A Sick Man, Four Friends, and Jesus

“Jesus is here!  He has come back to Capernaum!”  The news of the coming of the Lord Jesus spread through the small town and into the country.  Many people wanted to see Him.  They had probably been waiting for Him to return.  Some wanted to hear the wonderful things He had to say:  things about God, things about men, things about the future.  Others wanted to watch Him perform miracles.  They wanted to see His mighty power.

The Scribes and Pharisees also wanted to see Jesus, but for a different reason.  The Scribes were teachers of the Law and they were jealous of Jesus.  The Pharisees pretended that they were good people and made a big show of their service for God.  In their hearts, though, they were very proud.  Both the Scribes and the Pharisees wanted to see Jesus, but not because they loved Him.  They hated Him!  They wanted to find some evil in what He said or did so they could lead the people away from the Son of God.

Men and women (and children, too, I suspect) crowded into the house in Capernaum—the house where Jesus was.  Those who could not get inside, pushed close to the door and windows, hoping to be able to hear what Jesus said.

Illustration #5

As they listened, four men tried to squeeze through the crowd.  They were carrying on a bed (probably a mat) a man who could not walk.  He had a sickness called palsy.  Because he never could have gotten there himself, his friends brought him to the Lord Jesus.

Not one person in all that crowd was willing to step aside, not even for a sick man.  When the four tried to ease their way through to Jesus, the crowd closed in more tightly, shutting out the men and their sick friend.  What could they do?  They had to get their friend to the only One who could help him.

They could climb the outside steps to the flat roof.  But what good would that do?  Then they had an idea!  The four men twisted and turned to carry their sick friend up the narrow steps to the top of the house.

Illustration #6

There they broke away some of the roof tiles.  Looking down, they could see the Lord Jesus inside talking to the people

Illustration #7

Then, ever so carefully, the four men lowered their friend on his mat down through the hole in the roof.  Down, down, down he went, right in front of Jesus!  Everyone in the room must have been startled.  But not one said, “You cannot come here.  There is no room for you.”  No.  There was room, right next to the Son of God!

The sick man looked up at Jesus.  Jesus looked down at the sick man.  Because He is God the Son, He knew exactly what was wrong with the man.

Everyone was quiet.  What would Jesus do?  Would they see a miracle?  How would He do it?  What would He say?  The people could hardly wait to see what would happen.

But the Lord Jesus saw more than the people saw.  He saw that the sick man had faith in Him, the Son of God.  He saw, too, the faith of the four men who had brought the sick man.  Jesus saw how strongly they believed that He would help.  What more did the Lord Jesus see?  He saw the heart of the sick man.  He, the One who knows all things, knew that the sin in the heart of the man was worse than the sickness of the man.  Later He Himself said that from within the heart of a man comes all the wrong that a man does:  evil thoughts, murders, thefts, pride, foolishness . . . and more.

It may have been the man’s sin that had caused his illness.  Not all sickness is the result of sin.  No, indeed!  But there are many who are sick because of having lived sinful lives.  It may be that this man was one whose illness was caused by sin.  We do not know.  But, like all people everywhere, the man had a sinful heart.  And the Lord Jesus saw that.

Instead of healing the sick man, the Lord Jesus said:  “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

The Scribes and Pharisees, sitting nearby, became angry.  They thought, “What wicked things this Jesus speaks!  Who can forgive sins but God?”

Because the Son of God knows all things, He knew exactly what those men were thinking.  So He answered the Scribes and Pharisees, saying, “Why must you argue like this in your minds? Why does this bother you?  Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk’?”

The Scribes and Pharisees did not answer.  So Jesus continued, “To prove that I, the Son of Man have the right on earth to forgive sins, I say to you (the sick man):  Stand up!  Take your bed and go home!”

Illustration #8

The man leaped to his feet.  Picking up his bed and pushing his way through the amazed crowd, the man went home, praising God.

The people could hardly believe the wonderful thing they had seen.  Some, like the healed man, began to praise God.  “We have never seen anything like this before,” they said.

They would not forget that day.  They had seen the Lord Jesus do a miracle.  More than that, they had heard the Lord Jesus forgive the man of his sins.  If he had been healed and nothing more, he someday would have had to receive the wages of his sin:  death.  That means that after his life was over, he would have been forever separated from God and from all that is pure and good and holy.

