Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
April 5, 2000
Introduction
Jesus is at the beginning of His ministry.
He is in the city of Capernaum, the hometown of Peter, Andrew, James,
and John. Word has gotten out about
Jesus’ miracles and crowds are beginning to form.
:17 And it came to pass on a
certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the
law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and
Jerusalem:
Pharisees – these were men from the religious sect that believed in
miracles and held to a literal interpretation of Scripture. They were extremely careful to live their
lives not only according to the law but also the traditions.
doctors of the law – nomodidaskalos
– a teacher and interpreter of the law: among the Jews
:17 and the power of the Lord was
present to heal them.
power – dunamis – strength
power, ability; inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its
nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth; power for performing
miracles
to heal – iaomai – to
cure, heal; to make whole; to free from errors and sins, to bring about (one’s)
salvation
them – probably not just the Pharisees and lawyers, but the people
in general.
In contrast, there was a day when Jesus was unable to do more than a few
healings
(Mark 6:5-6 KJV) And he could there do no mighty work, save
that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. {6} And he
marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages,
teaching.
(Mat 13:54-58 KJV) And when he was come into his own country,
he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and
said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? {55} Is not
this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren,
James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? {56} And his sisters, are they not all
with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? {57} And they were
offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour,
save in his own country, and in his own house. {58} And he did not many mighty
works there because of their unbelief.
Lesson
God’s power is sometimes limited by
our unbelief.
God doesn’t always require our faith in order to be healed. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and I’m
not sure He was relying on Lazarus’ faith!
There was an instance when the father of demon-possessed child had less
than perfect faith:
(Mark 9:23-24 KJV) Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. {24} And straightway the father
of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief.
But Jesus still delivered the child from the demon.
Even though God doesn’t always require our faith, often God will limit His
working to our faith.
One of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians included a request that their eyes
be opened to –
(Eph 1:19-20 KJV) And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
{20} Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
(Eph 1:19
NLT) I pray that you will begin to
understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This
is the same mighty power
:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy:
palsy – paraluo (“paralyze”)
– to loose on one side or from the side; to weaken, enfeeble; suffering from
the relaxing of the nerves, unstrung, weak of limb; tottering, weakened, feeble
knees
Here is a man who is unable to move himself.
It seems possible that this man wanted to get to Jesus, but was unable to
get himself to Jesus.
But he had some friends. Mark tells
us there were four friends (Mar. 2:4).
:18 and they sought means to bring
him in, and to lay him before him.
sought means – zeteo – to
seek in order to find; to crave, demand something from someone
This is the same word often translated “seek”, as in how we ought to be praying:
Lu 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
This could be a good picture for us in thinking about how we ought to be
praying. There may be times when we
start praying in a certain way, but find that it just isn’t working. Find another way. Keep looking.
Illustration
JUST PUSH
A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with
light, and the Savior appeared. The
Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in
front of his cabin. The Lord explained
that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun
down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the
unmoving rock, pushing with all his might.
Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling
that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing signs of discouragement, the Adversary decided
to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind: “You have
been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus, giving the man the impression that the
task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and
disheartened the man. “Why kill myself
over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put
in my time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.” And that is what he planned to do, until one
day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to
the Lord. “Lord,” he said, “I have
labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which
you have asked. Yet, after all this
time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?” The
Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when I asked you to serve me and
you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all
your strength, which you have done.
Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength
spent, thinking that you have failed.
But is that really so? Look at
yourself. Your arms are strong and
muscled, your back is sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant
pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now
surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to
push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now
move the rock.”
At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to
decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience
and faith in Him.... By all means,
exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who
moves the mountains.
When everything seems to go wrong ...
just P.U.S.H.! When the job gets
you down ... just P.U.S.H.! When people don’t react the way you think
they should ... just P.U.S.H.! When your money looks “gone” and the bills
are due ... just P.U.S.H.! When people just don’t understand
you... Just P.U.S.H.!
P.U.S.H - Pray Until Something Happens!!!!!
:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in
because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through
the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
tiling – keramos (“ceramic”)
– clay, potter’s earth; anything made of clay, earthen ware; a roofing tile;
the roof itself
Mark records:
Mr 2:4 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.
