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[0:00] We'll pick up reading Mark chapter 2 starting at verse 1. It says, And again, he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house.

[0:12] And straightway, many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them. No, not so much as about the door, and he preached the word unto them.

[0:23] And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was.

[0:35] And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed where in the sick of the palsy lay. And Jesus saw their faith, he, I'm sorry, when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

[0:52] But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. Why did this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?

[1:02] 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?

[1:12] Whether it is 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. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house.

[1:36] And immediately he arose, took up the bed and went forth before them all. And so much that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying we never saw it on this fashion.

[1:48] And that brings us to the end of that passage. And again, this is another of the miracles that Mark has recorded in his scripture.

[1:59] And it was indeed a miracle, a man that was sick of the palsy. He was a paralytic in other words. I don't know if it was just his legs.

[2:09] I don't know if it was his legs and his arms. But I know the man was in bad shape because he had four of his buddies that were carrying him there on a stretcher or on his bed trying to get him unto Jesus.

[2:22] This being a miracle recorded in the scriptures by the Gospel writer Mark, the folks, I don't want to concentrate so much on the miracle. We should all be well familiar with the miracle that took place here.

[2:36] What I want to concentrate on is the first verse of this. And it says, and again, he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was a noise that he was in the house.

[2:49] What house would we be talking about? More than Lackley. This would have been Peter's house that he was in. This would have been the same house that Jesus Christ healed Peter's mother-in-law in.

[2:59] She dwelt in Capernaum. Folks, Jesus Christ at this point had begun to dwell in Capernaum. If you don't believe me, you can turn to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

[3:11] And it says at the beginning of Jesus Christ's ministry, he left Galilee. He left Nazareth, the town where he grew up, the town where he was reared, and he went unto Capernaum, and he dwelt there.

[3:25] That's where he lived for just for part of his ministry. And I dare say that he would have lived under the roof of Peter. He would have lived. Folks, Jesus Christ all throughout his ministry, he depended on other people, the very maker of this world, depended on his creation to give him a shelter over his head, to provide him with food, to bring him a drink of water.

[3:53] The very maker of everything was depending on everyone else to do things for him. This was something that was amazing. And this was something that the Old Testament said would come to pass and would come to be.

[4:09] Hey, it didn't say when Jesus Christ or when Messiah would come that he would come in all of his glory, and in all of his majesty, and in all of his might.

[4:21] The Old Testament and the Book of Isaiah, it describes the Messiah as a lowly person. It describes him as a suffering servant.

[4:32] It describes him as anything except for what these Jews were expecting him to be. It says that he came into the town of Capernaum.

[4:44] Folks, Capernaum, when he came here, this was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy recorded in the Book of Isaiah in chapter nine.

[4:55] It said he would come to the borders of Zebulun and to the borders of Neptele. Folks, that's exactly where Capernaum was situated.

[5:06] But what was supposed to happen? It says that these were the people that dwell in the shadow of death. These were the people that dwell in darkness in a great light and come to shine their way.

[5:22] A great light and come to shine in their lives, shining their souls, shining on their hearts. Messiah had made his way there just like God said that he would.

[5:38] He was right there. He was in Capernaum. Now you don't find the town of Capernaum anywhere in the Old Testament. Anywhere, the name Capernaum is not mentioned.

[5:49] However, as I said, when it says the borders of Neptele, the borders of Zebulun, beyond the sea, when it says that in Isaiah, you read in Matthew chapter four, you read what it says there.

[6:06] It says that he came into Capernaum, which was at the borders of Neptele and at the borders of Zebulun, and it was beyond the sea. This was the center of where Jesus Christ, this is where Messiah dwelt for most of his ministry.

[6:21] Now listen, I understand he and the disciples, sometimes they had to camp out underneath the stars, and I understand that sometimes he stayed at Mary and Martha's house.