To have any sickness is a bad thing.  To be sick because of having sinned is sadder still.  But far worse than any sickness is the sin that is in the heart of every man and woman, every boy, every girl.  And the same Lord Jesus who forgave the sins of the sick man is waiting to do a miracle in your life:  forgive you of your sin.  When you believe that He is truly the Son of God (which He proved by the greatest of all miracles:  rising from the dead), when you ask Him for forgiveness of sin, when you invite Him to live in your heart, He gives you His kind of life—eternal life.  It is true that “the wages of sin is death.”  But it is equally true that the “gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

God wants to forgive your sin.  He waits, this very moment, to give you eternal life.  Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God?  Do you believe He died for your sin?  Will you ask Him to forgive your sin and invite Him to live in your heart and life?  Will you do it right now?

Lessons copied or adapted from The Visualized Bible.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 John 4:14b

…the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Satan

Illustration #13

Lucifer, Son of the Morning, was the anointed (chosen) angel of God.  His home was in heaven.  He had been created by God long before Adam and Eve lived upon the earth.  Lucifer was more beautiful than anything we can imagine.  His clothing was trimmed with precious stones: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and many others, all set in fine gold.  How brilliant and colorful he must have been!  The Bible says he was perfect in beauty, and full of wisdom.  Lucifer lived in the presence of God.  There he did what God told him to do.

This beautiful angel had been chosen by God to rule in a very high place above other angels.  The Word of God says he was perfect in every way.  He thought no wrong.  he did no wrong.  He worshipped the Almighty God as the One who was higher, more glorious and more powerful than anyone else.

But one day Lucifer, for the very first time, had a bad thought—a very bad thought.  He no longer wanted to think how wonderful God is.  But he began to think of himself and how beautiful he was.  To himself he said something that was very wrong:  “I want to be like God who is the highest of all.  I want to have His majesty and power.”  Lucifer wanted to take the place of Almighty God.  Imagine that!  He was no longer satisfied simply to rule over other angels.   He wanted the angels to worship him as they worshipped God.

As Lucifer thought he began to plan:  “I will go into the highest heaven.  I will have my throne above the stars of God.  I will rule above the clouds.”  His desire for power went on and on.  He wanted to be as high as God.  The desire of Lucifer was sin—the very first sin.

God, who is holy, could not permit sin – not even the sin of pride – in heaven.  So Lucifer was punished by having his high position taken from him.  No longer was he called Lucifer (meaning Daystar).  His name was changed to Satan (the devil).

How Satan hated God!  Never again would he obey and serve God.  Now he would rule for himself.  He hated all the good plans of God, and he decided to spoil those plans with the power that God had let him keep.  Satan made his own plans—plans to do evil work against God

Illustration #14

When God made the first man and woman, Satan wanted to be worshipped by them, just as he had wanted the angels to worship him.  Everything was beautiful and perfect in the Garden of Eden.  There were no wild animals.  All were tame and doubtless pretty.  There was nothing if which to be afraid in that beautiful place.  So Satan, in the form of a serpent, went to Eve.  There, in that lovely garden, Satan tempted Eve to disobey God.  She listened to him and – would you believe it? – she decided to disobey God!  And that was sin.  Adam sinned, too.  And ever since that day everyone born into this world (except the Lord Jesus Christ) has been a sinner – all because of Satan, the enemy of God

But God did not let Satan have his own way.  He upset Satan’s plans.  God promised that He would send a Deliverer—a Savior—who would one day destroy Satan.

Satan was very angry and tried to keep the promise of God from coming true.  He knew that the Deliverer whom God had promised, would come from the nation Israel.  So Satan tried again and again to destroy the Israelites.  He hated God’s chosen people.  But God would not let His people be completely destroyed.

No matter how hard Satan tried he could not change the plan of God.  he could not keep the Deliverer from coming to earth as God had promised.  Jesus was the Deliverer, and one night He was born in Bethlehem.  But Satan had not given up.  Through King Herod, he tried to destroy the baby Jesus.  Herod commanded his soldiers to kill all the little boys in Bethlehem, two years old and under.  But God protected Jesus by having Mary and Joseph take Him far away from Bethlehem (to Egypt).

