Actions Louder than Words (Part B)

It's insulting to God.

To think that you can get to heaven without the blood of Christ, because you are simply saying to God that his son died for nothing that there's another way to have if I can just be good enough. I can earn my salvation. That is a lot. Salvation is received, it is not her and that is the message of the cost. Who needs a savior you can be just a goody two shoes and and and and march into heaven. This is cross reference radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the gospel of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching today. Pastor Rick will continue his message called actions louder than words in Mark chapter 2 holiness comes before happiness in the mission comes before the men. That is a principle of all successful military commanders is a principal even with the kingdom of God. That's what the cross, the emblem we have says that the cross of Christ. Nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. It is hard to get to that place.

It is not easy to stay in that place one has to continue to build up the inner man to build up the faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. One has to be around other Christians to develop these things. This by the sweat of the brow we go through this life that's an understatement, but we are still still supposed to be victorious in the midst of it all and those who convince themselves that they are somehow not so bad of a person in the presence of God spiritually delusional. The greatest need this to be forgiven of their sin and they don't see that they've missed the message that God has for humanity. Isaiah 64 we are all like an unclean thing in all our our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf in our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away is not one without sin. And you can go through this life healthy until you die. But if you have not had your sins forgiven. It does not profit you you will not be healthy after this life. Isaiah says we are all unclean. We are in an unclean thing is emphatic in the Hebrew incidentally but then he pleads points out, our righteousness is like field yield good deeds compared to God are just not enough, not acceptable. It's insulting to God. The think that you can get to heaven without the blood of Christ, because you are simply saying to God that his son died for nothing that there's another way to heaven if I can just be good enough. I can earn my salvation, that is a lie. Salvation is received is not earned and that is the message of the gospel. Who needs a savior you can be just a goody two shoes and and and and march into heaven, and this is part of the lesson part of the picture that is painted for us in these broad strokes by the Holy Spirit that sinners are paralyzed until Christ forgives their sin, then they can be healed. In verse two, and some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. This was their silent criticism and Jesus sought on their faces. He knew that look.

But he also knew that they connected to blasphemy, no others were sitting there and they probably could sense to that. This wasn't good but they did not understand the charges of blasphemy were going to come.

That was through spiritual discernment, according to help Mark tells a story or Peter told tomorrow. Verse seven and here's what they were reasoning in their hearts. Why does this man speak blasphemies like this who can forgive sins but God alone again this detail. The onlookers did not discern. But Jesus alone.

He knew exactly what was going on mentally they were accusing Jesus of insulting God of overstepping any authority any human being could ever have and making themselves equal with God. This is why when Paul says that Jesus made himself a servant though equal with God. It is a profound statement that shuts down any cult movement movement that would just dare say that Christ Jesus is not God the son, as we have in the various cults that are come knocking on your door trying to sell you their magazines those for for the Jehovah's Witness.

For example, watchtower is there authority not the Scripture.

Charles Russell was there authority. The Mormons have been in the different groups. The authority for the Christian is God's word. It it doesn't work any other way. We know what happens when men begin to usurp the authority of Scripture and they do it in subtle ways and many times they they appear to be well-meaning and very friendly but that they are doing the devils work.

Why not just accept the Scripture. Why do I need a man to come along and edit what God has preserved in verse seven of the hear they are charging him with blasphemy. The foundation for this suggestion was scriptural. Isaiah 4320 5II and he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins okay God is the one that forgives sins and no one else.

The sin of the sinner. We can forgive someone for sending again trespassing against us. But God is the one that ultimately forgive sin. What if Christ was God the Messiah. It was in the writings they had reason to accept that to believe that but they were irrational in their unbelief they were determined to overlook unwelcome facts because he wouldn't do it their way. He would not conform to what they wanted him to do was to overthrow the Romans at this early stage. They should've looked at his miracles and listen to his sermons and said to themselves, this man speaks the word of God and he is fulfilling the prophecies of the prophets and what he is doing and what he is doing and what he is saying qualifies him to be Messiah. They had no excuse. Peter God, the untrained fishermen. They God common people. They understood it, they received it. What was the problem with these religious leaders.

While the problem is that they thought that they knew better than what the Scriptures were saying this is become a big problem with Judaism because of the rabbis and ended the leaders, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the lawyers describes the lot down the faith in you either conform to their view or you were out for and this is going to heat up as we go to the gospel of Mark as most of you know verse eight now, but immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, why do you reason about these things in your hearts, and here's an interesting thing.

He confronts them. He does not ignore this. He goes after it with the hopes of winning them. He asked them a fair question. Why are you having a hard time with this and if they do not submit then he is exposing them please trying to win them but he will expose them if they will not accept the facts that are before them handed to them by God is their choice. First Timothy chapter 2 verse four. Speaking of the Lord who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Don't ever forget that Christ wants men saved the matter what they say, no matter what they do.