[6:32] I understand all these things, but it says plainly in the scriptures that Messiah came under Capernaum, and this was the very place, this was the very heart of the place where the scripture said these people dwelt in the shadow of death, they dwelt in darkness, but a great light had come their way, a great light had shown as a, hey, even Simeon in Luke chapter two, he recognized Messiah for who he was, and Messiah was nothing more than a baby boy that mama and daddy had brought to fulfill the law of Moses, to have him circumcised, have him consecrated under the Lord, but Simeon, being a man that was just and devout, hey, he was full of the Holy Ghost according to the scriptures, and if the Spirit led him to the temple where he was, and he saw Messiah, he saw Jesus, and he said,

[7:33] Lord, let thy servant depart, I have seen thy salvation. And he said, this baby here, this baby, Jesus, eight days old, Jesus would have been at that point, according to the law, and according to the scripture, an eight day old baby, and Simeon, Simeon saw him, and he recognized who he was, he said, this is the one that's come to be a light under the Gentiles, and to be the glory of your people Israel. This is the one that you promised me I would see before I died, and he says, let thy servant depart in peace, for I have seen your salvation, I have seen this promise that you made unto me, folks, Jesus Christ, here in this miracle that we read about in Mark, Mark chapter two, and in Mark chapter one, when he heals Peter's mother-in-law, all these miracles here, all of them were recorded in a little place called Capernaum, yet in Matthew chapter 11, if you want to flip over there sometime, you can read that Jesus Christ pronounced as a curse on this same land, this same land that he had come to shine his light in, this same land he had come and performed miracles in, hey, the man Jerry's, when his daughter was healed, it was in the land of Capernaum, a centurion soldier, and Matthew, when his servant was healed, it was in the same land, the land of Capernaum, they heard the messages of Jesus Christ, they saw the miracles of Jesus Christ, but yet in Matthew 11, Jesus Christ tells them, he says, Capernaum, though you're exalted unto heaven, thou shalt be brought down unto hell, you will be brought down because of your own belief, folks, these people out there, they might be people in here right now, they've heard the gospel, they've seen salvation come unto others, that's a miracle by the way, it's a miracle that God saved my soul, it's a miracle that God saved your soul, it's a miracle that we ain't all burning in hell right now at this very minute, that is a miracle that only God can pull off these scribes here, they said, who has power to forgive sins, except

[10:05] God only, hey, their doctrine wasn't wrong when they said that, they were absolutely right when they said that only God could do such a thing, but what they didn't understand and what they didn't see, that this was the lie that was promised in the book of Isaiah, that was the shine there, that this was indeed Messiah, that this was indeed God, and Jesus Christ said, what's better, that I would tell him, his sins be forgiven, that I would say unto him that is sick of the palsy arise, take up the bed and go into thine own house, and he had the man do both, he forgave his sin, he healed his physical body, Jesus Christ proved to these people who he was, proved that he was Messiah, proved that he indeed had power to forgive sin and power to heal the sick, yet Jesus Christ still pronounced this curse on these people, folks, how many people, how many people have heard the gospel, how many people ever sermon after sermon, and they've seen the salvation of the Lord, they felt the spirit of God moving around the congregation, maybe while the songs of Zion were being sung, maybe while the preacher was preaching, maybe it was a hellfire and brimstone sermon that was being preached, maybe it was a praise God, amen, hallelujah sermon that was being preached, but they felt a little tend to the Holy Ghost, and they know that God is real, they know that that what there was, that passed by their way, but yet they still deny, they still seek some other answer, they still deny that that's the light that was sent to shine in their dark heart, that's the light that was sent to shine in their dark soul, that's the light that was sent to shine in this dark world, what did Jesus Christ tell Nicodemus, he said this is the condemnation that men love darkness rather than light, there's too many out there, there's too many out there, they're in love with the darkness, they're in love with their sin, they're in love with their life, they don't want to give it up, folks I've testified just a little bit before I started preaching, hey I loved the life that I had when I was a teenager, wound up in that when I was 19, 20 years old, I loved what I did, I loved hearing the crowds cheer for me, I liked the pats on the back that I got, saying good job, when you all playing out again, where you gonna be, I loved that aspect of my life, but Almighty God had other plans for me, Almighty God, hey that's a way that God uses to humble the people that he uses to humble us, hey we don't need the world, we don't need their backpats, we don't need their congratulations, all we need is the salvation of Almighty God that is brought to us by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, that's all we need, how many people have heard the gospel and turned it down, folks these people not only heard it, they heard it preached, they heard it taught in their synagogue, the synagogue in Capernaum is the most popular synagogue you read about in the scriptures, it's the one that's most often brought up, you know what, when Jesus in Matthew 11, when he said the thou art exalted under the heaven, thou shalt be brought down into hell, he said that about Capernaum, but not just about the people of Capernaum, because they didn't listen, they didn't believe, they wanted to see more miracles, they wanted to see more healings, they wanted to see all of these things, folks and we got a world full of people right now, they want more proof, they want more proof, hey Jesus Christ is all they're going to get, there were people in the days of Jesus Christ that said hey we need a sign from you and I understand they're wanting of that sign, I understand because the Jews depended on signs over in the Old Testament, that's why getting through out his place and waited on the dew to follow, that's why all these other stories are in the scripture, they depended on signs from