Satan tried to get the Lord Jesus to sin.  If he could get Jesus to disobey God the Father, Jesus would no longer be perfect.  If He was not perfect, He would not be able to save people from their sins.  But God is stronger than Satan.  And, since Christ Jesus is God the Son, He did not sin.

Did Satan stop fighting God?  No!  Another time he tried to get rid of Jesus by causing the people of Nazareth to try to push Jesus off a high cliff.  But God the Father protected His Son.  The people could not kill Jesus for it was not yet the time God had chosen for Him to die.  God was proving that He had much more power than Satan, and that His promises always come true.

Illustration #15

The Lord Jesus always did what God the Father wanted Him to do.  He lived a perfect life on earth, and one day He gave His life as a perfect sacrifice on the cross.  It looked as if Satan had finally won when Jesus died.  But he was in for a great surprise!

Illustration #16

After three days the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God.  Jesus had overcome Satan by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.  He rose again and He lives today.  He will always live.  The day is coming when Satan will be punished for his sin and disobedience.  He will be punished forever in the Lake of Fire, just as God has promised.

What is Satan doing today?  Although we cannot see him, he is very busy.  He is trying to keep people from receiving the Lord Jesus.  We are all sinners.  We all have chosen to go our own way instead of God’s way.  We cannot get loose from our sin.  It is as if all of us were tied tightly with ropes.  Our arms, our legs, every part of our body is tied.  And because all of us are tightly tied, none can help the other.  But there is One who is not tied.  He never sinned!  He, the sinless Son of God, is the only One who can free us from the sin that binds us.  And when we truly believe that He took the punishment for our sins when He died on the cross; and when we receive Him as Savior, He forgives our sin.  He sets us free!  We become members of the family of God.

But even after we belong to the Lord God, Satan does not leave us alone.  He tries to cause the children of God to do all kinds of wrong:  lie, steal, cheat, hate, fight, be proud, and disobey God in all kinds of ways.

We cannot fight Satan by ourselves.  He is more powerful than you or I.  How can we overcome him when he is stronger than we are?  The Bible tells us to give ourselves to God and obey Him.  Then with His help, as we stand up to the devil, he will run away from us.  But Satan will return again and again to try to trick us into doing wrong.  He is a liar and the “father of lies.”  If Satan does get you to do wrong, he goes to God and tells Him how awful you are.  He wants to get you into all the trouble he can.

What should a child of God do if he sins?  He should confess his sin to God right away.  He will forgive those who are really sorry for what they have done.

It seems that more people today are listening to Satan than are listening to God.  But someday everyone will bow before God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  And Satan and all who have followed him—those who have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ—will be punished forever in the Lake of Fire.

Are you on the side of God or on the side of Satan?  Remember, those who are on the side of God are on the winning side!  If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if you believe He died and rose again for you, and if you want to receive Him as your Savior today, please tell me so right after class.  I would like to talk with you about it.

Lessons adapted or copied from The Visualized Bible

Jesus in Nazareth

Even though the Lord Jesus was a grown man, He had never once done one wrong thing.  Satan had tried many times to cause the Son of God to sin.  He had tried to get rid of the Lord Jesus.  After so many attempts, do you think Satan gave up?  Indeed he did not!  Let us see in the lesson today what he tried to do.

The people who lived in Nazareth had heard strange things about a Man who had grown up in their city.  They had learned that Jesus, who used to live in Nazareth, had many powers.  He could do things that no ordinary man could do.  He could heal sick people in a moment, make the blind see, and the deaf hear, and the crippled walk.  Should they believe these stories?  Could one who had been an ordinary carpenter in Nazareth now be a great teacher and prophet, as many people called Him?  They did not know.  If only they could see Him again and watch Him do one of His great miracles . . . if they could see His power for themselves, maybe then they would believe.

Illustration #9

One day Jesus returned to His home town of Nazareth.  There, on the Sabbath Day, as usual, He went to the synagogue (the place where Jewish people went to worship God).  It was the custom in the synagogue that when a person read the Word of God he stood up.  Then he sat down to speak!  So Jesus stood to read the Scriptures.  The Book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him.  He opened the Book and began to read:  “It is written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.  He has anointed Me to preach the Good News to the poor; He has sent Me to announce that prisoners shall be set free, that the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed, and to announce that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to Him’”

Illustration #10

Christ returned the Word of God to the attendant.  Then He sat down.  Everyone in the synagogue gazed at Him.

Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has come true.”

The people were amazed!  He was saying that what the Prophet Isaiah had foretold hundreds of years earlier, had come true.  Isaiah had said that Someone would come and preach the Good News to the poor, He would teach, He would heal the blind, and He would set people free from their sins.  Jesus was saying to the people in Nazareth that He was the One of whom Isaiah had spoken!

The people probably whispered among themselves, “Is not this the son of Joseph?”  They could not believe that this One—the carpenter—who used to live in their town, could possibly be the One of whom Isaiah had written.  They would not believe in their hearts that He was the Son of God.

Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking.  So He said, “I expect you will say, ‘Why do You not do miracles here in Your home town as You did in the city of Capernaum?’  I tell you that no prophet is accepted in his own home town.”

Then the Lord Jesus told them of prophets of whom they knew (Elijah and Elisha).  He reminded them that those great men had done miracles to help other people.  But they had not helped their own people, probably because the people had not believed that these men were sent from God.

The people became angry.  They wanted to see the Lord Jesus do miracles.  If, as the Scriptures said, He was the One who would make blind people see, they wanted Him to do that kind of miracle at once.

Illustration #11

Because the Lord Jesus did not do a miracle, the people became furious.  They made Him get out of the synagogue.  They pushed Him down the street.  They would get rid of Him!

Illustration #12

They led Jesus to the top of the hill.  They would throw Him over the edge of the cliff and be rid of Him forever!

Then a strange thing happened.  Jesus disappeared right through the crowd.  Nobody could stop Him.  It was a miracle!  It was by the power of God.

Jesus went away from Nazareth – away from the people among whom He had once lived.  Jesus went away because the people did not want Him.  He did not do any miracles because they did not believe in Him as the Son of God.  Jesus had come to this world He had created but His own people would not receive Him.  They should have remembered what a perfect life He had lived as a boy.  They should have known that anyone who preached as He did, must have been from God.

Someone else was unhappy when Jesus was in Nazareth.  He – Satan – had tried many times before to do away with the Son of God.  He did not want the people of Nazareth to listen to Jesus.  So he caused them to turn against Jesus.  Seeing the people leading Jesus to the edge of the cliff, Satan thought he had been successful.  But the power of God is far greater than the power of Satan.

The people in Nazareth did not turn to God for power.  Rather they let the power of Satan turn them against the Savior of the world.  How sad!

Whose power is controlling your life? . . . the power of God or the power of Satan?  If you receive the Lord Jesus as Savior, He will give you His power – the power of God – to control your life and to cause you to do the things that please Him.

Lessons adapted or copied from The Visualized Bible

The Baptism of the Lord Jesus and His Temptation

You remember that last week we learned how Satan used Herod the King to try to destroy the baby Jesus.  He sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the boys that were younger than two years old.  But Satan missed Jesus because the same angel that told the wise men to go home a different way told Joseph to take Mary and baby Jesus down to Egypt until it was safe to come back.  After they came back to Nazareth, Jesus grew until he was twelve years old and was able to go with his parents to the Temple.  You remember that His mother and Joseph left Jerusalem without Jesus and had to go back to find Him and after three days they found Him in the Temple.  When He returned with Joseph and Mary, He grew and obeyed them all the time.

We don’t know anything about Jesus life from then until He had grown to be a man.  Today, we will learn about another time that Satan tried to defeat Jesus and God’s plans.

Crowds of people were going to the desert. It was usually a lonely place.  But on this particular day, people – many of them – left their homes in Jerusalem and the surrounding villages of Judea to go to the desert near the Jordan River.  Why were they going? They were going to see a man—a strange man who wore a leather belt and clothes made from the hair of camels. This man had been living alone in the desert for some time. His food was locusts and wild honey.

But now he was no longer alone. People were coming from everywhere to hear him. They heard him cry out his message—a message that had been given to him by God: “Change your ways and be baptized and God will forgive your sins. Turn from sin to doing right for the Kingdom of heaven is near, and the King is soon to come”

The people listened eagerly. They were curious. Who is this man? they wondered. Is he the Christ that is to come? Could this be the One of whom the prophets had written? No! The man in the desert was not the Christ – the Promised One from God. He was John the Baptist.

