From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part five (final) of a series. Read part four.

How does the account of Christ's healing of the paralytic apply to us today?

Our study of any passage of Scripture is seriously defective if it does not address the issue of application. And so as we conclude our series on the account of Jesus' healing of the paralytic in Mark chapter two, let us take up this question: How does this account apply to our own minds and lives, here and now? To answer those questions, let us focus our attention on one aspect of this account in particular, and that is the four men who brought this man to Christ. Let us briefly consider five things.

The Imperative of Involvement

First, each one of us needs to be involved in the work of bringing people to Christ. In the physical sense, this man had no capacity to bring himself to the Savior. He needed to be brought. There was a physical distance between this man and the Lord Jesus Christ that needed to be crossed. These four men brought him to Jesus.

In the same way, we need to bring people to Jesus. We need to bring them within the sound of the preaching of the Gospel. Faith comes by hearing, Romans chapter ten tells us, and hearing by the Word of God. At the end of Mark we read that the disciples went out and preached, "the Lord working with them and confirming the Word." That is a tremendous statement. When we get involved in this work, the Lord is working with us. God the Holy Spirit is at work.

The Work of Many Hands

Secondly, God often works through multiple people to bring someone to Christ. One or more people may pray for an individual. Someone else may give that person a Bible. Someone else may witness to that individual personally. Someone else may bring that person to church, or to a Bible study. This paralytic had to be carried by four men, one at each corner of his bed. Each one had to do his part. And God used them all to bring this man to the Savior. God often works through multiple people to bring someone to Christ.

Effort

Thirdly, bringing someone to Christ involves effort. Sometimes it is inconvenient to take the time to share the Gospel with someone. Sometimes it is inconvenient to bring someone to church. Sometimes it is inconvenient to find the time to pray for the lost - even those closest to us. All of those things involve effort. These four men had to carry the paralyzed man some distance. I am sure they all had other things to do, but they did this. And they were determined. They tried to get in the door, and they could not. They had to carry this man, bed and all, up onto the roof. Even if there was a stairway on the outside, as there were on many houses of that time, it still was not an easy thing to do. But God sanctified and blessed their effort. Bringing someone to Christ involves effort.

Determination

Fourth, bringing someone to Christ involves determination. It means letting nothing stand in our way. I knew a lady who prayed for her husband's salvation for twenty-four years. He was a vile sinner. He was involved in organized crime. But she kept praying, and living a godly life before him in their home, in spite of his abuse, in spite of his hatred of the Gospel. But she was determined to keep on praying for her husband. And she enlisted others to pray. They became the Lord's stretcher-bearers.

And one day, after twenty-four years, God performed the great miracle and saved that man from Hell. He became a diligent worker in the church. He became a witness to the men in the Mafia with whom he had lived a life of sin. Three of his children became missionaries. And he himself served as the assistant director of an inner city rescue mission for many years.

These four men in Mark chapter 2, these stretcher-bearers, were determined men. They let nothing stand in their way. They carried this paralyzed man to Christ. They tried to get in the door, but they could not. So they went up on the roof. And they literally took the roof apart, because they knew that this man's only hope was in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to have that same kind of realization, and that same kind of determination. And sometimes it means doing things that are as unconventional as tearing off a roof.

Trust in God's Sovereign Power

But lastly, in all our efforts we need to remember that it is God who does the saving. These four brought the man to Jesus. It took effort, determination, inconvenience. But that was where their abilities ended. They could not heal him physically. Far less could they take care of his deeper need of salvation from his sins. But Jesus could do both. So they placed this man at the feet of Jesus, and He did the rest. This was the sovereign grace of God in action.

There are many people today who are paralyzed in spiritual ways just as this man was in a physical way. Every unbeliever is paralyzed by sin. Many are paralyzed by indifference. Many are paralyzed by religious prejudice. Many are paralyzed by open unbelief. Many people are not going to come into a church where the Gospel is preached unless you take a corner of the stretcher and bring them in.

Dear friend, that is what I would especially encourage you to do in these coming days. That is what these four men did. They had the faith to bring a poor man to hear the Lord Jesus deal with him personally, and say, 'Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.' "

May the Holy Spirit burn within each of us that same desire, and that same urgency, to bring men and women and boys and girls to Christ. I pray that you will engage in that same kind of combined effort of praying, witnessing, and working for the salvation of family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

May we not spare any effort in bringing people to Christ. May we not be so concerned about our own convenience. May we have the same determination to break down obstacles between the lost and the Lord. And when we come to the end of our human efforts, enabled by the Holy Spirit, may we trust in Jesus, and in His power alone to save.

sas0046

Copyright 1998-2024

TeachingtheWord Ministriesmmmmmwww.teachingtheword.org

All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only,
for non-commercial purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included.

We also suggest that you include a direct hyperlink to this article
for the convenience of your readers.