It has been suggested that Mark got most of his material for his gospel
from Peter. Mark tells us this happened
in Capernaum, and it may have been in Peter’s house, through his roof.
couch – klinidion – a
small bed, a couch
:20 And when he saw their faith,
It would seem that this is referring to the faith of the paralyzed man as
well as the faith of his four friends.
Lesson
Prayer partners.
Jesus was teaching about discipline and the process in which we confront
people. He talked about confronting a
person by yourself. If they don’t
listen to you then you bring a second witness, and if they still don’t listen
then you bring it to the church and if they still don’t respond that you remove
the person from the church. Then He
said,
(Mat 18:18-20 KJV) Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven. {19} Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall
agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for
them of my Father which is in heaven. {20} For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I’m still not sure I fully understand all that is implied
by “binding and loosing”, except that it says to me that my prayers on earth
affect the way things are in heaven.
When I have a prayer partner that can agree with me in
prayer, God pays attention in heaven.
I don’t think that this means that we get together and all
decide to agree with each other’s prayer requests so we can get what we want
from God. But I think that as we have
Spirit-filled people around us, that if we pray something that’s a little off,
they’ll hopefully pull us back towards sanity.
And if we pray something that strikes a chord in them, something that
“bears witness” in them, it’s possible that we may have hit on something that
God desires as well.
:20 he said unto him, Man, thy sins
are forgiven thee.
forgiven – aphiemi – to
send away; to bid going away or depart; to let go, give up a debt, forgive, to
remit; to give up, keep no longer
This is an odd thing for Jesus to say, isn’t it? I thought these fellows had brought their friend to be healed,
not forgiven.
Lesson
Jesus knows what we REALLY need.
We put so much emphasis on our spiritual needs, but I kind of wonder
sometimes if God doesn’t think our spiritual needs are just a little more
important.
I think we need to be careful that we don’t neglect the spiritual things
that God is trying to do in our lives.
I think that we sometimes look at them as some sort of “consolation
prize”. Like, “I didn’t get the raise
at work, but God gave me patience instead.” Like Vanna White giving me some
fine “parting gifts” from the Spiegel Catalog.
What if God REALLY wants you to have patience? What if He REALLY wants you to learn
contentment in all circumstances? What
if He REALLY wants you to learn self-control over your spending habits and
finances?
Lesson
We need forgiveness.
We need forgiveness from God.
We need forgiveness from each other.
:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this
which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
reason – dialogizomai – to
bring together different reasons, to reckon up the reasons, to reason, revolve
in one’s mind, deliberate
can – dunamai – to be
able, have power whether by virtue of one’s own ability and resources, or of a
state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or
custom; to be able to do something; to be capable, strong and powerful
They are right and they are wrong.
Only God has the power to forgive sins.
But Jesus isn’t being blasphemous because He IS God.
:22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them,
What reason ye in your hearts?
perceived – epiginosko –
to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly
God can read your thoughts. Jesus
is God.
:23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise
up and walk?
:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to
forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and
take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
power – exousia – power of
choice, liberty of doing as one pleases; the power of authority (influence) and
of right (privilege)
It’s easy to say something like, “Your sins are forgiven” because who could
really tell whether they were or not?
You’d have to go to heaven to get empirical proof that the statement was
true. But to command someone to walk
would show right away whether or not He’s a phony.
Healing a paralyzed man doesn’t definitively prove that Jesus has power to
forgive sins, but they better think twice before challenging Him on that.
:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he
lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
immediately – parachrema –
immediately, forthwith, instantly
:26 And they were all amazed,
amazed – ekstasis – any
casting down of a thing from its proper place or state, displacement; a
throwing of the mind out of its normal state, alienation of mind, whether such
as makes a lunatic or that of a man who by some sudden emotion is transported
as it were out of himself, so that in this rapt condition, although he is
awake, his mind is drawn off from all surrounding objects and wholly fixed on
things divine that he sees nothing but the forms and images lying within, and
thinks that he perceives with his bodily eyes and ears realities shown him by
God.; amazement, the state of one who, either owing to the importance or the
novelty of an event, is thrown into a state of blended fear and wonderment
:26 and they glorified God
Jesus said,
(Mat 5:16 KJV) Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
He has brought glory to God, not Himself.
:26 and were filled with fear,
saying, We have seen strange things to day.