He wants them say that we harden our hearts and say well I don't like that verse are people I hate want to see them saved and you become like the Pharisees. Effective Scriptures. The fact that those of your faith. This is secondary to your your personal feelings and of course we we must guard against everything verse nine we got against everything that would protect the faith. Verse nine, Jesus still speaking is is which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, arise, take up your bed and wall crisis essentially saying help. Talk is cheap say anything you want I can say, your sins are forgiven and you can't prove if there forgiven or not is easy to say, your sins are forgiven, but can you back it up. And in this case by curing the person by giving him the that healing and that's what is going to do anybody can say, your sins are forgiven, but not anyone can couple that with proof and saying as a Bluetooth to show you that his sins are forgiven. He can also walk because God is the healer and this was not an isolated healing. He had been doing this all the time. This just was no way anyone could justify rejecting Jesus Christ from the Scripture.

It could be this preaching and his miracles just took away all the excuses. This is why Nicodemus struggled. See he became a prisoner of of bad theology. However, his heart knew his heart knew that this this had to be there had to be something more to this and that's why he has this of this meeting. Of course with crisis private meeting and in the end Nicodemus is a believer. Joseph of Arimathea another one.

If those two can get saved and the others had no excuse, but these men were doing all the dirty things also. It wasn't that they were just rejecting Christ, in his miracles.

They were imprisoning the people with their bad teachings and their corrupt ways and Christ warned his disciples, he says, you know, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. Watch out for these guys. Their corrupt, he said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees that would that's like saying unless you become better Christians and all the pastors you can get that have and that's what he said to them, so he said unless you go beyond with how these Pharisees are behaving using God's name using the Scriptures being corrupt at the same time this you get past that be just like them ready to be judged.

So this is a big deal and there verse 10 he says, but that you may know that the son of God has power on earth to forgive sins because he's going to know he's going to save the paralytic.

I said you arise, take your bed and go home. But back to verse 10, but that you may know that the Son of Man, the son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men could become sons of God, Son of Man is here.

Christ Jesus is the son of God, he became a took on humanity so that people sinners could enter into heaven through him. Man was made in the image and likeness of God.

Sin ruin that image. Jesus came in the image and likeness of men. Though he is God the son is so much packed into this when he said that you may know, the Son of Man, none of the Pharisees could stand up and say I'm the Son of Man, not like Jesus is applying say they can say I am. I am a son of a man but not the Son of Man joined himself to humanity, to be what he was both God and his being in man in his flesh and is the recall of his humanity. The days of his limitation had to be what he was to live as he lived and he lived entirely dependent on God the father. He came to show us.

This is what Israel should be. This is what Adam was supposed to be joined to God completely dependent and obedient to God and ready for service and sacrifice. That's we get these lessons.

We look at the Scriptures we see it as it comes up the pages right to us as God. He was never anything less, than God and as a human.

He was never anything more than a human. In other words, if you drove a spear into his side. He would bleed because his body was human, and yet you couldn't kill him. He gave up his spirit. No man takes my life from me. I lay it down.

That has so many powerful meanings to it. He says, has he has power on earth to forgive sins. Now this eats up a little bit for us because the one who has power on earth to forgive sins is Jesus Christ alone.

He delegates this power to know this is the authority that Greek word for power is not due to must we get our English word dynamite.

It's not that word. It is exclusive and it means the authority know what we do is we have the authority to say if you believe in the gospel that Jesus Christ of your course is a son of God died for our sins, rose again. There is no other Savior. If you believe that that we have the power to say to another person, then you shall be saved.

That is the authority that is been given to us to be able to preach the gospel with confidence with assurance, but we don't do the saving. That still always belongs to him and yet embedded in these words is a very profound truth power on earth. If our sins are to be forgiven. It must be while we are on earth, it will be too late. Once we are dead. A lot of people don't like this. They think is such the spiritual Mulligan out there that you going to get a do over that this life really doesn't count. You can still have is that the second chance the Bible doesn't preach that all Hebrews chapter 9 it is appointed once for men to die after this the judgment is very point-blank is very right there and in accordance with what Jesus is saying you see in this life out character and destiny is established, its fixed. Doesn't that said, you are either going to believe him in this life we are not. Revelation 2111 in context of these very things he who is on just let him be unjust still.

He was filled he let him be filthy still. He was right. Just let him be righteous still feel as holy, let him be holy still comes a point where the band stopped playing and your destiny is going to be in heaven or not in the Bible offers no hope of redemption beyond the grave.

In fact, Luke's Gospel chapter 16 verse 31. This is what Jesus is talking about the good, the rich man and the poor man who both had died and they were separated by this chasm. One is on the righteous side. The other one is not rich, man is not the poor man is an rich man wants to send the poor man back to earth's theology is still messed up even after death. And in the parable they want to send them back to tell his brothers about this awful place, but this is our Abraham and the parable responds. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.

