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Faith on the Roof & Reasoning in the Room (Mark 2) · (Un) Common thoughts of Christ

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: There is a remarkable scene presented to us in Mark chapter two.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: A house is filled, the doorway is blocked, the crowd has gathered so tightly around the Lord Jesus that there is no longer room even about the door.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: But before we look at the four men carrying the palsied man, notice where this takes place.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Mark two says And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised that he was in the house.
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  SPEAKER_00: Capernaum, what a place of privilege.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus had walked its streets.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: His words had been heard there, his works of mercy had been witnessed there.
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  SPEAKER_00: The light had shone brightly in Capernaum.
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  SPEAKER_00: Later the Lord would say in Matthew eleven, twenty three, and thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven.
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  SPEAKER_00: What privilege?
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  SPEAKER_00: But privilege always brings responsibility, and there is something here for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: We too can become accustomed to privilege.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can possess the scriptures, we can know sound doctrine, we can hear ministry concerning Christ, we can know much about him, and yet fail to live in the enjoyment of Christ Himself.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: On this particular day, Capernaum was privileged again because Jesus was in the house.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: As we look at this scene, let us notice four things.
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  SPEAKER_00: First, the attractiveness of the Lord Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: There was something about him that drew needy people.
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  SPEAKER_00: Second, the faith of the four men carrying the bed.
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  SPEAKER_00: They encounter an obstacle, but faith will not stop until the helpless man is brought to Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: Third, the Lord's response to the man's deepest need.
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  SPEAKER_00: They bring a paralyzed body to Jesus, but Jesus first speaks about his sins.
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  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, the reasoning of the scribes.
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  SPEAKER_00: They are sitting close to Jesus, yet their reasoning prevents them from seeing the glory of the person before them.
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  SPEAKER_00: So we have privilege, we have faith, we have forgiveness, and we have reasoning.
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  SPEAKER_00: But above everything else we have one great person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark two says, 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.
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  SPEAKER_00: What drew them there?
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  SPEAKER_00: There were needs everywhere.
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  SPEAKER_00: There was sickness everywhere.
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  SPEAKER_00: There were broken hearts everywhere.
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  SPEAKER_00: But what drew needy people to this particular house was that Jesus was there.
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  SPEAKER_00: There was something wonderfully attractive about the Lord Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: The poor could come to him, the broken could come to him.
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  SPEAKER_00: The guilty could come to him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Those whom others might avoid could come to him.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was accessible.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Christianity is not merely possessing wonderful truths about Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: Those truths are precious, but the heart needs Christ Himself, a living Christ, one who can be approached, one who can be trusted, one who knows, one who understands.
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  SPEAKER_00: And into this crowded scene come four men carrying a helpless man upon his bed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark two three, and they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here is a man who cannot bring himself.
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  SPEAKER_00: He is powerless, someone else must carry him.
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  SPEAKER_00: And these four men have one great object.
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  SPEAKER_00: Get this man to Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith sees something in Christ that makes every obstacle secondary.
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  SPEAKER_00: But when they arrive, the doorway is blocked.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is no way through.
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  SPEAKER_00: They could have said We tried.
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  SPEAKER_00: They could have said perhaps another day.
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  SPEAKER_00: They could have laid the man nearby and waited.
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  SPEAKER_00: But faith had already settled something.
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  SPEAKER_00: The answer to this man's need was inside that house.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark two four says, and when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was.
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  SPEAKER_00: What a scene.
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  SPEAKER_00: They climb onto the roof carrying this helpless man.
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  SPEAKER_00: They open the roof and lower his bed down into the room directly before Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is no ceremony here.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is urgency.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is confidence, they understand enough about the heart of Jesus to know that a case of distress will never be an intrusion upon him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their actions almost seem to say We know He will receive him.
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  SPEAKER_00: We know He will not turn him away.
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  SPEAKER_00: We know something of his heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then comes that beautiful statement in Mark two five.
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  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus saw their faith, Jesus saw their faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith can be seen because faith acts according to what it believes about Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: These men believed something about Jesus strongly enough to tear open a roof.
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  SPEAKER_00: And notice, Jesus does not rebuke them.
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  SPEAKER_00: He does not complain about the interruption.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their confidence in him is welcomed.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is something beautiful in this.
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  SPEAKER_00: Christ delights to be trusted.
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  SPEAKER_00: Bringing an impossible case to him honors him, because it confesses that there is something in Christ that cannot be found anywhere else.
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  SPEAKER_00: These four men did not know exactly what Jesus was going to do, but they knew where to bring the man, and sometimes that is faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith does not always know what Christ will do.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith knows who Christ is.
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  SPEAKER_00: But now something surprising happens.
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  SPEAKER_00: Everyone can see why this man has been brought, he cannot walk.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yet the Lord Jesus immediately addresses something no one else can see.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark two five.
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  SPEAKER_00: Think of that first word Son, what tenderness?
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  SPEAKER_00: Before the Lord addresses the man's legs, he addresses the man.
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  SPEAKER_00: Before he deals with the visible paralysis, he goes deeper.
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  SPEAKER_00: The friends had brought his body to Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus addresses his soul.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can become deeply concerned about bodily suffering and yet overlook the deeper need of the soul.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus saw both.
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  SPEAKER_00: He cared about both.
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  SPEAKER_00: He would heal the man's body.
