They Can’t Get There on Their Own
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” (Mark 2:5 NIV)
Jesus was teaching in a house in Capernaum, and it was so crowded that
there was no more room /left,
not even outside the door.
Meanwhile, four
men had set out with their friend //who was paralyzed, in order to get
him to Jesus;
and since there was no public conveyance, they walked—one
mile, five miles, ten miles—whatever the distance was, carrying their
friend on a mat.
They finally got to the house and saw, to their
dismay, that they could not get their friend in /through the door.
Undeterred, they made their way up to the roof, dug a hole, and let
their friend down on the mat right in front of Jesus.
* 5형식; get [their friend] [in 형;inside], let their friend down
* Definition of undeterred - persevering with something despite setbacks.
And here’s the
important word: When Jesus saw their faith – not the faith of the man
himself, but the faith of his friends—he said, “Son, your sins are
forgiven.” He then healed the man to show the religious leaders that he
had [authority /to forgive sins as well].
Why did the paralyzed man walk? Because Jesus healed him. Why did
Jesus heal him? Because he got into the presence of Jesus. How did he
get into the presence of Jesus? Somebody brought him. Somebody dropped
him right in front of Jesus; and when Jesus saw, not just the man’s
faith, but also the faith of the men carrying him, he said, “That faith
can’t be denied.
* get 자동사; to arrive at a place , To become drawn in,
I’m going to heal that man, because of their faith.”
This introduces us to the power of intercessory prayer. There are
people () we all know //who need to be brought into the presence of Jesus,
but they can’t make it by themselves.
* people (that) we all know (people) //who need to be brought
people (that) we all know
people //who need to be brought
They’re paralyzed by spiritual
blindness; they’re paralyzed by sin; they’re paralyzed by superstition;
they’re paralyzed by unbelief.
And [what intercessory prayer does] is to
touch God with one hand and take the person /for whom you’re praying by
the other hand /in order to bring them /into the presence of Jesus /so God
can do a miracle on their behalf.
If you want to understand [how the man
in the Bible story walked], you can’t take credit away from those four
men. Yes, Jesus did it and all the glory goes to him, but those four
men got him there.
If they hadn’t carried their friend to Jesus, that
healing would not have taken place.
If they hadn’t had that faith, that
miracle would not have happened.
All of us have someone //who needs to be brought into the presence of
Jesus—a sister or spouse or some other relative, a neighbor, a
classmate, someone on the job.
They need to be awakened and saved; a
miracle has to happen in their life.
You may say, “Well, whatever will
be, will be.”
That’s not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible says that
without faith it’s impossible to please God.
Today, let’s focus on just
one person () we know //who needs to be brought into the presence of Jesus
through prayer.
We’ve got to drop the person into the presence of Jesus. That’s what intercessory prayer is
—not praying for ourselves,
but dropping /into the presence of Jesus [some other soul //who can’t get
there
/on their own.
To be continued…
Read Mark 2:1-5.