This is the proving ground right now. According to the Scripture Moses and the prophets for them because intestine was written at the time that those goals were that parable was given. So there's a pass and that path runs from earth to heaven, and is another path and that one runs from earth to hell. But there is no path from hell to heaven. This is it and it shouldn't be any other way. This is what Jesus had to say. And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. That man had evidently lived a life that was loaded when Sandy was an outlaw and though his crimes were not detailed wrong thought they were bad enough to crucify him. And yet Christ forgives him because the man received Christ as Christ.

He did not say will look at all my good what he shrugged and having good deeds, but even if he did he would not of been able to say you only salvation you let me end up in a group we are innately sinners. As David said we are born in iniquity. We are born lost. I do believe this you know the that the unborn that are slaughtered. I do believe that they have the access to heaven because of Christ only because of Christ. Still before the age of accountability, kind of a madness on this planet right one part of the hospital that were doing all they can do to save the newborns lives in the other partner trying to kill them before they're born. The madness and sickness of man. Well, we get our sins forgiven, on earth, or not at all. This should be something that we don't have a problem with why would we have a problem. What is unfair about that verse 11. I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.

I get the question when he says here, I say to you. The question is who do you say Jesus is and that's what that's going on right here is photo blocking out the Pharisees anything on telling this man. He can get up and walk.

As I forgiven his sins and the man gets up and walks out what he has to struggle to get out some crowded consider what's going on in the heads of these Pharisees and other witnesses. They heard the sermon was nothing they could disagree with. They saw the roof being broken through Bill. Never forget that they saw the man being lowered down in his helpless humiliated state is lying there dependent on people hoping that wouldn't drop him then they see the man get up and leave and slowly leave the building. He's leaving slowly because it's so crowded he has to squeeze out there so they can see this. So when we come to the description we read certain stories we are forming a picture in our head as were reading and sticks with us. The thief on the cross. For example, which is such an easy sermon to give to an unbeliever. Which one are you are you the one this desistance thinks is Bah humbug and don't believe you, the one that gets after. Of course we we lay out the gospel to them why there's no sinner can deny their ascent. No sinner can deny that they do wrong not only to God's commandments were to other people and how is this accounted for.

No one could see the man sins forgiven but here was proof he gave them something everyone could see.

Verse 12 immediately he arose, took up the bed and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying we have said anything like this.

I mean, what would you say that this if you've experienced. It's the viewer sitting in that room that day and you you you leave the room and you go to know to to Bethlehem. This is Copernican belief Capernaum and you go to Bethlehem and you say you won't believe what I just saw. We heard this this rabbi preaching and everything was right with the preaching and then he explains what happened and how they lowered the man down. Now the people that I hearing him tell the story are they going to believe him or not and if they believe him. What I going to do with what they they hear so the challenge to this day is to tell the story as we've seen, but whether they believe it or not is up to the Holy Spirit. We are the ones that the messengers were not to mess with the message were to deliver it were not to open up the message and edit it were to deliver it as it has been written and of course we get to use her own words to recite the gospel message to others. If we would be more concentrated, or we would concentrate more on getting this message out, then wondering what's going to happen tomorrow in the news. I think it be better for all of us. I think that's what Christ has in mind. You can read the newspapers were what you call it now ill and online I would visit even have a name you can read the new sites may go and just ring your fingers and him and haw and shake your head or you can say Lord, will you want me to do with this get me in front of somebody's where I can preach the gospel. I mean why are we crying out Lord get me in front of somebody so I can preach Christ. I think that's our response. I think that's one of the ways we should respond well. Had this man remain paralyzed. Of course, then Christ would not have been the Christ Jesus would not have been the Messiah, but he did get up but you can defeat someone with truth and they will still tighten their grip on lies.

Nonetheless, then you have to move on to someone else. They're not ready they may never be ready but don't waste your time this with Jesus and not the dust off your sandals move on their others to be saved. You can pray for them. Still.

But don't fall for the decoy and so he has power to forgive sin and we have power to sign with him against our own sin and to receive his love and his care and his goodness. You know you you going to be charged as a pastor I know I can come up in just preach the Bible just recite the words and there be some that would dislike me for it and accuse me of being mean-spirited and all those things.

I'm going to happen you and share the gospel but at the same time, there will be others that will be very grateful will benefit from you.

Preaching the word. And that's how it will be as you go out into the world, there will be those that will never take it in, but they will do you want the ones that will and so that is our and courage and don't let Hell do all the preaching and when you turn on those new sites.

Hell is doing the preaching. There holding up in front of you with their getting away with and it steams your sense of decency and righteousness are we to do about just I believe you and I should do about it. Say we are going to strike back the truth. Thanks for tuning in to cross reference radio for this study in the book of Mark cross reference radio is the teaching ministry of pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia to learn more information about this ministry. Visit our website cross reference radio.com once you're there you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe will be notified of each new edition of cross reference radio you could search for cross reference radio on your favorite podcast app that's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time. As Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark Rocky on cross reference radio