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  SPEAKER_00: But first thy sins be forgiven thee.
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  SPEAKER_00: It brings us back to Matthew one twenty one.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is why he had come.
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  SPEAKER_00: The deepest problem was not merely sickness, it was sin, and the one standing in that house had authority to deal with it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And at precisely this moment another group comes into view.
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  SPEAKER_00: They have not carried anyone, they have not torn open the roof, they have not brought a helpless man to Jesus, they are sitting, and reasoning.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark two six to seven.
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  SPEAKER_00: But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.
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  SPEAKER_00: Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?
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  SPEAKER_00: Who can forgive sins but God only?
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  SPEAKER_00: What a contrast.
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  SPEAKER_00: The four men have faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: The scribes have reasoning.
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  SPEAKER_00: The four men were originally outside the house, yet they saw enough in Jesus to overcome every obstacle to reach him.
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  SPEAKER_00: The scribes are already inside the house, sitting close to Jesus, and they cannot see who he is.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is solemn.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is possible to be close to the things of Christ, and yet morally far from Christ Himself, and remarkably, what the scribes say is partly correct.
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  SPEAKER_00: Who can forgive sins but God only?
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  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
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  SPEAKER_00: That was the point.
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  SPEAKER_00: They had arrived at the correct theological statement and missed the glorious person standing directly before them.
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  SPEAKER_00: Who can forgive sins but God only?
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  SPEAKER_00: He was God.
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  SPEAKER_00: The glory of Godhead was veiled in that lowly man.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their reasoning stopped where faith should have begun, and the Lord Jesus knew exactly what was going on within their hearts.
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  SPEAKER_00: 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?
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  SPEAKER_00: What a question.
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  SPEAKER_00: Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
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  SPEAKER_00: There is a kind of reasoning that does not bring the soul closer to Christ, but actually moves it away from him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reasoning says this cannot be.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith says Look at who he is.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reasoning measures Christ according to the difficulty.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith measures the difficulty according to Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: The four men looked at a blocked doorway and thought, in effect, there must be another way to Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: The scribes looked directly at Jesus and thought, He cannot be who this appears to say he is.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord gives visible proof of his invisible authority.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mark two nine to eleven.
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  SPEAKER_00: 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?
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  SPEAKER_00: But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.
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  SPEAKER_00: I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the man arises immediately.
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  SPEAKER_00: Think about the change.
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  SPEAKER_00: He entered that house being carried on his bed.
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  SPEAKER_00: He leaves the house carrying the bed himself.
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  SPEAKER_00: What had displayed his helplessness now becomes a testimony to the power of Christ forgiveness, healing, power all found in one person Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps this is where this passage becomes especially practical for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: There may be people around us who cannot seem to get themselves to Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps they are discouraged, perhaps broken, perhaps bound by sin, perhaps spiritually paralyzed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Will we carry them?
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  SPEAKER_00: Those four men could not heal their friend.
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  SPEAKER_00: They could only carry him.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is important.
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  SPEAKER_00: We are not the healer.
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  SPEAKER_00: We are not the Savior, we cannot forgive sins, we cannot give spiritual life, but we can carry someone toward Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can pray, we can plead, we can bring the word.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can bring that person's name again and again before the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can say, Lord, we cannot fix this person, we cannot change this heart, we cannot solve this situation, but we know where to bring it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there is also a warning here for those of us who have enjoyed great Christian privilege.
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  SPEAKER_00: Remember Capernaum, Capernaum had tremendous light.
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  SPEAKER_00: The scribes in that room had tremendous light, and we have tremendous privilege too.
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  SPEAKER_00: May we never become so familiar with truth that we become merely spectators, sitting in the room, analyzing and reasoning, while others are tearing open a roof, because they simply believe Christ is enough for their need.
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  SPEAKER_00: May our knowledge of truth always lead us to the person who is the truth.
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  SPEAKER_00: May we never possess great clearness of doctrine, and lose the sense of a living Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: A living Christ who is accessible, a living Christ who receives confidence, a living Christ whose heart has not changed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there is someone on our hearts today, someone we cannot repair, someone we cannot persuade, someone we cannot rescue.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us not give up carrying them, and perhaps there is some seemingly impossible circumstance before us a blocked doorway, an obstacle, something for which we cannot see the answer.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us remember those four men.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith looks at the obstruction and keeps moving toward Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: And let us remember Capernaum.
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  SPEAKER_00: Privilege is a wonderful thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: To hear his word is privilege.
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  SPEAKER_00: To know his truth is privilege, but privilege calls for a response.
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  SPEAKER_00: May the truth we know lead us increasingly to Christ Himself.
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  SPEAKER_00: And above everything else, let us remember the one who was inside that house.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus saw their faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus received the helpless man.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus spoke the word of forgiveness.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered the reasoning of the scribes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus demonstrated his authority.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus raised the man from his bed.
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  SPEAKER_00: The great attraction of Mark chapter two is not merely the miracle, it is the man who performed it.
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  SPEAKER_00: So let us bring the helpless case to him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us bring the broken heart to him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us bring the impossible circumstance to him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us bring the person we love to him.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Faith does not always know the answer.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Faith does not always know what the Lord Jesus is going to do, but faith knows who he is.
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  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes faith simply says, Whatever the obstacle may be, let us get the matter into the presence of Jesus.