[14:43] God, but Jesus Christ said the only sign that you will get is the sign of the prophet Jonas, as Jonah was in the belly of the well for three days and for three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and for three nights at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's the sign that they should have been looking for, and he said that's the only sign you're getting, that's the only one, folks there was a reason Jesus Christ spoke to people by parables and the Bible tells us what that reason is that some would understand and others would not, that don't sound very fair, that don't sound fair, does it, it don't sound fair to a human here, when you look at it, the human aspect of things, folks God don't care how fair we think it is,

[15:45] God don't care how fair you think it is or how fair I think it is, he's God, he is God, but he warned them in the Old Testament, you do these things, you do what I say and I will bless you, you don't do these things and I will curse you, Deuteronomy chapter 28, read it sometime, there's 60 some verses in that chapter and only about the first quarter of those verses are talking about the blessings of God, every other verse I believe starting at verse 14 and Deuteronomy 28, all the way through 60 some more verses, everyone I'm talking about the curse, if you don't believe God, if you don't do what God says, you know why people don't do what God says, because they don't believe God, they don't believe the scripture, you know why these people didn't believe because they didn't believe it was Messiah doing this, they wanted more, they wanted more, hey if you're here this morning and you're lost and you've heard a little tug from the Holy Spirit of God or you felt a little tug from the Holy Spirit of God, hey that ain't Spencer, Spencer can't guilt anybody into salvation, Spencer can't force anybody into salvation, but Almighty God and through Jesus Christ, he has the power to forgive sins and only he has the power to forgive sins, if you have felt that this morning it ain't me, it's not the preacher, it's not the songs you heard, it is all money God seeking for a dark soul that he can shine the gospel light into.

[17:25] It ain't me, it ain't me, don't let that same curse be pronounced on you, Copernia, folks I said we read all kinds of things in scripture, they had to do with Copernia, the only time you see that town brought up is in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you don't see it in any of Pauline pistols, you don't see it in the book of Revelation, you don't see it in Jude, 1st, 2nd Peter and you certainly don't find it in Genesis, through Malachi, any of the Old Testament, the only time you see it is in the Gospels and Jesus pronounced a curse on it, he pronounced a curse, what else did he say about him? He said, if the people of Sodom, my God, if the people of Sodom had seen these miracles, it would still be here today, that's why Jesus told those people, if they had witnessed the things that you've witnessed, they would have believed and Sodom would still be standing today, if they had seen the things that you had seen, if they had had Messiah walked through their streets, if they had performed this very miracle, the miracle, the healing of the palsy, the miracle of healing Peter's mother-in-law, the miracle of healing Jeres' daughter and the miracle of the

[18:44] Centurion servant, all these miracles that took place in this town, don't govern them, if they had seen just one of those and Sodom, it would still be standing to this day, don't let that be pronounced on you, don't let that be pronounced, we all know what's left of Sodom, nothing, you know what's left of Copernum? A folk dog, you bring it up, when you get home you do this, now there's a little dwelling here and there's a little dwelling there, but folks obviously through the scriptures, obviously this was a bustling little town that was heavily populated, we read in this very scripture that because the crowds had pressed so tight in that house that they couldn't get the one that was sick to the palsy, close to Jesus, they had to climb up on the rooftop, hey they would have been stairs, made a clay, worn up to that rooftop on the outside of the house, they would have to have carried this man, it says he was born a four, now four of them would have to have carried him up here, they would have had to have dug through the facts, dug through the dried up mud, they would have had to have tore at a piece of the ceiling and lowered that man into there because of a crowd that was around Jesus Christ, this crowd of people that were from Copernum witnessing this miracle, yet they were cursed, my God help, God please help, oh if Jesus said it himself, he said it himself, read it for yourself and Matthew 11, he said though you're exalted into heaven, you'll be brought down to hell, he said if Sodom had seen these things, if Sodom had witnessed these things, it would still be here today, don't let that curse be pronounced on you, don't let it postase a line up there somewhere, I don't know where it's at, I have no idea where that line is, there in the line where Almighty God will put dealing with your heart, Almighty

