you imagine you ain't walked? I know I'm talking country, but y'all going to deal with it. Can you imagine you have not walked and then you are told to do something that you have not done before? This man was told to stand up, pick up his mat and walk.

This is what I love about this man. This man didn't go, "Well, I would, but I haven't done that before. I've been paralyzed since I was born, and so I really don't know what walking is looking like." No, you know what this man said? He said, "You know what? My friend's been walking. It looks like I can do what they've been doing." He just gets up, rolls up his mat, I don't know what's going on between y'all right there. Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, we out of here.

[laughter]

[applause]

Listen, I need to encourage somebody very quickly to know that sometimes God is going to ask you to do something that you've never done before and you don't need to ask any questions. You need to get bold in your faith and just say, "If you said it, I can do it. If you spoke it, I can be it. If you declare it, I can walk into it. I will stand up. I will pick up my mat. I will walk. I know nobody else in the family has ever done it, but I'm going to do it. I know nobody else in my generation has ever been faithful to God, but I'm going to do it. I know no one else has ever called on the name of Jesus, but I'm going to be the one to do it. I shall stand up and walk."

[applause]

It's a miracle. It's a miracle to be able to stand. It's a miracle to pick up something that you used to lay on. It's a miracle to walk out of something that you used to lay on, but that miracle is not as great. That's what happened on the inside. It is a beautiful thing to get a miracle on the outside, but it will never beat having your sins forgiven.

[applause]

Whoo. Ooh. [chuckles] Oh, man. I resonate with this man. Not because I've been paralyzed naturally, but I have been paralyzed emotionally and physically. I think most of you have heard my testimony about being sexually abused when I was eight years old by a neighbor that lived across the street from me and the trauma that I experienced as a result of that. Being exposed to pornography when I was 12 years old, a full-blown porn addict, highly promiscuous when I was 19, low self-esteem, low self-worth. Just paralyzed. Suicidal ideations. Why am I even here? I can't even get over myself. I can't stop my own behavior. I don't even want to be like this and I can't stop being like this.

On January 14th of 1996, sitting in the back of my parents' church, the Holy Spirit led me to Jesus.

[applause]

I remember being convicted of my sins, understanding that I did not have relationship with Jesus and that I needed to be connected to God. I also remember that there was a porn stash underneath my bed, and I felt like I couldn't give my life to Jesus until I went home and at least cleaned up what I could of my life. Stuck in that moment, as I'm sitting in the back of that church, I remember the Holy Spirit saying, "You'll never go home to do that unless right now you do this." God in that moment, addressed what was on the inside. Once He addressed what was on the inside, then He said, armed with His power, "Now let's go home and address what's on the outside. Let Him in and He'll work it out."

[applause]

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What's the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

[music]

There may be something that you have going on in the inside that needs to be addressed before He deals with what's on the outside. Perhaps you've been screaming about to God to fix something externally and He's waiting until your soul quiets down enough for Him to address the thing internally. He loves you so much more than you could ever know. From the inside out, He wants to be involved with every intimate detail of your life.

God, I pray right now for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, I pray God that from the inside out you would take this message in this moment, give us exactly what we need to have our sins forgiven, our mind set free so that we may stand. Pick up the things that used to be laying on us and let us walk into the marvelous work of your light in Jesus name. Amen. I love you guys.