As the people gathered around the strange preacher, he called out to them: “I baptize you with water, but One who is much greater than I is coming.  He is so high above me that I am not good enough to untie His sandals.”

Many who heard John were sorry for their sins and decided to change their sinful ways. They desired to serve the true God and obey Him, even as John the Baptist was doing. So they asked John to baptize them in the Jordan River, as a sign that they had turned from their sins.

One day a Stranger joined the crowd that had gathered in the desert. He had come from Nazareth and now stood listening to John as he told the people to turn from their sins. The Stranger walked toward John. It was Jesus—the Christ—the very One of whom John had been preaching.

“I have come to be baptized.” Jesus said.

“Surely you do not come to me to be baptized,” John said. “Rather, I need You to baptize me!”

“It must be this way.” Jesus said. “This is what God wants.”

Illustration #5

So John agreed to baptize the Lord Jesus. But it was different from any other baptism John had seen. As the Lord Jesus came up out of the water, suddenly the heaven opened. And John saw the Spirit of God come down in the form of a dove and rest upon the Lord Jesus.

Then John heard a voice say, “This is My own dear Son. I am very pleased with Him.” The voice had come from heaven. It was the voice of God the Father. John realized immediately that he had just baptized God the Son.  And God the Holy Spirit had come down upon Him.  God—the three-in-one—was there at the Jordan River.  John knew this was a definite sign from God to show that the Lord Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God.  He is the One of whom the prophets had written long before.  He is the One for whom the people had long waited.

Why was God the Father pleased with His Son? Because He had come to earth and was obeying the Father in heaven.

But Satan was not pleased.  He did not like it that Jesus had lived on earth for over thirty years without doing anything wrong. He did not want Jesus to do the will of God the Father.  And he was determined to make Jesus sin.

After the baptism of Jesus, Satan watched. He would wait for the right moment. He must have been glad when Jesus went alone into a desert. There were only wild animals there! But God the Father was watching over His Son.

Illustration #6

One day passed. Then two. The Lord Jesus had no food.  How hungry He must have become!

Satan thought, Jesus is hungry. Now I shall be able to get Him to obey me.

To Jesus Satan said, “If you are the Son of god, tell these stones to turn into bread.” He pointed at the hard, rough stones that lay scattered across the desert.

The lord Jesus had power to do anything He wanted to do. He had created the world and everything in it. It would be easy for Him to change stones into bread. But He would not obey Satan.  So He answered, “The Word of God says that bread will not feed the soul of man. Obedience to every word of God is what we need.”

It did not matter to Jesus how hungry He was. The most important thing to Him was to obey God the Father always.  If He would have done what Satan had said, He would have disobeyed His Father.

Satan had failed. But he was not ready to give up.

Illustration #7

Satan said to Jesus. “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from the top of the temple wall.” Satan continued, “The Word of God says, ‘God will send angels to keep You from harm.’ It also says, ‘They will hold You up with their hands so You will not even hurt Your feet on the stones.’”

The Lord Jesus answered, “But the Word of God also says, ‘Do not put the Lord God to a foolish test.””

Christ Jesus had done that which was right. Satan was again defeated. But he did not give up.

Illustration #8

This time Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain. There he showed the Son of God all the kingdoms of the world and their beauty. He showed Him all the wealth, the power, and the greatness of all the lands.  “I will give all this to You if You will only kneel down and worship me,” Satan said.

Kneel down and worship Satan and get all the countries of the world? Would it be worth it?

“Go away, Satan!” Jesus commanded. “The Word of God says: ‘Worship only the Lord God and obey only Him.’”

Satan had lost again. This time, in obedience to the Son of God, he went away.  Jesus had proved that He was stronger than His enemy, Satan. In all things Jesus obeyed God His Father.

After Satan had gone, angels came and took care of Jesus. What a wonderful comfort that must have been to the Lord Jesus after those forty long, hard days of temptation in the desert.

Jesus had been tempted by Satan to do wrong. But He did no wrong. Today, Satan tries to get us who belong to God to sin and disobey God. In our own strength we cannot resist him. But if we use the Word of God as the Lord Jesus did, we will be able to stand against Satan and obey God.

Lessons adapted or copied from The Visualized Bible

1 John 4:4b

…greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:9b

…God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.

1 Thessalonians 4:9b

…how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.