[20:45] God will say this one's gonna go on, however he's gonna go on, I'm done with it, I'm finished with it, I'm not dealing with him anymore or her anymore, whatever the case, I'm gonna let them live their life and this is the closest thing to heaven that they will ever get because when they die and their soul departs, it will not come under me, it'll descend into hell, a place of torment, a place of outer darkness, a place of everlasting destruction, you say that's not fair, you know what's not fair, Jesus Christ died for your sin, Jesus Christ died for my sin, that's what's not fair, the man was innocent, no God was ever found in his mouth, he says he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, he was numbered among the transgressors, he wasn't a transgressor but he was numbered among the transgressors, he was treated just like the transgressors, in other words, hey he was treated like a common thief, like a common insurrectionist, a common murderer, he was treated as a cruel sadistic way and the man had never once shunned in his life, that's what's not fair, a man like that took your sin and your guilt and your shame upon him so that you can have life, that's not fair, but for God to condemn you to hell, that's fair, that's fair, I'm glad I ain't getting what I deserve, I'm glad I ain't getting what I deserve, man brother James talked about that last night at the same, oh, when Jesus as I've already said these scribes, I said who has power, who has power to forgive sins but God, like I said they weren't wrong, they were not wrong, that doctrine was gun barrel straight, who has power to forgive sins but Jesus said it, which is better, which is easier to forgive, to say I forgive sins or to say I stick up up in going to the house, he done them both, he done them both, why folks, anybody, I can walk up to any of you in here right now, lay my hand on your head and say your sins are forgiving you and it wouldn't matter mountain out to a hill of me and nobody in here has that power, no preacher out there all the off things among tribe, no preacher out there has that power, nobody can forgive sins except for Jesus Christ, no one can accept or can forgive sins except for Almighty God, so Jesus was saying I can't prove to you his sins are forgiven but I can prove it through a physical lack and that's why it says and it says hasn't in parentheses if you got the same Bible that I do says he said under the sick of the palsy, arise take up that bed and go into thine house, he could prove that, what was he proving, he said the Son of Man has this power, he was proving he's the Son of Man, who's the Son of Man, he turned over to the Old Testament to the prophet Daniel, you're reading Daniel chapter seven, it says Daniel had a vision, it says there was a he saw one that was locked under the Son of Man, folks that was Jesus because it says the Son of Man in that same prophecy, it says the Son of Man came to the ancient of days, who was the ancient of days, it's God the Father, that's Almighty God, it says the Son of Man came to the ancient of days and all power, all power was given unto the Son of Man, why do you think Jesus Christ called himself

[24:44] Son of Man more often than he said called himself anything else in the Scriptures, he wanted these Jews to know who it was standing before him, he wanted these Jews to know he was the one that Daniel prophesied of, he was the Son of Man and he is the one that God gave all power to, he wanted them to know that, so when he healed this man he done that, show him that he had power to heal, show him that he was indeed the Son of Man, go back to Simeon for just a minute, that Father in Luke chapter two I was talking about, I said the Scripture describes him as just, it describes him as devout, it says he was filled with the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost led him to the temple for this very occasion that Jesus Christ was coming because his parents were devout Jews, because Joseph was a devout Jew, I know that wasn't his real Father, that was his earthly Father, but Mary was his mother and they were devout Jews and they were following the law of

[25:49] Moses, Christ had not died, Christ had not died, hey the law was still in full effect at that point, they were following the law to have him circumcised the eighth day, but they brought him and Simeon received a promise, the Bible doesn't say when, he might have received it the year before, he might have received it 50 years before, I don't know but it said he would not see death, said that he would not depart the sly until he had seen the Lord's Christ and he held to that promise and when he saw it he knew it, how did he know he was a man filled with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost was dealing with that man, now listen hey the Holy Ghost hadn't been poured out on all mankind yet, Acts chapter 2 is a long way off from where we're at right now, it hadn't been poured out on everybody at this point, but the Holy Ghost had sold out Simeon and it had filled that man, hey how many times in the Old Testament did we read that the Holy Ghost was guiding someone, we read that the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit of God, it was with someone, the Spirit of God led someone, but very few occasions would you read that it was actually in someone in the Old

[26:57] Testament, but folks it was in this man Simeon here, it was filled with it according to the Scriptures, the only way you will ever know that it's Jesus Christ talking at your heart strength, you're the only way you'll ever know that you're a sinner is where the Holy Ghost of God to show you that, the Holy Ghost of God had to show Simeon, had to lead him to the temple, folks my goodness it ain't just Simeon, you read before Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted, what drove him there, the Holy Spirit, you read it in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit of God drove Jesus into the wilderness, it led Jesus there to do what, not to kick back in a hammock, not to rest a little while before his real ministry began, nothing on those lines, it drove him there to be tempted, to be tempted, folks if you're here in your loss and the Holy Ghost of God is driving you, it'll drive you to somewhere along the line of your knees that you can come to God in repentance and the only way you'll ever do that is if the Holy Ghost is drawing you, the only way God will ever accept your repentance is if the Holy Ghost of God is the one that has laid that conviction upon your heart, the Holy Ghost of God has shown you what a black filthy rotten sinner that you really are, it takes the Holy Ghost of God to show that to every one of us and it takes the Holy Ghost to regenerate you using the blood of Jesus Christ for the divine plan of God the Father, hallelujah and that plan is faultless, it's faultless, don't let this curse, don't let this curse that was pronounced on Capernaum be pronounced on you, you've heard the gospel preached, I ain't fighting a black rotten sinner on the back, I ain't nothing but a lowly man, I ain't nothing special, I don't deserve to be on a pedestal, I deserve to flame to hell nothing more but you've heard the gospel preached this morning and you've heard of this town of Capernaum, this town that was once bustling with people, so many people that when they gathered around Jesus they couldn't get a poor paralyzed person and they're Jesus for him to be healed, they had to make a way under Jesus but folks what did it say, it said when he saw their faith, when he saw their faith, not the faith of the scribes, they didn't have any, not the faith of everyone that was down there in the house with them, not the faith of anyone but those that were lowering that man that was sick of the palsy down in there, now listen that could have included the one that was actually sick as well, in fact I personally think that it did because Jesus forgave his sins without faith, I don't think Jesus would have done that, Jesus hey we can pray God saves souls all day long but if that person doesn't have faith to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior God cannot and will not forgive their sins, I don't care if we pray to we're blue in the face that a loved one that God would save their soul if they do not repent themselves except Jesus Christ themselves and be cleansed themselves it will never ever happen, that's God's plan, it's an individual salvation, I thank God for that, I thank God that when I go to him it's just like me going to my daddy, I lost my earthly daddy when I was 16 years old, I gained another one though when I was 33 and God saved my soul, my daddy provided for us daddy loved us I have no doubt in my mind, daddy done well for me and all my brothers and my mama he done well with us, the folks that came and ended the line for daddy where he couldn't do nothing else for us, we put that man in the grave when I was 16 years old but I've got a father now, hope she'll go with us even beyond the end, he can go with hey when we bury people out here those of you that have heard me preach a graveside I say the same thing every graveside service we can only come that far that's as far we can climb down the grave with them and if we could it would still do him no good but there is one that can go with him even further than the grave he can go with him throughout all of eternity hallelujah that's the father that I have now praise God he's the one he's the only one that I need he's the only one that I ever needed oh don't let yourself get this curse pronounced on you

[31:46]  Sodom was destroyed Capernaum was destroyed like I said you go home you pull it up there's a few archaeological digs going on there right now you go home your computer you pull it up the main thing in Capernaum right now is nothing more than a boat dock for a once bustling community with thousands upon thousands of people in it and the most popular synagogue brought up in scripture Jesus Christ himself preached at that synagogue and he taught at that synagogue and some of the most wonderful uh uh some of the most wonderful miracles worked were in that synagogue you know what other miracles took place in Capernaum all those know the woman with the issue of blood that happened on the way when when they come to Jesus and Jeres's daughter was sick Jesus was on his way to Jeres's house and the woman with the issue of blood compression through the crowd all these miracles took place in Capernaum these people fell witness to all these things how many of those people you not you do you think know knew that woman and her issue of blood knew that knew of her condition and knew there was no hope for how many of those people do you think were sneering at her and snarling their nose at her saying she has no right to be here around us she shouldn't even be close to us right now now i'm ceremonially unclean because of this woman but when she reached out and she touched the hem of his garment Jesus Christ said daughter the sins are forgiven and you are made whole hallelujah she had right then to call Jesus cross her Savior she had right then to go to her family to touch and hug and love on anyone that she wanted to praise god these people in Capernaum they witnessed that they witnessed it and yet Jesus Christ Matthew says you'll be brought down to hell be brought down to hell oh don't let that happen to you don't let that happen yeah i think god done this morning as far as preaching goes